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Chronicles of Gamindustri 2: The Wanderer of Leanbox
- by The Great Historian
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Notice: The story you are about to read does not belong to me, but rather to someone.
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Chapter 1 - The Groundbreaking
A long time ago, a great evil had suddenly appeared and are threatening the lives of the continent of Exbux. A being known as a Great Sin of Deity had emerged, and it caused a disaster upon disaster to the kingdoms that are in the continent. At the last standing kingdom in Exbux, three heroes had risen up to go against the Great Sin of Deity. And together, they were able to driven out the monstrosity along with its evil forces.
Near the end, the Three Heroes appeared to be at their limits. And so, they sacrificed their lives in order to seal the Great Sin of Deity away. Using their souls as the key to close the seal from the world. On the western part of the continent, where the final battle had began, the people had erected three sanctums in response for the Three Heroes to hide their souls here and be protected.
And so, many years had passed, this story had now began to fade from everyone's mind. The story turned into a myth as most people found that protecting the sanctums was just nothing, only a few remained loyal to the story.
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One day, in a place called Leanbox Ramp, a young woman by name of "Ayef", was a mercenary, a new one of that. She called herself the Wind Walker, yet no one even knows that. She entered the Village of Leanbox to search for a job as a mercenary.
She looked around the village looking for a guild building. She then asked a nearby guard stationed by the entrance of the village. The guard then told her that there was an inn by the northwest of the village. Ayef thanked the guard as she made her way back to track and found an inn from where the guard had told her.
Apparently, the owner of the Inn told her that the Inn also act as a Guild, because the village was living in an isolated area and there are only weak monsters around, which the guards are enough to deal with. Ayef have no problem as long as she can find a job as a mercenary. And so the owner of the inn gave her a task from a certain man. Her first task was to go near the entrance, there was a man there asking a help to deliver a chest to the nearby Village Garden.
Ayef accepted the request as she made her way to the location. On the way, she noticed a few people wearing an armor that seems to be sturdier than the guard she saw. She watched them looking over, as if they were searching something, before going away. She just brushed them off as she made her way near the entrance.
Just near the entrance, a small building can be seen with a man sitting there by the front door. Ayef asked if he was the man who was asking for help to deliver a chest. The man was delighted to see her as he pulled out the cover beside him, a small chest can be seen.
The man gave Ayef the chest and told her that she must deliver the chest by the west of the Ramp, the Village Garden. And that he told her to be very careful to what she was holding and she should give it to a man in a black cloak. Ayef nodded as the man hurriedly left the place.
For some reason, she felt a strange vibration in the chest but she simply brushed it off.
She then left the village and returned to the Ramp to where she came from first. Then she headed West, fighting small monsters on the way, until she reached the Village Garden. She entered the village before she was stopped by a guard who asked her what was happening in the Leanbox Village.
Ayef do not know why so she was the one who asked. Apparently the guard heard a rumor from the Leanbox Village that a group of knights were searching for someone to arrest because they stole something. She have no idea about the news so the guard let her go. Ayef wondered why but nonetheless she entered the village.
Unlike Leanbox, Garden appeared to be more organized and well-bricked walls were surrounding it. Ayef approached the nearby stall that sells food before she saw a man in black cloak. She approached the man and asked him if he was the person whom the man that requested in Leanbox. The cloaked individual nodded to her answer as she gave the chest to him. The man then gave her the payment for her job before he hurriedly left the place.
Ayef returned back to Leanbox only to see the armed individuals increased in the village. As she made her way back to the Inn, one of the armed men called her out. She approached them as a bigger man faced her.
He introduced himself as "Captain Carnel" and the rest of the armed men as the Knights of Faith, they are the people who are following the steps of the Three Heroes and are faithful that the story about their heroic will that fought the Great Sin of Deity was real.
Ayef had heard of the story before but it was only a summarized version and she thought it was a myth. Captain Carnel agreed to her but they believed that it was real and not simple a tale, they are the ones that are guarding the sanctums bestowed upon them as their responsibility to protect the seals to prevent the potential revival of the Great Sin of Deity.
So Ayef asked why she was called. Apparently, Captain Carnel was searching for a man who was carrying a chest. Ayef told him that she got a request from a man to delivered a chest to someone in the nearby village. Captain Carnel was shock as he told the young woman that the chest she delivered was one of the seal that was stolen.
