Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley

by John Nest

"Great job on tracking down Crucibelle. I'd also like to commend you for how you handled the situation in this village. At least they're open to the idea of leaving their home."

  He saw Espion smile proudly.

  "I'm sure Caid will be very pleased to hear this." said Smoke as they walked into the village. As they did, he observed that Banal village already looked like a ghost town.

  The cobblestone streets were empty and the stone houses had boarded-up windows.

  "Espion, where is everybody?"

  "They're all hiding over at the center of the village. Apparently, they have an emergency shelter they go to in case of monster attacks or natural calamities." explained Espion.

  Espion led the way and they only needed to walk for ten more minutes before they got to the shelter. The stone building was a large cube three stories high.

  Smoke couldn't see any visible ladders. There were just a couple of windows on the third floor. As they reached the emergency shelter, the young Spy knocked on the large double iron door.

  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

  A sliding peephole opened and a voice came out of it. "All ravens are black."

  To which Espion replied, "If it's not black, it's not a raven."

  The large door opened and Smoke, Igniz and Espion went inside. Espion looked at Smoke and said, "Aside from being prepared for disasters, most of the villagers are also a bit paranoid."

  Smoke nodded as he listened to Espion's observation on the Banalites. Inside the shelter, he saw about a dozen bunk beds placed against the walls.

  "How many villagers are there?" asked Smoke.

  "There are only eighty-three residents in Banal: sixty adults, ten elderly and thirteen children." Espion replied promptly. "You see that bald man with a yellow jacket?"

  Espion pointed at a stout, middle-aged man with a completely bald head, who was talking to a group of villagers.

  "Yes."

  "That's the village chief. His name's Sot Regle." Espion waved at Banal's village chief and Sot waved back.

  Both Smoke and Espion walked over to Sot.

  "Excuse me gentlemen," Espion addressed the gathered Banalites, "I'd like you all to meet my esteemed leader Smoke and his dark ember sprite Igniz."

  The gathered Banalites greeted Smoke and Igniz with smiles on their faces. "He'll know exactly what to do in order for your village to survive Crucibelle's attack." Espion went on to explain.

  Smoke smiled sincerely and shook the gathered Banalites' hands. "A pleasure to meet you all. Sorry for being abrupt, but I was wondering if we could talk with Sot in private?"

  The stout bald man nodded. "Sure, no problem." Sot led the way to the upper floors of the shelter. They went into one of the rooms on the third floor.

  "Here should be fine." said Sot as he motioned for Smoke and Espion to sit on chairs opposite to him, while Igniz remained flying around Smoke. "I'm sorry we don't have strategy rooms. We only have simple rooms with simple beds. Pretty interesting ember sprite you have there. I've only heard about them being red."

  "Yeah, Igniz is special. Don't worry about the rooms, this is perfectly fine. I just wanted to know when would your people be ready to migrate to Verbrannt?" asked Smoke.

  "Migrate to Verbrannt?" Sot shook his head strongly, "Espion just said to leave the village temporarily. He told us that you could protect us from hostile monsters in the wild while Crucibelle passes through our village."

  Smoke frowned when he heard this and shot Espion a stern look. Espion just shrugged his shoulders and pretended that he didn't know what Sot was saying.

  The DarkElf tried to be calm as possible as he described what was going to happen to Banal village. "Well, you see, when Crucibelle goes through a village, she doesn't leave anything standing. Go ahead, Espion. Tell him what you saw in Opferntl Village."

  Espion proceeded to retell the story of how Opferntl village was burnt to the ground with its residents still in it. "...Only ashes remained of the flourishing village." Espion ended.

  Sot looked down to the floor. Banal's chief looked broken. Smoke thought that if one were to look up the word forlorn in a dictionary, there would probably be a picture of Sot's current expression next to it.

  Smoke patted Sot's shoulders and said, "A wise man once told me that a village isn't the place where you put up walls, houses and other buildings. It is where the people of one mind and one goal reside."

  "Huh?" Sot turned to Smoke with a bewildered look, "You think the villagers will just gladly leave their homes and merrily sing while moving away from the place they all grew up in?"

  Smoke's eyes grew wide. He didn't expect for Sot to be this negative about the idea of migrating. He was sure that he would be able to easily convince him and the villagers to migrate to Verbrannt.

  "So, what are you planning on doing now, Sot?" Smoke asked as he tried to come up with a way to persuade the villagers to leave.

  "I'm going to inform all of the Banalites what's really going to happen and ask if any of them want to migrate."

  Sot stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I have to tell them the real situation." Sot looked at Espion with disgust.

  Smoke lightly struck Espion's chest with the back of his fist. "Hey! What was that for?" asked Espion.

  "Why did you lie to them? Why did you tell them that their homes were gonna be okay?"

  "I figured that once they see there's nothing left here, they'll be okay with moving to Verbrannt. Besides, isn't that what you did when you pretended to be Ilad, the Flame Knight?"

