The story begins with a family coming back into a rustic-looking farm town. The surrounding countryside is mostly hilly and covered with pleasant-smelling grass, and is smattered with worn-down gray rocks. A couple of small children and their father are there when the air and smell changes as something sinister lingers in the air.
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A shadow of a man, holding something unidentifiable from a distance, appears at the crossroads right outside of the town. He drops whatever he's holding with the most sinister smile on his face. Despite being a shadow, his teeth shined brightly, spooking the family. In the blink of an eye as a gust of wind blew by, he was gone. All that remained what was on the ground.
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The man with his family felt the need to see what this was all about, but he remembered a man from Legion was passing through town and it was better to be safe than sorry. He instructed his little ones to return to the market where their mother was and to tell her to find this Legionnaire to come and meet him. Once his kids were gone, he felt he could approach the pile of whatever it was left by the shadow. As he crept closer and closer, it became clear what it actually was. A body.
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"Hello?" The man asked, as he started to see a better picture of what he was looking at. It was a young man looking ripped to shreds. His body had cuts all over him, but there wasn't much blood. It looked as though he had had the beating of his life.
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"Are you awake? Are you alive? My name's Balcov. Can you speak?"
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The man on the ground could not. Balcov, not knowing what to do, lifted the man up, pulling on his arm where on his wrist he saw the mark of the wayfarer meaning this man was a Legionnaire like the one in town.
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"Stop right there! Don't move him just yet," came a voice from behind him. It was the man he had sent his children to get. A younger man dressed in a fancy white suit to show his prominent status. He wore black glasses that accentuated his emerald green hair which was accented itself by a top hat featuring a cute rabbit head with emerald eyes of its own.
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"You're the legionnaire in town right? The one doing the tricks for the children as you pass through?" Balcov asked hoping this man could help.
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"Yes sir. The name's Aedden. I am a wayfarer who travels from town to town, scouting and spreading good fortune on behalf of the Legion," replied Aedden as he got closer to look at the man on the ground.
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"He appears to be one of yours," said Balcov pointing to his wrist.
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"Appears that way. Thank you good sir but I might not be enough if we dont get these wounds wrapped as soon as possible."
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Balcov reached into a bag he was carrying,
"I've got a good amount of cloth and rope I could spare."
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"Excellent! You'll save his life yet!"
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Aedden began wrapping all the wounds. He took notice that only once they were wrapped, that's when they started to bleed. This man was something special, but now wasn't the time to ask questions. Aedden knew he needed real help, so he reached up to his hat removing his rabbit's eyes.
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"Alright, with what's left, I'll have to build a carrier to transport him. I need to get him back to the Legion headquarters where real medical help can be found."
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Aedden held the two emeralds, one in each hand. They began glowing and suddenly extended out of his hands, dumbfounding Balcov as he watched. The two small emeralds were now long poles as tall as the man on the ground. Aedden proceded to make a stretcher to carry the hurt man's body.
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"So you're an elementist! My son is showing some abilities as well," said Balcov still amazed.
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"Yes sir. I became proficient in the rare gem at a young age. What's your son's efficiency?"
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"He can only warp iron. Nothing too amazing but we have high hopes of him getting out and possibly joining the Legion someday."
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"Well, I wish him the best luck. I'm going to have to go now, but thank you for you help,"
Aedden stepped back with the body on the stretcher now. The emeralds began glowing again, this time lifting into the air. Balcov was shocked again, never having seen abilities like this before. The man was being carried by Aedden without him even touching him.
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Aedden began his journey towards Legion headquarters.
It had been a few hours into trekking across the dirt roads to the city of Heimlock where the Legion headquarters reside, when the injured man seemed to drift back into consciousness. Aedden took notice,
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"I see you're awake. Can you speak?"
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"B..barely," said the man weakly.
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"You got a name?"
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"Fayrin," he said as Aedden turned to look at him.
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"No kidding? The prodigy elementist. You're the reason I was able to become a Legionnaire you know. Name's Aedden."
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"Really? After my first year there at fourteen, I took the mark of the wayfarer and haven't been back."
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"I see, said Aedden, understanding, "But yeah, because of you they started taking younger applicants. I was fourteen when I joined which would have been sometime shortly after you left. So that'd make you a year older than me! I only became a wayfarer this year though."
