"Mom can you tell me the story one more time?!!" 

The mother looked at her 8-year-old son, Yosa, his green eyes full of luster and hapiness. 

"What am I gonna do with you?" She said smiling. "Fine, one last time, but it's late, after this one you go to sleep!" 

"Yay!!" rejoiced the child. 

"A long long time ago, there was a man who wanted to obtain everything. He explored the world looking for adventures and treasures, his name was Magellan! For Magellan the riches of this world were only fuel for his next adventure, spending every last penny for the supplies needed for his next travel.", as the mother kept talking, the child looked at her focused at the story he's heard countless times before with the same anticipation as always. 

"One day Magellan took it a step further, after our world had nothing left for him to discover he boarded a ship and led the very first expedition into the abyss! The most dangerous ocean on earth, in search of the legendary City of Gold. After months or even years at sea, battling monsters and pirates, Magellan's journey finally came to an end as his ship stopped at the outskirts of a ruined island. From afar his sailors and he could spot magnificent buildings made of marble and highlighted with gold. As the adventurers ventured deeper into the island the discovered a gigantic city made of marble and gold like the buildings on the port. The empty city looked ancient and yet it had no signs of wear. At the center of the city stood the colossal statue of Midas, the city's founder, made of pure gold. Below his feat was the greatest treasure of all, the fountain of eternal life. A single drop of its water is enough to make one immune to disease forever and a sip is enough to grant immortality!" 

"Mom! When I grow up, I will find the City of Gold just like Magellan and then I will be the greatest adventurer!" 

The mother looked at her son smiling and patted him on the head. "Make sure you do and bring back some gold for us! For now, though, go to sleep, we are going to the city tomorrow remember!" 

"Yes...." 

The mother looked at her unenthusiastic son as she blew off the candle lighting up the room and left. Her name was Emma. Emma was a 38-year-old woman, she was 170cm tall with blonde hair and beautiful green eyes. She lived with her husband Yhor and her two sons in a small village outside the city of Grimrock in the kingdom of Azura. Every month after harvesting the crops, the family would go to Grimrock to sell them. Even though they had enough money to live a comfortable life in the countryside, they were really poor compared to the citizens of the bigger cities. 

Early next morning the family filled up the small carriage with potatoes and carrots and set off for Grimrock. 

Yhor looked at his sons and said, "Remember kids pastor John was kind enough to lend us this carriage, make sure you thank him in the next Sunday school!" Yhor was a 40-yearold man, he was 183cm tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes, he had a slight beard and was pretty muscular from his farming work. 

"Dad, can I skip the normal lessons and only go at sword training", the 12-year-old Klein whined. 

The kingdom of Azura had a freedom of religion but was mostly devout to the Sword God, for that reason it was common for churches to hold sword lessons along with the usual subjects. 

"Klein, I told you, knowledge is as important as sword technique or maybe even more important. If you wanna do more than just be a countryside farmer like me, you should never forget that.", lectured Yhor as he drove the horse carriage. 

"Dad, I think you are a hero, maybe as good as Magellan, I'd love to be like you!", exclaimed Yosa. 

"Haha that's reassuring! Still, you should strive for higher goals Yosa." 

"Well, I'm gonna be an adventurer when I grow up!", boasted Yosa. 

"As if... You're just gonna be another farmer", answered Klein teasingly. 

"Hey! No fighting!", Emma scolded angrily the kids. 

"Fine..." said both kids. 

After a couple of hours riding the carriage, the family finally arrived at Grimrock. Grimrock was a big city with 7-meter-tall walls surrounding it. It had about 50,000 citizens making it the 5th most populated city in the kingdom. It was also the number one crop producing city in Azura as it was surrounded by a lot of countryside villages which sold their crops to the city. 

Yhor and his family navigated the city and arrived at the central market, a huge square with countless stands of people selling their winter crops. People shouted left and right about their prices trying to catch the attention of potential buyers. Fortunately for Yhor, for the past few years, he didn't have to go through this trouble. He had a friend in the city's church and formed a contract with them to sell all his crops directly to them for market value. 

