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THE CHRONICLES OF FINALGAMER An Era of Chivalry

"If your name means that much to you, live on and redeem it." Agrael, Heroes of Might and Magic V

Before he woke up, the sweet smell of fungus came to his nostrils, and the feeling of cool grass laid upon his back and arms accompanied by a soft breeze flowing over his body. His mind immediately assumed that he was in a forest, like the one around the mansion. Opening his eyes, he smiled with relief. Indeed it was a forest, but not the dark foreboding coniferous forest of that cold stately home. The trees were different, more rounded and less pointed, and a more warm atmosphere greeted him instead of the cursed presence of the place before. As he shuffled slightly, he felt something cold and metallic against his back. He realised that he had the scissors still with him underneath his body. Getting up, he was glad to see that they had successfully been transported with him, and he half-imagined that they were too the way they gleamed at him, alone without their master. While testing his ankle to see that it had healed up somewhat in sleep, as well as his shoulder, James tried to remember why he took them, thinking only of the fear he felt in that mansion. The fear of being unable to fight against an armed dangerous opponent bare-handed, and almost losing his life in the process. As well as nearly losing some of his arm, which felt better now after a proper sleep. Now, he hoped, that fear would be easier to handle. "Well...I guess I own you now." James took them by the handles, the weapon 4 feet in length as he practiced wielding it carefully, not entirely sure of this idea now as he found them to be a little awkward. First he tried a few swings, the blunter sides of the blades swinging through the air as the raptor tried to control his swings, which went a bit too wide for him. "Jeez, I dunno what I'm gonna do with this but..."

He wanted to finish the sentence on his excuse, but he didn't have one. He felt he had picked up the scissors without question, as if automatically. He was sure he had a reason, he wanted to defend himself, right? But why didn't he pick a sword somewhere else in the mansion from the ones he picked up? Something more conventional and less...impractical? Other than the fact that they either broke or that he dropped them when they didn't work in killing Scissorman. Whatever reason he had, he was starting to doubt himself, before several creatures waded in from the thick black shadows of the forest, gazing at him. "Well now..." One large reptilian-looking ogre of sickly yellow skin strode up to him, wearing a furry loincloth and shoulder pads. He also wielded a rather thick wooden hammer. "What do we 'ave 'ere? Nice blades ya got there, tryna be a hairdresser?" "Piss off, what do you want?" Not in any particular mood to hang with thugs, he kept up his scissors best as he could, seeing two similar-looking fiends circle around him without hammers. "That ain't a nice way to talk to yer elders lad." "Oh sorry. Would you kindly piss off?" "Heh, suuuuuure...just give us those shiny scissors and yer money and we'll letcha go." He felt he was going to have to practice wielding his weapon sooner than he thought, saying: "You know what? I don't think so. But instead, how about I cut your fat bastard body for free?" With that insult, he made a charge towards the mallet-wielding ogre who deflected the rushing attack with it, knocking James back as the other unarmed beasts tried to grab him. He felt his ankle hadn't entirely healed up, but it wasn't as bad as before so he had to chance it in battle, as he dodged back more to let them bang into each other. With two of them stunned, he skewered one of them with the scissorblades in a lucky strike, trying to cut open and tear the wound. "ARGH BY THE FIENDLORD MY GUTS!" "HUNH, sorry, I'm a li'l clumsy, aren't I?" "Yer gonna be DEAD as well ya little shit!" The hammer-wielder rushed forwards and swung at the raptor hard as he could, who dodged carefully back and forth for the sake of his ankle. It started to get sore again from overuse, while his attacks were deflected with surprising skill from the huge bludgeoning brute, never given an opening as James exclaimed: "Fucking hell!" "You ain't gonna give up now are ya?!?" "Fuck no!" "Good, cuz I'm gonna kill ya next!"

