- Aria of Ruin
You are a member of the Rødlev military operative branch, a force tasked with using your talents and skills to solve problems across the vast reaches of the empire. Years of training and several well-performed missions have solidified your position within the branch as a valuable operative.
Your duties take you to the far north-eastern reaches of the continent, to the town of Korsgrad, where rumors say a mysterious giant stone obelisk emerged from the ground one day. Rumors of this obelisk have reached the ears of the palace and caused them to assemble your group to investigate.
Prologue - Embers ♫
Briggs approaches the base of the hill overlooking Korsgrad, and rapidly begins his ascent.
He was the only garrison member out on patrol tonight - the garrison is understaffed at the moment as most of its members were summoned to a training seminar in the capital, leaving only a handful of veterans to protect the city. This forced them to do their patrol rounds alone until the rest of the men return.
A massive quake had knocked Briggs off of his horse a few hours ago. Briggs thought that the horse seemed on edge from the very first moment they set out to ride, but either way, the steed fled far away as soon as the quake began, leaving Briggs alone to make the journey back on foot.
Something was definitely wrong...
A strange stone pillar was visible from a distance and a warm glow seemed to radiate from the direction of the village... The sun had nearly set and it was almost night now. Whatever happened a couple of hours ago, and whatever this stone pillar is... Briggs had to hurry and do his best to guarantee the safety of the people of Korsgrad.
Briggs removes the sword from his belt, holds it to increase his mobility, and picks up the pace. The stone pillar looms over him at the upper edge of his field of vision. Rattling and clanking as he runs up the hill, he is sweating heavily under his tunic and his muscles ache from hours of jogging in full armor, but he's almost there... one more heavy footstep, and another... one last step, and he is at the top.
Finally, the village is visible... but...
No...
Standing there, almost entirely out of breath, Briggs clutches his sword and stares in disbelief at the scene in front of him.
In all his years in the military, he's seen some intense things, but this... what on earth is going on?!
Spoiler: (Scroll Down Slowly)
He can't hear any screams or spot any people in the village. Could it be that they all evacuated? But what is the source of the fire? And what is this massive stone obelisk protruding from the ground?!