Chapter 7

It took about four hours to get to the farm, and to me everything looked normal. I walked along the edge of the forest for about an hour, still nothing. I walked through the fields and through all the crops, but still found nothing. I even investigated the house, and still came out empty. Since there was nothing around I started leaving the house when I noticed something out the corner of my eye. I turned to the window I thought I saw something, and saw a hooded man in white robes leaning on a tree. When he saw that I had noticed him he ran into the woods and vanished, so I jumped out the window and sprinted for him.

Maybe he saw something, I need to catch up, I thought. I sprinted to the edge of the woods where I saw him, and pulled out my quarter-staff and cautiously scanned and walked through the woods. Only a few minutes of walking and I saw him again, but a little closer. This time I noticed he had gold and silver patterns on his robes and skin. But he vanished deeper into the woods, so I sped up to catch him. I finally thought I had him when I made it to a clearing, but he was nowhere in sight; the only thing here was an altar marked with weird symbols. It stood on a rock about three feet up that was marked with weird marks and letters I didn't recognize, and the altar itself appeared to be a crucifix with the same letters.

I pulled out my note book and wrote down what I saw as best as I could while looking around for the mysterious hooded man, but he was nowhere to be found still. As I was writing the last mark that was on the crucifix; all the letters on my page started to glow. Shortly after that, all the markings on the altar started to glow. I tried to close my notebook but it felt like trying to bend two foot thick steel bar, so I dropped it in front of the altar and backed up. But as I backed up I ran into someone, and my instincts kicked in so I immediately reacted with a spinning back hand. The unknown person countered me with identical precision, and it was the hooded man.

I saw him clearly now; he was my height, and that was the only thing "normal" about it. His face looked like a silhouette so he had no prominent facial features, and his hood had gold horns that went down the back of his head. His robes were silver with gold markings and no sleeves, and he had a four foot long golden tail. His arms we silhouette too, but the strangest thing; he looked exactly like me. My horns and tail and robes looked exactly the same, the only difference was that my robes were red with grey markings. He put his index finger on my forehead and everything around me but him faded to shadow, and it looked as if there were stars all around us.

"We need to talk Morgukia," the hooded man said as he removed his finger from my head.

"Who are you? Where are we?" I asked, ready to strike him if needed

"I am Aikugrom, the angle assigned to your protection. We are in the plane of the astral sea because I cannot take you into my home in the heavens." He said, I was confused,

"What do you mean 'assigned to my protection'? How do I know this isn't one of Marfedelom's tricks?" I asked.

"Marfedelom may be a powerful sorcerer, but he is not as powerful as he thinks he is. You may put down your staff; there is no reason for you to distrust me." He said, I guess he could tell that I was ready to strike him.

"Ok, fine," I lowered my staff, "Why are we here?" I asked

"I will explain; we have been watching you ever since you have been born. Your whole group has their own personal angle watching over them; we were created for that sole purpose." He said

"Then why didn't you help me when I was knocked out by those goblins? Or help Bhar when he was arrested by the guards?" I questioned him

"It takes an enormous amount of energy to appear in your physical realm, but it is less to appear here because it is a lot closer to the heavens. It has taken me weeks to create that altar and lure you there; even saying one sentence in the common tongue in your realm takes lots of energy. Now, let me show you what your friends have been up to." He said

And then the same thing happened when he teleported me here, but this time we were in a pitch black room. He waved his hand and what looked to be a watery substance appeared in the shape of a circle. It then broke off into multiple pieces, and started playing what had appeared to be memories of my friends.

"How is this even possible?" I questioned, I was astounded. This was possibly one of the most incredible things I've ever witnessed in my life time!

"I am allowed to show you these because my master commanded me to, it is through him that I am given my power." He said

I started walking through the bubbles of the memories of my friends, and even though there was no sound I still saw some pretty awesome things.

First, I saw them go and investigate the location of a sphinx. A ranger by the name of Eridan came to them and asked them to look into it. When they finally found her she asked what had appeared to be a set of riddles. And when they answered all her riddles correctly she treated them more friendlily that at first, so I can only assume she became an ally.

Second, I saw them recruit the aid of a half-orc paladin; he was a lawfully moral paladin who put the law above all else. He aided them in answering the sphinx's riddles and completing a monumental task, killing a dragon. After they completed the sphinx's riddles they went back to Eridan, but he had grave news. He told Mythrik about a group of necromancers that served under Marfedelom that traveled to Mythrik's home town and were doing some sort of ritual. When they got there they found the necromancers being protected by some magical shield, and nothing could penetrate it.

