Several hours Earlier.
“If you help us with this task. We can help you with your goals on this island,” said a man in a dark robe. Their faces were covered by a low-hanging hood. On the chest of his robes, there was a small symbol of three interlocking rings. Behind the man was a small group of similarly dressed people.
“So let me get this straight. You just want us to kill someone, take the item you want, and then help you excavate a site and hand over the item hidden there?” asked one of the demigods who was listening to the man.
“Correct, when WE have finished this task. I can offer you all the help you could ever need to subdue this island and its inhabitants,” said the dark-robbed man.
The few gathered demigods that joined this private meeting were the leaders of the demigod guilds and groups that remained on the island. Many of their groups had accidents or had the misfortune of being killed when they first arrived on the island and had no place to call their own. Another chunk of their forces had been killed when they were based in the Thief city that was taken over by the barbarians.
With the Thief city now in the hands of the Barbarians, those who had been killed were forced to re-spawn at their last saved destination… all the way back on the main continent!
What was even worse news for them was now there was a massive sea monster terrorizing the known sea lanes that all led to the island. Its enraged attacks thwarted almost all of the demigods’ attempts to return to the island. With their numbers dwindling with each death the remaining demigod groups were forced to form a temporary alliance to complete the tasks that their guild leaders had set for them.
“If you are serious about helping us… then we have no reason to decline your generous offer,” said Dorf, the unofficial leader of gathered demigods.
***
“These guys look really bad Klyn,” said Akira as he carried over two volunteer Minos warriors, one in each arm, and placed them down in front of Klyn who had just finished tying a bandage and fastening a sling for another wounded Minos warrior.
“The work never ends,” said Klyn with a sigh as he looked over the various wounds on the two Minos warriors in front of him before beginning his work to patch them up.
Every wounded person was given a sip of the red potions Akira had handed over to Klyn.
Since the potions were limited they had to ration them. The small sips given to the wounded were not always enough to cure everything immediately. Some of the more seriously wounded warriors would need further medical attention from Klyn, sister Teresa, and the other shamen.
“You should really let me take a look at your wounds after I work on these guys,” said Klyn, not looking up from his task of making splints for the several broken bones that the Minos warrior had suffered inside the dream dungeon.
“I’m fine, there’s no need to waste your energy on me,” said Akira as he took a sip of a red potion to help soothe the pain he was in and quicken the healing of the many wounds and large bruises he now sported all over his body.
With the help of the red potion and his body’s fast regeneration working together, his wounds were disappearing at a fast pace and soon he would only have a sore body with no wounds to show off for all his troubles.
“Yap,” said Fluffball.
Akira turned to him and rubbed his furry head while saying, “I heard from the others that you did a great job keeping everyone with you alive and unharmed. I guess all your training is paying off.”
“Yap,” said Fluffball nonchalantly.
“HELP!” an unexpected shout came from the stony wood forest not that far away from their camp.
Those who were able to move all grabbed their weapons and focused their attention on the area where the shout had come from.
A few moments later a disheveled Minos villager stumbled out of the thick treeline and fell into the arms of one of the nearest werewolves as his legs gave out beneath him after finally reaching the safety of a friendly force.
“Klyn! He needs healing badly!” said the werewolf warrior who was holding up the exhausted villager.
Klyn finished fastening the splints for the two people in front of him before walking over to the Minos villager who had just arrived.
Akira walked with him and saw a large deep gash on the man’s back that was still bleeding heavily. Klyn poured a small portion of the red potion on the man’s back which started to visibly scab up and close causing the Minos villager to groan from the discomfort.
“What attacked you?” asked Akira.
He felt very impatient since he had to wait for his question and the answer to be translated back and forth by Klyn.
“A small group of demigods attacked my hunting group of 13. They sent me away to find help but… I have been running for over 2 hours without pause… I believe the rest of my hunting team are all dead now…” said the exhausted hunter as Klyn busied himself with treating his wounds while translating the conversation.
The hunter’s legs were like jelly beneath him. They could no longer support his weight anymore forcing him to hang limply in the arms of the werewolf warrior who held him.
“Did you do something to offend them? Why would they attack you?” asked Akira.
“We have never seen them before! The only thing I heard while escaping was something about searching each body for the ‘Map piece’. I think they were talking about this old map that my family has had for generations. Although I don’t see what is so special about this old partial map of the local area,” said the hunter as he pulled out a rolled-up old-looking map from his leather sack.
“May I?” asked Akira, who immediately became interested in the map.
