TE round-robin story?

[Manibrandr System]

I remember writing this long ago, but the original thread had vanished and I only saved my post. ;.;

So yeah, the idea here is that I post this storything, and then you guys continue it. Let's see how this goes.

Edit : Revised the first part.

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..."Follow me, this is something very important you must see." he spoke in a raspy, harsh voice. The man was dressed in black robes and his face is covered in a veil of unnaturally dark shadow. An eye glowed brightly through his facial veil, casting an imposing glare at everything that catches its attention. The man extended his right arm out of the dark sleeves of his robes, it was gnarly and covered in scars which told a tale of a thousand battles.

"Are you coming?" The man inquired. Aoiga felt his body weaken under the glare of the man in front of him, leaving just enough energy in him to slowly nod. He hesitantly reached out and grabbed hold of the mysterious man's gnarly hand. As he did so, a gust of wind envelopped them and they were immediately whisked away to a dark room.

A dank foul smell of decay quickly assaulted Aoiga's senses, they appear to be in a dark room constructed out of marble. Small windows to the right filter rays of daylight into the room. Aoiga noticed several faint-shimmering pools of liquid on the floors and several stalls to his left. There's a door to his front from which a cacophony of boisterous talk and the occational yell of cheer emanated. "Where are we?" Aoiga asked.

"Toilet, ever neen in one?" Aoiga opened his mouth in surprise, about to utter a sound in response to the man's cutting remark, but was cut off. "The people in here have never heard of, much less seen magic performed by humans. It is best to be discreet. You wouldn't want to cause a scene in a public tavern, do you?"

Aoiga nodded in agreement as he was led out of the dank, dark toilet through the front door and into the hustle and bustle on the other side. He was immediately greeted by the most amazing sight that had ever seen ; Imps, ogres, dwarves and goblins all sitting around in round tables, drinking root ale, having conversations and small talk in English and strange tongues he could not recognize. Some of them are playing a card game with shimmering rune-imprinted cards, some are showing off their strength with arm-wrestling matches, some watched and cheered the arm wrestlers tossing money into the betting pool and some are flirting with the female members of their races, some of which Aoiga found to be slightly attractive. A couple of humans can be found amongst the menagerie.

"Nice place isn't it?" The man asked Aoiga in a jocular tone. "Welcome to the Mystics' Tavern, a popular hangout of magical creatures and non-magical ogres alike, but this isn't what we came here for. Follow me." He made a beckoning hand gesture and led Aoiga to the liquor bar where a bouncy imp is serving the customers and giving orders to voluptious goblin barmaids in a surprisingly loud voice.

"Jordi! What a nice surprise to see you here! I have acquired this most ingenious loaded deck over here, guaranteed to give winning odds to the dealer and it completely undetectable!" The imp bartender greeted the man in a jovial, wry voice. "This is a one of a kind, this shady dude sold it to me for ten thousand gald. Hefty price but after one round, it was all recouped. They suspected it's loaded but..." The elf snickered mischievously. "...they got nothing!"

"Woodrow, I already told you I am through with dark magic!" Jordi barked harshly, his eye flashing a dangerous shade of red for a split second. "Besides, I have some really important business to take care of. I'm looking for a Joan."

"Oh..her?" Woodrow the imp asked with a raised eyebrow "She's in room 612 with a human and this freak that keeps turning into a panda after a couple of drinks. I suggest you knock before you enter incase there's any action going on." Woodrow winked at Jordi. "I tell ya, just one look at her and I needed to apply soft potion to my lil' bro." Jordi groaned at the imp's last remark.

"Allright, so Joan, Axe and Jason the panda. I'll talk to you later! Can you prepare a dozen ethers, an assortment of potions, antidotes and a flask of sweet ginger ale to go? I'll be back to collect them in a few moments" Jordi tossed a bag of money in the counter in front of Woodrow. "There's 50 clerians and 23 gald in it, keep the change."

"Allright thanks, pal!" Woodrow grinned widely at the bag of silvery and golden coins he quickly opened and emptied into a jewel encrusted box. "Say...what's this filly doing here with you?"

