Eternal Fires: Chapter Two

Eternal Fires: Chapter Two

It had been three months since Kanetsu had adbondon the village. Since then, he had been traveling from town to town, collecting information. He needed to know what type of condition the entire civalition was in now. He needed to know what type of strongholds were built in his absence. What he learned was that there were nine strongholds, including the capitol city of Cocytus. The other eight strongholds, no one knew the names of most. They were only described to him as so: The furthest away from the capitol, was built between a mountian and the ocean side. Those that dared trek to this place, was terrorized by mutalating winds. The second, tormented by nonstop, brutal rains and eternal darkness. The third is located in a city full of the wealthiest people in these lands. It is rumored that a demon wolf lives within the stronghold and hunts the residents' to kill them and take their wealth. The fouth, located in the middle of Styx, a large river. This stronghold was for training of the soliders...they would take the men into this stronghold, and leave them there for months on end, letting them battle it out to see who would survive with no food. Those that did survive, had usually gone mad by the end of things, and would either take their own lives, or become grunts for the army. The City of Dis is the fifth stronghold. The iron walls and plains of lava flow pratically make this stronghold imprenitreble. Encircled by the river of Phlegethon, lays a desert. Though small in size, the vicious beasts that dwell outside of the stronghold, make this a feared place. These beasts never existed untill the stronghold was formed. And the last of the strongholds, the only thing known about it is that it is called Malebolge. Though they were called strongholds, Kanetsu knew that they were more prision like, and a place of experimentation. To Kanetsu, these fowl places would need to be destoryed. And so, for two months Kanetsu made his way to the first stronghold.

The winds were feirce, and the weather was brutal. It only took an hour for his horse to die, but even then, Kanetsu was determined to become this lands better. By the end of three days, he had only treked halfway up the mountian side. His food was slowly becoming scarce, what he had taken from his fallen horse would not be enough for the whole journey. If he were to survive, he would need to find game in this desolent place. He could not find any traces of anything else on this mountain, if there was anything alive, nature did well to hide that fact. It was another day and a half when Kanetsu found a small cave mouth. Before any thought, Kanetsu entered. The cave was dark and damp, but it provided protection from the elements. He journeyed futher into the cave, trying to find the dryest spot to start a fire for warmth. What he saw was unexpected, a small fire was lit already with a slender figure of a female. Maybe she had food, maybe she'd be kind enough to let him stay by the fire for warmth. These thoughts passed through Kanetsu's mind as he approched the figure, but before he could even take his third step, he felt a warm liquid flowing from his head before he hit the ground......before everything went dark.