Months had passed since that fateful night, and between Alberts rage due to rejection, and Bastions evil nature and obsession with Akihiro’s daughter, they ventured out of their territory one night to enlist the help of an evil witch that was rumoured to live in the nearby woods. Albert asked the witch to use her dark magic and kidnap Akihiro’s wife and daughter and bring them back to the warlords keep, where they would be imprisoned until Akihiro agreed to re-join Alberts forces. The witch agreed but the price was not cheap, payment would consist of lands for the witch and her evil sisterhood to occupy, Albert agreed.
Akihiro was hunting game in the woodlands near his household when he heard screams! He jumped onto his horse and rode back as fast as his steed could carry him; he was too late! The witch had taken his wife and daughter, and all that remained were the four young girls that were friends of Akihiro’s daughter, they would visit to train in swordsmanship under Akihiro who had begun teaching as an instructor. The young girls were skilled and had been attending Akihiro’s dojo for many months, they explained to Akihiro what the witch had done and more importantly why! Enraged and shocked by the betrayal of the warlord, Akihiro took his sword and set off to the warlords' keep. The vengeful father warned the girls to stay behind, they refused, pledging loyalty to their friend’s family and instructor, an act that would fill Akihiro’s heart with pride for his students. They all mounted up on horseback and headed to the warlords' keep!
Knowing the layout of the warlord’s settlement, Akihiro snuck past the armed guards and approached the keep, he made a horrific discovery. As far as the eye could see, leading to the entrance of the keep were the severed heads of all of Akihiro’s closest friends, fellow commanders and soldiers who had served with Akihiro in battle. The heads had been placed on spikes along the walkway and their decapitated heads revealed expressions of sadness, shock, and betrayal. Akihiro’s eyes began to fill with tears of rage and before he could let out a roar of anger and sadness, a young girl appeared from the brush who could have been no older than eight years old. The young girl was followed by a mass group of women and Akihiro recognised some of them, they were the wives and daughters of Akihiro’s comrades and friends who had been recently murdered. It was explained by the women that Bastion and his father knew many soldiers were loyal to Akihiro and would not turn on him, the warlord hired sell words and assassins to murder soldiers loyal to Akihiro, if the task was accepted, the assassins and sell swords would be offered the chance to join the warlords new crusade and be rewarded with gold, treasure and any desires they requested. The sons of Akihiro’s friends and fellow commanders were brought to the keep to be tortured and murdered over many months, the wives were beaten and raped, and daughters were to be rounded up in the coming days and sold to vampires and witches. Akihiro had thought it was strange that none of his comrades had visited him since his departure, he now knew why!
A cold evil screech was heard in the distance and when Akihiro turned, he found the witch fast approaching, riding on a black unicorn. As the witch approached the women drew swords, only to hear Akihiro tell them to stand down. The witch was bleeding as she had been attacked, and as she approached Akihiro, she fell off her unicorn and landed on the floor of which Akihiro stood, it appeared as though the witch had been betrayed.
The witch looked up at Akihiro, her face twisted in pain and agony. “Poison,” she mumbled. “I’ve been betrayed, I’ve been a fool.”
The witch had been shot with a poison arrow through her lower stomach and it seemed as though her time was coming to an end. The witch then explained to Akihiro the deal that was in place between herself and the warlord. Akihiro listened intently as the witch proceeded to explain how the warlord and his son set upon her after delivering his wife and daughter. The witch had been imprisoned for many months along with Akihiro’s family and had now just managed to escape, before being shot with a poison arrow.
The witch’s life started to slip away, frustrating Akihiro even more at which point he began holding her in his arms with a strange feeling of pity, despite the witch taking what he held dear from him. He leaned into the witch knowing of their powers and magic and whispered, “Help me get my vengeance . . . for us both!”
The witch smiled and whispered back gauntly in a weak tone. “What would you like?”
