Author's note - From this chapter onward, for a while, I will be trying myself on a 1st person format. I want to see if I am good at it and whether I am better off continuing like before, or changing the perspective. Of course, permanent change to the perspective will not happen in this story - it is something I am considering for my next endeavour.
Adam's POV
Looking back, I can't seem to decide, whether I regret agreeing to the position of a junior envoy, or not.
On the one hand, it's a dream job for me - travelling through the lands unknown to me, meeting different people, and seeing various creatures. The epitome of an adventure, all behind the broad backs of royal guards with a Swordmaster Fenfallal at the lead. It seems like a dream, that I can realise my dream and the commitment that I have towards my fallen family while guarded by the people I haven't seen lose to a foe.
On the other hand, travels through the Fire Mountains and the meadows of the Pruinian Empire proved to be much different than I imagined adventures to be, just half a year ago.
The foreigners view Derdania in a much different light than I could have ever imagined. Each day spent in Northern Overseer was full of fear and worry, that someone, somehow, would uncover our ancestry. Encounters with guards were scary enough with them thinking of me as a teenager, lucky enough not to get recruited into the army, who knows what would happen if they knew I was one of those half-legendary barbarians from beyond Fire Mountains...
For sure, that one captain would be so nice to me anymore.
Living in the saddle was tiring, much more so than I thought. I had a hard time getting accustomed to riding on a horse, but after numerous tiring days, and nights fuller of cramps and pain than sleep, I can comfortably say that I am moderately adept in staying in the saddle.
Thinking about that pain and cramps leaves me with deep regret, honestly... As it would have been a much more comfortable experience had I devoted myself more to the daily training Max was struggling to persuade me to.
But in the darkness, it's easier to see the light, regardless of how dim it is. It turned out, that having one more loyal companion is never a bad thing. Me and Parcas benefited greatly from Los's introduction. Finally, I could leave him with someone trusty, without bothering someone who might have their own business to attend to - the horse's timetable was practically empty, after all. And the cat had a heated bed all for himself.
Honestly, I am astounded by the amount of patience Los has for his smaller and fluffier friend.
A steed also proved to be essential in covering distances as large as we rode for. I can't imagine walking and walking for kilometres to no end through the forests and mountains, only to arrive in the meadows - which even on a horse were akin to a psychological horror.
We rode and rode, and the horizon remained practically unchanged. Each village and town on our road left a distinct mark, as I followed it as it moved in my vision, along with our journey, and marked how far we covered.
The worst were those few days after Sir Stellmo defeated that woman, Sentinal I called her.
The Northern Overseer and the river that crossed the city, marked a border between a relatively calm north, and the central plains of the empire.
No towns, nor villages not to mention cities, for two whole days...
To be fair, those lands didn't look inhabitable. While it was still a while expanse of rolling hills, lightly covered in snow, there were nearly no rivers in the area, and the ground beneath the snow seemed barren. Enough to grow some grasses, but not nearly close to supporting any farm, not even mentioning the lack of drinkable water, it was clear that settling here would be foolish when fertile and freshwater-rich lands awaited inhabitants just a few days of travel ahead.
But what happened after the two days of solitude was worse than some unchanging landscape.
Here, I should mention that we strayed off course after reuniting with Stellmo. Instead of following the highway beside which my fiery friend fought that woman, Algier led us on a path that headed in relatively the same direction but was way smaller and less maintained.
It was all to lose the potential pursuit, which we eventually saw on the horizon, as a few riders dashed to the south with multiple spare horses and no camping equipment. Luckily, they missed us by quite a distance and probably didn't notice, as at the time we were resting in a camp prepared just like we did before - on the opposite side of the hill in relation to the road.
Back to the topic, the first settlement we found after leaving the desolate lands was a heavily armoured camp surrounding a huge spearhead-like rock - seemingly impaled in the ground by some vengeful giant.
The monolith was surrounded by a settlement made primarily with mud and stray rocks, only augmented by logs and planks - a rare resource in the meadows, where trees were as scarce as scars on my body.
