Techhunter_Talon
Cultist
Shadow Mantis here with what can be considered Terraria Story Thing 2.0. Largely I was unsatisfied with what I had written and decided to scrap the whole thing and begin anew. Once the story is complete, and edited to be rid of any errors, I will post it in it's entirety on my DeviantArt page. Feedback is much appreciated as this is a Work in Progress and I hope to make this story as good as it can possibly be.
PS: Sorry, no clever title names involving what happens in said chapter.
Link to DeviantArt page: http://sh4d0wm4nt1s.deviantart.com/
Prologue:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4, Part 1
Chapter 4, Part 2
Chapter 5
PS: Sorry, no clever title names involving what happens in said chapter.
Link to DeviantArt page: http://sh4d0wm4nt1s.deviantart.com/
Prologue:
The world of Terraria is a truly mysterious one. When in times of need it will draw in heroes to save it from destruction. It was known to draw in heroes from across time and even from alternate realities or dimensions. When these heroes are drawn in they would meet someone that identifies himself as their guide, someone to help aid the hero in surviving in it’s treacherous wilds. As time went on, it started gaining the ability to draw in more than just one hero when the need ever were to arise. As for what caused this change, to the ancients, the answer seemed obvious.
Once upon a time it was plagued by a blight known simply as the Corruption. This blight was said to of come about after an extraterrestrial entity known as Cthulhu was slain by ancient heros using a legendary blade. After it’s defeat, the blade shattered and from Cthulhu’s rotting corpse the Corruption appeared and threatened to consume the world whole. Worst yet, the body took on a whole new life of it’s own and also threatened to cover the world in it’s vile influence, it was named the Crimson. For a time things looked grim as hero after hero failed to stop it’s spread and die to the creatures each had spawned. Then the Hallow appeared. Despite it’s relative peaceful appearance, it turned out to be as much of a blight as the Corruption and the Crimson, or so it was thought.
Faced with the possibility of the world being covered by this triad of blight, the ancients decided to seal the three away until a time a hero strong enough to cleanse them from the world were ever to appear. The Corruption and Hallow were sealed within the body of one of their own as the spirits of Light and Dark, as a result turning him immortal. The Crimson on the other hand was much too powerful to be sealed in such a way. Desperate, they contained it within a massive prison and hoped to their gods it’s walls would hold it from spreading any further until a hero would arise strong enough to cleanse it. Knowing that these were only temporary solutions, they laid out a series of trials for heroes to surpass in the hopes that one would be strong enough to rid the world of the Crimson, Corruption, and Hallow.
Now, our story truly begins with a holy Paladin who suddenly found himself in forest he did not recognize and on a world that was alien to him.
Once upon a time it was plagued by a blight known simply as the Corruption. This blight was said to of come about after an extraterrestrial entity known as Cthulhu was slain by ancient heros using a legendary blade. After it’s defeat, the blade shattered and from Cthulhu’s rotting corpse the Corruption appeared and threatened to consume the world whole. Worst yet, the body took on a whole new life of it’s own and also threatened to cover the world in it’s vile influence, it was named the Crimson. For a time things looked grim as hero after hero failed to stop it’s spread and die to the creatures each had spawned. Then the Hallow appeared. Despite it’s relative peaceful appearance, it turned out to be as much of a blight as the Corruption and the Crimson, or so it was thought.
Faced with the possibility of the world being covered by this triad of blight, the ancients decided to seal the three away until a time a hero strong enough to cleanse them from the world were ever to appear. The Corruption and Hallow were sealed within the body of one of their own as the spirits of Light and Dark, as a result turning him immortal. The Crimson on the other hand was much too powerful to be sealed in such a way. Desperate, they contained it within a massive prison and hoped to their gods it’s walls would hold it from spreading any further until a hero would arise strong enough to cleanse it. Knowing that these were only temporary solutions, they laid out a series of trials for heroes to surpass in the hopes that one would be strong enough to rid the world of the Crimson, Corruption, and Hallow.
Now, our story truly begins with a holy Paladin who suddenly found himself in forest he did not recognize and on a world that was alien to him.
Chapter 1
“What the...?” Lucidus was completely caught off guard by the sudden change of scenery. His bright green eyes surveyed the area he was in. Just where the hell was he? His answer would come shortly.
“Woah... nice outfit there... and what is with those pointed ears?” A voice suddenly spoke. Its suddenness almost made him jump as he thought he was the only one in this lush green forest.
“Th-thanks? I guess... where the hell am I? I literally just got out of bed and got dressed before... what ever just happened.” Lucidus answered, sounding slightly out of it. The voice that spoke to him belonged to a person, human from the looks, who wore a gray shirt and blue leggings. On his back he had a quiver of arrows and a bow slung across his shoulder. His hair was unkempt, short, and was brown instead of a silvery white that his was. Similarly, his hair was about as short as his. Currently, this person was sitting on the branch of a nearby tree and looking down at him with his gray colored eyes.
“Lucky you, I’d guess. This would have been incredably awkward if you ended up here without a single bit of clothing on your back.” He said in reponse to Lucidus’ comment of just getting into some proper attire before being brought here. It was without saying that Lucidus was wearing some interesting looking clothing. Blue tunic with a blue, hoodless, cloak that he had draped over his shoulders and came down about to his waist. This was blue with blue-green accents near the inner edges. He also wore blue-green leggings and a pair of brown boots, likely made of leather or some other similar material. Also, he seemed to be of a thin, almost elvish, athletic build. Roughly, he would estimate him to be close to five and half to six feet tall, and/or about as tall as he was, maybe a little taller.
“And you would be...? While you’re at it, where the hell am I?”
“The name’s Andrew. I’ll be you guide in this world, Terraria, we call it.”
“Terraria?” Not only was he in a new land, he was also in a whole new world. Although, it was a comfort that it didn’t look any different from where he comes from. In fact, this forest resembled the forests that existed outside the city he grew up in. By that he meant that this forest had the look of being largely untouched by civilization. Which, he liked seeing the sight of every so often.
“Yep. Before we get started I need to give you something considering you are unarmed.” Andrew told Lucidus. Out from nowhere he produced a short sword that was made of copper from the looks. Along with that, he was given a pickaxe and axe that were both made of the same material as the short sword.
It was obvious of what Andrew wanted him to do and it would be a good idea to get on that as if this place was as untouched as he believed then he will need shelter. As much as it pained him as an elf with the whole idea of chopping down a few trees but it would be necessary he did so. But before he did, he still had a few questions for this Andrew. He wondered what sort of creatures lived in the forests here.
“You live here, right?” Lucidus asked Andrew, he knew the answer but he want to be sure before asking his next question.
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“Is there anything around here I should be aware of? In the terms of wildlife and other creatures, that is.”
“Yeah...” He said as he pulled out his bow and took aim. He loosed an arrow that flew right past his head and landed somewhere directly behind him “...that thing.”
Turning he saw what looked to be a puddle of green slime on the ground with an arrow sticking inside it. It threatened to latch on to his head by jumping but he made quick use of that short sword he was given. The creature moved no more and was reduced to a small puddle of inanimate slime.
“Thanks.” Lucidus was grateful that Andrew apparently had his back. Although, he could have made sure there was a bit more clearance between his head and the arrow. He felt the wind on that one and was possibly the second closest to him getting killed by something. At first, he thought this ‘guide’ was actually an enemy and was taking his opportunity to kill him right then and there. Of course, he felt a little stupid for thinking that right now but it was reasonable to assume that at the time.
“No problem. That there was a green slime. They are pretty common around here. Though, generally speaking, they aren’t hostile at first but it does suck to have one land on your head. Trust me.”
“Heh... I think I will.”
Shortly thereafter, Andrew had just begun instructing Lucidus on the basics of survival in this world while he was busy chopping down trees and being surprised when the literally fell apart and the resulting planks flying into him, vanishing. No matter how Andrew explained it he just couldn’t wrap his head around it. Even worse, it would take him a better part of the day trying to figure out how to access the wood he had gathered as Andrew was needlessly cryptic in saying, “Once you figure it out it’ll come naturally and easily to you.”
Just what was that supposed to mean? How was he supposed to make some sort of makeshift shelter when he couldn’t figure out how to get at the lumber needed to construct one. Which, also, Andrew had told him that building such a shelter should take a matter of seconds to do which also made no sense to him. He could see constructing a shelter out of twigs and leaves and the like in a few minutes to an hour or so but something more complex in seconds if he knew what he was doing? Was it some sort of magic that he was supposed to know to conjure one into being? If so, then was there an incantation for it that he was supposed to know? It was needlessly frustrating, really.
“As I said, one you figure it all out it will all come together and you’ll be able to do a lot of this stuff in seconds to just a few hours for the more complex stuff.” Andrew told Lucidus when he noticed his growing frustration.
“One has to wonder what happened to the others that came before me if you were just about as needlessly cryptic about things here. I think that slime was the most clear and helpful you have been on the things about this world since I got here.” Lucidus said, very much getting annoyed with Andrew
“They were ill prepared. Many died and few just went insane. Hopefully, we don’t encounter THOSE cases here.” Andrew answered calmly. It wasn’t the first time he had to deal with someone getting annoyed at him when he tried to help them but there wasn’t really any way to adequately explain that particular thing that would allow Lucidus to access the lumber he had gotten from the few trees he had chopped down.
“No wonder everyone you helped thus far has either died or gone insane. I’m starting to see how one can go insane listening to you.”
Afterward, he looked to the sky to see where the sun currently was. Aside from seeing a hawk flying lazy circles just above him, likely looking for prey. He saw that it was about halfway to sunset. He might end up spending a night outdoors if he couldn’t figure out something for a shelter. The thought then hit him that maybe those who came before might have built shelters of their own somewhere. Worse comes to worse he might have go looking for one that was hopefully nearby if it started getting too late. Maybe, he might even encounter this Avis that Andrew had seen and possibly be able to let them stay the night if he had a shelter constructed. Thankfully, and surprisingly, he didn’t feel hungry despite the fact he hadn’t eaten all day. Strange...
Lucidus had just given up trying to make sense of what Andrew was trying to tell him on how to access all of that lumber he had gotten from the trees. He wandered off, with Andrew following, and hoped that he might find some pre-made shelter he might use for the night that was inevitably drawing closer and, based on what Andrew was telling him, he didn’t want to be caught out in the open during the night with only a copper shortsword for protection. He wasn’t going to stay around to find out what Andrew was worried about. He felt that he might want to listen to him on this one.
Just as the sun was just barely hanging over the horizon, Lucidus stumbled upon something interesting. A cabin that looked as though it had seen recent inhabitation based on that it looked as though it once had holes here and there that there patched up recently, very recently. Even Andrew was confused by this.
“What? How long has this been here?” Andrew wondered out-loud.
“You are the one that has lived here longer, and apparently witnessed the deaths of many and a few lose their minds. I would have figured you would know the area better. How can you not know of this place?” Lucidus questioned Andrew. The fact that he apparently did not know of this place and it looking as though it has seen very recent inhabitation did not help in making him not any more suspicious of this.
“You are the first person I had seen in years. Not delving into specifics but, considering what you were looking for, the houses, shelters, and the like that I had witnessed past heroes create would have been lost to the sands of time by now. The fact that this place is here, and still in decent shape, would mean it was recent.”
“Lost to the sands of...? Okay... that... just how old are you?” Lucidus asked. It would take hundreds of years for something the size of this cabin to be fully claimed by nature and not have a trace of it, at the least. Also, something like this being made of wood would mean it wouldn’t take that long to be fully claimed. In the state it was in, it had to be a few years old at the least. Andrew did not answer his question. Seeing this, he sighed and conceded for now that Andrew wasn’t going to answer his question. “Fine... well... I suppose at least we have a place to stay the night.”
“Would be an idea. Although, I’m interested in meeting who ever restored this place.” Andrew answered, happy not having to answer that other question. Some things are better off left unsaid. He then added, “Although, this would still mean that someone had built this place at some point and abandoned it. Which, I’m surprised I’ve never met them. Usually, I’m very good at finding heroes where ever they appear.”
Unfortunately, the cabin turned out to be vacant at the moment. Seeing as nightfall was just around the corner it was best if they stayed and waited for who ever it was that was living here to return. If they returned, that is. If they did not then at least they now had a place for the night and for many more to come. As it grew dark, another problem arose. How to get that fireplace going. It was going to get pitch black out there soon and Lucidus’ inability to get at the lumber he had was once again becoming an issue.
“I seriously wonder how you are not able to get at that wood you are carrying? It isn’t that hard. I had seen people have slight troubles with it but all of them pretty much figured it out fast enough.” Andrew was growing frustrated at Lucidus. It was completely beyond him how this hero was completely unable to access his equipment and the like.
“You haven’t been the best at helping me with this. In short, not my fault here.” Lucidus replied, very much starting to sound angered.
“A different method then. Clearly something is wrong here if you are the first with this issue. I wonder?” Andrew began looking as though he was deep in thought.
“What?” Lucidus’ anger slowly faded into a mix of confusion and curiosity.
“One moment...” He answered as he seemingly stood there with his eyes closed. A few more moments passed before he spoke again. He said, “Okay, try again. As I said before. Just picture a space in which that wood is being stored within your mind’s eye.”
“Uhhh... what? Okay?” Lucidus looked briefly confused before it very quickly subsided as just as Andrew explained, it worked! How did he do this? At the moment, he didn’t care as he was happy to finally figure it out. He wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong before but at least now it was working. Curiously, he also could see a visual representation of his clothing and something else. Was that a bit of the slime he had killed? Interesting. It would seem he could have much more stuff within here than just that wood.
“Based on your reaction, it’s working?”
“What did you do?” Lucidus asked. Turning his attention to Andrew made that mental image to fade.
“Restored a severed link. I could explain the specifics but I get the feeling you might not understand it.” He answered and left it at that. At least now that was in the past.
Lucidus shrugged as he managed to light a fire, the slime gel turned out to be very flammable, in the fire place and lit up the entire cabin in flickering light of the fire. It was a big relief that issue had been resolved. Now the only thing he had to worry about was the fact that there was no bed or beds here, just a pair of rather decrepit bed frames. It was going to be a rough night sleeping on the floor but at least it was safer here rather than out there.
Lucidus was not the only one that was brought into the world of Terraria by an unknown power. Not too far away, another was brought in who hailed from the same world as Lucidus but from a different time period. Unlike Lucidus, this other person wore armor that was steel gray in color and futuristic in appearance. Upon the chestplate was a bright blue glowing orb that was part of the armor’s power source. This glowing bright blue color could also be seen in a ring that wrapped around his wrists. The helm? Sleek in design and fitted for his rather reptilian head. His face was almost completely hidden behind the bright blue glass of his visor. Only his reptilian eyes could barely be made out. Also, just about where his mouth should be there was what looked to be an attachment looked like a respirator. Compared to Lucidus, he was massive. Easily he was a good foot taller and and far more muscular under his armor. His name was Xernus.
“Core, report. Where the hell are we?” Xernus asked seemingly to no one. His first instinct was to reach for something on his back, which he found there was nothing there. This confused him as he was sure he had his rifle there. He had just gotten into his suit of armor when he suddenly found himself here.
A line of text rolled down in a small box that covered a small portion of the top left of the inside surface of his visor.
“Location: Unknown. Currently trying to up-link with what seems to be an array of satellites that I believe might be used for some sort of Global Positioning System.” The text answered. Core was an AI that Xernus has long since made use of on many of his contracts and the like as a mercenary.
“A GPS? Interesting.” Xernus said to himself. He looked to the skies before adding, “If there are artifical satellites in orbit then that must mean this planet is inhabited by intelligent life.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Core agreed with his master’s thinking. Although, he already made that connection long before him. That is, if one considered the second the appeared here that he figured that one out to be long before he did, which was only around thirty seconds ago.
“Keep me updated on your progress and tell me if you end up seeing if there are any nearby settlements. Hopefully, someone here might be able to tell us where we are.” Xernus told Core. Kind of pointless, as he figured he might have that up-link established in just a few more seconds.
So thinking, a map of the surrounding area he was in, a forest if he needed any more confirmation on this based on the sheer number of trees around him, appeared just before his eyes on the inside surface of his visor. Its appearance nearly made him misjudge a step and stumble. He caught himself and dismissed the map for now.
“I hate you.” Xernus said to Core. All he got as a response was a colon and an uppercase “P.” Damn it, why did he have to introduce this AI to what emoticons were? Ever since then he would occasionally use them in jest when messing with him. It sometimes gets annoying but at least he knew enough not to use them when he was in life threatening situations, which was almost all the time he ever set foot off of that ship of his.
Pulling up the map again, this time not covering the entirety of the inside surface of his visor, he looked to see if there was anything of interest. Apparently, Core was already on top of that and place a marker of some small clearing that had what looked to be a small cabin or hut or some other dwelling in the center. If someone is living there, maybe they might provide some insight on where he was. That is, providing, they didn’t freak the hell out at the sight of him or attack him for what ever reason, like trespassing. Now that would be down right annoying.
Considering how isolated it was in this forest, Xernus wasn’t expecting much from this cabin that he saw on that map. From the looks, it hasn’t seen any inhabitation in a long while indeed. The front door was coming off its hinges, there was a massive hole in the ceiling and one of the walls. Also, any windows that were once in place had long since fallen out and shattered, well... except for one that was showing signs of coming apart. At least, it was something. A shelter that he could make use of and, if he had tools, could possibly patch up the ceiling, wall, and the windows.
The interior was just about as bad as it looked on the outside. Floorboards here and there missing, a pair of bed frames that suggested two people lived here at one point, and a table that had a few broken chairs around it. What remained of the floor creaked under step as he moved over to a chest he saw in a far corner. He had no clue that he wasn’t the first to happen upon this place. He felt a presence behind him in a far corner.
“What do we have here? Most curious the armor you wear... who are you?” A voice spoke to Xernus, nearly causing him to jump. He turned to see a tall robe wearing person standing with arms crossed in a corner of the cabin just to the right of the door. Their robes were a deep blue with a golden trim that formed some intricate patterns just below where his stomach would be. His hood was drawn forward and he wore what seemed to be a white mask that bore the likeness of a plague doctor’s mask.
“I could ask the same.” Xernus said to this stranger.
“How? I detected nothing in this house.” Core was just about as surprised at this stranger’s sudden appearance.
“We all have questions it would seem.” He said, looking Xernus over from his corner. “What is your name? Clearly, not from around here”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable saying.” Something about him didn’t feel right. Especially, considering that even Core wasn’t aware that he was there.
“Wise... possibly. Although, you have my word that I’ll give you mine if you give yours. I am no enemy.” He wasn’t a stranger to such a response to his presence. It always seemed that something about him always set off someone’s suspicions. He couldn’t imagine why.
Xernus thought about it for a bit before sighing and answering by saying, “Fine. The name’s Xernus.”
“Hmmm... certainly confirms those suspicions.” The stranger said, bringing his left hand to just barely touching the underside of his mask where his mouth might be. It was then that Xernus noticed that the skin of his hand was pale white.
“I do believe you said you would tell me who you are if I told you my name.” Xernus said to the stranger.
“Ah... yes... my apologies.” He said with a slight apologetic bow. “Hmmm... I’d guess ‘Dredun’ might suffice for now.”
“For now? So that’s not your real name then. If I had known you were not going to give me your real name then I would have done the same.”
“Before I go, I have one more question to ask of you.”
“That would be?”
“Where is he? Is he not accompanying you?”
“Who?”
“Interesting...” Dredun said in response to Xernus’ confusion. He started making way for the door to leave.
“Where are you going?” Xernus asked him just as he was about to take a step out of the door.
