“Are you sure this is the right way?”

“Of course not, you think I’ve been here before or something?”

“Then why the hell are you acting like you know where you’re going?”

“We’re following the water. We found that stream and it fed into this river. People settle by water, if we keep following the river we’ll find people.”

“Oh look at you Mr. Outdoorsman. You’re so smart with your tree and river knowledge. Well I’m starving, we’ve been walking for who knows how long and we ain’t found any sign of nobody.”

“Shut it, you’re just complaining cause ya got nothin better to do. You’d have more energy if you shut-” I suddenly bumped into Javi. He had stopped in front of me and despite my big talk my eyes had been tracing the ground the whole time. “What now? You trying to complain to my face now?”

“No, you idiot, look. The trees are ending.” He pointed ahead and I could see it now. A space in the trees where sunlight endlessly shined down. It seems we’ll be out of these woods soon enough and will be able to take a look at our surroundings. “Well stop standing there then. Let’s get outta here.”

It took a minute but we reached the edge of the woods and could finally look out to see a wide expanse before us. Rolling green hills spread out before our eyes and in the distance stood a city. Not a large one, mind you but still a good size. While I don’t know how tightly packed people are I reckon at least a thousand live there. There were some farms dotting the surrounding hills with some animals and crops. A range of mountains were all across the other side of the greenery and multiple roads led in and out of it. “Now that is something I like to see. Really gives the fantasy vibe y’know?”

“You can say that again. I’m looking forward to living comfortably. There’s a road just over there. Let’s head over and head into town.”

“Yeah, get moving lazyass, it’s still a couple more miles of walking.” So we started heading further in, our pace quickened by knowing our destination and having far less roots to trip over. And even though it should’ve been an uneventful walk the rest of the way, of course something had to happen.

“HEY! MOVE IT!” A distant voice seemed to yell out from the forest.

“Hmm. Did you hear something?”

“Nah, it was probably nothing.”

And again. “I SAID MOVE!”

“Okay, there was definitely something.”

“Nah man, you crazy.”

“Bitch, did you not hear it? And you callin me crazy?” I quickly started to argue with Javi and forgot about the voice. Even as it and a crashing noise drew closer.

“MOVE” And closer.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“YOUR” And closer.

“STUPID!” And even closer.

“Wait, hold up that sounded reall-”

“ASSES!” Suddenly a massive wolf crashed through the trees out in front of us, nearly running us over. A girl was astride it and both her and the wolf were bloody. The wolf bucked wildly and threw the girl, with her landing right in front of us. I decided to speak up.

“Uhm, sorry about not moving.” And yet she ignored me as she pounced towards the wolf. She swung her greataxe down on it but it deftly dodged out of the way. Swing after swing she attacked it but it managed to continue evading. Her large swings couldn’t find their mark. Soon enough she was slowing down.

Eventually, she showed enough of a gap that the wolf had a chance to lunge forward and bite with its teeth.

But suddenly she sprung forth with a new energy and leaped forward past its teeth and cut a slit in its neck. It squealed and jumped back at being cut but after a moment it collapsed and didn’t move any further. “Gotcha bitch. For a tricky one you have to trick ‘em back.”

Now, you may be wondering how I, a person with no combat experience, was able to give you that lovely play by play. And the answer is, I didn’t, it has been provided to you as an extra courtesy as to me it all seemed a blur. That entire combat took half a minute at most. I have thoroughly no idea what just happened and am thoroughly terrified by this woman. It took a moment of standing there staring stupidly before I snapped out of my shock and nudged Javi. “Hey man, what kind of trope would fit here?”

“I would say we are hopelessly out of our depth here. Unless, it’s a harem. In which case, we are fucking set.” While I have my doubts about this being a harem that did give me the sense to properly look at who we just encountered and boy howdy she sure is pretty. Slightly tanned skin and gentle brown hair, older than us but not by much, perhaps mid to late 20s. There was just one thing that seemed odd to me. “Bro, don’t they normally wear armor or some medieval clothes and stuff?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why the hell is she in jeans and a crop top!?” I realized I might have said that a bit too loud as she finally turned to look at us. She seemed to size each of us up, pausing slightly as she scanned us. “Hey! You two! What are you doing by the edge of the clearing? Don’t you know it’s dangerous out here? Especially for civilians.”

“S-sorry, we aren't from around here and didn’t know. We’ll be more careful next time.” I look over at Javi surprised as he quickly responds with a seemingly natural answer. Nice job!

“The fuck do you mean you didn’t know? The Westfall stretches across a quarter of the damn continent! Everyone and their mother knows how dangerous it is.” Shit! Not a good cover apparently! “Oh! This is the Westfall? We didn’t realize. Can you help us get back to town then?” Recovery! Nice!

She looked at us for a few more seconds then gave an exasperated sigh. “Alright, whatever. I gotta haul this guy back so I’m pretty much done for the day anyways. You can come with.” Smooth sailing so far. She doesn’t seem like the murdery type and I’m guessing she’ll be nice enough to entertain our randomness.

We started to chat as we walked. She looked over to me now. She seemed even more intimidating dragging a giant wolf behind her. “So where are you fellas from? Definitely not here all things considered.” Shit. I don’t know what to say. It seems like we are not revealing our otherworlder card. Good idea, we don’t know the response to that yet. As she waits for an answer, quite patiently I might add, I can see Javi behind her pointing forwards. Forwards. Oh! I see. “We’re from the mountains over there. This is our first time coming down.”

She seemed surprised by that. Is that good or bad? “The mountains? Never heard of people living there. Must be quite the uncivilized spot. That would explain your lack of knowledge.” It was good. “Yeah, there’s, uh, not much education there.”

She nodded her head ruefully. “Damn shame that is. Well, I’ll have to make sure you know what’s what once we’re in town. The name’s Alicia by the way.”

“Wren.”

“Javi.”

“Pleasure to meet ya Wren and Javi. Welcome to the Basin.”