[The Gaian Academy]

Within the grand academy hall, the three groups were gathered. There were three separate rows of wooden pews, just enough to grant seating for each group at a respective distance. At the front of the hall, the three Masters stood, each also dressed in black and dark green windbreaker robes. In front of the Masters, a large table stood that carried three different papers neatly set adjacent to each other, as well as three different groups of five small glass vessels that looked like capsules.

Vash, standing in the middle, stretched his right hand forwards and called out to the students with a smile.

“Group leaders, approach the tables and grab one of the Quest letters!”

The leaders, Declan, August, and Petronella, slowly raised to their feet and made their way towards the large table. After each seized their designated papers, Simeon, standing at the far left, took the word, as all the other students eagerly listened along in silence.

“The Quest letters contain your first objective; To obtain one pinch of Earthen Essence. A material that may be created by a craftsman in the Western side of Ventoria. However, before that, you must collect five Earthen Tears by extracting them from any sort of Earthen Being you may come across.”

Eunice then took the word, standing at the far right.

“A Tear can only be extracted from the Earthen Being’s core by either rooting them out by force or making the Being cry them out. From there, the Tears are to be contained within the vessels on the table.

Please note that when you lose or break one glass, you will have little to no chance of succeeding in this prelude Quest. This is because each vessel can only contain one Tear. Trying to place two different Tears inside a single vessel will cause it to shatter.”

After several moments of silence, Vash spoke with a bright and loud tone.

“I’m looking forward to what you all have to offer next week! We wish you all a good weekend!”

***

[The next week: Monday: 11 AM]

The group, each member dressed in black windbreaker robes, was traversing the forest that surrounded their dorm building. Declan, leading the group, was holding a weathered-looking map that had a simple pathway; A single straightforward line reaching the North.

“Seems like our gate is quite far ahead.”

“Strange how far this forest really stretches out,” Geneve responded, looking around her. “Makes it seem as if it is all a part of the Great Eastern Forest.”

As though responding to her acknowledgement, the ambient sounds of the forest around them accentuated. With a small group of chirping birds passing them by from above the trees. Lunar, walking at the left side alongside Caelum, glanced at Geneve, who was walking at the right with Vaelen, and responded,

“You could liken it to the GEF since there are no aesthetical differences between their appearances. The only difference is that, within the GEF, Earthen Beings exist, as well as the tale surrounding that forest.”

Not following their conversation, Vaelen took a step forward and peek at the map Declan was holding.

“What does the map say?”

Declan turned the map over and began reading the contents of the paper.

“Travel all the way up to the North. It’s a simple line leading straight to where the gate is supposedly standing.”

“Why are we not taking the main route again?” Geneve asked, as Caelum responded,

“Was it not because they wanted to maximize the usage of the forest’s dexterous landscape or something?”

“Yes, that is why the Masters decided to have us scattered across that magical forest,” Vaelen responded, nodding. “They want to make this simulation appear as natural as possible.”

Lunar then turned to Caelum with a relaxed gaze.

“How are you feeling today?”

“Good,” Caelum responded. “Didn’t even need them bandages anymore! They were a big help, though.”

“That’s good to know. Even though this first Quest is catered towards us inexperienced Sequencers, hold your ground and be wary of your surroundings, just in case anything unexpected happens.”

“That’s why you got my back!” Caelum chuckled, patting Lunar’s shoulder. “I’ll be able to wander around without having to worry about the dangers that lurk behind me.”

Lunar chuckled as he lowered his head.

“That is correct.”

Declan’s face turned thoughtful, raising his head with his mouth slightly ajar.

“…Right. We haven’t even discussed how we will explore the forest.”

Vaelen then raised his hand.

“What if we split into two groups, and re-gather at the gates? I doubt any one of the other groups will consider passing our gate. And even if they do, it wouldn’t pose a problem for us at all, I believe.”

“Eh, I beg to differ,” Geneve yawned. “We should regroup somewhere deep within the forest.”

“Can’t do,” Declan intervened. “They purposefully hid maps throughout the forest. Let’s just regroup at the gate after noting down our trails.”

“The both of you seem to have forgotten that there’s a guard protecting the gate,” Lunar added. “Only we are supposed to enter it. If anything happens, we can ask the guard to close it.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Ah, of course,” Geneve sounded. “That’ll help.”

“Alright!” Declan exclaimed. “What’s the grouping gonna be?”

Lunar instinctively wrapped his arm around Caelum’s shoulder with a playful demeanour.

“I think I’ll go with Caelum. The three of you can stick together. Is that fine, Caelum?”

“Fine by me,” he responded.

“Alright then,” Declan said. “How long should we take before returning to the gate?”

“Let’s do an hour,” Vaelen said. “That’ll give us enough time to find maps. Do we all have watches with us?”

They all checked their pockets, and everyone except Caelum had their watches with them. After Lunar told Caelum that he’d be sure to let him check the time with his watch, some time passed, and they were nearing the gate.

Geneve stretched her arms in the air and revived the conversation.

“Pretty sour of them to just tell us to find maps and Cimmerisses without giving us a single clue beforehand though.”

“They want us to explore the forest,” Lunar responded. “I guess that’s how it goes with the Gaian tradition. We’ll just have to bear with it.”

“Too much forest talk!” Declan grimaced. “We gotta focus, friends! This is the first Quest of the Inquisition! The real deal! Are none of you feeling at least a little apprehensive?”

“I think most of our worries were placated after the first day,” Vaelen smiled. “The initial week was simply preparing us naturally born Sequencers for the typical beginner’s Quest of gathering those tears. There's not much to worry about. It’s like hunting, but easier.”

