Land of Peace
POV: Aria
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You have discovered a 'dungeon'
'Land of Peace'
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My mouth dropped as I witnessed the scarlet circle twist into existence. I darted my eyes to the others in confusion. The old, rusted dagger in my hand was responding strongly to my own energy. Though, it didn't look like it was usable as a weapon.
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Secrets of The Indus (Rank: Rare) Acquired
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"I beg you. Please don't go inside."
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My eyes shook at the ominous message. I glanced back to check if the others had noticed it, but they were still fixated on the portal.
Who was sending this message?
The dagger in my hands de-materialized and went inside my inventory.
Jeremiah seemed to be gauging the responses of everyone in the room. "Let's finish our current quest and mark this for later."
I nodded. We had never seen anything like this; it would be far too risky to enter now.
To my surprise, Gael calmly walked up to the portal.
Jeremiah stiffened, "Gael, what are you doing?"
Gael turned back and smiled, "Oh, I'm not going in or anything. I just wanted to test something."
As he said this, his right arm lifted up and Gael stuck his hand inside the portal.
I was dumbfounded by his actions. I looked over to see a fuming Jeremiah and Hazel. However, after a few seconds, Gael kept his hand in the portal and kept his expression the same.
Oh, I guess he's alr-
"I can't take my hand out." Gael said helplessly.
Jeremiah facepalmed and walked to the portal. "Why did you think this was a good idea?"
"Come onnn! You know you wanted to do it too!" Gael said.
Jeremiah's face was flustered, "N-no! I did not!"
Ezra ran up to the portal, "Let me try!"
Jeremiah had been developing his parental Ultra Instinct mode recently, but not even that could beat Ezra's seemingly endless determination to die.
Ezra brought his right arm up at lightning speed and as Jeremiah's hand wrapped around Ezra's wrist, it had already gone inside the portal.
I tried my best to hold back my laughter as I saw Jeremiah helplessly looking at his trapped hand.
Ezra smirked, "Why did you think that was a good idea, Jer?"
Jeremiah's clenched his fist and glared at Ezra, "We're going to have a talk about this later."
"Yeah, we can talk. Not like you can hit me." Ezra chuckled and pointed towards Jeremiah's hand.
Footsteps beside caught my immediate attention as I looked to see Hazel with an angry look on her face that I hadn't seen before.
I watched in horror as she walked up to the three and pushed them through the portal.
I darted my eyes over to Kenji. "Do we go now?"
Kenji's eyebrow raised and a slight grin appeared on his face. "Of course, we do."
Hazel grunted, "Follow close behind."
I nodded and neared the portal. As I got closer to the portal, a strange spinning sensation came over me. It wasn't enough to make me nauseous, but it was still present. I hesitantly put my hand through the portal and felt a nice calming sensation. It was as if my hand was being given a masseur.
The calm gave me enough confidence to fully progress through the portal.
As I walked through, darkness began to surround me.
Ah, this again. I looked around warily at my changing environment.
The first time I was teleported, it scared me immensely, but I was prepared for it this time. I let my thoughts drift off into nothingness and welcomed their new return as the space around me materialized.
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You have entered
'Land of Peace'
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Mission
Difficulty: D
Objective: Discover how the Indus River Valley Civilization ended
Rewards: ???
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My lips curved up in satisfaction when I heard the beeping sound of the system. I looked around to see a few of the others brushing themselves off.
Cold raindrops battered my head and dripped down my face.
I looked towards the ground and tried my best to balance on the wet clay. I wiggled my toes around in my barely present shoes and let the cool clay run underneath the soles of my sneakers.
Ezra looked disappointed as he looked around. "Well, this isn't what I was expecting."
I glanced over to the river next to me. Dense vegetation appeared to be clinging to the river as a life source. It was ironic because of how much water was already in the somewhat lifeless soil. "Maybe we should follow the river." I said.
Kenji spoke next, "Or we can get them to bring us to someplace interesting."
My eyes widened as I looked to Kenji's pointed hand. I hadn't even realized. There was an older lady gently extracting water from the river with a smile on her face.
She spoke softly, "Where did you folks come from?"
Her perfect English took me by surprise.
Jeremiah stepped up to speak, but Kenji put his arm in front of him. "Let me."
Jeremiah nodded towards Kenji. Admiration and respect seemed painted in his eyes.
Kenji responded, "We came from the south."
The woman looked confused. "It doesn't get much more south than this. But, regardless, you all look so battered by the elements. Would you like to come back to our village?"
