Dtxtream
Terrarian
The Blurb:_________________________________________________________
"Everyday is the same around here. I wake up, go train to become a hunter, then go home. Nothing interesting in my town ever happens. That is until one day, a friend of mine showed me one of her secrets. What I saw was something no one would ever believe, but also gave me this weird ominous feeling that I couldn't get over. This was an opportunity. An opportunity to finally do something... let's say... interesting."
Characters:_______________________________________________________
Elise
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Occupation: Socialising
Interest: Hunting
Skills: Spear expert, smart
Weaknesses: Clumsy
Description: The main character. Curious about the world outside, she sets off on an adventure.
Dustyn
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Occupation: Weapons engineering
Interest: History
Skills: Ranged weapons expert, quick reflexes
Weaknesses: indecisive, unable to tell direction
Description: Elise's brother. A man who sets goals and motivates himself to complete them.
Laura
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Occupation: Stalking
Interest: Collecting
Skills: Sword expert, stealthy
Weaknesses: Impulsive, easily distracted
Description: Elise's friend. She's normal during the day, but she sneaks around at night to find things she likes.
Zach
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Occupation: Self-training
Interest: Fighting evil
Skills: Flail expert, very strong
Weaknesses: Oblivious to most things, arrogant
Description: Popular in the town, he is often looked up to because of his boldness and spirit.
Aaron
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Occupation: Guarding
Interest: ???
Skills: All around weapons master, smart
Weaknesses: Permanent battle fatigue
Description: A once proud warrior whose body has had enough of fighting, is now the head town guard. (Totally not a Skyrim reference)
Finkle
Age: 73
Gender: Male
Occupation: Managing the town
Interest: ???
Skills: Magic expert, wise
Weaknesses: Old age, partially blind
Description: A powerful mage, who is the town's leader. He is very well respected by the people.
D
Age: ???
Gender: Male
Occupation: ???
Interest: ???
Skills: (Cannot say because spoilers)
Weaknesses: ???
Description: Only known to Elise and Dustyn, he keeps to himself and is very mysterious, as if he's hiding something. Nobody knows his real name, he tells people to just call him, 'D'.
"Everyday is the same around here. I wake up, go train to become a hunter, then go home. Nothing interesting in my town ever happens. That is until one day, a friend of mine showed me one of her secrets. What I saw was something no one would ever believe, but also gave me this weird ominous feeling that I couldn't get over. This was an opportunity. An opportunity to finally do something... let's say... interesting."
Characters:_______________________________________________________
Elise
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Occupation: Socialising
Interest: Hunting
Skills: Spear expert, smart
Weaknesses: Clumsy
Description: The main character. Curious about the world outside, she sets off on an adventure.
Dustyn
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Occupation: Weapons engineering
Interest: History
Skills: Ranged weapons expert, quick reflexes
Weaknesses: indecisive, unable to tell direction
Description: Elise's brother. A man who sets goals and motivates himself to complete them.
Laura
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Occupation: Stalking
Interest: Collecting
Skills: Sword expert, stealthy
Weaknesses: Impulsive, easily distracted
Description: Elise's friend. She's normal during the day, but she sneaks around at night to find things she likes.
Zach
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Occupation: Self-training
Interest: Fighting evil
Skills: Flail expert, very strong
Weaknesses: Oblivious to most things, arrogant
Description: Popular in the town, he is often looked up to because of his boldness and spirit.
Aaron
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Occupation: Guarding
Interest: ???
Skills: All around weapons master, smart
Weaknesses: Permanent battle fatigue
Description: A once proud warrior whose body has had enough of fighting, is now the head town guard. (Totally not a Skyrim reference)
Finkle
Age: 73
Gender: Male
Occupation: Managing the town
Interest: ???
Skills: Magic expert, wise
Weaknesses: Old age, partially blind
Description: A powerful mage, who is the town's leader. He is very well respected by the people.
D
Age: ???
Gender: Male
Occupation: ???
Interest: ???
Skills: (Cannot say because spoilers)
Weaknesses: ???
Description: Only known to Elise and Dustyn, he keeps to himself and is very mysterious, as if he's hiding something. Nobody knows his real name, he tells people to just call him, 'D'.
After long hours of mastering the art of spear wielding, today is the day I get to show off my skills to be judged and see if I am ready to become a hunter. My brother and I live alone together away from town in the Hallow, and have both been waiting for this day, hoping we can finally advance in life. Walking downstairs, I find my brother cooking breakfast.
"That smells good, what is it?" I ask him.
"Since today is important, I decided to make something different. It's a blinkroot omelet." he replies.
Dustyn, my older brother, is a great cook. I've never had this type of meal before, but I don't doubt that I will like it.
"Better hope you don't mess up like last year." I joke.
"Yeah yeah, I know, I won't try to shoot something after spinning my gun again. I can still feel the pain in my foot." He replies.
I let out a small chuckle, then we both start to eat.
Dustyn looks up at me and asks, "There are a lot of other people there, and some of them can be... eh... judgemental. You won't let them get to you, right?".
"Pfft, of course not. I'm not gonna let harmless words prevent me from continuing." I reply.
"Good." He says.
After breakfast, we both head out the door to go to the Derosa Combat Training Academy.
Derosa is one of the founders of our town. She helped plan and construct everything from nothing. Normally, everyone is trained on their own with a personal teacher. You don't see anyone else much, only on break time, so I don't have a good idea of what my competition is, but today is exam day.
Everyone comes together to compete in different training exercises, and is judged by the head teachers and the town's keeper. If they feel you did well enough, you have full permission to become whatever you were working your way towards. In my case, a hunter. My brother is a weapons engineer, but he'd rather do something else, he just doesn't know what yet.
We arrive at the academy and head to the yard. There is a huge crowd of students, and the chatter is pretty loud, but I immediately see my friend Laura. She waves me over, so I tell my brother I'm going to go see her.
"So, you ready?" She asks.
"Come on, Laura, you sneak around every night. I'm sure you know I'm prepared." I reply.
"Yeah... about that," She starts, "I actually found something you might like to see. I'll show you after the exam. Meet me by my house later."
This was news to me. Laura has an obsession with collecting things... useless things, but she does know the difference between something useless & something useful, so if she thinks I'd be interested, it's probably something useful.
"Quiet down, everyone!" That is the familiar voice of Aaron, the head town guard.
When she's not busy on duty, she teaches at this academy as well.
"Now, you all know today is a big day. I hope you're all prepared. Today is a day where the student becomes the teacher, where the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, where the pixie flies for the first time. You all are to be tested on your abilities in combat. Should you pass, marks the beginning of your carrier to support the world, and to do great things. Now, everyone head over to the bleachers. You will be called down for testing by rank."
By 'rank', she means every student has a certain level, like karate belts. There are 10 levels.
Level 1 is basic training; how to properly hold your weapon, how to use your weapon, blah blah blah.
Level 10 is elite class. You use your skills to fight against warriors. REAL warriors.
I'm currently in level 6, where I'm taught advanced fighting techniques.
My brother is in level 8, and he tells me he fights other students in that class. You don't have to be a level 10 student to graduate, but you have to be at least level 5, anyone in a lower level does not get to take this exam. Getting to level 10 is a huge bonus, it will damn well make people like you... or fear you.
Aaron speaks up again, "Level five's first, as usual."
Several minutes go by, as people are called down to be tested. About an hour and a half later, I get called. I'm the first level 6 student to start, and as I walk down to the yard I can hear Dustyn and Laura's voices cheering me on. I get to the weapons rack, loaded with so many choices, but of course, I pick my trusty silver training spear.
The first test is for speed & agility. I stand in a circle of dummies, and have to hit them when they pop up as quickly as possible, kind of like an oversized Whack-a-mole game.
The whistle blows and the first dummy pops up behind me. I quickly, in one motion, spin around and stab it in the chest, just as the next dummy pops up to my left, which I then use the back end of my spear to whack its head.
I go on for a few more seconds until I get caught off guard by a dummy popping up in my face. I stumble backwards and fall over. Here comes the judging my brother warned me about.
I hear a voice in the stands yell out, "You're gonna need to replace those feet of yours, honey."
"That wasn't even clever." I think to myself, but that was the unmistakable voice of Zachary. Big, bold, snobby Zach. He's considered the most popular in this academy, and is a highly experienced fighter, but I just see him as a nuisance. Ignoring him, I proceed to complete the first challenge.
The next challenge is about accuracy. A dummy pops up a few metres away from me. I have to throw my spear to see if I can hit it. The whistle blows again, I lob the spear past my shoulder, but miss the target just by a couple inches. I sigh, and move on to the third & final test, defending.
Two mechanical arms rise from the ground, the tip of them coated with foam so it doesn't hurt when they hit you. The whistle blows and they start swinging at me. I have to think fast, and manage to block about 70% of swings. My turn is over finally. I head back up to the bleachers and sit beside my brother.
"I'd say that was acceptable." He tells me.
"I hope so." I respond.
Another 2 hours pass. Laura and Dustyn eventually go, but honestly, I'm too tired to watch, and I feel bad about it.
When they ask me how they did, I just respond simply with, "You did great out there."
Finally, the level 10 students go down. Everyone is excited to see how they fair. At this point, I got bored and didn't bother, until this one person went down. He caught my attention, because it's a rare sight to see someone pick up knives. Compared to the other weapons on the rack, they're pretty... "small", but every weapon is lethal in the right hands, and those hands happened to be his.
On the first test, a cluster, probably 8 or 9, of circular targets are launched in the air. The test is to see how many you can hit before they touch the ground.
This student did the unbelievable. He clutched half of the knives in one hand, and half in the other, crossed his arms together like he was about to throw two boomerangs, and threw all of them at a very fast speed, hitting EVERY SINGLE TARGET at the same time.
Everyone is silent, even the judges are speechless. They immediately call him off because they've seen enough.
Without a word or emotion, he quietly walks back to his seat, making no eye contact with anyone. I could see envy and jealousy in a lot of people's faces, and frankly, I'm doing the same thing.
"That smells good, what is it?" I ask him.
"Since today is important, I decided to make something different. It's a blinkroot omelet." he replies.
Dustyn, my older brother, is a great cook. I've never had this type of meal before, but I don't doubt that I will like it.
"Better hope you don't mess up like last year." I joke.
"Yeah yeah, I know, I won't try to shoot something after spinning my gun again. I can still feel the pain in my foot." He replies.
I let out a small chuckle, then we both start to eat.
Dustyn looks up at me and asks, "There are a lot of other people there, and some of them can be... eh... judgemental. You won't let them get to you, right?".
"Pfft, of course not. I'm not gonna let harmless words prevent me from continuing." I reply.
"Good." He says.
After breakfast, we both head out the door to go to the Derosa Combat Training Academy.
Derosa is one of the founders of our town. She helped plan and construct everything from nothing. Normally, everyone is trained on their own with a personal teacher. You don't see anyone else much, only on break time, so I don't have a good idea of what my competition is, but today is exam day.
Everyone comes together to compete in different training exercises, and is judged by the head teachers and the town's keeper. If they feel you did well enough, you have full permission to become whatever you were working your way towards. In my case, a hunter. My brother is a weapons engineer, but he'd rather do something else, he just doesn't know what yet.
We arrive at the academy and head to the yard. There is a huge crowd of students, and the chatter is pretty loud, but I immediately see my friend Laura. She waves me over, so I tell my brother I'm going to go see her.
"So, you ready?" She asks.
"Come on, Laura, you sneak around every night. I'm sure you know I'm prepared." I reply.
"Yeah... about that," She starts, "I actually found something you might like to see. I'll show you after the exam. Meet me by my house later."
This was news to me. Laura has an obsession with collecting things... useless things, but she does know the difference between something useless & something useful, so if she thinks I'd be interested, it's probably something useful.
"Quiet down, everyone!" That is the familiar voice of Aaron, the head town guard.
When she's not busy on duty, she teaches at this academy as well.
"Now, you all know today is a big day. I hope you're all prepared. Today is a day where the student becomes the teacher, where the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, where the pixie flies for the first time. You all are to be tested on your abilities in combat. Should you pass, marks the beginning of your carrier to support the world, and to do great things. Now, everyone head over to the bleachers. You will be called down for testing by rank."
By 'rank', she means every student has a certain level, like karate belts. There are 10 levels.
Level 1 is basic training; how to properly hold your weapon, how to use your weapon, blah blah blah.
Level 10 is elite class. You use your skills to fight against warriors. REAL warriors.
I'm currently in level 6, where I'm taught advanced fighting techniques.
My brother is in level 8, and he tells me he fights other students in that class. You don't have to be a level 10 student to graduate, but you have to be at least level 5, anyone in a lower level does not get to take this exam. Getting to level 10 is a huge bonus, it will damn well make people like you... or fear you.
Aaron speaks up again, "Level five's first, as usual."
Several minutes go by, as people are called down to be tested. About an hour and a half later, I get called. I'm the first level 6 student to start, and as I walk down to the yard I can hear Dustyn and Laura's voices cheering me on. I get to the weapons rack, loaded with so many choices, but of course, I pick my trusty silver training spear.
The first test is for speed & agility. I stand in a circle of dummies, and have to hit them when they pop up as quickly as possible, kind of like an oversized Whack-a-mole game.
The whistle blows and the first dummy pops up behind me. I quickly, in one motion, spin around and stab it in the chest, just as the next dummy pops up to my left, which I then use the back end of my spear to whack its head.
I go on for a few more seconds until I get caught off guard by a dummy popping up in my face. I stumble backwards and fall over. Here comes the judging my brother warned me about.
I hear a voice in the stands yell out, "You're gonna need to replace those feet of yours, honey."
"That wasn't even clever." I think to myself, but that was the unmistakable voice of Zachary. Big, bold, snobby Zach. He's considered the most popular in this academy, and is a highly experienced fighter, but I just see him as a nuisance. Ignoring him, I proceed to complete the first challenge.
The next challenge is about accuracy. A dummy pops up a few metres away from me. I have to throw my spear to see if I can hit it. The whistle blows again, I lob the spear past my shoulder, but miss the target just by a couple inches. I sigh, and move on to the third & final test, defending.
Two mechanical arms rise from the ground, the tip of them coated with foam so it doesn't hurt when they hit you. The whistle blows and they start swinging at me. I have to think fast, and manage to block about 70% of swings. My turn is over finally. I head back up to the bleachers and sit beside my brother.
"I'd say that was acceptable." He tells me.
"I hope so." I respond.
Another 2 hours pass. Laura and Dustyn eventually go, but honestly, I'm too tired to watch, and I feel bad about it.
When they ask me how they did, I just respond simply with, "You did great out there."
Finally, the level 10 students go down. Everyone is excited to see how they fair. At this point, I got bored and didn't bother, until this one person went down. He caught my attention, because it's a rare sight to see someone pick up knives. Compared to the other weapons on the rack, they're pretty... "small", but every weapon is lethal in the right hands, and those hands happened to be his.
On the first test, a cluster, probably 8 or 9, of circular targets are launched in the air. The test is to see how many you can hit before they touch the ground.
This student did the unbelievable. He clutched half of the knives in one hand, and half in the other, crossed his arms together like he was about to throw two boomerangs, and threw all of them at a very fast speed, hitting EVERY SINGLE TARGET at the same time.
Everyone is silent, even the judges are speechless. They immediately call him off because they've seen enough.
Without a word or emotion, he quietly walks back to his seat, making no eye contact with anyone. I could see envy and jealousy in a lot of people's faces, and frankly, I'm doing the same thing.
As the last student finishes, we are free to go, the test results are suppose to come in by tomorrow. It's getting late, so Dustyn and I start to walk home.
"Do you think we could do that?" I ask him.
"Do what?" He replies.
"Throw knives as accurately as that one guy did?" I say.
"I don't know, but whoever teaches him must be extremely skilled. I'd like to know how ANYONE is even able to master that." He replies.
Just then, I remember Laura asking me to visit her so she can show me something.
"Oh, Dustyn, go on without me. Laura asked me to go see her today." I say.
"Okay, but don't come home too late, the monsters will be roaming soon..." He replies.
Upon arriving at Laura's house, I knock on the door, to which I'm surprised to see it fly open and get pulled inside by her arm.
"Nobody followed you, right?" She asks.
"It's just me. What's the matter? You look all tense." I say.
Laura then starts walking away, signaling me to follow her. We get to her kitchen, and she slaps her hand down on the table beside this old looking book.
"This thing." She starts, "This thing I found is unusual, and not like all the other 'unusual' things I find, this thing is different."
I open up the book. The very first page is dusty, so I dust it off to reveal the title, "Origins of the Corrupt one"
Flipping the page shows the first piece of information, along with some weathered hand drawn pictures.
It's hard to make out the words, but I start to read anyway, "There was once a time where the world was peaceful and pure, everyone was happy. But the Gods were bored, they wanted a show to happen on this planet. So they created three monsters of pure evil. There was the Eye, the Worm, and the Skull, all placed in random locations around the world. Those three monsters each endlessly created minions to roam the world at night and feed off of the living. People then knew, the world they live in, is no longer safe, so they fought. Every night, monsters would die. Centuries went by until one noble warrior had enough. He journeyed to a high mountain, killing every monster he sees. He yelled out a battle cry, which summoned the Eye to show itself. The warrior then defeated the Eye, but made a mistake. The flesh of the Eye seeped into the ground, corrupting it. Days later, the land in that area was entirely corrupted. Evil had taken it over, but the warrior was clueless, until he summoned the Worm, which fled from him. The warrior followed the Worm until he got to the corruption, and then realised something was not right. But in his heart, he knew he had to rid the world of evil, so he killed the Worm.
After a short time had passed, the Skull knew it was the only one left, so it arose, enraged, and attempted to kill the warrior, but was no match. The Gods were furious. They banished him to the underworld, where they then created a fourth monster. The Gods themselves morphed into an enormous wall, created by the flesh of all dead things. The warrior knew that if he didn't stop this, evil would consume the world. The Gods were a challenge, but even them could not stop the warrior's strength. As the wall falls, the world changed, and so did the warrior. He gained the the God's knowledge, strength, and abilities, and finally knew what he has done was a mistake. He corrupted the world. The warrior then hid from mankind forever, knowing they would not be happy, as he once thought they would."
"And you think this is true?" I ask Laura.
"I'm not sure, but I'm also not skeptic." She replies.
"Maybe I should take this to my brother, he knows a lot about history. Maybe he can enlighten us." I say.
