"Captain Rowan, who have you selected..." I trailed off as I saw a familiar face. "Ant, it's good to see you." I greet him with a curt nod.

He just gave me a firm but sharp nod in return, he still had hints of blood present on his shirt since after all, he was the one to shoot the second dragon down with the ballista. He wiped his hands on his tunic before shaking my hand.

"Good choice, Rowan." I told her as I waved them back to the table, where Lumin and Shade were currently standing by. "Are you sure you two wanna come along?" I asked the pair. "I still don't think you two should go."

"It's the least we can do." Lumin said as she put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. I blushed a little but quickly turned back to the map before anyone could see, gently taking her hand off my shoulder as I cleared my throat.

''Thank you, that's very kind of you, Lumin. So where's the rest of the team?"

"Right, the two, Ferris and Bush. They used to live in Hollow, they should give you guys an advantage." That'll be good to have a couple of guides to help. I wonder how they felt when the Rainwings relocated them.

I give each of them a nod. "Let's not waste any more time talking then, let's move." I say as I lead the group towards the stables.

***

I give my steed, Wind, some scratches on his head as I feed him another apple. "You should really slow down on those, too much food is bad for you." I chuckle but instead I'm met with a hard push to my stomach. "Hey! What was that for?" I asked the horse.

Wind just stomped one of his hooves, before letting out a high pitch neigh in response.

"Such a spoiled animal." I mutter with a smile on my face as I feed him another apple. But you deserve it, most likely you'll never come home. "I'm sorry, you've been a loyal horse, and I hope you make it out alive." I gave him one more apple before starting to go and secure the saddle again before I felt a presence behind me.

"H-hey lord-"

"You can call me River, we've talked about this Lumin." I say softly as I turn to face her.

She smiled and her face turned red as she looked to the floor. "Right, sorry..."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, and I'm sorry about your first night here, how you had to see... had to live through that experience."

Her face fell but she was still soft. "It... terrified me at first, seeing you like that, like you were used to it. Are you sure you couldn't have just... driven them off, was killing the dragons really necessary-"

"Lumin, they're just beasts, and we are their food. Humans are born prey, where at any moment, a human's life could be snuffed out from the terrors in the sky. This world is not ours, it's theirs, it's the beast's, this is a wild and cruel age we live in. And if it is a cruel and wild age, then we must adapt, or we can stay as their food. We can stay as prey, and we can ask for death."

"But... we... we should be better than them, shouldn't we."

I smiled, but sighed as I gently put my hands on her shoulders and pulled her down gently to look at me in the eyes. "Unfortunately that is much easier said than done, but in you I see something pure, something gold. Lumin, promise me you'll never lose that, you'll never lose that innocence, the need to find a way so everyone succeeds."

She paused for a few moments and gulped before nodding. "I promise you, I'll always hope and go for the best." She said as a bright smile appeared on her face, lighting the room.

I smiled and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "It's good that there are people like you in this world and..." I trailed off as I noticed how close her lips were to mine, and I couldn't help but stare, feeling my cheeks start to turn red and heat up.

"Um... River... why are you looking at my lips?"

SHIT! I quickly pulled away. "Wha-oh-n-not-nothing-just-um-" I backed away, right into Wind who was turned away from me.

"River, watch out-" Shade tried to warn me, but it was too late as the horse kicked me, albeit lightly, right into Lumin.

"Oh shit!" I yelped and quickly tried to move to the side as I was pressed into Lumin, but instead I ended up just pulling her down with me. I let out a yelp as we fell to the ground and she landed right on type of me, her hands on either side of me with her face right above mine. Both of our faces were bright red. Internally I was screaming at the top of my lungs. "U-Um... I-I d-didn't m-mean t-to... I-I... t--this i-is r-really a-awkward-" I stuttered till we were suddenly interrupted by booming laughter.

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

"That is fucking hilarious!" Ant was practically howling in laughter as me and Sunny scrambled to get off each other. "Everyone get in here, come look at what I found!"

"No! No! Rowan, stop him! Lumin, I am so sorry-"

"River, I didn't mean to put you in this position-"

"No, it was my fault, please don't apologize!" I pleaded as I gently pulled her up to her feet, all the while Ant had not seized his laughter. Ant's laugh was probably being heard throughout the entirety of Medallion at this point.

"No, it was my fault, please-"

"You two are cute together." Ferris chuckled.

The whole room went silent, it seemed like even the horses were holding their breathing.

Ferris was promptly nudged hard in the stomach.

"You fucking tosspot!" Bush angrily told him before they both started to throw hands at each other.

I wanted to melt into the floor as Lumin stared at me with a red face and Ant continued to bellow out his background noise.