"I'm not a girl, you freak!" Aoiga replied hotly.

Jordi ignored Aoiga's outburst and replied. "It's strictly confidential business, nothing personal of course. I just can't risk this info being heard by the wrong sort."

Jordi got up and led Aoiga to a flight of wooden stairs to the left. The stairs lead downward to cavernous corridors with portraits of imps young and old decorating the walls. Aoiga assumed that they are of Woodrow's family and ancestors and ran the bar before him. A question ran though his mind what is Joan, Jason and Axe doing here, of all places, and why are they here? Is this where they've been all these months since the last adventure? Aoiga voiced his questions to Jordi to which he relaxed his pace and began his reply.

"I might as well tell you now to save time. You see...lately your friends have discovered pieces of diamond crystals shaped like lenses in deep mountain caves at the outskirts of the land of the mystics. They seem to create images of magic-invoking ancient runes when light is passed through it."

"Okay, and that concerns us how?" Aoiga asked.

"I'll get to it...okay, so they came to this conclusion that there must be an ancient civilization to be unearthed. Being explorers and adventurers, they did what is second nature to them. So they bought digging tools and explored nearby caves and gathered more lenses. They went through various taverns asking around if they know what those runes meant but none could answer their questions. It was then that I started to feel a magical presence. I tried to track down the source but so far, I have had no luck."

"So they became careless and got your attention?"

"In a way, yes. It had attracted the bad crowd too. One day, they crossed paths with a dark mage who is curious and wanted the lens for his own questionable purposes. He paid them handsomely and took a handful of lens in his hand which promptly burnt the skin of his hand off. Joan's gang quickly fled the scene in fear of facing his wrath. The dark mage took off after them, but it seemed that the lens also absorbed most of his powers, rendering him weak and helpless. He died quickly from shock."

"Wait, dark mages? Aren't they supposed to like try to take over the world?"

"Supposedly, yes...but you see, their power have corrupted them utterly with petty greed and stripped them of their ambition. Those that have the ambition are too weak to take on the task of world domiation. Hence they make a living out of peddling enchanted objects to help people perform acts of mischief. Like a loaded deck, thief mantles and thief's candles."

"Like the guy whom Woodrow mentioned?"

"Yes, now back to the story...I arrived at the tavern where all that happened minutes later. While I missed your friends once again, I was given the opportunity to finally meet them. You see...the tavern regulars are so afraid of meeting the same fate as the dark wizard that they wouldn't go anywhere near the lenses. I picked up the lenses and was greeted to the last few minutes of the dark wizard's life which gave me information on what they look like and their names. I eventually tracked them down introduced myself and they told me the story which I am not telling you."

"Okay, that still doesn't explain why it has anything to do with me."

"I'm getting there, be patient." Jordi continued. "...so I told them that I could lend my magical abilities to them in their pseudo-archaeological dig and they took me in quite readily. One day, we unearthed a lance with a bright orange jewel in it and a curved blade with a sapphire gem embedded in it. The sapphire gem seems to react violently to everyone who tried to hold it, except for Joan. It screamed her name whenever anyone else tried to handle it, guess what the orange sword did?"

"It screamed my name? But why?" Aoiga asked uneasily.

"Not really." Jordi replied, "It accepted Jason, but let me explain the rest. The swords seemed to be sentinent, as Joan claimed that it spoke to her. It spoke about a disaster that looms ever closer and threatens to destroy the world as we know it. Also, it mentioned something about revenge of an ancient foe that she and her gang had fought before and that she's chosen to stop that disaster from happening once again. I think that it's safe to assume that you as well as a few more are chosen to avert this disaster as well."

"You mean there's more?"

"That's what Joan's sword, who named itself Esuna Aeres, had said. That is all." Jordi concluded his story.

Aoiga grimaced, the prospect of fighting an old foe once again mere months after defeating him is too much. "Ark4Elle..." was all he could mutter. Jordi's eyes narrowed and flashed red at Aoiga's mention of the name.

Minutes passed in silence as they walked past more stairs and corridors, which are now made out of carved stone. Neither spoke a word during the rest of the trip. This went on until they reached room 621.

