The Eden Crisis
Chapter 2: Quest

It’s been a week since I started Eden and I love it! My character level is fifteen and I’m on the seventh continent. I finally got the sword Cain gave me appraised. It is called Yggdrasil and is a holy-based weapon.

My brothers aren’t logged in, so I am going to do a quest to get some new stuff and level up. I’m heading to the Quest Broker now, as new quests pop up every day. I walk to the broker thinking about what quests to consider. The NPC or non playable character greets me and reveals the available quests:

Enchanted Rings of the Lost Kings

Emerald Dragon

Ruby Sword

Forsaken Cave

Emerald Stone

I choose Forsaken Cave. The NPC hands me a scroll, and I open it to look at the information inside.

Forsaken Cave

Outside Indagatus, the Aqua City of Research, there is a cave in the Forsaken Forest called the Forsaken Cave. You must search the cave and unlock the secrets inside. You will find three; they will unlock the door leading into the keep. Inside you will come face to face with the Forsaken One. He guards the keep and the final secrets.

I put the scroll away and make my way to the Teleportation Sphere. I choose Indagatus and am immediately teleported away. I love Indagatus. Of the cities I’ve seen so far, it is the most beautiful.

I walk toward the forest thinking about what to do. This quest is an unknown-star quest. These quests can be extremely demanding or very easy. They always yield great items, so it’s worth the effort.

The forest is beautiful, as always. Players are walking around, talking, fighting monsters or just enjoying the scenery. I pass by.

The cave is just ahead. I check to make sure I am ready. “Prepared as well as I can be,” I assure myself. I go into the cave and, damn, is it frightening. There are blood stains everywhere. Skeletons litter the floor around me.

“What in hell?” I say. “The secrets must have to be about this massacre.” There are two doors that are barred and locked in front of me.

I look around the cave for keys for these doors. I can’t find anything. I walk into the only open room in the cave and find a skeleton sitting against the wall. It has two keys.

I take the keys, and the first trap of the cave occurs. All of the skeletons suddenly awaken. At once, I am surrounded by them. I draw Yggdrasil and attack them. The sword’s holy attacks obliterate them, but skeletons keep coming from the ground.

It is getting to be more than I can handle. I concentrate and use one of my sword skills. “Phoenix slash!” I yell. The energy blows a pathway, and I take a chance and go to the door on the left. I unlock it and race through. I feel myself letting go of the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

This room is dark as the pits of hell. I can’t see anything. I open my inventory and pull out a flash crystal. I throw it at the ground, and when it shatters it illuminates the room.

The only thing to be seen is a chest. I walk to it and open it. As soon as I do a piercing groan fills my ears. I turn and there stands a huge beast. It has a large axe and swings it at me.

I roll out of the way as it comes down. I put my hands on the ground. “Sinking earth!” I shout. The dirt below us rumbles and the monster sinks waist deep into the ground. I call up another skill: “Light strike!” I attack the beast. It roars and slashes its axe and knocks me back.

My hit points are lowered below half. Damn! I will need a better long-distance skill. I concentrate. “Air slash!” I swing my blade, and a blast wave shoots from my sword. It cuts right through the beast. It gives a pained roar, erupts into pieces and fades. I take a silver pendant with a large diamond in the center from its chest. Looking at it, I decide it wasn’t worth the trouble.

I put it in my inventory and walk out of the room. The skeletons aren’t moving this time. I go through the other door. It leads to a room that is far more illuminated than the other one. It is more like a hallway, and I explore it to see where it goes.

As I penetrate deeper and deeper I can hear fighting sounds in the distance. “Die, you bastard!” I hear. The voice is that of a girl. I run as fast as I can to help her.

The hallway opens into a large room with an enormous stone beast. The girl is attacking the beast relentlessly, but her onslaught seems to have no effect on it.

I hold a hand up. “Water blast!” It is one of only two offensive spells I have and they are both low level. The spell is hardly even an attack. I see now I should have chosen Sorcerer instead of Diviner.

