Eternity

G

Grimoire

Guest
Original poster
As the sun began to set the cold started to creep in. In a matter of minutes the vibrant colors painted across the sky eventually diminished into blanket of pitch black darkness, but the silver moonlight from the full moon was enough to guide one's path. The road was barely noticeable and someone who wasn't familiar of tracking a path would have easily drifted off and gotten lost in the mountain’s forest. It was apparent that people had not walked on this road for years which seemed rather strange to the wanderer. No people, no houses...not even a damn bird was around to fill the air with some familiar noise. The only sound heard was the wanderer's footsteps as they moved in a fast pace across the rock and weed infested road. Puffs of vapor blew out from an empty void where normally a face would be but the lone figure's body was entirely hidden underneath a cloak. It took several hours before the stranger had finally reached the next nearest village which was located at the base of a dark mountain.

The wanderer wasted no time outside in the freezing weather and a pair of eyes quickly spotted a place to make a temporary home. The inn was smaller compared to those in the big cities, but as soon as she stepped inside the warmth within it was good enough to break the icy numbness in the stranger’s body. A hand lifted up so as to bring down the cowl from the cloak and finally exposing the lone figure...an image of a woman.

The woman clearly did not look like she belonged and could easily be singled out as the black sheep in the crowd. Those few who were still up and drinking took a glance at her and then rudely stared at her with both mouths and eyes wide open with sheer awe. She wasn't very tall but perhaps it was the blood red hair, almond shaped eyes outlined with black charcoal, and tanned skin that had caught the people's attention. These were physical traits of exotic foreigners that parents would tell their children in bedtime stories.

The woman was starting to get slightly annoyed by their welcoming reaction and before she could say anything a short plump man beat her to it, "Who are you?" he said with an uneasy tone of voice.

Great, she thought, haven't even taken three steps in and I'm already being interrogated by a…short-round-thing.

"My name is Raja Ali I come from the Far East...and who are you?" she asked with an accent that only a far easterner would have.

The little plump man was surprised that Raja Ali spoke his language but even more that she was as bold to question him being that the red head was the one that was out of place here. "My name is George Morris, this here is my inn and also the local pub," he paused to think for a moment, "The far east? You mean the desert lands? I didn't know such a place really did exist..." The other three men that were sitting at bar with George quietly spoke amongst each other. That was a typical answer she heard since only a few have dared to reach the far eastern lands and those that did never made it back. "Well," Raja sighed in a nonchalant manner as she strode towards the bar where George and three other men were, "it does." They all looked uneasy when Raja Ali took a seat close to them but finally settled down a bit once she ordered a drink.

After taking a couple of sips of her tea Raja Ali spoke up, "All of you looked very surprised when I walked in, don't you have many travelers coming through?"

All four men shot each other glances and George nervously began to wipe an already clean mug that was in his hand, "We haven't seen any people that are not from our town in a very long time," he said with much emphasis in “long.”

“How long?” Raja asked as she took another sip.

Another man with blonde hair answered, "23 years."

Raja Ali's face looked puzzled and the lonely road that she walked for hours on had finally made sense. "How could that be? Is this town haunted or what?" she asked.

A tall man shook his head and said, "Worse...a dragon."

All four them silently stared at Raja Ali while she quietly stared back at them for a minute. None of them were sure of what to say next.

“What kind of dragon is it?” she asked calmly as if the word “dragon” was something normal in her vocabulary...which in fact was.

“What do you mean what kind? What other kind are there? And how would you know what other kind there are?” the last of the four men spoke which was the youngest and looked a lot like the son of the tall one.

Raja Ali wasn’t in the mood to answer the latter question so she turned away from him and focused on George, “What color is the dragon?” she figured that would be a lot easier for him to handle.

George swallowed a large gulp of air and small beads of sweat began to form on his forehead which he brashly wiped off with the same rag he used to clean his mugs, “Red…a large red beast of a dragon!" he shuttered.