Jordi pressed his palm onto the handle of the door which glowed white. The handle made clicking noises and the door unlocked itself. He twisted the knob, opened the door and was promptly greeted by a skid-marked pair of undies to the face...

[Jason Tandro]

Removing it from his face, in an effort to save some dignity, he looked upon the three with mild contempt. Jason the panda was busy working through what appeared to be his fifth bottle of vodka and Axe was laughing at his prank.

“And what the hell, may I ask, are you all doing in here?” Aoiga asked.

“We are in the middle of some drinks, celebrating our latest victory over evil!” Joan cried from under the sheets.

Joan looked positively smashed, her furry nose red and her bead-like eyes drooping. Aoiga couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t exactly in her usual adventurer’s garb, but was sporting a rather nice casual outfit that fit her like a glove. A glove that was about a size too small.

“Well I have some news. There are certain things we need to discuss. Particularly involving your sword…” Jordi said, regretting that he did not query as to the nature of the three adventurers.

Joan’s expression changed dynamically in mere seconds. “Esuna Aeres?”

“Yes,” Jordi said.

Aoiga walked over to Jason who was trying to drink his way out of panda-hood. “I still remember the night that curse was put on you.”

It was actually very amusing. Jason had been training with Freedan in the Seaside Palace when he made the mistake of angering a Gari Phantom who placed the curse upon him. It was a month before they found out that alcohol was what triggered the changes. It was also regrettably noticed that Jason was naked whenever he changed back into a human.

Suddenly Jason the panda ran into the bathroom. A loud comical POP was heard and then a rustling of clothes. Out walked Jason Tandro wearing his adventurer garb, with his lance, Fusion, upon his back.

“Evening all. Jordi, nice to see you again,” Jason said.

“Nice to see you… in clothes,” Jordi remarked.

Jason sighed and sat down at the table. “Alright, what’s this about that orange sword we found at the dig?”

“Well,” Jordi said. “We think we’ve found another one.”

Jason’s eyes glanced over his shoulder, his right hand clasped the hilt of Fusion.

“Fusion may or may not be related, we do not know for sure or not. But we found a lance very similar with the word FISSION written upon it,” Jordi said.

Aoiga, Axe and Joan gasped. Jason’s look went cold and distant.

“Jason, we need to know, has Fusion ever spoken to you?” Jordi asked.

Jason assumed a defensive stance at the table. “First tell me where you unearthed Fission.”

Jordi glanced around the room. “It was found beneath the Nazca Ruins.”

Aoiga looked at Jason. “What’s the significance of that?”

Jason replied, “Fusion was found at the Isle Del Mar De Incendio, the exact opposite location on the map.”

Axe threw a quizzical look at Jason. “No seriously, what does it mean?”

Jason cursed under his breath. “There are opposing forces that bind this world together, in the form of powerful weapons. You have unearthed the first. The power that binds all together and creates new life. I am Fusion, and you are my rightful wielder.”

Jordi nodded. “Well then, this should interest you. This is what Fission spoke: ‘There are opposing forces that bind this world together, in the form of powerful weapons. You have unearthed the last. The power that divides and ends all life, and leaves the cog of eternity in everlasting void. I am Fission, and my rightful wielder is Phoenix.’”

Joan spoke next. “’There are opposing forces that bind this world together, in the form of powerful weapons. You have unearthed the seventh. The power to restore vitality and reveal the secrets of the heart. I am Esuna Aeres, and you are my rightful wielder. Seek ye those who will save this world once again. Aoiga, a man of righteous intent but flawed spirit. Axe, a warrior of unexplored potential. Jason Tandro, a man who’s destiny is tied to one of these weapons.”

The room fell into silence for a minute.

“Could it be the Legend of the Divine Weapons?” Aoiga asked.

“Yes!” Jordi exclaimed. “Twelve weapons of divine origin that are destined to clash upon the field of battle. 2 swords, lances, bows, maces, axes, and guns that are in direct opposition. But alas, I know not their names or origins.”

“Well, if they are opposing forces then we’ll have to dig in the opposite place on the map from where we found Esuna Aeres,” Joan said. “And that underground civilization, might just give us a clue to where the others are located.”

