John Blaxton / Sigor Crawley

[Sigor Crawley]

A long time ago existed a man known as John Blaxton. He spent many days and nights in the world of Excelsior until one day, the invisible force controlling him had to step away. Slowly, his home and possessions fell into ruin. It even seemed that John faded into the shadows. The link in which his invisible force used to communicate was forgotten over the many years it was unused. Now it seems John's former invisible controller is building a new life in the birth of Sigor Crawley, but just who is Sigor Crawley? (long read ahead, hopefully I can continue the story line).

Who is Sigor Crawley?
In a realm far from Excelsior, once lived a man known as Sigor Crawley. Abandoned as a child, Sigor quicker learned to survive by the harsh rules of the land. By the time he was just eight years old, he was a master of stealth and stealing. Vendors often spoke of a ghost taking away their wares, but alas, it was Crawley. At the age of 13, his luck ran out when a well-renowned craftsman, Thomas Colkins, devised a trap catching Sigor in his act of thievery. Rather than the typical punishment of losing his hand, the craftsman offered up a different option. Sigor would become his apprentice. Sigor would learn the ways of smithing, tinkering, carpentry, and tailoring.

Sigor thrived at this option. He spent every hour of daylight studying his Master. He took every opportunity given to practice his skills. By age 17, Sigor had become the youngest master craftsman known to the world. Travelers from all corners of the realm would brave the danger filled routes to obtain items crafted by the great Sigor. It was at this age his mentor Thomas lost his life. Sigor took great honor in crafting the coffin in which Thomas would be laid to rest.

One cool autumn morning, Sigor was outside of town harvesting ore as his ingot supply was running low. He heard a noise coming from outside of the cave he was in. It sounded like a woman scream followed by a large crash. Sigor was by no means a warrior; however, there normally were no dangerous creatures this close to town. Sigor set off to investigate, armed with just his pickaxe. As he exited the cave, he could see a carriage overturned in the distance.

As he approached, he could tell right away that the horse and driver had succumbed to their injuries. The carriage was lying on the door, trapping any occupants inside. He called out to see if anyone inside had survived. The only sound was a loud moan, as if someone was injured and in pain. He called out again, “If anyone is inside, cover your face. I am going to make a hole.” The carriage was well built, so it took many swings of Sigor’s pickaxe to breach the side. Once a hole was created, Sigor was able to squeeze into the carriage.

Inside, Sigor found a lone female unconscious. Her breathing was shallow and labored. She did not have any visible injuries. Sigor knew if she was left, she would certainly pass. He mustered up his strength and was able to extricate this female. He secured her atop his pack horse and set off for the town healer.

The healer, Gawain Clitherow, and Sigor placed this unknown woman on the bed for Gawain to assist her. Sigor asked if he was too late or would she recover. Gawain told Sigor, “Tis too soon to tell if the she will survive.” Leaving her in good hands, Sigor returned to the wreck site to see if anything was salvageable. He could only find two cases. One had dresses inside; however, they had been ruined by the lamp oil from the carriage lamps. The other case had a blank check for 20 thousand gold pieces. He buried the driver and horse and affixed a grave marker of “Unknown” as the name. As for the check, he took it to the bank and placed it in a secure vault, leaving it blank as he found it. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to restore the dresses to their pristine condition.

For the next few weeks, Sigor would stop by the Gawain’s shack to check on the female. He brought by replacement dresses, along with the ruined ones in case she awakened. At last, one day he came by she was awake and talking. Sigor introduced himself and told her what happened. She was grateful for Sigor’s actions and introduced herself as Maria Fenton. Gawain said she would be fully healed in a few more days and could travel back home. The only problem was she had no carriage or means to return home. Sigor again came to Maria’s rescue and offered to take her back home at no charge.

The morning of departure had great weather. Sigor arrived in the pre-dawn hours to ensure supplies and Maria belongings were loaded. He returned to her the blank check. Sigor apologized to Maria saying he didn’t have a nice carriage as she was travelling in, but his wagon would at least keep the rain and the burning sunlight off her during the journey. Maria didn’t seem to mind about this inconvenience after all the kind things Sigor had done for her.

After about a five-day journey, they arrived to Maria’s home town. As they entered the town’s gate, Sigor could sense Maria was getting restless and seemed nervous. “Is she hiding something,” Sigor asked to himself. Once they approached Maria’s home, the wagon was quickly surrounded by the town’s guards. Sigor threw up his hands in surrender. From inside the wagon, Maria called out and instructed the guards to stand down. “Miss Maria?!” the guards exclaimed.

The thing Maria was hiding was she is the daughter of the town’s leader Hervey Fenton. She had been missing for weeks and thought to have been taken. Once the guards realized Sigor had brought her back safe, he was allowed to approach the home where workers unloaded Maria’s cases. Hervey approached and hugged Maria tightly. “We have been searching for you for weeks my dear,” said Hervey. “Who is the man who brought you home?”. Maria replied, “This is Sigor Crawley. He rescued me from my carriage wreck, took me to their healer, and even crafted me new dresses as my other ones were ruined. All these things, and he has not asked for payment.” When Hervey offered to give a decent sum of gold, Sigor again refused.

