Post by ☾☾ Aniu ☾☾ on Apr 16, 2015 3:07:35 GMT
the tale of Azartesh Vazir
celebrated in Kalhadir as the city's finest swordsman, Azartesh was a man not taken lightly and all treated him as if he where royalty, all but one, Namir the beautiful who sat by her window combing her hair had no interest in the sword master, she saw no virtue in his skill and Azartesh knew not what to do for Namirs beauty struck his heart like non other, enamored with the woman Azartesh fell to his knees and asked her why she did not desire him, was he not good enough? Namir took his hands and felt that they where rough, Azartesh gripped her fingers and she felt he was strong so Azartesh looked up at her and Namir looked upon him and saw his scars, she pulled her hands from his and turned away and azartesh was heartbroken.
in his sorrow Azartesh walked into the desert, as those who had lost the will to live had done before him, walking far across the sea of sand, bringing nothing but the clothes on his body and after days of walking he lay onto the sand to die, this is where a Rahirim* found him the old lady dragged the sword master to her tent and gave him water for his dry mouth hand food for his empty stomach, and in return she asked only that he tell her why he had walked into the dessert the distraught Azartesh told her of Namir the beautiful, of how she had no interest in him despite his strength, despite his skill and the Rahirim laughed at him and said, you fool it is not despite, it is because. the Rahirim explained to him how he must follow the south star as far as he could, told him that he would find a cave and within it the nest of a Naziarim** resting. she explained how he must slay this beast, and with one of its shoulder bones he must travel north through the craggy mountains until he found the home of a hermit, in conclusion the Rahirim told Azartesh to describe Namirs beauty to the hermit and present the bone.
Azartesh knew not how he would succeed in this and asked the old Rahirim how he could slay a mighty beast without a weapon but before he could finish the Rahirim presented him with a terrible gauntlet, adorned with twisted metals and ferocious claws and she said onto him, to wear this gauntlet is to wear it always, Azartesh wondered why and the Rahirim answered, to serve as a reminder. Azartesh accepted this and donned the terrible gauntlet and went upon his way, for many days he wondered, eventually finding the cave where he found the frightening beast the Rahirim had spoke of and for many hours they fought until finally the creature lay dead, Azartesh ripped the shoulder bone from its corpse and did as the Rahirim had told and headed north through the craggy mountains where he found the hermit and to him he described Namirs beauty, her slender, fragile frame, every curve of her supple body and her elegance despite garments of simple cloth and offered onto the hermit the bone of the fallen beast, the hermit pondered for many days and finally he made from sand steel a gently curved sword thin and fragile, with an edge so sharp it could cleave even a heart of stone in twine with ease, from the bone he made a delicately elegant and intricate handle and wrapped it in simple cloth, he made also a sturdy scabbard so as to protect the fragile blade from shattering wen not in use, wen the hermit presented Azartesh with the blade he could not swing it, as he tried to force it through the air and so it went astray so with the hermit as his teacher he practiced, trained and trained.
finally after three years of mastering the blade he said his farewells to the hermit and traveled home to Kalhadir where he once more knelt in front of Namir holding his hand to her, she placed her hand onto his and felt that it was smooth, he grasped her fingers and she felt that he was gentle, she looked upon him and saw his smile realizing he was not who he had once been, she took the cloth from around her head and neck and gently hung it around Azartesh's shoulders before kissing his forehead and turning away once more refusing him. for in his absence she had found her love, and Azartesh was furious so with blade and gauntlet in the shadow of night, his face wrapped in the scarf Namir had given to him he struck them down, both Namir and her husband soaking the blade with the blood of who it was created after before any others, full of anger and hate Azartesh fled the city and once more wondered into the dessert, although this time not to die, but to live away from what once was.
over the years Azartesh became infamous, attacking caravans and traders slaughtering nomads and desert tribes and before long he had acquired a following of cruel bandits, but as the years passed his mind was plagued more and more by the memory of Namir the beautiful, the love he once had for her and what he had done. finally during a caravan raid, a midst bloody battle and fury he saw her, a top a dune not far away, so azartesh stayed his blade and ran towards her but before he could reach her he was cut down, and as he looked up to see her one last time she where nowhere to be found and as Nazhin Rahimi stood above him reaching down to lift is tired spirit he whispered onto her an oath of servitude, not out of honor or loyalty, but regret.
*Rahirim are desert witches there are a few bad apples but they are overall seen as kind and wise
**Naziarim, a terrible creature of the desert Commonly twice the size of a grown man, often described as a large eight legged lizard with a nasty habbit of rising onto its four back legs