Chapter 1 Hope

A man was walking through the halls of the palace of Mythris, the capital of mankind and the last great city unconquered by the demons. the white halls stood tall and long, reaching almost 30 meters in height. The floor had a red carpet running down the middle of its white floors. The wall to his right was adorned with the most artistic sculpting and paintings on the wall. On his left were a series of arches masterfully carved filled with artistic glass pain windows. The man himself was a relatively handsome man, just past 20 with a scar going over his right eye. He wore heavy plate armor that seemed to shine with a silver gleam, with a small caped draped over the front of his right shoulder but hanging free off the back of his left. He had a full head of dirty blond hair and slight stubble over his straight jawline and slightly pronounced chin. The man's name was Rust and he had a scowl on his face. He knew, when he was called by the council that it would not be a pleasant discussion. The only times he was called directly by the council was when he had to go on a suicidal mission, and from the tone of the messenger he was probably right.

Rust eventually stopped in front of a set of double oak doors with two guards standing by the sides in similar armor to his. The guards opened the doors and Rust strode into the room in a stiff but swift gait. He continued until he reached the center of the room which was shaped like the inside of a dome. Surrounding him and slightly elevated above him were people in purple cloth sitting in white stone chairs. All of them looked aged with the youngest being no less than 60 years old, and they did not look happy. They were discussing in whispers the actions that mankind will take in the future. Rust could not make out what they were saying but judging by the way they would occasionally glare at him, it was something about his mission.

Soon enough one of the elderly men with a large purple hat, similar to the ones you would see on a pope, spoke in a strained voice, "the war looks ill knight captain. Humanity is on its last legs. This city is the last fortress city humanity has left. We cannot continue to proceed with the war as we have been." The man paused to look around the room. "we have decided that men alone are not enough to win this war."

Rust thought that statement was one decade to late, but he knew that when a council member said this there was more to it than that. "does that mean we are sending delegates to the other races to reform the alliance?" Rust asked in a deadpanned tone. He knew the other races would not aid humanity. They were already betrayed by them once.

Another council member responded evenly "we have always had delegates trying to do as you have just stated. So far it appears that the rest of the world is content to sit and watch as we are swallowed by our fate. Do you think this council is so blind in human superiority we cannot see the reality before us?"

The first council member nodded at his companion before continuing "no we are not looking to the other races for aid. We have heard rumors of a temple in the east that holds a gift from the lords."

Rust suspected that this was some sort of demon trap or false rumor. Where were the lords now? Where were they when humanity needed them most? So far it seemed to him that their favor was all but spent. He asked with doubt that he did not hide in his voice "what kind of gift?"

The council member scowled at Rust's tone of voice but continued on anyway. "it is said that whoever goes to this temple and completes our lords trial will be granted power like no other. That they would be as mighty as the champions that they created for us."

Rust's face darkened slightly at the mention of the champions but nodded anyway. "and I suppose that I will be the one to venture into enemy territory to complete this trial, and bring back this power?"

The council member nodded "you will be accompanied by a small retinue of knights and rangers, but yes you have been chosen to obtain this power. We need something to fight off the demons. If you fail humanity will fall. Remember this" he said dismissively.

Rust nodded again "it will be done. I will leave at dawn." And with those words Rust walked out of the room, down the white halls, and out of the palace. He walked down the streets of Mythris. They were bubbling with activity. Street venders shouting sails pitches, customers haggling prices carriages transporting goods all of them seemed to be ignoring the impending doom of humanity. Rust sighed. The council had beautified the results of the war making it sound like victory was inevitable, that humanity was all powerful, to avoid panic. Rust knew that it was necessary they could not fight the demons while they crumbled from within. He continued down his path pushing the depressing thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked into a bar. The leaders of humanity were grasping at rumors to avoid inhalation and he needed a drink, badly.

He strode up to the bar and asked for some whiskey, it was likely the last time he was going to be able to drink like this. The bar tender slid a mildly clean mug of whiskey towards him, before continuing to clean the mug in his hand with a dirty looking cloth. Rust grumbled as he took a sip of the whiskey feeling the burning sensation down his thought. He sighed as he relaxed into his chair when he felt someone come up beside him and sit down. He heard a familiar voice filled with mirth coming from the newcomer. "what is the great knight captain Rust doing in a rundown place like this?" the voice asked.

Rust turned to the newcomer, a small smiled graced his lips for what seemed like the first time in years to him. "I'm trying to find a place where I don't have to listen to humanities great come back, and the inevitable defeat of the demons." He said with no small amount of sarcasm. "good to see Kile."

Kile smiled back "good to see you to." He glanced at the glass of whiskey and his smile darkened a bit "oh boy! What does the council want this time?"

Rust raised an eyebrow at that "what makes you think I went to the council?"

