Chapter 5: The Fallen Kingdom
It has been a few days since I last saw Team Omega. I've begun writing in a personal diary I keep with me to share my thoughts and record events as they unfold.
I'm now officially a Copper rank adventurer, and I'm learning to party up with people to learn to start trusting again. People of various types as I adventure.
Today I've shoveled dung out of farm fields, and I've replaced wagon wheels by learning where to get materials to help the farmer carve new wheels that will help improve the wagons' efficiency.
Though I often ventured past my old home, I avoided such places. I found myself here at the guild Tavern to eavesdrop and see if any rumors would prove valuable to find the whereabouts of those three.
Today, though, the guild receptionist was cleaning up the records-keeping issue book, or rather, the Encyclopedia of Fallen Kingdom, as it was rather dusty as she cleaned.
I'd ask her about the book and its contents. Mostly, why was so much dust gathered on it?
The guild receptionist explained that it was an encyclopedia left behind by a mage a long time ago, and we just kept it since the original owner never returned to retrieve it.
I became curious about it. Why not read it?
As I asked, a few adventurers also pulled aside chairs to listen to the guild receptionist read, like kids gathering for a storytelling session.
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"Hmm, let's see," the guild receptionist started as she turned over the hard-stoned cover and skimmed through the pages, "Ah, here we go…the Fallen Kingdom."
She begins to read, but I can imagine the writer or the author who documented the pages.
Hurray, our king has finally been cemented on his throne. Today marks the beginning of a new era, a new age, in which our long-awaited hope to win the war against the darkness and corruption can start anew!
For we pledge our allegiance to our king.
"Oh…" the guild receptionist stops.
"What's the matter?" I asked her, concerned.
"Argh, it's no tome, it's just a history encyclopedia of past events, geez, there's nothing here!" she'd hurl the book away so fast that the adventurers all lost interest immediately.
Everyone except me.
"So, tell me…," I asked, with a puppy-dog head tilted sideways.
"Huh? You've never heard of the story?" the guild receptionist asked in astonishment as she helped calculate payment to an adventurer submitting his request form. "Sure, I'll tell you, just let me ask someone to cover for me."
She disappeared into the back while another guild maid took her place. She then came back to take me to a table, where she served me the red apple drink.
"You know of the fallen kingdom, the one before this…tyrant ruler came to rule here?" the guild receptionist asks me.
I shook my head. I've never heard of stories outside my lineage of elves.
How would I know?
"Well, there used to be a kingdom, a JUST kingdom. They had everything a kingdom had, you know: a king, a queen, a princess, etc. BUT that's not the point," she sounded frustrated upon explaining. "The king was a benevolent ruler; he ruled passionately, and he always thought of his people. Those who lived in the kingdom loved him; he was a just and fair ruler."
"I see. So, what happened?" I asked.
"God, do you live under a rock or in the woods?" She stared at me after making her remark.
Silence.
"Oh, right…" She readjusted herself, "So the kingdom, though its people loved their ruler, other kingdoms DIDN'T agree or disagree with them, so the kingdom was always constantly at war with the other kingdoms."
Interesting, I thought to myself, perhaps that explained why the elves never got involved.
She continues, "Through the war and hardship, the king appointed 2 of his most trusty knights to be his left hand and his right hand. These two would become the kingdom's paladins. The right hand is the champion, while the left is the one to defend and swear the oath to protect his family."
"Okay, so it's just succession." I started, "Sounds boring."
"Well, no, because it IS history here, and it's why everything here is the way it is. After years of constant war, the king decided that he didn't want his people to suffer any longer, and he began negotiating truces and alliances with his enemies to end the wars and conflicts."
"So…then?"
"Tragedy strikes the heart where it's weakest…as the king arranged a meeting with the Tyrant ruler we know today, they did meet in person, but along the way back to his kingdom, the Tyrant ruler sent assassins to kill the benevolent king. And they killed him, but this killing didn't stop. The tyrant claimed rule over all the lands under the benevolent king, and his knights rose up in arms. Their champion, the right hand, would lead them into battle," the guild receptionist exclaimed as, by now, more adventurers gathered.
Taken advantage of by the tyrant. I would've known. I thought to myself.
"Fight, they did. They'd lose. They all died. Or so they say, but everyone heard the stories and witnesses even detail the tale." The guild receptionist nods her head as she closes her eyes in acknowledgement.