Akihiro’s eyes filled with rage. “I want them dead! All of them! The warlord, he’s evil fucking son, the men guilty of this rape and torture . . . ALL OF THEM! I will slaughter them all!”
The witch gave one last evil smile and cackled before chanting a spell in an unknown tongue, a dark green and black aura surrounded her and then she laid to rest. Seconds past and eerie silence eclipsed the warlord’s settlement, guards appeared, back from patrol and started charging towards Akihiro and the women, and as they prepared for battle, beastly howls were heard and seemed to be getting closer! The guards stopped dead in their tracks confused and anxious, then the sky turned a blood red with green smoke starting to shroud the settlement, the witch’s spell had begun! In the distance, terrifying screams were heard as if something was attacking the guards, huge dire wolves began charging the settlement from the nearby forest as though they had been possessed! The wolves were rabid and set upon all the warlords' guards, tearing them apart, lumps of flesh flew through the air and blood spilled onto the paths and walkways. The warlord’s guards were being slaughtered.
Akihiro shouted, “Now’s our chance! Pick up your swords, women, and take your vengeance for your husbands and sons!”
The women joined the massacre, slaughtering and slicing all the men in their path, as if they too had become possessed. Women united with beasts on this night and became beasts themselves! Akihiro took one last look back at the women and young girls. The four young girls he had trained were also fighting and butchering these men with great technique and swordsmanship in this massacre of men. Akihiro smiled and entered the warlords' keep, to rescue his wife and Daughter!
Upon entering the keep, Albert and Bastion were terrified by what they were witnessing outside, and upon Akihiro’s entrance they charged at him, the fight was over quickly, Akihiro slaughtered the father and son with his superior swordsmanship. He took the head off of Albert and slashed across Bastion's stomach in one decisive blow. Just before Bastion died, Akihiro used a small katana to slice off Bastion’s cock and balls, he then placed them into the mouth of the wicked son. The evil Bastion now laid dead with his own cock in his mouth, a fitting death for a man who ordered the rape of innocent women.
Akihiro frantically made his way deeper into the warlords' keep and he finally entered Alberts main quarters to find his wife beaten, naked and tied to a table and her throat was cut, however the worst was to follow. Akihiro’s daughter had been skinned alive; her skin was displayed on a table that Akihiro remembered Bastion would dine at. For many years he had heard rumours of Bastion's sick pleasures and savagery, the stories would spread like dragon fire through the mouths of soldiers who guarded the keep and told of how Bastion would skin his victims and use their skins as the centrepiece of his dining table! It is thought that Bastion became so twisted even his father had given up all hope of trying to inject even the slightest amount of humanity into him.
Akihiro dropped to his knees and let out a loud roar of unparalleled anguish, he froze and did not leave that spot for hours. The young girls and women, after slaughtering the men of this settlement came to find Akihiro in the macabre keep, they froze, they too were paralysed by the sheer horrors of what surrounded them and Akihiro.
One of his daughter’s friends, after regaining her composure, approached Akihiro and before she could comfort him, he turned and through hollow eyes yelled, “Burn it, all of it. Burn this place and this settlement to the ground. Let nobody know of its existence and what happened here!”
The warlord’s entire settlement was burned to a crisp that night, and Akihiro left with the young girls and women that he had rescued. Traumatized by what they had seen that night,
Akihiro and his army of enraged women banded together as one unit, but things were never the same, they shunned society and could not integrate back into it, prompting Akihiro to lead his young girls and women out of Eastern Plate to new lands on the Centre Plate to start new lives. They never returned to the East.
It is said that, upon deciding to leave the East with no idea of what was awaiting them on the Centre Plate, the grand dragon Storm, who by chance was flying overhead, saw this weakened and traumatized band of humans prompting Storm to investigate. Akihiro and the women told Storm of what had happened and though Storm must always remain neutral, his heart bled for the victims. Storm guided Akihiro and the women to a quiet forest on Centre Plate and watched over them throughout the journey.
