Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

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Luvi’s desire to travel more often had resulted in her being assigned to a small group of soldiers who patrolled the various routes within the empire. It was a simple job most of the time, but from time to time they did run into trouble. There were always travelers in need of directions, etc. Bandits were the usual threats but they were usually small in number and easy to handle if found.

That is why it was an oddity when the patrol group came across a large caravan of travelers that had been massacred. They followed a trail of blood and eventually crested a hill overlooking dozens of bandits. A force like that would be enough to easily overwhelm a small town so the soldiers had to do something. Luvi’s leadership suggested they fall back and call for reinforcements, but they had been unknowingly spotted a while ago, giving the bandits time to prepare. This fight was happening whether they liked it or not.

Bandits rushed at the soldiers with their weapons brandished while others started firing arrows. The soldiers had little time to react. “Distract them so we can fall back and defend properly.” That had been Luvi’s order and she was happy to follow it. She’d distract them alright, in her own way, even if it meant bloodshed.

She had an anger building inside of her because of all the people the bandits had killed for no good reason. With a quick series of motions, runes on her body started to glow to life. She hopped off her horse and sped in an arc towards the bandits, who faltered when they saw just how fast she was when she pushed her limits. The front line of bandits ignored her and pressed on, but she wasn’t worried about them – she wanted to take care of the archers.

The archers got a few good shots off, but they didn’t do much good. Hitting something so fast was difficult and she had armor to boot. By the time she was upon them, they hadn’t time to switch to more appropriate weaponry. They fumbled with their shortswords and gladiuses and made feeble attempts to defend against attacks they were too slow to react to.

Luvi dual wielded her katana, something she typically only did when she was trying to cause as much hurt as possible. She barely stopped her momentum as she spun and slashed mercilessly. She normally had more restraint than this, but she knew that if she didn’t do the job quickly then her fellow soldiers would be at risk.

A dozen heads rolled by the time she paused to reevaluate her strategy. She looked around to see that the front line of bandits had abandoned their charge. They were all turned to face her with expressions of pure terror plastered on their faces. A small handful was brave enough to charge at her, but the rest scattered.

“How annoying,” Luvi thought when she saw them flee. Her comrades could handle some of them, but they weren’t fast enough to catch them all. That meant Luvi would have to chase them down, something she dreaded when she was wearing armor. Still, she couldn’t let a single one live. She wanted to see them bleed out on the ground as payback for those they’d killed.

“You’re in my way!” Luvi shouted at a speed barely comprehendible as she tore through those that openly challenged her. Only one gave her any notable challenge. He was dressed in tougher armor than the rest, and wielded a longsword better than the rest. He parried her lazier attacks that she thought would land uncontested. It was odd for someone so skilled to be with bandits, in Luvi’s experience. Usually people with notable skill could find gainful employment elsewhere. Or perhaps it was that most good swordsmen knew not to challenge someone who moved like a blur.

“Surrender or die,” Luvi said but her warning was disregarded. He… no, it was a she now that she got a better look at the woman. She came at her with a flurry of slashes that made Luvi switch to a more defensive stance. Luvi would have very much liked to draw out the fight as long as possible to enjoy the rare challenge, but she had things to do. She ended the fight by throwing her katana clean through the woman’s head.

As she drew her katana out of the woman’s skull, she realized for the first time that something was odd about the bandits. Why would they choose to fight her? Had they simply surrendered they could have avoided a brutal death. Had they fled they had a chance of escaping. It gave her a hint that there was something bigger at play. Sadly none of the bunch survived her flurry of slashes, so she would have to ask one of the runners, if she could hold back enough to not kill them.

Luvi started to feel tired so she took a moment to adjust her runes. She absorbed the ether back within her body and reapplied her speed runes, although this time they were chained to endurance runes to help deal with her fatigue. There was still much running to do yet. She took off after the first runner, stabbing them in the back effortlessly on her way to the second runner. They were easy to take care of when they were going in the same direction, but they had started to spread out, further complicating Luvi’s job.

She kept on going despite common sense telling her to just let them be. She kept methodically killing each one that fled until there was nothing in the area except blood and death. Her swords dripped with fresh blood as she took a moment to examine the dead bodies. The very last one that she killed was not like the rest. They had a courier’s bag on them. She opened it, frowning as she examined some strange papers with messages on them that she couldn’t understand.

She brought the papers back to the other soldiers who also could make little sense of them. “It’s probably a coded message. That’s probably why they wanted to get away so badly. This is a good find… I’m sure the higher ups will know what to do with it. It would have probably been a good idea to keep some of them alive.”

“Sorry,” Luvi said. Her mutation made it difficult to hold back or have any empathy whatsoever when she was fighting. She could resist the effects, but there were some situations where she didn’t want to resist them.

Another adjustment of runes was necessary. This time Luvi only used endurance runes as her body would have collapsed without the relief. She really had gone all out, moving at speeds she had never dared to test out before. When she glanced at the scene before her, she realized just how brutal she’d been. The kills had not been clean. She’d dismembered and stabbed in ways that inadvertently caused a lot of suffering. It was hard to be completely accurate when moving so fast, after all.

Luvi wanted to be gone from this place, but her fellow soldiers wanted to remain for a time. One of them searched through the bodies and found similar messages carried by others. Another focused on deciphering the message to little luck. A third worked on gathering the bodies to properly dispose of them. Luvi, however, was focused on something else. She noticed a new figure in the distance. Were they also a bandit? She was in no mood to fight anymore lest she be forced to tear her body apart with the exertion.

But no, they were not a bandit. It was Raskalarn herself. She strode with purpose through the battlefield and her soldiers knelt when they recognized her. Luvi had never seen the immortal before but she knelt all the same.

"Who is responsible for this?" She asked of her men as her gaze turned, knowingly to fall upon Luvi with a cold smile.

For a moment Luvi thought she was in trouble when the soldiers told that she was responsible for all this. But Raskalarn looked oddly pleased. She walked up to her and bid her rise. "You stole me prey youge one. I would face such a challenge to someone that stands." There was not doubt by her tone that she was speaking with a casual curiosity. Would this mortal stand to answer for her theft?

Luvi's voice came out as a whimper. She thought that maybe if she fessed, she might avoid a more severe punishment. "It was me, Private Illuvia."

The immortal's raven black hair hung at hre sides, her green eyes goading Luvi to stand. "Why kill them all?" She asked, plainly. It was not a challenge and she was not being berated... The question, if anything, sounded like one born of amusement, or... pride? The woman was hard to read.

"I was angry at them. They'd killed people traveling through the Empire's territory for no good reason. I... wanted to see them dead."

Raskalarn placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, holding her fast. "KNOW THIS..." She began, her words now not shouted, but nonetheless so loud they could easily be heared by everyone around. "THIS IS HOW WE TREAT THE ENIMIES OF THE EMPIRE!" There was a cheer. "AND LET IT BE KNOWN THAT FROM THIS POINT FORWARD ILLUVIA BEARS MY MARK AND HAS CLAIMED THIS HUNT!"

With which, Illuvia was marked, whether she sought it or not, she was tasked with a mission and the blessing of the Immortal. "Don't dissapoint me, youge one." She said as she turned and began to walk away. "I don't LIKE dissapointement!" She called over her shoulder, tauntingly with a smile Illuvia would not see. Her forces bowed and saluted as she passed, as she vanished once again, into the distance.

Luvi noticed that she was sweating profusely, and it had nothing to do with the summer heat or her exhaustion. She'd been spared, praised even. But it hadn't come for free. She'd been given a task that she had no idea how to accomplish. But she had to do it - her gut told her that failure was not an option.