Raja Ali's jaw clenched as soon as she heard the word “red." Red dragons are one of the largest of their kind and wielded one of the most powerful of the elements…fire.

The young man spoke up again, “The dragon terrorizes our town once a month…it’s obsessed with…”

Raja cut him off, “Treasure: gems, gold, precious stones. Anything of high value and rarity it wants.”

All four of the men nodded and quietly said with much awe as if she were a sorceress who could read minds, “Yessss!” and nodded their heads.

A deep voice came forth from the tall one, “There is an underground mine at the base of the mountain where the men take turns to mine gold and stones, but after 23 years the mine has recently dried out. We are now doomed, the Dragon will kill us all with the mine gone since it expects its treasure the first day of every month…” they all stayed quiet for a moment perhaps they were thinking of how they should spend their last month of living.

“The dragon uses us as his slaves to get him his treasure…just last week we didn’t mine enough and the dragon…” George looked at the blonde haired man with great pity.

“What?” Raja asked with a hint of impatience in her tone as her eyes focused on the blonde haired man.

The tall man sitting next to him put a hand on the blonde man’s shoulder, “You don’t have to tell her, Matthew” the tall one said. Matthew gave him a weak smile and his eyes began to slightly water, “It’s alright Carter,” he cleared his throat while trying to hold back his tears, “He took my baby…Claire. She was a sweet lil thing…” and he finally broke down. Carter signaled his son to take Mathew to his room. As the two men walked away Raja asked more questions.

“Why don’t you all leave? Pick up your things and go?” she said.

“We can’t, we are his property just like his treasure…we are marked,” Carter then showed Raja a small red claw mark on his wrist, “he has this town under a spell. Those that are marked cannot leave and the worst is that our children have the mark too…even newborn babies are born with the mark…future generations are stuck here forever. We are bound to the dragon and if we get too far from it then will die...many have died already trying to leave,” he said sadly. Carter seemed to be the one taking the most interest on her and began to ask her questions. “You sound like you know about dragons and you’re from a land that we all believed was from myths and legends…who are you really? Or WHAT are you?” he asked.

Raja Ali stared down at her empty glass not wanting to make contact with either of the two men…if they only knew. “I’m not going to go in depth about myself, but what I can tell you is that…you people have no idea…but there is a lot more out there than just dragons,” said Raja.

George suddenly blurted out something that took Raja aback, “Help us! Please…you could break us free from the dragon’s tyranny…we don’t have much since the dragon hordes all of our valuables but we can give you horses and food, please, please, PLEASE!” he begged while clasping his hands together as if he were pleading to a god. Carter just stared at her but by the look in his eyes he was desperately saying the same thing.

Raja Ali didn’t know what to say…she didn’t even know these people! The plan was to there for a day and already they’re trying to send her off on a death mission to slay a dragon…a red dragon at that. “Horses cannot keep up with me and I don’t eat much food…not interested” she replied and took another sip.

George had a look of disbelief in his eyes and Carter stared at her in anger while he harshly blurted out his words, “Our children will be slaughtered if we don’t give him what he wants and we will soon exhaust the mine. When we do... we are TRAPPED HERE. We cannot leave. Are you willing to sleep peacefully at night knowing that you didn’t do anything to help innocent ones?” his voice was deep and cold.

Raja narrowed her eyes at him and matched his tone, “That’s none of my business. If you care about life so much then what about mine? Sending me off to slay a red dragon? There’s a chance,” she chuckled to herself, ”there is a VERY HIGH chance that I’ll be killed. Now what do you have to say about that?” she snapped. George had a look of shame and Carter’s eyes soften up a bit but his eyes still showed deep pain.

All of a sudden Raja Ali saw a painting drop in front of her. It was a portrait of a little girl with golden pigtails. Bright blue eyes and beneath them was a big smile on her face as she held onto a bouquet of flowers. It was a good picture of… “That’s Claire…she was only six years old when she was taken from me. Do you know how it feels to have the person that you love the most be taken away from you and not be able to do anything about it?” Matthew asked in a sorrowful tone.

