Lore/Story Ætheria's Fate - Cataclysm Chapter 1

This is the current draft of chapter 1 of my biggest project: Ætheria's Fate - Cataclysm. Enjoy!

Spoiler: Chapter 1

"Fire!" I released the string of my bow, launching the arrow strung to it forward. It flew through the air and struck my target, a wooden block painted with a red-and-white bullseye. The arrow buried itself into the block, almost in the direct center of the bullseye. I was one of the best archers in my class, and almost never missed my target.

"Ready!" Currently, I was at school, in the middle of archery training. Archery and bows had always been my strong point, and I showed it here during class.

"Aim!" In addition, I had received special training from the archery teacher, and I was often directly praised for my skills. I waited as the archery teacher began to walk down the line of students and correct them. "Liam, stand straighter, stop leaning! Poppy, hold the bowstring tighter! You’re firing an arrow, not playing a harp! Bryan, hold your bow higher, you’re bound to hit the floor!”

The teacher paused as he came to me, carefully studying me, then smiled. "Excellent posture, Daniel! Keep up the good work, my boy!"

Of course, the archery teacher was also my father. Not that the added skill in archery helped me in any way. Everyone else saw me as a teacher's pet, someone who got special attention just because they were the teacher's son. To the students in this school, the only thing that mattered was how good you were at pigball or not. Archery didn't matter, and some of the students even called it "girly". Figures.

My father continued down the line of students, correcting each one individually. After passing by the last student in this class, he turned around and called out one last time, "Fire!"

Once again, my arrow flew straight and true, burrowing itself deep into the wood of the target. I relaxed my arms, setting my bow down onto the grass of the field, and took a deep breath. Very carefully, I strode over to my target and pulled each of the arrows free from the block of wood.

Most of the students quickly filed out of the yard, likely to go play pigball like they always did. I would bet my bow that whichever team had Derek on it would win. He was an absolute monster. Not that I planned on playing, of course. I had much more important things to do than getting my head slammed into the dirt.

I returned my arrows to a quiver resting on the school wall. Well, save the ones that were blunted by my powerful shots. Those I rested on a log to be sharpened later. I looked up at my approaching father, who was counting the arrows I had set down, not incredibly shocked by the damage I had done to them.

“You blunted 6 arrows this lesson,” he said, almost in a monotonic voice. “I was expecting more from you this time.”

I rolled my eyes at his obvious sarcasm, and he laughed and patted my shoulder. “You know I’m kidding. You did exceptional.” He picked up the ruined arrows and twirled one of them between his fingers. “Although, we are going to need to make you some stronger arrows, maybe copper, before you blunt all of out iron ones.”

My father smiled and placed the arrows back on the log. “On that note, Daniel, are you ready for your advanced lesson?”

My advanced lessons typically consisted of lots, and lots, of difficult and agile shots, many of which while blindfolded. I wasn’t really feeling up to that right now, so I politely declined. “Not now. I feel like I just need to take a walk or something right now.”

“Oh, alright. I understand. Take all the time you need.” I nodded. “See you,”

I turned around and started to make my own way out of the practice field, but my dad stopped me just before I left. “Make sure to stop by the forge on your way around. I’ve got a bundle of arrows that need to be returned here.”

“Will do.”

I broke into a slow jog, leaving my father behind as I left the school campus. The school itself wasn’t that large, as it only needed the space to contain all the necessary classrooms. On the outside, however, it seemed a lot bigger, mostly because it was larger than everything else anyway, and the many fields and training areas didn’t help.

Some people might have thought it weird that teens would learn archery on a daily basis, but for us, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Whitefall was a small village where everyone needed to play their part to support everyone else. There needed to be hunters to collect meat, chefs to cook it into meals, miners and smiths to supply the metal needed for the hunters’ arrows, and so on. It was a very delicate balance.

My mother and father were both hunters, and as an only child, that meant that the family profession was passed down to me. I had been trained in archery since I was very young, and my parents hoped that when I grew older and had kids of my own, I would do the same for them.

For now, though, I had other things on my mind than becoming an adult. I just needed to go on a walk and not worry about the things I had to do later. So, I cleared my head, stretched my shoulders, and set out on my “journey” across the village.

Right across the road, or rather, gravel path, from the school was the barracks, the only building in the village that could compete with the size of the school. The barracks was a place for more advanced weapons training, weapon storage, and a whole list of other things important to fighters and guards. it even had a series of rooms within the buildings, where the members of the guard could rest, or even live.

