Antonidas

Part one



"Hey Anton, get over here!"
Woken from my day dream, I was slightly discombobulated. I rose slowly; too slowly.

"ANNNNTONNNNIDASSSSSS!" I heard Sir Andrews shouting. "GET YOUR LAZY ASS OVER HERE!"

"Coming Sir Andrews." I said as I reluctantly jogged towards my combat instructor.

Sir Andrews was a Paladin in every sense of the word. He was a huge man with muscles so large that even his 60kg gilded runite armor could barely contain them. His long ember hair flowed over his shoulders and matched nicely with his red cape and pauldrons which I noticed had a distinctly less pleasant look that the last time I had seen him, probably due to the green bloodstains on them.

"Antonidas Tarren, why did you not come as I asked?" My instructor scowled at me.

"Sorry sir I was deep in thought." I answered semi-truthfully.

"Were you scrying boy?" He questioned. "You know magic is not allowed inside the institute's grounds unsupervised."

"No sir"

"Well then, get in the ring! The class is waiting for you."

"Yes sir." I obliged as I stepped into the sandy depression in the earth we used as our sparring grounds.

"You lot know the rules! No cheap shots, first one to the ground for 10 seconds loses. Begin."
I was suddenly aware of a distinctly different voice acting as umpire than usual, and while taking the time to contemplate this has roughly pushed to the ground by my opponent, much to the amusement of my peers.

"Dammit Anton! Get your ass up!" I heard Melvin shout.
I pried myself of my opponents not-quite-steely grasp and rolled to the side, quickly getting to my feet. My opponent, obviously trying to apply something he had learnt from the net a few days earlier, kickflipped up. Mistake.
As the sand from the ground flew into the air, I took my chance and lunged, bringing him to the ground. After a short scuffle, I had him pinned and just as the umpire yelled "...10! annnnd you're out!" I got to my feet.

"Good match." I said as I helped my opponent up.

"You too." his sourness obvious as he shook my hand and then walked, redfaced, towards his jeering classmates.

"Damn son. Nicely done bro." Melvin said as he helped me up from the ring. "Dude, did you see the umpire? It was..."

"ANTONIDAS!" Melvin was interupted as Sir Andrews bore down upon us. "WHAT WAS THAT?"

"A victory sir?"

"Don't be so smart Mr Tarren!" Sir Andews said as he towered over the two of us. "Why did you blank out? A paladin never loses focus! In a real battle you'd be dead!"

"Sorry sir I was distracted." I tried to justify myself

"By what?"

"The umpire sir, it wasn't Franklin's voice. It was someone new."

"You think in the heat of battle everything will be the same as usual? Sometime it'll be rebels, sometimes occultist orks, sometimes a whelp or even drakes! Then what?"

"Sorry sir, it won't happen again."

"Better not! Your final test is in a week! These kind of slip ups are amateur." His frown softened and his voice lowered. "Look Antonidas, you're a good student. Top of your cohort. I want to put good soldiers like you into the field and I know you want to go."

"I know sir. Thank you sir."

"Go to your dorm. Get rest. See you at 0800 tomorrow."

"Yes sir." We bowed to Sir Andrews as he nodded and turned, cape billowing behind him.

"Damn that was nice," Melvin commented, and I detected a slight hint of jealousy. "he ain't never said anything like that 'bout me."

"Don't worry bro," I put my hand on his shoulder. "he just pushes you cos he think's you're under-performing"

"Yeah I guess." Melvin commented as we turned up the stairs into our dorm cluster. "Damn you're fast man. I mean, the speed at which you brought the guy down! Soon you'll be doing some Matrix shit and catching arrows outta the air."
I chuckled, Typical Melvin, always with the movie references.

"I wish man, I wish."

"I mean, elves are that fast right? I've see some elf archers shoot arrows afters than some semi-auto's can fire"

"Well I'm not fully elvish."

"Half elf, full elf, still the fastest guy I know."

"True." I admitted.

"Anyways I gotta run. supposed to Skype with the girlfriend."

"Go, go. I'll walk back myself."

"See ya mate!" He said as he dashed off, his dreadlocks bouncing against his tunic and he ran.

In Many ways, Melvin and I shared a lot in common. We were both racial minorities in Taz-Madan, an institute predominantly populated by white males. He was dark skinned and I was half night-elf, and since day one we had both formed an unbreakable bond. Strength in numbers I guess. As i moved towards the 5th floor, I heard loud gaming coming from room 5-11 and loud... other noises... coming from room 5-12. Then I stopped. The door to room 5-13 was ajar. The door to my room was ajar and I definitely had not left it that way. I heard rummaging and I slowly walked forward, taking a low stance and getting ready to pounce. Probably one of those elitist squires trying to trash my room, maybe sent by Dylan too. I wasn't a pushover. I turned into the room with my fists raised...
And stared right into the green chest of a humongous ork.

"Shit." I let out a breath and hoped they'd find my body soon. I tense and struck.
My fist connected with a solid 'thump' but that was about all the reaction I got as a beefy green arm descended upon... my shoulder?

"Antonidas I presume?" The ork rumbled. I thought I detected a distinct Northwelm accent but could have been mistaken. "I mean you no harm half-elf. I am Roland, son of Regihad the Redeemed. I am not your enemy, but your roommate."

"Damn... um. Sorry." I looked down sheepishly, though due to his height he probably saw no difference. "You presume correct Roland. Nice to meet you."
We shook hands. "Terribly sorry about that whole... punching thing. I've become a bit paranoid ever since Dylan found out about my elvish heritage."

"Rest easy friend, no harm has become of me. Who is this Dylan you speak of?"

"He's a squire like me. Same year too. He's one of those elitist group that believe only humans should be allowed to become paladins."

"He is misguided. Our armies would be stronger with many species on the field. You elves are fast, us orks strong, centaurs wise..."

"I know," I cut him off, "but he doesn't see it that way. He sees them as a threat."

"Humans confuse me." Roland said in his rumbling, deep voice. "No matter, we shall watch each others backs. We are both outsiders. You a half-elf and I an ork."

"Well I was actually born in Highburn so I'm not exactly an outsider." I said. I was proud to be born in the capital of Thidian. Some say it was the greatest city ever build. I disagreed of course. Like most people who actually lived in a place perceived great by others, I was dissatisfied with it.

"The humans, they treat you as an equal?" Roland questioned, confounded.

"Of course there are still those who are narrow-minded and xenophobic, but those are the minority. We've come a long way since our races battled for supremacy. Highburn was actually build around the place the All-Races Treaty was signed. I'd like to think it'd be at the center of not only this realms technology but also it's harmony."

"Truely, this is a special place." Roland nodded, "I shall like it here then. Other cities are... not as accommodating."

"There is stigma against non-human races here though. To be fair to them, paladins have been primarily humans until only 3 or so generations ago."

"But times have moved on! We are no longer at war."

"Some don't see it that way." Just as I said that, Dylan and a couple of his lackeys walked up to the open door of my dorm. "Case in point." I muttered under my breath.






Hey guys so the is my first entry for the story of Antonidas Tarren. Bren will be posting hers up soon. Constructive criticism or any comments are welcome. Please be nice though :)
Thanks for reading!
MoP