The scene is set in medieval times, in 634 CE.
Tarhos Kovacs
Chapter 1; Abandonment by the knights
634 CE, the times where walls were built to protect villages and the king. The village has been silent since the day when all knights retired except one; Tarhos Kovacs. He’s an old knight that has seen better days. He saw knights fall and give up right in front of his eyes; the villagers trust him.
The villagers live a tough life, the crops are running dry, the berries and other nature foods are getting eaten by a Planterra, an herbivore and evil soul that controls nature in its core’s range. Tarhos Kovacs was given an order; kill the Planterra. Tarhos Kovacs put on his heavy armor over his muscular body, picking up the famous large and heavy sword; Dragon Slayer.
A child approached him before handing him a light blue flower; the child had a fearful but determined expression as they relied on him. He stepped past the gate, into the woods as the gate closed shut behind him. The birds were singing, and the breeze rustled the trees, the wind sang to him, and he saw a rotten berry that was grey like its whole nutrients was sucked out. The malicious soul wasn’t eating the crops; it was absorbing power and getting stronger.
Kovacs knew it would be dangerous if Planterra continued to absorb power, so he ran to find it. The silence was deafening. A vine coiled around his ankles and swept him off his balance effortlessly. An overwhelming number of vines surrounded him, emerging from the floor. He saw a light blue flower in front of him blooming in front of him, remembering the child handing him the exact same flower. He got up quickly then looked up just to see another vine swinging towards him. He ducked under it then sliced it in half; the vines limped onto the floor, but more emerged from the floor. He grunted as he sliced the vines, a vine coiling around his wrist, but he pulls hard enough to rip it apart. Then he noticed something; the vines aren’t the actual real form; the real core is hiding somewhere.
“If I were hiding, where would I be...?”
Without wasting any time, he pierced the sword deep into the ground with a sickening crunch! He pulled out the sword from the floor; a green glowing orb pierced by his sword. The vines vanished like a mirage. Tarhos Kovacs stumbles to the gate, opening with a shrieking groan. The crops are healthier than ever.
Chapter 2; The Ritual
The sky is orange, slowly turning darker, darker, and darker as groups of hooded figures advance to the alley. Their hoods are a dark black hood with yellow hems. They walk into a secret basement on the floor, revealing a spacious room with candlelight. The hooded figure kneels one after another, around the large red circle painted with sheep blood. They began chanting, the circle glowing as the candles get blown out.
Meanwhile, Tarhos Kovacs takes off his helmet and his armor with a sigh. He settles the armor in the box as he sets the Dragon Slayer sword aside, in his home. He opens the cabinet, looking at the supplies of food as his aunt, Jane, looks at Tarhos Kovacs with a worried expression from the chair.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Tarhos Kovacs responded to Jane as he closed the cabinet, washing his hands as the water runs. The floorboard creaks beneath Jane’s feet as she approaches Tarhos Kovacs, cradling his cheeks as she looks up at him while forcing him to face her.
“You look tired, Tarhos...”
Tarhos Kovacs pulls back as he walks to his room, closing the door behind him as he sits on his bed with an exhausted sigh, pinching his nose bridge. He lays down on the bed, settling the blanket over his body. The sun rises; the sky turns yellow as a building explodes. Tarhos Kovacs’ eye flutters open, standing up from the bed as he looks outside the window before seeing a building on fire. There’s only one knight in this village. Tarhos Kovacs’ puts on his armor and grabs his weapon, opening the door as he looks at Aunt Jane.
“Be careful, Tarhos.”
Tarhos nodded before closing the door behind him, running to the burning building as the villagers splashed water on the fire.
“What’s going on?”
“The cause is not known yet; it’s most likely to be a raid from other kingdoms. It could be caused by a bomb.”
A villager civilian says as Tarhos walks into the burning building, wood falls from the ceiling as he searches in the building. He sees an unconscious civilian on the floor, surrounded by fire; he splashes himself in water then steps into the fire before picking up the civilian and starts carrying them to the exit. The ceiling collapsing in front of him, blocking the exit. He kicks the rubble aside then walks out of the building as he pants, settling the unconscious civilian on the floor. Tarhos Kovacs notices a red glow in the alley, wasting no time. He walks into the alley and then walks into the hole on the floor.
