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Ancient Sword of the Fire Knight

Atrel was said to be the embodiment of fire, metaphorically speaking. His temper was very quick to flare and equally quick to calm down, sometimes, though, it went so far that nothing could stop him. Atrel had often stared at fire for hours, even small candles; he used to doze off in to a trans-like state very quickly.
One day, during a visit to the Leylak Library he managed to find an ancient book on martial arts and swordsmanship. In the book, he read of a legendary knight who was told to wield the energy of fire. The knight fought bravely for the Faction of Good, he was one of the greatest heroes of Telba. At his old age, he sealed his power in to a sword and broke it in to eight pieces. No one knows where the pieces are right now, they have been lost for thousands of years, even before the time of Decard the Just. As much as he looked, he could not find any mention of the sword in any other book. Atrel decided to find the sword no matter what it took; he went back to the barracks and asked around the older soldiers in hopes of finding something out.

((Not at all razz ))

Atrel woke up with the first rays of light. His eyes were still closed, he allowed the sun to wash over his skin and energize him for the day. The blanket flew off the bed and he got up. It appeared to be half way through the morning, the sun simply had to overcome some trees before reaching Atrel's window.

Hmmm, he stood up, looked out of the small excuse for a window, I must make some money and move in to a reasonable residence, this is a disgrace, he thought to himself while putting on his clothes.

Atrel had the day off, well, half the day off. The Blacksmith had to work on a very important project today and he did not want any new hands endanger the final outcome. Today was the day to visit the library for a quick read on some of the military literature.

Atrel passed by what looked like a spar between a soldier and s seventeen year old boy. The boy lost, or so it seemed. There was nothing incredibly interesting about the entire event and so he just continued towards the gates of the outer wall.

Atrel was making some distance between himself and the barracks now, the military quarter came to an end as he reached the gate of the first great wall, he was now moving towards the Residence quarter, and then past it to the Scholarly quarter and in to the Ancient Library.

He had approached the gates, massive wooden doors reinforced by steel plates and held by great chains. The gates were designed to keep enemies out in case of attacks, they were about thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide, rather impressive, he thought.

On his way to the Scholarly quarter gate Atrel will be passing the marketplace. Though he had no money it was a good opportunity to at the very least choose some things he may buy when he actually gets payed by the damn blacksmith.

The streets of Leylak were full of people as always, mostly just ordinary residents in their colorful robes and gowns. Every now and then a patrol of guards would pass by, sometimes on horseback. The crime rate was relatively low and it was not often that he saw any thieves or other criminals in action, he imagined it happens mostly at night. In which case, he wouldn't know since there would hardly be a thief or criminal stupid enough to offend soldiers in the military quarter, that is full of more soldiers. With weapons.

Deep in thoughts, he passed the old park and many small shops, the marketplace was just behind the corner and after that, the scholarly gate. Another half an hour of journey should bring him to it.

The chattering of the people around him created a hum like in a beehive; he couldn't really distinguish more then a few words here and there, it was mostly the sound of a marketplace at noon. Items and money exchanged hands, many people preferred to barter items for items, and so that aspect was very developed in Leylak.

The many shops were colorful and layed out with banners and various attractions to draw more customers, though each made the other look dull and the individual effect was usually lost in the sea of the shops. Atrel's eye was caught by a few clothes and arms stalls, there was a sword sheath he had picked out for later and a few tunics, and shoes perhaps, he though after looking at his own, worn out raggedy shoes.

The sun was high in the sky and the marketplace behind him, Atrel had finally reached the Scholarly quarter gates, smaller then the previous set, these were made of metal. He wasn't sure if it was for extra protection or to allow the creation of elaborate relief drawings on them depicting various scenes from history. He slipped through the one open door of the gates, it was about fifteen feet tall and perhaps five or six feet wide.

The Scholarly quarter was finally unveiled, all sorts of interesting architecture could be seen here, tall towers and ornamented columns strewn all over the quarter. He wasn't sure where to head next, this was his first venture in to this quarter. He looked around for signs or someone who looked like they knew their way in here.

(Hope you don't mind me joining.)

A hand slowly reached out from behind and grabbed Atrel's shoulder gently as Issoth's soft confused voice could be heard from behind.
"E-e-excuse me, d-do you know where the library is?" Issoth asked nervously as she stood there bare feet in her slightly dirty robes.

((Mind if I drop in?))

Thol walked through the town dressed in a white shirt and brown trousers, barefooted, holding his axe over his shoulder with his right hand and holding a raw fish with the other. The fisherman who previously owned the fish thanked Thol and took the money Thol payed him. The tall, burly warrior walked through the crowds of people at the marketplace, walking aimlessly and taking the ocassional bite out of his fish. Some people gave him strange looks, for he was unusually muscular and his axe was very unique, but he payed no heed to them. In his mind, Thol was just a commoner eating a fish.

As he wandered he came across a barracks where a skilled looking soldier was in combat with a teenage boy. Curious, Thol joined the crowd of spectators in observing this battle. As he neared the fight, the teenage boy was knocked down to the floor by a forceful ram of the soldier's knee. Thol smiled.

By the time he arrived at the Scholarly Quarter it was already closing on one pm. Crap, he thought, I might not have enough time to really check anything even if I find the damn library. Slightly frustrated, Atrel hastened his pace and kept looking for someone to direct him to the library. A couple of people passed by, wearing some sort of a colourful robe and a strange looking hat, it was somewhat different from the usual attire in the area, possibly tourists. He looked at the narrow streets that lead upwards to the inner castle hall and through the scholarly quarter, the city could of had some direction posts, but no! He thought, it would be far too much to do that...

He was now getting a little frustrated; you’d think that most people in the city would know of the library, but no! He asked at least half a dozen and they did not even speak proper English, they simply mumbled some rubbish and kept going.

Something touched his shoulder; Atrel was not a great fan of people touching him just like that on the street. Unless it was one of his close friends or family, or even better, a lover, no one should touch him. He jumped slightly and quickly turned around to see a not incredibly well dressed young woman, ironically asking him about the library.
Hah, yeah, no. I have no clue; I spent rather a lot of time looking for it myself. It seems like no one in this quarter actually knows where the damn place is.

Atrel shrugged as the strange woman acted according to her appearance. She disappeared in to the crowd and he was back at where he started. Sigh his gaze drifted away, he glanced at the windows of the buildings around him. Some one was talking rather loudly behind him, a couple of fancily dressed men with long beards were discussing something, he heard the words "library" and "that way" followed by a gesture towards one of the streets.

He looked at the lady who just left, she was too far away to yell and he did not want to make a scene. He just hoped she would find the library too.