Story On Histories of Might and Magic

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

This, is the first part of chapter 1 of a book that I'm writing. It's a high-fantasy story set in a world of my own making. It has all of the usual stuff, from Elves and Dwarves, all the way to Dragons and dungeons. This, is simply all that I have written down for chapter 1 so far, which I want to be around 9,000 words. I'll post further parts in ~1k word segments. This is for two reasons, one to get feedback on the story so far, and two to essentially 'crowd source' the editing job before I put up the finished chapter on somewhere more official. (At the moment, I'm thinking the website/app Tapas.)

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Ch01
On Histories of Might. (Part 1)​

Stories are what make a world. They are our histories, our fantasies, and our religions. Stories can make us feel things that we would not feel otherwise. Pain at losing people we have never met, joy at the accomplishments of people long dead. Stories can take up many forms, from a simple poem, to an epic tale regaling the stories of people lost and forgotten. It is within these stories that we escape our mundane lives, in the hopes of feeling things that otherwise we could not. Many things take up these stories, and many things interest our lives in ways we could not imagine. For these stories, one and all, are doors to worlds beyond our imaginations. It is within one of these worlds that our story begins. A world of might, and of magic.

It is here, that we find ourselves today, observing but a single world. Inside this world, are many small nations, with many peoples within that go about their daily lives, unaware of what awaits them in the future. One, amongst them is the Albion Federation, a loose collection of smaller city-states that had banded together to combat against the neighboring region. One which also had a lose collection of roving bands of nomadic peoples. These people had been labeled as Demonic in origin, though it was unclear if they truly were demons. While this would be the subject of debate for several years, this is not in fact, why we are here this day.

On the outskirts of one such City state, resided the small forest village of Alfeon. It was a quaint little town, where not much happened year round save for the yearly harvest festival, where the villagers gathered together to drink and eat the night away in celebration of a bountiful harvest. Life was mostly peaceful here, despite being close enough to the border of the Demon Clans land that the occasional raid took place. The villagers were lucky enough, that the closest clans were more interested in fighting amongst themselves, than in taking over land near by. This, lead to an almost inevitable melting pot of the races, as people from all over gathered in this small village to trade, both in culture and in goods.

One such person in this village was what many called an 'Adventurer'. While the village was too small, and too peaceful to have an official branch office of the Adventurer's Guild at the time, this particular adventurer had taken up residence in one of the small abandoned houses on the outskirts of the village. This of course would mean that many of the wandering Adventurers found themselves at her home, if they ever traveled through the town. She didn't mind this most of the times, as due to being a youthful dark-elf, the lady in question did not mind the occasional company. Though she had moved to the town a few years prior, she was indeed a rather accomplished Adventurer, having reached the rank of Silver at a young age due to events that had taken place. At first, the villagers did not fully understand why someone of her caliber would abandon such renown, to live in a small village mostly out of the way, but over the years they had gotten used to the young elf woman living there along side them.

On one such morning, the young elf was resting on the porch area just outside her home, as the morning sun slowly crept over the horizon filled with trees, unaware of what the day would bring her. At the time, rumors had been going around the Adventurers that traveled near the village that one of the young princesses of the City-state she had found herself in had been wandering around, gathering a crew of sorts to head into one of the small dungeons that dotted the lands. According to the rumors, it had something to do with some old artifact that the royal family was looking for, though what it was, no one knew. The Elven girl smiled softly as she glanced out at the fields, some of the villagers already out and working on them early in the morning. That years harvest festival would be soon and the villagers wanted to celebrate even more this year, due to a rather bountiful harvest.

As the elf watched the sunrise, one of the adventurers staying in town as well at the time, slowly approached her from the forest. She smiled softly, waving a hello to him as she watched him, the young human lad at the time a wood ranked Adventurer, meaning at most he could help with the local goblin problem as the forest was filled with all manner of monsters. As a wood ranked Adventurer, he was rather new to the whole affair, and looked up to the Elf girl, who had reached the rank of Silver despite looking younger than he. While it was true, that she looked younger than he, having the appearance of a young teenage girl, he had to be careful with her, due to the nature of elves growing rather slowly, compared to humans. As such, he bowed and saluted her as he approached her, a soft smile upon his face as he did so.

The young adventurer smiled as he dropped off a leather bag filled with a few goblin ears just outside the door to the elf's home. The fifth bag this week, in fact. Goblins, while not exactly intelligent, were known to be pack hunters. And the fact that there was a growing number of them in such a small area, usually meant there was also Hobgoblins, and likely a Goblin King hiding out deeper in the forest. While this may have been the case, the Elf had been sitting at her porch, almost unmoving, for several days now on the look out for any signs of such activity. So far, there had just been more and more Goblins. One of them were likely to evolve into a Goblin King soon, if they weren't constantly cleared out by wandering adventurers, after all.

While normally, such a thing would be a problem for this town, ever since the elf had moved in, a merchant associated with the Adventurer's Guild came around every two weeks or so, to gather any sort of goods that the wanderers had dropped off at her home, as well as divvy out any rewards. This, of course, was another reason why there was no official branch of the guild in the village, as there was only one resident adventurer, the elf. This, generally meant that if one wanted to upgrade their rank, or take on more dangerous tasks, they would have to take the trek to the nearest Town with an Adventurer's Guild, which was almost a days travel away by horse. Faster, of course, if you had other more efficient means of travel, such as teleportation magic.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

As a little heads up, but Once I upload part 4 of Chapter 1, I will also start uploading the story onto Tapas. I will continue posting each part here as well, until I complete Chapter 2. Everything beyond will be only on Tapas, and potentially Patreon, if a demand for it becomes apparent.

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Ch01
On Histories of Might (Part 2.)​

The two adventurers stood there watching the morning sun slowly rise. The female elf smiled softly as they stood there, her thoughts on a couple of years prior, when she first had joined the Adventurer's Guild. Sitting there in the capital of the region she found herself in, as some Guild Master explained to her, the ins and outs of being an Adventurer, and what it meant to be one. She remembered how the Guild Master had explained how Adventurer's were split up based on rank, and what could be done with depending on your rank. "Wood Rank were the beginners, just fresh out of the academies with nothing to their names." The Guild Master had started with his spiel, "Then, after they've spent a good year with the Guild, and done some honest good work, they can become Iron Ranked. Officially licensed Adventurers." He had continued, the burly man puffing his chest out proudly. "And from there, the3 whole world opens up. Yah can join some expeditions into Demon Controlled territory, maybe get some rare loot. Or even venture forth into adequately ranked Dungeons!"

