RC1

Part 1

Fire. To some, fire means light, love, and romance. To others, fire is a harsh meaning for death and destruction. To a young peasant in the western heartlands, however, fire meant something different. Fire was power. It brought light to friends and death to foes. This young man didn't understand yet the meaning of love and all there was in his heart was a fire, ready to overcome him at the slightest movement of hate towards him. Young Fei-Long didn't let fire guide him-- he guided fire. This is where our tale begins.

Fei-Long woke to a start. He had been watching over the sheep in his Uncle's new field when he decided to rest a moment on a log. He had recently been punished for "accidentally" dropping a torch into his uncle's pigpen. Although Fei-Long lived with his parents, they were very poor. Both parents were rarely home. Fei-Long's mother worked for a nobleman cleaning house and Fei-Long's father was, well, He brought home money so it didn't matter.

"You imbecile!" Fei-Long's uncle rounded the hill, absolutely ferocious, "One left! How? you... He turned to Fei-Long (Who was apparently asleep) "You little brat! You, uh, you will go and find every one of my flock and bring them here- NOW!" Fei-Long stood, "I will find each one, will I really?" He grinned at his uncle who was oblivious to the fact that Fei-Long had released the sheep on his own. "Young Fei-Long, you will obey me or I will see to it that your silly parents have an unfortunate accident on the way to the circus, where those freaks belong!"

"My parents aren't freaks!"

"Fei-Long, you will do what I command!"

"None of this would have happened if you weren't off getting drunk from cheap ale at some unsanitary bar with your other drunk friends!"

"You... you little..."

"You see, Uncle, Cyric closely awards the most treacherous of his followers and as you still have not had the wisdom to see, I let your stupid sheep out! I will bring them back too, SPEARED ON A POLE! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

With that final note, Fei-Long ran off laughing madly and looking back at the bewildered face of his uncle, who was still trying to figure out what had just happened. Fei-Long would of course return to protect his parents, but for now it was too dangerous to be with his uncle alone.

* * *

Fei-Long found himself stealthily walking through the southern forest, flail in hand, hunting out a meal. He looked overhead and saw many flocks of birds flying south on the spring day. Obviously, this was not a common migration pattern for the creatures. The birds must have been flying away from something. This very thought crossed Fei-Long's mind as he reversed his step and jogged home. Fei-Long was treacherous to most, but he did care somewhat about his parents for they taught him what life was all for- serving the lord of murder, intrigue, and deception- Lord Cyric.

As Fei-Long neared the small town in which he was raised, he heard the sounds of battle. He emerged from the forest to see what peril his small town had reached. The society of green dragons from the northern forest of the wyrm had attacked. For many years the evil creatures had toyed with the idea of ravaging the small town, but had never really shown much aggression. Something must have happened that angered them and now they had attacked the village. Fei-Long ran sneakily to his small home. There he saw his drunkard uncle charred to a crisp, skewered on a section of fence. He looked and saw his mother weaving some dark divine magic, defending herself against one of the dragons. She let loose the spell and a black swirl overcame a lesser dragon's head, blinding it. She turned to see Fei-Long with his flail ready. Big mistake. The blinded dragon shrugged off the effects of Dark Blinding, a simple yet effective spell known to clerics of Lord Cyric. The dragon reared and shot a blast of fire at the woman. She was overcome in the horrendous flames and Fei-Long knew she was dead. The fiery attack ended and Fei-Long ran to his deceased mother and held up her hand, which disconnected from the rest of the burnt body.

At the same moment Fei-Long's father appeared from behind the corner of the house and took a wild stab at the fierce creature that had just slain his wife. The dragon fell only to be replaced by a larger dragon, defending its younger relation. Fei-Long's father paced backwards, slowly being closed in on opposite sides by multiple dragons. Fei-Long's father was doomed also. This was the last he would see of his father. Fei-Long would have cried, but he didn't properly know how.

Fei-Long fell, feeling emotions he had never before felt. Suddenly, a deep voice of a language Fei-Long knew to be draconic rose over the clashing sounds of battle. Looking up, Fei-Long saw a red dragon, twice the size of the greens that were attacking. On the massive chest of the crimson figure, the jawless skull in front a black sun could be seen. This was the symbol of lord Cyric. The beastly voice called to Fei-Long. It told him to run, flee to the shelter of the deep southern forest. Fei-Long knew nothing of what was in this forest, but it sounded more welcoming than a dragon war. Fei-Long understood not the reason for the red dragon's appearance. He would ponder that thought later. He had to run. He had to go.