Raja Ali didn’t say anything…because she didn’t want to bring up her past, but she knew what it was like to lose someone…in fact, many. Her eyes glanced at the picture again and couldn’t help but to pick it up and smile back at Claire…who was most likely dead…along with the rest of the children once the dragon finds out that there’s no more bloody treasure for him to horde. She put the photograph down and then growled, “Alright then! I’ll do it…I will get rid of the dragon!”

Instantly the men threw their hats up in the air and almost knocked Raja off her chair when they all hugged her. Most likely all the loud cheering was heard by the entire town.

“Alright already, ALRIGHT! Get off me!” she yelled as Raija Ali tried to shove them off but couldn’t help but to grin as she saw the happy faces from all the men.

After a brief moment of celebration Carter’s eyes were now serious, “I will arrange a small group of our best men, including my son and I…”

Raja shook her head “No need, none of you will survive. You will all stay here” she said.

George gasped, “How could you not accept our help? Please let them go with you. They can help in any way they can!”

Raja Ali knew that these men can’t understand the high risk and danger of fighting a dragon…none of them knew what it was like except for a mere handful. “I said no and that’s final” she said firmly. Raja wanted to add that someone else will actually be going with her but she was too tired to further prolong this conversation. The men will meet him tomorrow…if they thought she was weird looking then they haven’t seen nothing yet. A soft yawn came out of her mouth, for the normal person the amount of sleep left would’ve been too short but luckily Raja Ali didn’t require much sleep. She only needed a few hours and then was re-energized and ready to go.

It was rough for them to accept what Raja Ali had wanted but they eventually did. “When will you leave?” Samuel the youngest one asked.

“Tomorrow at dawn…I must sleep now, I need all the rest I can get” she said.

“I will pack plenty of food and supplies for the journey…how many days you think it will take?” George asked.

Raja Ali remembered looking up at the tall mountain and knew that the dragon’s cave would be at the very top. Dragons liked living at the highest point so as to keep watch of everything around them. “Perhaps three or four days” she muttered under her breath.

George gasped, “Three or FOUR days?! On the mountain by yourself?! But you’ll die from the cold!”

She waved her hand at him to brush him off, “I have my ways. Don’t worry about me” Raja Ali said as she got up which was a sign that this conversation was over. “Can I get a room?” Raja looked at George as she gracefully extended out a rough-calloused hand.

“Yes, of course!” George hastily took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and scrambled to find the right one to give her, “You’re room is on the second floor…first door on the right.”

Raja thanked him, said good night to everyone, and went to bed…it was going to be a very long day tomorrow. She just hopped her partner would show up in time…
 
Jinn had finally made it to the location where Raja was. The elf could sense her presence no matter where she was, which Raja thought was a complete curse since she could never get rid of him when he pist her off. They had been traveling together but Jinn had other business to take care off with cousins, the wood elves of the mountain’s forest, for a few days. He promised to meet up with Raja the next day at dawn and was in fact early to meet with her, but knowing Raja she would still say he was late because Jinn was always late for everything…well, almost.

The town felt dead but the worst is that it had a bad vibe…a type of vibe that reeked of fear from its inhabitants. He was curious to know what was going on here but he knew that the answers to his questions will be taken care of once he met up with Raja Ali. When he silently entered the inn there was Raa up already inspecting the contents of a leather pack and beside her were three men standing. He could sense Raja’s energy and it felt…slightly uneasy but her face definitely did not show it. He wondered why Raja was packing up as if she was ready to go especially now at this particular time when he had just gotten there damn it!

He crept in closer but none of the men had heard him walk towards them, except for…
 
Raja had gotten up early since she wanted to be out and ready to go before the sun rose. By this time she hoped that Jinn would be here but knowing him he probably wont be. Raja put on her cloak and wrapped a very long scarf around her neck which she would use to shield her nose and mouth not necessarily for the cold...but from the dragon's breath that will fill the inside of the entire cave. It was a mixture of smoke and sulfur and too much inhalation of it could intoxicate the average human but Raja and Jinn have built an intolerance for it as long as they kept their nose and mouth covered. Once Raja was ready to head downstairs she opened the door and there was...George?

