The sun shined bright as Kelly drove the lead vehicle in the convoy with the archeologist in the passenger seat looking over a map. "Where are we headed again Dr.?" "Waste land, that way" the Dr. uttered still focused on the map. "Little more specific would be nice", Elves! It always goes back to damn elves!" shouted the Dr. as he folded the map and tossed it into the back seat. He was clearly frustrated and Kelly wanted to ask why, but decided against it. "Oh sorry, once we reach the gate just drive straight until we reach a hill made of....Black stone, or Green stone...we will know it when we see it apparently". "Oh! I don't believe I introduced myself, Dr. Marvin Dellator." "I have been driving you down this road for 6 hours Dr., and for those hours you haven't looked up or spoken since you sat down. Moreover even during our mission briefing you continued to study that map, I would go as far to say that as soon as you woke up your nose was buried in that sheet of paper with lines and symbols. That about right?" "People call me Marv" he responded offering his hand. Kelly Chuckled and shook his hand, "Kelly, trust me Marv we would not be in this vehicle driving down this road if we had not already been introduced". It was Marv's turn to chuckle as he learned his slight error. "So what's on that map anyway?" "Lines and symbols . Secrets of a bygone age, It's actually a copy of an old map that was found in The Disputed Land. There we found ruins of what was once a castle. I spent the last 6 years deciphering the old language, we also found a couple of books. Most of which talked of a siege from what of the book remained, and Heros, as I believe. There was also an elfish princess and an Eagle king who came to their rescue". "Like a fairy tale" "Yes, like a fairy tale". "Did you Major in Archaeology?" "Language, that is actually where I got my doctorate, my Archaeology degree is only a.....well it's a work in progress as they say. You would be fascinated at how closely archeology and language actually are." Kelly looked at him with a dour look, "Would I?".
"Yes, or rather I believe, from all my dig sites I have found multiple artifacts, all from the same civilization. Or...well I believe, much of the language that I have found is written in different dialects. Even the race referred to as the orcs use the same writing style, well as close as it can be without being exactly the same." " Tell me about these heros" "well it is the one aspect of the dead race that the church of the widow does not denounce. Ancient books speak of elves and heros, then in other books brief excerpts of humans, much like you and me, being brought into their order. If we could escape to outside the wall I believe we would be able to find far more evidence to support my theories. Now these heros would guard castles and nations, wandering town to town, village to village. Never more than Ten in any one place, I believe that could show how few of them there were, or perhaps how quickly they died out." Then Marv looked more excited now, as if he had opened a present that contained the one thing he had always wanted. "So I reckon this is no ordinary dig site then." "OH NO!" He reaches back and grabs the map to unfold it again, "I have found evidence of a ruined castle in Haeven, that the authorities sadly demolished, I was able to sneak a book out and deciphered it once I returned to the Republic." He looks even more excited now, folds the map back up and reaches into his bag and pulls out a book. " Don't worry, this is merely a copy of that book. It details the events of a great battle between an elvish king, an eagle king, and the army of a princess led by a human hero who led in the castle's defense. What is more, it details the first ever recording of an orcish hero, from the translation I believe his name was Suhe. Which I find very odd because there is no other book that I have found that spoke of the elves or humans allying with the orcs. Anyway the more important thing is it describes a place where every hero was buried after this event. An assortment of treasures buried with each one, and the most important one, a book with the name of every hero buried there." The sun passed midday as the convoy of vehicles approached the gate to the wasteland and the Dr. talked on. Kelly stopped at the gate to show the guard his papers and drove on. The Dr. continued to talk as the sun continued to sink in the sky, and Kelly listened, not too interested in the story but it seemed to cheer the Dr. up.
Darren stares at the rearview mirror, not knowing what he had seen. A flash of black then a flash of white. It had to be something, there it was again, he wasn't crazy. "Hey Darren, are there wolves in this dessert?" Max asks down from his turret. "What do you mean? There isn't suppose to be anything out here". "Well I'm seeing a wolf, maybe its a goat." "Is it moving?" "Not anymore, I think this dessert is getting to me." "Yeah maybe, seeing things Max, or something. Just shoot it if it gets too close, unless it's a person, then do a warning shot first." "Yeah yeah, don't want to piss anyone off so these digger folks can do some diggin'. Darren continued to glance back to the rearview, not seeing anything but sand now, maybe he was going crazy, or just tired. He stared at the gated wall to Death's Rest, 'Odd name to give a graveyard'. What seemed like hours passed in silence, except the sound of the engine and tires rolling over a road made of sand. However the sun had barely moved, so he knew it hadn't been that long. "Hey ladies and gents, Dr. Marv wants you all to know we will be stopping in 10 minutes to break and figure where to go from there." Kelly's voice over the radio was welcome relief for Darren as he let his eyes droop for a second. 'Yeah I could use a little nap' he had decided. Soon the vehicles stopped and everyone else left the vehicle. Darren however relaxed in his seat and let his mind drift to sleep.
