Julian Ravage

Julian Ravage

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I Won a Short Story Contest!

[Jul. 9th, 2009|07:50 pm]

[

mood

bouncy

]

I entered a short story contest on one of my favorite forums, Halforum (http://www.halforum.com). In the contest you can write any short story and you would win all the graphic novels to my favorite Web comic "Order of the Stick." (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0668.html)
So I put a story together and sent it in.

Little did I know that I WON!!!

I will now be getting all the graphic novels to the Order of the Stick as my prize!

Below is the winning short story.

The Lich and the Ruby

Roy wiped the sweat off his brow. His lungs hurt and body ached. He had been practicing all day and it was wearing him down. The sky swirled in darkness as he ran through his moves and strikes once more. Roy’s body moved into a thrusting stance and his heel slipped on a loose stone. He caught himself and nearly dropped his sword. Curses poured from his mouth. Time was not being kind to him and he could feel it with every passing day.
There was a glint of light in the distance. Roy squinted and could see a lone figure running toward him from the distance. Red lighting flashed and lit up the sky. Elan crossed the distance in minutes. He fell to his knees when he reached Roy, trying to catch his breath. Roy helped his friend up and tried to keep the concern from his eyes. Elan looked like a shell of a man. His eyes were sunken in, face scarred and hair had turned a ghostly white.
“No goblins. No soldiers. There is nothing in the valley. Xykon is just standing right in the middle like a statue.” Elan huffed.
“He is waiting for us?” Roy took out his canteen and passed it to Elan.
“I don’t know.” Elan took a gulp of water. “I don’t know anything anymore.”
“We will do this. We will stop this.” Roy tried to sound positive.
“Does it matter? Xykon already won.”
“When Durkon gets back, we will rest and strike tomorrow.”
Elan pushed white hair away from his face. He wanted tears to roll down his face once more like a waterfall during spring time. But the rivers of love which flowed through him dried up a long time ago. He laid down on his sleeping bag and tried to gain some rest for the worthless battle ahead of him.

***

Belkar fiddled with a ruby as the group tried to make sense of the current plan. The rest of the group huddled around a large oak table with a map pinned to it. Elan tried to pick up one of the little metal pieces but Roy smacked the back of his hand. Elan put it back down with a sad look.
“It doesn’t make sense Roy. Why would Xykon push his forces pass the Hellfire Volcano? Either he is going to split his forces to attack two different cities or he is trying to confuse us.” Haley reasoned.
“Aye, the lass is right. Xykon knows we have a large enough army to push him back.” Durkon took a swig of mead.
“He hasn’t moved in two days. I think he is preparing. If we attack in the morning, we might upset his plans. If we can cover both routes, we can push his goblins back into the volcano.”
Elan took Haley’s hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. “Roy, do you feel it’s going to work?”
Roy looked into Elan’s eyes and nodded.
Elan smiled. “Then I’m in!”

Images swirled into chaos. Darkness and red splashed onto Elan’s face as he opened his eyes into a nightmare. Haley was letting loose arrow after arrow into the horde. Durkon’s hammer smashed goblin skull after goblin skull. Roy was a mad man in battle, his sword slicing through monsters like water. Belkar was no where to be seen. Elan ducked and dodged incoming blades and arrows. He moved like a dancer through the enemy. His blade taking down every creature that stood too close. Despite all their skills, the battle was going badly.
Roy shouted to Haley. She nodded and reached for a red arrow from her quiver. Elan kept moving. Like a whirlwind, he drove back any creature close to Haley. The battle grew more intense as Xykon moved through his ranks. His power had grown to such a degree once he channeled the Snarl. Red lighting flashed with every step he took and the ground shook like the earth would fly apart at any moment.
Haley aimed at Xykon. It was easy, his body crackled with red energy. His undead body was generating so much heat, monsters would burst into flames if they stood too close. Time seemed to slow down just for this one point.
The red arrow Haley aimed was fused from fallen god blood. Should it strike another god, the explosion would be enough to destroy everything for a hundred miles in every direction. They all knew going in, this would mean the end of them but it was sacrifice most of them would make.
Haley’s muscles tensed. Her hand started to bleed from holding the arrow back. Roy, Elan and Durkon stood their ground with thousands of soldiers who volunteered. Their bodies acted like a wall against the horde of creatures trying to kill one woman with an arrow that slays gods.
Haley let out a breath and let the arrow fly. It darted across the sky. Elan slashed a goblin and as the creature’s body fell, Elan could see a red streak across the sky as the arrow reached Xykon. He smiled as the arrow struck home and exploded. Elan’s body relaxed. He stared at Haley and for a moment waited for the explosion to take their lives.

