Legends of Rylom: Prologue

[Kyle MaJoi]

Prologue

The Legend Begins

    The piercing sounds of clashing weapons and cannon fire raged on as the very battlefield was blanketed in flames. It was night, and the battle was taking place at a what was once a wealthy village known as Lightheart. It was once a place of great history and peace, where philosophers and artists gathered to make prophet of their skills in the rich community that once inhabited the town. Lightheart was complete with brick cottages and busy shops, cobblestone roads, and fancy streetlights with strange orange lights illuminated from within them. But now, the streets were littered with rubble and the lifeless bodies of villagers and warriors, and the buildings were heavily damaged and burning into ashes.
A makeshift army of villagers and armored warriors, wielding swords, axes, pitchforks, and flintlock rifles, tried their fullest to push back the enemy. But as the casualties continued to skyrocket for them, the outcome of this battle was looking grim. Fully armored knights wearing crimson armor mercilessly slaughtered the villagers and warriors who stood in their way as they slowly advanced through the battlefield. Leading this ferocious army was a lean, tan and white furred coyote, who observed the battle from atop a burning cottage. He wore a black vest with fancy, swirly designs as well as black pants, a crimson shirt beneath his vest, a golden piece of armor on his left shoulder, and a crimson cape that fluttered in the wind, giving the coyote a feeling of dominance and intimidation towards the opposing army. On both the back of his cape and on his vest, a golden symbol of two claymores crossing a wyvern with a small oval over it’s head. Although his eyes had an almost ‘sad’ expression, he bore a charming grin and the hair on his head was fancy and curled. The coyote wielded a long red pole with a spiked, golden mace at the end of it.
“Sir, we’ve successfully pushed the opposing forces back!” A crimson knight called up to the coyote, as the remaining opposing forces began to flee to the opposite direction of the town. Making a pleasant grin, the coyote then leaped from where he stood and gracefully landed on the ground. “That was fast.” He said with a chuckle, dusting his clothes with his paws and adjusting his curly hair, “You deal with the rest of this scum ridden town, but the stone is mine.”

[Kyle MaJoi]

