=<At Terasin>=

 

 

"Dammit!", Admiral John said, smashing his cup against the side of his desk. "Supply and trade lines has been cut between the Tribal Empire. Tell me Secretary, what the bloody hell happened!?"

"Easy there, Sir! Agh! Stop shaking me!" The Admiral let him go and let him take a breath. "So Admiral John, it seems like the trade line has been cut because someone decided to set up a settlement right in the middle of it. We don't know their intentions, but we do know that they have recently killed a Banoobin Soldier."

"What!? Tell me, how many are there?"

"By the looks of it, there seems to be only one occupant there, so maybe we should send a light force to ask them to leav--"

"Never!", yelled Admiral John. "I will graciously save the Tribal Empire by sending a massive army to destroy the infiltrator! He will smell our bloodlust for him, and he will kneel on the ground, begging for mercy! And I, as his benevolent overlord, will have mercy on him . . . by forcing him to work in the coal mines for all of eternity! Ha Ha!"

"Again, Sir, you need to stop calling them Tribal, you know they don't like being called that. Instead, try calling them the Banoobin Empire."

"No! Why would I call them that?", retorted Admiral John. "They're tribal, through and through, and Banoobin sounds like another name for a monkey's ass. Who would anyone want to be called that?"

"Try to cut the profanity, Sir."

"Never mind that! Secretary! Assemble the Stardust Avengers at once!"

"Dammit John! You need to stop watching so much John John's Crazy Adventures! You're getting addicted!"

"What? That show is f*cking awesome! You should watch it too! Doctor's orders!"

"You didn't want to watch anything from that screen that Agnan found until he forced you to! Without him, you would've never seen it, you hypocrite!"

"Agh! Why do I have you as a secretary anyways! If you like Agnan so much, how about you get him to attack the infiltrator! See if I care."

"Jesus, you are intolerable!"

The Secretary left the office, and headed straight out the door. The street was a busy place, full of markets, clockwork, and flying airships. Occasionally a burst of magic flame would rise up into the sky. It was cluttered, and yet the busy-ness made him calm. Right now, he was looking for one man that may just help him. He walked up to a condo door and knocked.

"Hey, Manny, what's up! What do you need from me? Uh, how's the Admiral doing with that screen I found?"

"Look Agnan, don't call me Manny, call me the Secretary. And the Admiral, don't give him screens ever again, it's affecting him. As for you, I need you to assemble two other people. Apparently there's a . . . hooligan cutting off our supply and trade lines."

"Oh, ah. Geez, come into my place, so we can talk it over."

He and Agnan walked into the condo. It was quite spacious, with several open windows shining warm sunlight and several sofas giving the room a calm aesthetic. The oak mahogany stairs added to the peace of the building.

"Up here, follow me to my collection room."

Agnan opened a door, and let them inside. The room was filled with trinkets and artifacts, strategically laid out to offer the best viewpoint and interest. The Secretary's eyes glanced at a couple artifacts, though he had no idea what they were.

"You see Manny? This is a lightning machine! When I press this button, little sparks come out the prongs! Isn't that awesome! Ooh! And over here. I found this stuff." He opened an ice cabinet, revealing a reddish slime sitting on a little plate. "See how it jiggles, see how it moves! It's transparent! And it's delicious!", as he pops it into his mouth. "And, this bone over here was actually--"

"Look Agnan, I didn't come here for the artifacts. I came here to ask you--"

"Yuh, yuh. Assemble some people to take down a bandit or hooligan." He chewed for a moment and swallowed. "Who's this bandit guy?"

"We don't much about him yet, though we do know that he has settled onto the road between Terasin and Waluaiya, the trade town that's part of the Banoobin Empire. He even killed a Banoobin soldier. Can you help by ridding him from the land?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. If it's one guy, I could easily take him out with a couple of bros. Are you sure it's one guy though?"

"Positive."

"Excellent. I'm on my way off. I hope I get rewarded for this! Later Manny!"

"Dang it Agnan! Don't call me Manny or I'll-- "

He had already left the room.