Upon leaving them in safety to start their new lives on Centre Plate, Storm still sensed great pain and anguish in Akihiro. He spoke to Akihiro in private with a comforting tone. “Akihiro, you are a great warrior and a true leader. Protect these women, teach them, mould them, and make them into something stronger than they are now. See to it that the women of your species can have a choice and a life that will inspire others. I bid you farewell, great Akihiro. I will make sure your story is told and you are immortalised.”
Akihiro dedicated his life to teaching women swordsmanship and the very sword he used still remains in the centre of their homeland hundreds of years later. As the year’s past, these women mastered combat skills and weapons and have become proficient warrior’s with swords, spears and shields, they also have the ability to tame and befriend dire wolfs and some say this was a gift given by the wicked witch who took Akihiro’s family, perhaps the witch wanted her last act to be an act of kindness that would live on and grow in legend. These women became strong and fearsome, earning the name blood maidens, and they created their own settlement known as ‘Widows Spear’ They remain reclusive and stay within their forest.
For obvious reasons they steered clear of men, until one day they came across a special group of men, the wolfmen who re-energised their faith in the opposite sex, and a bond and a pact were made with these men. Once every year, the blood maidens would welcome these wolfmen into their homes to mate with them and reproduce, this was beneficial as the children would benefit both factions. Baby girls would stay with their mothers and train as blood maidens, whilst baby boys would go with their fathers and grow into wolfmen. This arrangement would benefit all, and both the blood maidens and wolfmen have a promise to always stand side by side with one another in times of conflict and watch out for each other. To this day they remain a close union.
Wolfmen
From time to time something strange can happen to different races throughout Dragons Continent, something that cannot be explained therefore this is usually met with fear, uncertainty, and aggression. These strange phenomena that enhance abilities and give new powers are referred to as mutations and the recipients of these strange gifts span all over Dragons Continent. The mutations in the elven race resulted in the rise of the woodlanders who were smaller elven like creatures with different sets of powers compared to the more common elves, and just like the elven race the humans had small groups of people who seemed to mutate as well.
The first mutations in the human race began in the year 150. Large groups of baby boys were being born with tails, no different to that of a wolf, and this would spark the beginning of a new race in Dragons Continent who would grow to become one of the most feared races, these boys would become the Wolfmen!
Something strange was happening in villages and settlements around the Eastern Plate, baby boys were being born with tails and this development seemed to be sporadic with no answer as to why. Boys born with tails not only had this physical and visibly obvious part of their anatomy, but they were also bigger than most babies. Many days after birth, these babies would start to grow quicker than normal babies, therefore so did their ability to walk, run and lift. By the age of two months ‘tailed babies’ as they were referred to at this time, were fully walking much to the shock of their parents, who still loved their children but were secretly nervous towards their new-borns as something else started to become obvious in time. As the boys aged month by month, so did their strength and aggression levels, they would be able to outpower their own parents and by the age of two years old their sense of smell, eyesight, reflexes, speed, and strength dramatically increased. Warlords and village leaders were so desperate for answers they paid handsomely for elves to enter their settlements to test and investigate the children using elven magic, at which point it was proven that the children were healthy but confirmed this was indeed a mutation.
Groups of boys born with this mutation were taken away from their families, rounded up and forced into combat to train as soldiers by wicked warlords, no doubt sensing an opportunity to create new formidable soldiers. If the boys refused, their families would be killed leaving them with no choice but to submit to the warlord’s evil plans. The boys were brutalised and put through all kinds of horrific training as their natural tough bodies could handle it. The boys were thrown into pits and forced to fight to the death against murderers, rapists, and criminals, whilst the warlords cheered, looked on proudly and placed bets. All this combat made these young boys even stronger and their wounds and injuries would heal more quickly than average humans. By the age of fourteen, these boys were fully enrolled into small armies and forced to take part in horrific massacres on innocent people, the young boys excelled in murder and violence and were far greater warriors than adult human soldiers. They were marched into battle repeatedly to do their masters bidding with no remorse or pay, just the guarantee their families would be killed if they refused, occasionally they were allowed to spend a few hours with their parents and siblings.
