— A story and a Deal —

There once was a man with a story to tell. A man in a cave that fell down a well.

“How does a cave fall down a well?”

“It just does.”

The man in the cave, down in the well with a story to tell. Sat in the dark with a story that swelled. The story grew longer and even more fantastic, the story itself became elastic.

“How does a story become elastic?”

“It’s a metaphor.”

“How is that a metaphor?”

“I don’t know it just is.”

“That is a cop-out.”

“True but it’s a kid’s story. Can I continue?”

“Fine.”

Stretching and shrinking, all bound in the world. The mind of the man began to unfurl. With no one to tell. No one to see. Lost in the dark with just a story.

A whisper came and said, “Tell the story to me old man.”

Looking around he was all alone until he saw a cave wall emit a tone.

“How does a cave wall emit a tone?”

“Again a metaphor. Just let me finish.”

“Where is this going, James?”

“You’ll see if you let me finish.”

“Then finish.”

The man looked to the wall and then to the ground. No one was there except a small little chisel.

Engraved with the words. “Why don’t you write a little?”

The man in the cave that fell down a well, told his story on that cave wall.

The story was told and the man felt a loss. For once it was written the story was lost.

The man was now lost and soon to be found, standing alone in the middle of town.

Lost in a daze in the middle of town the man turned and began to frown.

His story was told but not to a person but where and to who he could not recall.

The story was gone from his own mind but now inscribed and lost in time.

“What was the point of that story?”

“You know I’m not one-hundred percent sure myself.”

“Are we going to look for the story or something?”

James snorted “No no no no no it’s just a weird story and besides there isn’t supposed to be anything but a cave wall anyway.”

“Then why did you tell it?”

“Though it was catchy.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“So what now?”

“To the dark continent!”

“gragghgh”

“What was that?”

“That was a groan also the sound you’ll make when we get killed trying to get over there.”

“We won’t get killed.”

“Right away you mean.”

“Fine but not till were all level twenty”

“Aww but I’m only fourteen.”

“Exactly, let's at least gain some experience before going.”

“Fiiiinnneeeee.”

And the deal was struck.

— Aster —

The air of the fallen was all around us as we walked through the mists. The area was overrun with the fallen. “This was the battle sight?” Violet asked

Bay looked over the bodies. “No this was a slaughter.” We continued on through the bodies that nobody dared to touch. The ravens cawed and yelled. Irritated that their food was being invaded by these strangers. They cawed and stared as we walked through the mire of death threatening us.

I was a little creeped out. “What do you think happened?”

“Looks like an ambush” Rowan added looking over a body. “See most of their weapons are still in their scabbards.” Pointing to the weapons on their hips.

“Got it! Everyone keep an eye out for anything.” James added as he covered his nose with a piece of cloth. “I didn’t know death smelled so bad.”

“What did you think it smelled like? Roses and Candy?” I mocked

“Well no but I didn’t know it would smell like shit.” We just kept walking through the world of death. Most of the people were killed in one spot but some were able to run which begs the question. Why did they not draw their weapons?

We walked finding more bodies all filled with arrows except the last who seemed to be cut down with swords.

“Let’s keep our eyes open and not end up like them.” We were all a little shaken by the scene of carnage.

“Damn Thieves,” Violet mumbled to herself. Sending a shiver up my spine. Jame's face shot towards Violet's words. He looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it.

The guild had warned us about bandits on the roads killing adventurers. We didn’t know we would see this kind of stuff on our first adventure together. We had chosen an easy adventure or what we thought would be an easy adventure. Take out a hive of lizard creatures annoying the residents in the small village outside of the city. We were still on the road in the mid-morning when we had stumbled on this scene of death. Not wanting to stick around the dead we moved quickly through.

When the sun finally reached its zenith, we reached the village. Pushing the scene of death out of our minds. We slowly regained our cheery mood. As we began to follow the directions on the egg.

“So, James what kind of lizards are they supposed to be?” Rowan asked.

“Something called a stalker drake.”

Bay froze “A stalker drake?” Everyone stopped at the fear in Bay’s voice “What rank did you grab?”

“Rank three” We all sighed and held our heads. Depending on your party you could go a few ranks higher than when getting a single guild quest and rank three was one of the highest the guild would give.

“How did you even convince them to do it? We’re a rank zero party!” I asked

“Just asked. Besides we can do this.” James said confidently

“Rank zero is for beginners, Rank one is after a few missions, Rank two is for intermediate parties, Rank three is for advanced, and Rank four is for masters or a lot of people.” Violet said slowly becoming louder until “WE ARE RANK ZERO!!!”

“Yes but I am level fourteen.”

“And what is the recommended level?” Rowan calmly asked.

“Seventeen,” James said almost timidly.

“Are you kidding me?!?” I yelled at James. I centered myself and took a deep breath. Looking at James who was now standing with a wide smile.

“If we pull this off we all should level!” James said holding out the large team egg.

“You’re going to get us killed without even going to the continent.” Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“Well do you want to back out? It’s one gold to give it up.” We all hung our heads at this. Between all of us, we had about a quarter gold, as we all had just spent our earning on our sub-jobs.

“No, well…. Screw it. Might as well try.” Bay added.

Everyone had reluctantly accepted it.

James was holding his head high as we slowly shuffle into the village to gather the remaining information, for the adventure.

“Damnit! James, why are we doing this?” I was frustrated with this situation

James clasped his sword and looked away as he spoke. “As the wind blows so does my strength.”

“What in decay does that mean?” He was making no sense.

“No idea thought it would sound cool. My masters at the guild were always talking like that. Be as a willow in the wind, or be like the river strong and unstoppable.”

“But that is advice that kind of makes sense. Yours makes none.” Bay said

“Well, I just need to practice.”

“Does anyone object to me hitting him?” I asked.

Everyone shook their heads no.

“What! You Traitors!”

“Actually” Violet interrupted “We don’t care about the saying, we’re just upset that you’re trying to get us killed.”

“Yeah!!” Everyone said in unison.

“Well maybe but if we pull this off we will be rich and become high-grade adventurers in just one job instead of doing a bunch of those low ranked ones.”

“Seriously James, how did you get them to approve it?” Rowan asked

“Simple, I told the receptionist all about how we were going to be the greatest adventures…”

“Then you hit on her didn’t you?” I asked, knowing James's personality.

“Well. Yes, she was cute.”

“By any chance did she suggest this quest?” Bay asked.

“How did you know that?” James was a little surprised.

“Okay everyone it seems, James hit on the wrong woman and she wants us dead,” Bay commented.

“Well, you guys can all leave and pay the cancelation fee that none of us can afford as we are registered as a group.” James unashamedly admitted

“No, we’ll come, we’ll come.” Rowan sounded defeated “Besides the drake hive should be around the corner.”

“Exactly! Now everyone should get ready! Honestly, it’s pretty surprising we haven’t run into any yet.” James said excitedly.