Eluthera

Kerkus drives the carriage southward along the main road.

The road is cracked and broken in many places and is covered in debris from falling rocks and trees.

As they make their way to Eluthera, they pass through several small villages and towns.

The farther they travel, the more Cyrus notices how the lands around them seem to be in a state of disrepair and most of the buildings look to be in ruins.

"Why is everything in such bad shape? Is there some sort of problem?" Cyrus asks.

"It's all because of this war. Any and all civilians were forced into participating in this meaningless war.And any of the people that were left behind had to scavenge for anything that they can find in order to survive. All of their resources have been depleted." Elaine explains.

The closer that they get to Eluthera, the more Cyrus notices how the landscape around them changes.

Dry grasses and shrubs appear to grow everywhere. There doesn't seem to be any form of vegetation near the city proper.

Soon enough, they arrive at a small town that appears to be built on top of a hill overlooking Eluthera itself.

Kerkus stops the carriage at a nearby inn and informs them that they will be taking a rest here for the night.

"I'll leave you two here for now.We will continue towards Eluthera tomorrow morning. Goodnight." Kerkus says as he shuts the door and leaves them alone.

"Looks like we have some time to ourselves. You want to grab something to eat?" Elaine suggests.

"Sure. I was beginning to feel hungry anyways." Cyrus says.

"Alright, Follow me." Elaine says as she heads towards the inn.

They walk inside and take one of the tables near the entrance. The inn has only a few patrons inside and no one seems to be paying them much attention.

"This place looks pretty rundown." Cyrus comments.

"That's because they most likely don't get many customers. Most people prefer to stay within the city walls instead of travelling." Elaine replies.

They order some food and drinks and sit down to enjoy their meal.

"You know, you still haven't told me what your plan is to fix this story." Cyrus says.

Elaine takes a sip of her drink.

"Since you asked, I guess I'll tell you. I'm sure your aware of the power held within the board that my father wants you to reconstruct. I plan to use that power to set things right by forcing him to surrender to the black kings kingdom. It would have been fine for you to do this alone but the board is only able to be activated using royal blood. That's why I will be travelling alongside you. you will help me get all of the pieces first so that I can get the board working." Elaine responds.

"That's quite a bold plan you have there. But I can understand the importance of achieving this goal. I't might take a while but I'm sure that we can pull this off." Cyrus replies.

They finish eating their dinner and spend the rest of the evening talking.

The next morning, Kerkus comes by to pick them up and drive them to the gates of Eluthera.

The town appears to be very prosperous. There is a large stone wall surrounding the entire city with numerous watchtowers lining the outer edge. They pass through the main gate and make their way inside.

"Welcome to Eluthera." Kerkus says as he drives his carriage into town.

The interior of the city appears to be modernized and well taken care of. The streets are paved with smooth cobblestone and lined with large buildings made out of brick.

"Wow, Everything looks so clean and tidy here." Cyrus says.

"That's mostly due to the fact that Eluthera has stayed neutral in the war between the kings. They've chosen to avoid getting involved altogether. That's why this city remains largely untouched by the war." Elaine explains.

As they approach the center of town, they come upon a large plaza. Numerous people are gathered around a statue of a large winged creature with a crown perched atop its head.

"What's that?" Cyrus asks.

"That's the symbol of the royal family. It's a depiction of the spirit of the land itself." Elaine replies.

The crowd around the statue is growing larger as more people gather to witness the ceremony.

"Looks like the king is about to arrive." Elaine says.

A group of soldiers dressed in full armour make their way towards the statue.

The crowd begins to get louder as they notice the approaching troops.

The soldiers halt at the base of the pedestal and salute the statue.

"Oh, it's the king!" someone yells.

The soldiers take their seats on the ground and wait for the king to arrive.

"King Asher, the city welcomes you!" The voices echo throughout the plaza.

Slowly, the king makes his way toward the statue.

He walks down the steps and kneels before the statue.

"Thank you all for coming. I'm sure that you're all eager to hear what I have to say. But first, let us pay tribute to the spirits that protect this land." Asher says as he places a hand over his chest.

Standing by the King Asher's side is a woman wearing a set of red plated armour. She has long flowing brown hair and dark skin.

"That's the woman your looking for" Elaine whispers to Cyrus.

"That's The owner of the Red Rook piece. The leader of the Royal Guard. They were once known as the Golden Knight Order. But after the events that transpired centuries ago, the order was disbanded and replaced with the current Royal Guard. They are the elite force of the country and are trained for combat situations. They are also a part of the royal family itself." Elaine continues.

"I see. So how am I going to get her to hand over her piece?" Cyrus asks.

"Well, The best way would be to capture it from her directly. But that's not going to be easy. I don't think it's possible without exposing yourself to danger. She's no pushover." Elaine explains.