Okay, someone else better take over before I get too far along. FYI: I intend to focus the new TE game around this story.

[Manibrandr System]

I am going to revive this and continue it as soon as I read through it again and remember the ideas I had for this story.

[Manibrandr System]

Okay I wrote more. I hope this catches on.

---

Jason stepped in "Hang on a second, before we continue. I have a few questions to ask."

"What is there to ask? We find more of these weapons and save the world from whatever evil may pop up at this time, end of story." Joan cut Jason off.

"Well for one, I would like to know who this Phoenix dude is and how you got information on Fission and its rightful owner." Jason replied.

"I also would like to know where the hell am I, this isn't like any place we've been to before" Aoiga interjected.

"One at a time, you first Jordi." Jason prompted.

"Okay so here is how it goes..." Jordi began, "..it is pretty simple actually. I was wandering around the Nazca Ruins, investigating the mysterious properties of the buildings that used to stand there. They seem to have been built with the help of lenses with the Fusion runes imprinted in them, but broken apart by the power of Fission. It also seemed to be the place where it looked like large sections of land have been cleaved and then stitched back together."

"Oh that place, that was where we..." Axe chipped in, but was cut off as Jordi cleared his throat loudly.

"Ahem! Let me finish please!" Jordi continued, "Anyways, as I was wandering the ruins, I sensed a really strong magical presence. It was the same feeling I had when we unearthed those weapons so I concluded that it must be another one of them. I homed in on it and when I approached the weapon, someone had already gotten to it. I found it really curious that the lance did not scream when he picked it up. Instead it spoke the introductory words much like that Esuna and Fusion did when Joan and Jason held them respectively. I did not approach the man because he is not one of the people Esuna mentioned to be a saviour of the world and because I don't like the looks of him, he resembles my old master too much."

"Pot, meet kettle." Axe prodded at Jordi with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Jordi snapped at Axe as Axe snickered.

"Old master?" Aoiga inquired, a million questions flooding his mind.

"Let's not talk about it, alright?" Jordi spoke uneasily, his eye turning a submissive shade of blue. "You want to know where you are right now? I am sure Jason, Axe and Joan can answer that question better than I do."

Jason nodded in agreement and began to speak, "Simply put, you are in another world, another planet much like ours. We got here through a portal in the Nazca Ruins which lead us to this planet, and like Axe mentioned earlier, the place where we ended up is also a set of ruins called the Nazca Ruins, as we've found out later."

Jason looked at Aoiga's still-confused expression and continued. "Anyways, to answer your other question of what we are doing here. Well, being the adventurers that we are. We were like kids in a large candy shop and immediately started exploring this world, we've learned a lot of things about this world. Like how instead of flames, posts, PMs, moderators and administrators like we had back at TerraEarth, there is magic, telepathy, templars, and high priests. The people here speak English, but they also spoke a variety of strange languages most of which we learned, except for Axe. Isn't that right Axey?" Jason paused a bit and grinned.

"Oh go to hell, Panda boy! I can't be arsed to bother with these crazy moon languages." Axe bit back, "After all, unlike you, it never got me into any weird ass transformation curses."

"Anyways!" Jason replied hastily, quickly switching back to the story. "We have made quite a name for ourselves around here over time. We were given tasks and oddjobs by the locals, all of which are completed admirably, some much more than need be." Jason looked at Joan knowingly and she just blushed slightly in response while smiling.

"I...I am not gonna ask." Aoiga stated uncomfortably.

Chortling inwardly to himself, Jason continued his recount of the adventuring trio's story, "Eventually we came across the lenses, they seem to have a rune imprinted inside them which seemed to give them magical properties that the runes represented. Another curious thing about those lenses is that they can be combined, mixed and matched to create various spectacular effects and that after they are used, they expend themselves and disappear into thin air. So far we've managed to identify 10 types of them ; Fusion, Fission, Light, Darkness, Fire, Ice, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Water. However, since we learned of the Legend of the 12 Divine Weapons and how they seem to give the abilities of the lenses without consuming themselves with each use, we suspect that there are 2 more types of these lenses. We also suspect that these lenses and divine weapons are connected somehow. Jordi came to the picture at around this stage and offered to help us. Then, we unearthed Esuna and Fusion, they spoke about how we, and Aoiga are to save the world from an old foe."

