Kyran hiked through the mountainous terrain that surrounded the tiny village he had been called out to. The ground was slowly turning from a brilliant green to a dull yellow. It was a sign that dampened Kyran's sense of adventure. Something bad was happening around here. Not only that but someone believed that he was capable of fixing it for them as well. That was the most confusing part. He hadn't done anything at this point that would gain his name any fame. At least, nothing that could be tracked back to him anyway. At least Kyran was sure writing the semi-famous series Dark Phoenix couldn't be traced back to him. What had led this mysterious person to him? Scanning the note that had urgently asked him to go to Hatchling's Sorrow for the thousandth time, Kyran didn't see anything. Just like he hadn't seen anything the previous nine hundred ninety nine times. Regardless, Kyran was happy to come here. It sounded as if the town was in trouble.
Hatchling's Sorrow was said to be cursed. Not in only one way but three. An intriguing place that's for sure. It was peaceful. Now something had upset the balance. Someone had managed to create a magical phenomenon within the tiny village. The note didn't specify what the phenomenon was exactly. That meant Kyran would have to figure that out for himself. The note did tell him that whatever was happening was turning people on each other. Violence stirred beneath the outer layer of happiness. The wrong movement would make it all light up. Either everyone would form a mob--Kyran shuddered at that thought-- or they would all turn on each other. Neither outcome was one Kyran wished to have come to pass. Therefore, he hiked into the unknown regions of Tolgalen in the hopes of finding a way to calm the crises. His only stipulation was that he couldn't use magic. The note said that might end up pointing the finger at him. Kyran didn't mind. He had gone without using his magic plenty of times. That was what his gear for.
The hike down to the village was relatively peaceful. The only thing that worried him was the closer he got, the worse the plant life seemed to get. It went from dying to downright poisonous. How did the people here even manage to survive? Was this the magical phenomenon that the note warned him about? Kyran stuck close to the dirt path as he neared Hatchling's Sorrow. The sides of the path had been cleared of all vegetation. That meant it was safe to walk on. Right? Kyran shifted his grip on the makeshift walking stick he had picked up. Tapping the end on the path, he proceeded cautiously. At one point, his tapping caused a rush of vine-like growth to shoot upward out of the path. It latched onto his walking stick and swallowed it before sinking back into the ground. The whole even took about ten seconds. Kyran was stunned. Surely this was the issue in the note. Killer trap plants could not be normal for these people. This new danger slowed Kyran's pace down to a crawl. The sun was well on its way to the horizan when he finally entered Hatchling's Sorrow.
Kyran wasn't sure what to expect when he entered the village. What he hadn't expected was stony expressions and openly hostile looks in his direction. Was there something wrong with what he had on or was it something else? "Hey there sonny. Don't mind them. Come here and give an old man a hand" Kyran saw an old fisherman struggling to come down the stairs of his porch. He hurried to help the old guy to the chair set in front of his porch. "Thank yee kindly, sir. Now what brings you to this cursed backwater place?" The old man pulled a pipe out of his pocket and used a fire lacrima to light it. Kyran was surprised someone with such patchy clothing would have a lacrima. It took a moment to register the question through his shock. "I was asked to help out with a magical matter that was bothering this place. I assume its the attacking plants outside the town." The old man chuckled, puffing on his pipe. He gestured to the stairs on his left. "Sit down for a bit, sonny and I'll tell you a tale. Then you'll know what to look for." Kyran complied figuring knowing a little more would be massively helpful. He couldn't deny that he was excited for more info as well. Learning new things always excited him.