The king gets back up and begins addressing the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid that I have some disturbing news to share with you today. It has recently come to my attention that our nation is under attack by an unknown foe. It was only a matter of time before they would strike at our nation. The reason why I bring this to your attention is to inform you of the seriousness of the situation. We must remain vigilant and work together to ensure the safety of our city. Our enemies are cunning and dangerous and are capable of causing great harm to our city. But I assure you that we shall overcome this threat and prevail." On our side we have the jewel of our kingdom, Dianna. With her guidance we will keep our great nation safe and well protected against these invaders. All I ask is for the people of this nation to put their faith in our Royal Knights. They will not fail us. Together, we shall triumph over this enemy. Thank you."

The crowd cheers and applauds.

"So what does this mean for us?" Cyrus asks.

"This might be a blessing in disguise." Elaine says.

"What do you mean?" Cyrus asks.

"Well, if we take advantage of these so called invaders we could use them to get a hold on the Red rook. If we solve this little problem for them we could use that chance to negotiate for the piece." Elaine explains.

Cyrus nods his head.

"Seems like a good idea. We just need to figure out who they are exactly."

[Task Accepted: Solve the mystery in Eluthera]

[Reward: Dianna's favor]

"Let's go check around and see if anyone has seen or heard anything about them." Elaine suggests.

"Where should we start?" Cyrus asks.

"I think we should try to talk to the common folk. They may have useful information. Plus they won't be suspicious towards us if were just asking about gossip." Elaine replies.

They begin walking towards the nearest market stalls. A number of people are haggling over prices and making deals.

"Excuse me, Have you seen anything strange lately?" Cyrus asks a young man.

He looks to be in his mid-twenties. He wears a simple tunic, trousers and sandals. His brown hair is tied back in a ponytail and his face is covered in stubble.

"Strange? What do you mean by that?" The man asks curiously.

"Have you seen anything unusual or out of place in the last couple of weeks?" Cyrus replies.

The young man scratches the back of his neck and thinks for a moment.

"I haven't noticed anything but I have a friend that claims that there are creatures lurking around town at night. She believes that they're some kind of bug." He replies.

"Do you think that's true?" Cyrus asks.

"I think she's probably just seeing things. I've never seen anything like that around here myself. I'd definitely believe it more if I saw those creatures for myself." He replies with a laugh.

"Hmm, alright then. Thanks for your help." Cyrus says as he turns towards Elaine.

"Let's move on." Elaine says.

They walk across the square and begin asking questions to a few more people.

"Not many people seem to be aware of the danger they are in around here." Cyrus says.

"Exactly. Maybe the army is keeping everything under wraps." Elaine says. "But we did get a bit of useful info from a couple of them. Its seems like there's an infestation of large insects in the town. The surprising part is how few people have actually seen them. If they are as big as the witnesses say they are, it would be hard to miss them. But none of the people we spoke to had any clue as to where they came from."

"I guess that means that we'll have to find out for ourselves." Cyrus says.

"Yeah, I know. Let's hope that this isn't too difficult." Elaine replies.

The two continue their search through the market stalls and eventually finish speaking with the last person in the market.

"There's nothing else that we can do here. Lets move on to the next area." Elaine says.

They decide to split up and cover more ground.

"Alright, I'll take this side of town and you look over there." Cyrus says.

"All right. We can meet back here in an hour." Elaine says.

They separate and begin asking people around the town. Cyrus speaks to a number of people but is unable to find anything new.

After an hour, they both return to the central market plaza.

"No luck?" Elaine asks.

"It's hopeless. Everyone keeps claiming that they haven't seen anything unusual. No one seems to have any clue what's going on." Cyrus replies.

Elaine sighs and shakes her head. "Well at least I was able to find some good news. One man claimed to have actually seen a swarm of the creatures Heading underground. He said that they were heading towards the sewers."

"Sounds like a solid lead. We should follow him. It's not like we have any other clues." Cyrus says.

"Agreed. Let's go take a look." Elaine says as they both head to the man who originally spotted the creatures.

***

The man leads them through a number of doorways and tunnels until they reach a long set of ladders.

"This is it." He says as they stop at the entrance. "This is as far as I'm willing to go, It's already dangerous enough for me to be this close."

There is a ladder leading down into darkness.

"If you want to find out more than what I know, you'll have to go down there yourself." The man says.

"Alright then. We'll see you later." Cyrus says.

"Good luck." The man replies.

Cyrus and Elaine climb down the ladder and enter the tunnel. As they descend deeper into the earth, the air grows colder and the light becomes dimmer. The ceiling above them is made of rough stone blocks. The walls are covered with moss and dirt, and the floor is littered with pieces of trash and refuse along with a smell of decay.

"Ugh, what is that awful stench?" Elaine asks.

"Probably some kind of sewage. Or maybe something worse." Cyrus replies.

"I wish that I hadn't decided to come down here." Elaine says as she clutches her nose.

Cyrus uses his magic to create a light in his hand as they continue down the tunnel and eventually reach a fork.

"Which way should we go?" Elaine asks.

Cyrus hesitates for a second before turning left.

"I don't really know. Let's just keep moving." He says.

They turn down the corridor and eventually come to a large open area. There are several other exits branching off from this point but they are all blocked with heavy rubble.

