In the pitch-black room, the only sound you could hear in the room came from Lyle. Laying on the ground sobbing. Curled up on the ground wiping the blood away from his nose, mouth, and ears. Still trying to pull himself together from all of this. After an unknown amount, Lyle was able to raise his head looking around the pitch-black room.
As if waiting for the moment that Lyle composes himself, a gentle light shines from off in the distance. Looking in that direction, Lyle gets a sense of calm and warmth from the light. The light seems to be trying to comfort him which helps but, also puts him on edge of what to expect next. Watching the light, he notices that it appears to be getting closer. What use to be a bright star in the pitch darkness rapidly grows to the size of a sun in the sky. The light gets brighter as it gets closer to the point of forcing Lyle to shut his eyes. There is no heat coming from this light, only warmth and comfort. After a few seconds Lyle feels the light die down with his eyes closed and slowly opens them. What was the light is now a scene being played out in front of him.
A scene of a brightly lit room lavishly decorated in paintings, vases, and various beautiful furniture. A man is kneeling on a red carpet which would remind you of a throne room. If not for the man being stark naked with blonde hair looking like an exact mirror image of Lyle. The man has his right-hand balled in a fist over his chest and his left-hand fist planted on ground head bowed down. He is bowing toward a figure of a woman sitting on a throne. Only issue is Lyle is unable to make out exactly what she looks like for her figure is blurred. She does appear to have black hair and wearing some sort of decorated white dress.
A clear voice is heard throughout the room, "Your name is Maximus. I am your creator, you may call me *****.
Lyle staring at the scene frowns when the name of the woman is garbled out.
"I am your goddess. I created you to unleash us gods from our prison. For we are only gods in name, we do not have something to rule over. Whether it is magic, life, death, deceit, beauty, and much more. That is why we created warriors to kill or seal our jailer. We have given you knowledge over the weapons that currently exist but, it is only basic knowledge. It is up to you to explore your choice of weapon and make it your own. I gave you the knowledge of magic as well to enhance your arsenal. I would encourage you to explore the possibilities that magic can give you. The others created like you, more of them focused on weapons rather than magic. You have ten years to familiarize yourself with magic and practice with the others. Don't disappoint me, Max."
"By your will, my goddess." Max voices out loudly.
"My goddess, huh." A chuckle rings out from the goddess, "I think I like the sound of that. Good, now leave. You have much to learn and do with very little time. I created you just the way I like so, when you defeat our jailor, I will have a reward for you."
Max then stands up and walks away leaving the scene.
After he leaves, the goddess chuckles then looks in the direction that Lyle is watching from, "Oh, how you will suffer, my little sweet. Just know that I'm rooting for you. The past is nothing more than that, the past. So, stay strong and believe in yourself. I look forward to when we once again meet each other." The goddess blows a kiss in Lyle's direction then everything disappears.
******************************************
Lyle abruptly opens his eyes, his body covered in sweat. Getting up from the bed, Lyle shakily recalls the dream. Recalling the pain and screams makes him shudder. Taking a deep breath, he says, "It's just a dream. It's not real. I am Lyle. So, everything is fine and lets just move on. Let's focus on getting out of here."
Using his hands to rub the sand out of his eyes, he grabs the nearby bucket of water to splash his face with water. Closing his eyes as the water runs down his face. The cold water helped him gather his thoughts to focus on the problem at hand. After gathering his thoughts to think of yesterday he abruptly opens his eyes wide realizing his mind is sharper than yesterday.
'Considering that after staying here one night my mind was duller the next morning. Then why is my mind sharper instead? Let's see how sharp my mind is right now'
Focusing on his life and the decisions he made in the past. Realizing he could now see things that were wrong in the decisions he made even from yesterday. Questions that were confusing even today are clear as day now. People that didn't show any signs for suspicion or their betrayal in the past are now obvious to him.
Bringing his hand to his face to support his chin while staring at the bucket blankly lost in thought mumbling to himself. "Hm but why do I feel like the life I've been living till now is not mine? That my past mistakes and actions were the decisions of dumber version of me." Frowning at what he just mumbled, he thought of last night's dream, "Maybe having that dream last night made me unlock something that was suppressed my entire life? But, that doesn't make sense since it was only a dream…... Unless it wasn't a dream. That's impossible though, plus there is nothing that indicates it wasn't a dream."