Kile scoffed "when else do you drink whiskey besides when the council gives you some suicidal mission. I mean seriously. An ogre could come up with better plans than some of these missions you go on. Really makes me wonder why you keep up with all their nonsense."

Rust gave a light chuckle at his friend's antics. "well ya I guess you're right." He paused looking down at his glass, the smile gone from his face. "They have me chasing fairy tales this time. Some temple in the east with the power of the gods. What has humanity come to. To actually send troops chasing fairy tales, and in enemy territory no less. Makes me wonder how humanity lasted this long in the first place."

Kile looked at him for a moment before a smirk made its way up his face. "So when do we leave?"

Rust looked at him in the eye" I am leaving tomorrow at dawn. You are staying here. O need for two of us to die for some fairy tale."

"I'm going with you even if you don't want me to. If humanity is going to die anyways, I would like to die among friends"

Rust smirked. He always had a soft spot for the damn thief. "Alright but I'm not carrying anything for you bring your own gear, and if you are coming anyways make sure Thrand knows when to leave. a hunter like him will be needed for any chance of getting out of this alive anyway."

Kile made a toothy smile before bolting out the door "Don't leave without me ya here." He shouted as he burst out the doors. Rust sighed. He knew the thief would be late when he heard that. He looked down at the rest of the mug of whiskey before chugging it down and slapping the counter with a few coins. The time for brooding his own misfortune was over. He had a quest to complete.

Day 1 quest for the Temple

East gate of Mythris

In the dull light of early morning Rust came out of the tower gates of Mythris. He was greeted with the sight of eleven men. Seven of the men were armored in heavy plate armor like his. They were armed with steel swords and shields. Three of the men were in tight fitting leather armor with cloaks and hoods hiding most of their figures. They had the outline of swords at their waists and bows and quivers hanging off their shoulders. The last man had what looked like fur clothes with a bear hide that was draped over his shoulders. He had an ae on each side of his waist and a bow on his back. He had dark brown hair that was short with a medium fade and brown eyes. He stood tall at 6 ft 6 and he looked like he could wrestle bears with all the muscle on his body. The man smiled thinly as he saw Rust approach

The mountain of a man walked over and rapped Rust up in a bear hug "its good to see you rust. The little weasel told me we have another suicide mission."

Rust smiled as he returned the hug with a light pat "Figured you wouldn't want to be left out Thrand." He separated from the large hunter and turned to face the rest of his retinue. "you have probably already been told of what we are going to do, but I have a few details and extra hands helping joining us on this quest. I trust them with my life and if you are smart enough you will to. Thrand here is the best hunter I have ever seen. Many times, he carried my mangled body from the battlefield or guided us through enemy lines so we could mount a daring surprise attack. Without him I wouldn't be here today. The other will be coming later. He is a scout and like Thrand, he is the best. There isn't an enemy encampment he can't get out of. One time he even caught sight of the undead champion, and came back just fine. They will be my hands and ears in this operation. Normally they will leave it to me to give commands but if they tell you to do something, you damn well better do it, else you'll likely get us all killed. That's all. Prepare your equipment. We leave in an hour."

The team went about various pre march preparations that they each preform normally, some checking gear others checking their horses. Thirty minutes later Kile came to join the merry band of soldiers. He looked like he had fun last night considering the massive hangover he obviously had. The sun slowly came up over the mountains that separated the plains of Mythris from the valleys of Haven and it shown a golden light on the world that illuminated the first signs of spring. The troop followed the road through the rolling plains and flourishing forest without resistance. They were in human territory and any rogue bandits or thieves would have to be mental to attack a group of knights, known. To be a knight you had to at least be 14 years old and an apprentice to a senior knight for at least 6 months. There were several ranks in knight hood. The first was apprentice. An apprentice would study under a senior knight for 6 months where they would clean armor and equipment and in return the senior would teach the apprentice swordsmanship and leadership skills. The next rank would be squire, where they would develop their swordsmanship and leadership to another level while completing missions under higher ranked knights. In order to graduate from being a squire one would apply for a promotion and they would be given a task to complete. That task would require them to lead a group of 4 other squires to defeat a monster that would require three times the amount of standard enlisted troops. If you were victorious and did not lose any squires in the trial, the you would be given the rank of acolyte. To go beyond an acolyte, you must face ten other acolytes in a duel alone and slay a beast that would require 5 acolytes to do so. Achieving this would grant you the rank of knight captain. The only rank above a knight captain is knight commander who commands all the other knights. The knight commander is chosen by the council. Rust, who achieved knight captain at the age of 16 is the youngest captain in humanities armies.

The group came to a clearing as they exited the forest. They could see the mountain clearly now. It stood tall with its peaks above the fogy clouds. It was a natural barrier that protected Mythris from the demon invasion. However taking a closer look at the base there was a small hut. It was dusk now, and the more dangerous beasts came out at night. It was better to set up in a shelter than around a camp fire.

