"Come in!" called a deep voice from inside.
"Come in?" asked Ron. "He didn't even check to see who is here! Is he expecting company?"
The four walked in and found a man sitting at a table. His clothes suggested that he had just gotten in from doing chores outside. The man looked to be in his thirties and was in good shape however several scars could be seen on his body. However, most striking was that the man was incredibly pale. His skin was almost luminescent he was so pale.
"Excuse me sir, we apologize for interrupting your evening," said Suzanne. "We also have some strange questions to ask you."
"Such as, 'Where are we?' and 'We're from another world?'" the man asked. "Take a seat. I'll explain everything you need to know about the horrid place you now find yourself in."
The four reacted with surprise at the man's response and took a seat to hear him speak.
"This is the world of darkness called Alefgard," the man explained. "Judging by how heavily armed you all are you lot must have been on some sort of adventure and blundered into one of the portals leading here."
"We didn't blunder into a portal, sir," said Suzanne. "We sought out the portal."
The man sighed and shook his head. "You will come to regret your mistake dearly. Whether you did that looking for riches or for treasure, you will find only misery here. This land is a sick mockery of the upper world. You shall never see the sun again."
"Never?" asked Alice.
"It's called the world of darkness for a reason," answered the man. "See my skin? This is how you identify a native-born Gardian. I was born in this world and I've never seen the sun. I've only heard about it from others such as yourselves that have dropped from the upper world."
"I see. Sir, my name is Suzanne. These are my companions: Ron, Thomas, and Alice," introduced Suzanne. "What is your name?"
"I don't care what your names are," said the man. "And I'm not about to give you mine. I serve as the welcoming committee for many who end up in this world. If you need a name for me, call me Welcome."
"Well this is certainly a warm welcome," muttered Ron.
Welcome heard Ron's comment. "You'd best forget such statements if you want to last in the world, boy. You'd best forget all humor and happiness. And you'd best forget whatever fool quest brought you here. Such things will only be twisted around to give you even more pain. If you want to survive you'd be wise to keep your head down and resign yourselves to your terrible fates."
"What kind of attitude is that?" demanded Ron. "We only just got here! You have no idea what we're capable of!"
Welcome let out a sigh. "Look, son. I'm not here to argue with you I'm just trying to give you some advice. People fall through portals every so often and end up here. I send them on their way to the mainland. I've seen powerful warriors fall down here. I've seen youngsters filled with hope and ambition. The greater they are, the more terrible their fate. Master Zoma delights in taking the best and tearing them down."
"So Zoma truly is here?" asked Suzanne.
For the first time, Welcome seemed surprised. "You've heard of Master Zoma? I've never known of people coming straight from the upper world to have heard its foul name."
"It made itself known in our homeland recently," explained Suzanne. "It attacked and destroyed Aliahan Castle."
Welcome sighed again and shook his head. "So the fiend has finally managed to reach into the upper world. At long last, no place is safe from it."
"Not yet," insisted Suzanne. "We're on a mission to take down Zoma. That's why we're here."
For the first time, Welcome expressed anger. "For goodness' sake, don't say idiotic things like that!" he hissed. "If the Master found out, it would turn all of you into its personal playthings! And me too, for the crime of having heard you say it!"
"My apologies, Welcome," answered Suzanne. "We don't mean to get you into trouble."
"You know, if he hates it here so much we could take him to the upper world," suggested Ron.
Welcome heard Ron's suggestion. "I'll have no more of your nonsense! You are stuck here! You have sunk into the darkness like every other denizen of this world! Accept it! I have wasted enough time on you!"
"Sir, if you would but step outside we could show you," said Suzanne.
"Bah! Step outside and do whatever you want!" scoffed Welcome. "I'll not have you wasting my time!"
"Wasting your time? What are we keeping you from?" demanded Alice. "What do you have to lose from just entertaining us for a few moments?"
