We moved together with them, our weapons drawn and on the lookout for anything that could resemble our enemy. The march was slow, but steady. At this rate, there wasn’t any possibility of letting anything slip past our lines. The only thing it did mean, was that this was going to take several days, probably uneventful for the most part too, as we knew that the southern part of the forest had been mostly cleaned up already.
Eric didn’t seem to be too comfortable for the time being, and he asked if he could follow us from a distance, making up the rear with the couriers. I found the question odd, but I didn’t think it would matter much. He said he’d join us for the night.
“That’s alright,” Velariah said effortlessly. “Just remember you don’t have to be scared of us, as monstrous as some of our party may look.”
I shook my head at her comment, but smiled inwardly. Eric assured us he wasn’t afraid of anyone, adding that the person carrying supplies behind us was a friend of his who’d just arrived from Zakar, the closest human town beyond the forest.
I watched him walk off, a bit of uneasiness left in my mind at his behavior, so I decided to change the topic as soon as possible. It did allow me to ask some questions that would probably be best not heard by the human.
“Think anyone will run into this dungeon this way?” I asked my companions. “Seems to me, this is about the best chance we’ll get.”
“Wouldn’t be too sure about that, Miss Elania,” Draco spoke without even looking my way, ever focused. He had his axes ready to strike, or to use the shields to deflect attacks. “It was only by pure chance that you stumbled upon the other dungeon. Who knows how long it may have taken for anyone else to discover it?”
“He has a point, you know?” Velariah added.
“That’s true, I guess, but given Arch’s information, we have to assume that this other dungeon is accessible, at least by one person. Now, I can imagine them trying to hide it with camouflage in the form of plants or whatever, but there should be at least something that stands out.”
“She has a point, you know?” Seralyn added with a mischievous smile.
“Look, all I’m saying is: where would you hide a dungeon in such a way that it hasn’t been found?” I continued. “I mean, someone did, but they clearly didn’t notify the guild.”
“Underground,” Velariah spoke her mind. “Or somewhere extremely dangerous, or somewhere where nobody ever comes, for whatever reason, but that is unlikely to happen with a damn army combing the place, so I’d say it’s one of the former. If not, we’ll find it easily.”
“A cave, perhaps?” I floated the idea.
“Also unlikely,” Velariah said almost immediately after whilst shaking her head. “Those are popular places to hide, for both animals and elves or humans alike. If they housed a dungeon, we would have known about it by now.”
“I suppose that’s somewhat true, but keep in mind that goblins have been around here for a good while, which should have affected how many people venture into it. Just how long have they been here? Is there a chance a dungeon can randomly appear within that time frame?”
“I…I don’t know,” Velariah admitted. “They’ve been around for as long as I've lived, but I think my father would have mentioned something about that when you told him.”
“True, I suppose…”
We marched forward for a couple of hours until a signal was given and we came to a halt. At first I thought someone had spotted something somewhere, but apparently, it was only to take a break before continuing. It was kind of weird to even think about how I would have suffered if I hadn’t possessed this body. I imagined I would have needed several breaks to even get this far, yet now I didn’t even feel a hint of exhaustion. I didn’t feel hungry at all either, and I likely wouldn’t for a few days. I’d made sure to eat plenty recently.
“So much for goblin extermination,” Seralyn said as she sat down on the dirt. “I wonder if the others found anything.”
“Boring, but I can’t complain,” Velariah said, sitting down next to her. “It doesn’t change the pay, but even if it did, we’re not here for that.”
As if lightning had struck her, Velariah stood up with unparalleled speed and held her sword at the ready. Seralyn and Draco quickly followed suit and had their weapons ready, aiming at the bushes in the distance that Velariah was looking at.
“Heard something?” I asked with a whisper.
The white-haired elf nodded, and I looked around to see the nearest soldiers standing up as well, alternating their gazes between Velariah and the shrubbery.
“What is it?” Seralyn asked with her bow fully drawn.
Then, I noticed something as well, invisible to me to my normal eyes, but the ones at the sides of my head were sharper than those. Something dragged itself through the foliage, something with a familiar glimmer.
I felt a smile grow on my face as soon as I realized what it was.
“Calm down,” I said. “No need to be afraid of that.”
The elves looked at me with confusion whereas Draco looked at the greenery and then at me with a wide smile. I thought he noticed it too, but it was fun to see the scared reactions of both Velariah and Seralyn for a bit until the monster that hid itself was finally revealed.
The white-scaled body of an iobgnol came into view as the curious and immense creature slithered our way, leaving Draco and me giggling when the others realized there was nothing to be afraid of.
“Well, whaddaya know,” Seralyn commented. “Didn’t expect to run into one of those, seeing how rare they are. How did you know about them, Elania?”
“Velariah and I ran into one when I first met her,” I said. “She said these things bring good luck. Seems she wasn’t wrong about that, seeing how things went from there.”
“You thought I was lying when I told you?” Velariah asked with a smile. The massive albino snake approached her curiously and let the elf pet it. “Do we have anything to give?”