As they came closer to the hut, they could hear a voice inside the hut. It looked like whoever was inside the hut was arguing rather violently with whoever he shared his hut with. On closer inspection the hut was larger than hat it seemed like from afar. It was round with clay walls with small holes in them to serve as windows. Inside they could see a fire flickering as the cool night wind blew through the windows. The hut was topped with straw as if it was a large hat.

Rust walked up to the wooden door and knocked three times with a closed fist. Inside the shouting stopped and there was a clattering of noises that sounded as if someone was tripping on everything between the voice and the door. Before long the door was thrown open. Standing in front of Rust was a middle-aged man with a shaggy beard in what appeared to be bath robes. The ma gave rust a quizzical look raising one eyebrow as he looked Rust up and down. The man turned back into the room and shouted "no its not Darwin!" he looked back at Rust before smiling. "come in come in! I was just having tea and cheese! When I first heard you knock I thought they had finally come for me! To take me away! But my vife thought you were Darwin. Dastardly fellow that man is always complaining that I live out here, and worst of all he hates cheese! Who in their right mind hates cheese?! No sane man I say! Nay! No insane man would hate cheese either! I should know!" The man spoke a thousand words a minute. It was difficult for Rust to understand what the strange man was saying as he was ushered in and sat down by the fire.

'alright time to collect my thoughts. first off WTF is wrong with this guy. Okay now that that's done with, I should ask what I came to ask. He may be a bit off but it would be great if I could get the guys somewhere proper to rest for the night.' Rust cleared his throat "excuse me sir. My companions and I-"

"Cmpanions!" the man interrupted. "Well bring them in! I need someone to talk to besides my vife! I mean honestly living alone with her is driving me crazy! Not that I wasn't already, but that's beside the point. None of these companions off yours are cheese haters are they? Honestly I can't understand those types!"

Rust suppressed a sigh as he got out of the chair and moved to the door to let the company in. he stopped Kile, holding him by the arm just as he was passing through the door. Rust gave Kile a stern look "No drinking!" Kile gave what he thought was the most innocent smile ever before walking past Rust who groaned. Kile entered through the archway leading to the living room where the crazy man was and the man gave an insane smile.

"Fred!" the man ran over giving Kile a bear hug "its so good to see you! The last I saw you, you were trying to get in bed with a lizard man! How did that go by the way?" Kile just stood there for a moment before turning to Rust who had a small smirk on his face. Kile gave an untold 'help me' to Rust through his gaze. Rust smile widened as he turned to talk to Thrand, ignoring the thief's plight. 'Traitor!' was all he could think before the man dragged him to the kitchen to lecture Kile about the greatness of cheese.

"The man's bat shit crazy but it's better than sleeping outside." Rust said to the company minus Kile who was thinking which method of escape he would use to get as far away from the cheese lover as possible.

"Aren't you a little bit too trusting of a guy you just met? Even if he wasn't bat shit crazy not all humanity is so kind hearted as to let strangers into their home." One of the rangers asked.

Rust scoffed. "There are only two me who I trust completely in this world. I'm not saying let your guard down. I'm saying we stay here. I'll take first night watch. We rotate every hour. Wake up is at first light."

Just as Rust finished the crazy cheese lover came back to the living room dragging a listless Kile behind him. "what are you talking about? Stories?! I love stories! I have a few myself! There was this one time I was wandering the mountain and I ran into a jabberwocky! Could you believe it?! Anyways I was playing trump with the guy, he was horrible at it, and the guy makes a bet to see who'll win. He bet that if either of us loses the next round of poker that hell eat me, and that if I win, I get a whole wheel of cheese. The fool! I had this in the bag! So we played one round and surprise, surprise we had the exact same hand! What?! It wasn't my fault! He never said I couldn't cheat! Anyway, he didn't want to keep up his end of the bargain, but the fool signed a magic contract. You know what those are? Of course you do! But he didn't! 'turned into the biggest wheel of cheese I've ever seen! It was glorious!"

Rust raised an eyebrow "You are supposed to be a wizard? Like control the elements curses and other hokus pokus stuff?"

"yes yes but that's not how I introduce myself. I prefer the great and magnificent lord of the hobble, the champion of cheese, honorary member of the mildly aged knights, and master of SM play!"

Rust was not sure he was able to hide himself cringing at the last title. The man was clearly insane. It was best to just decide everything he says is just in his head. He looked around and it seemed that was what everyone else thought too. However, Kile had this shit eating grin.

"I'll go get the cheese. Why don't you tell them about when you played hide and seek with an ork captain, Ivan?" with his parting words Kile left the group with a ranting mad man, now named Ivan, and went to the kitchen. Everyone glared at the thief as he left while trying to tune out Ivan. Eventually Kile came back with some food and they all ate before bedding down for the night.