After Iron, of course would be Copper and Brass ranks, with Copper being the normal route, and Brass being a special Rank given to scouts, who'[s sole duty was setting forth into new dungeons, and into Demon territory, to make sure they are in fact safe for exploration. After Copper, would be Bronze rank, and from there it went Steel, and then Silver. And lastly, was Gold. Gold, by laws set by the Central Branch of the Adventurer's Guild, was the highest attainable Rank by normal means. There are, of course, higher ranks available. With Crystal being the one rank the Guild officially acknowledges, due to that Rank being reserved for Guild Masters in and around the recognized Central region for the Adventurer's Guild.

However, in recent years there are rumors of even 'higher' ranks that are kept secret for various reasons. These rumors stemmed from an incident that took place, roughly around when the young Elven girl became an adventurer. This incident, was the sudden appearance of several new dungeons scattered across the entire continent. An investigation took place, of course, one that lasted months. Publicly, the investigation had ended after only half a year, with the results being that 'no cause can be found.' This of course, was only publicly. Behind closed doors, the reason for the sudden increase in dungeons, was proved to be the existence of a strange ore found withing the dungeons. Near the bottom of these dungeons, an ore could be found that could only be described as 'Dungeon Core Ore.' as it seemed to simply be a life-blood of these strange new dungeons.

It was quickly found out, from the mining of these ores, that if one were to exit a dungeon with some, and channel a bit of mana into them. One could form a new dungeon, and control it under some 'Dungeon Master System.' For this very reason, the Adventurer's Guild, and several of the surrounding City-States, including the one our two young adventurers found themselves in at the time, agreed to keep the Ore a secret from the general populace. This, of course had proven to be a good idea, as over the years since the incident, the rate in which new dungeons popped up had slowly decreased until it again stabilized at a decent rate. While this rate was slightly higher than before the incident, it was still at a manageable rate.

This, of course would mean that there had been an influx of new adventurers who did not know of the truth behind the incident, since post the investigation, much of the information was kept under lock and key in the Central Branch. That is to say, no one really remembered that the incident exactly happened, as it quickly faded out of the general populace's minds, due to more pressing concerns. These of course, were roving bandits as well as Demonic raids that came from Demon controlled territory for those close to it, and from Dungeons, for those close to those, though both were fairly rare. Despite this, they were still a concern for most people, especially those in the unprotected villages who were lucky to have a resident Adventurer or two.

This, of course being the main reason why the village of Alfeon had set up a reoccurring quest to exterminate nearby goblins, as a Goblin Horde was rather difficult to deal with, even for most Silver adventurers, who tended to solo quests and Dungeon Raids. While even rarer, there had been a couple of Goblin Hordes in the past century alone, usually spurred on by the appearance of a Goblin King, hence why dealing with Goblins was a serious job for Adventurers. The last Horde in fact, was only a few years ago, and took place mostly due to a large amount of Adventurers, some of which were Goblin Hunters, taking part in the investigation. While the Horde did get taken care of rather quickly, many adventurers of the time had quickly risen up the ranks because of this and because of the incident. The young elf girl was in-fact one such Adventurer, who had come to be known in the Adventurer's Guild as 'The Scarlet Maiden' due to how effortlessly she dealt with Goblins, her presence practically charming all who saw her on the battlefield, to be unable to look away.

While this was technically still true, as the young elf's dark tanned skin and petite form wasn't exactly seen much due to how reclusive the Dark Elves were, the allure of one slowly began to fade away. Despite this, she still received the same awestruck look from young Adventurer's each time they saw her. While she had openly grown used to the looks she received, she had grown a disdain for meeting new adventurers over the years, and this was rumored to be one of the reasons why she had chosen to station herself in such a remote village. Even one close to Demon Clan territory.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

Heads up, but since I published Tapas' part 1 already, I decided to merge part 3+4 over here together instead of splitting them. For those who want to read on the go instead, these parts (Labeled as 'Part 2' on Tapas) is also up already. Just look for it under the title 'On Histories of Might and Magic.'
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Ch01
On Histories of Might (Part 3+4)​

The morning of that day mostly went on in such a way, with the two adventurers occasionally taking turns to hunt in the forested area, for any monsters that could cause trouble. Specifically the goblins, of course. Soon enough, however the young dark elf found herself wandering about the village her home was on the outskirts of. This, was mostly because the two adventurers were beginning to grow hungry, and since the young elf rarely kept food inside her house, this would mean that they had to head into town, if they wished to eat anything beyond what they hunted. As the young dark elf's thoughts drifted around in a lazy manner, she soon smelled the tell tale signs of the market that was near the center of the village.

This market, due to the small size of the village, generally served as the 'town hall' of the village, due to the Mayor's house being right next to the market, among other houses and shops, such as a local blacksmith, that had moved into the town just shortly after the elf had done so. She smiled softly, waving hello the the few villagers out and about in the market, most of whom where wandering about as well. Though, some where out running stuff for their work, getting ingredients for food, or supplies for wares that needed to be made for one reason or another.

The dark elf stood there for a few more moments, before slowly turning to the usual stall that she went to in the marketplace to grab food. She, much like the rest of the villagers, had a regular schedule that she followed almost every day. The other Adventurer that was staying in town at the time, was still resting back at her home. As such, since she technically had a guest at the time, she had grabbed more food from the stall than she normally did, after paying the villager his due. She chatted a bit with the people in the area while the food was being prepared, all while she munched on a skewer that had a mix of grilled vegetables and meat that the Hunters had gathered in the nearby forest. These meats, of course, included those of rabbits, deer, and fowl.