She was shocked to know this as she apologized greatly to the captain. The captain simply sighed, now that they know that the chest had fallen into the wrong hands, they would now focus to the other keys that are from the other sanctums instead. Ayef felt somewhat guilty so she asked to tag along and help them, though Captain Carnel warned her, but she ought to do this since it was her fault in the first place.
The Captain was expecting an attack in the second sanctum, the Trek Sanctum near the east of Sunflower - the land they were in. Ayef understood as she prepared food for her journey, though she asked what happened and how did this problem started.
Captain Carnel answered her that there was a young man by the name of "Croxus" who stirred trouble in their ranks in the Knights of Faith. And ever since then, their defenses had weakened and an unknown group of dark individuals had stolen the key and they were searching for it.
Ayef nodded in confirmation as she finished preparing. She then followed the captain along with the other knights.
Dusk came to view as they finally arrived at the sanctum. It appeared to be a small stronghold with large building and it seemed to be where the second key was located inside. The captain told Ayef to be prepare this night because he was expecting an attack from the dark individuals.
But they were not expecting something else.
And so night slowly came and a soldier came running in the Sanctum with terror. He told the captain that a large group of demons are entering the sanctum by the north side. The captain was shocked to see demons now entering the stronghold, he ordered the men to be prepare and protect the building the with their lives.
Ayef asked the captain why the demons are here instead of those dark individuals. Apparently the seal that Ayef had delivered had a dark power in it, like the other keys, and those dark individuals must have managed to harnessed the dark power and summoned the demons.
Fighting against the demons proved to be difficult. The monsters are very strong and the knights are no match. Ayef took down a few demons but the numbers she killed was nowhere near what Captain Carnel killed. However, s the knights died one by one, Ayef retreated in the building with Captain Carnel, who was in a bad condition. He told the remaining knights to retreat in the building and hold the door.
The few remaining knights held the door close as the demons pushed hard to open it. But they were thrown away as demons flooded the room.
Ayef and Captain Carnel climbed up the podium where a small chest can be seen where she immediately recognized the similarities from the one she had delivered. Back to the problem at hand, the demons had killed the remaining knights, only Ayef and Captain Carnel was left alive. Then, came two dark figures who appeared to be the mastermind of this event.
A dark demon in black armor with yellow trim called himself the "Right-Hand Judgement", and the other one was just a simple-looking knight human. But the captain recognized the knight with fury as he knew it was "Croxus".
Croxus had a wicked smile upon his face as he talked to the captain, brushing off his betrayal to the Knights of Faith. Then he asked the captain to hand over the chest that contains the second key of the seal.
Ayef asked the captain what are they gonna do and the captain looked at her. Captain Carnel simply smiled as he suddenly created a portal from his magic power, he them gave the chest to Ayef, who was surprised, and pushed her off to the portal, telling her to run, before the portal closed off.
The knight Croxus was mad as he ordered Judgement to kill Captain Carnel. The wounded captain simply held his sword despite his condition. He made one mighty yell before everything turned dark.
Meanwhile, Ayef was teleported at the southern gate of the sanctum but far from it. She looked back to the sanctum, in which she saw the building burning, as she held the chest tightly as she simply ran towards the forest which was known as the Blue Flock Forest for its trees' leaves are all colored blue.
She continued to run in the forest before she tripped over and got knocked out after her head bumped on the stone. The chest spilled out its container revealing a small, white pearl with darkness oozing out from it.
On the next day, Ayef woke up to find herself in a house. She was saved by a man named "Sage Yvoire". The sage asked her what happened and Ayef told her the situation. The sage grew grim as he held the chest that she was carrying before. Yvoire told her that if it comes to this, she must get the Hammer of Eradication.
The sage told her that if the keys are being collect, then they have no other choice but to destroy the keys once and for all. Ayef asked what was the sage affiliation to the Knights of Light, and he answered her that he was a friend of Captain Carnel. He was the sage, a descendant of one of the Three Heroes by the name of "Magician Magus", while Captain Carnel was a descendant of "Templar Trek", and the knight Croxus was the descendant of "Warrior Xerxas".
