Memories Lost - First of Apocalyptic Hell Series

New Members

    We spent the next week raiding and gathering as many supplies as we could, moving from store to store gathering all the supplies that we could. By the week’s end Fayrova’s wings were healed enough that she was able to start working on flying and after another week her strength was up enough that we were finally able to begin our journey home. We had finished gathering everything from the local pet store, we had rescued as many animals that we could. Sadly many hadn’t survived and others the cages were empty, I hoped the people who had worked here or other survivors had taken them. 

    We were in the back of the store when I heard the door open. I motioned for Asar and the others to be silent, Fayrova coward behind Vivaldi. I moved up the rows of cages and edged my way closer to the door. I didn’t have to go far when I saw a large shadow, I stayed to the shadows of the shelves as I watched a large Uruk-hai lumber through the store. 

    His black armor was marked up with painted symbols, many of the symbols looked like pentagrams. He was massive, easily as tall as Theoden and just as dangerous. I knew I wouldn’t be able to take him on one-on-one, but I could hold him off enough to let the others escape through the back. I notched an arrow and prepared to fire it, once he had walked past where I was hiding I slowly stood. I took a deep breath and looked for an opening to aim for, which of course the only opening was directly under his helmet. I rolled my eyes before taking aim again. After another breath to steady myself I released the arrow, it whistled through the air but did not make it to it’s mark. The Uruk-hai had turned and caught the arrow. 

    “So it is you, Sayuri,” his voice was deep and rumbled like thunder, “I’ve been sent to find you with orders to bring you to Eindenia on Queen Alenia orders.” I froze upon hearing his words. Why would she send a Uruk-hai to find me? 

    “Prove it, Uruk-hai,” my words were cold “I have no reason to trust you.” I watched him cautiously as he retrieved a scroll from his side pack and held it out to me. I stared at him, as if I’d trust that trick. The Uruk-hai sighed and tossed the scroll to me, I caught it without taking my eyes off him. Unfortunately I couldn’t look at it without looking away from him, I backed away to put plenty of distance between us. I looked at the scroll to see the royal seal and it was unbroken. As soon as I broke the seal, the parchment unrolled and began to glow, the voice of Queen Alenia rang out. 

    “My dear Sayuri, I assure you that the messenger I sent is working for Eindenia. I even enchanted the message so only the true messenger that I sent this with will be able to hear this phrase - May the peace of the Goddess go in our hearts. Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again. Now I wanted to ensure that you are truly heading for Eindenia and not going to head off on your own to Lilith’s fortress. There has been talk on the winds that things are growing more dangerous out there and I sent this messenger to help protect you and your party on your travels home. Blessed be Sayuri”

    The scroll burst into flames as her voice faded away, the messenger stood stoic as ever as if he were made of stone. I looked at him hard for a moment, I had heard talk that there were Uruk-hai within the Queen’s ranks, but had yet to see them. I couldn’t see his eyes, with as still as he was I began to wonder if he fell asleep. I took a step forward to get him to react, which was nothing. 

    “What was the phrase that you heard?” I cautiously awaited his response. He squared up and cleared his throat before speaking.

    “Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.” he watched me as I refused to take my guard down, “I know that I’m not the usual standard for the queen’s forces, but I assure you that you do not need to fear me. I am not aligned with that demoness, Lilith.” He spat her name out, I could practically feel the hatred from him as he said her name before he cleared his throat again and regained the calmness from before. 

    “Well if the queen trusts you, then that’s fine. You can join our party till we reach Eindenia.” I walked past him quickly towards the rest of our party, and as soon as they saw the Uruk-hai, Vivaldi lunged forward to put himself between me and the Uruk-hai. I instantly grabbed his reins to calm him, the Uruk-hai jumped back from his reach but otherwise seemed unfazed. 

    “Easy, Vivaldi, easy! He’s one of us, I promise.” I reached out to him through our connection. He stopped fighting against me and looked at me in shock. 

