Naho, the 7th, 10,391

The trip back from the lands of the tsunken aelves was demanding. The frozen snowy waste sapped their strength with every step and with the lingering injuries Six and Keegan moved slower. It was a tad frustrating but Six pushed it away, all he could do was march with persistence. It was soul crushing and physically grinding but it did lead to several level ups in his Athletics skill. It was at 18 and Six felt a great sense of anticipation for the evolution into apprentice rank.

At a point during the journey, a boom like thunder was heard echoing off in the distance. Six barely glimpsed it through the ambient snowfall but far off on a mountain peak opposite theirs was a humanoid form and from the look of it, it was a giant. Its silhouette painted dark against the white of the mountain. It stood far above the tiny alpine trees that poked up through the snow, here and there.

They watched as it tore the mountain open, cracking it like dead, brittle wood. Searching for something within.

Six inhibited the impulse to analyze the thing. It was truly a monster. His spine shuddered and he considered what it would be like to battle against the thing.

There was no doubt in his mind of the exceedingly slim chance he would have at victory. There was a chance though…

He had to get stronger. So strong that the chance grew overwhelming.

So strong that conflict was a foregone conclusion.

They reached the seaside village of Lhorn and to find no Amos at dock, Six decided to wait at least two weeks before chartering another ship out of here. Not that there was a ship capable of such a task at dock.

They posted up at the village inn and waited for the captain to return.

There was a part of Six that felt uneasy with not being on the move. They had just massacred a mage detachment, surely their allies would have ways of knowing and figuring out who did it.

Six knew it was an irrational feeling as such methods would most likely work regardless of distance but he still felt like he couldn’t relax until he got home. He hoped his Amulet of Unknown would help shield him from any such search but it would be unable to shield his allies.

Not to mention, there was the looming threat of explaining himself to Ravna when he got home. He had missed her on these past couple weeks and he felt a growing trepidation within himself. Like he fucked things up with her. Only time would tell.

But, he couldn’t complain about ‘adventuring,’ he had grown significantly on this trip, in terms of power, wealth, and materials. The results spoke for themselves. Bah, no use in dwelling.

The inn held a few other patrons, all wooly olynum save for one halfling man. They glanced at Six’s group and then began staring but Six understood as they were quite clearly outsiders here.

The barkeep was a massive olynum of a man, towering over everyone there but emanating a welcoming enough vibe for such a unit of a man. They got rooms and board for the night and enjoyed the warm ambiance of the common room, the locals eventually losing interest in the motley group and easing back into their previously established social rituals of drinking.

Six observed the officers begin to relax. Nar, Aclo, and Bark drinking to get drunk while Keegan, Kali Kik, and Irduth only had one reserved drink.

Indigo was making some sort of herbal bark tea, of which Six asked for some. Indigo was kind enough to share.

Six sat, watching the soldiers loosen up and engage in the well worn rituals of friendship that only came with time.

A couple of weeks would not make him one of them. Nor did he want to be, looking inside himself he found that what he wanted was his family and friends of old.

He missed his old shitty life and the relationships he built up over two decades. Negative feelings arose in him, during this most happy time. His childish resentment and jealousy grew.

He considered going outside for a puff, going back and forth between his feelings and thoughts of responsibility and justifications. He knew the optimal answer.

No, now is not the time.

Good thing too as on the first night, Six felt it.

That pull. He sensed it like increasing gravity. There was just a growing… tension.

He knew this feeling, it was that draw he felt towards Amog. That's right, there was a threadling here.

Six sat there in the common room of the inn, surrounded by soldiers, but still he performed a LMRA and checked his gear. He would cut his way out of anything if need be.

But what came through the door was a tall woman covered in thick winter furs. A scarf and hood obscuring all but her blue eyes. This time the lack of a crowd made it clear who the pull drew Six to.

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She looked at him and began to approach.

To which Six stood from his stool and held up his hand. “Stop,” he ordered. Who knew what this lady was or what she knew, best keep her at a distance.

She stumbled to a halt, uncertainty evident in her eyes. Six Analyzed her.

Katherine

Sun Elf

Level 1

Level 1? That eased Six up a bit, he could most likely steamroll her. “What do you want?”

She slowly took off her hood and unraveled her scarf, her tall elven body moving with a natural grace. She revealed a beautiful face framed by blonde hair, pointed ears completed the elven look.

“What are you?” She asked in somewhat accented Zleenish, her confusion genuine. “Why do you feel?” She made a vague gesture between her and Six.

She didn’t know what the pull was, she didn’t know what Six was, and she was a Sun Elf?

That last fact was noticeable enough to gather attention from the entire party, with the tsunken aelves looking on at her in a mixture of skepticism and curiosity.

Six glanced about and could see the village regulars, tense but not yet set to intervene.

She was an outsider, like him.

Six spoke in english. “What's your name?”

Instantly her face almost broke into relieved tears as she breathed out. “Kathy.” before it took on a suspicious cast. “How do you know english? Magic?”

“No, I just know english. How do you know english?”

“How do I, know, engli?... BwwWWAAAAA!” She began to cry.

Nar laughed and clapped Six on the back. “Come on Six, what did you say to make her cry?”

