Pert village is located in the east of Helgard Kingdom, surrounded by huge canyons and vast deserts. Few venture to Pert, not because of the blazing heat or harsh winds.
It is because a few kilometers from there are the ominous stone ruins.
Night embraced Pert village, the moon beaming lucent light on to the sand and houses giving them a bluish color.
Cold desert winds blew on the door of the houses, making creaking noises every time the wind passes.
The Pert Pub was lively and bustling. Pert pub is just like any other pub you see in the realm of Terrad. Beers and Wine are being served by waitresses. People were happy singing and drinking.
There is a bard playing the most wondrous song, his powerful voice echoing inside the noisy room.
‘Do you believe all that bull crap?’ The old man slurred
The old man was sitting beside the window. He shared a table with a thin man and a middle age man.
‘I’m telling you all that story about the stone ruins are made up horse shit, it is just a lie to scare children at night.’ the old man said while chugging his beer.
‘Well if we wanted to scare children, we could just let them see your face’ answered the thin man with a chuckle.
‘But Mrs. Gertrud said she saw all of it when she went into the ruins in the middle of the night. She said that a bright blue light pierced the heaven then all of a sudden all of the soldier’s just vanished.’ the middle age man said.
‘Do you really believe that senile old woman? Besides this happened 10 years ago there were no other incidents after that, and what was that woman doing strolling near the stone ruins in the middle of the night anyway?’
‘You’re pretty old and senile too Baratheus’ the thin man commented.
The old man just glared at him and then proceeds to drink his beer with one chug. He then signals the waitress form more.
‘I have an idea, how about a challenge?’ the middle age man said
‘We are too old for challenges now Bert’ Answered the old man.
‘Oho. Scared are we?’
The old man’s face went red with anger.
The one thing he hates is being called a coward.
‘Listen here you fat-‘
The old man was interrupted when the waitress served them their beer. The three of them went silent and stared at the two big distractions on the waitress’s chest.
She then bent slightly exposing her cleavage, and then put down three mugs from her wooden tray.
‘Is there anything else I could get you gentleman?’ The waitress said with a smile.
‘Milk’ blurted the middle age man.
The waitress immediately stepped back and covered her chest.
‘Umm… I mean… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way’
The old man clears his throat and then looks at his companion.
‘That would be all miss, thank you.’
The waitress gave them a forced smile and then proceeds to leave.
‘I knew it, boobs does bring world peace’ quipped the thin man.
The three of them bursts in laughter.
Their laughter fills the already noisy room.
‘Alright, let’s hear this challenge of yours.’ The old man said.
The middle age man starts rubbing his hand and then tugs his chair closer to the table.
‘Ok, my challenge is this. You will investigate the stone ruins, take some kind of evidence that you went there and come back here. Simple as that’
‘Does this challenged have some kind of reward?’ asked the thin man.
‘Of course’
The middle age man took out his coin purse. He opened it and laid out 50 gold coins.
The two men almost jumped out of their seats.
‘Woah, Are you sure? That’s a lot of gold for something as stupid as this.’ The old man said.
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‘Yeah you can buy a horse with that much gold.’ Added the thin man
‘It’s not stupid, and it’s been on my mind for quite a while. I want to investigate it for a long time but I don’t have the courage. We don’t have any guild in pert either. So this is the only way I can take it off my mind.’ He rubbed his chin
‘If it’s just a rumor as you say it would. You can have free gold and I don’t have to think about it anymore. So it’s a pretty much a win-win situation.’
‘So you guys want to do it?’ He leaned back and gazed at his two companions.
‘I don’t know about this. It’s getting pretty late, and there are monsters near the ruin too.’ The thin man complained while taking a swig from his mug.
‘I’ll do it!’ said the old man while slamming down his mug on the table.
The constant howl of the desert wolves can be heard in the distance, long and eerie. The light of the moon illuminates the canyons which then casts a shadow, covering half of the stone ruins.
A silhouette is emerging from the shadow of the canyons, his cloak blowing in the cold harsh wind, feet trudging in the sand.
The old man is finally at the ruins, he is cold. His hair and beard covered in sand. He walked closer.
Several tall vertical cerulean colored rocks protruding from the ground forming circle like a teeth of a kraken. In the middle is a stone circular platform, almost all of it is covered by sand.
The old man was now standing at one of the vertical rock. He outstretched his hand and touches the stone, to see if he will get teleported.
He smiled, thinking how right he was, that the stone ruins is just a bunch of rocks in the middle of the desert.
Feeling the cold wind pierced from his cloak, the old man rubbed his hands.
