How much of my humanity would I lose for the purpose of saving my humanity?
I did not know. But I knew, sooner or later, I would find out.
[Midnight Reached]
[Daily Tasks have been reset]
I knew I would dislike the answer.
Chapter 6: Fort Zyvar
Fort Zyvar was nothing like I anticipated it to be. Moss-dressed walls and weed-bursting paths, vine-ensnared gates, and grass-blanketed walkways, the fort could be mistaken for an abandoned ruin deep in the vestiges of Brazilian rainforests – the type in which a plucky, hat-wearing, whip-cracking archeologist would visit to avoid perilous pitfalls, traps, and dangers in search of ancient and mystical treasure.
Each step I took further entrenched it in my mind that the Fort had most certainly seen better days. Portions of the wall were crumbling like stale bread, the giant iron gates were married to thick brown rust, and the weeds grew with reckless abandon wherever it was possible for them to grow – between cracks, on aged wood, on broken statues – without anyone seeming to attempt to trim them.
With so much green, the fort seemed less a man-made structure and more something that was sprouted by the earth. Blending into the forest with ease, Fort Zyvar was the first real architectural building I’d seen since coming to Alamir, not counting the Rift. I could not help but be intrigued. Going by the look alone, the Fort had to be at least several hundred years old. The aesthetics of it almost seemed to lurch a deeply buried desire for adventure. What great secrets lay within its walls? What mysteries and wonders would I find? Tomes of a forgotten era? Remains of ancient warriors?
You don’t have time for an adventure Janus, I sternly reminded myself, curbing the inquisitive instincts within me. My quest was time-sensitive even if I did not know exactly by how much. There was no time to go spelunking into hidden caves unless I had a guarantee that there was something within such places that would be of value to me, such as a powerful weapon or tool.
The broken statues in front of the Fort were something I could not simply ignore however. Most of the statues were gone, but from those mostly intact, I tried to glean some knowledge. The style of clothing on them was anachronistic, I could only vaguely claim they were reminiscent of ancient Zulu warriors wearing the helmets of Roman legionnaires. If such an odd combination made any lick of sense.
“Who are they, in the statues?”
Arol, dragging along two corpses of dead kobolds, stared at the statues I gestured to. “I think they’re humans. The humans that built this fort a long, long time ago.”
Statues in front of a fort? Why? For decorative purposes? As far as I knew, Forts were usually not the type of places one placed expensive ornaments. More than that, there was some eerie sensation I got from the statues. As if they were… watching me. The eyes never seemed to move, but with each advance, the gaze of the statues almost seemed to watch my every step, and it was unnerving.
“Do you know what race of humans?”
“Humans have different races?” Arol asked, squinting. “Wunder, do humans have different races?”
The Barbeast, hoisting up on one hand three kobold corpses, shook his head. “All humans are one race, but they have different origins and live in different settlements, so they do not see themselves as one.”
“Did they have a name, the people in those statues?”
“They’re humans,” Wunder responded.
“I know they’re humans, I mean, the name of their empire, or their culture.”
“Humankind,” Arol said, cheekily.
I was not getting anywhere with this line of questioning. “What tribe of humans are they?”
“No idea.” Arol turned to Wunder. “Any clue?”
The Barbeast hummed. “No, I don’t know either. Perhaps Erzili might know.”
Arol nodded in tandem. “Leader Erzili knows everything!”
Erzili this, Erzili that. I wanted to meet this Erzili fellow and find out what made them so special. Deciding to relegate that task of asking about the freakish human statues that seemed to be trailing me with their eyes to a later time, I noticed something odd.
The further we approached, the more I began to pick up the sounds of different noises. The noises were coming from deeper in the Fort, and it sounded almost as if they were… cheers? Cheers. Nightmares cheering? Was that a good sign?
“Who approaches Fort Zyvar?”
A deafening voice thundered. Bouncing back and forth between the forest, I could not pinpoint the origin until the footsteps followed. Thick pounding footsteps, shaking the earth. Ripples appeared in the air and before me was a creature with a man’s face and a lion’s body. The creature was chiseled out of something that resembled stone, but I felt for it through my connection to the earth and realized that it was made of an element I possessed no knowledge of. Something that was purely unique to the world of Alamir.
Arol blurred forward. “Sniffles! It’s me Arol! I’m back!”
Sniffles? I could only stare at the oddity as Arol began to lightly pet the creature on the underside of its chin. The eyes on the creature’s head began to glow. A red light flashed, and vanished. “Fort Zyvar welcomes you back, Lady Arol, Lord Wunder.” The sphinx-like creature boomed. “I sense one here that does belong.”
The creature’s red eyes locked on my form. The sound of something sharply whining began to reach my ears. My