And let's just say, that I am veeery careful when handling sharp items.
Unlike most of the hamlets I have ever seen, the settlement surrounding the monolith didn't have walls, instead, it was surrounded by a moderately high hill-like border and a few higher watchtowers - with one sitting atop the rock.
That alone, would not make me say that the place was heavily guarded, what did tho, was who lived there.
As we neared the settlement - forced by the terrain that forbade us from straying off the path far enough not to be suspicious, a man in heavy armour - similar to what most of my warrior friends wore before we abandoned the more flashy pieces of equipment - marched out of the gate facing the road we trod.
"My name is Gaius, and I am the commander of this gate outpost - are you bunch adventurers sent here by the Northern Overseer's guild? I was informed you were to arrive in a few days."
Gaius, as he called himself, seemed to mistake us for a group of adventurers - which surprised me, as I didn't think that there was such an establishment in the empire. I thought they sent everyone capable to the frontline, but I guess I was wrong.
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Luckily for me, and the rest of the group, Algier didn't show his surprise - if he even was surprised, and replied to the command without skipping a beat.
"Yes, we left earlier after that horrible attack at the Wind Gate..." he seemed to reminisce about some trauma, shuddering. "After that lunatic attacked, we decided to leave before we were given some task in relation to the incident.."
Despite our differences, I admire my senior - and his quick thinking is one of the reasons for my opinion. Adding a bit of bad-mouthing towards the 'bandits' that attacked the overseer-city, who in reality are no one but we, is just something I couldn't think of by myself, but it surely made the commander suspect us less of being said 'bandits'.
Though, this time, I also had to admire his luck. If not for it, wind mage's farse would be just a stupid way to rally an enemy, after all, what if the commander knew the adventurers beforehand?
"Hmm, good - the messenger raised my curiosity quite high. I will count on you to recount the events with utmost detail." He turned around and started to lead us towards the stone-shaded settlement. "Rumours and drama from the Norther Overseer are only things keeping us - guardsfolk, sane in those boring walls."
I could imagine that alright - even without entering the premises of the gated outpost, as the man called it, the aura of boring and repetitive life could be felt.
I could even guess what they did all day long - quote correctly I might say, as my guesses were confirmed later.
Anyway, following the iron-clad warrior, whose long, lustrous black hair made a lasting impression on me, we entered the encampment - already off our steeds.
As we walked, pulling our horses along, Algier made some small talk with that place's commander - but I wasn't interested in hearing more bullshit coming from my senior's mouth, instead, I focused on looking around the site - it was much more interesting.
Namely, the thing that stood among the small buildings, which in themselves were as uninteresting as the small talk, if not even more.
The monolith peeking from above the low, wooden roofs of the bricker buildings, shined like a dirty mirror as the sunlight reflected from its grey, yet glossy, surface. It emanated a strange, magical aura - similar to what I felt when mages other than me unleashed their mana into the surroundings or used their power in other ways - such as when Algier decimated wolves, or when The King spoke to all Derdanians using the crown's enchantment - yet it was definitely different. It felt much more refined, controlled and decisive - Though it was also wild, like a force of nature, at the same time.
As we went deeper, I wandered off from the group and headed towards the rock, I don't quite remember if I was just that engrossed in looking at the thing, or if I made a clear judgement whether moving away from those who were able to protect me was a good idea.
Regardless, I neared closer to the monolith, navigating around the few buildings that existed between the gate and the rock. In no time, I arrived before its domineering body - it felt much higher from such a close distance, it shielded me from the sunlight, casting a deep shadow on me and even some of the buildings behind me.
As I walked around the monolith, I was slowly able to see what prompted the creation of this settlement.
A big, at least three metres tall and the same in width, semicircular Gate.
Not some normal city gate, like the Wind Gate in Northern Overseer, but a legit entrance to a Dungeon - an extradimensional place in which chamber's numerous monsters and savage beasts reside, guarding loot varying from food and resources to magical artefacts.
