Chapter 1: Warrior of Bora

"Come on, now, Stephan! You can do better than that!" I lunged at Andrew, but he stepped away. I swung backwards, but Andrew is must faster than I am, making my attacks just whoosh by him. Then he swung at me, hitting me in the leg. I yelled and started swinging more violently, but Andrew blocked all my attacks. "That's enough practice for today, Stephan," he said. He didn't even look like he was tired, but here I am sweating all over. "You should save your strength for when we get to Bora. We can sleep at the Inn there." Looking around, I noticed we were somewhere in the center of Moneo. I saw a ring of mountains to my right.

"Do you know what's in those mountains?" I asked Andrew. He looked over.

"That's where the town of Cora used to be. It's where the battle with Exitilus took place. The mountains are so high and steep no one can climb them. And they're covered in a fog, so even if someone makes it in, they can't see what's become of the town." We looked at it for a while, and then continued on our journey. We passed more mountains on our left when we crossed a river, as well as what looked like a volcano. I'm hoping it doesn't erupt as we go passed it. I didn't know where we were going, so I just followed Andrew around. He seemed to know Moneo very well. He must've traveled a lot before staying in Fora.

When we finally arrived in Bora, I noticed the houses all looked the same as in Fora. The Shop had a red roof and the Inn had a green. Perhaps it's so everyone feels like they're in a familiar place, so I can assume Bora lived in the purple-roofed house. Strange thing with the Guardians is that each one of them shares the same name as their town, but no one knows if they were named after the towns or if the towns were named after them. After spending the night in the Inn and stocking on supplies in the Shop, we headed for Bora's house. We heard a loud grumble when I knocked on the door. As it opened, Bora yelled,

"Aye, what do you think you're doing, waking an old man this early in the morning?"

"Sorry, Bora," Andrew apologized, "but we have something important to tell you. Fora sent us."

"Ah, you must be... uh, Stephan and Drew, right?"

"Andrew,"

"That's what I said. Come on in," He showed us to his couch and had us sit. We told him about what the Silver Knight told us back in Fora Temple. "Exitilus is back, huh? That shouldn't have been possible; we locked him in his cell ourselves with the Gem's... no, wait. That was, um... your ancestor, I think." It was clear Bora was still tired. "Either way, he had all the Gems and he used them to lock Exitilus away. How did he come back?" That last question he said to himself.

"Bora, do you know of a warrior that lives here?" Andrew asked. "The Silver Knight said we could find her here."

"A warrior?" Bora scratched his beard. "Um, the closest thing we got is a young girl that's been fending off the recent monster activity. Perhaps you could learn more by asking around town."

"Okay, we can do that," I said. "Where is your Gem by the way?"

"My Gem? Oh, it's in the back here. Let me go get it." Bora left to one of the back rooms. A couple of minutes later, he returned empty-handed. "That's strange; I swear I had it... Oh, I gave it to one of the workers so they could build another building. It looks great so far."

"You just gave your Gem away?" Andrew said. "I thought you were supposed to guard it."

"Yes, well..." Bora seemed to be slightly embarrassed. "You might need that warrior. Ask around town, see what you can find." With that, Andrew and I got up and left.

We asked all around the town, the Inn, the Shop, but no one heard of this warrior. One family let us in as we talked. When we told them why we were searching for this warrior, they said if they had anything that could help us, we could have it. In one of their rooms, I found a chest. I bent down to open it.

"Are you sure we should look through someone's belongings?" Andrew said.

"They said we could have anything we found, right? Besides, these kinds of chests always have something useful inside." I opened the chest, but there was nothing in it. "Usually," I added.

"Hey, who do you think you are?" a voice said behind me. I turned around and saw a girl wielding a bow. She looked like she just got back from hunting or something. "What are you doing, looking through a girl's things?"

"Sorry, but your parents said if we could find something useful, we could use it," I said. The girl shook her head, making her long, blond ponytail flail around, nearly wrapping around her head.

"That doesn't give you the right to look through personal belongings," she said angrily. "What reason could you possibly have to go through someone's things? You're not a thief, are you?" She readied her bow.

"No, we're not thieves," Andrew said. "We're on a quest to defeat Exitilus."

"Exitilus? Never heard of him. Now tell me, who are you?" She inched closer with her bow pointed at me.

"I am Stephan and this is Andrew," I said. "We're from Fora, a town down south."

"I'm Jennifer, the strongest warrior in Bora, and you'd better leave before I send this arrow through that spiky-haired head of yours."

"You're the warrior?" I said. "We were looking for you." Jennifer just stared at me with a confused expression. "We could use your help on our quest."

"Why should I help you?" she asked.

"Exitilus is going after the Gems. If he gets them, he can use them to take over the world!" Her hands started shaking. I was worried she would let the arrow slip, but then she lowered the bow.

"If he gets the Gem, I don't get my wish..." she whispered to herself. Andrew seemed to hear her.

"Were you the one Bora was gonna have a wish granted?" he asked her. "What was it?"

"...Years ago, my sister was kidnapped during a bandit raid," she said with tears in her eyes. "I was going to use the Gem to find her." There was a moment of silence until she wiped her eyes and looked at us. "Very well, I'll come with you, but no more looking through other people's stuff, got it?"