With a nod, knight turned and shouted the coyote’s orders to the rest of the knights, in which they began to chase after the remaining farmers and warriors, pillaging what was left in the town as they did so. While his soldiers did that, the coyote casually made his way through the destroyed streets of the burning town, humming a catchy tune. Eventually, he made his way to the center of town, where a large, beautiful cathedral like building stood untouched from the bloody battle. At the front doors of the great building, four canines stood, wearing iron armor and wielding swords.
“This is as far as you go, General Lloyd!” a brown canine snarled, pointing his sword at the coyote, “We’ll never let you take Lightheart away from us!”
“That’s odd,” Lloyd said with an amused smile, rubbing his chin, “You said that, and yet my forces have utterly crushed your forces and brought ruin to the town of Lightheart. If anything, we’ve conquered this land.” With a growl, the warriors charged at Lloyd, their swords aimed at his gut. With a sigh of annoyance, a wave of orange energy went through his pole and the mace lit on fire. He then gave a powerful swing with his pole that sent a wave of scorching flames towards the warriors, blasting them all straight through the main entrance of the building they were guarding. Spinning his pole with one hand before resting it on his shoulder, Lloyd then proceeded to enter the building.
    The interior of the building was made up of a large atrium with a beautiful floor made of various colored tiles and chandeliers that hung orderly on the ceiling, with glowing blue orbs within them. Although Lloyd couldn’t help but marvel the magnificent architecture, he wasted no time as the coyote then began to climb the numerous flights of stairs till he reached to top floor. The top floor of the building had a dome roof made complete of glass and the floor was made of dark blue and yellow tiles, with the yellow tiles shaped as a crescent moon while the blue tiles were the same color as the night sky. In the center of the room, a dark blue, metallic bolder sat. the bolder appeared to be faintly glittering as the night sky gave it an almost mystical and supernatural feeling.
    “Ah, the Treasure of the Crescent Moon.” Lloyd said in a almost poetic tone, “What a sight to behold.” Lloyd then walked to the bolder, pulling out a strange amulet with what looked to be a clear, crystal orb logged in it.
    “Although I must say, anything made of Lunastone, one of the hardest materials in all of Rylom, holds great beauty, the true beauty I seek can only be found from within.” With that, the coyote held the amulet up the the bolder of pure Lunastone. Suddenly, the crystal orb in the amulet began to glow white as it shot a beam at the bolder, causing a ring of white energy to form on it, revealing the inside of the bolder. The inside of it was blanketed in dark blue crystals that emitted a faint glow. However, there was something else in the boulder that slowly, almost ominously, hovered through the ring and up to Lloyd’s head level. It was an smooth, oval shaped crystal, about the size of an apple, that emitted an aura of blue and purple energy, as well as ribbons of purple cosmic energy. The crystal itself looked as if it contained a miniature universe, with flows of blue and purple energy looking like the very cosmos and small sparkles looking like stars.
    “Behold… the very essence of the gods, the Primordial Stone!” Lloyd spoke to himself out loud, both his body and mind shivering with anticipation from the presence of the crystal, “It’s beauty is far beyond what I’d ever imagined. And now… it’s mine!”
    As the coyote slowly reached over to grab the Primordial Stone, with a wide and prideful grin on his face, something swooped by with great speed past him, causing him to flinch with surprise. When he looked over, his eyes widened as he saw that the Primordial Stone had vanished.
    “Looking for this?” A teasing voice called to him from behind. Recognizing the voice, Lloyd turned his body casually and looked where the voice came from.
    “Well well, if it isn’t the famed and glorious hero of Rylom,” Lloyd said to the person before him with a smile, “Kiru MaJoi.”
    Leaning against the wall near the stairwell with a playful aura, stood a green and gray furred individual who looked slightly younger than Lloyd. He shared the traits of both a cat and a lemur, with a long, green and gray striped tail, pointy striped ears, and gray fur covering his arms, hands, chest, and feet. Wearing no shirt, some of Kiru’s scars were visible on his lean but muscular chest and he wore brown baggy shorts and brown fingerless gloves. His belt had two sword sheaths and a glowing green gemstone on it and he had numerous beads on his wrists and around his neck. His eyes were blue and the wavy tattoos that covered his right arm were also blue. On his right shoulder sat a gray, reptilian, bat like creature with wings on it’s arms and a claw with three fingers at the end of it’s long tail.
    “Didn’t mean to ruin your little moment, but didn’t your mother teach you that stealing from others was wrong?” The cat/lemur taunted with a playful grin, holding the crystal in his left hand, “Oh that’s right, she must have given you everything you wanted, being the pampered brat you are and all.”
    “I’d watch your tongue if I were you, boy.” Lloyd said coldly, staring at Kiru directly into his bright and lively eyes, “As the general of the first division of the Crimson Union, I was tasked to retrieve this. Now, hand it over, before i’ll have to stain my clothes with your blood.”
    The tip of Lloyd’s pole lit on fire, adding tension to his statement. However, Kiru simple made a whistle and said with a grin, standing up straight, “Getting hot headed aren't we? Well I was hoping that we could come to a peaceful negotiation but if you wanna fight it out,”
    Kiru then unsheathed his two short swords and spun them, causing them then glow with a green aura as wind began to build up around them, “I’ll be more than happy to whoop your spoiled-rotten ass!”
    “Well see about that, boy.” With that, Lloyd shot a ball of fire straight at Kiru. With quick reflexes though, the cat/lemur gave his pet the crystal, saying “Coco! Bring this back to Alia!”.  With a squawk, Coco grabbed the Primordial Stone with the claw on it’s tail and quickly flew down to the bottom floor of the building and out the main exit. Kiru then swiftly tumbled out of the way of the fireball, which exploded in a mass of flames that blew the wall to pieces, showing a higher view of the demolished town. Kiru then dashed towards Lloyd with deliver a quick slash, but the coyote was able to block it with his pole as he then tried to hit him on the side. However, Kiru was able to quickly duck to the ground, letting the fiery pole sweep over him. When Lloyd then tried to stomp on his gut, Kiru dodged it by performing a flashy process of standing on his hands and spinning his legs, giving the coyote a good kick to the cheek. Snarling, Lloyd then performing a series of slow but powerful swings with his flaming pole, but Kiru swiftly dodged all of them with acrobatic moves and blocks with his swords. Jumping back, Kiru spun around as he began to create a small tornado around himself, as he then shot it at Lloyd. But when the coyote rolled out of the mini tornado’s way, Kiru dashed straight towards him with both of his swords to his sides. Lloyd was able to block this incoming attack with his pole as he then gave Kiru a strong headbutt, causing the cat/lemur to roll back.
    “I was just going easy on you, pops.” Kiru taunted with a smile, panting heavily, “I gotta say, your attacks are as slow as a snail trying to go to the restroom!”
    With a growl, the fire on Lloyd’s pole began to glow brighter as he then pointed it straight at Kiru. A ring of fire then began to form around the tip of it as a small ball of file was formed at to tip of it.
    “Let’s see how you manage with this, my friend.”

