Project Athena: Dawn of War Season 1

Of Cults and Klutz

Wylver

The summoner, to his evident surprise, got a full house

My cards exceeded his expectations. I got a royal flush. I won, but this was no time to celebrate. The summoner will retaliate.

I turned to Dana, but it appeared that she already got my plan. She threw a whole bag of fairy dust at the summoner, who in turn screamed in pain. As an added measure, Dana threw a book, which I assumed was the one the demon was binded to, out of the window, giving them even more time.

That worked quite too well.

We sprinted out of the chamber, away from the accursed demon.

"Nice job, but how did you know which one is the right book?" I asked without missing a beat.

"I don't know. I just felt that it was like pushing me away."

"Well, whatever that is, I am extremely glad to make it out alive."

Dana nodded as they stopped in front of a wooden door that looked lie it was about to crumble into dust.

I opened the door with such care as to avoid breaking it and attracting even more monsters. We had already bumped with three deadly creatures in less than an hour.

The door revealed a narrow hallway, with each of them barely fitting inside. The pitch black darkness also blinded them. I forgot the torch at the demon summoner's chamber, and I did not dare go back to that cursed place. We didn't seem to have any more options though. The hallway was the only way other than backtracking.

Before I could ask, Dana pulled out a pearl the size of a coin. It hummed with a soft blue glow, giving them enough light to make out their surroundings.

"Where did you get that?"

"At the ghost's chamber." Dana handed Wylver the light, since he was the one in front.

"You stole from his treasure?" I worried that the object might be cursed too, but decided that it was better than walking blind in the darkness where something could jump at their face anytime.

"Is it stealing if you stole from a thief?"

"I guess that makes sense, we are just taking loots in a game after all. But what confuses me is how you managed to do that without being detected. You even took the cursed book, so how did the demon summoner fail to notice that?"

Dana's brow furrowed. "I actually thought it was you doing it."

"Doing what?"

"Providing distraction and disabling his detection abilities. I'm pretty sure you weren't just playing cards with him for no reason."

I wanted to ask more, but he knew that the longer we stay in the corridor, the more likely it is for a monster to trap them inside. I continued on, placing the glowing pearl in front of me.

The walls were different from the rest of the castle. These ones had less cracks, and the hall barely have any sign of dust at all. They must have been used fairly recently.

When they finally reached the end of the long hallway, a door stood in front of them. It was in a far better condition than the previous one. Light seemed to be leaking from its sides.

Behind the door, voices went back and forth. There were people on the other side.

I gave Dana back her magical pearl. I did not want to catch the people's attention in case they were not the benign type. I unsheathed his sword, which was extremely hard to do in such an enclosed space. I also gestured for Dana to do the same with her wand. I then put my other hand on the doorknob and let out a deep breath.

I twisted the doorknob and slowly pushed the door. Half a dozen barrels covered our sight, but it also gave them cover from whatever we would see at the other side of the room.

It was no mere room. I peeked from the empty space between two barrels. Six men in dark purplish robes gathered around a small cobblestone altar where a small swan laid tied into the rock.

The cultist all had their hoods up, making it hard to recognize their faces, except for the one at the center.

He was a bald man with a tattoo of a vulture on his forehead, or at least it looked like a vulture. It could be a falcon or a chicken. Wylver was no expert in birds. Not to mention its poor details and form. The artist must have either been overvalued at work, being kept despite his lack of artistic talent, or extremely underpaid and overworked that he no longer cared about how his works would look like.

Or they might be insane people who cannot think good enough to draw, as evident with the people near the altar. They moved as if they were zombies including the leader, but Wylver was sure that they weren't. Judging by the bald leader's look, they look lively enough.

Too lively, they started tearing the poor bird apart. Blood splatted everywhere, and the cultists lick every bit of blood.

A bolt of nervousness shot me when I heard Dana groan as if in pain. I looked around to see if the cultists noticed us. Fortunately, they did not. "What happened?"

"I...I don't know. It felt like I was stabbed."

I inspected Dana for wounds but saw nothing. "We must get out of here."