“Worry not, we may yet meet again.” Dredun answered as he exited the cabin and left Xernus to his own devices.
He followed Dredun outside but to find that he had just up and vanished without a trace. An understatement would be saying that was weird. He returned to the cabin interior and decided to look through that chest he had seen in there. Sure enough, the chest contained something that he would find useful. A few things, in fact. An axe, a pick, and a short sword. All seemed to be made of the same material that he figured might be copper. Not the best material to make tools and weapons out of but they would have to do.
Much like Lucidus, Xernus was just about as surprised when he chopped down a tree and, instead of falling down as one might expect, it merely broke into wooden planks and “flew” into him, vanishing from sight. Stranger still, and much to the annoyance/confusion of Core, he was somehow able to see these wooden planks in his ‘mind’s eye’ and was able to place them down. Furthermore, it seemed as though trying to use the axe to reclaim the planks he set down was fruitless. It was a few minutes before he tried using the pickaxe on a whim and it worked. Odd, yes, but yet useful this all was. He didn’t need to worry about how much he was carrying weight-wise but only quantity and even that seemed to not be a huge worry to him.
“I’m having troubles understanding this. How are you able to do all of this?” Core asked. He never seen such things being possible before in all of his time with Xernus.
“To be honest, I haven’t the slightest idea. Not going to question it as it is pretty damn useful. Repairing that cabin shouldn’t take long. Maybe before sun set?” He answered. He smiled slightly, or about as much as he could manage, at the idea of Core not understanding what he was doing. Not exactly a new thing as he has done things that made Core question his very sanity before, but this was a definite first.
“What ever... just... get going on what you were going to do.” Core said as Xernus returned to the cabin to begin patching up the holes and reinforcing anywhere that needed it.
Much as he had predicted, repairing the cabin took less than an hour to patch up the last hole where a window used to be before it had fallen out at some point in the past. He even was able to convert the central table into a work bench of sorts and was able to fashion a new door for the cabin. He was amazed at the ease he was able to do such tasks where, normally, it take days to a few weeks to accomplish. He wasn’t complaining as this meant he had a place to stay for the night.
Considering how easily he did these tasks he thought of maybe leaving for a few to explore and possible find something of use. He felt it would be much of a stretch to make a bed for himself or at least something to use as bedding for the night. He was sure he lacked the materials for this and felt it was best to possibly try to make some better tools than what he had. They did the job but it felt slow. If there was even a slightest possibility that he could do tasks such as mining or wood cutting then he was going to leap at that possibility. Core directed him to a nearby cave on a nearby lake that was just to the north, or just straight ahead of where the cabin faced. The sun was beginning to set and he was eager to quickly delve in and return before it got too late at night. He had a sinking suspicion that he did not want to be caught out in the night, or at least, not for long.
“Woah... nice outfit there... and what is with those pointed ears?” A voice suddenly spoke. Its suddenness almost made him jump as he thought he was the only one in this lush green forest.
“Th-thanks? I guess... where the hell am I? I literally just got out of bed and got dressed before... what ever just happened.” Lucidus answered, sounding slightly out of it. The voice that spoke to him belonged to a person, human from the looks, who wore a gray shirt and blue leggings. On his back he had a quiver of arrows and a bow slung across his shoulder. His hair was unkempt, short, and was brown instead of a silvery white that his was. Similarly, his hair was about as short as his. Currently, this person was sitting on the branch of a nearby tree and looking down at him with his gray colored eyes.
“Lucky you, I’d guess. This would have been incredably awkward if you ended up here without a single bit of clothing on your back.” He said in reponse to Lucidus’ comment of just getting into some proper attire before being brought here. It was without saying that Lucidus was wearing some interesting looking clothing. Blue tunic with a blue, hoodless, cloak that he had draped over his shoulders and came down about to his waist. This was blue with blue-green accents near the inner edges. He also wore blue-green leggings and a pair of brown boots, likely made of leather or some other similar material. Also, he seemed to be of a thin, almost elvish, athletic build. Roughly, he would estimate him to be close to five and half to six feet tall, and/or about as tall as he was, maybe a little taller.
“And you would be...? While you’re at it, where the hell am I?”
“The name’s Andrew. I’ll be you guide in this world, Terraria, we call it.”
“Terraria?” Not only was he in a new land, he was also in a whole new world. Although, it was a comfort that it didn’t look any different from where he comes from. In fact, this forest resembled the forests that existed outside the city he grew up in. By that he meant that this forest had the look of being largely untouched by civilization. Which, he liked seeing the sight of every so often.
“Yep. Before we get started I need to give you something considering you are unarmed.” Andrew told Lucidus. Out from nowhere he produced a short sword that was made of copper from the looks. Along with that, he was given a pickaxe and axe that were both made of the same material as the short sword.
It was obvious of what Andrew wanted him to do and it would be a good idea to get on that as if this place was as untouched as he believed then he will need shelter. As much as it pained him as an elf with the whole idea of chopping down a few trees but it would be necessary he did so. But before he did, he still had a few questions for this Andrew. He wondered what sort of creatures lived in the forests here.
“You live here, right?” Lucidus asked Andrew, he knew the answer but he want to be sure before asking his next question.
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“Is there anything around here I should be aware of? In the terms of wildlife and other creatures, that is.”
“Yeah...” He said as he pulled out his bow and took aim. He loosed an arrow that flew right past his head and landed somewhere directly behind him “...that thing.”
Turning he saw what looked to be a puddle of green slime on the ground with an arrow sticking inside it. It threatened to latch on to his head by jumping but he made quick use of that short sword he was given. The creature moved no more and was reduced to a small puddle of inanimate slime.
“Thanks.” Lucidus was grateful that Andrew apparently had his back. Although, he could have made sure there was a bit more clearance between his head and the arrow. He felt the wind on that one and was possibly the second closest to him getting killed by something. At first, he thought this ‘guide’ was actually an enemy and was taking his opportunity to kill him right then and there. Of course, he felt a little stupid for thinking that right now but it was reasonable to assume that at the time.
“No problem. That there was a green slime. They are pretty common around here. Though, generally speaking, they aren’t hostile at first but it does suck to have one land on your head. Trust me.”
“Heh... I think I will.”
Shortly thereafter, Andrew had just begun instructing Lucidus on the basics of survival in this world while he was busy chopping down trees and being surprised when the literally fell apart and the resulting planks flying into him, vanishing. No matter how Andrew explained it he just couldn’t wrap his head around it. Even worse, it would take him a better part of the day trying to figure out how to access the wood he had gathered as Andrew was needlessly cryptic in saying, “Once you figure it out it’ll come naturally and easily to you.”
Just what was that supposed to mean? How was he supposed to make some sort of makeshift shelter when he couldn’t figure out how to get at the lumber needed to construct one. Which, also, Andrew had told him that building such a shelter should take a matter of seconds to do which also made no sense to him. He could see constructing a shelter out of twigs and leaves and the like in a few minutes to an hour or so but something more complex in seconds if he knew what he was doing? Was it some sort of magic that he was supposed to know to conjure one into being? If so, then was there an incantation for it that he was supposed to know? It was needlessly frustrating, really.
“As I said, one you figure it all out it will all come together and you’ll be able to do a lot of this stuff in seconds to just a few hours for the more complex stuff.” Andrew told Lucidus when he noticed his growing frustration.
“One has to wonder what happened to the others that came before me if you were just about as needlessly cryptic about things here. I think that slime was the most clear and helpful you have been on the things about this world since I got here.” Lucidus said, very much getting annoyed with Andrew
“They were ill prepared. Many died and few just went insane. Hopefully, we don’t encounter THOSE cases here.” Andrew answered calmly. It wasn’t the first time he had to deal with someone getting annoyed at him when he tried to help them but there wasn’t really any way to adequately explain that particular thing that would allow Lucidus to access the lumber he had gotten from the few trees he had chopped down.
“No wonder everyone you helped thus far has either died or gone insane. I’m starting to see how one can go insane listening to you.”
Afterward, he looked to the sky to see where the sun currently was. Aside from seeing a hawk flying lazy circles just above him, likely looking for prey. He saw that it was about halfway to sunset. He might end up spending a night outdoors if he couldn’t figure out something for a shelter. The thought then hit him that maybe those who came before might have built shelters of their own somewhere. Worse comes to worse he might have go looking for one that was hopefully nearby if it started getting too late. Maybe, he might even encounter this Avis that Andrew had seen and possibly be able to let them stay the night if he had a shelter constructed. Thankfully, and surprisingly, he didn’t feel hungry despite the fact he hadn’t eaten all day. Strange...
Lucidus had just given up trying to make sense of what Andrew was trying to tell him on how to access all of that lumber he had gotten from the trees. He wandered off, with Andrew following, and hoped that he might find some pre-made shelter he might use for the night that was inevitably drawing closer and, based on what Andrew was telling him, he didn’t want to be caught out in the open during the night with only a copper shortsword for protection. He wasn’t going to stay around to find out what Andrew was worried about. He felt that he might want to listen to him on this one.
Just as the sun was just barely hanging over the horizon, Lucidus stumbled upon something interesting. A cabin that looked as though it had seen recent inhabitation based on that it looked as though it once had holes here and there that there patched up recently, very recently. Even Andrew was confused by this.
“What? How long has this been here?” Andrew wondered out-loud.
“You are the one that has lived here longer, and apparently witnessed the deaths of many and a few lose their minds. I would have figured you would know the area better. How can you not know of this place?” Lucidus questioned Andrew. The fact that he apparently did not know of this place and it looking as though it has seen very recent inhabitation did not help in making him not any more suspicious of this.
“You are the first person I had seen in years. Not delving into specifics but, considering what you were looking for, the houses, shelters, and the like that I had witnessed past heroes create would have been lost to the sands of time by now. The fact that this place is here, and still in decent shape, would mean it was recent.”
“Lost to the sands of...? Okay... that... just how old are you?” Lucidus asked. It would take hundreds of years for something the size of this cabin to be fully claimed by nature and not have a trace of it, at the least. Also, something like this being made of wood would mean it wouldn’t take that long to be fully claimed. In the state it was in, it had to be a few years old at the least. Andrew did not answer his question. Seeing this, he sighed and conceded for now that Andrew wasn’t going to answer his question. “Fine... well... I suppose at least we have a place to stay the night.”
“Would be an idea. Although, I’m interested in meeting who ever restored this place.” Andrew answered, happy not having to answer that other question. Some things are better off left unsaid. He then added, “Although, this would still mean that someone had built this place at some point and abandoned it. Which, I’m surprised I’ve never met them. Usually, I’m very good at finding heroes where ever they appear.”
Unfortunately, the cabin turned out to be vacant at the moment. Seeing as nightfall was just around the corner it was best if they stayed and waited for who ever it was that was living here to return. If they returned, that is. If they did not then at least they now had a place for the night and for many more to come. As it grew dark, another problem arose. How to get that fireplace going. It was going to get pitch black out there soon and Lucidus’ inability to get at the lumber he had was once again becoming an issue.
“I seriously wonder how you are not able to get at that wood you are carrying? It isn’t that hard. I had seen people have slight troubles with it but all of them pretty much figured it out fast enough.” Andrew was growing frustrated at Lucidus. It was completely beyond him how this hero was completely unable to access his equipment and the like.
“You haven’t been the best at helping me with this. In short, not my fault here.” Lucidus replied, very much starting to sound angered.
“A different method then. Clearly something is wrong here if you are the first with this issue. I wonder?” Andrew began looking as though he was deep in thought.
“What?” Lucidus’ anger slowly faded into a mix of confusion and curiosity.
“One moment...” He answered as he seemingly stood there with his eyes closed. A few more moments passed before he spoke again. He said, “Okay, try again. As I said before. Just picture a space in which that wood is being stored within your mind’s eye.”
“Uhhh... what? Okay?” Lucidus looked briefly confused before it very quickly subsided as just as Andrew explained, it worked! How did he do this? At the moment, he didn’t care as he was happy to finally figure it out. He wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong before but at least now it was working. Curiously, he also could see a visual representation of his clothing and something else. Was that a bit of the slime he had killed? Interesting. It would seem he could have much more stuff within here than just that wood.
“Based on your reaction, it’s working?”
“What did you do?” Lucidus asked. Turning his attention to Andrew made that mental image to fade.
“Restored a severed link. I could explain the specifics but I get the feeling you might not understand it.” He answered and left it at that. At least now that was in the past.
Lucidus shrugged as he managed to light a fire, the slime gel turned out to be very flammable, in the fire place and lit up the entire cabin in flickering light of the fire. It was a big relief that issue had been resolved. Now the only thing he had to worry about was the fact that there was no bed or beds here, just a pair of rather decrepit bed frames. It was going to be a rough night sleeping on the floor but at least it was safer here rather than out there.
Lucidus was not the only one that was brought into the world of Terraria by an unknown power. Not too far away, another was brought in who hailed from the same world as Lucidus but from a different time period. Unlike Lucidus, this other person wore armor that was steel gray in color and futuristic in appearance. Upon the chestplate was a bright blue glowing orb that was part of the armor’s power source. This glowing bright blue color could also be seen in a ring that wrapped around his wrists. The helm? Sleek in design and fitted for his rather reptilian head. His face was almost completely hidden behind the bright blue glass of his visor. Only his reptilian eyes could barely be made out. Also, just about where his mouth should be there was what looked to be an attachment looked like a respirator. Compared to Lucidus, he was massive. Easily he was a good foot taller and and far more muscular under his armor. His name was Xernus.
“Core, report. Where the hell are we?” Xernus asked seemingly to no one. His first instinct was to reach for something on his back, which he found there was nothing there. This confused him as he was sure he had his rifle there. He had just gotten into his suit of armor when he suddenly found himself here.
A line of text rolled down in a small box that covered a small portion of the top left of the inside surface of his visor.
“Location: Unknown. Currently trying to up-link with what seems to be an array of satellites that I believe might be used for some sort of Global Positioning System.” The text answered. Core was an AI that Xernus has long since made use of on many of his contracts and the like as a mercenary.
“A GPS? Interesting.” Xernus said to himself. He looked to the skies before adding, “If there are artifical satellites in orbit then that must mean this planet is inhabited by intelligent life.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Core agreed with his master’s thinking. Although, he already made that connection long before him. That is, if one considered the second the appeared here that he figured that one out to be long before he did, which was only around thirty seconds ago.
“Keep me updated on your progress and tell me if you end up seeing if there are any nearby settlements. Hopefully, someone here might be able to tell us where we are.” Xernus told Core. Kind of pointless, as he figured he might have that up-link established in just a few more seconds.
So thinking, a map of the surrounding area he was in, a forest if he needed any more confirmation on this based on the sheer number of trees around him, appeared just before his eyes on the inside surface of his visor. Its appearance nearly made him misjudge a step and stumble. He caught himself and dismissed the map for now.
“I hate you.” Xernus said to Core. All he got as a response was a colon and an uppercase “P.” Damn it, why did he have to introduce this AI to what emoticons were? Ever since then he would occasionally use them in jest when messing with him. It sometimes gets annoying but at least he knew enough not to use them when he was in life threatening situations, which was almost all the time he ever set foot off of that ship of his.
Pulling up the map again, this time not covering the entirety of the inside surface of his visor, he looked to see if there was anything of interest. Apparently, Core was already on top of that and place a marker of some small clearing that had what looked to be a small cabin or hut or some other dwelling in the center. If someone is living there, maybe they might provide some insight on where he was. That is, providing, they didn’t freak the hell out at the sight of him or attack him for what ever reason, like trespassing. Now that would be down right annoying.
Considering how isolated it was in this forest, Xernus wasn’t expecting much from this cabin that he saw on that map. From the looks, it hasn’t seen any inhabitation in a long while indeed. The front door was coming off its hinges, there was a massive hole in the ceiling and one of the walls. Also, any windows that were once in place had long since fallen out and shattered, well... except for one that was showing signs of coming apart. At least, it was something. A shelter that he could make use of and, if he had tools, could possibly patch up the ceiling, wall, and the windows.
The interior was just about as bad as it looked on the outside. Floorboards here and there missing, a pair of bed frames that suggested two people lived here at one point, and a table that had a few broken chairs around it. What remained of the floor creaked under step as he moved over to a chest he saw in a far corner. He had no clue that he wasn’t the first to happen upon this place. He felt a presence behind him in a far corner.
“What do we have here? Most curious the armor you wear... who are you?” A voice spoke to Xernus, nearly causing him to jump. He turned to see a tall robe wearing person standing with arms crossed in a corner of the cabin just to the right of the door. Their robes were a deep blue with a golden trim that formed some intricate patterns just below where his stomach would be. His hood was drawn forward and he wore what seemed to be a white mask that bore the likeness of a plague doctor’s mask.
“I could ask the same.” Xernus said to this stranger.
“How? I detected nothing in this house.” Core was just about as surprised at this stranger’s sudden appearance.
“We all have questions it would seem.” He said, looking Xernus over from his corner. “What is your name? Clearly, not from around here”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable saying.” Something about him didn’t feel right. Especially, considering that even Core wasn’t aware that he was there.
“Wise... possibly. Although, you have my word that I’ll give you mine if you give yours. I am no enemy.” He wasn’t a stranger to such a response to his presence. It always seemed that something about him always set off someone’s suspicions. He couldn’t imagine why.
Xernus thought about it for a bit before sighing and answering by saying, “Fine. The name’s Xernus.”
“Hmmm... certainly confirms those suspicions.” The stranger said, bringing his left hand to just barely touching the underside of his mask where his mouth might be. It was then that Xernus noticed that the skin of his hand was pale white.
“I do believe you said you would tell me who you are if I told you my name.” Xernus said to the stranger.
“Ah... yes... my apologies.” He said with a slight apologetic bow. “Hmmm... I’d guess ‘Dredun’ might suffice for now.”
“For now? So that’s not your real name then. If I had known you were not going to give me your real name then I would have done the same.”
“Before I go, I have one more question to ask of you.”
“That would be?”
“Where is he? Is he not accompanying you?”
“Who?”
“Interesting...” Dredun said in response to Xernus’ confusion. He started making way for the door to leave.
“Where are you going?” Xernus asked him just as he was about to take a step out of the door.
“Worry not, we may yet meet again.” Dredun answered as he exited the cabin and left Xernus to his own devices.
He followed Dredun outside but to find that he had just up and vanished without a trace. An understatement would be saying that was weird. He returned to the cabin interior and decided to look through that chest he had seen in there. Sure enough, the chest contained something that he would find useful. A few things, in fact. An axe, a pick, and a short sword. All seemed to be made of the same material that he figured might be copper. Not the best material to make tools and weapons out of but they would have to do.
Much like Lucidus, Xernus was just about as surprised when he chopped down a tree and, instead of falling down as one might expect, it merely broke into wooden planks and “flew” into him, vanishing from sight. Stranger still, and much to the annoyance/confusion of Core, he was somehow able to see these wooden planks in his ‘mind’s eye’ and was able to place them down. Furthermore, it seemed as though trying to use the axe to reclaim the planks he set down was fruitless. It was a few minutes before he tried using the pickaxe on a whim and it worked. Odd, yes, but yet useful this all was. He didn’t need to worry about how much he was carrying weight-wise but only quantity and even that seemed to not be a huge worry to him.
“I’m having troubles understanding this. How are you able to do all of this?” Core asked. He never seen such things being possible before in all of his time with Xernus.
“To be honest, I haven’t the slightest idea. Not going to question it as it is pretty damn useful. Repairing that cabin shouldn’t take long. Maybe before sun set?” He answered. He smiled slightly, or about as much as he could manage, at the idea of Core not understanding what he was doing. Not exactly a new thing as he has done things that made Core question his very sanity before, but this was a definite first.