* * *

Questions flew through Fei-Long's mind. Why had the dragon come to him? Why had it saved him? Weren't red dragons supposed to hate everything? Although the answers never came to him, he felt that he would know one day.

Fei-long had been living in the forest for days, trying to find his way towards the southern tip and be as far as possible as he could from the destruction of his parents. His hair had gone from straghit and black to become a grizzled mane, full of dirt, surrounding his face. He thought of how his mother would groom him as a child, with her long, crooked fingers violently grabbing at his head and snipping off his hair with crude knives. He had recently convinced her to use her magic to do it, and it was really rather neat until he had to survive.

Fei-Long decided to climb a tree to get a better view of the large forest. He picked a sturdy oak, but had some trouble scaling it's rough branches. He cut himself on a vine and hoped that forest creatures would not pick up the scent of the flesh. Fei-Long knew much about the stalking forest creatures, and studied the ways of the panther, snake, and bear. Although Fei-Long was rather muscular, he was named a rogue by his parents, as he constantly picked locks and sneakily stole whatever he could to help support the family. Merchants in his village avoided his district with their carts, for they often found that they were missing valuables. Fei-Long even managed to sneak into a smithy's shop and steal a flail and a mace. He found that these wepons were more rogue-like then others, as they seemed to inflict more lasting pain. Logically, a broken cage of ribs did last longer than the scratches and cuts of the small swords used by traditional thiefs.

Fei-Long broke through the top layer of the trees. He saw an endless green wasteland. He scoured the surface of the forest with his keen eyes, and he nearly missed a large indent in the trees to the west. He wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the smoke of many fires. 'Civilization!' he thought as he found his way to the bottom of the tree.

Fei-Long adjusted his path towards the woodland city. He would scout the place, then he would steal food from their stores, and maybe even a horse. Finding a horse was unlikely, though, as Fei-Long would only ride a black horse. It was a sort of tradition that his family held. He bowed his head as he thought of his parents. He spoke aloud, "May Lord Cyric welcome them in his house, to serve him forever, to betray their fellows, as a sign of loyalty to the Lord of deceit!"

At that particular moment, when Fei-Long's guard had dropped, a stalking creature pounced. It was a horse, as bright as the snow in the North. Was it a horse? Protruding from its head was a single horn, which signified what the creature was. A unicorn.

Fei-Long hated these celestial creatures, for they brought goodness with them wherever they went. The unicorn had a voice, it said, "Why do you come here, evil one? Why do you poison these beautiful woods with your hate and your murder?" It looked Fei-Long in the eye, "You have slain many of my creatures, who follow me, and used them as food to survive. Did you not see the fruits that this land bears? Or are you so blood-thirsty as the foul people to the north, who don't come so far into my woods, as their guilt would build in this home of goodness."

"I am not amused at your simple play with words, you foul horse. Lord Cyric looks upon you and spits. By my hand will you burn in his name." Fei-Long grabbed his flail and mace, and attemtped a swing at the creature. It was too fast for the novice fighter. The unicorn charged and jump at Fei-Long, swiping his great hoof over the thieve's shoulder. A tough injury. It was a lost battle for Fei-long, as he was grappled to the ground. The unicorn muttered in a language Fei-Long did not speak, but recognized as Celestial, or the language spoken by angels.

At that moment, two black panthers pounced at the unicorn. They both grappled it to the ground as a third panther emerged fom the trees and snapped the neck of the unicorn, digging it's claws far into the beast's neck.

"Thank you, friends of the Dark One. You have saved my life here." Fei-Long sat on a log. The larger of the three panthers approached Fei-Long as the other two feasted on the unicorn's silver flesh. The leader of the pack turned it's back to Fei-Long, offering itself as a mount, and Fei-Long took to the sturdy creature. More beasts came to feed on the sweet feast of the unicorn, and Fei-Long rode south east, to the civilazation that he spotted in the trees. Along with his new friend, who he named Eniolis (elvish for night-stalker), Fei-Long continued his journey to survival.

* * *

Fei-Long and Eniolis arrived outside of the walls of the woodland city. Fei-Long unmounted the tired panther. "Unless you can climb, you should find a place to hide." The panther turned slowly, and headed off into the dense trees. Fei-Long decided to scout out the city, so he bagan to climb a tree. His powerful arms guided him up the long shaft of a towering tree which he could not name.

