The Achievement Junkie

Chapter 307 The Guests Enter the Storehouse

"Are you saying that one of the original Greis Elves is still alive? From the time before Ancient Kartonia?"

"Yes."

Perplexed, Jack’s brain was running out of breath. "That person... who is it and where can I find them?"

"If you found me, then you’ll be able to find them too. But you’ve already made plans to visit him, so don’t worry about it," Sterfen casually replied.

"What?!" Gradually picking up the hints that Sterfen was throwing to him, Jack was left dumbstruck. "Eedaj?!"

"Bingo."

"Eedaj, the second most powerful Neutral God, the Mind God, is a Greis Elf? Then how on earth were the Greis Elves chased away and nearly killed off?" questioned Jack.

"What do you mean?" Sterfen paused. "What’s this "earth" that you--"

"How did Eedaj not put a stop to the persecution of his people?!"

"Okay, okay, calm down a little," Sterfen chuckled, forgetting Jack’s use of a foreign word. "That’s something I feel would be best described by Eedaj himself."

"But Sterfen?! Father?"

"Buttering up to me won’t get you anywhere this time, but I do appreciate it," added Sterfen. "I don’t know the whole truth behind it either, so it would be best if you spoke with Eedaj and informed me about after."

"But... How could you now know? You’re the God of Secrets!" shouted Jack.

Sterfen sighed, "Just because I’m the God of Secrets doesn’t mean I know everything. For nearly every event after I became a god, I have plenty of information to share. But for the ones before my immortality, especially something as complicated as what happened with the Greis Elves, I don’t feel I have adequate information to share it with others."

"But... Can’t you at least tell me what you know?" Jack begged.

"No, because I’m not sure if my tiny amount of information is correct. There are two people who you could ask for more information. Obviously, there’s Eedaj, and we can’t forget about the all-knowing man who brought you here."

"I... I guess I could ask Daruun... But I don’t have a way to do that yet."

"Then hurry up and find what you’re looking for in the storehouse. That or wait patiently for your time to visit Korten and seek out Eedaj. Now, if you’ll excuse I have to go punish your mother."

Sterfen closed off the conversation, not letting Jack ask him anything else.

The young hero sat and stewed in his thoughts. There was also the option of calling Daliea and talking with her about all of this, but he felt that would do more damage than good.

At the moment, Daliea was already distracted by Jack’s discovery of more shadow goblins. Adding even more mystery and confusion to that would only keep her from focusing on Sunset Valley and helping the party succeed.

*****

Outside the storehouse doors, three men were gathered, waiting on their last comrade.

"Where’s Bikkem? Wasn’t he supposed to be here hours ago?"

"Don’t worry about that. Something came up involving the war and he had to attend to it right away," replied Quallace. "He’ll be here any minute now, so there’s no need to worry."

"Can I tell him to hurry?" asked Kims. "I want to hurry and get in there before Tralon and Argyle kill everything."

"I told you to calm down, Kims. Remember, we’re here for the treasure and to take care of Tralon."

"But Kims does have a point. Though I’m entirely fine with allowing Tralon to do our heavy lifting, won’t they get too far ahead and make things difficult for us if we don’t get in there now?"

"Waiting a few more minutes won’t hurt the plan, Vixus," explained Quallace. "We need him if we want any chance of competing with tralon in terms of strategy. I hate to admit it, but Tralon’s advantage in experience is hard to overcome without Bikkem’s help."

"I’ll admit to that, but you told me that you wouldn’t wait for me if I was late. So why wait for him?"

"Come on, Vixus, lighten up. Soon, the weight holding down the council will be removed and we’ll be able to usher in a new era for Trodar, not one relying on ancient traditions that have long faded away."

"But I still want to kill something!"

"Kims, calm your sword," Vixus stated. "I’m sure you’ll have things to kill and will thoroughly enjoy ramming your blade through Tralon later."

"Ohhh... I’d like that a lot," Kims laughed, putting his sword away. "Anyway, how much longer are we going to wait here?"

"Not another minute!"

The three men all looked out with smiles to see a broad, mountain of a man approaching them with great speed. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I had to speak with the general over the Prachten border."

"What about?" Vixus asked.

"Apparently the Prachten forces backed away from the border. They’re still there in case we invade, but they’re no longer on the offensive."

"Strange... Are there any guesses as to why?"

Bikkem nodded. "After the last few skirmishes, the Prachten army seemed to be lacking resources, especially weapons and armors. They may be switching to the defensive since they’ve run low on equipment after the war effort has been dragged out so long."

"A logical answer. Any other suspicions?"

Bikkem shook his head. "No, we’ve yet to learn anything else. But ever since Tralon organized that flash army and sent it to the Limeer border, the other fronts have lessened their attacks. Maybe they’ve also learned that Limneer broke the war pact and slowed because of that."

"Or they fear Trodar all the more now that we somehow managed to stop a surprise army."

"Right, Vixus," explained Bikkem. "There’s also a chance that they learned about how devastated that army was by the time it reached our borders. To be honest, I also have no clue as to what happened or who Tralon got to accomplish such a feat."

"Whoever it is, they must be devoted to Trodar if they’re willing to go that far," stated Quallace. "And if they’re devoted to Trodar, then all we have to do is get the council behind them and allow them to see that our ways are more prosperous then that old man’s."

"Not a bad idea. I like it." Vixus smiled. "Once we get them on our side, we could have them run raids through Limneer, Prachten, and Iscantor. That should weaken our enemies’ morale and allow us to overwhelm one of the three."

"And once that happens, then it’s only a matter of time for the remaining two fronts, regardless of who they are," added Bikkem. "But enough of that. Let’s hurry up and get inside. We don’t want to be left behind with no way to track them. Then it would be pointless for Kaldor to come."

The four men walked over to the giant black doors, patiently waiting thirty seconds.

As the ancient doors creaked open, each of the four council members showed a different smile. Kims was excited. Vixus was curious. Bikkem was anxious. Quallace was relieved.

They all stepped inside the door, letting it close behind them. The cave was simple enough to figure out as the neared the teleportation circle and were wicked away in a display of purple, spacial energy.

When they reached the "first" floor, they were surprised by how quiet it was.

They assumed that they would need stealth in such a place, so the quickly trekked across the floor. It was much larger than they had anticipated but it was also much more empty. In fact, it was entirely empty. They couldn’t find anything at all no matter where they looked. There were no enemies, no mobs, no major signs of battle.

What they didn’t realize was that the only major sign of battle was so huge that it made that portion of the terrain appear to be naturally flat, the same place where the gathering of jakals’ huts used to be found.