*****

    Flying over the town and into the forest north of it, Coco came to a small cottage that was located in a small clearing of grass. Behind the cottage, a female in a beautiful white dress was kneeling on the soil, praying to the moon. She had no fur, but instead had smooth, blue skin, as well as three short tendrils coming from the back of her head and three tails. Yellow markings covered her body that looked to be glowing. She had three eyes that had light pink pupils and had a short, stubby snout like Kiru’s.
As she prayed, she heard the flapping of Coco near by and stood up, as a sigh of relief escaped her mouth from seeing that the bat creature had brought the crystal with it.
“You got it!” She said as Coco lowered it to her, gently dropping it into her hands. The Primordial Stone was surprisingly heavy despite it’s size, and it faintly vibrated in her hands. As she stared at it, her face turned into worry as she then asked frantically, “W-where’s Kiru?”
Suddenly, the very ground shook as a great ball of fire blasted from the building the crystal came from and into the night sky. It then exploded in a massive blast of scorching flame and blinding light, filling the night sky with fire. As she and Coco stared in horror, a tear ran from her eye and she began to whimper in terror.
“Kiru…”

*****

With a stroke of luck, Kiru was able to dodge the monstrous projectile by jumping onto the glass roof.
“Man, that was close!” The cat/lemur said in a more serious tone, wiping the sweat from his forehead. A yelp of pain escaped his mouth when Lloyd shot a smaller fireball through the glass roof, which skidded past Kiru’s left arm and left a burn mark. When the coyote began shooting more fireballs, Kiru began frantically dodging them, eventually causing the glass roof to collapse into pieces. While Lloyd had to shield himself from the class with his cape, Kiru was able to land swiftly on his feet and dashed towards the coyote. With a fierce growl, Kiru performed a flip kick that slammed into Lloyd’s chin with great force. However, the attack had also created a powerful pillar of rapid winds under Lloyd’s feet, which, plus for force of Kiru’s kick, sent the coyote sailing into the air.
Damnit! This fight has been dragging on too long, the cat/lemur thought to himself with a serious expression, his body aching in both pain and exhaustion, This loser’s goons could be heading straight to Alia right now to get the Primordial Stone! I gotta wrap this up!
As Lloyd soared higher into the air, he coughed up blood that stained his expensive clothes. His jaw throbbed with pain and his hair was all messed up.
“YOU MANGY, LOW LIFE SCUM!!!” Lloyd screamed in a fit of rage, coughing up more blood. Even though he’d dropped his weapon, his hands still lit on fire. His cloak also lit on fire as he then snarled, “YOU WILL NOT SEE THE LIGHT OF TOMORROW!!!”
Saying nothing, Kiru held up his right hand as violent winds began to form around it. In a matter of seconds, clouds begin to form in the sky as they began to twirl around in the shape of a vortex. It was almost as if the cat/lemur was creating a hurricane.
“DISAPPEAR!!!” The flames on Lloyd’s hands began to glow violently as the fire on them became larger and stronger as he fell through the sky to Kiru. As this happened, the winds generated by the hurricane began to get absorbed into a small, condensed ball of wind that was being formed in Kiru’s palm. Eventually,  the entire hurricane was absorbed into the ball of wind, which was as small as a peach. Creating a vortex of wind beneath his feet, Kiru shot himself straight up to confront Lloyd at great speeds. As the two got closer, Lloyd’s flames glowed brighter as he then created two spears of fire in both of his hands, thrusting them forward at the cat/lemur. However, with bolting speed, Kiru dodged the fire spears and appeared behind the coyote, giving him a playful wink before unleashing the condensed force of a hurricane against the coyote’s back. The force of the attack was so devastating that it shot Lloyd straight into the building at incredible speeds, causing him the fall through every floor of the building. As Kiru watched as the building Lloyd was slammed into began to crumble and fall to piece, he gave an exhausted sigh of relief as he then created a vortex around him, allowing him to fly in mid air. With his vision going blurry and his body at it’s limit, Kiru turned and made his way back to where his wife and companion waited for him; he was hoping that the technique he performed on Lloyd had finished him once and for all.