To his amazement, Fei-Long saw an elven city. Or was it a school? He was unsure. There were many great fields in which elves were being taught to perform magic, and to use a weapon. The elven teachers looked as though they were very stern to their students.

Fei-Long marked the locations of the fires in his mind, and decided that they were probably where the elves cooked and stored food. There were few gates into the city, one of them was placed conveniently close to Fei-Long. He looked again at the locations of the fires and began to climb down the trunk of the wild tree.

He looked back in the direction where Eniolis had left. The beast was not in sight. Over the day long journey to the elven city, Fei-Long developed a kinship with Eniolis and some of the other panthers of the woods. They had fun together, killing off the scouts and spies who worked for the unicorn. Although Eniolis had no voice, he communicated with Fei-Long in a way that even the other panthers did not fully understand.

Fei-Long turned back to make his way to the elven town, but was surprised to find his way blocked by none other than an elf. Fei-Long stared at the drawn sword that was pointed towards his neck. He heard footsteps from behind, and risked turning away from the first elf, only to see the hilt of a sword swipe him on his head.

* * *

Fei-Long woke in a small room, with no walls, but simply one large, round window. He jumped from his bed, which was soft, and looked out of the window. He was in a high tower that he had seen from his post on the tree. The tower had the view of the entire elf school, and it was directly in the middle of three of the large training fields that were led by the stern elves.

Fei-Long watched as the elves trained in the arts of magic, stealth, and close combat. He made remarks through the day such as, "No, no! when will they learn? When sneaking, you keep as low as possible without being noisy!" and, "What do they think they are doing with those weapons? You have to be part of the weapon, it shouldn't be part of you!"

One guard noticed this peculiar behavior and later the elf-leader was brought in by many guards. After much debate with his colleagues, he allowed Fei-Long's security to drop a little, as long as he taught the teachers a little more about the styles of melee combat that he practiced. Not once did Fei-Long tell them where he was from, but they quickly found out other things about him.

Fei-Long had many tattoos, all of them depicted Cyric, people dying for Cyric, people worshipping Cyric, Cyric punishing others, and many more. He also had a small tattoo of a dragon on his left leg. He did not remember when or how he got this one, it was really quite dull except for its color-- a vibrant shade of red. This let the elves find out a little bit of Fei-Long's history, but mainly that he was a dangerous worshipper of Cyric.

Fei-Long met often with the elf-leader in the following weeks. "Not many travelers come this way into the forest, what buisiness brings you here, human?"

Fei-Long would answer discreetly, "My buisiness is my own, but if you must know, I was running."

"From what?" the leader would question, but Fei-Long would never answer.

* * *

The elves treated Fei-Long with some hospitality, but they never let him leave. The elven teachers were rather angry at the thought of being taught how to do their jobs by a human, and they were very cruel to the students. In fact, all of the elves were rather cruel. Fei-Long was eating well, but it was always cold. He had many blankets, but they were made of meager resources. Fei-Long could bathe, but was given no new clothes. The elves acted like they were treating Fei-Long like a king, but he knew better. He saw the steam off of the elve's food, he saw them sleep well in their towers. He saw their beautiful green and blue clothes.

Fei-Long brought this up at one of his meetings with the elf-leader. "Why is it that your followers act as though I am a huge job to them, yet they are a bigger responsibility to themselves. Is treating a slave with barely enough to live such a difficult job?"

The elf was not pleased at this, and he stormed out of the room. That was Fei-Long's last meeting with him. Fei-Long's security was tightened, and he could no longer teach the elves. He sat in his prison and thought about Eniolis, and if he would ever meet with him again.

* * *

Fei-Long was only being fed once daily. He had not been given any water through the small spout over the tub to wash. He smelled. Bad. His blankets smelled too, they were now ripped and torn. Where was Eniolis? Fei-Long worried, for one of the first times ever. He sat at night, wondering, worshiping Lord Cyric silently. He was also for the first time entirely dependent on someone else.

* * *

Fei-Long dreamed of escape. He dreamed of a great escape in which he slaughtered many of the elves, but that seem impossible. There was a trap door in the floor of his chamber that was locked of the other side, and he had not the strength to break through the steel. He dreamed ot breaking the steel. He dreamed of killing the elf-Leader. He dreamed of escape, and he also dreamed of torture, or was he dreaming at all?

