text: [Themes: fantasy, fantasy, action, RPG, serious, grimdark, post-apocalyptic, drama]
  
  The rain, the patter of it hitting my surroundings like knocks on a door with no pause.
  
  It struck like needles, but was warm and mesmerizing. I turned on my side, glass rattled around me and something fell out of my hand with a clank. My eyes were still closed, I knew if I'd open them I'd be dizzy and get sick, my curiosity grew stronger and I wanted to see what my own hand was holding so dearly. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, I was facing the sky and the rain didn't help either.
  
  As they slowly opened, I was seeing double, no, maybe triple of everything. I felt like vomiting.
  
  I turned to my left where my hand was once holding the object, it was an empty bottle of beer. Of course it was.
  
  As triple slowly turned to double, and then finally to seeing almost normally, I then saw my surroundings. I was surrounded by long walls with openings at either side, my body was cushioned by sacks of garbage. The stink might be one of the factors that's helping kick me out of the hangover, I leaned forward, struggling not to vomit. I sat there for a little while collecting my thoughts, like how I even got here. Oh thats right...
  
  With my left hand, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a shiny gold medallion, I remembered drinking too much and stealing this from a merchant when he wasn't looking. It was beautiful, a gold coin a little bit larger than a walnut, adorned with a lion and a red rope. I can't wait to sell it.
  
  Just at that moment, someone approached me from behind. With a start I quickly turned and grabbed my dagger with my other hand and stuffed the medallion back into my pocket as quickly as I could. I was still sitting but they were so close we startled each other when I turned around. The daylight brought shape to the intruder's face, it had subtle features and was accompanied by a gasp.
  
  The intruder was a woman, she looked panicked. I was a bit confused why she decided to wake up a bum in an alley, but I lowered my weapon. She didn't seem like she wanted to hurt me, and I don't think she saw the medallion so its safe to assume she wouldn't want to rob me.
  
  "Please you have to help me.", she tugged at my arm, frantically urging me to get up.
  
  I took my arm back and used the ground and the wall to support myself, clearing my throat. "What are you ta-"
  
  Just then I silenced myself, there were shouts in the distance. There were large groups of figures walking around quickly past the edge of the alley. Men interrogating people.
  
  No wait, they had spears. Those men are guards.
  
  The girl, who was looking up at the men, looked back to me and whispered "These men are after me but I didn't do anything!"
  
  The medallion wasn't the only thing I stole, I sometimes stole food and other goods and I became a little too known for my liking in the town. The guards would likely be after me too, but by some unknown force, I was swept to my feet and decided to help her. I needed to leave the area too.
  
  We ran the other direction, disappearing into the rain and further into the heart of the town.
  
  > Through the Town
  As we walked into the heart of the market, the streets lit up with warm lights and smiles and the air was filled with delicious smells and sounds of the townsfolk. We walked down for a little bit, casually blending into the crowds and making our way towards the opposite side of the town.
  
  All the smells of fresh food were tantalizing, I really wanted to take some for the road. It would probably be a good idea anyway since I don't know how soon again I'll be able to eat. I looked to my right and the girl was looking away from me, also at the food stands.
  
  I gave her a nudge and asked "Hey whats your name anyways?"
  
  She was startled a little bit, looked down at my arm and back up at me and nervously said "Um...its Deyna." and went back to looking at the food stands. She was hungry too.
  
  At that point I needed no further convincing, I quietly told her to stay nearby and I picked up the pace. I got to where I was in front of her and quickly snuck to the right side of the busy walkway closer to the stands. There was a merchant who was selling a large amount of food items like jerky and other preserved edible goods, we walked over and started talking to the merchant.
  
  The walkway was packed which was extremely lucky for us, I think Deyna was under the impression that I was buying something. I picked up an apple since it was the least amount in the stock in the front of the stand and asked if the merchant had anymore. He turned around and it was my turn to act, I quickly grabbed lots of dried meat and a few apples along with several other small food items. Deyna was looking at me with concern and ever growing urgency.
  
  Before the shopkeeper turned around we were already gone. We quickly walked further down the busy street, and Deyna quickly walked up to me. "Don't you need to pay for that?"
  
  "No, there's no need to when you can just take it. Especially when he had a lot of supplies anyway."
  
