Aegis and the others arrived in front of the Temple of Shiva that late afternoon. The Temple’s primary feature was a gigantic statue of a muscular male sitting cross-legged on the roof of the temple. The statue featured four arms rather than two, and wore a beaded rosary around his neck with a bun of hair standing up on top. In each hand was held a different object, the most predominant and noticeable being a large trident.

Aside from that, the temple underneath him was much more colorful than the others that Aegis had seen thus far, with shingles tiling outward from around the statue in a rectangular form down several layers and floors of the building the statue stood on. The building itself wasn’t wide, all of its size was built into its verticality, and instead was surrounded by wide open lush green grass rather than decorative gardens like the Aphrodite temple was.

A small path led from the streets of Kordas up to the entrance of the temple, and as the party of five made their way up the path towards the building, Aegis could spot players and NPCs donning the trident symbol on their clothes and armor around him. He’d recognized this as the symbol of the NPCs that fought the Avatar of Death at the south gate of Hrath’mir - he never really had a chance to see how capable they were in combat, but he’d done his research and knew what his last skill should be.

This Temple’s bottom floor was unique to the others. There were no walls, but rows and rows of pillars holding up the second floor of the tower around the outside of the central room. Once they’d walked through several rows of pillars they found themselves in a wide open space with a smaller statue of Shiva on the far end, candles set around it. The floor was covered in various carpets and blankets, and Aegis could see many priests sitting cross-legged and praying in silence spread about the room, no pews or chairs in sight.

There were staircases on the outside of the room mixed in with the pillars that led to the upper levels, but Aegis felt no need to explore them as he’d spotted [High Priest of Shiva, Vihaan(Elite) - ??] sitting above the name of the priest who was meditating closest to the statue of Shiva.

“There’s the high priest.” Darkshot motioned to him across the room.

“Yeah, but, let’s wait until he’s done meditating. Gotta be careful here…” Aegis said nervously as they hung back under the cover of the pillars so as to not disturb the people praying and meditating.

“What do you mean?” Rakkan asked as he looked around for some form of danger.

“When I was looking up skills I could learn, I found one that’d fit perfectly, but, I also read that Shiva is one of the harder deities to gain favor with.” Aegis explained. “Let’s try to make the High Priest like us.” He said and the others gave Aegis knowing nods. They waited a good 20 minutes before Vihaan finished meditating and stood up from his seated position, silently walking barefoot from the room to be amongst the rows of pillars where Aegis quickly moved to intercept him.

He wore simple white and gray robes draped loosely over his body with the symbol of the trident on the front, and he looked over to Aegis from far away as he approached. Once he'd noticed Aegis and his party staring at him he began walking towards them.

“You were waiting for me?” He spoke with a light accent.

“Yes, I didn’t want to disturb you. I’m a Priest of Eirene who is hoping to gain the favor of the other deities of light, to expand my knowledge of this world.” Aegis said as politely as he could.

“I see. And you seek to gain favor with the supreme being?” Vihaan asked with a smile.

“Yes.” Aegis gave him a nod.

“Shiva does not waste time on trivial matters. We do not have simple tasks or tests for you to complete that would please him. He does not wish to be entertained.” Vihaan explained.

“I understand.” Aegis nodded. “But if there is any task you could set upon me that would please Shiva, I would gladly do it.” Aegis replied cordially. Vihaan paused and looked Aegis and his companions up and down carefully for a moment, before nodding his head down slightly.

“Very well. There is an ancient text that has been lost to us during the time of the Shattering. Recently, its location has been discovered. But the other-worlders and followers of Shiva that I have sent to retrieve it have not been able to do so. I cannot trust the retrieval of such a valuable item to mere mercenaries, but a Priest of Eirene and his companions would surely understand and respect the value of such a text, and not let harm befall it, no?” Vihaan confirmed as he looked Aegis in the eyes.

“Yes, we can retrieve it and bring it back to you safely.” Aegis bowed politely.

“Good, do this, and Shiva will favor you greatly. But be warned, this will not be an easy task. Where the ancient text is resting is surrounded by powerful and deadly creatures.”

