Along the brown, uneven path, a lone caravan shook noisily through the usually silent forest. Not a soul was in sight, part from the beautiful flora surrounding them and the occasional glimpse of animals grazing on the grass. When they made the turn into the forest, rather than the plains, the driver chuckled to himself and spoke.
“We can cruise easy here. When the trees become short pine, then we’ll keep an eye out. It’s only six hours away with the roads here, so try not to sleep.”
Nods appeared simultaneously.
“Hear that? No sleeping, Amy.” The boy, Haiyoto, jabbed half-jokingly.
“I wasn’t going to sleep back here anyway!” The girl retorted, smiling. “I don’t even want to miss a second of adventure in this world!”
Lizen loudly sighed and reeled her head back. “What adventure? We’re only here to get stronger for the kingdom. Adventure comes later.”
“You’re always so serious! See! Look how pretty these trees are! Doesn’t it get you excited about the other things in this world?” Amy spoke like an enthusiastic child as she smothered herself against Lizen.
“Wait, so you three are under training? I thought you said you were Heroes.” Khaos honestly wondered.
In response, Frosty lightly cringed.
“Look, becoming a Hero doesn’t suddenly grant you powers, Khaos. You’re either a Hero out of recognition, the will of the Gods or are summoned from a different world.” She explained, sighing immediately after.
Khaos folded his arms and rocked his body gently, taking his time to let it all sink in. For some reason, it came as a surprise to him that Heroes worked their way from scratch to become powerful.
“We weren’t the only ones brought to this world though.” Haiyoto seemed a bit bothered by Frosty’s words. “Maybe we were chosen to be Heroes because we were the only ones summoned in the castle at the time. Everyone else was outside panicking.”
Exrite paid close attention to the detail at the end as Amy hummed.
“Don’t say that. There has to be a reason for it! Even Lizen was there – it had to be fate~!” Her overly enthusiastic voice caused the boy to smile wryly.
Haiyoto moved his gaze to the trees and silently fell into a trance. While he did feel excited to be a Hero of a new world, he also felt like it was an undeserved title. But even so – he had an unyielding urge to become stronger. He just wasn’t sure if he could kill another human.
“You said everyone. Were other people also brought to this world?” Exrite slowly asked.
Amy nodded. “A lot. It wasn’t just a few hundred – it was thousands of us. Probably more but… “ Her hazel eyes moved down to her open palms. “Things went out of hand pretty quickly. People thought this was some sort of dream or a game and went off adventuring… and those people were never heard from again.” Her voice was sombre and slow. The smile on her face seemed forced as she levelled her eyes with the group again.
“Morons. This isn’t a game. The kingdom even offered to protect them, but some feared that it was just a farce for something evil. I don’t mean to offend you, but your people are far too… strange. They talk like they know much more than we do and complain about simple inconveniences.” Lizen ranted in frustration.
She released a long sigh.
“But they’re also not bad people. Most are willing to help the kingdom move forward with interesting concepts and ideas. Did you know the airships were designed long ago by an otherworlder?” She couldn’t help but to smile.
“And damn good food as well! The markets have been booming lately!” The driver yelled into the night.
“But that was weeks ago. Things are much better now.” Haiyoto smiled and leaned against the wooden beam. “That’s us. How about you guys?”
Exrite didn’t mind explaining their situation to the Heroes, since they were working under the same king. The only thing stopping him was the driver whose motives remained ambiguous. In the body of the caravan, there were red-painted barrels with removed lids. A small mound of fine, reddish-brown powered exposed itself to the wind.
Whenever he took in a deep breath, there was a small chance that an acidic, iron scent would be picked up. He didn’t want to ask the driver. If he didn’t mention it at all, then it was probably a secret – and probably why he took this route instead.
“Nothing too different. We’re also trying to chase our own goals.” Khaos said, smiling warmly. “Just hope we don’t get smacked around on the way.”
“Or at the very end. Who knows – everything can be all for nothing.” Frosty wasn’t as optimistic as her brother, but she didn’t break away from her smile. “We’re just as dumb as any other adventurer.”
“Much more.” Exrite added in a whisper as he remembered the task given to them by the Gods.
Freeing the maidens was synonymous to defeating them. Such a power would be near impossible to attain, even as the Exrenity. But he didn’t want to back down. More than anything –
It gave him a sense of purpose other than running from the past.
