The tunnel’s were suffocating on hot days; Reales had come to know this fact incredibly well throughout his time within the Legion. If you didn’t have a strong pair of lungs on you, chances were, you would suffocate if you stayed within the channels for too long. The tunnels themselves were simple enough – the section he currently traversed was made with glowing stone taken directly from the Ulious Mega Volcano, located at the Mountains of Jeruslie. Which had been worked down into manageable slabs, and used to decorate the walls and floors, though Reales had always disliked the darkened green glow they produced. Though other forms of glowing stone, such as the naturally forming stones of the Friknik Ocean, he loved. And used regularly in his land, to add a nice blue glow to his collection of shacks and chambers. The many other tunnels and channels hidden within the mountain were made up of an assortment of cobblestone slabs and walls, others were made with wooden pallets, and some were simply nothing but carved earth.
Reales turned the corner at the end of the walkway, and continued down into a long wooden tunnel which seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Though his powerful body closed that distance quickly. For him, a steady stroll was as fast as any mortal man’s full sprint. Considering he was currently running. His speed was almost too fast for eyes to detect. He was in a rush, and needed to meet with the Elder Priests as soon as possible. He had left to meet them almost as soon as Exiele had started back to his shack. He couldn’t waste a single second. Something was going on, and for some reason Exiele was made part of it. He took another left, zooming past a tunnel made of pure metal. His clawed feet rattled against its dull surface. Initially, Reales had sent out what the Legion calls a Driskoli, or in more simple words, an emergency meeting wave. This technique was simple enough, high ranking members of the Legion with enough efficiency in the many forms of Kakara, would be able to transfer a concentrated wave of energy which would be detected by other high ranking members. Then the recipient would send a wave of energy back to inform the sender that they had received it. This was utilised by the Legion as an effective way to request emergency meetings without any information being leaked.
But after waiting for a few minuets and receiving no wave of energy back from the Elders, Reales quickly sent a messenger hawk directly to the Elder’s Sanctuary. He didn’t know if they had received it or not, but either way, he was urging towards the meeting chamber as quickly as he could. This was a matter that had to be discussed and investigated before it evolved into a genuine problem. And any wasted second could be the difference between success, and failure. He crossed into a small open cavern, which was decorated with long skeleton like bushes of twisting vines. Then he quickly turned passed a natural waterfall and entered yet another long glowing stone tunnel. He wasn’t far now. A few more left turns would send him directly to the staircase which lead to the meeting chamber.
After only 5 more minutes of running, Reales came face to face with a giant 10 foot tall, 7 foot long wooden, gold rimmed door. Which stretched from wall to wall, and from floor to ceiling. Along its wooden surface at odd intervals, were large gold semicircles, no bigger than an apple. Which were lined across its width in groups of 3. On either wall next to the door, three large lanterns provided a dull orange glow. Behind him a colossal set of stairs seemed to travel down to infinity. The blackness beyond the stairs was so thick, it might as well been painted on by an artist.
Reales carefully placed one clawed hand onto the splintered surface of the door, positioned in the centre of three gold semicircle’s which formed a triangle. He closed his emerald eyes. Taking deep breaths. Centralising his Kakara.
He had to channel his Kakara into a perfectly triangular formation, so each of the three points connected perfectly with the gold semicircles. A hard task, even for him. Naturally any shape or form made of three points, was a near impossibility to replicate with Kakara, unless the individual was exceptionally gifted within its many arts. Historians and scholars call it the Figure of Three, though it is still deemed a mystery as to why it takes place.
With one final deep breath, Reales began to channel his collected Kakara into his hand, a glowing green mass began to spiral throughout his fingers. Travelling into the splintered wood of the door, thin lines of centralised Kakara began to stretch out to each of the gold semicircles, which began to glow a bright emerald. Reales opened his eyes, watching the snake like tendrils of Kakara interlock with one another, forming a perfect triangle. The door grunted once, before slowly opening inward. Orange fire light spilled out into Reales’s view, blending in with the green mist which still emitted from his hand.
