Lore/Story Scourge

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Good point. I didn't actually think of that possibility. If that's the case, then (assuming the weapon is Tide) there is more than one creator.

Assuming that the weapon isn't Tide, that means that it was the strongest wand BEFORE Tide was created.
(The context of the chapter says that it was before the release of the monsters)

 

It's fun reading all the theories you've made... Come to think of it, I probably should remember to clarify some of them later on.
As I slide out of the thread for tonight, I mutter under my breath, "****, I think they might be on to me."

Chapter XXXVIII
Just Like Home​

It was admirable; all the buildings of Ragni seemed so organized and relaxed, yet the crowded streets were as crazy as they could get. A few market stands dotted the sides of the roads, selling weapons, foods, potions and goods of all sorts. People walked, ran, talked and shouted down the streets while guards marched by on the roads occasionally, quite disapproving of all the noise. Robin, Julie and Jonas were to be found at a table outside a small restaurant, where Jonas spent more time talking to the traveler they had met than eating.

“And then, we found this weird training ground as we were walking, and it definitely didn’t look right,” he rambled to Laryn, who didn’t seem to be paying much attention. “After I fiddled with some of the objects there with magic, we went to leave, but then some spiders attacked and one bit Julie and then we found a wizard who helped us get out of the forest.”

“Hmm,” Laryn replied vaguely. Jonas kept talking as though he didn’t hear her, and finished recounting his entire travel without taking a stop to breathe.

“What’s up? Is there a reason you don’t seem happy?” Jonas asked.

“Just…” Laryn replied hazily. “Just memories….”

“Why are you in Ragni?” Jonas queried. “Visiting a friend? Relatives? Sightseeing? Is there… Is there a family issue?”

“I’ve been having ‘family issues’ my entire life,” said Laryn grimly. “My mother died while I was young, and then my father shortly after. To answer your question, I’m at Ragni because I live here.”

“That’s sad,” said Jonas. “Sad. Really sad...I mean...my-”

Laryn interrupted him. “I know your parents are dead.” Jonas’s hair stood up slightly. Laryn continued. “I’ve read nearly every newspaper that was published in the last fifty years. Call me obsessed, because I am.”

“Sure...you’re obsessed,” replied Jonas innocently. Laryn sighed.

Robin cut into the discussion. “Anyway, thanks for healing Julie. The effects of that spider venom were driving me crazy.”

“Hey!” Julie shouted. “I was under perfectly normal behavior during that time! You just blamed it on the spider.”

“You can quit joking, it’s not a good idea to laugh in a world filled with hungry zombies,” said Laryn serenely. Nobody spoke for a minute.

“Can I ask you something?” Jonas asked, breaking the awkward silence. Laryn nodded slightly. “Do you know anything about a haunted house in Ragni? Someone mentioned one shortly before we met you.”

Laryn thought for a second. “I do.”

“Great! Can you tell us?” said Jonas quickly, looking very excited.

“A very, very long time ago, there was a family that lived in the house,” Laryn began. “The parents were normal, but their children...they were as odd as they could get. The brother seemed to be perfect in everything… Records say that he made it to the highest school in Ragni when he was only seven. The sister...nobody knows much about her. She was quiet, intelligent, and ran away when she was young.” She stopped.

“And?” Jonas said.

“And then the facts go cold for ten years,” she said. “The last time the brother or the sister were ever seen was at the largest recorded bandit raid in Ragni, where they both died in a fire outside their own home. The house survived, but nobody’s lived there since. Half the people who have visited emerged from the front door, sometimes bleeding and always with looks of anguish. Not one historian, researcher, or even the greatest curse-breakers could determine just why they’re all driven mad. It’s a mystery.”

“How do you know all that? I’ve read a lot of books, but...none of them mentioned such a house,” said Jonas.

Laryn answered casually, “It’s a Ragni folktale, most books written here mention it. I’ve also been in the house myself...albeit not for long.”

Jonas was about to ask what it was like inside when Robin kicked him underneath the table. “I don’t see how a haunted house connects with our search!” Robin hissed at Jonas, who frowned.

“Search?” Laryn asked curiously.

“Yeah,” said Jonas. “We’re looking for-”

Robin put his hand over Jonas’s mouth to shut him up. “We’re looking for...a friend,” he lied. “My brother wants to give him a book he bought in Detlas, it’s a very informative read.”