"I then took on the task of taking you here with us." Jordi interrupted, finishing Jason's long spiel.

"One last question, if we are to fight an old foe, isn't Ark4Elle dead?" Aoiga inquired, everyone grimaced at the mention of the name.

"That is what we thought." Joan replied, shrugging her shoulders. "We have no idea if he is involved of not, or who this ancient foe is. What I do know, though, is that recently, the dark wizard population has been increasing and that we have been magnets for them, which is not a good sign."

"My money is on Flamez, that bastard!" Axe interjected.

Joan nodded. "I think so too. Anyways, to make sure all of us remembers our plan, I went back to TerraEarth and contacted DPit and Blade of the recent developments, they will be bringing reinforcements. We will head south and meet up with them. If I remember correctly, they will be taking Raini, Freedan, SBF, Fixy, eFlare and Boxxleman with them. The old gang...you know, since they took part in defeating Ark4Elle last time, they will most likely be most helpful in helping us find out just what the hell is going on with the whole prophecy schtick. I mean, we don't even belong here. Why us?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Now," Joan continued. "If nobody has any objections, let's all get ready for the rendez-vous."

With a grunt of unanimous agreement, everyone began to prepare for their trip. Aoiga is given a change of more appropriate clothes, Joan gets dressed in a more appropriate, less revealing outfit, lenses are divided between Aoiga and Axe as Axe sighed and muttered about how it is unfair that he never gets the cool stuff like the divine weapons Joan and Jason has. Then they left the room, travelled up the set of stairs and corridors and back into the tavern lounge. Jordi took the items he ordered from Woodrow earlier and together, they left the tavern and headed south towards the Nazca Ruins of this strange world.

[Manibrandr System]

...it was after a couple of hours of walking when the rendez-vous point at the Nazca ruins became visible on the horizon. The beautiful sparkle of the fusion lenses that was once the building blocks of a great ancient village shined with the colours of the rainbow, dazzling and mezmerizing the onlookers. One of the stranger things of this planet is that it is a lot smaller compared to TerraEarth, as such, objects on the horizon are much closer than one would expect.

"We are almost there!" Jason cheered!

"About time too, it's been a while since we last saw the rest of the TE crew. I really am beginning to miss Raini!" Joan chimed in. She looked to her side and noticed that Axe was still sulking and muttering curses under his breath about how he never has anything cool happen to him. Joan extended her right metallic arm and layed it comfortingly on Axe's shoulder. "There there, you will get your moment of glory soon enough. Besides, I don't think you even NEED one of those, seeing how strong you are. Remember those goblin guards?"

"Oh yeah, I remembered that. It was pretty awesome." Axe slowly grinned as he recalled one of the many tight spots they have busted out of in their adventures ; In one of the incidents when they were caught "reclaiming" some precious bauble from a rich and powerful thief, Axe took out 6 well-armed goblin guards in one go with a single flaming shoulder charge. "Still...it would be cool to own one of those special weapon thingies."

Joan just grinned boyishly and they continued trekking to their destination. Sure enough, DPit's ship, Red Riotz, was parked at the meeting point with Freedan, SBiF, Fixy, Raini, Blade, eFlare and Boxxleman waiting for them. They are all wearing their best adventuring attire ; Freedan in a shiny blue knight armour, SBiF in monk robes, Fixy in a spellcaster's uniform, Raini in an excessively revealing dress robe with titanium thylacoleo style chompers and an oversized scythe, Blade and Dpit in heavy infantry gear, eFlare in an excessively ornate leather fighter's gear and an oversized cape and Boxxleman in casual gear and a pair of sunglasses. Although Joan could have sworn that the shine on Freedan's armour is exceptionally bright, it was the sight of Raini that grabbed her attention. Just looking at her outfit made feel a flush of heat rise up to her cheeks.

