Tales of Mancia, Book One: Beyond the Frozen Grove Options

[redsrock]

Tales of Mancia

Book One: "Beyond the Frozen Grove"


CHAPTER ONE

"I thought you said you didn't believe in magic, Verick? What happened to all that talk about magic being a myth and nothing else? Now all of a sudden you've changed your mind?"

"I know what I said, Arvus, just shut up for a second, alright? Damn, you can be annoying sometimes!"

Verick and Arvus Junson were freelance adventures as well as brothers, working for no one in particular. They simply hunted for treasure and sold it to their favorite merchants in the many large towns the country of Haven had to offer. Haven, ruled by King Leonard Fervine, is the "power region" in the world of Mancia, sort of the capital of the world in a way. Haven hosts Mancia's largest largest army, largest population, and richest country as well.

The two had been searching through a small cave when Verick had mistakingly kicked a tiny stone box hidden within the many rocks on the cold hard floor. Upon opening the box he found one green heavy stone. The gem itself seemed to glow with importance, though neither of the men recognized it; that is until the more intelligent of the two, that being Arvus, had whipped out his massive book of gems and stones. The two searched for what seemed like hours until on exactly the five hundredth page they came across what looked dead-up like the stone Verick had discovered by sheer luck.

The book claimed the stone (which had no "official" name) to have magical powers that held the key to a whole other dimension. Obviously no one had yet to discover such a stone, and the authors of the book heavily suggested that the story of the stone of was a hoax and nothing more. Now it appeared as if all of that was about to change.

"I mean...just look at it, Arvus," Verick said with a tone of extreme awe and waving his exited and shaking hands through his medium length set of black hair, and then across thinly-trimmed beard. The two brothers were the same age of twenty-nine, though they were not twins. Throughout their many adventures they had come across plenty of mystifying artifacts, but nothing could match the stone Verick had discovered.

"Okay, fine. We found a rock that looks quite similar to what the book describes," Arvus said with his arms folded and rolling eyes. The book of stones had been put back into his large leather pack. "But that doesn't mean the story is real, or if this stone really is what the book says it is. If anything I think it is a simple coincidence."

Verick threw his hands up in the air in frustration and then yelled, "Wow, how ironic this is! You've always been the one reading books about magic and all that crap, and now that we're face to face with something that could really actually have magical properties you want to dismiss it!"

"I read the material because it is interesting and entertaining, Verick," Arvus replied, his tone rising defensively. "That does not mean I think it is all real. True, I think there is some kind of basic magic out there in the world, but do I think a mere stone holds the key to a whole new dimension? Certainly not! Think about for a second, Verick, and then maybe you'll see how ridiculous all of this is. The 'gem' you speak of is probably nothing more than a simple rocked painted green, and planted here to make a fool of someone like you."

Verick was really getting angry now and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to strike his brother in his hairless chin with his fist. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time the two had fought. But when Verick eyed a tiny pond of water in the far corner of the cave he ran straight to it, motioning for Arvus to follow and forgetting about pounding his face in for a moment.

"Alright, Arvus, we'll have it your way." Verick then pulled a dirty piece of cloth from his pocket and raised it in the air for Arvus to see. "I will dip the stone into this puddle of water and scrub with the cloth. If the paint comes off and it really is only a stone, I will wash your boots with my tongue."

Arvus began laughing histarically, his long blonde hair moving irratically, but when he saw that his brother was actually telling the truth he tried his best to calm down, even if it was fairly difficult to do so. "But if I am right about this stone, and it does have magical powers, then you are going to tear that particular page out of your book and eat it right in front of me."

Arvus was no longer laughing, and was now looking rather offended but at the same time extremely confused. What in the world is he thinking? Does he really actually believe that rock holds the power to another world? He must be out of his mind... "Fine, I agree, Verick. However, I think you are making a big mistake," he replied towards Verick, again starting to laugh a bit from the silliness of the situation.

