Chapter 1 – What is Best

  Jack leaned against the wall of the building they were currently residing in. It was one of many they had taken up residence in over the past few days. They were still in the city of Kharzast, having not moved far since arriving here. A small headache was starting to form as they continued to discuss the same topic they have been talking about for days now. Where to build their city.

  “I’m telling you, you can’t make your city in the Jungle of the Four Lords,” Savgar, a dark hair dwarf, practically yelled for what seemed like the hundredth time. “If anything, build it underground like how the Akashic Order did with this place.”

  Savgar was a master dwarven Blacksmith that left his home and practice to chase after his wayward apprentice, Victor, and as a result ended up stuck in the jungle with the rest of them. Victor was a tall dark-skinned human who had left early into that apprenticeship, which was considered a cultural taboo among the dwarves.

  They were both captured, like the rest of their small group, by a human named Clayton. He was a Beastmaster class with an army of Wenduags, large four-armed gorilla creatures, that he used to help him capture and enslave everyone he could find. Clayton wanted to use them to help him find the city of Kharzast that they now stood in.

  Jack met both in the prison camp, along with the rest of their group, after he was captured in the same way shortly upon arriving on this planet. He came here unintentionally. His encounter with a truck, as he was crossing the Tear, resulted in him falling into the ravine and passing through a portal on his way down. The System acknowledged his desire to live as acceptance and pulled him through the portal. It had saved his life then, but now he was stuck on this new planet with these strange creatures and magic with no quick way to get back to Earth.

  Jack and the other prisoners had escaped from Clayton. They fled underground to prevent him and his beasts from capturing them again, where they found the lost city of Kharzast and a special Foundation Crystal growing within. Normally, a Foundation Crystal can facilitate the growth and design of a city for a single race, but the one they found within the city could support several different races at once. They ultimately decided to use the crystal themselves to create a multi-species city, but now they were stuck trying to figure out where to use it that would work for everyone.

  “Humans don’t live underground,” Teresa tried explaining once again, but at this point it felt like the dwarf was refusing to accept that. Teresa was another human who had joined Victor in coming to the Jungle of the Four Lord in pursuit of a Foundation Crystal. She was a Warrior class who specialized in using a variety of weapon-focused combat styles. She stood taller than Jack with tanned skin and the toned physique of a martial artist. “We need sunlight, and freedom. Not to mention a day-night cycle. I haven’t been able to get my circadian rhythm right since we fled into these tunnels. I’m still not entirely sure how long we been down here.”

  “Some plants would help as well,” Elaine added. She was the third human who had joined Victor and Teresa in their pursuits. Of the first few humans Jack had met since coming here, she stood out more than even Victor. She was pale as a lily with dark hair that made most people believe her to be a moon elf at first glance. She was an Alchemist and Cook by profession but was just as dangerous with a dagger in a fight. Her dancing fighting style made her a very elusive fighter.

  “I second the plant needs,” Sylvian added. She and her sister Rayne were elves belonging to the Azure sect that had joined them in their escape from Clayton. “Us elves do not do well underground as well. We need to be surrounded among living things to grow. There is only so much mushrooms and moss can do.”

  Both Sylvian and Rayne shared a similar look with Rayne being a bit more athletic than her sister. Both had auburn hair and a slight dusty complexion, that Jack wasn’t sure was a family trait or what most elves shared. Both had agreed to join them in their search of the lost city of Kharzast, but they still needed to return to the surface to meet with their sect.

  “Bah,” Savgar said. “Plants? Who needs them, there are plenty of living creatures here. We been killing them for the past few weeks, and you all have been surviving just fine so far. The dwarves have been doing it for millennia.”

  “I must side with the dwarf on this,” Zajowle spoke up. Among the escapees, Zajowle was one of the more unique members. He was a kobold, a race of bi-pedal lizard-like people who were often found far to the south. Jack knew little about the man other than he was a Merchant and that he didn’t like talking about his people. “I see no issue with the creation of a city underground. Given the circumstances, it might even be the only option, unless you wish to leave the jungle first.”

  “See the lizard agrees,” Savgar said.

  “No!” came Zephyrs voice from above them. A small translucent green creature appeared floating in the air. She was a Sylph, an elemental creature made of wind, and the Familiar of Daniel, a human Wizard that had come to the jungle in search of the city originally. Daniel was the first to be captured by Clayton. “The air here is stale. I refuse to be stuck down here where there aren’t even storms to ride. I don’t care where you make your city, but not underground.”