Beyond the doorway, the massive meeting chamber was revealed, which looked more like a court than anything else. On all surrounding walls, rows of wooden seats wrapped around each of the corners. About 15 rows of seating was lined on top of each other. All facing down towards the three giant quartz thrones which sat within the centre of the room. To Reales’s relief, the three Elder Priests were sat on each of them. Impatience written in their face. Standing next to them was Malachi, the hand, and younger brother of the Emperor. Reales hated him with all his heart. But he forced a smile.
“Reales you requested an emergency meeting?”, one of the Elder’s said, a questioning tone emitting from his voice. The other two Elder’s looked up at him.
“Yes”, Reales said, walking closer to the centre of the room. “I have received some disturbing news”.
“Speak of this news”, Malachi bellowed, his hands crossed against his heavily armoured chest.
Reales growled. “I do not answer to outsiders Malachi, I will await for the Elders to request me to speak”. His words were like venom.
“Speak”, the third Elder said.
Reales nodded. “I was speaking with Exiele Bourne, one of the hunters preparing for the Grand Hunt. He spoke of a dream he had”, he paused for a short moment. “From what he told me, he was meditating in the outer stretches of the Mountain. I had told him it was a good place for channeling Kakara. In this time he said he found a large cave that sat next to the Forested Lake, and his curiosity got the best of him”.
The Elders leaned forward in their thrones, listening intently.
“It was once entering the cave that he realised the entrance had disappeared. Then, when looking around the chamber he found he was no longer in a cave at all, but a man made room. He said he left the room through a wooden door, which lead him into an ancient crypt”, he paused, taking a breath. “It is here where my concerns starts Elders, for he walked directly into a summoning ritual. He said the robed figures were bone white with small sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. Then he detailed that they had reptile like black wings. Do these entities sound familiar to you Elders?”
Their eyes narrowed. “Denita’s”, they said collectively. Reales nodded.
“That was the thing that made me worry. There is no way that Exiele would be able to figure out, or know what a Denita is, or what they look like. On top of that, the amount of details he spoke of regarding the ritual, no Hunter of this Legion would be able to gain knowledge of”.
The Elders nodded. “This is very worrying indeed”, one of them sighed. Leaning back on their throne. “Continue”.
“Towards the end of the ritual, the Denita’s became aware of Exiele’s presence. They called him the Seeker of the Vessel, and drained his blood into the tainted flames. It seems that Exiele has been chosen to find the next vessel they seek – Once this process was over, Exiele said everything went black. And he awoke in his shack”.
“And so it was a dream”, Malachi butted in, a smug look painted on his face.
“How can one dream of things they have no wisdom of?” Reales hissed. “You are not part of the Legion and therefore do not understand. Denita’s have remained in the shadows since the Siege of Gods. Migrating to the outer kingdoms where they have stayed in relative silence. It has only been the past few years that sighting’s of them in the main lands have emerged. And unlike the 5 Kingdoms, Blood Kakara is not a sin within the outer kingdoms. Therefore they have undoubtedly become very adapt to its forms and powers”.
“And what are you as the Legion of Hunters doing about it? Last time I checked it was the Empire who protects the lands, and if a threat of Denita’s arose, it would be our battalions that deal with them. Not you”.
Reales clenched his clawed hands together. “The Denita’s are not my worry, Malachi. It is what ever they are trying to summon. We don’t know what or who it is. Or what kind of destruction it could bring to our lands”.
“Silence”, one of the Elders roared. Standing to his feet. “We still don’t know if any merit is behind the dream”, he said. “But it is a serious enough matter for us to look into it. If this dream is reality, Reales is right”. He turned to face the hand of the Emperor. “It is true that it is the empire that protects these lands, but it is our Hunters that make it a safer place to travel. Therefore I expect more respect from you”. He turned back to Reales.
“If Exiele has been made the seeker of the vessel, we must keep an eye on him in his travels. He may end up helping the Denita’s without even knowing it. Blood Kakara is a dangerous form, one that even the oldest and most wise of practitioner’s cannot fully grasp. This is not a matter to argue about who does the best for the kingdoms. This is a matter that we need to discuss as one and come to a plan of action. If this dream was indeed a reality, it means that the Denita’s are in contact with an ancient entity, one that they worship, and are trying to resurrect. And I assure you Malachi”, he turned to face the hand. “If what they are attempting is successful, there’s no way of knowing how much power the entity may have”.
