[A/N: Unfortunately, this will be the first chapter where I will have to break my first rule of GHT...I’ll have to write this chapter from both Tee’s and Jed’s Point of View...My sincerest apologies and I hope I can make it obvious enough that you understand which point of view you’re reading from. Please enjoy, and feedback of this system would highly be appreciated as it might be highly required in the future!]
Chapter 5: The Knight of Auru
Job after job came in, all from the young wizard. Jedoi checked the official charts, but he only just tipped 400 prestige. She shook her head as another job came in from him. She sighed and walked out of the Questing Guild. As she started walking West, towards The Spire, she crossed his path. He looked exhausted and severely hurt, but he clutched a pouch full of the precious gunpowder. Sweat poured off his forehead, and his face looked battered. Despite all that, his eyes were full of determination as he limped towards the Questing Guild to get the necessary prestige. He winced with every step, but he trekked on.
Tripping on a loose stone in the walkway, the wizard tripped, scraped his knees, and spilled the contents of his pouch all over the ground. In a desperate attempt to scoop up the contents of his quest and put them back in the small, red, silken pouch, Tee spread the gunpowder further away from it’s destination. With the feel of a cool chill sweeping through the air, the wind picked up the gunpowder and brushed it into the midmorning sky.
Jed, taking pity on her friend and apprentice, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tee slammed his fists into the pathway, and stood up, determination flaming once again in his eyes. Jed wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and pulled him into the Questing Guild. He still tightly gripped his small, red pouch, but Elyon, the Questing Guild Keeper, shook her head disappointedly. He tried pushing the pouch forward, but she pushed it back. Jed watched as her poor apprentice’s shoulders slumped, but she nodded reassuringly to him. Turning back to Elyon, she broke the silence. “What’s the highest paying job we’ve got?”
Elyon turned her back on the two, and looked at a massive board behind her. Every inch, from floor to ceiling, of the wall had been pinned with a sign with various jobs on it. Scanning her eyes across it, she pulled off a rather old looking sign. With a sharp crack, she snapped it off the wall, and it nearly crumbled to dust in her hand. She placed it before her: “No one has ever turned in this quest...perhaps that’s why the reward is so high.”
Jed and Tee looked over the job: Turn in a Beacon; Reward: 500 prestige.
“Five-hundred prestige?” Tee exclaimed. “That’s enough to put me over the requirements for knight!”
“Aye,” Elyon stated. “But where are you going to get a Nether Star to make a beacon?”
“A Wither, of course!” But even in all of his excitement, Tee’s shoulders slumped again. “But where am I going to get a wither skull, let alone three to summon the Wither?”
At that moment, a voice spoke into Jedoi’s mind. “Three Wither skulls, I hear, are required in Auru?”
Stepping back in surprise, Jed returned the call. “Yes, I suppose they are.”
“Very well. Have the Young Wizard meet me in Aladra. I could always use a travel buddy.”
Jedoi recognized the voice as Gabriel Rosenheart, otherwise known as Gabrosen. He was a good friend of hers and was a fellow Librarian. She smiled, if he would help her apprentice, she would appreciate it. What he would have Tee do, however, was beyond her.
As Tee slumped to the ground, Jed spoke up. “My friend, Gabrosen, is willing to help you out.”
He looked at her, the light in his eyes somewhere between gaining and losing all hope.
He quickly stood up, gripping his Sunstone Staff, and cracked his knuckles. “Where is he?”
“Aladra Library, I believe.” Before the young wizard took off, Jed gripped his robe. He looked back at her. “Good luck, Tee.” He nodded, and ran out the door of the Questing Guild. He jumped in the air, clicking his heels, and continued on his way to Aladra.
“Kids these days,” Elyon said, before returning to her work. “He’s quite cute though.”
Jedoi blushed. “Shut up,” she spat at Elyon before turning to leave.
***
Tee made his way to the Aladran Library and burst into the doors. He heard an exasperated sigh at the desk near the double doors. Turning, he saw Lydia the head Librarian. She looked disappointedly at his staff. Noticing the pulsating flames off the Sunstone, and the blue flames that curled off of his cloak, he nervously smiled at the Librarian. “If you set one book on fire, Mister, I’ll beat you senseless.”
Gulping, Tee answered with a rushed, “yes Ma’am.”
Turning around, Tee noticed the Library was empty, save for him, Lydia, and a strange skeleton in the corner. He stepped past the skeleton, but didn’t expect it to move. “You must be Tee.”
Tee jumped back in surprise. “Gah!”
