The Archaic System

Valerian came over and stood near me. He was obviously still wary of this mysterious old man, as was I. After taking a seat, the old man began to eat the fish I gave him. Unlike me he ate it slowly, taking small nibbles almost as if he didn't have the energy for big bites. We sat in silence for a few minutes while he ate his fish.

I could only take a few bites of mine. Something about him just made me nervous, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It's as if I was on a small boat on top of the ocean and right underneath the water was a colossal beast but I couldn't see it. It made my hairs stand on end.

After finishing the fish he looked up at me, "That was quite good youngster, would you like to hear that story now?"

For a second I debated just asking him to leave, but I didn't know how he would react and felt like hearing the story might be interesting.

"Yes sir, thank you for sharing."

He looked me over and it felt like he had seen right through my soul.

"There is no need to be nervous kid, I'm just a humble traveler." He glanced between me and Valerian.

"Hmm where to start? Which story to tell? You know old men like me have many. Hmm that one? No. What about.... no. There was that one time. Ehh no forget that one."

He rambled on for a second.

"I got it! Young man how many races are there on Agartha?"

I looked closely at the old man. I know there are more races than the four stated in the briefing however, if I revealed that I wouldn't be able to explain how I knew.

"There are five including humans right?" I said while trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Ha, you shouldn't believe everything the government says. I can tell you right now there are more than you can imagine. Have you ever heard of Gilgamesh?"

For a second my heart pounded, I tried to stay calm and not let any of my emotions show. Of course I know who Gilgamesh is. As a matter of fact if it wasn't for my death at my brother's hand, the next thing I was supposed to do was go on an expedition to explore a ruin that was rumored to be connected to him. Unfortunately the client wouldn't give us the details of the location until the expedition started so I had no idea where it was.

Valerian at my side looked at the old man inquisitively, "What's a Gilgamesh?"

The old man looked at me his eyebrows rising. There's no way I was able to hide my reaction from him.

He looked me in the eye and said, "Interesting."

Then he looked at Valerian, "It's not a what but a who."

Valerian looked confused.

"Have you ever noticed how some of the wild beast in Agartha's wilderness seem to be more intelligent than others?"

I regained my bearing and calmed myself down.

"Some of the beasts we encounter have shown a higher level of intelligence," I responded.

He nodded, "This is not a coincident, beasts on Agartha are capable of evolving at a very rapid pace because of the existence of essence. However, even though they can evolve, that only minimally increases their intelligence. In normal circumstance even the most powerful beast will only have the same amount of intelligence as an average eight year old child."

He took a deep breath.

"That was what we thought until Gilgamesh appeared. Around 450 years ago when humans were just beginning to explore Agartha we found out through some of the native races we were in contact with that a large group of beast had gathered together and shown signs of building a civilization. The leader of these beast was called Gilgamesh. It was rumored that his intelligence was on par with geniuses from every race and that he had discovered a way to bestow intelligence upon other beasts. Gilgamesh used the beasts with enhanced intelligence to build up a beast empire, he called them The 4 Beast Generals."

The old man paused staring into the distance, "Then just as quickly as the beast empire rose, it fell. No one knows what happened to Gilgamesh or the 4 Beast Generals and the beast under their command scattered. It was rumored that many mythical and powerful items were in Gilgamesh's possession. It really makes one wonder what happened."

He looked at me closely, "It's just a rumor but I heard of a place that may be connected to Gilgamesh."

He raised his hands pointing to the south, "In the south there is an inlet surrounded by three mountains. At midday when the tides are lowest, at the bottom of the mountain shaped like a fang, a door will be revealed. Maybe if you are lucky you will find it."

Valerian and I turned looking in the direction he pointed, staring off as if we could see where he was talking about. When we turned back around the old man was gone. I looked around, the expansive plain made it so I could see for kilometers around us and yet, I couldn't find the smallest trace of the old man.

Valerian looked at me, "What a strange old man. Do you believe his story?"

I know Gilgamesh existed but had never heard of the door he was talking about, "Maybe, he didn't have a reason to lie to us. He is clearly some kind of powerful expert. When we go to the south we can keep an eye out for location he was talking about."

The idea of finding something connected to Gilgamesh excited me especially considering it could somehow be connected to my brother since he killed me just before that expedition, although I doubt it.

I couldn't waste time searching for it though. I have to get stronger and there is no guarantee that will help me and it'd take too much time. I'll have to leave it up to fate.

We put out the fire and packed up our stuff. We might be out of the forest but, it's still a little less than half a day's walk to the Black Lion Village and I'd like to get there before sunset.

Valerian and I trekked over the plain for hours, nothing exciting happened we didn't even encounter any beast. Just as the sun began to set we could see the wooden archer towers sticking up over the horizon. Black Lion Village we have arrived.