Chapter 9

The following day finally arrived after a sleepless night under the stars being pounded by the cold port town winds of Lith Harbour. Well, what was left of it anyway. The seven of us that were there, past the disaster zone barriers that the public were not allowed into, grimly cleaned up the remains until morning came. We made a cemetary and marked graves with stones from the pieces of buildings. Upon finishing, we all took a few moments of silence before everyone headed back to their respective cities. Jay to Perion, Koslow to Kerning, Mitso and Calydon to Henesys, Grendel to Ellinia, and Aya to Orbis. I stayed here in Lith Harbour, however, still not completely over the tragedy I was caught smack in the middle of.

To pass the time I gathered flowers from just outside the village and made bouquets to place on the graves as if it were some sort of meaningless apology. I took comfort that there were only about thirty at most as alot of residents had left the city either to find help or run for their lives. These were just the ones that didn't make it in time. I also felt somewhat more secure, now that it came to mind, that Maple Island was evacuated before it disappeared. The sun was still just lifting off from the horizon as I made my peace with it, and was almost ready to move on. I was sitting on the edge of the dock where Shanks' boat would be pulling in right about now when I heard footsteps approaching.

"Raquen, you're not even allowed here," I said after I turned my head to see who it was. As usual, Astreryl was close behind. "That, and I'm really not in the mood."

"Oh, cut the sobfest, Orrison. I come in peace." He sat down next to me, and Astreryl on his other side. He was now adorning a very high-quality fullbody chain mail armor that was specifically made for swordsmen. It was mostly white but with a blue cross on the chest. "I jumped to conclusions earlier about your father, and I apologize."

I stared at him blankly for a moment, hardly believing it. His deep blue eyes somehow showed some level of sincerity to his words. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about when I tried to force you to tell me where your father was. I realized after this that if you were in contact with him you would have handled something like this at least a little better." He finished with a small smirk. Astreryl weakly slapped him on the arm as if she was upset, but there was a giggle in her voice that made it more playful, and annoying.

I rolled my eyes, ready to toss him into the water and let that stupid armor drag him down with it. "Listen, you were sent away after yesterday because this area's off limits, and I know you didn't come here just to apologize. So get to the point."

"Haha, don't let being in Amaranth get to your head now, you only got in because of Torrence, and because Calydon seems to have a thing for you."

I pretended to ignore him as I turned my attention back to the water below us.

"Okay, Schimmel, here's the deal." My attention turned again when he seemed to talk more seriously and actually called me by my first name. "I need to get into Amaranth, and you need someone to make you look better than you do before your guildmates isolate you. Even if Calydon let you in for other than what I said, it still seems like that from the outside and you know it. People aren't going to respect that. What you need is a team. Calydon wants to try the virus plan again, right?"

I stared at him in shock amazement. Maybe there is something in that thick skull of his. All I could say was, "Yes... how did you know all that?"

"Just intuition." Far more intuition than I wanted to give him credit for, but he was right and there was no other way to explain it. He continued, "My father was in Amaranth. He was part of one of the search parties into the depths of the Ludibrium toy factory after the monster surge that started there. He was one of the few who came back, but he was never the same. Right now he's at the mental hospital in Kerning, likely still claiming he's a bear and screaming obscenities about the world dying."

"I don't know what to say."

"It's the same with Astreryl's mother." He held her hand as he spoke now. "She wanders the plains around Henesys looking for wounded monsters to heal and telling stories of the mana they contain that keeps the cycle of life energy flowing in the world."

"Do you believe any of it?" I asked.

"I want to, but I don't know. We think there's something down there that drastically altered their minds and makes them think of some twisted story of how monsters are good. Looking at this though..." His thoughts wandered as he glanced around Lith Harbour. "It doesn't matter. They're the rantings of mad people now, their minds were destroyed by something in that factory. It's not really a toy factory, you know. Ludibrium city has been around for as long as history, including the toy factory. It's believed that whatever's down there is creating the monsters in the world, but the monsters around it are so powerful no one's ever been able to do anything about it."

"So if it were to be destroyed, the monsters would stop?"

"Theoretically. But it's impossible. The virus is a far more efficient plan. Torrence was the only one who knew how to create it though, which is why I was so desperately looking for him."

"Hm..." I fell into silent thought yet again, contemplating everything he had said. I was surprised it came from him of all people. Maybe he wasn't so bad.

"So, is that Calydon's plan right now? To find Torrence and learn how to make it?"

I collected my thoughts for a moment while I rested my hand on the pocket that contained the ingredient list Calydon had given me. He had told me to keep it entirely to myself, as it's dangerous in the wrong hands. On the other hand, though, I needed help and what Raquen had said before was true. I was never going to get anywhere without someone on my side. It was clear Amaranth wasn't going to be due to my reputation and my total failure to live up to it. They were just going to look down at me for being let in the guild so easily, and make my life miserable. I didn't even have to chance it to find out, it was common sense. Human nature.

"No," I said. "I don't know how to make it, but I have the ingredients now. We can at least collect them and learn the rest later."