The skeleton shook his head. “It’s Gab, actually.” He stuck out a bony hand, the pearl white fingers cracking with every shift of a knuckle. “Nice to meet you.”
Tee reluctantly took his hand, afraid it would snap off the joints at Gab’s wrist at any point and he’d be left holding an extra hand.
“Yeah, I’m Tee. Nice to meet you.”
Gab laughed. “I’ll hand it to you [A/N: be prepared for a lot of skeleton/bone puns :>], you’re actually quite calm about this. Yes, it appears that I’m a skeleton. Oh well.”
Tee gulped nervously. Clearing his throat, he asked what was on his mind. “You said you could help me in my quest for Wither Skulls?”
“Ahh, yes, I can help you get the heads of my brethren, but I must do some excavation first, and I’d love to have a travel buddy of sorts.”
“Right...well, lead the way?”
“So you’ll come with me, then?”
Tee shook his head. “Does it look like I have much of a choice?”
“Fair point. But remember child, you always have a choice.”
With that, Gabrosen walked out the door of the Library and Tee obediently followed.
The pair made their way to The North Star, the ship bound for Kalros. Waving hello to Olrik, the spokesperson and captain of the Kalrosian ship, they stepped aboard and awaited departure. As they sailed, the air chilled with the ice that nearly hung in the sky. Sticking out a hand, Tee admired the snowflakes that fell, reminded of his nearby home of Auru. Getting off at port, Tee expected them to travel North towards his town, but Gab tugged on the hood of his cloak and pointed East. “Towards Arvik?” Tee asked. He’d yet to be to the town that held the power in the Asmund Alliance. Any excuse to see the fabled town, Tee would take.
Gab shook his head, but said nothing. He took off at a brisk pace, and Tee had to half run to keep up with him. Weaving through the thicket of dark oak trees, Tee and Gab made their way through the Roofed Forest. Occasionally a small siren would go off as a nearby radar was alerted of Gab’s presence, but he seemed calm about it and just get walking. Tee was frightened by the sound, every time, but he knew he was in allied territory. Nothing could go wrong, right?
Continuing on, they passed the town of Silverhand. Gab sneered at the poor shacks that had recently been set up. Tee had heard mixed opinions about them, but tried not to pay them much attention until he met them personally. Sure, they had set up close to Arvik, and, because they didn’t swear their loyalty to Asmund yet, they were in a very tactical position to cut off Arvik from all of it’s territory and claims. Tee understood that it must be hard to set up a new town in Loka: with everything having to sway in either the side of the Covenant or Asmund, there wasn’t much wiggle room to make your own decisions around here. Tee felt bad. He had joined Auru, one of the oldest towns on Loka, and would never have to know the pain of setting up infrastructure, political power, and guild systems of a new town. He couldn’t imagine what the “old days” were like, before the Covenant and Asmund were at war, but apparently it was a grand old time, according to some of the elders around this place.
Gab still marched on, and, while stuck in his own thoughts, Tee had fallen behind. “You might want to catch up if you ever want those skulls of yours!”
Tee sighed, but picked up the pace anyways. Going another mile Northeast or so, Gab held out a hand. Looking at him quizzically, Tee was about to asked why they stopped. Gab put up a solemn finger to his deformed lip to hush him.
Tee, glancing around the corner of a tall and solid, dark oak tree, noticed a small glass dome, and a stone brick base. Gab stepped out of the shadows, and made his way inside. Tee, obediently following, looked around curiously to see an empty shell of what might’ve been a nomad’s house.
“Well.” Gab started. “We’re here!”
Tee looked around disappointedly. “Here? Where’s here?”
Gab grabbed Tee by the head, and made him look straight down. How he hadn’t noticed it before, Tee wouldn’t be sure, but he stood atop a glass platform that showed a large pit, dug straight down to the planet’s core. There was only one meter separating Tee from where he stood to a two-hundred meter drop, and it petrified him. Gab, pulling him back into control, pointed at a ladder that lead down the side of the shaft.
“You want me to go down that thing?”
“Please. I must insist. Ladies first.”
***
Jedoi angrily marched through Auru. She was so flustered with what Elyon had said, that she needed to clear her head. Forcing herself to get a grip, she made a mental checklist of things that had to be done around the town.
Realizing that nothing could be done in her current state of mind, she made a checklist of stuff that Tee would need for the Wither fight: a place to fight it, a decent sword, soulsand. Soulsand! How did she forget soulsand?