  "This and that are two completely different scenarios." Smoke sighed as he was exasperated with explaining it to Espion. "Anyway, I doubt the Banal villagers will be willing to leave now."

  Smoke, Igniz and Espion went back downstairs. The three of them stood in the back of the room while Sot climbed onto a small table and turned to face the crowd of gathered Banalites.

  "Fellow Banalites, it appears that we have been mislead. Crucibelle doesn't intend to just pass through our village. Instead, she intends to burn it down to the ground."

  The Banalites broke into an uproar as soon as they heard Sot's bad news.

  "Now, now. Please try to calm down. It appears that Smoke and Espion here are offering to take us to a different village." Sot pointed to the back where Smoke was.

  The crowd turned around and stared at the DarkElf. All Smoke could do was smile and give the crowd a small wave.

  "I haven't heard how wonderful this other village is supposed to be. I'm sure that it is, but I don't want to leave Banal without a fight. I don't want to leave the place our forefathers built with their bare hands."

  Sot formed a fist and pointed to the crowd.

  "So, I'm asking all of you now: who amongst you here wants to leave with Smoke?"

  None of the Banalites showed signs of siding with Smoke.

  "We're staying with you, Sot. If you chose to stay here and fight, then we'll fight alongside you!" shouted one of the Banalites. The crowd joined in and agreed not to run away.

  Smoke shook his head at what was happening. The crowd's voices grew louder as they made plans for defending their homes against Crucibelle and her Gobble Goblin army.

  Sot walked over to Smoke and spoke to him, "So, it appears that migration is out of the picture. Would you be willing to defend Banal village instead?"

  A quest window immediately popped up.

  + Quest: Defense of Banal

  Protection Quest

  Level: A

  Banal's village chief Sot asked you to defend the village from Crucibelle's imminent attack.

  Accept the Quest? [YES/NO]

  Smoke offered his hand to Sot and accepted the quest.

  * * * * * *

  "So, what is your village's specialty?" Smoke asked Sot as both of them were outside and Sot was showing Smoke around Banal village.

  "To be honest, we don't have anything special at all. We're what some might call a 'mediocre' village. We mostly have Tailors, Farmers and a single Merchant."


  Sot answered nervously as he watched the Tikbalangs patrolling the streets of Banal. "Are you sure it's safe to have those monsters around?" asked Sot.

  "Please don't refer to them as monsters. They're noble Centaurs, they were just cursed by one of the Witches." Smoke said strongly.

  "I apologize if I've offended you, I was just taken aback by their appearance. Seeing twenty-one of these, uhm, cursed Centaurs is a bit overwhelming." Sot rambled as he tried to apologize.

  Smoke listened to him as he looked around the village. He scrutinized Banal village's potential weak points and also observed that the entire village only covered an area of barely five square kilometers.

  "And what about that Merchant? Does he or she have anything interesting for sale?" asked Smoke.

  Sot shook his head fervently. "No, nothing interesting at all. He has rather useless items: some fishing rods, iron ingots and a couple of books. But there is no river or lake nearby, there's no Blacksmiths in Banal and no one here is interested in reading books."

  The mention of books instantly piqued the DarkElf's interest. "Books, huh? I'd like to meet this Merchant, please." Smoke asked with a smile.

  "Sure, no problem." said Sot. As they continued walking in the same direction, he was met with Smoke's questioning gaze. "Oh, you mean now? Alright then, this way." Sot led Smoke to the next block and stopped when they got to the corner.

  A man plumper than Sot sat idly in front of a small stall. He had gray hairs and a wrinkled face. Sot called the Merchant's attention.

  "Smoke, I'd like you to meet Perdant Marchand." The gray-haired Merchant shook Smoke's hand energetically.

  "A pleasure to meet you, Master Smoke. Please, call me Perdant and feel free to look at my wares. I'm sure you'll find something to your liking."

  Smoke and Perdant shook hands with vested interest. "Nice to meet you too, Perdant."

  "Alright. Now that you've met, I think I'll check the village gate while I'm here." Sot rushed towards the gate on the left.

  Smoke and Perdant waved goodbye to the village chief. Immediately afterwards, the Beggar and the Merchant discussed their business at hand.

  "I'm gonna be straight with you, Perdant: I'm here only for your books." Smoke explained directly.

  "Very good choice, Master Smoke." said Perdant with a smile as he prepared three books in front of Smoke.

  "Tsk." Smoke couldn't help but click his tongue, as he expected to buy more than three books. In front of him were books entitled "You and Your Symbiote Volume II", "Twin Vision" and "The Saviors Tested by Fate: Part One".

  Smoke's attention first went to the Symbiote book because he had already acquired the knowledge of the first volume and gained the Telefax Vision ability from it, but his focus quickly shifted to the thick book with a special cover. The book entitled "Twin Vision" was actually an ability tome.

  "How much for all three books?" Smoke eagerly asked.

  Perdant raised his hand and showed five fingers. "Fifty thousand zecs for all three books would be good."

