The death of a friend

The sign of snow could be seen just 5 minutes after continuing the march from the orc camp they recaptured. The temperature becoming colder and colder as they marched to the north according to their guide.

The combined army of dwarves and elves soon saw a city that looks like it's glowing with the light produced by all the torches on the wall amongst the white snow. The guide pointed at the city with his finger and stated, "Lord, that is the city of the gold clan"

Abel nodded at him and then examined the city, guard on the wooden wall and outside the wooden gate could be seen. The next thing he saw caught his attention, some orcs tied with rope forming a line entering the city.

He turned to the guide, "Hey… you orc, you see those comrades of yours tied with a rope? I have a plan for you and them. Now, what you going to do is casually enter the city and just say to the guards that you got lost and then give me a sign when you are safe inside"

The guide nodded, and the boy continued, "Now, what your real mission is to free your comrade and give them weapons from this bag, I collected some weapons inside this magic bag, you know how to operate it right?"

The orc lightly nodded and complied to the boy's order. The army then hid right behind a hill watching from afar as the guide did his mission. About 30 seconds of waiting, Abel saw a huge black smoke going to the sky. He then noticed one of the house is on fire.

Assuming that is the sign the orc gave to him, he unsheathed his weapon and pointed it toward the city and shouted as loud as he possibly can, "Elves and dwarves! Charge toward the city, let's eliminate all the threat of orcs from now on!"

The boy led the charge toward the city on his horse, with Thorgrim and the army right behind him. Arrows began to rain on him as he got closer and closer to the wooden wall. Then his eyes saw the wooden gate slowly opening, "Is this a counter charge?"

When the wooden gate fully opened, he saw the guide standing in the middle of it with an axe in his raised hand. The guide then turned around and disappears with the fire that spread to all the other huts.

Abel entered the city through the gate with a big smile on his face. He swung his sword toward all the orcs coming for him and none stood a chance. The fight is over as soon as the army entered the city and massacred all the gold clan's warriors inside the city.

[All of the Gold clan commanders are eliminated, 3 of 3 clans have been eliminated]

[Quest completed]

…

Like before, the army lined up in the middle of the city centre, now with an extra line of rescued orcs. Even though with Thorgrim out of his sight, Abel expressed his gratitude to them, "For the elves, I want to thank you all for joining me against the evil orcs, with my words, our business at this area is basically over"

He turned to the orcs and dwarves, "And now, for the orcs and dwarves that helped me and became my allies, I also want to thank you all for helping me. I did not expect we could make an alliance out of this, and may our race remember about these events and those fallen soldiers!"

They cheered as he finished his words and began to socialize with each other, despite the race difference. The boy smiled upon seeing this sight, but then something even more interesting caught his attention.

He saw Thorgrim and Fagar approaching him, each of them dragged what it seems to be a dead orc with axes still embedded on his body. Abel initiated and approached them to ask about the body, and the two dwarves dropped to right in front of him.

Thorgrim then said to him, "Not going to lie, this guy is strong, I even need to team up with Fagar against this orc. Anyway, Abel, heard your words from afar, looks like our alliance is over with this battle, no?"

Abel smiled at him, "First of all, I assume this is the commander of the gold clan. This guy does really look strong though, but why do you bring him here?"

Thorgrim then furrowed his eyebrows and asked him, "I want to ask you a question, why does he have a bag similar to yours? Look at around his waist if you don't know what I'm talking about"

Before the boy could look at the bag, the guide approached them and said, "Because that bag on his waist is his secondary bag and the one on my hand is the primary one, I didn't tell you, lord. But I found some interesting stuff inside this bag"

Abel turned around and saw the man handing his bag back to him to which he accepted and opened right in front of them and flipped it upside down, revealing all of its content. What it seems to be a one-handed axe, a spear, a shield and a sword, and all of them have each of their unique gold carvings.

But the sword… there's some kind of light covering it, making it different from all the other stuff found in the bag. Suddenly, the mysterious elf from before appeared out of nowhere and said happily, "Ah! There it is, my beloved sword, Glamdring!"

Abel picked up the sword and walked up to him, "Well, whoever you are, you better explain about all of this or else, you won't be getting this sword! What is the purpose of you sending me to this mountain?"

The man sighed, "It's for getting my sword back. The orcs got it from a battle somewhere at the very far east of this damned place. Now your mission is complete, you could return to your normal life!"

Abel looked around. He saw Thorgrim, Fagar and the guide furrowing their eyebrows and he did the same to the mysterious man, "So you sent me and all the other elves to go to this place just to get your sword?"

Calendin stated to the man, "Prince of Olethnura! I didn't expect you to be so selfish and vicious that you told the elves to fight just to get your sword! The high command will hear about this soon!"

Abel was angry and confused at the same moment, but he kept his eyes to the man, "You are not getting your sword! I will personally make the trip with Calendin to the Elven high command!"

The prince of the elves laughed and smirked at him, "I knew my motives won't be accepted by you, but what if I kill that damn old man first! Then all the elves in this world would think of you as a betrayer!"

He disappeared from the boy's vision and just three seconds later, Abel heard the old man screaming in agony. He turned, the man was nowhere to be found but the grip he has on his sword was missing at that moment.

He looked to his hand and only realizing the sword was gone at that moment, but that doesn't matter for him. He ran toward Calendin and kneeled down to him, "Calendin! Grand elder! Hold on, I will find some help soon!"

Realizing what happens, the elves, dwarves and orcs rushed to the old man as Calendin slowly said to Abel, "Si-sir… Don't worry abo-about me… my time has come, but you must… find my friend on the northeast from here… she can… she will help you against the elves... Take this"

He separated the gem from the point of his staff and handed it to Abel before his body stopped moving at all. Abel took it from his hand and closed the still open eyes of Calendin while muttering, "Rest in peace"

[NEW QUEST]

[Find the friend of now-deceased grand elders of the elves]

[Difficulty:E]

[Detail]

He gritted his teeth and looked toward the others. Some were confused and shocked, while some were saddened because of this. But amongst all the people there, he saw one familiar face from afar, casually walking toward him.

Halius