While they were trying to destroy the shield, the dead started to rise. Among the dead, Mythrik's parents; he refused to let the others slay them. After they finally defeated the undead the necromancers spell ended, and it was a massacre after that. When they were all finished they were told by Eridan to go to a frozen lake nearby and slay an ice dragon that has been terrorizing locals.

I saw that memory and I pulled it closer to me; I had never seen a dragon before. But I used to read books all the time about them, and ice dragons when they're young aren't the strongest but they are not easy prey. One of the things they like to do is hiding under the ice in frozen lakes and wait for something stupid enough to walk along it, and then they burst out of the ice and eat them.

Unfortunately, my friends were the "something stupid enough". They started walking along the ice when, low and behold, the magnificent young ice dragon bursts out of the ice. But, instead of killing them on the spot they tried to negotiate with it. However, he wanted an insane amount of wealth so they attacked it; Aireon tried to mount the dragon but was thrown off to the side a few yards. The fight started to turn bad quick, and they all almost got killed. That was until a team of rangers came out of a nearby forest and distracted it long enough for Drakak to crush his head into an explosive puddle of blood and bone.

Such a shame to kill such a beautiful creature, but then again it tried to eat them. Shortly after that Drakak created a harp out of the dragon's jaw bone, and he could play surprisingly well. He even entranced a group of bandits that were transferring weapons to a group that were trying to exterminate a tribe of Goliaths. Aireon and the others went through and slayed all of them while they watched this jolly dwarf dance on top of their wagon, and when the leader came out , an orc, he lunged from the top of it and killed him with the harp.

"Oh my, did you see that! He killed him with a harp!" I shouted excitedly to Aikugrom

"Yes, I've seen all of these already." He said in a boring monotone, I guess he doesn't have a sense of humor.

The next memory I saw was them reading a sign that said "Arena Season! Teams or single, see Arena manager for sign up and details!" When they took the sign a she elf approached them, and she seemed distressed. It looks as if she needed them to do something in the arena for her, but I did not know what it was. The memory swirled and showed Mythrik fighting in the arena by himself, and he was doing very well; he was almost never hit and when he did get hit he didn't even stagger. The memory swirled again, but this time it showed what looked like a dugout for the arena fighters, but it was empty. In the background I could see Mythrik fighting a very skilled archer who landed a few hits on him.

"Now, go and help your friends. They will need your aid for the next quest to come." Said Aikugrom, and before I could protest he pushed me from behind and into the memory portal; which was actually a memory playing at that present time. The whole world swirled and dissipated into black.

…..

"Morgukia? Your back! How's everything with Bodo and the monastery?" shouted a familiar voice,

I got up and noticed Mythrik, a very blood covered and dirty Mythrik. He had a few gashes and an arrow sticking out the back of his left calf.

"Oh God your leg!" I shouted, when I noticed the leg it alarmed me. When I was seventeen I was trained to also act as a combat medic, and Mythrik should not be walking around with an arrow in his leg that deep.

"What? Oh that old thing? I was just fighting a pretty damn good archer, but too bad you need arms to use a bow if you catch my drift." He said with a boastful confidence,

"Here, let me patch you up for your next fight; I can tell you all about my recent experience while I work." So I proceeded to patch up his leg and some gashes while telling him about my experience with Aikugrom and the portals. When I was all finished he told me more about their experiences over the past few weeks, and our next move after the arena.

"We got a tip from Eridan to visit a ruin of an old town or something like that. Hopefully there's something there that'll bring us closer to Marfedeloms plot, but for now there are some heads that need to roll!" he shouted as he ran out into the arena, the crowd of what appeared to be dwarves were cheering him on.

I went up to the stands and found Drakak and Aireon sitting at a table, and Drakak was covered in a robe.

"Morgukia hey how's it going? We've just been sitting up here betting on Mythrik and watching him decimate the competition." Aireon said

I told them about Aikugrom and how Bodo was doing, and that I saw everything they did the past few weeks. They explained that the champion of the arena dishonored the she elf and she asked them to avenge her honor by slaying him.

"Hmm, well I think we can count on Mythrik to complete this task, right Drakak?" I asked

"SHHHHHH! I'm a wanted criminal here, this is my home city they want me dead because of my father's sleep coma. So keep it on the down low ok?" Drakak whispered.

"Oh, sorry I'll try to be quieter. But what should we call you in the meantime? I vote for Drak, how about you Aireon?" I said, and yes I was messing with the dwarf just a little.