The explosion never came.

Elan looked and stared in horror as Xykon held the energy in a pillar of darkness. The explosion flowed like a river and shot skyward. There was a bright flash. Elan shielded his eyes. Xykon laughed and his energy started to glow and strike in all directions. Soldiers were thrown like rag dolls. Roy stood steadfast as an energy bolt struck him. His body didn’t even shake but blood poured down his arm.
Elan tried to fight through the melee to get to Haley. They had to get out of there. They had to retreat. Xykon was going to kill them all. Haley had her jaw clenched as she started to swing arrows out of her quiver and let them loose.
“Haley!” Elan shouted.
Xykon took notice and turned his glowing red eyes on Haley. His skeletal hands opened and energy began to pour. The volcano behind Xykon began to rumble and a torrent of lava shot up into the sky.
“NO!” Elan screamed.
The lava swirled like a living serpent in the sky. The end formed into a dragon head and pointed its gaze at Haley. It streamed down in a blink of an eye. Xykon continued to laugh as the sky filled with molten lava. A large shard of lava fell from the sky toward Haley. Her eyes turned to Elan. Elan could see fear grip her. He tried to push toward her. A goblin hammer glanced off his head. Élan went into a spin and hit the ground. A kobold jumped on the fallen Elan and started stabbing at his face and neck. A fist wrapped around the creature’s neck and broke it with a squeeze. Elan looked up and saw Haley on the ground, with Belkar lying next to her. His body was steaming and burnt. Durkon threw the dead kobold away and helped Elan up.
“I cannea` believe it! Belkar saved Haley. He knocked her out of the way before the lava hit her!”
Elan ran to Haley. She wrapped her arms around him as he helped her up. They both turned to Belkar as he lay on the ground smoking. When they drew close they could see he was missing an arm and his body was badly burned.
Balkar coughed. “I made a ..…..” his eyes rolled into his head. His hand opened up and a small ruby rolled out.
“Durkon! Can you bring him back?” yelled Haley.
Before anyone could make a move, there was a flash and Xykon stood before them. Energy spilled from his body as his undead form stared at Haley.
“You all do make me laugh.”
Xykon reached forward and touched Haley. She never even had a chance to scream. Color drained from her body. Her eyes and hair turned white as she fell to the ground lifeless.
Xykon laughed and heard a crunch. Elan had stabbed his sword into the lich and was twisting the blade. Xykon back handed Elan with such force, his body went airborne. Everything turned into images. Horrible laughter, Roy yelling, taste of blood, shards of lava falling from the sky, something glowing in his hand and a terrible voice yelling into the darken sky.
“Her soul belongs to me! You will never see it again. Not in this life or the next!”

***

Elan woke with a start. His hands went to his eyes but still the tears would not come. Eleven years had passed since that battle where Xykon took Haley away. Eleven years of searching and fighting. Eleven years of wanting to die but could not because he knew in heaven he would not be reunited with his dear Haley.
Roy and Durkon had just woken and they all looked at each other.
“Let’s go.” whispered Roy.