Malachi nodded. “I agree”, he said, placing one gauntleted hand on the Elders shoulder. “But a dream of a man who has never stepped foot off this mountain, is the least of mine or the emperors worries”, he paused. “The Blackclaw Empire is growing in its power by the day, they are declaring more and more battles towards our borders. Even now, there are 4 different battles going on, all focused on this war. I cannot avert our focus from our immediate worries, worries which have merit. Especially for something as small as a dream”.
The Elder brushed his hand off his shoulder. “I do not expect you too Malachi, and I do not expect you to understand the full extent of what this dream could mean. But I do need you to understand, if this dream truly does have merit, the Blackclaw Empire will be the smallest of your worries”.
The second Elder Priest stood from his throne. His long white beard fell down past his stomach. Braided at its end.
“I have a suggestion”, he bellowed. The third Elder Priest nodded, before taking a seat. “Like the Elder Priest said, we do not expect you to do anything about it as of now Malachi. It is our job to find whether this is truth or not. But, in the event that we find true merit within this dream. Proof of its reality. Can we trust you, as the hand of the Emperor, to provide us with troops to help negate this issue before it evolves into something beyond all of our capabilities”.
Malachi seemed to consider the Elder’s words, before nodding. “I give you my word, in place of the Emperor”, he said, bowing lightly. “Though, I will request it is solid proof, and not philosophical”.
Reales smiled at that. Clearly he knew the Elder’s well. In turn, the Elder nodded in agreement, before lowering himself down into his quartz throne.
“Now”, Malachi continued. “I trust this matter is now covered, may I in turn add one of the Emperors own worries”.
“Of course”, the third Elder said, plucking some loose fabric from his large white robes. Malachi smiled, before continuing.
“As I’m sure you are all aware, there has been many sightings of a black dragon in Dreashire, you don’t need to be wise to know this isn’t something that just naturally happens. If it was only one occurrence, then just like the dream, it wouldn’t hold much merit. But over the past month, there has been over 10 official reports from the 3rd and 4th battalions of the Empire stating they saw the dragon roaming the skies. Over 150 reports if you include civilians also”, he took a breath, glaring over at Reales, before turning once more to face the Elders. “The emperor is growing fearful that within the Blackclaw Empire, a dragon whisperer has arisen”.
“Out of these reports, how many were separate occasions?”, Reales asked, his eyes wide.
Malachi’s face grimaced. “We have it listed as at least 5 separate occasions the past month”.
“Then it is not an asking matter”, one of the Elder Priests bellowed. “There hasn’t been 5 separate dragon sightings in Dreashire since Horas’s death along with his 3 Elder Dragons over a thousand years ago. And now In a month there has been 5? It is undoubtedly a Dragon Whisperer of some kind”.
Malachi’s eyes screwed up, clearly it wasn’t the answer he was looking for.
The priest continued. “But that doesn’t mean that the Dragon Whisperer is working with the Blackclaw Empire”.
Malachi scowled. “Just today the dragon attacked a small village not far from this mountain. Strangely enough, it held two of the most important blacksmiths in this county. Both of which worked heavily with our battalion’s. Doesn’t that seem a bit strange Elder Priest?”
“Strange indeed, but if the Blackclaw Empire was planning on destroying your means to armour and weaponry, then surely they would attack The Elmcroft Estate, where the bulk of your military’s weapons and armour is crafted”.
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Malachi turned away from the Elder’s, his stained black Dreskofian armour was as dark as the surrounding shadows. “This is not a matter that we can leave alone Elder”, he paused. “A dragon, and a dragon whisperer. Something that has been considered a myth for hundreds of years. And if that dragon whisperer is working within the Blackclaw Empire, there is no way of knowing how much blood will be shed throughout the lands. We can not just simply carry on, and hope nothing happens”.
“No”, Reales cut it. “You can’t. So if I were you, I would begin work on some defensive weaponry which will be able to fight back against the dragon. That way if it is within Blackclaw, you will have preprepared defensive measures to minimise damage – But don’t attack the dragon until you know that it is within Blackclaw’s ranks, dragons are rare as it is”.
Malachi nodded, his armour clanked as he turned to face him. “That is the only reason we haven’t attacked it yet”.
“That is a very good suggestion Reales”, the Elder said with a smile. Reales was taken aback, he had never seen any of the Priests smile. Then the Elder turned to face Malachi.