As she chatted with the villagers, she also outlined to the Hunters who were there at the time the known locations of Goblins Nests, and other monster dens. This was mostly done due to the lack of a proper Adventurer's Guild in the village, as this meant that they did not have access to any scouts that would look for monster dens and goblin nest. While this was indeed true, the Hunters in the village did a rather good job in finding any nests or dens, and thus the young dark elf put her trust in them. In fact, it was always a good idea to check with local anyway, since there have been stories in the past of large Monster Dens slipping through the cracks of a Scout Adventurer, and thus causing a Stampede to happen.

While it would be nice for such things to not take place ever, the Adventurer's Guild could only do so much with the resources they had. And short of forming a proper army, the Guild had to work with local communities and governments if they wanted to keep the continent they resided on at least relatively safe from threats. This, generally meant things like Monsters, such as Goblins, any raids done by the Demon Clans from their territories, or Stampedes caused by un-watched Dungeons or nests. While it was true that there had been times in the past when Adventurers had been recruited by City-states to wag war against other City-States and empires, this largely fell out of favour a few centuries ago with the collapse of the last true Empire on the continent.

This, also had marked the last time in recent history where the Demon Clans had united under a King, who had waged war against the Empire and 'Mortal Realms' as the demons called the collective City-states, despite some of them being ruled over and populated by rather long lived races or people. Such as the city of Heliopolis on the coast near the boarder of the Demon Clans and the Mortal Realms. This city, which is praised as a center of arcane knowledge, is ruled over by a seemingly immortal Wizard by the name of Merlin. It was said ages ago, that a divine being of sorts had settled in the river delta area that would become Heliopolis, and had begun gathering a group of followers around them in the pursuit of knowledge. One such follower, it is said, was Merlin and it was there that he had learned the secrets of true immortality, and thus became the cities de facto ruler until the return of the divine being. How ever long that would take.

The young dark elf, then after discussing things with the nearby Hunters, slowly began the trek back to her abode near the outskirts of the village, both with updated info on where monsters were nesting, and with a good chunk of food. Food that should last the two adventurers a good couple of days at the least. She smiled softly as she carried the food, a soft expression on her otherwise emotionless face. She had heard from one of the Hunters that she had spotted a couple of Hobgoblins guarding a cave that had been cleared out a few months prior. This, of course didn't exactly mean anything right away, she still wanted to go look herself to verify, in case something much worse was going on in the cave. While hobgoblins were indeed much smarter than their goblin counter parts, it was a bit worrying that there w2ere a couple of them guarding what should be an empty cave. As such, the young dark elf, who knew stealth magic, wanted to check things out, in case she needed to send a message to the near-by Guild Hall, that there was a Goblin King. Which, of course would mean that a Goblin Stampede would soon take place.

Soon enough, once again the elf had returned to her home with the food. And after discussing what she had heard from the Hunters with the other Adventurer who was there at the time, made quick work of her meal for the day. Once she finished, she quickly moved, suiting up in more appropriate gear for infiltration. Which of course, meant her daggers and a bit of leather armor that would hopefully protect her if something went wrong or she was discovered inside the cave. Once she was ready, she silently nodded at the other Adventurer, who plopped himself down on the chair just outside her front door, in case anyone came by to her home, such as other adventurers looking for work, or travelers with news from outside the village.

As she left the village, the young dark elf slowly slithered into the forest, barely making a sound as she did so, with such effortless ease that it seemed like she had been doing so for a rather long time. This of course was pertinent to stealth magic, as even if you made yourself invisible, you could still be found if you made sounds. Especially by things that 'saw' through sounds, such as some varieties of Cave Trolls, which didn't have eyes, or even Observers, which were strange floating eyeball like beings that were found deep with-in the older dungeons. These Observers functioned much different than one would assume, and only would attack, if you made sounds. Even if you were visible to the naked eye.

Soon enough, the young dark elf found herself in the forest, and nearing the cave. Once she was there, she did indeed spot the two hobgoblins that the Hunters had mentioned spotting, but to her, something seemed off about them. Something that the elf did not like. The Hobgoblins, which were known to be fidgety larger goblins that used any manner of blunt objects as weapons, were standing dead still at the cave entrance, and both were holding spears as if they were trained foot-soldiers who were guarding a treasure room. This, of course made the dark elf even more worried, as this was not typical Hobgoblin behavior, even if there was a new Goblin King.

As well, even more worrying, there was an unmistakable scent of death in the area, with even the grass near the entrance of the cave looking as if it was dead, the grass having turned a deep shade of brown, instead of the normal green. This caused the young dark-elf to frown as she silently watched the unmoving Hobgoblins. These, were not good signs of course, since both the scent of death and things in the surrounding usually were signs of one of two things. Both of which were much worse than a simple Goblin King. There was either a Necromancer who had settled in the cave, and had revived the dead goblins and hobgoblins. This of course was also rather easy to deal with, as only a young Necromancer would settle in a cave and revive goblins, as most of the older ones either already settled somewhere else, further away from any sign of civilization, or had a decent enough force to use something stronger than Hobgoblins to guard their hideout. This of course meant that if it were a Necromancer, they either had not made a revival stone yet, which would turn them into an undead lich, upon their death, or they had recently made one, and did not have much protection around it. Both of these things, would make the Necromancer easy to deal with, and would likely not need the assistance of other adventurers.

The other thing that could cause these things to happen, however, was Abyssal Magic. Also known as Void Magic or Void Stone Calling, Abyssal Magic was difficult to deal with, and such would need experts to take care of. Experts that the near-by Adventurer's Guild, did not have. This of course, would mean that it would take some time to deal with, and in that time, the Abyssal Magic would slowly seep into more and more of the land, slowly corrupting the area to serve the purpose of the Void Stone, what ever purpose that was. This of course, would turn the area into one of the older types of Dungeons, one that both the Adventurer's Guild, and the varying city-states on the continent did not ever want to see or deal with ever again. Thus, was why Abyssal Magic had been both outlawed, and wiped from the history books, in an effort to make people forget about its existence.

But, that doesn't always work out as intended.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

Since I'm likely going to be releasing the parts on here roughly around the same time as on Tapas, I've adjusted the size of the parts here, to more reflect how they will be on Tapas, to match.