    “How?! How is this monster with us?! They are nothing but traitors that serve Lilith!” He spat out, his anger and confusion were visible without hearing his voice in my mind.

    “He must be some of the forces that joined the Queen’s forces when their races aligned with Lilith. I had heard talk of some of the darker Fae races that had joined with the Queen instead of joining with the rest of their people. He had a message from the Queen and was able to hear the phrases that were enchanted for only the messenger the Queen had sent. Lilith can’t replicate that magic, no one can, it’s impossible to do such a feat except for the Queen Regents.” I assured him, he stood there for a moment looking at me before eyeing the Uruk-hai cautiously. 

    “If he makes one cross move, I’ll trample him.” his final words he said with such certainty that I knew he would hold true to those. Fayrova chirped and purred at me, she hid further in the shadows, prepared to bolt if needed. She was scared of the Uruk-hai and for good measure, only the gods and goddesses above truly know what she experienced in that hell of Lilith’s. 

    “It’s safe, Fayrova, I promise. You do not need to fear him.” I tried to calm her, but even my words weren’t enough. I could see how she trembled even in the shadows. 

    Vivaldi looked over at her, back at me and then he walked over to her with his muzzle down at her level. He looked into her eyes, before reaching out and nuzzling her gently. They stood like that for several moments, if they were communicating I could not hear it. I watched them as Vivaldi worked to calm her of her fears. 

    “Queen Alenia had mentioned you had a small party. You know that having that beast with you makes you a target for Lilith? She has been hunting for dragons for some time now and gathering them.” I spun around on him, my anger began to boil up. 

    “You think I do not know of this? Fayrova informed me of that matter and I advised the queen of it. I dare Lilith to come and take my dragon, she will not succeed in a feat like that. I will die protecting her from that kind of slavery again.” I hissed at him, I didn’t want to rouse Vivaldi and distract him from what he was doing. 

    “Why? She is just a dragon, a beast if you have it.” My anger flared even higher. 

    “Just because you think she is just some simple beast doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a soul. Every living breathing being has a soul, even you, though I’d question that, no living being should have to suffer at the hands of someone else’s cruelty for their entertainment, pleasure or labor. I lived through that one too many times, I won’t tolerate it happening to any innocent creature.” I glared at him, my lip curled up in a snarl. 

    “But is your golem not a slave of sorts? Your dragon is also a slave to you. They serve you, they protect you. They are in definition slaves for you, in service to you, because you treat them with kindness and care for them makes you a kind and just slave master, but still a master.” His words weren’t condescending in any manner, he was pointing out the obvious, but it angered me so. I stepped up to him, grabbing the collar of his armor and pulled him down to my level. 

    “If you ever refer to me as a slave master again, your head will no longer be attached to your body. Understand?” I hissed him, before pushing him away from myself and turning my back on him. I hadn’t noticed that Asar had stepped up to join where we were. He looked at me for a moment before walking up to the Uruk-hai. 

    “My name is Asar, pleasure to meet you.” He outstretched his hand to the Uruk-hai, I rolled my eyes as I listened to them greet each other. “I do apologize for her reaction, she does have a bit of a temper, but do understand that she has a past that has some dark moments. Do not blame her for feeling that way about such matters.” 

    “I am Aulcmid. I do not blame her, I do not understand how other races work. I only speak in truth,” there was a pause. “You are a tiny man.” I bit back a chuckle as he paused again, “You smell of mortals.” I turned around at this point to see him leaning over Asar, sniffing him. 

    “Aulcmid!” I snapped, “You don’t sniff people!” I rolled my eyes at Asar who had started chuckling. 

    “Looks like we have a lot to teach him, Sayuri.” Asar started to laugh harder at this, “Oh, I do apologize I do not mean to laugh, Aulcmid. No hard feelings though.” Aulcmid removed his helmet and looked confused for a moment. 

    “I do not understand. How are feelings hard?” He asked as he looked between Asar and I. I couldn’t help it this time as I started to chuckle. 

