MLTG P3- "Writings On The Wall"

"Writings On The Wall" is the third Part of "Miracula Luxia: The Guilt". It was released on 20.07.2020.
== Plot ==
The adventure seems to be getting harder and harder with each exploration. However, this does not break down Jared's spirit. He knows that the world depends on him once again, that he needs to stop the maddened worshippers of an even madder dead mage.
His next adventure is in a cave to the west of Formello- a former home of bandits, soon taken by powerful, alien creatures that are known simply as Chitrachs. Jared almost meets his demise when he fights his way through them.
However, he is narrowly saved by a friendly face, someone that he is very glad to see and that he has to explain a lot of things to.
== Story ==
The whispering from the crystal soul continues when Jared leaves the mysterious cave and leads him to another cave, west of Formello.
When he enters it, he starts to hear the sounds of chittering. On his way inside, he discovers discarded equipment.
Someone was in a hurry and discarded some of their possessions. But... why? Who, or more accurately, what were they running from?
When Jared enters the next part of the cave, a strong stench of blood and death assaults his nose and makes him gag.
He finds the source of this horrible smell almost immediately. From the looks of it, there are three dead people here. Their clothes are torn and there are definitely signs of battle all around them.
Those people did not die peacefully. Something killed all of them. In a very violent way.
Jared shakes his head, sad to see more human souls die to the monstrosities of the caves. He looks closer and sees that they are wearing the equipment that every regular bandit would wear- torn leather armor, ragged pants, as well as rusty and very, very sharp daggers.
Those bandits, in particular, seem to be one of the few that are still trying to harrass the merchant caravans that are going to and from the city of Formello. However, fate has definitely not been kind to them.
If the guards outside don't get you, then the monsters will. Eventually.
However, Jared is left no time to be happy about their deaths when he hears the chittering around him slowly get louder.
And then louder.
Until it becomes deafening.
As Jared covers his ears, he notices that a band of huge insects are coming towards him.
They are Chitrachs, the scourges of the underworld. Breeding almost as fast as goblins and being twice as deadly, those ravenous insects are the reason why so many lonely travelers have been killed on the roads in the wilderness.
Such infestations are easily purged by the guards of nearby towns. Sadly, this will probably not happen soon for this infestation as the guards in Formello are too busy to repair the damage that has been done on the city recently and are unable to take care of the insects.
It is all up to Jared to finish them off. He draws his blade and attacks.
However, he soon finds out that his blade is barely doing any damage to the chitrach's tough carapace, leaving it relatively unharmed, though also slightly angrier.
As the creatures swarm him from all sides, Jared spins his blade around him, violently pushing them back.
While they try to recover, he remembers what his sister told him about those dangerous insects not too long ago:
"If you ever meet any Chitrachs, make sure that your mana is full. You will need all the spells that you can cast."
"What about my sword and my bow?"
"They may do some damage, but they won't be as effective. Keep that in mind."
Just as the creatures prepare for a second attack, Jared realizes what their true weakness is.
"That is right! Magic!"- He says to himself- "Sister was right. It's their only weakness, due to their tough armor".
Jared casts a fireball spell and hurls the small ball of fire at one of the chitrachs, immediately killing it.
"Yes!"- He says- "One down, five to go!"
The creatures are surprised that he knows their weakness. They charge at him, but he immediately kills three of them with their spells.
"Three down, two to g-- "- Jared says, but before he finishes what he wants to say, one of the chitrachs jumps on him and pushes him to the ground.
Once he is there, it plunges its razor sharp claws into Jared's arm.
"Agh! Stop it!"- Jared yells as the chitrach tries to cut it open.
The other chitrach joins in and plunges its claws into Jared's other arm, rendering him unable to fight back.
Jared is surprised by the creatures' sudden intelligence. However, he is left no time to wonder as they try to rip his skin, causing him massive pain.
He did not imagine that he would end up in a cave like this and be devoured by two chitrachs. Chitrachs, the insects that he hates the most. Even more than the cockroaches on the Surface.
As Jared hopes to die painlessly, one of the chitrachs suddenly stops digging, shot in the head with an arrow.
The other chitrach stands up and is immediately shot in the head with another arrow.
A man approaches Jared and helps him stand up. He wears powerful leather armor and has a bow on his back.
When Jared's eyesight clears from the blood loss, he sees that the person is, in fact, his own father!"
"Jesus Christ, son! Are you okay?"- The man says- "You got me very worried, you know?!"
Jared does not respond, either out of shame of maybe because of the pain that was inflicted by the chitrachs.
Aleks pulls out a few bandages and starts to wrap the wounds with them.
