Dom quickly headed to the Town Centre to collect his armour, Gregorios, Hector and the Hoplite Deimos followed him. Some Villagers noticed the speeding group, but accepted it as a usual occurrence in Riverside. Dom headed in to the Town Centre and upstairs, grabbing his armour and his Slaying Spear, before heading back downstairs again.
"Let's go then!" Dom ordered Deimos, who led the way for the rest to follow him. As they did so, Trojan and Homer appeared and joined the procession. Dom's four Hoplite Guards keen to do their jobs properly.
They soon travelled through the Manufacturing District, where Dom noticed that smoke was leaving the chimney's from the Blacksmiths as loud rings of hammers clashing against metal echoed out from the building. He also noticed Peruda and a few other women were moving barrels outside the Brewery and he was excited to try what ever they made when it was complete.
Soon they reached the Lumber camp and Dom saw that Lars and many others were busy either cutting down trees or cutting wood in to shapes, before loading them on to carts that would drag them towards the different building sites that littered the surrounding land. Dom also noticed that a few houses had been built beside the woods and he suspected this was where the Lumberjacks had started to live since their place of work was so close.
Deimos led the way as they entered the Silver Forest and followed a clearly marked path deeper in to it. As usual the Forest was eerily quiet and other than the sounds of those working within the outskirts of it, there was very little noise happening. The floor was covered in fallen leaves that crunched under their feet as they speedily marched.
"How far do we need to go?" Dom asked Deimos, who hadn't had much to share other than Tomoe had discovered something.
"Not much further!" Deimos replied as he breathed steadily as they continued to speed march through the forest.
They soon passed the recognisable tree where they had discovered the Sabre Tooth Tiger Cubs and the Big Brown Bear. Dom noticed that the mothers body was no longer there. Hector looked down trodden as they passed, remembering his shield that was destroyed during the brief fight with the bear.
"Cheer up Hector!" Homer said as they marched, "Your new one is just as good and we have grown a lot since then."
"It wasn't that long ago." Hector responded seriously with his head down.
Around fifteen minutes more passed before they saw the first sight of other warriors, a small group of five Hoplite where stood waiting for them.
"We are here to be an extra guard for you." The lead Hoplite said as they flanked the group. "Commander Tomoe is just ahead."
They continued to march ahead now, having travelled for just over an hour and a half since they had left Riverside, following clear markings that had been left on the trees as they travelled forwards. Soon a clearing appeared in the woods in front of them, where the rest of Tomoe's group had gathered. She was stood facing forwards with her back towards them, her armour shining in the sun that was coming down in to the clearing. Beside her stood ten Legionaries who flanked her in both directions, as well as one of the Horse Archers, who was obviously without their horse.
Dom was about to shout a greeting, but Deimos quickly stopped him and put a finger to his lips. Confusion spread but Dom and the surrounding Hoplite slowed down and approached Tomoe and the group quietly.
As Dom approached, those flanking her to the right took a step to the side so that Dom could come in line beside Tomoe. He looked ahead to see what they were looking at and his face dropped. His face suddenly turned grey and a cold sweat spread across his body, he felt light headed and Tomoe who was beside him quickly grabbed his hand and held it tightly. He turned to her and was about to speak but she just shook her head and turned to look at the sight in front of them again, the colour of her own fair skin having also become paler. Dom suddenly heard the sound of retching and turned and saw Gregorios was bent over being sick, with Trojan patting his back as he himself tried to hold his breakfast in.
In front of Dom was a large pile of rotting human corpses, dismembered and having been fed on by wild animals, which organs and limbs spread loosely all across the open ground in the clearing. The bodies were of humans of all ages and Dom even saw parts of small animals such as dogs and sheep spread across the ground.
Behind the large pile was a large tree, it's normal silver trunk now coated in strange patterns made from dark stained blood. On it's branches hung many more bodies, their stomachs all slit open and their contents dropping to the ground. As well as the bodies hanging from the branches with their stomachs slit open, they were also coated in arrows that were stuck deeply in to their flesh.
Dom felt like he had seen the arrows before, and while he was shocked at the sight in front of him, he wondered why no one had moved and they had stayed stationary. He turned his head to Tomoe for a reason.
"Behind the tree." She whispered to him.
Dom looked in the distance towards where she was looking, straining his eyes to see what she had seen. He knew he had good eyesight, but was struggling to notice anything other than the clearing ending and becoming dense forest again. He continued to stare to see if he could see anything, but he couldn't.