Marv had just decided on where to go looking up from his map and noticing how low in the sky the sun was. Kelly had awaken from his nap and walked over and handed him a cup of water, that he happily drank. "Marv, I think we better make camp for the night, probably only got a couple more hours of good daylight, and I would rather not set up camp in the dark." "Very well, we shouldn't be too far away now anyway. Best to get some rest, better to dig in the day than at night." Kelly nodded and began to walk back to his vehicle. " I would like to explore a little, perhaps just beyond that dune." "Take Max with you, remember we travel in 2's Marv , better safe than sorry." Marv drinks the last of the water and tosses the cup to Kelly then motions for Max to follow him. Max grabs some flares and stuffs them into his vest and follows Marv. Once out of ear shot of everyone else. "I lied you know, the hall should be right about here". Max doesn't look too surprised as he fidgets with the strap to his pistol strapped to his thigh. "Just over this dune". A few minutes pass and they arrive at the top and begin to descend carefully. The hill of sand was taller as they descend, and sand gave way to rock at the bottom. Soon they reach the rocky ground and look around, behind them a door made of light sandstone with a frame of slightly darker stone. Marv looks on in awe as he approaches the door. Reaching into his pocket, pulls out his book as the unfolded map falls to the ground. Flipping through it until he reached the pages detailing the hall. Reading the words he didn't quite understand in a language he knew little about, hoping he had said it right. His face lite up as the door began to open, he looked back at Max who struck a flare, then back at the now open passage. He began to walk forward when he heard something fall behind him, turning around he saw that both Max and the flare lying on the ground. A spear protruded from Max's back and a young redheaded woman stood a few feet behind him staring at him. "Thieves are not permitted to pass" she said in an almost angry voice. Marv began to grow afraid, and panicked when he saw a massive white wolf bounding towards him. He made a grab for the flare and fled into the open door. He dropped the flare out of fright, and fell a little way into the cave. He looked back, the massive wolf was standing next to the woman who uttered some words and the door began to close.
Kelly began to worry, it had been nearly an hour. Not wanting Marv or Max to be outside of camp after dark, called for Darren who showed up quickly. "You seen Max or Marv?" "Not since we stopped, I knocked clean out, figured I'd take first watch after we bedded down." "They walked off in that direction, Marv said he wouldn't be long, just wanted to look around for a bit. Well come on better go find them." Darren nodded and grabbed his rifle and slung it across his back. "Nancy, me and Darren going to look for Marv and Max, back in 15." The blonde archeologist in her dark tan cargo pants and shirt nodded as she resumed setting up her tent. No sooner had they reached the foot of the dune that the other two had ascended Darren stopped in his tracks. Kelly looked at him oddly and followed his finger as it rested, pointing to the ridge. A massive black widow stood there, and began to charge at them as Kelly began to look. He saw the fear in Darren's eyes as he reached for his rifle and began firing. The spider was fast, too fast to land a shot, Kelly grabbed Darren's arm and pulled his larger body as he began to run in the opposite direction. He could feel the stare of its' eight eyes as the sand began to slow his movements, but he forced his legs forward. He felt Darren's arm slip from his grasp and looked back as he screamed in pain and fangs and mandibles sank into his flesh. He yelled at everyone else who was gathered into a group not paying attention to the scene behind them. Not forgetting the danger he ran from but, now interested in what everyone was so enamored with. He was so out of breath when he reached them, he nearly doubled over. It was a girl, about 5 maybe 6, everyone "awwed" at her. Her tan skin, long dark black hair, pale blue eyes and white dress. He too became entranced by her before he heard her words in his head. 'I have a secret, wanna see?' In an instant the little girl was gone and a massive white wolf stood in her place. She began to bite, rip, and tear at the crowd around her. Kelly panicked once more and turned to run only to be stopped with a spear at his throat. As the screams died behind him he looked down the shaft of the spear and saw a young red headed woman, her hair cut short, just below the ears. Her silver armour glinting, even in the dying sunlight. "Where is my father?" she spoke. Kelly was confused and he felt the heat of the wolf's breath on his neck. "I don't know, who are you?" He nearly broke down in tears, but he was Kelly Darrengen, famed Merc, and he would not go down like that! The woman was growing impatient, and she pulled her spear away, Amalia would you like to deal with this one?" He closed his eyes as a wet rough tongue engulfed the entire left side of his face. He smelled blood, and spit, and a lot of other things he didn't want to think about when he opened his eyes. The wolf was gone and the little girl had returned and she spoke to him again, verbally this time. " Please sir, we need to bring father home. Mother is very sad and we need him, he has been gone for so long." She seemed so sad, the redhead however spoke with more anger under her breathe "He is the Red Wolf, or as you mortals call him, The Beast." "I have heard about that but, I don't remember where. If it is some legend I wouldn't know about it, I'm just a Merc." "Then you are of no use to us, Amalia". Those were the last words he heard as everything went dark, and he felt teeth ripping at his neck.