“I’m telling you, Gaz’Ruk, he’s not going down there,” Kr’thra argued with the brute. Gaz’Ruk was a useful and smart brute, but was still a brute nonetheless. He might be in charge of the camp and defences, but she was the one that could give orders about George.

George was a far too peculiar being to take either outside or down into the city. She could feel he was still too volatile to trust completely. So what if he had somehow helped them win against the enemy twice. His previous outburst going alone to just murder Wolf Spiders was telling that there was yet far too much she didn’t know about him.

He spoke of their home like it was some kind of a miracle or a puzzle. Who does that? No, he needed to stay here.

“We lack supplies, ‘thra. We’re also getting short on capable warriors,” Gaz’Ruk grunted between her thoughts. That much was certainly true, but it was not enough.

“So what do you suppose we do, just let him do what he pleases?” she responded, trying to reason with someone that could rarely be reasoned with.

“Have you noticed that the mark has not faded completely, ‘thra. I’m sure you have, you were always good at that thing.”

Kr’thra noticed that first hand. She wondered what was going on. Certainly, the Guardian would sometimes do weird things, but this was reserved or attacks. They were certain they repelled them.

“Go to the surface, we need to figure out what’s going on. And be safe. The Guardian will protect us inside, but out there, we’re always hunted,” she responded slowly.

Of course, Kr’thra hadn’t seen the outside except for once. She was always told it was far too dangerous, that the Guardian would protect them. It wasn’t without heavy losses each time. She was already starting to get worried.

The appearance of George could be an omen. He spoke of Deities and tried to learn more about them, what if Korotha has somehow guided him towards them? The Elders spoke she would work in mysterious ways.

“Fine, take him to the surface. At least that will give me time to think.”

The day has come when Gaz’Ruk actually beat her in an argument. Who knows where this world was going.

-----------------------------

George was still reading through the page. There was surely a reason he was given this. Was he really meant to somehow help these people?

It was just too much at once. To think that he had so much at his fingertips, just needing whatever a mana crystal was, was unreal.

What would they do if they found out about this? Would he be revered, or would they turn against him? He still didn’t know how the world worked. Sure, the Grolari seemed to slowly trust him, but more as another combatant than anything else, and certainly only because he had this tattoo across half his face.

This would be shelved for later. He’d have to try and get the crystal somehow if, first, he learned what it was and where to find it.

He had a headache, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. There was something odd about it; it seemed to be mostly on the left side. There was something about this blasted tattoo again, he was almost certain about that, but what exactly?

Someone stepped in front of him, but this time it wasn’t Kr’thra. Gaz’Ruk’s voice beamed from just above his head.

“There’s something wrong Grrrg. I’m sure you can feel it, too,” he pointed towards George’s face. Well, it was not a mystery any longer.

“We go up, to check,” he grunted and walked away. The people around him were already shuffling about, the ones that were capable of waking.

George still felt tired, even though it couldn’t have been that long since he woke up and started this whole thing of learning about the book.

Speaking of which, the rest of the book would have to wait, it seems. He hauled himself up, a tingle of a headache running through his head. Kr’thra did say he would get used to it eventually.

He had yet to properly learn the names of everyone in the camp, especially since they seemed to come and go, in more than one way.

The group shortly assembled itself, lead by Gaz’Ruk and composed of George and eight more lizardmen. He actually looked around, and Kr’thra seemed to be the only woman or rather female Grolari in the camp. He wondered how the hierarchy and the leadership system worked in their case.

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The group picked up a small number of weapons and some supplies and plotted a course for the surface, which apparently entailed going from chamber to chamber and corridor to corridor.

The cave environment shifted between dark and damp to a more lively one as they went upwards towards the apparent surface. Veins of light lined the walls, providing a lot more natural lighting than when he had arrived.

The walls also shifted in colours between places, splotches of yellow and red overtaking the usual nondescript grey. George considered that it could’ve been some precious metals or minerals embedded within the cave walls themselves. Perhaps this whole place could be used as a mine.

But his geology was definitely not a strong suit of his knowledge, so he shrugged and followed the group as they went about.

