“Hope you had a good rest, Yung Master. Apologies, I had to leave sooner. If someone was after you, then Young Master Ingrid might be in trouble as well. I left something highly important for you on the table. Take it to the forest of Alguna. Something awaits you there.
A map to lead you out of here is in your pocket”
“Alguna? What’s down there?”
Harthur stood from his bed. He felt the immediate imbalance in his body as he walked out of the room. The cut was clean and precise removing the part from where the started Oath up to his hand. He thought he could still feel his right hand but it was no longer there. Instead a wooden carving is attached to his wrist to resemble the missing part. His fake right hand may fool some people but it will be obvious to those with good observation.
A common rag was covering something on the table. From its shape bar shape, Harthur already knew what it was. It's a shield blade.
“He got back my shieldblade?”
Harthur pulled the rag.
“No… This shieldblade. It’s Father’s!”
The weapon was grey and fully made of radiance material. He wore it on his right arm and snapped it open revealing a round shield almost twice as big as his. It covered his whole arm up to his shoulders. Etched on the face of the shield was the Horned River Tiger, the family crest.
“But it's decommissioned. How will this absorb radiance? I can’t use this, the tower will find me.”
He snapped it again, collapsing it to his arm, and then snapped it open again revealing a long blade, almost sword-like. After inspecting the blade he reverted it to its shield form. He inspected the back of the shield, “Yes, it has the blade form but where is Father’s knife? It should be here. Or Sir Shane has it.”
Harthur looked around.
“I need to get ready. Alguna, what are you hiding?”
###
Meanwhile in Alguna
Magnum changed to light clothes so he could dry his armor. He pulled up the cover of his wagon at the back and front to let the wind and light pass through. The mess which was his wheeled house reminded him of his home. His mother and his younger brother came to mind but he quickly erased it as he had things to do.
He had a few wooden boxes on the right side of the wagon. He usually puts all the instruments he could find there but some were just scattered around or hanging somewhere. Sometimes Magnum would marvel at how intricate the instruments were. A few of the instruments inside the box turned on. Magnum's white earring started to blink as well.
“Hmmm! There must be a power source here.” He looked around but he couldn’t spot it.
On his left are his vital instruments and two barrels. One barrel for his explosive powder and one barrel for demon dust. The two instruments he has; one was a furnace and the other one was his marble maker or bomb maker. He doesn’t want to call it a bomb maker, so marble maker. His marble maker has two cylinders on the side, one cylinder for each of the two powders he have; explosive powder and demon dust. A thin metal sheet was then fed in front of the machine and a wheel on the right was needed to be turned to make the marbles. He also used this instrument to make other types of bombs, like smoke bombs or blind bombs. The furnace, it's used to melt metal for the thin sheets he needed for his marble maker.
“So double the explosive power and add a quarter more demon dust. That should do it. The new formula for killing demons!"
Magnum fed the two cylinders and then added the extra metal sheets he had on the back of the instrument. He also made adjustments to the would-be size of the marble by twisting a nob on the control dashboard of the instrument. He started turning the wheel and the instrument started popping out the marbles. Magnum fell asleep after creating hundreds of them.
###
The rain had stopped but Magnum’s campfire was still going. The crackling of the firewood woke Magnum. He slowly looked around, he felt like he was being watched but no one was there, the forest was silent. He touched his gunblade which he placed beside him but it was gone. He went down to the ground and hid under his wagon. He’s still in the same forest, the same spot where he slept. He tried to grab the knife on his leg but it was also not there.
“Shit! I’m done!”
He looked at the fire. He crouched and went around his wagon. The forest was dark now. He doesn’t know how long he slept. He knew he had to be careful so he chose to stay hidden beside his wagon. Then he heard a voice from deeper in the ruins. He approached with caution. He slowly walked through several trees and stone walls. Flashes of light started to appear under the canopy of the forest. He walked further following the light then he arrived at a swamp. At the center of the swamp was a beast of light standing under a lonely tree.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Magnum hid behind a tree, “Four-legged. Looks like a tiger. What is this? It's glowing? A spirit beast?”
“Human, why are you here?” A warm and mature woman’s voice.
Magnum turned around, “Shit! Is it talking to me? In my mind!”
“Don’t be afraid”
Magnum slowly looked back at the beast. “Afraid? I’m not afraid. I’ve been killing demons. Why should I be afraid of… It's gone.”
He looked around but the light was gone except for one speck of light from the trunk of the tree. He suddenly found himself beside the tree, at the center of the swamp. A glowing knife was stuck in the tree.