  She didn't seem to like that answer, I don't blame her. I don't exactly love that answer either, but life for me eventually went from push to shove and I didn't have many other options.
  
  Just then, my breath was taken away from me. I bumped into a huge armored man, almost dropping my hidden goods.
  
  The man was a soldier and immediately recognized both of us, he began to reach out his arm towards me and we quickly ran away. We bumped into people and started to cause a scene, the soldier started yelling to alert the others to our whereabouts. They started appearing as we were bolting through the town, trying to cut us off.
  
  > New and Old Friends
  It seemed like the guards were coming around every corner now, we were rushing frantically to the edge of town to escape. Just then I heard a scream from closeby, I turned over to where Deyna was and she was gone.
  
  I ran around the corner looking everywhere nearby, I wasn't about to abandon by partner in...some unknown crime? I saw her a short distance away struggling to get free from the solider, I bolted over and bumped into him before he realized it was me and released her from his grip. I took her hand and continued to run to the edge of town.
  
  We could now see the outer gates and the guards didn't seem to be following us, 'It looks like we're in the clear!" Deyna exclaimed trailing behind me. We made it out of the town and onto the dirt road, it was surrounded by that beautiful black grass. I hadn't been out of the town for a long time so its always a surprise to see it from when it was once green. We were also met by a life long friend of mine, I never gave him a name though. It was a Mox, a half Moose half Ox hybrid, his fur was white and bore many scars from our adventures. It was a very unique animal, it always had a wise and ghostly aura about it. I was proud to call it my partner.
  
  I got on the Mox and offered my hand, she was hesitant but got on pretty quickly, after about an hour or so we made quite a bit of distance from us and the town. Even though the sun had been hidden behind dark clouds for many years now, it was easy to tell that night was almost upon us. Since its already dark, when nightfall hits it becomes hard to see very early on. "Ok I'm gonna go find some firewood, please stay here." I said while dismounting Mox.
  
  She stared for a minute, almost looking surprised. "Wait, here we can use this to help".
  
  She got off Mox and walked up to me, her palm suddenly lit up, a ball of fire was floating above her palm and lighting up our surroundings. Her face reflected with the orange glow of the fire she was holding in her hand.
  
  I was taken back, "What the fu-?" "Its ok! Really I can control it" she laughed. "Uh...who did you say you were again?" I said, I was beyond puzzled. "Why can you summon fire with your...just your hands?"
  
  "I'll tell you more once we set up camp, its already getting dark."
  
  Some time passed, while I was picking up twigs and branches she followed behind me like a proud child showing off a new toy they got. She had a big dumb grin on her face. Why could she summon fire? Only the royals of this small country Millenia could use magic, but they all died a long time ago. Could she be a descendant of one of them? No, they all died too recently for that. Regardless, it was helpful. Mox did carry some torches in its saddle but it was nice knowing I didn't have to restock.
  
  While we were walking back I realized I only had my own sleeping bag, I quietly huffed to myself. "Look, I only have one sleeping bag. You can have it just for tonight but tomorrow we need to grab another one. There's a town not too far from here we can stop at, lots of merchants like to trade there but its only because of its location so its not a sight for sore eyes. Its pretty rough.", she simply nodded in response.
  
  Once we arrived back, Mox greeted us with a friendly huff and raised its head. I threw the wood into a pile and she lit it up with her fire. We both sat down on almost opposite sides of the fire, slowly becoming mezmorized by its flames.
  
  "My name's not really Deyna..." she said quietly. "Its actually Alesis, I'm the princess of Millenia but...its supposed to be a secret to the public."
  
  My eyes widened, it had been an entire decade since the last known member of the royal family was killed by unknown circumstances. Most thought it was a disease or possibly assassination due to the sudden decline of the state of the land. It was only for a brief moment earlier that I thought she could be related somehow, but to have it be true...
  
  "So thats why the guards were after you..."
  
  "Yes, for the past several years I've been wandering around Millenia helping out in towns however I can but its much harder to do in more populated towns. Its easier to go to little agricultural towns where people don't usually keep up with what faces look like, and there's never really any guards there either. I want to help people before I go back to the castle and rule, I want people to think that I saved them rather than taking the throne for wealth and luxury."
  