Rummaging in her house, she grabbed an iron spade out of one of her chests and made her way to the town portal. Arriving in Aladra, she ran towards the Nether ship, hoping to catch it before it left. Waltzing past the shadowy figure that housed the ship, Zevran, she jumped aboard and awaited departure. Unlike the other ships that travelled naturally, no one knew how the Harbinger of Flame made it to Hell. However, five minutes later, she had arrived, and she instantly regretted her decision. Just like Garama, the heat was unbearable, and beads of sweat started pouring off her skin. Already she missed home, and of course the wall of monsters before her didn’t help. Gripping her trusty sword, The Wolf Rallier’s Blade, she charged the mobs, running them through. All around her, Blazes fell, and Ghasts keeled over. She tried not to pay the odd deformities referred to as Zombie Pigmen much attention: the less aggravation she could have riding on her tail, the better.
She made her way East, nearly falling into several lava pits and a giant ravine that would’ve broken her legs and definitely would’ve killed her.
Making her way farther East, her foot started sinking into the ground. Looking down, she noticed that her foot didn’t just sink into some not-so-solid ground, but the ground was actually pulling her in like quicksand. The tortured screams of those stuck in the Nether, never to be seen again, reverberated inside of her mind. Covering her ears did nothing, but at least she tried. Remembering the spade, she tried to dig herself out of the brown substance, but only added to the wailing and screeching inside her mind as she inevitably split the lost souls into two. As she moved some sand away, more filled in it’s place. She was sucked into the small pit, and the soulsand threatened to pour into her mouth and nose, flooding her lungs and killing her of asphyxiation. Sure, the Artifact had saved her time and time again, but could it save her from this?
With one last, desperate push, she shot her hand up into the air, before disappearing from the world together. She started to lose consciousness as the lost souls engulfed her. She couldn’t tell if the searing sharp pain on her wrist was the first thing to go from her life, or if something had latched on to her.
With a muffled heave, she heard her assistance struggle as she was pulled up out of the pit. Being pulled completely out of the ground, her assistant was thrown off balance, and she landed on top of him or her. Getting a better view of who had just saved her life, she saw the ever present smirk of a certain Cryptite.
“Hello, Jedoi.”
“Crypt! You just-” she started, but was cut off by Crypt’s hand brushing her off.
“I can’t bare to see my Guardian be killed, now can I?”
Jed blushed, but stood up quickly and brushed herself off. Gathering her blade and spade, she helped Crypt to his feet. “I suppose so. Thank you for that.”
He smiled, the turned around slowly. “So what are you doing in Hell anyways? I thought Guardians didn’t believe in an afterlife, seeing as how they never die.”
“Very funny, Crypt. No, I need soulsand for something back at Auru.”
“And you weren’t paying attention, were you? I expect better from you Jed!”
“Hey, that’s no fair! It’s dark here and soulsand is so hard to see anyways…”
“I know,” Cryptite finally responded. “I’m just pulling your tail.” He smirked again, but snatched the spade out of her hand. Digging deep into the pit, Cryptite heaved a large chuck of sand out of the ground. Attempting to hold open a pouch that would hold the contents and cover her ears at the same time was no easy feat, but in the end, Crypt and Jed stood triumphantly holding a large bag full of squirming contents as the lost souls tried to burst out of their silken prison.
“Wither fight?” Cryptite asked.
“Wither fight,” Jedoi stated, as she let out a massive sigh. Now she just had to find a place to fight the damned thing.
***
Tee nearly jumped off the ladder as he reached the bottom of the giant fissure. Gabrosen slipped down the sides of the ladder, and landed with a thud, nearly using Tee as a cushion to break his fall. Inspecting his bony hands, Gabrosen frowned, a peculiar face for the face of a skeleton. “Damn. It appears I’ve gotten a few splinters.” He started plucking the wood pieces from his hands, and Tee had to look away because he nearly puked from the grotesque sight.
Glancing around, Tee noticed that this long shaft didn’t just lead to nothing: there was a large hallway running both North and South. There were small offshoots on either side, and there was a staircase that led ever farther down. Gabrosen took off, checking the abandoned buildings with a certain resolve, like he was looking for something. He rummaged through the dusty and decaying chests that filled the place. Tee looked on with amazement. What is this place? he thought. A ruin of some kind?
As if reading his thoughts somehow, Gab replied from around the corner. “It’s an old, abandoned town set beneath the ground. Go take a look around, I shouldn’t be much longer.”