The Churches of big cities were more like a police force than an actual church. They had special units of holy knights, the greatest military force of Azura. The holy knights patrolled the cities and made sure no invaders or criminals would run rampant inside the city. 

"Alright kids, I'll take the carriage to the church and unload the crops, you stay here with your mom" 

After Yhor said that, the kids and Emma stepped down from the carriage and sat on the pavement nearby, watching him leave. 

A few minutes later, however, they heard a loud commotion from an alley nearby. Before Emma could react, the always curious Yosa had already gone to check on what was going on. As he stepped in front of the alley, a hooded man with a mask that covered his mouth and a tattooed arm bumped into him and they both fell to the ground. 

"Kid quick! Take this, don't tell anyone about it! Find the City of Gold.", the hooded man whispered while he shoved an unknown object inside Yosa's pocket. 

After that he stood up quickly and clenched his tattooed arm into a fist, suddenly his eyes along with the peculiar tattoos lit up with an orange glow. The man looked back into the alley where several holy knights were chasing him. He threw his fist in the air producing a powerful shockwave that damaged the walls and ground, disorienting the soldiers. He looked back at Yosa and winked before swiftly running into another alley at the other side of the street. 

Emma, who knew a little bit of healing magic, went to check on the knights. After everyone was healed, the four knights stared at their captain who seemed to be wearing magnificent armor with a red cross on his chest. 

Followers of the Sword God used a cross as the symbol to represent their religion because it resembled a sword stubbed into the ground, symbolizing peace and the lowering of weapons. 

The captain stepped forwards and talked first, "Thanks for your assistance, ma'am, did you happen to see where that criminal went to?" 

"Yes officer, he went that way.", said Emma pointing to an alleyway at the opposite side of the street. 

"Great, did he say anything?", asked the captain of the team glancing at Emma and the kids. 

However they all shook their heads, including Yosa who had his hand deep inside his pocket, holding something. Seeing their reaction, the captain along with the rest of the team ran towards the alleyway. 

"Wow! That was awesome! Did that guy use magic or what?", said Klein in astonishment. 

Emma looked at the alley, with a worried look as she said, "What he just did is a kind of power you should never try to obtain. Listen kids, power like this, comes at a great price...". What the hell is somebody like that doing in Azura? Something very dangerous is going to happen soon... 

Not long after, Yhor arrived with the empty carriage, the family boarded and set to the village. 

"Dad, you missed it! There was a pursuit! The holy knights chased down a criminal and he used some insane magic to stop them! It was so cool!", explained Klein excitedly to his dad. 

Upon seeing this, Emma whispered something into Yhor's ear. Yhor instantly showed a worried look on his face before looking back at his son. 

"Listen Klein, this is great and if you want to learn some magic along with your sword training, that's also cool. However the kind of power that guy used, you should never aim for..." 

"Why are you both being so weird right now?", Klein scoffed at his parents, not understanding what they were talking about. 

"Son, I might be just a farmer, but I've lived a long life till now, when one day you understand what really happened today, remember what I said to you!" 

At the same time, Yosa seemed uninterested, that wasn't because he wasn't amused by what happened but because he was still feeling the weird object inside his pocket. It feels like a ball, but it also has something like a ring around it. I wanna know what it is!! 

At nightfall the family arrived back at the village, Yhor left Emma and the kids at their house and went to the church, to bring the carriage back to pastor John. 

"Kids, I'll make some food for you, you must be starving. Go and change and I'll call you when it's ready!" 

Yosa hurried to his room and finally had the chance to inspect the object. It was a spherical object which seemed transparent but hazy, it was surrounded by a dark blue ring. The moment the Yosa touched the hazy surface, suddenly, a scene was portrayed into it. Yosa stared at it and felt like he was standing there witnessing the scene himself. He saw a tall man with blonde hair tied into a long ponytail, he had blue eyes and a great sword hanging on his back. 

"Wow this thing really does work like a diary haha!", the man said looking at the object. 

