On the unpaved road covered in mud and marks, as if a stampede of animals swept across, was destitute and isolated from the world that you could hear the wind blow and insects cricket. Until a few weeks later multiple wagons appear, covered in wounds that were being repaired by the occupants inside that were stitching the roof back together as the wagons limped across the path.
In one of the centre wagons that has an emblem of a sewing needle with a string threaded in, one could see a woman, her face calm in the current time, ashen in the past and hopeful in the future. She looks at her husband and lays her hand on his revealing all her faces as her hands shake periodically whilst not being discernible from the human eye yet gripping the hand below.
"Sulivan, how long left until we reach there and are you sure that ghastly place is safe to live?" She spoke with such an enchantress voice that many prey would fall for it, as the wind flutters her long blonde hair and dress with similarities to that of a priest's, thus showing her skin which is as alluring as the night sky and white eyes that can be described as crescent moons.
Sulivan, wearing a silk robe in black that could block the sun glances at her wife with his dark eyes and reciprocates her worries by grasping her hands as well, allowing the couple to feel the fate of the string they picked. Then he stares at the clouds in the sky from the wagon that has seen better days whilst sighing in resignation. Nevertheless, though tired from the past fiesta, Sulivan replies to his wife.
"I know you're worried about the place but I assure you Esperanza, the place is a haven inside."
"If we can make it inside." the two guards at the front of the wagon mumbles simultaneously.
"Quiet you two!, even though your right about that, it's the only path available for us. Besides, with the manpower we have, we can make it."
"How many more people need to be sacrificed dad?" A young boy with wolflike ears pops out from within the boxes box in the wagon, says in a murky tone.
"..."
Esperanza tries to explain " Arden, we had no choice but to do that, we tried to..."
"Save them? Yes that may be true, but they still died which doesn't remove the fact they aren't here with us." Sulivan clarifies the main point before Esperanza could lighten the words.
"Sulivan!, Arden is still young and he doesn't need to be reminded of that terrible misfortune."
"Esperanza, my light, I know you want to lighten it but the world is a cruel place, Arden needs to understand this."
Esperanza, hearing this bears her sword-like teeth and shatters her calm demeanour opening the agony hidden behind.
"BUT EVEN I CAN'T TAKE THIS BURDEN ANYMORE, LET ALONE POOR ARD... my night sky, the friends we left behind so we could live is too painful..."
Before Esperanza's tears could form, a guard outside rushed to Sulivan "Mr Sagara, there are wagons further ahead all having an emblem of a hammer striking a tree."
Esperanza, surprised by this comments "How are the Hokiguchi family here of all places?"
Sulivan, as perplexed as his wife, commands the guard "Tell the other wagons to speed up so we can reach them."
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After the Sagara caravan reached the Hokiguchi caravan that looked pristine and full of vitality unlike the other caravan.
Esperanza and Arden leave the wagon and start to converse with the other caravan members about there current status and mainly just logistics.
Sulivan Sagara, now wearing a silk like armour that glistens in the night sky stared disapprovingly at the small muscular man, wearing wooden armour.
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"Didn't expect to see you here Leonard Hokiguchi, I can see how radiant and clean you are. Must be nice." Sulivan sweetly smiles at Leonard.
"Cut it with the passive aggressive stance Sulivan, I know what you want you to know but all I can say is that I was not willing to stay in hell when I was notified and found an escape route about it." Leonard barked back with his spine straight.
"Fine, I won't delve into it. However, why is your caravan so slow to the point we could reach you?"
"We dwarves like resources ok... we may have taken practically all the resources with us.." Leonard embarrassingly said.
"Don't blame your species, you were born a hoarder to begin with Leonard." Sulivan scoffs at the dwarf.
"Though I guess you did have it rough as well since this caravan seems lighter than what I predicted if you took everything."
"Shut up Sulivan." Leonard grumbles from Sulivan's dagger-like remark.
Sulivan chuckles at the dwarf who he thought had a perfect escape.