All the adventurers who were gathered all followed suit as well, except for me.
"Though ALL the knights of the benevolent king died, the tyrant's followers spoke of a LAST knight, a PALADIN who survived…the LEFT HAND…the UNFALLEN as they called him the UNFALLEN Paladin whom the king bestowed the top honors of being his left hand." The guild receptionist explained how proud she was.
I listened on, who was this mysterious person whom they looked up to? Who was he to stand up alone against a tyrant in desperate times? What on earth was he?
"The left hand secured the safety of the queen and the princess as he then rode into battle with his only friend left, his dark warhorse, said to be as dark as the night itself. He rode and fought not one, not two, but a battalion of Elite knights and soldiers sent by the tyrant himself." The guild receptionist continued, "And he won. Soldiers who fought him scattered in defeat, they'd heard him cast the one spell that only had been given to him, and the right hand by their beloved king."
Everyone pondered, "What was the name of the spell?"
The guild receptionist closed her eyes, "Command of the Unfallen King!"
I spat out my drink in reaction to her uttering the name.
"A-are you alright?" the guild receptionist asked me.
"Y-yes, just swallowed wrong…," I hesitated.
"Don't choke yet, the story gets better." She confirms as she settles once again.
I've heard of that spell before...but who used it? Who used it? Was it Exile? Nope, maybe Kit? Nope.
"The tyrant king sends more and more soldiers to fight Unfallen, but he wins, he KEPT ON WINNING. He even sends soldiers to target peasants and common folks and merchants to lure out the UNFALLEN, but he wins and DEFENDS the people; VERY much like what his king had done." The guild receptionist spoke with her, emphasizing his victories and tales of his heroic deeds.
Hmm. I can't remember who used that spell; my brain's foggy, maybe this drink is stopping me from thinking.
Every adventurer then leans in closer, expecting to hear what happens next.
The guild receptionist frowns, "Unfallen is then targeted by the Tyrant king; he takes the benevolent king's remains and threatens to befall misdeeds and desecrate the old king's remains unless Unfallen submits to him."
All the adventurers rise in protest, bickering and spouting what they'd do if they were him or what he'd do if he got close to the tyrant to kill the tyrant.
The guild receptionist then calms them down, and continues, "Unfallen would follow a parlay code of honor with the governor that once served alongside him with his king, he'd be escorted to the one place that he swore knighthood into a paladin. His dead king's castle, with the tyrant sitting on its throne while Unfallen, unarmed, and just with his war horse." The guild receptionist is starting to tear up at this part, " They'd yank him off his war horse and drag his horse to the stables and escorted Unfallen to the tyrant, spears and shields pointed at him with archers, arrows at the ready, ready to shoot him. Once inside the throne room, the guards tried forcing him to kneel, but he didn't kneel to the tyrant."
God, what a man.
"It's only when…," she starts wiping her tears, "When the tyrant throws the remains of the king in front of Unfallen, is when he kneels on all fours as he picks up the remains of his king. While he is picking up the remains of his king, the tyrant then takes away his knighthood and exiles him from being able to acquire any knighthood of any sort. Then the worst part comes: Unfallen is kicked out of the castle, and he is stoned, spit on, and thrown at by the locals he once protected. Many were uttering and yelling why he didn't defend the kingdom, many blaming the death of the king on HIM. He would walk through the entire street of the town to the gates with the remains of his king."
"What happens to Unfallen?" I finally asked, now interested.
All the adventurers and the guild receptionist turn to stare at me. The guild receptionist smiles as she answers, "Nobody knows, all we know is that he took the remains somewhere where the tyrant would never find them. We also know that, as the Left Hand of the Unfallen Kingdom, he also takes care of the queen and the princess, who are still alive. Maybe dead for all we know?"
"I see…" I concluded in disappointment as I yawned, then decided to turn in for the night, tossing a coin to the guild receptionist for the drink and the place for the night.
I reached my room, which was small, with a single bed and a candle in a small drawer on the side. I unbuckled my armor and took off my boots while writing in my diary of the mysterious tale and its foregone story.
I'd write in big, huge words, "Command of the Unfallen King," and I circled it constantly.
Who have I heard use it before?
While I pondered, I kept flipping the 3 coins Noobie had given me.
Ugh, well, my head hurts. As I get frustrated, I put my diary and the coins into my adventure leather pouch to secure them, then lock the room, put out the candle, and drift off to sleep.