Eidolon Earth: Candidate Author

I don’t have any memories of how I found myself in this mess.

The previous moment I was under a bloody sky and the next moment I was here, in an unknown world, in an unknown courtroom, in a body no historical texts bothered to remember the name of.

“MAY THE SPIRIT OF AEZION WATCH OVER US” everyone yelled in unison.

“Go Now” the king commanded

We stood up, bowed and left the courtroom.

The moment we left the courtroom we both sighed.

“Arin, Is that you?” said Humayu

“Hayato-san?” I asked.

He nodded weakly.

We both walked close together so the servants and soldiers doesn’t get suspicious.

“Is this Normal?” I asked.

“No, In any of the fog events I have gone to, this is the first time something like this has happened.” He said.

“What happens normally?”

“Normally we would be transported to a different land all together, and then fend off monsters and hostile species while allying with other races who are on good terms with us until the countdown is over” he said

I processed his words for a while

“Did you get something like an objective?” I finally asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, something like a mission in a translucent panel?” I asked.

He looked at me for a moment and said “No, I just opened my eyes and I was here”.

I took a deep breath, meanwhile Hayato-san watched my reaction closely.

“Did you see something?” he finally asked after observing me.

I nodded and told him about the Objective and penalty, omitting the reward.

He listened intently

We reached the main gate till then.

The butler stepped forward, bowed at us and asked us to follow him.

The walls of castle were tall, their texture was rough with visible pores.

An unknown memory surfaced within my mind.

A man in a long dark robe saying “Marine concrete, made up when a certain ratio of sea metals are mixed along with infusing the energy of sea. Originating in Parshara kingdom this material thickens overtime when comes in contact with salty water”.

He took us to the carriage, on the way I saw the servants looked thin,

The carriage was wide, two seater, emerald colored with big thick four wheels of wood.

The coachman was a young boy who descended and bowed towards us.

“This is Hassan, my grandson” the old butler introduced his grandson.

The escorting soldiers also stepped forward introducing themselves.

We boarded the carriage and Hassan drove the carriage forward.

As the carriage began to move forward, the old butler came to the window and said.

“My lord, please make sure to succeed. My daughter in law is only able to eat once in two days” he said, his eyes were wide open looking at us with expectations.

I couldn’t meet those eyes.

“We will do best of our abilities” was the only thing I could leave him with.

The carriage drove forward. Picking up speed.

None of us looked back, too scared to see those eyes again.

Hayato-san recovered faster than me.

He looked at me, I held my clothes tighter, he put his hand on my shoulder.

“This is a part of the responsibility you will have to one day shoulder. Learn from this” he encouraged me.

I bit my lower lip.

There were no children on the roads and the townscape looked deserted.

The stalls were empty and the shops, closed.

We then looked through the papers given to us. Basically Parshara kingdom used to export dye, raw metal ores and glowing stones. In return other kingdoms used to give us money. Through that money we used to buy crops and raw food materials from other kingdoms.

Another memory resurfaced in my mind.

This time it was a lady in the long dark robe with intricate golden patterns “The first merchant association and institute of technology were established in the olden land of Kuru or presently known as The Kingdom of Nazarana. It is the largest hub for merchants and engineers as well as mercenaries”.

But lately due to the long ongoing war between the kingdom of Aurorion and Nazarana, the cost of exporting has increased many times. At first the war was expected to finish early since Aurorion kingdom’s martial might exceeded that of Nazarana kingdom.

But due to some unknown reasons, Nazarana kingdom has been able to extend the war upto this day. Due to that the profits from our exported materials plummeted and today Parshara kingdom stood at the door of bankruptcy.

We had also sent many requests for trade to Aurorion kingdom, but have received no responses yet.

Also since Aurorion kingdom had closed off its borders recently, it was not possible to go there since it will be seen as a blasphemy to their crown.

“Weird” I muttered.

“Our first step is to successfully get an audience with the crown of the Nazarana kingdom” Hayato-san said while engrossed in the papers.

We discussed the policies and the sum acceptable to save Parshara kingdom. The policies in the paper were a bit outdated so we used our modern knowledge to make it better.

“Night already?” when I finally looked out it was the time of sunset and stars were beginning to wake up.

We had crossed the border of Parshara kingdom and now were going through.

“Shamshaan forest” I said while looking at the map.

According to a legend, this land used to be a vast graveyard in the olden times when the law was just in name and chaos dominated the land and the sea.

There were two routes for us to go.

One from the Southern route via Dahan Sultanate and the other from the North via Vaeldor Principalities.

We stopped near a small cluster of shorter trees and camped. The moment I went inside the carriage to retrieve the rations.

“Who’s there?” I felt a gaze behind the carriage.

But there was no one.

I stood there for some time and then went back to the camping site.

Meanwhile Hassan climbed the tree to set the rope of the tent.

“You took your time” Hayato-san said.

“Just stopped to gaze at the stars”

“They sure are beautiful” Hayato san agreed.

Hassan cooked food for all of us.

We slept while soldiers took turns to watch over us.

[???’s POV]

I gave the signal, the moment I gave the signal, scouts shot the darts through their blowgun.

The darts hit the guards who were supposed to watch, they fell unconscious the moment darts hit them.

I couldn’t help but smile. These guys looked rich.

The jungle was our home and the night was our shelter.

We began to move without making a sound.

Four of ours went to kill the unconscious guards

One went towards the carriage.

While most of my men followed me.

Slowly surrounding the sleeping guys.

I raised my hand, everyone raised their swords ready to sever the heads of the sleeping guys.

“Nothing personal” I muttered while raising my sword.

SPLURT!...

Before however I could proceed ,the boy sleeping in front of me raised his hand. It was as if he turned to get into a more comfortable sleeping position. He raised his hand causing me to pause, but the hand never came down. It remained in the air, towards me, shaped like it held something and then the sharp searing sensation came instantly throughout my chest.

BLARGHHHHHH!!!

I vomited blood, my vision filled with tears.

Clang!, swish, Arghhhhhhhh!

I heard screaming voices, but those voices were familiar and then I finally saw. Those eyes.

Those green shining eyes.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

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