"Anyway, where are you guys going by the way?"
"Me and my family were planning to go to Zealot city"
"Zealot city!? You Crazy?" Sulivan gasped at Leonards plan.
"Where else would I go? The Cursed Forest?"
The dwarf staring straight Sulivan as if trying to see his reaction sensed something was off about him.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Finally, Leonard realised Sulivan's diabolical plan and yells in surprise.
"YOU CRAZY BASTARD!? Your sending your caravan from hell to the abyss?"
"Well..."
"You know something don't you? Spit it out now, cmon."
"I know a safe spot in the Cursed Forest that no one else knows."
"A safe spot? In that nightmarish place? How did you get your claws on that information?"
Sulivan ignores the questions and invites Leonard Hokiguchi.
"Wanna join?"
"Well, with your character that safe spot is probably real and would be a lot better than becoming practically a slave. But also with your character, I know you don't give free handouts even to friends, you want my group to be a meatshield huh?"
"We will merge caravans so meatshield is not the correct term, more like sharing the difficulties."
"Bah, with how your people evade with reflexes of a cat, my group might just be meatshields."
The comparison to cats triggers Sulivan slightly to which he impatiently and bluntly questions.
"You joining or not?"
Leonard, thinking hard of whether to go or not, concludes to joining the expedition to the Cursed Forest with reluctance.
"Fine."
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Before arriving at the doorstep of the forest one could hear the howls of organisms inside, whether it is the birds screeching, trees rattling, beasts screaming or insects shrieking.
When the caravan arrived in front of the Cursed Forest, all sound stopped as if the place was put under a silence spell.
Sulivan stared solemnly at the deteriorated, rotten and quite frankly petrifying Cursed Forest that had trees covered in some sort of black ooze with minimal amount of leaves coated in purple. This wasn't what Sulivan was staring at though, it was the shrubs surrounding the forest that looked quite normal if it weren't in the Cursed Forest.
"They noticed our arrival."
"We can see that" Leonard and Esperanza grimaced.
"I'm not talking about the organisms that live in the forest, I'm talking about the forest itself."
Leonard and Esperanza glance at each other, then at Sulivan looking completely confused.
"?"
"Well to be more specific, the dryads that are in there."
The moment Sulivan says that, Leonard gains an epiphany.
"That's how you know a safe spot, the spirit tree is still alive in there, but how did it survive the curse placed on it?"
"Simple really, it just transferred its connection from its main body into a random tree and cut the connection."
Leonard still with doubt about the new information questioned.
"Why is it allowing us to live with it then?"
Sulivan speaks frankly.
"That's because Esperanza can use holy magic which can purify and I can use dark magic which can help with its reclamation of the forest, there's also you as well that can refine trees."
"I can only refine dead trees" The dwarf explains.
"Stop playing dumb, you can refine alive trees without killing them." Sulivan blatantly tells him
Speechless, Leonard feels as if his core secret was exposed.
"When did you know? Before I met you in the Emancipation City?"
"Doesn't matter, let's focus on what's in front of us"
Sulivan whistles. Seconds later a man strolling to Sulivan wearing a silver monocle, a dashing secretary like uniform arrives before Sulivan.
"You called Sir?"
"Oman give me the statistics, please."
"Of course Sir, we currently have: 240 Civilians, 100 Combatants and 5 healers. The expected number after reaching the place is 50 Civilians, 40 Combatants and 4 healers. Chance of failure is 30% which includes the chance of the beasts and insects above golden core realm appearing."
Leonard sulks at the statistics Oman gives.
"I'm starting to regret joining."
"Well risks need to be taken to carry on in life even if we despise it."
"You better stitch me a pretty dress for my wife when she realises the aftermath."
Sulivan gives a hearty laugh at his remark to which he grants his blessing.
"Of course."
Sulivan, Leonard, Esperanza and Oman lead the caravan closer to the desecrated land, then entered the Cursed Forest.