“Shadow…” Weed began with the one being responsible for it all.

‘He is truly responsible for it all…no maybe he too is a puppet and the real master is elsewhere…’ Weed was lost deep in his thoughts, there were just so many possibilities and it was completely possible that his theory could be wrong.

“…I am not familiar with this name.” The Panda responded unpassionately; still very doubtful of Weed.

“That’s what he is known as among those sent by his Grace.” Weed quickly explained, he just got the guardian to listen to him and he didn’t want to lose his attention. “He was the one responsible for the fall of Skyhom…”

“Skyholm fell?” The Panda asked as it stopped chewing on a bamboo and raised its eyebrow.

“Yes…” Weed quickly replied. “Everyone in Versailles knows of it…”

“The mortal and the divine realm remain separate at all times, rarely would we know of occurrences in a distant land and I have been asleep for many months…though it is strange… Haj?ar was not a guardian to be taken lightly. Tell me how did Skyholm fall…”

Weed wondered whether what the Panda said was true or not. If the divine realm and mortal realm truly remained separate at all times then the Panda would not have tried killing him for all the insults he spewed out.

Nonetheless, Weed decided to ignore the misleading point made by the Guardian. “A sea of light descended from the sky like a waterfall engulfing everything in its path and blinding everyone like the suns glare in an instant. When it finished all that remained was scorched of the city on the ground.” Weed replied poetically while setting into the mood. Weed had the choicest of words when he really got into the role of his character. And why not? Weed was speaking to a divine being, maybe the first player to do so in all of RREV (though this will remain unconfirmed).

The Panda scratched his chin slowly while appearing to be pensive. “I have heard of such an occurrence many many years ago…hmmmm… no maybe it was hundreds of years ago time means little to divine beings such as me…” The Panda explained apologetically for his failing memory. “No maybe much further ago….” The Panda mumbled the remaining sentence in an inaudible manner. “Ah! Now I remember it is but a children’s story of three heroes and it is said there is one who can control light. The phenomena you talked of sounds a lot like this power…heaven’s judgment…there would be no other way to explain it…”

Weed’s eyebrows were raised and his eyes were wide open. ‘Control light!!’ Weed knew there were elements outside the four basic one but light sounded special unique and the most powerful! Weed’s mouth was salivating at the thought of acquiring the light element… ‘He did say three heroes…I wonder what the other elements are…’

“Who were the other heroes?” Weed asked slowly.

“This is common folklore…you can ask anyone about this…and learn about these heroes yourself.” The Panda replied as he grabbed a bamboo stick out thin air and began chewing on it.

Weed was slightly disappointed that he could not learn more about these heroes immediately but he decided stumbling across this information was big enough. So far there had only been speculations on forums as to what other elements could exist, the newer elements so far discovered were just a branch of the previous elements this was the first concrete evidence showing that there existed elements outside those basic ones. Weed was excited as he thought about it more. Clearly the more powerful an element the more rare it was…the element light could be one of those unique elements which could only be acquired through initially selecting neutral / no element; just as he did. Weed for the first time in a long time felt that there was still hope for his character. The journey to greatness, fame, power was within his grasp once again.

Weed wondered if it was Rodriguez who controlled the light element? He also wondered what element did Theodore control? Theodore could jump ludicrously high into the air and mold metal like liquid. Weed could not contain his excitement as the possibilities and probabilities blossomed in his mind.

“However, that is but a children’s bed time story, it could never be true…you must be mistaken who ever heard of a waterfall of light cascading down from the heavens…in all my years…” The Panda suddenly went silent. The Panda whispered a few words inaudibly. Weed tried his level best to listen in but all he could hear were the last few words of the sentence. ‘Can’t be..’

Weed knew the Panda knew something but wasn’t willing to share it with him. Weed knew that even if he pestered the Panda would not reveal it; he had close to minus hundred relationship points with the guardian of the land.

‘In time, I will have you tell me everything.’ Weed thought to himself, ‘In time.’

“Are there many guardians?” Weed asked cautiously as he tried to gain some information. Weed decided to take a different approach in gather information. In his experience the best way to gather information from someone unwilling is to ask them questions not related to the topic at hand. Right now any information from the guardian of the land was invaluable information so Weed didn’t mind if he didn’t get each and every bit of it; there was certainly no immediate foreseeable loss.

The Panda was absent mindlessly replied, “Yes, usually one for every city…Fair one, were you there to witness the events of those days?”

Weed smiled, he had successfully shifted topics and the flow of the conversation was heading in the direction he wanted. The Guardian of the Land without realizing it was opening up to Weed bit by bit.

“Yes.” Weed replied slowly, taking his time as if he were fishing. Just because the fish had taken a bite of the bait didn’t mean he had to reel it up immediately, he was going to play around with the fish and lull its senses of defenses before hooking it.

“Describe it to me. Describe all of it to me.” The Panda spoke with a slightly worried expression.

Weed wondered if the Panda remembered something important; if he did then it could mean a potential quest for Weed. Weed smiled in anticipation and delight. Weed began narrating the greatest tales of Versailles, “Ever heard of Theodore Balkan, son of Utmiz Balkan?”