"I've seen enough schemes and hopes get drowned," answered Welcome. "I've made it a point not to watch newcomers when they inevitably fall into despair."
"Well we're not leaving until you step outside and watch," declared Alice.
"You're not ready to give up, huh? Fine, I'll step outside," said Welcome.
The five walked outside to where the heroes had landed from the upper world. Alice cast a teleportation spell and zoomed into the air. However, unlike most teleportation spells, a circle of light broke through the dark sky and the beam of light that Alice had turned into went into the light. The circle of light then disappeared.
"Have you ever seen that out of a teleportation spell?" asked Ron. "Actually, do you even have teleportation spells here?"
Welcome was too shocked to answer. Moments later Alice returned. By comparison, the group could see that coming from the upper world was not as hope-inspiring. She was engulfed in darkness as she fell. The darkness gradually dissipated until she landed, by which point she appeared as normal.
"See?" asked Alice triumphantly.
"I-I can't believe I'm letting myself believe this," muttered Welcome. "Could you…could you teleport me to the upper world?"
"Of course!" answered Alice cheerfully. "But you may want to get something to cover your eyes. If you've never seen the sun I imagine it will hurt quite a bit for you to see sunlight."
"I'll take my chances," insisted Welcome. With no further delay, Alice teleported the two of them away. The other three awaited their return. It took a few minutes before Alice and Welcome dropped in from the darkness. Welcome was weeping.
"Are you alright?" asked Thomas, concerned.
"Yes," answered Welcome. "I had never thought to see such light in my life. It was so beautiful!"
"Given what you were telling us I'm surprised you've come back," said Suzanne.
"I have a son; he's working around the house here somewhere. I have to bring him up there with me," answered Welcome. "And I would advise you all go back to the upper world as well, and stay there."
"Our mission is to defeat Zoma," said Suzanne. "Even the upper world will not be safe from it for long."
"But at least you will be able to hide from it for a time," answered Welcome. "But I can see I will not deter you. So, I want you to have this as thanks for getting my boy and me out of this hell." He handed a scroll to Suzanne.
"What is this?" asked Suzanne.
"This scroll will give you control of the Shadow Ferry, my ship," answered Welcome. "Normally, I would put you on the ship and use the scroll to bring you to the mainland, and then recall the ship. Now the ship is yours. It is a magical ship that requires no crew."
"That's a very powerful ship!" exclaimed Alice. "How did you keep it from Zoma, if he's as powerful as you say?"
Welcome scoffed. "That demon let me have the ship. It wants the people that come to this world to collect together, the better to cause misery on a large scale. To that end, it has ordered its minions to leave the Shadow Ferry alone. Once it realizes that you commandeer the ship and that you plan to fight it you will receive no respite while you travel the seas. And the Master's aquatic minions are every bit as dangerous as its land minions."
"Thank you for your generous gift," said Suzanne.
"No, thank you," said Welcome.
After dropping Welcome and his son off in the upper world the four went aboard their new ship, the Shadow Ferry. It was as Welcome said: powerful magic flowed
all throughout the ship. It took some getting used to but Suzanne was successfully able to control the ship using the scroll. It was a very short journey to get to the mainland. Welcome had pointed them to Tantegel Castle, the capital of Alefgard, and the town of Brecconaly right next to it.
"You know, other than the perpetual darkness, this isn't all that different," pointed out Ron. "I mean, there's still grass and trees around! About the same temperature too; I'd imagine it's almost winter here just like in the upper world. Come to think of it, how do plants survive here without sunlight?"
"That's a good question," said Alice thoughtfully. "I will have to study the matter some time."
"Study it later," warned Suzanne. "We have company."
A group of five slimes had wandered up to the group. Curiously, three of them were colored red instead of the usual blue.
"Oh come on!" protested Ron. "Slimes? We could be discussing this while blind-folded and still not suffer a scratch!"
"See how some of them are red?" asked Suzanne. "I've never seen a slime like that. They might well be dangerous. Don't let your guard down."