Thinking that the icy winds might get worse, the old man bend over and took one pebble beside the stone pillar.
He marveled at color of the pebble, a beautiful bluish hue. He puts it in his pocket and decided that it might be time to go back.
As he was about to leave, he had a playful idea.
He went to the side of the stone, took off his pant, and pissed on the pillar.
As the old man was grinning and releasing all the beer he was drinking. A tiny spark materializes from the platform.
The spark turns into a salvo of lightning. The old men fell on his back and tumbled on the sands, pissing all over himself.
There was a lightning storm now in the middle of the stone ruins. All of a sudden the sky rips open and a beam of bluish light pierces the clouds unto the platform, sending shockwaves.
The stone ruins are now covered in sand clouds.
When the sand settled and the view cleared. Six silhouettes emerged from the platform.
They were wearing some kind of protective clothing; Fabric armor, a ebony like helmet, and weird goggles. They also have small armor for their knees and elbows. On their shoulder a cryptic symbol “ORTF”.
They were carrying metallic weapons, similar to a crossbow but with no lathe and string.
They were breathing heavily. One of them threw up on the platform. Then all of a sudden everyone sprawled on to the floor as if they were puppets whose string just cut off.
‘Is everybody alright? Did everybody make it?’
‘Ugh, I think so captain’ answered one of them.
The captain stood up and picks up his weapon.
‘Alright let’s do a roll call’
‘Martinez’
‘Here’ answered the man with glasses. He was beside the captain on the right side.
‘Adams’
‘Sir’ answered the man who was beside Martinez.
‘Richards’
‘Sir’ answered the well-endowed woman who was on the left side of the captain.
‘Jackson’
‘Here’ answered the man who was carrying cannon like weapon on his back. He was on the opposite side of the captain.
‘Watson’
‘Here’ answered the woman who was carrying a large satchel. She was beside Jackson.
‘Griffin’
‘Griffin?’
‘I don’t think Griffin made it sir’
Martinez answered.
They went silent. The silence was broken off by a howl in the distance.
‘Alright, let’s just proceed with our mission’ the captain said.
All of a sudden Adams snickered.
‘Well what do you know, there are two moons here.’ Adams said while pointing at the butt crack in the sand.
Jackson, Richard and Martinez burst in laughter, while Watson covered her face. Their laugh echoed in the desert.
‘That’s enough, get the poor bastard and bring him here. Make sure you tie him up.’ The captain said while trying not to laugh.
*
‘Alright new recruits, welcome to entrance exam of Runk academy. My name is Tiberius. I’m one of the examiners. My specialty is close combat.’
‘I have been an instructor in the academy for fifteen years, if one of you makes trouble here. I’m happy to remind you that I once split a man in half with a butter knife. ‘He said with a menacing growl.
The training ground was a huge building, square in shape, with a large hallway inside. In the hallway are several doors on each side. Each training room serves different purpose.
They were outside of the training grounds, facing the entrance. Two big doors in the center front and on each side of these doors are giant bronze statues of knights.
Their swords are crossed on the top of the entrance.
The examiners are standing in the front facing the recruits. They were on a five line formation. Pubescent boys and girl age fifteen to seventeen who were forced by their parents or volunteered to be there.
Rend and Lok were in the back standing next to each other.
‘Wow there is lot of cute girls here’ whispered Lok.
‘Yeah’
‘Who do you think is the cutest?’ asked Lok.
‘For me it’s the red head on the front row, the one with the perfect breast, not too big not too small.’ Rend answered.
‘My pick is the blonde one, on the front row left side.’
‘She looks like a child are you perhaps a pedophile?’ commented Rend.
The girl turns around and glared at Rend.
‘I think she heard you’
Rend gave the girl an awkward smile. The girl grimaced and face back to the front.
‘Let me introduce our other examiners’ Tiberius said.
‘Mr. Varos on ranged weapons’
A man wearing a cloak stepped forward and stands on the right side of Tiberius. His face was hidden by the hood, so only his long white hair can be seen.
‘Ms. Valentine on Spells and Incantation’
A beautiful black haired woman stepped forward took out her cloak and stand on the left side of Tiberius.
She was wearing a wizard hat, a mage vest, and a tight leather pants. There is a heart shaped hole on the chest of her vest, greatly emphasizing her huge breast.
All men were immediately bewitched by her.
Tiberius stomped his foot.
‘Settle down’ he shouted
‘And for our assassination and sabotage Ms. Visage’
A thin woman stepped forward and stood beside Valentine. She was wearing a wolf mask and full fur armor.
‘Now that’s over with, let’s step inside shall we.’ Tiberius said with a smirk and faced the huge door.