The GOOL Story Part 3

*It is morning and the gang is preparing to depart on its quest to find Akanth’s Blade, after Tarold told his friends about his conversation the last night. They have a helicopter drop them off in the area Selenthad told Tarold to go to. It is a lush and large jungle and an area not yet explored by the elf kingdoms due to its vastness and untold mysteries inside. The others are skeptical of how Tarold intends to find Hosund, but Tarold has confidence in Selenthad’s words and says they will walk around until his white delharia instincts kick in.*

*After walking for some time, Tarold says that he feels something and starts running through the jungle, with the others in pursuit. They finally stop at a cave and see animal corpses scattered around it. Tarold only then realizes that he wasn’t drawn there by his white delharia, but by the smell. He feels stupid for them running so far for nothing.*

*And to make matters worse, six tiger-looking beasts come out of the cave and attack the gang. They engage with the beasts and manage to slay them all. One notable battle is between Tarold and one of the beasts, except Tarold didn’t have anything to do with the battle. His pet squirrel jumped off his shoulder and made a shockingly loud, bone-rattling shriek toward the beast. It was so scared that it died on the spot. Tarold stared in awe at his pet, never knowing it could do such a thing.*

*They decide to camp in the cave for the night and cook the corpses lying around for dinner. They enjoy an evening of relaxing, looking at the stars and having the nice jungle atmosphere around them.*

*They talk about how grateful they are to have Shawn on their team and say he made the right decision siding with them. Shawn feels guilty for always having been a jerk to all of them, especially Tarold, back in high school and doesn’t know how Tarold can forgive him so easily. Tarold says that Shawn didn’t yet know his purpose at that time and knows he only bullied them due to misguidance and insecurity. Now that Shawn has found purpose, Tarold believes he can be a good man and do great things for himself and the nations of Hancinia. Tarold believes all people are never truly evil and those who do bad acts only do them due to bad influence. Even Butch is not truly evil in his eyes, which is why he chose to spare him that day a year ago. He hopes that someday he will be able to see Butch right his wrongs and join Tarold in keeping peace in the world. Tarold even believes that he and Butch could someday become friends. Shawn thanks Tarold for believing in him and commends him for his maturity and wisdom.*

*The next morning, they decide to eat the beasts they killed the day before as breakfast before heading out. They once again start walking through the jungle, waiting for Tarold’s instincts to activate. As they walk, Moose notices a bunch of weird purple monkeys swinging around and one of them lands near him. He pets the monkey and it seems to like him. Moose decides to keep it and names it Eggplant (cause it’s purple).*

*After a while, Tarold picks up something. Wilbur implies it could just be another death he will lead them into, but Tarold says this time it feels different and knows it is actually his white delharia. They once again start running with Tarold as he goes to where his delharia guides him, the feeling getting stronger as he keeps running. At the end, Tarold leads them to an open mountain range with nothing out of the ordinary in sight.*

*Wilbur says Tarold’s gone insane and Tarold tells him to shut up. He says he knows there’s something there since his delharia instincts are going crazy. He looks into himself and uses his instincts to guide his actions. He walks forward, closes his eyes, and puts his hand out. All of a sudden, his hand shoots out a beam of white delharia which hits some kind of barrier. The others watch in amazement as they see ripples going through the invisible barrier, forming an opening. Charlie remarks on how amazing that was and asks how Tarold knew the barrier was there. Tarold responds he just knew somehow; when sensing with his white delharia it’s as if he could see it clearly in front of him.*

*They walk through the opening and stare in awe at an entire abandoned city. The homes, temples, and even the ground on which they walk all look magnificent; everything looks foreign and like nothing they’ve ever seen before. Tarold says how amazing it is that this city was here for thousands of years and nobody ever knew about it or its beauty inside. They start walking around in search of the Silver Temple Selenthad told them to go to, admiring the mysterious structures they see as they go.*

*Tarold says that Selenthad told him the pure elves weren’t stupid and left secret traps all over the city to protect against unworthy travelers. Wilbur says he doubts that will be a big deal, ironically right before he steps on a pressure plate, making two pillars shoot out flamethrowers. Moose just barely has enough time to pull Wilbur out of the way. Moose gets mad at Wilbur for being so inconsiderate and stupid. While they continue to walk, Wilbur steps on two more traps, making Moose more and more mad at him. Wilbur feels pretty dumb about himself now.*

*After a while, the gang found a temple that’s much bigger than the others and concluded it must be the Silver Temple. They walked inside and saw Akanth’s Blade on a pedestal in the center. Wilbur, on a roll with his stupidity, goes straight for it and tries pulling it out of the ground. Tarold yells for him to stop, but is too late. As soon as Wilbur touches the sword, an alarm started to blare and the pedestal was sent below ground. The ground opens up and a giant white golem with red gems for eyes rises up. Moose smacks Wilbur and says he’s really done it now.*

*The golem begins attacking them and they engage in a long battle. The gang has lots of trouble fighting it since its exterior is invulnerable. They are clueless on how to defeat it and one by one they are knocked out. However, they soon figure out that its red gems are its weak points and proceed to break both of them. After doing so, the golem reveals a third gem on its chest. They then break this too and, in an epic finale, the golem explodes.*

*The pedestal then comes back up. Tarold goes up to it carefully, grabs the sword and pulls it out. The gang celebrates their victory and having acquired Akanth’s Blade. They walk out of the temple and make their way out of the city and back to the helicopter they came with. They take off back to Jagura, satisfied with a mission accomplished.*

*However, bad news awaits them when they get back. While the gang was gone, GOOL invaded Jagura through a stealth operation and stole Ruon’s Faulds. The gang is in disbelief that this happened and realize GOOL must have somehow known Tarold and his friends would be gone and therefore unavailable for defending the relic. They wonder how they could have known, but Tarold says he thinks he’s figured it out: there’s a spy among them.*

*Meanwhile, Samurai appears in Charles’s room and shows him a successfully retrieved Ruon’s Faulds, giving Charles great delight. He says they now have all the God Relics and everything they need to resurrect Gaivinore. Samurai says that is not quite true. Their informant from Jagura has just told him that Tarold and his gang have just come back to Jagura with something called Akanth’s Blade, supposedly the 6th God Relic.*

*Charles is infuriated, since they were so close to their goal and are now delayed once again. Samurai asks if they should plan an attack to take the relic, but Charles says he has a better idea. He says that perhaps it is time for their enemies to finally realize where they are hiding and to come meet them in their domain. They will never know what they’re expecting and when they least see it coming, they will capture them and take the relic. Tarold and his gang will then get a front row seat to watch Gaivinore, their new ruler, come back to the living right before their eyes.*

*Samurai agrees and leaves the room. Charles then sits down and thinks about how magnificent their new world will be with Gaivinore as the supreme leader of them all.*