The battles continued and the boys boasted never before seen strength, speed, reflexes and a hunger for violence that grew more and more rabid after each fight, the ferocious wolf like boys seemed to grow stronger after every battle too, One of these fearless boys was called Briar, and he was so strong the guards would refer to him as ‘The Wolf King.’
Shortly after their fourteenth birthdays, these boys, whilst maintaining all their gifted attributes, seemed to no longer crave blood and battle, as if it simply didn’t interest them anymore, all they desired was to return home to their families and they could no longer even excite themselves at the thought battle.
One day, Briar refused an order from an evil warlord who was Briar’s owner, the vicious warlord was Archibald Walker and he was feared by all he ruled. The warlord had ordered Briar to slit the throat of a five-year-old girl in front of her parents as they had not produced enough crops during that season. Upon refusing this request, Briar was pinned down and beaten by Archibald’s guards as Archibald murdered the child himself and the child’s farther whilst his men commenced raping the child’s mother, who was then beheaded after.
The warlord threw the head of the mother at Briar who remained pinned down on the floor and warned, “See boy, you little runt. This is what happens when you disobey me, remember this you peasant scum!” The Baron continued the verbal abuse whispering spitefully into Briar’s ear. “You belong to me.”
Briar’s anger and rage grew wildly, he started to outpower the guards who had pinned him down, much to the shock and fright of the warlord! Reinforcements were sent, they regained control over Briar who was then beaten to a pulp and left unconscious as his young comrades were forced to watch on. It took fifteen guards to beat Briar, and when he woke, he found himself in the Archibald dungeon.
Briar was chained to a wall and his parents were naked and chained to the opposing wall in front of him. The warlord's head torturer, a vampire stood between them with his pale skin and soulless eyes staring at Briar. The vampire’s lips were blood red and he started to tremble with a sick excitement as Briar woke.
The vampire approached Briar and with a twisted smile said, “Finally, it’s time to play.”
Vampire numbers are said to be small a
s they apparently do not originate from the lands of Dragons Continent, although this has never been proven. These monstrous creatures delight in pain, torture, and feed on the blood of the living, they also have some magical powers and can control creatures of the night. Vampires have incredible strength which grows with age, the eldest vampires are the deadliest and It’s common to see vampires happily working in dark dungeons, as here they have an endless supply of blood and can practice barbaric acts of horror un-disturbed, they are masters of pain, death and torture. Warlords and kings regularly seek out vampires to run their dungeons and also at times, pay for vampire services in battle. Warlords will pay handsomely for the use of vampires in battle to enhance their chances of victory and if a warlord or king can assure battles take place at night, the vampires all but certain guarantee victory, though their services in battle are considerably high, with treasure and a steady supply of human blood being the common bargaining tools.
The wicked vampire explained to Briar that due to his disobedience, many other wolf boys across the map had also begun to disobey and rise up against their warlords, with stories of Briar’s incident spreading and empowering the wolf boys, the warlords were scared of a wolf boy rebellion! The vampires order from Archibald was simple, draw out the rage and blood lust that once ran through Briar and use any means necessary to do this so Briar would fight in combat once more, Archibald should have been careful what he wished for!
Briar was tortured for days and in intervals whilst his parents watched on in horror, occasionally the warlord would visit for his own amusement, Archibald was happy with what he was witnessing and presented the vampire with a gift box, inside were several sharp blades that happened to be made from silver and upon seeing the silver, Briar could not control his anxiety and fear towards these new instruments. The vampire had noticed this and immediately plunged one of the silver blades into Briar’s inside leg then stomach, the blades seemed to have a more painful impact than normal blades and knives, much to the pleasure of the vampire.
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