Warning there is Underage drinking in this chap read at your own discretion.
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Khafk slowly awoke amongst ruins. Everywhere around him were the remnants of a small town which had been demolished. Confused and afraid Khafk slowly started assessing his surroundings. He was in one of three houses that had been eaten by flame. Only the charred residue of the homes wooden bones remained.
Khafk climbed to his feet and brushed his wrinkled and torn tunic with his now ash covered hands. He frowned seeing the black smudges he was leaving upon the white silk and sighed.
“Where am I? How did I get here? Why am I not dead?” All these questions floated in his mind, but every time he attempted to answer one he kept having a feeling that he was forgetting something important.
“Well taking into consideration that its winter I can assume that this is in the Northern Continent.” He muttered while walking towards what he assumed to be the center of town.
The roads were surprisingly paved with a concoction that was discovered only recently. Concrete. A durable building material made from combining Limestone and volcanic ash.
“This shouldn’t be a frontier town if they are paving the streets so it must be closer to the center of the continents capital.” Frontier towns frequently were destroyed in this manner so Khafk had originally though that he was bordering the Demon territory, but the Northern Empire would never put in enough money to cover paved roads the towns were too much of a liability.
He continued to make guesses as to the territory he was in. Completely lost in thought he nearly fell into a crater. Glancing at the surroundings Khafk could assume that this was the epicenter of the devastation and the former town square.
He turned to walk towards a tavern that had its upper levels blown off, when something shiny glinted from within the crater. Curiosity killed the cat, but by nature did the cat have any other choice than to be curious. Khafk thought as he started clambering into the crater.
The crater was about three meters deep. There was a thick molten crust with semicircular indentations that allowed Khafk to climb down with little effort, but as he neared the bottom a sharp edge sliced his hand leading to the last meter or so to go by quite quickly.
Khafk cringed in pain as he put pressure on the deep slice across his palm. Getting up Khafk noticed a black egg with golden symbols was embedded just next to him. Forgetting his flesh wound he reached out with both hand and grasped the egg slathering it in blood.
The egg trembled before the golden symbols started glowing a dark red and it slowly floated out of the ground. Awestruck Khafk didn’t realize he was floating as well until being dropped outside the crater by and invisible force. The egg landed perfectly in his lap.
“What on Avair is this egg?” His confusion only lasted a moment before the egg was wrapped within the folds of his tunic. Whatever it was Khafk had no intention of wasting a potential fortune.
Khafk’s attention returned to a tingling sensation on his hand. As he looked on in wonder, the skin around the cut suddenly started being connected by golden threads slowly closing the wound. In moments his hand looked as if nothing had ever happened, even the dirt was removed.
Bewilderment would only barley describe what Khafk was feeling. He continued to stare for several more moments before heading towards the demolished tavern, the egg snuggly tucked under his arm.
The tavern would be fairly plain if it weren’t in complete disorder. Its wooden chairs and tables were tossed in a frenzy about the ground and thin layer of dust had collected atop everything. Khafk approached the bar noticing a dark wood door amongst the cabinets of liquor.
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Khafk clambered over the counter only pausing for a moment to browse the countless bottles of alcohol. Fire Dragons Belch, Burning Sirens Song, Hellflame were names of some of the alcohol all valued at 1000 gold a bottle.
Khafk grabbed all three bottles and continued into the small room. The room was very plain matching the décor of the tavern itself. Only a small bed and desk for furniture.
The room had a lonely feel to it as he approached the only desk. The surface was covered in trinkets, rings, gold, and potions were of abundance, but Khafk ignored them all and instead on focused on one weathered piece of parchment.
He reached out and unfolded what he assumed to be a map, the signs of decomposition were present as the parchment crumbled at the edges. Taking extreme care as a father would his newborn son Khafk started analyzing the ancient scripture.
The map placed him in the town of Deva’cher a merchant town on the frontier of the Northern Continent. A small summary explained that Deva’cher was the only town where the Demon tribe would trade with humans making it one of the most desirable destination for Merchants.
Khafk continued his analysis searching for his home kingdom of Anakul. His mouth fell agape when he noticed the small key at the bottom showing the distance per centimeter. 50,000 kilometers was the distance to Anakul which is in the Eastern Empire. Khafk knew that to travel to the Eastern Empire he'd have to cross Diablo’s Tail which splits the world of Avair in four.
The world of Avair has four continents and Four Empires. These continents are surrounded by the Red Sea, only connected by a thin strip of land called Diablo’s Tail. Normally traversing Diablo’s Tail is completely avoided and instead a company would hire a voyager to travel across the sea. This is the original method Khafk had in mind, but then he recalled that the Northern Continent had just recently entered the freeze out period he donned a frightened expression.
The freeze out period is the time when a empire enters the season of winter which lasts two years making travel by ship impossible to that continent due to the sea surrounding it freezing. Making Diablo’s Rift the only option, but Khafk couldn't help shuddering at the thought of the SSS rank monsters that inhabit the treacherous mountain range.
“Two years huh, if I rush ill make it back just before the IPT test. Just you wait father.” Khafk laughed menacingly, but quieted after wondering why he felt so malicious. Completely unaware of the smiling shade hovering slightly out of his body.
After packing away the valuables and egg in an old pack he’d found Kafk exited the tavern heading into the forest following the maps instructions to reach the next town of Newton.
He wandered until dusk before stopping below a large dark wood tree. He pulled out some kindle along with a thick wool blanket he’d found and started making a fire. After he finished Khafk pulled out the egg, noticing how incredibly cold it had gotten he placed it near the fire. He continued looking through the pack and pulled out some Rye bread and a bottle of Fire Dragons Belch.
After a quick two swigs, and a satisfied burp a warm feeling started rising from his belly. Khafk finished off his rye bread and curled around both bottle and egg with his wool blanket. That night in the freezing cold winter of the Northern continent a young boy of no more than ten and four fell asleep feeling a comforting warmth.
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