Aiding its mysterious, magical aura, a swirl of colours rested between the gate's frame, like a liquid mirror.
No one knows how they come to be, why they exist, and most importantly, when and where they are to appear.
...This uncertainty, lack of knowledge and surprise, was the deciding factor of my parents, and sister's death...
While I have long made peace with the tragedy that fell on my family early in my life, I was forced to stop for a moment to catch my breath and slow down my thoughts - overthinking it wasn't going to do anything good, not to me, nor to the souls of my family in the afterlife, from where they watch on me. Hopefully.
Anyway, when I saw the Gate, I finally understood the importance of the place we found ourselves in.
And realised the situation that awaited us.
Regardless of country, the ruling power or terrain, Gates always appear some distance away from larger population centres - in wait for a beast wave to be unleashed. The beast waves happen when the amount of creatures inside the dungeon's small dimension grows over a certain threshold, and the Gate opens - but unlike most of the time, it then lets the monsters come to us, instead of the opposite.
To counter the danger, or rather to fight it before it happens, Adventurers venture inside, slay monsters and sometimes gain exotic, expensive pieces - which along with their pay from the guild, fuel their wealth.
I am still not sure about the details of the Adventurer's profession in the Pruinian Empire, but from what I have seen so far, here they perform the same role.
After all, due to Algier's rash decision-making, we too, had to do it.
As I stared at the swirling Gate, a man came to stand by my side. I didn't pay much attention to him at the time, noticing only that he had some armour on, and a large hat on his head.
"It's mesmerising, isn't it? Whenever I lay my eyes upon it, no force can bring me back from the land of dreams... maybe with the exclusive exception of Commander Gaius..."
As I turned towards the flowery speaker, I noticed his peculiar attire in more detail - his armour was painted in radiant and opposing colours and his large hat had a big, pink feather sticking out of it.
I think he took himself as some sort of a poet, but I haven't spent enough time with him to come to a decisive conclusion of my observation.
"It's weird... That I can stare into the heart of such horrifying creation - and be as amazed over its beauty, as I am fearful of its power..."
I responded to the to-be poet, also in some sort of a poetic way.
"Hmm... I have to agree with you,- wise stranger... finding beauty in macabre power feels weird... but also fills me up with hope, as it shows that good can be found even in the darkest of evils..."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and plucked the pink feather out of the band enveloping his hat - and started to play by sticking its shaft into his blond locks.
"Without such hope, would we still be able to press on? Fight the evil and conquer our nightmares, while striving to fulfil our dreams?"
He looked at me questioningly, as if his obviously rhetorical questions were aimed at me. But despite my willingness to ask them, I am not fond of answering questions, especially ones as hard and as vague. As such, I didn't respond to his questioning glance.
"I don't think so..."
After he answered his own question, we returned to observing the swirling Gate in silence.
As I watched, I realised that the magical, refined yet wild aura that spread from the monolith found its origin in the mystical colours bound between Gate's frames.
It was fascinating.
But even those calm, amazing times when I was left to wonder, had to end - this time when Gravis came to pick me up from my little sightseeing escapade.
"Here you are! Curious like always, aren't you?" He stopped for a moment when he noticed the swirling majesty of the Gate. "Is that the Gate? I haven't seen one in ages... Anyway, come with me, we have to take care of the horses - and no one will take care of yours this time."
He narrowed his eyes at me in fake anger - which may or may have not been caused by tying Los along with Parcas to his horse in secrecy, as I wandered off towards the monolith. But that's ancient history, nothing to care about.
"Have you been in one before? Like, inside?"
I asked in a hushed tone as we got away from the poetic warrior.
"Yes, they are scary, but for a party like ours, we should be able to clear it completely. We might even find something useful in there..."
He dreamed aloud, but just like me, he remained quiet.
"Of course, you have no chance of getting anything out of it. There is no way you will be helpful in any way"
As he looked at me up and down, mocking smirk on his face, I faced a serious urge to punch him in the face.
Author's Note - Let me know what you think about the chapter, should I continue like this in the future?