“What ever... just... get going on what you were going to do.” Core said as Xernus returned to the cabin to begin patching up the holes and reinforcing anywhere that needed it.
Much as he had predicted, repairing the cabin took less than an hour to patch up the last hole where a window used to be before it had fallen out at some point in the past. He even was able to convert the central table into a work bench of sorts and was able to fashion a new door for the cabin. He was amazed at the ease he was able to do such tasks where, normally, it take days to a few weeks to accomplish. He wasn’t complaining as this meant he had a place to stay for the night.
Considering how easily he did these tasks he thought of maybe leaving for a few to explore and possible find something of use. He felt it would be much of a stretch to make a bed for himself or at least something to use as bedding for the night. He was sure he lacked the materials for this and felt it was best to possibly try to make some better tools than what he had. They did the job but it felt slow. If there was even a slightest possibility that he could do tasks such as mining or wood cutting then he was going to leap at that possibility. Core directed him to a nearby cave on a nearby lake that was just to the north, or just straight ahead of where the cabin faced. The sun was beginning to set and he was eager to quickly delve in and return before it got too late at night. He had a sinking suspicion that he did not want to be caught out in the night, or at least, not for long.
Chapter 2
Sleeping on the hard floor near the fire place wasn’t the easiest of things to do. Although, it seemed as though Andrew was sleeping soundly. Lucky him, Lucidus thought to himself. Currently, he was sitting down, legs crossed, and looking out at the night sky through the only intact window in the cabin. Although, saying it was intact was mostly an understatement due to shear number of cracks and chunks missing from it. It was amazing that it hadn’t fallen out like the one that was once directly opposite of it, who ever found this place had patched up that hole well enough.
Lucidus laid back on the floor with his arms behind his head and continued waiting for himself to drift off to sleep. He wondered if who ever had restored this place, mostly, was ever going to return or if they were staying out there tonight, doing what ever they were doing. Although, for all he knew this person had died shortly thereafter restoring the cabin. Would be unfortunate but at least then he really wouldn’t need to worry about shelter or gaining permission to stay here at least for the night.
He then turned his attention back to the window because he thought he saw something standing right in front of it. A rather large shadowed figure with glowing red eyes that were looking down at him. When he had turned his attention to the window it very quickly moved out of view and he heard the sound of panting, like that of a dog or a wolf. He wondered if he should wake Andrew and ask him of what typically comes out at night in this world. Either that or get him to help him move that table to the door in hopes that it might keep what ever is out there at bay. Although, based on what he thought he saw, he doubted a single table could keep something like that out. Screw it, Lucidus thought as he went to wake Andrew.
“Ugh.... what?”
“A shadowed figure with glowing red eyes. Sound familiar to you?” Lucidus asked. That brief description seemed to wake Andrew up further with a jolt.
“Woah... wait... what?” He felt his heart sink.
“So... you know what it is or not? If it prompts anything then I think I also heard what sounded like panting when I caught a brief glimpse of it.” Lucidus continued, now trying to locate the chest in which he stowed away that sword Andrew had given him.
“Hopefully, it doesn’t come in here as I doubt you are well equipped to deal with one right now. I think you might have seen a werewolf.” He finally answered Lucidus’ question. Now he was wondering what the hell was a werewolf?
“A werewolf?” Lucidus asked. What the hell is a werewolf? He thought to himself as never before he heard of such a creature.
“Half-man, half-wolf. Only come out on nights of the full moon. Get bitten by one then you are too cursed to become one every full moon. Nights only, thankfully.” Andrew explained fearfully. Although he was clearly scared of this creature, Lucidus almost laughed at the mental image of a being with the torso of a man and the rest of the lower body being that of a wolf. That or the opposite. A man with a wolf head. Both equally amusing but he was barely able to contain himself, the most he did was a soft snicker.
“You wouldn’t be laughing if you, yourself, got mauled or witnessed someone get torn to shreds by one.” Andrew warned, hearing Lucidus. He was speaking from personal experience.
“Of course, that would not be fun... it’s just the mental image I got from that was amusing to me.” He said to Andrew. He knew that the initial mental image wasn’t accurate based on the silhouette he saw just outside the window. He blamed the fact that he was tired which, for all he knew, he didn’t see what Andrew described and it was actually something else less threatening. Either or, it felt it was best that they made sure what ever was out there couldn’t come in, at least easily. Although, what they could do might be for nothing seeing as the window looked as though a little light tap would shatter it. They could have propped the table against the door but that might not prove to be beneficial as that would eliminate one method of escape from here if something came through that window.
At this point, Lucidus and Andrew agreed it would be better to sleep in shifts in case what ever was lurking out there decided to come back. Andrew had first watch as he gotten more sound sleep than Lucidus did before all of this starting happening. Thankfully, he spotted nothing of worry and his watch was relatively uneventful. Although, at some point he thought he saw something move past the window out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to see what it was it was already gone. This was about when he and Lucidus switched places and he went to sleep while Lucidus kept watch. Although, he made sure to note to keep an eye on the window as he did think he saw something.
The walk took far longer than Xernus had expected. Night was beginning to fall but it couldn’t be helped. Along the way he strangely found a few chests in what looked to be tunnels that went through some small hills. In one of them, he switched out his shortsword for a spear. Not only that, there were some flasks of strange red liquid, silvery coins numbering around twenty in total, a few throwing knives, and a long coil of rope. Strange that he had found this in this tunnel and he wondered who put this here but he thankful he found it nonetheless. He was a little bit more well armed although he wasn’t too certain on how to handle a spear as he never used one before. Knives and swords he was familiar on how to use them but spears wasn’t something he thought to train in. First time for everything, they all say.
“You’re just going to take them?” Core questioned the idea of taking such items from a chest that was literally in the middle nowhere.
“I’m not going to drink from those flasks, if that is what is worrying you. For all I know, could be something flammable, like oil for lanterns or something like that. Not sure I want that in my stomach. Pretty certain I don’t want that to be on gravestone that I got myself killed drinking flammable fluid.”
“Not what I was concerned about but, at least, I can take comfort in knowing fully well that you aren’t THAT stupid. But now that you mentioned the possibility of that stuff being flammable is cause for other concerns.” Core said, worried about Xernus’ ‘small’ affinity for fire and anything explosive. He knew what possibilities might lie in store for the future if those were flasks of flammable liquid. Might prove to be a nice light show but nothing more than that.
“I won’t burn down the forest, or the cabin for that matter. Might be pretty to watch but that wouldn’t be very good for my possible long term stay here.” Xernus assured Core, feeling fairly certain this was what he was worried about.
“Not what I worried about but I see that likely I won’t get anywhere with this. Just continue before we end having to spend the night in this tunnel.” Core figured it was best to let Xernus do what he needs to do and not distract him any further until something else creeps up. He shrugged and continued through the passageway through the hill.
Night had just fallen when he finally arrived to the cave entrance that Core directed to him. What they didn’t expect was what was just across the lake. There were lights that emanated from lanterns. The silhouettes of roofs peaking out just slightly over a wall, and even a sizable tower, were able to be made out just across the lake. The wall, he noticed, ended where he saw a dock that just just below a bridge that spanned a river that likely cut through the town. It continued after the river and circled into a smaller tower on the other side. Xernus was half tempted to go and investigate but he figured it was best that he didn’t arrive in town during the night. However, the sight of the lights being reflected off of the lake was a sight he hadn’t seen in a long time. It along with the stars and moon was a sight to behold.
“I’ll note that for later.” Core informed Xernus as he delved into the cave, likely the place he would be spending his night.
Just as he was about to enter the cave, he thought he saw movement coming from the town. Turning, he saw that he was correct. He saw a somewhat large figure walk onto the dock. There wasn’t enough light to tell anything specific about this person aside from what looked to be a long tail and possibly either wings or some sort of bulge of their back. Although, he could tell that this person was carrying what looked to be a fishing pole. Once arriving to their destination, they sat down at the dock and cast their line into the shimmering waters. As much as he wished to visit this town, he had other matters to tend to, namely the cave that was behind him. There would be time later to plan a hopefully peaceful visit.
Once he was completely unable to see a foot in front of him, he produced a torch to help light his way through the darkness of this cave. He tightly griped his shortsword in case he met anything unfriendly in this cave if it went anywhere deep underground. With this world, there was no telling what was waiting within the darkness or within the bowels of the world’s surface. Deeper into the cave, Xernus noted that this place too wasn’t a stranger in having chests just sitting there, out in the open. Although, this one was different. It was golden in color unlike the ones he has seen before. Just as he approached this chest a familiar voice was heard.
“I wouldn’t.” It was Dredun. Once again he had snuck up on him and nearly caused him to jump.
“Do you have to sneak up on me?” Xernus asked as he turned to face him. He nearly instinctively reached for one of his throwing knives in response to Dredun sneaking up on him and speaking. He was currently leaning on a stalagmite with his arms crossed.
“Not my fault that you walked right past without noticing me.” He couldn’t have been just standing right there the entire time. While walking forward, he was looking all over, trying to make sure nothing was going to creep up on him while he approached this chest. He even looked over at that exact stalagmite and saw nothing.
“So... what is it? Guessing you also just happen to be exploring this cave?”
“My business is my own.” He answered. First time was reasonable but this time it didn’t. Was he following him?
“Anything else?” Xernus figured there was some reason he advised him that he wouldn’t. Wouldn’t what? Open the chest?
“Let us just say, if you take another step towards that chest, run like your life depends on it.” Dredun told him. He then added, “Either that or duck. I can’t quite recall which one I figured out that one did. Hmmm...” He was no longer leaning on the stalagmite and his head was held low as though thinking.
“Uhhhh...” Xernus figured it might be for the better to skip out on this one. He wasn’t going to go on a guessing game that might have a distinct chance of him dieing.
“Aw... not going to take the chance?” Dredun inquired when he noticed Xernus was leaving.
“Why should I? If you think it is trapped then why bother? Furthermore, if you know it’s trapped then you might have gotten past it and looted the chest.” He answered as he turned to face Dredun once again.
“Fair enough.” He answered. He paused for a brief moment before adding, “That is, if I did loot the chest. In fact, I never even opened it.”
“I’m not letting you goad me into opening that chest. Not sure why you want me to but I will not.” Xernus said to Dredun. He was getting a little suspicious as to why he wanted him to approach the chest but, what ever he had planned, he wanted nothing to do with it.
“Your loss.” Dredun said with a slight shrug. “I’d guess you’ll be going further in then? If so, then be careful of the denizens deep below. Especially, what they left behind.”
“Leaving? Appear one moment and vanish the next?” Xernus asked as Dredun was making way in the direction that Xernus had come from when entering this cave.
“No reason to stay. My business here is done.” Dredun answered before vanishing within the darkness.
“I don’t know why I was expecting this to be any different.” Xernus said to himself before casting one last quick glance at the golden chest and leaving it behind.
Not one step later he heard a click and the sound of something crashing to the ground. A giant boulder had fallen from the ceiling, crumbled, and crushed the chest that was in front of him. He felt a chill roll down his spine as he came to realization that if he had been going any faster then that boulder would have crushed him, killing him instantly. Too bad about the chest though. Although, if Dredun wasn’t interested in the contents then should he be? He circled around the rubble and continued forward deeper into the cave.
“Stop.” Core ordered Xernus. So saying he stopped in his foot steps.
“What is it?”
“Right here, begin digging. I think you are right on top of an iron deposit.” He was told and he began picking at the ground with the pickaxe. After a few strikes he started digging into what looked to be something that was a very dull, metallic, gray color. Much like the trees he dug, the chunks he broke off flew straight at him and vanished. Likely, these chunks of rock were being stored in the exact same place as the wood he had on him.
After a minute or so the deposit was exhausted and he began digging into dirt and stone. Also, he left behind a substantial hole in the ground which he filled in with ease using the mix of stone and dirt that was also dug up along with the iron. As he set the last bit of dirt with an armored foot he suddenly had this strange feeling of being watched by something. He shook it off and continued deeper, albeit with his left hand close to his sword.
It wasn’t long before Core informed him of another deposit of ore that was lying just under foot. In fact, it felt like it was almost every couple of feet, pardon the pun, that he found another deposit of ore. With that town so close he was surprised this place hadn’t been touched and robbed of its resources. Not that he was complaining. At the rate he was going he would be able to upgrade all of his equipment to iron. Providing that he was able to figure out how to make a forge and an anvil to work with. He would cross that bridge when it comes.
After a while, he ceased being stopped every couple of feet to mine and he was able to make substantial progress. He was thankful as his back was beginning to hurt from hunching over to get at the rock below while mining. Although, this didn’t last long as he would soon encounter a rather curious crystal formation. It was bright red in color and looked to be in the shape of a heart. Out of curiosity, he picked at the very base of the formation and what happened next was just about as expected. It was freed from where it was lodged into the rock and flew towards him and vanished. Although, unlike everything else he had mined and broke apart, he was unable to envision this crystal with the rest of the stuff he had. Also, somehow, he felt stronger. He wasn’t sure what happened but something certainly happened. It made him uneasy. Almost as though he was being watched. Seeing as he felt he had enough from this cave, he decided to make way to leave.
As he neared where he had entered he felt a presence come up from behind. The suddenness of it all combined with the uneasy chill rolling down his spine caused him to book it towards the light that was shinning from the outside world. He wasn’t sure what was causing this reaction but he was sure as hell not going to find out. Once out, he took a moment to rest and catch his breath.
“What was that all about?” Core asked. Seeing Xernus run like that was unlike him. It was almost as though he felt that he was being chased by something he had no plans on fighting.
“Unsure... just... something felt as though... it was creeping up on me. Chasing me even.” Xernus answered between breaths of air. He could still feel a presence but it wasn’t as prevalent as it was getting in the cave. Almost as though it feared to come out into the light of dawn.
After catching his breath, he cast one last look at the town across on the other side of the lake. He made a mental note to remember to check that place out. Maybe someone there might know why that cave was untouched and maybe knew what he felt was chasing him out of there. Another moment later he was started making his way back to the cabin. After his night in that cave, he needed the rest.
Lucidus laid back on the floor with his arms behind his head and continued waiting for himself to drift off to sleep. He wondered if who ever had restored this place, mostly, was ever going to return or if they were staying out there tonight, doing what ever they were doing. Although, for all he knew this person had died shortly thereafter restoring the cabin. Would be unfortunate but at least then he really wouldn’t need to worry about shelter or gaining permission to stay here at least for the night.
He then turned his attention back to the window because he thought he saw something standing right in front of it. A rather large shadowed figure with glowing red eyes that were looking down at him. When he had turned his attention to the window it very quickly moved out of view and he heard the sound of panting, like that of a dog or a wolf. He wondered if he should wake Andrew and ask him of what typically comes out at night in this world. Either that or get him to help him move that table to the door in hopes that it might keep what ever is out there at bay. Although, based on what he thought he saw, he doubted a single table could keep something like that out. Screw it, Lucidus thought as he went to wake Andrew.
“Ugh.... what?”
“A shadowed figure with glowing red eyes. Sound familiar to you?” Lucidus asked. That brief description seemed to wake Andrew up further with a jolt.
“Woah... wait... what?” He felt his heart sink.
“So... you know what it is or not? If it prompts anything then I think I also heard what sounded like panting when I caught a brief glimpse of it.” Lucidus continued, now trying to locate the chest in which he stowed away that sword Andrew had given him.
“Hopefully, it doesn’t come in here as I doubt you are well equipped to deal with one right now. I think you might have seen a werewolf.” He finally answered Lucidus’ question. Now he was wondering what the hell was a werewolf?
“A werewolf?” Lucidus asked. What the hell is a werewolf? He thought to himself as never before he heard of such a creature.
“Half-man, half-wolf. Only come out on nights of the full moon. Get bitten by one then you are too cursed to become one every full moon. Nights only, thankfully.” Andrew explained fearfully. Although he was clearly scared of this creature, Lucidus almost laughed at the mental image of a being with the torso of a man and the rest of the lower body being that of a wolf. That or the opposite. A man with a wolf head. Both equally amusing but he was barely able to contain himself, the most he did was a soft snicker.
“You wouldn’t be laughing if you, yourself, got mauled or witnessed someone get torn to shreds by one.” Andrew warned, hearing Lucidus. He was speaking from personal experience.
“Of course, that would not be fun... it’s just the mental image I got from that was amusing to me.” He said to Andrew. He knew that the initial mental image wasn’t accurate based on the silhouette he saw just outside the window. He blamed the fact that he was tired which, for all he knew, he didn’t see what Andrew described and it was actually something else less threatening. Either or, it felt it was best that they made sure what ever was out there couldn’t come in, at least easily. Although, what they could do might be for nothing seeing as the window looked as though a little light tap would shatter it. They could have propped the table against the door but that might not prove to be beneficial as that would eliminate one method of escape from here if something came through that window.
At this point, Lucidus and Andrew agreed it would be better to sleep in shifts in case what ever was lurking out there decided to come back. Andrew had first watch as he gotten more sound sleep than Lucidus did before all of this starting happening. Thankfully, he spotted nothing of worry and his watch was relatively uneventful. Although, at some point he thought he saw something move past the window out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to see what it was it was already gone. This was about when he and Lucidus switched places and he went to sleep while Lucidus kept watch. Although, he made sure to note to keep an eye on the window as he did think he saw something.
The walk took far longer than Xernus had expected. Night was beginning to fall but it couldn’t be helped. Along the way he strangely found a few chests in what looked to be tunnels that went through some small hills. In one of them, he switched out his shortsword for a spear. Not only that, there were some flasks of strange red liquid, silvery coins numbering around twenty in total, a few throwing knives, and a long coil of rope. Strange that he had found this in this tunnel and he wondered who put this here but he thankful he found it nonetheless. He was a little bit more well armed although he wasn’t too certain on how to handle a spear as he never used one before. Knives and swords he was familiar on how to use them but spears wasn’t something he thought to train in. First time for everything, they all say.
“You’re just going to take them?” Core questioned the idea of taking such items from a chest that was literally in the middle nowhere.
“I’m not going to drink from those flasks, if that is what is worrying you. For all I know, could be something flammable, like oil for lanterns or something like that. Not sure I want that in my stomach. Pretty certain I don’t want that to be on gravestone that I got myself killed drinking flammable fluid.”
“Not what I was concerned about but, at least, I can take comfort in knowing fully well that you aren’t THAT stupid. But now that you mentioned the possibility of that stuff being flammable is cause for other concerns.” Core said, worried about Xernus’ ‘small’ affinity for fire and anything explosive. He knew what possibilities might lie in store for the future if those were flasks of flammable liquid. Might prove to be a nice light show but nothing more than that.
“I won’t burn down the forest, or the cabin for that matter. Might be pretty to watch but that wouldn’t be very good for my possible long term stay here.” Xernus assured Core, feeling fairly certain this was what he was worried about.
“Not what I worried about but I see that likely I won’t get anywhere with this. Just continue before we end having to spend the night in this tunnel.” Core figured it was best to let Xernus do what he needs to do and not distract him any further until something else creeps up. He shrugged and continued through the passageway through the hill.
Night had just fallen when he finally arrived to the cave entrance that Core directed to him. What they didn’t expect was what was just across the lake. There were lights that emanated from lanterns. The silhouettes of roofs peaking out just slightly over a wall, and even a sizable tower, were able to be made out just across the lake. The wall, he noticed, ended where he saw a dock that just just below a bridge that spanned a river that likely cut through the town. It continued after the river and circled into a smaller tower on the other side. Xernus was half tempted to go and investigate but he figured it was best that he didn’t arrive in town during the night. However, the sight of the lights being reflected off of the lake was a sight he hadn’t seen in a long time. It along with the stars and moon was a sight to behold.