“The explosion source was most likely here.”
He thinks as he steps down the stairs, seeing the spacious room with a glowing red circle on the floor, the circle was a glowing ritual symbol. He hears the voice of crowds screaming outside; he runs to the exit. He runs outside, the crowd running away as he runs past the retreating crowd then sees three giant three-headed dogs with chains wrapped around their body, Athulema. Their red glowing eyes gazing at Tarhos Kovacs while on top of his house. Tarhos Kovacs runs towards the Cerberus.
Chapter 3; Athulema the three-headed Cerberus
The other buildings around him are burning, the civilians fleeing from the surroundings as Tarhos runs to the Cerberus. He leaps forward, raising his sword before swinging it to the Athulema’s legs. Athulema’s tail whips toward him as it hits him into a building. Air gets knocked out of his lungs as the wooden wall breaks apart when his back hits the wall. Tarhos stumbles as he gets up from the floor, reaching for his sword inches from his hands as three of the Athulema emerge in front of him.
His finger brushes against the handle of the sword before the Cerberus steps onto the sword, the sword cracking underneath the heavy weight of the Cerberus as the sword shatters. He clenches his fists as the Cerberus looks down at him, its jaws opening as it leans down to eat him. He stands up then swings his fists up in one quick thrust; his fist slammed up its chin in one brutal punch that makes Athulema pull back. Athulema whips its tail not toward him but towards the building he’s in, the ceiling crackling as the debris starts falling. He stumbles towards the exit as he looks up before the splintered wood falls onto his face.
He screams in agony and pain as his left eye bleeds. The ceiling collapses as the heavy weight lands on top of him, hearing the screams of the civilian as he struggles underneath the debris. He pants in exhaustion as he manages to take a glimpse through the hole of his only way to get out of the clutter of debris, though he is too exhausted to get out. He sees one of the Cerberus picking up Aunt Jane from the building before running away, his fist clenching as his body tenses. The buildings around him are burning, and the smell of ash and wood fills his nostrils as his finger scrapes against the rough surface of the concrete; he writhes in the rubble before standing up. His heart hammers against his ribs as he stumbles forward as blood drips down his cheeks and his arm, the crowd of civilians evacuating from the scene. He walks towards the gate where the Cerberus ran, determined to find Athulema and save Jane.
Chapter 3; Athulema the three-headed Cerberus
A person wraps their fingers around his wrists, from behind.
“You’re the knight, right? I saw everything that happened, just follow me.”
“And why would I listen to you?”
Tarhos says as he turns to the person, his blurred vision clears. He tilts his head as he wonders why she looks so messy and stained with coal.
“Because I’m the only one who can help you.”
Tarhos Kovacs hesitates before following her, as they walk to the blacksmith building that looks nearly ancient. Wondering why they’re here, he tilts his head.
“Why are we here?”
The girl turns around, walking backwards as she smiles, facing him while lending him a hand.
“I’m Lillian, the only blacksmith in this village, and you’re the only one I can help. We need each other for our jobs.”
Tarhos Kovacs looks at her hand before looking up at her, Lillian pulling her hand back after he ignores her handshake offer.
“Must be tough for you huh? I’ll make you a new weapon, what weapon do you want? You can count on me-”
Lillian yelps as she trips on a rock; Tarhos catches her by the collar of her vest. Lillian smiles awkwardly before turning around as they walk into the building, Lillian sits down on the seat.
"I want the dragon slayer, with a few daggers."
Tarhos says Lillian tilts her head, raising her eyebrows.
"The dragon slayer? That's a weapon made by an ancient master swordsmith, I don't think I can make that-"
"I believe in you. Please make it."
Tarhos begs as Lillian rubs the back of her neck, her gaze avoiding his.
"F-fine, I'll try and make it."
Without wasting any time, Lillian stood up from her seat, stretching her arms before grabbing iron. Lillian smelts the iron. She extracts the smelted iron onto the mold then hammers the cooling iron. The hammer hit the smelted iron with a sharp sound. She picked up the sword from the anvil, grinding the edges on the grinding wheel to sharpen the edge.