Coming to that point, Lyle comes to conclusion that speculating won't change anything. Pulling his hand away from his chin he reached both hands to splash more water on his face. His hands froze in place as he gazed at the water in the bucket. What was clear water to begin with now has a slightly red tint to it. Looking at the hand that was on his chin he notices there are red flakes and streaks on his hand. Lyle snatches his backpack pulling it close to him. Reaching inside and pulling out a clean cloth from inside. He proceeds to wipe his entire face of water. When he pulled the cloth away, his eyes go wide from shock. The once clean cloth is now covered in dried blood flakes with an obvious red tint covering the cloth. Lyle smiles bitterly at what this entails, "Okay, so it wasn't just a dream after all. If it wasn't a dream, then would be it be a coincidence that I gathered information which could be related?"
Getting up from the edge of the bed, Lyle kneels next to his backpack. Reaching in to pull his spatial bag out he starts searching it for the scroll he made of the church yesterday. Pulling the scroll out he unravels it starting to glance through the information. He stops when he gets to 'Maximus The Cunning', "You know, I'm really not liking all this. Is it a coincidence, or is this really me?" shaking his head back and forth quickly, "No, no. I'm Lyle. Not this Max guy." Doubting himself even though he said that. "Though, what IF it's true?" Sighing out loud, "What does it matter if it's true or not right now? I'm still stuck in a place that makes no sense. I need – "
A bright green light flash outside the window, making Lyle rush to the window looking for the source of light.
Spreading across the entire sky bathing the clouds in its light is a green beam of light that is coming from down the road from towards where Dale said the lord's castle is at. The eerie green light radiates outwards covering the sky changing everything from bland grey to a sickening green. "Great, right when I get thrown a massive amount of information something happens. Why is there so many coincidences and shit that doesn't make sense happening near me? I'm just a priest why do these things keep happening to me? …...Regardless I have a bad feeling about that light. I need to hurry."
Scrambling to gather his equipment, he quickly gets everything together. When grabbing his mask and book he sees the note he left for himself yesterday, on the nightstand. Quickly casting a heal on himself, he instantly freezes in place. Looking down to make sure he has his book in his hand, he tries to cast heal once again only to fail once more. Hands trembling slightly, Lyle tries again failing for a third time.
'Why can't I use my healing book? This has never happened before. Did my god forsake me?' Starting to panic at the thought of being abandoned by the red dragonkin god. A thought comes to him. 'Wait.' Remembering the goddess from the dream last night, 'Am I praying to the wrong god? But, I don't even know who she is.' Glancing out the window at the green light in the distance. 'I don't have time to figure this out right now. Let's try a scroll instead. If that doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas right now.'
Pulling a scroll of healing out of his spatial bag, he activates it only to see the magic work fine. Giving him a refreshing feeling with his mind becoming even sharper.
"Great, scrolls still work. Just not my healing magic. Also, interesting to know that my mind was razor sharp this morning. Adding the healing only made my mind even more keen. Interesting." He quickly finishes gathering his things then heads down stairs. Seeing Dale at the counter with the patrons done eating already staring off into space. "Dale, what is that green light?"
No response from anyone.
"Dale? Can you hear me?" Lyle says while walking up to Dale at the counter.
Dale looks at Lyle with a dull face and monotone voice saying, "…Who is Dale? …Can I get you anything?"
Lyle stops before a flash of understanding crosses his face, "…What is your name?"
Dale stops and ponders on the questions slowly before saying, "…I do not remember."
Sighing out loud with a saddened expression before asking another question, "What does that green light outside mean?"
Dale looks at the windows before replying slowly, "…Means the lord's knights are coming."
Frowning Lyle opens his mouth to respond, "Why are the knights coming here? What will happen when they get here?"
Looking back at Lyle he says, "…I do not know. …Maybe to repel intruders or to collect the people here. …Though, it shouldn't be time to collect the people yet."
Lyle hastily asks, "What do you mean collect the people? Will he take them to the castle?"
Nodding his head slowly, "…Yes, he will take all of the people, except me, to the castle."
Looking confused Lyle responds, "Why will he take everyone except you?"