The old man puffed once or twice more on his pipe. "Do you know why this village is called Hatchling's Sorrow?" Kyran shook his head. He had tried to find the answer since the name seemed a little depressing. The old man chuckled softly. "Not surprised. No one wants people to know they were responsible for nearly wiping out a dragon species by deception." Kyran's eyebrows raised a little bit at that tidbit. How had that come about? The old man's gray eyes pierced Kyran when he looked over. "A long time ago, when Tolgalen was still a vast untamed land, the Djinn of Discord, Taxen, transformed a siren into a dragon as per her wish. She attracted a mate from another dragon species. They had eggs together." The old man turned his head to peer off into the distance. "In those days, this village was host to plenty of powerful mages. A group of them believed they could use these eggs to create a race of slave dragons. They slew the mate taken by the Siren Dragon and stole her clutch of eggs. Or at least tried to." Kyran raised an eyebrow. How did one try to steal something? "You see dragon eggs have powerful magic of their own. When the mages tried to steal them, the eggs defended themselves. One was left behind. One was crushed as the mages made their escape. Only two of the four made it to the village. The mages tried to work their magic but... it didn't go well. One of the two...lets just say it wasn't pretty. The other pulled its magic so tightly around itself that it remains here today, buried in the old laboratory beneath the village." Kyran opened his mouth to ask a question but the old man tapped his pipe on the arm chair for silence. Kyran settled back to wait for the man to be finished. "When the Siren Dragon became aware of this atrocity, she laid curses upon the village. One for each egg that had been destroyed or taken. The first was the Curse of the Crushed. No one born here is allowed to set foot outside a specific boundary of one or two miles. There's more to it but that's all you need to know. The second was the Curse of Red Death. It causes all good plant life around here to die rapidly and encourages poisonous or dangerous plants to grow. Again more to it but not important. The last is the Curse of the Unhatched. Mages born here tend to go insane and turn on the village. Means that most mages are killed at a young age and magic is viewed with suspicion. Despite all that, this village trudges on."
The old man emptied out his pipe and turned toward Kyran. "I'm guess the reason you're called here is the fragile prosperity this village enjoys is in danger. Things we need, things vital to our survival have disappeared. On top of that, several people have turned up dead. I don't know who summoned you, boy but I'm glad they did. Get...to...the...bottom...of this" Kyran stood up as the old man clutched his chest. His breath became unsteady and his eyes widened in shock. Kyran reached out to help him but before he could touch the old man, the pipe fell to the ground. The old man slumped back in his seat, his eyes wide and staring. Kyran stared in horror. The old man had been completely healthy. How had he died so suddenly? Carefully, Kyran examined the body. Rapidly disappearing blue lines caught his eye a moment before they slipped away into the ground from the old man's foot. A spell? Or something more sinister? It would have to wait. He drew in a deep breath. This would be a risk but it was worth it. "Help! Help me please! This man just died out of nowhere! Oh gods!" It might have been a touch dramatic but Kyran turned away to fake heave against the wall. People gathered around quickly.
"Its old Tom!" "I can't believe it..." "It got another one!" "It was the newcomer! It had to be!" "Don't be daft Trent. He just got here." "Besides, can't you see how distraught he is?" "Doesn't mean he didn't help in some way..." Kyran listened to all the voices as they discussed the death of the old man. None of them seemed truly shocked about the death, merely who had died. Interesting. That meant a fair amount of people had died like this lately. He turned around slowly. "I'm sorry I lost my cool. Death is just difficult for me to handle." He smiled sheepishly, coldly watching them through that mask. Silently, Kyran thanked Ruvel. By watching the VP, Kyran had learned to semi-decently imitate expressions to hide his actual feelings. He wasn't sure why Ruvel had been the one to watch. It just seemed like he was closed off a little more than the other leaders of WFTC. "Does this happen a lot?" He asked gesturing to the body. All of them looked at each other. It was clear they didn't want to talk about it. One of them, a red head, shook her head before they dispersed. They didn't even bother to move the body. Kyran's jaw dropped at their callousness. He tried to talk to a few as they passed by but they hurried away from him as quick as they could.
Clearly the villagers weren't going to talk to him. Kyran thought back over what the old man, Tom, had said. There had been several incidents by what he had said. Not all deaths but disappearance of precious goods. Out here that was probably food stock and/or water. Easy enough to find but Kyran wasn't sure there would be many clues. Too many people used those things regularly. Any clue would have had to have been found within hours of the crime. The other lead that he had found was the strange blue lines retreating into the ground from Tom's body. Was it a creature? A spell? Where was it headed? Answering those questions might lead him closer to the answer. Kyran crouched down to investigate the soil where he had seen the lines. It was chalky, crumbling in his hand unlike the packed dirt beside it. Interesting. Perhaps this was a creature. Or a spell gone very horribly wrong. It felt like he was stepping into one of the detective novels he had read. They weren't really to his taste but the thrill was fun to read.