  I stared for a minute, then back into the fire. "Thats very noble, I couldn't ever hope to have dreams like that. I'm just a thief who's trying to survive." I laid down on the ground and closed my eyes. I could hear her stand up, I opened my eyes briefly and saw her grab my sleeping bag from Mox's saddle and she gave him a small pat. She laid it out and said "No, I don't think thats true, you might be a thief but you are noble. You could have left me behind and the goal that I would have tried to achieve for so long would have been all for naught."
  
  I turned around so I faced away from her and had my eyes tightly shut, she laughed and it was silence from then on until morning.
  
  > Town with a Secret
  I woke with a start from a sudden nudge on my arm, I gasped and lurched forward and eyes wide only to be met with her dumb and excited smile. The black grass was once again easily visible with shades of purple distiguishing the individual blades, Mox got up as well, dust and dirt fell from his brilliant white coat. All that was left of the fire was a few glowing cinder specs and black charcoal from the firewood.
  
  I slowly got up and dusted myself off, she already had the sleeping bag rolled up and back on Mox. She stood next to him eagerly waiting, almost hopping up and down. I reluctantly got on Mox and she soon followed, we were on our way to the small town known as Tyda.
  
  On our way there, her happy aura started to disappear. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but would you be willing to take me to the castle? Its much easier with company and a mount rather than being on foot."
  
  The castle had become a dangerous place since it had been abandoned all this time, I was skeptical but she was the princess after all. There must be secrets in the castle that only she knows about and needs to be there for some reason, I agreed to help her with her request. She was going to go there with or without my help anyways.
  
  Roughly 2 hours past and finally arrived at the town, it almost seemed smaller than I remember. It had no grand walls, just wooden fences. People were sitting around near the street all over and chickens would be seen walking across the road. carridge tracks had been thoroughly worn into the dirt but there was hardly any road traffic.
  
  We made our way over to a merchant who had a wide variety of good, everything from old books to food and supplies. I traded the shiny medallion I had in my pocket for the sleeping bag, more food and other supplies. While we were making our purchase, the merchant kept glancing up at me.
  
  When we finished collecting our things from the stand, he suddenly said "You've both come a long way haven't you? Listen, my supplies haven't been coming in as much recently due to a black beast wandering near here. I've been coming to this town trading goods for awhile and I've learned quite a bit about it. If you can slay the beast I'll repay you handsomely."
  
  > The Sword of Sealing
  "What do you mean? What kind of payment are we talking about here?" I walked closer to the stand, Alesis looked at me, almost concerned.
  
  "Just information, but I can tell you that this town has a really amazing treasure hidden beneath it. I know where the entrance is to the chamber of the treasure but only certain people are permitted inside. I've already told you too much though, go take care of that monster or be on your way."
  
  "I'll do it, I could make a lot of money from something like that." I whispered, "Very well, meet me here again tomorrow. Its my last day here but I'll be here the whole day. Do be careful, people have died from monsters like these. The monster can be found at the foot of those mountains."
  
  I turned around and walked back over to where Mox was, Alesis was right behind me. "Are you sure about this?" she said nervously, "Yes, I think we'll be alright. I have a blade that i'm decently skilled with and you have the power of fire. With you especially it should be a cinch."
  
  It was mid day as we approached the foot of the mountains, the lond dead trees and black grass became much more abundant and the air had a heavy feeling to it. Mox was getting uneasy, its footsteps became more frantic and was looking around more. We must be getting close.
  
  We both got off Mox and drew our weapons, looking around as well. Just then Mox ran off, we stared as he ran into the distance towards the great field where we came. We turned around.
  
  It was so silent, we didn't hear a thing. But there it was, it was only feet away from us. It stood maybe 7 feet tall and was on all fours, it had the body of a mountain lion and the front half was especially muscular and distorted. It stood hunched over and its front paws were curled like a gorilla. Its fur was made of shadows that emmitted from its body like black and purple fire. Its red eyes glowed and its stark white teeth were covered in drool.
  
  Alesis fired a shot at it and our surroundings glew orange, it hit the beast right in the chest knocking it back. Luckily that moment gave us a chance to collect ourselves. I drew my dagger and held it at the ready in my left hand, "can you do that again?" I yelled. "Yeah!", she fired one more shot, this time she hit the monster square in the face. "Bull's eye!" I yelled excitedly, the monster was stunned for a moment and that was my chance. I ran up to it while it was holding its face, just then one of its arms lowered and it saw me. It reached forward as I jumping in to deliver the final blow, just as my dagger found its way into the monster's head, its claws met my left shoulder.
  