Quest: Find the Ancient Text of Shiva within the Ruins of Kolz on the southern edges of the Island of Kalmoore and return it to High Priest Vihaan within the Temple of Shiva in the city of Kordas, Kalmoore.

Objective: 0/1 Ancient Text Returned

Quest Giver: High Priest of Shiva, Vihaan

Reward: 5,000,000 Experience, 3000 Favor with Shiva

Difficulty: Hard

Restrictions: If the Ancient Text is destroyed, the quest will fail and you will lose 1000 favor with Shiva.

Aegis hit accept and looked to see that not just him, but everyone in the group had received the quest and accepted it.

“I look forward to your return. If you head directly south out of the city, you will reach the River of Kolz. Follow the river as it continues southward through the Kolz Forest, and at the edge of the forest you will find the ruins. But, be careful, the south is nothing but untamed wilderness.” Vihaan warned.

“Thank you for the opportunity.” Aegis bowed politely, and Vihaan bowed back before taking his leave.

“Hell yeah, adventure time baby!” Darkshot cheered in a whisper.

“Oooh, this sounds so exciting. Ancient ruins, wild forests…” Pyri rubbed her hands together excitedly.

“Lets do any last minute prep we need before we set out. I’m going to buy cooking ingredients to help make high level food for the journey.” Aegis said as they began walking out of the temple and back towards the city streets.

“I’ll stock up on arrows.” Darkshot said.

“I’ll get some parchment, ink, and quills. I bet ancient runes will be loaded with hidden secrets and runes to learn.” Rakkan said giddily.

“Okay, let’s meet at the south gate in an hour.” Aegis declared once they’d reached the street, and they all nodded before splitting up.

It wasn’t long after that before they’d all gathered at the southern gate, fully stocked up for the journey ahead. Pyri arrived on the back of her beautiful black mare, Melon, and when Darkshot arrived he was proudly sporting a strange backpack with a large nest settled on the back of it, his white egg nestled in it basking in the sun.

“What the heck is that?” Aegis asked as he pointed it out, and everyone's attention was drawn to it. “Where’s your quiver? You’re shooting eggs now?”

“No, I had some gold from the Odin quest so decided to spend it on a nest for my egg. The guy at the shop said eggs hatch faster if you keep them out of your inventory.” Darkshot explained.

“The guy at the shop said that?” Aegis raised his eyebrow. “Are you sure you didn’t get scammed? Just because you got some gold doesn’t mean you have to spend it.”

“I didn’t get scammed, it’s a good investment.” Darkshot replied proudly.

“You know, I coulda crafted you something like that, just saying.” Aegis replied weakly.

“I think it looks neat.” Pyri shrugged. “Do you know what sort of pet its going to hatch out of the egg?” She asked.

"The going theory is a chicken." Aegis smirked, to which Darkshot threw him a look.

“Nope, not yet, but the ranger guy said not a lot of people pick the white egg, so I’m willing to bet it’s gonna be something awesome. Like, super rare. I hope it's a dark bird, like a raven or a crow. It’d go well with my theme.” Darkshot motioned to himself.

“What theme?” Rakkan asked.

“You know, darkness. Because, I’m Darkshot.” He said in his ominous voice.

“I bet it’s a dove.” Rakkan joked.

“It better not be a dove. Or a chicken.” Darkshot said, but as he had, he felt as though he’d jinxed himself in some way.

“I can’t wait to find these ruins, I bet there's a crazy good rune for my class in there somewhere. Maybe in the book itself. You think I could read the Shiva text before we turn in the quest?” Rakkan asked excitedly.

“I don’t see why not.” Aegis shrugged. “So,” Aegis clapped his hands to get the groups eyes on him. “This’ll be our first long adventure as a party. We have an epic quest, and we’re all primed to gain lots of experience. Everyone ready to go?” Aegis grinned at them.

“Ready.” Lina nodded excitedly.

“Hell yeah.” Rakkan cheered.

“Let’s do it!” Pyri smiled.

“Darkshot is always ready.” Darkshot said in as deep a voice as possible. Aegis saw his viewership holding steady at 35 000, moving his average up slightly. Seeing that, he excitedly turned and started walking forward out of the southern gates of Kordas, his party following behind him with the light clopping sounds of Melon’s hooves on the dirt road filling their ears.

