Speeding through the mountains Marcus made a beeline for Retharin’s home, hoping to be able to get the mythic grade beast on their side.
He already knew that the huge gryphon liked to fight, so he was hoping that a fight with a monster that could destroy the entire continent would entice him.
Though this was only one of the reasons he was heading for Retharin as there was something else he was hoping he could do.
Soon the domain of the lord of the Verkoudhied Mountains came into view, and Marcus could see the massive cave at the top of the tallest peak where Retharin lived.
Naturally the mythic grade beast had long sensed Marcus’ approach and was waiting to receive him.
“Irene you are back sooner than I thought you would be. Would you care for something to eat of drink?” Retharin said, while having already seated himself at a very nice wooden table.
The mythic grade beast had taken his humanoid form that resembled an ice elf and was currently drinking some type of amber liquid that smelled strong of alcohol..
Of course, this was not his usual greeting for visitors, as normally he would appear in his true for and try and intimidate anyone they came here.
However, Marcus was already Retharin’s friend in his mind, and a future sparring partner once he had gotten stronger.
Sitting down across from the mythic grade beast acting as a host, Marcus poured himself a drink and took in a full glass of whiskey in one gulp.
‘It really is too bad that alcohol has no effect on me. Right now, I wish I could take the edge off my nerves.’
Placing the glass back down, he looked seriously at Retharin and said, “Something has come up. The entire continent is in danger of being destroyed and that includes the ice elf city. It is going to be an impossibly hard battle, but I was hoping that we could rely on your help.”
Seeing how grave Marcus’ expression was, Retharin realized that this was certainly not a pleasure visit and asked Marcus to explain the entire situation to him.
“I see, that certainly is troubling.” Retharin said. “But I am always up for a good challenge. Gwyneira and I have had our disagreements in the past, but I suppose that I can put those aside as my home is going to be threatened as well. I also still owe it to my late master to protect the city she created so I cannot sit around and do nothing.” Retharin said with a confident smile on his face.
Letting out a sigh of relief Marcus was glad he was able to get Retharin on their side, since he was honestly the most powerful being within the northern part of the continent. Well other than the calamity that was about to be released upon them.
Nevertheless, while Retharin was starting to get excited for a thrilling battle, there was still one more thing Marcus wanted from the mythic grade magical beast.
“Retharin, do you have a way to get in contact with Ardea. She was supposed to have come and seen me by now to give me some items, but she has not shown. Though what I really want is her help in this situation.”
Nodding his head Retharin took out a sending stolen from his item box, and said, “I should be able to reach her as long as she is within range of this. If not, well, then we will be out of luck.”
Activating the sending stone, he sent a message to Ardea, and the two of them waited a few minutes for a response.
When five minutes slowly passed by, both of them were ready to give up hope, when suddenly the sending stone came back to life and out of it came Ardea’s voice.
“Reth what is it? I am kind of in the middle of something.” Ardea said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
This was quickly followed by the sound of an explosion and the horrid cry of some sort of creature.
Retharin waited for the sounds of battle to quiet, before saying, “Actually it is not me who wants to speak with you. I am sure you remember Irene. She is the one that wants to talk.”
Now having introduced him, Retharin handed his sending stone over to Marcus so that he could talk to Ardea.
Though before he could say anything, she said with a frustrated tone, “Yes, I know I have not delivered the payment for fixing my gauntlet yet, when I said it would only take a few months. Something important came up that required my attention for a bit, but I am actually in the middle of getting the materials you wanted. So, if you would just wait another couple weeks, I will have it to you.”
Ardea was then about to hang up and get back to fighting, when Marcus shouted out to stop her.
“Wait Andrea! I am not contacting you about that. In fact, I could care less about that right now. The entire continent is in trouble of being wiped out and we could use your help.”
Hearing the urgency in Marcus’ voice, Ardea stopped putting her sending stone away and asked Marcus to elaborate.
As he told her what was happening, she felt a chill run through her body and began shaking in fear.
She had heard about the previous incident with the Doomsday Centipede from her master who had been present during the final battle.
Back then she was still only the Apprentice of the Grand Witch of the Peaks at that time, and along with her master three other grand witches joined the other heroes that took down the Dread Flame which nearly destroyed an entire continent.
However, while four grand witches fought against it, her master was the only one of them came out as one of the seven survivors of the original group of twenty-four.
“I will try to be there to help. My master would look down at me if I did not rise up to this challenge as she did all those years ago.” Ardea said as she steeled herself.
But Marcus was not done yet, and said, “Wait, you said that there were other grand witches. Would it be possible for you to get them to assist us as well?”
Pausing and thinking about it for a moment, Ardea went through all of the other grand witches, trying to figure out which if any might be willing to help.
All of them were fairly eccentric, but some of them were more so than others, and she knew that it was unlikely for most of them to come and help out here.
“I can put out a call for help, but I am not sure who or how many will respond. A decent amount of the current generation is relatively new to their position and are not as strong as I am. Still, I will see who is willing to help before coming over myself. Some of my favorite mountains exist on this continent and I do not want them being toppled over.”
With Andrea’s help secured Marcus ended the call with her so that she could get to work and handed the stone back to Retharin.
Yet only a moment after he did, he received a message on his own sending stone from Gwyneira.
“Marcus it looks like our time is up. The Dread Burrower has been released and has begun its rampage.”
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