Before he realised, James was blindsided by a punch to his face from the other remaining opponent, knocking him to the side, scissors flying from his grip. He tried to rush towards them, his head a little dizzy from the hit as he grabbed his weapon and opened the blades, swinging madly at the unarmed attacker to keep him at bay while he got his focus back. "Crazy little bastard!" "Damn right I am!" He regained his full attention back to cut his enemy to shreds. But before he got the chance to truly do some damage other than several slashing cuts, the mallet whacked into his left side powerfully. "HAHAAA!" "GAAAGH!" Sliding along the ground with a badly bruised side, he tried to get up, now quite wounded but holding his weapon still as he faced his two enemies who mocked his carelessness. His bandaged shoulder throbbed from the blow as well, making him struggle to hold the scissors up with the pain returning. "Yer real stupid arentcha?" "Better stupid than dead," said James, "which is what you'll be!" "Hahahahahaaa! Funny ya say that just now, cuz guess what you'll be in a minute..." Despite his will to fight, James was starting to feel the limits of his body with too many bruises, and decided to take his chances running through the woods, much to the jeering of his foes who chased after him. He still had no idea what world he was in as he ran through the trees as fast as he could. His ankle started to throb, his lungs tensing up with panic at being so wounded, at now becoming so easy a target to kill. The raptor ran his fastest through the trees, hoping that his speed alone would have the ogres give up in their chase for him. It was something he thought to motivate himself as he slowed down, trudging his heels, forcing himself onwards. His lips became dry as sand as he cried out hoarsely in forcing his feet to walk forwards. Just one more step, a little bit more, before he fell over with the pain in his ankle. "AAAAGH!" Struggling to get up, he heard the ogres coming up towards him, knowing they were going to kill him. He tried to keep walking at least, scissors dragging along the ground, shaking with pain throughout his bruised body. From the moment he fell and got up again, he hadn't even walked 50 paces before the beasts had surrounded him. "Ohhh...fuck," was the only thing he could say inbetween whimpering breaths. "Awwww, looks like the li'l lizard tired himself out hmmm?" "Just...go away." "Ah ah ah...you coulda just given in, but ohhh no, you had to be a brave boy and cut my buddy's guts open. Now yer gonna die...after a li'l roughing up." The uninjured unarmed ogre walked forwards with fists ready, and even though James raised his weapon to stab him, he was too slow to do so from exhaustion, and was promptly dealt a solid meaty punch that knocked him to the ground. He was soon rendered unconscious by a few more blows to the head.

Upon awakening once more, the pain still throbbed in his ankle even though it wasn't on the ground. In fact he soon realised that he had been restrained, tied up to a tree by ropes. His arms and legs were splayed out and pulled back around the trunk, which hurt his shoulder with a weary stinging pain. The ogres were sitting around an extinguished campfire, a few tents set up for themselves while they ate various kinds of meat, talking with each other. One of them tended to his wounds with a bloody bandage around his waist. "So then I tells that imp 'the only way yer gettin' a ball is when you suck one a' mine' and then I THRUSTED my crotch in his face so hard, that I actually whacked him in the FACE with both of 'em!" "FFFHAHAAHAHA, ohhh wish I'd been there to see that!" "I can always do it again for ya, just gotta find an imp ballsy enough." "Aaaaaaaahahahaa ballsy, yer on fire tonight!" "Hehehe...so, how's our lizard?" "Well, seems he finally woke up!" "Yeah?" The leader turned around to see James sneering at him from his bound position, his right eye a little swollen from the previous beating. "Ahhhh good to see ya awake sunshine." "The hell do you want with me fat boy?" "Hmph, you still a snarky li'l bitch eh?" The beast punched James clean across the face, bruising his jaw hard into a brownish-purple to match the eye. "Had enough?" "FUCK YOU!" Blood spat out in his profane shout onto his captor's face. "That's a no then." Another brutal punch, this time to the stomach which caused James to roar hoarsely in pain and almost vomit, but instead he ended up spitting more blood from his mouth, panting up at the reptilian ogres. He sniffled hard to hold back his tears of pain. "Hahaha, awww you gonna cry boy?" "Shut up! What do you want with me!?!" "Well, yer quite a unique lad arentcha? Maybe we can have a li'l fun with ya...either as a punching bag or...well..." That made the raptor panic, sneering with eyes wide open in a fearful realisation. "Yeaaah you guessed it right didntcha? A boy like you all lean an' smooth, you'd be fun..." "Try that I will bite your dick off." "Do that and I'll kill ya." "Fine, kill me, at least I'll make you less of a man before I die." Despite his arrogant front, he was afraid. He didn't want this to happen to him again, his immediate fear of being put through that humiliating pain again begged him to prefer death, anything to avoid what he hadn't felt in years, something he preferred to keep that way. The thug just chuckled at his captive's bravado, seeing the shivering paleness in James' eyes before punching his face hard again.