The girl turns with a look of surprise mixed with fury. “Who are you? If you are a PKer, know that I will kill you!” Player killer? As if. “See what I just did?” I say. “That is called saving a blonde from death.” She smirks.

“Well, then, don’t let me get in the way,” she says. The beast groans and pounds the ground. I cringe. “How do we kill it? What is it, anyway?”

She shakes her head. “It’s a golem, idiot. It has a strong physical defense. I have no magic to combat it.” I don’t really have any, either. “I only have two offensive spells,” I tell her. The girl sighs. “You only have two offensive spells and you did an unknown star quest? Do you have a death wish, you moron?”

“Who the hell are you calling a moron? At least I have magic, you blonde twit!”

She lets out a muffled yell. She shoves me away. “I’ll handle this, weak boy!” She jumps into the air and twirls. “Wind strike!” Wind shoots from her sword and hits the golem.

It does nothing to it! It raises its fist. Damn! I hold up my hand. “Barrier!” A defensive spell surrounds the girl and takes the brunt force of the attack. Still, she’s thrown across the room and slams into the wall.

She looks stunned at my help. I put my hands on the ground. “Sinking earth!” Waves spread across the ground. The golem sinks into the ground but keeps moving toward her. She gets to her feet and calls up a skill.

Again I hold my hand up. “Water blast!” Water shoots from me and flies into the golem. It groans. Blondie yells loudly. “Water strike!” She strikes the beast in the head. Cracks form in the beast and it dissolves into rubble.

The girl smirks. “You have some skill, but you will need me to get through here.” She taps the air and soon I have an invite to her party. I agree.

“I am Claire,” she says. “At first I thought you were Vergil, but he can’t use magic the way you do, so who are you?” She knows my brother. I wonder if that means she is trustworthy.

“I am Dante.” She smiles. “A pleasure. Let’s go. There is a series of rooms that leads to the Treasure room.” I follow her into the next room, a large space with a statue of a half-lion, half-man beast. Claire moves toward the statue.

Suddenly, it comes to life. Was it just sleeping? I begin to draw my sword, but Claire forces her hand onto mine and stops me. “Don’t!” What the hell is wrong with her? “Why shouldn’t I?”

With her other hand she points at the thing. “Do you not know what that is?” I shake my head. She sighs. “It’s a sphinx. They don’t attack unless you attack them first, and if you do that you will die. They are too strong.” My twisted look betrays my confusion.

“How do we get past the beast then?” Claire moves closer and brings me with her. The sphinx looks at us and cracks its neck. “Too long since a mortal has entered my room with restraint,” it says. “To pass by me you must solve my riddle.”

We wait and the sphinx yawns. “If you have me you want to talk about me; if you talk about me you no longer have me. What am I?”

Well, damn! Claire looks at me as though she wants me to answer. I don’t have a clue as to what to say. I shake my head. “What do you think it is, Claire? I don’t know.” She rubs her chin. “I don’t know, either. ‘If you have me you want to talk about me; if you talk about me you no longer have me.’ What can you have that you want to talk about? A joke? No, a joke is still a joke even after you talk about it.”

Claire is clearly lost in thought. As for me, I am fried. What is it with the riddles and secrets in this game?! My eyes bulge. That’s it! If you have a secret you want to talk about it, but if you talk about it, it is no longer a secret!

“Claire! It’s a secret!” She gives me a bewildered look. “What’s a secret?” I shake my head. “No, that’s the answer!” Claire thinks about it and she lets out a small chuckle. “You’re right!”

I tell the sphinx, and it nods. “Correct, you may pass.” It stands aside and we go through the opening to the next room. The sphinx speaks once more. “You’re the first in some time to see these halls. The last to come came with hundreds of soldiers in search of the great secret of this cave.”

As we walk through the room, torches begin to light. The light illuminates the exit and once again there is a sphinx. We walk up to it. It comes to life and roars. “The last mortal to get here died before answering my riddle. Let’s see if you can do better.”

It roars louder and skeletons come from the ground. They surround us. “Answer my riddle to escape with your lives. I am the beginning of the end and the end of time and space, the start of every end and the end of every place. What am I?”

