Escaping Death

The Four Keys

We had to stay in the hospital for a couple weeks. During which we got our third mission. On our palms were the carvings of four keys. One in each palm. We asked the staff if they knew anything about them.

A nurse said that the owner of the city's museum might know based on how the keys looked. We left the hospital when we were well enough. By that I mean we were still bandaged but we could move without too much trouble. We went to the museum. In it were a wide variety of artifacts.

Some were the fossils of animals that didn't seem anatomically possible while others were weapons that looked far too heavy for someone to use. Someone in our world that is. The museum owner told us that the keys were forged long ago to unlock a special area but were destroyed in a furious battle that only a few people know the details of. We thought this was another roadblock in our mission until the museum owner said that the keys may no longer exist but could still be made with the right material. With that information, we decided to look for a blacksmith.

Once we found one we asked him if it would be possible for him to forge the keys. He said yes but needed to know what material to use. According to the museum owner, the keys were made up of a hard yet bendable metal called flextallum. The keys also used this special jewel called ultri-something. I was too distracted by what we learned next to remember.

The crystals were supposed to be rare but were rumored to be in a cave far outside the city. The flextallum was supposed to be there as well. The good news was they were in roughly the same place. The bad news was the place they were in was called "the cave of no return". I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on why it's called that.

"Why can't we have an easy mission for once?" I asked when we had left the blacksmith's shop. We requested that he make us some pickaxes out of his strongest metal before leaving."Seriously there's probably some giant man-eating scorpions in that cave that spit acid."

"We'll just have to be more prepared then."

"Yeah because last time we ended up in a cave things went so smoothly for us. Not to mention the noise our mining will cause is almost certainly going to attract whatever lurks in it."

"We'll deal cross that bridge when we come to it."

"But you can fly."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah. Yeah. It's not like we're well enough to go there yet anyway."

"Agreed but we can still get some practice in."

"What kind?"

"Target. If there's a weapons shop in the city then chances are there's also a shooting range."

"My aim is fine. I was able to shoot some of the animals on that safari. Although I don't know if I actually killed any of them save for that tree I told you about."

"No offense but most of the animals you mentioned are either giant, slow-moving, or both. What you need is training so you can hit faster smaller moving targets."

"Alright. I suppose it'll do me some good."