Adrith and Evelyn looked off to see this taller man covered from head to toe in armor. He walked with a fast and heavy footfall as he wore a large overly adorned green cape like the other guards. Adrith’s eyes scanned the man instantly as he could tell the man had some training. His stride was trained, his head never bobbed, and his hand sat firmly yet relaxed on his sword to his side. Adrith felt some relief that the guard seemed to have some form of training after all this time. Yet as the man came over, they first thought he would have stopped to look towards Connor, yet he passed him by entirely and headed directly for Evelyn and Adrith.
“I will not allow such filth anywhere near Fellwinter”, The man stopped a foot away from Adrith as he looked him directly in the eyes.
Adrith turned to Evelyn confused for a moment before Connor stepped in, “Captain, Captain~, please be reasonable they just left the dungeon”.
Connor spoke with a soft voice trying to placate to some reason within the Captain, yet the man’s face did not even show an ounce of thought.
“I tolerate too much of you lot to begin with, however, I will not allow such disgusting beasts to enter my caravan”, the Guard Captain looked onto Adrith and Evelyn with pure disgust as they now both turned to each other.
Adrith looked at Evelyn, her raven black hair was glossy and frizzed. Her hair both had great amounts of volume yet also stuck to itself in thick bundles. Adrith looked to them much the same Evelyn did for Adrith’s own hair. It had been matted at this point, and his short well-kept hair was now a black thick helmet that stuck tightly to his head. It had streaks of dark red and gray wads of muck stuck in it. On Adrith’s face, his beard seemed to be plastered to his face with the countless oil, sweat, blood, and monster goo that covered him now giving it a glossy almost fake look. Then there were countless stains across his face, specifically around his eyes, and near his mouth and nose, was a thin layer of soot that stuck to a silvery gray oil that seemed to shimmer in the light making his already tan complexion seem both lighter while also darkening the shadows on his face. Evelyn wasn’t well off either, on her slightly tanned skin she had countless streaks of sooth that slowed down from her face like lines following streaks of her sweat.
They both winced as they looked down at their clothing, and it was not any better. Evelyn once thought her outfit was okay, even maybe somewhat stylish considering what she had to work with. That was until she realized that her outfit was destroyed. Her once very good-looking padded shirt was torn apart with multiple discolored areas. Some of it was now pitch black from the burning it had endured from her magic attacks. On other parts, specifically over her stomach, a large patch of the now ripped-open cotton and linen was now stained a deep vermillion from her blood staining the cloth. She looked to her boots which were now steeped in an almost dark ichor that stained the once light brown boots. Her hand even had been stained dark gray, red, yellow, and other strange colors from the different pieces of cloth she touched that she thought she might have stained now with the countless fluids she didn’t even realize were on her.
Adrith checked himself as well, his boots were torn to shreds, and the leather was nearly completely ripped apart from the constant wear and tear he put them through. He looked at his pants as he realized that now in the sunlight, the pants he thought were once black were actually a dark shade of an almost verdant green. He didn’t realize when he changed into them before they left but they were women’s pants and they were barely hanging onto him after all that running. The shirt he thought was clean when he put it on, however now on a better inspection he could see the countless stains left by the both of them using the clothing as pillows and bedding.
They both looked back up to each other and winced once more as they realized they looked awful. They turned to the Guard Captain as Connor continued to plead with him, “I know they don’t look good, but please they couldn’t help with it, they are both newly awoken, and they had just escaped the dungeon. They don’t look great now, but they aren’t like the Undead here. They did good work and even saved us”.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The Guard Captain looked at Connor for a moment before he turned to Maidrin, “Is this true?”
Maidrin nodded as the Guard Captain regarded Maidrin for a moment before he looked at Adrith and Evelyn, “You both have 10 minutes to make yourselves presentable, fail to do so, then you can sleep in the mud for I care”.
With that single remark, the Guard Captain turned on his heel and walked away just as quickly as he came. As many of people in this area looked at Adrith and Evelyn with disgust. Many of them wear decent-looking clothing in comparison to most, clean shirts with dye, sturdy pants, gorgeous boots and shoes, and even some jewelry.
Connor sighed out in relief as he turned to Adrith and Evelyn, “Alright you two, you look awful, let’s fix that”.
Connor then gave a nod to Gloria as he began to push both of them off away from the caravan. Evelyn lightly gestured for her Wishing Star to float with them so they could try and find more appropriate clothing to wear. However, the first thing to come was for Gloria to perform her magic. Gloria turned to Adrith and Evelyn as she demanded of both of them, “Take off your clothing”.
Evelyn nodded as she began to look around, she realized that they moved into the open where they could be seen. At first, she had some reservations, yet the moment she began to see Adrith stripping, she felt compelled to do so, so as to not try and make this seem stranger than it needed to be.
Adrtih and Evelyn stood there for a moment, they had no wounds on them, and their skin was unblemished, yet as they stood there, much of what made them confident within the dungeon was gone. They stood there as completely naked and defenseless people who now in the sun, were proven to be normal. Adrith, while in the dungeon stood tall, now he seemed to be about the same height as the woman next to him. For Evelyn, in the dungeon, she was treated as an equal, yet here, it felt as if her being naked made her bear more than Adrith had to.
Strangely, within no more time than half a month, they had forgotten many of the basic things on how to interact with people, more accurately mortals. May it be to their past that made them live very different lives than now, or that they had never needed to be in a situation like this, they were now here. They had gone from constantly fighting and surviving in the dungeon, to now needing to figure out the new conventions expected of them in this world.
Evelyn felt strange in this situation, in the end, she was still mortal. She was given some leeway, she was treated with some niceties, yet now? She lost all of that, and she didn’t even know she had it. For Adrith in some regard, was still shell-shocked by this entire experience from the encampment, to how he had seen the Awoken treated, it felt as if they had forsaken those who were chosen. Yet the moment that cold water began to pour down onto the both of them, they were both pulled back as Connor told them, “Hey stop daydreaming, you need to wash yourselves quickly!”
Adrith and Evelyn began to clean themselves as they saw Connor begin to look through the clothing that they had brought with them. He shook his head through all the pieces as the moment they finished washing, they had magic be used to dry them off while Connor said, “Hopefully that is enough for the Captain since all the clothing you have is all dirty and ripped up”.
Adrith waved his hand, “Oh no, give me a moment and I can solve that problem”.
Connor looked to Adrith slightly curious, as once Adrith came near the flying Disc, he took hold of his cloth catalyst and a knife as he began to rip out the large chunks of stained cloth, broken leather, and ripped linen. Connor was about to stop him, yet Evelyn shook her head and allowed Adrith to complete his work.
“By my command, that which is composed of the five elements, be bolden by the 5 elements, heed my command, Mend”
Connor looked on in shock as Evelyn and Adrith began to put on clothing that looked brand new as they said, “Let’s go”