Jonathan sat down on the hard stone floor, and pulled the tome out of his storage device. The book still had a strange, almost magnetic pull coming from it that made him want to open it. He was only too happy to oblige. He had only gotten around to reading the foreword of the book, but now he opened to Chapter 1.

The Goal of the Church

The Hells were not always the desolate, foreboding place that they are today. In the days that my faction existed, it was simply an alternative afterlife for those who did not agree with the Gods. Well, at least this circle was. Further down the line, Angranor ruled supreme, and his cabal of monsters controlled most of the Hells. However, the Ash Heaps were left alone for some time, as they were of little to no consequence. When Granath came, however, things changed. The Church, once simply the various settlers of the land, banded together into a militant order, ready to rebuff the forces of the invader. Granath was only a low Tier 2 at this point, but still stronger than most within our order. With his monstrous strength and natural abilities, he butchered his way through our armies. It was from this that the Church of Redeeming Light was formed. Our aim was to restore peace to these lands, by rebuffing the advances of Granath. You will see how that goes later. However, it is time to discuss the origins of the people that would come to make up the Church.

That was the end of the first paragraph, and Jonathan’s mind began to work at summarizing the subsequent pages into something that was not tens of thousands of words long.

The Verdant Groves

Before the coming of Granath, this world was not as it appears today. Although I will refer to it as the Ash Heaps throughout this book, it was originally known as the Verdant Groves, a land of boundless woodlands. It was infested with deadly monsters, and was more of a twisted landscape than a wonderland, but it was still far better than it is today. It was from these trees that the pervasive ash that fills this realm comes from. Back in the old days, our people were many, as a good portion of the dead came here after their lives in Telvaria, populating the land. It was once a paradise, but now it truly lives up to its name as one of the Hells. Cities dotted the land, with the capital, Alacath, standing in the center of the world. It was a place of learning and pleasure, a beacon in the Hells. However, it was still the capital of the weakest circle in the hells, and when Granath came, it was all for naught. I was one of the city council, the only one who survived after Granath butchered by friends and family. I fled with my closest allies and made my camp in a nearby city which we defended against Granath. It was during this time that we began to experiment with glyph work to shore up our defenses. It is known to almost none, but the Ash Heaps exist on a bed of bones, bones that served as fertilizer for the trees that once spread across the land. With these bones, we created legions of skeletal constructs that managed to blunt the incoming hordes of enemy fighters. They kept the enemy at bay, at least for some time, but everyone knew that it was a losing battle, including me. In any case, we all knew that this tentative safety was not to last. It was only a question of how long it would take.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Jonathan paused and took in the meaning of the words. It seemed that the Hells had not always been the way that they were today. He was eager to share this insight with Edgar, but he still had some more reading to do. He wanted to build a solid foundation of his understanding of the history of this world. Before he could do so however, the earth began to rumble.

Jonathan raced towards the entrance of the cave, where Edgar was already standing, peering out into the ash. The ground shook every few seconds, as if some massive creature was stepping across it. It reminded Jonathan of his experience with the lizard monster. Whatever this thing was, it was massive.

“What do you think this is?” Edgar asked Jonathan, in a hushed voice.

“I might have encountered something like this in my early days in this world. I have never seen anything of its like since then, but that was likely because they usually hide out in this part of the world. However, the rhythm of its steps sounds a bit different.”

The way that the ground shook indicated a more bipedal gait than anything else, and as they grew louder, the source of the noise came into view. At first, Jonathan had no idea what he was looking at. It was like a small hill had come to life, and was walking towards him.

It was a humanoid monster in shape, but that was where the similarities ended. The thing was a hundred feet tall, and quite stocky, walking on legs of compacted rock. Its head was misshapen and crude in design, with two rocks that glowed with light serving as its eyes. It let out low humming noises every now and again, as if signaling its presence to the world around it, to anything that had somehow missed the thunderous step of its tread. It was undoubtedly a high level foe, but it was also what Jonathan and Edgar were looking for. This creature would undoubtedly give a lot of essence. As the monster neared, Jonathan quickly scanned it to see if it was within the parameters of their strength.

Ashwalker Golem(Boss)

Level 121

It was a ways into Tier 2, but not insurmountable far, and Jonathan relayed the information to Edgar. The two men both nodded at one another in unison, this was a monster that they could face and win.

The creature neared astonishingly quickly for such a slowly walking beast, and the two men darted out of the cave, running down the side of the mountain. The creature walked underneath, just below them, and Jonathan leaped off the edge, drawing back his fist. If he could get off a good hit on the monster’s head, he could possibly stagger, or even kill it. Not holding anything back, Jonathan imbued his fist with as much power as he could from the get go, and it flared into brilliant light as he fell.

With a noise like a thundercrack, he slammed into the monster’s head. The creature stumbled, a large chunk of its rocky head breaking apart and falling to the ground. However, it recovered a moment later, slapping at its temple with one giant hand. Jonathan flitted backwards, avoiding the slap. When it hit, the surrounding land echoed with the force of the blow. The monster was slow, but each of its strikes carried the weight of a mountain, and they could easily pulp Jonathan if he was not careful, let alone Edgar. If one of those attacks hit the mage, he would be reduced to nothing more than a smear on the ash.

Jonathan started to dig into the monster’s head with his fist, but as he broke past the initial layer of stone, he found that the monster began to become far more condensed than before. It was as if the rocky coating on the outside was just for show, and the true beast was within. The actual body of the monster was made up of onyx that was too tough for Jonathan to easily break through. He vaulted off its head, sliding down one arm, and landed a moment later. They would need a different plan for this.