"You killed Tom, didn't you?! You always hated the man! Wanted his house and his things! You killed him to grab up his property!" Kyran stood up at the shouting. It was a stringy man who looked very unhealthy, yelling at a larger man with defined muscles. When the other one spoke, Kyran recognized him. This was the man that accused him of killing Tom. "I did no such thing, Jerry! Besides, you probably killed him for his hunting spear! Everyone knows you can't hunt. On top of that, you probably stole all the food too! Skinny thing like you needs that fat, right?" The two lunged at each other. Kyran once again felt surprise touch him. No one moved to break them up. In fact, some stopped to watch. Kyran was about to head over when he heard another argument break out. Then another. Then another. Whatever was going on, the note had been right. This village was close to ripping itself apart. Or perhaps worse, the outsider who got on the bad side of the villagers. He would have to keep to himself or risk being the match that lit the conflagration. While he could cut through them easily, Kyran didn't want to do anything that might hurt the West Fiore Trading Company's reputation. He had to proceed cautiously. Now if only he had a clear way to proceed, he would be set. All the shouting kept Kyran from pinpointing if anyone was really a suspect.
It was time to head underground. It was the only lead he had at the moment unfortunately. Kyran also felt uneasy with staying with all the villagers. He tended to say or do that wrong thing around people. Ahriman had awoken from the slumber Kyran's long trek had put him into. He sensed the violence beneath everything. It made him slobber all over the place inside Kyran's mind. Kyran tried not to grimace as he began searching for a manhole cover. Ahriman's hunger would wake the others. Plus it was nasty to hear the demon wolf's thoughts on the matter. Slaughtering the whole town was not okay in any book. Come host, let us bathe in their blood Ahriman growled, snapping as a little girl passed by. She looked up at Kyran, her eyes full of terrible knowledge. He stopped, watching her pass by. Interesting. What did the girl know? Or what had she seen that had filled those young orbs with such anguish? Something to find out another day. It was better to try and find the manhole. Ahriman snarled at the idea of going underground. Kyran couldn't tell if it was fear or something else. If it was fear, Kyran could always threaten the demon wolf into submission. There! He finally spotted one by the dead fountain near the center of town. The fountain had once been a thing of beauty. Now it was broken, dirty and defaced in so many ways, no trace of that beauty remained. Kyran paused in front of it. He felt for it. It reminded him so much of himself. "Hopefully, we'll both shine in the sun together once again." Kyran said touching the edge of the fountain. Then he crouched down to remove the manhole cover. Time to get to work.
There wasn't much to the underground as Kyran had thought there might be. Only a tunnel going off into darkness, the ladder leading to the surface and a door directly behind the ladder. Kyran had a feeling the tunnel might lead him where he wanted. He could feel something powerful from behind the door. Whatever it was, Kyran had no desire to disturb it. Perhaps it was the final egg that Tom had talked about. Ahriman snarled, trying to get Kyran to return to the surface. Now Kyran could feel the wolf demon's fear. Whatever was behind the door terrified the wolf. He smiled to himself as he headed down the tunnel. Ahriman's fear receded the further Kyran got from the door. A pity that was. Ahriman needed a healthy dose of fear. It might calm the demon down a bit. As Kyran got further into the tunnel, the walls of the tunnel changed from stone to dirt. A bit further down, it changed from dirt to the chalky substance he had found above. This was closer to the place he needed. A blue glow soon emanated from the walls. Kyran carefully pulled Calamity from his shoulder. A sense of danger prickled across his skin.
The tunnel ended abruptly leaving Kyran in a chamber. The chamber held a weird crystalline structure that reached into the ceiling. Blue lines shot from the base and the top, covering nearly the entire chamber. Kyran had a feeling touching any of the lines was a bad idea. He stayed at the edge of the chamber, peering at the structure. It was a transparent blue color, occasionally throwing off sparks. This was the thing that had killed Tom and the others. Yet Kyran felt there was something else in play here. This structure couldn't be sentient could it. He shot an arrow past just to be certain. There was no reaction whatsoever. A shot to the crystalline structure yielded similar results. That wasn't good. Whatever was happening above, it was being controlled by one of the villagers. Unless there were other outsiders up above. He crept around the edge of the chamber. Maybe another angle would present a clue about who was doing this or how they were controlling it. Either would work nicely. A trip around the entire chamber caused a weight to fall heavily onto Kyran's shoulders. There were children's toys scattered about the base of the column. It brought to mind the girl with terrible adult eyes. Could she be the one attacking? Why? There was more to this than Kyran was seeing. He only had to uncover the rest of this mystery.