Ayef was shocked to know this revelation, but she wanted to know why Croxus had betrayed the Knights of Faith. Even the sage do not know why the knight turned evil when he was such a fine warrior and a righteous person before. He and the Captain Carnel could only speculated that something must've happened to him but they do not know what and how.
And so the sage asked Ayef's help to get the Hammer of Eradication in order to destroy the keys. She must collect the handle of the hammer that was in the elven village called Illune, and the head in the dwarven village called Odun. On the way to that place Ayef will pass through a village called Boulevard and asked her to find a person, who was a scholar, named "Arnold".
The sage will stay in the house to create a message for the remaining Knights of Faith from the order to protect the last sanctum. Ayef thanked the sage as she was given by a map to her location and hurriedly made her way to the forest.
She continued heading south of the forest, whilst battle monsters on her way, until she reached a plain. Just by the west, she found a village of Boulevard. She searched for a man named Arnold there and found him just outside his house.
She told Arnold that the sage was looking for him. And this the scholar turned serious as he thanked the mercenary woman before leaving. After that, Ayef continued on heading to the west and quickly arrived at the second village.
She noticed that the people here are Elves who are supposed to be race hidden from the humans. But she found the Elves there friendly, she asked for anyone there where she can find the handle for the Hammer of Eradication. An elven guard approached her and asked why she needs it, she said that she must use the hammer in order to destroy the keys that sealed the Great Sin of Deity.
The guard told her to wait as he called the Elder. A few minutes later, an Elven elder walked up to her and asked if it is from the request of Sage Yvoire. She agreed and the Elven elder nodder, but they must acquire something from her to be acknowledged. The elder told her that the Elven race were always in seclusion, away from the other races. And for them to just simply be on the humans lands wary their lives enough but they simply have to cope with it.
Although there was that, they just could not let some stranger hand over an important item. Hearing this, Ayef asked what she can do to obtain the handle of the hammer. The Elder asked a help to her if she could kill a small earth golem that was destroying the cleanliness of the river near them. Ayef nodded and the elder told her the way.
The earth golem was nothing for them but they lacked sufficient power to defeat it. They were after all in a foreign land and the elves here are not well trained except for a few guards, so her help will be greatly appreciated. Ayef understood as the elder told her to go pass the cave just by.
Ayef had entered the cave and encountered some bats. The pesky monsters are very easy to kill but they just moved too quick so she had to use her wind power in order to kill them. After that, she crossed the cave and found a river. Upon noticing the running water, it was dirty. There, she found and a small earth golem covered in mud.
She prepared her weapon, a pair of long daggers, and engaged with the monster. Unlike the bats, fighting the golem is easier, she just need to be wary of its big fist that could definitely leave her a few cracking bones if she is to be hit. In the end, she defeated the golem.
After that, she saw a bunch of blue fairies appearing out from the trees around her. She recognized them as the Water Fairies as these fairies started to cleanse the dirty river. The elder arrived to see watch the river slowly turned clean. He thanked Ayef for her hard work as she accepted the extra reward and the handle of the hammer of destruction.
It is almost dusk and Ayef would like to continue her journey towards the dwarven village, Odun. She bid the elder farewell before she started heading north, if she won't meet any unfortunate events on her way, then she would arrive at the village by night and take a rest there.
Finally, she arrived at the village. Tired from her walk and running, she entered the village and asked for a rest. The dwarves were surprised to see her in those lonesome mountain where they lived at. The female dwarves then guided her back to their Inn which surprisingly has the size of an Inn fit for a human.
The dwarves had built the Inn for a certain sage, and Ayef tried to guessed if it was Sage Yvoire they were talking about. The dwarves were surprised to hear that she knows the sage. An older looking dwarf had emerged upon them and greeted Ayef. The dwarf introduced himself as the chieftain of the village and he was an acquaintance of the sage, he asked what was Ayef's purpose of coming here.
The mercenary woman asked the chieftain if she could get the head of the hammer of destruction that was in their position. And just like Ayef had suspected from the Elven village, the chieftain cannot trust her that fast. So she asked if there was something she could do in order to obtain there acknowledgement.
The chieftain had one task he wanted to do from her. But he told her to sleep and rest and wait for tomorrow. Ayef was thankful enough to hear that as she felt her body sore from the travel.
She slept soundly in the Inn of the dwarves to continue the next day.