A monotone voice responds to his questions, "…Because I'm already dead, the lord will only take living to his castle."
Lyle stiffens his body, "But, I healed you two days ago, and it didn't hurt you. How can that be possible?"
"…Healing does not hurt undead here." Dale says in reply to his question slowly.
Lyle backs up slowly with eyes spread wide in horror and realization, "I know where I'm at now… It shouldn't be possible though. I need to get to the church and check one more time for information. How long do I have before the knights get here?"
"…I believe half the day."
"Okay, least I have some time. Though, I need to move fast since you can't really tell the time here in the first place." Turning around and sprinting outside heading straight to the church.
Quickly he comes to the church, realizing he never shut the door after he left yesterday. Sliding through the gap, he walks in the church with it looking just like it did yesterday.
"Let's see if all churches are the same with a secret chamber in times of danger. Hopefully, there will be some documents in there that survived which can help me." Walking up to the pulpit made of ornate stone that is sitting in front of the statues and murals. Lyle sighs to himself, "Why does it have to be made of stone?"
'Let's check to see if there is actually a secret chamber under it before I move it. Oh, first I should see if all my magic is working or just my healing isn't. Should have checked that in the inn when I realized healing magic wouldn't work.' Lyle summons a ball of light on tip of his quarterstaff. "Okay, that works now let's try the rest."
Spending a couple minutes to try which magic works leads him to discover that its only his healing magic that isn't working. Any offensive, defensive, curing disease, and even curing poison works. Just no healing spells what so ever.
"Alright, that's good to know. Though, If I would have known this was going to happen to me. I would have practiced more on my offensive spells. Now, time to check for this secret chamber." Motioning the light on his quarterstaff to become brighter he started inspecting the pulpit. Using magic to create some water he dumped a buckets worth of water around the pulpit. Observing the water as it seems to leak through the stone floor confirms his thoughts about secret chambers in churches being in same place.
Taking a deep breath, Lyle moves to one side of the pulpit and starts pushing with all his might to move it. Yet, no matter how much strength he put into it, he couldn't get it to move an inch.
While leaning on the pulpit taking in deep breaths, "Note to self, work out more." Moving to the other side of pulpit he tries pushing that side instead hoping for a better result.
As he puts all his strength in moving the pulpit once again, it seems to give a little bit of ground. Lyle's face brightens up and he doubles his effort while laughing triumphantly. Slowly but surely, the pulpit moves to the side after taking several breaks. After he finally moved it three or four feet to the side, he lets go of it, taking a deep breath. Only to notice that the pulpit seems to be slowly moving back into place, albeit at a snail's pace.
"Fuck me." Lyle hurries to look for some sort of latch where the pulpit was originally at. Seeing a stone latch, he grasps it gathering himself before lifting it with all his might to only realize that it opens easily. Staring blankly at the hidden door to only notice that it appears to be made of wood to blend in with the stone floor. After opening the latch all the way open, a noise sounds out followed by a small thud. Looking over at the pulpit, he sees that it's no longer moving. Getting a closer inspection, he notices there is a latch of some sort that is holding the pulpit in place. Also, the pulpit is on some sort of groove that he can only assume is barely slanted. Which works to make it cover the latch on its own if they shut the secret door.
"That's really clever, I would never have thought of something like that."
Looking at the secret passage he sends his light down to reveal the stairs heading down.
"That took too long. I need to hurry if I want to make it out of here before the knights show up." Lyle mutters before hurrying down the stairs.
Getting to the bottom of the small flight of stairs he sees a tunnel that is two men across going into the darkness. Proceeding with the light leading the way. The tunnel continues for couple hundred feet before coming to a room with no door. Cautiously sending the light in first while walking gives him a good view of the room. The room was twenty-five by twenty-five foot across with the walls entirely lined with armor and weapons. Weapons ranging from crossbows to two-handed great axe. The armor ranging from leather armor to full plate armor. The armor and shields were all adorning symbols of different kinds. There was a total of ten different kind of symbols decorating them. Ranging from a mountain to a bull. Sitting in the middle of the room is a magic circle that has over half of it faded away by time. "I can only assume each symbol indicates one of the statues above. Though, I think it's obvious that the Raven is more than likely Max considering he is 'Max the Cunning'. I am curious, however, on why they would have an armory underneath a church." Walking up to the weapons and armor he runs his fingers along the edges of them. To then realize they are all pristine and ready to be used. "Interesting, the magic circle faded away, but the equipment is ready for action." Looking over the room once more shows that there aren't any documents in here. Sighing to himself, "Why is it only the information was burned? …Let's take another look at the mural before I leave the church see if I missed anything." Turning around and going back the way he came.