"I won't let you die. I absolutely will not! You will live, son!"- He says as he does so.
A few minutes later, he looks up and smiles.
"He will live... "- He says to himself as he helps his son get to a safer spot.
"What were you doing there, anyway? Don't you know how dangerous this cave is? How many chitrachs it has?"- He scolds him.
Jared shakes his head.
"Dad, there is something important in there. I need to get back-- "
"Go back?!"- His father yells- "You almost died in there and now you want to go back?! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just leave you alone to whatever foolish things you are about to do, you ungrateful child."
Jared sighs. Without saying another word to his father, he pulls out the crystal soul from his pocket and show it to his father.
"Place your ear on it."- He says- "Can you hear the whispers?"
Aleks raises his eyebrow.
"The whispers? What in the world are you talking about, child? Did you eat some weird mushrooms or something?"- He says- "Because I don't hear anything!"
Despite disagreeing with the facts about the whispers, Aleks decides to listen to his son and pulls his ear close to the crystal.
He finally hears something. Very faintly, at first, the sound increases in intensity with each passing second.
Two minutes later, he gives the crystal back to his son and steps back, horrified by something.
"Dad?"- Jared says- "Are you okay?"
Aleks sighs and shakes his head.
"Looks like the crystal informed you of what I did to Rentar-Ihrno. I promised not to tell anyone, and this crystal soul was the only one who knew of my deed back then. But it seems like the other evil vahnatai also learned about who killed their mad leader.
He shakes his head again and looks down.
"That's a shame."- He says- "Now they want to kill us all, despite knowing how much of a mistake it is going to be."
He looks ahead.
"So, this must be one of their caves."- He continues- "Well, if you want to explore it so much, feel free to do so. But don't think that you're going to go in there all alone! I'm coming with you, whether you like me to or not."
He sighs.
"It's how it works, child. Father and son have to protect each other wherever they go. Despite, there aren't many people left for me to protect, so this is my absolute duty."
Jared raises his eyebrow.
"What about sister? Grandpa? John and Annie?"- He says angrily- "They are living people too, you know!"
Aleks shakes his head.
"I know! I know that very well!"- He says- "But you're the most valuable thing left for me, the child that was brought to this world thanks to our love, between me and your mother. My only son."
"And that's why I won't let you die! Let's go!"
Jared nods and cautiously enters the cave, along with his father.
At the end of it, they see a small cave with writings on its walls. They can also hear faint whispers.
One thing is for sure- those whispers are not coming from the crystal soul. It is silent. Instead, they are coming from the cave itself.
"What a mysterious, little place."- Aleks says.
Jared nods.
"You're right, dad."- He says- "It's so amazing."
"But... "- Aleks continues- "The whispering is very annoying. If I were you, I wouldn't stay longer than I have to."
"So, let's finish this quickly."
Jared nods and inspects the words on a wall nearby.
"Do you understand anything?"- Aleks says to him- "I seem to have forgotten the vahnatai's language."
Jared nods.
"Yes!"- He says- "And it says that there is cave on the surface. It contains part of the soul of a woman the humanoids managed to kill."
Aleks raises his eyebrow.
"And does it say anything about a specific location?"- He says- "The world is like a huge maze. You can almost never find caves that are not charted on a map!"
Jared nods.
"It says that it is near a big city where people speak... french?"
Aleks is surprised by this.
"This must be Paris! So, the cave is near there!"
He grabs his son's hand.
"Come on. Let's not waste more time!"
He pulls his son out of the cave.
"Wait, dad!"- Jared says as the crystal soul slips out of his pocket.
He immediately liberates his arm from the clutches of his father and catches it in time.
He sighs.
"Phew."- He says and turns to his father- "You should be at least a little bit more careful, dad. Those things ar very delicate! And precious!"
Aleks looks down.
"Yes, I know."- He says- "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
Jared smiles.
"There is nothing to worry about."- He responds- "So, where are we headed?"
Aleks sighs and shrugs.
"I can't tell you for sure. Paris is a massive city and it would take us days to find said cave."
He stares at the city of Formello.
"Unless we ask the sages there. They might know something about the cave."
Jared raises his eyebrow.
"How do you know that they might have information about it?"
Aleks shrugs and smiles.
"Well, some of them are actually from Paris. They might know the location of the cave."
He takes a few steps ahead, turns back to look at his son and smiles.
"So."- He says- "Do we dare to ask them?"
Jared nods.
"I do not fear bothering the sages."- He responds- "Let's go there."
Aleks and Jared- father and son, approach the gates of Formello, eager to ask the sages about the location of the cave, as well as the strange phenomenon that is the return of Rentar-Ihrno's worshippers