It was a cool inviting morning, as the clouds danced around the bright, gold, brilliance of the sun shining over the land. The wind whistled bringing about the smell of the citrus trees, grown into full harvest, down into the roses that smile as they acknowledge they are adults now; the wind whistling spreading the scents of spring. This story begins with a youthful Elf named Quint. Quint has blue eyes with long blonde hair. Quint’s current occupation consists of hunting. He’s not very wealthy, but does well for himself as a hunter. After he catches an elk or bear-which is what he mainly hunts- with his wolf named Jasper, he lets the spirit leave the body unharmed. Quint is twenty-one, which means he’s basically a teenager in the age of an Elf. He woke up to these sweet scents and a bit of music that he couldn’t locate.

Quint’s friend, Callen barged in unannounced and was running frantically about almost shouting “Quint, Quint, get up for training, the master doesn’t like delaying training for belated students!”

Callen is an Elf to. He was the same age as Quint. He had green eyes with blonde hair as well as Quint and has sort of a muscular build.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I was taking a moment to take in the sweet scents in the air, training was the last thing on my mind.” Quint leaped out of bed and slipped on his training gear or armor, sword, and his bow and arrows.

“Yeah it does smell nice doesn’t it?” Callen asked. Quint nodded with a smile and they dashed out of Quint’s house. They ran past the houses and shops quickly. They eventually reached the training grounds. The town of Pen Dale wasn’t very big, but big enough to tire you out from running halfway through it.

The training grounds smelled metallic and of burnt wood. The training master, Corbit Ritter has big brown eyes with black hair. He has a few scars on his face from previous battles. He walked up and started to speak, “All right scrubs, yesterday we learned the skill of shooting a bow and today is the art of melee combat,” he stopped to clear his throat, “First you….” He was interrupted by a thundering in the ground. Suddenly, a dark, purple, spiraling portal slowly took shape. It started as a little floating ball and started to grow, and grow until it reached its full extent. Then an armored boot and leg stepped out of the portal. The boot was dark and bluish with skulls on it. Finally the rest of the body appeared in front of the master with the students cowering behind him. They all held their ground as the Death Knight stood in front of the crowd. He was the great terror that the region Latimer has feared. His armor glinted in the bright sunlight.

Corbit Ritter announced shakily at first with a stutter, “Wha, wha, wha, what are you doing here?”

The Death Knight got angry at this, “Do not speak to me in such a way you worthless, powerless mortal!” The Death Knight’s voice thundered so loud the eardrums of the trainees popped. “I am here to relay a message, the collections have begun all of you townspeople will give us your strongest armor and weapons by tomorrow!”

Corbit Ritter responded, “What’ll happen if we disobey?”

The Death Knight pointed to a humble man named John Knightly and cautioned him forward and drew his sharp pointed knife from Its sheathe with his right hand and grabbed John by the hair with his free hand. He put the blade of his knife on John’s neck. He added pressure into it and swiped his knife to the right. John fell to the ground in a pool of blood. “This is what will happen to whoever disobeys or defies me!” The Death Knight roared.

Master Ritter replied, “Oh, it’s all returning to my memory now.” The Death Knight returned his dagger to its sheath and turned around. He slowly walked forward towards his portal then he disappeared into the dark spiral oval. The portal evaporated along with the Death Knight.

