Chapter 20

As soon as the sun rose we set off to continue our journey. The weather was grey with a slight bit of rain. For some reason, the tension between the knights was grey as well, no words were spoken to each other apart from a few grunts now and then. As we continued along the trail a fog started to appear only allowing us to see a few feet ahead. I wanted to ask the others where we were but it seemed like no one was in the mood to talk and the knights were on high alert. "Why is there no life here, and whats with the fog?" I finally asked. "We received a request on the way to the village, telling us to investigate. One of the residents said they saw a shadow beast nearby," Wilfred said. "This fog is strange," Barnardo said gripping his axe even tighter than before. "It's most likely nothing, most of the time it's just a regular tier beast" Delbert frowned. Gary started to have a worried look on his face, it seemed like the encounter with the Wolf had given him some trauma. It was understandable after all Gary wasn't able to do anything against the wolf beast in the black forest. It would be hard to imagine what a shadow beast would be like. Wilfred could see the worried look on Gary's face and spoke a few words of comfort. "Don't worry boys, you have three of the strongest knights in the kingdom here to protect you." As we continued to move forward I started to activate my skill Dragon eyes. With the thick fog in front of us, we could barely see if we were still on the correct path. This way if any beast were approaching us I could warn the knights in time. The path was strange indeed, not only had we not seen any shadow beast it seemed like not even regular animals were about. Up ahead the fog seemed to start to disappear, as we got closer a figure could be seen through the fog. To my surprise, it was a woman, a woman dressed in green from head to toe with a bow on her back. She had brown hair was in her mid-twenties. As the women saw us coming through the fog she quickly came over and bowed her head to the knights. "My name is Ann Woodwork I'm an adventure from the Goneless guild, are you three the knights that we requested for assistance?" She asked. Wilfred came forward on his horse. "Yes, we are here about a sighting of a shadow beast in this area, has the fog always been this thick here?" "It has been this way for two weeks now, many adventurers who have been escorting merchants through the fog have been attacked, and some have never returned. We have already lost four of our guild members." Delbert turned towards Bernardo and gave him a questioning look. "Didn't we just come through the fog unharmed," Delbert said. "Perhaps the beast senses our presence," Bernardo replied. Wilfred continued to talk to the adventurer. They had agreed to stay in the town for one Knight and see if there were any problems they could solve. The adventurer insisted that they stayed longer to solve the problems but Wilfred insisted that we didn't have the time. Wilfred agreed to put up a special A-Class quest to slay the beast that resides in the fog, and that he would personally put up the bounty for it. The women named Ann agreed and showed us the way to the closest inn.

As we entered the inn I was shocked at what I could see. My eyes were open with amazement because all around the inn were items related to dragons. Paintings ornaments statues in every corner. As I was staring around the room Ann had approached me. "It's pretty amazing isn't it? the owner is pretty well known for being obsessed with dragons. " "Are dragons real?" I asked her, I knew the answer to this but didn't know the full extent of the knowledge of this world. Just as Ann was about to answer my question, the innkeeper had come from behind the bar. "Of course their real" The innkeeper said. He started to walk towards me and continued speaking. "My great, great grandfather was saved by one, and ever since our family have been documented everything related to them in this inn" "A mere myth, Dragons who would believe, such a tale," Delbert said form the corner of the room. "So do you not believe in the Red Dragon Sen then?" I asked Delbert. "A mere story to scare kids with, the most anyone has ever seen is a giant wyvern merely exaggerated tales" Delbert replied. Oh how I wish I could prove him wrong, If I was a dragon I would haunt him and follow him everywhere he went. "I see the boy is a fan of dragons as well," The innkeeper said. "Then let me tell you the full tail, you see they say that Dragon sen was an evil dragon who destroyed everything he could see insight, but some say the opposite. There's a group of people who believe that the Dragon was there protecting everyone." "How so?" I asked although I knew the truth, I wanted to hear the man out. "From all the stories I have gathered, there is a theory. When the dragons ruled the land the shadow beast did not exist. Now that the shadow beast exists dragons are a mere myth. Perhaps the dragons were protecting us from an even bigger danger. " After speaking with the innkeeper the knights paid for our rooms and we rested for the night. I couldn't get much sleep because I was thinking about the words the innkeeper said. Although I know some of his words arent true, it made sense. During my time there really were no shadow beast. Dragons were the strongest creatures around. Humans had used their sheer numbers to defeat us. This plague, on the other hand, is something that spread quickly to humans and easily effected them. Dragons had a number of different abilities and one of them was to be immune to all status effects. Although I'm not sure if it would have worked or not. Had someone planned this? Maybe the humans were even just a mere tool to get rid of us. With many thoughts and possibilities lingering in my head, I decided to shut my eyes and get some sleep.