Chapter 58: Locating the Mask
Azekyle was the only descendant of the House Aetherwing who could have had Kyle as his nickname, and it might be just a coincidence that the name Naoemi gave him matched the man who had been dead for six years.
But knowing Celestyn was closely tied to the one suffering from an unknown affliction and likely the reason she had aligned herself with the Deceiver, it felt like too much of a coincidence to ignore.
Vlad had searched for traces of Azekyle’s history on the game forums but found almost nothing. And without drawing dangerous attention, there was no discreet way to dig deeper.
At least until he could infiltrate and uncover the truth himself, so for now, he let the matter rest.
At first light, Vlad set out toward the city of Dawnfront.
The city of Dawnfront stood proud, a fortress city with a high stone wall, a massive citadel of gray stone standing at its center, and its architecture was built specifically to withstand war.
The city stood proud atop the evergreen grasslands, facing the great forest with the Olympian mountain range to the east and the vast ocean to its west.
Dawnfront was one of the border cities built in a strategic location to face the horrors of the great forest. It was built to stop the beast tide that occurred every few years, a natural disaster that could only be resisted and not erased even with the might of the empire.
After leaving the teleportation building, Vlad made his way through the city, remembering his time in the city from his past life, almost recalling the terrible stench of mutated monstrosities, of blood and gore, of panic and helplessness.
Vlad pushed the memories of their struggle against the spawn of mutation and moved on, his eyes landing on the grand marble statue towering above the city, standing at the boundary of the outer and inner circles.
It was the statue of the current Duke, Lucien Viremont, a man of tall stature, an incredible physique, and handsome features, clad in regal plate armor, his weapon a curved blade.