“I’ll note that for later.” Core informed Xernus as he delved into the cave, likely the place he would be spending his night.
Just as he was about to enter the cave, he thought he saw movement coming from the town. Turning, he saw that he was correct. He saw a somewhat large figure walk onto the dock. There wasn’t enough light to tell anything specific about this person aside from what looked to be a long tail and possibly either wings or some sort of bulge of their back. Although, he could tell that this person was carrying what looked to be a fishing pole. Once arriving to their destination, they sat down at the dock and cast their line into the shimmering waters. As much as he wished to visit this town, he had other matters to tend to, namely the cave that was behind him. There would be time later to plan a hopefully peaceful visit.
Once he was completely unable to see a foot in front of him, he produced a torch to help light his way through the darkness of this cave. He tightly griped his shortsword in case he met anything unfriendly in this cave if it went anywhere deep underground. With this world, there was no telling what was waiting within the darkness or within the bowels of the world’s surface. Deeper into the cave, Xernus noted that this place too wasn’t a stranger in having chests just sitting there, out in the open. Although, this one was different. It was golden in color unlike the ones he has seen before. Just as he approached this chest a familiar voice was heard.
“I wouldn’t.” It was Dredun. Once again he had snuck up on him and nearly caused him to jump.
“Do you have to sneak up on me?” Xernus asked as he turned to face him. He nearly instinctively reached for one of his throwing knives in response to Dredun sneaking up on him and speaking. He was currently leaning on a stalagmite with his arms crossed.
“Not my fault that you walked right past without noticing me.” He couldn’t have been just standing right there the entire time. While walking forward, he was looking all over, trying to make sure nothing was going to creep up on him while he approached this chest. He even looked over at that exact stalagmite and saw nothing.
“So... what is it? Guessing you also just happen to be exploring this cave?”
“My business is my own.” He answered. First time was reasonable but this time it didn’t. Was he following him?
“Anything else?” Xernus figured there was some reason he advised him that he wouldn’t. Wouldn’t what? Open the chest?
“Let us just say, if you take another step towards that chest, run like your life depends on it.” Dredun told him. He then added, “Either that or duck. I can’t quite recall which one I figured out that one did. Hmmm...” He was no longer leaning on the stalagmite and his head was held low as though thinking.
“Uhhhh...” Xernus figured it might be for the better to skip out on this one. He wasn’t going to go on a guessing game that might have a distinct chance of him dieing.
“Aw... not going to take the chance?” Dredun inquired when he noticed Xernus was leaving.
“Why should I? If you think it is trapped then why bother? Furthermore, if you know it’s trapped then you might have gotten past it and looted the chest.” He answered as he turned to face Dredun once again.
“Fair enough.” He answered. He paused for a brief moment before adding, “That is, if I did loot the chest. In fact, I never even opened it.”
“I’m not letting you goad me into opening that chest. Not sure why you want me to but I will not.” Xernus said to Dredun. He was getting a little suspicious as to why he wanted him to approach the chest but, what ever he had planned, he wanted nothing to do with it.
“Your loss.” Dredun said with a slight shrug. “I’d guess you’ll be going further in then? If so, then be careful of the denizens deep below. Especially, what they left behind.”
“Leaving? Appear one moment and vanish the next?” Xernus asked as Dredun was making way in the direction that Xernus had come from when entering this cave.
“No reason to stay. My business here is done.” Dredun answered before vanishing within the darkness.
“I don’t know why I was expecting this to be any different.” Xernus said to himself before casting one last quick glance at the golden chest and leaving it behind.
Not one step later he heard a click and the sound of something crashing to the ground. A giant boulder had fallen from the ceiling, crumbled, and crushed the chest that was in front of him. He felt a chill roll down his spine as he came to realization that if he had been going any faster then that boulder would have crushed him, killing him instantly. Too bad about the chest though. Although, if Dredun wasn’t interested in the contents then should he be? He circled around the rubble and continued forward deeper into the cave.
“Stop.” Core ordered Xernus. So saying he stopped in his foot steps.
“What is it?”
“Right here, begin digging. I think you are right on top of an iron deposit.” He was told and he began picking at the ground with the pickaxe. After a few strikes he started digging into what looked to be something that was a very dull, metallic, gray color. Much like the trees he dug, the chunks he broke off flew straight at him and vanished. Likely, these chunks of rock were being stored in the exact same place as the wood he had on him.
After a minute or so the deposit was exhausted and he began digging into dirt and stone. Also, he left behind a substantial hole in the ground which he filled in with ease using the mix of stone and dirt that was also dug up along with the iron. As he set the last bit of dirt with an armored foot he suddenly had this strange feeling of being watched by something. He shook it off and continued deeper, albeit with his left hand close to his sword.
It wasn’t long before Core informed him of another deposit of ore that was lying just under foot. In fact, it felt like it was almost every couple of feet, pardon the pun, that he found another deposit of ore. With that town so close he was surprised this place hadn’t been touched and robbed of its resources. Not that he was complaining. At the rate he was going he would be able to upgrade all of his equipment to iron. Providing that he was able to figure out how to make a forge and an anvil to work with. He would cross that bridge when it comes.
After a while, he ceased being stopped every couple of feet to mine and he was able to make substantial progress. He was thankful as his back was beginning to hurt from hunching over to get at the rock below while mining. Although, this didn’t last long as he would soon encounter a rather curious crystal formation. It was bright red in color and looked to be in the shape of a heart. Out of curiosity, he picked at the very base of the formation and what happened next was just about as expected. It was freed from where it was lodged into the rock and flew towards him and vanished. Although, unlike everything else he had mined and broke apart, he was unable to envision this crystal with the rest of the stuff he had. Also, somehow, he felt stronger. He wasn’t sure what happened but something certainly happened. It made him uneasy. Almost as though he was being watched. Seeing as he felt he had enough from this cave, he decided to make way to leave.
As he neared where he had entered he felt a presence come up from behind. The suddenness of it all combined with the uneasy chill rolling down his spine caused him to book it towards the light that was shinning from the outside world. He wasn’t sure what was causing this reaction but he was sure as hell not going to find out. Once out, he took a moment to rest and catch his breath.
“What was that all about?” Core asked. Seeing Xernus run like that was unlike him. It was almost as though he felt that he was being chased by something he had no plans on fighting.
“Unsure... just... something felt as though... it was creeping up on me. Chasing me even.” Xernus answered between breaths of air. He could still feel a presence but it wasn’t as prevalent as it was getting in the cave. Almost as though it feared to come out into the light of dawn.
After catching his breath, he cast one last look at the town across on the other side of the lake. He made a mental note to remember to check that place out. Maybe someone there might know why that cave was untouched and maybe knew what he felt was chasing him out of there. Another moment later he was started making his way back to the cabin. After his night in that cave, he needed the rest.
Chapter 3
“What in the world!?” A voice exclaimed after the sound of the door opening was heard. This woke up both Andrew and Lucidus, who fell asleep at some point during his watch. He quickly grabbed his sword as he saw a large armored person standing in the door way.
“Who the...?” Lucidus started to ask but was cut off by this stranger.
“Seriously? I was only gone for a day!” He yelled as he drew a sword, copper much like what Lucidus currently had. “You have ten seconds to start explaining who the hell you are and why you are here and four... five seconds have just passed.”
“Alright, alright. Just don’t start a fight here. We aren’t enemies.” Lucidus started as Andrew groggily looked on from the floor. “The name’s Lucidus and that there is Andrew. We don’t mean to intrude but we had little choice as night was falling.”
“Is that it?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Lucidus admitted. There wasn’t really any other reasons to be here other than shelter for the night.
“Fair enough, I suppose. Well... you spent a night and you best be off.” He told him and Andrew, gesturing at the door with his free hand. His left hand still gripped his sword tightly.
“Wait... wouldn’t it be better for us to work together.” Andrew suggested as he got to his feet. “Safety in numbers, right?”
“How about, no. Right now, I’m understandably cross because two perfect strangers are camping out in a cabin that I restored just the other day.”
“Restored isn’t really a good word to describe the state of this place. Personally, excluding the work you had done, I would be surprised if this place stays up for even a second if the big bad wolf came around the blow this place down.”
“I don’t need...” He started before he stopped himself short as though being interrupted by something. Before leaving he added, “One moment.”
“Xernus, I doubt kicking out potential allies would be a great idea.” Some text from Core said, pretty much cutting his sentence short.
“One moment.” He told the two strangers before exiting the cabin and closing the door. “So you agree with that guy, Andrew I think it was?” Xernus asked Core, quietly.
“Yes and considering what you mined, a partnership might be advisable. Considering their lack of protection aside from a single short sword, mind you, the thing doesn’t look as though it would cut all that effectively, having someone like you around might be beneficial to them. At least, until they are more well armed and armored.” He told him. A point was made, might be for the better if they worked together, at least for now. He nodded in reply and returned to the two inside.
“What was that about?” Lucidus asked. It seemed rather abrupt and odd how he stopped short like that. Almost as though he heard something that they didn’t.
“Nothing... ummm... okay. About that offer...”
“You reconsidered?”
“Uhhh... yeah. Perhaps you have a point there. Safety in numbers. Also, just so happens I returned from bit of mining trip and I can’t help but notice you two lack any sufficient protection. So, I share, help you get better equipped and you get a place to stay for the following nights and me to keep watch over you.” Xernus replied. Aside from Core, he wasn’t really one for working with others but if he thought it was a good idea then why argue? Heck, if this proved to be a horribly bad idea in some way then he would have the chance to tell him that he told him so. That was always a plus. Even if the chances of that were slim to none.
“Excellent.... erm...” Andrew started but then realized he didn’t know this guy’s name. He asked, “What is your name?”
“Xernus.”
“Tecarrian, right? Although... lacking a tail...” Lucidus said in response to hearing Xernus’ name. He had his suspicions considering the look of his armor and what he could barely make out behind the glass of his helmet’s visor.
“And you’re an elf... although not sure from where exactly but the barely matters to me.” He didn’t want to delve any deeper into that one as there was barely any need. Although, it seemed as though Andrew didn’t think the same.
“Wait... elves I know but what the heck is a tecarrian?”
“Let’s just leave it at ‘lizard people’ and call it a day on that.” Xernus answered. Although, he didn’t like saying it like that but if it avoided further questions then so be it.
“I thought it was... nevermind.” Andrew started but cut himself short.
“What?” Lucidus seemed curious of what Andrew was going to say.
“Nothing important, right?” He said, catching Xernus’ gaze. He felt that he was thinking the same based on how he was acting.
“Yes... if we are done here then let’s get to work.” He began to tell them. “I want you two to go chopping down a few trees, providing you don’t already have an excess in wood, that is. I’ll be working on making a forge or something along those lines and something to get working on weapons and, if possible, armor.”
“Done.” Lucidus said shortly thereafter.
“Should have figured...” Xernus said as he started getting to work on what he was going to do.
It wasn’t that long after that Xernus had made a furnace and an anvil, somehow. Afterward, he used what remained of the iron bars he had to create a trio of iron swords for the three of them and a set of two pickaxes for himself and Lucidus. This would mean that they would have to go out and find more iron or something stronger if they wanted better tools or weapons, which seemed like a good idea next to making the cabin look not quite as ruined as it still appeared to be.
“You know of any caves?” Lucidus asked Andrew. Xernus answered for him.
“There’s one just to the north of here. The entrance is right next to a sizable lake.” Xernus answered before remembering something about that lake. “Which, thinking of that, would either of you two know anything of that town I saw just on the other side of that lake?”
“Town?” Andrew seemed confused to hear of this. “What town?”
“I just got here yesterday, so no...” Lucidus answered. Another thing that Andrew didn’t know of? Some guide he’s turning out to be, Lucidus thought.
Xernus was about to say something, something involving asking them if they wanted to go to that cave or something along those lines and see this town but what seemed to be a disembodied voice cut him off before he was able to say a word.
“Queen Bee has been awoken!” He heard and nearly jumped from the loudness of it all. Lucidus and Xernus did not react like he did. Although, they did notice that he jumped.
“Queen Bee has been defeated!” It bellowed a few seconds later.
“Wow... that was a record kill right there.”
“Excuse me?” Xernus asked. He found it weird that Andrew had jumped for seemingly no reason just then.
“Someone has killed a Queen Bee in the Jungle.” He said, looking almost as though he had just seen something unspeakable.
“I repeat: Excuse me? What are you on about?” Xernus seemed a fair bit perplexed by Andrew’s words. Lucidus merely looked on with a look of complete confusion upon his face.
“You... didn’t hear that?”
“Hear what?” Lucidus finally spoke up. “You looked as though you were about to say something but you jumped and what color that was in your face pretty all but vanished.”
“You... didn’t?” Andrew asked as color returned to his face.
“No.” Lucidus answered. Xernus merely crossed his arms and looked down as though thinking.
“Strange...”
“You think? What was this about a someone killing a bee?” Lucidus asked. It didn’t seem important to note that someone killed a bee in some jungle. What next? A freaking grass hopper?
“This world, it harbors many monstrous creatures. This Queen Bee is one of them. Although, it’s hardly one of a kind. Many more reside in the Jungles of this world.”
“Okay?” Lucidus was finding it difficult to not laugh. Didn’t help that he didn’t know the size of the creature and that what he envisioned something much smaller than what it actually was.
“Are there anything else that we should know?” Xernus finally asked.
“Like what?”
“The fact that you somehow knew about this? What did you exactly hear? You heard something, the fact that you said that someone killed some monstrous bee confirms this.” Xernus was suspicious of this. Did he hear anything else or just that someone killed this creature.
“Well... I did hear a voice that said it had been awoken and very quickly followed with the creature being defeated. Strange really, who ever killed the creature had to have been powerful to kill this creature THAT quickly. That was pretty much a definite second between it being awakened and defeated, maybe a little more than that.”
“You know of anyone else that might be wandering around?” Xernus asked. Dredun was the only other person he knew of that was wandering around someplace and the last time he met him was in that cave last night. Perhaps he had something to do with this?
“No, not to the extent of my knowledge. You and Lucidus are the only ones I know of here.”
“Interesting...” Xernus said under-breath. Perhaps Dredun had something to do with? Or maybe someone he had yet to meet.
“Any ideas?” Lucidus asked Andrew.
“Maybe someone with that town might know. Likely it had been here for a long time now, maybe a few years. It usually takes a few days to construct a sizable town from the ground up, even with the ease in which one can build structures here.”
“Seems like an idea to check this town out.” Xernus said. Regardless of whether it was Dredun or some other person, he really wanted to meet who ever this was. Having a powerful ally like that might prove to be useful in surviving here, even if it was Dredun.
“Inclined to agree. Perhaps we should start making our way there before sunset?” Andrew really wanted to see this town that somehow escaped his vigil.
Lucidus merely shrugged. If the two of them wanted to go then there wasn’t anything he could do. He would follow regardless as it was a bit safer being with Xernus than alone. Especially after that werewolf creature he might have seen the night before. Considering the armor that his newfound friend wore, his own chance of survival was just a little bit higher. Mostly in part he didn’t know what to expect from a creature like what he saw. His own agility might not prove to be enough to take one down should one ever attack.
“Who the...?” Lucidus started to ask but was cut off by this stranger.
“Seriously? I was only gone for a day!” He yelled as he drew a sword, copper much like what Lucidus currently had. “You have ten seconds to start explaining who the hell you are and why you are here and four... five seconds have just passed.”
“Alright, alright. Just don’t start a fight here. We aren’t enemies.” Lucidus started as Andrew groggily looked on from the floor. “The name’s Lucidus and that there is Andrew. We don’t mean to intrude but we had little choice as night was falling.”
“Is that it?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Lucidus admitted. There wasn’t really any other reasons to be here other than shelter for the night.
“Fair enough, I suppose. Well... you spent a night and you best be off.” He told him and Andrew, gesturing at the door with his free hand. His left hand still gripped his sword tightly.
“Wait... wouldn’t it be better for us to work together.” Andrew suggested as he got to his feet. “Safety in numbers, right?”
“How about, no. Right now, I’m understandably cross because two perfect strangers are camping out in a cabin that I restored just the other day.”
“Restored isn’t really a good word to describe the state of this place. Personally, excluding the work you had done, I would be surprised if this place stays up for even a second if the big bad wolf came around the blow this place down.”
“I don’t need...” He started before he stopped himself short as though being interrupted by something. Before leaving he added, “One moment.”
“Xernus, I doubt kicking out potential allies would be a great idea.” Some text from Core said, pretty much cutting his sentence short.
“One moment.” He told the two strangers before exiting the cabin and closing the door. “So you agree with that guy, Andrew I think it was?” Xernus asked Core, quietly.
“Yes and considering what you mined, a partnership might be advisable. Considering their lack of protection aside from a single short sword, mind you, the thing doesn’t look as though it would cut all that effectively, having someone like you around might be beneficial to them. At least, until they are more well armed and armored.” He told him. A point was made, might be for the better if they worked together, at least for now. He nodded in reply and returned to the two inside.
“What was that about?” Lucidus asked. It seemed rather abrupt and odd how he stopped short like that. Almost as though he heard something that they didn’t.
“Nothing... ummm... okay. About that offer...”
“You reconsidered?”
“Uhhh... yeah. Perhaps you have a point there. Safety in numbers. Also, just so happens I returned from bit of mining trip and I can’t help but notice you two lack any sufficient protection. So, I share, help you get better equipped and you get a place to stay for the following nights and me to keep watch over you.” Xernus replied. Aside from Core, he wasn’t really one for working with others but if he thought it was a good idea then why argue? Heck, if this proved to be a horribly bad idea in some way then he would have the chance to tell him that he told him so. That was always a plus. Even if the chances of that were slim to none.
“Excellent.... erm...” Andrew started but then realized he didn’t know this guy’s name. He asked, “What is your name?”
“Xernus.”
“Tecarrian, right? Although... lacking a tail...” Lucidus said in response to hearing Xernus’ name. He had his suspicions considering the look of his armor and what he could barely make out behind the glass of his helmet’s visor.
“And you’re an elf... although not sure from where exactly but the barely matters to me.” He didn’t want to delve any deeper into that one as there was barely any need. Although, it seemed as though Andrew didn’t think the same.
“Wait... elves I know but what the heck is a tecarrian?”
“Let’s just leave it at ‘lizard people’ and call it a day on that.” Xernus answered. Although, he didn’t like saying it like that but if it avoided further questions then so be it.
“I thought it was... nevermind.” Andrew started but cut himself short.
“What?” Lucidus seemed curious of what Andrew was going to say.
“Nothing important, right?” He said, catching Xernus’ gaze. He felt that he was thinking the same based on how he was acting.
“Yes... if we are done here then let’s get to work.” He began to tell them. “I want you two to go chopping down a few trees, providing you don’t already have an excess in wood, that is. I’ll be working on making a forge or something along those lines and something to get working on weapons and, if possible, armor.”
“Done.” Lucidus said shortly thereafter.
“Should have figured...” Xernus said as he started getting to work on what he was going to do.
It wasn’t that long after that Xernus had made a furnace and an anvil, somehow. Afterward, he used what remained of the iron bars he had to create a trio of iron swords for the three of them and a set of two pickaxes for himself and Lucidus. This would mean that they would have to go out and find more iron or something stronger if they wanted better tools or weapons, which seemed like a good idea next to making the cabin look not quite as ruined as it still appeared to be.
“You know of any caves?” Lucidus asked Andrew. Xernus answered for him.
“There’s one just to the north of here. The entrance is right next to a sizable lake.” Xernus answered before remembering something about that lake. “Which, thinking of that, would either of you two know anything of that town I saw just on the other side of that lake?”
“Town?” Andrew seemed confused to hear of this. “What town?”