Laura hesitates for a second, then responds, "Alright, but I want it back ASAP."
"Don't worry, I'll return it." I respond, and head home. I hope Dustyn knows something about this, because it has me interested as well, but it's late now so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.
"Do you think we could do that?" I ask him.
"Do what?" He replies.
"Throw knives as accurately as that one guy did?" I say.
"I don't know, but whoever teaches him must be extremely skilled. I'd like to know how ANYONE is even able to master that." He replies.
Just then, I remember Laura asking me to visit her so she can show me something.
"Oh, Dustyn, go on without me. Laura asked me to go see her today." I say.
"Okay, but don't come home too late, the monsters will be roaming soon..." He replies.
Upon arriving at Laura's house, I knock on the door, to which I'm surprised to see it fly open and get pulled inside by her arm.
"Nobody followed you, right?" She asks.
"It's just me. What's the matter? You look all tense." I say.
Laura then starts walking away, signaling me to follow her. We get to her kitchen, and she slaps her hand down on the table beside this old looking book.
"This thing." She starts, "This thing I found is unusual, and not like all the other 'unusual' things I find, this thing is different."
I open up the book. The very first page is dusty, so I dust it off to reveal the title, "Origins of the Corrupt one"
Flipping the page shows the first piece of information, along with some weathered hand drawn pictures.
It's hard to make out the words, but I start to read anyway, "There was once a time where the world was peaceful and pure, everyone was happy. But the Gods were bored, they wanted a show to happen on this planet. So they created three monsters of pure evil. There was the Eye, the Worm, and the Skull, all placed in random locations around the world. Those three monsters each endlessly created minions to roam the world at night and feed off of the living. People then knew, the world they live in, is no longer safe, so they fought. Every night, monsters would die. Centuries went by until one noble warrior had enough. He journeyed to a high mountain, killing every monster he sees. He yelled out a battle cry, which summoned the Eye to show itself. The warrior then defeated the Eye, but made a mistake. The flesh of the Eye seeped into the ground, corrupting it. Days later, the land in that area was entirely corrupted. Evil had taken it over, but the warrior was clueless, until he summoned the Worm, which fled from him. The warrior followed the Worm until he got to the corruption, and then realised something was not right. But in his heart, he knew he had to rid the world of evil, so he killed the Worm.
After a short time had passed, the Skull knew it was the only one left, so it arose, enraged, and attempted to kill the warrior, but was no match. The Gods were furious. They banished him to the underworld, where they then created a fourth monster. The Gods themselves morphed into an enormous wall, created by the flesh of all dead things. The warrior knew that if he didn't stop this, evil would consume the world. The Gods were a challenge, but even them could not stop the warrior's strength. As the wall falls, the world changed, and so did the warrior. He gained the the God's knowledge, strength, and abilities, and finally knew what he has done was a mistake. He corrupted the world. The warrior then hid from mankind forever, knowing they would not be happy, as he once thought they would."
"And you think this is true?" I ask Laura.
"I'm not sure, but I'm also not skeptic." She replies.
"Maybe I should take this to my brother, he knows a lot about history. Maybe he can enlighten us." I say.
Laura hesitates for a second, then responds, "Alright, but I want it back ASAP."
"Don't worry, I'll return it." I respond, and head home. I hope Dustyn knows something about this, because it has me interested as well, but it's late now so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.
The next day, I wake up to another well cooked breakfast, courtesy of Dustyn. He reminded me that today, the test results would be mailed to us. I had almost forgotten. I was up most of the night thinking about that book.
"You sure look tired." Dustyn says.
"I didn't sleep well last night." I reply.
"Thinking about those test results?" He asks
"... Yeah. Yeah, the test results..." I sort of lose my train of thought. I didn't wanna tell Dustyn about the book yet. He thinks better when he's wide awake.
We're both silent as we finish eating breakfast.
"Okay then," Dustyn says, "I'm going to go to the smith now. Make sure to check the mail, I'll be back soon."
"Don't cut or burn yourself!" I joke.
"You're the clumsy one!" He jokes back, as he heads out the door.
As of now, Dustyn's engineering job is the only thing that's providing us with money. I wanted to get a job in the town as well, but I was found, 'unsuitable'. So hopefully the test results will be positive. I can start making money by hunting for food, leather, and other useful resources.
Suddenly, I hear noises outside. I look out the window to find unicorns stomping and pixies chasing after something. It looks like... a person? Unicorns and pixies are peaceful, but aggravating one of them is never a good idea. But this isn't just one animal chasing after someone, it's a whole swarm. Whoever was stupid enough to do something to intimidate this many of them better have a good reason. No one likes it when you kill them for sport.
I frown and think, "I guess I should go do something." But then I get another thought saying, "Don't, you idiot, you're not properly equipped. You don't even own any armor." Both voices in my head are right, so I listen to both of them. I grab my silver spear, ran out the door, but instead of rushing into the swarm, I follow behind them. They're all pretty fast, and I'm having a hard time keeping up, until I see a forest in the distance. One by one, the animals stop chasing whoever that guy was, they don't like being away from their habitats. They turn around, facing me. I thought they were gonna attack me, but they simply start walking back. I let out a sigh of relief and pet some of the unicorns as they walk by me.
"You're really lucky to escape what could've been your death." I whisper into the forest, and head back home.
About a few metres away from the house, I gasp, spotting mail on the doorstep. I rush to open them, and...
YES! WE PASSED! I'm so happy I could kiss a slime. I start strutting over to the town with a huge grin on my face. All the passing students have to consult the town's keeper to get their official licence. It's a decent walk, but I finally get to the place. The tallest building in the town, made of gold. I walk inside. There is a line up of all the passing students. I don't see Laura. Either she's up ahead, or didn't pass, which would be a shame. A few minutes go by, and I'm escorted by guards to meet with the town's keeper.
We get to a door, which is opened for me.
"Come in! Come in! Always glad to see another successful being, capable of accomplishing things!"
The town's keeper's name is Finkle. He is elderly, but should not be underestimated. It's a good thing he's a sweet old man.
"A pleasure to meet you!" I respond to Finkle's greeting.
"I've been expecting you... Eh... Elise! That's your name, right?" He says. "Come, sit down. Let's discuss."
I sit in the chair in front of his desk.
"I see you would like to become a hunter, one of my favourite occupations! I'd love to discuss your intentions, but sadly, there is still a line up of people waiting!" He says.
"Hehe, I'm just glad I passed the test." I reply.
"And you did a great job as well! Now, without further ado, here is your hunter's license."
Finkle suddenly makes the licence appear in his hand. That was just a taste of his magic. I take it, shake hands with him, and leave.
As I'm walking through the town, still with a grin on my face, I stop by Dustyn's workplace and tell him the news. He's equally as happy and goes to see Finkle right away. But he surprises me when he gives me my first actual hunting spear that he forged, as if he knew all along. It's beautifully crafted, the shaft is silver with golden bevels, and the tip is razor sharpened platinum. It's heavier than my old spear, but I can get used to the weight. I decide to immediately start hunting, until...
"GOBLINS!" Someone shouts as they run through the town gates, "They're coming! An army of them!"
"Ready the defences!" Aaron's voice shouts, "Everyone prepare yourselves!"
"This can't be happening, not now." I think to myself as everyone in the town starts panicking. I'm just standing still, frozen. But I eventually come to my senses when Dustyn slaps me on the back, telling me to move, and I quickly position myself close the frontlines of the guards.
"Come get some." I think to myself again, "I'm ready."
"You sure look tired." Dustyn says.
"I didn't sleep well last night." I reply.
"Thinking about those test results?" He asks
"... Yeah. Yeah, the test results..." I sort of lose my train of thought. I didn't wanna tell Dustyn about the book yet. He thinks better when he's wide awake.
We're both silent as we finish eating breakfast.
"Okay then," Dustyn says, "I'm going to go to the smith now. Make sure to check the mail, I'll be back soon."
"Don't cut or burn yourself!" I joke.
"You're the clumsy one!" He jokes back, as he heads out the door.
As of now, Dustyn's engineering job is the only thing that's providing us with money. I wanted to get a job in the town as well, but I was found, 'unsuitable'. So hopefully the test results will be positive. I can start making money by hunting for food, leather, and other useful resources.
Suddenly, I hear noises outside. I look out the window to find unicorns stomping and pixies chasing after something. It looks like... a person? Unicorns and pixies are peaceful, but aggravating one of them is never a good idea. But this isn't just one animal chasing after someone, it's a whole swarm. Whoever was stupid enough to do something to intimidate this many of them better have a good reason. No one likes it when you kill them for sport.
I frown and think, "I guess I should go do something." But then I get another thought saying, "Don't, you idiot, you're not properly equipped. You don't even own any armor." Both voices in my head are right, so I listen to both of them. I grab my silver spear, ran out the door, but instead of rushing into the swarm, I follow behind them. They're all pretty fast, and I'm having a hard time keeping up, until I see a forest in the distance. One by one, the animals stop chasing whoever that guy was, they don't like being away from their habitats. They turn around, facing me. I thought they were gonna attack me, but they simply start walking back. I let out a sigh of relief and pet some of the unicorns as they walk by me.
"You're really lucky to escape what could've been your death." I whisper into the forest, and head back home.
About a few metres away from the house, I gasp, spotting mail on the doorstep. I rush to open them, and...
YES! WE PASSED! I'm so happy I could kiss a slime. I start strutting over to the town with a huge grin on my face. All the passing students have to consult the town's keeper to get their official licence. It's a decent walk, but I finally get to the place. The tallest building in the town, made of gold. I walk inside. There is a line up of all the passing students. I don't see Laura. Either she's up ahead, or didn't pass, which would be a shame. A few minutes go by, and I'm escorted by guards to meet with the town's keeper.
We get to a door, which is opened for me.
"Come in! Come in! Always glad to see another successful being, capable of accomplishing things!"
The town's keeper's name is Finkle. He is elderly, but should not be underestimated. It's a good thing he's a sweet old man.
"A pleasure to meet you!" I respond to Finkle's greeting.
"I've been expecting you... Eh... Elise! That's your name, right?" He says. "Come, sit down. Let's discuss."
I sit in the chair in front of his desk.
"I see you would like to become a hunter, one of my favourite occupations! I'd love to discuss your intentions, but sadly, there is still a line up of people waiting!" He says.
"Hehe, I'm just glad I passed the test." I reply.
"And you did a great job as well! Now, without further ado, here is your hunter's license."
Finkle suddenly makes the licence appear in his hand. That was just a taste of his magic. I take it, shake hands with him, and leave.
As I'm walking through the town, still with a grin on my face, I stop by Dustyn's workplace and tell him the news. He's equally as happy and goes to see Finkle right away. But he surprises me when he gives me my first actual hunting spear that he forged, as if he knew all along. It's beautifully crafted, the shaft is silver with golden bevels, and the tip is razor sharpened platinum. It's heavier than my old spear, but I can get used to the weight. I decide to immediately start hunting, until...
"GOBLINS!" Someone shouts as they run through the town gates, "They're coming! An army of them!"
"Ready the defences!" Aaron's voice shouts, "Everyone prepare yourselves!"
"This can't be happening, not now." I think to myself as everyone in the town starts panicking. I'm just standing still, frozen. But I eventually come to my senses when Dustyn slaps me on the back, telling me to move, and I quickly position myself close the frontlines of the guards.
"Come get some." I think to myself again, "I'm ready."
Silence. Nobody moves a muscle. Everyone is just standing in position, waiting for the army to arrive. I take this time to look around. Dustyn is taking cover behind a wall to my left, Aaron is strangely no where to be seen, people are trying to get a better look of the situation, there are snipers in guard towers scoping the distance.
I hear one of the snipers say, "Enemies spotted!" Suddenly, a goblin mage teleports right in front of him and kills him with a waterbolt spell, just as another sniper then kills the mage.
"We've lost one!" The sniper calls out, then turns around and starts shooting forward.
I look in front of me to see the army charging up a hill. The goblin mage was a distraction. If the sniper hadn't started shooting forward, we would've not noticed the army coming until it's too late.
Behind me, I hear a warcry, followed by Zach charging into battle with armor made of tungsten, and a flail made of platinum. People start to follow, and I do the same. All of the rangers, including Dustyn, stay back, which makes sense. You wouldn't want to rush into someone with a blade while only having a bow and/or a gun. I pick my target, a goblin wearing iron armor and wielding an iron broadsword. We start to battle it out. My platinum tip spear is stronger than his iron sword and manages to damage it, to which I am able to strike the killing blow, right through his chest. As I scan the area for my next target, an arrow lands in front of me, then another beside me.
I look up and see the sky raining death. "Fall back!" I yell and point to the sky. Everyone looks up and quickly follow my order, but the arrows manage to hit a lot of people. Suddenly, a large amount goblin mages start teleporting to the battlefield. Now we're in trouble, we're out numbered, and they just brought in reinforcements.
But then, I see Aaron appear from the town gate, "Bring in the sharks, boys!" she yells and points toward the battlefield.
Just then, five elite guards, wearing platinum armor and rocket boots fly over the gate, move towards the rear of the goblin army, and hover in the air. Almost in sync, they each reach behind them and pull out minisharks, take aim, start spinning them up, and lay waste to the area. The goblins are being devastated by the assault and start to flee. I manage to stab another one who tried to run past me with my spear. He collapsed dead on the ground. Some people start cheering in victory, others are silent to respect the people who died on this battle. The elite guards fly back into the town. I had never seen guards like those before, let alone in action. They must be for emergencies only or something, because we certainly were in an emergency. This wasn't the first time our town was attacked by goblins, though all the other times, I wasn't fighting with the guards because I was too young and haven't passed the exam yet. But I still just watched from a distance, terrified. Those elite guards have never been called out before, which means the goblins are getting smarter. If we don't do something fast, we'll eventually lose.
Dustyn runs up to me, "Are you hurt?" He franticly asks.
"I'm fine, what about you?" I reply.
"Thank goodness, not a scratch on me either." He says.
People start heading to their homes to celebrate.
"Dustyn", I start, "There's something I need to show you at home."
"Hm? Okay then." He replies.
When we get home, I show Dustyn the book, telling everything about it to him. He appears to be interested, because when he finishes reading, he starts looking around the book for more information.
"Hey, did you see this?" He asks, pointing to a smudge on the back of the book.
"What about it? it's just a smudge." I reply.
Dustyn then reaches over for a cloth, and rubs the area. It takes awhile but it eventually comes off.
"What's it say?" I ask.
Dustin reads out the small sentence, "For the living to be pure, all that is corrupt cannot obscure."
"What does that mean?" He asks.
"Well, the book tells about an area called the "Corruption". Maybe it means that area has to be cleansed or something." I reply.
We both stare at the book, thinking of what to do.
"... We could at least try to find the Corruption.", Dustin says.
I think about this. Is it a good idea to leave the protection of our home, the village, the Hallow, and our friends for who knows how long, to potentially find something we only have a vague idea about? A logical person would say no, but I still haven't hunted any animals yet, so this may be a good chance to do that, and when we come back, we'll be rewarded greatly for supporting the town. Plus I don't expect goblins to attack again any time soon, so I'd just be back to the same life I'd been living. I don't see Laura much anyway due to her obsession, and I've always been curious about the world outside.
"Alright," I say, "But we can't just "disappear", we should at least tell people we're gonna be journeying for awhile, plus I have to return this book to Laura."
"Of course." Dustyn replies.
We walk to town, and when we get to the gate, we tell Aaron about our journey.
"Are you serious? You're willing to do this?" She asks.
We nod, and she then says, "Alright, then. I admire you two, you're pretty brave. Crazy, but brave. Oh, and if I were you, I'd go see Finkle before you leave. He might be able to assist you."
"Sounds good." I say, and she opens the gates to let us in.
When we enter the golden building, we're stopped by guards.
"State your business." One of them says.
Before we could respond, Finkle enters and orders them to let us in.
"Welcome back you two, I know why you're here." Finkle starts, "You're on a quest to find the Corruption."
"Yes, how did you know?" I ask.
He chuckles, "I'm a powerful mage, and you could say I have a sixth sense. I can read your thoughts."
Dustyn and I jolt our heads back and widen our eyes. The thought of that is... uncomfortable.
"I suppose, you require aid to your quest." Finkle says, "Here, take these."
He sweeps his arm over his desk and makes a variety of potions appear. Healing, swiftness, shine, night owl, iron skin, and the most expensive to buy, invisibility.
We take the vials, show our gratitude, then head over to Laura's house to return the book.
When we get to Laura's house, there's a sign on the door that reads, "Will be back later."
Not a particularly smart thing to do, but since she isn't home, probably sneaking around somewhere, I slide the book through her mail slot with a note on it telling of our journey. Hopefully she doesn't get worried and try to follow us.
"Alright," Dustyn starts, "One more thing. Let's head to the smith real quickly."
As we arrive, Dustin starts forging. I don't question why. It does however take a while for him to finish, but when he does, I'm delighted by the sight of two sets of silver armor. Finally, we can be protected.
I try my set on. Feels bulky, but it's easy to get used to.
"I think we're ready now." I say.
"Want to go home and get some sleep before we leave?" Dustyn asks.
"Sure." I reply, and we walked home.
As I get into bed, I whisper to myself, "Don't be afraid of the world outside. You're a hunter now, you'll be doing things like this regularly. Get used to it."
And I shut my eyes.
I hear one of the snipers say, "Enemies spotted!" Suddenly, a goblin mage teleports right in front of him and kills him with a waterbolt spell, just as another sniper then kills the mage.
"We've lost one!" The sniper calls out, then turns around and starts shooting forward.
I look in front of me to see the army charging up a hill. The goblin mage was a distraction. If the sniper hadn't started shooting forward, we would've not noticed the army coming until it's too late.
Behind me, I hear a warcry, followed by Zach charging into battle with armor made of tungsten, and a flail made of platinum. People start to follow, and I do the same. All of the rangers, including Dustyn, stay back, which makes sense. You wouldn't want to rush into someone with a blade while only having a bow and/or a gun. I pick my target, a goblin wearing iron armor and wielding an iron broadsword. We start to battle it out. My platinum tip spear is stronger than his iron sword and manages to damage it, to which I am able to strike the killing blow, right through his chest. As I scan the area for my next target, an arrow lands in front of me, then another beside me.