There he was standing with a big smile on his face and holding a cup of something warm. Raja could smell peppermint tea with honey...her favorite. "Perhaps this will warm you up a bit and get you ready to climb that wretched mountain," he said with a grin. Raja smiled back at him and took the cup from his hand,

"Thank you George" and took a sip of her tea.

"No..." George gently put his hand on her arm, "Thank you, Raja Ali. For saving our town" he smiled but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Raja laughed warmly, "You can thank us when we come back" she winked at him and began to walk past him.

"Wait a minute...I thought you said you were going alone?" he asked as he ran after her since she was already halfway down the stairs,

"Oh, you'll see" she said loud enough for him to hear back there.

When Raija got to the bottom of the stairs she found Carter and Matthew waiting for her at the bottom. They somewhat bashfully greeted her but Matthew couldn't help but to walk up to Raija and hug her. Spilling some of her tea onto the floor Raja awkwardly hugged him back with one arm. Matthew hugged her very tightly but Raija understood why and let him do it even though she felt completely uncomfortable. "We had to see you off..." Carter said as he handed her a leather pack, "we will pray for your safety and quick return."

Matthew let go of Raija and was finally able to put her cup of tea down to grab the leather pack from Carter and take a look at it. These men looked so happy and yet sad at the same time since they weren't sure if she was going to kill the dragon and come back. She could sense a bit of guilt from them as well and she knew it was because they felt that they were imposing their problems onto a her, a stranger...they were depending on a complete stranger to save them from something that could possible kill her. Raija knew what she was getting into and although she didn't want to help at first...deep within she knew it was the right thing to do and she knew that Jinn would feel the same way. She told herself that everything will be OK but there was still an uneasiness in the back of her mind...Stop it Raja, you can do this! And you have Jinn...

"I appreciate all of your kindness and please don't worry so much for me" Raja said looking at all three men in the eye to reassure them. Raja then opened her leather pack to make sure she had everything she needed or did not need. As Raja was looking through her things she heard the door quietly swing open. Raja smiled to herself while still looking inside her pack. The other men were completely unaware of Jinn's arrival especially since they're backs where facing him.

"You're late," she said with an annoyed tone, "don't put your things down, because we're leaving...I'll fill you in soon" she said without looking up at Jinn.

The three men were apprehensive to turn around and see who Raja was talking too but when they did turn around slowly the men were completely startled. George was the one that left off an old lady scream as he latched onto Carter for safety. The were all too shock to say or do anything, but at least they didn't run away like most do.
 
Jinn's ears slightly fluttered as he heard the sound of Raja's voice since he hadn't for so long. Well, maybe not THAT long just a couple of days, but he hated to be far away from her even if it was just for a minute. Raja on other hand was the complete opposite and was a lot more independent and less needy than he was.

"You're late," she said with an annoyed tone, "don't put your things down, because we're leaving...I'll fill you in soon" she said without looking up at Jinn.

"Nice to see you too, Raja-poo" he said sweetly as he put his things down.

And then the three men turned around perhaps a little too slow, but they only wanted to extend the suspense and make it more exciting right??

Jinn got himself into position, he was ready to greet them with open arms and with a dazzling creepy smile that would make anyone's heart explode...literally. When they turned around, well, the sad part was that they didn't hug him but the good part was that they didn't run for their lives either. The tall one was terrified at first but regained his composure and looked ready to try and punch him the hell away from the inn. The blonde one just stood there not knowing what to do but the best one of them all was the short little fat man or the damsel in distress that screamed for her life as she clung onto her knight and shinning armor or the tall one.