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Aedden paused as he figure out the math determining he was nineteen, making Fayrin twenty years old. But all in all, he realized the interesting story wasn't who Fayrin was or is. It's what happened to him,
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"Tell me Fayrin, do you consort with shadows? I've never heard of such a thing?"
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"Shadows?" questioned Fayrin not understanding.
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"The children that came to get me said a shadow dropped you there. Leaving you for dead," explained Aedden.
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"Oh... it was no shadow. It was a man."
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"A man?"
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"An incarnate of evil, that's for sure."
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"Seems like there's a lot more to the story," Aedden pushed, "We've got some time before we're in Heimlock."
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"Heimlock," Fayrin paused, "I haven't been back in so long."
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"Well those wounds need treatment as soon as possible. You look as you've been cut hundreds of times. Wrapped up like a mummy now. Seriously, what happened?"
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"Well, there's multiple parts to my story, I don't think many would understand."
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Aedden scoffed, "When it comes to you, don't you think most people, especially Legionnaires know about you? You're the elementist prodigy! The first person to be able to manipulate multiple elements. What? Uh, diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald right?"
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"Yes, that's, part of it," said Fayrin.
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"Rare multiple elemental efficiency. Unheard of until you. Mine's emerald," Aedden began to brag, " They say they've never seen someone more efficient in my element than me, but we can talk about me another time. Tell me about the shadow man."
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Fayrin paused as he began to think where it would be best to start his story. The only reason he ran into the shadow man was because he was working a demon hunt in a town near where he met the man.
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"Some wayfarers specialize in community and scouting. My thing has always been demon hunts. That's for a reason all of it's own, but it's how I came across this man. I was on a hunt out in the wastes. The small towns there aren't as protected as the bigger cities as you get closer to Heimlock," Fayrin paused again, this time due to feeling woozy, but he re-composed himself to continue on,
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"I heard talks of necromancy in a nearby forest and managed to find the culprit. Unfortunately, he had already set loose his demon on the nearby town. The only thing worse than a demon is one without a master. So I hunted down the demon."
Fayrin was hot on the trail, chasing down the demon that a necromancer had let loose. An ugly looking creature that looked close to an orc or goblin hybrid from fantasy lore. As he was chasing it through the alleys of the town in the dead of night, he reached up to his neck, revealing a necklace carrying four differently colored gems.
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Fayrin picked the clear one, a diamond, and held it in his hand as it began to glow and shape into a sword. The sword was shaped much like a gladiator's blade. He started to catch up as the demon then shot up the siding of a brick house. Being as skilled as he is, Fayrin easily followed the demon. This wasn't his first hunt.
The demon came close to the edge of the roof and felt cornered, turning towards Fayrin. It knew it couldn't run forever, so it was time for a fight. Fayrin never stopped moving as he came upon the demon. The demon chose to stand its ground. A fatal mistake.
Fayrin quickly swung his blade up slicing half of the demon's face off causing it to scream out in pain. He then quickly spun around with his opposite side, landing a kick on the torso of the demon causing it to fall back. Finally, Fayrin rushed forward, seemingly falling with the demon off the roof of the house, plunging his diamond blade into the demon's heart and eviscerating it as he pulled it out once they hit ground.
Shocked townspeople gathered around as Fayrin showed them the mark of the wayfarer and explained that the town would have been in danger had he not intervened. He then instructed them to burn the remains and he cleaned himself. His journey and mission here were done.
The people thanked him as he made his way out of the town whereupon a peice of parchment on the ground caught his attention. It was an advertisement of some sort for a travelling circus. Something on his way that he could possibly check out.
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So Fayrin set out travelling on his own with a new destination in tow. Unbeknownst to him, what lied ahead, would change everything.
As Fayrin got closer to his destination, jaunty music could be heard. Then a very large single circus tent came upon the horizon. It wasn't much farther now, but it seemed as though the show had already started. There was no one outside so Fayrin was unsure of how to enter.
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Fayrin was at the side of the tent and found a fold to peer into. There was an audience of about fifty or so men, women, and children seated around the center stage where only a shadow was visible. Then the spotlight shined on the man.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Welcome to my show! I'm your Ringmaster," shouted the man as he ended with a very crooked and creepy smile. He was dressed in a ringmasters' suit. It was purple from the top hat to bottom of his pants with a black bowtie and shoes. Fayrin felt something was off about this man.
