These stories are unfinished/ to be continued / WIP's. Stories need to be finished to count, and the deadline to tomorrow. Hurry and finish them!

The night scene

Wandering through the gates of yet another town, Krixus kept his eyes open for anyone who might prove useful to him. It had been over four months now, away from home, searching, following clues, trails growing cold, but he could not go home. There was no home left.

It seemed the entire merchant district was of the same mind, nobody had heard anything, although several had pointed him towards the docks. Whether that was a subtle reminder that he was not wanter here or another clue, he couldn't tell. Making his way towards the sea, Krixus passed by several bars, each with it's own brand of ruckus going on inside. He flat out ignored most of it, up until a man came crashing through a window of one just ahead of him.

Only making a slight effort, Krixus went over to the man to help him up, and was greeted with an arm around his neck, forcefully pulling him to the ground.

"Krixus!" The man shouted, ruffling Krixus' hair.

Gaining his footing, Krixus looked back at the man, and his eyes suddenly grew wide as he exclaimed

"Tanno? ... Tanno!"

The two men jumped into each others arms, the childhood duo reunited.

"What've you done with yourself? Why are you here?" Krixus asked as they stepped back from each other.

"I'll get to that later, I've got some... business to take care of in there." Tanno nodded towards the bar and broken window.

"You haven't changed at all! Lets go finish what you probably started." Krixus patted Tanno on the back and the two men ran into the bar.


The next morning, Krixus left his room and made a point of knocking on Tanno's door to wake him up. Once downstairs, they immediatly began talking as if no time had passed.

"The hell happened last night? Tanno half slurred, rubbing his swollen eye.

"Haha, we were given free rooms because of how valiently we fought, and after we drove out the other men, the barmaid offered us a round on the house." Krixus smiled.

"..Really?"

"No, you got the stuffing beat out of you Tanno, I paid for the rooms above the bar, didn't want to drag you too far."

"Ah, now that matches up with how my head feels." Tanno sighed and motioned to the single remaining staff member,
"How about a bite to eat?"

"Right away sir." The girl bowed slightly, then hurried off to fetch their breakfast.

"So, what are you really doing here?" Tanno looked back at Krixus, a bit more seriously.

Krixus looked down at the table for a moment, but quickly drew a breath and began his story.

"About five months ago, my school was raided. What little I had there, they took. My.. my wife was in the building while it happened. I found her on the front steps, her throat cut, and our baby dead." Krixus stared off for a few seconds, while Tanno remained silent, letting his friend finish. Sighing, Krixus continued. "They didn't take much from the school, the only things I knew they took were the swords I kept for training, and the scrolls I have my students meditate on. My wifes necklace was also missing from around her neck. I've been searching for any of these, I'm going to find the people who did this."
With that last line, Krixus stared unblinking into Tanno's eyes, and without asking, Tanno knew what he wanted.

With a grim smile, Tanno kept his gaze steady. "I'm in."


The frozen path

Tanno had been a bit more persuasive with the locals back in Germoth, and one particular merchant had claimed he saw men travelling with scrolls. He only knew which direction they had gone, but that was enough for the two men.

Unlucky for them, the direction mentioned happened to be north. Germoth itself was a cold town, but the territories to the north were downright frigid. The path could only be seen under the snow because of the short stone walls at the edges, apparently for this exact purpose. Their one measure of reassurance was the merchant so happily sold them winter coats for what Krixus could only assume was a steep price. That being said, he didn't regret a single coin spent on the heavy furs now keeping him warm.

"Have you ever come this far north?" Krixus turned to Tanno, making sure to keep his footing.

"Only once, when I was a boy. My father made the trip with me in the summer, I think there was a town not too far ahead." Tanno had to shout back as the wind picked up again.

Saving their energy for the trek ahead, the men plodded on as the sun slowly slipped from the sky.

As night fell, a wonderous sight had both Krixus and Tanno stop momentarily. What appeared to be less than a kilometer away, was the dimly lit wall of a town.
Once there, Tanno pounded on the gate.

"Hey! Let us in! Anybody there?"

A voice shot back

"And just who are you?

Krixus spoke up this time

"Travellers, from Germoth, seeking a roof over our heads, and a hot meal in our bellies."

A short silence followed, then the gates creaked open and a guard peeked through.

"Strange time for travellers to be arriving."

"We didn't plan our trip that well, it's our first time here. If you'll let us in, I'm sure we can compensate you for your troubles." Krixus pulled out a few coin and let the guard count them in his hand.

"Well, alright, you two'll probably want to head down to the Rustlehouse tavern. They have hot meals and rooms available at all times of the night."

As they neared the tavern, Krixus kept his eyes pinned to the only wagon close to it.

"Deer hides, axes, lumber..." He thought to himself, "Damnit, this isn--" Krixus' eyes flew open as he saw rolled up paper sticking out of a sack on the side. Quickly looking around, he ran up to the wagon and ripped open the flap holding the sack closed.

"These... these are my scrolls." Krixus almost couldn't believe his luck. This shock only lasted for a few seconds before his anger rose up and flashed over to rage in an instant. Forgetting about any plans he had for how to deal with these men, as well as his friend standing next to him, Krixus let out a guttaral roar and flew into the tavern.

