Arcane Overlords: Proving Grounds

Chapter 1

The residents of Doom Island were different from other town citizens. Instead of hurrying around and getting things done, the entire town seemed dead, demotivated, and even though there seemed a good amount of people could live there, the place seemed almost isolated. Dark clouds enveloped the skies above them, covering the island in partial darkness. Flint looked around the town for a while, trying to find anybody who could give him information on where he was, or if there was any work for them. Ever since the trio had washed up on the shores of Newground, and successfully made it off thanks to Theos, they were in dire need of money and equipment if they wanted to survive out on the seven seas. Most of their equipment had been lost when the Azure Servant went down, so if they wanted to stay alive, they'd need to work for it.
It only took a little bit more time before Flint heard Koda shouting from across the town. "Hey, guys! You gotta see this!" Flint hurried across the narrow streets to where Koda was standing, and shortly after, Aruga joined them. "Take a look at this." Koda said, pointing to an urban area of town. The buildings were very simple in design, looking almost prehistoric with their worn-out wood walls, their straw roofs and their lack of doors. People were packed inside these little shelters, huddled together. It wasn't just the one building with people inside, either. On further inspection, Aruga discovered that there were other shelters that were packed to the brim with people, all of them were huddled together and shivering as if they've been left to face the cold for days. "Is everyone okay?" Flint said to one group of civilians. He received no response, as all of the people continued to stare at the floor and ignore his every word. It was almost as if the life had been drained out of them, until all that was left were husks. Empty shells with no emotion, motivation or willpower at all. He went through a few groups of people, hoping to get any sort of response from anyone, but all he  got were blank stares, and the occasional sound of teeth chattering in the cold. Flint conjured small balls of fire to hover over the groups and give them warmth, while being careful not to catch any of the shelters when he did.
It wasn't until the trio circled around to the town center that they saw him. A lone man standing outside one of the shelters. He was rather tall compared to anyone in the group, had dark black hair, wore tattered clothes, had a sword at his side and an eternal frown on his face as he looked around at the townsfolk. They started walking towards him, and it didn't take long for the man to turn and see them walking towards him. His face turned from emotionless to angry as he pulls a longsword out of his sheathe and turns to face the group. "Stand back!" He yells at them, and prepares a battle stance. The entire group jumps at the sight of it, and each of them unsheathes their daggers, letting their magical energy flow through the blades. "Whoa, wait! We don't want to fight!" Koda calls out to him, in hopes he'll lower his weapons. "Lies... you're all followers of Marua, aren't you?" He calls back. "Followers of who?" Aruga responds to him. "We don't know who you're talking about. We're just traveling wizards!" Flint says after. The man then hesitates, and lowers his sword for a second, obviously doubtful of his own judgement at this point. "So you're not with him then..." he says quietly. He sheathes his sword after much hesitation, and begins to approach the group. All three of them pull back their magic, and sheathe their daggers as well as they approach him.
"I'm sorry for doubting you, travellers." The man said to them. "My name is Roran, and I'm the village chieftain." Aruga takes one more glance around the town before turning to speak to Roran. All of the people that are in this place, huddled together with almost no warmth or shelter, and yet they do nothing to try and fix the problem. It just made no sense to him, and even now, he was still trying to piece it all together. Why do they have no energy? Why are they so demotivated? And why do they just refuse to make an attempt at saving themselves and just decide to curl up and hide? "What happened here? Why are all of the townspeople acting so weird?" He tried to say without sounding rude. "That... requires a lot of explaining" Roran replied, the look of disappointment still lingering in his face. "Believe it or not, this island used to be just like any other island here. Clear skies, cool breeze, everything was perfect..." the trio looked around at each other, confused. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't picture doom island ever being more than the groggy, dark mess it was now. "So" Flint said. "What really happened here?"
"It started about 6 months ago. At the time, a man named Marua the Shadow was the village chieftain, and I was working alongside him to run the village. Together, we made the island a safe place for people who couldn't afford to live in places like Savaria. I thought that me and Marua had the same ideals for the village, but I soon learned that he had other plans. He started going on these excursions from the village, spanning from a few days to almost 2 weeks at a time, and every time he came back, he seemed... different. He started lacking motivation to make change, and his friendliness slowly started to fade away. It was almost as if something, or even someone was draining the life out of him. So one day, I secretly followed him out on one of his trips. He went into this cave on the other side of the island, one that was away from everything else by a bit. When I went inside, there was this black smoke everywhere which made it difficult to see what was going on, but what I saw explained everything that was going on.
Marua was there in front of me, suspended in midair by nothing. He was groaning really loudly, but behind that, I could hear a voice talking to him. I don't know exactly what he said, but I know it was something along the lines of "Don't stop now, Marua... you've almost done it..." I peeked around the corner I was hiding behind a little bit more, and I saw another person standing right next to him. I couldn't see his face though, because he had this dark cloak on, and underneath his hood were just glowing red eyes. And then... nothing. I woke up in the middle of the street, just as the storm rolled in overhead. It's been 2 months since then, and the storm has yet to leave the island. Ever since the storm rolled in, Marua has beensending people to the village to attack and steal our food and supplies... it's just, been a really difficult time trying to keep everyone safe by myself..." Roran's voice quivers, and a single tear rolls down his cheek.
Flint is the first to respond. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened, Roran. I could only imagine how hard that was for you." He put his hand on Roran's shoulder to show his sympathy, to which he nodded back at him. Koda then stepped forward, with a rather serious look on his face. "Where is the cave?" Dakota said. Aruga turned to look at him with confusion. "What are you saying, Koda? Don't tell me you want to go try and find Marua!" Koda turned to him looking even more serious than before.
"If Marua never showed up outside the cave, he might still be in there, and chances are, he's the one controlling the storm clouds."
"If you think we can just waltz into that cave and take on a wizard that can do this..." He gestures to the dark clouds overhead. "You've lost your damn mind!"
"If there's any chance I can help these people, you damn well know I'm going to take that chance! No matter what the risk, we have to do something!"
Koda was yelling at this point, something that he's never done before. Never in the entire time Aruga and Flint had known him had he ever yelled about something, so seeing this definitely came as a shock to them. Flint turned to him, worried for the well-being of his friend.
"Koda, you really want to help these people?"
"More than anything."
"You're sure this is the right choice?"
"Of course."
Flint let's out a sigh. "Well then... if you think this is the right thing to do, then there's really no arguing about it." He'd smile at Koda, causing him to smile too. Aruga turned to look at the two, and dawned a grin of his own. They then all turned to Roran, who's face had lit up completely. Flint stepped forward and said, "You heard him, Roran. We're gonna go find Marua the Shadow."