They headed southward beyond the farmlands that surrounded the city of Kordas until the road came to an end at a sawmill built at the edge of a forest a few hundred meters from the city walls. From there onward they had to continue through the wilderness with no road to guide them.

Darkshot’s Ranger skills made it easy for them to stay on course and continue as directly south as possible, but Aegis occasionally got distracted by interesting herbs and would stop to gather them. The enemies around them were low level in this part of the forest, a few stray wolves, goblins, slimes and other creatures - it wasn’t even worth stopping to kill them, but Aegis saw a lone level 5 fighter player starting out his adventures and decided to give him a bless buff, then watched as he started cutting through level 5 slime monsters like they were nothing.

“Hey, Darkshot, can I talk to you about something?” Aegis asked after they’d been walking for a few hours, and Darkshot and Aegis held back from the group a bit as the others continued to walk ahead, minding their own business.

“What’s up?” Darkshot asked once it looked as though the others couldn’t hear. There was a loud ambience of wind gliding through the canopy of the large trees above, the chirping of birds, and creaking of wood that was ever present in the dense forest around them.

“So, I… I asked Lina to be my girlfriend.” Aegis said, and Darkshot looked at him with surprise.

“What? Seriously? On the stream? I gotta see this…” Darkshot prepared to start opening his livestream viewer through his interface.

“No, no. I did it while the stream was turned off.”

“THAT SNEAKY LITTLE SHIT!!” Hae-won shouted angrily as she was casting for Aegis, her swearing got bleeped out by Shinji’s quick editing skills. “HOW COULD HE?! I WANTED TO SEE! HE BETRAYED US!” She was infuriated, as was Aegis’ chat.

“Smart thinking, that Hae-won woulda probably made it weird.” Darkshot nodded.

“I'M GOING TO KILL THOSE KIDS!” Hae-won continued as Shinji shook his head to himself disapprovingly.

“Hae-won, do you mind casting normally? You’re distracting from the epic adventure. They’re going on an epic adventure!” Shinji pleaded with her.

“Screw your adventure, I WANT MY TEEN ROMANCE!” Hae-won snapped back at him angrily.

“So, what’d she say?” Darkshot asked as he looked toward Lina, Pyri and Rakkan. Pyri had pointed out a cute looking rodent climbing amongst the nearby trees as she sat comfortably atop Melon, and Lina was explaining to her what it was while Rakkan listened, oblivious to Darkshot and Aegis’ conversation.

“She said okay.” Aegis replied nervously.

“Okay? That’s pretty good for Lina. She’s getting braver.” Darkshot said, looking impressed.

“Yeah… that part went good, but… I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do next.” Aegis looked at Darkshot with desperation in his eyes.

“Ah, I see.” Darkshot grinned. “Good choice, coming to me. I, Darkshot, am an expert when it comes to a womans heart.” Darkshot nodded confidently.

“You haven’t even had a girlfriend yet though.” Aegis commented.

“Yeah but I watch a lot of movies. I read comics. I know all the tricks.” Darkshot replied.

“Comics? And there’s good dating advice in those?” Aegis asked apprehensively.

“Tons, trust me.” Darkshot replied. “The next step, obviously, would be a date.”

“A date? But, we sort of had one already. We rode a wagon around Rene together…”

“Shit, really? Hm.” Darkshot thought for a moment. “After that, you probably have to go for the first kiss.” Darkshot concluded.

“Well, that also already happened.” Aegis shrugged awkwardly.

“What? Dang you move fast.” Darkshot whacked Aegis on the chest playfully. “And?”

“And what?” Aegis asked, looking at him confused.

“It was your first kiss wasn’t it? With a girl?” Darkshot pushed him for details with a nudge.

“Yeah, but she got logged out by her Simbox.” Aegis shrugged nervously.

“Ah, yeah, I see.” Darkshot nodded as if he was suddenly a wise sage. “With a girl like Lina, she’s really shy. You’ve gotta take it slow.” Darkshot said in his deep voice.

“Take it slow, how?” Aegis asked him.

