The Twelve

[revile]

"Draw from the earth, it will give you strength. Let your bones become like stone, move like the wind, relentless like the water. May your voice be thunderous and your strikes like lightning." Those were the last words Revile heard before he was swallowed by the darkness of his dream.

The dreams were always the same, a forest covered in flames. He could make out the figures of many Orcs standing in a small clearing. Though they were engulfed in flames, their bodies did not burn. The Twelve, standing in a perfect circle around him. Though he attempted to look into the eyes of the twelve they did not pay him any heed. One of the twelve began to chant, three verses in a language Revile could not understand. When the first of the twelve finished the first verse the next joined, their voices meshing together. This continued till all twelve were chanting at once.

Their voices giving strength to each other. Though this was a dream, it felt more real than anything Revile had ever felt. The chant continued for many moments, than in unison, the voices stopped. The first orc to begin chanting looked at Revile.

"You are not ready." than the Darkness of his dream gave way to the light.

-------------

Revile removed the heavy tome from his chest and replaced it in his bag. The book had been given to him by a sage of the Undercity, the only person in the realms that has ever heard of the Twelve. Even his knowledge had been hazy, pieced together from old scrolls, bar room tales and myths. Each story unable to be confirmed true or false.

The fire burned bright, a stark contrast to the unending darkness of night in the Darkshire. Three shadows huddled close to the fire to keep warm from the chill of the wet night. Revile toyed with the flames, making them dance to break the spell of boredom this adventure had entailed so far.

"I'll never understand it." asked the Tauren, still wearing his heavy plate armor. Though the armor looked like it weighed a great deal, the large Tauren wore it like a cloth shirt.

"It starts out in the pit of your stomach, than it rises through your spine like a storm. After sometime I can no longer contain it and the energy shoots forth from my palms as if it were a natural part of my body." said Revile.

The tauren looked on in amazement. His only reply was a sharp snort as he pulled his blade closer to his body for comfort. "Shes been asleep a long time, do we wake her?" the Tauren asked with just a hint of paternalism in his voice.

"If you two would shutup, I could have gotten some sleep." stated the undead woman wrapped in a subtle dark robe. Her lithe body was deceptively strong.

Such outbursts werent so uncommon from her as of late. She had taken up lessons a few seasons ago with a well known dark priestess. Though her ability to heal was a great asset, Revile constantly worried that one day she might turn for the worse and use the shadows against one of her allies.

Chocoa snorted and began to throw another few sticks on the fire. Suddenly Revile stood up and looked around warily. Something was wrong.

From the woods came a loud crashing noise as if the forest were coming down around the three adventurers. A massive creature, grotesque and covered from head to toe in stitches, broke through the trees. With a wicked looking spike mace high in the air, he swung at Revile. Within the blink of an eye the mace connected. A thunderous clash rang out inches from his face. The large Tauren had thrown his body in front of the mace and accepted a blow that would sunder a lesser being.

Chocoa fell heavily to the ground with a grunt. He did not move, his breathing was faint. Revile kneeled to the ground and grasped a handful of dirt and threw it at the abomination. The dirt struck the creature with a loud crack, as if he'd been struck by a boulder. The creature was momentarily stunned but came on with a renewed anger.

Revile feigned left, ducked beneath the swoop of the mighty mace the abomination weilded, and grabbed for his shield. He turned to face his opponent and to look at the undead woman, kneeling over the fire. Her face had darkened and she seemed consumed by shadows. She muttered words under her breath and pointed a single bony finger at the abomination.

The creature dropped his weapon and grabbed his head with all four arms, as if something had assaulted his mind. Revile seized the opportunity and charged fourth, a glowing knife in hand he struck at the exposed belly of the creature. The knife plunged into the abominations belly to the hilt. It seemed unscathed by the physical assault.

Revile jumped back to rethink his strategy just as the creature recovered from the mental assault. It turned towards the undead woman. The undead woman spoke a single word, though Revile could hear the word, he did not comprehend it. The abomination shook with agony, his body wracked with pain. Revile moved to slow the pursuit of the abomination, he summoned fourth a blast of frost. The air around the creature froze as a wintery chill filled the summer air. The creature slowed visibly as if his joints had been frozen from the shock of cold that struck him so suddenly.

The creature pursued Revile, charging at him full speed. Revile stood with both legs together and prayed to the gods of nature to grant him their power. Feeling as if he had consumed the power of the wind, earth and sky he summoned fourth a mighty bolt of electrical energy. It's spidery tendrils reaching fourth with a deafening crack, focusing their full intensity on the creature.

Revile could smell the stench of a burned corpse, he turned to the fallen Tauren.

"Will he be alright, Eva?" Revile asked.

Evangelina looked at the Tauren, he did not appear physically hurt. The strike should have broken every bone in his body. She removed her glove from her hand and began to whisper an incantation to summon a healing breeze.

Chocoa grabbed her hand suddenly, interrupting her spell. He shifted onto his side and tried to stand up.

"None of that healing stuff, it tickles." said Chocoa.

Though he wouldnt admit it, he was visibly hurt. Stubborn as a bull he sat up and winced only slightly. He looked at the corpse of the abomination. Suddenly angered he looked at his companions.

"You finished him without me?!!!" He bellowed.

Revile smiled, tired from the long adventure and the battle they had survived, he placed a steady hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Glad to see you are alright, if i had accepted that strike, yould be picking up my pieces." stated Revile.

Chocoa stood up and surveyed the area. This was not a safe place to stay. The battle would likely draw unwanted attention. Chocoa was about to voice his concerns when Revile suddenly turned around, eyes darting furiously.

As if knowing what Chocoa was thinking, Revile said, "its too late for that."

Only then did Chocoa notice several shadows in the trees, the only thing betraying their position were their glowing eyes.

The unmistakeable sound of a bow string being pulled taut, an arrow nocked.

...

[Maube]

(( ::claps:: Excellent stories from you both! I smell a peetub ::looks around for Uglutz:: ))

[Rhoach]

Hoogily Boogily!