ByKary95

He woke up, he was on a cart, handcuffed, he was a prisioner, surrounded by several other prisioners, some of them seemed to be soldiers, with worn and broken armors, going through the forest

-Huh? Uh... wah... where am I?- asked

-How curious...- said a prisioner -I know imps aren't a very loved comunity on these lands... but I've never seen one captured like this-

A second prisioner looked at him -Yeah... they usually avoid any conflict or trouble...-

-What? Who are you guys? Where am I?-

A third prisioner, who seemed to use a noble armor said -We are going directly to the fortress of Deragnor, to face our end-

-Wha... what do you mean with end?!- he stood up in panic, but one of the mounted guards drew his sword, pointing at the imp

-Sit down you scum!! Or I'll gut you right there!-

-B..but...-

-Better sit down man...- said the noble -You're not one of us, so you'll surelly be locked up in a cell, we are the ones who'll be kissing the axe- and pulled his ragged clothes, making him sit down again -Better calm down, it is worse if you get in panic... what's your name?-

He was a bit confused... for a strange reason, it was a bit hard to remember his name... and so he said the first thing it came to his mind -Uh... Ranboo... And you are...?-

The second prisioner asked a bit offended -Wait! Don't you know him?- but the noble calmed him down rising a hand, smiling

-Is okay, my main goal wasn't to be popular, I am Lord Harald, leader of the Rebellion-

Ranboo was even more confused and lost -Rebellion?-

-Man... those guards must knocked you out really hard... we are on a civil war!- said the second prisioner -We were on a caravan, guarding our Lord here, sending suplies to the town of Lostolf, those people were starving, since the Men of the King, those bloody bastards, took all their resources, food, money... everything! And they were starving!-

The first prisioner lowered the head, muttering with anger -We all got ambushed, captured and now those suplies goes to the King...-

Lord Harald looks at them -We might fall now at sunset, but do not surrender! As long as someone stands against the tirany of the King... This fight is not lost!-

-Silence there!- shouted the cart driver

-Yeah, nice words sir but... why am I here?- asked Ranboo

-I don't know why are you here- the third prisioner answered -As you can tell by our broken armors and the wounds of some of us... we are here because we lost the fight-

-Dang it- Ranboo scrached his head, trying to remember what happened, but nothing, his mind was absolutelly blank, then he noted the horns on his head

-Woah...- he was a bit surprised

-What now imp?-

-Erhm... nothing- Ranboo didn't want to look like a fool, by being surprised to have horns, and a tail!

"Yeah, they call me Imp, those are demons, so I am a demon-like person, with demon horns and goat legs... wait! I... I don't know how do I look"

He touched his face, trying to figure out what kind of face he had...

-Finally! We're here!- said the driver

The Lord sighed, lowering his head, muttered -The Fortress of Deragnor, end of the path-

Between the woods, a huge fortress emerged, at the end of the road, with towers and high walls

-I guess this is where I'll be locked up- said Ranboo

One of the prisioners joked -I guess we're in luck, the food there sucks!- some of his partners laughed

Lord Harald looked at Ranboo and said -Good luck Ranboo, I hope fate will be more gentle with you, and your kind-

The cart went through the gate, there were higly armed guards all over the place, many pointing at the prisioners, mocking them, one of them, threw a rotten tomato at Lord Harald

-Darn... these guys aren't really nice, huh?- Ranboo helped to clean the tomato bits from Harald's face

-These are guards loyal to the King... they don't know about justice, nor kindness- said the Lord -They only enforce order, and fear-

-Line them up! Rigth in front of the execution blocks! Bring the executioners!- yelled the one who seemed to be the captain

All the prisioners were being formed in front of five blocks, all the executioners came out from the barracks, with big axes

-Let Lord Harald The Traitor be the last one to kiss the axe... I want him to see his fellows die first- said the captain with a cruel smile

-Ye bastards!- shouted Harald -Your King is not worthy of their crown!-

And the first five went to the execution, and their heads were laying on the blocks...

-It's been an honor! My Lord!-

-You are the true King Harald!-

-My ancestors are smiling at me bastards! Can you tell the same?!-

Their last words where silenced by the sharp axes, and their heads rolled down

Ranboo got some shiver chills as he saw them die like that, and was getting really nervous -Woah! Hold up! Why I'm being aligned here with you guys? Wasn't I suposed to be jailed or something?-

-Bring the others! With that filthy imp!-

-WAIT! WHAT??!!- two guards took Ranboo by the arms -WAIT! NO!!- he tried to struggle -I'M NOT A REBELL! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I AM HERE!!!-

-LET HIM GO! HE'S NOT ONE OF MY MEN!- screamed Harald -HE'S INOCENT!-

The captain just smiled sadistically

-NO! PLEASE!!- he was forced to lay down on the block, tied up, that very moment lasted way too long for him

It was that typical moment when life pases by in front of your eyes

That's when he realised... he couldn't remember anything about his life, he didn't got a single memory about any moment before the trip on the cart

All he knew about his life, was his name, and the fact that he was an Imp...

