Six Warriors

Gorm City Rangers - (Sam)

The man-demon's name was Armillius and apparently he was a highly dangerous criminal. The rangers took him to a prison for him to be interrogated, while Sam was just confused, still feeling detached from that world full of danger and magic.

"First, what happened?" Katrina asked Darius.

"I have no idea" replied the boy as they followed along with the criminal Armillius' escort, "but we don't have time to think about it, we were thrown directly into a complicated situation, even more so considering that we may have information about one of the scrolls here."

"What's going on then?" Sam wanted to know, "What happened to Polo?"

"I wasn't with him when it happened. Somehow we were separated with the problem on our crossing. I ended up on some smaller island, but Polo somehow got the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he he saw things that should not be seen about the criminals who work with him" Darius pointed to Armillius, "they are radical extremists and they call themselves the Liberation Brotherhood."

"What will we do now?"

"That depends on the Ranger Commander, whether he's going to let us do something, or whether he's going to leave us out of it."

"Don't worry, my kids are ranger sergeants" said Abo there still with a smile, "I can ask them to intervene for you, you seem to have good intentions."

Darius looked down as if he didn't quite understand, then at Sam, then at Abo again.

"And who are you?"

"Abo at your service" Abo bowed slightly.

The rangers took Armillius in for questioning, while Sam, Katrina and Darius waited at their base, called Fort of the Blue Griffin.

"Hey, hey, these are my kids, they're my kids!" Abo appeared there, happy as a child who had just been given a puppy.

They were twins and they were also very similar. They looked to be in their twenties or older. Bel was tall and strong, with tanned skin and beautiful blue eyes, long hair tied back in a ponytail. He wore the uniform of city patrolmen, a leather armor and blue cape with the patrol symbol, a blue griffin bearing a bow in its talons, gloves were gray wool, black leather boots and burgundy breeches, on his back he had a quiver full of arrows and in his right hand his bow. Bela was the female version of Bel. Short black hair that covered just her ear. Her eyes were blue like her brother's, but a little frostier, and she was smaller. Just like her brother wore his patrol uniform. As a weapon she had a whip and a rapier.

"Who are these people?" Bela asked.

"It's our visits." Abo said.

"You guys and that old mania for taking strangers home" the girl's voice was as cold as her eyes.

"Oh sis, relax!" Bel said "they must be in need of help. Look at them, they're cute" Her voice was very relaxed, just like her father's.

"Sam and Katrina are good people, my daughter" Abo said, "they've come a long way."

"You don't even know them," she said looking annoyed.

"Forgive my sister. She had a rough day you know? In fact, we're all having it."

"You really don't need to like us," said Darius, who was silent until now, with a serious expression, "you just need to say whether or not you'll allow us to work with you and if you don't, we'll act on our own."

Sam was amazed, it was the first time he had seen Darius act so serious and focused.

"Alright, you two are in the Interdimensional Guardians uniform, we know your order" Bel said and then looked at Sam, "but what about you? You're not wearing a uniform, what are you?"

Sam was ready to say who he really was and what he represented, one of the famous Six Warriors, but Darius interrupted him, saying:

"He's just a rookie, he's still an apprentice," he said making a hand gesture as if Sam wasn't that important, "he's here to clean our weapons, load our stuff and wash my underpants." Darius shrugged.

Sam was furious, he took back everything he thought now, Darius wasn't being mature at all!

"Very well then, we will communicate to our commander," said Bel, "if his answer is positive we will communicate to you the information we got from Armillius."

"Thanks." Darius replied.

They waited some time. Sam complained to Darius, said he must be jealous because he's the one who had been chosen as the Six Warrior of the wind and not him, it must be resentment, but Darius didn't seem to give a s**t.

"Have you forgotten what Gwendy said? Nothing to draw too much attention . You don't want that kind of attention yet, little Sam, that's for sure. Being one of the chosen six is a lot of pressure, I thank heaven I wasn't one of the chosen, seriously."

With that answer, Sam was silent.

