A Warlock's Ascent

All three of them stared at Dave, they felt like they were witnessing a madman, saying absurd things like that out of sudden, which made them think that he had hit his head in the wrong place. He was talking nonsense that they could not understand, but still, that man had a very big smile on his face.

Dave continued "Grump, think about it. You said to me that these ingredients are very essential for Ravenshade because they are used to make all these, potions, important potions, right?" he said.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, other than Ravenshade and Cloudhold, there are other cities that would love to buy these ingredients out of our hands. We can simply sell, and make a lot of profit. We would be rich."

"So where does your death comes in all of this?" Grump asked.

"Well, we can tell Helian that I died. And with my death, all the trunks of Hamel and his earthly possessions got lost. That way, we can all have a win."

Hamel frowned "No! You cannot do that, I have made Helian a promise that I will hand over these ingredients to him." In reality, he didn't want to hand over ingredients to them, they were too valuable.

But he was not having his bullshit anymore. "And we made a promise, that we will escort you to Infragilis, but guess what, promises are meant to be broken when dealing with assholes like you."

Grump liked this new Dave, and he smiled at him, understanding that his guy had a plan "What is your plan?"

"We will deliver him and his grandson to Helium or whatever. We will make money from that. Then we would sell these ingredients, we will make money from that as well. And if my calculations are right, compared to the prizes of ingredients right now, I would say that we will make enough to compensate for everything that this old man had done to us."

The idea of making a lot of money did make Grump interested, but he was not stratified with this deal. "Counter offer… We can simply kill him and then sell the ingredients. We would be able to make a little less money, but it would be satisfying to see him die."

He shook his head, killing Hamel would be a bad idea. "It will be satisfying, but it will also affect our reputation."

But Grump was not backing down. "FUCK REPUTATION! I want to see this man's skull bashed open below my boot."

By this time Hamel have gotten angry, Grump had been disrespecting him for a few minutes now, and he would not have it anymore. "You wanna die fucker?" Hamel said while getting ready to fight. Grump also did the same. But once again they were stopped by Ricardo…

In the end, he was finally able to convince Grump to stop, he explained to him in detail several times that killing him would only bring them loss in the long term while leaving him alive would be very profitable for them.

After everything was sorted out, Grump eventually agreed and they started moving again…

By nightfall, they were able to cross Cloudhold and make it to the other side. But they didn't cross the bridge that night, instead, they decided to camp by the side of Midgard lake. As they will be selling ingredients in Vecrus, they dont need to hurry, they would be able to make it to the city in no time.

So they decided to relax a little bit as the time restriction was not there anymore.

That night, they had a good meal, Grump caught some fish from the lake, he roasted them with a few spices and prepared a good meal for everyone. Although how that old man manage to catch the fish without the fishing rod was a mystery to him. But still, they had a to a good meal, and eventually went to bed.

He on the other hand stayed up, he had volunteered to be on the lookout for the first shift…

As he sat on his rock, trying to absorb the heat from the ambers of the extinguished fire, he couldn't help but wonder about Death Valley, and its secrets. He believes that the way to the second world would be through that island. But he had no proof of his claims.It is then Ricardo, came along and sat down beside him. "Can't sleep?" He asked

"Yeah. Today was too much for me." Ricardo said.

"You feeling fine?"

"I am fine now. But the idea of a city lord coming after my only family and I is kind of terrifying."

"Tell me about it." He wondered about Ricardo's reaction if he were to tell him that, not only Carlin but also Angela would be coming after his head.

Both of them then stayed quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the scene before them, but it was then Ricardo started speaking. "You know it's the most mysterious place on Midgard."

"What?"

"The Death Valley, of course. Many people have tried to peer into what that island holds for them. But they never could. The mist that surrounds the island is not only poisonous but is also very dense to see through."

"So no one had seen what that island holds?"

"No. It is a very mysterious place on Midgard."

"You know… I was planning to go there someday. I thought that the island might contain a secret or doorway to the second world."

"It is hard to tell. But if there is such a doorway, then it would be there. The rest of Midgard has been thoroughly explored in past centuries. There is nothing in the world that we dont know about.'

"Great."

"By the way, can you guess the second most mysterious place of Midgard?"

"No. What is it?"

"It is Roghorth's nest. Only a few people who could be counted on your one hand have ever touched that thing's nest. And they were all barely alive when they returned."

"Really? Is it that mysterious? Hell I have been there, and let me tell you, it is not that mysterious at all, it is just spooky as fuck. It is just the way one would expect it to be, deserted and full of skeletons that the beast uses a pillow." He said everything casually, but Ricardo was blown away by this revelation.

The inner nerd inside the young man got awakened, and he started asking all these questions about the terrain of the nest, what is it made of, and whether there were any poisonous fumes around the nest, which was very happy to answer…

"But it doesn't make any sense to me," Ricardo exclaimed.

"I am telling you, lady luck shined her grace on me back then. That is why that ugly fucker couldn't smell me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here with you."

"But the records! I have read every record in existence about Roghorth. That lizard could smell its enemies from miles away. The only to avoid his smell is with high-level magic, but you didn't have that ability. So how the hell did you get out there unscathed?" Ricardo said.

"Frankly I dont know. Till now, I always thought that it was just a fluke"

"Maybe, you did something different? Did you rub yourself with a plant or fell into something? I think that you may have accidentally gotten into contact with some unknown species of plant?"

"I dont think so."

"Maybe someone casted a spell on you. Weren't you saying that another Earthian was there with you? Did you think that he casted a spell on you?"

His words made him think of Sanjay, but he couldn't have done anything, that man was a greenhorn just like him during that time, hell he was screaming like a girl while being attacked by Earth Porcupine. So he couldn't have done anything.

He couldn't have…

After talking for Roghorth for a while, they started talking about Death Valley again. He wanted to know more about that place, and Ricardo was happy to tell him about its legends.

"It is said that, when accumulation takes place, all the bodies of deceased, monster and human alike, are transported there. That place is inhabited by these insects that feed on those bodies and secrete that fog." Ricardo said.

"Did someone find any proof of this theory?"

"No. But it is the most oldest and recognized legend of that island."

"Oh…" he said while nodding his head. It is then he realizes that they had a fish for dinner, and that fish came from the lake, as Death Valley is in the middle of the lake, could it be that its poisonous fog gets mixed with water?

He raised his concerns, but Ricardo dismissed them as silly thoughts. "Why would it get mixed? There is no sense in that happening. Also, people of Midgard have been fishing in the lake for several centuries, if the water was indeed poisonous, then all the fishes and Midgardians would have died by then." That oddly made sense to him.

After talking for a while, and handing over the lookout duty to Grump, they both retired to their beds. They have a long journey ahead of them.