Stryker
Legacy Name: Stryker

Story

As you read along, when you see a musical note in between breaks of paragraphs, clicking on it will link you to a song that fits the upcoming scene. It's optional, but definitely consider giving it a listen!

The last of the afternoon autumn sun hung in the sky as the guild entered the Deadroot Woods. It wasn't long before sunset, and the warmth and glow of the day would soon turn into the chilly crisp cold of night. Still, Elfric was confident they would be able to locate this supposed monster before it got too dark.

"Spread out a bit, but not too much to where you can't see someone. A lot of these trees look the same, and I'd rather no one get lost," he warned. Hanji, who was walking along side Haluk and Valtam, nodded. She wasn't overly worried as usual, in fact, she was looking forward to this mission. Teba and Asch, however, were less enthused. Something about this place was eerie and almost even unnatural. They couldn't describe what it was though. And poor Sven was sandwiched in between the two nervous soldiers, and he was also most displeased.

After a while of searching, the group stumbled upon some old crypts and tombstones. The crypts though were inaccessible due to the collapse of earth and broken stones. Hanji examined a tombstone, Haluk faithfully at her side, while Valtam noticed two paths laid before the group. The paths were packed down; they must have been the travel routes everyone used as the shortcut. The ram signaled Elfric over to him. Meanwhile, Sven finally had had enough.

"We're lost," Sven groaned bitterly. "Do we even know what we're looking for again?" Teba and Asch were beginning to relax a bit, but still stuck close to Sven.
"Supposedly it is rumored that the creature is a ghost!" Hanji suggested; Teba and Asch blanched at this. "Relax, it's only a rumor."

Valtam cleared his throat, drawing attention to him and Elfric. The wolf spoke.

"I'd like to find this creature, ghost or not preferably before it gets too dark," Elfric decided. "We'll need to agree on a path now, and follow it. If we get nowhere, we'll leave a marker for where we've been and come back another day."

The guild of 7 agreed to take the left path, but soon, a sultry, mysterious voice spoke out.

"I would not go down that path if I were you," someone cooed smoothly. Perched atop an entryway for an underground tomb was a black Irion with emerald-tipped feathers. The rune markings on his shoulders and near his eyes glowed bright green. He was resting coolly, smug-looking even. Had he'd been there this whole time watching them? Valtam narrowed his eyes at the bird.

"And why not, stranger?" the ram carefully tread, stepping forward. Sven mimicked him, paw ready to draw his sword that he carried on his back. The Irion was unfazed by the gesture, and smirked.

"Have you not heard? There's a monster that resides in these woods. Your fox friend is absolutely right. It is a ghost lurking about. These old grounds used to be a burial site, a graveyard. Once a beautiful forest with leaves of green, one summer day, the forest leaves withered suddenly and simply never came back the following year. They say the ground is cursed forever by the burial of a royal family. There's an old fort not far from here that belonged to them as well," the griffin smoothly explained.

"And the path we agreed on taking is where the ghost resides?" Elfric asked before Valtam could get an edge in. Hanji looked ready to run down the path, eager to meet the ghost, while Asch and Teba remained pale.

"Precisely. It would be an utmost despair if I simply didn't warn you beforehand. Such a creature has taken the lives of many, I would feel so dreadfully responsible should you die," the stranger dramatically raised a front foot to the side of his face, feigning guilt. Val and Sven exchanged unamused looks with each other, then looked back to the Irion, who was now preening a front claw.

"Well, thank you, then. We are in fact looking for the ghost to see if there's something we could do about it," Elfric nodded. "Then this is the path we will continue down after all. We are quite capable as fighters, so you need not worry about us."

"Ahhh, a band of merry troopers, how delightful!" the Irion clapped his clawed hands together. "Normally the travelers through here are scared out of their wit's ends. It is rare to see such brave warriors in this day and age. Well then! i wish you safety and luck, but I believe you will be fine. Ta-ta~" the great Irion yawned, before closing his eyes to take a nap. The guild stared at him briefly, a feeling of unease over them all, but still, they carried on down the left path as agreed upon.

An hour passed, and the group reached the dead end. No sighting of a ghost anywhere and twilight had set in.

"This is fucking great. That birdbrain lied. It was clearly down the other path this entire time!" Sven yelled in frustration. Everyone was tired from walking and the air was growing foggy and cold.

"Unfortunately, it's getting too dark. There'll be no moon tonight, and we didn't bring torches. We'll go back and mark the other path as the one we'll need to take another day. For now, let's hurry back and get out of these woods," Elfric proclaimed. Teba and Asch nodded hurriedly. They didn't like how spooky this place was, especially since the Irion told them before it was cursed.

The group arrived back to the crypts and tombs where they had met the Irion, but now the large bird was no longer there. Hanji marked the alternate path using stones and organizing them in a specific pattern. A chill suddenly ran up Haluk's spine. He nickered uncomfortably.