The caverns were more or less similar to what he had already encountered, usually populated by docile slimes, several different varieties of mushrooms, and even an odd flower or grass here and there, something that should normally be impossible to grow underground.

The lizardmen talked among themselves mostly, occasionally sparing a glance in George’s direction before shifting away again. He felt both isolated, accepted, and tolerated. They didn’t outright ignore him or shoo him away like an animal, but they didn’t exactly seem welcoming.

Then again, he thought about all the humans that went into the cave to kill the Grolari. It was probably not easy for anyone to have a change of mind that rapidly. It was purely a miracle he wasn’t cut down the first time he saw them.

He went to the front of the group and tried to ask Gaz’Ruk some questions.

“So, what are we looking for exactly?” he tried to phrase his questions to be both as non-committal and direct as possible. He didn’t even know the bare bones of how the world around him worked and was taking it in one large gulp at a time. Lizard people certainly didn’t exist back home, he was still getting used to their existence.

But the prospect of what the world in front of him held was definitely exciting. He came into possession of magic and was apparently bound to acquire more. Even if he ignored the fact that there was a Guardian, whatever exactly that was, and a literal God forcing him into their respective service.

“Intruders, Grrrg,” Gaz’Ruk’s voice was definitely more grunting than talking, “we’ll look for their camp. They must be still out there, and the Guardian can sense it.”

George wondered how that worked. The Guardian seemed to possess some extraordinary abilities so far, he was marvelled into actually learning of how to go about it.

This all really did seem like a really advanced game at certain points. But at others, it differed so much. He definitely needed to get out of that mentality of treating this reality like it wasn’t one. Even if that maybe wasn’t true. He noticed his thoughts started erring towards the side of philosophy again and chided himself mentally for going into those musings.

“What do we do when we find these… intruders?” George asked tentatively. More often than not, the people they met, or rather fought, were like George. They definitely seemed to speak an entirely different language, and who knew how their culture was built, but there was still something off about grouping up with lizard people to stalk humans.

“What we always do with intruders,” Gaz’Ruk rumbled in a short response and left the conversation at that. George wondered if him not talking too much was a blessing or a curse. He himself wasn’t a type to be very social, and certainly appreciated the silent times, but it still seemed like he should be finding ways to have lizard people open up to him conversationally.

The corridor changed abruptly to become partially lit by something other than night light coming from its walls and George actually saw sunshine for the first time he got in this place. It looked like it was either the dusk or the dawn, he couldn’t really tell.

The air got noticeably fresher and more breathable in a way as the group became more and more cautious of their environment.

The lizardmen more or less snuck out of the cave corridor and George finally exited the darkness for the first time.

It was disappointing. George thought he would be privy to splendour of nature, but all he got was some shrubbery and vast reaching plains.

In the distance, there looked to be billows of smoke coming from the ground, and he could spot what looked like the makings of a camp.

Why they decided to camp so far out was beyond him, but the lizard people around him seemed to have a goal of their own, as they slowly went to circle around the temporary settlement that lit up a campfire, going through the sparse foliage that surrounded whatever they just exited.

He looked behind him and upwards, and the cave entrance he just exited from turned out to be digging into a steep mountain or a hill. Or maybe it was just a large mound of rocks. Then again, that was what a mountain or a hill were.

He followed the group as they snuck about, slowly making their way towards the camp. Now that they were a bit closer, George could finally take in the actual development that occurred.

The camp seemed less like the one you’d find for an overnight stay and more for a semi-permanent residence reminiscent of towns you’d see in movies about the Wild West back home.

Planks were set up and house frames slowly built as a considerable number of people scurried about their various apparent tasks. The evening sun, which he confirmed to be setting down a few minutes ago, gave less and less light and more focus was on for the campfires and what looked to be crystals like the ones on the ceiling of the corridors.

But most importantly, he saw the variety of people that didn’t really look human. It really did seem like a more stereotypical fantasy world consisting of Elves and Dwarves.

For a part of him, this was wonderful.

For the other part, that realised that George would probably have to fight them for the foreseeable future, this was horrifying.