VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 144: No place like home

Within the land known to the humans as Dawd, there was a small country called Gaelven. Despite its sprawling hills covered in grass and valleys that contained quaint babbling brooks, it was a truly miserable country with an eerie, unsettling beauty to it.

The colour was seemingly drained from it as heavy grey clouds constantly hung in the sky, shielding the land from the assault of the sun’s nourishing rays. How any plant life managed to survive in a land that never saw the sun, never mind surviving to the point of creating such a flourishing paradise beneath the misery, was unclear.

But it was these conditions that led to countless powerful and tough plants that fit the land to a tee. These plants themselves were hauntingly beautiful, which was a mask that hid a horrifically deadly truth.

It was not a country many travelled to without reason, and even when they did have reason they only dared to travel here with heavy guard and endless caution.

Alongside the deadly plants, all manners of wicked and vicious beasts roamed these fertile lands, their numbers uninhibited by the countries owners as these beasts were allowed to ravage any who dared wander in their territory. Be it another beast, a lost traveller, a foolish idiot hoping to prosper from the lands hidden treasures or an even an enemies scouting party.

After all, the owners of this land saw it as not just the ideal defence mechanism that could never be easily disabled from within, unlike heavy doors and drawbridges. But it also made for wonderful training for their own people, especially those who wanted to tame these beasts as their own.

Not to mention, all of these beasts were absolutely delicious.

In this land where even the bravest of knights and most valiant of Paladins dared not to tread without back up, there wandered a lone man. He was dressed well, not flaunting any type of wealth with extravagant garments that bordered on the impracticable, like many nobles did. No, he dressed for function over appearance, but that didn’t stop him doing so with the finest materials.

Great care had been taken in his appearance, blending the form and function together in the perfect ratio to create a deadly beauty, perfect for this land of misery and death.

This man walked briskly through these overcast lands, and while this may not seem unusual at first considering the seemingly suicidal saunter he had decided to talk, what was strange was that this man’s hurry came not from his surroundings.

His steps were quick with desire, purpose and impatience. He was filled with anxiety, yes, but there was no fear when it came to the horrific beasts that were literally surrounding him.

Instead it was these beasts that feared him. One glance of his chilling gaze was enough to send these fearsome beasts running with their tails between their legs.

Finally, after days of walking alone where so many dared not travel in groups, the mans destination finally came into view. A grand castle, built into the side of the tallest mountain in all the lands. It’s blackened stone and pointed silhouette almost made it look as if the mountain itself was snarling, and ready to devour any that approached the castle.

A brief smile of familiarity spread across the man’s lips, as he had returned home, before the dread of reality settled over him. His smile quickly faded, replaced by a heavy scowl, as he let out a deep sigh and continued on his way to the castle.

***

"I must see the Matriarch!" The man shouted dramatically as he strode through the hallways of the castle like he owned the place, his path leading him straight to the most important room in the entire building.

The matriarch’s chambers. It was naturally outside of the door to these chambers that he made these demands, only to be met with silence and a pair of stone faced guards standing either side of the chamber doors.

A description that was quite literal, as the pair standing guards were Grotesques, the lesser version of Gargoyles. In human terms, they were more like the underachieving younger brother that everyone always assumed would be just as good as the elder brother.

Just like their brother, a Grotesque was a being formed entirely of living stone, given a particular shape and purpose. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

These particular Grotesques were formed to look like a twisted combination of man and bat. With ugly pig nosed faces constantly twisted into snarls, large ears, beady eyes and colossal wings twice as long as their arms.

"You have returned sooner than expected." The left Grotesque muttered

"Have you completed your mission? Or do you return a worthless failure to the clan?" The right added, glaring at the man in front of them.

The man in question clenched his fists tight, his entire body brimming with anger. If he wanted, he could have destroyed these Grotesques without issue. They were nothing to him, just pathetically weak stone figures.

But they were made personally by the Matriarch. Their strength was inconsequential when faced with that fact. Besides, their strength was not why she made them in the first place.

"The mission has failed. But it was not my fault. I met another, they stole the Matriarch’s gift before I could take it to the Duke."

The Grotesques glowered at him, their stony eyes overflowing with disdain.

"You return a failure and yet you demand to see the Matriarch?" The right said with contempt.

"Yes, now let me through! I have something important to tell her."

"No, you do not." The left said with a shake of his head, "We do you a favour keeping you from her. She is still resting after her battle with the Light born. To stand before her now as a failure and demand her attention when she must recover will only result in death."

"Leave now," The right took over, "Recover what was lost from the other. Be it Light, Bone or Flesh. It does not matter. You will recover it and fulfil your mission."

"No, I won’t. Because it was none of them. She was Blood, and she held the power of Dominion." The man announced with overflowing confidence and a cocky smirk on his face.

The Grotesques frowned in unison, glancing at each other with unease and confusion. But before either could speak more, the doors behind them shuddered, dislodging a heavy cloud of dust that had gathered since the last time they had opened.

The opened slowly with a loud creak, revealing nothing but darkness and a pair of piercing crimson eyes that loomed in the blackness and stared out at the man.

"Enter." A soft voice uttered and ,without a thought of his own, the man stepped forwards and obeyed without question. Not that he even had a choice.