The olynum barkeep broke in. “Indeed I like Kathy, she’s simple but is good at washing dishes. Explain yourself or I must ask you to leave.

Six chuckled. “Sorry. She's just lost like I was. I think she's just relieved to see someone she can talk to in our language. She's from my homeland.”

“I understood her just fine.” Narhurin waved it away before speaking louder and slower at Kathy, pointing at Six. “This is Six! He is a human and not a number!”

“She is not from here, we do not have, ‘sun elves,'” Aclo confirmed suspiciously, only eye slightly lidded.

“How do you know I’m a sun elf?”

The assassin just glared.

The barkeep grumbled past them. “It’s a skill dear Kathy. Although it's considered rude to do it in polite society. Soldiers are concerned with that though.”

“We are not,” Six agreed.

“You are not soldiers?” The barkeep grumbled, confused, looking his group up and down.

Six hesitated, this was getting away from him and the tension was yet still building. He shook his head to clear it and took a breath to center himself before speaking. “We are travelers and will be on our way as soon as possible. I’m just from the same place as Kathy.” The pounding heartbeat within his head demanded a resolution but his only experience was with Amog and that informed him only to death as an option. He couldn’t just kill this woman, it had to be more than just some random deathmatch.

Skill increase:

Mindfulness - Initiate - 16

“Where’s that?” The barkeep asked, and Six couldn’t help but notice his officers looked at him expectantly.

Six smiled and waved dismissively. “Over yonder.”

The barkeep guffawed, “Kathy said the world brought her here. You too then?”

Six laughed and shook his head. “No I-”

Kathy cut in, “That’s not true, I need your help! I don’t know where we are! Or why we’re here!” She spoke with a frantic edge and approached Six with a few quick steps. Six felt almost compelled to kill this woman and proximity made it worse, but it was just a feeling and he pushed it down alongside all his other vices.

He asked her softly, speaking English, “you feel like you have to kill me yea?”

Guilt crossed her fair face for an instant before she shook her head no, but it was too late.

He was calm. “What help could you possibly want from a man you want to kill?”

She spoke with grim regret. “I don’t want to kill you.”

Six just laughed. “Do you not feel it? There is this feeling building. A sense of anticipation that demands… something happen?”

She hesitated “Who the fuck talks like that? There is a feeling but it didn’t even enter my head to kill you. You’re just the first person that speaks English I’ve met and I’ve here a good two months!”

“Two months?” Six screwed up his face, that didn’t seem right.

“What how long have you been here? Years?”

He had been here for just under three months so if her time keeping was correct Six had received a bit of a head start. “No.”

That pissed her off. “Well, how long?”

Six needed to decide how much to trust this lady and from his first impressions it seemed like her biggest danger would be leaking information about their origins but considering she learned passable Zleenish in two months she was probably smart enough to be careful about keeping it a secret. “Just a bit longer than you.”

“And what level are you?”

Six smiled gently. “That’s considered rude.”

“Yeah I know but I’m just so lost.”

“I’m around level 10,” Six massaged the truth.

At that Kathy blinked and went quiet, thinking for a moment. The leader of this village would be at most level 20 and compared to a level 1, level 10 was untouchable.

“How do you already have a class?” Kathy asked. “Onalk said that it would take me years.

“Fighting shit really. System doesn’t seem to reward much for anything else.”

“But, bu… I dont want to fight shit.”

“You’re level 1, how’d that happen? Reach apprentice in any skills?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you use that skill on me? To read my stats and race and stuff?”

Six nodded. “Yes.”

“Isn’t that rude?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“I too am lost and although I have thrived here, I do not know the purpose I am here. I have met one other of us and that ended… poorly. You represent an opportunity to understand our place here.” Really though, Six was just bullshitting, of course he wanted to gauge her strength.

“And you’d thought to invade my privacy?”

Six sighed and tossed his hands up. “Look lady. Do you have any idea as to why we are here?”

“No.”

“No? Ok. You need help, no promises. What do you want?”

She was a little surprised at his brusqueness but quickly capitalized. “You need to take me to civilization.”

“Yea, you can catch a ride if you want. But you gotta pay your own fare. Captain’s real touchy about no free rides. ”

“How much?”

“No clue. Maybe a gold or something.”

She sighed frustrated. “Look, the elephants here are really nice but it's been hard learning a new language and culture at the same time. There are no opportunities in a small place like this and its fucking cold all the time, and I don’t have a fucking gold!.”

“Olynum.” Six corrected.

“Huh?”

“They are not elephants, they are olynum.”

“See? It's little things like that, that I need help with. I need guidance.”

Six shook his head. “I’ll see what I can do about the ride and I don’t mind telling you some stuff while we travel but I can’t be a dedicated mentor to you. I don’t mind if you settle where I’m at but I got a full time job. Most I can do is give you an opinion every now and then.”

“That’s fine. More than I deserve. “I’m just glad I’m getting out of this place.” She deflated and sighed.

Just like that the tension began to ebb. A release with each beat of his heart. It wasn’t like the rush of power, pleasure, and hallucinations he’d experience when he cracked Amog open. This was a slow tidal outflow, push and pull. Still, it felt nice.

He felt like an asshole not being able to help more but it was simple, he had other shit to do.