* * *

Fei-Long woke in the night due to a creaking sound from somewhere in his room. He heard a soft growl, and he saw many swift shadows. He feared that the elves were there, watching, waiting for him to fall asleep. Suddenly, one of the shadows pounced. It pounced straight and far and landed on Fei-Long's bed. Fei-Long jumped up, only to see Eniolis and his panther friends. They had broken in, how, Fei-Long did not know, but he was saved.

He gave Eniolis a great hug and clambered out of his bed. "We must ride far. Where have you been? The elves have tortured me for months. They pretended to be allies at first, but I was betrayed by them. Let me say this while I still have strength- these elves will not live. When I am in power, they will see their flaws as I crush them nder by mighty foot! I will be a god! I will be Fei-Long, Cyric's Leige!" Fei-Long let out a heartless laugh. He had visions of power, visions of greatness. Blackness overwhelmed his soul, and he welcomed it. Fei-Long was no longer a human, but a heartless, merciless creature who would do anything for power, and in the end, revenge. He swore on that very day that his enemies would fall at his command, and he would become a great leader in the force of evil. "Ride on," he stated softly, "to power!"

* * *

Fei-Long was led by the panthers down the tower in which he was held. At the door, a guard lay dead, violent scratches covered his face and chest, and Fei-Long saw the fatal bite at the elf's neck. Fei-Long mounted Eniolis and and rode towards the wooden gates out of the training field. Fei-Long managed to steal a flail and a short sword from the elf at the gate, and found many daggers that were stuck in a target. The daggers were all engraved with elven runes and symbols.

Eniolis and the panthers split up, Eniolis and one other panther rode towards the gate out of the city. After killing the two guards, they waited silently outside of the walls.

The other three panthers came running up to the open gate, dodging arrows. Each had a bag of food in its mouth. Fei-Long wondered if it was all for him. Suddenly, Eniolis lurched back a little, then began to run as fast as it was possible. Fei-Long was a bit startled at the speed of the beast. The panthers moved fast through the trees, never stopping. They made not a single sound while traveling so swiftly, Fei-Long could not tell which direction they were running. No elves were seen behind. Fei-Long could feel the bugs flying into his mouth. His face was whipped by low branches off of the trees. He tasted the warm blood as it trickled from his face into his mouth. He was free. He was safe.

* * *

Eniolis and the rest of the pack stopped at a river. Fei-Long dismounted and stumbled to the white, gushing rapids. He took in massive amounts at a time. It had a foul taste, but he accepted it with joy, as his mouth had been parched from the long ride. He finished, and Eniolis took his drink. After Eniolis, the others were allowed to have their good share of the cool water.

Fei-Long took a loaf from a food bag and ate it rather quickly. He ate a bit too fast and his stomach cramped in a sensational way. He sat up and surveyed the scene. Two panthers made their way to a den a short distance up the river. The small den was fasioned into the side of a hill. It was crude, but welcoming all the same. Eniolis made his way to the hill, and jumped onto the top. He nodded towards Fei-Long, then towards the entrance to the hole. Fei-Long picked up the food bags and took them into the home of the panthers.

It was rather cozy inside, and it could easily have fit more panthers, but the pack only consisted of the five panthers that rescued Fei-Long. He slept a few hours, and woke to the feel of Eniolis' paw scratch playfully at his leg. The pack watched as Fei-Long and Eniolis played this little game for a bit, then they picked up the food bags and brought them to Fei-Long. He took his share, and then he gave some to the panthers. None of them ate until Eniolis had his share, and they did not eat as much as their leader either, in fact, they altogether only consumed one bag of the rations.

Eniolis and Fei-Long got to know eachother a little better, and then Fei-Long told Eniolis of his plan. He planned to head to the Sea of Swords, to the west. Eniolis listened as he was told of Fei-Long's plot to rise to power and then destroy the Forest of the Wyrm, and then destroy the elves that were so cruel. Eniolis spoke with the others and then they all packed a bag of food, and Eniolis offered himself as a mount. Fei-Long took to the creature's back. "We will ride far and long, and we will tire. But when our goal is reached, we will die a death in the name of Lord Cyric, and will live in his service for all eternity. If we should fail on the way, the Dark Lord will spit at us, and look for another servant. Remember, our goals in Faerun are only our way to prove to lord Cyric that we are worthy of him. Our true goal is to work in the great deity's service, and we will prevail!" With that final note, Fei-Long rode off to the west, were destiny awaited him at the Sea of Swords.

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