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It had been a couple of hours since the young dark elf had reached the entrance of the cave in question, and in that time she had carefully observed the cave. She had noted that the hobgoblins at the entrance had not moved even once. There was no changing of the guard, and they did not take breaks or move even once. This of course made her worried all on it's own. But what really made her worried, was that the grass around the cave Entrance slowly continued to die, in a circle around the cave. As if some force was slowly spreading around the cave, morphing it into some twisted dead version of itself. This, of course was a clear sign that Abyssal magic was at work. And while it was best if she were to go into the cave, to confirm if a Void Crystal summoning really did take place inside, it ran the risk of her not only getting caught, but becoming corrupted as well.

This, for obvious reasons, was not exactly worth the risk, and thus she spent the past two hours observing the rate at which the dead grass expanded. This, was mostly because they needed to know both how fast things were happening, and how soon any villages needed to be evacuated. If at all. She continued to observe for a few more moments, waiting to see if she spotted anything at all that would put her worries to rest, or confirm them. Soon enough however, she would have to leave the area as things grew far too risky to continue observing this close to the cave. This of course, would temporarily put the surounding villages at risk, since Void Stones were known to sponaniously, and without warning, speed up the rate at which they corrupt the land around them.

That is, if it really was Abyssal Magic and Void Stones.

While the young dark elf felt that someone would likely have to enter the cave to see if Abyssal Magic was indeed the cause, she did feel that it would be best left to the experts, people who were trained specifically to combat against Abyssal Magic, and in particular a summoned Void Stone. She then shuffled back a bit, soon enough backing off from the bush she was hiding in while observing the hobgoblin, a worried look on her face as she slowly started dashing back to the village. First, to her home, to warn the other Adventurer. And then, to the Mayor's house to warn him of the danger that was near the village. She went as quick as she could, no longer really caring about the stealth magic she had used to reach the cave unnoticed, as this situation was looking to be much worse than anything they could have planned for.

On her way back to her home, she did run into a few goblins, but she quickly dispatched of them so that she did not get stalled for very long. Upon arriving back to her home, she was slightly out of breath, having ran as fast as swhe could for about half an hour, due to how deep in the forest the cave was. A look of concern was on the young Wood ranked adventurer's face, the one that at the time lived with her in the village. As well, luckily for her, and the village, the Mayor was there waiting as well. Likely because the Hunters had also informed him of what they had spotted inside the forest, thinking that it could be a sign of a Goblin King. "Well then?" The mayor said. "What's the verdict? Is there a Goblin King? Do we need to evacuate?" He then asked the young dark elf, who was still bent over slightly, hand on the railing as she caught her breath.

As he awaited her words, the mayor slowly stroked his rather bushy, but grey beard. The mayor had the apperance of an older human gentleman, usually wearing a simple dress shirt and pants that matched. He generally had a gentle demeanour, and seemed almost as if a simple man. Though, it was rumorred that he was a retired Adventurer, who had taken place in some major battles. As the two awaited the young Dark elf's reply to his questions, she soon enough mustered her breath once again, and took a deep sigh as she did so. Her hand over her chest as she did. "No, I am afraid it is not." The elf soon said, her voice still sounding rather melodious to the two men with her, despite having heard it several times before.

"What? Then what is it?" Both the other adventurer and the mayor said in unison. "Was it a false alarm? Are we safe?" The mayor then asked, a confused look on his face as he asked her, as if her words did not make sense to him. If it wasn't a Goblin King, then what else was it? After all, the area they were in was fairly undeveloped and had nothingof note in it save for a scattering of small villages such as Alfeon. There were no strategic resources, nor significant vantage points, and therefore even the Demon Clans normally over-looked the area. How-ever, that may have been the point.

"There indeed were two Hobgoblins outside the cave..." The dark elf then said, after a short pause, glaring at the other adventurer once he started to speak up, interupting her. "There were two hobgoblins, that is true." She then said, repeating herself when things got quiet once more. "However, they seemed far too un-natural to be there guarding a Goblin King." as she spoke, a sense of unease seemed to fill the air, as a worried look crossed the two mens faces. They knew what was coming next. "At first, I thought it was that some fledgeling Necromancer had taken over the cave, since the area is pretty remote..."

"But?"

"But," The dark elf continued, frowning slightly as her arms slowly crossed over her chest. "The smell of death permiated the area something fierce. I could barely breath it was so strong." The young dark elf continued, still frowning as she spoke. The other two stood there on the porch beside her, a rather concerned look on the old Mayor as he listened to her. "As well, in the two hours that I sat watching the hobgoblins, not once did they move, as if they were controlled by some force that was leaking out of the cave. A force that was also slowly corrupting the land as well."

As she finished her words, the mayor had colapsed onto one of the chairs that were on the young dark elf's porch. "This... Are you sure of what you saw?" The mayor said, as the Adventurer besides him gripped the chair tightly. A look of pure dread spread across the mayor's face as the dark elf slowly nodded her head, silently. "Unbelievable. This... This is truly unbelievable." The mayor said, his voice astonished as he came to the same conclusion with the information that the young dark elf had. A new Void Stone had been sommoned with-in that cave.

"But, all traces of Abyssal Magic should have been destroyed 30 years ago, should it not have?" The adventurer said, glancing between the two people before him, both of whom nodded their heads. It did truly seem impossible for such a thing to have happened in this time, especially since it had been assumed that any and all spell tomes that even mentioned Abyssal Magic had been gathered by the Adventurer's Guild and were either locked up in a vault that resided deep inside the Central Branch. This, of course, would mean that if a Void Stone and Abyssal magic was indeed involved, then the Guild had either missed an Abyssal Mage, or there were still books out their that referenced the magic.

This, would of course mean that they would have to start up a second Purge, just to make sure they got everything, and every one, who utilized Abyssal Magic. The last thing anyone wanted, was a repeat of that era, where everyone feared for their lives on if their town was going to be sucked up by a Void Crystal or not. Of course, because of this situation, both the mayor, and the second adventurer had agreed with the young dark elf, that she was the best person to head off to the Central Branch, to hopefully find someone who knew anti-abyss magic.

Hopefully, someone would be there when she arived.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

A little late, but here is the next part for Chapter 1. This will likely be the last part of Chapter 1, with the next post being that of the start of Chapter 2.