Repeatedly slamming his yellow fist into the left side of James' head, pounding him against the tree, each blow sent a shudder of pain through his head, until he was panting with tears when the beating stopped. His face was starting to develop a bruise like that of a port-wine stain. "You gonna be a good boy now?" "Ungh...h-h-hhhhh..." "Fine, maybe my buddy can convince ya better." The lesser thug who wasn't injured took over and began to choke James, squeezing his throat slowly before closing his fist around the brown scaly neck. He allowed him to breathe occasionally only on his whim, before sending a rhino-like knee straight into the raptor's gut, making him cry out instinctively. And as he did so, the hand around his neck tightened to make him choke violently, a dry vomiting sound. Desperate for air, claws trying to break free, failing to do so as his eyes watered up. "Hhhhahaahaha, lookat 'im squirm for air the li'l bastard!" The ogres laughed at James when he was allowed to breathe once again, whimpering with panic yet laden with fury. He was terrified, but his outrage told him that if he was going to die he might as well not play nice. When he had his chance and the captor's arm relaxed its grip, he lunged his head forwards after a big gulp of air and chomped down upon the nearby arm, sinking his vicious dagger-like teeth deep into the flesh. The ogre roared and tried to pull away while the raptor snarled and tore away, biting and chewing as much as possible despite the repeating punches to his side to make him stop. Despite his best efforts, the arm was eventually pulled away, reddened all over with thick bloody streaks, the wounds strongly deep even within an arm so thick. The leader stood up facing his bloody-mouthed captive with a violent sneer. "You little SHIT!" "Hhhh...hhhh...huuuh..." He snarled with a vicious rage combined with a smug smile up at the beasts, with reddened teeth and a badly bruised face that made his purple marks blend in with the bruises on both sides. He wheezed out a chuckle before another solid punch came across his head. "You just personally signed yer death warrant, kid." When his friend had bandaged up his bleeding arm, they grabbed and tied up James' arms and legs, as well as a rope around his mouth before carrying him to their table. It was more a nearby tree stump, bending him over and pulling his slacks down. The keys from the Barrows Mansion fell out from his pockets, which intrigued the fiends. James had forgotten he kept pocketing those things. "You a li'l magpie or sumthin' huh!? A li'l thief with all those keys!?!? Well guess what we're gonna take from you!" James' arrogance was nothing but a mask for the fear of something he had dreaded for a long time.

He remembered the hallucination back in the mansion with the mannequin. Those purple wings had haunted his dreams for a long time. He tried to forget, but the fearful prospect of being raped again made him realise that the encounter with Ridley had affected him deeper than he thought. He tried not to cry, but failed. He shook with fear, knowing that like Ridley had intended, they would kill him after they used his body. "Ooooh he's got a tight-looking ass...hehehe." "He's gonna be REAL fun for the last half hour of his life right?" "Mmmmm let's see if we can make it an hour, huh?" The raptor whimpered as he struggled and squirmed, held down by thick clawed hands as he felt them start to get ready, bracing himself for the worst. His snout was wet with a river of tears on both sides, feeling his whole life flash before his eyes. A jumbled mixture of thoughts, mainly pitying upon the fact that he would never see Sarah again, and in turn she would never know what happened to him. As he began to resign himself to his fate, sobbing quietly, one of them made a strange noise that made James look up. "HURK!" The unarmed ogre was interrupted in preparing for his devious act, by what appeared to be a sword shoved through his head. It then slashed through half of the skull clean through with incredible force before falling to the side, bleeding out half his brain in a thick half-solid goo. The body soon followed after with a blank stare, thudding to the ground in front of the raptor. The leader behind James grabbed his mallet from nearby and looked around frantically. "Who's there!?" Come out wherever ya are!" No reply came. The woods were silent. The bandaged unarmed thug was panicking and tried to say: "Ah-ah-ah think I saw someone like...green and with a sword, m-maybe it's-" "Shut yer face! Don't you jinx it. Whoever's out there, if you don't come out now, this li'l guy's gonna have a head like a tomato!"

