A Guide to Kingdom Building

The rope wriggled again, as if being tugged by someone or something from the other end of the rope. Everyone slowly backed away from the burrow. Two knights slowly approached the beastman, held him by the shoulder, and dragged him away from the burrow.

"Go easy on 'im, lads!" The dwarf slowly backed out into the protection of the armed knights.

The dwarf found the beastman laying on the ground away from the well. The elf and a young knight tended to his wounds. The knight sneakily took out a bottle from his satchel and tried giving it to the elf.

Seeing this, the dwarf immediately grabbed the knight's arm while the elf was still distracted from tending to the beastman's injuries. The young knight jolted in surprise as the dwarf held his hand tightly.

"Whut is this, lad?" The dwarf asked as he opened the cork from the bottle and smelled it.

"G-good ser! I-I mean no harm," the knight's voice trembled. "I-it's a potion to help him recover quickly!" He pointed at the weakened beastman.

The dwarf felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He looked around and saw Lord Prestonheim nodding at him, telling him it was safe for the beastman to consume.

Just to be sure, the dwarf took a drop of the potion by the back of his hand and licked it. He was confident that he could detect any hint of poison that the potion has. His body had been trained by their kingdom to be an elite warrior.

Aside from the usual battle stratagem and trainings, warriors from the Eastend Kingdom were trained to consume small dosages of poisonous herbs and plants. This dangerous training had caused casualties over the years, but it yielded great results. This included battle-hardened warriors that were immune to poison and were good bodyguards to the royal family as they could detect poison thru their tongue.

When he proved the potion was safe, he gave it to the elf and signed to her that it was fine for the beastman to drink.

"Yer name, good Ser," the dwarf glanced at the young knight.

"K-Kiervan. Good Ser." The young knight answered.

The dwarf smiled at him, "Thank you, Ser Kiervan." He bowed as he set his eyes on Lord Prestonheim, "Yer Commandar trained yah well."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHH!!" A dreadful voice blasted out from the burrow.

The terrifying scream left all of them petrified. There was uneasiness in the air. Suddenly everything became too silent. The dwarf could feel his heart raised a tempo or two after being startled by the sound. But he never froze.

The dwarf looked at Lord Prestonheim and saw how calm he contrasted with his green knights whose knees shook in fear.

"Why do your knees tremble?!" He chastised the young knights. "You are a unit of excellence, trained by the Principalia to defend her! Stand your ground and show her your courage!" He commanded his knights.

The Commander's words inspired the trembling knights. The dwarf saw how they immediately regrouped themselves and assumed their fighting stance. It was a small group of 10 men, but their presence felt like tenfold more than that.

"Lord Prestonheim!" Tristam shouted as he ran towards the Commander. With him was Servus 305-M who was still catching his breath after the brief sprint and 2 other Xedecima ready to engage.

"What is it Tristam?" The Lord Commander asked.

"Ser Servus 305-M had something to report," Tristam guided Servus 305-M as he was still fatigued from his running efforts.

"S…something is c-coming…back up…" The slave wheezed.

"I think it's already here." Lord Prestonheim pointed at the rope that was swaying again.

"No! Not that!" Servus 305-M glared at the Commander, "August, something with a high density of energy is crawling up the surface! M-my crystal ball shattered while measuring it!"

The dwarf paid no attention to the following conversation after that. He however, hoped that whatever that was coming up was his friend and not some critter from the abyss.

"The rope!" The dwarf ran towards it as it began to be pulled down by something from the hole.

Then, one of the knights near the burrow caught it before it could all go down.

"Something's pulling it down thre! It's too heavy!" The poor knight exclaimed as he was being dragged as well.

The dwarf and his fellow knights were able to pull the knight and the rope back to the surface, but something was still pulling it down there.

"Don't…let…go…of…" The dwarf gritted his teeth as he and the other knights were forced to play a tug of war with whoever was down there. The rope snapped from his end letting lose 3 knights helplessly being dragged into the hole.

Luckily, three more went to the rescue and was able to save the knights and the rope. The dwarf stood up along with the other knights that tumbled along with him when the rope broke and began the tugging struggle once more.

