battle of the vanguards-First Narrative(temple of secoutra)

The advent of a savior (chapter 1- part2)

A Young Boy, whose father was falsely accused of treason by the decree of the former king of the land of Shiygad, had been branded a rebel against his own land. The father was a war commander who was famous for his bravery, but he was falsely accused and deprived of everything he had. Honorable as he was, he turned to farming to sustain his life. His only sorrow was not having a son, but later, he was blessed with a boy. The boy grew up and swore to restore his father's lost honor. He joined the Mountain Fighters' Guild and began his training until...

As a novice, he was completing his final stages of training. The boy's name was Natras. He had heard of the prophecies and decided to become one of those legendary heroes. The day of destiny arrived. The master entered the class and introduced five authorized temples for advanced training, stating that the students had until the next morning to choose. Natras researched the five temples, but one intrigued him - the Temple of secoutra. He decided to choose it for his training.

The next morning, among a hundred guild members, only Natras had chosen the Temple of secoutra. The master warned him of the dangers on the way, but his decision remained unchanged. It was agreed that he would leave for the temple in a month with a few others and guardians.

A month later, the time had come for Natras and his group to set off for the Temple of secoutra. They started their journey through the forests. The forest was lush and beautiful, but in some areas, burnt trees stood like a graveyard. The deeper they went, the less appealing the forest became, until they reached the fog-enshrouded forest of Asen Lard. There, strange noises were heard. They wanted hurried to leave the forest and planned to spend the night near the mountain when they suddenly came across a three way in the forest not marked on their map. They decided to camp there for the night.

The noises were At the beginning of the night faint, but grew louder after an hour. Natras woke up and stepped out of his tent. Venturing a little into the forest, he saw nothing at first. A few steps further, still nothing. Suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder. Turning around, Natras saw an old man. The old man warned him that the forest was full of dark soldiers and creatures but they were yet unaware of their presence. Otherwise, none of them would have survived. Natras mentioned the three way in the forest and his uncertainty about which path to take: one led to a Valley, another to a narrow pass by the mountain, and the last through a cave in the mountains.

The next morning, the caravan decided to take both the pass and the cave path, splitting into two groups. At this moment, Natras arrived and insisted that they should all take the cliff path as it was the least dangerous. The pass was blocked and the cave path perilously haunted. Only two others agreed with Natras; the rest ignored him and continued on their chosen paths. The caravan leader dismissed Natras from the group. Natras and his two companions headed towards the Valley, and upon reaching it, Natras peered down into the fog-enshrouded valley. The old man promised to guide Natras on this journey, on the condition that he would accompany him to the end of the path leading to the temple.

As darkness fell, a panicked person on horseback approached them. Natras alerted his companions. The horseman collapsed near them. Natras rushed to him, finding him severely wounded. The man, with his last breath, said that they should have listened to Natras. They had been ambushed on the path, and none survived. With those final words, he passed away. The others realized the gravity of the danger they had escaped. The stranger was one of their group heading to the temple. They buried him there and released his horse into the forest. The old man then began scattered soil along the cliff's edge until he found the path, instructing everyone to bring a bag of soil.

While collecting soil, Natras found a medallion on the ground. It bore strange symbols and writings in the ancient Netragiha language, which Natras couldn't read, so he kept the medallion. Once everyone had gathered, they went to the cliff edge, where Natras noticed stone steps that weren't there before. Not questioning the old man, they continued down. The old man scattered soil with each step to ensure the stairs continued, until they didn't extend any further. Despite trying everything he could think of, the old man couldn't find a way forward until he noticed a recess in the rock, layered and deepening towards the mountain. Natras remembered the medallion and placed it in the recess, revealing the rest of the staircase. He waited for everyone to descend before retrieving the medallion and hurrying down, Because the stairs without the medal would go out of active mode and go to their first place and hide.

The warriors continued their journey until they reached the plain...