Destiny Rising

by Lachlan Wells

  “You could say that,” Adrianna jumped in, grateful for the distraction from the argument. “Yeah.”

  “Well, there’s said to be a being that has the ability to give you solutions to all of your problems.”

  Without stopping to think she blurted out “How do you know about this?”

  “I’m the Court Historian of Cisco City, my dear travelers,” Eric Thayne laughed again. “It is my job to know everything that happens between the Sacred Lands to the North and the Temple of San Jose to the south. There are recorded histories and stories of a mysterious being who knows the very fabric of the world. It never speaks its own name, but it may give travelers like you the opportunity to solve their difficult problems and give leads to the most daring of quests to those whom would be brave enough to trek to Bair Island.”

  “I’ve heard of Bair Island,” Myra murmured. “I never had the guts to go alone, but I’ve always wanted to see what it was all about.”

  “Sounds like a Warlock,” Parrish frowned. “Hey, has anyone ever died going to this guy?”

  “Not to my knowledge,” Eric Thayne replied. “It doesn’t seem like something that would happen.”

  “Where is this, being?” Adrianna finally asked.

  Eric Thayne gestured to the north of them. “It’s a day’s travel to Bair Island. You will know it by a sign on the road and a mist that shrouds its coast. Know that the path is easy, but the island is very deceptive.”

  A box appeared in front of them:

  Quest: Search for Answers (LVL 5)

  The Court Historian has suggested you find Bair Island to find a solution to your problems.

  Success Conditions: Make it to the center of Bair Island and find the Doctor

  Reward: Experience. And you get your problems solved.

  Refusal: You chose to accept your fate and move on with life.

  Do you accept this quest?

  He adjusted his staff and his face went slack for a moment before his face brightened again in jubilation. “Well. Good luck, travelers!”

  With that, Eric Thayne, Court Historian of Cisco City, took his leave, red robes billowing in the morning air.

  The four watched him go and Adrianna took a deep breath. It shouldn’t be too hard to find it, right?

  She turned to look at her party. Myra was side glancing at Hancock who was deliberately ignoring her and pulling out granola from his bag. He slowly munched on it.

  Parrish was the only one looking at Adrianna expectantly. “So?” He asked.

  “So,” Adrianna repeated. “You guys don’t have to come with me.”

  The three companions looked at her in astonishment. “W-what?” Myra stuttered.

  “You guys don’t have to go with me,” she said again, shouldering her backpack. Two of them couldn’t stand each other and the other one couldn’t care less. This wasn’t much of a party, and she was getting very tired of all the arguing. “I understand if you don’t. You came with me to get my class and that’s all I really asked for.”

  “Ari,” Myra sighed. “I promised to help you until you found your uncle. And as far as I’m concerned, we haven’t found your uncle yet. My word is bond and I don’t plan to go back on it.”

  Adrianna looked up at her and gave a grin. She had hoped Myra would stay. She always had something interesting to say.

  Parrish stepped up and gave Adrianna a small pat on the shoulder. “As long as I’m getting paid, I’ll stick around. Until I stop getting income, I’ll be your designated healer.”

  “Thanks, Parrish.” Adrianna rolled her eyes. Somehow, she knew that Parrish wasn’t going to leave the party any time soon, and she appreciated that. She had seen him heal before, and she didn’t know what she’d do if he wasn’t there to keep them alive.

  “Hancock?” Myra turned towards the black-bearded man and crossed her arms. “What about you.”

  He hesitated, swallowing his last bite of granola and took a deep breath. “Adrianna,” he started, “I made a promise to some very important people that I’d help you on your way through here. You. Specifically. I’m not about to back out of it now. So, I’m with you until the sun’s death.”

  “Very poetic,” Myra chuckled, and Parrish nudged her shoulder with a jab. “What?”

  “Then we go to Bair Island.” Adrianna smiled, silently grateful and feeling far less alone now. “Together.”