"Sounds good to me; look there's Mythrik!" shouted Aireon

I ordered some wine and bread and for the next hour we watched as "Mythrik the Slayer" cut through opponent after opponent, and I went down from time to time to provide the medical aid he needed. He killed two twin elven archers, a group of fifteen goblin cutters, and doppelganger who appeared as a little girl at first. The twin elves, after planting a few arrows in Mythrik, found it hard to shoot with their heads rolling on the ground. After that, the cutters seemed to have the advantage in numbers but as we have seen throughout our history that never lasts long, so he stomped a few into the ground and punted some across the arena while cutting down the rest of them. The doppelganger almost had him, they can shape shift into different people, with appearing as a little girl and all. But when she charged she was just knocked from side to side and defeated shortly after.

Then it was time, the championship fight with "The Mountain Hammer". It was a long sparing match for about forty-five minutes until Mythrik finally got the advantage; when the Hammer tried to attack him he disarmed him with two of his swords and had them crossed on his neck. He looked towards the crowd and what looked to be the current ruler of the kingdom, they were all yelling things like "end him!" and "Finish him!" and a few vulgar things I won't mention. The dwarvish king silenced them, and gave him the thumbs down. Mythrik followed through with the execution, severing the top of the mountain from the rest of him, and the undefeatable "Mountain Hammer" was finally vanquished.

After Mythrik was showered in roses and the cheers of his new fans I patched him up and we got portions of the bet and main prize of three-thousand gold pieces split between the four of us. So I got seven-hundred-and-fifty gold for helping Mythrik between rounds. As we were leaving the she elf approached us,

"Thank you for doing what you did. I don't think I could've stepped back in there after what he did. Thanks," she said, and she left. I don't know what that dwarf did to her, but he deserved a worse fate I know that.

…..

We left for the ruined village shortly after to search for whatever it was we needed to find. We decided to look in city hall first, but it was just as ruined and decrepit as the rest of the village. That was until, we went downstairs.

"Ok" I said, "Drakak come downstairs with me, the rest of you keep searching up here for anything of interest."

"Can I smash all the furniture?" asked Drakak

"*sigh* Fine, but if any of it looks important don't smash it ok?" I asked as simple as I could

"Ok." He said sadly, I wish he'd go one day without breaking something.

We searched for about half an hour but came up with nothing, but then I noticed something on the wall adjacent to the entrance to the basement. The wall had a giant gash on it, and appeared to have a lighter shade than the other walls.

"Drakak look at that wall! Check it for anything that could lead us to a door or something." I exclaimed to him, and he went right to work.

Aireon and Mythrik came down shortly after that, and noticed the wall before I could tell them about it.

"Morgukia look at the floor; there's scratch marks along the floor. I think this wall is actually a door, so start searching for a handle." Aireon said as he was walking down the stairs.

I looked on the floor and noticed he was right, so we all started checking around the crack and the edges. Mythrik leaned up against a part of the wall and it shifted, startling him and making him fall to the ground.

"Whoa! Drakak help me push right here." He yelled as he was on the floor.

Drakak pulled Mythrik up and then they started pushing the right side of the wall. I seemed to look like they were just pushing up against a normal wall, and so they started to just give up. Out of frustration Drakak punched a brick on the wall and it indented into it like he just pushed a button, and then we started to hear what seemed to sound like locks unlocking and gears starting to work and turn. Then, the left side of the wall popped open on our side and the right side of the wall did the opposite.

"Ok, maybe we should start pushing now. Demon man, you and elf pull on your side." Said Drakak, and I'm pretty sure he knows my name but he likes calling me "demon".

Aireon and I started pulling while the others were pushing with all their might. Instead of just sitting there, like a wall, it started to slowly revolve. When we finally opened it enough we entered, but it wasn't a room. It seemed to lead to an incredibly deep and dark staircase, so those of us with a natural night vision (like Tiefling, Dwarves, and Elves) could see almost to the very bottom. But Mythrik couldn't so he pulled out a torch, so he was kind of the odd one out in the group for now.

But something felt, off I guess as we were walking down the stairs. I started to feel a buzzing in the back of my head, and that progressed to a buzzing feeling in my fingers.

"Uhh guys?" I said, but as the words left my mouth it felt like I was talking in slow-motion.

They kept walking, or at least I thought they were. My vision started getting distorted, and it only got worse as it progressed. I tried to reach out in front of me towards Aireon, but my hand seemed to dissolve straight though him. It shocked me and in my startled panic I fell off the stairs, and the last thing I saw was the spiral of the stair spinning me into a quiet darkness.