• It was his mission. The one chosen from thousands to complete it. He alone would end this time of darkness. For he was the hero in this fantasy world.
    Orion the elf snuck through the shadows quietly, sword at the ready. After diving behind each tree, he looked around, anxious and afraid. For in this area, flyicks and creepos roamed freely, although loyal to Fabian.
    Fabian. The name stuck in Orion’s head, fueling him with anger. Fabian rules all of Strickenland, Orion’s home world, with an iron fist and without mercy. Fabian was a horrible person, created from the evil of others. But no one’s evil could match Fabian’s.
    Fabian came and attacked with his monster army, filled with flyicks and creepos. The world was always in peace, so fighting wasn’t a custom for most elves. So they lost in less than a month and Fabian became their ruler. Now, after years spent in turmoil, Strickenland’s people are planning a rebellion. That’s why Orion has his mission.
    Orion’s mission is to get to Fabian’s castle, get inside, and knock Fabian from power by defeating him. With Fabian down, the people of Strickenland could be in peace again after so many years of darkness. Orion feels the weight of this mission on his shoulders. He knows he can’t fail.
    A twig breaks, stirring Orion from his thoughts. He knew he was being watched. Orion began to count back from ten beneath his breath. At ten, he would attempt to run away quickly. Before he could say 4, a hand with long claws tried to swipe at him. Orion easily dodged it. But now, he knew what was watching him. He stopped counting.
    The first creepo crawled out of the underbrush. It screamed at Orion, a mixture of a hiss and a roar. Then, it lunged. Orion brought up his sword, the creature splitting in half from the finely sharpened blade. Orion got ready for the next attack from the underbrush.
    Creepos are one of the monsters Fabian created. They have no eyes, but have an acute heat sensing ability that let them “see”. The creature has powerful arms, each with a black scythe blade on its shoulders and 8” claws on each of its 10 fingers. They are all red, minus the black claws and the white symbol on its forehead. This was the symbol of Fabian.
    This time, two attacked. Orion had to swipe their claws away in order to avoid getting slashed to bits. Sparks flew when the blade hit the claws. Orion took a slash at the hand of the one creepo. With a spray of blood, it fell to the ground.
    Orion slashed and stabbed at the creepos, but to no avail. With a final slash, Orion used the first spell he had ever learned. With it, he shoved his hand towards the two creepos and they went flying backwards. He watched them crash through the trees, turned, and then ran.
    Orion kept running until he can’t run anymore. His legs give out and he falls to the ground, face first. He had made it somewhat closer to the castle, but not close enough. Plus, the fight with the creepos really wore him out, especially magic. Right now, it was time to rest. Orion struggled up a tree and lay onto a branch. So tired and worn out…
    * * *
    A punch in the stomach woke Orion up. His tired eyes squinted in the bright sunlight. It was the afternoon. He wasn’t supposed to wake up until nighttime again. Then he saw the reason why he was awake. A frown crept upon his face as he stared at the empty eye socket.
    “Shlack! Fancy seeing you here. How’re things at the castle?” Orion said in a cocky tone. A yellow teethed grin came upon the ogre’s face. Its green-blue skin was tensed, revealing the muscle hidden beneath it. Orion could still see the scars from their last battle, including the one through the eye.
    “Not good, thanks to you. But, don’t worry about that. You won’t be a bother much longer,” said Shlack, kicking Orion away. Orion stood on weak knees. If he didn’t escape, he would fail his mission and Fabian would win.
    “Enough talk. Your ugly mug is making me sick. Hey! You ever hear of toothpaste?” Orion pulled out his sword and slashed at Shlack’s oncoming body. Miss, thought Orion, as the wind was knocked out of him.
    Shlack charged again and Orion turned to run. He wasn’t strong enough to take on that ogre, so he would have to run away. A boulder came crashing down in front of Orion. He tried to stop, but the force of running slammed him into the rock. He got up and ran, this time in zigzags. Boulders came and landed wherever he turned. Orion grinned as he imagined Shlack’s anger and frustration. He was grim about it though.