“I just got here yesterday, so no...” Lucidus answered. Another thing that Andrew didn’t know of? Some guide he’s turning out to be, Lucidus thought.
Xernus was about to say something, something involving asking them if they wanted to go to that cave or something along those lines and see this town but what seemed to be a disembodied voice cut him off before he was able to say a word.
“Queen Bee has been awoken!” He heard and nearly jumped from the loudness of it all. Lucidus and Xernus did not react like he did. Although, they did notice that he jumped.
“Queen Bee has been defeated!” It bellowed a few seconds later.
“Wow... that was a record kill right there.”
“Excuse me?” Xernus asked. He found it weird that Andrew had jumped for seemingly no reason just then.
“Someone has killed a Queen Bee in the Jungle.” He said, looking almost as though he had just seen something unspeakable.
“I repeat: Excuse me? What are you on about?” Xernus seemed a fair bit perplexed by Andrew’s words. Lucidus merely looked on with a look of complete confusion upon his face.
“You... didn’t hear that?”
“Hear what?” Lucidus finally spoke up. “You looked as though you were about to say something but you jumped and what color that was in your face pretty all but vanished.”
“You... didn’t?” Andrew asked as color returned to his face.
“No.” Lucidus answered. Xernus merely crossed his arms and looked down as though thinking.
“Strange...”
“You think? What was this about a someone killing a bee?” Lucidus asked. It didn’t seem important to note that someone killed a bee in some jungle. What next? A freaking grass hopper?
“This world, it harbors many monstrous creatures. This Queen Bee is one of them. Although, it’s hardly one of a kind. Many more reside in the Jungles of this world.”
“Okay?” Lucidus was finding it difficult to not laugh. Didn’t help that he didn’t know the size of the creature and that what he envisioned something much smaller than what it actually was.
“Are there anything else that we should know?” Xernus finally asked.
“Like what?”
“The fact that you somehow knew about this? What did you exactly hear? You heard something, the fact that you said that someone killed some monstrous bee confirms this.” Xernus was suspicious of this. Did he hear anything else or just that someone killed this creature.
“Well... I did hear a voice that said it had been awoken and very quickly followed with the creature being defeated. Strange really, who ever killed the creature had to have been powerful to kill this creature THAT quickly. That was pretty much a definite second between it being awakened and defeated, maybe a little more than that.”
“You know of anyone else that might be wandering around?” Xernus asked. Dredun was the only other person he knew of that was wandering around someplace and the last time he met him was in that cave last night. Perhaps he had something to do with this?
“No, not to the extent of my knowledge. You and Lucidus are the only ones I know of here.”
“Interesting...” Xernus said under-breath. Perhaps Dredun had something to do with? Or maybe someone he had yet to meet.
“Any ideas?” Lucidus asked Andrew.
“Maybe someone with that town might know. Likely it had been here for a long time now, maybe a few years. It usually takes a few days to construct a sizable town from the ground up, even with the ease in which one can build structures here.”
“Seems like an idea to check this town out.” Xernus said. Regardless of whether it was Dredun or some other person, he really wanted to meet who ever this was. Having a powerful ally like that might prove to be useful in surviving here, even if it was Dredun.
“Inclined to agree. Perhaps we should start making our way there before sunset?” Andrew really wanted to see this town that somehow escaped his vigil.
Lucidus merely shrugged. If the two of them wanted to go then there wasn’t anything he could do. He would follow regardless as it was a bit safer being with Xernus than alone. Especially after that werewolf creature he might have seen the night before. Considering the armor that his newfound friend wore, his own chance of survival was just a little bit higher. Mostly in part he didn’t know what to expect from a creature like what he saw. His own agility might not prove to be enough to take one down should one ever attack.
Chapter 4, Part 1
It was practically sunset by time they got to the lake that Xernus mentioned that had a cave entrance nearby and a small town just on the opposite bank.
“I’m no architect, but I really love the look of those houses and tower.” He commented, now seeing this town in a better light. The people that built this town definitely chose a nice location. He would admit that the sight of the sun reflecting off the waters as it set behind them was certainly something to behold. There was something else that he noticed, he saw a young human boy fishing at the same dock he noticed someone fishing on a night ago. He was certain this wasn’t the same person he saw before fishing at that dock as the figure he saw was much larger. Possibly someone of relation to this boy, perhaps? Or at least, someone sharing an interest in fishing.
“This was the cave?” Andrew asked, ignoring Xernus’ comment for the moment.
“Yeah.” He answered, turning to face Andrew and the cave entrance. Memories that first trip were still prevalent in his mind. He hoped to never return here but at least some company aside from Core was a welcome change.
“Aside from the materials you got for weapons and tools, did you find anything else in there?”
“Thinking on it, yeah. Some strange crystal formation. Red in color, heart shaped.” Xernus answered. He was still uncertain on what exactly happened to it after he collected it.
“Oh dear...”
“What?” Xernus asked. He didn’t like that tone. He’s heard it a few times in his life and every time, it always involved some bad/worrying news.
“...and this cave in particular. Did you have any feelings of being watched or chased before or after doing anything with that crystal?” Andrew asked. Considering others were here, he wondered if anyone of them collected enough.
“Yes actually, why? You know anything?” Xernus answered, remembering that feeling of being watched and getting chased by something unseen when he was making his way to exit this cave they were standing right in front of.
“That... isn’t good. You two... we need to get you better equipped.”
“Am I going to like this?” Lucidus asked, after remaining quiet for most of the conversation between Xernus and Andrew. He was enjoying the sunset. He could see why someone might build a town around here. Every morning, getting to see that sun rise and it’s shine reflect off of the water? He would certainly enjoy it.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t know if we have enough time but we need to get moving. Hopefully, we can find one. Might stand a reasonable chance then.” Andrew answered. He was almost in a panic.
“So... we are going into there?” Xernus asked. “Joy...”
“We could always go to that town. Maybe someone might be able to help us?” Lucidus suggested.
“And if they turn out to be uncooperative? Or worse, they aren’t any better equipped than the two of you? For all we know, Xernus here is the only one wearing proper armor.” Andrew said in response. Lucidus did have a point but there was no telling whether the person who built that town was any more well equipped than they were. Also, there wasn’t any way to be certain that this person was still around if they were the one that killed the Queen Bee. Unless, they had some way of transporting themselves back to town quickly.
“And us going into this cave is any better?” Lucidus argued. What ever Andrew believed might be in this cave, to him it felt that there was a significantly lower chance of them finding it than the chances of who ever built that town being helpful or much more well off than he and Xernus.
“He has a point.” Xernus agreed and so did Core. Also, he wasn’t too keen on going back into this cave.
Andrew looked to the cave and back at the two. Afterward he shrugged. They had a point and there wasn’t much he could do to further persuade them to go into the cave. Which, thinking on it, wasn’t exactly the best of ideas as likely they would have to face that creature in an enclosed space. From experience with previous heroes, this wasn’t a favorable thing.
“Fine... fine.”
“It’s settled then? Good, let’s get going.” Xernus said, feeling a fair bit of relief at the fact that they wouldn’t be going into that cave.
“You sure, Tovi?” She was asked by the person who stood right next to her. She heard these words in her mind rather through normal means.
Tovitaan, or Tovi for short, was very much dragon-like in appearance with a long, slender tail that the tip of hung a few inches from the ground and a pair of wings that were folded against her back. Her skin was a pale white and her eyes, which were intently looking at across the lake, were a bright reddish-pink. Strangely, unlike a majority of her kind, she had what looked to be short dark blue hair that was commonly likened to that of down commonly found on young birds. Normally, her hair was devoid of any pigment and only had any color to it solely because she dyes it. She towered over the person standing next to her by a foot or two. She wore a navy blue coat with a dull purple shirt hidden underneath, a silvery-gray scarf wrapped around her neck and dangling back over her right shoulder, gray pants, and dark gray shoes.
“Yeah, three figures by that far off cave. The same one that you had a bad feeling about.” She answered, speaking to the person standing beside her.
The person that stood next to her was albino much like her, pale white ‘skin’ with bright reddish pink eyes. The similarities ended there between her and this person. Unlike Tovi, she was fairly bug-like in appearance with a slightly elongated head, just a few inches more than that of a human’s. Also, she stood just a few inches short of being six feet tall. Along towards the sides of her head, she had a row of three eyes that, as mentioned before, were a reddish pink. However, they lacked any sort of noticeable pupils and were completely that color. Although, these eyes are normally obscured by a bird-like mask that Tovi knew to be a plague doctor’s mask. From under this mask, a pair of rather tusk-like mandibles poked out from under. On each hand, she had four digits, three fingers and one thumb, that ended in small but sharp claws. However, one might not see this normally as she usually was wearing a pair of gauntlets made of iron and leather. Finally, her legs were digitigrade in structure and her feet were normally bare as wearing any sort of footwear would prove to be extremely awkward due to her clawed, three toed feet. Although, these features tended to be hard to see due to the robes she wore obscuring them at times.
“Interesting... You think they are with him?”
“The cultist? Who knows.” Tovi answered. She was about to say something else but she noticed that these figures on the other side of the lake started moving. “They’re on the move.”
“Are they going in?”
“No... I think they’re headed here.” Tovi answered, following these figures with her gaze. They were following the shore and it wasn’t any stretch of the imagination to think that they noticed the town on the other side.
“Let me know when they are close. I’ll greet them.” She told her as she started to make her way down the tower.
“Just don’t do them any harm, right Twilit? At least, not until we know what they want.” Tovi told her. She was already gone but she was sure that she was heard. Heck, she knew that she needn’t speak most of the time. Although, she knew that Twilit was respectful in only reading the thoughts that she wished to share.
A shroud of darkness had fully fallen by time they got to the tower that lied at the town’s edge. Lanterns hung and shown brightly from under multiple tiers of blue shingled roofs that started about halfway up the tower. As Lucidus moved to get a closer look at this structure, something grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the tree. He felt four digits, three fingers and one thumb, were clasped tightly around his throat and threatened to completely crush his neck if who ever grabbed him decides to. He also heard a threatening hiss along with the sounds of Andrew and Xernus expressing their surprise.
“Who the...?” Xernus asked in surprise as he drew his sword and Andrew nocked an arrow and pointed it at the person that had Lucidus by the throat.
Suddenly, this person let Lucidus go and he dropped to the ground, clenching his throat, trying to catch his breath. He heard what could be taken for sounds of outright surprise and a familiar voice speak awkwardly.
“Lu...cidus...?” They asked in surprise as they brought both of their hands close to the lower part of their mouth.
Lucidus looked up to see a very familiar sight of a rather bird-like mask and white robes. “Twilit?” His voice was hoarse but still conveyed his own surprise of seeing an old friend of his in this unfamiliar world.
“You know this person?” Andrew asked Lucidus as he lowered his bow. Xernus put away his sword seeing as it looked as though these two knew each other and figuring that if this person had hostilities with Lucidus, they wouldn’t have let him go.
“Yeah...” He was able to answer as he coughed a few times afterward, his voice still hoarse although it was slowly getting better. His hand was gently clenching where he was just a few moments ago was being held.
“What are you?” Andrew asked Twilit, noticing what seemed to be tusks poking from under her plague doctor’s mask and number of fingers on her hands. He put away the arrow and slung the bow back over his shoulder.
“Similar question but just change the ‘what’ to a ‘who.’” She told him. Human from what she could tell but not too certain on that bigger bloke, Xernus, that stood beside him. He was almost taller than Tovi. “Same goes for you, big guy.”
“I’m Andrew, The Guide.” He answered with a slight bow. He noticed that her voice sounded different now, a lot more fluid and less awkwardly spoken. Also, he heard it more in his head rather through his ears, much like that other voice.
“Xernus.” He answered simply. He was slightly distracted at the moment looking over what Core was saying.
“If he knows her then likely he is from the same world. The very same in which your mother came from.” Was at least one line of text from he had said. He wished he could say stuff back but he thought it was for the better to not to unless he really wanted to seem crazy or go in depth to explain what an AI is to Andrew or Lucidus.
“Gets his throat nearly crushed, and no apology? Thanks, nice to see you too.” Lucidus, now on his feet, grumbled. His voice almost back to how it was before.
“Sorry.”
“So... what the hell is she?” Andrew asked again. Again, his question was ignored.
“Didn’t think plague doctor’s masks were popular around here. You’re the second one I’ve seen wearing one. With robes, no less.” Xernus said to Twilit.
“Wait... you know him? Dredun?” She asked him and only him.
“If you call brief encounters with him as ‘knowing him’ then yeah... I know him.” He answered with a slight nod of the head. To the others, only silence was heard before Xernus’ answer to an unheard question.
“Why do I feel ignored?” Andrew wondered aloud. His answer came swiftly.
“Because, you were being ignored.” Twilit answered. “You know him too? Dredun?”
“Who’s Dredun?” He answered, very much confused as this was the first he actually heard the name.
“Wears a mask similar to mine, blue robes with golden trim. Tall with pale skin judging by his hands.”
“Wait... that’s...” He started but stopped himself short. He knew him if that was anything to go by. Although, for now, Twilit turned her attention to them all. Questions about that could be asked later.
“Now, to all of you. Why are you here?” She asked all of them. She faintly heard Tovi walking down stairs within the tower. Likely, coming out to check up on her, ensure that she didn’t kill these three or generally seriously harmed them. Aside from almost crushing Lucidus’ windpipe, mission successful there.
“Tonight, I believe something terrible will awaken.” Andrew answered. Since they gotten here, he felt an evil presence watching them. It wouldn’t be long now.
“And what makes you say that?” She asked. A door was heard being opened and closed. “Tovi, you might want to stay inside if what this man says is true. Unless, you have plans on helping in some way. I know your views on fighting and won’t push you to help if you don’t want to.” She told her, and only to her. The others did not hear. She felt her presence re-enter the tower and quickly ascend to the top of the tower, likely she flew. Whether she was going to help or not was up to her. She knew that she would fight if there was no other option or when defending herself. From what she could tell, Tovi could be fairly ferocious when the situation demands it and could certainly hold her own when need be.
“Aside from Xernus inadvertently using a Heart Crystal, someone else had killed a Queen Bee, which requires quite a bit of strength to do. Meaning, someone here is strong enough to take on the Eye of Cthulhu and garner its attention.” Andrew answered. Partially, he was hoping that the Queen Bee might ring a bell with Twilit as both her and Raul are likely candidates to have killed the Queen Bee.
“Wasn’t me nor Tovi. In fact, nothing really interesting has ever happened since the two of us got here. Well... aside from the appearance of the population that is living here after we built this tower and a whole lot of zombies a few nights ago.” She told Andrew. Although, since he mentioned this creature, Eye of Cthulhu? She did feel as though something was going to happen and felt as though something was watching. Likely, what Andrew was saying wasn’t too farfetched.
“Tovi?”
“Someone else that appeared in this world with me. I think that was about, three years ago. Three... two in a half? Not sure.” She answered, her arms crossed and head held low as she was trying to remember how long the two of them had been here. That was certainly an experience first meeting Tovi. She once feared her because of her mask, which for her was odd as it only symbolized that she was sort of village healer before well... that lanslide happened and she left without a village to tend to.
Andrew was already been surprised by the presence of this town but he didn’t think it had been there for that long. He questioned how he never noticed this before or the arrival of Twilit and this Tovi into this world. Something was very much not right.
“If we are done talking, there is other business to attend to.” Xernus told them. He was beginning to feel as though he was being watched yet again. Much like when he was exiting that cave on the opposite side of this lake.
“You feel it too then? Follow me.” She gestured for them to follow. She felt that they didn’t have much time.
Inside the tower, the walls seemed to be made a icey blue brick. Actually, it almost looked to be iced over and produced a slight chill within the tower itself. It wasn’t certain if this was actually the case or just in their mind. A massive staircase that zigzagged from wall to wall was the only way to ascend the tower. What they were interested wasn’t at the top but below in a basement. It was an armory. Weapons and armor lined the walls. It would seem that going here rather than toiling, and possibly getting lost, in a cave system was a good idea.
“Take your pick but make it hasty. I fear that we don’t have much time now.” Twilit told them as she left them in the armor and made her way back upstairs and outside to wait for them.
“She’s not grabbing anything?” Andrew wondered aloud as he grabbed a bow, made of silver from the looks. He chose not to don any armor. As for what reason, it was not known nor did he say why.
“She’s really skilled in magic. Which, based on my first meeting with her, I can more than just vouch for.” Lucidus answered. He grabbed a broad sword made of platinum. A longer reach might be helpful although the material felt a little odd to make a sword out of but it seemed as though it was strengthened with something else. Also, he removed his cloak to more easily fit into a suit of armor that was made of the same sort of metal as his new sword. If anything, it was better than nothing and, on the plus side, he liked the silvery sort of color with the red of the jewel or crystal that was in the chestplate. He stowed away his cape for later.
Xernus, meanwhile, stayed silent as he grabbed a bow. Silver like what Andrew grabbed and a quiver of arrows. Though he could handle his own in close quarters, he preferred keeping his distance. He followed Andrew and Lucidus once they were done with their selections and made way to meet up with Twilit outside. They felt that what ever was going to happen, it was going to happen any second now. Ready or not, it would soon attack.
“I’m no architect, but I really love the look of those houses and tower.” He commented, now seeing this town in a better light. The people that built this town definitely chose a nice location. He would admit that the sight of the sun reflecting off the waters as it set behind them was certainly something to behold. There was something else that he noticed, he saw a young human boy fishing at the same dock he noticed someone fishing on a night ago. He was certain this wasn’t the same person he saw before fishing at that dock as the figure he saw was much larger. Possibly someone of relation to this boy, perhaps? Or at least, someone sharing an interest in fishing.
“This was the cave?” Andrew asked, ignoring Xernus’ comment for the moment.
“Yeah.” He answered, turning to face Andrew and the cave entrance. Memories that first trip were still prevalent in his mind. He hoped to never return here but at least some company aside from Core was a welcome change.
“Aside from the materials you got for weapons and tools, did you find anything else in there?”
“Thinking on it, yeah. Some strange crystal formation. Red in color, heart shaped.” Xernus answered. He was still uncertain on what exactly happened to it after he collected it.
“Oh dear...”
“What?” Xernus asked. He didn’t like that tone. He’s heard it a few times in his life and every time, it always involved some bad/worrying news.
“...and this cave in particular. Did you have any feelings of being watched or chased before or after doing anything with that crystal?” Andrew asked. Considering others were here, he wondered if anyone of them collected enough.
“Yes actually, why? You know anything?” Xernus answered, remembering that feeling of being watched and getting chased by something unseen when he was making his way to exit this cave they were standing right in front of.
“That... isn’t good. You two... we need to get you better equipped.”
“Am I going to like this?” Lucidus asked, after remaining quiet for most of the conversation between Xernus and Andrew. He was enjoying the sunset. He could see why someone might build a town around here. Every morning, getting to see that sun rise and it’s shine reflect off of the water? He would certainly enjoy it.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t know if we have enough time but we need to get moving. Hopefully, we can find one. Might stand a reasonable chance then.” Andrew answered. He was almost in a panic.
“So... we are going into there?” Xernus asked. “Joy...”
“We could always go to that town. Maybe someone might be able to help us?” Lucidus suggested.
“And if they turn out to be uncooperative? Or worse, they aren’t any better equipped than the two of you? For all we know, Xernus here is the only one wearing proper armor.” Andrew said in response. Lucidus did have a point but there was no telling whether the person who built that town was any more well equipped than they were. Also, there wasn’t any way to be certain that this person was still around if they were the one that killed the Queen Bee. Unless, they had some way of transporting themselves back to town quickly.
