The Scroll of Truth

A Story by YokaiShinigami

My heart was pounding, My body writhing in pain, I ran. ‘Now!’ I rolled forward, and planted my foot pivoting around it to make a 180. I unsheathed my blade and lunged forward. I mounted myself on one of my pursuers and drove my blade down its throat. It squealed and its body collapsed, I pulled my blade out of it and slashed around 720 degrees felling three more of the demons chasing after me. However my balance gave and I stumbled most ungracefully onto the ground. Sand is really is tricky to walk in.

“Over here” A voice called. It was her, Felicia. She was Goethe. They were both mages, one white, the other black. Felicia was known for her protective casting, Goethe was known for his destructive fire casting. The demons were momentarily distracted by them, giving me the opportunity to escape to their side.

“The scroll?” Goethe asked. His staff outreached as he charred seven of the demons at once, then the remaining eight.

“Don’t worry about it old pal, I have it well hidden. I will send the location of it over to my client soon enough. He should be able to safely retreat it.”

“Leave it rogue to keep secrets from his friends, but not from his enemies.” Goethe said gruffly. He forced his hand into my vest and pulled out a black beetle. “A tracker eh? And I thought you would have noticed with your keen senses.”

“How the-“ I exclaimed.

“It matters not. The fact is that the scarab clan tracked your movements. You led them to the location. Or at least you soon will. We have to retrieve it before they do.” Goethe walked over to Felicia. “Heal him.” He commanded.

“Like I need you to tell me.” Felicia said, casting a spell on me. I felt a warm light penetrate my flesh. Then suddenly a burst of pain as my body corrected itself almost instantaneously. “There, all good now.”

It was a long journey, we had to head about 15 miles back into the desert, to find a small natural sandstone structure. “It’s right over there, up in that structure.”

“Good, then your work here is done.” Goethe says, as about 20 men clad in black and gold armor make their presence known to us. They attack Felicia and I.

“Traitor!” I yell and draw my blade. I charge at the clansmen, they are the fodder, but they could be bothersome. I manage to slay about half of them in a matter of a few seconds, but then Goethe steps in. Felicia holds him at bay while I slay the remaining clansmen, though not without sacrifice. I have been stabbed in both legs and in the gut. My arms have been slashed up and down, and those are only the cuts.

Felicia and Goethe are in a stalemate. Though Felicia is destined to lose as she has no way of defeating Goethe once both of them exhaust their magic, I am glad that I am a good rogue, as a good rogue can trick the trickster without letting them know that they’ve been tricked. Felicia then turns to me smiles. I feel the warm light again and the burst of pain. She continues to smile as her body is engulfed in the fury of Goethe’s fire casting, her raven hair burning into her scalp. “I’ll entrust the future to you.”

Goethe quickly focuses his aim on me. I lunge forward. He sets my left arm on fire. A flame that cannot be extinguished, how inconvenient, I move quickly and sever my arm before the flames prove more troublesome. Then I sever both of Goethe’s as well, followed by a slash across his chest. He lies on the ground, coughing up blood, drowning in it.

“There was never a scroll of truth. My mission was to draw out the traitor.” I say as I fall, the blood loss from the severing being my toll to the next world.