The Panda shook his head sideways without a clue.

“There was once a great oddity of a dwarf known as Theodore Balkan whose skills of blacksmithing and forging were hailed as the greatest in all of Versailles. Years went by and Theodore’s works in the arts of metal matured and refined, there was no second to his greatness. However, as you would know nothing is sustainable in the mortal realm and Theodore knew his time was nearing. He decided to journey across the lands in search for an apprentice who would carry on his will. Theodore did not want to settle with just one apprentice but he went for as many as thirteen. His thirteenth apprentice was his last.”

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Weed paused slightly, though he was narrating the story with slight exaggerations it was still a true story involving him.

“Why was the thirteenth the last?” The Panda asked growing curious with the passing silence.

“Since just after selecting the thirteenth apprentice, Theodore Balkan was slain.”

The Panda frowned. “Did this happen in Skyholm?”

Weed nodded. “I was his thirteenth apprentice.”

There were something about those words which carried a certain weight to them. The Panda understood the burden Weed carried on his shoulders.

“..In the Great White Halls, at ceremony where I was being recognized as an apprentice of Theodore Balkan…it happened. He came.”

“This one you call Shadow?”

“Yes. A being so corrupted and evil his very skin is black and foul. With each step he takes, the world around him is corrupted; even the air around him turns stale. He is death, he is evil and he is everything humanity fears.”

Weed gave a pause to let the words sink in and have an effect.

Weed narrated the entire story of the blacksmithing competition being held in the Great White Halls and how the entire city had been barricaded. He then described how he heard screams from outside and the appearance of Shadow. As Weed described Shadow and his abilities the Panda gasped and cursed several times.

“Rhaich! Rhaich!” The Panda shouted out as he threw down his bamboo stick.

Weed paused, it was evident that the Panda knew who Shadow was. “Does the description fit someone or something you know of?”

The Panda looked at Weed quietly. He was carefully considering whether he should share the information with regards to Weed or not. Weed wasn’t in his good books exactly and Weed didn’t have enough relationship points for the Panda to consider him trust worthy. The guardian thought about it a bit more and then spoke, “Fair one, you are but a youngling. No more than a chick that just hatched there are some things you are better off not knowing.”

“But…” Weed complained. He really wanted to know more about Shadow, he would be the first player to gain information on Shadow and there was a quite a big price tag for his information.

The Panda took a stern tone, “Not all knowledge is medicine beware of the poison slipped in between….”

Weed wanted to know more but he knew trying to persuade the Panda would be futile. ‘Time to pull in the bait and cook the fish.’

“I do not know why he came to the Great White Halls but he was after me and has been after me ever since.” Weed replied. “I believe he wants to acquire this.”

Weed finally revealed his trump card; the black diamond. From the stories of the Kobolds, Weed knew the item was highly prized and it did have something to do with dragons.

‘We were once savages, barbarians with no hope of a sustainable civilization until the great silver dragon Mnomonth Mnomonth arrived here in the Northern Mountains. We worshiped him as our god and he decided to stay and teach us. He showed us the way to civilization and under his leadership we were able to found this city.

Mnomonth Mnomonth the Silver taught us much. He was not a God but that there were the Gods of the elements. From the blessed earth which bears all fruits, came the God of Earth, Enki. From the raging to the gentlest of winds we have God of Wind, Vayu. For the water, we thank Gong Gong and for the heat we thank Ishum. Mnomonth Mnomonth the silver taught us more, from him we learned how to channel their power and we grew to have a close relationship with the Earth God and moved here underground. Mnomonth Mnomonth is a great silver dragon, true savior of all. After a long time Mnomonth Mnomonth decided that he had done all he could to help us and that he so he left to find others to teach. That was when our troubles began…’

Weed recalled the words from his memories. ‘Mnomonth… was what they called him…’

The Panda’s eyes were wide open and his jaws dropped open. He immediately grabbed Weed’s hands which were holding the diamond and took it into his own. “Where did you get this?”

Weed was slightly anxious since the Panda moved so swiftly he had no time to prevent him from taking the diamond back.

“It was given to me by the Kobolds.” Weed said hurriedly; he had been caught off guard. He didn’t expect the Panda to react so strongly. ‘Maybe the diamond is worth much more than I estimated…’

“This is a scale of the Great Silver…” The Panda spoke softly; there was a hint of nostalgia to his voice. “He was truly beautiful; his body would shine and shimmer brightly across the skies as he flew. Vayu would have been happy to see this, she truly liked him. His majestic appearance spoke of the greatness of the winds and never ending skies. The freedom that all are born to and the courage one seeks to live.”

Weed quietly stared at the scale. It was black. No matter which angle he looked at it from it was black. ‘Why call him the silver?’

The Panda gave the scale back to Weed. “I see and understand now. Destiny has chosen you fair one, the shackles of time have bounded me. My pride blinded me and I failed to see that the wheels of fate are in motion. Tell me adventurer, what name do you go by?”

“My name is Weed.”

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Authors Note:

1. Ah yes, a bit of a detour. We are getting there....

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