“You know… start with easier stuff. Don’t go straight for kissing. Hand holding, hugging, leaning, that sort of thing.” Darkshot shrugged.

“Really? You’re sure?” Aegis confirmed as he looked at Darkshot hopeful. “I mean, hand holding is something kids do with their parents, isn’t it?” Aegis asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Nah, couples do it too. Girls love that shit, trust me, I’m an expert on this stuff.” Darkshot crossed his arms. Aegis knew Darkshot barely knew more than he did on the subject, so calling him an expert was a stretch, but he was all he had at the moment.

“Okay.” Aegis paused as he thought on it, then began psyching himself up. “Okay.” he repeated, then marched forward to rejoin the other three. Darkshot had to resist the urge to wince at what was going to happen next, and he sped up to join them as well.

“Okay, good news everyone. We might’ve missed the confession, but the awkward teenage romance is still on the menu.” Hae-won said with a huge sigh of relief to Aegis’ viewership of 35 000. “I don’t think Pyri knows yet, so that’ll be spicy too I bet. It’s time for Operation: Holding Hands.” She declared excitedly to Aegis' audience.

“Hey.” Lina smiled as Aegis moved to walk beside her again. “I was telling Pyri about those Scruffles. See them? They’re really cute.” Lina pointed out a big fluffy squirrel-looking creature with two tails instead of one. “If you have some nuts, they’ll run right up and take them out of your hand.” Lina explained.

“What were you two talking about back there?” Pyri asked him curiously.

“Oh, nothing, just egg stuff. Bird, egg, nest stuff.” Aegis replied awkwardly, to which Pyri’s curiosity turned to suspicion. They continued walking along quietly for a bit, but as they did, Aegis found himself staring intently at Lina’s left hand as it swayed back and forth beside her waist as she walked beside him. Suddenly, it looked incredibly intimidating. How was he supposed to grab it? Did he ask permission first, or just take her hand? What if she didn’t like it? It’d probably be weird to just take someone's hand without any reason, wouldn’t it? Why was he brave enough to kiss her before, but now he was too scared to just take her hand? The more he thought about it, the more that taking her hand was starting to seem way more intimate than a kiss had been.

“So from what I know about Kalmoore, I don’t think many players have been to the far south of the island. Some scouting players from the guilds scoped out the areas down here to look for dungeons, but they got taken out by high level enemies before they could find much. Just the ruins that we’re heading towards.” Rakkan explained.

“How do you know that much?” Darkshot asked him curiously.

“When I rerolled here with Amlie, I looked up the best grinding locations for different level brackets. That’s why I was around that hideout when we met the first time. The forest we have to pass through on the way to the ruins is filled with level 40 to 50 enemies. Which means the ruins will probably be even higher level. We might want to level up a bit first on the way.” Rakkan suggested. “What do you think, Aegis?” Rakkan asked, and Lina turned to look at Aegis to hear his answer. As she did, she noticed that he was staring down at her hand intently, and Aegis saw that she had seen and quickly looked away awkwardly.

“Uh, sounds good. Fastest way to level is to fight higher level enemies, right?” Aegis replied.

“Yup, but they’ll be tough at our level.” Rakkan replied.

“No problem, we’ll kick their butts anyway.” Pyri grinned.

“What sorta enemies are going to be in the forest?” Darkshot asked Rakkan, and as Rakkan began his answer, Aegis saw that Lina, looking forward again, extended the fingers on her left hand and spread them apart. Aegis took a deep, nervous breath, while attention was off of them and on Rakkan, and reached his right hand out and took her left hand in his. As he closed his fingers around hers, she did the same and her face reddened, but the two continued walking side by side, hands held, without saying anything about it.

Pyri, while in the midst of listening to Rakkan, was clopping behind them atop Melon and saw this, but stayed quiet and simply smiled to herself. As Aegis was living off of the high of holding Lina’s hand and being accepted, he’d barely heard the words of Rakkan as he talked about the monsters in the upcoming forest, until one word jumped out at him that drew him back into the conversation.

“Wait.” Aegis said to stop Rakkan from continuing. “Did you just say there are gryphons in the Kolz forest?” Aegis asked excitedly.

“Yup.” Rakkan nodded.