Chapter 24 - Tears of the Mourning King

  As we hiked over the snowy hills, I realized with renewed worry how close we came to kicking the bucket last time.

  There was nothing else besides the Sky Circle for kilometres. In the storm, I could hardly get Talia inside that strange cave...

  I could just shake my head. An area like this required your utmost focus, that much became abundantly clear.

  No wonder that unique primary class was such a high level, hidden all the way out in a blizzard country.

  The place was deadly!

  At the very least the blizzard had passed the night before, otherwise... No, get yourself together Leo!

  Its been a few hours since we left the Sky Circle and even though the weather played along for once... I had a bad feeling slithering up my spine. And it only got worse the more we headed in that direction.

  I had to shake of the feeling as we crested a hill and Talia pointed.

  There, quite a bit below, there were great frozen lakes that stretched for a long way in each direction with a small ice junction where they joined. Just beyond it, a massive claw like rock stuck out of the snow.

  A giant face adorned its side with frozen waterfalls dropping from its eyes, clearly marking the tears of the Mourning King.

  Once at the bottom of the hill, my feet touched the ice of the one frozen lake. I paused.

  “Um, I’m not too sure I trust the integrity of the ice. Maybe go around?”

  Talia looked at me like I was an alien.

  “What’s wrong with you man, that would take hours. Buck up and let’s go,” she said slapping my back.

  A groan escaped my lips, she was certainly lively. Though I had a bad experience with icy water, I couldn’t find fault in her logic. Besides, it was in blizzard country, the ice would surely be thick enough, right?

  I tentatively strode forward, only to see Talia march with determination across the ice.

  Finally I sighed and moved closer to her pace.

  She spent a lot of time in this icy zone.

  Though, the sounds of creaking ice below us wore on my nerves.

  Crunch

  Creeeak

  As we got closer to the middle of the junction section between the two lakes. The sounds multiplied. Sounding more pronounced.

  Creaaaak, Twaaaang,

  Creeeek

  Just like that, that sweating mechanic started kicking in again. I felt droplets tumbling down my forehead and a pure groan of frustration puffed out of my lips.

  Strangely enough, my irritation at the completely unnecessary mechanic kept my nervousness from boiling over.

  Then, without warning. My feet stepped into snow.

  I looked down in surprise and realized we had gone all the way across. I cheerfully walked towards Talia.

  That is until I saw her very concerned face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The entrance... it is open.” She said in a daze, her eyes wide as saucers.

  Sure enough, there was a pathway that led deeper into the rock face and it was completely unobstructed. As I stepped closer, I saw a symbol on the side of the doorway between the two frozen waterfalls.

  It was of a spear with a unique head being thrust into the door.

  Ah…

  That explains why the gremlins had been looking for the spear. It was the key. But... what were they after?

  “Come, at least we can enter.” I said to a visibly shaken Talia.

  Like coming out of a trance, she shook her head and followed me as we started down the walkway down into what clearly was a dungeon. Down the rocky pathway, multitudes of claw marks and trace reminded us that we were most probably not alone.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  I was thinking about using gale sense. But, the moment I did, I realized that wind needed to be present for it to work. Right then, there was nothing, not even a tiny breeze.

  The ruins around us seemed old. But something struck me as we continued in the downward spiral through the doors.

  Each door were reinforced from only one side. Like the whole place was built to keep something in, rather than out.

  That slithering feeling up my spine? Well it was working overtime.

  As we went down our third set of spiralling staircases, we entered into a hall. It had murals on the wall. The paint cracked at some places and some had collapsed over time.

  But something tugged at me to study them.

  The first was of a city, the markets all peaceful and merry.

  The second changed that. There was a group of explorers seeking riches. They went into a swampy ruin, not caring what they did. Something must have happened as their bodies lay on the floor, only one escaped.

  A chain laid broken. But following that, a large creature rose up out of a lake and with an army of what looked like gremlins. Thus the invasion of the city started in full. The utter chaos of the pictures gripped me. But I couldn’t stop looking...

  The next showed a group of warriors leading the monster away from the city.

  A few murals were too broken to make out. But the next showed a figure embracing a crystal of cold and it enveloped all the lands in ice.

  The lakes froze and blizzards swept the plains. The city, once beautiful with its tall trees and many gardens, were consumed by ice storms.

  I picked up a fallen chunk of the mural. On it, the monster was chained and frozen.

  Then I heard sobs.

  I looked towards Talia, tears were running down her face.

  “They...we caused this. We awakened the beast and its army. And the only way to stop its rampage was this crystal... What does it mean, Leo? Are we cursed to stay in this frozen wasteland for the rest of our lives?!!”