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It had been about a day since the three had discussed what to do about the issue that had arisen in the forest nearby the village. Luckily, the cave that the young Dark Elf had discovered was deep enough into the forest that it would take at least a month before the Abyssal corruption would be near any form of civilization. The Mayor had already sent out the Hunters to the nearby villages and towns to warn them of the danger, and to inform them that they had sent someone off to the Central branch to look for an expert, to make sure.

Because of this, the young dark elf had dressed in a similar outfit as when she went into the forest to look at the cave. Some simple leather armor over her clothes to protect herself, her two daggers on her hips, resting in their sheaths. As well, in addition to this, she also had wrapped a scarf around her neck and mouth. This was done, mostly to protect her from any weather that took place, and from the air resistance that she would likely experience due to how fast she was going to have to travel, in order to get to the Central Branch in time. She had at most a month, to look for an expert after all.

Soon enough, she was finally ready to head out towards the Central branch. Waving good-bye to the villagers, she started heading out right away, as she did not know how long it would take her before she found an adequate expert, that would actually be able to help them with the issues at hand. She shuffled lightly, as she headed out on the road towards the capital of the nation she was in. Which also served as the location of the Central Branch for the Adventurer's Guild. A place she hoped to find someone who knew how to combat against Abyssal Magic, and thus how to deal with a Void Stone.

It had only been a couple of hours now as she continued the trek to the capital city, something the young dark elf had not done in some time since she had left it. She wasn't sure how much had changed in the years she had been gone, but a part of her was reluctant to return, due to things that had happened in her past. While it was true that she had become a well-known Adventurer since joining, even having participated in the investigation that had taken place prior to the one that would likely spawn due to her informing what had taken place in the small border village, she still worried about if something in her past would pop up to ruin her now peaceful life. Or someone.

She let out a soft sigh, however, pulling out a small loaf of bread as she stepped aside on the dirt road that leads towards the capital, so that a carriage, likely heading to some Noble's villa, based on the fact it had an insignia upon it. One that the young dark elf did not recognize. It was fair to say that she had barely paid much attention to such things, however, even though she had lived a good chunk of her life so far in the Capital, and only having spent the past couple of years outside it, in the small village of Alfeon, an almost secret getaway that she had enjoyed since arriving there.

However, this no longer mattered to her. Her home was now in danger of being lost to her due to something that could be prevented. It didn't matter to her that she did not want to return to the Central Branch, since many of the adventurers there would likely recognize her, and fawn over her due to things she had done in the past. This did not matter, since she had to return in order to find an expert in dealing with Abyssal Magic, and thus Void Stones. Soon enough, after taking a couple of more bites of the loaf of bread, she turned to return to her journey back to the capital, and thus to the Central Branch. A frown on her face as she did so.

It wasn't long into her trek, that the dirt paths slowly gave way to cobble ones, as she rather quickly neared the capital. Once more taking a break as she stood aside from the road, it had now been about half a day since she had started out towards the capital from Alfeon. She estimated, that if she continued, it would take her at most another half a day to reach the capital, leaving her just under a month to not only find an expert but bring them back to the village. Normally, by carriage, it would take just under three days to reach Alfeon, but since she had higher stamina than many of the horses that carriages used, and even some oxen, the young dark elf, when on her own, was able to take fewer breaks, and therefore cut the travel time is more than half.

The young elf stretched lightly, as she glanced about the cobbled road, smiling softly finally as she glanced about it once more. There were a few carriages going about at the time, as well as plenty of people walking along the road. This, of course, was a sure sign that she was at least near a large village, or even a small town. Slowly glancing at the map that she had brought along with her, she slowly nods. Sure enough, there was a small town nearby, one that she would likely be able to get some rest at if she chose to take the detour to it. As much as the idea of such a thing was appealing, even to her, she did not exactly have the luxury to do such a thing this time around, since it would mean that she would have less time in the capital to look for an expert.

On the other hand, however, it was possible that visiting the town might lead her into finding an expert before reaching the capital, and thus cutting down on travel time. However slim of a chance it was, she herself would likely need to decide on her own, if it was worth risking the detour. Even some hints on an expert on dealing with Abyssal magic was better than blindly looking around for one. Because of this, the young dark elf picked up her pack, once she was done with her quick rest, and slowly turned, off of the road to the capital, and towards the town nearby.

Hopefully, this small town had at least a small branch of the Adventurer's Guild, as at the least, they could send out a letter to the Central Branch in the capital, which would likely get there faster than she could on foot. She smiled a bit at this thought, as it would mean that the capital would likely already be gathering anyone who would remotely be of use in dealing with a Void Stone, and any other Abyssal magic, by the time she arrived there. That is if this town was a bust and lead her to nothing in return for her detour.

Hopefully, this detour would lead to something worth it, so that at least she would not have to feel the guilt of causing people to lose their lives because of a mistake that she had made.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