  Chapter 11: Treasure Hunter

  Within the first hour of travel, Adrianna found herself alone. They had been together, but once again, she made the mistake of taking a small detour and climbed across a makeshift bridge made of branches that she thought would have been a good shortcut. Next thing she knew, she was fifty feet below her party and in a pile of branches and leaves.

  “Are you okay?” Myra called down.

  STATUS: stable, bruised

  “Yeah,” she called back up. “I’m fine! I shouldn’t have tried to walk over those branches.”

  “We’ll come down to you!” Hancock said and the other two looked at him.

  “Dude, it was a miracle she didn’t break a bone, on the way down.” Myra protested.

  “We don’t have anything to break her fall, like she did.” Parish agreed. “She broke everything on her way down.”

  “We’ll find another way down!” Hancock called again.

  “Don’t bother!” Adrianna called back. “I’ll make my way up to you, just keep looking!”

  “Wait!”

  But Adrianna did not wait. She didn’t have the time to do that. She looked up and frowned.. The way she had fallen was way up there and if she was going to climb, it would definitely hurt if she fell. Maybe even be fatal. Instead, she went down further down the slope, jumping from one stump and fallen log to another, descending down onto the floor of the forest ravine. She looked up again and grimaced. It made her party look like ants from here. She’d have to keep pressing forward.

  Perception Check. Find a way back up. 14 + 2 (Wis) + 5 (Wayfinder) = 21. Success!

  She picked her way around fallen trees and small boulder, trying to head in roughly the same direction as her party was traveling. Up ahead was a small crevice in the rock wall that she could fit into. It wound its way up the vertical rock face nearly to the pathway her friends were on. Without a moment of hesitation she threw her backpack into it and started wiggling her way through. It was dry and barren in the crevice and the total silence was oddly comforting. Inside the semi-darkness her dark vision picked up a path along the edge of the wall. She watched as handholds and foot slots suddenly illuminated before her.

  “Oh,” she whispered, as her internal compass got to work. Her character sheet description did not say it she was capable of this. “I could use a useful surprise for once.” There had to be more to being a Seeker than the Council of Lions let on. Maybe the discovery was half of the task. She leapt forward and grasped onto the handholds, each one firm. She looked over and spotted a ledge that she could aim for.

  Athletics Check. Climb across. 17 + 1 (Str) = 18. Success!

  She landed squarely on the ledge and located her next stop. Gazing around she saw another set of handhelds to her left, but to her right, she saw what looked like a raised shrine, softly illuminated by what seemed to be a passage in the rocks above. A rough rope dangled from the natural skylight. That seemed to be the most direct route out. The gap between the ledge and the raised shrine was nothing to sneeze at, and she didn’t have the space for a running jump.

  Adrianna pulled her backpack straps tighter and pushed herself as close as she could to the wall. It's now or never. And she leapt.

  Athletics Check. Jump across. 2 + 1 (Str) = 3. Failure.

  She slammed against the shrine and slid down, barely having time to grab hold of the rocky edge before her body yanked to a stop. She heard something fall out of her backpack and she cringed. She’d have to find out what that was later, hoping it wasn’t anything important.

  Her grip started to slip on the edge of the shrine a
nd she looked down. The ground gave away into a deep, dark pit that she couldn’t see an end to, which meant it was a long way down. “I am not…” She grunted pulling with all of her might. “...going to die here!”

  Strength Check. Pull yourself up. 19 + 1 (Str) = 20. Success!

  She collapsed at the foot of the shrine and investigated it while she caught her breath. A crude bowl decorated with bones sat surrounded by what appeared to be dried blood. Images of crosses and stars were etched into the rim. Just inside the shrine was a purple amulet illuminated by the sunlight above. She grabbed it and tilted the face, trying to decipher it.

  Intelligence Check. Identify arcane objects. 5 + 4 (Int) = 9. Failure.

  She sighed. This might prove useful someday. Adrianna put it in one of her pockets and began to search in her pack to see what had fallen out.

