Pathfinder: Sacred Order - Chapter 83

 

At the Lezhalt estate a tall muscular man looked down at the paper he was writing on. Next to the sheet of paper on his desk were piles of books.

Scratching his auburn colored hair with his hand in frustration he sighed.

“What’s the matter with you Victor? Have you finally come to accept that you were wrong?”

A man asked him as he wore a smug grin on his face.

It was his best friend, someone he basically grew up with. But Victor still disliked the grin that his friend so proudly showed.

“No. I’m not wrong and you know it. Look at all the evidence I’ve uncovered!”

Victor shouted as he pointed to the loads of books scattered across the room.

Even his friend had to admit it was a lot.

When Victor first brought the matter up to him he simply called Victor mad. Now he could see that he was not only bad, but driven.

It frightened him.

“That isn’t the point. If the church finds out what you are doing, do you think you’ll be safe? You have a son for crying out loud!”

“That is why we are investigating in silence. I’m just curious Dezmond, really.”

Dezmond couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

If he was only curious he would have stopped delving into this a long time ago. This was beyond simple curiosity, instead he sought to unravel the mystery.

Even he himself after hearing what Victor told him couldn’t help but be a bit interested.

“I mean think about it. If the orgins of these books and all the information is true, wouldn’t that make the church a bunch of liars?”

“Enough of this foolishness! Do not test your faith Victor, for it will not end well.”

Dezmond warned.

“I’m not testing anything! The church preaches to us about Mother Nessa, but why is no one ever speaking of where she is from? Was she born a God? No! It’s written down in the language of old. She is not a holy maiden, she’s a conqueror!”

Victor slammed his hand on the wooden desk causing it to break.

His sudden outburst caught Dezmond off guard.

How could he not see this coming? His friend has went too far.

Victor saw the look on Dezmond’s face and took in a deep breath to calm himself.

“Just come with me. You do me this favor and if nothing turns up, then I’ll drop this matter completely.”

Dezmond thought it over for a second. No matter what Victor found, it would never be real. All the information he has gathered so far was dated back to centuries ago. It was unlikely he would find what he was looking for.

“Fine.”

Half a year later both men walked through the thick white fog. Dezmond could barely make out Victor’s figure. Looking back he could not even see the knights they brought with them.

“What are we doing here on the plains?”

Dezmond spoke loudly so Victor could hear him.

“To search for something.”

Victor replied back.

“And what is that exactly?”

Dezmond disliked being toyed around with, he was never one to play other peoples games. Instead, he enjoyed being the one to have others play his.

No reply came forward, but Dezomd kept walking knowing that Victor was still in front of him.

Suddenly he too stopped moving as he stared at a large statue wrapped around in vines. The statue looked ancient and it was more than three times his size.

“What in Nessa’s name is this?”

The statue itself was of a creature he has never seen before. It stood on two feet just like them, but had claws, sharp pointy ears and a tail.

It wasn’t human, that was for sure.

“Its real…”

Victor took a step closer as he examined the statue.

“What are you talking about?”

“The stories Dezmond! They are real, and this is the proof of it! Don’t you see, this here is a statue of a native.”

Dezmond placed both his hands on Victors shoulders while shaking him.

“We are the natives Victor! I’ve played along with your tale long enough. It’s time to leave!”

“Wait! Don’t you want to know what happened to them? To see if they are still alive? Why was it that the emperor failed his conquest of the north so long ago? You think a few beast would stop the empires advance? Something is out there Dezmond, and for both of our sakes its best we find out what it is.”

Victor removed Dezmond’s hands off his shoulder.

He too was scared of the unknown, but he was willing to take a step forward. If there was something out there capable of killing off the emperor and his forces, what stopped them from going down south?

Victor had a family to take care of, but to protect them he needed to know what he was protecting them from.

“Two hours. I’ll travel with you for two more hours and then I’m gone. No matter if we find anything or not!”

Dezmond had his own family to think of and look after. He would not abandon them to see his mad friend lose himself.

And just like that, both men went deeper into the plains.

The great plains of Elune were always a mystery to the citizens of the empire. Brave warriors traveled it but not everyone returned alive.

Those that did came back with exciting tales, most of which everyone assumed was made up. However, overtime this place became a treasure trove.

Rich food, strange plants and beast as strong as an average soldier appeared here. If you were capable of bringing anything back, you were sure to live a decent life off the coin you’d make.

It didn’t even take them long before both men ran into something that looked like an altar. It was different from what they knew, and were taught.

This altar had a green circle underneath it, along with the skull and bones of creatures. In the middle of it was a sarcophagus made of white stone.

On top of it were treasures, one of which caught both mens eyes.

“Isn’t that the sword of Elune? I thought it was lost?”

“It is lost… look where we are. Who would find it in here?”

With both their knowledge of their empire and both men being figures of nobility it was easy for them to identify the sword.

Dezmond reached for it and felt its weight. When he tried to draw the blade from its elegant sheath he failed.

“You know only those of royal blood are capable of drawing the blade. Don’t even try it.”

Victor told Dezmond as he found it foolish his friend even tried.

“Then you try it.”

“No way. Just take it back with you, you’ll be rewarded greatly. Might even become a Duke yourself.”

Dezmond smiled and put the sword away.

“You think they buried the emperor here?”

“Why would they do that? And you said they, so you do think the natives are still around then?”

Dezmond said nothing but moved his hands so he could take the top plate off of the sarcophagus.

“Only one way to find out.”

Victor wanted to do nothing more but stop him, but his curiosity got the best of him. Instead, he allowed Dezmond to remove the cover.

“This…”

“This is a native!”

Victor finished Dezmond’s sentence for him as he stared at the corpse.

It was dark brown in color with a beaded necklace around its neck. The creatures eyes were closed, but it did not appear dead.

Dead people or even animals lost their color. This creature retained its color.

As both men were discussing their findings, the creature started to open its eyes.

Dezmond nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw this as he threw a spell at it. The creature was already wounded which they saw from the large gash on its chest.

Yet, Dezmond did not hold back at all and unleashed his full power.

‘What have you done?’

Dezmond stood there looking around as he heard a voice echo in his head which was not his own.

‘What have you done?’

The voice asked again, but Dezomd still had no answer for it.

‘Go! Now!’

“Why did you do that? It was already injured.”

This time his mind was not playing tricks on him as Victor’s voice emerged in his ear.

“You’ve seen enough and so have I. Let’s leave before we end up like the others who traveled before us.”

Victor nodded and grabbed something that was inside the sarcophagus along with the body.

It was a some sort of pearl.