With shaky hands, Dross looked down to the bock in his paws. Finally! After all these years he completed his mission. Twenty years before this day he left Etherium to join up with the adventure guild preparing to explore the frigid unknown known as Sepernius, the South pole of Prius.
Dross heard back then rumours about a city lost in time hidden somewhere under the kilometre-thick icy plates covering up the mysteries of the past. It was an unfortunate undertaking, but he came back alive and with big news. Dross pushed the book towards his heart trying to hold back the tears, he denied himself to shed since the accidents started happening.
His companions knew it very well, but they still went with him on his foolish journey two years ago; there was no stopping them from following him into their doom. Sepernius was a ruthless continent filled to the brim with scary monsters hungering for one’s life-force. As it was the case with Squa’osa, the tropical land of wonders, where the arcane has twisted the rules of law into nothingness, Sepernius suffered from the same oversaturation. A sure-death trap for anybody foolishly enough to lay one foot into this cursed land. And somehow, he got spared as the only surviving member of his expedition group.
Being the cartograph and researcher all his friends set their bet on their frail untrained leader not surviving the trip.
10.000 Gold they had bet against him, but now nobody remained to pay him his hard-earned money. Dross looked again at the enormous book holding all the research he had written down containing everything he had ever dreamed from.
A diary of their journey, studies of the surprisingly vast animal life of the frozen wastes, detailed cards of the landscapes and relics drawn by non-other than himself as well as notes of everything he managed to explore in the lost city. Starting from the icy tunnel he fell into leading to the gates of the sunken palace to the vast empty halls built to support beings far bigger in size than even the Eternals. Drawings of the outlandish texts and drawings decorating the walls and so much more was collected in his life work.
But the biggest discovery written down in his book was that of an enormous cocoon hanging from the ceiling in a massive room that reminded him loosely of an assembly hall made for giants. Just thinking of the breath-taking view caused his black tail to puff up to twice its diameter. The cocoon pulsating slightly in the colours of the rainbow as if it held a miraculous being, waiting to burst out and finally spread its wings. Dross wanted at that moment nothing more than to study it thoroughly.
His heart pumped faster as he called the experience from that place back to mind. And then, and then…emptiness. Wait a second. How even had he escaped the frozen hell that is Sepernius He was at that point the only remaining member of his group lost in a forgotten city in the creeping cold embrace of inevitable death. He couldn’t recall having enough reserves at that point to survive escaping the place in one piece. . .all by himself. . .why can't he remember anything past that date? He went camping in the assembly hall, next to the strange cocoon he wanted to research emitting the warmth he hadn’t felt since an eternity.
And then. . .fade to black. . .but how? His mind felt clouded and shattered. Why was he in Scamall standing now before the cathedral of Knowledge? Why was he still wearing his thick exploring gear? Why couldn’t he remember ever leaving that mystical room? How on Prius was he still alive!? He was dead, wasn’t he? Hastily trying to confirm his theory Dross stripped away his heavy coat and removed his gloves to feel his pulse. The people around him, who were already alienated by this crazed stranger wearing such an outfit in the hottest summer possible, just shook their heads and went on their way as that person seemingly finally came back to his senses. Dross pressed his cold paw on his furred chest trying to make out a pulse. He relaxed slightly but was shocked at the same time. It was present, a bit faint, but strong enough to circulate his blood through his body:
"So. . .not dead", Dross was confused, "I am alive standing here right before the goal of my journey with no memories on how I got here in the first place. This doesn’t make any sense!"
And with that the imaginary construct his mind had created to give sense to this absurd situation shattered leaving Dross with a big black spot in his mind reaching from camping under the cocoon to appearing on the plaza of the four. But Dross was strangely calm given his outrageous situation. There was only one person in existence, who could help him now, providing him with the knowledge to explain this unexplainable situation. The all-knowing patron god of his, Terminus. And for some reason he was standing right before the cathedral of knowledge, the domain of the silent watchers, followers of Terminus just like he was.
And according to the sun Terminus, himself should be currently present there answering the questions of his devotees and judging over their work made to please his undying thirst for knowledge.
It was Dross’ dream back then to create something worthy to be taken in by terminus to be added to the mythical “pool of knowledge”, the personal library of the gods said to host all knowledge that ever existed; even bits and pieces of the lost last. And if you happen to manage to surprise Terminus with your work you might be upraised to be one of the enlightened watchers, long-living Sudo-Eternals finally able to enter the hidden Pool. One of the only ways for mortals to taste immortality. Was this his fate? The reason he survived this death sentence of an expedition through extra-terrestrial means and that with his book still intact?
His legs were shaking, and the warmth of his gear was grilling him alive. Realizing he hadn’t eaten for god knows how long he was just about to collapse as a strong, yet careful hand stopped his fall. With the tiredness of a thousand moons kicking in Dross nearly failed to look up into the azure-blue eyes of his saviour. As her face was closely reminding him of a late companion he fell in love with his mind called the entire bizarre situation as a last-ditch effort of his brain to bring back all his memories to soothe his end: Dying in the hands of his love in the place he called his home. Dross smiled back to the elvish lady stuttering with toneless mumbling:
“Good to see you again Minaera. . .”
And with that Dross finally lost consciousness, falling into the arms of his apparent reaper.
Really interesting first chapter. Poor kitty. Curious how to see where this will go and how he really got where he is now. >> Obviously has something to do with that cacoooon. o/
All your questions will be answered in this run ^^ I wish you fun with A piece of Heaven <3