“I would set your blacksmiths to make the catapult contraption The Order called The Halis. That is what was used to kill Horas’s three Elder Dragons millennia ago. I expect with the jump in machinery over the past few decades, you will be able to make some highly effective weapons”. The Priest seemed to get lost in thought for a moment.
“The arrows utilised in the Halis should be at least 6 foot in length, meaning the Halis itself should be much larger than that. And on the tip of the arrow, use some enchanted ice crystal. Dragons are natural bearers of fire Kakara, and any kind of ice or water Kakara can disturb their flow of energy”, he paused. “We have some old blueprints of the original Halis’ utilised in the Siege of Gods, but like you said with Exiele’s dream, I want some real proof that the dragon whisperer is working with Blackclaw before I get prints copied for your blacksmiths”.
Malachi eyes focused on the Elder Priests. “Very well Elder, we have a few troops of researchers and soldiers looking into the matter, we hope to hear back from them in the coming weeks”, he paused, a harsh expression forming on his face. “But if this dragon whisperer attacks before we get those blueprints, I will see to it that each of your heads are placed on stakes at the forefront of the academy”.
The Elder smiled. “We both know, you wouldn’t be able to do that Malachi. You are far to low a rank, even as the emperors hand. Now show some respect while your under our roof. If I remember correctly, it was you who was asking for advice”.
Malachi grimaced. Resting his hand of the handle of his blackened long sword. “The emperor shows you and the Legion respect everyday, that’s why your academy is still standing, and your castle isn’t being used directly by the Empire”, he paused, forcing himself to stop before carrying on with his sentence. His jaw tensed visibly as he clenched his teeth.
“Very well”, the third Elder Priest said, slowly standing from his throne. “I believe this meeting is over”.
Malachi scowled, before making his way to the furthest side of the meeting chamber. Stopping before a small replica of the large doorway to the chamber, but on a much smaller level. He placed his hand on its splintered surface, before with a sudden burst of white, the door swung open. Revealing a steady stream of water jetting down from above.
“If it were to me, this academy would have been made a part of the Empire a long time ago”, he hissed. Before holding out his arms, and walking into the water. His body shot up and disappeared out of view.
The Elder’s followed closely behind, walking towards the travelling waterfall. “Fucking fool”, one of them whispered.
“Elder’s”, Reales called out, still standing before the now empty quartz thrones. They all turned to face him.
“We must treat this dream as if we already know it’s a reality, it’s far to dangerous to ignore”.
Each of them nodded. “And we shall, once I get back to my chambers I will contact a local Inspector to examine this cave you speak of. I would advise you and Barion go with him – if there is Blood Kakara taking place on this Mountain, I want to know how it has been made possible”.
With that, each Elder Priest stepped through into the jetting stream of water one by one, disappearing as they shot back up to the surface, leaving plumes of foaming white in their wake. Leaving Reales alone in the meeting chamber once more.
***
It had been a long day so far. Exiele sat on a small wooden stall, watching the Elder Historian slowly print out each of the 30 spells he had requested. He had debated whether to take a nap or not while waiting, as he had ended up staying up most the night before meditating with the Kakara Gem, slowly processing its steady stream of energy. Only managing to get about 3 hours sleep until he was woken up by Miles knocking on his door. That was a few hours back now, and Exiele could feel agitation growing within his gut, as he watched the Historian take their merry time printing his spells.
Usually this free time would be filled up with combat training, in both Kakara forms, and sword play. But for the week before the Grand Hunt, the hunters were left to their own devices, training and preparing themselves in whatever way they see fit. And if Exiele was to be honest, he didn’t feel like waiting 5 hours to get some spells printed was a very effective use of his time.
He turned his gaze away from the Historian, and over to the long set of bookshelves next to him, which seemed to stretch on for infinity. The library was made up of 5 separate levels, each of these levels held approximately 500 different bookshelves all lined up next to each other, then another 500 bookshelves above them. Each bookshelf held about 1000 books, and 500 scrolls each. So as you could probably imagine, finding what you want in this maze was almost impossible. Luckily enough the Historians set up a Kakara system in which you could write the name of what you were looking for in a large enchanted leather bound book, which would be placed at the entrance to each of the 5 levels. Then, once writing what you want down onto it’s stained decaying pages. The scroll, spell or book you were looking for would levitate from its respected bookshelf, and over to where you were standing. But this system had gotten a bit wonky over the years. And most the hunters utilised the Historians, who somehow knew where every scroll and or spell was located.