Tee nodded, but stayed relatively close to Gabrosen. He paced back and forth, inspecting the crumbling walls and signs of infrastructure that someone had spent months, maybe years, trying to build and organize. This was an actual city, holding the brilliance, history, members, excitement, and all! Something like this was someone’s Auru to him, and that amazed him. He stood in the center of history, and he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He stood before a wall that was stuck in time, who knows how many others knew this was here!
While he was reminiscing, he heard a ghoulish sound from around the corner. I know Gab is a skeleton and all, Tee thought, but no skeleton sounds like that.
A screech pierced the silent air as zombies and skeletons alike flooded the corridor around him.
“Damn it!” Tee shouted as he drew his blade from his side. He chased the undead horde back to where he had come, surely where Gab was still hunting for his fabled object. Sure, it was a frightening experience, but it felt exhilarating to sever heads from the bodies of zombies, or random bones from the rib cages of skeletons. He gutted several of them, quickly retracting his sword each time as he lead deeper into the crowd. He tried looking over the mass of undead to find his skeleton acquaintance, but to no avail. Tee cursed under his breathe, but thought fast. “Gab!” he shouted into the air.
“What?” Tee heard in return.
“Get down!”
After hearing a scramble of bones and a loud crash to the ground, Tee grabbed his Sunstone Staff, as it loyally hung at his side. Gripping it tight and pointing it forward, he felt the immense heat radiating from the Sunstone and bouncing off the walls of the tunnel.
“Incendio!”
Tee wasn’t sure where the word had come from, but something scratched his brain to chant the spell. Wave after wave of fire spilled forth before him, flooding the corridor and instantly smelting all of the stone and iron in the hallway. He heard the squealing of zombies as their flesh smoldered and turned to ash and the rattling of bones as they crashed to the floor.
After the flames dissipated, Tee heard the far off rattling of more bones and he saw Gab standing before him. “Tee?” His voice was little more than an echo to Tee. “That was awesome! How did you do that?”
Tee stumbled backwards, not paying attention to Gab.
“Tee! Hey! You listening to me?” Alas, Tee was not. Gab tried to shake Tee awake, but snapped back. “Ouch! Tee, you’re skin is burning up! What happened?”
Tee heard the rumbling of the stones above. Apparently, in his burnout, he had burnt the structural support that flimsily held up the small cave, and now it was coming down on top of them. He turned to Gab; they had to get out of there fast, before they were crushed.
“How do skeletons feel pain?”
With that, Tee blacked out.
***
Jedoi marched North, a snowstorm blowing against her relentlessly, however, she trekked on. She passed the Town Generator that hosted the glorious Battle of Wolf Fortress. She looked on sadly, reminded about the fight and the loses both sides faced because of it. The chill settled deeper into her bones, and she continued on.
Clearing another snowy mountain, she came acrossed the Ice Taiga. There was a flat expanse of land, so she pulled out an iron spade and pick and set to work. Sloping down cautiously, Jed cleared out a large, open room, big enough to fit the monstrous Wither, and far enough away from civilization that it couldn’t possibly destroy anything. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she sat back and laughed. If Tee could kill this monster, he would be a Knight. An official Knight. To her knowledge, that was the fastest anyone had become a Knight, but she was happy for him. He showed potential for Auru, and she considered that he might make a good lord. Leaning against the wall of the small clearing she had made, she slowly fell asleep. No reason to waste the time to rest, when Tee was still off adventuring with Gabriel.
***
Tee woke up in a massive room. As far as he could tell, he was still underground...or worse.
“Am I dead?”
He heard a laugh from behind him.
“Of course not, kid! You know the Artifact would never let you die!”
Looking up, Tee saw the smirk of a skeleton standing over him. Well, he thought, if he was dead, Gab was there...that must mean he was in his own personal hell.
“Get up, we’ve got more exploring to do.”
“Yes sir.”
Tee looked around the massive chasm, an empty expanse of space, sparsely decorated and void of defining details. There were few chests scattered around the room, but as Gab searched them, Tee knew they were either empty or full of useless junk. As Gab continued searching, Tee marveled at the expanse set before him. He noticed the fluctuating amounts of monsters flooding the cave, but he dealt with them quickly with the use of his iron blade. He was surprised, however, of how fast he was regaining strength after just having his burnout. Was that because of the Artifact? Tee thought.
No matter the reason, Tee fought on, until Gab surprised him with a low holler. “I got it, we can leave!”
