Another Step Forward (1)

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After more than a week of continuous travelling, the small town of Zale had completely vanished over the horizon. The humble image of tranquility fostered by that place was now being overwritten with all the shifting scenery that whizzed us by each day.

It wasn’t all that spectacular when compared to the norm, but the region was becoming more and more mountainous, a stark giveaway that we were heading into foothill territory.

The view outside the arched flapping cloth of the wagon’s back end often gave me a glance at the ever-increasing knolls that were becoming more frequent as we trotted along the dirt road.

However, the journey hadn’t been as grandiose as I was expecting since we hardly ever passed anyone by on these solitary trails. I thought a monster horde or two would come prowling at us once the veil of night fell, but apparently, that wasn’t how those creatures operated.

Monsters were territorial by nature and preferred to occupy the regions known as “dungeons” or “labyrinths” to benefit from their abundant mana concentrations. Incidents with strays like the basilisk were supposedly few and far between, but as it so happened, we’d been on the unluckier side of fate this time around.

The wagon shook violently after passing over what I assumed to be a stump in the road, it disrupted my balance and caused me to fall face first onto Julia’s lap. I lifted my head to see her smiling down at me, and sure enough she asked “are you alright?” in just about the sweetest voice one could muster.

“I-m fine but I don’t think I like this wagon thing very much.” I pouted

I could tell she wanted to laugh but had instead swallowed the outburst of joy that had subtly built up in her chest.

“How about going out front to take a look then? I know you don’t like staying cooped up in here all day.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me!” Came the ecstatic voice ringing from the coachman’s position.

I had a pretty good idea of just how brash that woman could get after being around her for a few days, but clearly her ears weren’t just for show.

“Oh, looks like Jytte’s up for it Liam, what do you think?” Julia asked with a wink

Unable to hide the delightful grin forming on my face, I rushed towards the clattering sounds echoing from the front of the wagon as I shouted “Be right back!” to my resting parent.

Alas, I couldn’t exactly hide the excitement in my voice even after all this time. I’d been stuck in that small town for the entirety of my new life and this, more than anything else was starting to feel like the real ‘first step’ of my journey.

My hair fluttered in the wind as soon as stepped onto the coach box, there I saw Jytte, gripping the reins to the scaly monsters trotting along the ground. Her eyes scanned the shielded horizon with a familiar, fierce sort of determination that actually left a different impression on me.

What I assumed to be our destination was a bold sight in the distance. It was an array of scarcely spaced parallel mountain ranges that varied in their respective sizes, a place commonly called the “Fissure Falls.”

The particular mountain we were headed towards seemingly doubled in size by the day, it wasn’t exactly a long shot away from being the most imposing thing here.

“Back again Liam?” Flynn asked from my right as he lazily strolled along to match the monsters pace.

“I want to see when we get there”

I answered vehemently, taking a seat beside the fluffy eared driver. Still dazed by the scenery, my own reply was little more than an afterthought.

“We’re almost there now, if all goes well, we should arrive by tomorrow.”

“That’s what you said two days ago....”

“......A miscalculation on my part, that’s all it was really! I could’ve sworn there was a shortcut somewhere back there!” He shouted in dejection

“So you say you liar, it's our fault for listening to you.”

Myra answered in a voice that was nothing but sarcastic, the sidelong glance she was shooting in Flynn’s direction practically forced whatever excuses he’d wanted to offer back down his own throat.

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“It wasn’t that big of a detour, was it?” Jytte questioned from her leading position

“Not that big of a detour? We lost two whole days because of his careless advice!”

Myra was subtly starting to ramp up the intensity of her airborne tantrum; something her comrades must have been used to given their lack of rebuttals. Frankly, from my position the entire thing just seemed humorous.

Seeing someone who was barely the size of a glass bottle get so agitated in mid-air just came off as being amusing to me.

“What’s so funny kid?”

