The Forgotten Legacy

Chapter 14

14

I was awoken by a gentle shaking to my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Sid standing there shaking me to wake me up. I raised my arm to acknowledge that I was awake. As I did that Sid then stood back and started to speak,

"Good morning, Lord Bishari, it is time to get going to our next campsite. If we travel for about six hours a day, we should be able to set aside enough time to hunt, prepare dinner, and set up camp as well. Though with that new ability of yours, camp might be easier than usual. That being said I shall await you outside for now." And with that he bowed to me and turned to leave the room.

"One thing Sid, stop calling me Lord Bishari, My name is Roy, call me by it. That is all I'll be out in a bit." I replied to him a little annoyed by the fact that he had yet to call me by my name.

"Very well, if that is what you wish for, I shall going forward use the name Roy when I talk to you. I shall leave you to get dressed." Sid replied without so much as a hint of displeasure at my outburst.

I then got out of my stone bed while Sid left the room. I turned towards the clothes I had somehow taken off the night before and put them back on again. Once I was all dressed and ready to leave the room, I had Everest and Niques stay out while I put the others within their own crystals for the next leg of the journey. As I turned to leave the room I called out to both of them mentally. "You two, can I count on you to keep the way clear of any distractions for us today?" They both gave me an affirmative to my question. After that we stepped outside the stone hut I had created the day before.

Upon getting to the fire that had been burning since last night, I saw that Sid was reheating some of the soup we had created last night. I walked over to him and he handed me a bowl of warm soup as soon as I arrived. I then asked Sid, "Did you wake up Lorenzo yet?"

"I tried at least, that one does not know how to control himself evidently. Could I trouble you to wake him after breakfast is over. He does not get any if he does not wake up soon anyways. Oh here I made some for Everest and Niques there as well."

He handed over two large bowls filled with some of the thick soup that we were having. As those two dug into their meals, making a small mess in the process, I nodded to say I would wake Lorenzo up after breakfast was done. I then asked Sid, "So what exactly do you mean when you say that the Crystyln company has long served the Bishari line? I have read many of my fathers journals and diaries but have heard no mention of any such company or even of the name at all. Could you enlighten me as to what you mean when you say such."

Sid turned towards me as he finished plating himself before sitting down in front of me and saying, "Five hundred twenty-five years ago, as hard as it is to believe, my Granddad had met this man out "traveling the world" as he called it. This man had happened across his caravan as they were attacked by some fierce Desert Centipedes. My granddad had set out on his very first trade journey across the Sagona desert. This was the beginning of the Crystyn Mercantile Corps as he puts it. Anyways about halfway through their journey through the desert they were attacked by five large Desert Centipedes. They managed to hold off the creatures for a little while, but as they are as wide as two men, and as long as at least fifteen most of the time. But apparently one of these ones was said to be the king of the desert at the time. It was nearly three times as large as a normal centipede, and it was far more intelligent. They were having a lot of trouble with this one as it kept breaking through their spirit barriers they had hastily erected. Just when the last barrier broke and the Centipede was about to take the lives of everyone present, My granddad said and I quote, "There was a bright light, followed by a loud boom the likes of which I had thought possible." It turned out that when the dust settled there was no trace of the creature that was about to attack them. He then turned around and looked up the sand dune behind him to see a human standing at the top of it. His hand was raised as if he had just cast a large spell. My granddad then heard the same man call out and ask if they were okay. The man came down to the caravan to speak with them. He introduced himself as Kenneth Bishari, King of Bisharia located in the southwest of the continent. My granddad thanked him profusely and then thought for a second, and asked why a king would be out in the middle of the desert. It turned out that Kenneth's country had been overrun by massive amounts of Miasma and it made it into a cesspool for dungeons and monsters to spawn in. He was out searching for a way to help his people defeat the monsters and drive out the miasma. My granddad had just so happened to be transporting a cache of gems from the mountains between Sagona and Ardmyre. It turned out that if Kenneth had a way to clear miasma, he could put that spell within the newly found type of gems that allowed spells to be used remotely. As a reward for saving them from the Centipede, my granddad gave Kenneth half of his stock. After a little chatting they decided to head on out together to see if they could help Kenneth with reclaiming his country. Twenty years later they finally managed to succeed and clear the last of the miasma that had built up. After that, thanks to my granddad's contributions to the cause, Kenneth bestowed upon him the title of Master Smith, on account of his ability to craft the highest quality weapons and armor. But he was also bestowed the right to set up a mercantile company based right in the capital of Bisharia. Five years later Kenneth disappeared front he face of the world. My granddad thought of kenneth as one of his best friends, and as his own lord and king after all they went through together. I guess to answer your original question, why I say we serve the Bishari line. It is because my family owes a great debt to yours, moreover I once again found myself, my bloodline, being saved by you and your bloodline. So I once again pledge to help you with all of your goals towards the future. For the time being though, let us focus on defeating this monstrous leviathan plaguing the world once again. It should take us about a week or so to reach the Mountains if we go at the pace I was using back in the day. If we speed up and travel for about ten hours a day instead though, we should be able to get there in about three days tops. If your all down eating now, I'll take your dishes, and while you go to wake up the sleepyhead still in the cabin, I'll clean everything off. Off you go, we can talk more about this when we get to my granddad's outpost. He should have more insight than I do, but I have given my current knowledge on the matter to the best of my ability. We'll leave in about half an hour, so be ready to go." Sid had finished eating while reciting this story to me and bid me off to go wake Lorenzo to leave for the day.