As they look around, they notice that the ground is covered in a strange oozing substance. It appears to be some sort of thick clay-like material.

Cyrus kneels down and touches the substance.

"Wow, this stuff feels weird." He says as he traces his finger over it.

Elaine takes a step forward and reaches out to touch it as well.

"It's sticky!" She exclaims.

She pulls her hand away and wipes the substance off on Cyrus's clothes.

Hearing a rattling sound, Cyrus pulls Elaine down behind some rubble.

The sound continues and the two crouch down and wait for whatever it is to appear.

Soon a group of large insects around the size of a small child appear around the corner. They are covered in dark grey carapaces and have six legs each. Each leg has three claws and Their body is covered in a layer of thin armour. They have large compound eyes and antennae.

One of the creatures scuttles forward and stops in front of them. They are huge and intimidating.

"Uh oh." Elaine whispers.

The creature raises its clawed hands and makes a loud clicking noise while cocking its head to the side.

A moment later, the others begin to make their appearance as they move in unison towards the two.

The creatures become agitated as they raise their arms and clack their mouths.

They begin pushing their way through the debris blocking their path.

Drawing his sword, Cyrus jumps to his feet and prepares himself for battle.

The creatures move closer and closer as they keep making their clicking noises.

"Now or never." Cyrus says quietly as he readies his blade.

In response, one of the creatures steps forwards with its claws raised. Cyrus swings his sword and slices through its upper half. It releases a high pitched shriek and falls to the ground.

Another creature charges towards Cyrus, but he parries its attack with his sword and stabs it in the chest, piercing through its armour and into its insides.

"You might want to back up a bit," Cyrus shouts to Elaine.

The creatures start making clicking sounds before gathering together and charging Cyrus at once.

He dodges their attacks and backs away from them as they ram into the wall causing the ground to shake.

The creatures continue Charging at him over and as Cyrus swiftly dodges and chips away at the bugs on each pass.

One of them manages to push past him and it attempts to swat him with its clawed hands. Cyrus quickly spins around and uses his blade to block the attack. He then swipes at the creature's leg with his sword, cutting it off at the knee joint.

The creature lets out a scream and drops to the ground as it begins bleeding out onto the ground below.

Cyrus breathes heavily but he continues to fight as the rest of the creatures gather around him.

He narrowly avoids a clawed hand reaching out for his face and slices off its arm. Another creature tries to grab his shoulder, but he uses his light to blind it before kicking it backwards.

He continues fighting until finally the last of the creatures is defeated.

As he stands up, he notices that Elaine is messing around with some of the bodies lying on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Cyrus asks.

"I was just having fun." She replies.

He sighs and walks over to her.

"We need to get out of here. Those things are dangerous and could easily attack us again. We need to go back the way we came. and hand this information over to the knights." He says.

"Okay. Come on." Elaine says as she picks up a piece and starts walking.

Cyrus follows her and they climb back up the ladder and exit the sewer.

They return to the market square and find that the sun has almost set.

"Looks like we're a little late." Elaine says.

"Yeah, I guess so." Cyrus replies as he rubs his eyes. "I didn't think we spent that long down there. Lets see if we can talk to one of the knight and then we can take a quick break. We cant really find a place to stay while carrying that leg now, can we? Wait here for me, It shouldn't take me long." Cyrus says while taking the insect leg from Elaine and vanishing into his shadow.

Elaine sighs and sits down on a bench.

She looks around and sees that the market is starting to close. Only a few merchants still remain, packing up their stalls and loading their wares into carts. "A quick bite wouldn't hurt."

Cyrus reappears atop large courtyard filled with training targets and wooden swords. Running along the rooftops he spots multiple patrolling guards.

'Come on. Shes gotta be around here somewhere." He says while searching the castle grounds.

After a short time, he finds her standing over a balcony overlooking the training yard. She seems to be enjoying the view as she watches the soldiers sparring with each other.

Cyrus runs across the roofs and jumps onto balcony beside her but before his feet can touch the ground hes slammed into the wall.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She shouts while pinning him to the wall.

"I was just...um.." Cyrus stutters.

"Don't bother trying to lie to me. You're not allowed to come up here without permission." She says.

Cyrus shakes his head. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to scare you. I just had some information for you regarding your invasion problem. I'd love to share it with you." Cyrus lifts up the leg in his hand to show her.

She glances down and looks at the creature's leg and slams him onto the ground. "That's disgusting."

"Umm...well...the thing is...you see..." Cyrus stammers.

"Just spit it out." Elaine says impatiently.

"Well...this isn't exactly the best way to talk about this. Maybe you could let me go first? This is about the creatures you're trying to stop? That's why I'm here. To help you stop them." Cyrus says.

Elaine stares at the leg in his hand once more before throwing him against the wall and letting him slide down. "Fine. Go ahead."

"Hehe. Thanks. Well let me first introduce myself. My name is Cyrus, and I'm here to help put an end to the war taking place around your kingdom.