She flew up to my face with a very scrutinizing look in her eyes, snapping me out of my inaudible chuckle.

I could see her left brow twitching in irritation as her gaze remained sharp and unrelenting.

I swallowed hard, scurrying through the last four years of my life as I searched for the solution to the situation. Eventually, the flood of memories came to a halting stop when I looked to my left only to see Oliver giving me a snarky wink.

Then, I remembered.

Every time my mother would put him on the spot like this, there was a certain tactic he always seemed to use.

“It’s funny seeing you scold the adults like that, you’d make a good leader.”

Innocence brimmed from my tone as my juvenile words promptly extinguished the smoldering flames of Myra’s irritation. Her expression quickly went from one of suspicion to confusion, shattering her tirade in an instant.

At once; her eyes flashed with a brilliant glow.

“H-hmph! I’m not really cut out to be the leader here or anything, these two are just no good without me.” She whipped around to give that answer with her back turned, although just from her shaky tone I could tell that my genius plan had worked.

Credits to the mastermind of this strategy though – whenever my mother would get on his case about him starting random fires or something, he would always seize control of the conversation with a subtle compliment.

It was clearly an artform I needed to learn; however, my first attempt must have been decent enough seeing as the mastermind himself was now flashing me a “thumbs up” as he walked alongside us.

His cheeks were puffed to the limit as he struggled to restrain the stifled bout of laughter that had built up on his chest.

“Oliver.”

“Pwah!? - Ahem! Ah, yes, Myra what is it?”

“Uhm....are you okay? It kind of looks like you’re out of breath.”

“I’m fine, it’s just been a particularly long walk today that’s all.”

I don’t know how, but he somehow managed to mask his previous expression in an instant, his usual cool cut demeanor was being restored at an astonishing rate.

“Well anyway...” Myra carelessly shrugged before flying over to him.

“Don’t you think we should set up camp soon? It’s almost nightfall, and the newts could use some downtime right about now.”

“I second that idea!” Flynn yelled from the other side of the wagon

“Me too! My back’s starting to feel a little stiff....” Jytte’s dejected tone seemed to have resonated the shared sentiment

Oliver stopped to stare at our elevated destination before returning Myra’s gaze

“Sigh....you heard them leader” She grumbled offhandedly

He scratched his head in resignation before finally addressing their woes.

“Alright!” he exclaimed in agreement. “I suppose we’ve been pushing ourselves a little too hard to try and make it in time for the raid, but there’s no need for that anymore, right Jytte?”

“Ah! You see it too!?” Her furry ears began twitching ecstatically as she leaned forward to point at something off in the distance.

Soon after, the others began heaving gasps of relief and surprise at the murky sight.

I had a good grasp of our pace after being on the road for a week so even I could tell that it was only about a day's distance away. The man-made sight at the mountain’s plateaued peak left me with a feeling of longing for somewhere I'd never even been to before.

It was a city; one that was much larger than Zale in terms of sheer scale and architecture at that, but the most surprising thing here was its layout. Unlike the humble outpost that had once been my home, the juxtaposition of this elevated city seemed somewhat off for some reason.

Almost like two halves that just couldn’t quite fit together.

“We’re almost there Liam, that’s our destination - The fissure city of Fallon.”

His timing was impeccable, the name alone was one of the last pieces to this puzzle.

“Oh! We’re at the base of the mountain!” Said Julia as she sporadically popped her head between the wagon flaps.

“Yeah, it won’t be long now.” My father responded nonchalantly. “...By the way, how are you feeling?”

A bit flustered, she waved her hands apologetically before responding.

“Much better now; thanks to you all. I should be able to keep up again.”

“I see, that’s good to know.”

Pleased with her response, he addressed our woeful party with a reassuring smile.

“The sun’s about to set soon and we need to find a good camping spot, let’s spread out and get to work! We’ve got a long climb ahead of us!”

The command was met with a resonating answer – a chorus sounding “understood.”