“I guess some meat would do? We better hurry, though. The soldiers aren’t going to wait for us.”
I pointed in the direction of the knight that was to our right that had started moving again to get back in line.
“Well, we cannot risk getting bad luck,” The white-haired elf said as she hurried to my saddlebags to fish out a package of dried meat which she quickly fed to the giant snake as I ran a gloved hand over its gorgeous scales.
I would have remained with it longer but Velariah was right. We couldn’t fall behind or we’d risk our lines being broken, so after she fed it, we chose to get back to our positions as fast as we could.
“Were you scared the first time?” Nira asked from my back once we were back in position.
“Uhm, yes,” I replied softly.
“It was way worse than that,” Velariah added. “She truly believes she was gonna get eaten. Now I know snakes can open their mouths pretty damn far, but I’m nonetheless positive she wouldn’t fit.”
“Let’s forget about that,” I said, slightly embarrassed. It was made worse by the fact that I should have known a thing or two about snakes. At least that much I had learned in my old life.
Fortunately, my friends remained quiet after that as we simply focused on the task at hand.
We kept the conversation to a minimum to stay concentrated, but we still couldn’t help but discuss our plans after this was all over. We did establish that we couldn’t call it ‘over’ after just the goblin extermination part. We needed to make sure we were aware of this dungeon and try to get answers to a few questions that remained.
Either way, it would be hard leaving Dawnleaf behind, but in order to progress as adventurers we were more or less forced to. There were many dungeons out in the world, and to grow stronger, we’d have to visit more than just Arch.
We noted that since we had more or less set our sights on Zerdania, we’d have to find out about dungeons on the way there, in addition to the transport issue we’d already started working on. I wanted to be a hundred percent certain we had everything we needed to traverse a desert.
Nothing much happened for the day. We ran into some common forest critters such as rabbits, birds, and we even ran into a few of the weird six-legged lizards, but that was about it. At the end of the afternoon, we got a signal from the line of soldiers and made camp under a few trees, in an area where there wasn’t a lot of vegetation.
Moist dirt covered this area of the forest, and it was bound to get our armor dirty if we were to sleep on it. It wasn’t very comfortable either to say the least. Now, I could provide some softness in the form of silk, but I decided not to for the simple fact that it would drain my reserves.
The couriers and other support that followed us were called to the front. They would keep first watch as the soldiers went to sleep. Within our party, it was quickly decided that Velariah and I would watch over us for the first half of the night, and then Draco and Nira for the second part. Seralyn and Eric were allowed a full night’s rest, something with which the archer didn’t seem to have any problem. Eric wasn’t the most enthusiastic, but he didn’t protest either. Complaining about it wouldn’t make him look as trustworthy as we thought, or so I reasoned.
The four of them had a hard time trying to fall asleep on the cold, hard forest floor, but eventually, they were dreaming. No doubt they would be sore in the morning, though, or rather, somewhere in the middle of the night.
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“Not sure what to say,” Velariah whispered as she sat in front of me between my pedipalps.
The day had turned into night, and quiet surrounded us, save for the few nocturnal creatures that were active. Every watch had created a campfire so that no goblins could pass us by undetected and the one before us provided some additional heat, despite the nights not being cold in the slightest. Certainly not with all this armor we were wearing.
“Then don’t say anything,” I whispered back as I hugged her with my free arms. “Just enjoy the moment. I know I am.”
“That’s sweet, but you know I’m going to talk anyway.”
I grinned. “I do, but what will you talk about?”
“Dunno. The future I guess?”
“Lame,” I said with a grin.
Velariah grinned at my response.
“It’s just so weird,” She continued. “This is something I’ve looked forward to for so long, but now that we’re here, it’s all so calm.” She shook her head. “And honestly? I never imagined it would be done. The freedom our people will have, it’s…” She sighed deeply.
“Impossible to imagine?”
“Yeah. I suppose that’s one way to put it.” She took a deep breath after a bit of a pause and continued.
“You know that a good part of our village’s income is the very lumber that grows in this forest. Imagine the increase in yield now that they won’t have to be escorted anymore. Scratch that, imagine how many more people will now want to join the woodcutter’s guild, now that the most dangerous part of the profession is gone. Not only that, but our trade route with the Flamarr kingdom will flourish, and we desperately need their goods.”
“I don’t see the problem?” I said, a bit confused as to where Velariah was going with all this.
“There’s none. I’m just… happy to see it all come to pass.”
“As am I, Vel. We’re not done just yet, though.”
“I know,” She let out with a sigh. “But we’ll get there, and then, after everything is wrapped up here, we can go and look for that ‘chocolate’ thing of yours.”
“You know that we don’t even have confirmation whether it is what I’m looking for. I have a good idea it is, but I can’t know for certain.”
“The idea of an expedition is quite something though. I’ve been cooped up here all my life, never left the province, and even though I know I will have trouble leaving it behind, I still look forward to the adventure that lies beyond our borders, you know?”
“I know. I’m looking forward to it as well, but I will miss Elly, Gray and Minia.”
