The Destroyer

The light from the fire was fading slowly as the bloodied figure limped over the lifeless mounds around him. His breathing was heavy and steam rose from the blood covering his body. His eyes locked to the still wriggling giant attempting to use it's remaining arm to crawl through a large opening of the great hall into the snow. The man grabbed hold of one of the dozens of spears littering the giant's back causing it to let out loud cries. His muscles tensed as he pressed harder and harder until a crackling tear sounds through the roaring winds. The bloodied mountain of a human pulled a separate spear and carried himself across the room. He moved slowly over each body to not disturb them where they lie. Once he made it to the large fireplace, he dropped to his knees with spear in hand and sat motionless until the fire went out and the steam dissipated. The floor around him was covered in fur clad corpses of his brothers and sisters. Three frost giants lie in the snow outside, with one in the opening, and another giant body was in the hall among the humans.

The sun rose as snow crept in to the now lit bloody scene. The man in front of the fireplace opened his eyes and dropped his head back before gasping for air just to cough blood from his mouth. He turned his head back to see an armored figure, images of suns with faces were bright against the dark wood and blood. The armored figure walked towards the rising sun and with his large gauntlets pulled his hood up. After several hours, the man lifted his body and surveyed the destruction. He found less bloodied and tattered furs among his family and wrapped himself before loading a bag of provisions. Before leaving, he stopped at a woman with a necklace of a carved bear; he tugged it from her neck and dropped it into his bag.

The man was gaining more strength with each step, he followed roads and wandered through forest. The temperature slowly rose as he traveled and the people that passed him spoke an unusual language. Some travelers would leave him more than enough room while some tried calling to him. They were ignored unless they tried approaching him with weapons, those few met a swift end. After months of walking, he came across a gathering of warriors in the forest locked in combat. While he spectated, one of the groups charged him only to find the same fate as the last. After the skirmish ended, the remaining warriors gathered themselves and cheered for the large, uneasy barbarian. They followed the man as he traveled and would help him set up his camps and fetch food for him. The warriors the others clearly were led by would often talk to the Northerner teaching him bits of the language of the area and common knowledge like the year and where they were. The year was 622 and they were on the borders of Nyrond.

Years passed, the band got into more scuffles with other armed wildmen in the forests and fields but avoided most settlements and large caravans. They referred to the large warrior as The Destroyer and he, more than metaphorically, spear headed the fights they got in. They bonded to him but never grew close to them, though he did not deny their company. One of the summery evenings were more lively than the others, with the camp loudly exclaiming that the next day had an important event that The Destroyer was expected to do well at. The camp slowly died down into the night and when the morning rose, The Destroyer expected to meet another group of fighters but instead was brought to a small hamlet with small children sprinting to their homes and women shouting. He watched as his camp mates bolted past him and started fighting any of the weak men who picked up tools. A young boy shouted and charged at the unmoving Destroyer with a small dagger, De slapped the boy who was sent into a crate of rotted produce. There was no fight here, there was nothing to gain. The worn traveler lifted his spear and with a mighty throw, pierced the bandit leader he had been with through the chest killing him instantly. The twenty-five other members were shocked at first but attacked him like snarling coyotes, nipping at him as he struck them down slowly. He was becoming overwhelmed as they surrounded him, but the galloping of a dozen horses over the horizon stopped them. They began to run into the forest but were quickly caught and bound. The knights pointed their weapons at a tired and wounded De; he was not foolish and surrendered immediately. He was quickly arrested and his belongings were thrown away from him.

Most of the soldiers avoided speaking to De as he was loaded into a wagon, but a woman addressing herself as a knight captain of Nyrond approached him and asked him question he did not have the ability to answer in her language. De spoke in Fruz but she did not understand, and she kept him there and had him hauled off with the other bandits to a prison. In the year 638, after being weakened by ten years of minimal food and exercise, the guards came to his cell and opened the door to let in a man unfamiliar to De. The man was timid and cautious but he held out a wrapped item that when unfolded De recognized immediately; it was the carved bear on a new leather strap. De accepted the gift and gave a nod, the man nodded back and left the cell. De was led out by the guards to a different room with a new face entirely. Once The Destroyer was in the room, the regally dressed man that had been waiting on him stood up and spoke, "The reports say you were an outlaw but once your group raided a town you turned on them. I dug a bit deeper and it seemed you had no intention on hurting those villagers. I'm not sure what you're doing this far south, barbarian, but I'd like to find out if you're a match for the Pomarj."