  The monster fell with one last mighty roar, when its dead body hit the ground the flames on it started to disappate. The grass around it turned green and the long dead trees started rapidly striaghtening out and growing leaves. Flowers started to blossom out of the ground, however they still bore their black colors.
  
  My arms wasn't critically injured but it was bleeding quite a bit, I took my dagger and cut off part of my cloak to use as a bandage for the bleeding. Both Alesis and I were dumbfounded by the sight of color, but just as soon as it arrived, everything quickly returned to the way it was. Our once excited faces returned to normal, and we both got up and made our way towards the great field where Mox ran off to.
  
  We ended up walking a quarter of the way where the town was, it was nearly dusk now. Thanks to Alesis' fire, we saw Mox large figure in the distance. We made our way back to the town mcuh faster after finding him.
  
  We decided to see if the merchant was still there at this hour, we walked over to his stand and found him just packing up for the night. He immediately noticed my arm and the red stained bandages around my shoulder. "You fought it and lived?!" He asked in amazement. "Yeah, and the strangest thing happened when it was killed. The environment around it returned to the state it was many years ago. But it soon reverted back to what everything else looks like right now..."
  
  "Come with me." said the merchant with a serious look in his eyes.
  
  We followed the merchant to a secluded part of the town that was overgrowing with the black brush, it was a door that belonged to no builidng standing all on its own. I've been to this town only a few times but I had no idea that this odd door resided here.
  
  "This door has been a popular subject of the town, I read about it in one of the books at my stand. Its been here a good many years but when its opened its just the other side of the door. Its nothing more than an empty frame after opening it, but in the book, if certain people open it, the door actually leads to an old stairway. Thats where the treasure is said to be. When I first saw you both, something odd struck me and I wanted to tell you. Please forgive me, but you did accept regardless."
  
  He was right, at the time I was blinded by the possibility of riches and didn't consider he could have been lying or had a few screws loose. He kinda looked like the type too.
  
  I approached the door, I knew nothing was going to happen. It was just a dumb rumor, there was no harm in it though I guess. My hand reached out and touched the doorknob. It was severely corroded with age and weather damage, I turned the knob and slowly opened the door. Through the first crack in it opening, it was completely dark unlike outside. I opened it further and there was the stairwell.
  
  We all stood there speechless, I don't think any of us were expecting a hidden passageway to appear. I turned around to Alesis, and with a still shocked expression she walked up to me and the stairwell. The merchant stood and simply smiled, "You're going to do great things..." and walked away without another word.
  
  We stared for a minute, and we proceeded cautiously down the old and dark stairs. The walls were narrow and made of rock and the stench of decay was strong. We got to the bottom and were met with a single bright ray of moonlight over a dirt hill. Sitting on the center of the small hill was a mummified corpse holding an ordinary looking sword, around the mummy and sword bloomed brilliant colored flowers. It was very serene.
  
  I approached the mummy and took the sword from it, its hands that once held the sword broke off into dust. The sword had beautiful engravings of a language I could not read, but other than that, it seemed very ordinary.
  
  > The Dark Castle
  We left the town, we were now on our way to the castle that Alesis once hailed from. You could see it from almost anywhere in Millenia because it was so huge. Its black towers peered over the land like watchful guardians.
  
  The caste's dark outer walls loomed over us, I took her hand and we nodded to each other. We took our first steps into the massive corridor.
  
  The interior was incredibly run down, the large room with filled with the chill of outdoors and the occasional rat was spotted running into one of the many crevices that now decorated the walls. Many chandeliers hung from the ceiling, they were covered in gold and jewels, the floor was black and white tile like a chessboard. The walls seemed to be at least 4 stories tall, there was a tattered up runner in the center of the room that lead to an impressive stairwell.
  
  "Please follow me, and stay close behind." Alesis said calmly. I did as she asked and followed her lead, the castle was astoundingly large and ominous, I wanted to explore the entire thing but not with her here. After naviagating through the castle, she brought me near the top, you could see for miles and miles from where we now stood. We found ourselves in a beautiful circular shaped room with windows adorning every wall and pillars supporting its roof. There was a stained glass mural over the center of the room and pillars surrounding its center with a throne at the back of the room.
  