“Don’t think you can take Minia with you? You seem to have taken quite the liking to her.”
“How am I going to keep her safe?” I asked. “If there was an option to take her, I’d gladly do it, but I don’t see one.”
“Why are you even considering taking her in the first place?” Velariah asked, surprised.
“Well, to be honest, I’ve been thinking about her most recent molt. Strange as it may seem, I think it has something to do with my inherity. I’m sure you can agree with that.”
“For sure.”
“So,” I continued. “That made me think. Does my other inherity have an effect on her as well? I’m talking about the corium one. I’m not exactly sure about it, but what if this was some sort of evolution for her? Would her being near me allow her to evolve again?”
“That’s… I don’t even know what to say, El. It just sounds so weird, but at the same time, it sounds within the realm of possibilities.”
“Another thing, I don’t know how long jumping spiders live, but I imagine it’s not anywhere near a wolf’s lifespan. If we’re gone for a while, I fear she may just…”
“I understand, El,” Velariah said in a calm voice as she took hold of one of my hands. “That would feel terrible. I’m sure she’d feel terrible with you gone for so long too.”
I nodded.
“We may have to look for a way to take her with us, then,” The elf concluded. “I think some kind of container could work. Something that you can use to keep her out of danger.”
“Poor Minia,” I said. “I can’t imagine that being fun for her.”
“But it’s about the only way to keep her safe. Do you think she would understand?”
“If I told her, perhaps,” I whispered, finishing the conversation for a good few minutes until Velariah said something completely different.
“Hey, El. I wanted to… you know, thank you,” She whispered with an obvious hint of sadness in her voice.
“What? For what?” I asked. Her statement confused me. Why would she need to thank me for something?
“For yesterday. I realized just now.” She paused and sighed deeply. “The festival. It was the first time without my mom. I wanted to thank you for helping me forget about it. I had a great time yesterday and wasn’t distracted from the joyful occasion that it should be.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I admitted. “I can hear you still miss her. I would have loved to meet her.”
“You’d have loved her,” Velariah said weakly before shaking her head. “She was the sweetest. She would have loved to see everyone… how far I’ve come…”
A tear fell down on my metal glove, followed by more as Velariah sobbed in utter silence. I felt her pain, but I couldn’t say I knew what she felt. I knew I had family back on Earth, but I didn’t know what happened to me or them. Hell, I couldn’t even remember their names or faces. I knew for sure now that I was far better off than I initially thought.
I hugged her tightly, my helm against hers, as more tears fell down.
Earlier I had thought she was ‘over it’, but I felt that one couldn’t simply say that. Perhaps she’d never fully get over it and, in my opinion, that was fine. I felt like she’d truly been looking forward to her mother seeing her grow into the adventurer she now was, and her words, and her tears, spoke for themselves.
“I love you, Vel,” I whispered, trying to ease her heartache. “I love you, and I’m sure she’s looking down from somewhere, and is very proud of you.”
She put a hand on mine and nodded slowly, regaining her composure at a slow pace as she leaned back onto me. Time passed and minutes of silence turned into hours. I remained alert, but didn’t feel time pass as quickly. It was only when I saw movement at the sides that I realized it was time for us to rest.
The couriers woke up the soldiers, which prompted Velariah to wake up the others. They’d keep watch and we went back to the same position we were in before, and fell asleep quite quickly.
----------------------------------------
I woke up to the sound of horns, which abruptly pulled me from my dreams. Unlike the day before, though, I didn’t feel horrible.
Lucky me I guess.
“Is that danger or what?” I asked, trying to get my wits about me as fast I could.
“That’s ten minutes we have for breakfast,” Velariah explained as she got up from my ‘lap’ to grab food and drink from my saddlebags. She handed me a piece of bread and I looked at her with a questioning gaze.
She chuckled and told me it was to see if my trick had worked.
“Oh,” I let out as I took a bite and found out that it was still fresh. I quickly swallowed and opened my mouth to speak again.
“Why did you let me taste it again?” I asked in confusion. “I mean, it’s pretty clear, no?”
Eric seemed to be confused as to what was going on, but he did seem intrigued when he tasted some of the bread. He had his eyes locked on it as he ate, then thanked us before moving back. He said he’d talk to his friend and then join us for the rest of the trip. It seemed he was much more confident than the day before, which was good to see.
Seralyn grinned as she munched down on some bread herself. Draco was simply smiling, as was Nira.
“Wonderful ideas you have,” The lizardman eventually said. “I don’t even taste lemon. How did you even know about this?”
I drank a bit of water as he spoke, all while thinking of a good way to explain this concept.
“I apologize for putting it so bluntly, but I fear it’s going to be hard to explain as I’d need to explain things starting from the very basis of microscopy, you know, the instrument that allows one to see things that are so small, and impossible to see with the naked eye.”
“Well,” He said with a smile, crossing his arms. “I’d love to hear it on the way. Makes this quest a little bit less boring.”
“I suppose I could,” I said. Then, the sound of horns blared again, causing the soldiers to stand up and assume formation again. “I suppose I could.”