After getting out of the tunnel he closes the hidden door and watches as the latch disappears from some hidden mechanism. The pulpit starts sliding back into pace slowly now that the latch is gone. Turning around and inspecting the mural once more with the light to make it more clearly.
Looking over the mural he stops on the demi-god battling other races before smacking his own forehead. "I'm so stupid. How could I not have noticed this yesterday? This is the Underworld, so of course the people they are fighting in the mural with skull figures are undead." Looking at that scene closely he notices something he neglected last time. Then smiling to himself he starts laughing loudly, "Ha-ha I know how to get out of here now. It's so simple yet I missed it this entire time. Good, no time to lose It's time to leave this place."
A voice speaks out behind him with surprised obvious in their voice, "You know how to get out of here?"
Spinning around at the sound of the voice with his quarterstaff at the ready. Lyle sees a figure standing at the entrance of the church where he left it cracked open. Standing at five foot ten is a dark-haired slim man wearing leather armor with a bow over his shoulder. Slight fatigue is shown on his face with surprise present in his slightly widened eyes.
"Who are you?" Lyle asks loudly with caution in his eyes.
Raising his hands to indicate he means no harm, "The name is Van and let's speed this along instead of the pointless question phase." Coughing then speaking quickly, "We know you are, Lyle. The man we have been looking for. We also know that you have another name that appeared to you in a dream."
Slight panic and alert appear on Lyle's face.
"Ah, we don't mean you any harm though. We also have another name appear in our dream so its fine. We are just like you. You're going to now ask how we know you are Lyle and how we find you then my response is going to be. We blackmailed a god who was sleeping around on a jealous goddess with a mortal into getting information about you. He told us you would be in the Underworld with showing how we can enter there. Then also said when we come across a person who makes us question our sexual orientation, that we came across the person we are looking for." Van gives a thumbs up, "If I wasn't told you were a guy before hand then I would seriously have to question your gender."
Lyle's hand moves to his face realizing that in finding out he couldn't heal he forgot to put his mask on when heading downstairs.
"Now that we are back to the present. I would like for you to know that my companions are in the inn resting. Since our group decided to fight the huge ass undead wolfs in the forest. Now, after we rest up for a day we can get out of here since you know how to leave. Also, what is this place? First time I've seen a place like this with ten gods instead of one god." Van strides forward with each of his steps not making a sound before looking at the murals and statues.
"Don't let your friends eat the food at the inn it makes you want to stay here!" Lyle blurts out in haste.
"Okay I'll let them know, thanks." Van pulls out small piece of paper writing a message on it before magical runes flash and it disappears.
"We need to leave soon as possible though. The lord's undead knights are coming here soon. Also – " Lyle is interrupted by Van.
"Hey, that's me! Oh, that's Sasha, this is Rob, oooo and that's Big D. Ha-ha we are all here that's awesome. A church that worships us, I like it. Hey, which is you? Hm sorry, what were you saying?" Van turns around with excitement on his face.
"You know that these are you guys? How do you know?" Lyle inquires.
"Well our second names match perfectly. See I'm Talib, Sasha is Brekshna, Rob is Andrew, and Big D is Deasel. We have already told each other what our second name was. So, which one is you?" Van looks at the statues pointing at the ones he knows.
Lyle points towards the last one on the right, "I'm that one, Maximus. Max for short. How do you know since you don't look like the statues? I mean I look like mine but, you don't. Wait, we don't have time for this we need to leave NOW. The undead knights are on their way here."
Van turns back to face Lyle with serious expression, "What undead knights?"
"The beam of green light indicates the lord's undead knights are on their way here. Either fight intruders or collect the people at the inn from what I learned. Either one isn't good news for us. We need to leave." Lyle hastily explains.
Van nods then starts running towards the exit, "Let's hurry then."