I didn’t live in the barracks, of course, but there were some other people who did. Most of them simply couldn’t afford to live in a personal house, but the living conditions of the barracks were adequate enough for them.

However, the real crowing jewel of the village were the walls. Without any walls, we would be vulnerable to outside monster or beast attacks, of which there were plenty. They stood several times higher than I was, stretching almost 20 feet into the sky. Made of the granite that was especially common in this region, and rather imposing from either side, these walls were probably the sole reason this village has survived for as long as it has.

Some of the farms and wells couldn’t fit inside the city, which meant occasional raids on our food supply, but all in all it wasn’t a terrible loss. We had taken to posting guards around every farm to reduce the damage done, and it already seemed to be paying dividends.

A guard on the wall waved and nodded to me, and I nodded back, although less enthusiastically. I had never been a very social person, and I only had one friend, and even he I had known since childhood. My parents had desperately tried to get me to socialize more, but I just wouldn’t have it, and they eventually gave up. That was just the way life went, I suppose.

This “only friend” was Kyler, and the only reason I even knew who he was was because our parents had known each other, at least, until his parents died. It was a rather tragic story, and not something I was willing to think about at this moment. Maybe later. Anyway, Kyler had become my closest, although my only, friend, and pretty much the only person that I actually opened up to.

However, Kyler was basically the exact opposite of me in terms of personality. While I preferred being alone and antisocial, Kyler was probably the most outgoing person in the village. Like my parents, he always tried to get me to talk to other people, but it never happened. I wasn’t entirely sure where he was at right now, but I was sure he was probably off doing his own things. It really any of my business, so I just kept on walking through the village.

Right now, I was on the “industrial” side of the village, as everyone called it, where all the shops, businesses, and workshops were set up. Even outcast from them was the forge, and as I approached, it was easy to tell why. Even from a block away, I could feel the heat radiating from the large building, and it didn’t get any better as I got closer.

The forge stood alone in a large grassy field, completely devoid of life except for the sounds of clanging metal from inside the building itself. I couldn’t see inside yet to see who it was, and the only way to do so was to get closer.

I felt beads of sweat form in my brow as I crept closer, the heat starting to get to me. I was starting to regret accepting my father’s request to fetch the arrows at this point. A little closer, a little warmer. Another step, another wave of heat. Finally, I was close enough to the forge to see in, and I was about as close as I was willing to go, and I could finally see inside.

And when I did, I suddenly felt that maybe the heat wasn’t so bad after all. For inside the building was Nessa, my long-time crush, and for good reason.

She was incredibly hot, gorgeous even, and it seemed like the heat of the forge was getting to her as well. I was desperately in love with her, mind and soul. I may have stared for a few moments, in silent shock and contemplation, when my brooding was rudely interrupted by a shout.

“Ah, Daniel!” said the voice of Nessa’s father, Trom, who seemed completely oblivious to the fact that I had just been checking out his daughter. I quickly snapped out of my thoughts to see him exiting the forge, a large bundle of iron arrows in his arms, that easily had to have over thirty arrows. He had clearly been busy.

“Your father requested these earlier, and said you would be coming by to pick them up. I dunno how any one person would need this many arrows, but here ya go.” He handed the massive bundle of arrows to me, the sudden weight, although small, causing me to stumble a bit. I carefully maneuvered to bundle into my quiver, which I kept on me at all times, along with my hunting bow slung across my back.

“You good?” Trom asked once I had finished putting the arrows away. I nodded, and Trom patted me on the shoulder before turning around and heading back into the forge. As soon as I knew that he wasn’t watching anymore, I let myself spare a glance, well, several glances at Nessa before continuing on my walk.

The rest of Whitefall wasn’t as interesting as what I had already been through, but it was all important nonetheless. Alchemist Saucher lived and worked down the road from the smithy, the only building anywhere close to the vicinity of the forge heat. Then again, Saucher was almost definitely insane, but he was the only Alchemist in the village, so we let him stay.

Then there were the two rival jewelers. They both desperately worked to out-craft the other, which may not have been good for them, but the village girls certainly enjoyed the incredibly high-quality jewelry. I had been eyeing some of the merchandise as well, searching for anything that I might be able to buy for Nessa in the near future.

Then, of course, there were the many crafters and merchants, selling all kinds of items, from shirts to sandals and tools to trinkets. Almost anything you could want or need was here, typically for a price of course. Most shops here charged a few coins for their items, and said coins then often circulated around the village. The only shop i knew that didn’t charge anything was the forge, with Trom expressly stating that he would not give anything he made a price. All of the village guard were especially grateful for that, and I was too. If I had to pay coins for every single arrow I used… I would probably be begging for money on the side of the road to the nearest village by now. It was not a possibility that I really wanted to think about.

