The dew on the leaves trickled down in the dense rainforest. Birds chirped as if to celebrate a new morning.
Amidst this serenity, a white horse galloped. A young man was riding the horse very skillfully.
Edric had a glint of excitement and anticipation in his eyes. With a tap of his heel, Edric spurred the horse and disappeared into the dense forest.
Time passed quickly and the Sun dusked very soon.
Edric reined the horse near a flowing stream of water.
"This seems like a pretty good place for camping. Let's take a break here for now."
Edric dismounted from the horse and leashed it to a nearby tree.
"There you go, Bobo."
Edric stroked the horse and the horse tapped it's foot in delight.
"Yeah. That's my boy. Okay, okay. I know you are tired as well. Now rest up, we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow."
Edric gathered some dried branches and set up a campfire. He took out a box from his bag and opened it.
A cold wind slipped out from the box. Edric grabbed a piece of meat from the cold storage box and started roasting it. When the hardened meat got soft, he suddenly remembered:
"Oh, almost forgot about that. Good thing I remembered in time."
Edric took out a pouch from the carry bag and sprinkled a powder around his makeshift camp.
With a few spices mixed in, Edric started eating the meat. After a sumptuous meal, he used his hands to drink up water from the running stream.
*Nieghh..."
"Yes, Bobo. How can I forget about you?"
Edric took a stack of hay and laid it in front of the horse.
"How wonderful it would be if life continues like this..."
With this thought in his mind, Edric lied down on the bare ground. Making the Earth his bed and the sky his ceiling.
...
A new day began and Edric continued his journey deep inside the forest.
It was now afternoon. Edric had paused midway in his track.
He dismounted the horse and leashed it to a tree. Then he started walking in a certain direction.
He took out his sword from its scabbard and cautiously broke through the dense vegetation.
*Rustle.. Rustle...*
Suddenly, a thick bush moved violently near Edric. He positioned his sword in the direction of the noise.
But the noise disappeared as fast as it had appeared.
*Rustle*
Another bush moved. This time from Edric's back. Edric however didn't turn.
He closed his eyes and concentrated all his attention on the sounds around him.
The next instant, Edric took out a throwing dagger with his left hand while his right hand was occupied with the longsword.
With a sharp sound, the dagger pierced through the air and at last hit its target.
It was a snake-like creature. It almost looked like a python but its speed was terrifying.
Without giving it any chance to process what was happening, Edric jumped in the direction of the dagger and lunged his sword directly in the snake's head. The snake squirmed violently a second and then its body went still.
Knowing that the snake's blood would attract the nearby animals' attention, Edric didn't waste a second and left the scene.
He encountered many such animals on his way. Some small and fast. Some big and slow ones.
The real challenges started when encountered the beasts. Those animals who had mutated into something far more dangerous.
If he was in an open field then he could take care of most beasts. But right now, he was in their turf.
Danger was lurking everywhere.
Edric passed through the bushes. His eyes darted in every direction and his focus was at its maximum.
*Thud*
*Thud*
...
The ground started shaking rhythmically. Edric braced himself for what was to come.
A big rhino-like beast charged at him. Its skin shone like copper and its twin horns were green.
Edric dodged its charge barely. However, the dodge was not very clean. His left shoulder had been injured as a result of the clumsy dodge.
Edric's clothes shone in a bright light and his shoulder started recovering. The recovery was so swift that it could be seen by naked eyes.
Not wasting time, he climbed a tall tree and whistled.
*Whiii...*
The Twin-horned rhino looked in the direction of the whistle, clearly displeased.
It charged once more in Edric's direction. However, this time Edric had a plan in his mind.
The large 4 meters tall rhino charged at the tree on which Edric had positioned himself. Just before the charge could hit the tree, Edric jumped down from a height of 7 meters from ground onto the rhino's body.
The movement was swift and precise.
*Aahh...*
With a loud shout, Edric plunged his sword deep into the rhino's right eye. Before the rhino could shake him off, Edric twisted his sword and a bright light blasted straight into the rhino's eye and came out from the other end, scorching its insides.