“And us going into this cave is any better?” Lucidus argued. What ever Andrew believed might be in this cave, to him it felt that there was a significantly lower chance of them finding it than the chances of who ever built that town being helpful or much more well off than he and Xernus.
“He has a point.” Xernus agreed and so did Core. Also, he wasn’t too keen on going back into this cave.
Andrew looked to the cave and back at the two. Afterward he shrugged. They had a point and there wasn’t much he could do to further persuade them to go into the cave. Which, thinking on it, wasn’t exactly the best of ideas as likely they would have to face that creature in an enclosed space. From experience with previous heroes, this wasn’t a favorable thing.
“Fine... fine.”
“It’s settled then? Good, let’s get going.” Xernus said, feeling a fair bit of relief at the fact that they wouldn’t be going into that cave.
“You sure, Tovi?” She was asked by the person who stood right next to her. She heard these words in her mind rather through normal means.
Tovitaan, or Tovi for short, was very much dragon-like in appearance with a long, slender tail that the tip of hung a few inches from the ground and a pair of wings that were folded against her back. Her skin was a pale white and her eyes, which were intently looking at across the lake, were a bright reddish-pink. Strangely, unlike a majority of her kind, she had what looked to be short dark blue hair that was commonly likened to that of down commonly found on young birds. Normally, her hair was devoid of any pigment and only had any color to it solely because she dyes it. She towered over the person standing next to her by a foot or two. She wore a navy blue coat with a dull purple shirt hidden underneath, a silvery-gray scarf wrapped around her neck and dangling back over her right shoulder, gray pants, and dark gray shoes.
“Yeah, three figures by that far off cave. The same one that you had a bad feeling about.” She answered, speaking to the person standing beside her.
The person that stood next to her was albino much like her, pale white ‘skin’ with bright reddish pink eyes. The similarities ended there between her and this person. Unlike Tovi, she was fairly bug-like in appearance with a slightly elongated head, just a few inches more than that of a human’s. Also, she stood just a few inches short of being six feet tall. Along towards the sides of her head, she had a row of three eyes that, as mentioned before, were a reddish pink. However, they lacked any sort of noticeable pupils and were completely that color. Although, these eyes are normally obscured by a bird-like mask that Tovi knew to be a plague doctor’s mask. From under this mask, a pair of rather tusk-like mandibles poked out from under. On each hand, she had four digits, three fingers and one thumb, that ended in small but sharp claws. However, one might not see this normally as she usually was wearing a pair of gauntlets made of iron and leather. Finally, her legs were digitigrade in structure and her feet were normally bare as wearing any sort of footwear would prove to be extremely awkward due to her clawed, three toed feet. Although, these features tended to be hard to see due to the robes she wore obscuring them at times.
“Interesting... You think they are with him?”
“The cultist? Who knows.” Tovi answered. She was about to say something else but she noticed that these figures on the other side of the lake started moving. “They’re on the move.”
“Are they going in?”
“No... I think they’re headed here.” Tovi answered, following these figures with her gaze. They were following the shore and it wasn’t any stretch of the imagination to think that they noticed the town on the other side.
“Let me know when they are close. I’ll greet them.” She told her as she started to make her way down the tower.
“Just don’t do them any harm, right Twilit? At least, not until we know what they want.” Tovi told her. She was already gone but she was sure that she was heard. Heck, she knew that she needn’t speak most of the time. Although, she knew that Twilit was respectful in only reading the thoughts that she wished to share.
A shroud of darkness had fully fallen by time they got to the tower that lied at the town’s edge. Lanterns hung and shown brightly from under multiple tiers of blue shingled roofs that started about halfway up the tower. As Lucidus moved to get a closer look at this structure, something grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the tree. He felt four digits, three fingers and one thumb, were clasped tightly around his throat and threatened to completely crush his neck if who ever grabbed him decides to. He also heard a threatening hiss along with the sounds of Andrew and Xernus expressing their surprise.
“Who the...?” Xernus asked in surprise as he drew his sword and Andrew nocked an arrow and pointed it at the person that had Lucidus by the throat.
Suddenly, this person let Lucidus go and he dropped to the ground, clenching his throat, trying to catch his breath. He heard what could be taken for sounds of outright surprise and a familiar voice speak awkwardly.
“Lu...cidus...?” They asked in surprise as they brought both of their hands close to the lower part of their mouth.
Lucidus looked up to see a very familiar sight of a rather bird-like mask and white robes. “Twilit?” His voice was hoarse but still conveyed his own surprise of seeing an old friend of his in this unfamiliar world.
“You know this person?” Andrew asked Lucidus as he lowered his bow. Xernus put away his sword seeing as it looked as though these two knew each other and figuring that if this person had hostilities with Lucidus, they wouldn’t have let him go.
“Yeah...” He was able to answer as he coughed a few times afterward, his voice still hoarse although it was slowly getting better. His hand was gently clenching where he was just a few moments ago was being held.
“What are you?” Andrew asked Twilit, noticing what seemed to be tusks poking from under her plague doctor’s mask and number of fingers on her hands. He put away the arrow and slung the bow back over his shoulder.
“Similar question but just change the ‘what’ to a ‘who.’” She told him. Human from what she could tell but not too certain on that bigger bloke, Xernus, that stood beside him. He was almost taller than Tovi. “Same goes for you, big guy.”
“I’m Andrew, The Guide.” He answered with a slight bow. He noticed that her voice sounded different now, a lot more fluid and less awkwardly spoken. Also, he heard it more in his head rather through his ears, much like that other voice.
“Xernus.” He answered simply. He was slightly distracted at the moment looking over what Core was saying.
“If he knows her then likely he is from the same world. The very same in which your mother came from.” Was at least one line of text from he had said. He wished he could say stuff back but he thought it was for the better to not to unless he really wanted to seem crazy or go in depth to explain what an AI is to Andrew or Lucidus.
“Gets his throat nearly crushed, and no apology? Thanks, nice to see you too.” Lucidus, now on his feet, grumbled. His voice almost back to how it was before.
“Sorry.”
“So... what the hell is she?” Andrew asked again. Again, his question was ignored.
“Didn’t think plague doctor’s masks were popular around here. You’re the second one I’ve seen wearing one. With robes, no less.” Xernus said to Twilit.
“Wait... you know him? Dredun?” She asked him and only him.
“If you call brief encounters with him as ‘knowing him’ then yeah... I know him.” He answered with a slight nod of the head. To the others, only silence was heard before Xernus’ answer to an unheard question.
“Why do I feel ignored?” Andrew wondered aloud. His answer came swiftly.
“Because, you were being ignored.” Twilit answered. “You know him too? Dredun?”
“Who’s Dredun?” He answered, very much confused as this was the first he actually heard the name.
“Wears a mask similar to mine, blue robes with golden trim. Tall with pale skin judging by his hands.”
“Wait... that’s...” He started but stopped himself short. He knew him if that was anything to go by. Although, for now, Twilit turned her attention to them all. Questions about that could be asked later.
“Now, to all of you. Why are you here?” She asked all of them. She faintly heard Tovi walking down stairs within the tower. Likely, coming out to check up on her, ensure that she didn’t kill these three or generally seriously harmed them. Aside from almost crushing Lucidus’ windpipe, mission successful there.
“Tonight, I believe something terrible will awaken.” Andrew answered. Since they gotten here, he felt an evil presence watching them. It wouldn’t be long now.
“And what makes you say that?” She asked. A door was heard being opened and closed. “Tovi, you might want to stay inside if what this man says is true. Unless, you have plans on helping in some way. I know your views on fighting and won’t push you to help if you don’t want to.” She told her, and only to her. The others did not hear. She felt her presence re-enter the tower and quickly ascend to the top of the tower, likely she flew. Whether she was going to help or not was up to her. She knew that she would fight if there was no other option or when defending herself. From what she could tell, Tovi could be fairly ferocious when the situation demands it and could certainly hold her own when need be.
“Aside from Xernus inadvertently using a Heart Crystal, someone else had killed a Queen Bee, which requires quite a bit of strength to do. Meaning, someone here is strong enough to take on the Eye of Cthulhu and garner its attention.” Andrew answered. Partially, he was hoping that the Queen Bee might ring a bell with Twilit as both her and Raul are likely candidates to have killed the Queen Bee.
“Wasn’t me nor Tovi. In fact, nothing really interesting has ever happened since the two of us got here. Well... aside from the appearance of the population that is living here after we built this tower and a whole lot of zombies a few nights ago.” She told Andrew. Although, since he mentioned this creature, Eye of Cthulhu? She did feel as though something was going to happen and felt as though something was watching. Likely, what Andrew was saying wasn’t too farfetched.
“Tovi?”
“Someone else that appeared in this world with me. I think that was about, three years ago. Three... two in a half? Not sure.” She answered, her arms crossed and head held low as she was trying to remember how long the two of them had been here. That was certainly an experience first meeting Tovi. She once feared her because of her mask, which for her was odd as it only symbolized that she was sort of village healer before well... that lanslide happened and she left without a village to tend to.
Andrew was already been surprised by the presence of this town but he didn’t think it had been there for that long. He questioned how he never noticed this before or the arrival of Twilit and this Tovi into this world. Something was very much not right.
“If we are done talking, there is other business to attend to.” Xernus told them. He was beginning to feel as though he was being watched yet again. Much like when he was exiting that cave on the opposite side of this lake.
“You feel it too then? Follow me.” She gestured for them to follow. She felt that they didn’t have much time.
Inside the tower, the walls seemed to be made a icey blue brick. Actually, it almost looked to be iced over and produced a slight chill within the tower itself. It wasn’t certain if this was actually the case or just in their mind. A massive staircase that zigzagged from wall to wall was the only way to ascend the tower. What they were interested wasn’t at the top but below in a basement. It was an armory. Weapons and armor lined the walls. It would seem that going here rather than toiling, and possibly getting lost, in a cave system was a good idea.
“Take your pick but make it hasty. I fear that we don’t have much time now.” Twilit told them as she left them in the armor and made her way back upstairs and outside to wait for them.
“She’s not grabbing anything?” Andrew wondered aloud as he grabbed a bow, made of silver from the looks. He chose not to don any armor. As for what reason, it was not known nor did he say why.
“She’s really skilled in magic. Which, based on my first meeting with her, I can more than just vouch for.” Lucidus answered. He grabbed a broad sword made of platinum. A longer reach might be helpful although the material felt a little odd to make a sword out of but it seemed as though it was strengthened with something else. Also, he removed his cloak to more easily fit into a suit of armor that was made of the same sort of metal as his new sword. If anything, it was better than nothing and, on the plus side, he liked the silvery sort of color with the red of the jewel or crystal that was in the chestplate. He stowed away his cape for later.
Xernus, meanwhile, stayed silent as he grabbed a bow. Silver like what Andrew grabbed and a quiver of arrows. Though he could handle his own in close quarters, he preferred keeping his distance. He followed Andrew and Lucidus once they were done with their selections and made way to meet up with Twilit outside. They felt that what ever was going to happen, it was going to happen any second now. Ready or not, it would soon attack.
Chapter 4, Part 2
“You’re ready?” Twilit asked when she heard the guys exit the tower basement and came outside to meet her.
“Are we going anywhere in particular or are we sticking near the town?” Lucidus asked.
“Tovi would prefer we keep this away from the town. I was only waiting for you guys to make your selections. Which, I see you are being your usual self and going for the more extravagant armor and weapons.” Twilit answered as she looked Lucidus’ choice of armor. Son of a noble, go figure, she thought.
“You’re just jealous that it...” Lucidus started but was interrupted by Twilit.
“...looks hilarious on you? Yeah. I’m inclined to agree with that thought.” She finished for him. Obviously, wasn’t what he was going to finish that sentence with but it was amusing to her seeing the expression on his face change that quickly from looking a little smug to being slightly agitated or annoyed. Old habits die hard.
“Didn’t he say she was his friend?” Andrew asked himself quietly, both he and Xernus were included in this bit conversation. This one was a little perplexing to him.
“So, you two prefer bows? Okay... seeing as you seem to be ready, we’d best be off, yeah?” Twilit said before leading them away from the tower and town, lighting the way with an orb of light levitating above the palm of her right hand that produced an eerie purple glow.
“Where did you get that?” Xernus asked after a minute or so of silence.
“Tovi and I once went exploring and found some weird completely vertical shafts lined in this strange looking purplish rock. The land surrounding it was of a similar color and looked almost as though the land itself was dying.” Twilit answered, the place they were headed wasn’t too far but a little conversation was good to pass the time.
“Corruption.” Andrew said darkly, nearly stopping in his tracks.
“Really? Been calling it ‘that strange purple stuff that Tovi says that smells a lot like me after coming in from the rain’ since the last time we went there about a year or so ago. Yeah, would have gone with an acronym with that one but ‘Tspsttstsallmaciftr’ is kind of hard to say in normal conversation but I guess ‘Corruption’ works a lot better and has a slightly better ring to it.” Twilit said in response to what Andrew had said. She thought for a moment that Xernus was about to laugh out-loud at that one but he managed to stop himself and only produce a bit of an amused but barely audible snicker.
“Okay...?” Andrew didn’t want to know.
“Get used to it when she’s around.” Lucidus told him. Although, when he first met her, she wasn’t always like this. Actually, she was a lot more serious and a bit mean spirited but a lot of that was tied to the fact that the people who took her in when she was young were all killed in a landslide that was caused by someone who wanted to kill her. In fact, when first meeting her, she nearly killed him and someone else he was traveling with as she thought that they were with the person that she was seeking revenge on. At least, this behavior was a bit more preferred over that old mean streak of hers. Although, it would still pop up from time to time but only really on the mention of the word ‘bug.’
“We’re here.” Twilit told them not too long after. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just a hill with a cavernous tunnel running through it that had a still lit campfire within it. Also, torches were skewed into some of the nearby trees, providing light and a sign hanging from the tunnel’s entrance. It read, “Tovi’s ‘Ancestral’ Battleground.”
“Like the sign? Bit of a joke as we have been using this spot as bit of a sparing ground since we started building the town near here. Also, her poking fun at the fact that her kind had these ‘ancestral’ battlegrounds that they used to settle disputes over land and the like. Inclined to agree as most of it was just arbitrary spot with little to no significance except that people fought here.” She told them when they noticed what was on the sign. Tovi’s kind, the Drakivi, were also the same group of people that took Twilit in as one of their own. Before they died, that is.
“Wouldn’t exactly call a hill with a tunnel running through it ‘insignificant’ personally.” Xernus noted.
“Have you done any significant amount of exploring around here?” Twilit asked him. “These kind of tunnels are so plentiful that I’ve started keeping a mental tally of them all. Current Count: 255.”
She was going to add something to that but was cut off by the following.
“The Eye of Cthulhu has awoken!” A voice that only Twilit and Andrew heard.
“There goes that thought...” She said to herself before telling Xernus and Lucidus, “Look lively, here it comes!”
“What...?” Lucidus was a little perplexed but this quickly transitioned into slight panic as he saw a giant, monstrous, free-floating eye coming straight at them. “...in the world is that thing?”
At first, the creature didn’t seem THAT bad. All it did was lazily floated around and spawned these smaller eye creatures from it’s pupil. Between Twilit and Lucidus keeping these bothersome creatures away from Andrew and Xernus, who were loosing arrows into the bigger creature, the fight didn’t seem that it was going to be all that challenging for them. After a little while, the creature stopped spawning these smaller eyes and started charging straight at them interchangeably.
“Anyone...” Xernus started but was slightly cut off when he had to move out of the way of the creature when it charged him suddenly. “...think we over-prepared for this?”
“Not the only one.” Twilit answered as she grabbed one of the smaller eyes with her hand and threw it to the ground. Following that, she stomped it under foot.
“Give it...” Andrew started but then had to use his bow as a makeshift club to knock one of the eyes onto the ground and quickly followed that up with pinning it to the ground with an arrow. “...a little bit. Believe me.”
“If you say so.” Twilit replied, her tone suggesting that she didn’t believe him. Just when she thought that something interesting was going to happen.
The creature followed this pattern of spawning flying eye creatures and charging for a while but the worst was yet to come. At a certain point, the creature completely changed. It threw off chunks of flesh that revealed that its eye-like appearance was a mask for what it truly was. A giant gaping maw with rows of razor sharp teeth. This transformation also was accompanied with it spawning five more eye creatures before returning, seemingly, to its old pattern of floating lazily above them.
“Is it going...?” Lucidus started asking but was cut off by his answer. The creature charged a lot more quickly at them. Lucidus was forced to practically dive out of the way and roll back onto his feet, running. After three times doing this, it suddenly gained a massive boost in speed in its charges. This almost caught Twilit and Xernus off guard, both nearly getting caught in its mouth and being shredded into pieces.
“Okay... this got a bit more... challenging.” Xernus noted, a little out of breath. Strangely, it was now ignoring Andrew who was free to pelt it with arrows with little to no risk to himself.
“I’m amazed you are actually honestly saying that. I need to devote this moment to memory.” Some text from Core said.
“Shut it, Core.” Xernus said in response. The others didn’t hear him... except for one.
It seemed as though as they kept pushing the creature further and further close to death that it would charge much more aggressively and frequently. Any sort of communication would prove difficult as the speaker would likely get turned into shredded meat within this creature’s mouth. However, the creature would eventually weaken. Twilit noticed this and informed the others to move in for the kill. The problem: Getting a hit on the damn thing as it was almost going too fast for them. Every charge, they literally felt a strung gust of air as the creature passed them by where they were once standing a mere second before.
“Lucidus.” Twilit started speaking to him. “Don’t reply, just stay focused on not becoming this thing’s meal. Can you keep it distracted for a bit? I have an idea but we just need someone to keep it busy so I can act on that idea.”
You got to be kidding, Lucidus thought as he barely rolled out of the way of the creature’s charge and kept running. It would be for the best if he drew it away so it could only focus on him, as much as he didn’t like the idea of being the bait. There wasn’t really any way he could argue this without getting eaten by the creature.
Xernus was just about getting to his limit but was nonetheless thankful that Lucidus seemed to be drawing the creature away from the rest. He leaned against a tree, a fair bit out o breath from dodging this creature’s charges. He was about to question for what purpose Lucidus was doing what he did when Twilit spoke to him.
“Xerner... or what ever your name was. Can I see your arrows for a moment?” She asked him. He nodded and tossed his quiver of arrows to her. It’s Xernus, but what ever. Not quite the time to correct that, he thought.
Twilit took what seemed to be a bright glowing light and crushed it in her hand, producing a sort of glimering dust. As this dust floated down onto the arrows in his quiver they seemed to change shape and color. They now glowed a bright white and produced a brilliant light. She tossed it back and took off to catch up with Lucidus. Xernus wasn’t sure what she did exactly but it looked as though she enchanted his arrows. As for what they did? There was only one, fast, way to find out. He nocked an arrow and took aim at the creature. The shot would be difficult but here went nothing. He loosed the arrow at just the right time. The creature had taken a very brief pause before it would charge again. Before it could, a brilliant white arrow that sparkled while in flight tore right through the creature, cutting it clean in half. Xernus fist pumped in celebration before breathing a sigh of relief. Afterward, he decided to sit on the ground to rest and to catch his breath.
“The Eye of Cthulhu has been defeated!” Andrew and Twilit heard. Both breathed a sigh of relief. The kill had come just in time as the sun was beginning to rise on the horizon. Which, little did all of them except for Andrew, the creature would have fled as it was primarily nocturnal.