"Bah!" scoffed Ron as he blocked an attempted body slam by one of the red slimes.
Fortunately, there was little reason to worry. The red slimes were not noticeably tougher than their blue comrades. The fight was over in seconds and, as Ron had predicted, none of the group suffered a scratch.
"I'm starting to think this horrible world of darkness is just a lot of talk," said Ron confidently. "Oooh! Red slimes! How horrible! Maybe Zoma isn't all that bad and it's just that nobody in this world knows how to pick up a sword."
"In our world, there were areas where there were few things more dangerous than slimes," said Thomas. "Did that make Baramos any less dangerous?"
"Fine, no it didn't," conceded Ron. "But come on guys! Loosen up a bit! Despite what Welcome told us, things aren't looking too bad. The monsters aren't too bad yet, the grass is nice and healthy despite a lack of sunlight, and we even brightened up the rest of Welcome's life. I'd say we're off to a good start in this dark world."
"Speaking of Welcome, I advise we tell nobody else that we can return to the upper world," said Thomas.
"What? Why?" asked Ron.
"What if Welcome is telling the truth?" asked Thomas. "What if this world is as bad as he said and everyone is living in despair?"
"Then we have to help them!" said Alice. "Would you leave them all in their misery, Tom?"
"No," said Thomas. "But hear me out. Think of the logistics. From what Welcome told us, Tantegel and Brecconaly are as populated as the castle towns in the upper world. And it sounds like there are other towns as well, just like kingdoms in the upper world. Could you evacuate an entire kingdom? Could you teach your teleportation technique to other mages?"
"Well, no," said Alice. "The technique I use to teleport us back uses many secret of magic that are only available to sages. Short of finding more Books of Satori and making more sages, it'll take far too long to teach this magic to others."
"But we have to get out as many as we can!" insisted Ron.
"And then what?" asked Thomas. "How much time and resources would you spend on this mass evacuation? How would you pick who gets evacuated? And what of those left behind? If things are as bad as Welcome said then I imagine much of the population would be desperate to leave. They may turn to murder and riots. They may very well attack us in an attempt to kidnap Alice; to use her as a living ship out of here."
"As much as we don't like it, Tom's right," said Suzanne. "We help the people of this world by defeating Zoma. Evacuating people will provide a temporary solution to only a few people."
"Argh! Fine!" said Ron. "But I don't like it!" The look on Alice's face revealed a similar sentiment.
It took about a day of traveling to reach the town of Brecconaly. During that time the heroes did not face anything more dangerous than slimes. They found the town under a heavy guard. However, the guards did not seem too worried about the heavily armed newcomers.
"You're human, so you can enter," said one of the guards. "Just know that you'll pretty much be on your own. We can't babysit everyone."
"Then what are the point of having guards?" asked Ron, after they had left the guards' hearing. "Aren't they supposed to 'babysit' the populace?"
"If Zoma has a minion with something like the Staff of Change than they would have an easy time infiltrating the town," pointed out Alice.
"Maybe they have," cautioned Thomas. "Anyone here could be working for Zoma. And it doesn't have to be a monster."
"Be on your guard at all times, everyone," said Suzanne.
The four began to walk around the town. A good amount of people were out and about on that particular day. The town had more lanterns and lights out; likely because they were the only lights the town ever saw. However, the town's attitude was different from most. People hurried from place to place as though worried they would be struck down at any moment. People joined in conversation talked in hushed voices. There was no laughter or smiles to be seen.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Alice, pointing to the local inn and her face paling.
From the second floor of the local inn was a man hanging out of one of the windows. It did not appear he had been dead for long. Perhaps most disturbing was that nobody gave more than a glance to the dead man.
"It would seem this sort of sight is commonplace around here," said Thomas. "Nobody even seems fazed by it."
"Was he…murdered?" asked Alice, though it was easy to tell she believed something else to be the case. "Did some bandits break in and throw him out that window?"