    Whenever ogres get really mad, they change into something horrible. Whether it is a tornado or earthquake, you can assure yourself it will be bad. Shlack’s transformation turns him into a moving volcano. He can fire lava and hot magma wherever he pleases and it is very difficult to avoid.
    Orion was about to turn around to check on the transformation when a column of lava hits right next to him, the heat burning his skin. Orion’s legs start to get weaker from the excessive running and dodging. He only had a matter of time before he would fall and not be able to stand up again. But that is the least of Orion’s problems.
    He looked at the cliff edge in front of him. Orion braked before coming to the cliff and just barely managed to stay on the rock that was jutting out of the cliff wall. Orion looked down into the black void, not even able to see the bottom. Another column of lava came, missing Orion completely and going over the cliff edge. He heard a rumble as Shlack the volcanic ogre crashed through the trees. This was the end.
    Orion couldn’t do anything to Shlack while he was in his volcanic form. For if he touched Shlack at all, he would melt into lava and would be dead and he would fail his mission. He backed closer to the cliff edge.
    Lava was landing everywhere. Orion jumped to the left and right to avoid the burning liquid. The ground began to shake from Shlack’s anger. But then, Orion found that it wasn’t from anger that the ground was shaking. The lava was eating through the rock, cutting the cliff piece from the rest of the cliff like a hot knife through butter.
    Shlack changed back into his ogre form. He walked towards slice in the cliff and lifted his foot.
    “Bye bye, stupid elf,” said Shlack as he slammed his foot on the jutting rock edge. It broke away from the rest of the cliff and began its fall into the dark abyss. Orion tried to jump the cliff, but missed and hit the cliff wall. As he fell, the last thing he could see before darkness shrouded him was Shlack’s ugly yellow grin and empty eye socket…
    * * *
    Orion awoke on the cliff. The jutting piece was there. Shlack was not. Orion was very confused, not knowing what happened. The last thing he remembered was falling into the dark space and seeing Shlack.
    Whatever had just happened, Orion was safe right now and could continue his mission.
    Orion ran back into the forest, the trees standing up now. He was so close to the castle that he could almost feel the evil aura surrounding the area. That was when the buzzing started.
    The tree next Orion melted into green foam. Orion dashed forward as more foam hit trees next to him. Ten flyicks came from the trees in front of Orion. There black bodies blended into the shadows of the trees, giving them excellent cover. Their paper-thin wings fluttered quickly to keep the creature afloat. With red multi-lens eyes, they could see everywhere around them. Orion ducked and rolled as acid was shot towards his head. But he didn’t need to worry much. He had reached his destination.
    A hooked rope flew high and wrapped itself around the tower. Orion jumped up as acid burned a hole where he had stood. He pulled out his sword and slashed at a flyick. It split in half and fell as acid leaked from it and burned the body into nothing.
    One down and nine to go, thought Orion. Orion climbed higher and higher, till he was about thirty feet off the ground. Another slash with a stab with two more bodies disappearing. The rope started lowering Fabian and he looked to see a shot had hit it.
    As the dark green bugs flew around Orion, he was faced with a choice. He could either be killed by the flyicks, fall to his death, or taunt the bugs into trying to hit him. Number three, thought Orion.
    He jumped above the burning acid and grabbed onto the rope on top of it. The flyicks saw the motion and shot a stream of acid Orion’s way. With a quick swing to the right, he almost dodged it, but the stream ate through his shoe and burned his heel.
    With a wince of pain, Orion put both feet against the gritty castle wall and pushed off towards the left. The flyicks missed this time and Orion kept himself swinging. The flyicks were going crazy now, shooting streams in every which way direction in an attempt to hit him. A couple more shots connected with Orion. He now had a burned heel, shoulder, ear, and side. Orion stopped swinging and put his feet on the wall again, once again feeling the pain from his heel. With a mighty push off, with a little help from Orion’s first spell, he crashed through the castle wall and landed on the ground.
    Darkness clouded where Orion had come from. He couldn’t even hear the flyicks buzzing. But that didn’t help the pain from their acid. As Orion sat on the cool stone floor, he heard everything in the castle. But, the strange thing was that there was no sound at all. Probably another one of Fabian’s illusions, thought Orion.