 

 

"Alright, time for an easy quest!", Agnan thought to himself. He had done many quests to kill certain people. Be it bandits, kidnappers, or straight up robots from hell, he could take them down. This quest was downright a piece of cake. He walked into the Adventurer's Guild, a hangout for adventurers, drinkers, or people who just wanted to flirt. He found the perfect group waiting for him, drinking ale and eating pepper chips.

"Hey bro, Pierre! Come on dude, we gotta kill a dude. You too, Panin."

"What? Again? You know I'm no good with blood. Why do we have to kill a dude right now? I'm not in the mood," said Panin. "I would much rather watch the gears in the gear tower move every couple of times. It's fun and relaxing."

"Ah, shud up yah big dreamer!", said Pierre. "It's only one dude. You'll never boost your rank if you never do anything."

"Yeah, but--"

"Come on man! The Secretary personally asked us to do this! You know, the Secretary! I'll meet you at the stables!"

Oooh's and ahh's and cheers rang out through the building.

"See dude! The town needs us! We can do this! Come on! Let's go!"

"Uh . . . Yeah! I'll come! Let's go!" said Panin, now more invigorated than ever.

The trio headed to the stables, where they rented out a hardy steed, and set out on their quest. The cheers behind them became more drowned out as they traveled, but it still reassured them that they'd be doing a good deed for their town.

 

 

Several hours of horse-riding went by and the sun was beating down on them more and more by the minute. Agnan was already sweating heavily, and Panin was already slumped atop of his horse. Pierre looked perfectly fine though, back arched, hands ready for a potential enemy.

"Stop."

All of them stopped by Agnan's command. Slowly, Agnan jumped off his horse and pulled out a small telescope. A few hundred meters away and a little off from the trade road was a stone hut crudely made along an ancient ruin. How come he never explored that one before?

"Hey guys, over there. There's a small hut over there, and that's probably the base of the hooligan. Let's get him."

"Should we bring our horses?", asked Pierre.

"Nah, we can't. The terrain is a little too bumpy for horses. We gotta charge him."

"All you had to do was say. EVERYONE! CHARGE!" And they all charged at the hut, thinking about the gold and silver they'd get from this mission.

Agnan was as confident as ever. If he could fight space invaders, he could fight a single man. How bad could it be. They had reached a small pond when--

A massive fireball explosion rocked the ground, ripping the earth into shards with the speeds of an arrow. Where was Pierre and Panin? What happened to them? Are they okay? What happened? The dust was starting to spread out, and Agnan blindly searched the rubble. What he saw next made him lurch.

While he was walking around, he had managed to step on a corpse. Not just any corpse, but Pierre's corpse. It didn't even look like Pierre anymore. He was a charred crisp at this point, and an arm and a leg was ripped from his body. Agnan stumbled back, tripped on a rock, and fell down.

'This can't be happening. This can't be happening. Bro. Brother. Brother PIERRE!! Why did you have to die! Why... We shouldn't have done this quest. We were won over by treasure and fame! Why did we have to do this??'

Agnan stood up again and looked around the dusty plains. He was still looking for Panin or his corpse. The dust finally began to settle, it allowed his eyes to settle down and see Panin floating in the pond, face up.

Agnan raced over to him, a sense of strife and panic clouding his mind. He was almost to Panin, when an arrow struck him in chest. Agnan screamed as the tip punctured into his flesh, and as the blood soaked into his shirt. After taking one more look at his little brother, sweet little Panin, Agnan fled, clutching his bloody chest.

'Panin, no. Why did you have to die. Everyone, that I know in love . . . is dead. Dad's being an alcoholic, Mother has cancer, and now this. Why. Why did I agree to do this? What happened? Those explosions . . . no. Those explosions are only possible through . . . oh no. I HAVE TO TELL THE SECRETARY! If I don't, that man could . . . no that monster, could kill us all! Why. why. why . . .' wailed Agnan in his mind.

Agnan jumped back on his horse, gestured the others to follow, and headed back.

"I have to get revenge on my brothers. If I don't, I can never forgive myself. One day, I'll come back to fight you. One day, one day I WILL!"