Issue #7-Chapter 11: The Quest Begins

After walking for a while, Arwen and I searched for the place to rest up for the night and we failed to find any so far. Pain began to dominate my feet and legs, and my dejected face grew tired from all that walking.

I noticed Arwen looked everywhere for it, but couldn't find it either. I could tell her face was tired too, yet she didn't look like she wanted to give up.

Man…how long will I keep walking for? My legs and feet are tired and there's literally no way to find a resting place.

We were glad no demon showed up to kill us both, because that would be unfortunate if that were the case. Hearing nothing but cricket and owl sounds in the woods, I turned to the silver moon and saw it shined its light upon Mysteria, with the tree branches kind of in my way.

The chilly air entered my nose and hitted my skin. I shivered and felt some goosebumps on my skin, when I realized I didn't have a coat on me.

Damn! I should've just bought the coat with me back in Basilia earlier. It's too late now.

As the night went on though, the colder it got. It wasn't like it was freezing cold like winter would, yet it was still cold nonetheless.

When I turned to Arwen, I noticed her crossed her arms and still looked around, shivering from the chilly wind. I felt like I wasn't alone without a coat.

"So Arwen," I said.

Arwen turned her head to me. "Yes?"

"Have you found a place to rest yet?"

"Um…no, not so far?" Arwen answered. "How about you?"

"No, I haven't found it either, but I'm still lookin' though."

"Alright, well, let me know

I looked everywhere for the resting place with Arwen and couldn't find any, no matter how desperate my mind wanted to find it. I was just too tired to even search for it, with the pain in my feet and legs now getting worse than ever before. I just couldn't do it.

Yet when I no longer heard Arwen's footsteps, I didn't notice it at first until I bumped into her. "Ah!" Arwen quickly turned to me while I turned back to her.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention back there," I said.

Arwen grinned at me. "No worries." She pointed at something to her left. "Looks like that is going to be our sleeping place."

I turned left and saw a cave and darkness within it staring at us. Silence never echoed from there, just the cricket and the owl sounds as earlier.

Shivering a bit, I raised my eyebrow at the cave and turned back to Arwen. "Uh, are you sure this is the right place to sleep? Like, shouldn't we find another place to sleep?"

Arwen turned to my attention. "What's the matter, Mike? Are you afraid of the dark?"

I gave her my annoyed face. "What? No, no! Darkness isn't my complaint here. What makes you say that?!"

"Curious, if it's not darkness, then what are you so afraid of then?" Arwen questioned.

"Bats, that's what. I don't want to catch rabies from those things, you know."

"Ah, I see." Arwen turned back to the cave and circled her hand around her orb.

She made it glow white to light up the cave inside. It looked a bit rough and rocky on the inside.

She walked forward and held it up in the air, since the cave was huge. "I'll go check for bats then. If I found none, I'll tell you to enter, got it?"

"Hey now, wait a minute. Don't jus'-" I put my hand out while I tried to stop her.

Arwen stopped moving and smiled at me. "Don't worry, Mike. If bats try to get me, I'll use my magical forcefield to prevent them from getting me. I'll shout for you to duck them once they one towards you. I'll be fine."

I thought about it for a moment before I turned to Arwen. "Okay, got it."

"Good, you finally understood," Arwen said as she turned around again and entered the cave. The footsteps echoed inside it, causing me to shiver a bit more and more.

Oh, man. Those footsteps though, bro…I really hope they didn't attack some bats to exit that cave.

I stood there for a while and saw no bat in sight so far, so good. Fear died down a bit in my mind.

I smiled at the prospect of not seeing any bats around at all. Ah, good. No bat in sight. That's good. Which means Arwen and I would probably sleep in there until morning after all.

With the footsteps echoing out of the cave, I gasped and grinned with my mouth open. Alright, Arwen's comin' out of that cave. Ohhh, I can feel it in my bones.

Served me right, Arwen exited from the cave unharmed. "The cave is clear of bats."

"Great! Let's rest up, 'cause I'm tired as all get out." I entered the cave and yawned with my mouth covered.

When we laid down on the ground, Arwen looked me in the eye. "So Mike."

I turned to her back. "Huh?"

"Before we begin our journey, we're going to find the ancient, magical blade that is currently deep in the underground," Arwen explained.

"'The ancient, magical blade?'" I asked with my eyebrow raised.

"Yes, that one. Perhaps I should tell you this story." Arwen looked up at the ceiling, placing her finger on her chin. "If I remember correctly, the legend says long ago, there was a black smith was resting in a desert cave from his journey back to Basilia. He discovered the glowing green rocks called Khloridon."

"'Khloridon,' huh?"

"Yes, Khloridon. He took home a couple of them after he thought of making a sword for the Basilia king who trusted him to make. He made that sword from those rocks once he returned and gifted it to the king in secret. The king was so impressed, he wanted to use it to destroy his enemies in a hundred years war and take over Mysteria for himself.

"But the enemy spy heard it and reported it to his kingdom of the sword, killing the king to take it from him. The same black smith fought and murdered the spy.

"He wanted to give the sword to his sons, yet they were cruel, unpopular rulers throughout Basilia. Enemy kingdoms knew about the sword that the black smith snuck out of the kingdom and just hid the sword in the same cave as he found the Khloridon rocks from, so that no one would find it as he regretted making that sword to begin with.

"So no one found the sword, even after the hundred year war, until the last hero and his party found it to defeat the dark lord. He fought well and journeyed at first, yet he grew tired of the heroic deeds that he threw it in the hole somewhere in the Red Plains and gave up to enjoy life that he really wanted, without anyone knowing."

"Wait a minute!" I interrupted, "Is that the same hero who you told me he quit earlier?"

Arwen nodded. "Yes…that was him."

Figures.

"The party tried to persuade the hero to find the sword and get going, yet he refused to do so. The party wanted to know where he put the sword, but he refused to even answer and left. The party searched everywhere for that sword but…"

Arwen put her head down and sniffed her nose. She clenched her fists and her teardrop rained on one of them.

I frowned when I looked her in the eye, calling her name. I moved my way towards her to grab onto her arms. "Are you okay?"

Arwen lifted up her head and smiled at me. She sniffed her nose and wiped her tears off of her eyes. "Yes…yes, I am, Mike."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Now where was I?"

"You left off with a 'but…'"

"Oh, yes! How can I almost forget about that?! They all died from demons trying to find it."

"And you were part of his party."

Arwen nodded once more. "Yes…"

"Arwen…I'm so sorry…It's alright." I hugged her. "It's alright, Arwen."

Arwen didn't even hug me back. Not at all. She just stared at the wall with her widened eyes. Of course, that didn't bother me. I just gazed at and glared at the wall.

So that bastard was no longer interested in savin' the world, huh? He selfishly dumps the sword into some hole and abandons his quest to do his own thing?! I'll never forget what he did to Arwen and the rest of the party. I'm goin' to go get that sword, and when I do, I'm going to find him and pay him pay.

"Mike, promise me one thing," Arwen said as she broke up the hug.

I looked down at her. "Anything."

She looked up at me with her serious face. "Never quit like that last hero! If you do, I swear I'll curse you and never forgive you like I did to him! I have no idea about his whereabouts nowadays, but I hope by the gods he gets the punishment that he deserves."

"Oh, don't worry, Arwen. I promise I'll never abandon this quest, for real."

Arwen smiled. "You better."

"I will, now let's go get some sleep for our journey to the Red Plains, 'cause we got a sword to find."

Arwen shook her head. "Right!"

So we separated ourselves from one another and laid back down. We finally closed our eyes to prepare our bodies for our next stop to the Red Plains.