“Another dry well.” Mulbane says.
“Why do you say it like that?” Alliot asks.
“Forget him.” Sophie says. “I’m more worried about everything happening outside.”
The party was investigating another monster den. Just outside, there were a myriad of horrible disasters. Monsters were agitated and being highly aggressive. Numerous landslides had come down and the earth beneath their feet had started to quack beneath their feet.
“Yeah, it’s starting to look rough.” Olion says.
“You starting to get second thoughts about potentially dying an awful death by being buried alive here?” Linda asks.
“Eheh. Well, yes, but I can’t exactly say no to dear old dad.” Olion chuckles. “What about you guys?”
“I live for this shit!” Linda boasts proudly.
“It’s good work. Get out doors. Promise I won’t go hungry doing this.” Bron boasts.
“It’s not my ideal environment, but it’s pleasant in it’s own way.” Alliot boasts.
“Eh, death hasn’t nipped at my heels yet as I run for my one and only life.” Malo shrugs.
The imperial royals give the adventurers a concerned look.
“You, uh, you guys aren’t right in the head.”
Lucia and the other pilgrims reach a mountain top. They begin to settle down and unpack their equipment.
“We’re finally here.” a man says. “We’ll all take a 10 minute break and start the ritual.”
“You mean start preparing for the ritual.” another man says. “We can’t just hop into the ritual without making all the necessary preparations.”
“Okay, yeah, fine.” the man says with a bit of frustration. “We take a break and then prepare for the ritual. Is that alright, dick?”
“Yeah, sure. Sounds fine.”
The pilgrims start to ease into a break. Lucia sets down her pack and uses it as a back rest as it is big enough to not only stand on it’s own, and support Lucia’s weight. As she takes her break, a woman approaches to kneel and speak to her.
“Are you ready to reach your destiny?”
“Yeah!” Lucia cheers. “You guys said that I was destined to be the greatest hero of all time!”
“That’s right! We came all the way out here for your sake.” the woman smiles. “With you we can break the cycle of oppression, evil, tyranny and every other thing that’s bad in the world!”
“Yeah!” Lucia gives her own bright and vibrant smile.
“I’ll be talking about details of our blessed ritual with the others. You just relax. Take a break while you still can.” the woman says.
“I will. I will.” Lucia pouts as she speaks.
The woman waves to Lucia as she leaves to join with the other pilgrims.
“Well, I’m glad somebody else raised her to be so damn gullible.” the woman says.
“Yes. Let’s give thanks to the poor sap that had to tolerate the diaper shitting phase of childrearing.” another pilgrim says.
“We will be forever thankful for the pains that guy endured for us to create our own hero.”
“Yes. Someone with the gullible qualities and naive passions to really become a hero.”
“Just the kind of sap we need.”
“Whatever meets the gods’ demands for a hero.”
“Hey! We’re almost at the end. Take it easy.”
“We’re not done yet. We still got work to do.”
“Dude, I just started my break.”
“I meant we have work to do after the break!”
“Anyway, this ritual site is just perfect. The alignment of the leylines. The beasts roaming this land. This place is just perfect. Everything is just right.”
“Yep! Just a bit more and we can force the girl to attain the role of hero.”
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“Nothing could go wrong.”
“Woah! Hang on. You guys are talking a bit too boldly. Haven’t any of you seen a theater play?”
“Pfft, what?”
“I’m serious. You guys are all saying some death flag type of shit.”
“Then let me ask you, what could possibly go wrong?”
“I don’t know. A monster attack.”
“We have come prepared for that. The magic we have isn’t just for show. It will ward off these base creatures.”
“Alright. The mountains start shifting. You know. The thing this whole mountain range does every year.”
“And there is still time. The shifting of mountains is still a length away.”
“Alright, what about a super monster?”
“Hah! A super monster? Like what?”
“I don’t know, man. Maybe the monster that girl from yesterday was adventuring for?”
“Oh, well that would be a coincidence. But there’s no way that something like that would just suddenly attack us.”
“Aren’t monsters big fans of ley lines like the one we’re sitting on top of to perform our ritual?”
“I mean yeah, but what are the odds of something coming here?”
“I’d think the chance seems pretty good that a monster will stop by. This place has to be some monster’s territory. We shouldn’t be here at all.”
“You’re worrying too much. Just calm down and get the ritual going.”
The pilgrim stands proudly looking up. He sees a giant monster’s brow peeking out of a mountain side. He admires the sight and takes a proud breath. Leaning against this giant monster’s brow were loads and loads of barrels. Some of them were noted to have black powder inside.
“Wait, what’s all these powder kegs doing here?” a pilgrim asks.
As he speaks, a grand shadow darkens this giant monster brow. Then a massive figure thumps down from the sky behind them. Massive wings unfurl and darken the sky.
Ren was sitting on the back of a monster that resembles a cucumber on legs. One of the many voices in her head called this monster a boil grigos. While this boil grigos lumbered around, Ren used the opportunity to look around in search of Krosstetch the warped wyvern. So far, there is no sign of the strange monster. As Ren fails to spot the target of her quest, a scream is heard in the distance.
“Ahhhhhhhh!!!”
“Ahhhhhhh!!!”
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
“Ahhhhh!!!”
“Ahhhh!!!”
“Ahhh!!!”
“Oh, cool. Echo.” Ren says to no one in particular. “ECHO!”
“Echo!”
“Echo.”
“Wow.” Ren says.
“Echo.”
