The History of Rion The story of Rion began in Syliras on the eve of the 77th day of Fall, 492 AV. There, a young lad by the name of Rion Whitestone was born into a semi-privileged world of farmers. It was a pretty boring, straight-forward life of doing nothing but picking grain and earning his keep in the Mithyrn Outpost, where all the other farmers worked. He would be joined in this peaceful life by only his father, Sine Whitestone, who taught him the basics of agriculture and farming. Together, they made enough to get by, and then some, without a single incident to disturb their peace. This added to the feeling of boredom always growing inside Rion.
That was until one fateful day in the middle of winter. At the time, Rion was taking a walk through the main city with a friend of his - a squire he had befriended named Pense, who was now acting as his "personal guard." He knew about the city so Rion thought it better to let the squire guide him from place to place. It was as they were doing this that they first came across Aldreda.
Aldreda wasn't the name of some beautiful maiden - or even a female at all - but instead of a sword, handcrafted and sharpened to perfection. Rion found it when he was walking out of a flower shop. It was just sitting there at his feet, nearly tripping him up as he approached it. Picking it up, Rion admired it for only a second before he remembered the presence of his friend. A knight like Pense, even if he was a squire, would probably want to run around town looking for the swords owner so as to return it. Since he'd never owned, or even held, a sword before, Rion wasn't too eager to go around putting up lost sword signs. So he instead decided to hide it away under his cloak.
Though this ruse worked on the squire, Rion knew it wouldn't have the same effect on the well trained knights at the outpost. He knew right away that the sword would be easily spotted, so he instead decided to bury it under snow while Pense wasn't looking. He'd return for it the next day, taking his father with him rather than the honorable knight. If he was going to tell anyone about the sword, he wanted it to be someone he could trust.
Retracing his steps, he found the place where he'd buried the sword - marked by a twig sticking out of the ground - the next day. Pulling out the twig, he reached in the snow and pulled out Aldreda, still in perfect condition despite its overnight freeze. Rion did have to hold it with gloves, though, because it was so cold.
When he showed it to his father, he somehow expected him to be happy that his son had found such a beautiful sword. Instead, Sien looked on in disgust, his feelings magnified down on the sword. He's the one that called it Aldreda. It was a name he was familiar with...because he'd given it to the sword. Aldreda was supposed to have been far away from Syliras, traveling the world with its new owner. It's presence here led Sien to only one conclusion.
Without another word, Sien began his return to the Mithyrn Outpost. While he assumed that meant his father was unhappy with the sword, Rion frankly didn't care. There was something about Aldreda that he just liked enough to keep it around. Despite his brain telling him to leave the sword behind and get on with his life, he kept it with him. Not only that, but he brought it back with him as he returned to Mithyrn Outpost.
Of course he wasn't allowed admittance walking around with a broadsword for potentially taking out the other farmers. However, Rion didn't hesitate to spout his determination, stating that either Aldreda stayed or they both left. Unfortunately, the knights could actually afford one less farmer, so Rion was sent on his business.
Exiled from Mithryn Outpost, Rion decided to retire to the main gates of Syliras, where he could wield his new sword proudly. He was only there for a couple of hours before a crazy idea began to form in his head. But in that time, a thousand thoughts had been running through his mind, and they all revolved around the beautiful Aldreda. It was the craziest idea he'd ever come up with, but it would lead to the most important decision of his life...Rion had decided to take a trip into the Bronze woods.
Armed with only Aldreda and his knowledge of farming, Rion was an easy target for any approaching predator. However, he was fortunate enough to only be stopped by a coyote on this adventure. Sadly, it wasn't alone. By the time a sixth coyote had showed up, Rion was already burdened by blood loss and the inability to wield Aldreda with both hands. At the end of it all, Rion was stumbling into the city with barely concealed wounds. Though he managed to recover thanks to some herbs and bed rest, the fight with the coyotes also brings on an unforeseen effect. As Rion was left to do little more than sit and recover, a slightly disturbing idea started to creep into his mind.
Despite the fact that he was nearly mauled by dogs, not only did he hold no resentment towards the coyotes, but he even found...enjoyment out of the fight. He had actually liked meeting and even being attacked by the dogs. As he sat, still shaking from the experience, he felt a strange feeling of euphoria come over him. It was a feeling Rion was unaccustomed to, having lived a delicate and peaceful life. He wanted to experience it again.
It wasn't until a year later, though, that he actually returned to the woods. In that time, both his father and Pense had tried many times to get Rion back to the farm. But Rion's mind was set on not returning until Aldreda was allowed in.
In fact, over time, he didn't even want to return. After that first experience in the woods, Rion was hooked on hunting. Seeing as he couldn't convince him to stop, Pense decided to instead accompany Rion when he went into the woods. He still felt honor-bound to fulfill his duty as the farmer's self-proclaimed bodyguard.
In spite of Rion's reluctance to have Pense around, it turned out that he would really be what kept him from the final blow of a thousand pound grizzly bear. Though Pense didn't actually accompany him to the battle, as Rion had sneaked away to hunt, the squire did save his life when he jabbed a sword through the grizzly. If it wasn't for him, he would have died only nineteen at the hands of a wild and vicious adversary. But the strangest thing was, Rion was actually okay with that.
Nonetheless, he decided to stay away from the woods for a few months after this, since he had to recover from the bear wounds. It was only recently that his wounds had healed enough that he could journey again. Only, rather than simply looking to go for another hunt, Rion was looking for a much larger scale project: traveling the entire world of Mizahar. He wanted to see past Syliras, to the land of blue people and transforming animals.To feel the rush of dread and danger as he took on the forces of nature. To see all the beauty and majesty that Mizahar held. He wanted to see it all with his owns two eyes.
Thus, Rion decided to finally leave his hometown of Syliras behind. His last words to everyone...were a warning not to follow him. |
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