"We'll see," Verick whispered, just before sinking the stone entirely into the puddle of water. He began scrubbing it vigorously with the cloth, back and forth, back and forth. This went on for some five minutes until at last he brought the stone back up. What he said at first made him cringe, and Arvus laugh with amused joy.

"Look, you idiot, I told you it was paint! You sure hope you like the taste of-"

But then it was Verick who was jumping with joy and happiness, for he saw something that Arvus couldn't because of the fact that he was standing about ten feet away. It was true that the green-ness of the rock was something like paint and beyond the paint was regular stone, but carved into the stone was lines spelling out numerous words and phrases of a language Verick could not understand.

"Come here, look at this! There's some kind of scripture carved into the stone!"

Arvus quickly arrived at his brother's side and the two of them studied the stone closely, trying to figure out what kind of language it could be. Of course with Arvus being the intelligent one, Verick asked him if he recognized the carvings.

"No, none of this looks familiar to me at all," was his immediate response. "For a second it almost looks of the Tijion...or maybe even the Pantor...but no, that's not it. I..I don't have a clue what it says," he said perplexed and scratching his head in confusion.

With the stone in hand, Verick pumped his right fist high into the air and began to mock Arvus for not believing him. But Arvus quickly silence his brother with a raise of his hand and said, "But that doesn't mean the stone is magical, Verick. The book said nothing about a scripture of any kind."

"Did it speak of how to open the dimension?" Verick asked eagerly.

Arvus just rolled his eyes. "No, Verick, it said it was a hoax.....remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I think the book is wrong and I am right!"

"No, you are wrong, Verick," Arvus said, starting to get agitated once more. "Either way, at least we've found something of value. Let's go ahead and head back to Crestwood so we can ask the jeweler how much he thinks it's worth."

"ARE YOU NUTS?" Verick yelled at the top of his lungs, scaring the daylights out of Arvus. "We are NOT selling this thing, you idiot! This is our key to another world, brother! Can't you see? We will be famous!"

Arvus was now beyond agitation and instead almost to the point where he could no longer take his brother's ignorant immaturity. "Give me that!" He said to Verick while snatching the stone away and picking up its stone container from the floor, and placing the stone in the box. "We will-"

Suddenly his two hands began to shake violently and both he and Verick immediately noticed that the box was glowing with a bright green haze, almost of a bubble of sorts. Arvus dropped the box to the ground in fear, and the top broke off. Inside the stone was in the middle of the container, and it too was glowing a green haze. But now four rods from all four sides of the square container had somehow been stabbed into the stone, holding it in place.

"What in the name of-"

Before any of them could do anything the bright light first engulfed them, and then the entire room of the cave they were standing in. For a moment they were blinded by the light, until finally the brightness began to calm down. But something strange was happening. Arvus suddenly found himself suspended in mid air above the box, along with his brother right beside him. The strangest part was that when he looked down he could see his own body still standing next to the box with his hands shielding his eyes. His body looked like a frozen statue, and then he noticed that Verick's own body was doing the exact same thing. The 'suspended' Arvus looked at the 'suspended' Verick and the two of them were simply at a loss for words. The glowing of the stone again picked up and then the two found themselves swirling in a fast circle in the air, with green bubble also circling around them. The spun faster and faster, lower and lower, until the two of them were just inches away from smacking into one another mid-air.

But right before they could make contact everything went black, and neither of them felt anything but a rush of cold air.

[redsrock]

CHAPTER TWO

The next thing Verick knew he was lying face up on a rough surface, looking up at what seemingly looked like the sun in a light blue sky, but this object was different than the one he was used to looking at back in Haven. Rather than the usual bright yellow and round object, this one was a bright red color, and instead of a perfect circle this one was somewhat of a large oval. Verick looked around and saw his brother lying motionless on the surface to his left, which looked to be some kind of rough blackish soil, almost sticky in a strange way.

"Arvus...Arvus!" Verick yelled to his brother loudly while still lying on the ground himself, thought it was no use and it appeared as if Arvus had been knocked out cold. Verick looked around for the box and the stone, but neither were anywhere to be found. It was as if the items had disappeared after dropping off he and Arvus at wherever they were located now.

