The Village

A large wall made of wood, with a big gate in the center of it.

That's the first thing Loudvik saw after getting out of the woods, he could also see some figures standing in front of the gate with iron armor.

As he approached they got on guard.

"Who are you?"

He had to think of a name, based on their language and Dominic's name they'd probably find his name extremely suspicious if he said it as is.

"I'm Grim, my clan is very secretive and lives in the woods I am here requesting to pass with some bad news."

They looked at him and got suspicious, his clothes seemed extremely odd for someone who lived in the woods and so, they questioned.

"Can you prove you're not a shapeshifter first? And what's this fuss about bad news? Are you trying to put our people in panic?"

Loudvik quickly nodded.

"I understand your suspicions, Dominic is dead."

They were shocked, and as he said those last 3 words they turned pale.

"Dominic can't be dead!" One of them said, "He was our strongest adventurer! There's no way he's dead!"

"Hold on." The other responded, "What evidence do you have for that statement?"

Loudvik told them a story detailing how he was fighting a high-ranking demon but Dominic jumped in to save him heavily killing the demon and getting mortally wounded himself.

The guards were in shock, a high-ranking demon close to the village could only mean that they're planning an invasion soon.

"You can pass, but we have to take you to our lord first."

As they walk into the city, Loudvik notices that the streets are empty with no life in them.

He passes by one or two people but there are no stands and it starts to pique his interest.

"So where are all the people?"

The guards look at each other and then look at him.

"Well, don't you know? Everyone is scared and stressed because no merchants are coming into the city. That's why Dominic had left, he went to investigate."

They kept walking further and soon arrived at the Lord's house.

One of the guards goes first and then returns to say. "The Lord has authorized your entrance."

They go into a very luxurious mansion. They pass first through the garden with many blue and purple flowers, on the center there was a fountain that didn't have any holes in it, water just spontaneously went up.

"Nova, what the hell is that?" Loudvik asks.

"According to my analysis, there is a magnetic force forcing the water up."

Loudvik then still conflicted with the responses asks the guards how that works.

"Do you not have magic stones in your village? It's a wind magic stone forcing the water up by blowing wind, it's a huge pain to replace though but the Lord likes it so we replace it every month or so."

This is very intriguing, the concept of a magic stone is something unknown, perhaps this world has more mysteries than he ever thought.

As he was pondering about the inner workings of the magic stone they arrived at the meeting room.