Team Darkoss: Rise of a Dark Lord
Chapter 1: Prologue

With King Erloc dead and King Psygon sits upon the throne once more, Gallahon, Nina, Trenton and Aquanna had made a vow to be the protectors of Windfall known as Team Darkoss. They’ve vowed to vanquish any evil that sets foot on the island.

“Help!” A young-aged woman screamed. She was tied down to a torture device which can pull a person in half. She was surrounded by men cloaked in black. Half of them had masks that resembled that of some kind of bird.

“Help!” She screamed again.

“It’s useless witch. Your minions can’t help you now.” She was being accused for a witch.

“I am not a witch!”

“Still your tongue or I’ll cut it out! Oh, who am I kidding? You’ll be ripped in half anyway.” He chuckled as the other men were yelling out “Death to the witch!”

“Stop what you are doing!” shouted a voice from behind. A man in gold armor appeared before the cloaked men on horseback.

“Who dares to command us to stop?”

“I am Gallahon Darkoss. I demand you release this woman!”

“Are you mad?” asked the cloaked man. “She is a witch. And we must rid the world from this evil!” As he said that, the crowd let out a loud roar: “Death to the Witch!”

“This shall not happen!” augured Gallahon. As Gallahon augured with the cloaked man, the elf named Trenton cloaked in silver and white robes came up to the captive woman and placed his hand over her mouth.

“Shhhhh. I’m going to get you out of here.” he whispered to her. With the cloaked man distracted, Trenton untied her.

“Maybe it’s you who’s the witch and not the girl.”

“That’s unscarred! I am doing God a favor by ridding this world of witches!” Trenton had finished untying her. She and Trenton quietly stepped off the machine. Trenton took the girl safely over the hill.

“You don’t have the authority to release this witch!” augured the cloaked man.

“Fine. Do with her what you will.” Gallahon had left.

“Fool.” the cloaked man chuckled. As he turned to face the machine, the woman wasn’t strapped to the device any longer. The cloaked man was shocked.

“The witch, she’s gone! Find her!” The crowd of cloaked men had begun the search for the escaped woman. The men went up the hill, but on the other side waiting for them were Gallahon’s party armed with plates of armor and bow and arrows ready to shoot at the cloaked men.

“Release arrows!” Gallahon commanded. The arrows shot and one by one the cloaked men fell. But more of them were coming. A horde of men coated in iron and steel armor came pouring out from the horizon of the hilltop. Gallahon’s team had readied their weapons and prepared for combat. About twenty men came to protect their master who was the cloaked man.

“You see Gallahon.” The man has said. “I operate a group of witch hunters. But these men are my personal bodyguards. And they serve and protect me if need be. I knew someone like you would try something so foolish as to free this woman. Kill them all!” The man had commanded his armed bodyguards to eliminate Team Darkoss. A battle was about to erupt. Gallahon and his friends had let out their battle cries and charged into battle with the witch hunter’s bodyguards. As one of the armed men threw his sword down at Gallahon, Gallahon blocked with his shield and cut the armed man’s leg. Trenton rushed in and jumped over one of the men, cutting his neck as he landed. Trenton then blocked with his sword as one man came charging in and Trenton attacked with his other sword. Aquanna fought one of the men with a staff. The staff provided her with long ranged attacks. As one of the men threw his sword down at her, Aquanna blocked and managed to knock the sword out of his hands and into the air. Aquanna leaped behind him, caught the sword as it was dropping and stabbed him in the back. Aquanna now had a sword in one hand and a staff in the other. She blocked an incoming attack with her staff and killed with the sword. As Aquanna was blocking another incoming attack, she stabbed him in the leg and Nina came up behind him and stabbed his throat to finish him off.

Nina turned and ducked another incoming attack, slicing the armed man’s leg in the process. She then got back up and cut the back of his neck. Nina thrust with her other sword towards a man charging at her. Her blade went straight through him. She looked into his eyes as he fell down dead. Gallahon jumped up and thrust his sword through another man’s throat.

Trenton pulled out a pair of his elven daggers and threw them at two of the men. The flying blades caught the men right in the eyes. He rushed and sliced another man’s throat. The cloaked man did not look too happy. His bodyguards were dying. Trenton pulled out his daggers out of the eyes of the dead men and sheathed them. Trenton looked and thought that Gallahon needed help. Aquanna and Nina seemed to be doing just fine fighting off the men. Trenton rushed and dropped kick one of the men as Gallahon impaled him as he was down. Trenton spun, twirling his swords at two more men. Blood oozed out of the men as Trenton spun slicing their bellies opened. Aquanna whacked one man in the chin as Nina impaled him. As Nina turned, she yanked her blade out of him as she retracted her blade. The body fell and the fight was over.

After the slaughter, the leader of the cloaked men fled. As Trenton got ready his shot, Gallahon reached over and lowered his bow.

“No. Let him go.” Gallahon yelled to the fleeing man. “You better run! And tell your cult that if you’re messing with these women, you’re messing with Team Darkoss!” The woman turned to Gallahon.

“Thank you for your help. I wish there was some way I can repay this kindness.”

“Go on, go home.” He told the woman. She took a bow and then fled. After their job was done, the team decided to celebrate their victory with a couple of drinks over at the tavern they were staying at, ‘The Drunken Dragon’ tavern. They’ve walked down the eight steps before coming face to face with the barkeep.

“Welcome to ’The Drunken’ Dragon.” he said as he was turning around. “How may I….” he saw it was Gallahon and the others. “Oh it’s just you four.”