I look up and see the sky raining death. "Fall back!" I yell and point to the sky. Everyone looks up and quickly follow my order, but the arrows manage to hit a lot of people. Suddenly, a large amount goblin mages start teleporting to the battlefield. Now we're in trouble, we're out numbered, and they just brought in reinforcements.
But then, I see Aaron appear from the town gate, "Bring in the sharks, boys!" she yells and points toward the battlefield.
Just then, five elite guards, wearing platinum armor and rocket boots fly over the gate, move towards the rear of the goblin army, and hover in the air. Almost in sync, they each reach behind them and pull out minisharks, take aim, start spinning them up, and lay waste to the area. The goblins are being devastated by the assault and start to flee. I manage to stab another one who tried to run past me with my spear. He collapsed dead on the ground. Some people start cheering in victory, others are silent to respect the people who died on this battle. The elite guards fly back into the town. I had never seen guards like those before, let alone in action. They must be for emergencies only or something, because we certainly were in an emergency. This wasn't the first time our town was attacked by goblins, though all the other times, I wasn't fighting with the guards because I was too young and haven't passed the exam yet. But I still just watched from a distance, terrified. Those elite guards have never been called out before, which means the goblins are getting smarter. If we don't do something fast, we'll eventually lose.
Dustyn runs up to me, "Are you hurt?" He franticly asks.
"I'm fine, what about you?" I reply.
"Thank goodness, not a scratch on me either." He says.
People start heading to their homes to celebrate.
"Dustyn", I start, "There's something I need to show you at home."
"Hm? Okay then." He replies.
When we get home, I show Dustyn the book, telling everything about it to him. He appears to be interested, because when he finishes reading, he starts looking around the book for more information.
"Hey, did you see this?" He asks, pointing to a smudge on the back of the book.
"What about it? it's just a smudge." I reply.
Dustyn then reaches over for a cloth, and rubs the area. It takes awhile but it eventually comes off.
"What's it say?" I ask.
Dustin reads out the small sentence, "For the living to be pure, all that is corrupt cannot obscure."
"What does that mean?" He asks.
"Well, the book tells about an area called the "Corruption". Maybe it means that area has to be cleansed or something." I reply.
We both stare at the book, thinking of what to do.
"... We could at least try to find the Corruption.", Dustin says.
I think about this. Is it a good idea to leave the protection of our home, the village, the Hallow, and our friends for who knows how long, to potentially find something we only have a vague idea about? A logical person would say no, but I still haven't hunted any animals yet, so this may be a good chance to do that, and when we come back, we'll be rewarded greatly for supporting the town. Plus I don't expect goblins to attack again any time soon, so I'd just be back to the same life I'd been living. I don't see Laura much anyway due to her obsession, and I've always been curious about the world outside.
"Alright," I say, "But we can't just "disappear", we should at least tell people we're gonna be journeying for awhile, plus I have to return this book to Laura."
"Of course." Dustyn replies.
We walk to town, and when we get to the gate, we tell Aaron about our journey.
"Are you serious? You're willing to do this?" She asks.
We nod, and she then says, "Alright, then. I admire you two, you're pretty brave. Crazy, but brave. Oh, and if I were you, I'd go see Finkle before you leave. He might be able to assist you."
"Sounds good." I say, and she opens the gates to let us in.
When we enter the golden building, we're stopped by guards.
"State your business." One of them says.
Before we could respond, Finkle enters and orders them to let us in.
"Welcome back you two, I know why you're here." Finkle starts, "You're on a quest to find the Corruption."
"Yes, how did you know?" I ask.
He chuckles, "I'm a powerful mage, and you could say I have a sixth sense. I can read your thoughts."
Dustyn and I jolt our heads back and widen our eyes. The thought of that is... uncomfortable.
"I suppose, you require aid to your quest." Finkle says, "Here, take these."
He sweeps his arm over his desk and makes a variety of potions appear. Healing, swiftness, shine, night owl, iron skin, and the most expensive to buy, invisibility.
We take the vials, show our gratitude, then head over to Laura's house to return the book.
When we get to Laura's house, there's a sign on the door that reads, "Will be back later."
Not a particularly smart thing to do, but since she isn't home, probably sneaking around somewhere, I slide the book through her mail slot with a note on it telling of our journey. Hopefully she doesn't get worried and try to follow us.
"Alright," Dustyn starts, "One more thing. Let's head to the smith real quickly."
As we arrive, Dustin starts forging. I don't question why. It does however take a while for him to finish, but when he does, I'm delighted by the sight of two sets of silver armor. Finally, we can be protected.
I try my set on. Feels bulky, but it's easy to get used to.
"I think we're ready now." I say.
"Want to go home and get some sleep before we leave?" Dustyn asks.
"Sure." I reply, and we walked home.
As I get into bed, I whisper to myself, "Don't be afraid of the world outside. You're a hunter now, you'll be doing things like this regularly. Get used to it."
And I shut my eyes.
The next day, I overslept, probably because I didn't get much sleep yesterday night. It’s almost 10:30am, so I immediately rush downstairs.
“Dustyn?” I say, but get no response. Then I hear what sounds like wood banging against something coming from the backyard. I head out there to find Dustyn shooting arrows at targets that he made.
“Why didn't you wake me?” I ask as I approach him.
Dustyn doesn’t look at me, and continues focusing on his shooting.
“We need all the rest we can get." He says, "It’s never a good idea to wander a dangerous world while drowsy. But since you’re up, do you think you’re ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure. Let’s go.” I say.
Dustyn pulls out the arrows from the targets and we both walk into the house to equip our armor, weapons, and get the potions that Finkle gave us. As I open the front door, I'm startled by Laura who’s just been standing there.
“Guess who’s coming with you!” She says.
“Geez Laura, can you not do that next time? And sorry, but I don’t know if you should come.” I reply.
“Wha- Why not?” She asks.
“Have you passed the exam?” I ask back.
“…No, but c’mon! You’re just two people against hundreds of monsters!”
Then Dustyn steps in, “Laura, please. If we both die, what’s the point for you to die as well? Besides it’s illegal to leave the Hallow without passing that exam. You may not be welcome back into the village.”
Laura pauses then says, “Ugh, fine. Be that way. I expected at least you to back me up, Elise. If you get back, we're gonna have a serious talk about this.” And she runs off.
Laura can be pretty stubborn at times, but she’ll probably forget why she’s even mad at me. Moving on, Dustyn and I finally set off to find the Corruption.
About 15 minutes of walking later, we get to the edge of the Hallow, there’s just forestry ahead of us now. People refer to it as ‘The Purity’. I don’t know why it has an unusual name like that, but whatever, we continue walking.
Dustyn starts looking confused.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I ask him.
“Of course. We’re heading uh… west.” He replies.
“Just, ‘west’? No landmarks or anything?” say.
“Alright, I don’t know where we’re going. What do you think we should do?” Dustyn asks.
I scan the environment, “Well, there’s a mountain straight ahead of us, it’s pretty far, but it can be used as a vantage point. We’ll figure out where to go from there.” I say.
Dustyn agrees, and we start walking, but only get about half way before the sun starts setting. We have two options now- Fight the monsters that will awaken, or seek shelter for the night. We decide to choose the safer option. Dustyn goes to look for something to use as a shelter, and I go get some wood to make a fire so we don’t freeze. That’s when I realize I don’t have an axe to cut down trees with. I guess it’s time to improvise, so I start stabbing a tree with my spear. It takes forever, but it finally falls down. This tree isn't that big, in fact, it was thin and only a few feet off the ground. I manage to carry it myself. I run into Dustyn who tells me he found something to shelter in, a cave. Not the most comforting, but it’s not like we have a choice. I make the fire just as the moon starts rising. Dustyn and I roll a boulder to cover up the entrance of our cave so that nothing gets in. Feeling safe, we try to get some sleep on the hard rock floor.
As soon as I wake up, I’m hungry. Dustyn and I roll the boulder off the cave entrance, letting in the sunlight, and we hunt some squirrels and rabbits that have been strolling by. We cook and eat them quickly, trying to save as much daylight as possible, and once we finish, continue trekking towards the mountain, leaving our camp behind.
“You think it’s a good time to try out those swiftness potions now? We’ll definitely save a lot of time.” I say to Dustyn.
“Why not?” He replies, and we both guzzle down the potions. Instantly, I feel a tremendous adrenaline rush, and become wide awake. Dustyn and I sprint towards the mountain and make it there in no time. Thankfully the mountain's not too steep, so it doesn’t take us long to hike it, especially with these potions still in effect, but once we reach the top, the effects wear off. We both start looking around in the distance, trying to find something that looks promising to head towards. All I see are trees, trees, and more trees though.
"I don't see anything good," I say, "What about you?"
“Mmmm, nope. I don't see any- Hey, look at that!” Dustyn says pointing towards the sky not too far in front of him.
I look in his direction, “Is that… a wyvern?” I ask.
“Indeed it is!” He replies.
Amazing. Wyverns are extremely rare and are said to live in the clouds. This creature is beautiful and looks so peaceful, making no noise at all as it flies around... flying around in a serpent like motion… coming… coming straight towards us!
“DUCK!” I yell as it flies past us.
The wyvern pulls up and starts turning around to attack again. Dustyn and I roll out of the way as it swoops down.
“Why is it attacking us!?” I yell.
“I don't know, but we can't fight that thing! We have to run!” Dustyn replies.
Now would've been a good time to use those swiftness potions, but nevertheless, we run. Hard. Down the mountain, the wyvern chasing us, dive bombing us, and for the first time, it roars in anger. The sound is so loud it could be heard from miles. Dustyn starts shooting at it with his pistol as he continues to run down the mountain. The wyvern doesn't seem to be getting hurt by the bullets, but they still irritate it as it pulls away from me and starts attacking Dustyn. It gets so close to us that I manage to stab it once, right in the face, but to my surprise, the spear broke. It had no effect on the wyvern. Suddenly, it flies straight up and spirals, then dives at us with tremendous speed. We try to evade it, but we’re not fast enough. The wyvern impacts directly behind us, and the shock sends us flying into the air. We hit the ground hard and tumble down the mountain for what feels like 30 painful seconds. Dustyn's head hits a stray boulder which stops him from tumbling, but has also knocked him out cold. I stop at the end of the mountain, lying on my back, my body in so much pain, and I’m so weak and dazed from the impact to even get back up. I look forward, the wyvern is diving straight towards me.
Time slows down, “This is it.” I think, “This is how we die.”
I close my eyes and wait for the impact that will kill me, and then… nothing. I'm still alive. I should be dead, why am I not dead? I don't want to look. What if the wyvern thinks I am dead? If I look, it could alert it to finish me off, but I just cannot resist the urge to see what happened.
I open my eyes anyway and everything is blurry. I force my head to tilt up and feel a sharp pain in my neck which makes me moan while doing so. In a weird twist of events, the wyvern’s corpse is on the ground with its head severed clean off. I’m confused. What just happened? I start feeling woozy, everything is going black, but just before my energy diminishes entirely, I notice a faint human figure walking towards me, then I black out.
“Dustyn?” I say, but get no response. Then I hear what sounds like wood banging against something coming from the backyard. I head out there to find Dustyn shooting arrows at targets that he made.
“Why didn't you wake me?” I ask as I approach him.
Dustyn doesn’t look at me, and continues focusing on his shooting.
“We need all the rest we can get." He says, "It’s never a good idea to wander a dangerous world while drowsy. But since you’re up, do you think you’re ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure. Let’s go.” I say.
Dustyn pulls out the arrows from the targets and we both walk into the house to equip our armor, weapons, and get the potions that Finkle gave us. As I open the front door, I'm startled by Laura who’s just been standing there.
“Guess who’s coming with you!” She says.
“Geez Laura, can you not do that next time? And sorry, but I don’t know if you should come.” I reply.
“Wha- Why not?” She asks.
“Have you passed the exam?” I ask back.
“…No, but c’mon! You’re just two people against hundreds of monsters!”
Then Dustyn steps in, “Laura, please. If we both die, what’s the point for you to die as well? Besides it’s illegal to leave the Hallow without passing that exam. You may not be welcome back into the village.”
Laura pauses then says, “Ugh, fine. Be that way. I expected at least you to back me up, Elise. If you get back, we're gonna have a serious talk about this.” And she runs off.
Laura can be pretty stubborn at times, but she’ll probably forget why she’s even mad at me. Moving on, Dustyn and I finally set off to find the Corruption.
About 15 minutes of walking later, we get to the edge of the Hallow, there’s just forestry ahead of us now. People refer to it as ‘The Purity’. I don’t know why it has an unusual name like that, but whatever, we continue walking.
Dustyn starts looking confused.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I ask him.
“Of course. We’re heading uh… west.” He replies.
“Just, ‘west’? No landmarks or anything?” say.
“Alright, I don’t know where we’re going. What do you think we should do?” Dustyn asks.
I scan the environment, “Well, there’s a mountain straight ahead of us, it’s pretty far, but it can be used as a vantage point. We’ll figure out where to go from there.” I say.
Dustyn agrees, and we start walking, but only get about half way before the sun starts setting. We have two options now- Fight the monsters that will awaken, or seek shelter for the night. We decide to choose the safer option. Dustyn goes to look for something to use as a shelter, and I go get some wood to make a fire so we don’t freeze. That’s when I realize I don’t have an axe to cut down trees with. I guess it’s time to improvise, so I start stabbing a tree with my spear. It takes forever, but it finally falls down. This tree isn't that big, in fact, it was thin and only a few feet off the ground. I manage to carry it myself. I run into Dustyn who tells me he found something to shelter in, a cave. Not the most comforting, but it’s not like we have a choice. I make the fire just as the moon starts rising. Dustyn and I roll a boulder to cover up the entrance of our cave so that nothing gets in. Feeling safe, we try to get some sleep on the hard rock floor.
As soon as I wake up, I’m hungry. Dustyn and I roll the boulder off the cave entrance, letting in the sunlight, and we hunt some squirrels and rabbits that have been strolling by. We cook and eat them quickly, trying to save as much daylight as possible, and once we finish, continue trekking towards the mountain, leaving our camp behind.
“You think it’s a good time to try out those swiftness potions now? We’ll definitely save a lot of time.” I say to Dustyn.
“Why not?” He replies, and we both guzzle down the potions. Instantly, I feel a tremendous adrenaline rush, and become wide awake. Dustyn and I sprint towards the mountain and make it there in no time. Thankfully the mountain's not too steep, so it doesn’t take us long to hike it, especially with these potions still in effect, but once we reach the top, the effects wear off. We both start looking around in the distance, trying to find something that looks promising to head towards. All I see are trees, trees, and more trees though.
"I don't see anything good," I say, "What about you?"
“Mmmm, nope. I don't see any- Hey, look at that!” Dustyn says pointing towards the sky not too far in front of him.
I look in his direction, “Is that… a wyvern?” I ask.
“Indeed it is!” He replies.
Amazing. Wyverns are extremely rare and are said to live in the clouds. This creature is beautiful and looks so peaceful, making no noise at all as it flies around... flying around in a serpent like motion… coming… coming straight towards us!
“DUCK!” I yell as it flies past us.
The wyvern pulls up and starts turning around to attack again. Dustyn and I roll out of the way as it swoops down.
“Why is it attacking us!?” I yell.
“I don't know, but we can't fight that thing! We have to run!” Dustyn replies.
Now would've been a good time to use those swiftness potions, but nevertheless, we run. Hard. Down the mountain, the wyvern chasing us, dive bombing us, and for the first time, it roars in anger. The sound is so loud it could be heard from miles. Dustyn starts shooting at it with his pistol as he continues to run down the mountain. The wyvern doesn't seem to be getting hurt by the bullets, but they still irritate it as it pulls away from me and starts attacking Dustyn. It gets so close to us that I manage to stab it once, right in the face, but to my surprise, the spear broke. It had no effect on the wyvern. Suddenly, it flies straight up and spirals, then dives at us with tremendous speed. We try to evade it, but we’re not fast enough. The wyvern impacts directly behind us, and the shock sends us flying into the air. We hit the ground hard and tumble down the mountain for what feels like 30 painful seconds. Dustyn's head hits a stray boulder which stops him from tumbling, but has also knocked him out cold. I stop at the end of the mountain, lying on my back, my body in so much pain, and I’m so weak and dazed from the impact to even get back up. I look forward, the wyvern is diving straight towards me.
Time slows down, “This is it.” I think, “This is how we die.”
I close my eyes and wait for the impact that will kill me, and then… nothing. I'm still alive. I should be dead, why am I not dead? I don't want to look. What if the wyvern thinks I am dead? If I look, it could alert it to finish me off, but I just cannot resist the urge to see what happened.
I open my eyes anyway and everything is blurry. I force my head to tilt up and feel a sharp pain in my neck which makes me moan while doing so. In a weird twist of events, the wyvern’s corpse is on the ground with its head severed clean off. I’m confused. What just happened? I start feeling woozy, everything is going black, but just before my energy diminishes entirely, I notice a faint human figure walking towards me, then I black out.
Splash! I’m awakened by a bucket of water to the face. The sudden shock makes me jolt, and I let out a slight scream because my joints still hurt.
“Open your mouth.” A male voice says.
I can’t see anyone; my vision is still too blurry.
“Who are you?” I ask blindly.
“I am here to help. Open your mouth.” The voice responds.
I do as I’m told, and a sweet tasting liquid is poured down my throat. Suddenly, my joint pain slowly starts disappearing, and my vision slowly starts returning to normal.
“Rest, and only get up when you feel better.” The voice says, then I hear footsteps exiting the area.
After some time has passed, the pain in my joints is completely gone, and I can see clearly. I’m in what looks like a dimly lit cabin. There is little furniture in the room I’m in, and I appear to be lying on a counter. Very slowly, I start positioning myself upright. No pain. I get off the counter and as I touch the floor, my balance is a bit off. I guess I should get used to walking again. Now I just need to find the answers to a few questions. Where am I? Where is Dustyn? How long was I out for? What time is it? Who was that voice? I start shuffling towards a door, and as I open it, I see Dustyn lying on another counter in an equally dim lit room.
“Dustyn?” I whisper, and get responded with faint moans, “Dustyn, you’re gonna be okay. I’ll… I’ll go see if there’s medicine somewhere in here.”
I start looking around the cabin, opening shelves, cupboards, chests, which all surprisingly contain nothing in them. Then I hear a door open. Someone just came in. I need to hide quickly, but there’s nowhere good, so I just position myself against a wall across from Dustyn. A man walks into his room carrying a flask with pink liquid, and a bucket of water. I watch as he splashes Dustyn in the face with the water, which makes him jolt and moan the same way I did.
