One Man's Will

The first to come to the house was a man. He was fairly · average in build with short dark hair. He crashed into the room · and went directly to the screaming. He found Danea with tears · flowing down her cheeks. · He also found an empty crib and a very dead nanny. He held · Danea to himself while she sobbed against his chest. · "Halberd, help me find my daughter. Please help me find · Jaila," pleaded the heart-stricken mother. · The man looked at her and surveyed the room once more. · "Everything will be fine, everything will be fine," comforted · Halberd. · He led her to the living room, and there were several other · people there. Halberd left the crying mother with them and · returned to the room to check the scene again. · The room was small. It was made as a nursery with enough · space for a nanny and a child. The cradle was located in the · center of the room. There was a large unadorned wooden cabinet · against the far wall. A bed was placed to the side of the crib. On · the bed lies the dead nanny. She looked no more than fifty. · Halberd looked at the nanny's body and found that there was a · white mark on her forehead. Halberd passed his hand over the yes · of the nanny and stared at the mark for a few minutes before · checking the crib. The crib was empty. Halberd was about to · leave the room when he spotted a small gray object in the crib. He returned to it and picked it up. It looked like a · stone. He brought the stone to his eyes, then smelled it. As · soon as he caught a whiff of the stone, he hurled the grey stone · against the wall. The stone shattered into many pieces, leaving · behind only a shower of foul-smelling dust. · Halberd returned to the people in the living room. He asked · several people to help in burying the nanny, then looked at · Danea. · "Danea, I will find your daughter," was all he could say, and · left the house towards his own dwelling. · Danea stopped crying after Halberd had left. The people · offered whispers of hope. Danea thanked them. · A few hours later, the people have settled back into their · daily routine. The only thing not routine was the offering of · their warmth to the sad mother as she went about her own · business. · Danea tried to find anything and everything to do to keep · her mind away from her daughter. When she couldn't find anything · more to do, she sat in her home and stared out into the sky as · tears flowed down from her brown eyes. She wondered if Halberd · would do what she asked of him. Halberd has always been a silent · man. Every time she met him and said hello, he only nodded. Of · all the people in the village, Halberd was the only one she knew · who might be able to help. He was known to have done some · travelling in the past. Halberd had accepted the task. · She wished to see her daughter again. She stood up and · walked to her room. She opened a covered trap door and retrieved a · bundle. She carried this and headed out of the house towards · Halberd's home. "This might help him find my daughter," thought · Danea. · Halberd was preparing what was needed to find the child. He · was unsure why the child was taken, but he knew when evil is · afoot. He had traveled enough when he left this village several · years ago to seek out his father. He didn't find him, but he · learned a lot about the world, including the vile rituals that a · certain mage had done and silently hoped that the child wasn't · part of it. He was unsure if the abductor was the same mage. He · had not heard of him since the mage's defeat a year ago. The · mage's lair was situated within the heart of a volcano. He · breathed deep and packed several items into his backpack. He · was finished in a few minutes and locked the door. He sat on a · straw-woven mat that adorned his floor. Closing his eyes, he · took several deep breaths and contemplated what he was going to · do. He thought of the woman whom he offered to help. He had · seen her before, but he was too shy to speak. He contemplated in · peaceful silence when it was interrupted by a knocking on the · door. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. · He opened the door to find Danea standing right there. She · looked at him, then bowed her head in timidness. · "I... I wish to give you this," She said as she extended · the bundle which she carried, "It was from my great-grandfather. · It was said he killed a bear with his hands. I want you to have · it." · Halberd tried to push the package away, but the woman · insisted. He took the bundle and opened it before her. The old, · weathered bundle revealed a pair of leather gloves. He looked at · her, then back at the gloves. He took them and wore them. The · gloves fit his hands as if it have been made for him. · "I will return this when I find your daughter," he said. · "I don't care about the gloves. Please find my Jaila, she is · all I have left in my life," sobbed Danea as she ran off towards · her house with her head buried in her hands. · Halberd looked at her fleeting form, then went slowly to the · table and fetched his belongings. He took one last look at his · home and left, closing the door behind him. He left his house · with only the gloves, his backpack with some