"Is this true?" He said with surprise. His eyes almost seemed to turn a brighter blue. I reached for the paper in my pocket and showed him. "Hm... orange, blue, and zombie mother mushroom spores, king slime liquid, balrog claw, and pianus fin?"

"That's right. Supposedly a man going by the name Sabitrama in Sleepywood knows where to collect them all too."

"It looks like that's where we're starting then. Shall we set off?"

"Ah, so the forces are at work once again," Sabitrama mused, sitting cross-legged just outside a building marked "Sleepywood Spa and Sauna". Raquen, Astreryl and myself had finally found who we were looking for after taking a taxi to Sleepywood within the Victoria Dungeon and asking around the incredibly small village. Sabitrama was probably as old as Grendel, which was really old. He was tanned, dressed only in a toga and had six red dots on his forehead in a vertical rectangular shape. While he looked over the list, I took in my surroundings. The houses were made of unpainted wood and the nails could clearly be seen as if they were all done by amateurs. Being underground, roots from the trees could be seen hanging down from the earth up above making me wonder how the place was stable. Even with the area being so primitive, there was some kind of magical aura hanging thick in the air that I couldn't put my finger on. It felt like a very spiritual place.

"Yes," Sabitrama spoke after a long pause. "What you seek are the components to a very potent strain of virus called Gray. One that does not affect human life, but instead only those which are mana-bearing creatures."

"Mana-bearing creatures?" Raquen inquired. "Aren't humans mana-bearing also? How would Astreryl cast her spells?"

"Ah, no my child. We humans gather our mana from the small quantities of free-roaming mana in the air, enacted then by our own physical energy and thus transformed into a form in which our spirit desires," Sabitrama explained.

"Okay then," I interrupted before Raquen could further pursue the topic. Having recently learned how brainy he actually is, I knew if I let it go on I'd be here for hours. "So could you tell us where to find these ingredients, please?"

"I could..." Sabitrama stopped to pause yet again. A few moments later he continued, "It will not cost you anything for this information. However, I must warn you it is not advised you take this path in your journey. There will be no good to become of it. If you insist, however..."

"Please. You have to tell us," I begged as I sat down in front of him and looked him straight in the eyes. "I believe that the fate of the world depends on it, and I can't let myself down again. I have to do this."

"Very well..." He grabbed a pencil from a pocket hidden inside his toga and began writing. When he handed it back to me he said, "There you are. I wish you luck in all your future endeavors. May Cygnus be with you."

We didn't even get a chance to look at it before we heard a deafening roar coming from a cave nearby looking like it led deeper underground.

"That sounded like..." My face turned pale and my heart sunk as I recognized that painfully familiar roar. I turned to Raquen and Astreryl and said quickly, "We have to go. Now!"

"I should have known!" The creature called from beyond the cave as it stepped into view. It was as menacing as ever. It's teeth showing uninhibited rage and it's red eyes piercingly sharp.

"Get back, foul demon!" Sabitrama jumped up from sitting, crossed his two index fingers which seemed to put up a barely visible force field that was meant to block the demon from leaving it's cave.

"Maybe your spell would work on the creatures in my Ant Tunnel, pitiful human," it spoke calmly, "But you can't hold me!" With that it raised its giant claws and tore through the barrier like paper. It must have been connected to Sabitrama somehow, as he was thrown back to the ground some ten feet away upon it breaking.

"Shit!" I cried. "We're outta here!"

"What are you talking about?" Raquen held me firmly before I could make a mad dash for the hurriedly fleeing taxi. "That's a balrog! We need it's claw!"

With that Raquen darted past me and took a swing at it with his sword, Astreryl following suit. Just before the sword connected, Astreryl raised her staff casting a spell on Raquen's sword that made it glow with a white light and helped it cut clean through part of its claw, which dropped to the ground with a thud. The demon roared again loudly and swiped the other one. Raquen tried to hold up his sword to block it, but he was thrown against the wall of the sauna building.

It all happened so quickly my mind couldn't process it and it felt like I was frozen. All I could think about were the people running and screaming. As many people as the taxi could fit had jumped in as it sped off. The others quickly gathered their makeshift spears and bows and ran off towards the entrance of the dungeon. As I watched Raquen get thrown into the wall of the sauna it all snapped into my head once again. How I was thrown away by the dragon. The terrifying roars and screams. The sick look on that demon's face. As I watched it approach Raquen, who was now in pain and struggling to move, Astreryl running towards him screaming and casting spells that just bounced off its back, I ran towards it before I knew what was happening.

"This is not happening again!" I yelled. I called to Astreryl as I passed her. "Hit my sword with that same spell you used before!"

The demon's claw slammed through the wall behind Raquen just as he jumped out of the way. My sword started glowing, and I knew Astreryl had gotten the spell off. Now that the wall was broken I could see some people in the sauna who seemed as though they were huddling together in the corner and I lost the rest of my control.

"Rrrrrrraaaaagh!" I let loose as I jumped onto the creatures back, planting my sword into its neck.