Seconds turn to minutes and minutes turn to hours. Lillian handed him a heavy and big sword, Tarhos feeling the familiar grip of the dragon slayer in his hands.
"How is it...?"
"It feels good, it's better than the last one. Thank you."
Lillian shakes his hand as she nods. The sun submerges as the sky turns dark, Lillian wrapping the bandage around his eye.
"All good. Now get there, isn't there someone you need to save? The Cerberus was summoned by a ritual, and the guide to summon the Cerberus is hidden inside an ancient tome; another kingdom must have ordered them. The Athulema can only be stopped by stopping the ritual, the circle."
Tarhos Kovacs nods before standing up from the seat then gripping the dragon slayer as he walks towards the gate. He walks into the forest; the trees are falling and broken, making a huge path that leads to the Cerberus. He hears fire burning and people screaming, his walking speeding up to running. He suddenly hears something big moving through the air toward him; he instinctively raises his sword in response. The claws of the Cerberus slam against his dragon sword, the sparks lighting up the surrounding around him as the dragon sword and their claws clash.
He stumbles back before thrusting a sword toward the claws the Cerberus swings towards him, piercing the sword clean through the paws of the Cerberus. He twists the sword before pulling it out, the blood covering the sword as he dashes forward before slicing the jaw of the Cerberus before they could react. Aunt Jane falls from the mouth of the Athulema as he catches her, settling her on her feet.
"Aunt Jane, go back to the village, I've got this."
Aunt Jane nods as she runs back towards his village. He slices the neck of the Cerberus, the blood raining down from the neck of the Cerberus as blood covers his armor.
"Right, I never told her my name."
Tarhos says to himself as he sighs, flicking the blood off the sword before approaching the destroyed village. He pauses, turning around to face behind him. His bandage slips before falling onto the floor, revealing the scar on his left eye. His eyes widen as he sees the Cerberus' head attaches itself back onto the body. The wound on the palm healing as the spine, tissue, and veins connects itself to the disfigured head. The head attaches itself to the body as Tarhos raises his sword. The tail slams against his sword, the sword cracking slightly as he and his sword gets launched back away from the village, landing on the dirt floor as he stands up. He looks up just to see Athulema breathing fire toward him; his sword blocks the fire, though he gets launched back. The inside of his armor feels hot. The fire hitting his sword before the Athulema leaps forward then clamps its teeth down onto his helmet. The Athulema throws him toward the village; the helmet sliding off his head as he collides onto a window. He gets thrown back toward his village. Slamming into the window as it shatters, he doesn't have the helmet, but he runs towards the window at the back before leaping through the window, Athulema lands right on top of the house. The house collapsed underneath the Cerberus' weight. He swings as the Cerberus leaps towards him, though the other Cerberus bites his arm. He screams as he struggles before getting the Cerberus off him, his arm bleeding where Athulema bit him.
"Dang it! What do I do?!"
His eyes scan the place, his mind rushing as he thinks. He pants deeply as he walks towards an alley, his eye locked onto the basement trap door. As one of the Athulema blocks his path, he leaps forward and digs the dagger into its eyes. Walking past the Athulema as he walks down the basement stairs, a droplet of blood drips down his cheeks from his left eye as he stands above the ritual circle before piercing the circle symbol with his sword. The circle symbol's glow fades as the Athulema fades into ashes. The silence is deafening as Tarhos walks out of the basement; the sky turns pink as the sun rises. He takes off his armor, the heavy armor dropping onto the floor as he looks at the crushed helmet in the distance. Lillian approaches Tarhos from the blacksmith building.
"Hey."
Lillian says as Tarhos looks behind him to see Lillian.
"Good job."
Lillian murmurs before patting his shoulder.
"I'm Tarhos Kovacs, by the way."
"Good to know."
Lillian smiles. It has been three days since the incident; the village is getting fixed. Tarhos kneels at the position where Elmond was buried, settling the helmet on the floor. Jane walks up to him then kneels beside him, dropping a flower onto Edmund’s grave.
“You fought well, Tarhos.”
"Stay strong, always stay strong." - Edmund
By Haru