But, moving on, I began to approach the center of the village, a large open courtyard-like area, currently filled with a sizable amount of merchant booths. Several people were milling about the area, checking out wares and prices, but most of the items were just trinkets and such from other villages.

Kyler was probably here somewhere, he was almost always here during this time of day, before his guard duties began. My hunting had to begin around the same time as he had to go, so I figured I could go and have a quick talk before he had to head out on our respective jobs.

I waded through the small crowd, trying to search for the rogue. He was typically awfully easy to pick out from a crowd, but for some reason, I just couldn’t spot him. It was possible he was somewhere else, but that wasn’t like him. He always wanted to be somewhere where there was people. So if he wasn’t in the crowd, that left only one place where he could be. I looked up and there he was, sitting on the roof of the town hall. Kyler was incredibly agile, and so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see him there. What also wasn’t a surprise was the girl sitting next to him, and considering the fact that I didn’t recognize her, Kyler was probably hoping to take her out on a date.

Knowing Kyler’s natural charisma and romantic history, it was highly probable he would succeed. He had always done better with romance than me, and had probably seduced half of Whitefall’s female population by now. Meanwhile, I had only ever been on one date, and even that was years ago. It was a massive failure, and the girl had immediately dumped me for one of the village jocks. I didn’t like to talk about the details. Since then, Nessa had become my crush and the absolute love of my life. Kyler, however, wasn’t limited by such things as crushes.

Since he seemed to be eagerly flirting with her, and it appeared that she was flirting back, I decided it would be in my best interests to leave him alone for the time being. However, that plan was foiled when Kyler spotted me in the crowd, looking up at him. His mouth broke into a wide grin, and he sort of slid down the roof of the building, landing on the ground with the grace of a cat.

His “flirtee” seemed incredibly surprised at the sudden jump, now being stranded on the roof of the building. Kyler approached me, his massive grin still covering his face, completely forgetting the girl he had just been flirting with moments before. As soon as he was within hearing distance, he shouted, “Hey Daniel!”, loud enough that the entire village could have probably heard it. I sighed inwardly, wishing that Kyler hadn’t seen me at all.

He came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. It seemed everyone was putting their hands on my shoulder today. Was it pat-a-shoulder day? Did I miss something?

Kyler began to talk to me, but it was such a rambling mess that I pretty much tuned it out, waiting for him to finish talking at the speed of sound. I caught a few snippets, something about “stumbling upon a beautiful goddess” and “fantastical adventures”. Meanwhile, Kyler’s “goddess” scrambled to get down from the town hall, carefully sliding down and grabbing onto ledges, before finally falling to the ground in a heap.

She quickly got up, clear fury in her face, ready to give Kyler hell. I smirked, knowing what was coming for Kyler. He, noticing my smirk, asked what was so funny. I simply took a step back and gestured behind him, and he turned around in a flash, but by then it was too late. Kyler stood face to face with the girl he had been flirting with moments before, and she was glaring daggers at him.

I watched, amused, as Kyler managed a weak smile, right before he was slapped in the face by his apparent goddess. He stumbled to the side, and began rubbing at his cheek where he had been hit. “Ow,” he said, and then a perfectly confused voice asked, “What was that for?”

“You know damn well what it was for!” the girl growled, like an angry, rabid wolf. She reached out towards Kyler’s chin and turned his head towards her. She leaned in close, her voice dropping to a malicious whisper, and I suddenly decided not to trifle with any of Kyler’s future girlfriends ever again. “If you do that again, Kyler, then I will take my headband off and strangle you with it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good,” she retracted her fingers from Kyler’s chin, tracing a line along his neck. Then, her attitude somehow changing in an instant, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a short kiss. “Meet me on the cliffside by sunset,” she whispered with a wink at Kyler. She pulled her arms away and strode off into the crowd, leaving me dumbfounded as to how Kyler had done it.

He turned towards me, and now it was his time to smirk. “How in the world do you do it?” I asked, as soon as he was done taunting me.

“Do what?” he asked, his expression morphing into one of pure innocence.

“One moment she’s a storm of fury, ready to strangle you to death, and the next she kisses you and asks you out on a date! How do you manage that!?”

Kyler thought for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure, actually. It might be that I’m just so hot that no girl could possibly stay mad at me.”

