- Job:
- Job Name: Ruins and Languages
Job Rank: D
Job Location: Heliohapt
Job Rewards: 50 XP/3,000 Huang
Job Prerequisites: N/A
Job Overview: In the desert surrounding Heliohapt are ruins of pyramids, temples, and lost societies. Visit one of these ruins and investigate for the Historical Society. Bring back at least one tome and one artifact and the Historical Society will reward you.
There were many days when the young magician wondered what was the point of life. Why did people exist? Was there any divine reason by fate which interwove everybody's lives in one, humongous tale? Or did people live their entire life without any reasons for being there? He tried to avoid thinking about the topic since it often depressed him, but trying and succeeding have two different meanings. On one hand, that was good for him. On the other hand, it was not. Certainly, he was hunted and chased by his old slave masters. Even now, there were still a few who continued to follow Ariel's trail. That was one of the reasons Ariel had decided to move to Magnostadt. Nobody without magical abilities was allowed to enter the City of Magicians. But it wasn't helpful when he really did not want to think about something.
As the sun beat down on him and sweat dripped down his forehead, instead of wondering why people existed, he was wondering why such a hot place as Heliohapt existed. His skin glistened as the sun reflected off of it. His clothes were a shade darker and damp, due to his sweat. Due to the insufferable heat, Ariel had put his hair up into a high ponytail. It reminded him of the many hours he spent in the fields, working. Even though he had not wanted to, he had been forced to work constantly. He had not been given many hours of sleep, despite only being a child. Apparently the slave workers thought he had unlimited energy and strength - actually that was probably exactly what they were thinking, evil bastards.
He would have preferred being inside, where he was at least shaded from the sun. Alas, he could not go inside just yet. Basically, Ariel possessed an empty purse and since he did need to pay for his food and shelter, he needed to earn some money. He discovered that the Historical Society had offered to pay anybody who went on an errand for them. So, very readily, Ariel signed up for the task. Apparently the Historical Society had sent a crew down to the ruins of a village. They were suppose to search the area and bring back some artifacts. For some reason, the crew left before the job had been completely finished. The architects were sure there were more things to be found buried in the sand. To make things go faster, they decided to have the people of Heliohapt and anybody who happened to pass by, help them gather the artifacts with a reward waiting to all those who lent their aid.
That was reason he was sweating and suffering the heat. For money. Everything was for money. The world basically revolved around money. Money equaled influence and influence equaled power. Without the enticement of money, influence, and power, such things that possessed the world with its evil would have not existed. Slavery, for example, would not have existed. Unfortunately, it was human nature to be greedy. Such sorrowful thoughts were common with Ariel. They often made him doubt his purpose of ridding slavery. But then he would always remember why he didn't want slavery to continue: It was one less thing to fight over. Besides, nobody deserved the fate of being a slave.
Ariel was careful while he dug. He did not want to break anything that might have been hiding in the sand. He used his hands to dig out the soft sand and with the hardened materials, he used a trowel. Every hour or so, he would take a few minutes rest. After summoning up his energy once again, he would move to a different location among the ruins. By the time the sunset sky appeared, Ariel had found two plain vases. While he wasn't too pleased with his findings, Ariel decided it was getting too late to continue.
Just as the entrance to the ruins came into his vision, Ariel felt something poking out from under his shoe. After shifting his foot, he glanced down at the ground. He knelled down and placed the two artifacts in his arms carefully onto the sand. Ariel placed his hand over the spot he had felt something. Carefully, he dug the foreign object out of the sand. He was very surprised to find a book. It had little grains of sand stuck between the pages. Leather was wrapped around the paper and a string tied it together. The book was in surprisingly good shape. Ariel knew immediately that this would be a find the Historical Society would be quite pleased to receive.
Momentarily, he looked up into the sky. His eyes widened and he hurriedly grabbed the book, the artifacts, and his trowel. He sprinted out of the restricted area, a panicky look on his face. Somehow or another, Ariel managed to run all the way to the inn he was currently staying at without breaking anything. Since it was so late, Ariel decided to turn in his findings tomorrow. Tonight, he wanted to sleep.
Early into the afternoon, Ariel had paid a visit to a building stationed in Heliohapt. It was an office meant for the use of the Historical Society. He glanced around the main room. Finally, after a bit of pondering, he chose to ask the man at a dark wooden desk where he should turn in the artifacts. He was kindly and quickly directed to the man in charge of the Historical Society's treasury. After turning in the book and the two vases, Ariel was given his pay. Ariel cheerfully thanked the man before rushing out the door with glee. So now he needed to pay the innkeeper the two nights he had spent at the tavern plus the food generously loaned to him and wasn't there something else he was forgetting?... Forget about all that! He was hungry!
--- End ---
Word Count: 1037/500
