Black Mountains

No? Why not!

"Your highness, with all due respect, I am perfectly capable of taking care of Elizabeth! In fact, I would like her to journey with me."

Elizabeth's face flushed red as she looked me in the eyes, her mouth slightly open. Her teeth poked out from behind her lucius lips, her now red pointed ears poked out from her hair, and her long Blonde hair flowed down from her shoulders. She's so beautiful...

"I said no! I will not risk her life! I'm already about to lose one daughter, don't make me risk the other!"

He's was furious, but desperate. Tears sat at the edge of his eyes, showing just how afraid he really was. Damn, and here I was hoping to get to know Elizabeth more.

"Okay, I understand. I should get going then. I wish you all luck with the problems you face."

The dungeon, the corrupted guards, and the eventual loss of his biological daughter. I would not get to see any of this to the end, just like I didn't see the end of Adam and Mildred's relationship back at the first village, or the end of the torment from the thugs at that old boomtown, or even the conclusion of Amelia and her grief of losing her family. I never get to see things through, always missing things when they seem most important.

I walked out of the room, not wanting to stay here any longer. I don't want to hurt when I look at Elizabeth and know she can't come with me. I don't want to hurt when I realize nothing ever goes the way I hope it will. I just want it to be quiet again.

Before I knew it, I was outside the castle walls, running at full speed towards the mountains at the eastern edge of this continent. It was rather close. Only a weeks travel if I was walking, but I'm sprinting at full speed. So it took way less time to get there.

The entire time I was running, however, I thought to myself.

The blind prophet. How did he know about my arrival? Wasn't my arrival determined by the creator at the time of my death? If that's the case, then how did this man know of my arrival? Not only that, but how did he know of my quest to save the world? The only mentions of my quest to save the world were from the creator himself, so how did this prophet know?

Not only the prophet, but the puppeteer from the town I dropped off the children. It feels like they are connected in some way, yet there is no connection between them. One was a control freak while the other knew the future. Why does my gut so strongly think they are connected somehow?

Whatever, that doesn't matter now. I'm here.

My feet stood at the very bottom of a black mountain range. All of the mountains were a coal like color, as if they had been burned a long time ago and no one bothered to clean up the charred mess. Considering this is the site where the ancient race of demons is supposed to be waiting, so I guess it makes sense.

I feel kind of let down though. I was imagining lava, fire, and explosions, but this is just a charred looking mountain range. It doesn't seem like anything lives on the mountains either. Not plant nor animal. Just emptiness.

Along with the empty black feeling they give off, they also give off an ominous feeling due to their shape. The mountains had sharp jagged points that dotted the many tips of the mountain. Along with that, the mountain was immensely tall, and it wasn't a gradual increase in height either. Instead, it seemed like you would be climbing up the side of a slightly slanted cliff.

There doesn't seem to be any sort of natural way upwards. All of the mountain is just steep sides that lead up to the sharp jagged tips. It seems like getting up to the top where I imagine the site will be might be a challenge. I know that I can jump really high, but I've never had a chance to really test out just how high.

If that doesn't work, I imagine I could just fling myself up. All I would need to do is grab onto any sort of hold and fling myself upwards, grabbing onto the next one I see. If I kept doing that, I'd reach the top eventually.

There is one possible problem though. I would imagine that the exact site of the curse won't be too obvious. Because the map I had viewed was so far zoomed out so as to show the entire continent, it makes it rather hard to narrow down where on the mountain range the site actually is.

There is no telling just how long searching this mountain range will take. Not only that, but there is also the possibility that all of this is fake and I'm just wasting my time. No, I'm not. My gut says I'm on the right track. It hasn't been wrong so far, so why would it start now?

Well, there is no point standing around at the bottom of the mountain any longer. I'm only wasting time. Instead, I should start making my way up.

With that, I bent my knees as low down as they would take me, preparing myself for the highest jump I could manage. I might as well find out my abilities now.

Here goes nothing.

And then I was in the sky.