Chapter 7

I had a restful sleep. No dreams of beings in the dark that would ask me for freedom, just a nice relaxing night after a well fought battle. We woke up and started to break camp. While I was putting away all of the camping gear Sora made up a few eggs and some bacon for breakfast. We ate our breakfast while discussing last night's fight. We were both pretty impressed with ourselves, but we were also both concerned about all of this monster activity so close to civilization. Out in the distant lands beyond the borders for the four kingdoms was a land where monsters dwell. It had been a long time since they had appeared in the settled lands this frequently though. I had heard stories of the past where monsters would come into the civilized lands. That almost always foretold of a Demon King rising to power and uniting all the monsters under one banner. That was just a story. I had no time for stories designed to scare children. This monster encounter would need to be reported when we got to a town. People needed to know that monsters were out there. Hopefully the Capital would send out high ranking adventurers to investigate why we were seeing more monsters.

For now we needed some breakfast. I went over to the fire and started up a pot of oatmeal. We would eat it plain today. We needed to save the fruit so we had to make it last longer. It would be bland but I had eaten much worse in my life. We finished up our meal and packed up our bags. It was time we started on our journey again hopefully there wouldn't be any more monster excitement on our trip. I had heard there was a town maybe two days farther down the road. If we could make it there we would be able to report the monster activity in the area and maybe even spend a night in an Inn. The weather was nice today. It made the trudging boredom of our walk a bit more bearable. The miles passed by slowly. We were in no big hurry. We stopped for lunch. He had some jerky and bread. It was nothing exciting but it would keep us alive. We hadn’t stopped for very long before we were back on the road again. We needed to find a stream or river to refill our water skins. So while we walked the trail we searched for signs of water. A few hours later we were getting into a dense forest. With the density of the forest we figured we were getting close to a water source.

We made the decision to head off into the forest in search of some water. It was risky with all of the monster activity that we had seen recently. We decided it was worth the risk. With two days or more travel left until we got to a town we needed to make sure we had extra water just in case it took longer than expected. We walked for a couple of hours without finding water. We took a break and discussed if we should turn around and go back and try to make what water we had last or if we wanted to keep going. It wasn’t much of a debate. We needed more water and this was the only way we were going to be able to find it. We walked until it was near nightfall. Just when we were going to set up camp Sora heard a trickle of water. We ran forward and we saw it. There was a little stream that ran through the forest. Since it was so late we decided to set up camp after we filled up on water. We started a fire from the dried sticks on the ground and I began cooking supper. We had some dried meat that we made into a stew with the help of some vegetables. It was a good meal after the long walk of the day. We settled in around the campfire and just enjoyed the sounds of the popping and crackling wood. Tonight we will start a guard shift again. Last night's monster encounter was too close and we would need to keep an eye out for monster activity in the night.

I took the first watch. There was the usual sound of animals moving through the woods at night. The hoot of an owl. The rustling of leaves. It was pleasant in its own way. I kept the fire burning low to try to keep away any predators. I wasn't too worried about animals coming into camp. What worried me was the thought of a group of monsters attacking while we slept. My watch passed without issue and I woke Sora for her turn. She didn't even put up a fuss. I got into my own sleeping roll and was immediately asleep. I woke up with the sun and Sora was still keeping her watch. She hadn’t seen or heard anything last night which was a nice change for us. She started on some eggs and I took out a loaf of bread and we ate a quick breakfast. With breakfast done we packed up, made sure our water was topped off, and headed back for the road. We aimed to run parallel with the road and slowly make our way back towards it while also making a little progress. While we walked we saw an old cabin sitting in a clearing. We had walked for a couple of hours and still had quite a bit to go to be near the road. So this was an odd location for a cabin. Since we were here we decided to investigate. We called out as we approached but there was no answer. We made it up to the door and knocked. Again there was no answer. Maybe the owner was out. I didn’t know, but the house looked very old. Almost like it would collapse at any moment. I decided that it must be abandoned so I pushed open the door. Inside was nothing. I had built up the idea in my head of a monster living here or maybe a witch. My fanciful ideas were not meant to be it seems. We searched the house but didn’t find anything that was of interest to us. We did find a hatch that led to a basement of some kind. Being the aspiring adventurers that we were, we wanted to investigate some more. We made our way down the rickety ladder into the basement of the little cabin. We looked around but it was very dark. We searched around the room to see if we could find anything. I found a gap in the wall that had a faint glow coming from it. I called Sora over and we managed to budge the wood that was blocking the opening out of the way. What we found was a tunnel of some kind. There was a torch in a sconce lighting the way down the tunnel. I said to Sora. “ What do you think? Should we keep going or should we go back and pretend we never saw any of this?” Sora said “Well of course we keep going. Aren't you the least bit interested in what's down here? We've come so far now how can we turn back.” I liked her adventurous spirit and I also wanted to find out what was down here. If it ended up being too dangerous for us we would leave. We wouldn't make very good adventurers if we passed up on this. So down the tunnel we went in search of whatever may lie beneath.

The torches were spaced out pretty far. With it getting dark between each one. Whatever was down here must be used to these kinds of dark conditions. We walked for a while without speaking. It had to be getting close to lunch time when my stomach started gurgling. So we stopped for a quick snack. We had a quick meal of bread and cheese. The food you could bring on the trail was limited but cheese and bread stayed good for a while. We ate while walking. Both of us wondered how long this tunnel was and what could possibly lay at the end. Things started to open up with the tunnel getting wider as we went. We soon began to hear noises farther up the tunnel. It was also getting brighter. As we got closer we could hear the noises more clearly. It was voices. Human voices from the sound of it. We slowed down as we got closer to what looked like it would be an opening.We crept our way closer to the opening, the voices getting louder as we approached.