Their idle talk continued. Within an hour, the canopy above grew sparse as cracks of the night sky slowly morphed into a giant fissure of darkness. The trees had too changed – they were thinner and had layers of branches with leaves like an umbrella. Darkness quickly enveloped them as a moist mist lingered within the dense forest.
“Pines are here. Keep your eyes about. No telling who or what could be out here.” The driver instructed with a low, stern voice as his eyes narrowed on the uneven path ahead.
Exrite tapped a finger on the handle of his crossbow and stared off into the surroundings.
“Not easy to see in this kind of dark.” Khaos complained as he squinted into the distance.
“I’ll let us know if I see something. Just don’t expect me to know exactly what it is.” Frosty too had a similar issue with her eyesight.
In dimly lit places, they both found it difficult to properly see. They could tell what their general surroundings were, but just not the finer details.
Frosty relied on her ‘soul search’ ability to find any threats in the dark. The problem was that she couldn’t distinguish a human soul from an animal one – they all looked just like floating wisps to her.
And at the sight of many of those wisps within the surrounding darkness, she clicked her tongue.
“Never mind. I can’t see a damn thing.” Frosty swallowed her words with a sharp voice.
“Is it that dark? Maybe it’s because we come from a different world and we’re built differently.” Amy suggested, but Inkshard shook her head.
“No. It’s not as dark as you think.” She confirmed that it was something wrong with the sibling’s eyesight. “Exrite, what about you?”
He was partly the same as them. His left, blood-red eye had difficulty seeing very far into the forest, while his other eye was perfectly fine. As jarring the phenomenon was, there was little to mitigate it – especially if Hope’s healing magic hadn’t fixed it.
“It’s just my left eye, but I’m fine.” He answered as he kept his narrow gaze fixed ahead.
“Should we light the place up-?”
“Don’t! We’re just as easy to spot from the light than the shadows!” The driver immediately yelled over Amy.
Her arms folded as a quiet sigh left her lips. “I was only asking.”
In that moment, Exrite and the siblings could see why the otherworlders were killed so quickly after they left the safety of the Capital – they were careless and naïve.
The trail became more ragged and bumpier as the pines seemed more spaced out. The road was considerably wider, but there was a thin mist blocking the distance. A shallow pond could be seen reflecting the moon’s image with its calm waters within a small grove.
While mesmerising – they didn’t forget the dangers of this place.
In the midst of the unknown, Haiyoto began to shakily breathe as beads of sweat dripped from Lizen’s forehead. Amy shivered and glued herself by Lizen’s side.
A winter breeze passed through in a silent howl, their hair lightly thrown aside.
“E-Exrite. Aren’t you cold?” Haiyoto looked at Exrite’s stomach where a gaping hole was left to expose his bare skin.
“I should be fine.” He assured and kept his eyes ahead.
For a moment, he thought he saw something move in the distance. The diver clicked his tongue and not a second later, a crack of lightning exploded from his reins.
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“They’re already here!?” He cried as the caravan suddenly jolted forwards.
“What’s happening!?” Lizen suddenly screamed as she was shoved forward by the sudden movement.
She was safely caught by a net of arms from the seats in front. When she reorientated herself, Amy began to panic.
“Everyone hold on to something!” Inkshard cried as she tried to create a translucent barrier of magic around them.
The horses were galloping like their life was on the line, but it was short-lived as a wooden arrow met with one of their legs. One toppled with a heavy thud and caused a domino effect with the other horses. Screams and shouts filled the air as soon as the entire caravan began skidding over the bodies of the horses. The wheels broke down and left it sliding shortly before it came to a complete stop. A trail of fresh blood followed them to their resting point.
Before the barrier could completely materialise – a silent arrow whizzed through the air and cleanly bored through Exrite’s chest. The splattered blood spilt onto Frosty’s lap across him as she furiously stared.
He looked down at the rough arrow shaft with broadened eyes and collapsed from the seat with a heavy thud. He grasped onto the shaft with a pained face as the Heroes stared, petrified to what had just happened.
“E… Eh…?” Saiyoto’s eyes trembled as he stared at the shivering body beneath him.
Blood pooled beneath his black boots, staining them as he continued to stare motionlessly, unaware of their attackers approaching from the front. It wasn’t just him – Lizen and Amy were also paralysed with fear, although Lizen was able to stomach it more appropriately. A soft whimper left her, but she gulped the fear down and accepted their reality – although her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Chunky bits from Amy’s recent dinner spewed beside her with an agonising groan. It was her first time seeing such a gory death – no, a death at all. She lived in a safe heaven on their old world, where death was only but a minor thought at her age.