“Open your mouth.” The man says.
Then I realize it was him. This is the man that healed me. I continue watching.
Dustyn starts to talk but his voice is very weak, “Wh- What a-are you do-.“ He starts coughing before he could finish.
“I am here to help. Open your mouth.” The man says.
“Why sh-should I t-t-trust you?” Dustyn replies.
“Your other option is to lie here and die.” The man says.
“F-fine then.” Dustyn replies and opens his mouth. The man then pours the flask of pink liquid down his throat. I assume that’s what I drank as well.
“What d-did you give m-me?” Dustyn asks slightly panicked. “Where’s my s-sist-“ And he’s coughing again.
“Rest, and only get up when you feel better. And do not worry about your sister, she is standing behind that wall.” The man says.
What? He knew I was hiding here the whole time? But how?
“No need to hide from me” He calls out, “I did help you, did I not?”
I creep into sight. The man is quite tall, has black hair, and is wearing average clothing. But he has strange fiery red eyes that appear to reflect light pretty well, and a creepy deep scar that starts at the left of his forehead, and ends at the middle of his chin.
“How did you… Never mind, where are we?” I ask.
“You are in one of the few shelters I have built for people like you.” He replies.
“People… like me? What’s that suppose to mean?” I ask.
“You and your brother are very special. Wyverns do not attack anything un-aggravated.” He says, “The only time they will, is when they see something as a threat. That threat being you and your brother.”
“What? Why would a Wyvern feel threatened by us?” I ask.
“Because you both have Will-souls.” He replies, “You are extremely rare human traits and your Will-souls are more powerful than you can imagine.”
“I don’t FEEL so “powerful.” I say.
“Right now, your Will-souls are neutral, which is what makes you human. They can be activated by light or dark energy, and once they are active, you will then see why that wyvern saw you as a threat.” He replies.
“So… What happens once they’re active?” I ask.
“What happens, and what choices you make are up to you.” He replies.
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.
“Because I need your help.” He replies. “I will explain everything later.”
“…Who are you?” I ask.
“Just call me ‘D’.” He replies.
“D? That’s it? Just ‘D’?” I say.
“Yes.” He replies.
“Okay… My name is Elise. Thanks for saving us.” I say.
D just nods. Suddenly, Dustyn starts groaning as he sits up.
“My head hurts…” He says quietly, “Hey, where are we? Where’s our armor and weapons? And who is this, Elise?”
“Oh, you cannot hope to fight the evils of the world with armor and weapons made out of weak materials like that. I discarded them.” D says.
“You WHAT!?” Dustyn yells. “Platinum is the best material for combat items known to man, and silver is quite acceptable! How could you get rid of them!?”
“See, that is where you are wrong.” D says, “You both have so much to learn, and who knows how much time. While you two were unconscious, I went out and re-created your gear out of slightly better materials I call demonite. Follow me.”
We both follow D to a basement, he opens a door and reveal two sets of dark looking armor and weapons.
“What exactly IS ‘demonite’.?” I ask.
“Materials made from corrupted earth. Stronger, lighter, and stealthier.” D replies.
So the corruption DOES exist and D knows where it is… And if so, then does that mean everything else we read in that book is also true?
Dustyn and I try on the armor. It feels strange, and uncomfortable, and gives me dark feelings. Leaning against the wall is a three-pronged spear, presumably made of demonite as well, which I then grab. Dustyn has a new bow made of the same stuff, and instead of his flintlock pistol, he’s been upgraded to a modern pistol.
All of us then walk outside to a bright green forest.
“I will give you time to get used to your new gear.” D says, “I cannot stay any longer, I have work to do.”
D then hands both of us flasks with dark purple liquid.
“Do not waste these.” He then points to a rocky trail, “When you are ready to see me again, follow this trail. You will know when you reach the end, and only drink these potions once you get there. I will tell you all you need to know when you arrive, do not take too long to do so.”
Suddenly, D activates his well disguised rocket boots and flies away just before we could question him some more.
Dustyn and I just stare at each other, confused and curious. What is D planning to do? Why does he need our help? He says he doesn't know how much time is left. What does he mean by that? How does he know so much? Can we even trust him? Questions continue to pile up in our brains. There’s something about him that’s… off. The only way we’ll be able to understand what in the world is happening, is to pay him another visit.
“Open your mouth.” A male voice says.
I can’t see anyone; my vision is still too blurry.
“Who are you?” I ask blindly.
“I am here to help. Open your mouth.” The voice responds.
I do as I’m told, and a sweet tasting liquid is poured down my throat. Suddenly, my joint pain slowly starts disappearing, and my vision slowly starts returning to normal.
“Rest, and only get up when you feel better.” The voice says, then I hear footsteps exiting the area.
After some time has passed, the pain in my joints is completely gone, and I can see clearly. I’m in what looks like a dimly lit cabin. There is little furniture in the room I’m in, and I appear to be lying on a counter. Very slowly, I start positioning myself upright. No pain. I get off the counter and as I touch the floor, my balance is a bit off. I guess I should get used to walking again. Now I just need to find the answers to a few questions. Where am I? Where is Dustyn? How long was I out for? What time is it? Who was that voice? I start shuffling towards a door, and as I open it, I see Dustyn lying on another counter in an equally dim lit room.
“Dustyn?” I whisper, and get responded with faint moans, “Dustyn, you’re gonna be okay. I’ll… I’ll go see if there’s medicine somewhere in here.”
I start looking around the cabin, opening shelves, cupboards, chests, which all surprisingly contain nothing in them. Then I hear a door open. Someone just came in. I need to hide quickly, but there’s nowhere good, so I just position myself against a wall across from Dustyn. A man walks into his room carrying a flask with pink liquid, and a bucket of water. I watch as he splashes Dustyn in the face with the water, which makes him jolt and moan the same way I did.
“Open your mouth.” The man says.
Then I realize it was him. This is the man that healed me. I continue watching.
Dustyn starts to talk but his voice is very weak, “Wh- What a-are you do-.“ He starts coughing before he could finish.
“I am here to help. Open your mouth.” The man says.
“Why sh-should I t-t-trust you?” Dustyn replies.
“Your other option is to lie here and die.” The man says.
“F-fine then.” Dustyn replies and opens his mouth. The man then pours the flask of pink liquid down his throat. I assume that’s what I drank as well.
“What d-did you give m-me?” Dustyn asks slightly panicked. “Where’s my s-sist-“ And he’s coughing again.
“Rest, and only get up when you feel better. And do not worry about your sister, she is standing behind that wall.” The man says.
What? He knew I was hiding here the whole time? But how?
“No need to hide from me” He calls out, “I did help you, did I not?”
I creep into sight. The man is quite tall, has black hair, and is wearing average clothing. But he has strange fiery red eyes that appear to reflect light pretty well, and a creepy deep scar that starts at the left of his forehead, and ends at the middle of his chin.
“How did you… Never mind, where are we?” I ask.
“You are in one of the few shelters I have built for people like you.” He replies.
“People… like me? What’s that suppose to mean?” I ask.
“You and your brother are very special. Wyverns do not attack anything un-aggravated.” He says, “The only time they will, is when they see something as a threat. That threat being you and your brother.”
“What? Why would a Wyvern feel threatened by us?” I ask.
“Because you both have Will-souls.” He replies, “You are extremely rare human traits and your Will-souls are more powerful than you can imagine.”
“I don’t FEEL so “powerful.” I say.
“Right now, your Will-souls are neutral, which is what makes you human. They can be activated by light or dark energy, and once they are active, you will then see why that wyvern saw you as a threat.” He replies.
“So… What happens once they’re active?” I ask.
“What happens, and what choices you make are up to you.” He replies.
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.
“Because I need your help.” He replies. “I will explain everything later.”
“…Who are you?” I ask.
“Just call me ‘D’.” He replies.
“D? That’s it? Just ‘D’?” I say.
“Yes.” He replies.
“Okay… My name is Elise. Thanks for saving us.” I say.
D just nods. Suddenly, Dustyn starts groaning as he sits up.
“My head hurts…” He says quietly, “Hey, where are we? Where’s our armor and weapons? And who is this, Elise?”
“Oh, you cannot hope to fight the evils of the world with armor and weapons made out of weak materials like that. I discarded them.” D says.
“You WHAT!?” Dustyn yells. “Platinum is the best material for combat items known to man, and silver is quite acceptable! How could you get rid of them!?”
“See, that is where you are wrong.” D says, “You both have so much to learn, and who knows how much time. While you two were unconscious, I went out and re-created your gear out of slightly better materials I call demonite. Follow me.”
We both follow D to a basement, he opens a door and reveal two sets of dark looking armor and weapons.
“What exactly IS ‘demonite’.?” I ask.
“Materials made from corrupted earth. Stronger, lighter, and stealthier.” D replies.
So the corruption DOES exist and D knows where it is… And if so, then does that mean everything else we read in that book is also true?
Dustyn and I try on the armor. It feels strange, and uncomfortable, and gives me dark feelings. Leaning against the wall is a three-pronged spear, presumably made of demonite as well, which I then grab. Dustyn has a new bow made of the same stuff, and instead of his flintlock pistol, he’s been upgraded to a modern pistol.
All of us then walk outside to a bright green forest.
“I will give you time to get used to your new gear.” D says, “I cannot stay any longer, I have work to do.”
D then hands both of us flasks with dark purple liquid.
“Do not waste these.” He then points to a rocky trail, “When you are ready to see me again, follow this trail. You will know when you reach the end, and only drink these potions once you get there. I will tell you all you need to know when you arrive, do not take too long to do so.”
Suddenly, D activates his well disguised rocket boots and flies away just before we could question him some more.
Dustyn and I just stare at each other, confused and curious. What is D planning to do? Why does he need our help? He says he doesn't know how much time is left. What does he mean by that? How does he know so much? Can we even trust him? Questions continue to pile up in our brains. There’s something about him that’s… off. The only way we’ll be able to understand what in the world is happening, is to pay him another visit.
“What now?” I ask Dustyn.
“Well, uh… I guess we start following the path that D told us to?” He replies.
“But he said we should get used to our new armor and weapons.” I say.
Dustyn then turns around, shoots a squirrel with his bow, pulls out his pistol and shoots a passing bird flying over him, and lets it fall on his helmet with a *clunk*.
“I think I’m used to it.” He replies, “Besides, D did say we shouldn't take long to visit him again.”
I smile and roll my eyes, “Alright then. You seem eager.”
“I’m not going to let one near death experience stop me. If it can kill, it can be killed.” Dustyn replies.
“Neither will I.” I say as we start walking along the stone path.
It’s just past noon, so we might have enough time to make it to the end before sundown, but then again, I have no idea how long this path is anyway, and quite frankly, I want the night to come. I’m tired of hiding from monsters, and with this new gear we have, we should be able to outlast the night. Eventually, the path leads us to a long natural tunnel. We walk in, expecting some monsters to be lurking.
“It’s too dark in here, should we drink those shine potions?” Dustyn asks.
“Well, I guess we could-” I’m cut off by a noise that came from farther in the tunnel. I point my spear forward and tighten my grip on it when suddenly, it starts emitting a dark glow, which reveals that the noise was just a wandering squirrel.
“How did you do that?” Dustyn asks.
“I have no clue.” I say, as I release my grip on the spear, then the glowing stops and we’re back in the dark.
“Wait a second…” I say, and re-tighten my grip on the spear. It starts glowing again.
“Holding my spear tightly seems to be what’s making it glow.” I say.
“Well then don’t stop.” Dustyn replies and we continue onwards through the tunnel.
Once we emerge out of the tunnel, I feel like something isn’t right. A few trees up ahead seem to be dead or dying, the wind is blowing ominously, and the stone path slowly starts turning into a gravel path as if it’s crumbling. Not questioning it, we continue until eventually, things get REALLY strange. Some of the dead trees are dark purple, a few patches of grass are also dark purple, and there are a few thorns sticking out here and there. The gravel path also seems to be turning dark purple as well.
“I don’t like the look of this.” I say.
“Neither do I, but we should keep moving, it’s almost dusk.” Dustyn replies.
As we continue to follow the gravel path up a hill, the few dark purple trees and patches of grass become MANY dark purple trees and patches of grass. The air starts to smell as well, and as we reach the top and look down the other side of the hill. We find an entire dark purple land that stretches on for miles. Not one green patch of grass, not one green tree.
“My god…” Dustyn says.
I hold out my spear in front of me, and it’s just as I thought- it’s the same color as the land.
Then I remember the conversation we had with D, “What exactly IS ‘demonite’?”
“Materials made from corrupted earth.”
Then it hit me, “Dustyn, we found the Corruption.” I say.
Dustyn just continues to stare, and after a few seconds, take a step onto the purple grass.
“Well? You coming or what?” he says.
I take my first step on the grass as well. We should get used to this environment, because I have a feeling we may see it for a while, but nevertheless, we continue on our path, weapons in hand. It’s very quiet, literally the only things we can hear is the wind and our footsteps. We move cautiously and hope not to awake any monsters that may be lurking around. Just then, a patch of grass in front of me starts to jitter and twitch.
“What the…” I say as I lean in for a closer look.
“Elise, NO!” Dustyn yells.
I throw my head back just as a razor sharp thorn grows out of the ground, and continues to grow longer and longer, splitting off into random directions.
“Quickly, cut the root!” Dustyn says.
I slash the bottom of the plant with my spear, and the whole thorny mess collapses. Just then, I hear a quiet hissing sound, it sounds like it’s coming from behind me and is a fair distance away. I turn around, and so does Dustyn, who probably hears it as well. Up in the sky, there is some kind of disturbing, wingless, flying creature that seems to be scanning the area. It looks at us and lets out an even more disturbing shriek. Suddenly, hundreds of them start to rise in the air. They all look at us, and the hissing is so loud now.
“Dustyn…” I whisper.
“Yeah?” He whispers back.
“I think we should probably-”
“RUN!” Dustyn says as the creatures start to charge at us.
I don’t argue, but the first thought that came to me was, “Ugh, more running…”
Dustyn shoots a few of them out of the sky with his pistol, but I can’t do anything, so I just keep running. Just then, the ground starts to ruble, and a giant worm flies out over our heads. Not paying attention to it, we keep running and Dustyn continues shooting. The ground rumbles again and again. I look back to see the worm jumping out of the ground chasing us.
“That’s it.” I think and I stop running, turn around and stab the worm right in the face, pull out my spear, and start running again. It felt good to finally kill something instead of running all the time. These flying creatures seem to be increasing in numbers, no matter how many Dustyn shoots down. A few bigger ones arise and start spitting something vile at us, but the projectiles aren’t fast enough to hit us before they hit the ground, so we just ignore them.
I can see it now, the edge of this corrupted, monster infested wasteland. As Dustyn and I cross it, the creatures choose not to, and simply shriek at us once more, then scatter. We’re both out of breath and decide to relax for a bit, but then I look along the path and see a rotting wooden sign not too far ahead of us.
“Hey, look over there.” I say.
Dustyn looks at the sign and starts walking towards it, and I follow.
The sign is beside a well and I think “What’s a well doing all the way out here?”
The sign reads, “Uninvited guests face death.” And there’s an arrow pointing to the well.
“I guess we made it to the end.” I say.
“Are we supposed to go down this well?” Dustyn asks.
“I think so.” I reply, “Oh but first, D told us to drink those potions he gave us once we got here.”
“Right.” Dustyn says as he pulls them out.
We drink them down. It has an awful ash taste to it and I almost want to spit it out. Strangely, nothing seems to be happening. Dustyn and I just stare at each other.
“What did the potions do?” I ask.
“I… don’t know” Dustyn replies, “Try looking down the well; maybe it reveals something down there?”
I climb up onto the slabs of the well and peer down, but I don’t see anything.
Suddenly, my skin starts to harden; it’s turning rocky and black. I start freaking out and accidentally slip down the well.
“ELISE!” Dustyn yells and grabs my arm.
I notice his skin doing the same thing as he tries to pull me up, but my rocky skin has added so much weight to myself that I pull him down with me. We start screaming as we fall, and it feels like we’re falling endlessly. What type of well goes down so far? Is it bottomless? Is there a water source? No, instead, a bright pool of magma starts to get closer. We can’t do anything, Dustyn and I are completely stiff, our skin fully rocky. This is probably it for real. No one to save us this time, but still I continue to fight it.
“DEEP BREATH!” I yell, and inhale. Dustyn does the same; even though we know we’re gonna die. We both close our eyes and hold hands, and then we plunge into the magma.
“Well, uh… I guess we start following the path that D told us to?” He replies.
“But he said we should get used to our new armor and weapons.” I say.
Dustyn then turns around, shoots a squirrel with his bow, pulls out his pistol and shoots a passing bird flying over him, and lets it fall on his helmet with a *clunk*.
“I think I’m used to it.” He replies, “Besides, D did say we shouldn't take long to visit him again.”
I smile and roll my eyes, “Alright then. You seem eager.”
“I’m not going to let one near death experience stop me. If it can kill, it can be killed.” Dustyn replies.
“Neither will I.” I say as we start walking along the stone path.
It’s just past noon, so we might have enough time to make it to the end before sundown, but then again, I have no idea how long this path is anyway, and quite frankly, I want the night to come. I’m tired of hiding from monsters, and with this new gear we have, we should be able to outlast the night. Eventually, the path leads us to a long natural tunnel. We walk in, expecting some monsters to be lurking.
“It’s too dark in here, should we drink those shine potions?” Dustyn asks.
“Well, I guess we could-” I’m cut off by a noise that came from farther in the tunnel. I point my spear forward and tighten my grip on it when suddenly, it starts emitting a dark glow, which reveals that the noise was just a wandering squirrel.
“How did you do that?” Dustyn asks.
“I have no clue.” I say, as I release my grip on the spear, then the glowing stops and we’re back in the dark.
“Wait a second…” I say, and re-tighten my grip on the spear. It starts glowing again.
“Holding my spear tightly seems to be what’s making it glow.” I say.
“Well then don’t stop.” Dustyn replies and we continue onwards through the tunnel.