He raised his hammer above James' body, which the raptor could tell from the shadow looming over him, making him shake. Someone then landed near James' left leg, appearing from the sky, but the raptor couldn't turn his head around enough to see whatever it was. It was enough for the ogres to suddenly panic and cry out: "Y-y-YOU!" "Thou knoweth of me, fiend?" said the mysterious voice. "You...this don't concern you!" "The existence of injustice is always mine concern. Cease thine abuse of the boy, or suffer my blade." Hearing this new voice, one so deep and heroic, made James' heart soar with the prospect of being rescued, and feel absolute relief at having escaped his fate. And what a voice! It was such a rich old world tone that made him imagine noble knighthoods, age-old legends, swords and castles, damsels and dragons. "UuuuurrrrrrRRAGH!" The ogre took his chances and swung his mallet, aiming to crush the unseen opponent. From what James could tell, the foe managed to backflip and cast out a blast of water at the assailant, blinding the beast as it fell back from the torrent at his face. Another blast of water soon shot the mallet out of the ogre's hands, spinning into the woods. There then came a rushing slash from the rescuer, a flash of green and gold to the raptor who watched him carve through the ogre's belly, from crotch to chin. The beast was sliced nearly in two, blood gushing into a puddle around the corpse that James could somewhat see, as the voice proclaimed: "I warned thee, demon...the only one to blame of thine death is thee." The remaining ogre with bandaged belly merely shivered, and tried to plead forgiveness, backing away from James' right. "P-p-p-please, d-don't, I'm wounded!" "As I can see. ...thou shalt live today, if only to become a reminder of why I do not abide such acts as the ones thy friends were about to commit." "Y-y-yes sir, th-thank you sir, please!" "Go!" With that, the ogre ran away into the woods, frightened enough for his life to leave his former victim alone with his rescuer, who cut him free of the ropes. James sat up slowly on the trunk, shaking with pain but also with relief. Unlike the last time this scenario had occurred, this rescuer had come sooner, and with the fullest intent of only rescuing the raptor. He smiled up with surprise at seeing what his hero looked like.

It was a large bipedal frog, perhaps five feet tall, dressed in a cape and striped pantaloons. His eyes gleamed golden like the medal pinned to his front, above a plate of armour, his face grim with determination despite the odd thick wisker-like projections from his cheeks. He sheathed the blade into a scabbard at his hip, approaching James. "Thou art well, lad?" The raptor got up slowly, feeling the bruises still throb, taking his slacks from off the ground and putting them back on tenderly. "I'm fine...hhhhaaah...j-just got a bit careless." "Canst thou walk?" The speech was a little confusing to the raptor, so he had to guess on what the frog meant. "I...nnngh...cou-could use a li'l help but i-i-it's fine really." More than anything else, James was just uncomfortable and ashamed at the situation he had been found in, which took away his confidence severely. "Th-thanks for saving me, sir." "Tis nothing my lad. I followed their raucous boasts of capturing thee. I am only glad that I was not too late." A more confident James would have thought to himself that he had wanted to be rescued sooner and avoid the bruises. But he was far too weary and humiliated to even think of such. "Y-yeah I...nnngh...th-thank you, thank you so much, I...I...they were gonna kill me after they'd...a-after they'd-" "Do not speak of such acts boy, I can clearly see that thou art shaken. What matters is that thou art safe now, with thy integrity intact. I saw thy bravery when tied up, though I would call it reckless to encourage them." "That's not a...hahh...compliment is it?" The raptor said this with a weak chuckle, finding that even when he wanted to laugh his jaw would hurt. "Sometimes bravery can be mistaken for foolishness, but considering what almost happened to thee, thou cannot be judged." "Uh...thanks...hey, where are my scissors?" "Scissors?" "I had a big pair of scissors, they were my weapon, where'd they put them!?!" "Hmmm...those, perhaps?" The frog pointed them out resting near one of the tents, abandoned yet again until James walked over to pick them up. His movements were stiff and unsteady as he did so, which the rescuer noted. "Dost thou require assistance with thy wounds?" "Uhhh...I...maybe, lemme just...nnnno they're okay..." The amphibious warrior gazed upon the scissors as James did his best to wield them confidently. "A most unusual weapon thou hast. But then, I hath seen many a strange weapon in my years." "Yeah?" "Indeed. Tell me, where did one find such a weapon?" Oh crap I better not tell him too much, thought the raptor to himself.

