I always knew there was something odd about my village. To anyone passing by it seemed like a nice little community set between a swamp to the west and the coastline to the east. Travellers would stay at the inn for a night or two before continuing merrily about their journey.
No one suspected what was really going on there. No one knew.
For most of my life there were places in the village that were closed off to anyone but the elders. Once a month they would hold a council of the Elders to discuss secret affairs. It had been like that since I was a child, over 30 years ago.
Travellers didn't notice the other strange things that happened in the village. They didn't see the large amounts of wheat that would be taken into one of the sealed 'empty' houses every week. They didn't hear the strange zombie noises from under the village that only happened when there were no travellers staying.
One day, it all changed.
The Elders summoned me.
They told me what they'd spent the last 30 years looking for, and they showed me what they'd been doing in that time.
The Elders had come to the end of their search. They'd spent 30 years travelling the land, collecting clues and piecing together the puzzle.
After 30 years they'd finally done it, only it didn't give them what they thought it would. After all that time, they deciphered the following message:
Quote:
If you have come this far, then upon you we shall behest
the true location of this sacred quest.
To attain plains of glory higher
take your search to the Mercurian Empire.
After 30 years of searching and growing old, none of the elders had the spirit remaining to begin anew, so they summoned me to continue their work in a new land.