Once we emerge out of the tunnel, I feel like something isn’t right. A few trees up ahead seem to be dead or dying, the wind is blowing ominously, and the stone path slowly starts turning into a gravel path as if it’s crumbling. Not questioning it, we continue until eventually, things get REALLY strange. Some of the dead trees are dark purple, a few patches of grass are also dark purple, and there are a few thorns sticking out here and there. The gravel path also seems to be turning dark purple as well.
“I don’t like the look of this.” I say.
“Neither do I, but we should keep moving, it’s almost dusk.” Dustyn replies.
As we continue to follow the gravel path up a hill, the few dark purple trees and patches of grass become MANY dark purple trees and patches of grass. The air starts to smell as well, and as we reach the top and look down the other side of the hill. We find an entire dark purple land that stretches on for miles. Not one green patch of grass, not one green tree.
“My god…” Dustyn says.
I hold out my spear in front of me, and it’s just as I thought- it’s the same color as the land.
Then I remember the conversation we had with D, “What exactly IS ‘demonite’?”
“Materials made from corrupted earth.”
Then it hit me, “Dustyn, we found the Corruption.” I say.
Dustyn just continues to stare, and after a few seconds, take a step onto the purple grass.
“Well? You coming or what?” he says.
I take my first step on the grass as well. We should get used to this environment, because I have a feeling we may see it for a while, but nevertheless, we continue on our path, weapons in hand. It’s very quiet, literally the only things we can hear is the wind and our footsteps. We move cautiously and hope not to awake any monsters that may be lurking around. Just then, a patch of grass in front of me starts to jitter and twitch.
“What the…” I say as I lean in for a closer look.
“Elise, NO!” Dustyn yells.
I throw my head back just as a razor sharp thorn grows out of the ground, and continues to grow longer and longer, splitting off into random directions.
“Quickly, cut the root!” Dustyn says.
I slash the bottom of the plant with my spear, and the whole thorny mess collapses. Just then, I hear a quiet hissing sound, it sounds like it’s coming from behind me and is a fair distance away. I turn around, and so does Dustyn, who probably hears it as well. Up in the sky, there is some kind of disturbing, wingless, flying creature that seems to be scanning the area. It looks at us and lets out an even more disturbing shriek. Suddenly, hundreds of them start to rise in the air. They all look at us, and the hissing is so loud now.
“Dustyn…” I whisper.
“Yeah?” He whispers back.
“I think we should probably-”
“RUN!” Dustyn says as the creatures start to charge at us.
I don’t argue, but the first thought that came to me was, “Ugh, more running…”
Dustyn shoots a few of them out of the sky with his pistol, but I can’t do anything, so I just keep running. Just then, the ground starts to ruble, and a giant worm flies out over our heads. Not paying attention to it, we keep running and Dustyn continues shooting. The ground rumbles again and again. I look back to see the worm jumping out of the ground chasing us.
“That’s it.” I think and I stop running, turn around and stab the worm right in the face, pull out my spear, and start running again. It felt good to finally kill something instead of running all the time. These flying creatures seem to be increasing in numbers, no matter how many Dustyn shoots down. A few bigger ones arise and start spitting something vile at us, but the projectiles aren’t fast enough to hit us before they hit the ground, so we just ignore them.
I can see it now, the edge of this corrupted, monster infested wasteland. As Dustyn and I cross it, the creatures choose not to, and simply shriek at us once more, then scatter. We’re both out of breath and decide to relax for a bit, but then I look along the path and see a rotting wooden sign not too far ahead of us.
“Hey, look over there.” I say.
Dustyn looks at the sign and starts walking towards it, and I follow.
The sign is beside a well and I think “What’s a well doing all the way out here?”
The sign reads, “Uninvited guests face death.” And there’s an arrow pointing to the well.
“I guess we made it to the end.” I say.
“Are we supposed to go down this well?” Dustyn asks.
“I think so.” I reply, “Oh but first, D told us to drink those potions he gave us once we got here.”
“Right.” Dustyn says as he pulls them out.
We drink them down. It has an awful ash taste to it and I almost want to spit it out. Strangely, nothing seems to be happening. Dustyn and I just stare at each other.
“What did the potions do?” I ask.
“I… don’t know” Dustyn replies, “Try looking down the well; maybe it reveals something down there?”
I climb up onto the slabs of the well and peer down, but I don’t see anything.
Suddenly, my skin starts to harden; it’s turning rocky and black. I start freaking out and accidentally slip down the well.
“ELISE!” Dustyn yells and grabs my arm.
I notice his skin doing the same thing as he tries to pull me up, but my rocky skin has added so much weight to myself that I pull him down with me. We start screaming as we fall, and it feels like we’re falling endlessly. What type of well goes down so far? Is it bottomless? Is there a water source? No, instead, a bright pool of magma starts to get closer. We can’t do anything, Dustyn and I are completely stiff, our skin fully rocky. This is probably it for real. No one to save us this time, but still I continue to fight it.
“DEEP BREATH!” I yell, and inhale. Dustyn does the same; even though we know we’re gonna die. We both close our eyes and hold hands, and then we plunge into the magma.
Very slowly, I open my eyes. We’re still in the magma pool, but… It’s oddly not burning hot. Are we dead? We mustn’t be because I soon realize I’m holding my breath and I need air fast. I nudge Dustyn to swim up to the top. He follows me without thinking twice, but once we get to the top of the pool, we find that somehow it’s been sealed off! What do we do now? If the magma won’t kill us, suffocation will. Dustyn and I start swimming around, looking for ANY possible escape, banging on the walls, looking for loose surfaces, but there is none. Just as all hope was lost, the magma pool slowly starts to drain. We swim up to the top as fast as we can and breathe in the ashy air, coughing violently. It takes us until the pool finishes draining to regain ourselves.
"Are you okay, Dustyn?" I ask while still breathing heavily.
"I'm fine, just a bit woozy." He replies, still also gasping for breath.
"Hey, look." Dustyn says while pointing behind me.
There’s a door on the bottom of the well’s wall, do we dare to open it? I guess we have no other choice, it’s not like we can go back up. I slowly open the door; Dustyn has his bow armed with an arrow behind me just in case. The other side reveals a Hellish magma filled, monster infested wasteland. There are boney worm like creatures swimming around in the magma, fiery bats fly around and hang from the ashy ceiling.
"Yeah, I think we're dead." I say.
Dustyn says nothing.
Everything seems to be minding its own business, but still Dustyn and I carefully move forward. It’s weird how even with our rocky skin, we can still walk with ease, but as soon as I think that, the rocks of our skin start falling off, plunging into magma pools below us. I start touching my face and feel relieved to know my regular skin is back. Now it feels really hot, but not hot enough to be deadly or even unbearable, strange. Looking ahead of me, I see a huge building made out of black rock.
"Should we go there?" I ask.
"It's the only place that looks civil, so why not?" Dustyn replies.
We start heading towards it, but notice a few of those fiery bats hanging above us. I keep looking at them with my spear at the ready for the moment they decide to attack. Not paying attention in front of me, I accidentally trip over a stray rock and land with a loud thud. Dustyn helps me up, but I seem to have aggravated the bats, because they all start flying at us. Dustyn aims his bow at the small swarm, and my spear is pointed and ready, but before we even get a chance to fight, the bats are all killed by knives that flew in out of nowhere. We both look shocked.
“You certainly did not hesitate.”
We turn around to see D, putting his remaining knives away. He looks completely different now, instead of the casual clothing we saw him in earlier, he’s wearing a full shiny red set of armor that I’ve never even seen before. Then I realize something, D just killed a swarm of bats with knives in a single throw. I have a flashback to the exam day when that one person hit all of those targets with knives in a single throw, and then it hit me.
“That was you!” I say, “You were the guy who hit all of those targets with knives!”
“Correct.” D replies, “You catch on quickly.”
Dustyn steps in, “So you’re a student at the academy we go to?”
“Not exactly…” D says.
Dustyn looks confused and doesn’t say anything else.
“Well, we’re here now, so do you want to tell us what’s going on? And why did you want us to meet you in this place anyway?” I ask.
“Welcome to my home.” D replies.
“Home!?” Dustyn says, “THIS PLACE is your home?”
“Yes, specifically that building you were walking towards.” D replies.
“Okay, this is something to get used to,” I say, “but first I have to ask, what’s with the magma death trap?”
“To keep out uninvited guests.” D replies, “Surely you read my sign.”
“Ah, I get it. You invited us, that’s why you gave us those potions that turn our skin rocky so we don’t die.” I say.
“I call them Obsidian Skin potions.” D replies, "Very useful, and very hard to make."
“One last thing,” I say, “How did you do it? How did you kill that wyvern that attacked us?”
D then looks far in to the distance and points to one of those boney worm creatures that are just swimming around in magma.
“Like this.” He says.
He picks up a rock and throws it at the creature. D must be very strong, because he actually hits it from afar. The creature, clearly aggravated, starts digging its way towards D, but he’s just standing there, waiting. The thing gets so close to him that he could be crushed by it, but then D does something unusually disturbing and quite frankly, terrifying. All in one second, his right forearm suddenly morphs into a large demonic looking sword that’s pulsing with the same light my spear does when I grip it tightly, and swings it over him, cutting the creature’s head clean off in a perfect slice. Its corpse flops over and falls into magma. Dustyn and I are stunned.
“W-What ARE you!?” Dustyn says with a bit of panic in his voice.
“That is merely a sample of what your Will Souls potentially allow you to do.” D replies as his sword morphs back into his arm.
“So you have one too?” I ask.
“One that is active.” D replies, “I can do many incredible and terrifying things, and so can you, but enough talk, I do not know how much time we have. Follow me into my house.”
"What about the knives you left in those bats?" I ask.
"I do not need them." D replies, then he starts walking towards his house.
I start to follow, a bit confused, but Dustyn is hesitant. He has a grim look in his eyes, and I can tell he doesn't like any of this one bit. He’s overwhelmed, but he follows anyway.
Once we get in D’s house, it looks like he’s been busy, REALLY busy. There are machines against a wall, mannequins with so many unique armor sets that I also haven’t seen before. One of the mannequins has nothing on it, and I assume the armor that goes on it is the one that D is currently wearing. There are also many chests against another wall, probably containing hundreds of secrets. We continue following D to a decent sized hallway full of many paintings.
“Tell me,” He says and points to a painting, “Have you heard of the three beasts of pure evil?”
From the left of the painting, there is an eyeball floating above green grassy hills. From the right of the painting, there is a worm burrowing its way through dark purple rocks and dirt, which is undoubtedly the Corruption. In the middle of the painting, there is a creepy looking skull floating above a town.
I gasp, “Yeah. Yeah we’ve read about them in a book that a friend of mine showed us! It told of a warrior who killed all of them in challenging battles, but “the Gods were furious” and so they banished him to the Underwor-.”
I stop with my mouth still open, and then look all around the hallway, remembering we’re in a hellish wasteland full of magma and monsters that D calls home. I then take a glance at D, specifically at his scar.
“I know what you are thinking,” He says, “And what you are thinking is correct.”
It all makes sense now. The book, the three beasts, the warrior, the wyvern, the Corruption, the Underworld, D’s arm that morphs into a demonic sword, Will souls, everything. D knows all of this because HE IS that warrior who killed the beasts and the Gods.
"Are you okay, Dustyn?" I ask while still breathing heavily.
"I'm fine, just a bit woozy." He replies, still also gasping for breath.
"Hey, look." Dustyn says while pointing behind me.
There’s a door on the bottom of the well’s wall, do we dare to open it? I guess we have no other choice, it’s not like we can go back up. I slowly open the door; Dustyn has his bow armed with an arrow behind me just in case. The other side reveals a Hellish magma filled, monster infested wasteland. There are boney worm like creatures swimming around in the magma, fiery bats fly around and hang from the ashy ceiling.
"Yeah, I think we're dead." I say.
Dustyn says nothing.
Everything seems to be minding its own business, but still Dustyn and I carefully move forward. It’s weird how even with our rocky skin, we can still walk with ease, but as soon as I think that, the rocks of our skin start falling off, plunging into magma pools below us. I start touching my face and feel relieved to know my regular skin is back. Now it feels really hot, but not hot enough to be deadly or even unbearable, strange. Looking ahead of me, I see a huge building made out of black rock.
"Should we go there?" I ask.
"It's the only place that looks civil, so why not?" Dustyn replies.
We start heading towards it, but notice a few of those fiery bats hanging above us. I keep looking at them with my spear at the ready for the moment they decide to attack. Not paying attention in front of me, I accidentally trip over a stray rock and land with a loud thud. Dustyn helps me up, but I seem to have aggravated the bats, because they all start flying at us. Dustyn aims his bow at the small swarm, and my spear is pointed and ready, but before we even get a chance to fight, the bats are all killed by knives that flew in out of nowhere. We both look shocked.
“You certainly did not hesitate.”
We turn around to see D, putting his remaining knives away. He looks completely different now, instead of the casual clothing we saw him in earlier, he’s wearing a full shiny red set of armor that I’ve never even seen before. Then I realize something, D just killed a swarm of bats with knives in a single throw. I have a flashback to the exam day when that one person hit all of those targets with knives in a single throw, and then it hit me.
“That was you!” I say, “You were the guy who hit all of those targets with knives!”
“Correct.” D replies, “You catch on quickly.”
Dustyn steps in, “So you’re a student at the academy we go to?”
“Not exactly…” D says.
Dustyn looks confused and doesn’t say anything else.
“Well, we’re here now, so do you want to tell us what’s going on? And why did you want us to meet you in this place anyway?” I ask.
“Welcome to my home.” D replies.
“Home!?” Dustyn says, “THIS PLACE is your home?”
“Yes, specifically that building you were walking towards.” D replies.
“Okay, this is something to get used to,” I say, “but first I have to ask, what’s with the magma death trap?”
“To keep out uninvited guests.” D replies, “Surely you read my sign.”
“Ah, I get it. You invited us, that’s why you gave us those potions that turn our skin rocky so we don’t die.” I say.
“I call them Obsidian Skin potions.” D replies, "Very useful, and very hard to make."
“One last thing,” I say, “How did you do it? How did you kill that wyvern that attacked us?”
D then looks far in to the distance and points to one of those boney worm creatures that are just swimming around in magma.
“Like this.” He says.
He picks up a rock and throws it at the creature. D must be very strong, because he actually hits it from afar. The creature, clearly aggravated, starts digging its way towards D, but he’s just standing there, waiting. The thing gets so close to him that he could be crushed by it, but then D does something unusually disturbing and quite frankly, terrifying. All in one second, his right forearm suddenly morphs into a large demonic looking sword that’s pulsing with the same light my spear does when I grip it tightly, and swings it over him, cutting the creature’s head clean off in a perfect slice. Its corpse flops over and falls into magma. Dustyn and I are stunned.
“W-What ARE you!?” Dustyn says with a bit of panic in his voice.
“That is merely a sample of what your Will Souls potentially allow you to do.” D replies as his sword morphs back into his arm.
“So you have one too?” I ask.
“One that is active.” D replies, “I can do many incredible and terrifying things, and so can you, but enough talk, I do not know how much time we have. Follow me into my house.”
"What about the knives you left in those bats?" I ask.
"I do not need them." D replies, then he starts walking towards his house.
I start to follow, a bit confused, but Dustyn is hesitant. He has a grim look in his eyes, and I can tell he doesn't like any of this one bit. He’s overwhelmed, but he follows anyway.
Once we get in D’s house, it looks like he’s been busy, REALLY busy. There are machines against a wall, mannequins with so many unique armor sets that I also haven’t seen before. One of the mannequins has nothing on it, and I assume the armor that goes on it is the one that D is currently wearing. There are also many chests against another wall, probably containing hundreds of secrets. We continue following D to a decent sized hallway full of many paintings.
“Tell me,” He says and points to a painting, “Have you heard of the three beasts of pure evil?”
From the left of the painting, there is an eyeball floating above green grassy hills. From the right of the painting, there is a worm burrowing its way through dark purple rocks and dirt, which is undoubtedly the Corruption. In the middle of the painting, there is a creepy looking skull floating above a town.
I gasp, “Yeah. Yeah we’ve read about them in a book that a friend of mine showed us! It told of a warrior who killed all of them in challenging battles, but “the Gods were furious” and so they banished him to the Underwor-.”
I stop with my mouth still open, and then look all around the hallway, remembering we’re in a hellish wasteland full of magma and monsters that D calls home. I then take a glance at D, specifically at his scar.
“I know what you are thinking,” He says, “And what you are thinking is correct.”
It all makes sense now. The book, the three beasts, the warrior, the wyvern, the Corruption, the Underworld, D’s arm that morphs into a demonic sword, Will souls, everything. D knows all of this because HE IS that warrior who killed the beasts and the Gods.
“No, that can't be true, can it?” I ask.
“What?” Dustyn says, “What can't be true?”
“The warrior from the book Laura gave me, it’s D!” I reply.
“Wait wait wait. Are you sure? The book said centuries past. You’re telling me D is hundreds of years old?” Dustyn says.
“Yes.” D replies.
Dustyn shakes his head in disbelief, and I don't know what to believe. D is supposedly hundreds of years old, yet he looks to be about twenty five. Is this another effect of Will souls? Immortality?
“Centuries have passed by the time the beasts were slain. I should know, I wrote that book.” D says.
“If you wrote that book, doesn't that mean you could've just made the whole story up?” Dustyn asks.
“I suppose it could…” D replies.
“Are we wasting our time here or are you going to prove me wrong?” Dustyn asks with a bit of hostility.
Clearly he doesn't want to know we journeyed very far from our home, almost died twice, one of those times being from D’s trap, and walked through the Corruption where we were attacked by enormous swarms of disturbing creatures for nothing. If that’s the case, Dustyn will be REALLY mad. He wants D to prove him wrong just so he doesn't feel like he completely wasted his time on a pointless adventure.
In response to Dustyn’s question, D points to his scar, “The Eye did this to me.” He says, “After hacking at it for so long, it was revealed that it had a mouth with sharp fangs hiding underneath. The realization distracted me, and it nearly bit off my head.”
D’s armor then opens up mechanically, and he steps out of it. He lifts up his pants from his left leg and reveals many more tiny scars running down his calve, and one large one running down his thigh.
“This was the doing of the Worm. It leaps from the earth while its sharp teeth rip apart anything it touches. My leg was not so lucky.” He says.
Then D lifts his shirt, and on his back are even more scars, but these ones look different, it looks like his back was clawed at rather than scraped.
“The Skull, filled with rage, slashed at me with its large, boney claws. My back suffered the most.” He says.
