"Why do you want to know?"
The question surprised me for a moment. Wasn't it obvious? Wasn't my curiosity justified? I felt that I had a right to know. After all, it was about my family.
"Why wouldn't I want to know? My grandfather was involved, after all. I've been looking for information on what happened for years now!"
The old lady in front of me seems to sigh at that. She looks away, and I can see the sadness in her eyes as her thoughts stray to that event.
"It's more than that, isn't it."
It wasn't a question. For a moment, I think about lying, but in the end, I need her help.
"... Yes. I ... I just want to know what happened.
Please. I need to know what happened."
The old woman laughs, her voice breaking with the effort.
"Aye. And everyone else wanted to know what happened as well. Why should you be different?"
I think for a moment, on whether to reveal the truth, and then I realize that I have has no real choice. Without the truth, I will
get no help.
"I ... there was a note, in grandfather's will. It spoke ... it spoke of a Spirit, a Spirit of the land. One that guided and sheltered a civilization, hidden for eons.
One that you all found, that day. That ... that day when the skies turned red."
She stares at me for a moment, and I suddenly feel the
sharpness in her gaze, the stern, hawk-like gaze that seems to pierce right through me.
"So. He revealed it, did he? I suppose the curse held no sway over his soul, not when he was dead."
"... Curse?"
"Yes, boy. Curse. You didn't think we bore the interrogation of a bevy of nations for nothing, did you? You didn't think we suffered the whispers of treachery and treason because it brought us joy, did you? We
could not tell. Not if we wanted to survive."
They ...
could not tell? Then, this trip was worthless.
With my heart heavy with failure, I turn to leave, when-
"But now ... now things are different, aren't they? After all, I'm not the one who revealed the truth!"
The old woman cackles now, her voice eerie and almost repugnant in it's emotion.
"Stay, child! Stay! And hear the tale of the kingdom of Yamatai, guarded by the Spirit of the Fire Queen."
Yamatai.
That hidden land, said to be regarded in myth and legend as the Forbidden Kingdom. The land populated by the only humans who survived humanity's magical degradation, long ago. A land of powerful mages and magics, steeped in mystery, where legends speak of grand artifacts that still remain to this day.
My heart beats wildly in my chest, as I stay and listen to the old woman, as she weaves her tale.
"It was a joint expedition, you see, fae and human working together. An archaeological survey was to be conducted in that region, searching for artifacts and relics whose existence was hinted at in the tablets recovered from the elven city of Zof-Retel. Supposedly, they spoke of a human settlement far to the east of Halkeginia, where the sun never set. A land of mystery and magic, they called it. To those familiar with old legends, the contents of the tablets smacked of Yamatai.
Our expedition was funded by Lady Sakuya of the Faerie Lords herself. Tristain pitched in as well, as did Germania. I suppose those godless heathens only saw the profit in the venture, but none of us were complaining. We had more than enough funds to last us through the trip and beyond, and had experts of every form and feather on the ship - it should have been easy.
Should have been. But it wasn't. Certainly, it was difficult to even find the right location to search in, considering how vast the ocean was - but we were smart, and talented, and we figured it out. Alas, our troubles only started then. There was a storm, you see - a dreadful, unnatural storm that no amount of magic could beat. No amount of ingenuity or technical know-how could bypass. We were washed ashore, on a distant, forsaken land - and there, we saw the truth - the truth of what had happened, to Yamatai ..."
COMING SOON
TO A THEATER NEAR YOU
TOMB RAIDER: HALKEGINIA ONLINE
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...
Eh. I was bored.