Balance
Ch. 2

     The sun had set.  And the sound of the horns could be heard for miles.
 Then a sound like thunder and the feeling of the earth shaking began.  The
war had begun.
     The human ranks charged forth to meet that of the dreaded orcs and the
Greater wolves that they rode.  The human ranks then split into three.  The
largest was to take the orcs head on and the other two were to flank around
the sides, hopefully surrounding the orcs.  There could be no withdrawl,
this was the last stand, the last battle to stop the orcish invasion.
     "Come on men!" came the cry of Sir Brandon to his men, "We are to
flank them on the west side.  We cannot fail!"
     The men charged on, each in their own direction.  And then it
happened.  Both armies came together with a mighty clash of steel on steel.
 The battle had begun and blood was already drawn.  The sounds of people
dying began to fill the air along with the mighty war cries of the men and
orcs alike.
     Sir Brandon took up the left flank and proceded to into the battle
with his men.  Left and right people were falling, and the ground soon
became soaked with blood.  Sir Brandon charged through the orcish ranks
taking heads off with his sword as he passed by.  Then, he fell.
     He fell to the ground so suddenly he would have been trampled to death
if one of his companions, Arstis, had not picked him up.  Then Brandon
watched as Arstis' body was torn in half by the wicked saber of an orc
behind; that was the price for kindness in war.  Sir Brandon then quickly
slammed his sword into the orc with two hands, withdrew the blade, and spun
around to take of the head of the orc approaching from behind.
     The battle went on far into the night.  But by nearly midnight the
horn was sounded once again.  The humans had won.  The last remaining
humans walked, with boots sloshing in blood soaked earth, towards the
middle of the battle field to find each other.  Out of 1200 men to begin
with, there were barely 300 left.  Over 900 men had died on the battlefield
this day.  But the humans were victories.
**************************************************
     The next morning a meeting was held to honor the warriors slain in
battle, and then to honor the warriors victorious in battle.  The meeting
took place in the town square of Brendall the capital city.
     It was now time to honor the warriors victorious in battle.  All
surviving wariors were given honorable status and a bronze star for
bravery.  Two men were given silver stars for outstanding performance in
battle with each warriors kills totaling 67 and 78 orcs.  One warrior was
given a golden star and a raise in rank from Warrior to Knight.  His
totaled kill was about 123, unfortunatley he will be honorably discharged
from the ranks afterwards as he is no longer able to fight due to a missing
arm and a crippled leg.  The last honor was given to the last surviving
Dragoon of the ranks.  No higher symbol of honor could be given to him, he
bore four golden stars, 7 silver stars, and 13 bronze stars.  He also bore
the black and the white flame.  He also bore all four swords, the Sword of
Strength, the Sword of Power, the Sword of Will, and the Sword of Spirit.
He was second highest in rank of all the human armies, come from the nearby
capital city of Drenton to help fight in the war along with the other five
dragoons.  The only thing that could be done would be to give him the Quest
of Light.  It was the hardest quest that could be offered to a warrior.  If
succeeded the Dragoon would obtain the last sword, the Sword of Light.
Only the highest ranking Dragoon held that sword as rarely any passed.
Then the words were spoken:
     "As second highest ranking Dragoon of the human armies and bearer of
all human ranking I have nothing to offer in recognition of your heroic
actions in battle but this:  I offer you the Quest of Light.  Do you, Sir
Brandon, whose total kill in battle equal 287.  Whose overall total kill is
estimated at nearly 23,000, choose to take this Quest of Light?"
     "Yes."
     The town went silent.
     "You shall have one week to prepare.  Do you understand the
consequences and what you will be facing?  Do you understand that failure,
by all means, is eternal death?"
     "Yes."
     Still no response from the townspeople.
     "Then I pronounce you Seeker of Light, Truth, and Justice.  Return and
you shall be a Dragoon of light.  The highest honor any warrior can ever
hope to obtain."
     Sir Brandon then stepped down to take his place in the crowd.  The
meeting ended shortly after and the people went back to their work.  The
warriors went home to rest.  And Sir Brandon went to the temple.
     As he entered the temple, still in armor with wounds exposed, he
walked down the isle till he came up to the atlar.  No one was in the
temple but the priest, as it was a working day and not a day for worship.
Brandon knelt down in front of the atlar and said a silent prayer to the
shrine on the back wall.  He then stood and took his place at a kneeling
pas to the left, knelt, and began to meditate on recent events.
