Written as it was,
Knowledge lost by the Fools,
Banned by the Wicked,
And discussed by the Fire Bringers.
The Earl looks so calmly I thought; to be in a world of true utter chaos. That to see a man just experience the great pain known as the Bellowing Caw, it must be that he comes from a much grander time. A time of the old stories, where talk of death was either to be reveled in or to have been proud that such a person was alive, to begin with. Though such a time has passed, and many of my peers are rather dead or dying. Being that many have lost feeling in resonance, and unable to have adapted to the use of enchantments. But while the night is long, I shall conduct my thoughts to my journal.
> Passage 128
>
> Dear reader, who may ever it be, I have such ill tidings in that I have found the man I sought. These would be times for great feasting, that we would have become drunken by our cheerful joy. However, the Earl has been stricken with the same disease of the mind, that sanitation workers would conclude that of the Blue Madness. I do not believe it to be so, for if the Earl was truly stricken by madness he would have lunged at me after his reanimation.
>
> In do time… huh, I find this laughable, that in all my life I never stopped to contemplate the concept of time itself. In these past entries, I had used the word ‘time’ to describe my thoughts as a tense unknowing of the future. Then again, I should not be surprised, most everyone has experienced these brief flashes of their insignificance.
>
> If I tell the Earl of what we are going through, the higher chances he may very well become repugnant in joining me and the others. So, reader, it has been decided that I shall withhold certain articles of information from him. Yes, by doing so his mind could not become so warped by the beasts and odd phenomena of this world.
>
> Until the next entry,
>
> -Julius
As I began to put out the fire, the brush shook, nervous by what may be prowling in the wee hours of the night. “Who gave you permission to sneak,” I shouted in hopes of friend not foe. Again, I waited with anxious anticipation for a beast to appear. Gritting my teeth, “show yourself at once”- I yelled, this time with my anger bubbling.
“Hold, hold I say, for it is I,” a voice called out.
Suddenly I knew who that stranger's voice was. That voice belonged to that of one, Methodius the Orange, a scholar of the beasts. “By the Nine, you sir… you are a rascal. I’ll tell you what. I could have blown a shoulder off of you. You could have answered my first call.” I said now winded by exhaustion.
With a dismissive look, Methodius waved me off. “Look, you Julius are just too tense, always have been. I told you that I would arrive by the fifth lunar cycle and-”
“And yet you failed to send word by the beak. You know, I would like to have been warned ahead of your arrival. By that, I could have prepared for you to meet the Earl in proper.”
“Regardless,” he said rolling his eyes in disgust. “I am here now, am I not? I also per-cured that of what you seek,” pulling out a medium-sized sunburnt satchel. Methodius rested it on a stump near me, I went to open it, then he quickly swatted my hand away. “Tsk, tsk, you cannot have this bag of cargo. Not until you repay me for its safe passage thru the Black Stones, and thru the Glass Lake.”
With a bitter look on my face, I pulled out my coin bag and began counting out the amount owed. “Here you are, as requested, five gold pieces and three and three-quarters of silver. Now, may I please see the satchel?” As I handed him the coins, he let loose the bag. I quickly went through it and found the clothes, the few rations of food, and the heavy steel sole boots with leather straps. As for myself, I found the candle weed, vials of liquid stone, and howling horns.
“This is great, so where is the shield and sword for the Earl? You do have them, right?” I asked with a level of enthusiasm.
“About that,” Methodius said with an uneasy voice. “You see, crossing Glass Lake may have inevitably caused some issues.”
“Issues, what issues”- I said with shock and annoyance. Coming to the realization I said to him, “Methodius, you do not mean that to say you lost them?” Methodius with a shrug and a twitching smile on his face, at that I knew he was telling the truth. “No, no, no! You said above all else that those would be kept safe. I paid double the asking price for them too; how I’m the world did you lose them?”
“Well, my boat was sinking, I had discarded some items. The sword and shield among them.” I began to frown with utter disdain, and he knew that. “If it’s any consolation I can replace them, we are going to Millween tomorrow, and the local smithy can craft some arms for the Earl. Now I know not what of the quality of such arms, though it should not be worse than that of the average apprentice. So cheer up old chap, what is the worse that could possibly happen?”
“Methodius, you do not seem to understand, those arms that I acquired for the Earl had enchantments placed into them. In the swords’ grip was a feather of phoenix, while the shield was wire of spider. A piece of that would be stronger than that of any chainmail armor.” I began to shake my hands wildly in the air, as to dramatize the importance onto him. “That shield alone cost me a piece of a platinum shard, you know how expensive that is, as well as its exchange rate. So no, Methodius, you are not just going to repay me for those lost arms. You are going to pay for the equivalent to the cost of the arms, with interest!”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Now hold, hold I say”- with a concerned voice. Methodius began choking on his words, “n-n-now I said I would replace the arms, b-b-but interest, I-I-I simply cannot. For I may have deep pockets, within my vaults at home. But Julius, I simply don’t have the money.”
“Well you will find a way then,” I said with a confronting demeanor. “One way or another, you will repay me. Now get some sleep, tomorrow morning we break for Millween. We have a great trek ahead.” Finally, I threw dirt on the fire, and we both went to bed.
The next day, we awoke to the Earl putting his clothes on. Yawning, I opened my bag and took out a piece of salted fish and crackers. I handed the Earl a canteen, as he began to drink, Methodius awoke still hazy from the night prior. “Good morn, I bequeathed you two. How long before we depart? I just want to allow myself to gather my belongings, and we can be off.”