  > Promise of Purpose
  As we entered the grand room, Alesis walked ahead of me. Her walk was a little off and she was laughing strangely, "You...you're so naive. Too kind for your own good, thats whats going to get you killed."
  
  "What?" I stared confused as she faced away from me, still in the center of the room.
  
  "I am the one responsible for the land's decay, I tainted the earth with shadows. I will destroy you, you cannot be allowed to live."
  
  In that moment, her body turned into a shadowy silhouette and started horribly disfiguring itself. Her form went from human to a giagantic beast that stood 2 stories tall. It almost reached the ceiling of the massive room. Its arms were covered in firey shadows and had horns the size of tree trunks. Crystals emerged from its back and arms, they were colored reds, greens, blues, oranges and yellows. It stood on 2 legs and grew massive claws upon its fingertips.
  
  Its mouth opened to reveal horribly jagged teeth, its chest and neck started to glow orange and then the glow started to emit from its throat. I needed to move fast. Just as my feet moved off the ground, the air surrounding me got very hot and a burst of orange and red flew by. The heat from the shot of fire was immense. The blast hit the floor and soon after the monster tried to hit me by smashing into the ground with its mighty arms. It was fast for its size but I was still faster, I dashed over to its arms before they left the ground and made a deep cut on the monster's arm.
  
  > A Summer Breeze (Sword Only)
  The monster roared and raged, seething with malice and decay. Its arms lashed out and broke a pillar off in the grand room causing rubble and debris to fly everywhere.
  
  A light was shining through the windows of the room, almost like angels redirecting the rays of the sun all around to the room's center. It was an odd sensation of adrenaline, fear and tranquility.
  
  The muscles in my legs tensed and brought me to my feet, a feeling of courage overcame me. I gripped the sword tightly in my hands, the rays of the sun gleamed and reflected off of its brilliant steel. I ran up the flight of stairs, nearing the upper half of the monster.
  
  It began to lean up towards me, eyes red with fury and hatred.
  
  But underneath at all, she was still there. It was still her, I didn't want to kill her.
  
  The massive shadowy claws of the monster were fast approaching me, I planted my feet into the ground and held my breath, swinging the sword and cutting through the dark figure's reach.
  
  It reared back in pain and screeched, black ooze dripping from its hand and stepping away from the corner of the room.
  
  The center of the room where the monster once stood was calling out to me, all the rays of light were like arrows shooting towards the middle. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I was going to do it.
  
  I ran down the stairs once more while the monster was crouched over in pain, the wound in its hand was almost bubbling light and the color of the crystals imbedded in its skin seemed to have faded in color for just a moment. I got to the foot of the stairs and the sword almost felt like it was being pulled by a magnetic force.
  
  The monster started to step forward once more, even more enraged than before. It started to break the room apart by swinging its head and hitting the architecture with its towering horns. Everything was shaking and bricks started falling all around me, dust clouding the air. But the light still remained.
  
  I held up my sword in the center of the room, light pierced it from all corners of the room. Tears were streaming down my face. The light pierced the monster and it shrieked once more.
  
  The darkness surrounding her began to wither away, almost like black petals being carried off by a breeze. The horrific figure grew smaller and smaller, to reveal the girl that I knew once more.
  
  I ran over to where she was collasped, and held her in my arms. She slowly opened her eyes, she was exhausted, but a new glimmer of kindness emitted from them. We both smiled and hugged each other, in that moment we began to hear birds outside. We haven't heard birds in so many years, we both got up and limped over to the grand room's balcony. We were met with the most magnificent thing we had ever seen.
  
  The once shadowed field, was adorned with every color imaginable. The green grass danced as the wind finally passed through the valley, the sky was free of the dark clouds and was a brilliant blue. Water was rushing through the streams and the entire valley was teeming with life.
  
  After many years of helping the people of Millenia, I grew to be the new king. The towns were being rebuilt, children ran through the streets smiling and laughing. The castle was also returned to its former glory, and became a safe haven for people everywhere. Alesis, the girl who woke me up in an alleyway, who was by my side through thick and thin, became queen and played a critical role in the land's newfound prosperity. We lived out the rest of our days happily.