Riven glared as his master entered back into the inn. "And where have you been all night?"
"Out."
"You know I don't fancy your late night visits with Lord Julien."
"And you know I really don't care."
"How can you believe he's still innocent?"
"Because everyone, including you, is on the 'Julien is evil' bandwagon! I locked him up on a suspicion!"
"You can't ignore the facts!"
"Well what would you have me do, Riven?! I don't hear you throwing out ideas! I didn't ask for this! I Didn't ask to become Arisen! And if it weren't for that damned dragon, I'd still be at home on BitterBlack Isle! I wouldn't have to deal with you, or that damn duke, or any of this! None of this was my problem until now, and I'll be damned if I let an innocent man die because of a hunch! So if you don't mind, back off!"
Riven stared at his master, taken by surprise by her words. His face grew hot and he stormed out of the inn. Alixx ran after him.
"Riven, I'm sorry!" She stopped at the front of then inn. "Riven!"
She watched as Riven walked for the pawn guild. She punched the wall as she went back to her bed, flopping down and getting lost in her thoughts.
The next morning, Alixx stuffed her bag with supplies and shut. Slinging it over her shoulder, Mercedes stood behind her.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"The duke asked me to investigate the Ancient Quarry. Miners are going missing and he wants to know why."
"Do you require assistance?"
"I think I'll be okay. But thank you for the offer."
She pushed past Mercedes and headed down towards the pawn guild. Barnaby was walking around the hut when Alixx walked in.
"Pray, good morning Arisen," he said. "To what do I.."
"I'm looking for my companion, Riven," she interrupted. "Where is he?"
He folded his arms. "Ah, so you're the one he had the argument with. He arrived last night very upset."
"Just tell me where he is, Barnaby."
"Pray, if he does not want to be found, I will honor his privacy."
Without even thinking, Alixx grabs Barnaby's collar and slammed him against the wall with a loud thud.
"Alas, violence will get you nowhere, dear Arisen. If you'd kindly leave, I will not call for the guards."
Alixx released him and calmly walked out. It was only her and her thoughts. As she made her way to the castle stables, the guards glared. She just smiled sweetly as she mounted her horse and putting on her hood and mask.
Riven abandon me.. Just like my father.
Traveling farmers and peddlers smiled as they passed by her. One familiar face caught her attention.
"Well hello again Reynard," she greeted slowing her horse.
"A pleasure to be in your acquaintance, my dear," he bowed. "To be in the presence of a woman as beautiful.."
"Save it."
He stared at her in confusion. "Is everything alright my dear?"
She couldn't control her anger. "No. nothing is alright. The duke is lying in his position of power, my companion of old abandon me, I still have no idea when or even how I'm going to defeat the dragon, and I just put possibly placed an innocent man behind bars, thus giving up my place in the duke court. So no, I'm freaking peachy."
Reynard hung his head and began to walk away. Alixx turned the horse around and blocked his path.
"I'm sorry Reynard."
He looked up at her. "Maybe if you weren't so closed off and bitter, you could find happiness. But you let your emotions get in the way, driving away the people who care most about you. Pray, you have a safe journey, dear Arisen." He moved past the horse and disappeared within the walls of Gran Soren.
Alixx turned the horse back towards the Ancient Quarry. "Flaming blighter, good for nothing know it all."
She exhaled. "He's right. I've been so shut off. Maker, what am I going to do with myself?"
She tied up her horse outside the Ancient Quarry after dismounting. Cautiously making her way inside, she could hear voices off into the distance. They were too faint for her to hear, so she drew closer, coming to a locked door. She pressed her ear to it, barely able to make out the voices.
"So what are we going to do with the minors?"
"Nothing," a deep voice replied.
The voice sent chills down Alixx's spin. She recognized it as the same voice she heard the night she and Julien were taken captive.
"If I know the duke," he continued. "He will send more. And then he will send her. All I want is the girl."
Who is talking about? Is he talking about me?
"What is your interest in this girl?"
"Why not just ask her?"
Before she could react, a fist burst through the door and pulled her through. The man crushed her throat until she passed out.
Chains rattled as Alixx came too. She was in a different area the before. A rooftop of sorts. The man stood in front of her.
He smiled evilly. "You recognize me, yes?"
"Salomet. A powerful Sorcerer and once a prominent adviser to the Duke but has since betrayed him and run off with valuable grimoires and magical accouterments; one of which was the Wyrmking's Ring, meaning my father, and using it to amplify your magical powers. You were crafty enough to steal one of the Duke's most prized possessions and has ample knowledge of the necromatic-arts to summon hordes of undead warriors. The last Arisen was said to have killed you last year."
He laughed again. "The duke said he had killed many things, yet as you have come to find out are all lies."
"What do you want with me Salomet!"
"I want to know what, makes, you.. Tic."
"Riven!"
He thrust his hand inside her chest and she screamed out in pain. She could feel his hand squeezing her insides.
"You really don't have a heart."
"RIVEN!"
A surge of lightening coursed through her,and she screamed again. He placed a hand on her head and she began to see her life before her eyes. Life on the isle, her love for Julien, the dragon, Olra, Barroch, her future. Seeing something she never thought would happen in her life. Salomet released her from her terror, and her head dropped. Her black hair began to soak in her tears.
He lifted her head."What's the matter? Did you lose your fight?"
Without warning, a large dragon descended from the sky and crushed Salomet right in front of her.