     The shrine was a symbol of light.  It was a flame of white gold that
beautifully decorated the back wall.  It was more a symbol then a god, it
was a symbol of what he and the humans stood for.  The humans had been
fighting the orcs for centuries but this last battle was the deciding
battle.  The orcs were not gone for they could not be rid of so easily but
at least they had been set back.  It would probably take them decades to
recover.  The orcs had lost nearly 1500 of their men that day.
     Brandon, contemplated what had happened during the battle.  He could
still smell the blood and sweat.  He could still hear the stomping of the
horses hooves and the screams of the dying men.  the sound of steel against
steel and steel against flesh was still fresh in his mind.  And the fact
that he would be dead right now, dead if another man hadn't sacrificed his
life for him still stuck in his mind.
     **************************************************
     A week had passed and the town was back to normal.  The warriors were
back in training.  And Sir Brandon stood in the town hall as he was
prepared for his quest.  His old armor was stripped of him and taken to a
blacksmith to be rebuilt.  He was given a light leather suit instead for
there would be no battles that required armor on this journey.  He was
stripped of all supplies and given nothing but his sword.
     "This is your soul," said the town leader as he handed Brandon his
sword, "This shall be your only weapon, your only defense, and your only
means of survival.  If your sword is damaged or lost, so is your soul."
     Brandon then began the journey.  he left town and immediatly headed
west.  he headed west into the mountains.  He traveled until nightfall, in
which he reached the mountains.  And then slept under a tree at the foot of
the mountains.
     At sunrise he awoke and continued on his journey.  He traveled through
the mountains for three more days in the same fasion, hunting for food when
he needed it, and stopping by streams when he was thirsty.
     It was near the end of the third day that he reached his destination.
It was a larges boulder that sealed of a cave entrance.  This cave was once
said to house the true light of this world and only those who were bearers
of the Sword of Light had ever entered and returned from this cave.  It was
time to see if the myths were true.
     Brandon went over to the large obstruction and began to push on the
boulder.  he pushed with all his might but the boulder would not budge.  He
could not figure out how he was supposed to get in.  Then he began to
wonder how the previous warriors had done this.  Why would they put the
boulder back if they could open it?  Then he noticed something on the
ground, something right under the tip of his blade.  He knelt down and
brushed away the dirt with his hands.  It was a doorway, in the ground.
     Brandon lifted at this doorway and it opened.  Revealing stairs going
down into the ground.  He went down these stairs and coninued on for
someway.  After traveling for what he felt was hours he came to a dead end.
 And on the wall of this dead end was a message.  It read:
     "If you are reading this then I must assume that you are on the Quest
of Light.  I am the first Seeker of the Light, Truth, and Justice.  I am
Malcheron.  I have left this message to tell you that there is no door, as
you can see.  There is no Light and if there was this cave was sealed
beyond human means long before my time.  But the people must believe.
Although there may be no Light here there is still a light.  The light is
within me, and within every Dragoon who has ever made it here, including
you."
     And then his signature, followed by that of every known Dragoon who
bore the Sword of Light was inscribed in the stone below the message.
     'So this was it,' Brandon thought to himself, 'I'm now the newest
Dragoon of Light.'  He could help but think this was it.  As he approached
the stone to carve his name he noticed something strange as he touched the
stone.  The stone was warm, way down in this cold cave beneath the earth.
     Brandon then placed both palms onto the stone and a line of light from
the right and left traced the back wall up to the ceiling and then inwards
till the two beams of light meet.  The outline of a door was now glowing on
the back wall.
     "What the hell?" Brandon exclaimed out loud.
     He then pressed on the back wall and the outlined door moved inwards
revealing a passage that went furthur into the mountain.
     Brandon followed the passage for awhile until it opened into a small
room.  The room was faintly glowing with a pulsating light.  The light came
from the center of the room.  In the center of the room there was a small
circular drop in the floor with something glowing from within it.
     Brandon took a few steps closer and saw a brilliant white gem with
pulsating light.  He felt the need to embrace this gem and as he did so the
light slowly dimmed until he was left in darkness.  The gem no longered
glowed but he felt that he had recieved the light.
     He then continued his journey back to town, certain of his success.
He reached town in only two days as his travel was swifter down the
mountain.  The town cheerfully accepted him and he recieved the Sword of
Light the next day.
**************************************************
     Far off in a distant corner of the galaxy something stirred.  It
twisted and turned in its sleep and then came awake with a violent jolt.
His eyes were wide open and blacker than the night itself.  Only one thing
ran through it's mind.
     'The Light has come.'
                            -Mastermind [toe]