“That looks painful.” I say, “Was that your most severe injury?”
“No, it was not. Do you remember the Wall made out of the flesh of all dead things?” D asks.
Dustyn and I nod our heads.
“A devastating beast.” He continues, “Had I not killed it, this world may cease to exist. I lost my left arm while fighting it.”
“Wait, what?” I say, “Your left arm is right there, perfectly fine.”
D holds out his arm to me, “Tap it.” He says.
I knock on his arm, and to my surprise, it made a clanging sound.
“This arm is synthetic, mechanical, and is one of my deadliest weapons.”
“Did you build it?” I ask.
“Yes.” D replies.
“And your armor sets, you built those too?” I ask.
“I built everything in this building, including the building itself.” D replies.
I’m getting interested in D’s history, “Where did you learn to create such advanced technology like this?”
“I gained knowledge, remember?” D replies.
"Oh yeah...the book did say that..." I said, trailing off before I asked, "Any other secrets you'd like to share?"
“All in good time.” He says, “And speaking of time, I should answer the question that you have been wondering since we met; why I need your help.”
D lifts off the painting of the three beasts to reveal engravings of the rocky wall behind it. The engravings are still of the three beasts, but look unfinished.
"I have hidden myself from humanity for a very long time, until I started sensing something unusual. I have been sensing a return of the beasts, but something is different this time, and I cannot tell what. One thing that is certain is that the pulse I sense is powerful, very powerful. I may have defeated all of them before, but if I cannot tell the danger, then it may be unstoppable, that is why you saw me at your academy. I have been looking for humans with potential Will souls. Unfortunately, wyverns are the only species that can see Will souls. You two were lucky I found you when I did.” D says.
“So where do we come into play?” Dustyn asks.
“You need to assist me in destroying this threat once and for all, but first we must activate your Will souls.” D replies.
“No way,” Dustyn says, “You’re insane if you think I’d fight those things.”
“What happened to, “If it can kill, it can be killed.”?” I say.
“Well this is different! These things are the whole reason why the world is in chaos in the first place!” Dustyn replies.
“He is right.” D says, “In your current state, you stand no chance against the beasts. But you must trust me, once your will souls are active, you will be more powerful than you can imagine. You have only seen so little of what I can do.”
“How do we activate them?” I ask.
“You must do something extraordinary, something that would see you ‘worthy’ of honing this power.” D replies, “It can be an act of good, which will activate it with light energy, or an act of evil, which will activate it with dark energy.
“How did yours get activated?” I ask.
“The obvious answer, I killed the gods and stopped this world from entering an apocalypse.” D replies, “Fate determined that this was an act of evil, thus my Will soul is dark, which is why I appear to be demonic. However, do not be fooled by appearances. A dark Will soul does not always have an evil host, nor does a light Will soul always have a good host.”
“And, you are… good… right?” Dustyn asks.
“I am trying to save all of existence for possibly the second time.” D replies.
“Okay, got it.” Dustyn says.
“Now, follow me back to the entrance.” D says.
Once we get back, D points to a red-orange colored armor set, “This is molten armor; it is much stronger than your shadow armor.”
“Why did you give us shadow armor then?” I ask.
“You need some experience in surviving. Hunting is not enough; you must be capable of all traits.” D says, “For your first task, you are both required to make your own set of molten armor. I will provide you each with a demonite pickaxe, and you must mine ore that looks like this.”
Out of a chest, D shows us this bright hot steaming ore.
“You find it in the walls of the Underworld. Be cautious of the magma.” He says.
D then opens another chest and pulls out to dark looking pickaxes and hands them to us.
“Before I forget,” He starts, “You will also be needing these. Keep them; I have no other use for them.”
D also hands us both grappling hooks. I’ve always wanted to use one of these, and now I finally get to!
“This is where we part. You are free to use any of the machines in here at your disposal. Until you both complete your sets of molten armor, I will no longer be assisting you. You must learn to survive with your own skills, not mine.” D says.
“But where will you go?” I ask, “This is your home.”
“I need to make preparations for the battles.” D replies as he starts to walk out of the door and head for his emptied magma trap, we don’t follow him.
“Okay Dustyn,” I say, “I guess we should start mining.”
Dustyn doesn’t look at all up for it, “I’m still not entirely convinced that Will souls are as powerful as D says they are.”
But just then, as if on cue, D suddenly sprouts demon wings out of his back and flies up the well. Dustyn’s face is priceless.
“Okay, if I get to fly, I’m convinced now.” Dustyn says and he jumps off the platform and grapples a wall near him.
“You coming?” He yells up at me.
I grin and follow his path.
“What?” Dustyn says, “What can't be true?”
“The warrior from the book Laura gave me, it’s D!” I reply.
“Wait wait wait. Are you sure? The book said centuries past. You’re telling me D is hundreds of years old?” Dustyn says.
“Yes.” D replies.
Dustyn shakes his head in disbelief, and I don't know what to believe. D is supposedly hundreds of years old, yet he looks to be about twenty five. Is this another effect of Will souls? Immortality?
“Centuries have passed by the time the beasts were slain. I should know, I wrote that book.” D says.
“If you wrote that book, doesn't that mean you could've just made the whole story up?” Dustyn asks.
“I suppose it could…” D replies.
“Are we wasting our time here or are you going to prove me wrong?” Dustyn asks with a bit of hostility.
Clearly he doesn't want to know we journeyed very far from our home, almost died twice, one of those times being from D’s trap, and walked through the Corruption where we were attacked by enormous swarms of disturbing creatures for nothing. If that’s the case, Dustyn will be REALLY mad. He wants D to prove him wrong just so he doesn't feel like he completely wasted his time on a pointless adventure.
In response to Dustyn’s question, D points to his scar, “The Eye did this to me.” He says, “After hacking at it for so long, it was revealed that it had a mouth with sharp fangs hiding underneath. The realization distracted me, and it nearly bit off my head.”
D’s armor then opens up mechanically, and he steps out of it. He lifts up his pants from his left leg and reveals many more tiny scars running down his calve, and one large one running down his thigh.
“This was the doing of the Worm. It leaps from the earth while its sharp teeth rip apart anything it touches. My leg was not so lucky.” He says.
Then D lifts his shirt, and on his back are even more scars, but these ones look different, it looks like his back was clawed at rather than scraped.
“The Skull, filled with rage, slashed at me with its large, boney claws. My back suffered the most.” He says.
“That looks painful.” I say, “Was that your most severe injury?”
“No, it was not. Do you remember the Wall made out of the flesh of all dead things?” D asks.
Dustyn and I nod our heads.
“A devastating beast.” He continues, “Had I not killed it, this world may cease to exist. I lost my left arm while fighting it.”
“Wait, what?” I say, “Your left arm is right there, perfectly fine.”
D holds out his arm to me, “Tap it.” He says.
I knock on his arm, and to my surprise, it made a clanging sound.
“This arm is synthetic, mechanical, and is one of my deadliest weapons.”
“Did you build it?” I ask.
“Yes.” D replies.
“And your armor sets, you built those too?” I ask.
“I built everything in this building, including the building itself.” D replies.
I’m getting interested in D’s history, “Where did you learn to create such advanced technology like this?”
“I gained knowledge, remember?” D replies.
"Oh yeah...the book did say that..." I said, trailing off before I asked, "Any other secrets you'd like to share?"
“All in good time.” He says, “And speaking of time, I should answer the question that you have been wondering since we met; why I need your help.”
D lifts off the painting of the three beasts to reveal engravings of the rocky wall behind it. The engravings are still of the three beasts, but look unfinished.
"I have hidden myself from humanity for a very long time, until I started sensing something unusual. I have been sensing a return of the beasts, but something is different this time, and I cannot tell what. One thing that is certain is that the pulse I sense is powerful, very powerful. I may have defeated all of them before, but if I cannot tell the danger, then it may be unstoppable, that is why you saw me at your academy. I have been looking for humans with potential Will souls. Unfortunately, wyverns are the only species that can see Will souls. You two were lucky I found you when I did.” D says.
“So where do we come into play?” Dustyn asks.
“You need to assist me in destroying this threat once and for all, but first we must activate your Will souls.” D replies.
“No way,” Dustyn says, “You’re insane if you think I’d fight those things.”
“What happened to, “If it can kill, it can be killed.”?” I say.
“Well this is different! These things are the whole reason why the world is in chaos in the first place!” Dustyn replies.
“He is right.” D says, “In your current state, you stand no chance against the beasts. But you must trust me, once your will souls are active, you will be more powerful than you can imagine. You have only seen so little of what I can do.”
“How do we activate them?” I ask.
“You must do something extraordinary, something that would see you ‘worthy’ of honing this power.” D replies, “It can be an act of good, which will activate it with light energy, or an act of evil, which will activate it with dark energy.
“How did yours get activated?” I ask.
“The obvious answer, I killed the gods and stopped this world from entering an apocalypse.” D replies, “Fate determined that this was an act of evil, thus my Will soul is dark, which is why I appear to be demonic. However, do not be fooled by appearances. A dark Will soul does not always have an evil host, nor does a light Will soul always have a good host.”
“And, you are… good… right?” Dustyn asks.
“I am trying to save all of existence for possibly the second time.” D replies.
“Okay, got it.” Dustyn says.
“Now, follow me back to the entrance.” D says.
Once we get back, D points to a red-orange colored armor set, “This is molten armor; it is much stronger than your shadow armor.”
“Why did you give us shadow armor then?” I ask.
“You need some experience in surviving. Hunting is not enough; you must be capable of all traits.” D says, “For your first task, you are both required to make your own set of molten armor. I will provide you each with a demonite pickaxe, and you must mine ore that looks like this.”
Out of a chest, D shows us this bright hot steaming ore.
“You find it in the walls of the Underworld. Be cautious of the magma.” He says.
D then opens another chest and pulls out to dark looking pickaxes and hands them to us.
“Before I forget,” He starts, “You will also be needing these. Keep them; I have no other use for them.”
D also hands us both grappling hooks. I’ve always wanted to use one of these, and now I finally get to!
“This is where we part. You are free to use any of the machines in here at your disposal. Until you both complete your sets of molten armor, I will no longer be assisting you. You must learn to survive with your own skills, not mine.” D says.
“But where will you go?” I ask, “This is your home.”
“I need to make preparations for the battles.” D replies as he starts to walk out of the door and head for his emptied magma trap, we don’t follow him.
“Okay Dustyn,” I say, “I guess we should start mining.”
Dustyn doesn’t look at all up for it, “I’m still not entirely convinced that Will souls are as powerful as D says they are.”
But just then, as if on cue, D suddenly sprouts demon wings out of his back and flies up the well. Dustyn’s face is priceless.
“Okay, if I get to fly, I’m convinced now.” Dustyn says and he jumps off the platform and grapples a wall near him.
“You coming?” He yells up at me.
I grin and follow his path.
Using a grappling hook is much easier than I thought. Just attach it to your wrist, and press the button on it. Simple. Dustyn has already begun chipping away at some ore we need to make our sets of molten armor, and I decide to look around for a vein of my own. Once I find one, I also start chipping away at it, but then I realize I have no way to carry it all at once. Guess I’ll just have to bring them back one by one. This could take awhile.
I see Dustyn is having the same problem as I do, and is already making his way back to D’s home. I follow him. This back-and-fourth thing goes on for some time, and I don’t even know what time of day it is, is it even day? No matter, my priority is to focus on the task at hand. As Dustyn and I bring back one more piece, we think we finally have enough to make one set of molten armor.
“Okay, Dustyn, you’re a weapons engineer, do you know how to use any of these machines?” I ask.
“Of course, should be easy.” Dustyn replies, “Help me toss some of the ore into this furnace.”
We toss about six or seven pieces into the furnace. Dustyn says we have to wait for the ores to smelt, and then we can shape it into armor. It only takes about two minutes for the ores to finish smelting, and it’s now liquefied. Dustyn pours it into a bucket, then onto a mold on another machine. He turns it on, and a press spreads out the liquid ore evenly into the mold, but after lifting the press off, Dustyn looks confused.
“It should be hardening where its spread. Why is it still liquefied?” He says.
Dustyn activates the press again, and when he lifts it up, he gets the same result.
“This ore is too soft to be molded by itself; it needs something harder to aid it.” Dustyn says.
“What could we use?” I ask.
“Um… well… we have no different ores like iron or silver, and stone wouldn’t work. We need to think of something else to use.” Dustyn replies,“But what?”
I snap my fingers, “Obsidian! Could we try that?”
“That might just work.” Dustyn says, “Grab a bucket and look for a bathroom or something in this place. There’s got to be running water somewhere.”
I find a kitchen, and surely enough, it has running water. Who knows how D managed to get that to work all the way down here, but he sure is handy. Dustyn and I fill up our buckets with water, go outside, pour it onto some magma, and watch it turn into obsidian. We grapple our way towards the obsidian and carefully mine it so as to not fall into the magma underneath it. Again, we still have to carry the pieces one-by-one, and I’m considering making a backpack for the future. Once we get back to D’s house, Dustyn crushes the obsidian into pebbles with a hammer, and throws it into the liquid mold.
“Let’s hope this works…” He says.
Dustyn activates the press again, and when he lifts it back up, the mold has solidified!
“Alright!” Dustyn says, “We finally got a chest piece, now we just cool it down, and maybe add some design to it.”
“You do that,” I say, “I’m gonna make us backpacks so that we don’t have to carry things by hand.”
“Where will you find materials to make them?” Dustyn asks.
“I’ll go back to the surface and look for some animals to kill for their hides, and for some food as well. I’m starving.” I reply.
“Be careful.” Dustyn says.
“Don’t worry, it’s a simple task.” I reply, and then head out the door.
I make my way towards D’s emptied magma trap and use my grappling hook to climb up it. You never realize how deep a hole is until you have to travel back up, it takes awhile before I reach the top. Once I’m up, I notice that it’s night time, a cold one too; I grip my spear to make it glow so I can see. There are zombies and other creatures roaming around, some minding their own business, others are stumbling towards me. One zombie growls and starts running.
“You don’t scare me in the slightest.” I say, and I swiftly stab it and kick it off the spear.
Ignoring the other creatures, I start looking for something edible; rabbits, apples, squirrels, just something to satisfy me for now. I end up finding a bush with ripe black berries. I grab a hand full and devour them, saving some for later. I have some energy now, I just need to find some animals to kill, but they’re all probably asleep. Even if it was day, I’d still have to find a large animal, like a deer, to be able to make two backpacks with. Since we arrived here, I haven’t seen any large animals… in fact; I haven’t seen any animals at all. I wonder why. After searching for some time, and stabbing any creatures that get too close, I eventually lose all interest in finding animals, and go back to the well, so much for those backpacks…
I leap down into the well and hook myself to the wall just before I hit the ground. I’ve forgotten how hot it was in this place. When I get back into the house, I find Dustyn wearing a full set of molten armor, and there is even another set he hung on a mannequin!
“Wow. That is… amazing.” I say, “Was I really gone for that long that you had enough time to get more resources and create a second armor set?”
“I guess so, and this armor feels more comfortable than the shadow armor. Why not try on your set?” Dustyn replies.
I take off my shadow armor and replace it with the molten armor, hanging the shadow armor on the now free mannequin. Dustyn was right; this armor feels warm and strong, whereas the shadow armor felt dark and uneasy. The helmet has a mask that can be lifted up and rested on my head, and Dustyn did not forget to add a grappling hook mount on an arm piece.
“So I guess task number one is complete!” I say, “But now what? Do we look for D?”
“I’m not sure.” Dustyn replies, “What if he wants us to wait for him to come back?”
“If I think I know D, he’d want us to come find him, to see if our tracking skills are good.” I say.
“Maybe, but I think we should think about it before we do anything.” Dustyn replies, “Anyway, did you get any hides?”
“I couldn't find a single animal up there, but I did find a berry bush. You want some blackberries?” I ask.
“That’s disappointing,” Dustyn replies, “But sure, I could go for some food, though this won’t satisfy for long.” And he eats the remaining berries.
“I guess we have two options now; look for more food, or look for D.” I say.
“Well, wouldn’t looking for food be the best choice? We don’t even know where D went.” Dustyn replies.
“It should be, but remember, all that time I spent searching for animals, I only found that one berry bush. There could be no food for miles. Maybe D knows where to find some, if we can find him.” I say.
“What to do…” Dustyn replies.
I see Dustyn is having the same problem as I do, and is already making his way back to D’s home. I follow him. This back-and-fourth thing goes on for some time, and I don’t even know what time of day it is, is it even day? No matter, my priority is to focus on the task at hand. As Dustyn and I bring back one more piece, we think we finally have enough to make one set of molten armor.
“Okay, Dustyn, you’re a weapons engineer, do you know how to use any of these machines?” I ask.
“Of course, should be easy.” Dustyn replies, “Help me toss some of the ore into this furnace.”
We toss about six or seven pieces into the furnace. Dustyn says we have to wait for the ores to smelt, and then we can shape it into armor. It only takes about two minutes for the ores to finish smelting, and it’s now liquefied. Dustyn pours it into a bucket, then onto a mold on another machine. He turns it on, and a press spreads out the liquid ore evenly into the mold, but after lifting the press off, Dustyn looks confused.
“It should be hardening where its spread. Why is it still liquefied?” He says.
Dustyn activates the press again, and when he lifts it up, he gets the same result.
“This ore is too soft to be molded by itself; it needs something harder to aid it.” Dustyn says.
“What could we use?” I ask.
“Um… well… we have no different ores like iron or silver, and stone wouldn’t work. We need to think of something else to use.” Dustyn replies,“But what?”
I snap my fingers, “Obsidian! Could we try that?”
“That might just work.” Dustyn says, “Grab a bucket and look for a bathroom or something in this place. There’s got to be running water somewhere.”
I find a kitchen, and surely enough, it has running water. Who knows how D managed to get that to work all the way down here, but he sure is handy. Dustyn and I fill up our buckets with water, go outside, pour it onto some magma, and watch it turn into obsidian. We grapple our way towards the obsidian and carefully mine it so as to not fall into the magma underneath it. Again, we still have to carry the pieces one-by-one, and I’m considering making a backpack for the future. Once we get back to D’s house, Dustyn crushes the obsidian into pebbles with a hammer, and throws it into the liquid mold.
“Let’s hope this works…” He says.
Dustyn activates the press again, and when he lifts it back up, the mold has solidified!
