Lore: The After Years

Years after the final defeat of Xandros, the heroes of Lore went about their lives as ordinary people and their exploits and efforts to slay the lord of all evil were put into legends. Lore seemed to be in a new era of peace and all was good in the world. But as any good adventurer of Lore can tell you, peace doesn't last long in Lore and whether people wanted to acknowledge that fact or not, people were still unsure of what type of evil will disturb the peaceful state of Lore once more. They just weren't expecting it to happen after so many years of peace....

~Chapter 1: The fall of Lonridge~

A new hero was about to emerge from the shadows of the great heroes that slew Xandros. It was a teenaged boy named Len. After Len had been away from his hometown of Lonridge training as a guardian for so long, he decided to come back to Lonridge and stay a while. He expected to see his mother and father at his childhood home and expected to see all of his friends and people he knew and loved from Lonridge....What he didn't expect was a terrible disaster to strike the entire town.

It seemed like there was no end to the damaged buildings as Len walked along. Every where around him there was rubble and broken pieces of furniture, glass and rubble from fallen buildings. He was sure he would find at least one survivor in all this mess and surely that survivor could tell him what happened. Then, he finally found a survivor. He heard coughing and wheezing coming from under a pile of rubble and ran to the rubble pile to clear away the chunks of stone and wood that lay atop a bloodied and bruised elderly man, the teenaged guardian helped the man out of of the rubble pile and onto his feet.

Len: Are you OK? Are you injured?
Old man: Why are you helping me?
Len: Why are you injured?
Old man: You did this to me! You're nothing but a monster! A demon in the guise of a sweet young boy! *backs away from Len*
Len: What? What are you saying?! I would never do all of this!
Old man: I saw it with my own two eyes, lad. You came in here during the night with an army of undead soldiers and you ransacked and murder the entire town. You ordered your evil minions to leave no one alive! You're a horrible monster! Why would you ever come back here? After what you've caused? Did you want to come back and admire the so-called "work of art" that you said would result in the deaths and destruction of your very childhood home?! Have you no shame? *coughs a bit and sits down on a burnt crate that was somehow kept intact minus its burnt splotches*
Len: But I was in BattleOn. I was traveling all this way by carriage. I'd never destroy a place I love so much and call home.
Old man: Well you sure were nice enough to wear something decent this dreary morning. Last night you were dressed like a hoochie! A daggum hoochie!
Len: Wait....You said about an undead army causing all this, right?
Old man: Yes.
Len: And that I came here last night dressed like a slut, right?
Old man: Yes, that's correct. Bearing chest and thigh you were.
Len: So then that means you're mistaking me for Cole! That means Cole was here! Damn that horrible abomination of a brother of mine. I'll chase him to the ends of this earth, to the ethereal realm, to the very immortal plain if I must! I will find him and I will murder him! I'll vanquish the very evil that destroyed my childhood home!
Old man: Calm down, lad. You're working yourself up over something you cause.
Len: I just clarified that this was all my twin brother's doing, sir! But I find it kind of odd that my brother's dressed so weirdly. He always preferred baggy unflattering clothes.
Old man: But my how you two have grown though. I still remember the two of you always arguing as cute little children whenever your father brought you to my smithy.
Len: Wait, you're Old man Smith?
Old man: That's right, my boy. it's what you always called me.
Len: Goodness, I hardly recognized you! I'm glad you survived my brother's mess.
Old man: Well I don't think any others survived this, but I'm sure someone did. I heard voices and foot steps earlier. They could've been a rescue team of sorts. Or perhaps bandits.
Len: I see. You take care of yourself, sir. I'll go and find any other survivors.
Old man: You do that, my boy. *watches Len walk away* Such a good kid. Hard to believe his own twin did all this.

On the other side of the town, three young woman are doing their best to extinquish the last of the flames and digging through the rubble to search for survivors.
Jessica: Damn, so much destruction for one little town.
Blossom: Who would do something so horrible like this?

Len: *sighs* Just so much destruction here. Could my brother have really caused all of this?

Jessica: *Notices Len in the distance* Hm? Is that girl over there a survivor?
Blossom: Doesn't look like it, I say she's investigating the place.

Len walks up to the the girls.

Len: Are you girls here looking for survivors too? I'm Len and I'm a guardian from BattleOn. I came back here because this is where I grew up. An old blacksmith I knew very well told me my twin brother did all this damage. You three mind if I help?

Blossom: Go ahead, but so far we're not having any luck finding any...

Len: I see. That's too bad then.

Andrea: Yeah...
Jessica: Must be hard to see your home town be destroyed like this.

Len: It really is. So let's start looking as a group then.

Jessica: Right. *Lifts up a few tons of burning rubble telepathically* Hello? Anybody there?

The group finds a woman and two children under the rubble coughing but still breathing.

Len: We have to help them out.

Jessica: Got it.
The blonde woman creates a bubble around the three and gently lifts them out of the rubble and places them on the ground.
Blossom: Are you three alright?

Len: I believe they are. Please heal them if you guys can.

Jessica: Right. *Approaches the three and starts healing them*

Len: Why on Lore would my brother ever do such a thing to this place? I thought he loved this town as much as I did. *sighs*

they hear the pounding of paws as a gray wolf stops outside of the town and howls. After the Howl they heat the pounding of boots as a man appears on the horizon.

I'm sure paws pounding against a dirt road wouldn't be that loud unless there were hundreds of them.

Damn you I wanted to make the entrance good.

The owner of the wolf arrives.
??? Damn we're too late Moon.

Len: Shall we search for more survivors?

Are they even gonna ask who he is? Come on man.

He just came into the entrance, dude. the only one who'd see him is the old man.

Oh.

??:What happened here sir?

Old man: This town was attacked last night by a hoochie necromancer and her army of undead minions. Apparently her brother came here to help with survivors. I don't know why he referred to her as his brother though. no man would ever dress like she did.

???:Which way did the brother go?

Old man: Just up north of here. *points up down the road from his position*