The
next morning, Crom was once again prepared to set out on a journey that would
cement his identity as not only a man, but a fierce warrior. He met Ganesh, Valla, Strom, and Aparthie as
he left. He was wished luck by them all,
and bid farewell. Ganesh said to his sun
proudly, “Hunt well, and safely Crom”.
Valla then handed Crom a massive two-handed sword and said, “Your chosen
weapon, Lord Crom”. Crom grabbed the
sword and turned to his left where his brother was close by holding Aparthie’s
hand. The two young men clasped forearms
as Strom said to Crom, “Hunt well, brother.”
Crom nodded thankfully and approached Aparthie, still holding onto
Strom’s hand. When she saw Crom step
toward her she quickly let go of Strom and gave Crom a bear size hug, “Please
do not abandon me, return safely to me”.
“This I swear: Never will I abandon you. On my life, I offer this oath: My life before
yours, my bloodshed before yours. Never
will I abandon you.” Hearing this made
her warm inside. She knew he was
sincere. Finally Aparthie had somebody
in her life that she could count on.
They separated as Crom once again made way toward the
mountains. He trudged through miles and
miles of snow, sword in hand, keeping wary eye out for the vicious beast. He reached the corpse again; it was mostly
eaten away by scavengers. The scene was
investigated soundly and he noted large tracks leading to the North. The tracks were of feet of some mystery beast
that Crom had never seen before. There
were four toes and a claw at the end of each one of them. The claws themselves were the size of the
blade of a short sword. Crom had a large
lump in his throat as he pursued something of which he knew nothing. He was afraid. He was not afraid of death by the beast, but
of his family’s disappointment. The
tracks lead to what Crom assumed would be the lair of the hideous beast, and
judging from the scent of rot and the smell of death, he was correct. The lump in his throat doubled in size as he
made his way inside the cave of the beast.
Bones were strewn all over the ground, some of the charred. It couldn’t be though, it was
impossible. No dragons have been seen in
nearly a generation. It was assumed to
all that no dragon existed anymore, that they were extinct. Crom made passage though, never fully knowing
what to expect, then he saw the eyes.
Crom was frozen, he did not move.
The eyes got bigger, or were they getting closer. The latter proved to be correct as Crom now
saw features of the head of the hideous beast.
Then it spoke, “Foolish mortal.
Who dares enter the lair of Ash”?
Crom was momentarily speechless, but found the
courage to muster up a few words, “Foul beast, you have ravaged this land for
too long. It ends now. You shall fall before mine stout sword. I will not allow you to continue life so that
you may bring death and evil to my father’s land”.
“Foolish mortal, Foolish mortal, I am Ash. Betrayer of Hope, last of the Draco. Sworn
protector of the sword, by request of Ishmael, the rightful owner of the
throne, which your father sits upon.
Prophecies have foretold of the godchild, raised by mortals who will
bring about the downfall of disorder and darkness. I am the one who is to stop this. I have been sent to kill that son. You are
the Godchild, Crom. You have been
targeted for termination. I will bring
death to you”.
“How does my name come to you? Bah! A
bunch of gibberish! My death will not
come with ease”.
And with that, the two engaged in combat. Ash opened his gargantuan mouth and released
a conflagration the likes of which Crom had never seen. Crom had his wits about him, however and dove
to the safe cover of a boulder on the ground within the cave, the heat from the
dusty rock could be felt, however, as sweat rapidly fell from his brow. If Crom did not do something soon, he would
dehydrate and pass out. Perspiring
unlike anytime in his life he acted hastily.
Crom made a dash toward the beast and swung his sword at the animal’s
neck. Much to his chagrin, however, the
sword shattered on impact. Surprised,
Crom immediately dove away from the dragon as it wielded its long arms at
Crom’s torso. Crom got away from the
hideous being, but he did not escape the danger unscathed, as he was the
recipient of a rather large gash on his ribs.
He was further surprise to see that he had dove into
another chamber within the cave. There
was much treasure to be found from within this chamber, but most importantly,
another sword stood proudly in a pile for rubies and sapphires. Crom grabbed the sword and went for another
round with the fiendish dragon. The
dragon turned around and was not pleased with Crom’s discovery. Ash swiped at Crom with the same offending
claw that had cut him, but Crom met the paw with his sword and sliced into
Ash’s flesh, “So, you can be hurt, Beast”!
With that, Ash roared in pain, lifting his head to do
so. Crom seized this opportunity and
chopped off the head at the neck. He was
pleased with the successful slaying of a horrible murderer. Crom took a moment to bask in the glory of
his kill, but was annoyed by his throbbing ribs. He took off his shirt to rip a strip out of
the fabric and fasten a bandage.
Unsettled by what had occurred, he said to himself, “How did he know my
name? Is it true? Is that the missing booty of King
Ishmail? I must inform father. . .does
that make this the. . .Sword of Omens”?
Crom went back to the chamber and rummaged through
the treasure. Within it he found a
golden necklace with sapphires upon it and a dragon symbol emblazoned upon its
pendant. He also spotted a remarkable carved
double-headed battle-axe. He grabbed
these two items and made his way home.
More Greatest Evil
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