    Fabian. The name flooded Orion with a new sense of anger and hatred, making him forget about his pain. Adrenaline surged into his veins and he stood up without realizing the pain. As he calmly walked to the door in front of him, he began to hear things. Little imps complaining about cleaning, wind blowing through the upper towers, and a distinct dog bark that sounded like it came from inside the walls. But the thing he heard the most was laughter. Orion recognized it all too well.
    With his second spell, the doors came off the hinges and flew into the room, hitting whatever was into. Too bad that whatever was Shlack.
    As the doors hit the ogre, sliding him back from surprise, Orion stepped into the room. His sword was already out of its sheath and ready for battle. For a moment, the two stood in front of the other with a distance of about 15 yards between them, the dumbstruck ogre and the courageous elf.
    Shlack made the first move. He tried his ramming move, trying to run into Orion, but Orion was ready. He sidestepped out of the way and slid his sword against the side of the passing ogre. Shlack let out a bellow of pain as the sword sliced a hole into his side. Orion got ready for the next attack, thought for a moment, and ran into his previous room. The hole in the wall was still there and just helped Orion’s plan.
    Shlack followed him and punched the ground near Orion’s feet, sending rubble in all directions. The force knocked Orion off balance, but only for a second. He dived, rolled, and stopped at the wall near the hole. Shlack picked up some of the stones and chucked them at Orion’s head.
    One managed to clip him in the forehead, but the rest were easily dodged. Orion inched towards the hole. Shlack saw what he was doing now.
    “So, you’re trying to escape. Well, that’s not going to happen. You will be stuck here forever as Fabian’s slave!” Black spit flew whenever he said s. Orion had inched till he was right in front of the hole with the ogre sneering with yellow teeth. Shlack attempted to ram Orion again, planning on grabbing him and the rope on the outside and coming back in. It didn’t quite work that way though.
    Shlack rammed Orion, as planned, and outstretched him arm to grab him. But Orion leapt to one side as Shlack rumbled past him and going out the hole. Orion went back to the hole to see Shlack swinging on the rope. With little magic left, Orion did his first spell.
    Shlack had a tremendous amount of force in the beginning, but with the spell, it doubled it. This was more than enough to break the tower’s top completely off. As the rope grew slack with the falling tower, Shlack began to fall to. His scream, a creepy mixture between lion’s roar and a hawk cry, could be heard as he fell. Then it was silent as the tower fell to the very bottom, ending the battle between Shlack’s battle of life and death.
    Orion slumped against the wall. He had defeated Shlack, fought off flyicks and creepos, and even made it into Fabian’s castle. He couldn’t give up on his mission now. But he did give himself up to sleep. This sleep was very, very much needed
    * * *
    Orion awoke to the sound of rattling chains. Chains! His eyes went fully open as he realized he was chained up to the wall in the dungeon. For the first time in a long time, tears came out of his eyes mixing with the dirt and grime on his face. He had failed his mission and now he would die of starvation. Some hero he turned out to be. More tears streamed from his eyes.
    Then, they stopped. Sadness and disappointment was replaced with stronger abhorrence and fury. This is all his master’s fault. If he never dwelled into the dark magic, none of this would have happened. Orion would be with the other villagers, peaceful and happy. After experiencing this, Orion know he would never be truly happy or at peace ever again.
    Fabian came from the evil intentions of other people when Orion’s master used that spell. At the risk of his own life, he had created an abomination so evil, it took over everything and killed anyone mercilessly. Orion tugged at his chains, the pure odium welling up into his arm and leg muscles. Cracks crept along the wall.
    But, Orion is to blame to. He could have stopped his master before all this happened. The cracks stopped moving. Hatred was replaced with sadness. If Orion just stopped him from performing the spell, he wouldn’t need to be in the dungeon. No dungeon even existed before this happened. Orion might have even been able to save them….
    Orion’s master had to sacrifice two people to perform this spell. Usual magic didn’t need this, so he had to trick two people. The two people he had tricked were Orion’s parents. Frustration and depression fought inside of Orion, giving him strength and more tears. The cracks began creeping along the wall again. When the final tear fell from Orion’s face and splashed onto the ground, the chain links snapped in two on all four chains.
