“And then, when I get there, I’ll find out more about this world.. Yes, off to Eryndral I go!” Aldric murmured to himself, his excitement peaking way past its limits.

  He swiftly followed the trail, his speed picking up faster as he went on. He knew the only way to figure out what was going on was to keep running—to reach Eryndral.

  “What.. What the hell is that thing!” Aldric nearly puked at the sight of a small, green creature with pointy ears feasting on something.

  If that was the only thing about it, there was no need for his reaction; but something about it was way worse—it’s face.

  It had bestial eyes, a large hooked nose, and a large mouth. And to top it all off, it stank like shit. It was a goblin.

  Aldric slowly backed off, his eyes darting between the goblin and the way he came from, he was fully aware and prepared to back off at any type of movement from the goblin.

  Suddenly, Aldric locked eyes with the goblin. He noticed that the goblins pupils were dilated and its eyes were bloodshot.

  There’s something wrong with it!

  Aldric backed off slowly before sprinting away. “Help! Someone help!” His voice echoed through the forest, a couple of birds took off because of it.

  The goblin jumped up and ran after Aldric, while spitting saliva everywhere with its tongue out.

  It was obviously far faster than Aldric, since it had already reached within 5 meters of him and was slowly getting ready to leap onto his back.

  As it made its jump, Aldric swiftly turned around and hit a right hook deftly to its face.

  The goblin fell onto the dirt and started screaming its lungs out, only to be silenced by a stomp to its head.

  “What.. What’s wrong with it?” Aldric slowly approached the place where the goblin was feasting, uncovering the bush to find small, glowing purple mushrooms.

  “M-mushrooms? Was it eating this?” Aldric picked up a couple of them, bringing them close to his eye and slowly inspecting them..

  Hunger

  Aldric started trembling, his stomach growling as a strong sense of hunger overtook his thoughts. He quickly stuffed himself with the mushrooms, with each one he grew more satisfied.

  Aldric groaned. “My stomach, it hurts!”

  His heart rate slowly increased, his eyes darted around at the surrounding trees.

  He watched as the trees slowly morphed into laughing faces. “What was in those mushrooms?”

  He tries going to sleep, but his eyes just won’t close. “I need.. I need help!” He spots a grotesque monster and approaches it, but it backs away. “Help me!” He calls out to the monster.

  Eryndral, an ethereal kingdom of trade, known for its 3 noble clans, VeridonEmberthane, AeloriaEryndral

  The wind picked up, blowing a somber breeze through a courtyard, a courtyard of the Veridon clan to be exact.

  A luxuriously dressed boy wipes his bloody nose, then spits on the ground. “H-how dare you! I’ll have to tell my father about this, about how you could do such a thing to this Young Master!” A grim look was drawn on his face.

  The crowd witnessing this spectacle were shocked, different expressions reigned across the different nobles gathered. Some had amused expressions, whilst others had faces of anger and sympathy.

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  “How dare he hit Young Master Tharion?”

  “That’s what happens when you try to steal Young Master Draven’s lady.”

  A huge commotion arises among the masses, like a spark being ignited.

  “Silence!” Draven’s voice boomed across the courtyard. “Since you want Young Mistress Seraphina’s heart so bad, how about a duel—to the death, to decide who claims her as one’s wife.”

  A collection of gasps and murmurs spread throughout the noble crowd, before a loud commotion arises.

  Tharion looks around hesitantly, his eyes darting between the opposite clan’s judgemental and arrogant looks, and his own clan’s worrying and baleful looks.

  “I-I accept your challenge! Bring out the contract” Tharion gulps, wondering if his face is really worth his life.

  “Heh, thought you would back out ‘Coward of the nobles’” Draven mocks, before calling a servant and handing a contract to Tharion.

  Tharion grabs a pen from a nearby noble, and slowly signs his name off.

  “Stop! At once!”

  A stout man breathlessly sprints towards Tharion, his fat jiggling in sync with his short breaths. “Don’t sign it!”