"But how?" Judging from Dana's face, the pain seemed to have left her. "I don't see any exit here except for the one beside them."

She was right. The only door in the sacrificial room was the one to the left of the altar. That could only mean that after the cultists finished their horrendous ritual, they would either leave through that door beside the altar, or through the door which I and Dana came from. It might be used as some sort of secret entrance to the castle for easy access. That's both good and bad. If it was a secret entrance, then it is surely also an exit. The cultists, though, might decide to check on the castle after they finish their job.

"We'll just wait for them to leave. If they decide to come here, then we'll surprise them."

Dana nodded and readied her wand.

Just as I thought, five of the cultist left, leaving only one to check the hallway.

When the last cultist started heading towards our direction, one of the cultists from before went back inside.

"I forgot my amulet. Have you seen it?" The returning cultist asked while lifting the rugs made of animal skin. His voice was that of a young man.

His companion shrugged. "Maybe you left it at the castle?"

The first one shook his head. "I swear I left it here."

"Maybe it's on top of one of those barrels—"

He was interrupted when one of those barrels that he was pointing at fell, revealing a dumbstruck Dana.

I sighed as we lost the element of surprise, but it was still a better situation than facing six of them at once.

The cultists pulled out their dagger and slowly advanced towards them.

I kicked the fallen barrel which rolled quickly towards the cultists. They were able to avoid being hit by the rolling mass of wood, but this short distraction gave me a chance to stab one of them. in the chest.

The cultist fell quickly on the ground, blood spilling on the floor. It was the first time I killed a human. Although it was just a game, it felt so real that it could almost put a burden on one's conscience.

The other cultist, seeing this, rushed towards me. It proved to be a mistake since my longer blade allowed me to attack the cultist before reaching me.

"They were a lot easier than the goblins," I whispered to myself, but Dana nodded. She must have thought I was talking to her.

"Should we loot them?" Dana was already inspecting the corpses before I could reply.

Dana pulled out a small ruby with chains of silver. It seemed like the cultist stole from his friend. That just proved how advance the ATHENA system was. The NPC's weren't mindless thugs.

"We should keep going." I knew Dana loved looting in games, but staying longer than necessary here would risk them dying in-game, which would mean that we would lose the test.

Dana sighed and got up. She put the amulet inside her pocket.

The next room was actually a cave. Light from outside showed a couple of haystacks and wagons inside. Other than that, the cave was empty. There seemed to be no sign of the cultists from before.

Now that they were back on track, I recalled their mission. We needed to get a ring from a centaur. The organizers told them that a herd of centaurs could be found in the plains four days travel from where we started. We were only given a week to accomplish the task, and we were delayed too much by the maze forest. Judging by the light coming from outside, it was already morning. We only got five days left. We could still arrive on time if they would not encounter any more delays, but we would lose the chance to have a preparation time to get a ring from a centaur. I imagined that it was no easy task.

"Look." Dana pointed to the rising smoke in the sky.

Sure enough, there was a nearby village where the smoke was coming from. They could finally rest in an inn and find more information about the centaur herd.

We followed the road leading to the village, still exhausted from the neverending running and fighting from yesterday.

The villagers gave the newcomers a couple of glances, but got back to what they were doing. They must be used to having travelers here.

Houses made of wood and stone were scattered in the grasslands. Almost all of these houses had a small garden in front of them used for growing crops.

The largest house had a balcony at the entrance. At the top of its door was a sign that said it was an inn.

"Adventurers?" A young woman near the entrance was feeding her horse with a piece from the haystack. She wore the traditional peasant clothes, though her mannerisms speak otherwise. She had the graceness of a person raised in nobility, and spoke coherently like an educated person, which was rare in medieval times where most fantasy settings are based on. The system must have commited errors. It wasn't perfect after all.

"Yes." I noticed Dana looking at the woman's arm, which was covered by her long-sleeved blouse. Under the sleeve was a silver bracelet that no mere commoner would be able to possess, unless she stole it. My previous observation suggested otherwise.