“Which book?”

Jonas blurted out, “The Geography and Legends of the Province of Wynn. It gives a guide to every region of the Wynn province, along with dozens of lores and-”

“Never heard of it,” she interrupted. “Sounds generic.”

“Here!” He handed the massive book over the table. “Hundreds of pages of Wynn lore! Including half a chapter alone on the day the villagers arrived! It’s-”

“Let me guess,” Laryn said, not even looking at him or the book. “The first of the voyagers to set foot on the beach was promptly bitten by a sand crab.”

Jonas pulled the book back to him and flipped over a hundred pages. A minute later, he said, “It doesn’t mention anything like that. How would you know?”

“It’s public knowledge,” replied Laryn. “But only if you know where to look.”

She stood up. “You said you wanted to see a friend?” she asked. Jonas nodded. “You’re wasting too much time right now, I’d bet your friend is already bored stiff waiting for you”

Jonas stood up suddenly, nearly sending the table flying. “Oh, right!” he said loudly. “Robin, Julie, hurry up!”

Robin, who seemed in little of a rush, slowly began to finish eating what remained on his plate until Julie dragged him off the chair.


Jonas looked back at his map. Every step they took down the street seemed to take them closer to the little spear icon resting on top of a house just a minute’s walk away. Laryn trailed behind them, gazing around without the vaguest concern of where they were going. In a moment, they would be standing outside the residing place of the Quake...and in a lot of ways, it felt unreal, knowing that their destination, after all those days, was this close. It almost came as a surprise for Jonas to stop abruptly, and turn his head slowly to the building they had been searching for since they were in that house back at Almuj, at the far other side of the province.

“Well, I’ll be,” said Robin, dumbfounded.

It was the same haunted house that Laryn had explained.

Now Jonas could tell just why it was called that. The house looked ready to fall apart, but it still gave an impression of sturdiness - after all, it had managed to survive for such a long time. The style of the house was obviously ancient; it was immediately distinguishable from any of the houses near it. The minute yard in front was still neat and recently tended to, perhaps so that it wouldn’t look too out of place. He was ready to take a step forward when-

“I highly doubt that’s where your friend is,” Laryn said. “Maybe you’re looking for the next one.”

“No,” Jonas replied, examining the map closely. “This is definitely the place.”

Laryn sighed. “If you’re planning on entering the house, I sure as hell won’t. Have fun going insane in there.” With a moment of thought, she added, “If you want to contact me, write a letter, the mailman knows where I am.” With barely a backwards glance, she turned around and vanished into the crowd, leaving the three standing before the house.

“That was abrupt,” Julie said.

Jonas was thinking. If everyone who entered were harmed - even driven insane - what would happen if they entered?

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” said Jonas sternly as he walked toward the front door. Robin shrugged, and followed.

As soon as Jonas set foot on the walkway to the house’s front door, he saw a sign embedded in the grass next to him: ‘Do not enter - historical site’. Trying to ignore it, he ducked down to avoid being seen, and accelerated his pacing until he set his hand on the rusty front doorknob and turned it. The door creaked open slightly, and he slipped through.

The moment he entered, he felt a strange feeling in the air. While it was thick, dust-filled and had an extremely stale taste, he couldn’t help but feel that gravity weighed a little more around him. Robin and Julie slid past the door behind him and closed it, and without the bright light outside obstructing his vision, Jonas could finally - barely - see what was in there.

The primary feature was a long, wooden table placed at the center of the room, with a massive broken mirror overlooking it. Shelves, chairs, and other things were crudely shoved against the walls. The windows were boarded up well enough that only a few thin sunbeams could enter.

“How are we supposed to find a spear in all this?” Robin whispered.

Jonas glanced around. “By looking.”

He began by searching through the shelves lined against the walls. But before long, he was barely even looking for the Quake anymore.

“See this?” Jonas said, shoving a picture in Robin’s face. “That must be a drawing of the brother and sister! They look like they were only eight years old! And this-” He stopped. “Who’s that?”

The next picture he held up featured the brother holding hands with a girl - but not the sister.

“Probably a friend,” Robin replied. “And aren’t you supposed to be looking for the spear?”

“Right,” said Jonas. He set down the picture, but immediately held up another one. “Neat drawing of Ragni! The city looks so old!” Robin barely glanced. “And over here, by this old vase, there’s a-”

“Guys,” Julie said. “You might want to see this.”

