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Prologue

Gaius Hadrianus

I held the stone plaque quietly, examining it as I sat under the pavillion-like tent I had set up. The snowstorm outside unforgiving as always, but that's just what you'd get so far out here in Fehrin-Niv. The far north was unforgiving, but its people, us wolves, had long gotten used to it - among the frozen plains and thick forests, we'd forged our Empire, that withstood the ages stronger than any other. The greatest mages and warriors, all hail from the same cold land, and there's a reason for that.

I shrugged off those thoughts and continued to look at the stone plaque. It bore the crest of the founders of the Empire. Their symbol was a tree, drawn in an intricate, knotted pattern, surrounded by two wolves. It was easily recognizable. What I wanted to know, though, was what exactly this stone plaque is. It couldn't have been a decorative item, judging from the slots and crevisses on its back that seemed to point out that it was made to be inserted somewhere. Where? I don't know. What in the world was it doing down in a cave, protected by an absurd amount of traps and creatures? I had no idea, but it's clear to me that this thing was important.

I sighed to myself and shrugged, putting away the plaque into my back and wiping my paws on my long, black tunic. I was headed back to the Snowhold University to meet some of their historians - Maybe someone there could answer my questions about this thing. I was just a mage, after all. While an avid scholar, history was never my greatest subject, and it was certainly not the focus of the Astarian University of Magic, where I'd learnt everything I know.

I rolled out my bedroll right by my friend's bed. He was a young snow fox, named Cato. We'd met in the University, and when I graduated, he'd decided he'd go with me instead of remaining for his last year. He said he'd learn whatever else was necessary along the way with me - And I take pride in saying I taught him a lot, and we both learned far more in our constant pursuit of ancient knowledge in the forgotten ruins and caves of the world. He was a skilled alchemist, and also did great with his Battle spells. It was frankly impressive to me, as he'd managed to learn things I'm yet to master far ahead of me. Part of me was jealous of him, in that sense, but I'm equally as good, and perhaps better, in other aspects, so I had nothing to complain.

He'd gotten wounded in our last "adventure," however. One of the traps that protected this damn crest went off on him. Nearly killed him, as a spear stabbed his stomach. I could save him with a lot of healing magic, however, but he was still in some pain, and it'd take a while for that to go away. I'm glad it was nothing worse than that, however. Some of the traps in that cave were far nastier than what he got hit by, and some of the creatures could've easily killed us both, had we not been careful. He was a strong man, however, and I was sure he'd be just fine soon enough.

I lied by him quietly and careful not to wake him up. Soon enough, I was slowly taken by sleep. I'd have a long day tomorrow, and we were supposed to be arriving at the Snowhold University by night. The stone plaque could be a very important discovery - and it could lead us to more of the arcane knowledge that both of us pursued, I hoped.

+++++

"Gaius...?", I heard a familiar soft, mellow voice call out to me. It was fairly obviously Cato, who seemed to have woken up before me. "Please wake up, I need some help getting up."

I jumped up instantly and gave him my paw, "Sure, Cato. Too much pain?", I questioned, audibly worried, while raising my eyebrows. He took my paw and I pulled him up, aiding him in getting his balance once he'd stood, and he nodded.

"My stomach hurts so much. Are you sure I'll be okay?", he asked quietly, and I nodded firmly.

"Of course you will. Your pain should be gone by tonight, okay? If it's not, we're already right by Snowhold anyways. They have some great healers there, you know. But we won't need that, you'll be just fine by tonight," I assured him, patting his shoulder. He looked down at the rip on his tunic and sighed.

"Thanks, Gaius. If you weren't there, I...", he began, and I shook my head.

"There's nothing to thank me for, there. Now, we need to head out," I asserted to him, and he nodded, picking up his bag, as I continued, "Let's take down the tent and go."

He nodded and we both began our work to take down our large tent. Moments like these made me wish that Emperor Falk Whitegold had actually taught his spells to others, as one of the spells he had made was meant to take down tents and similar things in instants, so it would simplify our life a lot. Of course, he didn't share his spells with anyone, and he'd died an entire Age ago, so there wasn't much I could do. But, enough complaining, I suppose.