"You all are new here," said a woman who was passing by. Her pale skin marked her as a native of Alefgard. "You can always tell who is new by who stares at the suicide victims."
"So it's true?" asked Suzanne. "That man killed himself? And it's common to see this in this town?"
"In this town and any town," said the woman. "That's the way of life in this land and you'd better get used to it. Alefgard is a land of darkness sealed away from the rest of the worlds. Here there is only despair."
"Is Zoma the cause of this?" asked Ron.
"The Master Archfiend maintains this grim atmosphere," answered the woman. "The fiend drinks despair as though it was fine wine. It feasts on hatred as though it were a banquet."
The four decided to gather information about this dark world. As they had become accustomed to throughout their adventure they went to different areas of interest in Brecconaly to talk to the townspeople and find out about the area.
As Alice went around talking to people she caught the attention of an old man. The man, a native Gardian, approached her and started a conversation.
"Hey, lass! Yes, you!"
"Yes?" asked Alice.
"I'm Bert, the local storyteller," introduced the man.
"I'm Alice! My friends and I just came to this land," said Alice.
"Yes, I had heard we had some newcomers here," said Bert. "I believe I saw two of your friends around earlier."
"We've been making the rounds," answered Alice. "I'm sorry sir, but why hasn't anyone told me about you? In most towns it'd be easy to find the local storytellers and bards but nobody has mentioned you."
"Nobody listens to my stories anymore," replied Bert. "Nobody wants to hear stories of how things were before the darkness or how hope can be found even in these dark times. After all, having too much hope tends to get one targeted by the Master."
"Alright, Bert, I'm interested in your stories," said Alice. "You said you had stories from before the darkness? So there was a time when the sun shined in this land?"
"Yes, yes, there was!" answered Bert excitedly. "It is written that our ancestors came to this land from a great pit in the upper world. They were trapped and unable to return home. But all was not lost for they found a lush and beautiful land that was unpopulated. With no other recourse available to them, they decided to settle down here."
"
A great pit huh?" echoes Alice thoughtfully. "I wonder if it's the same one we came through."
"Perhaps, lass," said Bert. "Newcomers are known to come from such a place to this day."
"I see. What else do you have, Bert?" asked Alice.
"There is the story of Charlock Castle," said Bert thoughtfully. "It was built by a group of people hoping to overthrow the rightful king of the time, King Soren. Somehow, they managed to build the castle on Charlock Isle, after which they named the castle. It is normally quite difficult to get there due to the dangerous waters that separate the isle from mainland Alefgard."
"The villains built the castle to be the most impregnable fortress the land would ever know," continued Bert. "And they were quite successful. They launched attack after attack from Charlock, from which one could see Tantegel Castle and vice versa from the highest towers. King Soren was almost forced to surrender to the rebels. However, when all seemed lost, they found a way."
"What was that?" asked Alice.
"It is written that when sunlight and rain meet, the Rainbow Bridge is formed," answered Bert. "The Bridge connected Charlock Isle to the mainland, near the city of Rimuldar. From the city Soren marshaled his forces and assaulted the isle. Caught unawares, the forces of Charlock were beaten into submission. As their punishment, King Soren had a great dungeon built into the basements of Charlock Castle. The fortress the rebels had used became their prison."
"That's a great story, Bert!" said Alice. "Do you have any more?"
That night the four met at the inn again. Disturbingly, none of the townspeople or the inn staff had moved the body of the man who had hung himself from the second floor. During the day, Thomas took the body himself and buried it. When the heroes had reunited Alice shared what she had learned from Bert.
"He told me a story of a cave to the north. Even gave me some good directions to it," said Alice. "Legend has it that this cave is closely tied to Zoma. Bert said that at the bottom of the cave is a bottomless fissure, through which nothing can pass. Bert is of the opinion it was created when Zoma came into the world."
Dragon Quest Novel Page 51