Kenji cleared his throat, "Thank you. Your hospitality is very much appreciated."
Kenji began following the lady and motioned for us to follow.
I felt strange about Kenji's choice of words. Why did he say we were from the south?
I bounded up towards Kenji and tugged at his shirt. "Kenji, where are we?"
He continued looking forward as we walked. "It told us, did it not?"
"We're in modern day Pakistan."
I cursed myself in that moment for not paying attention in Geography. Honestly, I didn't even know where Pakistan was. I only knew that it was a country.
That still didn't explain his choice of words. "Is there something south of here?" I asked curiously.
He shook his head. "I was told that the Indus River Valley Civilization collapsed due to an invasion from the north. We don't exactly look like natives here. It'd be better to avoid suspicion."
I was still confused but nodded. If we already knew that the Indus River Valley Civilization collapsed from an invasion from the north, then why did the mission imply that we didn't know what happened?
I curiously opened my mission screen.
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Mission
Difficulty: D
Objective: Discover how the Indus River Valley Civilization ended
Rewards: ???
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Strange. If the answer to the question is 'an invasion from the north', then it was likely implying that there was more involved than a simple invasion. I pondered over the thought while I opened my status window.
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Aria
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Species: Homo Sapien
Race: Cree / English
Class: Archer (Rank F)
Stats: | Affinity:
Strength: 13 | Uncommon
Agility: 22 | Epic
Stamina: 14 | Uncommon
Ability Control: 18 | Rare
Pressure: ?? | Epic
Skills:
Snipe: (Rank E)
Proficiency: 23/100
Track: (Rank E)
Proficiency: 25/100
Eagle-Eye (Rank F)
Proficiency: 27/100
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Time slipped by as I continued to activate my ability.
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Activating Track
Proficiency: 25/100
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I retraced all of our steps and made a mental map of the direction we were taking. It looked like we were heading north.
The woman who was deep in conversation with Kenji, stopped to speak to all of us, "We're here."
The words broke me out of my self-induced trance. I glanced up to see a beautifully crafted stone city. Kids were happily playing in the streets and the pathways were all given precise care. I looked on the outskirts of the town and saw majestic golden fields. I couldn't tell if it was wheat or barley, but it was definitely a grain.
It wasn't enough to make my jaw drop or anything, but it was indeed quaint and beautiful.
Nikita held Kenji's hand and whispered my thoughts, "It's so pretty."
Kenji put his hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead gently.
My face reddened instantaneously and I quickly averted my gaze. My gaze landed on Jeremiah and my face only continued to redden as he walked towards me.
Jeremiah came only inches away from and locked his determined emerald eyes onto mine. My heart started pounding against my chest as I saw him raise his arm. A warm feeling came over me as I gently closed my eyes and unconsciously let my lips part.
"You know the way back, right?" Jeremiah said abruptly.
My eyes burst open to find his arm pointing behind me. A deep, uncontrollable anger welled inside me.
"Yes." I said coldly.
His eyes widened at the apparent anger I showed. "O-ok. I was just making sure."
He turned around and began to walk away. My arm unconsciously rose to grab his shirt but stopped halfway.
I couldn't bring myself to make a move. Even if I could, I wouldn't want it to be like that. I became upset with myself over confusing the real Jeremiah with the one I hoped was in front of me.
I brushed off the thought and returned my gaze to the woman who had started talking with another man.
"Who are these people?" the man said with apparent concern.
The man bristled, "The only city south of here is Kariacha."
The woman's eyes tilted upward as she spoke, "We can't just abandon people who ask for help. What will the gods think?"
The man looked warily at us. "Strangers do you know the situation in the Harrapan Kingdom?"
Kenji spoke swiftly, "No. Tell us."
An ominous feeling came over me as I watched Kenji's movements become erratic.
The man hesitated, "The city of Tiank was captured by the Aryans. There are horror stories originating from there. Apparently they have an arena culture where warriors fight each other to the death for sport."
The man stared pleadingly at Kenji with pained eyes, "We live in peace for so long. Our gods had shone mercy on us as we had shown mercy on others. Not even animals are harme-"
Kenji cut him off, "Take us there."
My eyes widened at my companions response.
The man stumbled over his words, "I-I don't understand. Why woul-"
Kenji materialized his katana and brought the blade to the man's throat.
Jeremiah burst into a run, "Kenji!"
Ice dripped from Kenji's voice as he spoke, "I said, take us to Tiank."