"Haluk, you alright?" Hanji asked. The Neela looked around anxiously, fidgeting in place as he did so. Suddenly a floating axe appeared at the side of Haluk, the blade meeting his neck. The axe began to wind back. "HALUK, DUCK DOWN!" Hanji yelled, and the Neela quickly reacted in time as the axe swiped sideways through the air. The wielder of the axe appeared corporeal now, cackling darkly. It was a ghostly dungarde. It wore purple armor, and its singular eye glowed red and yellow. And unlike the Skellington family's dungarde, this one was far less interested in being friends.

The guild spread out in their positions, each taking turns to strike at the dungarde. Though they were scared, Teba and Asch parried the dungarde's axe many times, allowing Elfric, Sven and Valtam to strike close. Haluk and Hanji remained back a distance, with Hanji firing arrows with her Scavenged Bow. Soon, the dungarde felt itself overwhelmed, and with one last sword slash from Elfric wielding his Oracles Short Sword, the dungarde cried out before drifting to the ground slowly, finally collapsing.

However, the ghostly entity within it escaped the body and disappeared into the breeze. All that was left behind physically was a skull and its axe, dull, chipped and lifeless.

"What the actual fuck...all that and it isn't truly gone? It'll probably go inhabit something else and start the process all over!" Teba shuddered nervously. Asch clung to him shaking. They were ready to get out of there, fearful of another ghostly axe coming out of nowhere to swing at them. A branch cracked somewhere nearby, sending Teba and Asch cowering up into a large dead tree.

"Well, well, well! Fancy meeting you all again! Did you find the ghost?" the dark Irion from before stepped out from the shadows, beaming proudly. "Ahh it would seem you did. Very admirable effort," he walked over to the remains to examine them. Valtam and Sven looked ready to kill again.

"You son of a bitch, you sent us down the wrong path, and wasted our time," Sven bit out. He moved forward ready to strike the bird down, but Val stopped him with his hoof. But the look on the ram's face was clearly just as murderous.

"I would beg to differ. The Dungarde only appears at night. You would have wasted your time regardless. Anyways, I must thank you. This beast was annoying to listen to every night, moaning and groaning about. And I now have another glorious skull for my collection," the griffin completely ignored the two intent on slaying him, as he picked up the skull remains and played with it in his palm. He looked back to the group as he held the skull in his palm, using his clawed fingers to move the jaw up and down, as if the skull were talking.

"You were fucking with us this whole time. All that talk about feeling awful should anything happen, you clearly didn't care about the people who were murdered out here any time they met up with the Dungarde!" Val spat angrily. Sven was slightly taken aback by his lieutenant swearing.

"And those people are now avenged thanks to your good deed of slaying the beast. I'd have done it myself, but I simply never had the time," he crowed.

"If Teba's right though, that ghoul is still out there, probably inhabitating a new host as we speak,” Hanji said flatly.

“Well, I’m sure it will keep you busy, and hopefully out of my woods.”

“You were expecting us to get killed weren’t you. You knew what this ghost was the entire time!” Teba shouted from the tree he cowered in. The branch holding Asch broke and he fell to the ground with a shriek. Elfric rubbed his face and sighed; he'd had enough. He stepped forward, weapon drawn and pointed it at the Irion.

“I take back my appreciation from earlier. Haluk nearly died because you failed to tell us it was a Dungarde specifically,” the wolf sternly growled. The Irion smugly raised his head, put down the skull he was holding and placed a clawed foot on top of Elfric’s weapon.

“You said you were capable, so there was nothing to tell. You came in here looking for a monster and you got it. Now, get out of my woods,” the Irion hissed. Elfric was about to protest but noticed something about the Irion pressing on the weapon. It barely moved when he placed the clawed foot down on it. Realization crossed Elfric’s mind, and he smirked as he withdrew his weapon.

“You know, you’re right. With all due respect, we will leave your woods. But first, I’d like to give you something, a token of appreciation so that you may stay safe should the Dungarde return. Asch, bring me your machete.”

Everyone looked bewildered at Elfric. He was giving away one of their weapons?! Asch shrugged and complied, handing over his Forj Tempered Machete to his commander. The commander thanked him and held it out to the Irion to take.

“An admirable leader...I must say, you are quite the strange bunc--OWWW!!”

The Irion screamed as he touched the hilt of the machete, dropping it as if it had burned him. He looked at his hand in disbelief. He had been burned. He glared angrily at the guild.

“As I figured,” it was Elfric's turn to smile smugly. “No wonder you couldn’t deal with the Dungarde yourself as you so claim you could have. You have no pure strength of your own, so you relied on us to do your dirty work.” He picked the machete up and held it out to the Celinox. “Asch, please take your machete.”

Asch grabbed the sword at the hilt, just as the Irion had, but nothing happened. The cat wasn't being burned. The Irion glared in disbelief, and looked to Hanji for an explanation.

“This particular machete is ranked Tier 5. Only those ranked Tier 5 or above in strength can wield its power without the user being burned by it. Those the machete does not deem worthy will burn the one who grabbed it, making it impossible for them to wield,” she explained.

“You pressed your forefoot on my blade, and it barely shifted. That’s how I could tell you lack any true power,” Elfric remarked. “You may have tried to make fools of us, but I believe I’ve made you appear the bigger fool.”