WC: 2861
Hatchling's Sorrow was said to be cursed. Not in only one way but three. An intriguing place that's for sure. It was peaceful. Now something had upset the balance. Someone had managed to create a magical phenomenon within the tiny village. The note didn't specify what the phenomenon was exactly. That meant Kyran would have to figure that out for himself. The note did tell him that whatever was happening was turning people on each other. Violence stirred beneath the outer layer of happiness. The wrong movement would make it all light up. Either everyone would form a mob--Kyran shuddered at that thought-- or they would all turn on each other. Neither outcome was one Kyran wished to have come to pass. Therefore, he hiked into the unknown regions of Tolgalen in the hopes of finding a way to calm the crises. His only stipulation was that he couldn't use magic. The note said that might end up pointing the finger at him. Kyran didn't mind. He had gone without using his magic plenty of times. That was what his gear for.
The hike down to the village was relatively peaceful. The only thing that worried him was the closer he got, the worse the plant life seemed to get. It went from dying to downright poisonous. How did the people here even manage to survive? Was this the magical phenomenon that the note warned him about? Kyran stuck close to the dirt path as he neared Hatchling's Sorrow. The sides of the path had been cleared of all vegetation. That meant it was safe to walk on. Right? Kyran shifted his grip on the makeshift walking stick he had picked up. Tapping the end on the path, he proceeded cautiously. At one point, his tapping caused a rush of vine-like growth to shoot upward out of the path. It latched onto his walking stick and swallowed it before sinking back into the ground. The whole even took about ten seconds. Kyran was stunned. Surely this was the issue in the note. Killer trap plants could not be normal for these people. This new danger slowed Kyran's pace down to a crawl. The sun was well on its way to the horizan when he finally entered Hatchling's Sorrow.
Kyran wasn't sure what to expect when he entered the village. What he hadn't expected was stony expressions and openly hostile looks in his direction. Was there something wrong with what he had on or was it something else? "Hey there sonny. Don't mind them. Come here and give an old man a hand" Kyran saw an old fisherman struggling to come down the stairs of his porch. He hurried to help the old guy to the chair set in front of his porch. "Thank yee kindly, sir. Now what brings you to this cursed backwater place?" The old man pulled a pipe out of his pocket and used a fire lacrima to light it. Kyran was surprised someone with such patchy clothing would have a lacrima. It took a moment to register the question through his shock. "I was asked to help out with a magical matter that was bothering this place. I assume its the attacking plants outside the town." The old man chuckled, puffing on his pipe. He gestured to the stairs on his left. "Sit down for a bit, sonny and I'll tell you a tale. Then you'll know what to look for." Kyran complied figuring knowing a little more would be massively helpful. He couldn't deny that he was excited for more info as well. Learning new things always excited him.
The old man puffed once or twice more on his pipe. "Do you know why this village is called Hatchling's Sorrow?" Kyran shook his head. He had tried to find the answer since the name seemed a little depressing. The old man chuckled softly. "Not surprised. No one wants people to know they were responsible for nearly wiping out a dragon species by deception." Kyran's eyebrows raised a little bit at that tidbit. How had that come about? The old man's gray eyes pierced Kyran when he looked over. "A long time ago, when Tolgalen was still a vast untamed land, the Djinn of Discord, Taxen, transformed a siren into a dragon as per her wish. She attracted a mate from another dragon species. They had eggs together." The old man turned his head to peer off into the distance. "In those days, this village was host to plenty of powerful mages. A group of them believed they could use these eggs to create a race of slave dragons. They slew the mate taken by the Siren Dragon and stole her clutch of eggs. Or at least tried to." Kyran raised an eyebrow. How did one try to steal something? "You see dragon eggs have powerful magic of their own. When the mages tried to steal them, the eggs defended themselves. One was left behind. One was crushed as the mages made their escape. Only two of the four made it to the village. The mages tried to work their magic but... it didn't go well. One of the two...lets just say it wasn't pretty. The other pulled its magic so tightly around itself that it remains here today, buried in the old laboratory beneath the village." Kyran opened his mouth to ask a question but the old man tapped his pipe on the arm chair for silence. Kyran settled back to wait for the man to be finished. "When the Siren Dragon became aware of this atrocity, she laid curses upon the village. One for each egg that had been destroyed or taken. The first was the Curse of the Crushed. No one born here is allowed to set foot outside a specific boundary of one or two miles. There's more to it but that's all you need to know. The second was the Curse of Red Death. It causes all good plant life around here to die rapidly and encourages poisonous or dangerous plants to grow. Again more to it but not important. The last is the Curse of the Unhatched. Mages born here tend to go insane and turn on the village. Means that most mages are killed at a young age and magic is viewed with suspicion. Despite all that, this village trudges on."