  “There might be little helping that,” Daniel said. “We agreed that we shouldn’t use this place as the city we need to create, but wherever we do make the city, we would still need to be able to come back here from time to time. Leaving it abandoned again would be a waste. There is ancient knowledge here that shouldn’t be forgotten to time. It would be like finding the ancient library of Alexandria and just walking away. We should use this place, learn from them.”

  “We could build it in the jungle,” Teresa said. “It’s a bit of a tough area, but it’s away from any kingdoms that might object, and it has plenty of resources to work from. It will also be close enough to still access Kharzast regularly.”

  “A few people looking into the place and studying their records is one thing,” Jack said. “But I don’t think it would be a good idea to have just anyone able to access this city. For one, I am the only one able to open any of the rooms, and that is due to my status in the Akashic Order.”

  Jack had stumbled across an old underground trial left over from the Akashic Order while trying to flee from the Wenduags. The only way to complete the Trial was to overcome several tests within the trial and create a contract with a sentient tree named Arbour which gave him a rank within the forgotten Order. At this time, there had been no indication of anyone else still alive that was a part of the order making Jack and Arbour the last two members around.

  “Not to mention Clayton,” Victor added. He sat with his newly gained spiked mace across his lap. “He still out there and trying to find the city. Could have already found it for all we know. This place is so big that he and his Wenduags could be here now searching the place like we have been, and we may never see them.”

  “That is the other problem,” Daniel said. “We need to make sure Clayton can’t get his hands on this place. If only to prevent him from being able to get the Blood Mage class. As bad as Clayton is as a Beastmaster, there is no limit to what he could do if he gained that class. All of our searching so far has turned up nothing, but we need to find it before he does.”

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  “I’m still new to all this,” Jack said. “But what is a Blood Mage and why is it so bad?”

  “Blood magic is…” Sylvian started but stopped, trying to think of the right word before continuing. “Forbidden. They are said to hold the power to control and manipulate any living being that has blood. Their power is a thing of legend. The last Blood Mage was seen several thousand years ago. We only have records and stories about them, but every culture that is still around from that time fears them. Even if only a fraction of the stories are true, then no Blood Mage should ever be allowed to live to ascend to the next realm. I heard there was even an ancient pact to prevent such things, but we had thought the path to that power was lost. How could Clayton find a path to that class here?”

  “I am not certain of the specifics,” Daniel said. “But Clayton has had contact with a Blood Daemon, a being from the higher realms, that has been helping to guide him to unlocking it and it apparently requires him to find Kharzast. I only know what Clayton has told me, but the final key he needs to unlock the class is somewhere down here.”

  “That is indeed troubling,” Reuf said. “But even if we were to take up watch over the city, we could not keep an eye on every possible area. As Victor mentioned, there are too few of us and the city is too big. Even if we did come across Clayton down here, he has an army of Wenduags.”

  Reuf and Sia were the last two non-human members of their group. Both were tyrians, a species of beast-folk that were descended from Beast Lords. They were still hesitant to admit which Beast Lord they were descended from, but they had the appearance of humanoid wolves. Of the two, Reuf was the more talkative. In all the time they had been down here, Jack could only count a handful of time that Sia had even said a few words.

  “Then we should leave the underground,” Rayne spoke up. “We can’t defend this place, so if we have to stop Clayton from getting down here, then there is only one thing we can do.”

  Savgar nodded. “We have to kill him.”

  All the humans went silent at that comment. The others gave them their moment. Jack stared at the ground lost in his thoughts. It wasn’t an easy thing to consider but everyone already knew it was the only choice they had. But it was one thing to think it and another to say it out loud. It felt so much more real now. Since coming here, Jack had to kill a lot of different things, but he never had to kill another human before.

  “It has to be done,” Rayne continued. “You have my sympathy, but if this is what he is trying to do then we have no other choice.”

  “He will never stop in his pursuit of the city,” Sylvian said. “If we continue with the plan to use this Foundation Crystal and leave the jungle, then there would be nothing stopping him from finding it eventually.”

  “Even so,” Daniel said. “Killing him won’t be easy. Even if you take away his Wenduags and his other beasts, he would still be too difficult for most of us to handle. He is stronger than most of us and I doubt it was by luck that he survived for years. We managed to escape him once, but now he will be on alert. I don’t know if we will be able to surprise him again.”

  “I think you might be giving him too much credit there,” Teresa said. “He might be a tough one, but I never got the impression he was much of a fighter. Sure, he has a few tricks up his sleeves, but he’s just as human as the rest of us. He makes mistakes too.”