During his slow replies in order to buy time, he was also trying to understand what the swordsman was saying half the time. The amphibian assumed it was because the raptor was exhausted from his ordeal, and he was partly right. "I...was walking a long journey...and...nnngh...I woke up near here and found it beside me, so...I thought...well I uhh...can't remember for now but I gotta defend myself somehow...right?" "Understandable. Thou art skilled at all in the ways of the sword?" "Uh...I don't...sorry, what?" "Thou appeareth to be quite a strong lad. It made me wonder upon how they captured thee if thou were armed with such a weapon. So I ask thee again, what level of skill dost thou possess in wielding a blade?" Does he think I'm some kind of knight or something? I better be honest. "Um...I...I've been in a lot of fights as a kid." "But with a weapon such as these...scissors?" "Not really...actually I never used a sword before, properly anyway." The amphibian put a finger to his chin and rubbed it in pondering. "Hmm...for one unskilled in the ways of the blade, are they not rather...impractical for thy first venture into swordplay?" "You...think so?" "Verily. Few hath ever won battles with something such as those. Consider this. They are almost your size with two blades instead of one, both sides are just as lethal as the other, they require two hands, it is as if thou demands a challenge in future battles!" "Well I...I can't explain it. I mean I wanna but..." He really couldn't answer, and as much as he wanted to reply to this, the amphibian merely said: "If thou cannot explain, then I cannot force thee to answer. But if I may ask, where lies thy destination?" "My...destination? Uhhhh...where I'm going?" "Indeed." "Uhhh...nuh-nowhere really." "Ah, a vagabond?" "Uhhhhh...nnnnnooo?" "Hmmmm...perhaps thou shouldst find an inn to rest at." "Yeah, that...that'll do me good, thanks."

As he tried to walk from the encampment, his body had finally found its limit from all the bruises and wounds, as he soon collapsed within a pathetic shudder. "H-h-haaagh, Christ!" "Young lad, what ails thee?!" "E-everything...my ribs...sh-shoulder...fucking ankle!" "Do not move, allow me!" The amphibious swordsman laid James down slowly on the ground and began to chant a strange sound, an almost resonating hum, as sparkling lights slowly seeped from his body to swirl around and lie upon the raptor. His eyes lit up, curious of what was happening as they gently melted away into his skin. Within seconds, he felt the pain dissipate to some extent, seeping away with a strange warmth throughout his being. James sighed with a shudder of disbelief and ease, feeling as if he were lying into the perfect bath. "I...wh...what? Some of the pain's gone....hah, I don't feel too bad now." "Indeed," said the frog with a smile, "the power of Water within my form hath allowed me to access the soothing powers of its healing properties, thereby permitting me to cure myself and others in desperate need such as thee." "So...you cured me with magic?" "Aye." "...damn. Hahaha, magic's real here, huh?" He wanted to be surprised, he really did in his most deepest parts where his inner child laid. That part of him that brightened up at the prospect of strange wonderful adventures and magical fantasies. But somehow, with everything he had been through before, his mind had just given up on being surprised, at least until something beyond his imagination could do so. Not that he cared at the moment when he was exhausted from all the bruises. The frog merely waved a hand humbly in reply. "It is not so common admittedly. I learnt it under special conditions." "Wish I could learn some...ungh...anyway I feel better enough to walk, so uh...thanks a lot, for everything, really, you saved my life, I mean if I can repay you at all-" "Tis nothing, I tell thee. All I am concerned of, is if thy body can withstand walking unassisted to the nearest town." "...well...I'm kinda really lost and I uh...I got no idea where to really go." "I can take thee to a small inn over in the town of Porre, if that is thy wish." "I-i'd like that...nnnhhh..." "Then let us go, my lad. What is thy name?" "James...and you?" "Thy name is Glenn. A pleasure to meet thee, James."