The old man emptied out his pipe and turned toward Kyran. "I'm guess the reason you're called here is the fragile prosperity this village enjoys is in danger. Things we need, things vital to our survival have disappeared. On top of that, several people have turned up dead. I don't know who summoned you, boy but I'm glad they did. Get...to...the...bottom...of this" Kyran stood up as the old man clutched his chest. His breath became unsteady and his eyes widened in shock. Kyran reached out to help him but before he could touch the old man, the pipe fell to the ground. The old man slumped back in his seat, his eyes wide and staring. Kyran stared in horror. The old man had been completely healthy. How had he died so suddenly? Carefully, Kyran examined the body. Rapidly disappearing blue lines caught his eye a moment before they slipped away into the ground from the old man's foot. A spell? Or something more sinister? It would have to wait. He drew in a deep breath. This would be a risk but it was worth it. "Help! Help me please! This man just died out of nowhere! Oh gods!" It might have been a touch dramatic but Kyran turned away to fake heave against the wall. People gathered around quickly.
"Its old Tom!" "I can't believe it..." "It got another one!" "It was the newcomer! It had to be!" "Don't be daft Trent. He just got here." "Besides, can't you see how distraught he is?" "Doesn't mean he didn't help in some way..." Kyran listened to all the voices as they discussed the death of the old man. None of them seemed truly shocked about the death, merely who had died. Interesting. That meant a fair amount of people had died like this lately. He turned around slowly. "I'm sorry I lost my cool. Death is just difficult for me to handle." He smiled sheepishly, coldly watching them through that mask. Silently, Kyran thanked Ruvel. By watching the VP, Kyran had learned to semi-decently imitate expressions to hide his actual feelings. He wasn't sure why Ruvel had been the one to watch. It just seemed like he was closed off a little more than the other leaders of WFTC. "Does this happen a lot?" He asked gesturing to the body. All of them looked at each other. It was clear they didn't want to talk about it. One of them, a red head, shook her head before they dispersed. They didn't even bother to move the body. Kyran's jaw dropped at their callousness. He tried to talk to a few as they passed by but they hurried away from him as quick as they could.
Clearly the villagers weren't going to talk to him. Kyran thought back over what the old man, Tom, had said. There had been several incidents by what he had said. Not all deaths but disappearance of precious goods. Out here that was probably food stock and/or water. Easy enough to find but Kyran wasn't sure there would be many clues. Too many people used those things regularly. Any clue would have had to have been found within hours of the crime. The other lead that he had found was the strange blue lines retreating into the ground from Tom's body. Was it a creature? A spell? Where was it headed? Answering those questions might lead him closer to the answer. Kyran crouched down to investigate the soil where he had seen the lines. It was chalky, crumbling in his hand unlike the packed dirt beside it. Interesting. Perhaps this was a creature. Or a spell gone very horribly wrong. It felt like he was stepping into one of the detective novels he had read. They weren't really to his taste but the thrill was fun to read.
