Chapter 14: Nocturnus
He was leaving Atlantis, riding the sea with his new blessing. He had passed a crazy test, the next step would be Fendian's test, the God of the Night, he lived far from Atlantis, in the city of Nocturnus, the Darkkin city in the east of the Eternal domain, and at least Bloodwater and Atlantis were in the south east.
As he neared the shore of Bloodwater, he noticed Gabriel, the man who had brought him to Atlantis. Gabriel looked at him as he rode to shore, he rubbed his eyes and stared as Vidian stepped off of the wave and onto the dock. He got up and walked towards him.
"You've returned!"
"Hello Gabriel, how have you been?" He said as he walked past a few staring sailors, "Atlantis is pretty, and the Seakin women are to die for."
"Is that so? I guess you had some fun then," Gabriel laughed.
"How have you been?"
"Helping people out here and there, nothing much," He said as he took a drink from his bottle, "Can you explain the wave thing?"
"I completed the work of Lord Aquariusinariun, so now I can use the sea," He said showing his amulet, "I still have seven more gods to visit."
"What is that anyways, that amulet?" He said gesturing at the large, golden amulet hanging from Vidian's neck, "Why does it have a place for all the sub-gods' blessings?"
"It just does, my friend, it just does," He walked with Gabriel for a while, "Is there a place I can have a meal in? Not too expensive though, I have only been eating fish for a week or something, I need a little variety."
"Come with me, there is this little place I like, 'Feet on Solid Ground', not a sea tavern."
"That sounds nice."
They turned into an alleyway and Vidian spotted two men with cloaks on, on each side of the alley. They got up from leaning on the walls and walked towards him and Gabriel, "What do you guys want?"
"Vidian the Death bringer, you must die for trying to bring back the Death of the World, we shall kill you now and save this world," They draw two blades each. Vidian sighed as his arm mutated. They became two large, armor plated arms, Deathlord arms. He blocked their first swings and drove his new arms into their sides and sent them against the wall, making them drop their blades. He sighed and turned to Gabriel.
"Where was this tavern?"
"Oh, j-just down the alley, it is in a dead end, did they say true?"
"No, I am not here to bring it back, I am here to kill it, that is why I need all the blessings, I need something to help me fight it, are you a good fighter?"
"I can organize men well, I was a navy captain, so I can plan strategies well, why?"
"Nothing, just asking," He said as they walked into the small tavern, "What do you recommend?"
"Everything is good here, but the meat stew is very good."
"I'll take that then," He said as they sat down, "I wonder how they know my quest, hmm."
"I don't know, maybe from the other cities, maybe they are sent by someone who overheard your quest?"
"I don't know who that would be, I only told the gods, and a few others but they would never try to kill me, I helped them and they helped me, so I don't think it would be them, or at least, it would be a surprise."
"Where are you going next?"
"Nocturnus, the Darkkin city, to complete Fendian's task."
"I have to wish you good luck."
"Thank you, but it isn't like I have a choice, if I fail, the world ends."
"What do you mean?" He laughed awkwardly then stopped, "Please, explain."
"If I fail, in a thousand years, the Death of the World will be freed, but I won't fail, I will die to end it, if it comes to that."
"I thought you were joking about the whole kill it thing, you are crazy, but you remind me of one of my men, back when we were having conflicts with the Seakin, he was willing to go hand to hand, underwater against the Seakin, crazy, absolutely crazy."
"Glad I make you think of a fearless soldier."
"Unfortunately, he died after defending a girl from three bandits out of the city, cut veins from the strikes of their blades, he wasn't human, but he wasn't invincible."
"I count on dying after my quest is over, whether it is early or later, that is the choice of the gods."
"Gods have a weird way of choosing deaths, my father was a man of the sea, but he didn't die because of that, he died because of a land beast attack, while travelling the Great Desert."
"Travelling in and Great Desert don't belong in the same sentence."
"Well, he was making a sand ship to make it possible, but some weird creatures attacked them, only one man came out alive, he died soon after to exhaustion."
"Do you know where this was?"
"Apparently near the middle of the Great Desert."
"Well, at least I know what not to do."