“Yes, but we’ve never seen those things beyond educational illustrations,” Declan retorted. “In other words, we’ll encounter creatures we have never seen before in real life. That’s the equivalent of stumbling upon an extraterrestrial creature we’ve only heard tales of!”

“A first for everything, no?” Geneve smiled, as Lunar chimed in, crossing his arms.

“Don’t tell us you’re starting to piss your pants already.”

“Wha- of course not!” Declan furrowed. “I’m just… a little excited. This is most certainly a first… yes…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Vaelen chuckled, gently patting his shoulder. “Again, those Cimmerisses are the equivalent of dogs, you just have to approach them in a non-hostile manner. Remember the class last week?”

Declan sighed, nodding.

“In short, as long as you keep your head at around the same level of those creatures, they will see you as some sort of foreign animal who is attempting to converse with them.”

“In all honesty, even if we want to get brutal, those things won’t pose a challenge to us,” Lunar said. “The only difficult part will be finding out where they reside. Clues that will help us reach those places are, just like the maps, also scattered throughout the forest.”

Geneve sighed.

“This is gonna take us a while…”

Eventually, they made it through the forest and arrived at an iron gate guarded by a tall, middle-aged man dressed in a firm dark green suit. Caelum swiftly obscured most of his face with the robe’s hood, thinking the guard may know about that one night when he threw the book into the forest.

Fortunately for him, it only took confirmation of their identity by names for the guard to open the door.

The aperture of the Great Eastern Forest was, just like Lunar said, identical to a regular forest. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and even the smell was the same. In front of them, three different paths of brown soil surrounded by bushes were spread out. Declan took a firm step forward and turned back to the group with his hands on his hips.

“Alright. So this is where we’ll regroup. Vaelen, I, and Geneve are going Eastwards, while you two can go West. Make sure to check your watch every now and then. It is currently eleven twenty seven in the morning, so let’s keep busy until twelve thirty.”

“Sounds good,” Caelum smiled. “Let us go!”

After handing their final goodbyes, they made their way through their respective paths.

***

Caelum was leading the way through a narrow path that was surrounded by tangled vines and wildflowers. Their footsteps crunching softly on the gravelly paths of the earth.

“You really weren’t lying, Lunar. It does look very similar to a regular forest. Though, I can clearly sense that the atmosphere feels different.”

Lunar responded to him, his face calm.

“That is because Earthen Beings emanate an aura that is foreign to people who can not perceive or sense presence from a higher plane of existence. To non-Sequencers, walking through this place would be the same as taking a normal morning stroll through a regular greenland.”

“Yep. That’s what we learned,” Caelum nodded with a smile. “I do think it makes the atmosphere a lot more… mystical. I know that there exist magical creatures here, but… it just feels enchanting. Far different from any forest I’ve been to before.”

“Right. As if you’re in a world filled with even more magic and charm than ours,” Lunar smiled. “That does make it seem more pleasing, indeed…”

Several minutes passed, and they finally arrived at an open space. It seemed to be a dead end; A circle of grass surrounded by thick bushes and a few trees. However, Caelum was the first to notice a small, weathered-looking piece of paper perched at the foot of one of the trees at the other end of the space. With a bright tone, he raised his eyebrows and jolted towards it.

Lunar’s face suddenly turned relaxed. His eyes darkened as he slowly followed Caelum’s trail; As if disappointed that it didn’t take them long enough to find a clue.

Caelum sat on one knee and fished the paper out of the ground. As he began reading the contents of the paper, he noticed an illustration detailing a Cimmeris. A joyful smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He slowly stood back up and spoke as he turned back to Lunar.

“Look, Lunar! This must be one of those Ci-”

…The words never escaped his lips. A brutal force slammed him against the tree behind him, as he witnessed a silver sword piercing his chest. Blood quickly spreaded out, hauntingly tainting his robe, but none of it crossed Caelum’s mind. His eyes widened in an insurmountable shock. His mouth which was now dripping out blood was left ajar.

Caelum slowly raised his head as his eyes followed the outline of the sword…

…and they were eventually brought to a sight Caelum could never understand.

Lunar, with a demonic smile, was firmly holding his Unholy Blade that had pierced his chest.

“…Wh…”

As Caelum could only mindlessly mutter out unrecognizable words amidst choking gasps and blood-bubbling gurgling sounds. He slowly and tremblingly raised both his arms, as if attempting to push the blade out of his chest with everything he had. Lunar did so, and mercilessly hauled his sword out of his chest. Leaving Caelum to collapse onto the ground face first. However…

…he was still alive.

Without uttering anything besides grunting and gurgling sounds, Caelum, his mind turning into a complete haze, turned around and was now facing the sky above him. His breathing turned rough as if he was pushing a knot of blood out of his airway with every breath. Speaking was no longer an option for him, and death was brought to him right after turning positions.

Dark red tentacles developed from within his opened chest like some sort of eldritch virus. Squirming around and inside his chest with great velocity like a nest of enraged serpents. And with a dreadful and evil tone, Lunar spoke out to them.

“South. Requiem. Death.”

Obeying his command, the tentacles encapsulated Caelum’s heart, gradually tightening their clasp like a vise tightening with relentless force until they crushed it. As soon as this happened, Caelum’s body instinctively tensed, his back arching and chest thrusting forward as if an unseen force was taking control. Yet, there was no unforeseen force.

His body fell limp, his green eyes slowly fading into a dark, lifeless hue, staring blankly at the canopy above.

Caelum was dead.