***

It had been about a week now, yet Lumin was still holding me tight enough that it felt my ribs were gonna crack as we rode to New Hollow. I didn't tell her to stop, after all she was so scared when getting on the horse in the first place. Shade didn't seem to be faring any better as she was hugging Rowan tightly, I could see Rowan holding her tongue with wide eyes.

"Should we stop here, I'm getting pretty tired." Ferris whined.

Rowan scoffed. "Look around, we're in flathead territory." Rowan exclaimed as she gestured with one hand to the marsh on our left. "We keep moving and we do not stop till I or our lord says we stop, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am." Ferris and Bush say in unison.

We couldn't really hear anything, nothing but the swarm of bugs that like to bother our horses and the sounds of frogs in the distance. I smiled as a moon shined brightly through the sky, the moons would be our friends tonight, the moon would keep them asleep.

I put my hand up and attempted to whistle, all that came out was spittle. I wanted to die inside as Lumin looked at me confused. I let out a nervous chuckle as we slowed the horses as we reached the lake.

"We'll take a break here, go over the route one more time and then we will stop at New Hollow." I say as I dismount before holding Lumin's hand. "I'm here, it's okay." I say as she hesitantly slides her other foot off and slides off the horse into my arms, letting out a small yelp.

"It's okay, I got you." I say as I catch her.

"Thanks." She says cheerily as she smiles before hugging me tightly.

I almost let out a yelp, especially as my face starts to warm up.

Ferris starts to chuckle again but Bush shoots him a glare, quickly shutting him up.

Lumin quickly then releases me, I barely notice her cheeks are also red. "I should probably check on Shade."

"Right, of course! Sorry for keeping you!" I chuckle awkwardly as I try to hide my flustered expression.

"Thank you!" She said before letting herself go before running over to Shade.

"Very smooth m'lord." Rowan suddenly said in my ear, making me jump.

"Three moons!" I cursed. "How long have you just been standing there?" I ask as she stands there, a faint smile on her lips.

"Long enough, kid." She said as we started to walk towards the lake with our waterskin containers.

"Kid, what happened to m'lord?" I ask as I go to drink from my flask.

"What happened waiting till you're a man to drink that poison?" Rowan snorts as she takes the flask from me.

"I'm a Teardrop, remember? One who's good at resisting poison."

She rolls her eyes as she then takes a large swig. "Still a kid."

I scoff, "You better have not drunk it all." I say as I take it back as I take a swig myself, the bile taste going down my throat. I put the lid on before putting it in my pouch again as I fill my waterskin with water. "How are things with Wren?" I then asked, causing her to groan.

"We aren't talking, to put it bluntly. She's... if we had things her way then we'd be food from attempting to be buddy-buddy with them. I know she thinks things might work between the two of us, but she just doesn't understand that things aren't that easy."

"To be fair, we can't exactly blame her, not with what she's experienced." I sigh.

"Some would argue otherwise."

"Why's that?"

"You, both of you were sacrificed, both of you ran into a mountain dragons-"

"The key difference is the fact I'm a Teardrop and met the dragon after I was in the Indestructible City. I had people, she did not."

She sighs. "I guess. To be honest, I think she has an easier time talking to you, talking to someone else who knows what she's been through." Her gaze fell to the ground as she spoke.

"Then when we get back, we can talk to her, together." I say as I offer my hand to her.

She smiles and grabs mine before putting her forehead against mine. "Yeah, together."

***

"So, we don't have much time, which is why we will leave in the next hour or so. But before we rest, we must go over how to go this trail. We are in swamp dragon territory, luckily they can be quite lazy which means we should be relatively safe as we pass in the dark. But we have to stay quiet, if we wake one, let's just say I've lost enough limbs already to dragons." I said as I waved my prosthetic in the air, unloaded... I think... I should probably check. "Another big thing, do not go near any mud pools, stay away. Mud dragons like to ambush prey by hiding in mud lakes, just because most of them are lazy, it doesn't mean all of them are. So does everyone understand?"

They all nod, none of them saying anything.

"Good, then get some rest, we ride in an hour."

"M'lord, can I speak with you for a moment?" Bush asked me.

I blinked for a moment, this was the first time Bush had directly had spoken towards me. "Yes, of course." I offered him a spot next to me. "What do you wanna talk about?" I asked.

He took a deep breath. "When we learn the formula and start making those weapons, won't the lord of the Indestructible City send his spies to steal it? But, you must have already thought about this already, haven't you? M'lord, what is your true goal, what do you really need those guns for?"

I pause. "Medallion will always be under threat as long as Midas rules, and due to his actions of refusing refugees and making it where those of treason are thrown to fend for themselves, I want to take this whole thing by the reigns and take control for a better future, not just for Medallion, but for all of us."

"You want to take the Indestructible city as your own?"

"Yes."

"M'lord... I have a favor to ask. I want my home back, can you help me?" He asks.

I think for a moment, before nodding. "I understand."