I didn't stop running until I reached a cliff's edge, as it turned out I was either at the top of a waterfall or a lake on top of the mountain. Looking around this grand expanse I was partial to the former. Hundreds of giant glowing mushrooms sat on the landscape along with just as many green glowing waterfalls. It was a beautiful and magical scene that I struggled to find something to compare it to, it was otherworldly.
The only blemish was the overgrown amphibians that infested every nook and cranny. Hundreds, maybe even thousands traveled the great expanse.
"Now I wonder what could be happening over there?" Something quickly piqued my interest. It stood out among the rest simply for the fact that it wasn't near a lake or river and that it was a ruin of some type. It was far away so I couldn't make out details but the square shapes showed a human's hand.
If the odd ruins were not interesting enough a trail of smoke rising at its center did.
In a land as damp and mist-covered as this one, the chances of a natural fire were slim to none. Without a doubt there was a human there or signs of one.
I decided then that I would surely head to the ruins. In hopes that I could find somebody that either had information about this place or a way to get out of it.
Possibly even create an alliance if they were either strong or trustworthy enough. Though I may be getting ahead of myself, the impromptu fire starter may have long since fled the scene.
There were a few stragglers along the way but they were swiftly dealt with by my thunder bow. When I made it to the ruins there was an odd scene playing out.
Thankfully I was far enough away or might have not taken it as casually.
Around twenty bipedal amphibians were patrolling the area letting out croaks in perfect sync as they searched for somebody.
That somebody burned at least fifteen of these monsters at once, the charred corpses around the smoldering remains told a simple story.
Either it was a trap or somebody carried all of these corpses and made a funeral pyre.
The fact remained that I wouldn't be able to find any real clues until I removed the infestation.
I thanked Odin that I was able to get such a powerful ranged weapon because within fifty seconds every other living thing in this ruin was dead. Without it it would've taken thrice as long to kill even half of these creatures.
My search began anew and it was soon that I realized I was definitely on the trail of a human. Specially made crossbow bolts, a fire trap, and a room filled with fresh blood.
"I doubt whoever I'm looking for is still alive" I comment aloud as I observe a rather large trail of blood, it ends to create a rather morbid scene. It looked as if whoever was here crawled while wounded towards the cellar door, a blooded handprint on the door marked the end of my search.
Even without factoring in the bloody scene the cellar door seemed ominous on its own. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to give up a search after coming this close.
Swinging the surprisingly heavy cellar door open I began climbing down the stairs.
Once I turned from the stairs I realized I found the person I was searching for, or what was left.
A young man, probably just out of his teen years laid flat on his back without moving.
A pool of blood under his head seemed to have come from a wound behind his skull. It seemed he wrapped a piece of cloth haphazardly around the wound that dyed his hair red.
But what brought my most attention was the plethora of ethereal glowing items on his person. The kid managed to acquire a significant amount of resources during his stint in this place.
I paid special interest to the sword at his hip, it was an extremely odd model that I never saw before. I reached to grab the hilt and realized my mistake once I did.
"Another move and I'll blow your fucking head off" Before I even realized it a blackened palm was inches away from my face emanating a massive amount of heat that I could feel burn away a few of my facial hairs.
A blood-red gauntlet that had the power of fire, it seemed it wasn't a dead rabbit but a wounded wolf and his fangs were already around my neck.
As I looked down the gauntlet-clad arm I met eyes with the person I was searching this ruin for. He seemed surprised by my appearance. Widened eyes and his twitching arm told me that he didn't realize I was a human at first.
"Are you human?" He asked simply as I could feel the heat leaving my face, I simply nodded as the young man jerked slightly at the answer.
"Back off, head over there grave robber" It seemed he could tell what I was planning to do, I didn't feel any shame but I nodded and slowly backed off back towards the ladder. Not once did the kid not point his arm at me and it was then that I realized it was glowing blue instead of green.
"But I swear if you reach for that bow or hammer….. I'll just say it takes less than a second for me to activate my gauntlet" he said as he rose to a sitting position and dragged himself towards the wall to lean on it.
"Calm down, I thought you were a corpse. No harm done" I said honestly as I watched the young man checking over his person. Securing a beastly spear, his odd sword, an odd bag, and a more mundane modified crossbow.
I learned a lot just from a few interactions. He was sure he could kill me in one move, that felt odd and maybe arrogant but I was unsure. If he's in this state because of a few frogs I doubted he could take me.
But I wasn't here for violence nor did I intend to attack the first human I'd met in three months so I let the threats slide off me like water.
"You shouldn't have come down here." He said after he sufficiently calmed himself.
"And why is that?" I asked curiously.
"Now we're both locked in here and I doubt we'll be able to kill the guard dog." To punctuate his point he messed with his foot, if what I could guess was right he fell from the opening and not only busted his head but twisted his ankle.
He caught me looking and pointed upwards. I followed his finger and noticed the cellar door was covered and glowing with odd letters. It was then that a low reverberating growl shook the cavern, I turned quickly to notice it came from the hallway further down.
"What in Helheim was that?" I asked in disbelief. It sounded like an animal but it was entirely too loud to be anything I'd ever encountered.