    “That’s not exactly what he meant, what he meant is that he doesn’t want you to feel bad or negatively at his outburst. And he’s right, we have a lot to teach you about interacting with other races. For now just remember to not take everything we say literally.” I chuckled, shaking my head slightly as I turned back around and walked up to Fayrova and Vivaldi. 

    “Are you going to be alright?” I asked Fayrova, looking at her carefully. 

    “I suppose, but I don’t understand how the queen could trust one of those monsters. They are cruel and scary.” I could sense her lingering fear. 

    “I remember hearing talk of dark Fae races that refused to join Lilith, some were slaughtered for it, others joined her out of fear and others, like Aulcmid, joined the queen’s forces and are fighting against her. For now we should be on guard at all times, until he proves that he is trustworthy. I trust the Queen and her word, but I do not trust him, not yet anyway.” I looked at her and Vivaldi as I sent those words through the mental bond. They both nodded slightly, just enough for me to see. I reached down and rubbed Fayrova’s muzzle and stroked Vivaldi’s cheek before I turned around to face Asar and Aulcmid. 

    “We should rest till morning, then we will start our journey to Eindenia.” Aulcmid stated, like he was giving an order, as he began unloading some of his gear. 

    “Aulcmid, firstly since you are joining our party let’s get something clear. I am the leader, I decide where we will be bedding down and what we will be doing. We have been working on gathering supplies and searching for survivors in this area before we were to return to Eindenia. I used to live here, I am hoping to find some of my friends while we search.” I stood squarely as I gave him a sharp look. 

    “We cannot be bothered by searching for survivors at this time, we must get to Eindenia as soon as possible.” Aulcmid tried to stare me down, but it wasn’t going to work. 

    “I don’t care what orders you were given. I will not abandon all hope that they are dead or taken. If I find people that I don’t know and are in need of saving then I will rescue them and bring them into the party, no matter what I will not abandon any innocent people here. Neither you nor anyone else can change my mind on this matter, the innocent did not ask for this war to happen or for their world to be turned upside and turned into a living hell. I will not just leave and not try to help those that I can while being here.” I stood my ground and forced as much anger and determination into my gaze as I could. I will not allow anyone to bully me into submission. We stood there at a standstill for a moment before Auclmid caved and backed down. 

    “Fine, but you will be the one to explain to the queen when she asks what took us so long.” He huffed at me before picking up his gear. I snorted at him before turning my focus to the rest of the group. Asar was standing there in shock for a moment before snapping out of it when he noticed I had turned around. 

    “What?” I asked him as we went back to gathering up as much of the supplies in this store as we could. 

    “Well I was waiting to see if you two were going to start fighting. I know I wouldn’t stand up to him like that.” he glanced back at Aulcmid, “He’s massive and could snap me in half easily.” I chuckled at that. 

    “I’m certain he would rip you in half if he truly wanted to, I don’t think he is just an Uruk-hai.” Asar looked over at me before looking back at Aulcmid. 

    “What do you think he is?” he asked curiously. 

    “He may be half Uruk-hai and half Goliath. He’s simply too large to be full Uruk-hai, most Uruk-hai are no taller than 6.5 feet and he is towering well over 7 feet tall. It’s impossible for a full Uruk-hai to be that tall. They also aren’t as literate as he is, granted he does take things far too literal, but he is well spoken for an Uruk-hai. Most aren’t so well spoken, they speak simple Common, also known as English. They tend to speak their tongue which is Uruk and many can speak Orc or Goblin depending on their parentage.” As I thought about it, I felt almost certain that he was half Goliath. I knew Goliaths could be well spoken and if he hadn’t been raised by the Uruk-hai that could explain why he was so well spoken. I looked over my shoulder to see him fiddling with a cat tower. 

    “Do you think he is safe? That he can be trusted?” Asar asked me, I could see the concern on his face. 

