Blaze came to the road markers his hood up as he rushed forwards. The wind battered against his cloak, causing it to dance behind him as he made his way silently into the hidden valley. The elf hadn’t been in Revaliir long, but he was already investigating the local stories and myths. Many an adventurer had turned up at this place seeking fame or fortune, and many had died along the way. As the elf moved along the path he saw more and more traces of bone, or signs of a struggle. A troop of orcs had passed through here recently. 

He paused in his accent, he’d come to the end of the valley and spotted the ruined castle. A few lights radiated out from the distant windows, and Blaze’s keen elvish scenes told him that the orcs had taken up shelter inside the castle. They were dug in, ready to defend their claim. 

Blaze notched an arrow to his bow and continued to stare at the challenge before him. It was going to be hard work taking all these orcs out alone, a slight smirk came across his face, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d faced these numbers. 

He was about to take a silent step forwards when a young man crossed the path in front of him. He was armed, and looked like he’d seen a few decent fights. At first the elf did nothing but watch the boy, there was a familiarity about him. The boy seemed to be heading towards the castle. 

“Woah there, Mellon. ” Blaze allowed himself to be seen, his form slowly appearing to human eyes as he slipped from the cover of the forest. “You will need my help if you are planning on venturing in there.” Blaze used his bow to indicate the castle. “Orcs reside before us, let’s take them unawares.”  

The elf took one step forwards before a rough looking arrow imbedded itself in the tree behind him. His response was immediate, he lined up his shot, and fired down the path of the attacker’s arrow. As always, Blaze hit his mark; the head of the orc that had spotted them. “We are discovered. Quickly! This way!” Blaze rushed forwards, firing two more arrows into the darkness before them. 

Young Hiro was a tad lost, having been born in a city named Vespora, no one had heard of such a town.  So he knew he was far away from the lands he knew.  The portal his father brought him through must have taken him to a farther away land than he realized at first.  But there were familiar faces: Moliira, Angela, that dwarven shopkeeper that helped him armor up.  These were people his father knew, seemingly.  But the towns were places he never heard of.  Now, wandering through the land, looking for fame and fortune, to further his name, he wasn't sure how to get back home if he wanted to.  It was too late to turn back, of course, and he didn't wish to give up his quest.  But if he wanted to see his father, he wasn't sure how to get to him.  He was still back in Vespora, right?  Where was Vespora from here?

He hadn't even obtained a horse yet, so he was on foot.  He had wandered into what appeared to the the ruins of an ancient town and castle.  It was getting darker and darker, as night was falling swiftly.  He heard the clopping of hooves approaching him.  He turned and aimed his sapphire eyes toward the source of the sound.  In the dark, he saw an elven man on a horse approaching him with caution.

"Orcs?  Great, here I thought there'd be friendly people in this castle, and I find it's all in ruins and occupied by orcs.  Father warned me of orcs.  They're nasty."

The raven haired boy started to approach the elven man when an arrow flew from out of the darkness and landed in a nearby tree.  They were under attack!  Hiro's hand moved toward the sword at his belt, a well crafted bastard sword.  Drawing the blade from its sheath, he was on guard.  He leaped to the side, dodging arrows that flew toward him, and retaliated by swinging a hand in the direction the arrows came from, his hand igniting with an orange flame that he flung in that direction, unleashing a fireball blast.  The fireball exploded against the ground, followed by the sound of orcish voices crying out in pain.  He followed the elven man to keep up with him.  "Looks like we've gotten ourselves in a mess."

Effortlessly the boy threw a fireball towards the orcs. Blaze felt his jaw slacken at this careless attitude towards fire magic. Casting fire magic had been the reason Blaze had both earned his name, and been banished. The astonishment turned into a wide smile, this land didn’t discriminate against those with the power of fire. If this boy could run into an orc infested castle throwing fireballs, then so could Blaze. He slid his bow over his shoulder and drew his sword. His free hand thrust forwards and a large fireball shot forwards, incinerating two orcs ahead. He smiled, he was free. 

“Name is Blaze.” The first orc Blaze came to was barged aside by his shoulder, Blaze stabbed him on the ground before moving to block the incoming orc. He parried an attack and cut a slice out of his thigh. As the orc fell Blaze stabbed him and looked over to the boy. He was doing a great job, he had obviously been trained well. An archer started to aim a shot at the Hiro, but Blaze killed him with a fireball. 