  “Exactly,” Savgar said. “I’m not worried about some Beastmaster that has gotten full of himself. If we can get him away from his pets, I’m sure we could kill him. I’m more concerned about the Four Lords. Even if we manage to kill Clayton, this jungle is already contested territory of those four Beast Lords. Jack mentioned before about seeing the Chualtala attacking the Wenduags’ camp. If you try to build your city in the jungle, then that will be what you’ll have to deal with. The Four Lords are much more dangerous than any upstart Beastmaster.”

  The Chualtala was the name for the giant snake creatures that lived in the Jungle. Besides being big enough to swallow a person whole, they were also lightning fast and were the children of the Eastern Beast Lord.

  “Then where?” Daniel asked. “We agreed to use this experimental Foundation Crystal in the formation of a city for all our people, but that leaves very little places that could offer the right combination of Affinities that we will have need of to make this city. Unless we are willing to risk lacking an Affinity that someone might need, a prismatic leyline is the only option, and the only one we know about is here.”

  “I still think the Wildlands would be a good option,” Reuf said. “No kingdom has any true stake on the place. There are nomadic tribes but other than dealing with the occasional raiding group, we would be left alone. The land is also flat. Good foundation for building and planning.”

  “Hmph,” Savgar said. “It’s uncontested because there is nothing there. You’d need to ship all your materials in. Not to mention it is often used as a training ground for the nearby kingdoms. You also said that you still want access to this place, but unless you have a way of teleporting here, you’d need to set up a decent road between the two and that will only make people wonder why. The Jungle of the Four Lords is not a place people go to visit casually.”

  “Then where are we going to make this city?” Victor asked. “We can’t buy land from the kingdom of Altur. Any place that would be worth building would be too expensive for us and Altur wouldn’t be interested in promoting a multi-species city.”

  “I think we have to do it here,” Jack said.

  “The boy speaks truth,” Savgar said. “Underground is the only way to go…”

  “No not underground,” Jack said. “We have to make it above. In the actual jungle. I don’t think we have any other option.”

  “I told you,” Savgar said. “The Four Lords would never allow a city to be built here.”

  “They already have,” Jack said.

  Everyone was silent, trying to figure out what Jack was talking about. It was Elaine that spoke up first. “Kharzast!”

  Jack nodded. “The Akashic Order built a city long ago here and not a small one. Everything we have seen about this city so far indicates that it was probably not built as an underground city originally. So, if the Four Lords allowed it before, then maybe they will again.”

  “That’s a big assumption,” Daniel said. “We don’t even know if the Four Lords were here when the city was built or if they came in after it was abandoned.”

  “We don’t,” Jack admitted. “But it’s all too much of a coincidence to not be connected. A lost city and order that many have only ever heard stories about but has Daemons from the higher realms looking for. Then we find it, and it just happens to be in the middle of four powerful Beast Lords that have been here for longer than the dwarves and elves have history for. They are here for a reason, and what reason could powerful creatures have to come down to this realm?”

  Everyone was listening to him speak now, some even nodding along. Jack noticed that Elizabeth, a young girl they had rescued from a goblin camp a few days before, was listening intently to his words. She had spoken a little since her rescue from the goblin camp but had not truly opened up much since that first day, and Jack couldn’t blame her.

  Jack looked at her missing arm, a memento from her time with the goblins. It had healed nicely over the past few days and there was hope of regrowing the limb eventually, but until then it served as a constant reminder of the horrors that can come from ignoring a bad situation.

  “We could leave the jungle,” Jack continued. “We could find another place. This planet is bigger than we can comprehend, and I am sure we could find another place that would fit our needs in time. Places that might be easier and safer than this jungle. But the Akashic Order chose this place years ago and there must have been a reason for that. We might not know why right now, but what we can all agree on is that they weren’t a group that did things without a reason. I mean, just look at this crystal. It is the cause of all this. Even Daniel has admitted that no one has been able to create something like this in all the time since their Order. Without it, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

  “To be fair,” Daniel said. “I only know that there hasn’t been any public record of it being accomplished among the Wizard’s Order.”

  “The point is,” Jack continued. “We shouldn’t be looking for what would be easiest right now. We should be focusing on what is best. If we want to have a chance at making this work, we can’t take any shortcuts. And if there is a chance Clayton could cause something worse than what we saw in the goblin camp, then we must stop him. We can’t leave him to run free to unleash something like that on this world or any other.”

  “I agree,” Zajowle said. “But that doesn’t solve the issue. There is a difference in choosing a difficult path and an impossible one. If the Lords decide they do not want us here anymore, then there would be nothing we could do.”

  “Then perhaps we should ask them?” Jack said.