The valley was silent as Xykon stood still as a statue. Energy flowed off his skeletal form and his glowing eyes never moved. Two men and a dwarf slowly approached from three different sides to make a triangle around the lich. The sky swirled with purple and red clouds. The valley was silent like a tomb.
The three paused as they felt something intrude into their minds.
“The last few cities will fall. I control the power of the Snarl and yet you three still think you can stop me.”
“We have gained enough power over the years to take you on.” Roy growled.
Xykon tilted his lich head. “Hero’s and their souls are soon parted.”
The lich’s robes bellowed in the sudden wind. His hands rose up and energy began rise like smoke from bone and withered skin.
“You have no idea why I am here in this valley?”
“It doesn’t matter. We end it here.” Elan could hear a voice in his mind. Quickly it gave him instructions.
Xykon gave a quick snort. “In this very valley two armies of mages, wizards, warlocks and witches fought a titanic battle. Their energies poisoned the entire valley. Nothing grows, life does not belong here. I will raise their bones to make the perfect army under my control….”
Roy and Durkon darted toward Xykon. Roy’s sword punctured and shattered a few ribs of the lich. Durkon smashed his hammer into the glowing skull.

Xykon didn’t move from either blow. “..An army of lich’s!”

A wave of energy exploded from Xykon and flashed across the valley. Roy drew his sword and went to drive the blade down. Xykon caught the blade in his skeletal hand. Roy struggled to draw the blade back. The lich’s boney hands sharpened into points and drove them into Roy’s face. The lich could see Roy die, his soul slowly floating out of his body. The lich drew back and let Roy fall to the ground. Roy’s soul hovered and then a force of energy slammed the soul back into his fallen body. Roy opened his eyes. He was healed and already getting to his feet.
Xykon turn to Durkon. “Nice trick. How many times can you do that?”
Durkon smiled. “As many times as I need to.”
The dwarf came at the lich. Red lightning bolts arced from Xykon’s hands, striking Durkon’s holy aura. The ground rumbled and shook. Skeletal hands burst from the black earth. The area flashed with energies as Durkon and Xykon went blow for blow. Roy ran forward but lichs began to crowd around with their glowing eyes and grasping boney hands. Roy’s sword struck true with every swing but they were surrounded.
With a glowing fist, Xykon punched Durkon’s holy aura four times. The fourth time, the aura shattered. Durkon went flying into the earth. Lich’s piled onto the cleric. Their power so strong and evil so great, Durkon screamed as he was ripped to pieces. In a flash of a moment only the insane could see, Odin swooped down and took home one of his own.
Roy continued to fight. His eye’s looked around wildly. Xykon was slowly walking over to Elan. The bard stood his ground. He had not made a move during the entire battle. His gaze never left the ground.
“If you wish for me to take your soul, I will.” Xykon chuckled. “Your soul will be imprisoned with the billion other souls in my body. You can reunite with Haley. I will keep both of you as slaves in new bodies when my work here is done. Just say yes and you will be with your beloved.”
Elan stared at the lich for a moment. “No. Haley will be coming with me!”
Elan’s hand opened and a small red ruby fell to the ground and shattered. A blast of hot sulfur exploded across the valley. A hole opened up where the ruby fell. Elan slowly backed away with a jaunt as it grew wider. Xykon moved back and peered into the darkness. From the side, small hands emerged and pulled themselves up. Xykon stood motionless as he saw the Halfling Belkar climb up and stood at the edge of the pit.
“Is it true? You made a deal?” Elan said softly
“I made a deal with three demons. When I died I would be Hell’s avatar. I have the power of every evil warrior that ever existed, boiling in my body itching for a fight.”
“Why would Hell need an avatar?” Xykon grinned.
It was Belkar’s turn to laugh. “Because your holding onto many souls that belong in Hell. The higher ups want them where they belong.”
Pain ripped through Belkars tiny form as he fell forward. Muscles began to grow and twist. Everything about him grew larger as he growled and pulsed. Xykon took a step back as Belkar’s form grew bigger and bigger. Tusks jutted out of his mouth and his blood shot eyes stared down at Xykon.