  ACQUIRED!

  Mysterious Purple Amulet

  You took this from an ancient shrine to some mighty being, hidden away in an ancient rock cliff. What is does and what it means is a mystery.

  She was short three less rations now, which shouldn’t be a problem if they find a place to hunt soon. Thankfully, her Book of Survival was still in its hiding spot.

  She gripped onto the rope and looked up. The echoes of someone talking stopped her short. It wasn’t her companions. Better to lay low and listen in for a while.

  “Calm down! We’ll be there soon!” A woman’s voice yelled. “Or so help me I will turn this carriage around!”

  “Let him complain, girl,” A vague familiar masculine voice replied. “When we get to Bair Island, he won’t be singing the same tune.”

  “How do you manage to make everything you say nicely sound like a threat or a flirt?” Another voice asked. “I mean there’s no in between for you…”

  The voices quickly faded into the distance and she waited a beat before beginning her climb.

  As soon as she made it to the top, she peeked from side to side and immediately started walking in the direction back to the group. It took a while, but she finally found her party. The three companions rushed to her side.

  Parrish immediately pulled out his coin and uttered a prayer of healing as Hancock started to fuss over her.

  “Guys, I’m fine, I’m fine,” Adrianna pointed. “ Up ahead I overheard another party in a carriage going to Bair Island right now.”

  “Why is this important,” Hancock frowned.

  “They’re on the same quest as we are!” Adrianna didn’t contain her excitement. She wasn’t remotely sure what to do with this information.

  “Quest’s normally aren’t first come first serve,” Hancock explained. “It’s not a competition. It’s totally unrelated to us and your quests.”

  “But they are in a carriage, which means it’s gonna get them there twice as fast.” Myra pointed out. “We should get there are fast as possible, so we don’t miss out.”

  “Exactly!”

  “But it’s not necessary to--”

  “Forward!” The party leader said, and the party had no choice but to follow.

  Chapter 12: Beasts of the Metal Forest

  Adrianna smiled as she pointed at an old green sign painted with white letters. “Look! Bair Island is this way!” She rushed forward, ahead of the group as Hancock called her name.

  Adrianna stopped as she almost ran into a metal structure. It was a little taller than her, with a curved top and windows without any glass. Plants and moss grew in and around it, nearly swallowing its metal frame. Inside were cloth chairs and what looked like a wheel in front. “What on earth?”

  History check. Old Tech. 4 + 4 (Int) = 8. Failure.

  As they peered around the odd relic, they could see more of them littering the road ahead. It appeared to be a forest of metal and glass as trees, leaves and dirt were at quiet work reclaiming the land. Shrubs and trees grew inside the roofless relics obliterating any evidence of what the buildings had been used for. Adrianna stopped in wonder.

  “Ari,” Myra caught up first. “You gotta stop running off like that. Damn, you’re fast.”

  “What are all these?”

  Myra looked up and observed the scene. “Dunno. Must be something from before the Reckoning.”

  “I read about the Reckoning,” Adrianna nodded. “It’s why the Quell exists.”

  “How did you read about that?” Hancock walked up with Parrish. “I thought all the handbooks had been destroyed twenty years ago.”

  Adrianna’s heart hammered. “Uh, my uncle had an extensive library. A lot of stuff was there. I’m sure I picked it up somewhere.” No way anyone was going to take her Book of Survival. It was the only thing of her uncle’s she had left.

  Hancock narrowed his eyes. “We should make camp. Adrianna’s escapade made us lose daylight.”

  “Way to tell her everything is her fault, Hancock,” Myra defended.

  The warrior ignored her and started making camp. The rest of the company worked in silence among moss-covered metal sculptures of beasts and the derelict buildings. As they settled for the night, Adrianna looked up at the stars as the familiar snoring began. Their journey today seemed longer than she was used to, but they had been spoiled by being teleported to the temple by the pseudodragon instead of going there on foot. She took the first watch as the other three fell asleep without any trouble.