He got up from the ground and some of the rock/soil stuck to his arm, signaling that it was likely that the two had been lying on the ground for an extended amount of time. So he brushed the rocks off, some painfully, and walked over to the unconcious Arvus. He shook his brother violently but that was no use as well. He was still breathing so at least he wasn't dead.

Thank the Almighty Mother! Verick thought to himself. Now what am I going to do? I don't even know what's going on or where we're at! And at that moment Verick was no longer happy that he had proved his brother wrong, for now it appeared that the two of them really were stuck in another dimension, judging by the strange 'sun', if that's even what it was called wherever they were now.

As he looked around more and more he realized that he and Arvus were located within some type of mountain of sorts, and a rather small area at that, roughly twenty yards on all sides. There were some small bushes all around them, but the color was different than any other plant Verick had laid eyes on. These bushes were a darkish red coloring. Around the bushes was, like he already realized, a mountain. He figured they were both in the middle of a pit of the said mountain, and the walls of the mountain were a dark silvery color. Verick wanted to walk past the bushes and touch the strange looking wall, but of course he also didn't want to leave his brother alone for any length of time.

However, he didn't have to wait long because within several seconds Arvus finally began to stir, followed by a weak, "Verick...are you there?" Arvus looked around until he saw his brother standing in front of him looking around. "Verick!" he said loudly, and this time Verick heard the calling.

"Are you alright?" he asked Arvus after running over to him, and Arvus simply shrugged his shoulder and sat on his bottom, wiping away the black rock soil just as his brother had done minutes earlier. For a second he didn't say anything, but then, again just like his brother had done, he started up at the orange oval hanging in the sky.

"What in world is that?" he asked in awe.

"I don't know," Verick replied softly, "but I don't think we're in Haven anymore."

Arvus stood up from the ground and wiped the remaining particles of loose dirt and rock from his body. Then he looked at the red bushes, and outside of them the walls of the silver mountain that wrapped around the two of them from all sides. "My, my...I don't believe it," Arvus whispered, feeling as if he was in some kind of dream. But the stinging pain from the scars on his bare arms, left by the rocks that had once been there, told the truth.

"I just can't believe it brother," Verick whispered back.

For several minutes that seemed like hours the two of them just stood in the middle of the black soiled pit, their eyes wandering to and from the bushes, the 'sun', and the massive mountain that blocked most of the sky. Then, without warning and without hesitation, Arvus punched Verick hard in the left cheek, sending him falling to the ground in utter surprise.

"What was that for?" Verick yelled angrily, rubbing the cheek that was already bruising from the contact of Arvus's fist. Arvus wasn't really the expert fighter, but he sure had landed a successful punch to Verick's face.

"For having a fit back at the cave and HAVING to dip that rock into the puddle. You just had to-"

Suddenly Verick got up and charged Arvus, who was looking up into the air and mocking his brother dipping the stone into the pond. Verick easily tackled him to the ground and was about to hit his brother in the face with his right hand, but Verick' fist stopped mid-air after a deep and loud roar sounded from their left, seemingly inside the mountain. The roar sounded again and now Verick was off of his brother and had already grabbed a small iron dagger he always carried in the tiny side slot on his left leather boot, shaking with fear and anxiety at whatever it was that was making the noise.

"Judging by that sound of whatever is making that noise, I think you're going to need something a little bit bigger than that knife," Arvus said, looking at the blade and then back to the where the noise was coming from. At that moment the two of them both spotted a small opening leading into the side of the mountain. Verick spoke first.

"Look, Arvus, there's an entrance to inside the...mountain, or whatever it is."

"Okay, and?" Arvus asked, knowing that he his brother wanted to travel inside the mountain. Arvus didn't like the sound of that one bit, and it was apparent by the critical look on his dirty face.

"And I think we need to travel through there if we want to get out of this pit," Verick replied sarcastically, looking right into his brother's scared blue eyes.