Rhino's body hit the tree and skidded through a couple more before coming to a rest.
Edric had hopped off from its body in time. He went near the rhino's body and cut out a portion of its green horn. The horn was very thick with its length being approximately a meter.
"This will make a good scabbard. Just what I needed."
Edric took out a rope and tied the horn to his back. He continued moving towards the core of the forest.
He encountered many beasts in his way. He slew some. Ray away from some. But he survived.
A bright light covered Edric's whole body and the next second he disappeared. His smell also disappeared into thin air.
The fox-like beast that had been fighting him felt confused by the sudden disappearance of the foe. It checked its surroundings but seeing and realizing that its foe had fled, it went back to strolling in its territory.
"Whew...! That was close. This disguising cloak saved my life once again. Such a pity. It can be used only three times. Now its just some ordinary cloak."
Edric thought to himself, not daring to make the slightest noise.
He had reached his destination but in the spur of excitement, he lost focus from the surroundings and a beast attacked him.
After a few moments, Edric reappeared in front of a ruined altar, if it could even be called as such. It looked like a bunch of stones placed randomly on a cracked blackstone platform.
Edric's eyes lit up in anticipation once again, this time not being careless.
He slowly and cautiously entered the ruined altar and started examining the place.
Strangely, not a single beast was near the altar and those who accidentally came near it, fled as soon as they see it. The same had happened with that fox-like beast that Edric had encountered just moments ago.
Edric carefully examined the place and found himself in the centre.
"This is intriguingly... frustrating."
Edric was now losing his cool. Almost on the verge of pulling out his hair in frustration.
Before he did so however, his attention was grabbed by a pattern on the centremost pillar.
It was hard to distinguish because of dirt and dust. Edric rubbed the surface and saw an engraving.
"No, its not an engraving. It seems like a keyhole."
Edric took out a crescent-moon shaped emblem from his pocket. The emblem went into the hole, fitting perfectly.
"—Grrmmm..."
The pillar started shaking and then the whole altar started shaking.
The pillars sunk down into the ground and a hole the size of a fist opened in the ground just in front of Edric.
Edric was surprised by all this sudden movement but quickly calmed down to assess the situation.
A stone platform came out of the ground and on it stood a blackened chalice.
Edric let out a breath of relief after seeing the chalice and murmured to himself:
"Found it at last. But why is it so... black."
Edric took the chalice in his hands and started examining it. It looked like a very very old chalice. Nothing more than that.
Suddenly, a thought crossed Edric's mind and he groaned in frustration.
"Aargh! Not the blood restriction."
He put the chalice back on the stone platform and braced himself for what was to come.
"Just the worst. Who invented this blood restriction? Curse them..."
While shouting this Edric took out a dagger and cut his palm. Blood gushed out from the open wound and trickled into the chalice.
"That should be enough."
After a few moments, Edric retracted his arm and activated his healing artifact. The wound closed almost instantly.
Edric closed his eyes and began chanting something:
"Ομ Γκαν Γκανπατάγιε Νάμο Νάμα..."
The surrounding started heating and the chalice began glowing in violet, then blue, then green, then yellow, then red and finally white.
Edric's whole body started convulsing and a guttural scream escaped his mouth.
*AARRGHH...*
The scream continued for a few seconds and then came to a stop slowly.
With a thud, Edric fell down on the black stone ground. Half panting and half cursing, he tried to stand up.
A bright light shone in front of his eyes. The Sun had fallen and the night time was at its peak.
Faint moonlight and fireflies made the surrounding feel mystical with the bright glowing white chalice in front of Edric.
"Holy Grail..."
These words escaped Edric's mouth subconstiously and he grabbed the grail.
As soon as he grabbed the grail, it disappeared in a flash and a white tattoo-like symbol etched onto Edric's right wrist in the shape of the grail.
Edric was about to leave the place with a sense of bittersweet joy. But before he could, a sharp, raw pain assaulted his head.
Edric had already been exhausted to his limit and this pain was the final nail in the coffin. Not being able to endure anymore, Edric fainted on the cold hard ground and everything went silent with faint sounds of fireflies.