"I'm sorry to say, but we don't have work currently available for you. The village has been prosperous since the reign of the late King Alisir."

I stepped closer to speak to the woman. "Actually, we are the ones needing your help." I further observed the bracelet. It was encrusted with sapphire stones the size of a pea. It also had strange markings on it which I assumed was an ancient language in this world.

The woman, though seemingly noticed my observations, pulled down her sleeve to cover the piece of jewelry. "How so?"

"We are looking for a herd of centaurs."

The young woman didn't seem surprised. "You should ask the village elder. He keeps records of the creatures spotted near the village in his house. He lives just above that hill." She pointed towards a small hut that stood on top of a hill cover with a field of various flowers. "You can find me here if you need me. I got to tend to the sick now."

"So you're a doctor?" Dana glanced at my wound. "You should have her check it then." She bounced her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Ignore her. I can manage. By the way, thank you..."

"Belle." The woman nodded in greeting.

"Thank you, Bell. I'm Wylver, and this is Dana, my pet."

"What?" Belle furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hey." Dana punched me in the shoulder."Don't mind him. He must have hit his head while walking in the castle hallway."

"Castle?" Belle's expression turned even more confused. "You meant the Galtor Keep?"

Dana shrugged. "If that's what it is called, then I guess yes."

"You've been to the castle and survived?" Belle's confusion turned into awe.

"Yeah. We found a secret passage used by some people to access the higher levels of the castle. They seemd to be conducting some sort of ritual." Wylver took care to avoid the word 'cult.' He also didn't mention killing the cultists yet. If those cultists were actually members of the village, or if the villagers were supporters of that cult, then they might be in huge trouble.It was unlikely, but it was better to be sure.

"Ah, yes. Those cultists have been causing fear in our village, though they didn't really seem harmful to the people, yet."

"They did seem harmful when they attacked us." Dana pouted.

"If that's the case, then we might have work for you after all."

I scratched my head. "As I told you, we're not actually looking for work. The centaur thing is kinda urgent. Though we might come back here after we're finished. You told us that the cultists are harmless to the villagers for now."

Belle nodded. "Yes I did, but that was before I knew you were attacked by the cultists. They might also think that it was one of the villagers that ran away from them—"

"Killed them to be exact. We didn't run." Dana blurted out.

I gave her a sharp look, as if scolding her.

"Then the more reason you should help us. They might look for you here and harm the villagers. I'm sure heroic adventurers such as yourself won't run away from the trouble you've caused and just pass them to the villagers."

I now realized that I didn't like the woman that much. "We could help you, but we need a quick transportation to reach the centaur herd after."

"I thought heroes help other people without looking for a reward?" Belle purred, obviously trying to flirt with me, but it was Dana who appeared to be charmed.

Dana smiled. "Why do you assume we're heroes?"

"Oh, it's just that the gallant knight here is running around exploring dungeons and slaying servants of the dark with his trusty pixie sidekick."

"Sidekick?" Dana frowned.

I was starting to get wary of this girl. We didn't tell her about Dana being a fairy. "Pixie?"

This took Belle on surprise. She realized what she had done. "Oh, it's just that your friend here is amazingly beautiful, not to mention her wand poking out of her bag."

Dana's wand really was hanging out of her bag, though she could have assumed that she was a sorceress instead. Fairy is not what would first pop into people' mind when they saw wands, though she might also just be telling the truth, so I dropped the subject.

"Anyways, we will help you if you can at least give us a ride and the location of the herd." Wylver was an expert negotiator. Working in sales and having to need to find investors for his small researches made him profiecient in the art of persuasion.

"Deal." Belle replied with no hesitation. It turned out easier than I thought. "I'll bring you to the herd of centaurs."

"Wait, I thought you said you didn't know where it is." Dana was still fixing her belongings. She must have stolen so much loot that even her wand could no longer fit.

"I never said that. I only said that you should talk to the village elder, but now I'm interested, I can bring you there myself."

"We'll meet you later." I pulled Dana inside the inn before Belle could respond.