"Well then, this shall be my first entry! My name is Magellan, and I will be the first man, after thousands of years, to set foot in the City of Gold. It's already been 2 months since we entered the abyss and I just found this interesting magical artifact, it seems to be a diary. I will catalog my journey here and for whoever's watching into the future, good luck on your own journey!" 

Yosa suddenly snapped awake as if he was dreaming before, the surface of the object became hazy once again. Before he could inspect it any further, he heard his mom calling from downstairs. 

"Kids come down, your dad's here and food is ready!!" 

"Coming in just a minute mom!", shouted Yosa from his room. 

Yosa touched the diary again and it's surface lit up as an echo reverberated inside his head. 

"Diary mode: Entry Selection. Options: 1st, Last. Please select" 

As if he already knew what he was meant to do, Yosa whispered "Last". At that moment a knew scene appeared in his eyes. 

It was the same room as before, but it looked worn out from time. At the same position as before, stood Magellan, this time he looked older, his eyes seemed empty, his hair was in the same ponytail but a lot messier and he had grown some facial hair. There was blood coming out of his mouth and his great sword was nowhere to be seen. As he gave a fake smile, he started speaking. 

"This is the final entry, I just finished deleting all the rest except for the first one..." his voice had lost its luster, its adventurous spirit it portrayed in the first entry, "It's already been 12 years since I left the Elephant harbor in search of the City of Gold, and I've lost everything. It's ironic really, they all said I was a man who wanted to obtain everything, a bunch of bullshit. I deleted the entries to make sure nobody could follow them and reach the city. I found it, I actually did it, but let me warn you, what lies here isn't treasure. It's a burden, a curse. Don't search for it! Then again who am I to stop you? I am a nobody heh. I'll throw this diary into the sea, if you manage to find it and look at this entry, beware! Never search for it!" 

Yosa snapped awake again as he heard the same echo as before. 

"Time since last entry: 1368 years. Would you like to view the location?" 

"Yes.", replied Yosa who was more curious than worried. 

Suddenly, on the hazy surface appeared an arrow, pointing towards somewhere. It was a compass, a compass pointing to the location where the last entry was recorded. A compass to the City of Gold. 

Before Yosa could rejoice about his discovery he heard his brother frantically shouting from downstairs. He quickly hid the compass and ran downstairs to see what happened. What he saw however would change his life forever. 

Klein was crying frantically over his parents, both of whom were sleeping on the kitchen table. He was pushing and slapping them around, but they wouldn't wake up. 

"Go get pastor John!", Klein shouted at Yosa. 

Yosa ran out of the house in the dark, after some time he finally reached the village church, barely meeting pastor John who was about to go home for the night. Pastor John was a tall muscular man, he had a long brown beard and short brown hair. He wore his clerical robes and a golden cross necklace. 

"Yosa? Did something happen?", asked the pastor puzzled, in a deep yet soothing voice. 

"My parents!", cried out Yosa. 

Without needing to hear anything else, pastor John run along with Yosa to Yhor's house. Upon arriving he went to check on Yhor and Emma. Not long after he turned to the kids with a sad look in his face. 

"Klein, Yosa, I'm afraid to tell you that your parents have fallen ill to the eternal sleep disease... This illness is one that affects the body's mana and slowly destroys it. It's usually the result of extensive magic usage... Currently there is no cure and the only treatment is a minor healing spell once a week, the more time passes the more healing spells will need to be applied. It takes about 15 to 20 years for the desease to destroy the entire mana supply of the body which would mean death. I'm sorry kids, I can cast the healing spells needed for the time being, but we should probably talk about this tomorrow, I'll stay here for tonight." 

Yosa, with tears in his eyes, went back to his room and took the compass from under the bed, that was when he remembered. In the middle of the City of Gold under the golden statue of Midas lies the fountain of eternal life. A single drop of its water is enough to cure all diseases. It was a long shot but at that point Yosa made a choice. 

"I will find the City of Gold and save my parents!"