Redemption - Excerpt

From Chapter 3-

When night had fallen Kaylisto had gone down to the room they were given and went to sleep. The mage told her she had some things to see to, supplies she had to restock and such and so would be down later. The excitement of the day had worn the girl out more than she had realized, and she fell asleep to the soothing sounds of a well fed fire in the large fireplace and dreamt strange dreams.
She could see her parents; though she didn't know their names, somehow she knew it was them. Her father was a strong and proud man, wrapped in robes denoting him as a priest. He attacked with all the strength a priest possessed, which to the uninformed or uneducated may not have been thought to have been much. But the defense was only control to help her mother and defend her like she was defending him. She cut into enemies all around her with an unyielding fury. Her armor seemed to be illuminated with light, her shield blocking attacks as her sword delivered them. She was surrounded by scary undead creatures but she showed no fear of them as she engaged them, combining combat prowness with the magic and spells avaliable to the paladin. Kaylisto could see her holy book fastened to her belt and swinging about with her movements, and she noticed it shone whenever her mother cast a particular spell or used a specific ability. Kaylisto guessed she had memorized whatever the spell or ability was, and thus didn’t need to open the book in order to use it. Though the girl knew that paladins had spells that could heal themselves and their comrades, any and all healing was done by her father who used his own spells to help keep her alive. In return, her mother used her own abilities to keep the majority of creatures away from her father. Kaylisto knew this was basic knowledge; priests could wear nothing more than robes, as their strength lay in their spells to protect them. Paladins were trained in strength mostly to be able to bear the heavier armor to serve as their protection while they dealt or took the blows of opponents. Together her parents seemed unstoppable, and no wave of enemies was left standing very long once her father and mother took care of them. As the dream played on, she could hear King Magni's words speaking to her:
"Faith is a strong force that many enemies will be hard pressed to contend with."
Kaylisto knew that her mother had faith, could see it when she called up her spells and saw the force with which they did their damage. The priests and paladins at the Cathedral had impressed upon her that knowing a spell of such holy calibre was only half the battle; you had to have the faith to go with it.
"But know this, young Kaylisto; faith alone can not save you every time. You must also have strength, skill and the will to stand up for your faith."
She could see this too, in both her parents. Her mother never ceased in the use of her holy spells and abilities. And although her father had an arsenal of shadow spells at his disposal (as any and every priest did) he used them less frequently. They relied on the powers of the Light that they possessed, and their strength and will helped them wield it. She was seeing first hand what King Magni had tried to tell her during her visit to Ironforge.
"Know this; as a paladin, your faith will be challenged more than any one walking a number of other paths. A paladin must know when to fight..."
The waves of enemies seemed unending. Exhaustion soon began to show signs in the faces of both her parents. Kaylisto began seeing more clearly the place in which her parents were making their stand. A small encampment in a place that looked quite wrong. Like the land was sick. The encampment was under attack, and there were not enough people to help guard it. Her mother and father seemed to be the strongest and perhaps only defense against the onslaught. There seemed no choice but to fight.
"There will be enemies that will come into your path and try to make you doubt your faith in the Light, but if you’re faith is strong they will not shake it. Your strength, your defenses, all of it will rest in your convinction of faith."
As the creatures died down, Kaylisto could see someone who she took to be the leader of the enemies approaching. The rest of the encampment were beginning to leave, and she could see that most of them were injured, those less so were helping those who were more so. Her parents were the only thing standing between them and the enemy. They were helping the others escape out of harm’s way. She could hear the voice of the creature in her mind, a chilling voice taunting her parents to give up, the Light had forsaken them, there was no Light to fight for here. She saw her father’s hands flex, saw her mother's hand grip the hilt of her sword all the more tighter, both frowning as they listened to the tirade of the creature. They were not wavering, they were not faltering. In fact it looked like they were getting angrier the longer the creature went on in his condemnation of the Light and its weakness. At the pinnacle of his tirade, her father gave a loud wordless cry and struck at the creature at the same time her mother charged him, blade ready to strike and a spell on her lips. But this was a stronger creature than those they had fought before, and they also had the handicap of exhaustion. And in that moment, Kaylisto finally understood all the stories the paladins and priests had told her of those who gave their lives for the Light. SHe understood what it meant to sacrifice yourself in the name of the Light, in the name of faith and for the sake of another person. They stood, unwavering in their conviction as the creature struck her parents down though they did not go without a fight. But the people they had defended had escaped, and managed to elude the fate of her parents this time. With tears streaming unbeknowst to her down her face, Kaylisto had finally learned the fate of her parents.

Comment, critique, tell me what you think :)

The Obligatory First Post

I always hate these posts, but I guess you got to start somewhere right?

Well a little about me...I'm 25, been writing almost all my life. Apparently my first foray into the writing world was grade one, where I wrote this long (well, long for a first grader) journal entry about my grandparents' farm and the horses and all this cool stuff. Sadly, the only true part about it was that they did have a big property :D In my defense though, there were farms around them that did have animals so it's not like it was totally made up. I always had an active imagination, so I guess it had to find an outlet in something. It wasn't until grade six when I really started getting serious about my own writing, and I have Mrs. Stanful to thank for that. She was tough but encouraging and she helped shape a lot of the tools I needed to really grow in my writing. Would I have gotten serious otherwise? Who knows. But my goal to be an author stems from her class, and I'll always be thankful for it.

I participate in NaNo, and have ever since 2002. This was my seventh year participating, sixth year as an ML for my region and my sixth win. 2003 I decided to be the ML for my area (which at the time was under Elsewhere) and it was very much trial by fire. I also didn't win that year. In hindsight I wish I would have taken advantage more of the help of others, but you live and learn. My city became its own region the year after, grown ever since and I couldn't be happier. We're an awesome region. That reminds me we have a write-in tomorrow. I still have all my mss right from the first year; it's fun to see your progress. I remember thinking my first novel was fantastic at the time, though looking back on it now I can see all the work it needs. It's really cheesy, but I'm not abandoning it because it's a great concept and I plan to give it a revise. One day Prophecy, one day.

Right now my mind's focused mainly on two projects: Redemption, and House of Amberwind. Redemption is a fantasy story that revolves around a human orphan named Kaylisto, who becomes a paladin and follows her journeys into the world. Her ultimate goal is to discover the truth of her parents, who she's never known except through a couple of dreams, but along the way she encounters many friends, a few foes, things that challenge her faith and becoming things she never imagined. Right now World of Warcraft references abound in it, but those will be coming out in revisions. It was a handy little handicap during NaNo (I was writing 3 novels, cut me some slack :P ) and right now my focus is more on getting the first draft written. After that I'll focus on my worldbuilding, the story is just demanding to be written. House of Amberwind is what I hope will be a project similar to Warcraft: Day of the Dragon and other similar WoW-based books (same idea as the Star Trek books). It focuses around the noble (and fictional) House of Amberwind, a family of High Elves whose lives are shattered when the death knight Arthas comes storming through the land of Quel'Thalas. The only survivors of the destruction of the House are the lord's three daughters - Kaena, Shakira and Layla Anora. They go from nobility to commoners to fighters as each girl makes her way out in the world with two common goals in mind: the restoration of their House, and revenge against the man who destroyed all they loved. So Blizzard, if you're interested let me know ;)
 

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