Some time later, Bel and Bela returned to a man wearing a mail coat under the Rangers' uniform. He wasn't a human man, in fact he had draconic traits, it was what was called a dragonborn. He was very tall approaching 6,5 feet tall, his scales were a radiant electric blue color, his eyes inspiring seriousness.

"Hello Guardians, I'm Wuprax Thuurthaleas, commander of Gorm City's rangers division, welcome to our base. Come, accompany us to the living room, we'll tell you what's going on." They went, before entering the room, however, Wuprax decided to stop Sam, saying; "you not yet, boy, not yet."

And then Sam was outside, barred. That wasn't fair, he thought, even Katrina was younger than him and not treated like that! That damn Darius! When Sam got back to the place that looked like the reception, Abo was there and he smiled when he saw Sam come back and then started telling several stories again, only now Sam wasn't in the mood to listen to them.

After waiting for a while and having to listen to Abo's conversations, Sam saw his companions return, along with the rangers.

"Apparently they have the Polo hostage," Darius told Sam, "and according to information taken from Armillius, the Liberation Brotherhood intends to destroy the supporting stones of Gorm City."

"What are the supporting stones?" Sam wanted to know.

"In short the islands of Fearann Ard were raised to the skies by a natural magical phenomenon thousands of years ago, over the centuries they floated through the skies, but the force of the magical event that lifted them to the top was slowly fading. To keep them in the air and even controlling the direction they were going, a lord of a few centuries ago commissioned some mages to keep the city afloat, so the supporting stones appeared."

"What happens if they are destroyed?"

"Well, nowadays all that keeps Fearann Ard in the air are the supporting stones. If Gorm's stones are destroyed, the island will collapse, destroying everything it contains, not only that, destroying all those who reside below. ."

"Why would they do that?"

"Have you seen the appearance of Armillius? The Liberation Brotherhood is composed only of members like him, they are called seytãnis, or tainted, a race of beings that have in their DNA the human and demonic composition, created by profane magic, when the your ancestors made power pacts with demons. They want to send a message to the world, a violent message, apparently. They are extremists, there is nothing to expect from this so-called brotherhood."

"What do we do?"

"That's interesting, I asked Wuprax if they had any information on the scroll, and guess what? The Liberation Brotherhood, they were in possession of the scroll!"

"They have two things we want then."

"Exactly, little Sam. Wuprax has given us some ranger uniforms as a cover, let's investigate this situation and bring Polo back. We are allowed to spend the night here too, in the dormitory of this fort."

"Ah, but I bet you'll prefer to spend a night's stay at my humble abode, am I right?" Abo chimed in, "The food here is awful, believe me, but Boa's food is wonderful and our guest beds are warm! Nothing's more comfortable than a fiore's house!"

"Look, this time he's right." Bel appeared, smiling, "I bet Mommy is going to make a dinner like that today, with these visits!"

"Since you insist on my illustrious presence, I will accept the invitation to good food and drink and a comfortable roof over my head." Darius said with an arrogant smile.

"I believe he was inviting just me and Katrina" Sam said to Darius, "you can sleep here, in your cherished base, Mr Leader" and Sam spoke 'leader' making the gesture of the quotations marks.

"That's the only reason I'm going to make you wash a pair of underwear I wore for three days, are you listening newbie?" Darius teased, Katrina made a "yuck!" and Bel laughed at that.

...

In Abo's house, a veritable feast was laid on the table and Sam realized he was indeed hungry. So there they were, barley, wheat and rye breads, blackberry tarts, apple tarts, ciders, juices and mead, fruit, roasted chicken and lamb, bacon and cracklings, baked potatoes, roasted corn, sausage, broths and vegetables, cooked or made into salads and a few more things that Sam barely noticed about it all. There he met the little halfing's third son (they were called Fiore there), his name was Abe, he was tall and muscular and was a blacksmith. He was complaining about the amount of swords being ordered by a mysterious but wealthy contractor.