“Alright!” Dustyn says, “We finally got a chest piece, now we just cool it down, and maybe add some design to it.”
“You do that,” I say, “I’m gonna make us backpacks so that we don’t have to carry things by hand.”
“Where will you find materials to make them?” Dustyn asks.
“I’ll go back to the surface and look for some animals to kill for their hides, and for some food as well. I’m starving.” I reply.
“Be careful.” Dustyn says.
“Don’t worry, it’s a simple task.” I reply, and then head out the door.
I make my way towards D’s emptied magma trap and use my grappling hook to climb up it. You never realize how deep a hole is until you have to travel back up, it takes awhile before I reach the top. Once I’m up, I notice that it’s night time, a cold one too; I grip my spear to make it glow so I can see. There are zombies and other creatures roaming around, some minding their own business, others are stumbling towards me. One zombie growls and starts running.
“You don’t scare me in the slightest.” I say, and I swiftly stab it and kick it off the spear.
Ignoring the other creatures, I start looking for something edible; rabbits, apples, squirrels, just something to satisfy me for now. I end up finding a bush with ripe black berries. I grab a hand full and devour them, saving some for later. I have some energy now, I just need to find some animals to kill, but they’re all probably asleep. Even if it was day, I’d still have to find a large animal, like a deer, to be able to make two backpacks with. Since we arrived here, I haven’t seen any large animals… in fact; I haven’t seen any animals at all. I wonder why. After searching for some time, and stabbing any creatures that get too close, I eventually lose all interest in finding animals, and go back to the well, so much for those backpacks…
I leap down into the well and hook myself to the wall just before I hit the ground. I’ve forgotten how hot it was in this place. When I get back into the house, I find Dustyn wearing a full set of molten armor, and there is even another set he hung on a mannequin!
“Wow. That is… amazing.” I say, “Was I really gone for that long that you had enough time to get more resources and create a second armor set?”
“I guess so, and this armor feels more comfortable than the shadow armor. Why not try on your set?” Dustyn replies.
I take off my shadow armor and replace it with the molten armor, hanging the shadow armor on the now free mannequin. Dustyn was right; this armor feels warm and strong, whereas the shadow armor felt dark and uneasy. The helmet has a mask that can be lifted up and rested on my head, and Dustyn did not forget to add a grappling hook mount on an arm piece.
“So I guess task number one is complete!” I say, “But now what? Do we look for D?”
“I’m not sure.” Dustyn replies, “What if he wants us to wait for him to come back?”
“If I think I know D, he’d want us to come find him, to see if our tracking skills are good.” I say.
“Maybe, but I think we should think about it before we do anything.” Dustyn replies, “Anyway, did you get any hides?”
“I couldn't find a single animal up there, but I did find a berry bush. You want some blackberries?” I ask.
“That’s disappointing,” Dustyn replies, “But sure, I could go for some food, though this won’t satisfy for long.” And he eats the remaining berries.
“I guess we have two options now; look for more food, or look for D.” I say.
“Well, wouldn’t looking for food be the best choice? We don’t even know where D went.” Dustyn replies.
“It should be, but remember, all that time I spent searching for animals, I only found that one berry bush. There could be no food for miles. Maybe D knows where to find some, if we can find him.” I say.
“What to do…” Dustyn replies.
DECISION TIME! (Decided)
Vote here: http://strawpoll.me/1539894
“Alright,” Dustyn says, “I guess we should look for D. Let’s just hope he knows where to find food.”
“It can’t be too hard, right?” I ask, “He's had to have left a trail or something.”
“I don’t know. Let’s just start looking, I’m still pretty hungry.” Dustyn replies.
Heading out the house and making that gruesome long climb back up the well… again… I can’t help but think about how D manages to feed himself. I mean, he’s got to get hungry to, right? I’m positive that he would know where to find food, but Dustyn doesn’t seem up for it. In fact, since we met D, Dustyn has appeared to be getting more pessimistic. Maybe it’s just because he doesn’t like fighting, maybe he still doesn’t trust D, or maybe it’s something else…
We reach the top of the well, and it’s still night time, judging from the moon, it’s almost midnight. It’s strange, I should be tired, but I’m not. Maybe the berries woke me up or something.
“I guess now we just have to pick a direction to walk.” I say.
“Actually, I have a better idea.” Dustyn replies, “While you were gone looking for animals, I looked around D’s house and found a room full of potions that I didn’t even know existed. I hope he won’t mind, but I grabbed this one labeled, “Hunter potion”. The desk it was on had a description of what it does, and apparently, it’s supposed to make all living things glow. Maybe we could use this to track D?”
“It’s worth a shot,” I say, “Try it out, it might even help us find animals.”
Dustyn drinks down the entire potion, and we wait a few seconds for it to kick in. Suddenly, Dustyn’s eyes start glowing white.
“Whoa, this is trippy.” Dustyn says as he looks in every direction.
He points under my feet and says, “I can see a few insects about ten feet down from where you’re standing.”
“This potion is more powerful than I thought.” I say, “Look around more; see if you can spot D.”
Dustyn scans the area nearly 360 degrees until he stops and points in a direction.
“There! Right there! I can just barely make out his silhouette in the distance!” Dustyn says.
“Are you sure it’s D and not some random person?” I ask.
“It has to be, it looks like he’s fighting something… I can’t make it out; it just looks like a blur.”
“Let’s move, if it is or isn’t D, we should go help.”
Dustyn starts running, and I follow him. As usual, more zombies and other creatures try to get wise, but we easily take them down. As we’re running, I think we’re getting farther from the corruption; the terrible stench of it is slowly fading away. It’s kind of hard to tell where I’m going, since my spear’s light only goes so far, but I’m assuming Dustyn can see for miles with that potion in effect.
“How close are we?” I ask.
“We’re almost there!” Dustyn replies, “I think we’re in a jungle now.”
A jungle? Our parents always told us that jungles were very dangerous places, I guess we’ll get to see how dangerous.
Suddenly, Dustyn stops. I was about to ask what was wrong, and then I noticed his eyes aren’t glowing anymore. The potion had worn off.
“Dammit. Do you remember where he was?” I ask.
“Right there!” Dustyn replies while pointing in front of him.
In the distance, I can see a dark glowing object swinging around like crazy.
“That is definitely him!” I say, but just before I start running again, I collapse, my stomach is killing me. I’d forgotten that I was even hungry, and now I’m starving.
“My God, I need food right now.” I say.
“We’re in a jungle now, there’s got to be tons of food.” Dustyn replies and he goes off to some trees and plants.
When he comes back, he brings back a whole meal of fruit, mainly oranges. We very quickly devour them as to not lose the trail on D.
For the first time in days, I actually feel nourished. I’m not hungry anymore. Dustyn doesn't appear to be either, and we’re both even more wide awake.
We follow the glowing object which is undoubtedly D’s sword.
“D!” I shout, as we approach him, but then back away from what he’s fighting.
It looks like claws attached to a vine. It moves very quickly trying to bite D, but he’s swiftly dodging every attack. Finally, D jumps over it and slices of its “neck”, or vine in mid air, and it falls to the ground. That’s when I notice six more corpses of those creatures.
“I see you have finished making your molten armor sets.” D says nonchalantly as if nothing happened, “And you have managed to find me as well, your instincts are improving.”
“Well, we at first went looking for you because we were starving; there are absolutely no plants or animals back at the well,” I say, “But Dustyn managed to find fruit in this jungle, and I guess now we’re here for our next task.”
“Living things cannot survive with the corruption nearby, it destroys them. That is why there is nothing there.” D says, “For life to be pure, all that is corrupt cannot obscure…” And D then trails off.
The way he said that made it sound like getting rid of the corruption has been his goal since forever, but he doesn't know how to accomplish it. I remember Dustyn reading those exact words off the back of D’s book.
We all just stand awkwardly for a few seconds, and then D starts again.
“Anyways, for your next task, you will have to-” And then he stops again, but not as if he trailed off.
Suddenly, D’s eyes widen, his pupils dilate extremely, and he’s just frozen in place. I don’t even think he’s breathing.
“D?” Dustin says.
“D? What’s the matter? Are you feeling alright?” I ask.
D isn’t responding, he’s still just standing there, staring at nothing.
A few seconds later, his eyes become normal again and he snaps back into reality.
“We have to go. Now. Right now!” He says, and starts running somewhere.
“Whoa, wait up!” I say and Dustyn and I chase after him.
“What is it? Where are we going?” I ask.
“Your village is in extreme danger.” D replies.
“Our village!?” Dustyn yells out.
“You alright, Finkle?” A person asks.
“Something is… not right.” Finkle replies.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Zach yells out while standing on a table, “I’d like to make a toast, for tonight is a special night, where we are free from disaster, free from our enemies, free from whatever tries to bring down this glorious town to rubble. Tonight, we dine without fear, and without worry, because we stand strong, each and every one of us!”
The crowd then cheers and they continue their celebration.
We’re almost back at the village; I can just barely see the front gates in the distance.
Suddenly, the ground starts to rumble. Is it an earthquake? Is that the danger D was warning us about?
We continue to run, but D speeds up so fast we can’t even catch up to him anymore. I can see Aaron at the front gate, ordering the guards to close it. She must think D is trying to assault the village.
The rumbling of the ground gets more and more intense until, right in front of the village gates, an enormous robotic worm shoots straight out of the ground. It’s making some sort of digital roar that is deafening. The whole town must be alerted now.
Dustyn and I stop following D and just watch as he charges forward.
“No… No it can’t be.” I say.
But it is. And I damn well know what it is.
“It can’t be too hard, right?” I ask, “He's had to have left a trail or something.”
“I don’t know. Let’s just start looking, I’m still pretty hungry.” Dustyn replies.
Heading out the house and making that gruesome long climb back up the well… again… I can’t help but think about how D manages to feed himself. I mean, he’s got to get hungry to, right? I’m positive that he would know where to find food, but Dustyn doesn’t seem up for it. In fact, since we met D, Dustyn has appeared to be getting more pessimistic. Maybe it’s just because he doesn’t like fighting, maybe he still doesn’t trust D, or maybe it’s something else…
We reach the top of the well, and it’s still night time, judging from the moon, it’s almost midnight. It’s strange, I should be tired, but I’m not. Maybe the berries woke me up or something.
“I guess now we just have to pick a direction to walk.” I say.
“Actually, I have a better idea.” Dustyn replies, “While you were gone looking for animals, I looked around D’s house and found a room full of potions that I didn’t even know existed. I hope he won’t mind, but I grabbed this one labeled, “Hunter potion”. The desk it was on had a description of what it does, and apparently, it’s supposed to make all living things glow. Maybe we could use this to track D?”
“It’s worth a shot,” I say, “Try it out, it might even help us find animals.”
Dustyn drinks down the entire potion, and we wait a few seconds for it to kick in. Suddenly, Dustyn’s eyes start glowing white.
“Whoa, this is trippy.” Dustyn says as he looks in every direction.
He points under my feet and says, “I can see a few insects about ten feet down from where you’re standing.”
“This potion is more powerful than I thought.” I say, “Look around more; see if you can spot D.”
Dustyn scans the area nearly 360 degrees until he stops and points in a direction.
“There! Right there! I can just barely make out his silhouette in the distance!” Dustyn says.
“Are you sure it’s D and not some random person?” I ask.
“It has to be, it looks like he’s fighting something… I can’t make it out; it just looks like a blur.”
“Let’s move, if it is or isn’t D, we should go help.”
Dustyn starts running, and I follow him. As usual, more zombies and other creatures try to get wise, but we easily take them down. As we’re running, I think we’re getting farther from the corruption; the terrible stench of it is slowly fading away. It’s kind of hard to tell where I’m going, since my spear’s light only goes so far, but I’m assuming Dustyn can see for miles with that potion in effect.
“How close are we?” I ask.
“We’re almost there!” Dustyn replies, “I think we’re in a jungle now.”
A jungle? Our parents always told us that jungles were very dangerous places, I guess we’ll get to see how dangerous.
Suddenly, Dustyn stops. I was about to ask what was wrong, and then I noticed his eyes aren’t glowing anymore. The potion had worn off.
“Dammit. Do you remember where he was?” I ask.
“Right there!” Dustyn replies while pointing in front of him.
In the distance, I can see a dark glowing object swinging around like crazy.
“That is definitely him!” I say, but just before I start running again, I collapse, my stomach is killing me. I’d forgotten that I was even hungry, and now I’m starving.
“My God, I need food right now.” I say.
“We’re in a jungle now, there’s got to be tons of food.” Dustyn replies and he goes off to some trees and plants.
When he comes back, he brings back a whole meal of fruit, mainly oranges. We very quickly devour them as to not lose the trail on D.
For the first time in days, I actually feel nourished. I’m not hungry anymore. Dustyn doesn't appear to be either, and we’re both even more wide awake.
We follow the glowing object which is undoubtedly D’s sword.
“D!” I shout, as we approach him, but then back away from what he’s fighting.
It looks like claws attached to a vine. It moves very quickly trying to bite D, but he’s swiftly dodging every attack. Finally, D jumps over it and slices of its “neck”, or vine in mid air, and it falls to the ground. That’s when I notice six more corpses of those creatures.
“I see you have finished making your molten armor sets.” D says nonchalantly as if nothing happened, “And you have managed to find me as well, your instincts are improving.”
“Well, we at first went looking for you because we were starving; there are absolutely no plants or animals back at the well,” I say, “But Dustyn managed to find fruit in this jungle, and I guess now we’re here for our next task.”
“Living things cannot survive with the corruption nearby, it destroys them. That is why there is nothing there.” D says, “For life to be pure, all that is corrupt cannot obscure…” And D then trails off.
The way he said that made it sound like getting rid of the corruption has been his goal since forever, but he doesn't know how to accomplish it. I remember Dustyn reading those exact words off the back of D’s book.
We all just stand awkwardly for a few seconds, and then D starts again.
“Anyways, for your next task, you will have to-” And then he stops again, but not as if he trailed off.
Suddenly, D’s eyes widen, his pupils dilate extremely, and he’s just frozen in place. I don’t even think he’s breathing.
“D?” Dustin says.
“D? What’s the matter? Are you feeling alright?” I ask.
D isn’t responding, he’s still just standing there, staring at nothing.
A few seconds later, his eyes become normal again and he snaps back into reality.
“We have to go. Now. Right now!” He says, and starts running somewhere.
“Whoa, wait up!” I say and Dustyn and I chase after him.
“What is it? Where are we going?” I ask.
“Your village is in extreme danger.” D replies.
“Our village!?” Dustyn yells out.
*MEANWHILE, THE VILLAGE GATHERS TO CELEBRATE AN OCCASION*
*Gasp*
“You alright, Finkle?” A person asks.
“Something is… not right.” Finkle replies.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Zach yells out while standing on a table, “I’d like to make a toast, for tonight is a special night, where we are free from disaster, free from our enemies, free from whatever tries to bring down this glorious town to rubble. Tonight, we dine without fear, and without worry, because we stand strong, each and every one of us!”
The crowd then cheers and they continue their celebration.
*1 HOUR LATER…*
We’re almost back at the village; I can just barely see the front gates in the distance.
Suddenly, the ground starts to rumble. Is it an earthquake? Is that the danger D was warning us about?
We continue to run, but D speeds up so fast we can’t even catch up to him anymore. I can see Aaron at the front gate, ordering the guards to close it. She must think D is trying to assault the village.
The rumbling of the ground gets more and more intense until, right in front of the village gates, an enormous robotic worm shoots straight out of the ground. It’s making some sort of digital roar that is deafening. The whole town must be alerted now.
Dustyn and I stop following D and just watch as he charges forward.
“No… No it can’t be.” I say.
But it is. And I damn well know what it is.
THE DESTROYER HAS AWOKEN!
Aaron is a strong person, both physically and mentally. She always seems to be optimistic about things. But the look on her face, it’s nothing more than pure terror. I’ve never seen her so afraid. She doesn’t know what to do; she’s just standing there in shock. I wish I had the courage to do something, but I… I just can’t. What do I do against THAT!? While D is still sprinting towards the worm, it seems to be getting ready to smash down the village gates. Its metal fangs are spinning up like a chainsaw. Dustyn and I can do nothing more but watch. D is the only person who can stop this. He HAS to. Once D gets close enough to the worm, we get to see an ability of his that we hadn’t seen before. The same arm he uses to morph into a sword can also apparently morph into a flail with a yin-yang pattern on it. D sprouts his wings, flies up to the worm’s head, and swings his flail, hitting the worm directly in its mouth. It’s backed off the village gates now and is focused on D. It sends out a swarm of spherical drones of some sort that are firing lasers at him, but D is pretty nimble; he seems to have no problem dodging the lasers. The worm, still damaged from that initial blow, dives back into the ground and leaves its drones to do the work. There has got to be around 50 of those little things, all relentlessly attacking D. He may be fast, but he isn’t untouchable. The overwhelming forces of lasers are starting to hit him now, and you can see his armor spark whenever they do. Suddenly, a drone shoots one of his wings. I can almost hear the sizzle as D falls to the ground. He retracts his wings and flicks his wrist in the air. It’s hard to make out, but there’s a thin red pole that shot out of a slot of his armor where his wrist is. When D catches the pole, it extends into a very long glave. Another one of D’s hidden weapons. He swings it around at tremendous speeds and slices the drones one by one, then he holds it out to his side, jumps, crosses his legs, activates his rocket boots, and now he’s spinning in mid air, with the glave slicing up everything. Once the last drone falls, the ground starts rumbling again, and the worm pops back out. Boy is it angry to still see D alive, now it’s attacking him head on, literally diving at him with its head, trying to slice him with its metal fangs. As D dodges out of the way, he puts back his glave and morphs his arm into his flail again, but he also does something with his mechanical arm. His arm starts disassembling and re-assembling itself into a large red gatling gun in the shape of a shark. Is it a minishark? No, it’s too big to big to be one. It seems like an amplified version of a minishark! He spins it up and fires at the worm as it jumps back out of the ground again. What’s interesting is that the bullets are lighting the worm up with a strange green fire. What are those bullets made of? Just as I think D is gaining the upper hand, the worm swoops around, grabs him with its jaws and rises upwards. I can see D struggling to hold its jaw open with his flail and gatling gun. Then he releases his left arm, holding the worm’s jaw with just his right arm, and fires a huge burst of bullets down the worm’s throat. Something inside the worm explodes and it roars in pain, releasing D from its jaws. On the verge of defeat, the worm burrows into the ground and slithers away, heavily damaged. Then, D falls to one knee and holds himself up with his gatling gun.
