The mysterious figure, concealed beneath a cloak that shrouded his features, had skillfully eluded the city's watchful guards. With each step he took, he moved deeper into Eldertown, trying to navigate its winding streets and alleyways.
'This place sure has changed after all these years'
After his team dealt with the demonic incursion and the mad witch, the city had only started to become better. He remembered how all of them met with the cities authorities, including the father of the current head of Eldertown.
'Whas his name Marckus? Magnus? Or Malus?. Sigh, I don't remember. But I sure as hell remember his son.'
The now new head, Maxim Reanglo, was one of the many reasons the hero and the cohort managed to win the battle all those years ago. As a child, he swiftly managed to infiltrate the city, get the keys from the gatekeeper, who was an incredibly powerful deviled one, for them back then at least, as this was the first time they fought a deviled one of the first rank.
But Maxim, even when he was full of fear, managed to do so.
And thanks to that, we could get in and battle against the enemy.
To bad that not all managed to survive this night.
Those were the thoughts that started to flow into Syzoth's skull when he saw a giant wooden statue.
The statue was right next the statue of the druid that created Eldertown.
But Syzoth didn't even look at him. He looked at the statue that was made out of a far younger wood.
The wood that was used for creating the statue was a magical wood, never to grow old, never to change, never to rot, never to die.
The statue itself depicted another druid, but by the length, or rather, the lack of the beard, it was evident that the druid was a young with an incredibly nice smile.
Doro was a druid. And he came to this world just like the rest of the hero's cohort.
He said that he died while protecting wildlife from poachers.
And as a result, he got summoned here as a druid to protect the nature of this world.
Syzoth was always irritated with the druid, as he always refused to kill animals, or let nature get harmed in any way possible.
He almost beat Maria, the mage, with his big staff because she "accidentally" lost control over her powers and set a treeman on fire.
Syzoth admitted that he did laugh a little at that.
And he also knew that while Doro was alive, he was the one Syzoth had to heal more than anyone else. Him and his animals he collected on his journey as if he was playing a famous game of "Catch the Monster".
These beasts were the ones who fought for Doro, all the while he used his druidic magic to bring the forest to the frontline.
Sadly, his life ended only three years after coming to this world.
At the final stages of the battle, while most of the hero's cohort were dealing with the Witch, the rank one deviled one went insane and decided to set the Oak tree on fire, wishing to destroy it.
Doro, Maria, and myself ran to try to stop the fire, as it was spreading to every building and tree of this entire city, the rest of the hero's cohort fought against the witch.
The hero was meanwhile fighting against the deviled one.
But sadly, when both the deviled one and the witch were defeated, all of them realized that it was to late. The fire was already out of control, and there was nothing we could do.
Doro wasn't about to accept this fate, so he started to make a ritual.
A ritual that cost him his life.
From what Syzoth could remember, a strong rain started to put the fire down, and the trees started to regrow.
Did the goddess of life and nature decide to let them a hand?
Syzoth didn't know, nobody knew.
But what he did know that this was the last time Doro drew his breath, and no matter what potency or what the amount of healing potions Syzoth used, he could bring his friend back to the mortal realm.
He never forgave the priestess for not even trying to use her miracles.
She may have used all of them to heal the others who were in pain, but it was still a bitter pill for Syzoth to swallow.
'If only I had spent more time in the laboratory, maybe I could have created the grade 5 heal potion earlier.'
Everyone were sad about the passing of Doro, but the one who suffered the most were his pets.
After he passed, many of them ran of into the woods, never to be seen again, while some remained here, now protecting the city their master sacrificed his life to protect.
.
"Miao"
Syzoth looked at the source of the voice.
At the top of the statue was a small grey cat.
And Syzoth recognized it immediately.
"Hey you big chunk of fur! How are you?"
The cat, only looked at the idiot who started to call him.
It seemed to be in grief, bored, and annoyed.
But then, as it realized who the person was that dared to talk with him like that, it immediately jumped into his arms.
"Easy, easy there, old friend."
The cat, had indeed, met his old friend.
The cat, named Miz, was one of the many magical beast Doro managed to tame.
In fact, Miz was the first being he tamed.
So, she was the first beast that joined them.
The funny thing however is, that Miz was no longer a mere cat.
Like all the beast Doro tamed, they all possessed the ability to become stronger the more powerful beasts they feed on.
That had transformed Miz from a mere stray cat into a cathulu.
Syzoth shuddered after he remembered how this little monster ate its poor victims.
"Yeah, yeah, little guy, I missed you to. Say, can you bring me to somewhere?"
After telling Myz the place he had to go to, the cat made an annoyed sound, but he still gave a nod, jumped down, and started to walk towards a small alley.
Syzoth, without hesitation, followed him.