Miracula Luxia C5, P4- "Bound To The Destiny"

"Bound To The Destiny" is the fourth Part of "Miracula Luxia" 's fifth Chapter- "The Forgotten". It was released on 07.11 2019.
== Plot ==
It comes down to our heroes that the area they're currently in is completely abandoned. No friendly Vahnatai, no livestock. Just hostile creatures, ready to kill anything they see.
However, there is a sliver of hope for the four of them. Beyond the gates of the ruined fort lies a new, unexplored part of the river which promises new adventures and hopefully a way to civilization.
Will they tempt Fate and try to find the right way?
== Story ==
The Fort was ruined and left to crumble even further.
Our heroes could hear creatures chittering from the inside. Strange alien sounds, barely audible to their human ears, but easily hearable by Bucko (The Gremlin)'s.
He smelled the air, thinking he found something interesting.
"It not just the dead here, Master. There's Chitrachs as well."
"Umm, come again?"- Jared was surprised by what Bucky was talking about.
"Chitrachs! Nasty bugs, can bring you to the ground with ease if you're not careful."
"I can confirm that. I met some on my way to the Tower Colony. There's some of them who have actual scales, like plates which offer them great protection."- Jason added.
Jason let out a yelp.
"This... this doesn't sound good at all!"
"Don't ya worry, Master. I'm right here! I'll keep ya safe!"- Bucky said and smiled at his "Master".
Jason looked at the creature seriously.
"You better keep my nephew safe and sound or I will make sure you're not among us anymore. In a violent way."
Finally, Annie decided to voice in.
"Mr. Kaos, that's enough! Leave the poor creature alone! If it says that it'll protect Jared, it definitely will. Remember how it Jared saved it, because he actually trusted it?"
"Well... uh... "
"You definitely should. Because if you do anything to this creature I will make sure you're not with us either."
"In a non-violent way, of course."
Jason sighed.
"Fine, fine. You people really need to calm down. I was just joking! I'm not really going to do... what I was planning to!"
"Hm. And you better not."- Grumbled Annie and continued looking towards the southern shore.
Soon they landed there and noticed a pile of bones to the ground.
There was nothing nearby and it was eerily quiet.
Way too quiet. Almost unnaturally so.
"What do you think this is?"- Annie asked her friend, Jared.
Jared looked at it.
"It looks like a regular pile of bones to be, but something seems to be a little off. Maybe it's the atmosphere?"
"Or maybe there's someone waiting for us, ready to unleash a deadly trap."- Jason grimly added.
Aleks wasn't getting any of it, though.
"Stop with the dark humor, Jason! There's nothing around here. The area was probably abandoned decades ago.
Jason stared at him and raised his eyebrow.
"Dear Brother, have you ever heard of an "Undead infestation"?"
"Undead? But there are no Undead!"
"That's because you haven't seen any. Even though you're my big brother, I've always been the one who makes sure that you don't see anything like that when you travel through Avernum. Because I kne that you were down here somewhere and I knew that I needed to keep those nasty creatures away from you."
"It's true, Dad. Mertis is constantly sieged by Undead and the offiials can't do anything about it."
"Ah yes. Mertis. That little settlement. I remember they had a problem with that when I visited it.
Annie tried to voice her concern...
"Maybe we should-- "
... but before she could finish her sentence, a skeleton jumped out of the pile and grabbed the distracted Jared.
Three Ghouls came out as well, trying to attack the three of them.
"Oh no! Master!"- Bucky came to the Jared's aid, angrily punching the skeleton before it could do something to the kid.
"Die, die, die, you bag of bones. Worthless! Worthless!"- It repeated the same words angrily while it tried to rescue its beloved "Master".
The skeleton was distracted by the Gremlin's attempts to kill it. This gave enough time to Jared who drew out his sword and slashed the skeleton's head off.
However, somehow its teeth were still clattering.
Annie (Who had just defeated the two Ghouls coming after her) was terrified by this sight. Bucky was unfazed, though.
"Why don't you show any emotion to this? It's terrifying!"- She asked the creature.
"We Gremlins usually see such horrible sights when we kill Undead. That is why Bucky is not surprised."
"Oh my! I didn't really know about this! I'm so sorry."- Annie tried to apologize.
"It's okay. missy. You did nothing wrong. Bucky forgives you."
Annie smiled and watched as Jared analyzed the skull.
"It's just like in a zombie series I watched on the TV recently. There's a certain force which keeps the Undead alive, even when they're decapitated. As long as its head is not destroyed, it will still remain alive and hostile."
"Creepy."- Bucky said grimly- "Must dispose."
"Since Skeletons don't really have a brain anymore, there's only one way to kill them. And that is... "
Jared forced his foot onto the creature's skull and crushed it into many tiny little skeleton bits.
"Finally! Oh God, that was really terrifying!"- Annie said, still scared of what happened.
Aleks and Jason approached them.
"Those guys didn't die easily. We had to crush their heads in order to keep them fully dead."- Aleks muttered.
