Nocturnio (24.10.9978 AS)
“So what are you planning to do now?” Abigail asked Tristan. “Are you really planning to go for that crazy legacy?”
Tristan had told her about his meeting with Dunkler Schatten. “It could be a trap you know.”
Tristan, who was sitting in his laboratory in front of countless geographic and historic books of Oidche, smiled from behind the books he was reading on as he heard Abigail’s words. “If they wanted to kill be, they could have done so earlier.”
Abigail sighed. She knew they could trust the ‘Bards’ words, but she had the feeling that those words would lead to Tristan’s demise. ‘They’re giving you the power to fight their battle, don’t you understand?’ She thought as her sad eyes wandered over Tristan’s body.
“I guess I won’t be able to change your decision, right?” Abigail took a lollipop, unwrapped it and put it into her mouth. “And, what about me?”
“What should be with you?” Tristan couldn’t follow her. Abigail sighed dramatically once again. She waved her arms around, pointing out the laboratory.
“I won’t be able to enter this marvelous place for the next two weeks, if you’re gone! How cruel of you! Letting me know there is such a fantastic place in this world, but not allowing me to enter it!” She tried to sound as sad as possible, hiding her face, behind her arms at the end of her performance.
Tristan waited till she was done, with her performance and pointed towards a door-handle in front of her. “With this item, you can open a Gate directly to my lab.”
Abigail looked disappointed. She with her dramatic performance, she had hopped Tristan to rethink his plans of travelling to Oidche, to get Dunkler’s legacy.
“Isn’t such an Item a bad idea? What if I lose the item and someone finds this place? Wouldn’t we be in trouble?” Tristan laughed at Abigail’s objection. “This item is specially customized for you. Only you can open a get to my Lab with it.”
Abigail’s eyes turned round as she saw the item in a completely new light. “Cool, you’re really awesome! How does it work?!” Tristan smiled mischievously. “That’s classified.”
“Awww, come on!! You know me, I won’t tell anybody!!” Tristan just continued smiling. ‘Now she won’t oppose me going to Oidche anymore.’
“Please, please tell me!” Abigail insisted. “I’ll tell you if you tell me what connection you’ve found between the ‘Noir Mountains’ and Dunkler.” Abigail looked troubled. ‘Should I really tell him? Still, even if I don’t tell him, he probably will find out.’
After a few moments of silence, she finally started. “As you asked, I used my active to browse these books for relevant information about the whereabouts of Dunkler’s legacy. There are quite a few legends in Oidche involving Dunkler, but none of them is related to the ‘Noir Mountains’.
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Abigail pointed towards a map of Umbra. “Did you know Oidche wasn’t always an island? It used to be part of the main continent, but the fight between Dunkler and Permix was so intense, a piece of the mainland broke off. That piece is now known as Oidche. At least if we can trust this legend.”
Tristan sighed. “How is that supposed to help me out finding his legacy? I mean it’s not like they fought on the ‘Noir Mountains’.
“Well, I just looked up things related to Dunkler and Oidche.” Abigail replied annoyed. “I couldn’t find any connections between Dunkler and ‘Noir Mountains’, but many between him and Oidche. This is because he was born in Oidche.”
“And did you find anything strange about the ‘Noir Mountains?’ I bet there are a lot of legends about the ‘Dark Peek’.” Tristan couldn’t help but smile, since he had ready many fictional books about said mountain.
“There are countless recording regarding the ‘Dark Peek’. Most of the recordings are about adventurers getting lost, trying to explore the mountain’s base.
The base of the mountain is covered by a softwood forest. The mountain itself isn’t very high, compared to the other mountains in the ‘Noir Mountain range’, thus the whole mountain is mostly covered by thick fog.”
Abigail sipped on the glass of juice next to her before continuing. “Well, since quite a few adventures got lost there, many authors thought it would be a good place to base their novels on.
Since no one was brave enough to enter the forest on the base of the ‘Dark Peek’ there are no reliable sources. Just speculations made by fans of the obscure.”
“Like it’s the gate to another dimension?” Tristan had read at least forty books using that idea as a starting point.
Abigail nodded. “There are theories like that, but others say the mountain is protected by a monster. There are people that saw shadow like monsters close to the base. There aren’t any accurate descriptions of the monsters, they just say they are grotesque beings, you can’t find anywhere but in the base of the ‘Dark Peek’.”
Tristan shining eyes were glued on Abigail’s lips, as she spoke. “Many people think those creatures were stationed there to protect something, but since no one came out of the region, no one knows what.”
“The more you tell me about the ‘Dark Peek’, the more I want to explore it.” Tristan said excited. “Is there any other place where Dukler might have hidden his legacy?”
Abigail shook her head. “There aren’t any other places in the ‘Noir Mountains’ that qualifies as a hideout of his legacy.”
“Then it’s decided. Tomorrow I’ll leave for the ‘Dark Peek’. During my absence you’re allowed to come and play here as often as you want, you just have to use that item.” Tristan pointed to the door handle on his desk and showed Abigail how to use it.
Oidche (25.10.9978 AS)
It was early in the Morning. Tristan had opened a gate to the ‘Noir Mointains’.
Before leaving, he had created a clone of himself with his illusion magic. Nana was really busy with the ‘Mitternacht’ so she wouldn’t notice his absence even if he didn’t come back home for a few days.
Tristan hiked straight towards the base of the ‘Dark Peek’. As he moved, he was on high alert. All though, he wasn’t yet on the base of the ‘Dark Peek’ there were many strong wild monsters on the valley of the ‘Noir Mountains’.
***
After an hour of walking he finally reached his destination: The base of the ‘Dark Peek’.
Tristan showed a fearless smile. “I don’t think those things there are protecting something. It’s more like this barrier here is protecting us from them.” Tristan said as he touched one of the many magic circles only he could see thanks to his passive.
“Once inside this barrier you can’t get out as long as you don’t find a way of deactivating the barrier. I don’t think even my Gates will work from inside.” Tristan hesitated a little before summoning his ‘Schattenklinge” and walking through the barrier.