“Plus, I need to get my friend out of your decaying ass.”
Belkar roared as his hulking form charged Xykon. Red energy blasted at Belkar but it didn’t even slow him down. With fist clenched, Belkar pulled back and punched Xykon. The lich’s body soared into the sky and landed five hundred feet away into a cloud of dust.
The army of lich’s swarmed Belkar. Bones shattered and skulls went flying as Belkar roared and destroyed each undead with one massive punch after another. Lighting bolts blasted at Hell’s new avatar but nothing slowed him down. Belkar had become a force of nature with Hell’s backing.
Xykon emerged from the cloud with raised hands. Red energy streaked forward. Belkar turned to Xykon and matched his energy with his own. Xykon channeled the Snarl as Belkar channeled Hell. The streams of power were causing the area to rip apart. Roy tried to back off but lich’s started to swarm over him.
Calmness passed over Roy as he looked over the battle field. He could feel the lich’s sapping his strength. He knew he wouldn’t get out of here. He looked over and could still see Elan standing in the middle of the fray, doing nothing. A tear rolled down Roy’s cheek as he used the last of his strength and heaved his sword into the air. It landed next to Elan’s feet with a sharp thud.
“See you in the next life, Elan!” Roy yelled as his broke his amulet holding a drop of god’s blood.
A drop of god’s blood was enough to destroy a smaller area then an arrow covered in it. Élan was knocked to the ground as the explosion ripped apart the area, blasting half of the lich army to dust.
Belkar pushed forward as did Xykon, their energies wrecking havoc to everything close by. As they drew closer, the power between them grew more intense.
“You will not stop me, Halfling! My power is that of a god!” screamed Xykon.
Belkar pushed forward till he was on top of the lich, their power destroying everything around them. Hell infused all of its power into the monster Halfling as he was inches from the undead god.
“You forget………I AM THE SEXY SHOELESS GOD OF WAR!” Belkar roared.
Belkar drew back both his fists. He clamped them together and swung them with such force, the ground shook for a thousand miles. When they struck Xykon, Belkar not only punched through his form, but his very being in this universe. The lich shattered in an explosion of dust and bones. The resulting energy flew in every direction. Xykon’s skull flew through the air and in one last effort pulled the energy together and aimed it back at Belkar in the form of a lance. It struck Belkar’s being and ripped it into nothingness.
What was left of the lich army, fell to the blacken ground and the valley was once again still as a tomb. Xykon’s skull laughed as it lay on the ground.
“Even with your best, I still live! My body will grow back. This world will be mine!” Then Xykon heard a scarping noise.
Elan slowly moved toward the fallen lich, dragging Roy’s blade in the rocky ground. His eyes fixed on what was left of Xykon.
“Pitiful.” Xykon laughed.
Elan smiled. “The Snarl has left you.”
“I will draw its power back to me with time. You still cannot destroy me. I will re-grow my body and continue. I have all the time in the world.”
“No, you don’t.”
Elan stood over the skull and gazed at it for a moment.
“Roy’s sword is an undead slayer. It destroys any undead which come in contact with it.”
Xykon was silent.
“Without the Snarl to make you a god, you are just another piece of undead garbage.” Elan lifted up the sword.
“I will give you anything.” Xykon said flatly.
“Give me Haley!”
Elan brought the sword down and sliced Xykon’s skull in two. There was no flash, no explosion. The pieces fell side to side and silence. Elan fell to his knees and looked down. Light began to glow from the last two pieces of Xykon. Tiny orbs of light began to rise up and float into the sky. Elan looked in wonder as millions of tiny lights rose up into the darken sky. There was a flash of an image, a beautiful image of Haley as she stood there with a smile on her face.
Happiness flooded Elan’s mind, body and soul. He smiled as he looked up at the pillar of lights ascending into the sky. His body had taken so much damage from pain and anguish his heart couldn’t take it anymore. It stopped beating and Elan died as he looked up into the sky, with tears in his eyes.

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