  Her voice cracked but a fierceness tinted each word. Tears flowing freely down her face.

  I grabbed her and held her in a hug as she sobbed.

  It remained true. Her plight was my plight. And it reminded me of how utterly different she was from all other NPCs. Yet... I still couldn’t place her as an Adventurer, like me. There was something different about her.

  After several minutes, she pushed away and wiped at her tears.

  “Forgive me... I...” She said sombrely.

  “Don’t be sorry. I can fully understand why you think that... But, nothing about this is set in stone. One thing you have to remember, there is always a way.” I said gripping my sword.

  “You are right.” She said with a big sigh. “There is no use in giving up.”

  “Now, that is the Talia I know.”

  A small smile splayed her cherry lips.

  With that I held out my hand and she shook it.

  “Let’s get going then. We have a monster to fight.” I said.

  Saying it was one thing, but going through this icy prison was causing nothing but anxious tension.

  As we got to the end of the massive hallway, a huge door stood ajar. But nothing moved anywhere... and that was partly of what was creeping me out. Sure, we had killed the ice embraced gremlins before, however, they were busy releasing a boss level monster.

  I gulped as images of me respawning over and over previously to tackle high level bosses. But now... I didn’t know what kicking the bucket meant with everything going on outside.

  Talia looked at me and I just shook my head. No need to make her even more nervous.

  Then the rough tunnel lead to a stone hallway that circled in two opposite directions. It was not ideal to have a split in the road. But, I saw a blue glow coming from both sides, so it probably led to the same place, probably.

  As I started to the left, Talia called.

  I turned and saw her motion into a room I had almost missed.

  Inside, there was several tables with cups and plates scattered about. An open door to the left revealed a long row of beds covered in frost and cobwebs. It made my thoughts a reality.

  This had been a barracks, the whole complex seemed to be a fortress of some sort. Long forgotten, sure, but, it was a place for warriors.

  As Talia was poking about in the cupboards, I walked into the barracks. There were locked chests all over the place, and before I would have stopped to check if I can pick a lot of them. But, we were both on a timer.

  Talia, because the gremlins were trying to release a giant monster into her world.

  And me, well... it was already 5 days in game since I landed in that snow patch. I desperately needed to get to a city, to at least check in with the other two.

  It crawled in me to just leave those chests untouched...

  Yet... I took a deep breath and rather stepped to the room behind bars.

  As I looked inside, there were a small sword, a dagger and two shields. From what I could see.

  An Armory!

  Well, that warranted a quick detour.

  “Hey, Talia! Come help me here.” I called back into the other room.

  She quickly came in towards me.

  “What did you find?”

  “An Armory. There are bound to be some weapons we might be able to use. Help me remove the hinges.”

  They were old, and as we pushed. A loud Creeeeak sounded, and the first one gave out. And as I hit the last one with my sword’s hilt, I gave the bars a small kick and the barred door swung free.

  I was just about to walk in-

  Ping!

  Curious, I tapped the icon.

  [Congrats! You started walking down the path of the great door kicker!]

  +3 Grip

  +3 Muscle memory

  A vein throbbed in my neck. That frikken...

  I shrugged as Talia looked at me with a frown.

  Just let it go, Leo... just let it go.

  I took a breath and stepped inside.

  The armory didn’t have much to it, but I picked up the shields and gave one to Talia. I already had a sword that was much better than the one on the shelf, but it would do for Talia.

  She gave it a few swirls. “It’s a good weapon, the balance is a bit on the back, but it is better than anything they sell in Frosgard.”

  “Good to know, we will definitely need all the help we can get.” I said, equipping the shield and sliding the dagger into its sheath and locking it in place on my belt.

  Identify.

  [Gravel Edge Shield][Uncommon]

  A shield that once belonged to the captain of the River Guard. It’s sides are filled with polished river stone gravel. This technique is unique to the River Guard, and carries its own secrets.

  Rune Slot[...]

  Blocks 70 damage when held up

  +10 Toughness

  +10 Resistance

  Durability 850/850

  [???]

  [Swamp Dagger][Uncommon]

  A dagger from the swamp forts of Sturm Tsadar. It is a very old blade, yet the edge is still very sharp.

  Rune slots[...][...]

  +5% Attack Damage

  +1% To cause bleeding.

  Sturm Tsadar... where have I heard that name before? I tried and tried, but nothing came to mind--

  A raw guttural roar sounded. Reverberating through the hallways.

  “It has woken...” Talia said gravely.

  -