    “I’m going to tell you exactly what I said to Vivaldi and Fayrova. If the queen trusts him, then I trust him enough, but let’s stay guarded till he’s proven that he is true of heart. For now be guarded.” Asar glanced back at Aulcmid before looking back at me. 

    “Do you really think he would turn?” He asked quietly, I could see the fear in his eyes. 

    “I doubt it, but I’m not completely sure. I’ve never trusted the Uruk-hai, but I can tell there is something different about him. He seemed very truthful when he spoke and the queen does trust him.” I paused again to look over at Aulcmid, “We will have to wait and see.” I left it at that as we finished gathering what we could salvage before moving on to the next location. 

    I worried with Aulcmid being on foot if he wouldn’t be able to keep pace with us, he certainly surprised me. He kept pace with us, even when cantering the horses to move quickly from place to place. I was impressed at his speed, not impressed by the amount of noise he was making. I’m amazed he didn’t bring all of Lilith’s forces with him when he traveled here. He could be as silent as death when he wanted to be, but when he was running he made entirely too much noise and I was forced to cast a silencing spell on his armor. We wanted to avoid as much attention as possible. 

    As we worked our way from shop to shop we came across a few other people, all complete strangers to me, but all grateful that we had found them. There was a middle aged couple, Melanie and Charles, that was caring for a young girl, Hanna, that was not theirs. According to the story that Melaie had told me they were travelling in a small group with Hanna and her mother when they were attacked by some of Lilith’s minions, which explained why Hanna didn’t speak. Then there was a younger couple, Alex and Jessica, they wore dark clothing and were covered in tattoos and piercings. We had become an unlikely group, but we were determined to make it to Eindenia. 

    Hanna was certainly a curious child and she had won the heart of Vivaldi within the moment he laid eyes on her. He had never been around small children before so it was certainly a new experience for him. She was absolutely enamored with Fayrova and Vhaenna as well. Any time we stopped to camp, before Melanie would call her for dinner they would all have braids and ribbons all over them. It was rather cute too, she always did Vivaldi up with black or blue ribbons, Vhaenna always got pinks and purples, Fayrova would be done in silver and blues. At one point she had found the nail polich and all of Fayrova’s claws were painted, she tried painting Vhaenna’s hoove, but it just wasn’t working too well. I made certain to find her some paints at one of the stops that she could use on them that would be safe for them as well. It was sad that she never spoke a word, but she was only six years old and having witnessed her mother’s death it certainly left enough trauma on her. She’ll work through it and start speaking soon, or so I hoped. 

    We had been traveling for nearly a month when we met a young woman by the name of Alissa. She was a dainty thing and turns out she was pregnant, within her second trimester. This concerned me, we’d certainly be pressed for time with her being pregnant if we were to make it to Eindenia before she delivered. She claimed to only be about four month along, but she looked much further along than that. Hanna didn’t take with anyone in the group besides Melanie, but when she met Alissa it was instant. She was always with Alissa when we were traveling. 

    As we travelled I learned interesting things about each person. Melanie was a wedding planner and a florist, she had a massive greenhouse in their backyard that she grew the majority of the flowers she used and when the Great Battle ensued she managed to save all the seeds from her flowers. Charles was a financial adviser for a company in the city that dealt in the food industry, they were a supplier for kitchen supplies for restaurants and he had a side hobby for prepping. Alex and Jessica used to work in a tattoo parlor doing tattoo art and piercings, Jessica did commissioned art on the side and Alex used to be a musician. 

    Alissa was an interesting character and I’m not sure I believe her story entirely, I can sense that she is scared and she wouldn’t say what it was that she was afraid of. She was small framed with delicate features, she looked as if she had swallowed a soccer ball. Her face was made up of delicate features and her skin was a flawless porcelain with no blemishes. Her hair was a pale blonde, almost white in color and her eyes were a crystal blue. She reminded me of an elf. By her smell I knew she wasn’t human, it was hard to pinpoint, but there was magic being used to hide who she was.