    His bloodshot eyes rise to where his pack and sword lay. He lifted up the sword and picked at all four locks. The heavy chains clattered to the floor and Orion ascended the spiraling steps on the wall. He was ready for battle.
    * * *
    When Orion reached the top of the stairs, he instinctively looked at his surrounding. Thick grey columns held up the ceiling in the hall. At the end of the hall, a humongous double-door sat in wait. The lustrous black colored doors were the entrance into Fabian’s throne room. Behind those doors, Orion’s enemy awaited, dark and sinister.
    Orion couldn’t use his second spell on these doors. Nor could he use the first spell. On both sides of the door, two circular holes were set into the wall. But Orion had been told about these, so he knew what he must do.
    In the hole on the right, he put Shlack’s eye, the one he had slashed out so very long ago. But in the second one, Orion put his own eye in. He winced as the eyeball disconnected itself from his skull. Then, he took a second to get used to the loss of some vision. When his eye was in place, the doors unlocked and opened.
    Sitting on a mighty throne, an elderly man sat. He looked to be in the hundreds, yet not seeming to die anytime soon. His head perked up and sneered with some missing teeth when he saw who was there. The person on the throne was Fabian himself.
    “My, my boy. You seem to have gotten here unscathed. Oh wait a minute, is your eye missing? That’s right! The only way you could have come in was with a sacrifice. But, your eye isn’t as pitiful as your master’s sacrifice,” Fabian spoke with an ancient tone that was weak, but also very strong.
    “Oh Fabian, can we just end this? I have a village waiting for me to celebrate with me on my success. Let’s go,” Orion took his stance, sword vertical and legs spread as if riding a horse. But Fabian only laughed at his words.
    “The only they will be celebrating is your funeral!” with this, he conjures up his own sword, this one being jet black with red designs on it. The two warriors rushed forward and sparks flew everywhere as the two swords collided. Orion recoiled and leaped backwards. He just a few milliseconds to parry Fabian’s next attack and slashed at his arm.
    Blood dripped to the floor and Fabian clutched his arm. In this state, he looked more like a frail old man than a ruthless killer. But that was before his change. His entire skin turned black, spreading from the cut in his arm and covering his entire body. Muscles bulged from his arms and legs. Glowing red eyes replaced his normal grey. Teeth grew in, sharp points that could bite through solid gold. A great roar escaped his breath, as did really foul breath.
    Orion was not expecting this at all. His few moments of shock allowed Fabian to lacerate Orion’s chest. Three claw marks appeared and the blood began to flow. Orion coughed out blood as Fabian stood above him laughing.
    While laughing, Fabian was distracted. Orion took this moment given to him and drove his in a diagonal-upward manner. When he heard Fabian’s sword clatter to the floor, he looked up to see the wound.
    His sword went right through Fabian’s chest, stabbing the heart of the beast. The black seemed to recede into this new wound, slowly turning him back into his elderly form. Words whispered unheard by Orion’s ears passed from Fabian’s lips before he slumped to the ground. Fabian was dead and Orion had succeeded his mission.
    Tired from the excessive battling physical and emotionally, Orion slumped to the floor. He had done it. Orion the elf had successfully completed his mission. As darkness began to shroud him, signaling sleep, his last motion was a smile. Not a cocky smile, but a smile that, in itself, told him job well done.
    * * *
    It was his mission. The one chosen from thousands to complete it. He alone would end this time of darkness. For he was the hero in this fantasy world.
    Orion the elf snuck through the shadows quietly, sword at the ready. After diving behind each tree, he looked around, anxious and afraid. For in this area, flyicks and creepos roamed freely, although loyal to Fabian. Fabian…
    * * *
    The boy left his spot on the beanbag chair and walked towards the television. With the push of two silver buttons, his television and game console were both off. After this, he walked up the stairs from his basement/game room. With an exhausted sigh, he walked to his room and flopped on the bed. Sleep was much needed after 8 hours of straight gaming. Sleep…