The Spell of the Seven Emperiums

Chapter 5: Essence of the Hydra

It was a bright, sunny day. The warm breezes seemed to bring in new hopes to the four people. The winds were lashing the trees forcing them to bend lightly. Tyke looked at the sky to see if he finds any clouds. He frowned at the blue sky above him and said, “Funny…I don’t see clouds.” Gaul, who was engrossed in an interesting discussion with L.L about the advantages of using a Wolf as your partner, turned to Tyke. Tyke looked at Gaul and continued, “…this place is known to have lot of clouds and it rains here pretty often…” Gaul smiled at Tyke and said, “Aww…why are you worried? Just take it to be our luck. Anyway it’s been pretty long since we heard any news from Prontera, or any other cities, for that matter.” Tyke’s eyes widened and he said, “That reminds me! I have ordered the…” but before he could complete, Entrerri cut in pointing at something far away, “Huh? What’s that?” All the four turned to the direction where Entrerri was pointing. Tyke could see some thing in a worn out white cloak wearing a brown cap and a mail bag swinging around its left had. It seemed to hop small steps and slowly towards them. Tyke recognized it once it came closer. It was a Raggler. He heard a small tinkling sound. He saw Entrerri getting out his Katars. Tyke knew what Entrerri planned to do so he said quickly; “Don’t harm it…till it tries anything funny.” Entrerri gave a light nod, still looking intently at the Raggler as it approached them. The Raggler, hopping and jumping slowly, stopped in front of Tyke. The four exchanged bewildered looks. The bird then put one of its wings into the bag it was carrying and after a while, produced a roll of papers from it. It gave the Paper to Tyke. L.L looked at Tyke and said, “Well? What is it?” Tyke unrolled the paper and read the big bold print on the top and smiled. Tyke looked at the others and said, “The newspaper…that I was talking about” Everone breathed a sigh of relief. The Raggler then started screeching at them. Startled but trying to remain calm, he told the Rggler, “I…I…am sorry, but I don’t understand you.” The Raggler put its wing into the bag and brought out a small card. Tyke took the card. There was something written on it in small print. Tyke read aloud, “The Midgard Times, We are happy to announce that our customers will get to know the everyday events of Midgard even during these troubled times. We apologize for our inability to circulate our newspaper for the past week. Our offices were burnt down and we had to search for a new place to set up our press. Our regular circulations will continue as usual. We are also happy to announce our new scheme for our wandering brave warriors. The ‘Raggler delivery system™’ , which allows our subscribers to get their paper anywhere they are in Midgard. A fee of 5000z must be paid in order for the registration of this benefit and also 1000z per month for its renewal. The money can be paid to the Raggler which has delivered the Paper to you…” Tyke looked at the Raggler which was barely reached his hip. It seemed to be medaling with its bag and not paying attention to what Tyke was saying. He continued reading, “…Thank you for supporting us, The Prontera Press syndicate, offices now at Juno for security reasons.” Tyke took out some money and paid the Raggler his due. After taking the money, the Raggler set off the same way it came, hopping slowly.

Gaul then pulled his cart towards a nearby tree and sat down. He smiled brightly at the bewildered faces of the other three and said, “Well…it’s been three days since we got any News about what’s happening in the cities, I really want to know.” L.L smiled brightly at Gaul and said, “Ah! A good idea.”. He leaped backwards and jumped upon a low branch of a tree. Entrerri looked at the paper, and then turned to Gaul. “Why not?” he mumbled and walked towards a small boulder and sat on it. Tyke looked up at the three of them and confused upon why they were staring at him. Looking at Gaul, he said, “What?”. Clearing his voice and talking in a mocking tone, Gaul said, “The last man ‘standing’ reads the paper” Tyke frowned at Gaul. Seeing that there was no way out, Tyke mumbled, “Oh well” and started reading out the paper.

‘The Midgard Times

Printed at Juno

Turmoil at Prontera