Freedan greeted the party "Hey there! Long time no see Jason!" he said as he held out a hand and Jason shook it. Freedan then turned to Axe, "My oh my! Looks like your time here has made you uglier than ever!" he chortled.

"Fuck off!" was all Axe could utter as his face flushed deep purple. He held a deep-seated dislike for the blue knight, and that comment is not going to end that anytime soon.

"Tsk tsk, a bit high-strung are we? Cat got your tongue?" Freedan jovially replied, enjoying the speechless look of rage on Axe's face.

After further greetings with the rest of the crew...and a splash of cold water to Joan's face, the party went into the passenger cabin of Red Riotz for a meeting.

"Now that we have Joan back with us, shall we start the meeting?" eFlare prompted. Joan flushed red again, nodded and complied. She recounted to the entire group the story so far and their growing concern over having to fight their old enemy again.

"Obviously we have to find as much of these weapons as possible." Raini chimed in. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, that is why I am proposing that we split into 2 search groups. We can find them quicker that way." Joan explained. "DPit and Blade, you set up a base here, and bring in any supplies from TerraEarth. Take this." Joan handed them a box with a circular-shaped grille that resembles a radio box. "This is a crystal radio box you can use to keep in touch with us . Feel free to use the crystal lenses around you as energy if the juice in this thing runs out. Jordi, you help them set up camp. Can you do that?"

Jordi nods while Joan continues. "That leaves the ten of us to do the searching. Four of you will come with me, and four of you will come with Jason. Understood?"

"Sure, but I as sure as hell ain't going with that souchebag!" Axe exclaimed, pointing at Freedan.

"Hey, the feeling is the same buddy." Freedan replied cooly.

Joan smirked and replied, "I already thought of that. You are coming with me, Axe. Freedan is coming with Jason. As for the rest, I am taking Aoiga, Raini and eFlare while Jason is taking SBiF, Fixy and Boxxleman"

"Hang on! That isn't right, why are you with Raini? She is always by my side, and your team has too much muscle." Freedan whined.

"Because...as I am well-aware of you being bethrothed to her, I am sure that it will cause you to make a bad judgement." Joan replied in a very patronising tone.

"Yeah sure thing, Ms Crimson Cheeks!" Freedan snapped back cynically.

"Look, we can argue about this later. Time is of essense. Besides, you are not telling me that you are inadequate muscle for Jason's team, are you?" Joan snickered inwardly as Freedan faltered.

"I am the only knight you will ever need, how dare you question my prowress! I, Freedan, the dark knight shall vanquish all in my path!" Freedan yelled, getting hotheaded. Axe broke into a fit of giggles at this point.

"Very well then. You should be fine." Joan smiled in reply. "Now, since we know that Esuna was found in the Seraph Temple ruins west of here, we should be able to find its opposite heading east. Jason, you take your group and search for the weaon of Darkness. I will take my group to the underground settlements southeast of here and consult the leader for the locations of more of them. Any questions?" Everyone just nodded. "Okay good, let's go!"

...and so, the search parties head their separate ways while DPit, Blade and Jordi help set up base in the Nazca Ruins.

[Jason Tandro]

"Does anybody remember the days when we would just mess around, and enjoy the day?” Axe moaned. “Hunting for treasure, maybe picking a fight with some monsters a few levels above us.”

“Vaguely,” Joan replied. “And good times they were. What’s your point?”

“Well, it seems we’re always doing something nowadays. There’s always some crisis that we need to avert or bad guy needs his ass kicked,” Axe complained.

Joan nodded. “Ah. You’ve noticed a pattern.”

The party’s trek had been initially interesting, but rough terrain and inhospitable environments had drug the life out of the group. Joan and Axe were awake, but the other three slept by a small campfire which they had set up in the cavity of a massive boulder. Joan didn’t even have the energy to annoy Axe on purpose, and for once in a very long time, she actually agreed with him.

“I remember such good adventures we had. Just you, Jason and I roaming around looking for treasure,” Axe said, his eyes looking past the fire into a ever-distancing past. “You had an eye for it, Joan. You knew exactly where the treasure was. No gem or jewel ever got past you.”

Joan smiled at Axe’s compliment. “And you were always good at carrying it out of trap-filled dungeons.”

