RL: Hehe I hope my rather poor summary didn't scare you off. Anywho, I've decided to completely rewrite my story formerly known as Aeternus Caliga. Whether or not you have read the old version, I really hope that you enjoy this one. As with its predecessor, Cruel Fate is dedicated to my friends. Please read and review. Any comments you leave will be greatly appreciated and help me to improve my writing.
As for the disclaimer, I'll say this only once. I, Requiem's Lament do not own Ragnarok Online as it is the property of Gravity.
Marking Key
"--" indicates scene change
"blank" indicates speech
'blank' indicates thoughts
--
Cruel Fate: Book of the Gilded Sun
Unhappy Surprise
Father in Heaven,
Guard us as we walk Hell's road,
Watch us til our end.
-A popular Glastheimian prayer during the Second Demon War.
--
Glorious Glastheim.
Glastheim the Accursed.
Glastheim.
Throughout its long history, this city has received many titles. These three are but mere examples. The first came during Glastheim's golden age. The second was bestowed during the War of Independence. The last is the most current. Once a mighty capital, it is now no more than a dead city of ruins. Once the epitome of all things great and glorious about humanity, it now is an empty shell, less than even a shadow of its former self. Before it fell, it housed within its mighty walls brilliant wise men, regal emperors, and stalwart knights. It was that once, but no longer.
Today, only the dead walk its roads.
Despite such dangers and other unsavory facts, the ruins of the city have fascinated bards and historians, even to this day. Tales of fabulous wealth have attracted many an adventurer, but strangely, many of those who enter never return and those who do are, at worse, insane and deranged and, at best, are no longer who they used to be. Ever since a certain event, no one even comes near Glastheim.
Twenty years ago, a small group novices and their teachers vanished while traveling near the haunted ruins. Among those lost were a number of children belonging to some of Rune-Midgard's most noble houses. In desperation, the Tenth Regiment was deployed to find them. Hours passed. Then days. Soon it became months. Yet no word was ever heard from that regiment ever again. It was only twenty years ago that the Tenth was lost in its entirety. All 5,000 knights, wizards, priests, archers vanished without a trace. Though to preserve hope, the soldiers were labeled as missing in action, but everyone knew the uncomfortable truth. Ever since that day, the ruined city has been shunned like the Plague.
Today, however, is different. Very different indeed. For you see, today one of King Tristan III's twin sons along with the partially reformed Tenth Regiment have been sent to map and survey the ruins. Though the terrible incident of twenty years prior had not been forgotten, Prontera and the rest of Rune-Midgard had changed, long since grown in power and might. No more a mere average kingdom, it had become a power to be reckoned with. So great was the might of Rune-Midgard that it managed to utterly humiliated the herectical nation of Arunafelz, nearly obliterating its forces completely in the last war five years ago. Even the great Republic of Schwaltzwald requested a pact of friendship. The next logical step in furthering the kingdom's glory, so it was decided, was to thoroughly explore Glastheim and lay bare its secrets so as to demonstrate how far it had come in two decades. Though not yet at full strength, the Tenth still possessed some of the most elite and well trained soldiers. With such might, who could stand against them or even dare such a thing?
Arrogance and pride, as we know, comes with a most bitter price.
--
Several hours into their exploration, they had come across nothing. Stefan took the assignment his father had personally assigned him with the utmost seriousness, but still, it had been several rather boring hours. He sighed in disgust as old stone pillar he had been leaning on crumbled into dust. Where was the adventure and danger that the bards had made famous in songs and stories? Where were the hordes of demons and the dead that had completely annihilated the Tenth Regiment. Lounging about the main chapel turned makeshift command post, he, his friends, and the few guards with them were likewise bored to the point of death, figuratively of course. Sitting beside him, a female mage, his friend Eris, was lazily flipping through her spellbook. Glancing at the burnished bronze pocket watch that sat on a makeshift table, the young prince decided to check on the status of the operation lifted a small glass-like cube to his lips. Boring or not, spending a night in Glastheim didn't seem advisable regardless.
"All units report status," said Stefan, the cube giving off a pale yellow light as he spoke.
"This is Second Platoon reporting, sir. We are near done with mapping the outer walls."