"Look directly at the tree, and then look slightly to the right, low to the ground." She whispered again, noticing that he hadn't seen anything yet.
He strained his eyes again and then he noticed it, two small white eyes where looking at them from the distance, low in the undergrowth of the forest. They were being watched and suddenly he felt another cold shiver run down his spine. This had happened just over an hour away from Riverside, and they were being watched from the forest.
"Are they hostile?" Dom whispered back.
"I'm not sure, if we had noticed them earlier, I wouldn't have sent Deimos for you!" She responded, "We need to find out either way, and we need reinforcements if they are."
"How old are these bodies?" Dom asked, trying to see if he could see any other eyes.
"At least a month, definitely before the formation of Riverside. They look rigid and you can see the rot has settled in to them." She replied. "Maybe even longer, depending on the weather. It's hard to tell without having a Doctor here."
Dom looked at some of the bodies that were on the floor, noticing that some of them also had some arrows in them. He felt it was strange that someone would place all of these bodies here and not take the arrows with them, as they were easily retrievable.
"I recognise those arrows." Dom said to her quietly, "I've seen them before!"
"Where?" She replied, thinking that she hadn't seen them in her short time at Riverside, "Are they from Tongpai Town?"
Dom went quiet for a second as he went in to deep thought, his mind going through the few battles that he had fought in since he had started playing World Conquest Online. It definitely wasn't from Tongpai Town and he was sure he hadn't seen these arrows when they had battled at the Battle of Kadesh. They hadn't come under arrow fire at the Gluttonous Chief's Village either. Suddenly the shock and realisation hit him as he turned to Tomoe, and spoke louder than he should have.
"Ancient Underground City!" Dom exclaimed.
"Keep it down Lord!" She snapped at him accidently, before softening her tone "What do you mean, how can they be the same as from there?"
Dom turned to Gregorios who had just stopped being sick, and beckoned him over. The large Hoplite did as commanded, be that reluctantly.
"Gregorios, do you recognise those arrows?" Dom asked, pointing towards one of the closer ones.
Gregorios stared at the bodies that were littered with arrows and looked closely, trying not to be sick again.
"How?" Gregorios asked, taking a step back in shock "It doesn't make sense."
"Where?" Dom asked again, seriously. Wanting, no needing clarification on his thoughts.
"Ancient Underground City!" Gregorios replied in shock, "They are definitely the same arrows that were in the armour of the dead humanlike creatures that we discovered."
"That's what I thought." Dom said as he looked back at Tomoe to see her reaction.
"It just doesn't make sense!" Gregorios said, "Those bodies were centuries old, how can the same arrows be here?"
"Either it's the same things that caused their death, or it's someone who has found their weapons." Tomoe replied, "Either way, the eyes have gone."
Dom turned and looked and saw that she was correct, the white eyes that had been watching them were now gone, as was the feeling of being watched.
"Maybe it was a wild animal?" Gregorios said with a hopeful voice.
"It's not a risk we can take." Tomoe said back in a sad tone, before turning to the Warriors beside her.
"Deimos, take ten men and head around the clearing." She ordered to the Hoplite, "See if you can find any trace of what was watching us and follow it's tracks. Leave clear directions and make sure to send back scouts as soon as you find anything."
"As you wish Commander!" Deimos responded with a bow, grabbing his spear and signalling to the five extra Hoplite that had guarded Dom, the Horse Archer and the five Legionaries to the left of him.
They eleven of them flanked around the clearing, staying clear of the bodies as they went and soon disappeared from sight. This left Dom with Tomoe, his four guards and five other Legionaries.
"We need more Warriors right now!" Tomoe said angrily, "I have scouts in all directions exploring the forest, I need to pull all of my small force back together and I need reinforcements."
"I'll head back to Riverside and inform Subutai immediately, We'll bring an army if we need to." Dom stated, "You signal your men to gather and wait nearby."
"Agreed." Tomoe said, before turning to the Horse Archer. "Send the signal!"
The Archer opened a pack that she had on her back, and stabbed the tip of her arrow in to it, before smashing together some flint and steel to create a small fire. She lit the arrows and placed it in her bow, before pulling it back and launching it high in to the air. The arrow exploded with a bright red light, having been made as a signal for all of the Warriors that saw it to gather at that location. Tomoe hoped that her men saw it, as the enemy was already aware of their presence.