“Barrier’s up!” Inkshard cried as a small, mirror-like dome covered their immediate surroundings. She did not want someone other than Exrite being hit by an arrow. Even with her healing magic – if they were hit anywhere other than the limbs, they were as good as dead.
“Appreciate it! Now, let me find that damned bowman!” The driver took a comfortable position as he pulled his own iron crossbow from beneath and searched for the assassin.
Frosty turned to the group, baring her ferocious, clenched teeth.
“Snap out of it! – We’re under attack! It’s either you cower here and die or do something about it, Heroes!” She cried before she immediately threw herself from the caravan.
In the air, she reached for the empty void and grasped onto the materialising scythe. As she landed, the scythe quickly spun before she blindly sent a slice to the approaching bandits from ahead. A clean, dark blue energy fired from the weapon and illuminated the path on its journey. It exploded into a bright blue ball as a man fell on his face, their eyes completely devoid of life.
Frosty slashed the air once more with a grimace and spat.
“Tastes like trash.”
Khaos’ landing quaked the world momentarily before an arrow was deflected by his armour.
“We’re gonna need some light here!” He yelled and smashed his fists together.
“Right! Girl with red hair! You’re a mage, do it!” The driver cried as he watched the eight figures ahead charge towards Khaos and Frosty.
Two were in the back, already chanting their spells while the others charged with their weapons drawn. He took aim and held steady. Just as his finger pressed the trigger, the caravan rocked, and his bolt flew off into the forest.
“Fucking-! What are you doing!?” He immediately spun to the others in frustration.
However, it defused when he noticed that the body was now missing, and the otherworlders were left staring off to his side.
“Heat above – Elements of light, grant us a sun in this dark! – FLARE!” Exrite had to chant an entire magic cast himself.
He stared up into the moon and felt the condensed magic in his palm before he heaved it into the sky. When it reached more than twenty meters into the air, it expanded into spinning orb of bright orange.
Using the sun as a reference and basic knowledge of magic, he was able to create a slightly better version of Frosty’s orb of light. He staggered after the cast and fell on a single leg. A swift curse left his lips.
“Exrite! You’re not in the barrier!” Inkshard cried.
“Don’t… worry about me.”
“But-“
“Just keep the barrier up!”
His eyes were focused on the woman’s in front of him, or rather – at the tip of the drawn arrow.
It didn’t take a second before an iron bolt tried to pierce through her, only to break mere centimetres away from her knee.
“Not going to work on me, darling. And you, you’re still standing? I love your effort, but please, die. You’re in the way of my goods.” The black-haired woman don in thick-leathered gear stood from the mouth of the forest.
She was clad in the colours of darkness and armed with a drawn bow.
Exrite didn’t have time to waste – as much as he would love to fight from the backlines, he was pit face to face with someone strong. She seemed like a proficient mage who too, could aim with a bow.
But that was probably all she could do.
As he stared at the woman’s killing gaze, Khaos and Frosty were in a fight of their own. Khaos made quick work of two men who charged him with their blades, expecting it to slice through him – only to have them embedded into his armour. When they tried to pull it free, he sent punches straight for their face which instantly killed them upon impact. Their faces even kept a purple and red mould of his fist.
The four bandits charging decided that it wouldn’t be worth fighting him head on and left the mages to him. But what they didn’t know, was that there was a marksman in their group. An iron bolt jammed itself into the head of one of the mages and ended them almost instantly. As the other mage tried to make sense of what just happened, a bolt passed through their throat and left them gurgling for air.
Frosty found herself outnumbered four to one, but her scythe was perfect for such an occasion. She spun it intimidatingly from around her waist as they kept their distance and surrounded her from all sides. A painful grimace formed across her face before a shard of ice flung from seemingly nowhere and impaled a female archer through the chest.
“B-bitch! She was my wife! How dare you-!”
“… Whatever.” Frosty’s words were as cold as the shard of condensed ice which pierced through the man’s torso, leaving him desperately reaching for the woman in his last moments.
