“My God, what happened here?!”
In the center of a lush forest, the ground for dozens of meters around looked as if it had been turned over, as if it had undergone a terrible upheaval in a short period of time.
Before him lay a man dressed in a cleric's robe, sprawled on the ground with a horrifying gash in his left chest, empty and hollow. His pristine white robe was stained red with blood, and his pupils were murky. Not far from him, a few scattered footprints led off into the distance.
Tiny green dots of light, like fireflies, began to appear on the man's body, and Quinn's body moved toward them involuntarily as they slowly emerged.
When the green dots had fully emerged and coalesced into a ball the size of a human head, it suddenly rushed toward Quinn and merged into his body like salt dissolving in water! In an instant, Quinn felt an indescribable pain that surpassed anything he had ever experienced in his two lifetimes.
“Ugh... Gaaaahhhh!!”
He was terrified to find his perspective constantly shifting, sometimes high, sometimes low, covered by the green light that kept appearing. Looking down, his hands' flesh had vanished, replaced by slowly writhing, intertwining vines! It seemed as if he was transforming into a monster step by step.
He didn’t know how long it took, but he eventually fell to the ground, his perspective gradually returning to normal, and then he saw a group of people, also in cleric's robes, hurrying toward him.
“Mother Goddess protect…” These were the last words Quinn heard before he fell into darkness.
Quinn Furi jerked awake, sitting up from deep darkness. Before him was a small cabin with four bunk beds and many people, some lying down, some sitting, most emitting steady snores.
“Damn, scared me to death. Why did I suddenly dream of the scene when I absorbed extraordinary characteristics back then?”
Quinn panted lightly, reaching back to touch his back. His white bishop's robe was unknowingly soaked with cold sweat.
“What’s wrong, Quinn?”
The boy sleeping on the bunk above him was woken up, rubbing his eyes and asking from the bed. The boy’s face was fair, with short, straight black hair, looking around fifteen years old.
“Uh… Snow, I had a nightmare.”
Quinn hesitated, feeling a bit embarrassed, and couldn’t help scratching his soft, light green hair, different from ordinary people.
“Since you didn’t die in the dream, it should be nothing serious…”
Snow, the junior cleric assigned with Quinn to Ruen, mumbled something and lay back down.
“Hmph, I dreamt of you lying on a curly-haired baboon, fulfilling the teachings of the Mother Goddess. The scene was comparable to a Rose School ceremony. It scared me awake.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Pfft…”
Although Quinn couldn’t see Snow’s expression from the lower bunk, he knew he had achieved his purpose and felt a special sense of satisfaction.
“Knock, knock.”
There were two soft knocks on the cabin door, and a low, methodical voice of a crew member came from outside, “Gentlemen, please pack your luggage. Our ship will dock soon.”
“RUA!”
Hearing this, Quinn and Snow straightened up, cheered softly, and quickly got out of bed. Quinn quickly tidied his clothes, picked up his leather suitcase with his left hand, and took a long staff-like object with his right. The object was wrapped in layers of white cloth stained with yellow and black, making its true appearance unclear.
Snow climbed down the ladder, wearing a cleric’s robe a size too small, and pulled his suitcase out from under Quinn’s bed.
“Let’s go! Don’t wait for docking, I want to go home now!”
Despite the calm and well-provisioned sea journey of several days, Quinn still found it unbearable.
“Woohoo!” The two figures, one tall and one short, gently pushed open the cabin door and quickly turned into two shadows heading for the deck.
Under the deep night, the red moon hid among the clouds, quietly overlooking the earth. Not far away was a pier built of round logs, with the noisy commands of sailors and shouts of effort.
“Finally home! Until the next promotion, I’m not going back to the Church headquarters!” Quinn stood by the iron railing, arms outstretched, silently declaring in his heart.
“Quinn, from here, you can see our church!” Snow leaned on the railing, pointing to a further place on the pier. Indeed, in the crimson moonlight, a golden spire could be faintly seen, standing tall in the port town shrouded in night.
“Heh, I saw the church from here earlier than you did.” Quinn said suddenly while looking at the port.
Snow asked curiously, “Why?”
Quinn curled his lips into a cat-like grin, smug as a cat that had stolen fish, and said, “Because, standing tall, you can see farther.”
Snow, slightly shorter than his peers, was stunned for a second before reacting. Used to such teasing, he rolled his eyes and said, “Mention my height again, and Danzeng will bite you.”
“Caw~” A loud bird call came from the clouds, and a large bird with green-black feathers swooped out, landing on the railing. Its black beady eyes looked at Snow in puzzlement. The bird’s feathers were exceptionally unusual, each feather edge smooth, layered like scales, resembling the surging sea.
Suddenly, a few twigs shot out from Quinn’s collar, covering his face and forming an image Snow was all too familiar with:
“ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ”
“You…”
Snow’s face darkened. He was about to curse Quinn’s ancestors resting in the Mother Goddess’s kingdom, but before he could finish, Quinn turned into a pile of mud, slipping through the railing into the sea, and turned into a shadow heading toward the nearby port. Under the night, no one on the deck besides Snow saw this eerie scene.
Soon, a pile of mud appeared on the dock, reformed into a figure in a white cleric’s robe, holding a staff—Quinn.
“Now that’s what I call a professional druid~”
He took out a few coins rarely seen in the Ruen Kingdom from his pocket, and without waiting for Snow still on the deck, he skillfully headed towards the town center, where the golden spire stood, gradually disappearing into the crowd.
Not long after, Snow’s figure appeared on the dock. He looked up at the moon’s position, cursed silently, adjusted his cleric hat, and also headed towards the church with the golden spire in the distance.
The port’s lights were dim, the grand reception halls didn’t belong to such a ship not meant for passengers. A large, wide plank was laid from the deck to the dock, and sailors, arm in arm, jubilantly headed for the taverns, while passengers disembarked one by one.
On one side of the dock hung a wooden sign, its flamboyant handwriting declaring its name. A sailor, dragging a companion, asked, “Caterpillar, what’s this port called?”
Impatiently, the companion glanced at the tavern and then at the sign, saying, “Bi… Ki… Ni… This place is called Bikini Beach!”
Behind them, a man in a half-height silk hat and stern face widened his eyes.