Five minutes of packing everything back up and we hit the road. The cloudy skies let the sun only slightly shine through, and the light was made fainter by the surround pine trees. The University was just a few minutes from here. It was built away from cities so students could focus on, well, studying, and it was, like the Astarian University, basically an entire city. It had a variety of shops for the students, and it was, in general, huge. The Astarian University was even bigger, having an entire forest area built inside it for the study of animals in their habitats, complete with a lake there, in this area called the Underdome, but the Snowhold one was just as big.

"So, Gaius," Cato chipped as we walked down the road, "What do you think will happen?", he questioned, and I raised my eyebrow, curious what he meant.

"What do you mean?", I asked, turning to face him as we walked, and he shrugged.

"Well, it's the 992nd year of the 9th age. Everyone is bracing themselves for another world shaking event. The Emperor has put extra security in the streets, the Astarian University has diviners on full alert... You know, an Age can't go over a thousand years. It means that within eight years, something of huge proportions will happen to end this Age," he explained, calmly, "Everyone's wondering what will it be, this time around. The ending of the 7th Age was that thing, the Primordial, trying to fuse the mortal plane and Ministrum together, the 8th Age was ended when that semi-deity guy discovered some weapon of mass destruction in the depths and was subsequently destroyed by some adventurers..." he reminisced, stroking his chin, "It's always something that can go horribly bad, to apocalyptic scales, that ends an age. And since they can never last over a thousand years, everyone's wondering what in the world is going to happen this time around."

I shrugged to myself, "Hey, I don't know. I'm no diviner. Who knows, maybe this crest we found will do it," I laughed to myself, and Cato narrowed his eyes, thoughtful.

"Now that you say it, that is quite possible. Let's take care of that damn plaque. If it's important, it's possible that it'll be up to us to do whatever is necessary to keep it safe," he told me firmly, and I nodded in response. I really doubt that this plaque being dug up could herald such a world-shaking event, but, you really never know, I suppose. Some of the greatest things in history happened because people unwittingly involved themselves with dangerous things, so maybe this is our turn. Part of me hoped that was the case, because that'd be our chance to go down in history! The other part didn't want the responsibility of having to stop the world from ending, because that's... Not usually easy.

But, in the end, it doesn't really matter. I wouldn't have to worry about this anytime soon. This type of stuff wouldn't happen so suddenly, and I doubt it'd happen to people like us, who were unknown and, well, basically nobodies. This type of event were left to the powerful people - the great mages, warriors and nobles. Not us.

+++++

In a few hours, we arrived at the Snowhold University. The University was entirely built out of stone, and had huge stone walls to prevent invaders. At its gates, made out of iron, and seemingly to tall to open without mechanical or magical aid, the sign of the Whitegold family, the previous Emperors before the Astarian, today, was inscribed, the great wolf howling to the moon, that is used even today as our flag. Two men in the standard Black Order guard uniform guarded the entrance to the University, standing still in the frozen stairway that led to the gates.

As we walked up to them, they looked at each other and watched us go up the stairs. The two guards, as most of the Fehrinian people, were wolves of lightly coloured fur. One of them had white fur that blended in with the snow, and would barely be visible if not for his black armour. The other, had grey fur, that fit neatly with the colour scheme of the Black Order guard armour. His also grey cape looked almost like an extension of his fur, as did his long tail.

"Good day," the grey furred one said calmly, "We'll need you to identify yourselves, and your intention before going inside," he ordered, and I nodded.

"I'm Gaius Hadrianus. My friend is Cato Vergillianus," I replied, flashing the guard a friendly smile, "We're both here to identify an artifact with the historians of the university."

The guard pulled out a small leather book from his pocket, and simply spoke our names and intentions into it. He then put the book away and nodded, gesturing to someone over the huge stone wall and moving away from the gates as they opened up for us. "Go right in. Just don't cause any trouble," he told us, nodding to the gates.

I nodded back to him, "Very well. Have a good day," I bid my goodbye and walked in, followed by Cato, who looked around the courtyard curiously.

It looked a lot like the Astarian University, only it had the banner of the Empire between every pillar. The courtyard was massive, with a huge, well kept garden, though this one seemed to be more of aesthetic value than the one at the University, as this one only had flowers such as roses, tulips and violets, and a tree or two. There were two entrances on each side behind us, that led into two towers, where, judging from the influx of people, who all wore colourful, fancy garments, were the sleeping quarters. Probably, one of the towers were for professors, the other one for students. That's how it was in the Astarian University, anyways.

