A Rough Day (Side 2)

When Leo had left the others behind at the inn the three of them figured they were going to have an easy time with their task to locate Daryl's contact. Leo was not sure who the contact was, just that Daryl was sure the man was usual somehow. Daryl seemed very sure that the man held some sort of use in helping them figure out how to help the kingdom of Cadirade.

"Who is the guy we're looking for?" Leo asked

"The guy is called Elred." Daryl smirked as he stated out the contacts name.

"Elred?! You mean the informant that the king had invade Ethiadan's palace to provide Intel from the inside? I thought he was compromised and killed." Leo was surprised to hear the name of the man he had read a letter once. The man had written in the letter that he was surely about to meet the end of his days due to being found out. Thinking about it the man had stated about attempting to escape his death, but escaping the ice queen was a dangerous task itself.

"Correct. He managed to flee Ethiadan and I had heard he made it here in Cadirade. I gave word that I was going to bring you here through a carrier pigeon. He should already be waiting for us in the house up ahead."

As they made their way to the house in silence they both thought over various different ideas. The man they were suppose to meet was suppose to be someone who knew various secrets of the Ice Queen Lyra and the way their palace was ran. The things the man could know could very well be good Intel to possibly Intel that could cause Ethiadan to crumble if handed over to the right people from Cadirade. They knew that if the information was good enough it could turn the tide of the war for good.

As they approached the door Daryl knocked on it. The wolf behind them released a defensive growl as an older man slowly opened it. The man looked like he had lost a lot of strength from his days on the run from the Ethiadan kingdom. Slowly the door opened further so that the three of them could enter. They could see the man shaking as if he was scared to death of something, but they did not want to pry too much in fear that he would run and they would get nothing from him.

"You're from Cadirade?" The man asked the three of them.

"Yes, Elred, this is the crown prince I told you about in my notice before coming here." Daryl responded before Leo could.

"I see..." The man nodded then turned to walk across the room to sit on the sofe before continuing. "I can not help you."

"What-?!" Leo was going to shout, but Daryl cut him off.

"Sir, you were sent to inside Ethiadan for King Hamelot. If you do not help us you're basically abandoning all loyalty you have for Cadirade." As a warrior himself, Daryl knew what it meant to have loyalty truly towards one's king. He was hoping to see the man still hold the same kind of faith he did for their kingdom and it's king.

"Cadirade is already doomed to fall." The man stated out bluntly as he shook. His eyes seemed almost dead inside as he gazed at the wolf that stood before him with the two men in his house. He had barely escaped with his life and now these young men wanted to pull everything out of him.

"What are you talking about?!" Leo shouted his question. He could not hold back his fury he was feeling towards Elred. The man was suppose to be loyal to his father and their kingdom, but he was sitting on a sofa and acting as if everything they did was useless.

"Calm down..." Daryl whispered as he motioned his hand for Leo to stop shouting at the man.

"You truly have no idea what Cadirade is up against. The kingdom is doomed to fall from the inside out! Not only that it's going to drag every other kingdom down with it as well. You can not stop what is going to come to be." The man laughed awkwardly with a wry smile on his face as he remembered all the things he had seen and heard during his time in Ethiadan palace.

"We can not know what to even stop if you do not tell us!" Leo shouted again causing Daryl to slap the crown prince on the back of his head reflexively like he was scolding a child having a tantrum.

"Exactly! Even I am not sure exactly who he is.. I just know what I have heard during my time over there. The things they are doing from the inside out to the kingdoms that follow Cadirade so that even Cadirade's allies collapse slowly from internal strife... Run... we all gotta run... we gotta..." the man started to have a mental break down as he rocked back and forth.

"Who what is? Isn't the ice queen the one pulling the strings?" Daryl asked confused.

"No! There is someone else above her!" Elred shouted as he jumped up to his feet and took a step towards the three of them.

"Who? Who is it?" Daryl asked calmly but he could not hold in his curiosity to know who could possibly control the ice queen.

"Not just who! It's a what!" The man shouted at them all then heaved a heavy sigh as his eyes threatened to shed tears at the thought of Cadirade's future.

"What?" Leo and Daryl said at the same time. The wolf was the only one who was not seeming surprised. His thoughts were practically unable to be read at the moment as if he was deep in thought.

"Ethiadan has been backed by a god!" Elred shouted and his body shuddered.

"A god?" Leo and Daryl spoke at the same time again. "Who?!"

"He's considered the God of Hell among all the gods due to his disastrous power and the fact that he hold's no loyalty to the realm like the rest of the gods. He's been silent for thousands of years, but apparently he's decided to start playing games with the lives of the mortals. From what I could gather some of the other gods have been busy trying to get him to back down, but not even the realm has responded to his power lust."

"I can understand that... from what I heard once someone ascends to god hood in Validore their power is permanent so the realm cant revoke its gift. That's why the realm itself is so picky in who it lets ascend to god hood." Daryl spoke as he was deep in thought.

"We're up against a god...." Leo's body shook as his eyes were filled with fear at the idea of what they were up against. The god's themselves would struggle to destroy one of their own. How as he suppose to go head to head against a god?!

"What's the god's name?" Daryl asked as if he had no idea what power a god held. He of course was not as calm on the inside as he was forcing himself to seem, however. Inside he was panicking too! Their kingdom was up against a God of Hell!

"Chy.. Chy.. Chynir..." Elred forced out the name in fear as his body heated up from the inside. His eyes slowly started to stream blood down his face as his body collapsed to the floor.

"What the hell?!" Leo jumped in surprise from what had just happened to the man in front of them.

"Looks like someone from the Ethiadan palace had sealed his soul so that if he spoke the name of the god he'd be killed from the inside upon speaking the name." Daryl spoke as he studied the man on the floor for a moment.

The room descended into silence upon the new information they had just gathered.

It had truly been a rough day for their party...

On one side they had lost their chance to sleep at the inn due to a lycan attack.

On the other side they had learnt Cadirade's fate was determined on if they could defeat the god of hell, Chynir!