Jonas dashed forward, disturbing the airborne dust. Julie was pointing to an ordinary old chair at the table. With little concern, Jonas made to walk away and look elsewhere, but then he noticed faint bloodstains on it. He flinched.

“Does that mean someone...died here?” whispered Jonas nervously.

Looking closely at the chair, Julie said, “Murdered, looks like. What a pleasant visit that may have been.”

With thought, Jonas said, “But if someone was murdered...then who did it?”

Robin shifted over a pile of moldy books. “Does that matter? It could have happened hundreds of years ago, for all we know.”

“No, it’s recent,” said Julie. “I think it might be a clue.” After hearing what sounded like a loud sigh and several books falling off a shelf, Jonas could tell Robin had given up arguing.

With another look around, Jonas saw more old photos, chairs, and...hidden behind a mound of broken chairs, a door to another room. He quickly approached the door, reached over the pile and stretched just far enough to turn the handle. The mountain of chairs collapsed immediately, flooding into the next room in splinters. Jonas stepped over the rubble and walked in.

The room was evidently where the family had eaten. There was a small round table near the door with five chairs encircling it. At the far side of the room, next to the back door, was a kitchenette that was half-rusted and half-eroded. More boarded windows lined the far end of the room, along with a back door that was barely hanging to its hinges. To the left of the door he entered through, Jonas saw vague, dust-covered outlines of stairs leading to both the upper floor and the basement.

“Hey, Julie, Robin?” Jonas said. “I found another part of the house.”

Robin set down a broken figurine of a castle and entered the kitchen behind Jonas. With a quick look around, he said, “This is going to be a long day.”

He was right. Some time later, Jonas moved a desk aside in the filthy basement, only to realize he had moved that same desk half a dozen times already. Julie was half-asleep in a chair amidst a pile of old books. Robin was still searching the basement for places he hadn’t looked at already.

“Why are you insistent on searching the basement?” Jonas asked Robin as he sat down on the floor. “I think we’ve already cleared half the dust down here, and we’ve found nothing.”

“If we’re looking for a spear,” Robin grunted, straining to move a large bookshelf, “then we’re not getting anywhere.” The shelf finally yielded, only to reveal an empty stone wall behind it. “I suspect that it won’t just be lying in a cupboard. There’s likely going to be a sealed container hidden in the walls, or under the floor.”

Jonas stood up instantly. “Then we have to take the walls down!” He pulled out his wand. “Take this!” He waved his wand at the wall. Nothing happened.

“Hm,” said Robin. “Which did nothing, your wand or the wall?”

“It’s definitely the wall,” replied Jonas. “I think it may be enchanted with some sort of magical barrier. Besides...the wand’s been working properly for all this time, why would it stop now?”

Robin answered, “I didn’t ask you about the state of your wand. I want to know how to find that spear so we can get it and leave.”

“This is reminding me of that house in Almuj,” Jonas said. Robin stopped.

“If-” Robin began. “If the house in Almuj and this place seem so similar...does that mean that the person who created the Weapons placed that map? Then who…?”

“I think the Creator was in that hidden room, just before we broke in,” said Jonas confidently. “Does that mean that the peasant who brought us there...was the Creator?”

“Oh for…,” Robin sighed. “Do you really think someone who’s been missing for hundreds of years would just walk up to a few people on the street?”

“Right….”

Robin said, “By all means, the Creator is dead. How would someone live for that long and still be alive? Does that mean that the Creator isn’t human?”

“But…” Jonas argued. “Humans have created all sorts of great things, haven’t we? What if the Creator did find a way to live a really long time?”

“And kept it a secret for a thousand years? Not a chance,” said Robin.

“Look, someone knocked over a teacup!” Julie said out of nowhere. Jonas flinched, and Robin turned his head to a teacup on the dresser next to Julie, which had indeed at some point been flung off the edge of the saucer next to it.

“There’s really no point in mentioning that,” said Robin dismissively. “Anyway, Jonas, if the Creator did indeed create a recipe for immortality, then how would it have remained a secret for so long? Everyone’s on the hunt to live forever, so-”

“This tea set this came from must be really old,” Julie interrupted, having set the ancient cup back in its place. “It sat here so long that it’s stuck.”

With an I’ve-given-up voice, Robin said, “I’ll be upstairs. Maybe we can find a clue there.”

