7th Century, 632, Mournful 14th
Elven Forest, Essence Hollow ruin
Arriving at the ruins after a day’s journey they entered the ruins. They were built by a stones by a darker shade. Six pillars rose into the air, two of them shorter than the others. Two more laid cracked on the stone laid ground. Grass was growing amongst the stones and around the large Templar statue.
It was almost fifty feet tall. It had the form of a Templar with a long broadsword and the triangular shield. It had the cylinder shaped helmet and feathers hanging in the back. The robes and combat skirt was hanging over the body, under the arm and leg armor and the chestplate hidden beneath the robes and skirt. The skirt went to the knees. The feathers on the head that hung downward was a symbol of the Templar Knight Commander.
Knight Commander was a rank that was more or less a general post and just below Lord Commander. A Lord Commander was usually an important person that had had a long career and commanded forts or other important offices of authority. The Templars of Truth was an order that was ruled by a council of Lord Commanders.
Fallon looked at the giant Templar Knight Commander statue.
“I wonder who he is,” she mused.
Draak shrugged and looked at Archon.
“You’re the druid who’s been around for five centuries.”
The blue skinned Dragon elf arched an eyebrow slowly.
“Five centuries, yes. The 2nd Demon Wars was almost two-thousand years ago, Draak,” he explained. “Did you not listen to Lord Karle?”
The saurian Drakken smirked and looked at Sayana. His thick orange scaled tail whipped gently on the ground.
“Well she surely did. Oh, I mean, Cedric.”
She turned to him with a death glare.
“What?!” She demanded. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Draak chuckled.
“You practically drooled over the guy yesterday. You’re on a first name basis already. Holding hands and him kissing your hand.”
“He was a gentleman,” she defended. “Chivalry isn’t dead yet, ya hear.”
Tali decided to come to her friend’s aid.
“Shall we go inside?” She asked, changing the subject to the task at hand.
“Yes-yes, let’s go,” Sayana immediately said and headed off for the entrance quickly.
Fallon and Draak chuckled and walked after her. They walked towards the large black doors into the dark ruins themselves. Archon wondered what threat laid inside. Cave trolls was interesting. They usually didn’t stay in ruins. Caves usually or simply camping out in the forest. Scratling’s was nothing strange. The two feet insectoid monsters was usually easily dispatched. But Ak’dornba beasts was nothing new for ruins from that age either. What worried him was if there was one or more Bloodhunters inside. He shook the thought away. Bloodhunters was the absolutely most dangerous creature in Ardaena. No wolf, bear, Ak’dornba beats or anything else could measure with a Bloodhunter. Including Cave trolls and Rumblers.
Fallon readied her Oak bow with an arrow as she entered second. First in was Draak with his Drakken broadsword and Drakken orange shield. Both weapons was made from Desert steel, giving them their orange color.
“Looks clear,” Draak said.
He looked around the large entrance chamber. He saw an old staircase leading for an upper level from which arrows could have been rained down upon any intruder when the ruin had been a temple. Sayana had light a torch. Archon used his staff to lit up the area directly around them.
Draak pointed forward.
“That hallway appears to lead deeper down,” he noted.
“I sense magic,” Archon said.
“What?” Sayana inquired. “Like necromancy?”
He shook his head.
“No. Defensive magic,” he explain in short.
Sayana was always amazed that he could sense magic users and magic. It was an impressive skill that Dragon elf druids was taught.
Tali walked beside Sayana with her golden elven bow ready. She had a red skirt and light silver robes. Her silver hood was lowered. She preferred to move without armor to weigh her down and limit her movement and agility.
The group continued towards the hallway and down the staircase it led to. Archon’s staffs blue light lit up the staircase as they proceeded down. Apart from a Scratling now and then, they heard nothing but their own steps.
Archon raised his left hand for them to suddenly stopped. Draak gave him a questioning look and nodded to the corner seventeen feet ahead. Archon nodded. He slowly moved forward and raised his staff to attack if necessary. If it was a necromancer he would cut him or her down on the spot.
A young woman spun around the corner. She was visibly shocked by the appearance of the group. She assumed a defensive posture.
“Who are you?!” She demanded to know.
“We outnumber you little Aeyaen,” Draak snorted. “We ask the questions.”
Sayana looked at the Aeyaen woman. She had the Aeyaen blue skin with rough and messy dark blue hair. Her eyes was silver, which was a rare color for most races. She wore a purple robe with a silver tree.
“Who are you?” Sayana asked with a friendly voice.
The Aeyaen turned to her.
“Ruby,” she said. “My name is Ruby.”
Ruby. A strange name for a Aeyaen. Sayana made a mental note to ask her about that sometime later.
“My name is Sayana. What are you doing here, alone?”
She gestured for everyone to relax and lower their weapons. Ruby did the same.
“I was hired by the Maidens of the North to follow a group of them here to bring back an artifact. They needed a mage trained to fight dark magic,” Ruby explained.
“You are very young for being trained to fight and resist dark magic,” Archon complimented. “You must be well trained for the Maidens to come to you.”
“Thank you druid,” she bowed her head to him. “You honor me.”
Draak looked around.
“Where are the Maidens?”
Ruby looked sad.
“They…they’re dead,” she said with sorrow. “The Bloodhunter killed them. Ripped their bodies apart. The Scratling’s cleaned out what was left. They snatched both the injured before I could even…they were eaten alive.”