I got up and thanked Sid for the food before turning around to go back into the hut I created. I decided to add two more rooms by lengthening the hut, just in case we need to bring two more people back with us. I figured that anymore than that and I would not be able to warp back to the forest from here, as it takes more mana per person I am taking with me. Either way I finished that up in about ten minutes. After I was done with that I walked into the first room on the left to see that Lorenzo had gotten some cotton earplugs from somewhere and had them in. I had let him sleep in long enough so I dragged him out of bed once again. "Get up, we're leaving in about fifteen minutes, you missed breakfast so good luck today by the way. Oh and I'm taking away your cloudstone as well, that way you won't stay in bed so long." I then turned around and left the room once again ignoring the harsh words I was hearing coming from behind me.

I then got back to the campfire and saw that Sid was almost ready to leave for the day. I turned around to see that Lorenzo was coming out of the hut still groggy as if he hadn't slept whatsoever. I paid it no mind and told him to follow us as we were leaving. He had everything he needed anyways so we left pretty soon after. We decided to have me build small stone huts for the nighttime when it was too dark to move. All in all after traveling far faster than I had thought possible, We had managed to reach the foot of the Naratel Mountains. Sid's prediction of three days was spot on as well. We managed to find the trail that Sid told us lead to an outpost within the peaks of the mountains and decided to camp for one last night before setting out to the outpost as the sun was already setting for the day. We had found a small squirrel like creature that had a hard outer shell that it rolled up within to protect itself that day as well. Usually they are hard to hunt, but nothing is a match to Everest's suffocation techniques. We decided to roast it and share it among ourselves. After we had that delicious creature, we decided that we would head out to the outpost tomorrow morning when the sun was coming out. It would be extremely dangerous to traverse the mountains in the dark.

We decided to head on to bed for the night. I was excited to finally be able to get my hands on a way to deal with the massive calamity threatening the forest. I also had a thought, If Obi was bestowed the title of Master Smith, He might be able to forge a suitable weapon for me to use with my magic. I was taught from a young age that Sword skills are essential for a man to have. That was one of the things my mother had drilled into me for two years. I had only learned one kind of sword but it should suffice if I get one made for that style. Either way tomorrow was bound to be exciting one way or another.

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Desert Centipede; A giant tan centipede that burrows within the sands of Sagona. It is considered the be a death sentence to come across just one of these. They are highly carnivorous and prey on anything smaller than they are. They are weak to extreme cold as they are said to be coldblooded. Not much else has been documented as it is highly dangerous to study.

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