Corbit Ritter walked to John’s limp body, bent down, and closed his eyelids shut with his fingers and stated “May whatever gods there may be, have mercy on your sweet soul. Training has just been cancelled everyone, you can all go home.” Then everyone silently departed, Quint and Callen took a longer route to their houses.
As they walked home solemnly, Callen mumbled “Quint wait here.” He walked towards a hermit, who Quint hasn’t seen before, gave Callen a piece of folded parchment and walked back to Quint.
Quint questioned “What is that piece of parchment you have there?”
Callen confessed “It is a map that might lead us to a tomb that contains a sword, from what I understand,” his voice lowered to a whisper, “can kill the Death Knight.”
Quint inquired “Yeah I heard a tale about that but it might just be a rumor.” But Quint couldn’t stop thinking, what if it isn’t, he thought about the possibilities.
Callen replied “Well maybe we can check it out for ourselves, and see if it isn’t a rumor.” Quint thought about this for a long minute.
Quint agreed “Ok we can stay at my place, get packed and ready and leave first thing in the morning, we can take along Jasper to.” Quint thought about his wolf Jasper and really liked that idea.
They continued on and reached Quint’s home. They stepped in through the threshold and into Quint’s house. Quint put some tea over his newly started flames in his fire place. Jasper thumped down the stairs and barked happily that Quint was home. Quint stroked his wolf on its back and then Jasper trotted to his little bed and started resting.
Quint stated “We should start packing up for our trip so we are prepared.” Callen quickly got to it after sipping his tea. Quint got up and helped, they mainly packed food, as well as two bedrolls, a tent, and some flint for a fire.
It was dusk, time really flew, they all went to bed, Callen left his bedroll out to sleep and Quint jumped into his bed. He eventually positioned himself in a comfortable state. Jasper leaped up next to Quint. Then Quint heard a sweet sound, the sweetest sound he ever heard. He suspected Callen but it was closer, almost like he was breathing in the music. It was Jasper, Quint considered this a shock at first but he was able to sleep easy with it being played.
Quint, Callen, and Jasper awakened and equipped everything to get ready for the trip. They all slipped out of Quint’s house to avoid collections. As they were walking on the road all the sweet, spring scents were gone. All Quint could smell was death and decay. A foul, wretched odor that seemed like a dead rodent with flies raiding its body. Quint and his friends continued on toward the tomb.
“According to the map we have a good seven miles to travel, luckily the tomb isn’t too far away.” Quint announced. If they walked it wouldn’t take them, a little before dusk. The three kept walking and walking. The road seemed to have no end. Quint checked the map while he walked. He noticed that Jasper was singing, only this time in a lower tone.
They eventually reached a break off after four miles of walking. Four hours have passed from the time they left Quint’s home. Quint announced “We continue here for three miles and then we have reached the tomb.” They started to jog, because the sky began to darken.
After almost two hours of jogging they saw the tomb in sight, although there was a skeleton guard there in front of the tomb. Quint acknowledged that the guard has seen him and his friends. Hopefully the guard hasn’t had a bad day which Quint thought he probably did. So they kept walking and Callen looked cautious and the guard, well, he didn’t really have a face so it was hard to tell what mood he was in. They reached the guard.
The guard, still expressionless, just looked at Quint, Callen, and Jasper. He seemed bewildered in befuddlement. That’s all Quint could make out as the best expression he could think of. The guard started “What are you three doing here? This territory is off limits. Leave now.”
Quint lied “We’re here to visit this historic sight we heard it contains a legendary source that we would like to take a peek at.”
The guard replied “There is an extraction team in this tomb trying to find this ‘Legendary Source’ you can see it in the underworld where all the other collections are traveling to. So again, leave now, I shan’t tell you again.”
Quint demanded “Well if you won’t let us in, then we’ll have to, under my best judgment, kill anyone who stands in our path.”
Quint drew his sword, but the guard was quicker. After a strike as fast as the speed of light, Callen saw blood bleed through Quint’s slacks. Quint didn’t get scared or freak out. Apparently he knows how to take a hit from a rusty sword. Quint lifted his weapon and struck. The skeleton dropped in a pile of bones. Jasper ran up to get a bone and started to hum in the same low tone as before. This is what makes Quint go and continue.
Quint and his friends infiltrated the claimed tomb. It was dark with a torch right next to the doorway. Callen took lead and raised the torch up high in front of him. They walked down a flight of stairs. Quint, Callen, and Jasper made it to the bottom. Ahead they could make out the ‘extraction team’ which was two skeletal warriors and an undead wolf.
Quint and Callen took on the guards while Jasper clashed deadly claws with the undead wolf. Quint shot an arrow at the one guard’s neck. His neck snapped in half and his head came off. Callen chopped the head off of the second skeleton. He fell to the hard floor. Jasper tackled the other wolf and clawed his throat. Quint walked up to the wolf Jasper killed, he did what was necessary for the spirit to pass on.
Quint and his friends kept on moving and reached a dead end. Quint yelled “What? No, we just wasted a whole day to get here and there’s nothing here!”
Callen tried to calm him, “Wait Quint, let’s be rational, look around and see if we can find anything that might open something.”
Quint nodded in agreement, calmly. They looked for a while, minute after minute, Quint was getting mad for another waste of time. It was noticeable in his face. Then Callen found a stone platform. He said “Hey Quint come take a look over here, I think I found something.” Quint hurried over and looked at it. Quint took the risk he pressed it with his foot. A door swiftly opened.