It didn’t take them long to hack, slash and burn their way across the court yard. Suddenly the came to wooden gates, barred shut. With his bow Blaze took out the two sentries and turned to Hiro. “We are going to have to work together to get through that. On three blast it with a powerful fireball spell.”    Blaze drew his sword again, but aimed his palm at the locked gate. “One, Two, THREE!” The gate was blasted open by the inferno, flames licked up at it, but orcs simply rushed through the breech. 

“Inside! Quickly!” Blaze called out over the battle, more sentries were taking up places on the wall. 

Hiro fought through the orcs, his sword was more than capable of slicing through them.  It was surprisingly easy to cut through them, he found.  These were big burly orcs, but they weren't as skilled as he expected them to be.  He could see through their telegraphed attacks, one of the orcs raised a battle axe in both hands and swung it down at him.  Hiro parried the attack by raising his sword, then expelled a wave of flame from his mouth, incinerating the orc when he wasn't expecting it.

"Hiro.  Hiro Kouen, nice to meet you Blaze."  Wait, that name sounded familiar.  His father mentioned he had a friend named Blaze.  He said it was his best friend at one point, something like that.  Could this guy be the same person?  It could just be a coincidence.  What would be the odds, after all?  It seemed like Blaze had fire magic as well, he was carving a path of destruction through the orcs with fire and blades.  Maybe that's where he got his name from?

Hiro and Blaze had made their way through the courtyard, where wooden gates where standing in their way.  They would have to blow right through them to get through before they were overwhelmed.  "Gotcha!"  On the count of three Hiro unleashed an explosive fireball from his palm at the gate, the two fireballs exploding the gates wide open, and slamming through a couple of guards, allowing the two heroes to charge through the opening in the gates.  He threw another fireball out the other way through the gates to cover their escape, the blast exploding into flames and catching a few orcs alight.

Blaze and Hiro made an excellent team, they responded well to each other and watched each other’s backs. It was odd considering they’d just met. Blaze smiled as he watched the young man before him take down three or four orcs in quick succession. The elf supposed if he’d had only ten soldiers as capable as Hiro he might have done a much better job defending his old homeland. The pair of them were making good progress, they’d burst through the gates and cleared almost all of the defenders there. Blaze knew they were ready for part two of this assault now.

As soon as they’d dispatched the last orcs in the small courtyard Blaze gestured for Hiro to follow him. The elf skirted around the side of the main keep until he found a small wooden door, it was about half the size of a man and locked. The elf unlocked it by kicking it in, before disappearing into the darkness beyond it. 

“Follow mellon, this is what we are after. Treasure in the depths.” Blaze explained as they crept down a dark corridor. 

They did seem to get along well together,  Why did that name of his seem familiar?  HIro pushed it aside in his mind, this seasoned, and powerful warrior was going to lead the way.  He said there was treasure in the basement of this castle somewhere.  The elf smashed down the door to the basement and led the way into the darkness.  It was pretty dark, illuminated only by the occasional torch.  Hiro followed close behind Blaze.

He thought he felt something approaching with his aura sense.  There was something strong down here.  He quickly placed his hand firmly on Blaze's shoulder to get him to stop.

"Wait, there's–"  He was interrupted by a flash of light approaching them.  It was cold.  Icy spikes erupted from the floor towards the duo.  Hiro quickly placed a hand in front of him, a large orb flames erupting from his palm and striking the wave of ice approaching them, causing it to shatter and melt instantly, water flying through the air.

"Damn humans!  Damn orcs!  Boss says to stay down here, guard treasure!  Don't come up no matter what!  They don't understand the power of my magic!  Put me on guard duty!  Now they're probably all dead!  I'll show them.  Come humans, I'll show you the power of an orcish mage!"  The voice was angry, and well spoken for an orc.  The few torches in the corridor went dark, leaving them in darkness.  But there was one light remaining, that produced by the arcane magic of the mage that approached them.  He could see electricity surging from the orcish mage's fingertips, it illuminated his face in a bluish glow.  The orcish mage had surprisingly human features, despite having the teeth of an orc, and the green skin of an orc, his face was closer to that of a human.

"Don't you mean HALF-orcish mage?  There's not an orc alive that could spell his own name, let alone spell an ice wave!" Hiro called out to the mage.

"Silence, fool!  I'll show them all!"  The half-orc placed his hands in front of himself, a ball of lightning quickly formed in front of him.  He thrust his hands forward unleashing powerful ball lightning at the pair.  It surged forward, sending bolts of lightning everywhere.  Hiro unleashed another fireball from his hands, the two spells struck each other and exploded, sending a blast of lightning at Hiro.  The bolt struck him in the chest, knocking him off his feet, and onto the floor in pain.

"Ow . . . I-I'm okay!"