“You can have it. If it is going to cause such people to chase after me I do not want it. Although the village has several copies of it, I don’t see any reason we should keep something so dangerous,” said the hunter handing the scroll to Akira.
Ding!
-
You have found the final piece of the map that will lead you to the Underground Palace entrance!
Akira’s face grew stern as read the system message.
Why were the demigods searching for these map pieces? Just what was this Underground Palace that was attracting even their attention?
‘I thought the demigods were trying to take over the island and its people using the Oni faction as a tool…’ thought Akira.
“Why so serious?” asked Zundar, seeing Akira’s eyebrows scrunch up as he was silently staring at the map in front of him.
Akira looked up from the map and said, “Zundar, Klyn, and the rest of you need to escort everyone back to the city. If what he said is true then the demigods are probably not far behind him and will be headed in this direction. I will take Fluffball with me and lure them away using this as bait,” said Akira waving the map piece in his hand.
“YAP!” said Fluffball, agreeing to follow Akira.
“Lord, we can not let you do this!” said Dolph.
“We have already received a large blow to our training efforts with over half of the volunteers being heavily wounded. If you do not take them back we could have several deaths on our hands. This would only add more fuel to the fire for those who oppose our new training and way of fighting. It would allow them to spread doubt to others. We can not allow all our efforts to go to waste,” said Akira.
“But still why does it have to be you?” asked Vilkas.
“I am the only one that can do something so dangerous and survive. Zundar could probably do it, but I need him to lead the wounded and calm down the troublemakers when you all return to the city. If everyone were to come with me there would be no one to help transport and escort the wounded. We also need to make sure the nearest alliance villages are safe.”
“We will do our job as your royal guards and follow you even if you try to order us otherwise,” said Dolph.
“I am leaving now to go intercept the demigods. If you two are going to follow me that’s fine, the rest of you are to support Zundar and the Ancient Alliance members,” said Akira as he turned and began jogging into the stone tree forest in the direction that the hunter had come from.
As he ran he looked over the map that indeed did depict the local area. It had several types of ink and many different handwritten notes on it detailing areas of interest for hunters where animals and monsters gathered as well as other resource spots.
When he tried to filter out the writing and looked deeper at the underlining map he found what he needed and turned towards that direction. As he continued to read the map he could hear both Dolph and Vilkas running behind him while Fluffball kept pace right beside him.
In less than ten minutes of running Akira managed to catch the sounds of a small group of people arguing ahead of them.
“I’m sure he went this way!”
“You said that last time and we ended up in a den of a bunch of nasty monsters! We nearly all died in there when we tried to escape! We still lost two people from your mistake!”
“He must have gone in there and then ran out to fool my tracking!”
Six arguing demigods walked into view of Akira and three others who were all hiding behind a few of the large stone trees.
“Hey you guys. Looking for this?” asked Akira, stepping out from behind the tree and waving the map piece in the air for a second before shoving it back in his pack.
The demigods were startled by Akira’s sudden appearance out of nowhere. They only stood there staring at him with confusion as they tried to understand what he just said.
Akira did not give them time to process everything and immediately turned and dashed off in a direction that led him away from the demigods and Zundar who was leading the wounded back to the new allied city.
“Yap?” asked Fluffball who was now running right beside him.
“I don’t know! Let’s just hope they take the bait!” said Akira as he continued to run at full speed.
Dolph and Vilkas were following right behind him.
“Who was that?” asked one of the demigods.
“How could you not know! That’s the king of Kodria! What the heck is he doing here?”
“I don’t care why he is here! I want to know how he got that map piece!”
“Stop wasting time talking! He’s getting away!”
“But my tracking sense says the person that escaped us went in a different direction!”
“Forget about him! He doesn’t have the map! That werewolf does! After him!”
Akira heard the shouts from the demigods and grunted with satisfaction that his gamble had paid off… Now he just had to continue to lead them away from the others and then escape their pursuit.
To do just that he had already picked a perfect place that he guessed was only a half hour or so run away from here based on what he saw on the map.
Akira and Co were naturally skilled at running long distances while the demigods had already been running for over 2 hours chasing after their previous target making it so that they were unable to catch up to Akira. They could only rely on their tracking skills once again to follow his trail.
After running for over 25 minutes an old white marble temple revealed itself as he ran out of the dead stone tree forest into a small clearing.
It was an odd place for such a temple as it was built in the middle of nowhere.
Akira did not hesitate and dashed inside the open arches of the temple’s entrance with Fluffball, Vilkas, and Dolph right behind him.
Ding!
-
You have entered the dungeon pathway to the Underground Palace