And with this, begins Chapter 2, and the intro of the second main character.

~~~~

Chapter 2
On Histories of Magic.​

The young princess stood atop the podium, a confident look on her face as she smiled out at the adventurer's before her. It had been about a year since she had been searching for her missing friend, using the fact that her father, the lord of the City-State she called home, and thus the king of it's nation, wanted her to go out and experience the world as the excuse. As well, it had been little over two since she herself had graduated from the Central Academy, that was used as a way to teach nobility and Royals alike on the ins and outs of life in this world.

As such, many of the famous Adventurers of the world had in fact come from that academy.

This, for obvious reasons had made her excited, both now, and a year prior when shge first stood on the podium, at the time in a dress that fitted more for some gala than an adventurer. At the time, she had anounced both the the Guild, and to the entire Capital, that she would become an Adventurer. And so, she stood once again on the podium, a confident look on her face as she adressed the Adventurers that were inside the Central Branch at the time. This time however, her outfit was more beffiting for an adventurer, particularly a magic user, like her whole family were. She prided herself in being an expert in many forms of Magic, even knowing some esoteric and forgotten magics. Though, she never told her father or family about this, since she had snuck into the secret library under her Father's study in their Manor to read the books inside there, all while she was studying other forms of magic.

Because of this, she had risen in the ranks rather quickly, being praised as a genius mage, many people lauded the young princess as the "Next Merlin" due to how quickly she was able to grasp such things. Despite this, a simple crack was on her confident facade. She wouldn't have been able to advance as quickly as she had, had she not remembered the things her missing friend had taughter her back in the academy, before she had mysteriously vanished a few years prior. Shortly after the strange incident with the dungeons took place.

This made her worried about her, as the two had always talked about becoming Adventurers together and exploring Dungeons all across the world. The Young princess knew that her friend, who at the school was a quiet dark elf about her age, was in fact the better magic user, having seen her do things that even expert Mages had trouble with. Such as instantly pulling up multi-layered spells that used several more Magic Circles than most people thought possible. This of course, could be attributed to her elven heritage, as it was well known that Elves, Dark Elves in particular, where uniquely atuned to magical things.

The Princess had wanted to begin the search for her missing friend almost right away, but both her father and the Knight Captain had dismissed her worries, at the time, saying that the strange new Dungeons that were almost constantly popping up were of more concern.

But, that was now in the past. And the princess was free to do as she pleased while an Adventurer.

She had worked her way up the ranks for a year, getting as high as she could, before beginning her plan to search for her friend. A year ago, she had let slip out that her family were interested in Dungeon Artifacts, and that she herself wanted to go into dungeons looking for a specific one. She deliberately left out what that 'artifact' was, knowing that such an unknown would likely atract the attention of many Adventurers, even ones outside her father's domains. She had hoped, that if the word spread far enough over the year, her friend might have heard it as well. And thus would head towards the capital to reunite.

However, the following day, after she had adressed the many Adventurer's who had gathered, explaining to them that they would begin searching for the artifact in the Dungeons near the Capital, she now rested in the room she was renting from the Inn near the Guild, a frown upon her face. Her friend had not been among the crowd, nor had she approached her in the time leading up to the announcement. This, of course, worried the young princess, as she shuffled upon the bed.

The young princess furrowed her brow a bit as she sat there upon the bed, alone for once as she did so. She had searched everywhere she could during this past year, and she had found no trace of her friend. It was almost as if someone had deliberately hidden her, which made her worried even more. She shuffled lightly, as she lightly bit down on the thumb, a worried look still on her face as she did so. She wasn't sure what had happened to her friend, or where it was she had dissapeared to. She had hoped, that in the time she3 had been searching for her, something would come up.

But nothing had. And that, in and of itself had made the young princess worried. Partially about her friend, and partially about herself. The reason of course, was that lately, mostly starting as of some time last year, people had started doubting her that her friend the young dark elf even existed, almost as if some force outside their knowledge had been erasing people's memories of the girl, whom the princess had grown rather fond of, in the time that they knew each other.

This, of course would mean there's one of two things going on. The first, is that the young princess was lonelier than she had thought, and indeed did imagine her friend. Likely after reading or learning about Dark Elves, who supposedly never left their deep forest abodes, or any place they called home at the time. Or, she was in fact real, something had happened to her, and some one else was removing her completely from people's minds.

The young princess, of course, was not sure which scenario was worse.

She sat there, resting on the bed for a good hour or two as shestressed over this, all while a couple of her other friends, Adventurers she had befriended in her time in the guild, helped deal with the massive influx of Adventurers in the area due to her due to her open call for them for dungeon exploration. A part of her did in fact want to find one of those 'Dungeon Crystals' that she had overheard her father and some big-wigs in the Adventurer's Guild talk about behind closed doors, but it had mostly been to hopefully reunite with her old friend.

Since her friend had not shown up, then she would have to go with Plan-B, and actually utilize the Adventurer's to look for this 'Dungeon Crystal.' Thus, why she had instructed Adventurer's to mark down anything suspicious they find in the Dungeons, and not touch anything that might be the Crystal. This was due to her having overheard someone telling her father that it seemed like the Dungeon Crystals bound to who ever it was that held them, upon leaving the dungeons, meaning that they likely worked on a 'Finder-Keepers' system.

She, of course, was lucky enough to have the much sought after Appraisal Skill, meaning she'd be able to find Dungeon Crystals easily. If, they existed.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

As said over on Tapas, I've been in the middle of a move and thusly could not continue my writing. Thusly, here is part 2 of Chapter 2 a little late. It will go up over on Tapas this Saturday, with any editing mistakes fixed. Remember, after Chapter 2 is done, I'll be only posting over on Tapas.io.

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Chapter 2
On Histories of Magic (Part 2)​

It had been about a week now, since the young princess made her announcement before the crowd of Adventurers. The city had been abuzz about it since then, and even now there were people coming into the Central Branch of the guild, hoping to sign up for the search of what ever it was that the royal family were looking for. Despite the search so far coming up with nothing, there were still more and more Adventurer's joining in on the search, since many reasoned that being backed by a Royal family, however small of a nation it was they ruled, would be far more lucrative than trying to strike it out on your own.

This, of course meant that the young princess had been busy the past week as well, as many Adventurers had come to her in the hopes that they had found the thing she searched for. With each possible lead leaving her empty handed, she slowly started to grow a bit worried, in the fact that they had almost exhausted all of the dungeons in the near vicinity of the capital. And yet, not a single Dungeon Crystal had been found. This of course confused her slightly, as if they really took so much effort to find, then why was her father, as well as the Adventurer's Guild, so worried about them. Granted, she did know that there had been a strange up-tick of new Dungeons at the time, but she had yet to take note that the new dungeons were likely the source of the Dungeon Crystals as well, since she herself had not been involved in the talks, and only overheard them.