“Alroy, good to see you! How’s my favorite barkeep?” Alroy was the rounded Irish man Gallahon and his friends first met six years ago.

“Gallahon, you and your friends have been coming here for six years. Don’t you all have anywhere else to stay?”

“We do not. We are adventurers, we sleep wherever. And besides, we love coming here. We get to eat, drink and sleep.”

“Hey, I’m just saying. Of course you all are welcome to stay upstairs as long as you need. These people, they are grateful to you four for killing that tyrant King Erloc and returning our own king. You have been made famous around these parts. The whole island of Windfall knows your names. Now why don’t you all have a seat anywhere and I’ll bring you a couple of drinks, on the house.” The four had taking their seats at one of the tables and Alroy had brought them their drinks. Gallahon held up his mug.

“Here’s to our victory of today and of our victories in the past. May Windfall forever be protected by Team Darkoss.”

“CHEERS!” the others shouted as they’ve clanged their mugs onto one another’s and chugged down. In the corner of the tavern, Gallahon noticed a crowd of people gathered in a circle. In the middle of the crowded circle stood a man with spiky red hair. He held his hands up high.

“Anyone who wishes to challenge me let him speak!” He had shouted out. A lucky fool from the crowd had accepted the strangers challenge. Alroy walked by Gallahon’s table as he grabbed Alroy’s arm.

“Alroy. That man with the spiky hair. Who is he?” Alroy looked at the man Gallahon was talking about.

“His name is Dar. He’s a brawler. He travels around looking for taverns to fight in and place bets. He makes money by fighting.” Alroy told Gallahon and left.

“A brawler huh?” Gallahon thought to himself. Trenton encouraged Gallahon to fight him.

“You should fight him Gallahon. See who the better fighter is. You or him.” Gallahon accepted Trenton’s request. He took one last sip and went towards the crowd. The fool that challenged Dar before fell to the ground, but the table broke his fall. A stranger held his hand out full of money and Dar took it and placed it in his robes.

“Anybody else wishes to challenge me?”

“I accept thy challenge.” Gallahon spoke. Dar turned to face him.

“And who am I speaking too?”

“I am Gallahon Darkoss. Surly you’ve heard of me.”

“Oh I’ve heard of you. Saver of Windfall. Slayer of King Erloc. There have been songs about your greatness. But I will not fight you with all that armor on you.” Gallahon had took off all of his armor and placed it gently on the floor.

“Gentlemen!” Dar shouted out. “Place your bets!” Gallahon had removed his shirt and stood with his fists balled up in front of his face ready to fight. Only a quarter of the crowd betted that Gallahon would win. The rest of the crowd betted on Dar. For they have never seen a brawler as good as Dar was. Dar readied himself to fight. They’ve circled each other and the fight was on. Dar rushed in and swung his fists left and right but Gallahon dodged every blow. As Dar swung hard, Gallahon ducked and stepped aside. The crowd cheered loud as Gallahon punched the side of Dar’s face. As Dar stumbled back, Gallahon went in for another punch, but Dar ducked and upper cut Gallahon in the chin. Dar than punched Gallahon’s face left and right. Gallahon side stepped as Dar swung his arm. Dar’s arm hit Gallahon hard. Gallahon swung but Dar avoided his punch.

The crowd cheered louder as Dar punched Gallahon hard in the face. Gallahon fell but a table broke his fall. But Gallahon wasn’t giving up. He got up and ran over to Dar. Dar punched but Gallahon ducked and rose back up with an upper cut. The crowd was going nuts over the excitement. Gallahon went in and punched Dar left and right. Dar stumbled back. Dar threw punches at Gallahon but Gallahon just kept blocking with his arms, waiting for an opening. As soon as Dar was wide opened for attack, Gallahon went in to deliver the final punch, but he tripped.

As Gallahon was falling, Dar stepped aside and swung hard, knocking Gallahon into a table, knocking him out. The crowd cheered as Dar was victorious. A stranger handed out the money and Dar took it from his hand. Gallahon got up slowly for he was hurt pretty bad. Trenton and Aquanna went over to Gallahon to help him up. Nina grabbed his armor from the floor and carried it to his room as Trenton and Aquanna helped Gallahon to his room, for he was weakened pretty badly from the fight.

Night had fallen and Gallahon and his friends were upstairs in the rooms of the tavern. Gallahon sat on the edge of the bed, thinking to himself. Aquanna was sitting behind him, giving him shoulder rubs.

“What happened out there Gallahon? You had him.”

“I tripped that’s what happened. I had him, I could have beat him. If I hadn’t lost my footing, I would’ve won.” There was a knock at their door. Gallahon got up and walked over to the door. As Gallahon opened the door, Dar was on the other side of it. Dar handed out some of his prize money to him.

“Here.” he said. “You fought well. I never really had a good opponent as you in a long time. It’s only fair if I give you half of my prize money. So here.” Gallahon took the money from Dar’s hand with great honor.

“Thank you Dar. You fought well yourself. We should brawl again sometime.”

“Is that a challenge?” Dar laughed.

“Maybe it is.

“I would love the chance to fight you again. In the meantime, rest well. Good night.” Dar took a slight bow and went on his way to his room which he had at the tavern. Gallahon shut the door. He went back over to the bed where Aquanna was and sat. Gallahon had lied on the bed. Aquanna stood on the side of the bed as she took off her robes. Aquanna had gotten onto the bed and lied on top of Gallahon as if they were about to make love. Gallahon had put out the candle that was on a small table next to the bed.