Boa, the elf, sat at the table and asked everyone to hold hands in order to pray to a goddess named Stela, she spoke a few words in the elf language and then continued speaking in the common speeche, thanked for the food, for the visits and asked so that there was no lack of food on anyone's table. After that they ate. Sam had never eaten so well in his life and that food was very tasty, there was some kind of special seasoning that Boa and Abo kept secret or something, and speaking of Abo, Sam was surprised by how much food such a creature so little could ingest. After dinner, they sat on the porch of the house, in some padded and rocking chairs, Bel, Abo and Abe smoked in their pipes and made circles of smoke, they told stories and Boa even sang in a very soft voice and sweet, she asked Bela to accompany her, but Bela seemed uncomfortable in the presence of strangers so she declined. Despite everything, Sam thought these were good times, in the presence of good people feeling the cool breeze of those lands that flew among the clouds. Abo really was right, the visitor facilities were very comfortable and Sam slept like a baby that night.

Abo really was right, the visitor facilities were very The next day, Sam woke up with Bel calling him.

"Time to wake up Sam, you'll be on patrol with me this morning" he said proudly, "I'll wait for you to change, your uniform is there, don't be too long, but don't rush either." Saying this Bel left the room.

"Being a Six Warrior is never being able to wake up late again?" He thought, a little grumpily, "man, that Fenrir sleeper isn't going to like this at all."

The uniform it consisted of a ridiculous little hat, and a outfit alike a Boy Scout . Sam's shorts were shorter and tighter than he wanted them to be. When he left the room and went downstairs he saw Bella and also Darius and Katrina, no one wore a uniform like him, in fact they wore standard ranger uniform and not that ridiculous thing that Sam wore. Darius soon burst out laughing when he saw Sam in those clothes and even Katrina looked like she wanted to laugh.

"Okay, can someone explain to me why this is?" Sam asked with a frown.

"That's the standard apprentice uniform, Sam" Bel said, he looked like he wanted to laugh too, "don't worry, I know what you're going through, I've been wearing it for a long time in the past. One day you will too. be able to wear the rangers' uniform, don't worry."

"Yeah boy, don't give up on your goals." Darius laughed.

"Very funny." Sam rolled his eyes.

Sam then went on to make the rounds with Bel, Katrina went with Bela, Darius went alone to do some investigation. They did the patrol for some time, without great emotions, the citizens greeted the rangers and congratulated the 'child ranger' Sam, telling him to continue on that path. They broke up some fights, caught some pickpockets, minor occurrences. Late in the afternoon Darius appeared and greeted them both, he asked mockingly to Sam if he was learning properly, Sam ignored him. Katrina and Bela came later and didn't find out much about Polo or the brotherhood either.

"Hey, I have an idea," Bel said with a smile, "since we're here at the archery stand, how about a little competition? Let's see what they taught you back at the Order of Guardians."

"I'm not really an archer," Darius said.

"What's wrong, Darius, are you scared?" Sam teased. Sam had never picked up a bow in his life, but somehow…somehow he felt confident, perhaps because of the skills acquired by the crystal.

"Wow, Darius, are you really going to let the apprentice tease you like that?" Bel laughed. Darius frowned.

"Alright, fine little Sam, I'm in."

"Very well, if I win it's you who will wear this apprentice uniform." Sam spoke smugly.

"Very well, if I win you will really have to wash my clothes."

"Right!'

"Yeah, right!"

"Are you really leaving me out of the bets, friends?" Bel teased with a smug smile.

"YES!" Sam and Darius responded in unison.

"Okay" Bel just accepted, bowing his head depressed, but soon after he was enthusiastic again, "okay, that was a wise choice on your part, you'll see what an accomplished archer I am!"

The competition would be one minute. There were five different creatures, represented by small target shapes that constantly moved around the firing stand, like shooting boards in an amusement park. Ogre moved very slowly and was worth two points, orcs were a little smaller and were worthy five points, smaller, faster and rarer hobgoblins were worth ten points and finally goblins that showed little were, moved really fast and hardly showed up, in addition to its diminutive size, they were worth twenty points.There was also a special type of creature target, it was pixel, very fast, very fast and only appeared for five seconds, it was worth fifty points. Darius was the first. In a minute's time he hit five ogres, six orcs, four hobgoblins and two goblins, totaling 120 points.  He smiled at Sam and said: However, on the next few shots, all Sam hit were two ogres and three orcs, which gave him only nineteen points, leaving him with 99 points.

