Chapter 5: Troubled Mind

Morning came and as we planned, Dan will explain to me all the details about his ideas and plans.

“Tssk tssk, so you’re telling me you saw Minerva The Moonlight, out in the open?” Dan asked.

“But you just said yesterday you were watching the whole thing, didn’t you see her?” I asked.

“I’m old Svend, of course I have a bad eyesight, and besides I was watching far away from the crowd.” Dan said with an annoyed face.

“Well I don’t know a thing about her, but I heard her name clearly, and what surprised me was that she’s an elf, like from those myths.” I said.

“Gahahahahaha!!” Dan laughed hysterically.

“Huh what’s the problem, is she a big deal?” I asked with curiosity.

“Oh boy, if you only knew what you’re up against, Svend…” Dan said suddenly in seriousness.

He then rubbed his left knuckle against his chin, while staring at me.

“Minerva is one of the big shots of the Golden Order, myself doesn’t know much about her either but I heard from my adventures that she was a former right hand of an Elven Priestess or some sort, and from my understanding she’s the strongest of the Elite Five Officials, making Lennard the fifth or the weakest, though the other three I haven’t had a glimpse of information about them.” Dan said.

“Though I’m curious as to why she’s called The Moonlight.” I asked.

“Well her position as the leader of the High Golden Wizards, made her soar above others like the moon shining over to this world, and considering of her Elven Heritage, it wasn’t a surprise for a title to befit such woman.” Dan said.

“And the Golden Order, I’m aware of it but they seem to control the information about everything and what the public receives.” I said.

“Ah yes, the good ol’ Golden Order, well to put it simply it is an Order or an Ideology of some sort, which makes the second part the Golden Council. The Council is its main follower and are the ones who conduct it throughout the country of Gold’berg, and as you may know already their a bunch of evil old people who do wicked and creepy stuffs. And lastly the King Lord Nerodius, now this may sound crazy but he’s just a puppet of the Golden Council, why? Because to show the people that their being reigned by a simple king and not some crazy nutcases.” Dan explained.

“That’s absurd, what the heck did I got myself into?!” I said with a terrified face.

“Hahahaha!” Dan laughed loudly. “Don’t be intimidated Svend, myself is a big thorn in their necks, so why would I be scared to them if I’m only waking people up to the truth?, your no different from me, were both rebels to their wicked system and if your only goal is to clear your name then why not save the whole country in the process?, though it saddens me that they finally got Joseph. He was a good man who only wanted the people to not be manipulated and open their eyes, so let’s do our best efforts for him at least.” Dan said, forcing a smile.

I lost myself into nothingness, and my focus deteriorated as all the memories from that forest and how I killed those guards finally bothered me.

“Hey Svend?” Dan waved his hands across my eyes. “I even noticed that you were also bothered after we fought through your escape, is there a problem?” Dan asked, worrying.

“No, it’s just that my memories of Joseph being buried in this forest came back, and after I killed those two guards it started to bother me also.” I said feeling numb and staring into the open.

“You see Svend, in this world there’s no such thing as a pure being, sometimes we have to defend ourselves from other humans even if it comes in ending another life, but there’s a difference between reason and intention, they killed Joseph out of evil and that’s their intention, while you on the other hand defended yourself from their malicious acts, and that’s your reason, and of course it’s easy for me to say these things just because I’m a sixty eight (68) year old man who was a former mercenary for too long, and I killed many people Svend, not the innocent but the true vile and wicked.” Dan said.

“I know that…” I gently rubbed my forehead. “But me being a former rogue thief doesn’t exclude myself for being a bad person, I may only robbed people and their houses, but now that I finally took life from another, it kind of hurts me mentally.” I said.

“If you kept on dwelling on the past your just going to hurt yourself even more, you have to move forward and accept reality, I’m not asking you to become a killing machine Svend, but to accept who you were and just leave it be, and maybe you can use your rogue skills once more for the good whilst not being an ignorant anymore Haha!” Dan said jokingly, and laughing.

“Yeah I guess you’re right, let’s do this for Joseph, it doesn’t matter if I can’t change who I was, but what matters now is the progress that we make to end their evil order and to stop their tyranny, and with your guidance Dan, we can make the impossible, possible!” I said with hope returning in my eyes.

“Now that’s the spirit!” Dan gave a big smile. “Okay enough with the dramas, we shall continue our talk about this world and its countries, lands and especially about the Runes Of Power, because for finale I will teach you all about the two necessary skill you will need to possess to be able to survive out there, and while your venturing, I want you to gather powerful allies and comeback here after the end of the next year, I don’t know how you will do it but if someone can, it’s probably you Svend, though it’s an overwhelming task to carry, I’m sure you can execute it, we have only one chance to save the people of Gold’berg!” Dan said.

“Got it, but how about you Dan, what will your role be in the next year?” I asked.

“I’ll meet with the Underground Rebels just below Goldbury, and ask their leaders to unite and offer them my help, and when their plans and mine connect we shall persuade the people to join in by exposing the Golden Councils secrets.” Dan explained.

“I know you’re a very powerful wizard Dan, but it might backfire so please be careful.” I reminded.

“Hah you buffoon!” Dan laughed. “Of course I will, and just to be sure I also have an escape plan in case if things go wrong, why do you think I survived for this long?!” Dan said while laughing.

“Haha, now I realized!” I said with a laugh.

“Now that settled, let’s go back to some wise wisdom.” Dan said, with a grin.