“I’ll come too,” Jonas replied as they both headed towards the mildewy stairs out the basement, leaving Julie behind.

“Well,” Jonas said as he and Robin began to walk up the steps. “Julie, are you coming?” There was no response. “Julie?”

They both stopped halfway up the stairs and turned around. There were piles of old possessions owned by the family long ago, but Julie was nowhere to be seen.

“This isn’t funny,” said Robin, heading back down to the basement. “We need to find out where that spear is, not play games.”

“Um,” Jonas muttered. “I don’t think she can hear you.”

Robin glanced at him. “What?...”

Jonas pointed to the floor. “Look.”

Robin looked, and what he saw was an old, rotten basement floor made out of wood. But when he squinted, a hole in the floor was visible in the darkness, and it had not been there before. It almost looked like the floor had simply collapsed under weight.

“You’re saying that Julie fell down there, right?” Robin asked Jonas, who nodded. “I can barely see it...could you light your wand...or whatever you do?”

With the flick of a wrist, Jonas magicked a bright, fire-like light that danced on his wand tip. Through the brightness, it was revealed that the hole went down for much further than the light could reach.

“Well, then,” said Jonas, leaning over the opening. “It looks like we’ve found our secret entrance.”

Before either of them did anything, a voice from the stairwell said, “Stop right there!”

On the other side of the room, a few soldiers in shining steel armor clambered down the stairs with rather disgusted looks on their faces. Jonas and Robin watched as the soldiers drew long, polished swords at them.

“This is restricted property!” one of them yelled. “We were notified by one of the king’s advisors that three civilians entered the house not too long ago! N-nobody can enter without permission from Ragni authorities!”

“It is?” Robin lied quickly. “I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t know… A friend dared us to come down here, and we didn’t want to refuse. If you could leave here, we’ll, er, follow you once we find an...emerald, which we lost down here a minute ago.” The soldiers ignored him and moved closer, their swords still pointed straight towards Robin and Jonas.

“We’re not going anywhere until you speak with the magistrate,” a soldier said, sounding focused yet almost insane.

Thinking quickly, Robin looked down. The hole in the floor was right behind them, but the splinters had slowly begun to put themselves back in place; the gap was already halfway closed.

“Jonas, quick!” Robin hissed. “It’s closing! We have to jump down, or else!”

“How would the floor be repairing itself?” Jonas wondered aloud, looking down at the ground. The guards stopped and stared at them with confused looks. “Is there some sort of enchant-”

Robin grabbed his arm and pulled him back, causing them to both fall backwards into the opening. Jonas watched the basement ceiling shrink into the distance as he tried his hardest to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. After the light from above completely vanished and left them in almost complete darkness, his wand slipped from his grasp and flew off into the nothingness around him. It was a minute later before he finally had the relief of a hard landing on what felt like massive amounts of grass. After a long wait in which the world slowly stopped spinning around him, he opened his eyes to see something he wouldn't have imagined.

 

Been waiting for this chapter time to find out more about these weapons also continue on making amazing stories you my friend deserve so much more support on this story

 

At slast, the story has arrived, you must have put a lot of backbone into it. I might try to stop with these humerus puns. Well maybe not, nobody is going to PUNish me. +1 support, I don't have the guts to do stories like this.

 

Why is this not on the first page?! We need to bump this now!

BUMP

 

das a lot of chapters

 

Read them. You'll enjoy it, it took me one day to read the whole thing. And the theories. THEY'RE SO GREAT

 

The first 20 chapters or so are short (~500-600 words long on average, I think), which is why the chapter count is so high... Ever since, I've been working to make them longer. They're usually at least 3x as long now.

It takes a while.
Estimated 2-4 hours

 

Bump it to the front

 

Bump 10 char

 

As much as I appreciate it, I'd rather you not bump the thread every day :/

 

Ok understood

 

Beeeeeep. IM KEEPING THIS THREAD ALIIIIIIIIIVEEEE

 

Pls make another chapter soon

 

Maybe I'll read this when summer break comes around again

 

W-A-I-T-I-N-G

for the next chapter.

 

The latest, most important, and totally 100% serious entry to the character sheet. I present to you....


Also I'm getting pretty close to finishing 39 pls don't hurt me

 

The story line is great, I hope the next chapter will be out soon!

 

A free Bump to a story.