Exiele was currently sat on the 3rd level of the library by the Historians area. He could still see the short man copying each script one by one with a floating quill, and he was still taking his merry time.
“Exiele fucking Bourne”, he heard a voice bellow from behind him. Exiele turned to meet eyes with Jilo Dee, another hunter awaiting their Grand Hunt. He was a tall and thin lad, who wore round black spectacles which looked far too large for his face.
“Jilo, I haven’t seen you in ages”, Exiele smiled, standing from the small wooden stool.
“Yeah you haven’t, cus I’ve been out in Dreashire visiting the best brothels the lands had to offer – it turns out they take a liking for hunters”, he winked.
Exiele laughed. Jilo had a pension for making stories up, most of them were dramatically over the top, and always made to make him seem like the knight in shinning armour. But every so often he would try pull something like this off.
“Yeah right”, Exiele grinned. “You wouldn’t last two seconds off this mountain on your own. Though, the brothels were at least believable, no way you would be getting anything for free out there”.
Jilo laughed. “Believe what you want my friend, but the proof is in the pudding”. He said with a wink.
“What you doing in the library anyway? You come to get some spells printed?”
“Yeah. I got 20 spells, 3 scrolls and 2 books to be copied”.
One of Exiele’s eye brows rose high above the other. “Good luck with that. I’ve been waiting here for 2 hours and I’m only having 30 spells copied, each one only has upwards of 2 to 3 scripts. And yet here I am, and it looks like the Historian ain’t even half way through”.
They both turned to look at the Historian across the walkway, he was sandwiched behind a small desk. The floating quill still slowly writing down ancient scripts onto a pile of empty scrolls. He gave them both a dirty look, before looking back down at his desk. “I don’t know what’s taking him so long”.
“Fuck” Jilo sighed. “I only just left my stuff downstairs with Level 2’s Historian”. He slapped his hand onto his forehead. “I’m gonna be here for the rest of the day, and the night”.
“Hey”, Exiele smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. “At least you got some sweet, sweet memories outside the Academy”.
Jilo swiped his hand from his shoulder with a grin. “Yeah, yeah, shut up”, he said. “What’s your hunt anyway? Miles said your going to the Floating City of Gididas”.
“Sure am”, Exiele said, puffing out his chest. “Academy knew I was the only one who would be able to deal with such an assignment”.
Jilo screwed his face. “Absolute bollocks”, he laughed. “Their probably trying to get rid of you”.
Exiele shrugged. “What’s your hunt though?”
“I gotta go to a small fishing village called Big’El, it’s not that far from Gididas, apparently there’s a leviathan snatching villagers up as they go out fishing”.
“Shit”, Exiele nodded. “Clearly they think your capable as well, leviathan’s are huge”.
“Yeah I don’t exactly know how I’m gonna go about it, luckily I found a water spell which allows me to breath under water, but I don’t know how I’m gonna kill the thing”.
“Did you grab the Index of Water Bound Beasts? Lots of tips and tricks around how to deal with sea creatures such as the Leviathan”.
“Yeah, that’s one of the two books I’m getting copied.
Exiele nodded, looking back over towards the Historian. Who seemed to have picked up the pace, the floating quill now inked the scrolls slightly quicker than it had been the past few hours.
“But hey, at least Big’El ain’t far from Gididas, we’ll be able to make the journey together for the most part. The Elder Priests can be strict when it comes down the actual hunt, but they did say their happy for hunters to travel together. It’s only when you arrive at your destination you need to be on your own”.
“What comes first, Gididas or Big’El?”
“Gididas comes first, I’ll be leaving you there and continuing to ride for about 5 hours into Jelou Le, before I reach Big’El”.
Exiele nodded slowly, looking up to see Len Giddan walk up the staircase and onto the 3rd level of the library. He had a stack of about 10 books balanced in his arms. A look of anger crossed his face when he saw the Elder Historian already copying scripts.
“Fuck”, he muttered.