“Gods... thank you...” Lucidus said between breaths of air. Although slightly difficult as it hurt to move, he sat down the ground to rest. He hadn’t felt like this since that one time he nearly got trampled by a mechanical half-man, half-horse creature that was hell bent on destroying the world. Strangely, this happened for the same reasons as when fighting this creature, he was nominated to play bait while someone else did something. What ever, at the least that creature was dead. Its dead form was just in front of him and he noted something strange. Why are its remains vanishing? He thought curiously as he watched them slowly fade and vanish without a trace.
It was then he noticed something strange upon the ground. A strange bag that depicted an eye not unlike the creature they just fought was just lying there where the creature’s body once was. It hurt to get up but he did and grabbed the bag to see what was inside. Inside, there was a bunch of small chunks of metallic looking, purplish, glowing rocks. Also, a strange shield that also bore the likeness of the creature’s gaping maw, a bunch of gold and silver coins, and a small set of flasks of what he believe were healing potions. Truly, a strange sight and one he planned on sharing with the others.
“Are we going anywhere in particular or are we sticking near the town?” Lucidus asked.
“Tovi would prefer we keep this away from the town. I was only waiting for you guys to make your selections. Which, I see you are being your usual self and going for the more extravagant armor and weapons.” Twilit answered as she looked Lucidus’ choice of armor. Son of a noble, go figure, she thought.
“You’re just jealous that it...” Lucidus started but was interrupted by Twilit.
“...looks hilarious on you? Yeah. I’m inclined to agree with that thought.” She finished for him. Obviously, wasn’t what he was going to finish that sentence with but it was amusing to her seeing the expression on his face change that quickly from looking a little smug to being slightly agitated or annoyed. Old habits die hard.
“Didn’t he say she was his friend?” Andrew asked himself quietly, both he and Xernus were included in this bit conversation. This one was a little perplexing to him.
“So, you two prefer bows? Okay... seeing as you seem to be ready, we’d best be off, yeah?” Twilit said before leading them away from the tower and town, lighting the way with an orb of light levitating above the palm of her right hand that produced an eerie purple glow.
“Where did you get that?” Xernus asked after a minute or so of silence.
“Tovi and I once went exploring and found some weird completely vertical shafts lined in this strange looking purplish rock. The land surrounding it was of a similar color and looked almost as though the land itself was dying.” Twilit answered, the place they were headed wasn’t too far but a little conversation was good to pass the time.
“Corruption.” Andrew said darkly, nearly stopping in his tracks.
“Really? Been calling it ‘that strange purple stuff that Tovi says that smells a lot like me after coming in from the rain’ since the last time we went there about a year or so ago. Yeah, would have gone with an acronym with that one but ‘Tspsttstsallmaciftr’ is kind of hard to say in normal conversation but I guess ‘Corruption’ works a lot better and has a slightly better ring to it.” Twilit said in response to what Andrew had said. She thought for a moment that Xernus was about to laugh out-loud at that one but he managed to stop himself and only produce a bit of an amused but barely audible snicker.
“Okay...?” Andrew didn’t want to know.
“Get used to it when she’s around.” Lucidus told him. Although, when he first met her, she wasn’t always like this. Actually, she was a lot more serious and a bit mean spirited but a lot of that was tied to the fact that the people who took her in when she was young were all killed in a landslide that was caused by someone who wanted to kill her. In fact, when first meeting her, she nearly killed him and someone else he was traveling with as she thought that they were with the person that she was seeking revenge on. At least, this behavior was a bit more preferred over that old mean streak of hers. Although, it would still pop up from time to time but only really on the mention of the word ‘bug.’
“We’re here.” Twilit told them not too long after. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just a hill with a cavernous tunnel running through it that had a still lit campfire within it. Also, torches were skewed into some of the nearby trees, providing light and a sign hanging from the tunnel’s entrance. It read, “Tovi’s ‘Ancestral’ Battleground.”
“Like the sign? Bit of a joke as we have been using this spot as bit of a sparing ground since we started building the town near here. Also, her poking fun at the fact that her kind had these ‘ancestral’ battlegrounds that they used to settle disputes over land and the like. Inclined to agree as most of it was just arbitrary spot with little to no significance except that people fought here.” She told them when they noticed what was on the sign. Tovi’s kind, the Drakivi, were also the same group of people that took Twilit in as one of their own. Before they died, that is.
“Wouldn’t exactly call a hill with a tunnel running through it ‘insignificant’ personally.” Xernus noted.
“Have you done any significant amount of exploring around here?” Twilit asked him. “These kind of tunnels are so plentiful that I’ve started keeping a mental tally of them all. Current Count: 255.”
She was going to add something to that but was cut off by the following.
“The Eye of Cthulhu has awoken!” A voice that only Twilit and Andrew heard.
“There goes that thought...” She said to herself before telling Xernus and Lucidus, “Look lively, here it comes!”
“What...?” Lucidus was a little perplexed but this quickly transitioned into slight panic as he saw a giant, monstrous, free-floating eye coming straight at them. “...in the world is that thing?”
At first, the creature didn’t seem THAT bad. All it did was lazily floated around and spawned these smaller eye creatures from it’s pupil. Between Twilit and Lucidus keeping these bothersome creatures away from Andrew and Xernus, who were loosing arrows into the bigger creature, the fight didn’t seem that it was going to be all that challenging for them. After a little while, the creature stopped spawning these smaller eyes and started charging straight at them interchangeably.
“Anyone...” Xernus started but was slightly cut off when he had to move out of the way of the creature when it charged him suddenly. “...think we over-prepared for this?”
“Not the only one.” Twilit answered as she grabbed one of the smaller eyes with her hand and threw it to the ground. Following that, she stomped it under foot.
“Give it...” Andrew started but then had to use his bow as a makeshift club to knock one of the eyes onto the ground and quickly followed that up with pinning it to the ground with an arrow. “...a little bit. Believe me.”
“If you say so.” Twilit replied, her tone suggesting that she didn’t believe him. Just when she thought that something interesting was going to happen.
The creature followed this pattern of spawning flying eye creatures and charging for a while but the worst was yet to come. At a certain point, the creature completely changed. It threw off chunks of flesh that revealed that its eye-like appearance was a mask for what it truly was. A giant gaping maw with rows of razor sharp teeth. This transformation also was accompanied with it spawning five more eye creatures before returning, seemingly, to its old pattern of floating lazily above them.
“Is it going...?” Lucidus started asking but was cut off by his answer. The creature charged a lot more quickly at them. Lucidus was forced to practically dive out of the way and roll back onto his feet, running. After three times doing this, it suddenly gained a massive boost in speed in its charges. This almost caught Twilit and Xernus off guard, both nearly getting caught in its mouth and being shredded into pieces.
“Okay... this got a bit more... challenging.” Xernus noted, a little out of breath. Strangely, it was now ignoring Andrew who was free to pelt it with arrows with little to no risk to himself.
“I’m amazed you are actually honestly saying that. I need to devote this moment to memory.” Some text from Core said.
“Shut it, Core.” Xernus said in response. The others didn’t hear him... except for one.
It seemed as though as they kept pushing the creature further and further close to death that it would charge much more aggressively and frequently. Any sort of communication would prove difficult as the speaker would likely get turned into shredded meat within this creature’s mouth. However, the creature would eventually weaken. Twilit noticed this and informed the others to move in for the kill. The problem: Getting a hit on the damn thing as it was almost going too fast for them. Every charge, they literally felt a strung gust of air as the creature passed them by where they were once standing a mere second before.
“Lucidus.” Twilit started speaking to him. “Don’t reply, just stay focused on not becoming this thing’s meal. Can you keep it distracted for a bit? I have an idea but we just need someone to keep it busy so I can act on that idea.”
You got to be kidding, Lucidus thought as he barely rolled out of the way of the creature’s charge and kept running. It would be for the best if he drew it away so it could only focus on him, as much as he didn’t like the idea of being the bait. There wasn’t really any way he could argue this without getting eaten by the creature.
Xernus was just about getting to his limit but was nonetheless thankful that Lucidus seemed to be drawing the creature away from the rest. He leaned against a tree, a fair bit out o breath from dodging this creature’s charges. He was about to question for what purpose Lucidus was doing what he did when Twilit spoke to him.
“Xerner... or what ever your name was. Can I see your arrows for a moment?” She asked him. He nodded and tossed his quiver of arrows to her. It’s Xernus, but what ever. Not quite the time to correct that, he thought.
Twilit took what seemed to be a bright glowing light and crushed it in her hand, producing a sort of glimering dust. As this dust floated down onto the arrows in his quiver they seemed to change shape and color. They now glowed a bright white and produced a brilliant light. She tossed it back and took off to catch up with Lucidus. Xernus wasn’t sure what she did exactly but it looked as though she enchanted his arrows. As for what they did? There was only one, fast, way to find out. He nocked an arrow and took aim at the creature. The shot would be difficult but here went nothing. He loosed the arrow at just the right time. The creature had taken a very brief pause before it would charge again. Before it could, a brilliant white arrow that sparkled while in flight tore right through the creature, cutting it clean in half. Xernus fist pumped in celebration before breathing a sigh of relief. Afterward, he decided to sit on the ground to rest and to catch his breath.
“The Eye of Cthulhu has been defeated!” Andrew and Twilit heard. Both breathed a sigh of relief. The kill had come just in time as the sun was beginning to rise on the horizon. Which, little did all of them except for Andrew, the creature would have fled as it was primarily nocturnal.
“Gods... thank you...” Lucidus said between breaths of air. Although slightly difficult as it hurt to move, he sat down the ground to rest. He hadn’t felt like this since that one time he nearly got trampled by a mechanical half-man, half-horse creature that was hell bent on destroying the world. Strangely, this happened for the same reasons as when fighting this creature, he was nominated to play bait while someone else did something. What ever, at the least that creature was dead. Its dead form was just in front of him and he noted something strange. Why are its remains vanishing? He thought curiously as he watched them slowly fade and vanish without a trace.
It was then he noticed something strange upon the ground. A strange bag that depicted an eye not unlike the creature they just fought was just lying there where the creature’s body once was. It hurt to get up but he did and grabbed the bag to see what was inside. Inside, there was a bunch of small chunks of metallic looking, purplish, glowing rocks. Also, a strange shield that also bore the likeness of the creature’s gaping maw, a bunch of gold and silver coins, and a small set of flasks of what he believe were healing potions. Truly, a strange sight and one he planned on sharing with the others.
Chapter 5
“You know? I heard of meat shields but this is ridiculous.” Lucidus said, examining the strange shield. Well, at least he now had a sword and a shield to work with. At least that was something.
“How are you feeling?” Twilit asked as she came up to check up on Lucidus.
“I nearly got eaten several times over, what do you think?” He answered with another question. In all honesty, he appreciated that she even asked.
“Nice shield. Although, I wouldn’t make one that looks like that creature. What was it called again? Eye of Cthulhu?”
“About that, if you haven’t noticed, the creature’s body disappeared and left a bag of its likeness behind. This shield and few other things were in it.”
“Yeah, I was about to ask about that. I was going to make a joke in asking if you ate it but you kind of robbed me of that chance. I hate you, by the way.” Twilit said to Lucidus. About time someone did the same, he thought with a slight laugh.
“Seeing as I can finally ask this, how’s Shadow?” He asked. Shadow was someone of the same race of Twilit and was one of the other people he traveled with.
“Doing fine.” She answered. That reminded her, “Actually, I was just about to pay him a visit before getting brought here. I was supposed to bring him to back to Celia.”
“I was about to do the same. It had been around a year since we last saw one another.” Lucidus said. Something about that seemed weird to Twilit.
“Wait, a year? I’ve been here for almost three years and you’re saying it’s been a year since you last saw Shadow and I?” Twilit asked sounding uncharacteristically confused.
“Thinking on that, that is weird.” Lucidus agreed. She did mention being here with Tovi for a few years. How was this possible? He thought to himself.
“A simple answer, that.” Andrew said as he approached. “How to explain this? Time flows... oddly here.”
“How so?” Twilit asked.
“The way I understand it is this: As long as you are here, time freezes where you once belonged. Or a better way to say it, once you return, it will be as though not a single second had passed since when you were there last.”
“What if we spent our entire lives here?”
“You won’t age as you don’t belong where you’re supposed to belong. In fact, the only way you’ll return is either A: you die from some creature here or B: you do what ever it is your supposed to do here.”
“Okay then, what are we supposed to do here?” Lucidus asked.
“You’ll figure it out.” Andrew answered. That didn’t help much, Lucidus thought.
“So... where’s the big guy at? Xern or what ever it was?” Twilit asked, noticing that Xernus wasn’t with Andrew.
“Last I checked, he was sitting up against a tree, sleeping.” He answered sounding a little bit amused.
“Oh gods, that sounds like an amazing idea right about now.” Twilit said with a stretch and a yawn. Wasn’t exactly the first time she had to stay up all night fighting something. Although, it wasn’t anything like the creature they had defeated. It was mostly an ungodly amount of zombies and demon eyes.
“Considering he had to stay up two nights in a row, with one of them him having to help us fight that creature? I can’t say that I’m surprised.” Lucidus commented, feeling a fair bit tired himself. Fighting during the night is the worse but at least the adrenalin helped in keeping him alert during all of that.
“Half tempted to just leave him here. He’ll catch up once he awakes.” Twilit said. Personally, she didn’t want to wake the big guy up as she knew if someone did the same she wouldn’t take too kindly to being woken up. In fact, if someone did then they were liable to get gut punched, hard, or otherwise knocked out before returning to slumber.
“I’ll stay behind, keep an eye him. That’ll leave you two to return, get some rest, and maybe once Xernus and I catch up then we can plan what we will do next.” Andrew told the two of them.
“Sounds like a plan.” Twilit remarked. “Wait... what do you mean by, ‘...plan what we will do next’?”
“Well... the Eye of Cthulhu isn’t your only obstacle in your path to getting out of here, I assure you.” Andrew told them with a slight laugh. No, they have A LOT more to do before this world turns them free, he thought to himself.
“Joy...” Lucidus sighed. Personally, he would have loved it if killing that creature was all they needed to do.
“So... what else?” Twilit asked, hoping that Andrew would fill them in a bit more on what they were supposed to do here.
“I’ll explain when I catch up. Considering what you guys were put through, you deserve the rest.”
“Fine... fine...” Twilit conceded for the moment. She turned to Lucidus and said, “I guess we should get going then.”
“Right...” He said in response, following Twilit and wondering what else was in store for them all.
Tovi sat down, legs crossed, and cast a line into the waters of the lake. She was waiting for Twilit and the others to return, she was eager to meet these newcomers but they had to go off and fight some sort of threat to the town before she could meet them. Unlike them, she had a good night sleep. Maybe a slight interruption or two from the creature’s awakening and defeat being announced. She was confident that Twilit would pull through and slay the beast with help of these people that came to their town. For now, fishing was all she could do to wait. It always put her mind and soul at ease. Often she would get lost in her mind and believe she was home again, of which, she longed for highly. It was nice here and so were the people, but there was always that nagging sense of longing for her home in the mountains.
For the moment, her thoughts were interrupted as she felt that she snagged a bite. She brought it in, another bass, with ease. It was always a slight annoyance to catch these fish as it felt as though that was all she ever caught. That or the random bit of trash, like a boot or a tin can, but she would always drift back into being relaxed and at peace. At least, the bass could be cooked for a meal later tonight so there wasn’t much complaining there. However, today was a bit different as the town’s local angler and mischief-maker wanted help in getting a specific kind of fish, a Slimefish. He had explained that he found slimes to be gross and Slimefish, the same. He wanted her to fish one up so there would be one less in these waters and he wouldn’t be liable to encounter one while swimming. She wasn’t sure why this was a concern as slimes were nothing more than just pests. Then again, he was a child, so his ability to deal with them might be less so than the others.
And so, she continued fishing and waiting. Maybe she might get one, maybe she won’t. Wouldn’t matter personally. She could sit here for the whole day if she wanted. Of course, not that she would. Sometimes, she might grow bored and go for a swim. Maybe catch some fish the old fashioned way. She was a remarkably good swimmer. Half the time it felt as though her wings were more designed for swimming through water due to how easy it was compared to flying through the air. Usually, landings were a little bit clumsy and a little less graceful than she wanted.
“Mornin’ Tovi.” A familiar voice belonging to an old man wearing a long light brown coat.
“What is it, Harold?”
“You know what was going last night? Couldn’t sleep, felt as though something was watching.”
“Twilit went with some group of people from across the lake to deal with that.”
“Hmmm...? We got some new custom... errr... visitors, ehh?”
“If you are wondering if they might buy something then you’re too late. Twilit let them into the tower basement.” She told him. She knew exactly what Harold was hoping for.
“Now, if you would be so kind, leave me alone. Fishing here.”
“Fine fine...” He grumbled as he walked off.
Finally, peace and quiet has returned. Although, this wouldn’t last long as she heard someone walk up from behind.
“What is it now?” She wondered as she looked over her shoulder to see who it was.
“Greetings.” A tribal looking man greeted her with a slight bow. His skin was scaly and green. His face was obscured by some sort of skull with a feathered headdress. He seemed to be of a slightly muscular build with a thick tail. His fingers were clawed and he held a staff that had some feathers hanging from the top. The only clothing he wore was some sort of loin cloth and a necklace with a skull adornment. She also noticed a rather large sheath on his back. Much like his hands, the toes of his feet were also clawed.
“You are?” She asked him from over her shoulder.
“I’m Konah of the Lihzahrd, humble dragoness.” He answered her question. That was the first time someone addressed her like that. He seemed to speak fairly slow and deliberate.
“What do you want? Kind of busy here.” She asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Something about him didn’t feel right to her. Although, it sure beat that sinister vibe that Dredun puts off with his very presence.
“To talk... but from my understanding of the few I met thus far, there’s one other. Am I correct?”
“Yes.” She answered simply. To the extent of her knowledge, Twilit had left last night to fight something with that group of people that she saw over by the cave.
“Where is she? We must talk.” He asked her, remaining patient. He saw that she was suspicious of him.
“Sorry but you’re going to have to wait.” She told him. Just leave me alone. What’s with this town today and being against me fishing in peace? She thought to herself. First Harold and now this Konah fellow.
“Well... in the meantime. What is your name, humble dragoness. You have mine but I don’t have yours.”
“Just call me, ‘Tovi.’ Everyone else does.” She answered. Joy... she thought. Having this guy breathing down her neck while she was trying to fish kind of defeated the reason why she enjoyed fishing. Perhaps it was time to find a new fishing hole away from town?
“Tovi, what are you doing giving your name out to strangers? I thought I taught you better.” She suddenly heard within her head.
Oh, thank the gods... She thought with some amount of relief as she recognized the voice belonging to Twilit. She saw that Twilit was followed by an elvish sort of person wearing blue clothing with a blue cloak that had a sort blue-green trim to it.
“And you.” Twilit turned her attention to Konah. “First, take a bath because I could honestly smell you from a mile away. Second, who are you and why are you harassing my friend?”
“I’m Konah of the Lihzahrd... and I assume you are Twilit, correct?” He replied, ignoring her comments about him.
“Lizard? Oh... that explains a thing or two there. Is it almost that time of the month for you too? Explains the stench. Tovi’s kind get the same way before...” Twilit started saying to Konah but was interrupted by Tovi.
“Twilit!”
“What? You guys do smell pretty bad before having to shed your skin.” Twilit sounded a fair bit confused. Konah merely looked back and forth between the two in complete confusion of what is going here.
“Oh... I thought... never mind.” Tovi started saying but returned to her fishing, embarrassed at the apparent misunderstanding. Must be part of her revenge for when she was told that she stunk when coming in from the rain one day.
“Twilit, we need to talk.” Konah said after a few moments of awkward silence.
“No. It’s bad enough having to help her when she starts shedding skin. I don’t need you on top of that and my own needs when I have to molt every year.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m being serious, we need to talk.” He said in response, his voice starting to lose a bit of that slowness that it had before when he first introduced himself to Tovi.