"It's the same with us. Those creatures just can't die easily and leave us in peace!"- Jaredresponded while analyzing the remainings of the creature.
Aleks pulled out a small bag and put the remains in it.
"This is bonemeal. It is said to have healing properties, so it might be a good idea to take it to an Alchemist when we have the chance."
"If we have it."- He added grimly.
Jared picked up the bag and approached the control room nearby.
He looked outside.
"One of the gates is locked. We must unlock it!"- He said, worried that this might be their only way out.
Aleks looked at the wheel. He was very unconvinced that it would actually work.
But he was willing to give it a try. He tried to pull the mechanism with all his might, but to no avail.
It was stuck. And they had to insert something in order to free it.
"This will work."- Aleks said while grabbing a hexagonal-shaped metal from the ground.
He inserted it in the missing part...
It worked! When he pulled again, the gate started to open.
But, it stopped halfway.
"Safety mechanism."- Aleks noted- "It can only open halfway. Prepare to duck when needed."
The others nodded as they hopped into the boat once again.
They managed to pass through the half-open gate which suddenly closed behind them.
Annie gasped.
"It locked us in!"- She noted with fear.
"It's okay, Annie. As long as we stay together, nothing bad will happen."- Jared tried to comfort his dear friend.
Annie calmed down. A little.
Then she looked to the west.
"A door. Might lead to somewhere interesting."- Aleks said.
"Well, we've got no other choice, Brother. Look!"- Jason pointed out another gate.
"Oh no! Not another one!"- Jared was unsure how to open this one and just panicked a little.
Aleks lightly tapped his shoulder.
"It's okay. There is a way out. We just have to go towards the door."
Jared nodded and looked at the door as they landed near it.
He felt the strange desire to open it.
Maybe because it had more enemies behind it? Or maybe because the room behind it had some actual loot?
Or maybe... for some other, mysterious reason?
Well, it did not matter. Jared was simply compelled to open it.
Aleks noticed his concern and decided to open the door.
Suddenly, they were faced by a creature.
Its eyes were milky and it had gray skin.
"An alien?"- Annie wondered, but Jared shushed her, so he could talk.
"This is one of the Vahnatai."- He whispered to her as he began to talk to it.
"Greetings, fellow warrior! We come with peace and we just want to know where we can find more civilized lands."
The Vahnatai stared at him for a few moments. Then it drew its blade and saluted the young hero.
When it tried to attack them, a bunch of Vahnatai came out of the darkness as well.
The Vahnatai were actually very dangerous and almost defeated out heroes. However, courage and fighting back granted them victory.
As the leader of the band was dying, it saluted Jared, noting his potential to be a hero."
Then it closed its eyes, finally at peace.
"Rest in peace, fellow warrior. We will find your people and ally with them."
They found the last lever and inserted the last hexagonal-shaped metal into it.
After pulling it Aleks noticed the second gate rising up.
Then he noticed Jared's concern that he killed one of the Vahnatai.
He comforted his son.
"It's okay. He was bound to the destiny. His destiny was to find an honorable opponent and fight them until its death. Ours is to find the Vahnatai and speak to them. We fulfilled its wish, now its time to fulfill ours."
Jared nodded and hopped into the boat.
Soon, the five of them were out of the fort.
"Ah. Finally!"- Annie said, excited that they were finally out.
Then they noticed a small island with a cave on it.
They looked around and tried to find more islands.
No such luck. All of the other islands were behind them.
"Well, it seems like this is the only way we could go through."- Aleks noted sadly- "We have to go through the cavern."
"But... but... what if it leads to a dead end.
Aleks gulped and looked at his son.
"We... we better not think of that, son. What if it leads to the Vahnatai? We can't just evade this possibility."
"Besides, this is the only way where we can go."- Annie added and scolded her friend.
"Man up, Jared! You're a hero. Heroes do not think negatively, because they know that there is always a way out of a dangerous situation."
" "Man up", eh? If only she could sense the concern within me... "- Jared said to himself while staring at her.
"Dad is right, though. The cave is the only way to go and we must try to explore it. Way out or not, at least we could find a shelter until we are rescued. Hopefully."
With a possibility for new lands in their minds Jared, Aleks, Jason, Annie and Bucky approached the island.
== Trivia ==
* This Part is named "Bound To The Destiny" to show that everyone has their own destiny which they must fulfill (Like the dead Vahnatai, Jared and everyone else in general). Whether they can fulfill it remains another question.
* This Part reveals that not all Vahnatai are friendly and some actually want to fight the humans.
* This is the first Part to feature a "Discarded Plans" section in its Trivia.
=== Discarded Plans ===
* Jason was originally going to die in this Part, trying to defend Jared from the Vahnatai thugs. However, this was discarded in order to let the man be with his family and support them and so Aleks does not fall into a deep depression (Which was intended to happen after Jason's death).
* The adventure in the cave was originally going to be written in this Part, making it the longest part in the "Miracula Luxia" series so far, but the idea was discarded.