The Fallen Knight Aoris’ words were proven right about ten seconds after Kyle and Igna left the temple. As they walked down the stairs leading from the entrance, the building burst into flames.
“My goodness…” Igna muttered as The Fallen Knight only glanced back over her shoulder and nodded upon seeing the flames. “I would have stayed inside and died.” Igna sighed. “Thanks, you saved us.”
“I am simply performing my duties.” The Fallen Knight said as she dumped all the loot onto the ground outside. “This place seems safe for the moment. Please use your raven to scout the area still, Summoner.” With that, she vanished in a puff of magic.
“She does have a mind of her own!” Igna exclaimed as soon as the Fallen Knight vanished. Kyle summoned the raven and sent it off to scout their surroundings before sighing a deep breath. “It certainly feels like it. It’s very odd having her as a summon. I think she hates me.”
Igna chuckled. “If she hated you, she w
The temple was huge. It was gigantic, and Kyle already hated the architect who designed this place. “It’s like a damn labyrinth.” He whined as they passed through the same room for the third time. Igna chuckled and nodded. “It really is. Reminds me of those old games, where they made the dungeons as convoluted as possible to drag the play time out.” She laughed, her laughter echoed throughout the empty, silent hallways. “Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be so loud.” She softly spoke a few moments later. Kyle awkwardly chuckled. He couldn’t help but feel on edge in this place. What if there were secret rooms filled with dangerous enemies? He was nowhere near high enough level for this place. It was more than likely that a single hit from a strong enemy could kill him in an instant. He considered summoning the Fallen Knight Aoris, but ultimately decided not to. Igna didn’t seem to feel quite comfortable with the summoned knight around, and Kyle himself was always
“So…” Igna let out a sigh. “What happens next?” She shot Kyle a quick glance. The young man shrugged, how should he know? He was nothing but “Was that part of a quest chain?” He asked after a few moments of silence. Igna nodded. “Then you’ll have to go back and see if the next quest in the chain is available. They tend to pop up every few days,” He added, remembering the Elven Orchard’s questline. Igna nodded with a thoughtful expression. “I’ll do just that.” She let out a deep sigh, took a handful of grain and placed it in her inventory, then turned her back on the vessel full of grain. “It’s getting late I think,” She said, checking her system interface momentarily. “I should head out soon, but I’d like to get back to Arceum first. Do you want to come along?” Kyle hesitate. “I’d better not.” He said, scratching his head. “I may have pissed off a couple of players the other day. It’s best if I lay low for a while.” “It
If anyone had been looking north of the mountain near the city of Arceum, their jaw would drop upon seeing the convoy moving north. A young man, accompanied by an armoured warrior was heading north, through the trodden dirt road that nearly no one used anymore. About four dozen skeletons followed the two of them. Pickaxes and large baskets in hand, they slowly made their way up north, towards the Cloudrest mountains that floated in the distance. “So,” Kyle muttered as the distant mountains entered his view shortly after noon. “How are we supposed to even get up there?” He massaged his temples and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was actually seeing things as they were. It wasn’t just his imagination, was it? No. No, there definitely were about half a dozen mountains floating in the air. They reminded him of pictures of the icebergs he had seen in magazines. The mountains looked like those. The part that would normally be hidden underground was so, so m
There was something majestic about massive mountains simply floating in the air. Kyle stood at the very edge of a cliff. Below the mountains was a large sea of dark purple liquid, and above it, the mountains floated. It was breath taking. And it was terrifying as well. “The bridge has snapped.” Aoris’ unfazed voice reached his ears. “We have no way of heading up to the mountains anymore.” Kyle blinked a few times. Right, they needed to get moving, didn’t they? It was hard to take his eyes off of the floating mountain. “What do you suggest we do then?” He asked, trying to focus on the problem at hand. The Fallen Knight shrugged. She didn’t say anything else and walked away to stand watch instead. Kyle let out a sigh and stepped away from the edge. The Fallen Knight was clearly not going to help him right now – he needed to find a way up the mountains on his own. He began walking along the edge of the cliff. If th
The hostile gazes didn’t cease. The man who had spoken up before pushed his chair back and stood up. He stepped towards Kyle’s table and folded his arms. “I said it’s none of your business.” He growled, red faced with anger. Kyle shot him a blank look. “If you get any angrier, you’ll break a vein.” He leaned back on his chair. “And I would suggest you think twice before sending someone who can actually help away.” He shot a glance at the others. They didn’t seem quite so hostile, nor had they made any moves to try and kick him out. “We don’t trust no outsider!” The man shouted at the top of his lungs. “Saying the same thing over and over again but louder isn’t going to change anything.” Kyle said with a sigh. “Look, I’m not asking for money in return to solve your problems. I’m not asking for anything. You’ve quite literally got nothing to lose.” He shrugged. “Are you seriously going to just chase me away?” The man clenched his fists. Kyle cou
“Hmmm….” Kyle folded his arms and stared at the stone bridge. “Hmmm indeed.” The Fallen Knight Aoris affirmed, her arms also crossed. The bridge was quite the opposite of what Kyle expected to see. It bridged the gap between the two plateaus on both sides of the wide and very deep chasm. That same chasm reached all the way to underneath the Cloudrest Mountains. What Kyle expected to see was a narrow bridge made out of bricks and wooden supports. Instead, he was met with probably the sturdiest bridge he had ever seen in his life. The bridge was wide enough to let two horse carriages through with ease. Made out of marble tiles and blocks, supported by metal beams that dan deep into both sides of the chasm, this was way beyond Kyle’s capabilities to destroy. “I don’t think we can destroy this.” Kyle muttered, then glanced at the Fallen Knight. She tilted her head to the side and pondered for a while, then firmly nodded. “It is quite possible that it has
The bridge creaked as soon as Kyle stepped onto it. The young man gulped, and tightly held onto the guard ropes on both sides of the narrow bridge. The wooden planks creaked with each step, and the bridge softly swayed in the wind. “I’m going to die.” He whispered as he moved forward. He didn’t have a fear of heights, so he had assumed it would be fine, that he would be able to get past this bridge without too many issues. Oh, how wrong he was… With his heart nearly beating out of his chest, he forced himself to move forward, even further with each step. The bridge was long, it connected the landmass with a floating mountain after all. That simple thought brough about a second one: what would happen if the mountain decided to float up just as he was still on the bridge? He gulped, and violently shook his head. No, no don’t think about that. The chances of that were incredibly low, and even Kyle wasn’t that unlucky.
“Charge!” A dwarf in the back of the about a dozen person group shouted. “Charge!” The other dwarves repeated without hesitation. They raised their weapons and charged at Kyle and The Fallen Knight Aoris. “Stand back.” The Fallen Knight stepped in front of Kyle and drew her claymore. Grasping the large, heavy blade with both hands, she planted her feet firmly to the ground. “Wait, wait!” Kyle shouted at the dwarves, but his voice was drowned out amongst their battle cries. They charged at him and the Fallen Knight, tripping over their bedrolls, beer bottles, random junk on the floor, and even each other. By the time they reached the Fallen Knight, most of them had been trampled by their kin already. “Don’t kill them please.” Kyle sighed. These didn’t look like bad people – just dumb. Or maybe it was the staggering amount of alcohol that they had very obviously consumed earlier, as the cave stank of it. “… as you w