Vidian walked on the dirt pass that would lead him to Nocturnus. He had been to a Celenstial city, but never to a Darkkin city. He walked with his amulet dangling from his neck, four blessings he had collected, 7 more for him to collect, the fifth one was in the shape of a moon. He began thinking of what works he would have to do, thinking of Fendian's lesser gods. He walked alone on a path that crossed through a thick forest, the Forest of the Dead, a forest that was home to a lot of weird events and occurrences, from ghosts to souls to living dead and other things. He had heard this from Gabriel and other humans who told him that if he were to pass by land, he would need to take this path. He turned as he heard a little girl's laughter near him. Fog had risen around him, he could only see a few paces ahead of him, and the laugh seemed to taunt him. He hoped that the fog was just an illusion, but it wasn't, fog had actually settled around the path, in the forest. He looked around as the laughter continued, he created a blade in his hand, holding it in front of him. A small figure walked out of the fog, a small, human like figure, she was holding a decapitated doll in her arms. Her eyes seemed to pierce right through Vidian. He hurled the blade at her and it jammed itself in the figure's head, doing nothing. He looked at the figure again and it stayed motionless. He looked around, no one, when he looked back the figure was gone, as if a ghost, his blade was on the floor where she had been. He picked it up and looked around, nothing, it seemed as if she had never been there. The fog lifted as he continued to walk. He kept his blade formed as the forest was not welcoming.
After a few hours of walking, he spotted the city he was looking for, it stood in a small river's valley. The setting sun made its walls glow with a tone of gold. A soft wind made the leaves rustle in the trees around him. The city was surrounded by vines and orchards, giving it a unique charm. He wondered how it would look at nightfall as Diana would make her ascension. Small creatures scrambled away from the path as he passed. He returned his blade to his arm and sighed, smiling, looking over the valley, he had never seen a place that seemed of such calm and peace. The path that he had to take was far from where he was, and night was soon to come if you took that path. He created two clawed hands. He looked down the cliff, there was around 30 meters to the ground. He moved to the side and then found a foot holds and then planted the claws into the stone wall, holding him to the wall. He used his weight to move the claws down, nearly sliding down the wall. He created wings with his arms and glided the floor, landing and rolling on the floor before regaining his arms. He looked back up at the cliff and smiled at his own feat. The town he was going to was Nocturnus, a Darkkin city that had Celenstial leaders. He quickly arrived at the gates of the town. Two guards met him.
"Hello traveler," They were Darkkin men, "What did you come to Nocturnus for? Work? Travelling? A step of a journey?" Vidian nodded for the last one, "Ah, a traveler, if you enter the city, go to the town hall, our lady wants to meet all the strangers that enter the town, and for a room, you can go to the Yellow Jacket Stinger, an inn in the center of the city."
"Thank you," Vidian said as the guards opened the gates for him, "I will go see your lady, Lady?"
"Lady Diane."
"Thank you," Night was quickly falling. He walked in the city, getting looks from the merchants seeing him only wearing his pants with no shoes, no shirt. Two guards opened the doors to the town hall and he walked in, Lady Diane was sitting on her throne at the other end of the room, she had two other Celenstial women standing next to her, one that looked younger than her and the other that caught Vidian's attention. He walked up to them and bowed his head slightly, "I was told to come see you, Lady Diane."
"And I was told you were coming by Lord Fendian, who are you? May I ask?"
"Vidian of the Great Desert, I am only passing through your city, I do not count on staying here long, but I need your god's blessing."
"Ah, you are the blessing hunter, show me, Vidian, what can your blessings do?"
"Lord Eternum's blessing is the strongest, in combat, but the others are situational," His arm morphed into a blade, "As you can see, Lord Orn's blessing allows me to resist strikes and heat, Lord Structania's blessing allows me to focus most of my life force into one action, Lord Lord Inventaariy's allows me to see through illusions," He looked at the Celenstial at her left, who seemed to get nervous at his sight, "And finally, Lord Aquariusinarium's allows me to breath underwater and to control the seas and command storms."
"What illusion do you see in Ventu?"
"A boy dressed as a girl, I thought males could only be Darkkin."
"So it does work, huh? Impressive, Vidian," She smiled at Ventu, "Don't worry, you don't look like it."
"But then how could he tell, Diane?" He looked worried, "No one else knows about this."
"I has the blessing of Inventaariy, my, um."
"Lady."
"My lady," Vidian nodded, "May I leave you? I am tired from the walking, I need to rest before I commence my work."
"Yes, yes, I am aware, you should be able to have a room in the Yellow Jacket Stinger, give them this," The girl to her right walked down and handed him an engraved coin, "They should know what it means, have a good evening, but, before you go, your shirt?"
"Creatures destroyed it and have a good evening, my ladies."
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