The Challenger's Adventures

Past and Future

A few weeks before the Netherbane attack, The Challengers heeded a call from Northwind. Erin, the Chronicler, had called upon them for a mission. Unidentified ships have been spotted in the Northwind Sea, breaking through the ice and trapped inside a glacier.

The Challengers approached the blue gates of the Northwind kingdom. The flag stood tall next to the gate and waving in the wind. The blue and white stripes flew tall with a snowflake in the center. A guard at the gate opened the gate, and the four entered the kingdom. Erin approached the Challengers and greeted them with open arms.

"Tidesinger! Glad you could make it on such short notice!" Erin said, shaking the hand of each Challenger from left to right.

"We're glad we can help!" Thalleous said, they began walking further into Northwind.

"What seems to be the situation?" Varek asked, Erin pointed them to the sail that peeked out of the glacier over the Northwind Sea. It waved in the wind but the wooden boat halted still.

"Scanners picked up about a dozen signs of life total on those two ships. See to it that you identify if they're hostile or passive, and if hostile, please eradicate them." Erin said, Zulius scratched the side of his head in confusion.

"Oh, you can take the small ship down the beachside." Erin said, it was quite cold up north, so the Challengers shivered a little. They walked across the beach and approached the boat.

"Watch the water, it's gonna scare Varek." Thalleous laughed, everyone else chuckled at this joke, other than Varek.

"Very funny, but I am no stranger to water. I have adapted to the life of an Ardoni and the water no longer burns my body." Varek said, his Enderian lifestyle made it so water burned him.

"You seriously used to get burned by water?" Zulius asked, he didn't know Varek as much as the others did.

"Yes, the Ender Magic has some cons to go with the pros. But I have managed to control only the pros." Varek said, they finally made it to the skiff and got in, it was a small boat but they managed to all fit. Zulius had to lay on the floor while Thalleous sat on the front, Achillean controlled the steering and Varek sat on a seat on the side. They sped off towards the glacier and between the two boats. When they arrived there was a hole in the boat that they could climb through.

"Stay quiet, as far as we're concerned we are outnumbered almost 4 times." Achillean said, the Challengers all took out their weapons and ascended into the giant ship. They needed to stick together and go one boat at a time.

Out of the blue, a skeleton with a bow climbed out of the wooden floor boards. Thalleous flinched, but stabbed it in the head before it could do anything.

"Undead? Is that really all we're dealing with?" Varek asked, another skeleton came between the stairs that went up to the open area of the ship they were entered. Varek whipped his sword down and cut its head off.

"They're all skeletons! What's going on here?" Varek asked, they heard a break, the glacier was collapsing.

"Get out!" Achillean yelled as water began to rise into the lower deck, the ship was sinking into the frozen water.

"Oh... shit..." Thalleous said, he looked over the side of the ship to see guardians breaking against the boat. One big guardian hit the boat and it tipped over, the other boat sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

"Don't let the Elder Guardian see you!" Zulius yelled, he researched oceans so he knew what was going on, but the others didn't. The Challengers went overboard and landed in the cold water, shivering. Achillean looked around in the water, the Elder Guardian approached him. He covered his face because he thought he was going to be attacked, but the Elder Guardian stared at him, it's one eye began to glow white.

Achillean grabbed his head in pain, he saw flashes, something he had never seen. A flash of Oakendale, his brother, Varek, Achillean and him stood side by side for ages. Achillean felt a pain in his waste and everything went black. He opened his eyes to see Ingressus in the water with him. Ingressus raised his sword and struck down and that was when Achillean truly opened his eyes. The Challengers were under water fighting off the guardians, until the Elder Guardian swam away, and the other guardians left with him. Dolphins appeared from the water and scooped underneath the Challengers. On top of the dolphins they rose to the surface of the water and the only one unconscious was Varek.

The dolphins made it to shore and flung the Challengers onto the beach. Varek laid on the beach, motionless. Zulius got up from the sand and pointed his staff at Varek, water slowly being dissected from his lungs. Varek coughed and woke up, coughing up water and slowly getting up from the ground.

"I thought I had said to not let the Elder Guardian see you. It will analyze your past by showing you your future, what did you see?" Zulius said, Thalleous helped Varek off the ground, Erin and other Northwind officials ran up to the beach. Helping them back to the land to recover. Achillean took one last look at the glacier, he saw Ingressus' markings craved on it. He blinked and they were gone. He turned back to land and started walking, answering Zulius' question.

"N- nothing, let's go."