When I glared at him, he shrugged. “What? I genuinely don’t know, but if it gets me on dates with hot girls, it’s a win.”

I supposed that was good enough an answer for now. Besides, I couldn’t linger for long, the sun was inching across the sky and it was almost time for my and Kyler’s respective duties. I left Kyler be to fantasize about his new girlfriend, who I still didn’t know the name of. I should probably ask Kyler about that at some point, I don’t think he or her would appreciate it if I didn’t know her name.

I made a mental note to ask Kyler about it the first chance I got, after I was finished hunting at least. With all of the arrows in my quiver already, I figured I really didn’t need to make any stops, so I just made my way to the east gate. Well, it wasn’t really a gate, it was a large arch set into the wall that people could walk through, but it sounded cooler if it was called a gate. The guards gave me a nod as I passed through, bow in hand, ready to head out to do what I did best, where I wouldn’t have to worry about anything else in the village. Hunt.



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I sighted up my shot through the bushes. Being careful to make no sudden movements, I slowly drew back my bowstring. As soon as it was taut, I carefully looked down the shaft of the arrow, right at my target. This was no target painted onto a block of wood. This was the real deal, a large White Boar, a unique animal that was only found here and in the surrounding mountains.

I inhaled a deep breath, double-checked my shot, and fired. The arrow flew straight and true, directly at the heart of the boar… until it didn’t. A small gust of wind knocked my arrow just off course, striking the boar in the thick skin of its back, and failing to pierce anything vital. The boar let out a loud bellow, and I cursed silently, not that the silence mattered at all. Now the whole forest knew I was here, and the boar was beginning to run away! I cursed again, this time audibly, and followed.

Fortunately, I was much faster through the brush than the boar was, easily allowing me to catch up and utilize one of the skills my father had taught me. While running just behind the boar, I leapt in the air, quickly snatching an arrow from my quiver, drawing it, and firing. At this close range, I couldn’t miss, and I didn’t. This arrow punched right through the boar’s skin, piercing through the top and skewering it.

Barely even feeling winded, I knelt down to check my “spoils of war”. While the village leatherworker’s typically didn’t have much use for its pelt, the real crowning glory was the meat. White Boar meat was incredibly filling if cooked well, so this one kill could supply a meal to a massive amount of the population. The trade-off was that White Boars were rather hard to find, so this was a special kill for me.

Very carefully, I unsheathed a small hunting knife strapped to my waist and began to cut away the skin and fur of the boar. Since I couldn’t reasonably carry the boar back to Whitefall like this, I was going to have to cut it up and bring it in my pouch. To anyone else, that might seem like an odd plan, but my pouch was a Bag Of Holding, albeit a small one. Bags Of Holding could carry a lot more than you would think on the outside, and were specially enchanted for this purpose.

Finally, twenty minutes and a dead boar later, my pouch was full of meat and ready to go. I probably should have been disgusted by this grisly work, but to me, this happened on a daily basis. I didn’t even gag as I looked at the corpse, which flies were already beginning to buzz around of. I wiped by bloody hands and knife on the boar’s pelt, stood up, and went off to hunt again.

Or at least, that’s what I would have done had I not seen what I did. Apparently as I was running, I missed the fact that there was a massive cave entrance directly in front of me. This would have been foreboding all on its own, but the massive snake-like fangs jutting down from the cave ceiling was a dead giveaway. This was a Dungeon, and judging by how untouched it was, a new one too.

This wasn’t some dungeon like a jail cell, oh no. This was a capital-D Dungeon, a special occurrence that only happened when there was a high enough concentration of mana. And it seemed like there was just enough here, which had caused this cave to form. And, judging by the snake fangs, there was going to be some kind of snake-based monster inside here. Or, they were just there to look cool. That was entirely possible too.

I probably wouldn’t have known this normally, but in addition to my love for archery, I also enjoyed reading, so I knew quite a few things about Dungeons, and other unique things around Ætheria. One of the things I specifically remembered was that Dungeons were supposed to have cool loot at the end, perhaps a weapon or piece of armor I could use.

Knowing exactly who would be overjoyed to hear about this, I carefully set a marker for myself to remember where this was, and began to run back to the village. Kyler was probably the only other person who loved books as much as me, so I knew he would love this prospect.

 

Is this a rework of the old Ætheria's Fate: Cataclysm from 2020? As some of the uhh sentences are the same. Or is this completely new OwO
also what happened to slap squad

 

Yes, I keep trying to make this chapter just right
I haven't been wokring much on slap squad, I probably will more once I completely finish up school for the year