  But it was too late. As Tharion made the last curve and wrote off his name in the contract, signaling that the duel was to take place a week later.

  The fat man grabs Tharion’s shoulder, shaking him roughly. “Why! Why would you sign it, even knowing Draven’s strength!”

  Draven smirked at the man.

  “Why, if it isn’t Lord Veridon, coming to check on your son? Well it’s too late—he’s already signed off on his life.”

  The man dropped to his knees, clutching at his heart. “This was all my fault.. For spoiling you all these years!” He stared at Draven, his eyes bloodshot.

  “This was all the plot of Thaddeus, wasn’t it? All because of that goddamn auction!” The man points at the smirking Draven.

  “Who knows? Maybe… Or maybe it’s because of your son’s arrogance. As they say, arrogance is the death of wisdom.” Draven walks off with the rest of his clanmates.

  The news spread like wildfire throughout the kingdom, with a decree from the royal family saying that they will go through with the duel only serving to fuel the fire.

  “Heh, right before the Golden Gate auction… It was Thaddeus, that old dog.”

  An exceedingly obese man sits atop a golden throne, surrounded by beautiful young women and jewelry draped across his body, especially the total of 40 golden rings on his fingers.

  “Kukukuku… Taking out the competition for us, eh? What a good boy.” A skinny old man sits atop a wooden crate, a newspaper spread across his lap. “Serves that bastard right.”

  A carriage makes its way towards Eryndral, laughter emanating from within.

  “Young Mistress! Come take a look at this.” A servant rushes up, his breaths coming in short. “That man who was pursuing you, he signed off on his death.” He couldn’t hold his laughter anymore and let it all out.

  The young lady sighs. “I’ve already given him signs of rejection… Why couldn’t he just move on?”

  The carriage arrives at the gates of Eryndral, and a guard rushes up to the carriage and bows down.

  “Young Mistress Seraphina of the Darkmoor clan has arrived!” The guard shouts.

  The gate opens and the carriage makes its way through, the horses look around arrogantly.

  “Haha, my old friend Thaddeus.” A middle aged man with blonde locks grins and puts down his cup of tea. “You really did that? All for an auction?”

  Thaddeus, who was sitting opposite to the middle aged man, takes a sip of his cup of tea and puts it down, before speaking.

  “Nonsense. Those are all rumours, why would I target the son of Cedric? They were obviously made to discredit me.” He waves his hand and stands up.

  “Well, I’ll get going now.” He turns to leave.

  “Haha, busy as always.” The darkskinned man looks up at Thaddeus, before pulling a leather book out of his bag and handing it out to him.

  “The Arcanum of Aristos: Volume 2, like you asked.” Then, with a puff of dark smoke, he disappears, leaving the book on the table.”

  “Always gets the job done… Whether you like it or not.” Thaddeus sighs before walking away, leaving the room in a silence.

  “Master! Master! Have you heard the news? Those noble dogs got into a war or whatnot!” A young boy wearing oversized robes jumps up and down, his mere presence giving a sense of annoyance.

  “Sit down boy! And they’re not getting into a war! It’s just a fad! Get the commoners going! All bullshit!” An old man spits, fixing his pointy hat and adjusting his robes.

  “R-really master? This whole time they were lying to us?” The boy has a look of revelation on his face.

  “Yes! Now did you get an appropriate talisman like I asked you to? Not a cheap fake like last time?” The old man looks sternly at the boy.

  “Not… I forgot, master, I’m sorry! I’ll go get it right now” The boy dashes out of the room, following the old man’s angry yelling.

  And when all is said and done, as chaos rises, slowly but surely—a man makes his way into the swirling whirlpool.

  “I said… I already told you, my name is Aldric Bane.. Why can’t you just listen to me?”

  Aldric walks atop a hill, following the grotesque monster. His voice was disregarded by the being.

  As he finally reaches the top, he sees the outline of a kingdom.

  “Direction? Ogre? Point? Purpose? A revelation! My journey continues!” Aldric dashes towards Eryndral, his interest piqued at the sight.