"You killed Tom, didn't you?! You always hated the man! Wanted his house and his things! You killed him to grab up his property!" Kyran stood up at the shouting. It was a stringy man who looked very unhealthy, yelling at a larger man with defined muscles. When the other one spoke, Kyran recognized him. This was the man that accused him of killing Tom. "I did no such thing, Jerry! Besides, you probably killed him for his hunting spear! Everyone knows you can't hunt. On top of that, you probably stole all the food too! Skinny thing like you needs that fat, right?" The two lunged at each other. Kyran once again felt surprise touch him. No one moved to break them up. In fact, some stopped to watch. Kyran was about to head over when he heard another argument break out. Then another. Then another. Whatever was going on, the note had been right. This village was close to ripping itself apart. Or perhaps worse, the outsider who got on the bad side of the villagers. He would have to keep to himself or risk being the match that lit the conflagration. While he could cut through them easily, Kyran didn't want to do anything that might hurt the West Fiore Trading Company's reputation. He had to proceed cautiously. Now if only he had a clear way to proceed, he would be set. All the shouting kept Kyran from pinpointing if anyone was really a suspect.
It was time to head underground. It was the only lead he had at the moment unfortunately. Kyran also felt uneasy with staying with all the villagers. He tended to say or do that wrong thing around people. Ahriman had awoken from the slumber Kyran's long trek had put him into. He sensed the violence beneath everything. It made him slobber all over the place inside Kyran's mind. Kyran tried not to grimace as he began searching for a manhole cover. Ahriman's hunger would wake the others. Plus it was nasty to hear the demon wolf's thoughts on the matter. Slaughtering the whole town was not okay in any book. Come host, let us bathe in their blood Ahriman growled, snapping as a little girl passed by. She looked up at Kyran, her eyes full of terrible knowledge. He stopped, watching her pass by. Interesting. What did the girl know? Or what had she seen that had filled those young orbs with such anguish? Something to find out another day. It was better to try and find the manhole. Ahriman snarled at the idea of going underground. Kyran couldn't tell if it was fear or something else. If it was fear, Kyran could always threaten the demon wolf into submission. There! He finally spotted one by the dead fountain near the center of town. The fountain had once been a thing of beauty. Now it was broken, dirty and defaced in so many ways, no trace of that beauty remained. Kyran paused in front of it. He felt for it. It reminded him so much of himself. "Hopefully, we'll both shine in the sun together once again." Kyran said touching the edge of the fountain. Then he crouched down to remove the manhole cover. Time to get to work.
There wasn't much to the underground as Kyran had thought there might be. Only a tunnel going off into darkness, the ladder leading to the surface and a door directly behind the ladder. Kyran had a feeling the tunnel might lead him where he wanted. He could feel something powerful from behind the door. Whatever it was, Kyran had no desire to disturb it. Perhaps it was the final egg that Tom had talked about. Ahriman snarled, trying to get Kyran to return to the surface. Now Kyran could feel the wolf demon's fear. Whatever was behind the door terrified the wolf. He smiled to himself as he headed down the tunnel. Ahriman's fear receded the further Kyran got from the door. A pity that was. Ahriman needed a healthy dose of fear. It might calm the demon down a bit. As Kyran got further into the tunnel, the walls of the tunnel changed from stone to dirt. A bit further down, it changed from dirt to the chalky substance he had found above. This was closer to the place he needed. A blue glow soon emanated from the walls. Kyran carefully pulled Calamity from his shoulder. A sense of danger prickled across his skin.
The tunnel ended abruptly leaving Kyran in a chamber. The chamber held a weird crystalline structure that reached into the ceiling. Blue lines shot from the base and the top, covering nearly the entire chamber. Kyran had a feeling touching any of the lines was a bad idea. He stayed at the edge of the chamber, peering at the structure. It was a transparent blue color, occasionally throwing off sparks. This was the thing that had killed Tom and the others. Yet Kyran felt there was something else in play here. This structure couldn't be sentient could it. He shot an arrow past just to be certain. There was no reaction whatsoever. A shot to the crystalline structure yielded similar results. That wasn't good. Whatever was happening above, it was being controlled by one of the villagers. Unless there were other outsiders up above. He crept around the edge of the chamber. Maybe another angle would present a clue about who was doing this or how they were controlling it. Either would work nicely. A trip around the entire chamber caused a weight to fall heavily onto Kyran's shoulders. There were children's toys scattered about the base of the column. It brought to mind the girl with terrible adult eyes. Could she be the one attacking? Why? There was more to this than Kyran was seeing. He only had to uncover the rest of this mystery.
WC: 2861