The skeletons start their attack on us. I pull out my sword and counter-attack. Claire draws her sword and attacks as well. I can’t get a chance to even think of a possible answer. I doubt Claire is doing any better.

The skeletons are endless. They keep coming. My level goes up one and I gain a new spell. It is another offensive earth spell. This one is different, though. It’s time to try it out.

I place my hands on the ground. “Earth spikes!” Spikes shoot from the earth along three different paths. They tear through the skeletons as if they are nothing. “Claire, any ideas?” She unleashes a piercing battle cry and slashes through the skeletons. “Nope. You?” She slashes more and more of the skeletons.

I tell her I have none. The beginning of the end, end of time and space, start of every end and end of every place. OK, it has to be simple; riddles are never that tough.

Skeletons slash at me and I dodge. I retaliate and try to think some more. Beginning of the end and end of time and space . . . end of time and space. They both end with “e.” The beginning of end is also “e.” That’s it! All the words either start or end with “e”!

I slash through the skeletons to get to the sphinx. “The letter ‘’e’!”I shout. The skeletons dissipate into dust and return to the earth. The sphinx nods. “Congratulations, you may pass.” As it moves out of the way, like the last sphinx it has something more to say.

“As hundreds poured through to obtain forbidden treasure they fought the curse of this cave, going mad as they did.” The beasts are telling us a cautionary tale.

Claire slaps me on the back and we keep moving forward. We are in another hallway and as before in the cave there are blood stains everywhere.

“Claire, do you know the back story of this place?” She dismisses my question. “I guess you didn’t check out the library in Indagatus, did you? I do research on all the quests I perform there. The Forsaken Cave is from the former nation of Ruina before Veren, the God of Creation and Order, tore apart the nations into one hundred continents. The story goes that a knight who abandoned Ruina came here with all of the gold and treasure he could carry. Once inside he locked himself deep within and sent the sphinxes to guard over everything. The cave has become littered over the centuries with the bones of those seeking the treasure along with the fallen warrior himself, who it is said, was destroyed by his greed and malice.” Interesting, I thought, even more interesting that the designers put the information into the game to be found.

“Is all the information of Eden in this library?” I ask. Claire nods. “Yes, the designers put information in for players to learn from. Let’s keep moving.”

The room lights up and there is yet another sphinx, sitting at the door. We get close and it awakes. “You disturb my master’s resting place,” it said. “If you seek his treasure then solve my riddle.” A statue rises from the ground. It carries a large stone axe.

The statue roars and comes to life. “I can be as big as a castle, I am light as air, but not even one thousand men can move me. What am I?” Then the statue comes at us. It is slow moving, which leads me to believe it makes up for what it lacks in speed and quickness in strength.

I take an examination crystal from my inventory and toss it into the air. It shatters, and the enemy information shows before my eyes:

Stone Knight

Level: 65

Attack: 95

Defense: 100

This knight is slow moving but has a deadly attack. The axe can penetrate physical barriers.

“Know the answer, Dante?” Claire asks me as I consider how to attack. “No idea. Do you? I hope you do, because this monster is too strong for us.”

Claire scoffs and charges the knight. Is she attacking? She shoves her sword into the ground, causing it to break. She then uses her strength to propel herself over the statue and land gracefully behind it. She runs up to the sphinx. “A shadow”! The knight is reduced to rubble and the sphinx stands aside. “Finally,” he bellows. “A small company of men made it to my chamber and passed to find the treasure they sought. Once inside they wanted everything they saw, their greed consuming their minds.” This story makes me nervous about what is coming.

As we step forward into the room, purple fire erupts around us from the torches surround the circular chamber. The fire shoots upwards above us and ignites a chandelier. When two torches light on either side of a bejeweled throne, the secret of the cave is finally revealed.

There are piles of gold everywhere, and they are all guarded by a warrior sitting on the throne. He is wearing dark armor with a black cape. His hair is as dark as a raven’s plumage and his skin pale as the moon. He looks almost alive. He is supposed to be dead but he is preserved. Claire takes a handful of gold coins as the eyes of the warrior open.

