“It is the last refuge for us as we have nowhere else to go. It is the last stand for our races…..”

Everyone in the Group had a depressive aura at the sentence.

The king took a breath and continued,

“I know this all may be new to you Hero Clive but we have been fighting off the Demons as long as our records have existed. 3000 years ago we fought our last war against the Demons. When we wounded the Demon Lord, we were able to push them far south to the barren lands. Since then we have been keeping them at bay but the Demon Lord started to recover the Demons have gotten much more powerful. They have started to take over the lands to the south again. Frank here, is the best Soldier, Commander, and General we have; he has fought most of his life against the demons in the south and I trust him. He has just recently returned with news that the Demons are gathering their army.”

Several of the group members were surprised when they heard that, mummers breaking out behind the king who glanced backwards to silence them.

“This is why we have been forced to summon you. It is not that we wish to push our problems onto you Hero Clive. It is that we have no choice. The demons are returning to strength and they are much more powerful than we are currently. The number of people who have the potential to stand a chance against a commander of the Demons in our entire army is less than I can count on one hand. The remaining races of our city, the dwarves and pixies as mighty as they once were, have also fallen in recent times. None of the outside races fare any better I am afraid.”

“We found the instructions to the Ritual we used to summon you in ruins to the far North. Dave came to us when they were found with tales of the God of Destiny and a ritual that would summon a fated hero. Our hope was to summon a hero to fight alongside us and defeat the Demons once and for all. That is you were summoned beyond that we have no knowledge of what that entails.”

Dave spoke up at that point, “Your Majesty, Clive, I believe I have some answers for you in that regard from the God of Destiny but it seems we are exiting the forest.”

Clive looked ahead and saw the Immense castle walls. They were made of some sort of dark stone bigger than any rock Clive had ever known. They stretched way up what looked like 300 feet on top shadows seemed to be moving about, squinting his eyes Clive could vaguely make out that they were probably guards on top of the wall looking down as the group returned.

The massive wall stretched as far as Clive could see in either direction with several Circular Spires along the wall that held torches of light. It looked like this wall was meant for protection in a battle against gods not armies of men. Along the wall, Clive noticed a huge gate lit by a single torch. This is where the group was headed he surmised.

The King was quite curious at Clive's reaction to the gate but found to his amusement Clive's mouth was gaping in astonishment at the gate. “Quite impressive isn’t it. The city walls have protected this place for eons even the stress of time could not damage them. They keep us safe from the untold horrors of the wild.” Spoke the King Clive nodding in agreement.

As they entered the gate Clive realized it was not just a regular gate it was actually a tunnel that led to the other side of the wall. The tunnel itself was 50 yards across. “What could have caused the builders of the wall to create such a massive wall?” Thought Clive.

At the other end of the tunnel was another gate and 2 Silver armored men, who upon seeing the King started chanting, raising the Gate to the other side revealing a massive courtyard.

“Welcome to the Vera City of Hope and let me sincerely apologize for not recognizing that you were our Hero Clive at first and for any misgivings we may have given you.” Said the king Bowing towards Clive with the rest of the group following suit.

The Guards that did not journey out were all stunned seeing their wise king bowing towards a random donkey. Some definitely must have gone mad, causing all kinds of rumours that would quickly fill the entire city before lunch tomorrow of how the King must have gone crazy in the forest and was now under the control of some Mage.

Clive, surprised by the Kings gesture, quickly spoke to Frank who was also bowing, “Hey Frank tell everyone to get up I am not used to this kind of pressure everyone's staring at me. I am not happy with being brought here and forced to be some hero by a shitty God but I am safe and you have offered me food so lets call it even if you have more delicious snacks. Besides no one got hurt. You all said there was a feast when can we eat?” Clive walked towards Frank and the King

There was silence as everyone was expecting Clive to do something, anything really to show that they were forgiven but all they saw was Clive step forward toward Frank. ~Clop Clop squish Clop~

“Well nobody except that Quin guy” Clive corrected, “Frank before we eat can you get this goop out of my hoof? I can’t seem to stomp it out.

Frank spoke quickly towards everyone noticing their stares at his back when the donkey stepped towards him. Frank was also not used to this kind of pressure so he quickly spoke up,

“Clive accepts your apology and asks that you do not bow, it is a bit overwhelming…. He also asked about the feast…. He is hungry from the journey.”

As Frank was trying to smooth over the bluntness of Clive's response his own Stomach growed. Frank you see had ridden day and night to deliver the news to the King and Attend the summoning Ritual of the Hero with no real rest in between. The whole affair today had been extremely stressful on everyone in particular Frank who had to deal with a God speaking to him, being connected to a donkey in some cosmic link, and then dealing with the rattled thoughts of overpowered Donkey. Not to mention he had spoken more today than he had in months.

The King noticed Franks stomach and the pleading eyes of Clive decided not to delay,

“The feast should be ready in the main hall if you would follow me Hero Clive, Frank, and Dave you as well I believe you have some words for us?”

King Anthor was quite happy he had planned for a feast ahead of time and brought the best ingredients out for the occasion although now that he thought about it he should probably make sure donkey was taken off the menu throughout the kingdom immediately.

Dave immediately perked up and replied, “Yes your Majesty I believe it might be better if we let our Hero eat and rest before he must be weary after the journey today.

Nodding at Dave King Anthor turned to the rest of the people who were at the summoning.

“Everyone else we shall convene tomorrow after our hero has rested. Take heed not to mention anything that has happened tonight we will reveal our Hero at a later time.... Dismissed”

As soon as the King said that the Green Armored soldiers collapsed their spears and walked in formation away. The silver armored individuals cast spells instantly disappearing and the rest either disappeared or walked away each in different directions, those with the same robes or armor color seemingly going together.

King Anthor, Frank, Dave, and Clive the donkey all walked into the castle toward the feast.

Clives only thoughts were, "finally snacks!.. I really love snacks"