Why those horns felt so weird? Like if he didn't have them before...

The sharp of the axe near to his neck interrupted his thinkings, before rising up

-NONONONOOOOOOOO...-

-What the...?!- the ground started to tremble, a circle of fire apeared out of nowhere, in the middle of the yard, causing a chaos between the prisioners and the guards, forming a demonic seal on the floor, suddenly, from the seal, several black warrior demons with green eyes emerged and started to attack everybody, prisioners and guards, while white red eyed wizard demons started to cast destruction spells at everyone

-WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!- shouted the captain

-THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!-

One of the wizard demons, white with red eyes, raised their hands, and said some words in an unknown language, summoning a rain of destructive fireballs

From his position, Ranboo couldn't see a thing, but the chaos was more than obvious -HEEEELP! SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!!-

One of the demons walked towards him, drew a blade to his neck and said with an evil smile -You pathetic scum... your kind has become weak since they have left our world... you shall be punished... just like every living being here...-

Suddenly, Lord Harald tackled the demon, taking him down and striking to the neck with a sword that took from a dead guard

-Come on Ranboo!- he said, while he was cutting the ropes and releasing him from the handcuffs

-HOLY FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT??!!-

He could see a whole horde of demonic beings of all kinds, warriors, wizards, beasts, barbarians, slaying every single being on the fortress, while the fire rain kept striking from above killing several guards and prisioners

-The hordes from Inferis!- said the Lord -It was supposed there were a barrier between our worlds!-

The air was filled with screams, blood and fire everywhere, the frotress was being destroyed, the guards tried to respond shooting with crossbows, severall prisioners broke free, taking some weapons and shields from the dead guards, trying to defend themselves from the demonic horde and the guards, forcing to open the gate

-Open it! Now!-

More guards came out from the barracks and the prision, fighting back the infernal attack

Harald was refusing to run away -We must rescue the prisioners! Now!-

Ranboo saw the keys on the corpse of a dead guard, took them and ran towards the prision, dodging the fireballs

-I've got the keys! Let's go!- he said, running next to Lord Harald

They both runned down the stairs to the cells block...

-Help!-

-Get us out of here!-

The prisioners were screaming, begging for freedom, many of them were wounded, beaten, one had really awfull wounds on the back, sign of sadistic tortures, one seemed to been burned

-Oh god...- said Ranboo disgusted by the prisioner's wounds

-Come on! Let's get the hell out of here!- shouted Harald while opening the cells as fast as he could

-Thank you Imp!-

-May Aurum be mercifull on you...-

One by one, the cells were open, and everyone were running towards the exit

While he was releasing the last prisioners, a bunch of guards with crossbows came from the corridor

-HOLY FUCK!- Ranboo took cover behind a bunch of barrels, as soon as saw them shooting

-RANBOO!- Harald tried to help him, but several prisioners took him to safety, covering him with shields, blocking the bolts

-We gotta go my Lord!-

-HE'S STILL THERE!-

But more guards where coming out, it was imposible for them to come back

Ramboo kept hiding between the barrels, while hearing the whole conmotion out of the building, he could hear the horses, and the guards mounting them...

-GO GET THEM! DON'T LET HARALD ESCAPE!- shouted the captain -SOMEONE KILL THOSE DEMONS!!!-

-KILL THEM! KILL THE TRAITORS!-

He was about to get out of the dungeons, but the tower in front of the prision started to collapse -HOLY FUCK!!!- he jumped back, avoiding the falling debris... -Damn it!- The exit was totally blocked

Ranboo looked everywere, looking for a way to escape, while everything was trembling, there was dust falling from the roof -Oh geez... If I don't get out of here...- and then he saw a rusty old sewer gate, he pulled it untill it broke, and went down the sewers

-Uugh... this is nasty- there was an ugly stench of blood, manure, and God only knows what else

He ran through the tunnels, looking for a way out, untill he found a rusty iron sword, and took it

-I think this will do- said

He found a skeleton with some gold and a healing potion on it -I guess I have some luck after all...-

Then suddenly... a bunch of rats started to attack him

-AH! Get away!- Ranboo fought back with the sword, killing severall rodents, while the rest ran away -Hah! That's what you get for messing with me!-

He kept going through the sewers, untill he found a hole in a wall that leads to a cavern... covered in spider webs

-Hell no! I'm not going there!- he shouted in disgust, then he heard voices getting closer

-Come on! I saw a prisioner getting into the sewers... must be here!-

-If I see it I'm gonna have a lot of fun with him...-

-Fuck!- Ranboo saw the direction where the voices come, and saw the hole again -Godamnit...- and he jumped into the cavern below

He got tangled into the spiderweb, but inmediatelly started to cut everything with the rusty sword, and started to walk over the cavern, finding some gold, and a skeleton with a helmet... which he couldn't put on because of his horns -Darn horns... they feel so weird- and a shattered shield -Guess this could work-

There were some torchs and glowing mushrooms lighting up the massive caverns and tunnels, from time to time some spiders appeared to attack him -Geez! Why are they so big?!- he asked, those spiders had the size of a dog, kinda big, yet he managed to defend himself with the sword and shield, he felt like he was learning really fast on how to fight

Then, he saw te exit, bright with the sun outside...