*****

Back at the cottage, Alia was kneeling down at the direction of the moon once again, cradling the Primordial Stone in her arms. Her heart was heavy, with the fear of her beloved husband possibly meeting his cruel end in that building. Coco, who was on her shoulder, was also worried about his master and was curled up in a ball. Suddenly, both Alia and Coco heard the noise of winds approaching. Alia’s tails twitched with excitement as she stood up and turned, tears dripping from her eyes as she saw Kiru in the distance. Soon, Kiru had hovered all the way to the field his wife and companion were and collapsed on the grassy earth, exhausted and panting. Alia came dashing to him, with a look of both joy and worry, and Coco quickly flew to his master’s side and rested on his back.
“Kiru! You’re alive!” Alia cried as she kneeled down and hugged his neck lovingly.
“Yeah, i’m still kicking.” Kiru said with a grin, sitting up a little to let his wife embrace him, “I took out their general, but the rest of the crimson knights could be heading up here right now. I suggest we get this ritual going.”
“I know.” Alia said, “I’ll put up a barrier around us just in case they do come. You just rest here, my love.”
“Resting isn’t usually my job, but then again, I just single handedly kicked the living crap outta a Crimson Union general and almost got scorched in the process. I’m babbling off again, aren't I?”
Giggling, Alia nuzzled her nose again his and stood up. Putting her palms together, her eyes began to glow as a white, dome shaped force field that was about twenty feet wide and went around Kiru, Alia, and Coco. After she did that, Alia then walked to the center of the force field she created and held up the Primordial Stone, which began to hover out of her hands. Letting the stone hover, she began to chant something in an unfiltered language as three runes began to form on the ground around her; one was red, the other blue, and the last green. The runes were then connected by a ring of smaller runes that were outlined with a ring of light. As the runes began to slowly float off the ground and hover, Alia began to hover herself till she was head level with the Primordial Stone, which began to glow brightly. As she chanted, streams of blue and purple energy from the crystal began to enter into Alia’s gut.
As this was happening, crimson knights began to surround the force field with large, six legged monsters wearing crimson armor and carried cannons on their backs. Although they began to fire their cannons onto the force field, Kiru and Alia paid little to no attention to them as the ritual continued. The crystal was not beginning to slowly fade away as it’s essences were being absorbed into Alia.
“I can’t believe it.” Kiru said to himself with a smile, lying on his side as he and Coco watched the ritual, “I’m gonna be a father after this.”
Suddenly, as the last of the energy from the Primordial Stone was absorbed into Alia, her eyes blasted with light as she let out a burst of pure light that shattered the protective force field and sent a shock wave of divine energy that sent the crimson knights flying. The shock wave went in all directions as the source of the blast continued to glow with bright, almost divine light.