The Guide of Argos

Chapter 9

***Thyme POV***

As The Dark Lord rampaged through the continent, it will only be a matter of time before he comes to Thyme's town. The Elders have been anticipating this catastrophic invasion for decades and have put up protective barriers around the city to deter the Shades and Spirittombs that Argos had convinced to join his cause .Argos, according to some rumors came here because he still believe the Terraform Crystals are on the islands.Those crystals were split into fragments,no longer focused on a specific place but fractured into many parts. The crystals are said to have immense power, however it comes at a grave cost.The person who wields them has the power of the dragons of the west.Thyme was about to leave the city when his best friend Erling offered to come."Now that Argos has mobilized the Shades,"It's more dangerous now.Thyme brushed this off "I'm going alone.I will find the Chrystals before he does and I will hide at Stellar's Cove for the moment."After a long and heated debate,he left angered at the fact that his friends don't believe in him anymore.Thyme set off towards the high mountains of Condor.

While on his way,however,stones randomly fell off the mountain and rolled straight towards him.He just managed to dodge them in time however,when crystal shards magically appeared out of thin air.He grinded to a halt and said"Show yourselves you cowards,or i will personally cut every one of your heads off and dump them in a lake."His attackers removed their invisibility helmets and led him under a mountain and into a cave system he has never seen the likes of.One of the soldiers from earlier introduced himself as Belfast and he gave them a weird,ominous message saying"The Dark Lord will strike again,unless the forces combine as one."When Belfast finished the message he only muttered"Welcome to the Crystalids"before falling into a deep slumber and a assasin appears,causing mass panic among everyone in the caves.Thyme pulled out his shirkens and threw them at the assassin,who's currently wearing a black robe,wielding twin yellow blades and heading towards the leader of the group.The force from the arrow knocked the assasin back and uncovered his hood.Thyme could hardly believe it. It was a goblin from the northern woods,at least that's how he looked,but there's no mistaking the green face and long ears that perked through the deep mountains.The goblin scowled at Thyme and quickly stabbed the clan leader in the abdomen before turning to face his new foe. Thyme shot the ivory tipped arrow on his quiver and, to everyone's surprise, the arrow did no harm to the assassin,who only staggered a bit back and lunged for Thyme instead. The moon elf only had a second to pull out something before the amber blade of the goblin hit his abdomen. Thyme slashed with a handmade stick,but before the stick even landed, the goblin quickly teleported away.

After the disastrous ambush," I'm going out on my own now" he declared and quickly zoomed through the hidden entrance as fast as possible. He didn't even stop to look back before he ran all the way north into the Goblin Woods. That was a mistake. a goblin gang which wore white light masks knocked him unconscious with a heavy club to the head and dragged to the goblin's Capital: Esteros, a once great city shattered by the recent wars and petty conflicts of the many different nations. The goblins put him in a sack and carried him towards the dungeon. Overhead, the monstrous griffins called out almost like in some sort of mock towards him as he sat helpless, imprisoned in the goblin's prison for now...However, unknown to the guards on duty, he is currently implementing a plan that would get him out for good.

IIeo POV

She calmly walked through the grove and into the City of Antersdam with a feeling of hopefulness at the fact that she would probably meet Falcon again. Sickened with grief, she went into the local tavern to find a spy. She wanted to stab Argos, the very god  that kept them apart in the very beginning. The tavern was loud and rowdy with a multitude of different races all in one tavern. She went looking around, trying to find a guide who would take her to the Lost Ruins, an ancient city that has been long abandoned by the humans and now, it is occupied by Argos' followers. She usually gets responses like:" Are you crazy! No one here has ever been near the city for 500 or so years." She then left the tavern, knowing that she has to do it herself. She went to the nearby forest outside the city to hide .Once she stopped to rest, however, a heavy fog blew through the forest, leaving her stuck . Then, several mutated creatures appeared, including a lamprey with glowing scales and bat wings which is called a Ghendrial, an alligator with sharp fangs and a spiky tail called a Tendro who also have sharp twisted horns that pierce the life out of anyone they attack. These and more creatures started violently attacking Ileo from the dungeons of their origin. She seems surprised by their violent reaction and screamed in terror. Once she started coming to her senses, she sheathed her silver daggers and she drew out her bow, given to her by her grandfather, loaded an arrow on her shaft and shot an arrow, knowing it will hit it's mark. Right before the creature staggered back and winced in pain, she noticed something about it's eyes. They were a shade of violet purple. She instantly knew that it was Argos who controlled them as she saw several humans possessed by the same magic 2 years ago.

***Flashback(IIeo)***

Raykisho, Ch'ara Dynasty,2 years ago

There was peace in all the lands. Elven children are playing in the streets .IIeo herself, however, noticed a loud noise in the distance and excused herself to see what was happening.What she saw inflicted trauma on her that lasted till this day. She saw several men grabbing out their knives and cutting open many people including her uncle and her father,who were there. Elven blood spilled around everywhere. Panic spread out over the streets and a dark hooded figure rose out in the front.He had the palest skin you have ever seen, almost as though he was dead already. Behind him were some disheveled looking men in rags, wielding swords of stone, extracting the blue Elven blood scattered all over the ground using glass jars.Ileo was shocked by what had just happened and she fled in a panic. She quickly ran back to her home and cried for the rest of the day. She swore one day, that she will bring the charred disfigured head of the pale figure.

***
Ileo shed a few tears as she remembered that horrid day when everything went wrong.When she got back up, she found out that the fog disappeared, however she was in a totally different part of the forest now.She was about to panic before she remember something that her friend Thyme gave her before she left for the academy: a bright, red ruby. Hordes of animals surrounded her. "Give us the gem!"the various forest creatures demanded in a blank, monotone voice.Ileo shook her head in disbelief, before the gem flared up, scaring all of the animals and leaving Ileo confused as to what just happened.When she walked closer, however, she found that all of the creatures have been pierced by this strange gem of hers somehow. To her surprise however, the past creatures have been summoned back to life and for some reason-retreats? Ileo felt a shiver before she was mysteriously  teleported to a dark cave. Where a large bear was waiting.