The Irion glared darkly at Elfric. He didn’t speak right away, and when he did, it was a coarse whisper.

“Get out of MY woods, and never come back.”

And with that, Elfric led his guild away, tail high in the air with pride. Asch lagged behind, eyeing the Irion. The bird was back to glaring at his burned palm, twitching with irritation.

“Hey...” Asch started but the Irion did not look at him. “You know, we all have to start somewhere. While what you did was mean, I think my commander went a little too far too. Here, take this healing potion, it will make the burn go away.” The Irion ignored him and kept staring at his palm. Asch placed the potion on the ground and sighed.

“These woods...they must be very lonely. It’s cold and empty. That fort you mentioned earlier when we first met, that’s actually where we reside. You must know a lot of stories about this area. Elfric’s tough, but he’s helped me get stronger. I think you should join us, if you want,” the big cat offered. The Irion turned his cold gaze to Asch.

“Your friends are leaving you behind. Catch up with them,” the Irion sneered, his ears pinned back. Asch looked behind him and saw the group trailing further away. He began to leave but paused. He turned his head back. “What’s your name? You never shared it.”

“...Stryker.”

Asch smiled. “You know where to find us.” The cat left to catch up with his guildmates, leaving Stryker alone at last in his woods.

It was a week later, when Stryker showed up to the fort. Asch welcomed him into the guild with open arms, but the others regarded the bird coldly still. Likewise, Stryker focused only on himself and ignored everyone around him, including Asch. During training, Stryker was the laziest and put in the minimalistic effort possible. And when he got frustrated, he'd leave to sulk. He never said 'thank you' or 'pardon me'. He ate his meals alone. Elfric did not know if this was going to continue to work out if Stryker would not meet him halfway.

Asch wanted Stryker to fit in though, and decided to make the Irion feel more at home by building him a little den outside the fort walls. Stryker had been sleeping out in the direct cold nightly, refusing to go inside when Asch asked him to. Even when it rained, the bird was simply too proud to accept the offer.

Asch got to work though, and took inspiration from the crypts they had seen in the woods that night. He carved out the dirt from the hillside and found large flat rocks to crudely make a cave-like structure.

"What's this for?" Stryker finally asked when he could no longer ignore the Celinox's efforts.

"It's for you! You can sleep inside it at night to stay out of the rain, or you can sleep perched on top of it," Asch happily explained. It had been hard work, but he hoped the Irion would accept it. Stryker patted the top stone and cooed approvingly. It would suffice, he guessed.

Storms rolled in that very night by chance. Rain blew in varying directions, sometimes inside Stryker's new den, much to his chargrin, but he did not complain. He curled in on himself tighter, trying to go back to sleep and ignore the banging of the loose shutter on the fort window above him. Suddenly, the wind whipped through hard, and the loose shutter broke off, striking the top of Stryker's den with such force, the top rock collapsed onto Stryker. He could not lift the heavy rock off his now crushed and broken wings. He cried out pitifully, the storm's howling winds drowned him out.

Except, Haluk, across the way in the stable with Valtam, heard something and popped his head up suddenly. The ram opened a sleepy eye and looked at the alert Neela.
“I heard something cry out from outside,” the Neela explained.
“Probably just the wind,” Val yawned before closing his eyes again.
“I’m going to go investigate. It didn’t sound like the wind,” the Neela rose and stepped out to locate where the sound had come from. Outside, he saw the trouble Stryker was in and called back to Valtam. The commotion woke the others from inside the fort.

“Help me..” Stryker croaked out softly when they gathered around him. It was the first time any of them had seen honest fear in his eyes.

Asch tried to lift the rock up first but to no avail. Val pushed against it alongside him, trying to give him leverage, while Elfric tried to push the rock off to the side. Soon everyone had pitched in; the brothers dug in front of Stryker to try and give him a way to drag himself out from under the rock.

"Haluk, help Elfric out," Hanji directed and the Neela threw everything he had in him to help get the rock pushed off to the side. "Don't worry, we'll get you out soon," she reassured Stryker. Soon, he was freed. The group walked him inside the fort and Hanji lit candles. She then examined Stryker's wings.

"Crushed and broken pretty badly...but with proper rest and care, you should be able to fly again," she assessed.
"I do not fly anyways," Stryker scoffed. But as he said it, his voice wavered. The incident had shaken him to his core. He looked down to the floor.

"If...Haluk had not heard me, I don't think I would have been alive in the morning. So, thank you. I guess," Stryker rushed in that last part, but Asch smiled regardless. It was a start.

Sure enough, things had changed for the better. Stryker was still smug, still snarky, but it was more playful than being mean. Despite the injuries, and Hanji's insistence that he rest, Stryker began to put more effort into training. Asch, who was a bit stronger than Stryker, offered to practice sparring, and Stryker agreed to it. The Irion began to open up, and tell stories of the region, the history of the land and the royal family that once resided.

“Just how old are you birdbrain?” Sven once asked during a supper. Stryker had been telling them a story about the incredible horses the royal family had utilized.
“Who knows,” was all he said mockingly and shrugged.