Sigor confirmed, his actions were out of chivalry and required no payment. Hervey insisted that Sigor join them for a meal and rest for the night in a spare room before making the journey back to his home. It was at dinner, Sigor learned why Maria had made the journey. Hervey’s birthday was just a few days ago. Maria had made the trip to find Sigor and obtain a new ceremonial armor suit from Sigor for Hervey's birthday. Little did she know she was to be rescued by the master craftsman she had searched for.

Another topic at dinner was Maria’s mother. Sigor learned the heart-breaking story that Marion, Maria’s mother, had died giving birth to Maria. Maria was Hervey’s and Marion’s only child. This is why her disappearance weeks ago worried Hervey. He had lost his wife 18 years ago at the birth of Maria and shuddered at the thought he had lost Maria.

The next morning, Sigor prepared to depart when he noticed his wagon was not where it had been parked the previous night. He found Hervey and inquired about the wagon. Hervey replied “I had it moved to inside the stables to ensure its safe keeping.” As the two approached the stable, Sigor noticed the wagon seemed to be at full capacity with crates. “What is all of this?” he asked Hervey. “Since you refused to accept any gold, the least I could do was to ensure you have plenty of supplies.” In the crates there were dried meat, dried fruits and vegetables, and several bolts of silk. Sigor humbly accepted this, he felt it would be rude to demand it to be unloaded from his wagon. Maria had arrived by this time and invited him to keep written contact with her. Sigor affirmed he would do so.

Years later, what started as a good friendship by letter, blossomed into romance. Sigor had moved his shop to be closer to Maria. Just before his 20th birthday, he worked the courage up and sought permission from Hervey to ask for Maria’s hand in marriage. Hervey was thrilled and gave Sigor full blessings to marry his daughter. What Sigor didn’t know was Maria had planned a surprise birthday party for Sigor. On the night of his birthday, he was brought to Maria’s home and greeted by all the town’s people. “SURPRISE!” they all exclaimed. Sigor was moved by this; however, had a surprise of his own.

As Maria approached him in front of the crowd, Sigor went down to one knee. He pulled out a ring he had crafted many weeks ago and asked “Maria, will you make my birthday wish come true and marry me?”. Maria began weeping tears of joy, “YES! I will marry you Sigor Crawley.”.
The wedding was like no other. Thousands of people were scheduled to attend. Maria’s favorite flower, White Lily, was in abundance. Sigor, being the master craftsman, built the wedding altar using Silver fir. He made Maria’s wedding dress with cashmere and rose lace. He made himself and Hervey tuxedos of wool. He made the bridesmaids’ dresses of silk and groomsmen’s tuxedos of wool.

The wedding day’s weather was perfect. It was a lovely spring day. The sun was shining, the temperature was not too hot, and there was a gentle breeze. Birds could be heard chirping in the distance. The band played flawlessly. Sigor was speechless as he saw Maria being escorted down the aisle by Hervey. Father Philip Brudenell administered their wedding vows. It was the start of a beautiful life together.

Early next autumn, Maria came to Sigor and told him “I’m late.” Sigor looked at Maria and said, “Well I am sure being the daughter of Hervey Fenton, anyone would grant you forgiveness.” “NO, I AM LATE!!!”, Maria again said with a louder tone and pointing to her nether regions. Sigor’s eyes widened and he joyously gasp “I’M GOING TO BE A FATHER!!!!” Nine months later, Maria gave birth to a healthy son. Sigor’s fatherly love immediately emerged at the sight of his son. Sigor and Maria agreed to name the child Thomas, after Sigor’s mentor and friend. Sigor was thrilled that he would now get to be the mentor to a young life, as the elder Thomas did for him years ago.

As another year passed, Sigor’s and Maria’s wedding anniversary was approaching. Sigor had crafted Maria a beautiful wardrobe out of cherry wood. Maria had a gift for Sigor that was even more special. The evening of their anniversary, Sigor led a blindfolded Maria into the bedroom. Once he removed the blindfold, she saw the wardrobe and loved it. Maria took the blindfold and then led a blindfolded Sigor to Thomas’s room. Inside, Sigor removed the blindfold and saw Thomas’s old crib. A look of confusion came across his face until he looked back at Maria. She was gently rubbing her belly, looking lovingly into Sigor’s eyes. “We are having another child?!” Sigor excitedly exclaimed. Maria confirmed that she had not been visited by her monthly visitor for about three months.

As the months passed, Maria gave birth to a healthy girl this time. Sigor held the baby and his heart melted. He learned that while you love your son, there is a special bond that forms between a father and his daughter. Sigor suggested that they name her Marion, in memory of Maria’s mother. Maria’s eyes filled with tears as she loved the idea and couldn’t wait to tell her father.

A few years later, Hervey became gravely ill. Most days, he barely had the strength to get out bed for meals. Sigor, Maria, Thomas, and Marion moved in with Hervey to allow Maria to care for her father. Hervey enjoyed having his family close. Hearing Thomas and Marion brought him happiness in his final days. Sigor wanted to make Hervey’s coffin special. He found an exquisite granite rock and carved Hevey’s coffin from it. He chiseled intricate patterns into the sides and lid. He lined the interior with velvet. It was a coffin fit for a god, should one ever die.