Because of this, she had been busier than she had expected the past week, and had barely focused on her efforts to find her missing friend, though that wasn't to say that she had stopped looking. Every evening, she would shuffle over to the guildhall in the capital, and look through the crowds of Adventurers, and even those who were just there, hoping that she would spot her missing friend. Of course, each day she would return to the Inn, empty-handed so to speak.

Granted, she did not know why a part of her still wanted to look for her after so long, but deep down she knew that her friend was still alive somewhere, waiting to be found. And that she existed. Her current friends, and even her family telling her she either needed to move on, or admit to herself that she had made her up. That one of her best friends, was in fact imaginary.

Letting out a soft sigh, the young princess slowly moved out, once more heading towards some dungeon that the Adventurer's had explored, having marked each suspicious location, or object of note. She slowly shook her head a bit softly, not really expecting anything from this as she glanced up at it. The entrance of the dungeon made it look like some abandoned mine, not that the princess minded this, though. She actually happened to enjoy the Dungeoneering aspect of being an Adventurer, after all.

Dungeoneering was one of the few things that distracted her, from her missing friend. And thusly, was an enjoyable experience all around. Being able to enter some strange location, be it an abandoned mine or some mysterious cave, and finding traps, monsters, and all manners of artifacts and lost materials was one of the few things that had originally attracted the young princess to being an Adventurer, it didn't help that at the time, back in the academy, her one dark elven friend had praised such people so much it almost bordered or religious frevor.

The young princess smiled softly, as she slowly looked over the entrance of the dungeon she would be looking over that day, in the hopes of finding a Dungeon Crystal. She wasn't sure just how long it would take for her to find one, or if she even would find one that day. She lightly shuffled a bit, glancing over the ruins that she stood before. According to the Guild, this dungeon was a fairly recent one, that hadn't been fully explored as of yet.

This, logically, would make her excited in of itself, since this would result in her likely being one of the first people to look through the dungeon to find some rare good. Such as, a Dungeon Crystal, if it was here, and existed. She once again looked over the ruins on the top, frowning slightly as she saw a few delapitated marble pillars, some of which only had the stumps remaining. She didn't fully understand why someone would let such a structure get so run down, but either way. This meant that she had a new dungeon to explore. She smiled at this, and upon finding the entrance deeper into the dungeon, she slowly started her trek deep into the mysterious dungeon.

Luckily, a Scout had already gone through the first few layers to see if it indeed was safe for solo Adventurers like the princess.

Smiling a bit as she glanced around the relatively small atrium that served as the entrance to the dungeon proper. She smiled lightly as she looked it over. Despite the large skylight letting in some natural light into the dungeon, she did not exactly spot any light sources inside the dungeon. This, was rather common for some of the newer dungeons, as many Adventurers had at least basic magic knowledge, such as Mage Light, which gave the user a floating ball of light which illuminated a certain distance, based on the users skill in magic, and how much power they put into it.

As the young princess explored the atrium, she did not spot any obvious traps, such as pitfalls or spikes near any of the three exits deeper into the dungeon. She shuffled lightly, looking at the doors as well. One seemed to be unlocked, were as the other two seemed to be locked in some manner. One locked Arcanely, and needed some stone to unlock, and the third needed a key. She wasn't sure, but she did expect that one of those two doors were the ones that lead into the second floor of the dungeon.

She slowly nodded at this affirmation, as she slowly moved over to the unlocked door, moving a bit to look it over once again, to double check to see if it was trapped. Upon deciding that it was not, she slowly opened it, just in case she had missed something. Once it was open she glanced over into the door, noting that just a few feet into the hallway were lit up, due to the light coming in from the ceiling of the atrium. She smiled at this, and upon stepping slightly into the path way, she casted the Mage Light spell, holding her hand up as she did, as she casted the spell, which for her caused a light to begin floating above her head, casting light around her in a radius of only a few feet, roughly about six or seven feet.

As well, the young princess pulled out her dagger from its sheath around her hip. In case something snuck up on her too quickly to cast a protective spell.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

Sorry about the lateness of part 3, I recently acquired a part time job, and thusly had overslept before finishing it up.

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Chapter 2
On Histories of Magic (Part 3)​

The Young princess slowly shuffled deeper into the hallway, and the dungeon. She smiled a bit softly at this, having deliberately turned down the offered map, all she needed to know is if the initial floors were safe enough for her to explore them on her own. Which, had been confirmed. She then smiled a bit, glancing about the hallway, as she looked it over slightly, she then frowned a bit, as she found herself at a dead end, and yet no indication of any sort of way to continue.

She glanced around for a bit, not having run into any traps, splits, or even rooms confused the young princess as she explored the hall way. It was then that she realized such a thing might have been deliberate. She smiled softly, slowly moving her hands along the solid stone walls, checking physically for any hidden levers or buttons to press, in case there was some hidden path she needed to take to find the first key to one of the locked doors back at the atrium.

Soon enough, after having gone back a few feet, she felt a stone that was a bit smoother than the others around it. Smiling at this, she slowly moved, making the Mage Light illuminate the area a bit more than usual, as she bent down slightly, so that she could examine the stone in detail. After she had done so, she smiled once again. She then lightly pressed the stone in, looking around once she heard a rather loud clicking sound, in case she had just triggered some trap.

The young princess giggled a bit, upon noticing that she hadn't, but instead, a portion of the Stone wall had slowly slid away, revealing a hidden chamber. Shuffling over to the revealed chamber, the young Princess smiled once again, as she stood there, her Mage Light illuminating the chamber she had just revealled. Inside the revealled space was what appeared to be a simple room, not much larger than a few feet by a few feet. She estimated that it was about 10 feet by 12 feet large.Inside, was a single creature. It looked at first glance to be a goblin, but something was off.

The goblin before her was unmoving.

It seemed alive, but it only stood there. Normally, as the young princess understood, a goblin would near instantly turn to attack anything that wasn't of the same evolution tree as it, once said thing reached approximately 11 feet near it. In any direction, so long as it was able to reach it. The princess, looked around the room once again, wondering if there was a reason why it did not behave as a normal goblin. And so, she began looking over the room, slowly stepping in at first, before finally speeding up, as the goblin did not move after some time.

This, continued on for some time, which lead the young princess into finding very little that could have explained what was going on. She did find an old wooden table on the far end of the room, however. This table, sadly only had a worn book written in letters or runes that she, sadly, could not understand or read. Frowning, she pocketted the book into her satchel after her apraisal skill failed to identify the book.