“Just like those before you,” he says.” My gold is for no one but me and me alone!” Claire drops the coins and draws her sword. I pull mine out as well. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Two of you? Don’t make me laugh. The last group to fight numbered at three hundred, and . . .”—a black sword materializes in his hand—“. . . they died!” He moves in a flash.

I put a hand up. “Barrier!” A barrier surrounds Claire and me. The warrior hits us and forces us back into a pile of the gold. He’s so fast! Claire growls and quickly moves to attack him head on.

Their swords clash in a blaze of fury. Falling backward, she calls up a skill. “Fire slash!” She slices the air, and a wave of fire hits the knight. He chuckles at the attack. “Oh, we have spirit, do we? Let’s try to break that.” His red eyes, the color of a demon’s, seem to burst into flame.

He holds his hand up. “Lightning of hell!” Red lightning shoots from his hands and drubs Claire in the chest. She falls to the ground from the power of the attack. I need to move quickly.

I put my hands on the ground. “Sinking earth!” Waves shoot through the ground and the knight sinks part way into the abyss. I run to Claire and cast a healing spell on her.

“Thank you, Dante,” she says. I toss an examination crystal to reveal information on our enemy. He is called the Fallen Knight and is very powerful. I know I am not on a strong-enough level to beat him. I don’t know that Claire can beat him, either.

His speed is so great that I will need to slow him down to open him up for an attack, my hope being that Clair and I can get through the fight alive. She is already using the opening and attacking him while he is still stuck in the earth.

Without warning, the Fallen Knight leaps from the earth and lands a brutal jump-kick on Claire. I hold my hand up. “Water blast!” Water shoots from my hand towards him. He smirks and snaps his fingers. “Absolute zero!” A wave of blue energy emerges from his fingers snapping and freezing my water blast in place. It stops just at his neck.

Claire takes the opportunity to resume her attack. The knight sees her, though, and quickly moves behind her and slashes her across the back. He moves so fast! I look around for him. He’s gone! I look around again but he is nowhere!

“Behind you, fool,” he says, mocking me. I turn and there he stands, holding a hand up. “Hellfire!” A stream of fire shoots from his hand and forces me toward Claire.

He laughs and walks in our direction. He is going to kill us! I mean, it’s not bad in that we will just respawn in town, but it is bad in that I will lose the two levels I just gained and ten percent of my gold as the rules of the game state.

“We’re going to lose! Our HP is too low!” I shout to Claire. At that moment, a gentle but strong and familiar voice speaks. “Sanctimonious healing.” A red aura surrounds Claire and me and our HP goes back to full. Who did this?

The mysterious person jumps down from above. It’s Cain! “Losing already, little brother of Vergil?” I am disappointed that he is the one who saved us. “And the lady, Claire? I must say I didn’t think to find either of you on this quest.”

We are both speechless. Cain holds his hand out. “Flare!” A ball of black fire shoots at the Fallen Knight, and all we can see is him holding his side with one hand and his face with the other.

The knight screams out. “No! I can’t lose!”He explodes in a shower of light, and just like that the fight is over. Cain’s magic is ridiculously strong. How is he so powerful?

Claire is the first to speak. “Why are you here, Cain?” He shrugs. “For the quest item, why else?” She shakes her head. “I really doubt that. You just happen to be here when I am?” She has a good point, I think. Why is he here?

“Your accusation is almost flattering,” he says. “I can’t help that we have the same taste in quests.” Cain looks at me. “As for you, I was pleasantly surprised by your skill. You have come a long way in the week you’ve been playing. I hope to see you in the Platinum Tournament next week. I wish to fight you and your brother very much.” His eyes gleam with a strange desire.

The quest item, or items, I should say, appear before us. Cain looks at them. “You can have them. They are of no use to me.” With those words he teleports from the cave.

Claire allows me to take the armor part of the quest item and she takes the sword. We both teleport back to Indagatus, and Claire thanks me.

“No problem, Claire. I enjoyed doing the quest with you.” She smiles at my words. “Well, maybe I’ll see you around.” I nod and she walks off.

I go to the local inn and save my game. I log out and return to the real world.

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