“Probably better to check the other levels Len, this copying business is taking a stupid amount of time”, Exiele called over to him, waving his hand in the air.
Len jumped up momentarily to rebalance the books as they were about to fall from his arms. “By the looks of the first 3 levels, the rest won’t be much different”.
Exiele shrugged. “It would probably be easier to come in tomorrow, apparently the libraries been busy since the meeting in the Sacred Chapel”.
Len went to reply, but the sudden shrill voice of the angered Elder Historian cut through the silence before he had the chance.
“This is a library Hunters, and if I hear your voices again, I will freeze your vocal chords in your throat”. His words were like venom seeping through veins. Len nodded once towards the Historians reddened gaze, before disappearing up the staircase towards the 4th level.
“Gods above”, Jilo muttered. “Something's got his nickers in a twist”.
“I can still hear you Jilo”, the Historian growled, his eyes burned holes through the back of his head, as Jilo pretended he didn’t hear him speak. After a few moments of glaring at Jilo, the Historian tuned his gaze to Exiele.
“Exiele?”, he said.
“Yes Elder Historian”, Exiele replied with a cheeky smile. Expecting at any moment for his vocal chords to seize within his throat.
“I am on the final scroll you have requested, it will take no long than 5 minuets”.
“Well that’s a surprise…”. Jilo’s words suddenly came to a screeching halt. The final syllable never left his mouth. He turned his panicked gaze over at the Historian, who just smiled in pleasure. It seemed Jilo wouldn’t be speaking again while he waited for his copies.
With a laugh, Exiele placed his hand on Jilo’s shoulder. “See you later on tonight, if not I’ll see you tomorrow. That’s if you not travelling out to any brothels”, he smiled. Before walking over to the Historians desk across the walkway. The historian was no where to be seen, but he had left a large wooden crate on the desk’s splintered surface, it’s contents was filled to the brim with his copied scrolls. Each one sealed with the typical purple ribbon, and purple wax.
He quickly picked up the wooden crate, and began to traverse his way back down to the ground level of the library. A task much easier said than done. The first two staircases were on the opposite side of the 3rd level, meaning he had to traverse the maze of bookshelves and cabinets which took up much of the floors room. This would be much easier if there were indicators as to where the stairs are located, but there isn’t. And even after travelling through the library for 18 years of his life, he still got lost regularly.
He took a right past a large pillar of stone, which stretched up to meet the stained glass ceiling 2 floors above, which was masterfully crafted into a scene where a hunter was fighting a beast called a Ghol, which was simply put, a 4 headed lion of huge proportion. After a few more moments of traversing the maze of books, he found the opening of the staircase. A long line of large locked glass cabinets ran along the wall to the stairs left. This was where the Legion kept all the scrolls and spells the hunters weren’t aloud to read until they reached a certain level of assignments. He passed the cabinets and continued his decent back down to the ground floor.
Miles was waiting for him outside the library’s grand entranceway. Once Exiele met up with him, he would lead him down to Algath’s alchemy chamber, which was across the other side of the mountain. Away from the main bulk of the other alchemy chambers. Apparently Algath wasn’t fond of busy areas, or people in general at that. And considering there was always hundreds of hunters of all ages roaming the main circumference of the castle, and If not wondering around, they would be practising their Kakara formations, or studying the many shapes it can take. Algath had decided to make a home in an old abandoned chamber which sat amongst the wilderness. Exiele supposed it suited his character well enough. After collecting some elixirs from Algath, he planned to utilise the following 2 days before the hunt to study, and channel more energy from the Kakara gem. He still hadn’t began practising the blast method either, but he figured he would have to practise that while travelling the lands of Dreashire. He would be lucky to process even half of the gems Kakara in his remaining time, meaning he wouldn’t have time to generate blasts within the 2 days he had left.
Exiele took the final turn off the staircase and made his way over to the library’s exit. Which sported many gargoyles carved into the large pillars which supported the weight of the floors above the archway. Fresh gusts of wind drew in from the opening, gracing his skin with the elegance of nature. He would have to drop off the crate of scrolls to his shack on the way to Algath’s chamber, but he would worry about that when him and Miles made there way up onto the second section of the mountain. For now, he needed to get his elixirs, so then he could turn his focus to preparing for the Grand Hunt.