"-AUGH. You!" Pointing at the first man he saw. "Whose wagon is that." More of a statement than a question, Krixus stood still, save for his heavy breathing.

"Uh, I... I think it's those guys's wagon.." the man stammered as he pointed to a group of five men sitting at a table off to the side of the room.
Letting his feet fall heavily on the floor, Krixus made his way over to the table. Slamming his fists down, knocking a few mugs over in the process, he got their attention very fast.

"I'm told it's you men who own that wagon out there." Krixus nearly whispered.

"Yeah, it's our wagon, what'cha want with it?" One man on the far side of the table spoke up.

"With the wagon? Nothing, with you..." Krixus trailed off and threw the man to his right backwards in his chair. Losing balance, the man fell over backwards and was knocked unconscious with a swift kick to the head.

Three of the four men from the table got up and made their way towards Krixus. Before one could get there however, Tanno came up from his side and managed to crack a chair on his back.

"Two down, three to go." Tanno smiled at Krixus.

The remaining two lunged at Krixus and his years of training kicked in. Sidestepping the first, Krixus leaned back as the second man's punch grazed his cheek. Spinning away from and behind the man wasn't hard, he was slow and a little clumsy. Krixus kicked out his knee, then landed a neat blow to the back of his neck, sending him tumbling to the floor. The first man was already back on his feet, and seemed to be a bit more competant than the one on the ground. The two circled each other, until Krixus could not wait any longer, he dove at the man, only to find air. Knowing what was coming didn't lessen the impact as the mans foot connected with his chest, sending the air rushing out of him. Gasping, Krixus rolled away as another foot came crashing down, this only meeting only floorboards. Pulling a chair to help him up, Krixus took a deep breath, wincing at the pain of a broken rib and slid the chair towards the man. As he went to kick it away, Krixus planted a foot on the chair to use it as a step leveraged against the mans own kick. Flying through the air, Krixus wound up and landed a devastating blow on the mans jaw. He went down in a spray of spit and blood, two or three teeth falling out as he went down.

Krixus shook his hand and turned towards the fifth member of the group who tried to get up and run away.

"Ah, ah ah." Tanno said lightly as he placed a hand on the smaller mans shoulder, pushing him back down.

Krixus pulled up a chair, and hunched over to look levelly into the mans eyes.

"You have my scrolls."

The man attempted to remain calm, but his eyes gave him away.

"Ok, ok yeah, I have 'em. Take 'em back, I'll even help you bring 'em home!" The man nearly squealed as Tanno pulled out a dagger.

"No, it's not a matter of bringing them home, I want to know where the rest is." Krixus explained calmly.

"The... the rest?" the man stammered.

"What's your name?" Krixus asked

"My... my name?"

"Yes, your name." He asked again, then, turning to the shocked crowd gathering, "Does anybody know this mans name?"

Only silence greeted him in response, but the crowd did start to filter away slowly.
Turning to look at Tanno, he made a short gesture accross his neck, and the dagger lowered.

"Wait! It's Borcholl, my name is Borcholl."

"Well, Borcholl, I want to know where the rest is. You took my scrolls, my swords, and my WIFE!" At the last part, Krixus yelled as he stood up, pushing his chair back and grabbing the mans collar.

"My wife. You must remember her, a woman at a school, with child, pregnant, murdered in cold blood. Go on, tell me the tale." Krixus grated, inches from the mans face.

Near tears, Borchell choked out.

"I swear, I didn't take anything of yours, the scrolls were given to me."

"Lier!" Krixus shouted in the mans face.

"No! No I can show you, I got a note with the scrolls." The man blubbered now, weakly pointing towards the door. "I can show you..."

Taking the man outside, Krixus watching him very closly, taking pieces out of the wagon himself when he couldn't see what it was. Then finally, he found a small bag filled with coin, and pulled out the note. It was written in a scrawling, fluid motion, on what looked like expensive parchment.

Sell them, trade them, pawn them, give them away.
But you must hold onto them for another month and five-day.

"What..." Krixus read the note over again, "Who gave this to you?"

"I don't know, it was with the scrolls when we found them in our wagon. I woke up and it was there. Please... just let me go, you can have the scrolls..." Borchell begged once again.

Krixus looked to Tanno, at first meaning to execute the man, he instead nodded to his friend, who hesitated, but ultimately let the man go free. Not one second was wasted before the man bolted down the street and around a corner.

"So, what's this mean?" Tanno asked Krixus.

Sitting on the sidestep of the wagon, Krixus stared blankly at the note,
"I.." He slowly rolled up the note, his face and demeanor hardening as he stood up, "I'm going to find the rest."

Thanks for participating, but the event ends now. We'll discuss the winner(s) and update the thread when the verdict is passed.

Smogard49 has been declared the winner! Yay for him! For his artistic literary skills, he has been gifted 100,000 TC, a suomynona signed set, and a good enough writer award.

Special mention goes to Wolfe and AikidoKP as runner-ups. Wolfe, if only yours was finished...

Special thanks to Solax and Rodekill for donations! Yay for them too!

Not as special thanks but still thanks to everyone who participated! Even if you didn't win, I can say that every story was worth the read.

swag