Quint thought, I am an idiot am I? Pressing a platform when it could’ve been set for a trap you fool, you fool. Luckily it wasn’t a trap. They entered through the archway. It was another hallway. They started to rush now, anxiously wanting to reach the end and get the sword but it was an illusion. It seemed like they were running in place. Quint though again, I hope, this is just an illusion. I’ll call it the hallway of illusion. Quint noticed that Jasper and Callen obviously saw the same thing he did. They kept moving, now into a jog. Eventually they reached the end and Quint saw a glinting sword in a large stone. He sighed, “I’ll get it out, I suppose.” He put his right hand just at the end of the hilt, then his left hand directly below it. With all his strength he tried to extract the sword. It nudged through the opening a bit. Again he attempted to dislocate the sword. It came out halfway. Finally he hauled the sword one last time and uprooted it. The sword’s sheathe was lain on a small, stone table next to the stone that held the sword. Quint grabbed sword’s sheathe and attached it to his belt. Jasper began to sing again in a little higher tone but not that high.
Quint and his friends got through the ‘hallway of illusion’ without difficulty. Then they ran up the stairs and departed from the tomb. Quint noticed it was nighttime. He said, “Let’s go back into the tomb and seal the entrance, we can sleep in there.” The three travelers sealed the door of the tomb and set the tent and a fire up. Quint and Callen got out their bedrolls, pillows, and blankets. Jasper crawled in next to Quint. The bedroll was just big enough to hold Quint and Jasper. Jasper still had the bone and was humming in a low, soft tone. Quint again could sleep well.
Quint got up early to make breakfast. The fire was still running but it was low. He poured a little bit of oil from a flask in the fire and it roared a bit. Quint put a pan over it and started to cook some sausages and eggs for a nice meal. Callen and Jasper woke up to the smell of the tomb. When Jasper came out, Quint threw him a sausage. After Quint was finished cooking the food everyone got a plate of it, even Jasper. Jasper started a rough humming at first but he lowered the volume to a high kind of pitch.
Eventually when they finished munching on their food, the three travelers packed everything and left the tomb for the final time. It was still a spring’s dawn. Quint and his friends were walking along peacefully and quietly.
Suddenly a bear came running after them on the dried, dirt road. Quint leapt into action with his sword drawn he raced to the bear, swerved to the left and held out his sword. Quint heard a thump as the bear’s body clashed against the dirt road. Quint again did what was necessary for the spirit. This was essential for an elf hunter. Quint and his friends continued in a solemn manner.
Quint, Callen, and Jasper were jogging lightly not to break a sweat. The smell was worse now, that wretched odor that filled the morning air. Quint was sad about this because he enjoyed the morning scents that he sensed before he and Callen left for training. Jasper looked at Quint and Quint heard another humming not as great but good enough to make Quint smile.
Eventually after two hours of traveling they reached the city of Pen Dale. The smell came from the city where the Death Knight is staying. Quint turned to his friends and pleaded “This is where it ends, I might die or the Death Knight might die,” his voice sunk, “I’m not expecting you guys to come with me but if you want to I’m not intending to say what you can’t do.”
Callen promised “No, Jasper and I will fight with you to the end no matter what happens; we will stick with you by your side.”
Jasper barked in a funny kind of way that made Quint crack a laugh. Then Jasper sung even better than all the other times. Quint got cheered up a great deal and laughed “Ah you guys are the best.” First he provided Callen a nice hug and whispered “thank you for your help,” then he turned to Jasper and offered him a long warm embrace and whispered again “You’re my best friend Jasper, and I knew you would never let me down and I wanted to say thank you, thank you.”
Quint, Jasper, and Callen paced to the Death Knight’s throne which he summoned here in Pen Dale from the Underworld. He stood up from his seat. Quint threatened, “I come to you and ask for a challenge, my friends and I versus you.”
The Death Knight with blood red eyes, fiery as volcanic lava glared at Quint and bragged, “Ha, you think you can defeat me! Very well, but you can think what you wish nobody can kill me!”
Quint replied calmly “With all due respect Mr. ‘Nobody can kill me’ when it originates from something like this, I never think about it, I know it will happen.” The Death Knight didn’t know how to respond at this. He was frozen in place by Quint’s icy words. This was all he could muster up.
“Come on then, show me your strength!” He roared with everything he could say. Callen ran up first and the Death Knight pulled out a large hammer, but Callen quickly slashed his arm. The Death Knight got angry and swung his mace. Callen’s side was struck. He was so powerfully stricken that he was knocked towards the wall and he fell unconscious. Next, Jasper sprinted up and tried to fight.
Quint knew what was going to happen whereas the Death Knight had his sword out and ready. Jasper bit his arm where Callen struck his sword. The Death Knight punched Jasper down, this made Quint take out his bow and arrow as fast as the speed of light. Without thinking he shot and hit the Death Knight’s gut. But it was too late the Death knight slashed Jasper in the side. He sprawled out on the ground lifeless.
Now it was Quint’s turn to be frozen in place. He whined, “Noooo!” Quint dashed up swiftly and he drove his sword through the Death Knight’s heart. He fell down and didn’t even twitch. The Death Knight sunk into the ground like an optical illusion sucking you into the portrait.
He dashed over to Jasper’s side and lifted him up in his arms. Quint gave him the longest hug he ever gave anyone before. Quint lay him back down. Callen woke up and returned to a conscious state. He dizzily strolled on over to Quint, Callen noticed what happened and placed his hand on Quint’s shoulder.
Quint insisted that Jasper was buried properly. He spent the whole rest of the afternoon splinting Callen’s arm and digging a hole for Jasper. As Quint dug he realized that he would never hear Jasper sing again which saddened him. Jasper died heroically to save the city of Pen Dale but more importantly, the Region of Latimer was safe. Those sweet soft lyrics he would always hum were as sweet and smooth as hot chocolate fudge being eaten. Quint loved it and it always put him in a positive mood. Quint was still rejoicing about one thing which was that Jasper’s spirit would live on his song would live on because it was his song. It was Jasper’s song.