“Fine... I was kind of in the middle of something already but we should be done shortly. Just meet up with me at the tower and maybe I’ll hear you out. Emphasis on ‘maybe.’”
“So be it.” He said in reply before giving her and Tovi a slight bow and walking off towards the tower on the edge of town.
“Anyway, Lucidus, this is Tovi. Tovi, this here is Lucidus. He’s one of the people I told you of that I traveled with.” Twilit introduced the two of them to each other.
“Nice to meet you.” Tovi smiled before turning her attention back to fishing.
“Likewise.” Lucidus said in return. Since when did Drakivi have hair? He thought to himself.
“I only have on last place to show you before I leave you to do what ever it is you do when left to your own devices.” Twilit said, gesturing for him to continue following her.
Before meeting up with Tovi and Konah, Twilit showed Lucidus around the tower that she and Tovi lived in. Of all the structures, this was the first they built before other people started appearing and moving in. Something that Lucidus didn’t notice on the initial visit was that along the stairs that zigzagged all the way up to the top of the tower were mannequins that displayed armor upon them. The armor and mannequins were fitted more for someone of Tovi’s profile. Which, explained why they made use of the armory down stairs as all of the stuff above wasn’t exactly something that would fit him too easily. The bedroom that Tovi and Twilit share was at the very top of the tower. They didn’t stay long after that but he did note that yet again there were more mannequins with armor on them along with the usual bedroom decor and a fireplace to keep the room warm in the colder months.
Afterward, he was shown into the town proper with what seemed to be an open-aired dinning area with a purple shingled roof to keep dry when it rains and a central fireplace. At the time, an overall wearing man with a yellow helmet that had what looked to be some type of small lantern upon it was eating his meal with a mug of ale to drink. Twilit introduced him to this man, named Norkas, and they briefly talked. He found that this man was a bit of a ‘specialist’ with explosives, as Twilit explained, and that not to take him up on his offer of fuse chicken if he was to ever ask. Wouldn’t end well for him, as Harold found out before having to be rushed to the local nurse, Helen. Twilit would have done something for him but she doubted her knowledge of herbal medicine would have helped in stitching lost limbs back to their proper place. Although, she did manage to get him to stop screaming bloody murder for a few precious minutes. Afterward, she was told by Helen that adding a concussion to Harold’s list of injuries wasn’t really all that necessary.
After that was when they met with Tovi, who was being bothered by that lizard looking tribal guy at the time. You know how that one went.
“Tovi and I are pretty proud about this place we built down below.” Twilit told Lucidus as they made their way down a series of stairs towards a tunnel. Apparently, within this little crevice they had built a few houses into this little pit.
“Twilit, I’ve been thinking while you’ve been showing me around and now I must ask.” Lucidus told her as they walked through a long hallway that had blue and yellow banners hanging from the ceiling and lamp posts that shown brightly. The walls were made of stone but were reinforced with wood and wooden pillars.
“Yeah? What’s wrong?” Twilit asked as she stopped and turned to face him.
“During that fight with that eye beast... why did you resort to only using your fists?” Lucidus asked. For the longest time this had been bugging him. He remembered telling Andrew the reason why she wasn’t grabbing any weapons or the like was because she knew how to wield magic. Strange that she only resorted to helping him keep the small fry off of Xernus and Andrew while they were pelting the creature with arrows.
“...” Twilit remained silent for a few moments before answering. “I can’t.”
“You can’t?”
“Yes. Trust me, I tried and tried but I couldn’t even muster a slightest bit of power. I’m not sure why but I think this world is suppressing my ability to use magic. Believe me that you too would find yourself unable to do anything either.” She explained. While doing so she looked towards the palm of her hand and flexed it. It was a shame really. Possibly they would have had that creature dead before sunrise if she could use magic here.
“But... wait... didn’t you...?” Lucidus started but was cut off.
“Enhance Xern’s...” She started but was cut off in turn by Lucidus.
“It’s Xernus.” He corrected. He had no idea why she kept getting Xernus’ name wrong. It’s not like it’s that hard to pronounce or anything. Unless it was a deliberate action which was more than likely the case.
“Yeah... that guy’s arrows. That wasn’t my own power. Every night these bright lights fall from the sky and, from what I could tell, they radiate a certain kind of power that when used on arrows causes them to change dramatically. I haven’t yet explored any other possible effects that these ‘fallen stars’ have on other things.” She answered. It was only recently she figured that one out. Maybe it was about time she started experimenting with these fallen stars and see what else they might be useful for.
“Considering that, then why did you opt to not wear any armor?” Lucidus asked. Although, he already knew the answer but he only wanted to be certain.
“Even if they were fitted for someone like me I wouldn’t. You know me and Shadow, prefer just not taking the hits in the first place. Although, I know where you are coming from there with that. I’ll consider it in the future if it ends up being necessary.” Twilit answered. It was only natural as his friend to be a little concerned for her safety. This world was vastly different from the one they were drawn from. Perhaps being better safe than sorry was sound in this case.
“Are you done? We just got this one place up ahead left before I have to leave you.” Twilit asked him.
Lucidus merely shrugged in response. Not like he had anything better to do right now.
“How are you feeling?” Twilit asked as she came up to check up on Lucidus.
“I nearly got eaten several times over, what do you think?” He answered with another question. In all honesty, he appreciated that she even asked.
“Nice shield. Although, I wouldn’t make one that looks like that creature. What was it called again? Eye of Cthulhu?”
“About that, if you haven’t noticed, the creature’s body disappeared and left a bag of its likeness behind. This shield and few other things were in it.”
“Yeah, I was about to ask about that. I was going to make a joke in asking if you ate it but you kind of robbed me of that chance. I hate you, by the way.” Twilit said to Lucidus. About time someone did the same, he thought with a slight laugh.
“Seeing as I can finally ask this, how’s Shadow?” He asked. Shadow was someone of the same race of Twilit and was one of the other people he traveled with.
“Doing fine.” She answered. That reminded her, “Actually, I was just about to pay him a visit before getting brought here. I was supposed to bring him to back to Celia.”
“I was about to do the same. It had been around a year since we last saw one another.” Lucidus said. Something about that seemed weird to Twilit.
“Wait, a year? I’ve been here for almost three years and you’re saying it’s been a year since you last saw Shadow and I?” Twilit asked sounding uncharacteristically confused.
“Thinking on that, that is weird.” Lucidus agreed. She did mention being here with Tovi for a few years. How was this possible? He thought to himself.
“A simple answer, that.” Andrew said as he approached. “How to explain this? Time flows... oddly here.”
“How so?” Twilit asked.
“The way I understand it is this: As long as you are here, time freezes where you once belonged. Or a better way to say it, once you return, it will be as though not a single second had passed since when you were there last.”
“What if we spent our entire lives here?”
“You won’t age as you don’t belong where you’re supposed to belong. In fact, the only way you’ll return is either A: you die from some creature here or B: you do what ever it is your supposed to do here.”
“Okay then, what are we supposed to do here?” Lucidus asked.
“You’ll figure it out.” Andrew answered. That didn’t help much, Lucidus thought.
“So... where’s the big guy at? Xern or what ever it was?” Twilit asked, noticing that Xernus wasn’t with Andrew.
“Last I checked, he was sitting up against a tree, sleeping.” He answered sounding a little bit amused.
“Oh gods, that sounds like an amazing idea right about now.” Twilit said with a stretch and a yawn. Wasn’t exactly the first time she had to stay up all night fighting something. Although, it wasn’t anything like the creature they had defeated. It was mostly an ungodly amount of zombies and demon eyes.
“Considering he had to stay up two nights in a row, with one of them him having to help us fight that creature? I can’t say that I’m surprised.” Lucidus commented, feeling a fair bit tired himself. Fighting during the night is the worse but at least the adrenalin helped in keeping him alert during all of that.
“Half tempted to just leave him here. He’ll catch up once he awakes.” Twilit said. Personally, she didn’t want to wake the big guy up as she knew if someone did the same she wouldn’t take too kindly to being woken up. In fact, if someone did then they were liable to get gut punched, hard, or otherwise knocked out before returning to slumber.
“I’ll stay behind, keep an eye him. That’ll leave you two to return, get some rest, and maybe once Xernus and I catch up then we can plan what we will do next.” Andrew told the two of them.
“Sounds like a plan.” Twilit remarked. “Wait... what do you mean by, ‘...plan what we will do next’?”
“Well... the Eye of Cthulhu isn’t your only obstacle in your path to getting out of here, I assure you.” Andrew told them with a slight laugh. No, they have A LOT more to do before this world turns them free, he thought to himself.
“Joy...” Lucidus sighed. Personally, he would have loved it if killing that creature was all they needed to do.
“So... what else?” Twilit asked, hoping that Andrew would fill them in a bit more on what they were supposed to do here.
“I’ll explain when I catch up. Considering what you guys were put through, you deserve the rest.”
“Fine... fine...” Twilit conceded for the moment. She turned to Lucidus and said, “I guess we should get going then.”
“Right...” He said in response, following Twilit and wondering what else was in store for them all.
Tovi sat down, legs crossed, and cast a line into the waters of the lake. She was waiting for Twilit and the others to return, she was eager to meet these newcomers but they had to go off and fight some sort of threat to the town before she could meet them. Unlike them, she had a good night sleep. Maybe a slight interruption or two from the creature’s awakening and defeat being announced. She was confident that Twilit would pull through and slay the beast with help of these people that came to their town. For now, fishing was all she could do to wait. It always put her mind and soul at ease. Often she would get lost in her mind and believe she was home again, of which, she longed for highly. It was nice here and so were the people, but there was always that nagging sense of longing for her home in the mountains.
For the moment, her thoughts were interrupted as she felt that she snagged a bite. She brought it in, another bass, with ease. It was always a slight annoyance to catch these fish as it felt as though that was all she ever caught. That or the random bit of trash, like a boot or a tin can, but she would always drift back into being relaxed and at peace. At least, the bass could be cooked for a meal later tonight so there wasn’t much complaining there. However, today was a bit different as the town’s local angler and mischief-maker wanted help in getting a specific kind of fish, a Slimefish. He had explained that he found slimes to be gross and Slimefish, the same. He wanted her to fish one up so there would be one less in these waters and he wouldn’t be liable to encounter one while swimming. She wasn’t sure why this was a concern as slimes were nothing more than just pests. Then again, he was a child, so his ability to deal with them might be less so than the others.
And so, she continued fishing and waiting. Maybe she might get one, maybe she won’t. Wouldn’t matter personally. She could sit here for the whole day if she wanted. Of course, not that she would. Sometimes, she might grow bored and go for a swim. Maybe catch some fish the old fashioned way. She was a remarkably good swimmer. Half the time it felt as though her wings were more designed for swimming through water due to how easy it was compared to flying through the air. Usually, landings were a little bit clumsy and a little less graceful than she wanted.
“Mornin’ Tovi.” A familiar voice belonging to an old man wearing a long light brown coat.
“What is it, Harold?”
“You know what was going last night? Couldn’t sleep, felt as though something was watching.”
“Twilit went with some group of people from across the lake to deal with that.”
“Hmmm...? We got some new custom... errr... visitors, ehh?”
“If you are wondering if they might buy something then you’re too late. Twilit let them into the tower basement.” She told him. She knew exactly what Harold was hoping for.
“Now, if you would be so kind, leave me alone. Fishing here.”
“Fine fine...” He grumbled as he walked off.
Finally, peace and quiet has returned. Although, this wouldn’t last long as she heard someone walk up from behind.
“What is it now?” She wondered as she looked over her shoulder to see who it was.
“Greetings.” A tribal looking man greeted her with a slight bow. His skin was scaly and green. His face was obscured by some sort of skull with a feathered headdress. He seemed to be of a slightly muscular build with a thick tail. His fingers were clawed and he held a staff that had some feathers hanging from the top. The only clothing he wore was some sort of loin cloth and a necklace with a skull adornment. She also noticed a rather large sheath on his back. Much like his hands, the toes of his feet were also clawed.
“You are?” She asked him from over her shoulder.
“I’m Konah of the Lihzahrd, humble dragoness.” He answered her question. That was the first time someone addressed her like that. He seemed to speak fairly slow and deliberate.
“What do you want? Kind of busy here.” She asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Something about him didn’t feel right to her. Although, it sure beat that sinister vibe that Dredun puts off with his very presence.
“To talk... but from my understanding of the few I met thus far, there’s one other. Am I correct?”
“Yes.” She answered simply. To the extent of her knowledge, Twilit had left last night to fight something with that group of people that she saw over by the cave.
“Where is she? We must talk.” He asked her, remaining patient. He saw that she was suspicious of him.
“Sorry but you’re going to have to wait.” She told him. Just leave me alone. What’s with this town today and being against me fishing in peace? She thought to herself. First Harold and now this Konah fellow.
“Well... in the meantime. What is your name, humble dragoness. You have mine but I don’t have yours.”
“Just call me, ‘Tovi.’ Everyone else does.” She answered. Joy... she thought. Having this guy breathing down her neck while she was trying to fish kind of defeated the reason why she enjoyed fishing. Perhaps it was time to find a new fishing hole away from town?
“Tovi, what are you doing giving your name out to strangers? I thought I taught you better.” She suddenly heard within her head.
Oh, thank the gods... She thought with some amount of relief as she recognized the voice belonging to Twilit. She saw that Twilit was followed by an elvish sort of person wearing blue clothing with a blue cloak that had a sort blue-green trim to it.
“And you.” Twilit turned her attention to Konah. “First, take a bath because I could honestly smell you from a mile away. Second, who are you and why are you harassing my friend?”
“I’m Konah of the Lihzahrd... and I assume you are Twilit, correct?” He replied, ignoring her comments about him.
“Lizard? Oh... that explains a thing or two there. Is it almost that time of the month for you too? Explains the stench. Tovi’s kind get the same way before...” Twilit started saying to Konah but was interrupted by Tovi.
“Twilit!”
“What? You guys do smell pretty bad before having to shed your skin.” Twilit sounded a fair bit confused. Konah merely looked back and forth between the two in complete confusion of what is going here.
“Oh... I thought... never mind.” Tovi started saying but returned to her fishing, embarrassed at the apparent misunderstanding. Must be part of her revenge for when she was told that she stunk when coming in from the rain one day.
“Twilit, we need to talk.” Konah said after a few moments of awkward silence.
“No. It’s bad enough having to help her when she starts shedding skin. I don’t need you on top of that and my own needs when I have to molt every year.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m being serious, we need to talk.” He said in response, his voice starting to lose a bit of that slowness that it had before when he first introduced himself to Tovi.
“Fine... I was kind of in the middle of something already but we should be done shortly. Just meet up with me at the tower and maybe I’ll hear you out. Emphasis on ‘maybe.’”
“So be it.” He said in reply before giving her and Tovi a slight bow and walking off towards the tower on the edge of town.
“Anyway, Lucidus, this is Tovi. Tovi, this here is Lucidus. He’s one of the people I told you of that I traveled with.” Twilit introduced the two of them to each other.
“Nice to meet you.” Tovi smiled before turning her attention back to fishing.
“Likewise.” Lucidus said in return. Since when did Drakivi have hair? He thought to himself.
“I only have on last place to show you before I leave you to do what ever it is you do when left to your own devices.” Twilit said, gesturing for him to continue following her.
Before meeting up with Tovi and Konah, Twilit showed Lucidus around the tower that she and Tovi lived in. Of all the structures, this was the first they built before other people started appearing and moving in. Something that Lucidus didn’t notice on the initial visit was that along the stairs that zigzagged all the way up to the top of the tower were mannequins that displayed armor upon them. The armor and mannequins were fitted more for someone of Tovi’s profile. Which, explained why they made use of the armory down stairs as all of the stuff above wasn’t exactly something that would fit him too easily. The bedroom that Tovi and Twilit share was at the very top of the tower. They didn’t stay long after that but he did note that yet again there were more mannequins with armor on them along with the usual bedroom decor and a fireplace to keep the room warm in the colder months.
Afterward, he was shown into the town proper with what seemed to be an open-aired dinning area with a purple shingled roof to keep dry when it rains and a central fireplace. At the time, an overall wearing man with a yellow helmet that had what looked to be some type of small lantern upon it was eating his meal with a mug of ale to drink. Twilit introduced him to this man, named Norkas, and they briefly talked. He found that this man was a bit of a ‘specialist’ with explosives, as Twilit explained, and that not to take him up on his offer of fuse chicken if he was to ever ask. Wouldn’t end well for him, as Harold found out before having to be rushed to the local nurse, Helen. Twilit would have done something for him but she doubted her knowledge of herbal medicine would have helped in stitching lost limbs back to their proper place. Although, she did manage to get him to stop screaming bloody murder for a few precious minutes. Afterward, she was told by Helen that adding a concussion to Harold’s list of injuries wasn’t really all that necessary.
After that was when they met with Tovi, who was being bothered by that lizard looking tribal guy at the time. You know how that one went.
“Tovi and I are pretty proud about this place we built down below.” Twilit told Lucidus as they made their way down a series of stairs towards a tunnel. Apparently, within this little crevice they had built a few houses into this little pit.
“Twilit, I’ve been thinking while you’ve been showing me around and now I must ask.” Lucidus told her as they walked through a long hallway that had blue and yellow banners hanging from the ceiling and lamp posts that shown brightly. The walls were made of stone but were reinforced with wood and wooden pillars.
“Yeah? What’s wrong?” Twilit asked as she stopped and turned to face him.
“During that fight with that eye beast... why did you resort to only using your fists?” Lucidus asked. For the longest time this had been bugging him. He remembered telling Andrew the reason why she wasn’t grabbing any weapons or the like was because she knew how to wield magic. Strange that she only resorted to helping him keep the small fry off of Xernus and Andrew while they were pelting the creature with arrows.
“...” Twilit remained silent for a few moments before answering. “I can’t.”
“You can’t?”
“Yes. Trust me, I tried and tried but I couldn’t even muster a slightest bit of power. I’m not sure why but I think this world is suppressing my ability to use magic. Believe me that you too would find yourself unable to do anything either.” She explained. While doing so she looked towards the palm of her hand and flexed it. It was a shame really. Possibly they would have had that creature dead before sunrise if she could use magic here.
“But... wait... didn’t you...?” Lucidus started but was cut off.
“Enhance Xern’s...” She started but was cut off in turn by Lucidus.
“It’s Xernus.” He corrected. He had no idea why she kept getting Xernus’ name wrong. It’s not like it’s that hard to pronounce or anything. Unless it was a deliberate action which was more than likely the case.
“Yeah... that guy’s arrows. That wasn’t my own power. Every night these bright lights fall from the sky and, from what I could tell, they radiate a certain kind of power that when used on arrows causes them to change dramatically. I haven’t yet explored any other possible effects that these ‘fallen stars’ have on other things.” She answered. It was only recently she figured that one out. Maybe it was about time she started experimenting with these fallen stars and see what else they might be useful for.
“Considering that, then why did you opt to not wear any armor?” Lucidus asked. Although, he already knew the answer but he only wanted to be certain.
“Even if they were fitted for someone like me I wouldn’t. You know me and Shadow, prefer just not taking the hits in the first place. Although, I know where you are coming from there with that. I’ll consider it in the future if it ends up being necessary.” Twilit answered. It was only natural as his friend to be a little concerned for her safety. This world was vastly different from the one they were drawn from. Perhaps being better safe than sorry was sound in this case.
“Are you done? We just got this one place up ahead left before I have to leave you.” Twilit asked him.
Lucidus merely shrugged in response. Not like he had anything better to do right now.
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