"The rantings of an upjumped zealot make for tedious listening. His ilk serves no role in what is to come. Only my death will staunch the flood of destruction...a task still far beyond your means.
"If it's still far beyond my means, then why are you here? Is this your way of saying I should face you even though I might lose?"
"If you would face me, seek me out and I shall allow it. But heed this zealot's lesson well- when the weak court death, they find it. But until then, I shall hold your little keepsake safe. Your Dragonforged will speak for my diligence in that. The choice falls not to me, nor to the whims of fate...it is yours alone."
With a bright white flash, she was outside the Ancient Quarry. She began to lose vision and collapsed onto the ground. Someone ran to aid her. A bright green light hovered above her weakened body. A feeling of warmth; familiarity.
"Riven?"
"I am here master. Try not to move."
He did all in his power to heal her. Losing most his stamina, he headed back to Gran Soren to seek more aid for his master.
Her eyes fluttered open the next morning. Her wounds had been dressed and Riven was asleep in the chair next to her. She placed her hand on his causing him to jerk awake. He was surprise to see his master so well.
"The dragon has challenged me, Riven. He says I'm not ready, but in a way I am. I think its time."
"Master?" He looked concerned. "Are you sure about this? Do you feel we are strong enough to face him?"
"I fear not. At least not in small numbers. We'll need Mellyssa and Duccio again. And he said it's best we speak to the Dragonforged."
"He has faced the dragon once before."
"Actually not. There was an old story that told of the Dragonforged struck a bargain with the beast and then fled to Hillfigure Knoll with his pawn. Seeing as he still resides there, no one since him has defeated that dragon. And I fear I wont be able to either. Wyrms are very powerful creatures."
"And you are a powerful warrior."
"Come. Lets go speak to the Dragonforged."
Slowly getting up, both her and Riven snuck their way to Hillfigure Knoll, weary not to be caught by the guards of Windbluff tower. The Dragonforged greeted her with open arms. The fool watched as she and Riven entered in the cave.
"Well met, young Arisen of the present day."
"Greetings Dragonforged. The dragon has challenged me. What do I do? I don't even know where to begin."
"Dragons are creatures wreathed in mystery. Though they appear a handful of times in the long history of the continent, it is unclear how Dragons were born and what causes their vicious attacks upon mankind. The small amount of knowledge gleaned from these sporadic attacks reveals little more than the facts that Dragons possess dreadful power and are intelligent enough to understand human speech. Although there have been some cases where the Arisen could understand wyrm tongue. Dragons appear without warning, sometimes by the dozen, others hundreds of years apart. However, each brings chaos and destruction to humankind and civilization alike without distinction or discretion. Their actions are considered inhuman atrocities and given their high levels of intelligence, it is difficult to imagine their violence is without purpose or intent. Many times in the past, Dragons have brought the world to the edge of destruction, yet they have never completely eradicated humankind. In every age that they appear, dragons commit a short-lived but ferocious assault upon the world. Then suddenly cease their attacks and fly atop a mountain or other visible location, as if awaiting for something. Given these strange actions, it is possible to think that the dragons are fulfilling some sort of role or duty, serving some greater function within the world, yet at present there is simply not enough evidence to formulate any sort of theory about the dragons' purpose, or if it had purpose at all. It is also certain from past records that the number of monsters in the world seem to sharply increase around the time that dragons appear. This could be nothing more than mere coincidence, but if it is somehow an effect of a dragon's imminent appearance, then this would be another example of dragons' peculiar place in the natural order of the world."
"I thank you for all you've done for me. For all you've aided me with. Pray, do I head for where I think I should go?"
"Make for the Tainted Mountain, beyond the Greatwall. He will be there, waiting for you. Pray, it wont be an easy journey. I would wrap up any other business you have in Gran Soren, or in Gransys."
Alixx turned to Riven. "Come on. we need to head for the castle first."
"Pray, what for?"
"We have a prisoner to bust out. How many skeleton keys do you have?"
He avoided eye contact. "I don't know what your talking about."
"Riven I know you've been sneeking into the castle using the passage leading from the aqueducts to the dungeons. I saw you snooping around the castle the other night. Particularly Juliens quarters."
"Three."
"Then lets go."
The two ran out in unison towards the castle.
Alixx unlocked the door to the cell across from Juliens. He stood up just as she made her way to unlock his cell. She fumbled for the keys, clenching every time they knocked against each other.
"Alixx, what are you doing here?"
"Breaking you out," she whispered opening the door. "Don't ask questions. just start running."
He went into the cell with the escape route and Alixx led him straight out of the castle. He stopped her right before they made it to the road.
"What is going on?" he asked. He looked into her eyes, he saw the fear and distress eating away at her. "The dragon has come, hasn't he?"
She nodded, handing him a coin purse. "You have to flee. Go home, and live your life Julien. When I make for the dragon..." She hesitated. "I don't ever expect to see the light of day again."
He tried to console her. "Then let me go with you."
"No!" She pushed him away and turned her back to him. "You have to go. Live your life, and forget about me."
He turned her around and tightly held on to her arms. "Pray, I could never forget about you."
She ripped her arms away and slid the ring she had given him off her finger. "You're going to have to."
Julien forcefully turned her to face him, and her genitally kissed her. He could feel her tears begin to run down her face. Her heart sunk as he pulled away. Without saying a word, she turned away for the last time, and made way for the Tainted Mountain with Riven following close behind.