  She pulled out the Book of Survival and ran her fingers over the cover, faded and black, unreadable. She began to flip through each of the pages, knowing that the information she was looking for wouldn’t be in these pages; it would say nothing about prestigious classes, other than that they were special and mostly uncommon. She skimmed through the pages again in the light of the moon and fire, stopping on the paragraph about their most recent conversation.

  The Reckoning describes a being as well as the event. For an undetermined number of years, every corner of the world has become the Quell. Information of the old world has, of course, been scattered among the remaining metal ruins. What little information that has been found tells of a wilderness of lost souls and memories. Some information is hidden within the confines of Havens. However, common knowledge of this old world has been forgotten and lost.

  She shut the book and stuffed it in her bag, bringing her eyes back to the stars above, now shrouded by pockets of clouds. I need a new book to read.

  Parrish slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning at Adrianna. “Your turn to sleep.”

  “I’m not tired,” she murmured. “I probably will be in the next hour, though.”

  “We have to get a move on by dawn. That’s not gonna be enough for you.”

  “Well, it’s almost an hour before midnight. Don’t worry I got this.”

  Parrish nodded, as if confirming something in his head. “So, what’s up with your ears?”

  “Huh?” Adrianna pulled her hood over her head. Careless. She hadn’t had her hood up this whole time. That was the one thing her uncle told her to keep hidden. “I don’t know…what you’re talking about.”

  “Come on,” Parrish rolled his eyes. “You’re a terrible liar. Take it from someone who was brought up with a bunch of Rogues.”

  “No one is supposed to…I’m supposed to keep them hidden.”

  “Why?”

  Adrianna shrugged and touched the length of them from earlobe to tip. “My uncle told me to keep them hidden. Like they were important or something. I just thought it was so people didn’t ask questions, but I don’t actually have answers.”

  “So, you don’t know why you have pointed ears.”

  “Nope.”

  “Or why you only need to five hours of sleep every day.”

  Adrianna shrugged. “I thought everyone only needed five hours until I met Myra.”

  “No, see, Myra over sleeps.” Parrish chuckled. “Hancock has healthier sleeping habits. Eight hours is what’s good for you. I guess what I’m trying to ask is, if you’re an elf.”

  “A what?”

  “An elf,” Parrish
repeated. “They’re kinda like you with the ears and the bright skin, but the kind of NPC that’s sentient and can get a class. They’re a lot like you but most elves are Hunters and Druids instead of Seekers.”

  “Oh,” Adrianna felt something churning in her stomach. “I thought NPCs couldn’t level up.”

  “They can’t. They’re people with a set number of traits and attributes that can’t be altered.”

  “But I’m obviously a player,” Adrianna tried to wrap her head about this concept. “How could I be an NPC?”

  “I don’t know,” Parrish shrugged. “And obviously you don’t either. I think that’s something you should figure out. The majority of players are humans, so your ears are a bit of an anomaly.”

  “Do you think the others know about it?”

  “Possibly,” Parrish shrugged. “By the look on your face, I’d say this is the first time anyone’s brought it up to you. Myra might have notice and not said anything, but Hancock is as dull as Myra is sharp. Stuff like that might go over his head. Like that book you keep trying to hide from him.”

  Adrianna couldn’t help but smile, as her heart hammered. “You really see everything don’t you?”

  “That’s why Hancock pays me the big coin.” Parrish rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a dirty rag that was wrapped around a necklace with a black gemstone in the center.

  “Parrish!” Adrianna gasped, anger bristling as she recognized it from the pseudodragon's lair.

  “I noticed you eyeing it earlier, so I nabbed it for you.”

  Adrianna frowned and grabbed it from him. It was still in its mismatched holder, and she pulled out her dagger. “Why’d you take this anyway, we could have died.” She wedged the tip of her dagger into the necklace.

  “Force of habit,” Parrish shrugged. “Hey, what are you--”