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A male voice said “Boss I don’t understand why we got to work with the filthy creatures.” That voice sounded vaguely familiar. Another male voice replied “ It’s not for us to decide. We’ve been paid handsomely to work with them and in turn cause our own mischief. We can't have the Kingdom alerted to the presence of monsters yet. That’s why we killed that merchant caravan. We need to keep the activity of the monsters hidden for a little while longer. Just until their number gets built up enough to where they can act.” I was shocked by what I was hearing. Two mysteries revealed at once. I now knew who had killed those people and I had also found out that the number of monsters in the area was increasing on purpose. “ I still don’t understand why we are helping them though.” The first man said. “They almost cost us kidnapping that fox girl. Do you remember her? The girl from the Inn?” The other man answered “How could I forget your stupidity that almost blew it for all of us. Somehow she managed to escape. That's not the problem now. One fox girl and some guy she found to escort her around isn’t worth our time. We need to coordinate with the goblins and kobolds about tunneling into the nearby towns and eventually into the capital. That's the only way this plan works. If we can keep ourselves under the radar. We can’t go around blowing our cover. The monsters believe that the Demon King has returned. I want to be there when they take over so that I can be at the top of the rubble when the monsters get done. I have no love for other humans and I will gladly sell them out for a place of power in the new world.” The man I had come to find out had to be Oskar replied “Whatever you say boss if you want us to help the monsters we will. I just didn’t know why we were helping them” The man said “That’s fine Oskar but remember this when the demon king sweeps away the Kingdoms we want to be on the side that wins. If that means doing a little work for the monsters, so be it. It's too bad we couldn’t find that necklace that was supposed to be with the merchants. The Goblin Chief seemed very upset that we haven't found it. Said it was something of great importance to the Demon King. ”

This was all too much to process. These men were helping the monsters. Not only that they believed that the Demon King was returning and they wanted to bring about some age of monsters or something. This was crazy. The bit about my necklace was concerning as well. Why was it so special? Why did the goblins believe that the Demon King would want it? Was it his? Who was it that was trapped in my necklace? It was all just too much to process right now. Sora was very tense next to me. She had just heard confirmation of her capture and that she wasn't anything worth bothering about. We didn’t have time for her to be having some type of mental freak out. So I grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me back through where we had come from. She followed without resisting. We had to get out of here. I could still hear the men talking farther down the tunnel. I kept our pace slow at first until I could no longer hear them talking. We then broke into an all out run. We were both panicking. This was the scariest thing we had ever heard. These men were plotting to overthrow not just the Kingdom but humankind and probably that of the other intelligent races. We made our way back through the hole we had used to get into the tunnel we covered our tracks the best we could. We went back up the ladder and rushed out of the house. Even then we didn’t stop. We ran back into the forest and turned towards where the road should be. We didn't stop till we made it back to the path.

With our escape, how could we not discuss what we had just found out. Those bandits were working together with the monsters. They had killed those merchants and they even knew about Sora's abduction. This information about the Demon King that I had believed was a myth was returning. We had to get to the Capital as fast as possible. No one would believe us I was sure but we had to let them know this was just too important for everyone to just let the issue lie. Sora didn’t want to talk about what had happened to her. Though she agreed, priority number one was warning everyone of the unknown threat. We would walk until nightfall and hopefully make it to the next town by tomorrow night. We would stay the night in town and also let the local authorities know what we had found out whether they chose to believe us or not was not important to me. We just had to let someone know. After that we would head towards the Capital just as we had planned. Instead of the adventures guild we would head to the Capital guard and see if we could get an audience with someone who could do something about these bandits and monsters. I didn’t believe that anyone would take me seriously but I had to hope that someone would listen.

We walked until sunset. Neither of us had an appetite. Even so we needed to eat. We munched on some of the trail crackers. We didn’t bother with a fire tonight. We didn't want to bring any attention to ourselves. So it was going to be a dark night. We took out the tent and Sora tried to get some sleep. I stood watch till about halfway through the night and I woke Sora. She got out of her sleeping roll looking not to have slept at all. I didn't think I would be any better off getting sleep than she had. I laid in my sleeping roll and tossed and turned until sleep finally overtook me. The darkness of the void once again surrounded me. I had figured the being from the darkness would visit me. It hadn’t been long and I hadn’t decided to help but things had definitely changed. “So we meet again. I had planned on sleeping for longer, but current events have changed things somewhat. I’m sure you want to know what my connection to the Demon King is.” The being in the dark said. I said. “Of course I want to know what you are. This has all gotten way too big for me. I’m not even an adventurer.” The red eye bored through me. Then I saw something emerging from that infinite darkness. It was huge. As large as a mountain. It was in some way an even darker black than the void that surrounded me. A claw appeared and then a giant reptilian head appeared followed by a pair of giant black wings and then I saw them. The chains that bound this creature to this world inside the necklace. The chains were covered with runes and symbols I could not recognize. This was what kept this creature contained, but I still didn't understand why it was kept in bondadge. though I knew what this creature was. I had seen paintings of them and even heard stories about them. Before I could bring the thought to my mind the being in the dark said. “ I am Kalastrovax, the first Dragon.”