Dustyn and I run up to D as fast as we can, and people in our village also start to come out to see what just happened.
“D- Oh my god, you need some help now.” I say. His armor is dented and synched, his face has burns and cuts, and one of his wings has a decent size hole from the laser it took.
“NO… No… Do not worry about me. I will heal. Just give me time… time to rest.” D replies.
He retracts his wings, morphs his flail back into his arm, and re-assembles his gatling gun into his other arm.
“You’re right.” Dustyn says, “We have only seen so little of what you can do.”
“The worm… It is still alive. And it is much stronger.” D says, “It came too early; we were not ready for it yet. How long do we have until the other two beasts emerge? I cannot stop them alone…”
Dustyn and I put on a face of discomfort and lack of hope. We don’t know how to respond. D’s right, he isn’t invincible, he isn’t a god, he’s like us, vulnerable. And if we can be as strong as him, then maybe we’ll have a chance at saving the world.
Aaron approaches us, “What in the-” Suddenly, D pounces up with his hands in fists.
“Whoa whoa, what’s the matter?” Dustyn asks.
“I do not trust anyone. Not after what I became. Not after what they thought of me!”
That was the first time I’ve heard D raise his voice. Having realized what he just said, he calms down. Sounds like D’s had a tough past when his willsoul was first activated. The book said, “Humanity would not be happy”, and I imagine that he was treated as a freak, a demon. Everyone wanted him dead, and that’s why he fled from humanity for so long. God, that must be awful, having no one to trust. It’s no wonder why he has such a stiff personality; he’s probably used to all that stuff. It gave him thick skin.
“Do you mind explaining what the hell just happened?” Aaron says, “What WAS that thing? Why did it attack us? And who is this gentleman?”
“We know him as ‘D’, Dustyn says.”
The village citizens crowd around us in curiosity.
Suddenly, Zach pushes through the crowd and stomps toward D with an irritated look on his face.
“YOU. You ruined our celebration! We wouldn’t have been attacked if you hadn’t shown up!” He says.
“What are you talking about?” Dustyn snaps, “He just singlehandedly saved our village from total devastation!”
Zach gives him a death stare, “And YOU, what’s your name, “Dustyn?” You’ve been parading around with this goon along with your girlfriend over here? I hope you didn’t plan to live a long life.”
The crowd starts mumbling. Suddenly, D walks up to Zach, with no emotion. His fiery red eyes glare down at him.
“So, I hear you are renowned in this village?” D says.
“You’re goddamn right I am! I’ve slain hundreds of creatures, including goblins! What have you done?” Zach replies.
D lets out a slight chuckle, “Listen here. I have just scared away one of the deadliest monsters that you will have ever seen and still be alive after. I do not want your gratitude, nor of anyone else. It was not my intention to save a village, just to kill that worm.
“Well you did a pretty bad job at “killing that worm”.” Zach replies, “You think you’re tough? You think I’m intimidated by you? Well I’m not even slightly afraid. I could break you like a twig.” And then he raises his fists.
“It is a bad idea to do this.” D says.
“Too late!” Zach replies, and swings at D.
In less than a second, D grabs Zach’s fist, flings him over his back, and pins him to the ground, then morphs his hand into his sword and points it down at him. Everyone in the crowd gasps and steps back a bit, even Aaron. Zach’s heated attitude had vanished and was instantly replaced by fear.
“D! Stop!” I say.
D morphs his sword back into his arm and lays off Zach without saying a word. Zach still lies down, not wanting to move.
Suddenly, Finkle emerges from the crowd.
“I’ve seen enough.” He says, “Young man, you certainly are courageous to fight a beast like that. We are grateful for your efforts. Please, let our doctors treat you in our village.”
“No thank you.” D says, “I am not going to let someone experiment on me.” And before anyone could object, D activates is rocket boots and flies away. No one really knows how to react.
“Hmm, that one is a mysterious fellow.” Finkle says, “And what about you two? Would you like to rest a bit?”
Having not slept in a long time, Dustyn and I can’t refuse a break. Everyone files back into the village, Zach lags behind.
We head to our home. It’s nice to see it after so long. Just one break, then we get back on track. Who knows how long until the next beast shows up? And what about the worm? It’s still alive, digging around somewhere… It needs to be killed soon, before anyone gets hurt.
Dustyn and I run up to D as fast as we can, and people in our village also start to come out to see what just happened.
“D- Oh my god, you need some help now.” I say. His armor is dented and synched, his face has burns and cuts, and one of his wings has a decent size hole from the laser it took.
“NO… No… Do not worry about me. I will heal. Just give me time… time to rest.” D replies.
He retracts his wings, morphs his flail back into his arm, and re-assembles his gatling gun into his other arm.
“You’re right.” Dustyn says, “We have only seen so little of what you can do.”
“The worm… It is still alive. And it is much stronger.” D says, “It came too early; we were not ready for it yet. How long do we have until the other two beasts emerge? I cannot stop them alone…”
Dustyn and I put on a face of discomfort and lack of hope. We don’t know how to respond. D’s right, he isn’t invincible, he isn’t a god, he’s like us, vulnerable. And if we can be as strong as him, then maybe we’ll have a chance at saving the world.
Aaron approaches us, “What in the-” Suddenly, D pounces up with his hands in fists.
“Whoa whoa, what’s the matter?” Dustyn asks.
“I do not trust anyone. Not after what I became. Not after what they thought of me!”
That was the first time I’ve heard D raise his voice. Having realized what he just said, he calms down. Sounds like D’s had a tough past when his willsoul was first activated. The book said, “Humanity would not be happy”, and I imagine that he was treated as a freak, a demon. Everyone wanted him dead, and that’s why he fled from humanity for so long. God, that must be awful, having no one to trust. It’s no wonder why he has such a stiff personality; he’s probably used to all that stuff. It gave him thick skin.
“Do you mind explaining what the hell just happened?” Aaron says, “What WAS that thing? Why did it attack us? And who is this gentleman?”
“We know him as ‘D’, Dustyn says.”
The village citizens crowd around us in curiosity.
Suddenly, Zach pushes through the crowd and stomps toward D with an irritated look on his face.
“YOU. You ruined our celebration! We wouldn’t have been attacked if you hadn’t shown up!” He says.
“What are you talking about?” Dustyn snaps, “He just singlehandedly saved our village from total devastation!”
Zach gives him a death stare, “And YOU, what’s your name, “Dustyn?” You’ve been parading around with this goon along with your girlfriend over here? I hope you didn’t plan to live a long life.”
The crowd starts mumbling. Suddenly, D walks up to Zach, with no emotion. His fiery red eyes glare down at him.
“So, I hear you are renowned in this village?” D says.
“You’re goddamn right I am! I’ve slain hundreds of creatures, including goblins! What have you done?” Zach replies.
D lets out a slight chuckle, “Listen here. I have just scared away one of the deadliest monsters that you will have ever seen and still be alive after. I do not want your gratitude, nor of anyone else. It was not my intention to save a village, just to kill that worm.
“Well you did a pretty bad job at “killing that worm”.” Zach replies, “You think you’re tough? You think I’m intimidated by you? Well I’m not even slightly afraid. I could break you like a twig.” And then he raises his fists.
“It is a bad idea to do this.” D says.
“Too late!” Zach replies, and swings at D.
In less than a second, D grabs Zach’s fist, flings him over his back, and pins him to the ground, then morphs his hand into his sword and points it down at him. Everyone in the crowd gasps and steps back a bit, even Aaron. Zach’s heated attitude had vanished and was instantly replaced by fear.
“D! Stop!” I say.
D morphs his sword back into his arm and lays off Zach without saying a word. Zach still lies down, not wanting to move.
Suddenly, Finkle emerges from the crowd.
“I’ve seen enough.” He says, “Young man, you certainly are courageous to fight a beast like that. We are grateful for your efforts. Please, let our doctors treat you in our village.”
“No thank you.” D says, “I am not going to let someone experiment on me.” And before anyone could object, D activates is rocket boots and flies away. No one really knows how to react.
“Hmm, that one is a mysterious fellow.” Finkle says, “And what about you two? Would you like to rest a bit?”
Having not slept in a long time, Dustyn and I can’t refuse a break. Everyone files back into the village, Zach lags behind.
We head to our home. It’s nice to see it after so long. Just one break, then we get back on track. Who knows how long until the next beast shows up? And what about the worm? It’s still alive, digging around somewhere… It needs to be killed soon, before anyone gets hurt.
I awaken to the sound of banging, sounds like someone is at the door. I start going downstairs, surprised to see that Dustyn hadn’t woken up before me, and answer the door to an unusual sight. Finkle. He is the last person I expected to knock on our door, what with being the mayor and all.
“Good morning! How are you feeling?” He says.
“Well rested, for once.” I reply, “What brings you here, sir?”
“We need to talk about what happened last night, may I come in?” He says.
“Oh… of course.” I reply, and he walks inside.
“Where is your brother?” Finkle asks, “He should join us as well.”
“I’ll go wake him up.” I reply, and head back upstairs to go fetch Dustyn.
He must not have slept well, because when I try to get him out of bed, he groans at me, but once I mention Finkle, he gets up and we both go downstairs.
“So what is it, sir?” I ask.
“I’ve lived for a long time, seen many horrifying creatures, defend against them, but I have never seen something like that metal worm before.”Finkle says, “Even more so, I have never seen someone as powerful as that man who fought it, but even he was struggling against it.”
“It’s a complicated story,” Dustyn says, “We were just out hunting when we were attacked by a wyvern and-”
“You were attacked by a wyvern?” Finkle asks with widened eyes, “Those creatures have always been so peaceful towards us.”
“It turns out they attack anyone who feels threatening to them.” I say, “And apparently, it’s a way to tell if you’re gifted with a willsoul.”
“A what?” Finkle asks.
“It’s something we have that can be activated somehow,” Dustyn replies, “Once it’s active, we’re supposed to be as strong as D, the man who fought the worm.”
“And this… ‘D’ fellow… What are you doing with him?” Finkle asks.
“He’s been showing us how to make things out of materials that we didn’t even know existed!” I reply, “Just look at our armor, it’s made from what D calls, “hellstone”, and it’s a thousand times stronger than platinum!”
“Well that is quite something!” Finkle says with a chuckle, “This is a revolutionary breakthrough! If the village had these materials, it could defend itself better! Please tell me where to find this “hellstone”, and I will instruct miners to collect it.”
Dustyn and I look at each other with scrunched up faces. Finkle’s joy suddenly turns into concern.
“The thing is,” Dustyn starts, “It can be found where D lives, only he lives deep underground from the corruption in a place that looks like Hell which is full of dangerous creatures. And if that isn’t enough, the only way to get there is to fall down a very deep hole, where there’s a magma trap waiting at the bottom.”
“And… How did you get in?” Finkle asks.
“D brewed these kinds of potions that we’ve also never seen before. It turned our skin into obsidian and let us swim in the magma unharmed!” I reply.
Finkle then ponders for a bit with an expressionless face.
“Hmm, and right now, he is trying to help you improve on your skills?” He asks.
“Yeah, we need to be strong enough to be able to fight beasts like that worm.” Dustyn replies, “Otherwise, it will destroy the world along with two other beasts that we know are coming.”
“This is a very serious matter then.” Finkle says, “I think I may be able to help. Would you be interested in learning magic?”
“Oh DEFINITELY!” I say.
Finkle pulls out a book from the inner pocket of his coat.
“Let’s start simple, this is a waterbolt spell book,” He says, “Study it until you are able to cast its spell. Don’t feel bad if you can’t do it on the first few tries, spells are very hard to learn, but everyone is different. Some people may find it easier than others!”
Finkle hands us the book, “Once you get the hang of it, keep practicing until you are able to cast spells without the need of a spell book.”
“This is great, sir.” I say, “We’ll do our best.”
“Now I must be off,” Finkle says, “Come see me if you think you’re ready for more advanced spells, I’d be happy to teach you!”
And suddenly, he vanishes.
As we walk out the door, I had a thought. Where is Laura? Surely she would’ve visited me once she found out I came back. Even more so, she couldn’t be oblivious about the giant worm attack, could she? It’s not like her to be away from me for a day, she always has something to say or show me. Oh well, that’s not important, what is, is getting back to D. We bring the spell book with us just in case.
As we walk down the town, people start pointing and staring at us, probably because we’re wearing armor and wielding weapons they’ve never seen before. No one approaches us, and I feel like we scare them. That makes me all torn inside, and I know I’ll have to get used to this. If we… no… WHEN we become as powerful as D, they will be terrified at us. Everyone we have ever known will only see us as monsters… The same way people thought of D. I shake my head, FOCUS! Saving the world first, emotions later.
When we get to the front gate, we greet Aaron, but she’s speaking to us in a much different tone. She’s not her usual confident self. I think the realization that there are extremely powerful creatures out there is bringing her down. She used to be a fighter, a great fighter, one of the best in the village. But now she can’t take on any of the creatures that are appearing. Hell, no one in this village can. The world is taking a turn for the worse. Creatures are adapting and getting stronger, the three great beasts are finally re-awakening, stronger than ever, and what about the corruption? Is it actually spreading like the book says? How long do we have until we can no longer face what the world throws at us? Times are tough, and they are only getting tougher, but nevertheless, we head out the gate and make our way towards D.
“Good morning! How are you feeling?” He says.
“Well rested, for once.” I reply, “What brings you here, sir?”
“We need to talk about what happened last night, may I come in?” He says.
“Oh… of course.” I reply, and he walks inside.
“Where is your brother?” Finkle asks, “He should join us as well.”
“I’ll go wake him up.” I reply, and head back upstairs to go fetch Dustyn.
He must not have slept well, because when I try to get him out of bed, he groans at me, but once I mention Finkle, he gets up and we both go downstairs.
“So what is it, sir?” I ask.
“I’ve lived for a long time, seen many horrifying creatures, defend against them, but I have never seen something like that metal worm before.”Finkle says, “Even more so, I have never seen someone as powerful as that man who fought it, but even he was struggling against it.”
“It’s a complicated story,” Dustyn says, “We were just out hunting when we were attacked by a wyvern and-”
“You were attacked by a wyvern?” Finkle asks with widened eyes, “Those creatures have always been so peaceful towards us.”
“It turns out they attack anyone who feels threatening to them.” I say, “And apparently, it’s a way to tell if you’re gifted with a willsoul.”
“A what?” Finkle asks.
“It’s something we have that can be activated somehow,” Dustyn replies, “Once it’s active, we’re supposed to be as strong as D, the man who fought the worm.”
“And this… ‘D’ fellow… What are you doing with him?” Finkle asks.
“He’s been showing us how to make things out of materials that we didn’t even know existed!” I reply, “Just look at our armor, it’s made from what D calls, “hellstone”, and it’s a thousand times stronger than platinum!”
“Well that is quite something!” Finkle says with a chuckle, “This is a revolutionary breakthrough! If the village had these materials, it could defend itself better! Please tell me where to find this “hellstone”, and I will instruct miners to collect it.”
Dustyn and I look at each other with scrunched up faces. Finkle’s joy suddenly turns into concern.
“The thing is,” Dustyn starts, “It can be found where D lives, only he lives deep underground from the corruption in a place that looks like Hell which is full of dangerous creatures. And if that isn’t enough, the only way to get there is to fall down a very deep hole, where there’s a magma trap waiting at the bottom.”
“And… How did you get in?” Finkle asks.
“D brewed these kinds of potions that we’ve also never seen before. It turned our skin into obsidian and let us swim in the magma unharmed!” I reply.
Finkle then ponders for a bit with an expressionless face.
“Hmm, and right now, he is trying to help you improve on your skills?” He asks.
“Yeah, we need to be strong enough to be able to fight beasts like that worm.” Dustyn replies, “Otherwise, it will destroy the world along with two other beasts that we know are coming.”
“This is a very serious matter then.” Finkle says, “I think I may be able to help. Would you be interested in learning magic?”
“Oh DEFINITELY!” I say.
Finkle pulls out a book from the inner pocket of his coat.
“Let’s start simple, this is a waterbolt spell book,” He says, “Study it until you are able to cast its spell. Don’t feel bad if you can’t do it on the first few tries, spells are very hard to learn, but everyone is different. Some people may find it easier than others!”
Finkle hands us the book, “Once you get the hang of it, keep practicing until you are able to cast spells without the need of a spell book.”
“This is great, sir.” I say, “We’ll do our best.”
“Now I must be off,” Finkle says, “Come see me if you think you’re ready for more advanced spells, I’d be happy to teach you!”
And suddenly, he vanishes.
*1 HOUR LATER…*
Dustyn and I have been taking turns trying to cast a waterbolt spell in our backyard, but with no success. We do feel like we’re getting close though, but we decided to take a break and focus on other things, like getting back to D to see how he’s holding up and for him to give us our next task.
As we walk out the door, I had a thought. Where is Laura? Surely she would’ve visited me once she found out I came back. Even more so, she couldn’t be oblivious about the giant worm attack, could she? It’s not like her to be away from me for a day, she always has something to say or show me. Oh well, that’s not important, what is, is getting back to D. We bring the spell book with us just in case.
As we walk down the town, people start pointing and staring at us, probably because we’re wearing armor and wielding weapons they’ve never seen before. No one approaches us, and I feel like we scare them. That makes me all torn inside, and I know I’ll have to get used to this. If we… no… WHEN we become as powerful as D, they will be terrified at us. Everyone we have ever known will only see us as monsters… The same way people thought of D. I shake my head, FOCUS! Saving the world first, emotions later.
When we get to the front gate, we greet Aaron, but she’s speaking to us in a much different tone. She’s not her usual confident self. I think the realization that there are extremely powerful creatures out there is bringing her down. She used to be a fighter, a great fighter, one of the best in the village. But now she can’t take on any of the creatures that are appearing. Hell, no one in this village can. The world is taking a turn for the worse. Creatures are adapting and getting stronger, the three great beasts are finally re-awakening, stronger than ever, and what about the corruption? Is it actually spreading like the book says? How long do we have until we can no longer face what the world throws at us? Times are tough, and they are only getting tougher, but nevertheless, we head out the gate and make our way towards D.
Chapter 14 coming soon!
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It's like Elise is Katniss.