  Smoke quickly took out a bag containing one hundred thousand zecs from his backpack and gave it to the Merchant.

  As he grabbed the book entitled "Twin Vision", a confirmation window popped up. This meant that he fulfilled the ability tome's requirements.

  +Ability Tome: 'Twin Vision'

  A poor man's version of the Shared Vision ability. It can display on a flat surface what the other person sees, provided that the surface is within two feet of the caster.

  Requirements:

  Job: Light Wizard

  Level: 100

  Intelligence: 200

  Mana: 50,000

  Before Smoke could consume the ability tome, Perdant grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Wait! This isn't a fair deal. No offense, but you don't seem like the person who has a hundred thousand zecs to spare."

  "Huh? What do you mean?" asked a puzzled Smoke. He saw Perdant give him a head to foot glance. 'He must be bothered by my ragged appearance.'

  Perdant explained, "I only asked for fifty thousand zecs, but you gave me a hundred thousand zecs instead. Besides, that ability sounds useless, I couldn't find it in my conscience to accept this offer."

  "Ah, I intentionally did that. While some people might consider it a junk ability, others might deem it very valuable, which is why I wanted to pay the correct price for this item."

  Perdant still looked unconvinced. Smoke smiled and was touched by such a rarity that was an honest Merchant. "Alright, how about I buy all of your ingots too?" Smoke asked.

  "Alright, I think that will be fair trade. Thank you for your patronage, Master Smoke." Perdant smiled and Smoke watched his Intimacy with the Merchant rise to sixty.

  After that issue was resolved, Smoke brought his attention back to the ability tome and consumed it without any further delays.

  + Consumed 'Twin Vision' tome.

  + Learned Ability: Twin Vision

  Active

  Level: Beginner Level 1

  Experience: (0/1,000)

  Lets you display what you see onto a very limited area.

  Restriction: Can only be used on a flat surface no farther than two feet away from the caster at all times.

  Effect: Lets other see what the caster sees.

  MP Consumption: 200 MP

  A smiling DarkElf held the other two books in his hands. The one entitled "You and Your Symbiote Volume II" showed two hours on the progress bar.

  Propitiously, the one entitled "The Saviors Tested by Fate: Part One" only needed fifty-nine more seconds for it to finish. He patiently stood in place and waited for the Acquired Knowledge window to pop up.

  The Saviors Tested by Fate

  It was a time when the great gods had just left the mortal plains of Zectas. The four Reptilian sub-races...Lizardites, Chameleonese, Crocodilians and Draconians...had only just begun their bold campaign towards world domination.

  The different kingdoms and races held onto their pride and chose not to ally with one another, except for a small group of HighElf princesses.

  This group of princesses not only possessed courage, but beauty as well. Their charm was said to rival that of the goddess of beauty, Xochique.

  The princesses banded together and proceeded to form most fearsome armies, powerful enough to stand against the dreaded Reptilian race.

  In a joint effort, they stopped the progress of Lizardites and Chameleonese. However, this was only for a short time.

  The armies of the allied princesses could not stand against the might of all four Reptilian sub-races. Desperate, they asked for help from the god of death, Chalchizin.

  Little did the princesses now that instead of finding salvation, they had sealed their fate...

  Many questions popped into Smoke's mind after he read the book, and of course, he wondered how the story ends. He was about to continue acquiring the knowledge of the other book when Sot came running from the direction of the village gate.

  "Crucibelle's here! Crucibelle's here!" Sot shouted in a trembling voice.

  "Huh? What are you talking about?" Smoke asked quickly while hiding the book in his backpack and sprinted to Sot.

  "I thought you said we still had two days left?" Sot asked in despair as Smoke joined him at the village's iron gate.

  Two dust clouds were rapidly approaching Banal village.

  "That's not Crucibelle." said Smoke with a grin, "Those are our reinforcements."

  In less than five minutes, two stag-moose pulling heavily-armored carriages slowed down in front of Banal's iron gate. A tigress Lioumerean and a lioness Lioumerean were sitting in the driver's seats. Smoke, Igniz, Espion, Sot, Ledur and twenty Tikbalangs were all there to greet them.

  Smoke and Espion waved to the two Lioumerean drivers. As soon as the armored carriages came to a full stop, the lioness Lioumerean leapt from her seat and dove straight for the DarkElf.

  He tried to sidestep Laernea's hug, but Espion held Smoke in place. Laernea hugged Smoke tightly
with her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.

  "Okay, Laernea. You can let go now." said Smoke as he gave Espion an agitated look. The young Spy only raised his hands and acted all innocent.

  "Sorry about that. It's just that I've missed you so much, Smoke." Laernea explained as she was pried off by Gandiva.

  "I've missed you as well, Smoke." said Gandiva as she gave him a gentle hug. "Same here, Gandiva."

  One by one, Smoke's other private army members jumped down from the two armored carriages. Adder stepped forward first and stood in front of Smoke. He clenched his fist, brought it in front of his heart and bowed down before Smoke. "Finally, I'll be directly in your service once more."