provisions, some · money, and a sturdy quarterstaff. · Halberd took the only path which leads into the forest. As · soon as he was far from the village, he veered north. He knew · where that rock had come from. It came from a cemetery that he · found when he first started to seek his father a few years back. · He remembered because the stench of death was so vile that it · permeated everything in that cemetery. · It took him the better part of two days to arrive. The cemetery · was the same since the time he left it. The old rusty gate · squeaked back and forth from the old corroded hinges. The fence · that surrounded this land had turned to a dark shade of red, which somehow resembled blood. Even though he had not yet · entered the place of the dead, he could already smell the · stench and took a cloth to cover his mouth and nose. · He took a moment to look around before entering the · cemetery. He went by the gates and proceeded to walk towards the · center of the cemetery. He thought that it was there where he · would find the child, if this was the place the abductor had taken · her to. · He continued to walk when the earth shook, and the ground · exploded beneath his feet, sending him flying several feet away. As · he tried to recover his bearings, he saw a towering, monstrous · figure made from the tombstones and inhabitants of the graveyard. · He quickly moved to the side as a huge hand struck the ground · beside him, sending slivers of rock everywhere. He struck once at · the creature with his staff, knowing that it was useless against · the monstrosity. He had no other choice but to escape. · The creature, though twelve feet tall and slow, took up a lot · of space, and it blocked his escape. The unnatural · creature came forward with another blow. Halberd tried to block · the blow with his quarterstaff. The quarterstaff he used was now · clearly in two pieces and about five feet away. · Halberd quickly breathed in and out. He moved about, evading · the creature as he returned to the teachings which he had learned · from a very old hermit. He tried to create serenity within · himself, but it was hard with the creature trying to pound him · into the ground. He moved to the side as it delivered another · ground-shaking blow against a tombstone, shattering it to · uncounted pieces. Halberd risked a strike at the creature's · body. He braced himself for the pain of hitting stone, but it · never came. Instead, he felt a thud against the creature. He · was trying to figure out what happened when a blow hit him · squarely on his chest, sending him flying through the air and · landing ten feet from where he was. He clutched his chest in · pain as the creature lumbered closer. He felt the ground around · him seem to give way. He jumped as high as he could and landed · to the side of the creature. He hit the creature with full · force. Again, he felt the thud instead of the pain of hitting · stone. The creature seems to be unaffected, but with something · like this, there was no time to think. Halberd let his body go · into desperation and continued to fight. · The creature swung a blow that would have caught Halberd's · head had he not ducked. Halberd proceeded to strike at the · creature repeatedly, on the legs, arms, and chest. The creature · continued to try to hit the now-moving target. Halberd ducked · underneath a swing and found himself within the defense of the · creature. He let out his anger and struck with the fury of a · desert storm. He struck again and again at the creature. The · creature seems to slow down a bit, but Halberd continued to · strike home his blows, chipping and gouging parts of the creature · apart. · The creature sent another blow, but it only glanced at · Halberd's body. He felt the pain, but continued to fight. · Weakening, he knew he had no other choice. If he had stopped, he · might have been dead already. The creature reared its massive · hand and tried to hammer Halberd into the ground. Halberd dodged · and struck several more times. The creature tried to straighten · itself for another swing, but the force that held it together was · too weak to keep it going. The creature collapsed into a heap of · decayed matter. · Halberd took several deep breaths, trying to catch his · breath. He checked his wounds and found that they would heal. · The wounds were not very serious. He opened his backpack and · took out a vial of liquid, which contained a painkiller. He took · a small sip, then closed the vial. · Regaining his normal breathing, Halberd looked at the · A decayed creature that he had just fought. · "Could it really be the same mage?" he pondered. · He turned the remains several times. He returned to the · remains and slowly moved pieces of it to see what he might be · able to find within the unnatural being. He found a lot of · different parts of the human skeleton, as well as broken · tombstones and earth. He also found a feather the size of his · whole arm. He took the feather and looked at it and shivered at · the thought of what it meant. The feather was from a bird known · as a Roc. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. By the · time he opened his eyes, he was unsure if he still wanted to find · the child.