Stepping Into Struggle

Clayton lay motionless in the dirt. Stuck on his side where he’d fallen after being thrown, ash falling around him as he stares blankly at the charred remains of Baylif, his home where he had lived his entire life. Images of a simple and joyful childhood flashed through his mind. It was easy, and carefree. Each memory came with a painful joy but was soon after dashed to pieces as horroific new memories of seeing his friends and family slaughtered before him by the horde of demons filled his mind. His dream of living a life with no real difficulty was gone.

Lorren, the town oracle was right. No one wanted her here when she arrived but she was right. She told us that one day Baylif would be just one town of many to fall to a demon scourge but no one listened. Clayton himself even made jokes but now…now all Clayton felt was anguish, and regret.

Clayton slowly pushed himself to his knees, tears flowing down his face staining trails through the grime. Anger and vengeance coursed through him coming from a place within him he didn’t know existed. Through the tears and whimpers Clayton strained through clenched teeth, " It’s Not Fair”. He shook his head hoping in vain to rid himself of his new reality, but it remained.

Looking up, Clayton’s eyes locked onto something stuck in the ground a few feet away. Indecision and fear locked his body in place, keeping him from moving towards the only hope for closure that made sense in his young mind. He thought of his mother and planted his right foot underneath himself. He thought of his father and rose from the ashen ground. Now standing straight, each memory of a loved one or friend propelled him forward until he stood before the only sword that existed in his small town ever since he could remember. It’s bronze crafted hilt and unblemished blade validated its Elven origins.

Clayton wasn’t even sure how it had found its way into Baylif. That question often kept he and his friends busy as they imagined great stories and fantastic heroes. Now those fantasies seemed so childish and far away.

Wrapping his hand around the grip of the sword, a strange wind tussled his short brown hair. Fire and ash seemed to swirl around him as he pulled the sword from the earth and raised it to see his reflection. Looking into his tear soaked and red eyes, he made a promise to himself.

He gathered a few supplies not knowing how long he would be on the road. His preparations were meager. Partially due to a lack of resources in the town and partially because he had never been away from home for more than the better part of a day.

Town after town it was easy to follow the trail of destruction left by the band of demons. Most towns had at least one survivor and Clayton began to wonder if the demons did it on purpose to spread fear and chaos.

Every day he looked at the sword wondering when he’d get to use it. When he would finally avenge his family. Any time he wasn’t tracking, eating, or sleeping he was swinging the sword, testing its weight. Every day he became more familiar with the weapon and thanks to a few tips from some of the survivors he’d found, he was even starting to feel like he could properly defend himself.

After a few hard months which felt like the longest months of his life Clayton could tell he was losing their trail. It was probably a good thing too because winter was about to set in and he would not have let a little cold weather stop him from seeking justice. Clayton, along with the small band of refugees he’d been leading along with him finally came to a large, well defended city nestled into a valley on the Frigid Ridge. A long mountain range that almost spanned the continent.

It was here in Forgalis that Clayton’s future could become everything he was seeking over the last few months. This is where Clayton met Warren. A specialized guard hired to defend the town from particularly dangerous threats. Clayton never doubted the man’s skill after seeing how he dealt with a group of demons that busted through the front gate of Forgalis shortly after Clayton got there. Clayton still looks back to that day and marvels at Warrens skill. At one point in the fight Warren rushed the demons and swung with his sword. Clayton remembered thinking he would miss because the swing was too early but instead the sword flew out of Warren’s hands and into the ground just behind and to the side of the first demon. The swing caused the demon to take a step back expecting to dodge the sword’s edge but the sword was not the attack. In the moment when its feet were switching positions Warren jumped forward barreling into the creature with his whole frame. Clayton knew demons were strong but the power behind Warren’s shoulder charge threw the demon off its feet, sending it rolling across the ground. Before the demon had come to a stop, Warren let his weight carry him forward and with a twisting motion he turned, grabbed the sword from where it was stuck in the ground and effortlessly pulled it free. He brought it careening down on the next nearest demon too surprised to dodge the attack. It cleaved the creature almost in two.

Clayton trained with Warren for 3 years in which time they were sought after by numerous nobles to help defend or avenge their estates. It was also during this time that Clayton began having dreams in which he began to remember the actual demons who tore apart his home. At first they would frighten Clayton, shaking him to the core as he remembered the sad events of his past. However, he decided to memorize the faces and details of the demons he saw that day and he made every effort to plan how he would get his revenge.

One morning, Clayton looked at himself in the silver blade he’d come to master. He saw the changes in his reflection. He was older, more experienced. There was a knowing in his eyes. He had seen things many people hope never to see. Sometimes he would think to himself, ”It’s not fair.”. That phrase which wracked his world with pain before, now emboldened him to push on. It was this day that Clayton knew he was ready to leave Forgalis. He was ready.

Clayton began travelling to every town in the region asking about any demon sightings he could catch wind of. No matter how unfounded or unlikely the tip seemed, he would go. He found and slew more demons in those few months than he did with Warren in their 3 years together. He was relentless. He never stopped searching until one day, he found them. The group was larger than he remembered but he was well trained. Clayton trapped them, tricked them, and overcame them with pure skill until it was just him and the leader. The forest around them burned where the demons had spit fire. The flames caught and spread. Ash fell down around them with smoke swirling. Every swing of claws or sword would cut through the smoke and make it shift. Clayton and this demon became so furious in their attacks and defense that the smoke was almost cleared from around them. They twisted and swung, swerved and dodged. It seemed like hours that Clayton was fighting and it was the anger and vengeance he had harbored all these years that kept him going.

The demon swung and his foot slipped on a pool of blood. Clayton’s sword took of his arm and with a lightning fast swish of his sword he took of one of the demons legs too. “NOOO!!!” cried the demon. “This was it”, thought Clayton. After everything. Clayton kicked the demon in the side causing it to roll onto its back. He pulled a long dagger from a sheath at his side and plunged it through the demons leg and into the ground, pinning it. Stepping onto the creatures other arm it growled, seething. It stared Clayton dead in the eyes as Clayton looked down on the atrocity that had taken his life from him. “How!? You are one mortal!! How did you kill so many of us?! ITS NOT FAIR!!” the demon screamed.

“No…It’s not” whispered Clayton as he plunged his sword into the demon’s skull. “It never was.”. Clayton collapsed on the ground, his strength spent. He looked up to the sky as his vision blurred and the sounds of the burning forest around him faded.

Suddenly Clayton awoke in his bed back in Baylif. He didn’t even need to look to know that his body was again its younger self. He could feel it. He also felt the cold air of the night as he looked to the wide-open door of his thatched house. In the doorway stood the Oracle, Lorren. “Do you see now? Do you understand what must be done?” She spoke in a low old voice. “You have a choice now but do not make the same mistake as before”. She turned and was about to walk out when Clayton stopped her, “Wait! What do you mean? What mistake?”. Her head turned and one bronze eye shown in the moonlight as she looked back at Clayton. “Easy is not fair".