“A knife but made for a knight.”
He looked around. Complete silence.
He touched the knife and flashes of light blinded him. A surge of strength and toughness rushed inside through him. A vision came to his mind. An image of him in full white plate armor made of radiance, an armor with branching horns on its head and a shawl of fur around his shoulder.
“No!”
Magnum woke on his wagon, “Ahhh, worst dream ever!”, His gunblade was still beside him and his knife was in his leg. Magnum went back to sleep,
The cheerful singing of birds woke Magnum. He woke up starving so he quickly made a fire and grilled some of the dried meat that he had hanging on his wagon. His body felt so much better today like he was miraculously healed. His armor was now dry but still stank.
After breakfast, the ruins enthralled Magnum and he decided to walk around. The forest had taken over but the silhouette of the old kingdom lingered despite the great damage the Cresanyan Army brought. The few walls that remained were proof of how the Corone robbed old cities of the precious materials from the tower and made them into roads. However, turning these huge blocks of stones into small bricks was a feat in itself. Another proof of how sophisticated are the artisans of Corone.
As he walked around looking for instruments or anything interesting, he saw a familiar-looking tree surrounded by other trees several meters away from him. It was the tree from his dream.
“There’s no swamp?”
He approached the tree and found a gray knife, the one he saw in his dream. It looked like the tree had been keeping this knife for years now. Its grip on the blade looked tough and only the handle was visible.
Magnum cautiously touched the knife.
Nothing happened.
“Hmmm… looks like owned by a knight. Maybe I can sell this… but If I take this I’ll be accused of stealing and worst killing a knight. No thanks!”
Magnum turned around and went back to his camp.
The sun was almost halfway to noon and Magnum went back to the road. After a few hours, Magnum saw a kid and an old man walking. Carrying huge bags. The kid immediately looked back when he heard the wheels of Magnum’s wagon roll over the road.
Magnum looked at the two as he passed them. The kid smiled and pulled the hand of her grandfather.
“Lolo,” she said.
“You need a ride, Lolo?” Magnum said to the old man.
The old man looked at Magnum and shook his head, “Thank you but the camp isn’t that far.”
“Camp? What Camp?”
“The knights camp,” the old man said.
“A camp here? Where is it?”
“Just follow along this road,” the old man said.
“Okay, are you sure you’re gonna be okay? Both of you can ride. I’ll take you near the camp.”
The old man stopped walking. He pushed his granddaughter to his back and knelt on the road. “Please don’t take my grandaughter Mister Merc!” he said.
Magnum’s mouth fell.
“What the?”
The old man took some time for Magnum to convince him that he would not take the kid. It irritated him but he felt he needed to help the old man since he looked so frail.
“Merc’s steal kids now? So that’s why you didn’t even try to look at me!”
“Yes yes,” the old man said smiling as he sat on the wagon. The little girl was now asleep at the old man’s shoulders.
“I’m sorry, I scared you,” Magnum said, “I really need to change how I look.”
“You have some nice instruments here, you collect instruments too? ” The old man said looking around the wagon. Some instruments were hanging above but most were dangling out of a wooden box.
“Yes, where do you sell yours, old man?”
“I have a buyer in the camp. You can sell there too. And why don't you have a horse?”
“Maybe I can get a horse if I sell some,” Magnum said.
“Mercs usually have a horse. You travel alone?”
“I don’t need anyone,” Magnum said. “Wait, old man. You’re oathless, are you gonna be okay in that camp?”
“Yes, as long as Sir Garvin is there. Oathless are welcome. You can go too if you like.”
“Garvin eh... Wait is that the camp?” Magnum said.
“Wake up Fina. We’re here,” the old man said as he was tapping the kid’s shoulder.
“Then you can probably hop off over there. I’ll turn left and you can go straight to the camp.”
“Thank you!”
The old man and the kid hopped off and waved goodbye.
“Huge walls. This must be a garrison during the Dark Age.”
His eyes followed the walls along the road until he saw the parts of it destroyed. He could see through the camp full of squires and civilians and everyone was in panic. Squires and civilians are running around shouting at each other.
A knight in full-plated armor was shouting commands. “Squad three and four! Ready! Surround the mother dragon!”
“A mother dragon! That’s why they're busy!”
Magnum stopped and climbed on the top of his wagon. There he saw a dark-haired beast towering over the trees on the other side of camp. He jumped into his wagon and filled his pockets with his bombs and ammo.
“Time to teach these knights a lesson!”