Chapter 11 – Hidden Area, The Emperor’s Tomb

“This is the lair,” the faerie answered Daniel, her voice shaking slightly.

“Lair? Whose lair?” Daniel asked again. He didn’t like the sound of that, and the echoing of dripping water through the cave was giving him goosebumps. Deep blue mana crystal stalagmites jutted from the cavern walls, illuminating the area eerily. He was safe from the Anndr here, at least… Daniel clung to that thought for peace of mind.

“It used to be an emperor’s tomb, but now it’s just a lair for all sorts of dangerous monsters,” replied the faerie, unbothered by the danger that lay within the lair. “I have something to show you. It’s further in the tomb.”

The scantily dressed small faerie sighed, looking crestfallen as she remembered what she just witnessed. “It’s sad that we can’t save my brethren from being eaten… you and I are too weak to fight the Anndr. But you saved me, so at least one of our tribe will live through this.

Tears were welling up in her eyes, and Daniel lightly pet her on the head with his fingertip. “I’m sorry,” he said, looking down while petting her. He looked back up with resolve in his eyes. “When I get stronger, I’ll take down that Anndr for you and avenge your tribe. Alright?”

Wiping away her tears, the faerie’s bottom lip trembled as she nodded. “Thank you, Daniel~”

Daniel continued to console the faerie, who was still on the verge of breaking down again upon the thought of her entire tribe getting cooked up into a stew by that evil Anndr.

“Hnnnn… *hic* mmmm… sister! Mom! Dad...” she cried, thinking about her family that was at the mercy of the Anndr masquerading as the tutorial guide faerie.

“I’m so sorry,” Daniel said, feeling useless as he was unable to help her in his current state.

“There’s something I *hic* have to show you,” the faerie said with a bit more resolve in her voice, although she was hiccuping from crying. “It will make you stronger. It is our *hic* tribe’s gift to you.” Fluttering her violet wings, the cloth rag dress faerie hovered in the air and motioned for Daniel to follow her.

“Follow me,” she said. “But be quiet. You don’t want to wake the monsters in this lair.”

Daniel began to follow her through the cave as quietly as he could. Leaving the room that they began in, he made his way through a highrise that overlooked a dark lake within the cave. A large crocodilian creature swam through the water, poking its snout out and sniffing the air, its scales glistening from the light cast by the mana crystals lining the cave walls.

*Caw caw caw*

Lurching backwards, Daniel recoiled as several morbid creatures with bat wings bursted from the ceiling, flying across to the other side. They seemed uninterested in him.

“Quick, follow me,” the faerie whispered. “Ignore those bats and things.”

Daniel crawled on the ground to avoid detection from anything underneath the ledge, as he followed the faerie through the highrise to another section of the lair. Meandering for what seemed like hours, Daniel held his breath while sneaking past a large serpent, and a group of sleeping wolves.

The lair had marks of ancient civilization, as they passed by a marble effigy and some intricate carvings in the walls, as well as a rectangular hallway cut through the cave itself. Whatever kind of people used to live here, they were long gone now, as cobwebs covered every corner of the ancient tomb.

“It’s here,” said the faerie, pointing down the hall to a doorway that was blocked by a collapse stone door nearly a foot thick. With the door crumbled and shattered, there was a man sized hole that Daniel could comfortably fit through.

The faerie darted through and motioned for Daniel to follow, and he made his way through the hole.

“Whoa…” Daniel gasped in amazement. He emerged from his prone position into an imposing throne room filled with statues of knights in various poses, torches across the walls that had not been lit for hundreds if not thousands of years, and a large stone carving of the emperor on a tomb in the middle of the room. The emperor’s right hand was outstretched with its palm facing upwards, and his left hand was grasping some kind of scroll that looked like it was about to fall apart.

The platinum haired faerie with green eyes flew towards the remarkably lifelike statue of the emperor, and waved for Daniel to come.

“As the last of the wind faerie tribe, I bestow on you our tribe’s treasure, the Emperor’s decree,” the small faerie said solemnly.

Landing on the left hand of the emperor, the wind faerie pulled the decrepit scroll out of its hand and flew to Daniel, placing the scroll into his palm.

[You have received item Emperor’s Decree.]

[Emperor’s Decree]

Divine mandate scroll. Binds the familiar [Knight], an ancient guardian with limitless growth potential and fierce loyalty to its master. Unique.

The ancient emperor of Azgard commanded earth shatteringly powerful magic during his lifetime. A vestige of long lost ancient magicks, the emperor’s decree grants binding with one of the emperor’s most loyal soldiers, the knight.