"No, you're crazy, Verick! Did you hear those roars? I'm not going anywhere!" he said, crossing his arms and backing away even further from the opening that was already nearly twenty yards away.

"We sure ain't goin' anywhere if we just sit and here and do nothing!" Verick said, flipping his hands in the air out of frustration. "We are stuck in whatever this place is, and the only way out seems to be the opening over there. I don't know about you but I don't just wanna sit and rot away."

Arvus didn't say anything but instead looked through the hole in the mountain, just waiting for some strange looking creature to hop out and kill them both with long, sharp claws. "Yes...you're probably right. I just didn't want to admit it," Arvus replied after looking back to his brother. "Also, I want to apologize for hitting. I don't know, I guess I just lost it for a second."

"Don't worry about it, brother. You're just lucky I didn't get in a shot of my own," Verick said with a wink and playful punch to Arvus's arm. "I was surprised more than anything. You packed quite a punch for someone who's never beat me in a fight."

"Yeah, judging by the bruise it mustn't have felt very good," Arvus said with a laugh, though he still felt bad for hitting his brother.

"No worries, it's over now. I'm just still amazed at what's going on. You know, as soon as I picked the stone up back at that cave I knew something was special about it. But even given that, I still find what's happening unbelievable. It just doesn't seem like this could at all be possible," Verick said.

"Yeah, well, I guess it's like you said. There's nothing else to do but go through that mountain and meet whatever is inside. I don't particularly want to do it, but I also don't think we have a choice. Let's just hope that on the other side of this mountain is a way back home," Arvus said while taking out his own dagger his it's side pocket in his shirt, this one made from stone by a weapons-smith back in Crestwood, their home and Haven's capitol city.

"Alright, just stick close and we'll be alright."

The two took one last look into the opening and then began to walk towards it, both of their daggers shaking wildly in their scared hands.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


If it weren't for the fact that they were indeed in another dimension and that their only exit was through the mountain, Arvus would have never agreed to going inside the cave leading into the mountain. He never was the brave and courageous person his brother was. Arvus was more into books and plants, and other things of that sort. And he never really wouldn't have even been a 'freelance adventurer' if it wasn't for Verick asking for help. Verick was a fine adventurer, but he didn't know anything about what plants were poisonous and things of that nature. He had asked Arvus to help out long ago and that was that. From that point on, about five years ago, the two have been an adventurer-duo, seeking tombs and ruins with treasure all throughout their country of Haven.

For the most part they haven't faced too much danger, save for the occasional bandit here and there, but Verick had always been able to fend off attacker because he had been trained with a blade during his childhood. Arvus had not been trained in such a way. Verick was a Daddy's Boy, choosing to go the 'manly way' of things. Verick, whether he liked it or not, was a Mommy's Boy, choosing books and wild-life rather than fighting and all the stuff that goes with it. This sort of girly reputation hadn't bothered Arvus much, mostly in part because Verick never really hounded him about it. The two made a terrific pair, and that was enough for both of them.

"Just stay close, Arvus, and whatever is in there hopefully we can sneak past it," Verick whispered just as they entered the cave and began walking down a slim and straight corridor. The interior was of course pitch black except for the light seeping in from the outside. Sooner or later the two would have no light to guide them through, and unfortunately for them Verick had dropped his torch at the cave back in Haven.

The ground was similar to the one outside, except in the cave there was no soil, just plenty of wet rocks and a hard stone-like floor. Some kind of waterfall could be heard deeper within the cave, so that's where they headed. From his experiences in Haven, Arvus and Verick both remembered that a river or waterfall inside of a cave usually led to an exit of some kind. But the key word is usually.

After a few minutes of walking the two came to another opening to the left. The sound of rushing water was gaining and they were both excited that hopefully soon they would find their way to the other side. But when they entered the room they were met with both good and bad news. The good news was that atop a small hill in the northern part of the room was a hole with water rushing in and down into a large pond-like surface at the bottom of the floor on Verick and Arvus' level of sight, with light coming through signaling that there way of escape was only around fifty yards away. The bad news was that guarding that opening was a creature neither of them had ever seen before.