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The Ringmaster reached into his pockets and pulled out a few rings of what appeared to be made out of iron and began juggling them. The rings grew in size little by little each time they passed through his hands into the air. Some hecklers in the audience started talking about how common iron manipulation was and some even booed.
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"Oh not impressive enough? Well..." smirked the Ringmaster as he held the rings in one hand and pushed into the other's palm causing him to bleed on the them. It was at this moment, Fayrin knew what this was, blood magic. However, he didn't know how it would be used.
The Ringmaster opened his suit pockets again revealing many more peices if iron, making sure to splatter each with his blood, the audience still not fully understanding what was about to happen.
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"I see you're not yet entertained, but you see. You've got the wrong idea! You're here to entertain me!"
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Before Fayrin could even act, the Ringmaster shot his arms forward releasing all the iron towards each audience members. The iron became rings around their necks, suffocating them and stopping them from crying out or running,
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"Oh, no more boos?"
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The Ringmaster smirked his creepy smile one last time as he closed his hands into fists, making his rings decapitate each member of the audience. Blood rained down from every direction as all the bodies fell. Fayrin couldn't believe his eyes. The horror. The massacre.
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It was then that the Ringmaster noticed his presence and started walking towards Fayrin. Fayrin fell back out of the hole he had peered into and landed on the ground as the Ringmaster ripped open the tent,
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"Why hello there. You've come too late for my show. But perhaps an encore could be arranged."
Fayrin got to his feet and regained focus. He was a legionnaire and a representative of the people. This man is guilty of mass murder, the use of blood magic and has to be stopped. He pulled out his necklace of stones and retrieved his emerald and diamond.
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Fayrin held the diamond in his right hand and the emerald in his left. The diamond glowed and formed into the gladiator type sword he had used to slay the demon earlier. The emerald began glowing and wrapping around his left arm becoming an arm shield. Fayrin was ready for battle.
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"My my, aren't you the interesting one. Multiple manipulations. It won't save you however," said the Ringmaster as he took out two rings of bloodstained iron in each hand. The blood began to warp around the iron becoming solid serated edges sharp enough to kill. He lunged forward.
Fayrin was no rookie when in came to battle, but this ringmaster was fast. The Ringmaster kept lunging forward trying to cut Fayrin in any way, luckily, Fayrin was able to parry each strike, but barely. It was as if the Ringmaster was so bloodthirsty and running off the high of his kills that Fayrin just didn't have time to think or strategize. The hits just kept coming.
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Unfortunately, Fayrin missed a block, getting slashed in the shoulder by one of the blades. The Ringmaster smirked and jumped back,
"Finally," he said as he licked Fayrin's fresh blood off the solid blood, "Now you lose, painfully."
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As a blood magic user, the Ringmaster seemed to have some trick up his sleeve by consuming others' blood. Fayrin waited in anticipation of what was to come, but nothing did in those few moments before the Ringmaster spoke again,
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"It's not working?! What are you?"
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He smirked his creepy smile again taking an offensive stance,
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"You just became more interesting."
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The Ringmaster shot forward again, but this time much faster, with a barrage of attacks. Fayrin couldn't block them all anymore, he was slowing down. Every other hit at this point was a cut into Fayrin's body as he grunted with each slash. The Ringmaster backed off again after noticing a few things.
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"I don't get it," he laughed, "I cut. And I cut. And barely and blood leaks out of you. I think I'm going fucking mad. But you're so much fun. Look at you trying to stand your ground."
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Fayrin knew he was right and could tell that even though he was still standing, he had nothing left. He was outmatched by this monster of a man that called himself the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster began walking slowly towards him again, putting away his weapons,
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"You do intrigue me boy. I feel our paths will cross again," he said as Fayrin dropped to his knees. The Ringmaster walked over and grabbed him by his hair,
"If you survive of course."
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It was then that Fayrin lost consciousness and was whisked away and left for dead outside of that town where Aedden had found him.
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Fayrin's story had come to an end and there was silence as Aedden took it all in,
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"Blood magic? Almost as dark as necromancy. A mass murderer no less. The Legion's gonna want to snuff this guy out and fast."
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"As soon as I'm healed," Fayrin paused knowing he'd have to get stronger for this threat and may even need some help, "I'll kill him myself."
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