No Mans Land

Several days later Che found himself again with Prince Rurik and this time Sir Tydus had joined them. Their mission was to destroy Vatlaaw Doomtooth, a Charr ranger who had taken over an old Ascalon bunker.
“So this is how they are trying to get in.”
“It is one of the ways.” the Prince murmured.
They pursued the ranger, the giant boss of the group of grawl he had with him far down into the cave system and cornered him.
“Fire!”
This time they had an elementalist with them, and a monk, a fighter, a necromancer, and a mage. Closing his eyes, Che “saw” into the Charr’s head and viciously pulled the energy from him. he produced a double sight of Rurik and Tydus so Vatlaaw saw the wrong target to hit. When he could no longer shoot, he swung his great paw and somehow managed to tangle himself up. That’s when Rurik went for the death blow.
“Well, this way is sealed.”
A faint rumbling caused Che to look up.
“What’s that?”
Rurik looked uneasy. Then the elementalist screamed “RUN! RUN NOW!”
They ran for the exit in time to see giant fireballs flying through the air. They began to descend, straight toward Ascalon.
“No…” Prince Rurik breathed.
The caves behind them collapsed as burning fire slammed into the rock above them. The group dodged as swiftly as they could.
It was not enough. When they reached the city, they could do nothing to stop all the death around them. They pulled people out of the way to see four more die under a hail of fire. Trees and structures burned.
For the next two years they kept just out of harms reach, running, fighting, slaying Charr, getting people to safer places. Che joined little patrols that moved around Ascalon, trying to keep keep people safe. He was relieved to receive the summons that brought him back to the city.
The Captain of the guard met him solemenly, “It is good to have you back here. I know you haven’t been here in quite awhile. You’ve grown.”
“I have Captain Osrik, thank you. I’ve learned much.”
“I’ll bet. We’ve been busy too. An Ambassador from Kryta has come to try to help us, but the king won’t even speak with him. There could be some real help there. The prince cannot even make his father see reason. We do know the king trusts Warmaster Tydus. Tydus trusts you. We thought you might be able to make some headway. Would you try?”
“Of course Captain. If there is any chance of help in … this..” Che motioned around him to the bleak landscape of ruination that the city had become.
“Good. I knew I could count on you.”
At the entrance to the heart of what once was Ascalon city, Che hesitated to look at the guard standing before it.
“Willy? Willy Wendell??”
“Che? Gods you are a sight for sore eyes! Look at you!”
“No look at you!! You’re not a little boy anymore! Two years have done you good Willy.”
“It was all the training they did to me. You wouldn’t believe the silliest things they had me do sometimes. I remember I had this little girl ah what was her name, Gwen! Gwen followed me around for three days straight. I had to go kill this bull one time and she was chattering at me the whole time about how her daddy would have killed that bull straight off. Well that crazy bull stomped right on me as I was killing it, broke my leg clean through. Gwen leans down and whispers in my ear, “I’ve got a secret.” I wasn’t much in the mood for secrets but Gwen leans down and puts her hand on my leg and HEALS it! I gave her so many gifts after that I couldn’t even keep track. The day I had to go back on duty at the wall, she throws her arms around me and gives me this piece of cloth. She said it was her favorite thing in all the world, for her favorite person.”
Willy blinked and looked around him, “Ah, what I wouldn’t give to see just one of our beautiful Ascalon sunflowers growing out of these ruins.”
“Yes, yes I know Willy.”
With a last handshake the two separated. It was a brief reminder of the beauty that Ascalon had once held within her grasp. When Che mentioned what he wanted to talk about Tydus was much less open to the discussion than the Captain thought he might be.
“Don’t talk to ME about the Krytan Ambassador! I’ve been getting it from both sides. The king trusts me because I know where my loyalties are. The king’s already given this matter much consideration and the likes of you and I best abide by his decision.”
Tydus took out a note from his belt and pressed it into Che’s hands.
“Now why don’t you do something useful and take this message to the Krytan ambassador. He’s just beyond the city outside the western gate. Take a healer with you, I don’t trust those Krytans!”
Tydus turned away abruptly and Che was left feeling a bit stunned. He had never been so abruptly dismissed by Tydus before. His entire world had been turned upside down and inside out. People who had lived perfectly normal lives had been displaced, some driven insane, many just killed. The Charr still threatened the whole of Ascalon. No one knew who to trust anymore. Would they ever get rid of those monsters? When would Ascalon be whole again? Che knew it would be up to people like himself, and his friends Lycosia and Cormac to right the wrongs and drive out the danger so that people could once again live in peace.