Radboud's Glittering Quest

There was a glow to the sky, and I saw it, even though I was in the middle of one of the most dangerous places on earth.

I was in Ancient Egypt, trying to make my way through the desert towards the city of Alexandria. The Nile was running low and far away from where it normally would have been. It had been a year without good rain and you could tell that soon there would be famine. I carried a vial containing an elixir of sorts, a cure for a sickness that had spread throughout Alexandria.

I was carrying something else too, but I didn’t know what it was. I had been hired by somebody named Radboud to carry something for him. I didn’t know why he couldn’t carry it himself, but he had said something about how he was unable to walk on his own feet. So I had been hired to carry this box thing through whatever godforsaken wilderness had been deemed worthy enough to reside in by Radboud. He had told me that there were four more like this one that needed delivering as well and I had been promised plenty of gold for my efforts if I couldn’t manage to deliver them all at once.

I walked through the desert, trying not to slip up on the sand dunes that surrounded me. There were snakes in this part of the world and they were dangerous creatures, though none could ever compare with Rygotha who watched over these lands with her band of thieves and murderers. These parts were known as the land of the dead, and it weren’t hard to see why that was so when you could still hear their cries echoing across the dunes like unending screams.

Some time later, after almost stumbling over my own feet while attempting to find my way through the darkening desert skies, I noticed lights in the distance; candle lights that flickered out across a massive estate nestled safely away from prying eyes behind high stone walls. The estate itself wasn’t too different from any other estate found in Rome or Athens or any other city within these lands for that matter, but there was something about its appearance that marked it as something more than just another wealthy man’s house back in our current time line. It looked old somehow, yet there were carriages parked out front that looked like they were straight out of Rome or Athens themselves and I could practically smell the money off of them when they passed by me on their way down into town where they would be sold as some rich man’s new toy. As they passed me by however, nobody paid me any attention at all and nobody really seemed to pay any attention at all to this place outside of town either. It wasn’t surprising in fact since many people tended to stay away from these places fearing ghosts and spirits alike would haunt them or bring them bad luck or some such nonsense like that if they spent too much time around these places like this one with its strange lights flickering out across its vast expanse at nightfall.

Inside the estate, there were dozens upon dozens of young men dressed in white robes scurrying around doing whatever it is rich people do during their free time, so I assumed it must have been some sort of social function being hosted by Radboud here tonight. Although there were no signs anywhere pointing towards the owner of the place or what sort of event was going on, everyone seemed determined to ignore each other entirely, which made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

After waiting near the front door for a few minutes, someone finally noticed me and escorted me to a room where I sat down next to an enormous fireplace. My host went off in search of someone he called his servant boy, though I saw many servants already walking around. Eventually, a person came up and began talking to me, asking where the boxes should go and what they should say once they got there. Despite clearly knowing me as his hired hand, my mysterious host never revealed his identity.

I delivered three more boxes along with their messages and sold the carriages for more gold than anyone could imagine, finally returning home. The air smelled cool and crisp beneath the trees, contrasting sharply with the man lying on the ground nearby shouting obscenities at us as we had passed by him earlier. As I reflected on the day, I considered the happiness that awaited me once all these boxes were delivered before midnight tonight. Music played in my head, evoking memories of love and joy, and giving me hope for a future of happiness after completing this task. But there were still questions that lingered - who was my mysterious employer, and what significance did these deliveries truly hold? Nevertheless, the promise of a bright future and ample gold fueled my determination to see this mission through to the end.