"Be careful out there Malinka." David says as we finish our handshake. His hand was firm and strong and I wish I could say the same about mine. I look between him and the assorted mercs who accompanied me all the way to... well, to a middle of nowhere and then give him a nod - alongside my best determined face. David returns the gesture and then motions to what lies behind me - the road that leads to the unknown.
I take a single solitary deep breath as I take in the banal grandness of the situation. My friends took me as far as they could, my dad made sure I was able to make it this far and further but ultimately, the first step into the unknown was mine alone. And it was just one single step. I turn my gaze downward at the well travelled dirt road that lay below me - one to which my mind was giving quite the importance right now - and realize I'm being a bit silly. It's just a step, and this is just a road.
"Tell Stein I said hi. And keep safe." I tell them and take the first step of my own journey.
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"Travelling alone is soooooo boring..." I complain to nobody while slowly following the road ahead of me. The most interesting thing that happened in the past hour since I've left David and his group behind was a discovery of a really smooth rock. And even that got boring really fast - there's only so many times you can throw a rock before it gets annoying to go and search for it. My mind wanders, hoping for something to occupy it when I remember the events of last night and quickly pull out my longsword and start inspecting it.
Through detailed scouring of the weapon I arrive at the only logical conclusion.
Yep, that's a longsword.
It doesn't seem to be shining, or doing anything else particularly unlongswordy. It just exists and is content longswording as a longsword. Maybe I need to wait for it to be dark again before the glow is visible, or maybe it was just a freak accident, or a group hallucination. Maybe there was a miss longsword that my longsword really wanted to get to and it was letting me know. I could get a pencil and draw eyes on it? I let out a long, drawn out and utterly bored sigh.
This is gonna be a really long and boring journey, isn't it?
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It's the twilight hours of the day and I still can't see the next town on the horizon. Or was it a village? It doesn't really matter, I'm only gonna buy some food there and move on. But for right now, finding a place to rest would be great. I plan to make a little campfire by the road, just like David taught me. Mom didn't make those, she and I always just kind of... went to sleep when the sun dropped beyond the horizon.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I know the roads are rather safe compared to the wilderness, but... she even did that when she was taking me back from the edge of the known world didn't she? Did she have yet another ability packed in that 'I'm a shadow' power of hers? How is that fair?
My thoughts meander as I idly put one foot in front of the other, only paying sparse attention to my surroundings and mostly staring at the road just in front of me. Now that I was alone, the fact that it seemed to go on and on beyond the horizon was... it was intimidating. So I tried to not think about it too much and instead just looked at the bit of the dirt road directly ahead of me. One foot ahead of the other, one step at a time, I knew the distance to where I'm going would shorten on its own if I kept that up.
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The sun's last few rays of light were just now setting beyond the horizon, and I just... watched. I never really paid attention to the sun like this - it was honestly majestic. Not having all of the noise of Ravensbrook, not thinking about any responsibilities of tommorow... I just watched... and took the sunset for what it was. A moment in time that I could enjoy.
The last ray of light disappeared and night has truly set around me. With a sigh I pushed the scattered kindling together and a bit closer to the prepared base of my campfire. Flint against steel makes a spark. Repeat a few times to ignite the flammable stuff at the bottom, which will on it's own ignite the wood above it. It only took a few attempts to get my own campfire going.
Time passed by as I tended to the fire and eventually had a sparse traveller's dinner of hardtack and some dried meat with water. How do people eat this every day and not threaten to start a revolt to include a cook with every merc patrol I won't ever understand. Maybe I was just spoiled by Stein? That's... possible I suppose.
I let out another bored sigh, and ran through the events of today to make sure I wasn't forgetting something. Ah, right, the longsword.
I pulled out the blade and held it away from the fire. Was it shining, or was that just reflected moonlight? With a quick glance to the sky I confirm that that could be possible, as while the moon wasn't full, it was still quite bright. I moved the blade lower to the grass, if it was reflected light it wouldn't illuminate anything underneath.
I did a double take just to be sure, but my eyes did not deceive me. The green grass was visible in the light my weapon was emitting. It was shining - oh so faintly - but shining nonetheless. There could be no more doubt about it - either the weapon was magical, or this was a hint to my own power.
That's when I heard a twig snap somewhere behind me.