The Journeyman part 1

There was a land that was dark and chaotic. Monsters lurked around every corner and portals that lead to other realities were scatter across the land. These portals were easy to access and the results of opening them were unpredictable. These portals could unleash dark energy that would ravage the area or the portal could open a door to untold nightmares and monsters. Portals could also be used for good though. Containing healing light, magical treasures or even doors to other kingdoms were the humans thrive.

            In this story we follow the Journeyman in the land of twilight, the world on the brink of complete darkness, where humanity struggles to hold on. The Journeyman named Jorn had traveled to a large dark castle. The castle was once a bright and busy place and the king of the castle ruled over and united the whole land, but a portal had appeared and carelessly opened inside the castle walls. Demons flooded into the castle, killing the royal family and all of the strongest knights.

            The Journeyman was going to the castle in search of a powerful sword that was in the king’s vault. Enough time had passed that most of the demons had dispersed through the land and if Jorn was careful he might be able to steal the ancient blade away from the remaining demons of the castle.

            Under cover of night, Jorn crept softly into the castle through a large hole in the main wall. He couldn't use a torch without alerting any enemies, so his eyes had to get used to the complete darkness of the castle. Jorn kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as he walked. He wanted to be ready for anything. Jorn had come prepared, wearing leather boots and gauntlets, chain mail vest under a leather chest piece and a bronze helmet that covered most of his head and face. He wasn't a trained warrior or knight so all he carried was a long sword and a small shield and since he was trying to sneak into the castle he didn't bring any metal armor, not that he could afford it in the first place.

            Jorn’s heart had been beating quickly ever since he first stepped into the dark castle. He inched along the ground, barely lifting his feet up at all and every step down was slow and deliberate. As he moved through the castle corridors he felt like something else was moving through the castle too. Like some kind of invisible creature was moving through the darkness without making a single sound. All Jorn had, was a feeling. Logic told him he was being paranoid but instinct told him that if he were to reach out into the darkness his hand would grasp something made of nightmares. Something that would be so horrible it could only exist in the worst parts of his mind. Jorn tried to calm down and continued to move through the dark halls. He never made any sudden movements and found that every step forward was unhindered.

            Finally he reached a large pair of doors with a lock. Beyond this door should be the room where the kings sword was kept. Now it was time for the loud part. Jorn rustled through his bag and pulled out a lock picking kit. He sat there and fiddled with the lock, trying his best to pick the lock as quickly and quietly as possible. Anything of value was always behind a locked door or inside a locked chest and since Jorn didn’t know where the keys were, he would have to pick the lock. Picking locks wasn’t too much of a problem for the Journeyman. He had a variety of skills like lock picking, the hard part was trying to avoid drawing attention as the metal of the lock clinked around with the pick.

            With one final click and a sudden pop, the lock was sprung and the door opened with a loud long drawn out creek. The sound of the metal lock springing and the creaking of the door echoed down the stairs, through the hallway and bounced around the castle for a few seconds before everything returned to being dead silent. Jorn was relieved that he got the lock open safetly, but was now nervous again as he realized how much noise he just made. It was time to get the sword and then make an escape.

            He knew what the sword looked like by a painting he saw in the village if the king holding the sword. So now the trick was finding it. The room was filled with armor, swords, cannons and gunpowder. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs and some of the weapons and armor were rusted or rotted away. As Jorn searched he eventually came upon a chest. It was wood with gold lining and had a big old lock on it. Jorn didn’t know if he had time to pick another lock and figured if a special sword was in that room it was probably in the fancy box. He only had one option left. Jorn unsheathed his sword and struck down at the chest. The lock was too big to break, but the hinges that were attached to the rotting decades old wood would break with enough force. Jorn struck the same spot twice, making more noise than he would have liked. Finally the chest opened and inside was the Kings sword. It looked new and shined even though there was no light to reflect off of it.

            Then something caught Jorn’s eye, a faint glow in the corner of the room. He walked over to it and noticed it was an unopened portal. Dormant portals just look like small little orbs of dull light until opened. This light had a bluish hue, not that the color of the portal meant anything to Jorn. While he was investigating the portal a large monster had crawled into the room and located the source of all of this noise. The Journey man looked up his eyes wide and terrified as he saw a giant humanoid creature. It had eyes that were black as coal, sickly pale skin that had a sheen on it, like a mucus or moisture of some kind. The creature was bald with floppy eyes and a big stupid face. Inside his mouth were jagged teeth and a large tongue that seemed to be coated in thick toxic saliva. Jorn could see all of this because the giant had its mouth open and drool oozed from his mouth and ran down his tongue then dropped off and made a little splash on the ground. The saliva changed the spot on the floor from gray stone to a fragile looking black stone, like burned wood. Jorn held his old sword in one hand and the new sword in his other. He stood ready to fight as he slowly moved around this abomination.

            “Your soul looks delicious. I haven’t had human in so long” the abomination said, its words were slow and gurgled by the thick saliva in its mouth. The creature moved forward with the speed and agility that you would not expect from a lumpy flesh monster. The creature tried to grab Jorn with its large fleshy hands. The creature had broken and jagged fingernails, which weren't dangerous, but this further added to the disgust and horror Jorn felt toward the creature. The journeyman narrowly escaped the creatures grasp. Then spun around and stabbed both of his swords into the creatures arm. The old sword left a wound, the kings sword left a wound but also seemed to burn the monster. The lumpy sack of flash recoiled in pain. Its face twisted into an angry grimace. It then slammed its fists into the ground. The sound echoed through the castle and then the ground began to rumble. The fleshy ogre gave a taunting smile then ran off. Something bigger was on its way and it didn't seem to make allies. The abomination disappeared into the darkness with the same unrealistic speed that it used during the battle. Jorn tried to run out too. He left the armory, ran down the hallway and reached the stairs. The ground rumbled and he heard a roar. Something big was chasing him, but Jorn didn't know from which direction, or how it could even fit in these narrow hallways.