The Mission

At this point Ares caught sight of a suitable mission for him. It looked to be an old request half torn and battered.

25 purple coins- Explore the southern castle of Eastwitch. Report your findings to the Space Guild elders.

Ares grabbed the notice and took it back towards the group. Ares did briefly consider the warning from Mars he had received.

"Never venture into the rest of the city alone lest you suffer a fate worse then death."

But Ares now knew more about the city. After reading a book about Eastwitch he knew that the Southern castle was actually quite close to the western district wall. He was quietly confident he could get there safely; how bad could the reverends and possessed really be?

Spellcaster Nova glanced at Ares uncomfortably as he made his way back to the group. She seemed to be wrestling with a dilemma, concern briefly flickering in her eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke to the group.

"You all now have missions, the time limit for such missions is one week; you will return to the Guild and immediately set off for your destinations. Some of you have selected more difficult missions, I can only wish you well and hope you don't die." Her comments were sharp and when she said the final word she stared directly at Ares.

With that said Spellcaster Nova opened up a space gate and stepped through. The rest of the group followed shortly after.

They arrived back at the plaza and the group dispersed instantly; the time limit wasn't particularly forgiving and an accident could easily result in missing the deadline. Ares bade a quick farewell to his friends and made his way towards his dormitory.

He didn't have many items but the gauntlets he had been given by Miles were stored here along with a few small supplies he had accumulated in the last two months. He had three days of food and water stored in his bag. After collecting these belongings, he changed into a thin leather breastplate, thick trousers and comfortable boots. He had been given all these things by Miles during training. In spite of their weathered appearance any protection was better than none.

Having made his preparations, he made his way to the wall.

Access to the top of the wall was not regulated, it was designed to require minimal security and had barely any patrols. There was a robe ladder up onto the ramparts from the safety of the city. This was one of the ways patrols used to get onto and off of the wall.

After climbing up Ares pulled the rope ladder up and threw it over the outside of the wall. The top of the wall was thick and the rope was tied closer to the inside, this made the ladder stop short of the ground to the outside. Instead of reaching the floor it hung about three metres from the ground.

Ares put one gauntlet on his right arm and began to climb down and out of the walls. When the ladder came to its end Ares took a look around. There weren't any reverends or possessed visible so he let go and landed on the ground. Despite his heavy weight the landing was almost noiseless.

The south side of the city was almost identical in the street plan as the west corner, Ares felt that this might be even easier than he had thought. After taking a couple of breaths to calm himself Ares started walking South through the deserted streets.

From his memory Ares knew that the Castle was around three or four miles away. It was a huge building that almost touched to top of the cavern; it was also one of the oldest buildings in Eastwitch. From what Ares had learnt reading Eastwitch had been occupied fully before the Demon war. The above Third City was actually founded after Eastwitch, this was something not many knew. During the Demon war the Third city became more active in the war effort; this drained both people and resources from Eastwitch. This led to many abandoning it completely. That alone however would not have brought the city to this state. At the end of the Demon war a lesser Demon managed to enter Eastwich. It was subdued by the city occupants but not before casting a site curse. From that day anyone who died within the boundaries of the South, East or North parts of Eastwich was cursed to rise and become an evil spirit. The West corner remained unaffected and to this day no one knew why.

Ares was surprised after covering a mile of the city he had not come across any spirts. Observing the buildings as he walked Ares was in awe. The buildings were ancient but in good condition. It was clear that these areas had been vacated in haste; there were different tools and objects lying in the street.

As he walked down the streets Ares continually checked the roof of the cavern; he was using the large crystals as a compass to direct himself correctly. A huge jutting black castle soon came into view; it appeared to still be around two miles away but was clearly visible. The ramparts and towers were huge easily with the central tower at least fifty floors tall. Thick black walls surrounded the perimeter. If not for the site curse Ares was sure that this would be another of the areas used by the Space guild.

Just after catching view of the castle Ares heard a moan coming from a side street. He clenched his gauntlets and prepared for his first interaction with a spirt.