The last two took a step back and began trembling under the might of the woman before them. Under the moonlight and the forest mist, with the scythe in hand, one could only utter:
“Death incarnate… “
Her eyes narrowed. Those were words she never wanted to hear again, and because of that – a single swipe cleaved through the heads of the remaining bandits. They dropped motionlessly like unstrung puppets, head still intact.
A sickening growl left her as she turned back to the lovers. Their hands sought out for reach other, even in death. A sombre silence followed as she stared at them with a bitter face.
“… Can’t we get to the Maiden of Wisdom any faster…?” She was nauseous from devouring the odd-tasting souls.
Her eyes moistened slightly, and she blamed it on the bright light above. But there was something in her heart that stirred her up, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Before she turned away from them, she uttered a single word.
“Sorry.”
* * *
A brazen war cry left Exrite as he charged for the woman. She blankly stared at his courage and smiled mockingly.
What kind of idiot runs at someone with an arrow drawn at them? Do they not fear death?
With the release of a finger, the arrow pierced his stomach and left the other side, but…
He didn’t stop. Rather – his cries were louder.
Monster…
Her smile quickly faded as she threw her bow to the side and drew a short blade. In the face of a monster with no care to their wellbeing, she growled.
“How much were you paid to protect that shabby caravan? I can pay you more if you listen to me-!”
He reeled his arm back as he approached the woman, and once within her barrier, he widely swung. The woman stepped to the side and shoved the blade into his stomach, but at the same time –
A clicking noise was heard underneath her. Before she could look down, a muffled chink erupted along with severe abdominal pain.
“W… what…?” Her eyes suddenly broadened.
His swing wasn’t meant to hit her. It was a bluff – its true aim was to follow through and grab the crossbow from his waist. And that’s what exactly was pressed against her abdomen – an empty-chambered crossbow.
It didn’t take another second for him to clutch onto the back of her head with his free hand and send an ‘all or nothing’ headbut straight into her face.
This woman was over confident with her magic and expected him to die from the second arrow. The barrier was only a projectile repellent. If he wasn’t going to hit her at all from outside, then he was going to do it inside – the place she’s most vulnerable.
A single blunder, or underestimation turned the tide of the battle immediately. One exploited chink in her armour resulted in her defeat.
She collapsed headfirst into the soil, her nose broken and bloodied. A mortified expression was shown through the hand that desperately clutched onto her face in agony.
Of course, Exrite too was in pain – much more than the woman could ever imagine. But he held his ground and stood over her, rearming his crossbow with unwavering eyes.
Behind him, was nothing but an array of limp bodies of some unknown group. The blood spilt from their battle was miniscule compared to hers – it was a complete bloodbath.
She couldn’t imagine what they were and muttered:
"Monster..."
As her eyes stared at the monster above through the cracks of her hand, she couldn’t help but to groan at her bitter defeat.
“Hold on… Stop… STOP!” A voice cried from the caravan.
Silence remained. Exrite ignored the boy’s cry and continued to arm his weapon.
“I-I said stop! She surrendered! We can just capture her and give her to the guards in the capital!” He knew even from the short moments spent with the Heroes, that this voice belonged to Haiyoto.
“Right…? W… we don’t need to kill her if she can’t fight back.” Amy’s voice groggily added.
But in his mind, there was only one thing he was hellbent on. His left eye tingled slightly as he pointed the now armed crossbow at her head.
“Hey! We can interrogate that one!” The driver’s thick voice seemed to have reached him.
Exrite turned to them with narrowed eyes.
“Look, I know you want to kill her and all, same here, but there’s things I need to set straight with that woman!” He tried to explain.
Exrite’s eyebrow rose, but he still felt like sparing her would be a bad idea.
“I doubt she’d be willing to talk- “
“I’ll talk! Just let me go and I’ll talk!” She cried out at the top of her lungs, nearly startling Exrite.
When he looked back at the girl, tears were streaming down her face as she quivered in fear. A part of him believed that it was just a farce, but the other thought that this was genuine – the driver spoke like he knew her, but why there were at each other’s throats was beyond him.
He looked around him and saw unmoving bodies scattered across the road unevenly. Khaos was on the ground having his light wounds healed by Inkshard, while Frosty mindlessly stared into the second moon high above.
A cold breeze passed by as the trees danced beneath the light of the orb. He stared at the group for a moment and acknowledged their stance. When a long sigh left his lips, he turned back to the woman with a wry smile.
Against his better judgement – he reluctantly agreed to spare her.