There was a main path that led up to this massive palace like structure, where I'd guessed would be the classrooms, and most of the important parts of the University, such as the stores and laboratories. The "palace" had many windows, looking from here, and I could see a window looking into this big library in the last floor. The place just looked interesting, in general. Though not nearly as good as the University of Magic, as far as I could see.

There was, branching off the main path that went through the garden, a side path leading around the palace. I couldn't see where it led, and while I was curious, I figured I wasn't even a student here so I shouldn't be prying. I'd just go straight to the library, which is probably where I'd find someone with experience in history.

"I'm not impressed by this," Cato whispered to me, flashing me a smile, "Our library was at least three times the size of that, up there."

I chuckled, and nodded, "The University we went to was thrice the size of this. But magic is much harder than philosophy and history, I suppose."

We both walked off, and I told him we should head for the library. We agreed, and off we went, going through a tiresome set of stairs to reach the final floor, but not looking at much else. And when we got to the University, it seemed Cato was right indeed. Their library wasn't all that big. It was impressive, of course, but not massive. It wasn't filled with people, probably because, judging from the time, they were all headed for their classes. There were a few people, however, dressed quite visibly as scholars, complete with tunics and everything, reading through stuff, and a snow bear was behind a counter on the far end of the library, reading through a few scrolls, while writing something down. I figured that was the librarian, and that pestering him first would be the ideal solution before interrupting any of the scholars here.

+++++

After a lot of talking and convincing the librarian that this was, in fact, important, we were led to a small meeting room, where we were told to wait so that Master Sergius could meet us. The meeting room was rather cozy. Lit by a few candles and torches, with a room looking out to a rather scenic view of the Auschterlied Forest outside, and the courtyard of the university. There were a few bookshelves in the room, an archive drawer, and this oak table, with one chair on one side, and three on the side we were sitting on.

Eventually, someone who I assumed was Sergius walked in the room and closed the door behind him. He was absolutely huge, towering over both Cato and I as he walked past us, and sat on the chair on the other side. He was wearing dark brown robes, and carried with himself a pretty big book. He, like the librarian, was a snow bear, and he had a scar running down the side of his face and neck. Over all, he would be rather scary if I didn't know I could probably blow him up before he tried to punch me. Thanks magic for that. Still didn't want to piss him off, however.

"So," he began, with no greeting of any kind, setting down his book on the table. 'How charming,' I thought to myself as he looked at Cato, "What brings you two here?"

Cato pulled the plaque out of his bag and showed it to him, but he didn't let go of it. We were... distrustful of handing others possible artifacts, which could be worth a fortune, both in gold and knowledge. "This brings us here," he replied, in a manner just as 'charming' as the bear greeted us.

Sergius raised his right eyebrow, and leaned in to take a closer look at the artifact. He asked Cato to show him the back of the artifact, and show he did. He examined it for a moment more than looked up, thoughtful, making a large pause before looking back at us, "Where did you two find this?"

"A cave, here in the Auschterlied Forest," I explained, tilting my head, "Why?"

"Well... You'll be travelling far from here, now, if that's really something you found deep in a cave," he commented, and I looked at him, curious. "I believe, though I'm not sure, that this crest is the key to Darius' Vault, out in Midwinter," he explained, "I can't pinpoint the location, but it is supposed to hold extremely powerful artifacts; it is also supposed to be the containment site of one of the books that contain the secrets to the Elder Rituals - spells of incomprehensible power. The other known one was destroyed by the Astarian University, who deemed it too powerful to anybody, and the other three, well, nobody has any idea where they are. That's all I know."

Cato and I exchanged glances, and I grinned. I knew what I was doing this year.

"Thank you, Master Sergius," I said, nodding softly as Cato put away the plaque. "We'll find this book."

"Start looking in the South of Midwinter. A boat from Port Ylvir can take you there. Remember to bring me a copy of the book, if you find it," he laughed, and I nodded, getting up and walking off. He stopped us before we left, saying, "Oh, and good luck, you two. Whatever protects that book won't be weak, and finding the Vault will be equally difficult."

Cato thanked him, and we went off, back down the set of stairs. Seems like we had a very interesting job in our hands, now. And we'd be fulfilling it.