“Huh? Oh shit! Was that an echo?” Alliot says.
“Yes, don’t gawk about it like a city boy that’s never left home.” Mulbane says.
“But I am a city boy that’s never left home.” Alliot chuckles.
The party was walking through a mountain trail. Because it is a dirt road, it was much easier to walk on and much faster too. Alliot looked out into the distant mountain scape. He took a deep breath and yelled out into the distance.
“I’M KEEPING MY PROMISE MOM!!!” Alliot shouts.
“I’M KEEPING MY PROMISE MOM!!”
“I’M KEEPING MY PROMISE MOM!”
“I’m keeping my promise mom!”
“I’m keeping my promise mom!”
“Oh, cool.” Ren says.
She stand up on the back of the boil grigos and breathes in to shout back.
“I’M NOT YOUR MOM!!!” Ren says.
“I’M NOT YOUR MOM!!”
“I’M NOT YOUR MOM!”
“I’m not your mom!”
“I’m not your mom!”
“Oh shit! I accidentally called someone down the mountain my mom.” Alliot laughs to himself.
“Wait, is that Ren?” Sophie asks.
“Ah. Good ear.” Alliot says. “You know, I think so.”
Alliot huffs and puffs and shouts into the mountain.
“IS THAT YOU, REN???” Alliot says.
“IS THAT YOU, REN?”
“Is that you, Ren?”
“Is that you, Ren?”
“YEP!!!” Ren shouts.
“Yep!”
“Yep.”
“Yep.”
“That’s our girl!” Alliot chuckles.
“Woah? Really?” Mulbane asks.
“Sounds like it.” Alliot says.
“What now?” Sophie asks.
“I don’t know.” Alliot says.
“Can somebody, please, save my life?” a voice echoes in the distance.
“Sure.” Ren’s voice echoes.
“YEAH! WE’RE COMING TO YOU!!!” Alliot says.
“YEAH! WE’RE COMING TO YOU!”
“Yeah! We’re coming to you!”
“Well, looks like we need to go save somebody from the jaws of death or something.” Alliot says.
“Do we really have time to go after some strangers we can only hear from a distant echo?” Mulbane scoffs.
“You know we don’t!” Alliot says. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
“You just said we don’t have time to do that!” Mulbane snaps.
“I know. The life of an adventurer is so hard.” Alliot gives a heavy sigh.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mulbane says.
“That way!” Alliot says.
Alliot, Bron, Linda and Malo begin to head in the vague direction of an echo in a distant mountain range.
“Aren’t you all supposed to help us?” Olion asks.
“I command you to stay right where you are!” Mulbane shouts.
“No.” Alliot shrugs. “Fancy pant’s words were that you would join us on our quest. Beyond that, you guys can just do whatever you want. We’re not your babysitters nor are you ours. Don’t mind us. Just have fun, or whatever you royals are trying to do here.”
“Then what was the point of you coming with us?” Olion asks.
“No. You came with us. Not the other way around.” Alliot says. “Whether or not you guys want to keep going with us is your decision. Your freedom. If you don’t want to come along, then don’t. You’re free to do whatever you want.”
The adventurers start to make their merry way into the mountains. The royals look on as they march.
“Well, I think I’ll follow them.” Sophie says.
“What?” Mulbane scowls.
“Why?” Olion asks.
“What has this random search gotten us?” Sophie shrugs. “In the old days of legend and shit, adventurers couldn’t walk 10 steps without tripping over a conspiracy.”
“We hung, flogged and burned any idiot that so much as breathed the word adventurer.” Mulbane scoffs.
“And since then, we have yet to gain any of the benefits of the heroes of old.” Sophie says. “You can do what you want, but I think a bit of mess is required to see my emperor’s designs for me through to the end.”
“Tch.” Mulbane scowls at his half sister. “Do whatever you want.”
“When I see more success then you, don’t come crying to me.” Sophie chuckles to herself.
Sophie stars down off the dirt path that is easier to walk in and joins the adventurers in walking through wild grass and steep slopes.
Lucia can’t see straight. Her vision blurs and her ears are ringing. The last thing she remembers is that the pilgrims that rescued her when bandits killed everyone in her village began to scream. It was at that point that her memory of events become blurred and fuzzy. She stumbles to her feet and tries to get a better grasp on the situation.
First she feels uncomfortably hot, like she was staring into the face of a brick oven. Her vision was filled with a deep orange color. She couldn’t see any details, but that orange blur is what fills her vision right now. Her nose is filled with a burning ashen smell. This smell is like nothing she has ever encountered in all her peaceful village life. Her ears are ringing. She can hear nothing. Not the screams she hearts just moments before or anything else she recognizes.
Lucia stammers up onto her feet while she tries to regain her focus. Suddenly, the ringing in her ears stop to make way for something truly fearsome. A dreadful roar pierces even Lucia’s overwhelmed eardrums to be heard. Lucia loses her footing again as she desperately tries to plug her ears. After a moment of wallowing on the ground she can see and hear properly once again. Lucia whips her head around. She looks to find one of the pilgrims who saved her life when she lost everything. He was getting up to run away from something. He makes it a few paces before a jet of fire envelops his form. The very sight of him is hidden in the intense flame. When Lucia turns to face the source of the flames, she sees an awful creature. A wyvern of orange color. It bears an elephant’s trunk covered in these scales. It’s tail has spikes that make it a mace. Lucia had only briefly heard of it before. It was an incredibly dangerous monster that was only briefly described by Ren. This was Krosstetch.