“Julius, who is he, another caster colleague?” The Earl said with curiosity.
As I stood up, “ hail Earl Samual, House of the Black Unicorn. Allow me to present not a caster, rather a scholar. This be Methodius the Orange, scholar of beasts. He will be accompanying us to Millween, the town where our market awaits.” Methodius, I thought, better make a good first impression.
“Hail Earl Samual, House of the Black Unicorn. I am Methodius the Orange, scholar of the beasts, and your guide to navigating the world of monsters. I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” he said with a stupendous platitude.
“That reminds me,” the Earl said, “where are we headed?”
Without hesitation, I began, “Earl Samual, we are to make for the Sulfilate Sea and cross to the volcanic planes known as the Forge Lands. After such times, make it to the mountain range in the north called Ruby Valley. Then ascend, to the tallest summit of Illaband, there we seek the Druids. Who may know of a way to free the lost souls from the earthly shackles.”
“Who are these Druids, thou speak of? Shall they have the knowledge of who makes such a wide spell unto the casters of the world?”
“I have heard only tales of them, but if anyone were to possess such knowledge they would likely be the ones. It is said that Druids existed long before the first casters, possibly the ones who introduced the many species of the world to resonance. Knowledge of themselves are sparse, for most records were recorded in written language after verbal accounts, so most may not be accurate.” I pulled out my notes and handed them to the Earl.
He took them, then began to skim through my notes. “It says here, that one of the Druids conceals themselves in darkness, and another has many glowing blue eyes. I would call this hideous,” as the Earl said with a sigh, “but you did free me, so I shall pounder over your request on the way to… what was it Millween you said, correct?”
“Aye, that be it, sire,” I said looking at him with a nervous breath. “May I ask sire?”
“Yes, yes go ahead let me know what words you ask of me.”
“Do you not have faith in me, or do you believe I want to enact some form of malice?”
“No, no, no. No, I trust that you would never harm me.” The Earl said with a depressed look. “It is that I know not of why you freed me, what lead you to thyself?”
“I see, you doubt that you are the right choice. In that case, Methodius shall explain. Methodius if you would?”
“Certainly Julius, you see Earl Samual, a revelation led us to you. It showed us that you could have the charisma necessary to take control of an army. That is why we sought you, for such an ability will be vital to convincing the Druids. They themselves are a rather fickle bunch if Julius’ sources are to hold merit.”
“The formalities are noted, that won’t excuse the both of you. What is it that either of you gain out of all this? I am in need of convincing,” the Earl said with a small riled voice. “Again I ask you two, what is it that you will gain?” The Earl became irate, so I looked to Methodius, hoping he may ease the tension. One misplaced word and our plans will become undone, then this would be null and void.
“My apologies,” Methodius said bowing his head with an arm to chest and left foot out. “We gain very little, all we wish to see is for that day. A day in which the magic could return and the people of the world could live in harmony. I had no notion that this matter would unsettle you, sire. But that is our goal,” he said rising to meet the Earl’s eyes. “Even if we fail, even if we die for this goal, it is better to have memories be planted in that of the people. So is there something else that you Earl Samual, House of the Black Unicorn, need to hear from either one of us?”
The Earl began to pace in an oval, we waited for his response, knowing that his words could doom us to a life of toil. Then suddenly he spoke, “I shall follow you, even if my house is no more, I am still a dutiful man. I stood by my father’s oath to provide for the soldiers that I lead till the last breath I take.” Realizing what the Earl said, a sigh of relief came over me, it felt akin to that of the last bombs dropping overhead. Methodius surely felt the same, as he too had much sitting on the Earls’ decision.
“As it shall be forth known,” I said with enormous emotion, “now, let us depart soon. Close to night, we will be near a cavern on the smallest peak of this range. There we will camp for the night, and by late noon we will arrive at Millween.”
“Oh, one question Julius, these boots seem a bit tight around the bottom of my feet. Are they really necessary to our travels?” he said with a painful look in his eye.
“Worry not, Earl Samuel, these are brought from a great cobbler. I should know, as I too wear a similar pair,” I said lifting my garb and revealing my steel sole shoes. “They have slits in the sole, so they will easily bend as you walk. It may seem a tad bit excessive, but in your absence, the roads here and everywhere have not been maintained in a long time.” With a pleased glare coming from the Earl, we a hitch our belongings to ourselves, and finished packing up camp. Methodius ever the attentive, broke off some limbs of a tree and fashioned them into walking canes with his hunter’s knife.
Both the Earl and I thanked him for this kind gesture; I gave him the last of the salted fish and we began on our journey. With Titans Plateau freely behind us, we followed the road east word bound. On the road we came across the streams that had dried up, such a pity to know that at one point life was here. Be it in the algae that feed the fish, gave the cranes a hunting ground, or the cattails hiding the frogs and turtles. This furthered my ideas that magic was not only ones that casters use but, includes the energy Nius has at her fingertips. Some think she is of the crueler gods, I on the other hand, am one of the few who sees her as the fairest. For without her, life itself becomes dormant, sickly, and cruel.
One of the Nine I believe the druids are the closest to. My research shows that each of them has a special connection with, Nius among them. Hopefully, along with this travel, I will be able to stop at one of the places of learning attributed to the Nine. At least one, whose contents have not been banned by the wicked and greedy folk.