"Third Platoon reporting. Survey of barracks complete."
"This is Lieutenant Balker. Fourth Platoon is almost done with the- Wait, what the hell is that?"
His childhood companion Friedrich, a knight, looked up from polishing his sword and gave Stefan a quizzical look.
"What was that?" murmured the knight, easing himself to his legs as he slid his sword into its sheath, "Lei, can you see anything?"
"Guys," said a hunter in a nervous tone with a hint of panic, "You might want to take a look at this."
Rising from their respective seats, the three hurried over to their friend. Standing on the raised steps of the church, they eyes nearly fell out of their sockets at what they saw far below. Shooting up like some manner of perverse plants, rotting and molding corpses were pulling themselves out of the ground. Within minutes, the undead easily outnumbered the soldiers of the fourth platoon five to one. For a moment, these bodies seemed to stand still as stone in the cold air. Then, they turned their soulless eyes on the nearby soldiers and let out a long tormented moan. Slowly, they advanced. Slowly, one step at a time, they shambled toward the stunned knights and hunters. Fortunately, the soldiers managed to collect their wits and quickly retreated onto more defensible high ground. As some knights drew large two handed swords and others linked shields, the hunters hurriedly nocked arrows onto their bows, releasing volleys as fast as they could.
"T-Those are ghouls," blurted Eris in surprise as she hastily opened her spellbook, looking for a certain page.
"What?" exclaimed Stefan, "But didn't our forces sweep the area already?"
"Tis the curse of Glastheim, milord," said a voice.
Turning round, they saw that one of their guards, a priest, had spoken. Standing beside them, the man was deathly pale and clearly shaking with poorly hidden panic.
"Curse?" muttered Stefan with mild derision, "That's just and old wives' tale."
"Then what do you call them?" asked the priest, his terrified eyes boring into the prince's.
Adjusting his own equipment, Stefan shifted his bastard sword before replying, "Abominations that need to be destroyed. Come on, we have to help out Balker."
Just as he was about to lift the glass cube up, a loud blood curdling scream pierced the air. The prince dropped the cube as he turned toward the source. Despite their best efforts, the platoon had failed to stop the constant stream of undead. These creatures tore into the soldiers. Green mottled fists slammed into shields as blessed arrows slammed into them and steel blades bit into their flesh. With unrelenting fury, the undead beat down the knights and tore into their flesh. It did not matter whether they were male or female, the ghouls tore them limb from limb, gorging themselves on human meat as blood sprayed over them. One unfortunate hunter desperately tried to push a ghoul away as it literally tore open the man's stomach before thrusting its head to consume the still warm, pulsating innards. Eris turned from the horrifying scene, vomiting over the side of the steps. Friedrich and Leidipus exchanged worried glances before looking to their friend for guidance. Just then, Stefan's dropped cube flashed a dark red as an urgent voice spoke.
"My prince, this is Third Platoon Lieutenant Yegar. You have to get out of here! Balker and Fourth Platoon have already been overrun. My men are holding the barracks at the moment, but most of the other platoons are already gone! I managed to reach Second Platoon earlier. They're holding the gatehouse and can try to clear a path for you, but they won't hold for much longer."
Roughly grasping the cube, the prince lifted it and replied, "Yegar, we'll begin moving immediately. How about the other platoons? Surely there has to be other survivors!"
"I can't be sure, sir, but I haven't been able to reach the others. I think only Second and Third are the only ones left. My platoon has just managed to finish off the last undead in our area. We'll be linking up with you as soon as we can. Wai- You there! Who are- "
The voice on the other line went dead. There were no screams or shouts, just silence.
"Yegar! Yegar, are you there?" shouted Stefan, his eyes wide in fear, "Lieutenant, are you there?"
The cube briefly flickered red as a soft, silky voice answered, "I'm afraid the lieutenant can not answer at the moment. He is...how do you say...indisposed."
RL: If I'm lucky, this chapter would have been a relatively easy read. I hope I managed to make this introduction enjoyable. I'll be working on remaking the next chapters and, assuming no writer's block, another chapter should be coming soon. As usual, please review. Any comments, good or bad, are welcomed.