Lyle follows behind Van before noticing that he is much slower than the agile Van.
Van already makes it inside the inn by time Lyle is halfway there. The main road is a straight shot from the church to the inn. Allowing Lyle to be able to grumble under his breath while watching Van go inside.
Moving as quick as he can Lyle heads to the inn. He looks down the road towards the green light not seeing any knights or dirt clouds yet.
By time he makes it to the door of the inn, it opens towards him almost hitting him in the face. Hastily moving out of the way, four individuals walk out. Van, being one of them, followed by a massive warrior wearing breast plate armor with a giant two-handed greatsword on his back. Standing at six foot five with short brown hair and stern expression on his face. Next a short beautiful woman standing at five foot four with long blonde hair. Wearing what appears to be a baker outfit under breastplate armor carrying a two-handed bread paddle that has bladed edges. A bear following quick on her heels. Lastly a six-foot-tall handsome man with black hair carrying a spear wearing half-plate armor.
Van motions towards Lyle, "Gang, this is Lyle the one we been searching for. Lyle, this is the Gang. The massive man is Big D."
Big D nods his head towards Lyle who hastily nods back.
Van points at the woman, "This is Sasha and the bear is Misha."
Sasha smiles saying, "Hello. I'm Sasha. Baker first, adventurer second. This is Misha, who is my friend."
Misha roars in response.
Lyle has a confused look on his face, but nods.
Pointing at the last individual Van introduces him, "And this is Rob."
Rob smiles lightly, "Nice to meet you, Lyle. We have been looking you for a while now."
"Nice to meet you as well. Well considering I wasn't aware I'm not sure how to respond exactly." Lyle responds.
Van hastily interrupts, "Lyle said we are running out of time. So, tell us how we get out of here."
Everyone's face focuses on Lyle with serious expression.
Lyle swallows then speaks, "Did you guys come across any body of water on your way here fighting the wolfs? The wolfs didn't attack me when I followed where they were leading me to. So, I can only assume you went a different direction."
Rob nods to confirm, "We did come across a lake when we were fighting the wolfs. The fighting increased the closer we got to the lake, so we headed in a different direction. That does explain why they stopped being so aggressive when we were heading in this direction."
"We need to get to the Lake. I'm positive it holds the answer on how to get out of here. Whether its swimming to the bottom, going in the middle of the lake, or just jumping in. I'm willing to bet my life that the lake is the answer. It was in the mural's in the church." Lyle says with confidence.
Rob nod's his head, "Well let's get to it then, if we want to make it before the knights catch up. Lyle I'm assuming you can heal us as we fight since you are wearing priest garments?"
Lyle smiles bitterly, "No, ever since I had the dream about my name, I couldn't heal anymore. Healing scrolls still work and my magic, just not healing spells."
Rob clicks his tongue, "As I thought, it wasn't just Sasha who couldn't use healing spells anymore. Apparently, all of us who had the dream can't use healing spells. No matter, we should still be fine with a magic caster among us now. Let's go everyone."
As we all start heading towards the forest a thought crosses Lyle's mind. "How come none of you are blankly staring at my face or anything? Or getting flustered for that matter."
Everyone chuckles with Van responding, "Well we found out that apparently all of us who have had the dream are somehow connected to each other. We find you stunningly beautiful to the point it's scary, but we also feel like we have known you for our entire life. It's a weird connection that we are all still trying to figure out."
Lyle nods his head in realization, "That explains why I'm not nervous while talking to you guys with my face exposed. Interesting. This requires more looking in to. Though, it's slightly scary having you feel like you know someone all your life when you just meet them. What if they have bad intentions towards you? You would be off guard due the connection making you feel like you have known each other since birth." Eyeing the group cautiously to watch their response as he says that.
"That is a very good point and you can focus on that after we get out of here. None of us expect you to trust us, and, frankly, we don't trust you. We can find out more about one another when we aren't facing death in the Underworld. For now, let's focus." Rob explains.
Lyle sighs then mutters under his breath, "I became a traveling healing priest to stay away from politics and fighting. All for it to end by being shoved back into violence soon as something unexpected happens. Ugh, let's think about this later." Tightening his group on his staff, he follows the group.
Big D says as he enters the forest, "Let's get started, shall we?" Then laughs as he enters the forest.