Having nothing else to explain the strange behavior of the goblin, she slowly turned from the table, to slowly approach the strange goblin. As she did, due to the heavy light in the room thanks to her Mage Light, she soon noticed the goblin had a strange burn mark on its forhead, as she approached, she could soon make out that it was the number "6", burned onto it's head. Almost as if it was a brand.

She slowly approached the goblin, frowning a bit as she did, slowly examining it as she did. She was continued, slightly by it's strange behavior. Soon enough, she was close enough to touch the strange goblin. However, when she did so, reaching forward, the goblin suddenly started moving.

The goblin moved quickly, faster than she expected as it gripped her arm tight enough to cut off blood flow. She yelped slightly at the sudden movement, as it stared at her. This confused her as well, as unlick the normal slitted eyes that goblins had, this strange goblin had no pupils, or anything. It's eyes were completely black, another strange occurence. Time passed as the goblin stared, and she stared back, a confused and scared look on her face. She wasn't sure how much time had passed as she watched the goblin, it's grip still tight on her arm.

Soon enough, the goblin began moving once more. Slowly it began to open it's mouth. She expected it to either say something, or to attack her. Instead, some unholy screach left it's mouth. An unnatural sound emminating from the goblin, a sound that her body itself seemed to reject, as soon enough her vision blurred white, and she seemed to pass out.

Later on, the young princess soon found herself waking up, back in the atrium of the dungeon, a splitting headache as she slowly got back up. She looked around, confused at first, before smiling softly. She slowly nodded a bit, as she glanced up at the hole in the cieling, that served as the light source in the atrium. At the time, the young princess had no memory of the strange room, nor the strange goblin. Instead, what she remembered was falling through the hole, into the atrium of the dungeon, thus explaining why she was knocked out.

As she glanced about the atrium, she spotted two doors. One that seemed to be locked by some magic spell, and one seemed to need a key. The Princess frowned a bit as she slowly looked over the atrium once again, as she examined the place. Soon enough, she found the stairs that lead back up, out of the dungeon, and nothing else. This, caused her to lightly frown, as she wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to advance into the dungeon.

 

[ZeiruliousMakavar]

And finally, we're on the last part of Chapter two, thusly... I will no longer be regularly posting stuff over on this site, and exclusively doing so on Tapas.io.
If you want to continue reading the story as new parts are released, then feel free to follow this link.

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Chapter 02
On Histories of Magic (Part 4)​

It had been about a month since the young princess had the strange experience inside the dungeon. Since then, she had still not had any luck in finding any of the so called Dungeon Crystals, at least in the area directly around the capital. This, of course would mean that she would either need to widen the net, or look somewhere else for her prize. This, of course was in addition to a strange mark she had noticed one day on her arm. A mark that looked almost like a burn mark in the shape of a hand. The princess had gone to a healer to deal with the burn mark, but nothing could be done to remove the strange hand-print that now had left itself upon her skin. This both confused the young princess, and infuriated her, as not even going to the Cleric's Guild in the capital, did anything to the mark. Something she would now, have to deal with. Likely, for the rest of her life.

The young princess shuffled a bit, as she stood on a balcony on the third floor of the hotel she was staying at, at the time. She had moved her search a bit wider now, and was resting at an inn in one of the towns near the capital. She smiled a bit softly as she absentmindedly played with her hair, she stared out at the townscape before her, smiling as she did. While she worried over her missing friend still, she had been rather busy the past month. This, logically, would mean that her mind had been busy on other things. While a few of her Adventurer friends had talked to her about this, as she seemed almost religiously devoted to this task she had given herself, which many knew was simply to keep her mind off of her still missing friend.

The princess, after watching the sun rise, let out a soft sigh, and upon stretching, slowly made her way back into the room at the Inn she had been residing in. Slipping on a bit more clothing, as she had been only in her underwear, she soon was heading down the stairs of the Inn, so that she could head into the town, to mostly wander around it, since she hadn't really done all that much exploring the past month, at least inside the town she had been staying in for the past few days.

Waving good-bye to the girl behind the counter of the main floor of the Inn, which in the evenings and early nights doubled as a local Tavern, the princess quickly left the Inn and began to wander about the streets. While she didn't have an exact plan, she soon found herself heading into the Guildhall for the Adventurer's Guild. A building that the past week, she shuffled lightly as she glanced over at the Tavern-like main foyer of the building, a smile upon her face as she glanced at the various Adventurer's who already found themselves within the building. Things were peaceful here, as not much went on near the capital of her home.

This, of course was due to the Capital being both the seat of her family, and the location of the Central Branch of the Adventurer's Guild.

Though this was true, it didn't stop all of the usual crimes that took place. The Thief's Guild still operated, though no one could ever find their hideout. As did the 'Black Hand' an elusive group of Assassins, who no one was ever able to confirm existed. That is to say, no one was willing to do so. Since it was clear that at least one person in the young princess' home nation at least knew how to contact them, they had to exist in some capacity, right?

Well, that was for other people to worry about. Or at least, that's what the young princess thought so at the time, as she slowly slid her way to the counter of the Guildhall, still smiling as she did so. Flirting once again with the elven girl behind the counter, who served as that location's receptionist, the young princess slowly went through what had become her daily routine since heading into the town she was now living in. This, mostly entailed her flirting with the elven receptionist, idly looking over the Request board, and chatting with the other Adventurers. Occassionally she would get a meal, or grab a drink, but beyond that, she had mostly been doing the same thing each day.

However, she had actually gone dungeoneering the previous day, due to having heard a rumor of some adventurer's finding a hidden path in an established dungeon.

While this rarely had interested her, it did this time, for multiple reasons. The first, was that such a thing could lead to her finding Dungeon Crystals, the second was that it could lead her into knowing what was up with the strange un-healable burn mark that now rested on her arm.

While the dungeon trip that time hadn't lead to anything, she had a strange feeling that some clue was going to be coming soon. Something she hoped was true.

After a few hours of this, she had slowly grown hungry, so upon excusing herself from the Guild, the young princess once again excused herself. Smiling as she lightly stretched, winking softly, and playfully, at the elven receptionist, she slowly wandered out of the Guildhall, and back into the streets. As she did, she soon found herself in the large open market of the town, so that she could find herself something quick to eat. Going from stall to stall, the princess wasn't sure what she wanted to eat as a proper meal yet. Though, this didn't stop her from buying a couple of meat skewers from a stall.

After finding where she wanted to eat that day, she paid for a slightly larger than average meal, and happily ate the food that she had ordered upon it's arrival. Stretching once again after she had finished her food, she slowly began to make her way back to the Guildhall, hoping to see if any leads or rumors had come up in the couple of hours since she had left it.