"I'm not even an archery expert, but I think I'm proud of what I've done. Come on, I want to see you do better, Sam."

"Very well then, you will see." Sam replied.

He concentrated, took a deep breath and felt the air flow. So he fired. In the first few attempts Sam was hitting 4 goblins, which gave him a score of 80 points. Darius started to look worried. 

"How strange," Sam thought, "by my instincts that shot was to hit at least some hobgoblins."

"Getting nervous, Sam?" Darius teased, "if you don't hurry, you're out, understand?"

Sam fired twice more, two ogres, an orc and a hobgoblin, which gave him nineteen more points, totaling 118 points, just two points behind Darius... anything above an ogre was Sam's victory, but the boy he wanted to win in style and saw the perfect opportunity when the pixie appeared in the final seconds. Sam took a deep breath and fired, everyone had high expectations, the arrow seemed to go in the right direction, going right in the middle of the pixie-shaped target, but then, this time Sam noticed that Darius sneezed and then... the arrow changed its course with a sudden gust of wind, the arrow missed its target and hit another ogre.

"Wow, that was close!" Bel exclaimed.

Sam reached 120 points, as did Darius. The boy glared at the other.

"You cheated, didn't you? Used wind magic to change the course of my arrow, didn't you? You've been doing this for how long?"

"Hey man, you're a wind magic user too, if I'd done something like that you're supposed to be sure, aren't you? It's no use coming up with accusations," Darius shrugged, "and IF, just IF, I really would have done it , we didn't agree on any rule that said it was cheating, after all you could have done the same."

"Yeah, but I didn't!"

"Well, that's not my problem."

"That's not fair! Cheating isn't worth it!"

"That's a pretty serious charge."

"That's enough guys" Bel shrugged, "you guys tie but there's still a third contestant" he gave a smug smile, "you know what? There's a female version of the apprentice ranger uniform, what if I win, well... you two will have to use it."

"What if you lose, big boy?" Darius asked.

"I use it myself, but don't even consider that possibility." Bel smiled sideways.

Then Bel started, Sam and Darius were amazed at how quickly he could shoot, but for one thing, for some reason, Bel only hit ogres. In thirty seconds he had hit 50 ogres, which gave him a score of one hundred... and he still had thirty seconds left!

"How…how does he shoot so fast?" Sam wondered in thought.

So at that exact hundred mark, Bel just stopped shooting. He closed his eyes and just took a deep breath, took a breath and concentrated, Sam and Darius seemed to wonder what he was doing. totaling another one hundred and fifty points, and in the last moments, when the pixie appeared, he fired a shot so beautiful that even Darius didn't dare to try to get in the way and in the end he got another fifty points by hitting the special target creature, which totaled three hundred points in all. .

"Wow!" Katrina exclaimed clapping her hands and even Bella cracked a smile and clapped her hands.

Darius and Sam were impressed.

"Why were you just trying to hit ogres?" Darius asked.

"I didn't want to open a too big advantage" Bel replied, "but I made sure to do what our friend Sam tried, you tried to finish by hitting the pixie, didn't you?"

Sam didn't respond.

"Anyway, three hundred represents something special to me, so whenever I can win with that number, I will."

"Alright, ok, you won so what?" Sam shrugged.

"So what you will wearing a very special kind of uniform now, Sam, you two actually."

"No, that's not what we agreed, you were off the bet remember?" Darius argued.

"Out of the bet?" Bel chuckled, "None of that, you didn't turn it down, you just asked in case I lost, which implies an agreement to the bet. Am I not right girls?"

"YES!" Katrina responded with emphasis and laughing.

"Well, as a matter of fact, he's right." Bela replied with a smile.

"That's it, guys, there are no arguments against facts." Bel smiled at them both, "prepared to see what you're wearing? Or would you prefer tomorrow's surprise?"

"Right, great!" Sam thought with a frown.