But suddenly, a giant spider appeared in front of him, blocking the entrance

-HOLY SHIT!!- he raised the shield on time, blocking the Spider's attack, he could see the venomous fangs spitting some venom

The spider backed up a bit, and started to crawl over the walls, right to the top of the cavern and jumped over him -FUCK!!- Ranboo rolled out, barelly dodging that attack

He got up -I had enough!- and took a fighting stance, with the shield up...

The spider ran towards him... and Ranboo was ready, he jumped and plunged the sword between the eyes

The giant spider barelly shuddered, and it fell dead

-Hell yeah!- he had a sensation of success... and feeling a bit stronger, and skilled...

Suddenly, everything around him started to blur in a very strange way -Nngh... AAAHHH-

Suddenly, he had a strange vision of himself, sitting in front of a strange black artifact with colorfull lights, and lots of buttons...

Something in that vision was so familiar, but so strange at the same time...

The vision ended, Ranboo was breathing hard -Oh geez, what the hell was...? ngh!- then started to feel a cold sensation from his belly...

He looked down, and saw a huge spider fang stuck on his abdomen

-Oh... hell no...- he took the fang out of his belly -AHH! FUCK! That hurt...- then began to walk as he could, the poison wasn't affecting him at all...

It was the blood loss that was killing him, that was a big wound -No... I... cannot die...-

Then he remembered... -Wait! I... have a healing potion I think...- he took the potion and drank it

The bleeding stopped, but he still needed some help, so Ranboo walked out of the cave, right on the side of a hill, next to a creek

Untill then, he didn't realise how thirsty, muddy and tired he was, he ran directly to the creek and started to drink, and wash his face, then... he saw his face on the reflection -What the...?-

His face was half black, half white, and so his hair, and the horns, his right eye was green and the left eye was red -Is that... me?- then he whashed a bit his wound -Ouch!-

-Help! Somebody!- he heard someone screaming

-Hello?- Ranboo got up and started to walk, looking for whoever is in trouble

-Here! Help me!- he found a man with a leg stuck under a dead horse -A loose arrow killed my horse... and It fell over my leg! Please! Help me!-

Ranboo ran towards the man, grabbed a stick and started to pry, releasing the leg -Oh thank you noble imp!- said the man -Here! Let me reward you for the help!- and gave him a bag of 500 gold

-Oh! Thank you!- said Ranboo -It wasn't necesary...-

-Of course it was!- said the man -You saved my life, If I were stuck here any longer, I would be attacked by a pack of wolves... or bandits!-

-Geez, these lands are kinda dangerous, huh?-

-You tell me? Everything changed since King Ulric, his guards are causing chaos and fear among the Kingdom-

-Yeah, I know, I just escaped... erm... Duranor or whatsoever...-

-"Duranor"? Oh! You mean Deragnor?- the man was surprised -The Fortress of Deragnor?? That place is the Hell on Earth! I heard nasty stories of that place! And you managed to escape? You're a lucky guy-

-Kinda, I almost got killed there when... a horde of demons came out of nowhere and attacked-

-What??!! Demons??? But... I thought the Golden Seal of Aurum kept them away!-

-The what?- Ranboo was confused, the man talked to him like if it was a very known thing

-That Holy Seal, made by the Golden God himself to stop the expansion of Inferis, it's a whole story- then, the man looked at the sunset -Humm... It's getting darker, my house is nearby, I bet you need some help with that wound, a fine dinner and warm bed to spend the night-

-Oh woah! Yeah! Thank you! You won't believe the kind of things I had to go through to escape-

-I bet is a whole tale to tell me while we walk to my home, in Endercreek, by the way, my name is Edward-

-My name is Ranboo-

-Ranboo, eh? Curious name, even for an Imp-

They both started to walk together, while the moon was rising up

Despite the way he was geting used to the whole world surrounding him, Ranboo still had that feeling that something was off

Why he couldn't remember anything from his life before the cart trip? And how he could remember his name? Is his real name Ranboo at all? Why Edward found it weird? Is not a common name among the imp population?

And what the hell was that vision?

All those unanswered questions invaded his mind

He had the sensation that this was just the beginning

Of something amazing, weird...

He wasn't sure if some of his questions would ever have an answer...

The Quest Begins...

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