"Got it," I acknowledged. "Bora said the gem was around the new building. Let's head there." Jennifer nodded and we walked outside as she waved good-bye to her parents. Almost as soon as we closed their door, there was shouting happening around the building's area. We ran over there and saw workers running around in a panic. We could make out, "Help! Zombies!" and "Giant clock!"

"Zombies and giant clock?" I asked. "How do those go together?"

"Maybe one of them got a hold of the Gem," Andrew said. "Let's head on in."

As we opened the door to the building, we wear greeted by zombie workers. They looked just like the regular workers outside, but their pupils were much smaller and their movements were more ragged. We thought it best not to fight them as they looked like they were being controlled. We tried to work our way up, but the building was incomplete, making ascending it a bit difficult. We had to walk on the outside ledges a few times and climb in through a window just to get across the room. The building was six floors high at this point making our legs grow tired each time we climbed a staircase. When we reached the top, we were about ready to collapse when we heard a voice.

"Who are you supposed to be?" I looked up and saw a giant clock with what looked like a spin-dial design on it.

"Are... you the one... who turned these...?" I was trying to get words out, but the climbing made me run out of breath.

"Are you the one who is controlling these workers?" Andrew said. I looked at him and, just like during our practice earlier, we didn't have a sweat drop on him.

"I am," the clock responded. "They were trespassing."

"Trespassing? What do you mean?" Andrew asked with an angry look on his face.

"This land that your "building" is on is part of my home land north of here. This building was built illegally and I am making them pay for that. Perhaps I should make you pay as well." The clock's design started spinning as his hands turned and I saw Jennifer starting to stand. She readied her bow and aimed it at me.

"Jennifer, what are you doing?" I asked. She fired the arrow, but Andrew pulled me out of the way. Jennifer continued attacking us and we continued dodging, though we were hit a couple of times.

"Stephan, the clock has hypnotized her," Andrew told me. "She can't control herself."

"Let's focus on the clock then," I leapt at the giant clock, but he moved out of the way. Then he rammed me, knocking me backwards. Jennifer continued attacking Andrew and he was attacking back. It seems he left the clock to me. The clock constantly rammed me, but I only managed to hit him a couple of times. Then I saw his hands and dial spin again, this time toward me. Andrew was still dealing with Jennifer when I came up and swung at him.

"Stephan!" he yelled, but I couldn't hear him. He looked at the clock, which proceeded to ram Andrew, but he dodged in time. Jennifer, the clock and I started closing on Andrew. Andrew slipped around us and stood at the edge of the building. He stood there with his sword ready. Jennifer fired her arrow and I jumped on at him, causing the arrow to hit my back. Andrew caught me and laid me down. Then he stood up and waited for Jennifer to ready another arrow. She pulled back and Andrew jumped in front of the clock just when Jennifer was about to release the arrow, causing her arrow to strike the clock. When it yelled in pain, Andrew stuck it, causing it to fall. I got up and Jennifer shook her head as Andrew walked over to the clock.

"Who are you?" he asked it.

"...I am Hypnock," he said.

"Well, Hypnock, you should hand over that Gem you used now,"

"What Gem?" he asked.

"You... didn't use the Gem to turn into this?"

"No, I was born like this!" he said angrily. "Forget you humans, I'm leaving, but I'll be back." He floated down of the building and headed north.

"Can clocks be born?" I asked Andrew.

"We said he came from the land up north. That means he came from the Land of Shadurn, a place where many magical creatures are born or made. But this segment isn't part of Shadurn. He must've gotten confused."

"Maybe Exitilus put him up to this," Jennifer said.

"If so, we need to find that Gem as soon as possible," I said.

"Would this be the Gem?" We turned around and saw a worker who seemed to be the boss of the others. "Bora gave this to us to use, but if it's causing this much trouble, you should have it instead." The worker handed us the Gem.

"Thank you," I said as I took it.

"We'll continue working on the building ourselves. My men could use the hard work," and he left. We were about to leave ourselves when we heard soft sort of warbling noise behind us. We turned and saw a man wearing red bandages around his head along with other pieces of armor and clothing.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"...You are Stephan, correct?" I nodded. "And Jennifer and Andrew?" They nodded as well. "I came to tell you that the fights and dangers are much more plentiful in the other towns. You will have to brave a volcano, fight strange creatures, and even defy gravity itself if you hope to succeed on your journey."

"Okay..." Jennifer said.

"Only once you have all the Gems will the pathway to Exitilus open," he continued. "Deep in Eora is his supposed grandson. If you wish to learn more about Exitilus, you should seek him out, but don't forget the rest of the towns need your help as well."

"Can you help us?" I asked him.

"I am," he said and he disappeared.

"Who was that?" I asked Andrew.

"No idea," he answered. "But it seems like he's using the power of a Gem. Maybe he has already gathered a couple."

"But who side is he on?" Jennifer asked.

"For now, let's assume he's on ours,"

"So where do we go from here?" I asked.

"Let's follow what the Mysterious Man said and head to Eora to learn more about Exitilus," We used the Gem to bring us back down to ground floor, as we didn't feel like walking all the way back down. With two gems in hand, we headed back out to Moneo.

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