It looked to be standing about ten feet tall and was very thick and muscular, for the room they were now in had to be at least twenty feet tall. The beast was standing on all fours looking to be about ten yards in length, and it had a massive head with two thick knobs extending about three feet from its forehead. It did not have claws on its feet, but rather hooves resembling a large horse. The hide of the beast looked very thick and almost leathery in a way. It was also smooth and hairless skin, except for around its hooves and around and about its face. It was a darkish gray color, but because the place was fairly dark Arvus and Verick were having a hard time telling if it was or not.

"By Smearna, Arvus, just look at that thing..." Verick whispered quietly. "How in the name of Hoal are we going to get passed it? See those natural-stairs behind it? It's guarding the way out."

Suddenly the creature roared back its head in alertness and uttered yet another massive roar, shaking the room and causing rocks to fall from the cavern's roof. One of the smaller rocks landed with a thud on Arvus's right foot, and unfortunately for him and Verick he could not keep in the pain. He yelled out in agony and the creature immediately turned its head. Seeing that they were about to become the beast's next meal they turned around to head back into the dark tunnel where the beast could not reach them, but large boulders that fell from the roof had covered the entrance, blocking Arvus and Verick from escaping.

"Hurry, follow me," Verick yelled, taking the role as leader like he always did in situations such as this. (Of course, they really haven't been face to face with a creature ten feet tall and horn-like knobs as long as a sword.)

The two ran to the right and as they did the beast followed in pursuit from the north. It charged with all of its might and speed, shaking the rocky ground with every steps of its heavy hooves, it's furry mane-like hair flapping as it ran. Just inches away from getting trampled by the beast, Arvus and Verick both lunged forward, rolling under a bridge-like rock that was deep enough to where the beast could not touch them.

Arvus crawled behind Verick as the two watched the beast struggle to get into the tiny space where they sat, giving the two of them their first glance at the beast's long and sharp fangs. It was a scary time for both of them, but they needn't worry no more than about two minutes, because at that time the beast roar as if it was in pain. And indeed it was in pain. As it backed away from the space Verick noticed three very long spears had somehow been thrusted into the side of its right rib cage. Then Verick saw three figures on the right side of the beast, near the blocked entrance in which he and Arvus had come from.

The beast turned to chase towards the figures and they took off to their own right, running up another small hill where the beast could not reach them. Because it was dark Verick could not see the figures' features, other than that they looked to be rather skinny and somewhere around six feet in height. They threw more spears at the beast, with two hitting the creature in its front right hoof, and the other hitting it in its eye. The beast roared in anger, and rather than fight on the beast ran to the west side of the room, retreating through a different opening Verick and Arvus had not previously noticed.

As soon as the beast was out of sight and everyone was safe for the time being, the three figures down from their fighting spot and ran over to Verick and Arvus. For the first time Verick got a close-up look at the beings, and he was both awed and slightly disgusted at the same time. The beings looked to be human in a way, but their skin was sort of scaly in random areas, and its color was a very light green. Their body features resembled a human, except that they had six fingers rather than a humans five, and their fingers were abnormally long as well. Another thing different about them was their head. While it closely resembled a human head, the creatures' were slightly taller than normal, and in their forehead was what looked like a stone. As Verick looked closer he realized it looked exactly like the stone that had transported he and Arvus to this strange world.

Verick was in too much shock to say much, so the being in the middle of the three spoke up with a medium-pitched tone, but with a hint of vibration almost. "That was a close call, wouldn't you say?" The being held its hand out to Verick to help him out of the space, but Verick was still seemingly frozen in time, unable to speak let alone move his hand.

Verick looked behind him and realized that Arvus was out cold unconcious once more, and had apparently passed out. Verick looked back at the beings who were looking at him oddly, back at is brother, and at last back to beings once more. All of the hectic craziness finally took its toll on Verick and he passed out as well.