With Hervey gone, the town needed a new leader. News of this traveled far and the town appeared vulnerable. Merewin Eyston, an evil sorcerer, far away learned of this. He devised a plan to take over this town and use it to expand his power over the entire realm. Little did Sigor know, Merewin was coming.

As the town was starting the process to find its new leader, Sigor was asked if he would accept. Sigor knew nothing about leading a town, but he did agree to accept just on a temporary basis. He relied heavily on Maria, as she had seen the leadership of Hervey for many years. Things seemed to be going well for the town, until one day Merewin arrived.

Merewin didn’t immediately start his reign of terror, he played smart. Merewin began to inquire about Sigor. In particular, if Sigor was a great warrior or some other foe that could give him a decent fight. He learned quickly that Sigor had been a crafter for most of his life. He questioned if Sigor’s thievery skill were still as sharp as they were when he was a child. Merewin quickly realized that although Sigor had great strength and dexterity from years of crafting and supply gathering, he has almost no combat experience. As the final night of the month fell, Sigor kissed his children and wife before going to bed. Little did he know this would be the last time.

After hitting the floor, Sigor forced his eyes open. All he could see the stary sky. An awful smell stinged his nostrils. He struggled to lift the bedside table off him. “What happened?” he thought to himself. As he stumbled to his feet, he could see his wife’s lifeless body curled up at the doorway. Her beautiful skin now dark as ash. “THE CHILDREN!” he yelled. As he made his way through the rubble, he felt much weaker than he normally was. His fingers are not as nimble. Small objects he could move with ease, now caused him great difficulty. Finally, he approached the children’s room.
With all his strength, Sigor pushed the door open and saw a shadowy figure standing between his children’s beds. Then, without warning, the figure made a low growl and what appeared to be white smoke began wafting from his children’s faces. As he leapt towards this figure, he was frozen by an unknown force. Try as he may, he could not break free. He watched as his children’s bodies turned dark as ash and the figure turned towards him. Sigor prepared to face the same fate as he just witnessed. Out of nowhere, a bright light appeared and a voice thundered. It was a language Sigor had never heard before, but he recognized the voice as Gawain’s. How could this be? Before he could look back, he fell unconscious.

Sigor slowly opened his eyes. He could hear birds chirping and feel a gentle breeze. “What a nightmare” he said to himself. As the sleep wore from his eyes, he noticed he was not in his bed. It looked like Gawain’s shop from his old hometown. He was also wearing a robe he didn’t recognize. The door slowly opened and in entered Gawain.

“First, your are safe now Sigor”, said Gawain. “I have kept a secret from you for many years. My name is not Gawain, it is Leofing Gonson and I am a high order mage. I have acted as a lowly healer for decades, hoping to find those hurt by the evil sorcerer Merewin Eyston. I regret to say that I was too late to save Maria, Thomas, and Marion.” Sigor, still feeling weakness asked, “Why am I so weak and can’t remember anything?”

“The evil sorcerer was interrupted by Maria as he was removing your soul. His spell knocked you off the bed, collapsed the roof, and tossed Maria to the door. After removing her soul, he heard the children call out and went to them.” Leofing explained. “Merewin though you were dead until you made it into the children’s room. He paralyzed you to finish removing your soul, as he did to your children. I was able to dispel him, but not before the damage was done to you.”

“What do you mean damage?”, asked Sigor. “As part of soul removal, the ritual first removes the victim’s abilities. Their strength, dexterity, intelligence, skills, basically everything about a person. Once this is done, the soul can be extracted from the person’s body. All these things were taken from you and your soul was about to be taken before I dispelled Merewin.”, explained Leofing.

“You must leave this realm Sigor.” said Leofing. “I have found a portal that can send you to a new realm called Excelsior. Here, you can rebuild your life. This realm has no limits on the skill you can master. You can build your strength and dexterity even greater than here. It’s a realm that Merewin physically cannot enter.” With this, Sigor gathered what little he had left and entered the portal.

[Desenex]

Cygnus holds a writing contest every year or two. You seem to be a good candidate. Hopefully there will be one sometime this spring.

[Cygnus]

Love the story. I plan to copy this into the blue books and add it to the library with your name. As Desenex alluded to, I hold a writing contest every year. Although I love to see more of these posted, please save some for the contest. Look up Cygnus Writing Event in the forums to get a better idea how the contest works. If interested, you can find the library by going to the house gates and looking southeast. first green square tile. Anybody else interested, hit me up with a pm.

[Sigor Crawley]

I'll certainly have to check out the library. I have been working on more to this story, sort of documenting the character's events (account is 13 days old as of this post). My hope is to keep a narration going on the life of the character (skills learned, adventures taken, etc.). We will just see how it all works out. Life can get busy at times (between work, home duties, and school), but I still try to find time for hobbies.

[Cygnus]

I've already added what you have so far. Left wing, 2nd floor. Need to shuffle the books around the right wing to put your story in the proper section.