Gabrosen ran off, down a long hallway that lead to what might’ve been a farm. Tee, following him, then swimming up a steep incline of water, found himself just below the surface. Digging out a small hole for the two of them, Gab pulled Tee up out of the ground, and looked before him. “Well, this is where our journey ends, it appears.” He pulled out a small vial of green dust and held it before him.
“What’s that?” Tee questioned.
“Our way back to Aladra.”
“Oh cool! How does it work?”
Gab looked back at his companion but, despite the lack of eyes, Tee saw something dark and cold in the empty sockets. “Sorry, but there’s only enough for one person.” Another smirk and a sharp, cold bite into Tee’s stomach, and a moment later, Tee realized he was dying on the ground with an iron blade sticking out of him. Blood was spewing out of both his stomach and mouth, as the light of his life faded before him. Gab walked up and gave a short salute. Crushing the vial and saying in a far off voice, Gab spoke, “See you on the other side, my friend!”
With that, Tee was dead.
Opening his eyes again, Tee found himself in Aladra, with a bit of a headache, and a sore stomach. Reaching down, he noticed that his wound had instantly cauterized, and the skin was already patching itself back together. Panicking, Tee found the Sunstone Staff still loyally hanging by his side, and the iron blade still strapped to his back. Sighing in relief, he turned to find Gab staring back at him.
“Dying, see! That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”
“Easy for you to say. You were on the other side of the pointed stick!”
Gab heartily laughed, but shrugged it off anyways. He pulled out three, deformed, dusty, black skulls from a small backpack he had slung at his side. “Well, kid, you earned these. Now then, go run along with your girlfriend. I’m sure she could help you out with this.”
Tee blushed and became as stiff as a board. He tried to complain about what Gab said, but with a whistle and a wave, he was already marching away to Crypt know’s where.
Feeling a cool breeze, Tee found that he was no longer in Aladra, but in the Ice Taiga north of Auru. Turning around, he saw a focusing Jedoi.
“Jed!”
She jumped back in surprise. “Apparently it worked. You’ve appeared!”
“Aye, apparently I have.”
Turning again, Tee saw the deformed mound of Soulsand. Placing the skulls on it, the whole room started glowing brightly. Shielding his eyes, Tee gripped his Sunstone Staff tightly. Returning his gaze, he saw the monster before him. It glared at him, but he stared back, determination blazing in his eyes.
“You want to dance? Let’s dance!”
He lunged at the monster, and dug his blade into its face. It knocked him off and blew him to the wall. Although Tee didn’t know it, Jed was chiding himself to stay out of the fight. She knew this was Tee’s fight, after all, so let him fight it.
Nodding to her reassuringly, he cast some fireballs into the thick flesh, and noticed it seemed to wince in pain. Keeping up with the fire, he pushed it into a corner, and continued to burn it. Then, Tee had a better idea. The Wither launched explosive Wither heads at Tee, but Tee stood his ground. He took his iron blade and placed it before the flames. The iron heated up to a bright orange color. Twisting it in his hand approvingly, Tee glared back at the Wither.
He ran towards it, plunging the blade far into its body. With a loud squeal, the Wither keeled over and began to die. Tee plunged his hand deep into the decaying flesh, and pulled out the sought after heart of the Wither: a Nether Star. The four-pronged star radiated a brilliant light, and pulsated a certain aura off of it. Gripping it with care, Tee turned back to Jedoi.
Holding out her hand, she said, “back to Auru, aye?”
“Aye.”
A quick travel later, and they found themselves standing in the heart of The Spire. Gathering the glass and obsidian they needed, Jed and Tee crafted a beacon. Tee gripped it tightly, and together they waltzed into the Questing Guild, pride in her apprentice flooding Jed’s face, and satisfaction flooding Tee’s.
He placed the beacon before Elyon and beamed with happiness.
“Congratulations,” she said solemnly. “Five-hundred prestige, and the title of Knight.”
Tee smiled. He had done it. He had finally done it.
***
Jed smiled at her apprentice, and gripped Wolf Rallier’s Blade as it loosely hung at her side.
“Tee, please bow down.”
Obediently, he followed her instructions. She felt heat rising to her cheeks, not because of Sunstone Staff, as he stooped below her.
As cautiously as she could, as to not cut off one of his ears, Jed brought the sword down upon each of Tee’s shoulders.
“Chronicler Tee Alduin of Auru! You have shown great dedication to the Aurulian and Asmundian cause! With great dedication, you have managed to overcome an obstacle not many have achieved before you! With the power invested in me, High King Jedoi Talongon-Avalos, I now pronounce you, an official Knight of Auru!”
Good luck, I'm excited to read it.