On the other hand, Lord Prestonheim and his other knights were already encircling the hole, with their weapons in hand. The brave Commander moved along with the first row of soldiers surrounding it.

"Xedecima 4, Formation Omega!" Lord Prestonheim's voice echoed as they continued to encircle the hole by its opening. "Xedecima 5, Right Flank! Delta! Xedecima 3, Left Flank, Delta!"

The knights got into the triangular formation on both positions commanded. Tristam led the formation on the left, move closer to the hole while the other Xedecima stood and waited at their position.

The dwarf along with the knights pulled harder, but with every step back, they get to more steps forward.

"Don't…lose…the…rope!" the dwarf shouted. "Yah…Ja…ga…lags, p-pull!"

The rope became too heavy that the post where the pulley was broke. All of the sudden the rope just became heavier, as the pulley descended into the abyss.

The tug of war lasted an eternity for the dwarf and the knights, as they slowly get pulled into the hole.

"Nay! Don't…ya…falter!" He shouted once more as he put more strength in his pull.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!" Another screech echoed from the dark pit and suddenly the struggling force was gone.

Finally, the stubborn rope lightened. After the intense struggle, the rope became manageable to pull. Though tired, the dwarf and the knights were still reluctant to hastily pull the rope afraid of what might be waiting at the other end.

The rope lengthened with every pull signalling they were almost at the end. Lord Prestonheim raised his hand and commanded Tristam to take a quick peek at what lies at the end of rope.

"Do it slowly, men!" Lord Prestonheim asked them to pull the rope even slowly than what they already were doing.

His arms burned and he felt his palm ached as his blisters rubbed against the abrasive rope. But the dwarf never missed a step, he pulled the rope slowly and cautiously as he can along with the knights with the Commander's order.

Tristam took a light rune from his satchel. With rune activated, he took cautious steps with one rune on the left hand and his pale blue blade on the other. Everyone watched in batted breath as the young knight outstretched the rune over the pitch-black hole.

The young knight got startled with what he saw. He looked at the Commander with an unusual reaction. He hovered the light rune once again before reporting to Lord Prestonheim.

"My Lord, he's alive!" The knight shouted direly. "Barely alive! Pull the rope! Faster!" Tristam demanded.

Hearing this, the dwarf's heart dropped. He pulled the rope as fast as he could while Tristam did his best to help pull up his friend's body from the hole's opening.

Seeing Servus 132-X again was bittersweet. He ran towards his friend who was being treated by Tristam on the spot. Lord Prestonheim came forward as well to check at him.

"By the Gods!" Lord Prestonheim exclaimed. "What in the gods names' was down there?"

The dwarf looked at his poor friend lying on the ground. His body was full of scratches, covered in blood and a part of his right arm was missing a huge chunk of flesh, as if someone or something bit it clean.

"Nay! Oi, Lad." The dwarf called his friend who's laboriously breathing for his life.

He knelt beside Tristam as his hands shook in fear for his friend's life. He wiped the dried blood and dirt over his friend's eye.

Servus 132-X eyes, stared blankly at the crimson sky. Ifnen was almost close. He tried to open his mouth as if to speak.

"Nay, lad don't move nor speak." He asked his friend who was clearly at the verge of dying.

"F..ire…Rune…" Servus 132-X he pointed at his torn satchel.

The baffled dwarf rummaged throught the torn satchel and saw a broken piece of a fire rune. He gave it to Servus 132-X who's struggling to keep his hands outreached to the dwarf.

After giving it to him, his friend ran it through his fingers and threw it into the burrow.

The dwarf saw as the fire rune sparks as it slowly descends into the hole. He looked back at his friend and saw 132-X's grimly desperate visage.

All of a sudden, the ground shook and a powerful force knocked everyone away from the burrow.

It took the dwarf a few moments to realize the impact and how he was blasted away. He looked around and saw the towering pilar of flame swirling from within the burrow. He looked in terror as the flame continued to burst from the hole.

"By Lady Oyue's name…" His jaw wide open as the flamed danced and kissed with the sky.