Draak nodded sympathetically. “I am sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I didn’t know them very well. We just traveled together for three weeks. They didn’t like me very much. They needed my knowledge, nothing else. Didn’t want to get to know me.”
Archon nodded understandingly.
“Maidens doesn’t like mages or sorceress of any kind,” he stated.
“Hold it, hold it!” Fallon waved to get everyone’s attention. They turned to her.
“Did no one else listen when she mention a Bloodhunter!? Bloodhunter!” She exclaimed.
“We heard,” Sayana said nervously. She quickly mustered her courage. “But I promised Cedric we would get the heart ruby.” She turned to Ruby suspiciously. “You won’t be taking it back to the maidens, are you?”
She shook her head.
“No. I assure you. I won’t stand in your way,” she paused and looked at Archon. “Are you mercenaries, great druid?”
“Temporarily something in that…direction,” he begrudgingly muttered. “Destiny forces us on this path.”
“Oh.” She nodded understandingly. “I can help you find the Bloodhunter.”
“How?” Draak asked.
“I just, I can show you to where I saw it to make sure it doesn’t ambush you like it did us.”
“What do you think, Sayana?” Tali asked her elven friend.
She looked at Sayana and Sayana looked at Ruby. She looked trustworthy. She could be pretty useful.
“Alright. You’re in. Welcome to my fellowship,” she said cheerfully.
Fallon and Tali blinked in surprise. Did she just welcome her into their gang? Just like that? Ruby was equally surprise. She was silent before her silver eyes blinked.
“Y-you inviting me into your g-group?” She asked shocked.
Sayana nodded with a wide smile.
She bowed her head.
“I am honored.”
“Great. Let’s go,” Sayana decided.
They started walking and Draak leaned closer to Sayana.
“We’ll talk about this later, Sayana,” he whispered.
She glared at him.
“My fellowship. My call,” she whispered back angrily. “I says she’s in!”
“That’s a group call,” Draak argued.
Sayana didn’t say anything else. She focused on Ruby’s staff. It was an ice staff. Staff of ice specifically. It was white as new fallen snow with a crystal of some kind inside carved wolf-jaws on top.
“My name is Archon,” the druid introduced himself politely.
“It is an honor,” Ruby bowed her head again.
Fallon jogged up to the front.
“I’m Fallon. Big Drakken guys Draak and the tall blonde elf’s Talizaryna, or Tali for short,” she introduced the group.
“I am honored to meet you all,” Ruby assured them. “Can I ask a question?”
“Sure.”
“Off course you can,” Sayana said. “You can ask anything at any time now when you’re one of us.”
“Thank you. I want to ask if this is a job you are paid for?”
Fallon nodded beside her. “Yep.”
They turned a corner and looked inside a larger chamber with ten pillars in a square, supporting the ceiling. They could see blood on the floor, a trail across and into a smaller hallway.
“I thought you said you’d tell us when we neared-” Draak started sneering.
“This isn’t it,” Ruby whispered back. “Something dragged someone through here.”
Sayana took a step closer to Tali.
“W-was it t-the B-Bloodhunter?”
“I would assume,” Archon mumbled in a monotone voice.
Draak slowly made his way into the chamber with Tali and Fallon covering him with their bows and Archon and Ruby was ready with their staffs. Sayana had her steel sword ready and held it with both hands. He looked down the dark hallway to see if he saw anything. He stood quietly, unmovable. He narrowed his eyes slightly. The others waited with their hearts grinding to a halt. Sayana stopped breathing completely. Her dark blue eyes was wide and she could feel her hands trembling while she held the sword.
Draak lowered his sword and shield and gestured the others over.
“The Bloodhunter isn’t here. Not anymore.”
“I would not be surprised if its stalking us already,” Fallon said with a shiver going down her spine.
“D-don’t even say that,” Sayana pleaded.
“Do not worry, Sayana. I will keep it from hurting you,” Tali promised her.
Sayana smiled at the kind gesture.
They made their way deeper into the ruin. Statues of elven warriors stood on each side of the hallway. Several of them was broken and had been for hundreds of years. There was later a statue of the Goddess Nightingale. Sayana’s torch burnt out. she dropped it and got her backup out and lighted it with Tali’s help. Archon blasted a few Scratling’s with his staff. Otherwise, the journey to the main chamber was more or less silent and just caused Sayana’s nerves to ache.
“Is…is this it?” Fallon asked, slightly disappointed.
She looked into the main chamber. It was dark and at least one hundred and sixty four feet across. It was built as a square with the pedestal in the middle. The heart was on it. The red heart-shaped ruby. It looked to be five decimeters in diameter. The pedestal was seventy five feet away from them.
Archon and Ruby lighted up the entire chamber with their staffs. Archon looked at the stone laid down. He searched for any possible traps. Any stone slightly out of place or too high up from the others. He was happy to report that he saw nothing.
“Tali, stay here with Draak and Ruby and keep an eye on our exit,” Sayana decided.
Tali nodded obediently.
“I will protect your back,” she assured her friend.
Sayana walked towards the pedestal with Fallon and Archon. Sayana grabbed the heart carefully. She skipped happily on the spot.
“I can’t wait to give this to Cedric!” She said excitedly.
“I can’t wait to see how he’ll thank you personally,” Fallon commented with a grin.731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3eUkibKUui