Axe chuckled, even though Joan had meant to annoy him. “Yeah, and of course Jason always wanted to pick a fight with everything that moved.”

Joan nodded and lifted her sword. “I wonder…”

Axe looked over at the blade with renewed interest in their immediate quest. “That’s one of the Divine Weapons, huh?”

Joan, however, was still on their original topic of conversation. “Do you remember when we all first met?”

Axe was slightly caught off-guard by this question, but recovered gracefully. “Uh, yeah it was about two years ago I think. We were all at the same bar, and some guy was ranting about a treasure over in the Pyramid…”

“…Well yeah,” Joan took over the reins of the story, attempting to guide it towards her point. “You and I met that way. We didn’t meet Jason until a couple of days later.”

Axe looked back over the events in his head. “Oh yeah. That’s interesting. He was at Dao, getting ready to enter the Pyramid. We told him about the treasure and he pretty much took over the damned expedition.”

“Ever since then, we’ve only talked about our next treasure hunt, or mission in this case, and anything pertaining to that, but…I don’t think we know anything about each other,” Joan said.

“It comes with the territory. We’re treasure hunters. Deep, emotional conversations are not our forte,” Axe replied.

“Well let’s start with something basic. I was born in the Trapiga Islands. People there have part-animal, part-human characteristics. My father was part-wolf, my mother part-cat. Therefore I became part fox. I’m not sure about the logistics, but that’s the story I’ve been told,” Joan explained.

“The story you’ve been told?” Axe asked.

“Well… my parents died when I was very young. Without an ‘elder presence’ I would not be able to fully utilize my powers so I was exiled from the Trapiga Islands and sent to live in South Cape. Again, I was told all of this by the man who raised me, so I don’t know if it’s true or not. I’m not even sure where the Trapiga Islands are. I always thought it was a fairy tale, until one day I heard of a great map that revealed all the secret places of the world…”

“This sounds familiar,” Axe caught on.

“It was that treasure that was supposedly in the Pyramid. We never did find it, you know, but I knew at that point that I would keep hunting until I found that map,” Joan explained. “That’s why I’ve stuck with you guys.”

Axe nodded and patted Joan’s shoulder. “When I was about ten years old, my father told me about a great place where I would never have to die or grow old. I didn’t believe him, of course. I said that the only place like that is in the afterlife. He told me, that it sure enough was a real place. He said that he was too old to go looking for it, but he made me promise to find that place.”

“Is that why you were looking for the map?” Joan asked.

“No, actually. It was something else. You see, I never did find that place where none die, but I did hear of a place where none grow old. The old Fountain of Youth legend. I went to the Seaside Palace, the gates of Kynareth and even the Black Mountains to the far north, but I could never find it. My motivations were not as pure as yours, I’m afraid. I just figured if I could find this place, I could sell its location for some Gems.”

Joan nodded. “Well, not all of us are heroes.”

Axe chuckled and rubbed his chin. “I wonder what Jason was looking for.”

“Knowing him, he was probably in it for similar reasons as you. Jason’s never been one for high motivations,” Joan thought.

“It’s kinda creepy how he’s been lately. All serious and responsible… It’s not like him at all. I miss reckless endangerment Jason,” Axe thought.


Jason’s team had gotten about a good a start as Joan’s. Their trek was plagued with frozen mountains of the east and the murky woods of the north.

“Perhaps we should have taken Red Riotz,” Freedan laughed. He seemed to be the only one not annoyed by this cold.

“You’re in a cheery mood,” Jason grunted.

“It’s hard not to be,” Freedan smiled. “We’re doing what we do best. Saving the world and all that junk.”

“You’re passion is admirable,” Jason sighed, trying to warm up in a small black coat he had brought.

“So Jason,” Freedan asked. “Where are we heading?”

“Well… the opposite of Esuna Aeres must be in a place that is both east and dark. There is a realm of pure darkness on the eastern sea border known as the Ghost Lands.” Jason explained.

Freedan nodded, although he really wasn’t sure what to do with that. He rolled over onto a rock and saw something hovering in the air above him.