Saionji

Clang! went the sound of steel on steel, as Rease barely managed to pull

his sword out in time.

This demon seemed a little more powerful than the rest, and Rease was

having a tough time keeping up. He cursed himself for not spending more

time training Defense in the halls. He fired his arrows, striking true in the

demon's eyes.

A huge howl errupted from its contorted red face, and it swung it's huge

paw at Rease's head. Muttering a quick prayer, Rease was able to deflect

the blow, and made a futile effort to swing back.

You see, Rease was never that good with a weapon... his weapon of

choice was always a bow and a sword just felt wrong in his hand.

He fired a last desperate shot of magic at the monster... it let out a terrible

scream and fell to the ground. Rease solemnly snuck back to his camp and

rested.

His dreams that night were filled with anger and laughing. Some of the

images that came to him filled him with a fear he had never felt before. But

some of them filled him with pride.

Rease was a name that people feared once; he was the archer that

launched a thousand late starting players. He had a bow carved from ivory

and a string of twined platinum.

The pure sight of him made the greatest warriors spit. But he awoke to find

his glorious bow gone, all that was left was a note that claimed, "Borrowing

your bow -Silv."

The following days left Rease a tired and broken man. Even the least

experienced warriors, looking for a free ticket to fame, were attacking him

left and right.

Day after day, he walked by the Red Dragon Inn, and shook his head. He

had never slept there, and promised himself that he never will. He walked

to a nearby tree, and rested.

He awoke to find that it was daylight, and there was a new day of hunting

ahead of him, a day filled with cowardice and retreat. "No!" he exclaimed,

"this has gone way too far!

I'm going to do something that will make me even more famous than I ever

was!" Grinning, he set off down the gravel road, swinging his oak longbow

back and forth. He would catch the eyes of the people once more, and

maybe get his bow back from "Silv" eventually!

PART 2

All that could be heard over the constant sound of running warrior was the

slow trot of a once-great warrior. Step... drag... Step... drag. It was the

walk of a man who had accepted his fate, but yearned to break free from

it.

He had promised the world that he would ride the reins of fame and glory

again... and he knew that it was now or never. Taking a deep sigh, Rease

arched his back, kept his head high and walked into the Lair.

The first thing he noticed was an almost unbearable heat and smell of rotting

flesh. It was so bad that he puked his meager lunch of fried Imp all over the

cavern entrance.

Gathering his courage, (and his pride) Rease marched deep into the

unexplored caves. He knew these caves were vast and had entrances to

the Item Arena, but he wasn't planning to take them.

No one ever ventured far into them, because they all knew of the

unspeakable evil the dwelled in the deepest regions. It was an evil that

every ArenaWarrior had faced, yet NONE of them had survived...

Shivering with excitement, Rease continued to hack through the seemingly

endless hordes of beasts. Fatigue was starting to settle, and he knew that if

he didn't find the Monster soon, he would have to turn back and try again

tomorrow... like he had done so many times before.

Just then, a humongous roar filled the cavern! Rease barely had time to

scream when that famous terror turned the corner.

It stopped a stonesthrow away from Rease and stared at him with all of it's

ruby glory. The Red Dragon... that's all that Rease could think.

A beam of light from Rease's torch reflected of the Dragon's scarlet scales,

and created a lightshow that was beyond description.

"I'm almost don't want to kill you Puffy," Rease muttered. You see, the

dragon was given the name Puffy early after it's discovery.

Rease always figured it was after the ancient song about a dragon and a

boy... but he could never remember the words.

The dragon didn't seem to appreciate the death threat, and assumed an

awe-striking fighting pose. It let lose a blaring battle call, and the fight

began.

Being a dragon, Puffy had no use for magic and archery. Raw fighting was

his specialty, and that's all it took... or so he thought.

Rease took advantage of the beast's lack of firepower, and shot his heavy

artilery arrows, striking the beast in it's side. It let lose a bellow that shook

the ground below them. Then Rease shot his wooden arrow.

It must have hit the dragon in the eye, because it bled for a good 20

minutes. Taking advantage of the dragon's vulnerable position, Rease let

lose his pitiful spell... all the damage he could do would help.

After the bleeding stopped, the dragon charged Rease at a terrifying speed.

It swung it's massive paw but only managed to hit him in the arm. Rease

countered with an untrained, futile attack and missed.

Puffy swung again, but again only managed to knick him. The battled

continued for some time, when the dragon pinned Rease against the wall. It

growled with pleasure, and rammed it's horned head into him.

Rease screamed and then realized that the beast had missed him by mere

inches. Rease let lose another spell, and prayed to the gods his luck would

hold up.

He let lose a blood-curdling scream with the next blow from the beast. It

had struck him in the stomach, leaving him with a 4 inch diameter gore,

barely missing his heart.

It hurt like hell, but he stood up again. The beast began to pummel him with

blows, but he continued to get up and try again. Puffy began to build up

some fire in his stomach for a finishing blow on this morsel.

He prefered his warriors a little on the crispy side.

Rease's eyes lit up when he saw this. He let lose a final, desperate spell and

closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was standing over the

massive, bloody corpse of the most fearsome beast anyone had ever seen.

He started to cheer, and then began to cry. He was going to be famous

again... a feeling he hadn't felt in so long, he had almost forgotten what it

tasted like.

He sliced the head from the great beast, and stuffed it in his backpack. He

also managed to find an attractive Black Shield. "This is proof for the

skeptics I find," he grinned.



Well this is a short story i wrote a while back, i can hardly remember even writing it, but here it is, enjoy.