"Well," he put his dazzling creepy smile away and put a hand underneath his chin in contemplation, "that really wasn't the greeting that I was expecting, but I shall take it nonetheless!" he said with a big grin. The three men weren't taking any of it and were still very high strung from his presence. Jinn rolled his eyes and gave out an exasperated sigh as he walked closer to them but the three men all together scurried away from him. "You can relax...if I really wanted to kill you then all of you would've been dead approximately 3.21 seconds ago. So count your blessings that you're not and celebrate, friends!!" Jinn raised up his hands and wiggled his fingers and eyebrows while flashing that creepy smile again in celebration of that fact. A moment later and he could hear Raja scolding him for creeping out and scaring the poor little men out of their minds...guess it was time to behave like a good silver-moon elf and do what the "master" says.

Jinn put away the joker act and left the men alone to comfort each other. He then walked towards Raja and stood very close to her so as to smell her hair...for some reason it reminded him of cinnamon spice. Raja would tell him he would smell of fresh mint, which he thought was rather weird but he knew it was Raja's favorite so he didn't complain about it. Jinn quickly stepped away from her to avoid being slapped away since he was indeed all up on her personal space, which Raja completely hated, but poor Jinn couldn't help himself at times.

Jinn finally spoke again but this time to Raja, "How are we leaving, when I just barely got here?" he let out a little huff in disappointment, "I haven't even gotten any sleep!" he said.


 
Raja almost lifted up a hand to swat him away like an annoying fly but he finally kept his distance from her and was able to function properly again in her personal space. Jinn was a bit of a weirdo at times with Raja and it's something that she wasn't sure whether she should hate or love or both.

Jinn finally spoke again but this time to Raja, "How are we leaving, when I just barely got here?" he let out a little huff with a pouty face, "I haven't even gotten any sleep!" he said.

Rolling her eyes at him as she swung the leather pack over her shoulder Raja answered, "You DON'T sleep, now quit making a scene and lets go. I'll explain while we take a nice little hike up the mountain," she said in the most unexcited tone.

Raja turned to the other men who managed to compose themselves but still kept a safe distance from Jinn. "We'll be back...hopefully in one piece," gave a slight wave and walked out the door while yelling back at Jinn, "Hurry up Jinn!" she said.
 
Wait a minute...hike up the mountain? And what's this about making it back in one piece?? Raja had some serious explaining to do. Jinn just looked at her with the most confused face as she walked out the door. The three men called out to her with words of encouragement and to take care of herself. She was right about his sleeping though...he didn't sleep, well, he did but in a different kind of way. Anyway, Jinn would eventually chase after her but first...

The short little plump man grabbed the nearest object he could reach to fend off the weird looking pale pointy eared thing that quickly crept a little closer yet again much to the men's dismay. George looked down and noticed it was an apple that he had grabbed but no time to grab the entire fruit bowl for more ammunition since the moment his eyes were raised back up to make sure he was still at a safe distance from Jinn, but unfortunately he was already on George's face. Carter and Matthew jumped back, one knocking over a chair and the other the large candlestick holder. They were all surprised at how fast he was able to travel from point A to point B.

Jinn grabbed the apple from him, took a big bite, and put it back in its place upon George's shaking hand, "Thank you sir, I was pretty hungry..." he crunched loudly and the men flinched and cringed from hearing that horrible sound, "So you guys are familiar now with Raja. Please, don't be fooled by her looks she's a deadly little thing," Jinn smirked since he knew by personal experience.

His ears fluttered slightly again since there was a familiar and beautiful sound that came from outside. It was something about hurrying his ass up before she went in there and beat the crap out of him...ah, yes barked orders from the master.

"My beloved calls me...it was lovely meeting you all. I wish I could stay here a little longer and have a little chat but I'm afraid I must go," he said while sighing.

George's mouth fell open but all that came out was a squeak while the two others stayed back and very very still as if them not moving will make them invisible from Jinn's eyes.

Jinn's head leaned back and gave a hearty laugh but composed himself and bowed to the men with hands clasped together.

"Not sure what we're going after, but we WILL be back," there was a serious look in his eyes as he raised himself up from his bow and walked out of the inn to catch up with Raja before he got smacked.