“... I should at least visit the village before deciding what to do. For all I know they could be nice. Nicer than those soldiers at any rate.”
Various small brightly colored birds flitted and sang sweetly overhead as I traipsed in the general direction of the lake that my staff had pointed me in. I didn’t recall hearing them yesterday, but then again, I was being so single minded in my search that I probably just didn’t notice. Which is a shame since their music is beautiful. But missing out is what I get for being concerned with my personal problems. Problems like whether or not this village will welcome a complete stranger, dressed in rags, wielding crude equipment, and who’ll just wander out of the woods without warning while hoping they speak the same language as those soldiers.
I stop. “Maybe I should hold off on the whole making contact part for now and just watch from a distance? If they speak a different tongue I could learn it without them noticing, and maybe get an idea for their culture and way of life so that I can gather something they want or need before staging our first encounter.”
I nod, and continue on with a more chipper spring to my step, but remember to remain wary of any dangerous creatures that may or may not be lurking out here. Regardless, I enjoy the colorful flora I pass, such as ruby tulips with crystalline petals, daffodils painted in neon orange, ferns with streaks of purple on their bright green leaves, and a multitude of glowing mushrooms so life-like that I almost mistook them for a group of jellyfish sapping the life out of a tree.
The sun had sunk low in the sky by the time I got to the lakeshore, though that only made the glittering surface of the crystal clear water, now dyed orange, even more dazzling to behold.
“Honestly, some of the things I’ve seen so far have made me wonder if it was really me who designed them, but when I find places like this I can’t help but to forget all that and stop so I can take it in.”
But even the strange things I’ve found are so easy to appreciate now that I know what the world would be like… if everything and everyone just… disappeared.
I let my melancholy fade with the whisper of the small waves against the bright white sandy shore, and let the soft breeze carry off my loneliness to the incredibly faint scent of meat being cooked from the still distant village across the way.
The simple thatch huts were easy enough to make out, as was the large, presumably communal, fire pit where the meat was being cooked. Additionally, I could see a few figures scuttling about on the beach, probably fishing or searching for… shellfish? Crystals? Mollusks? Maybe they just dropped something and I can’t tell?
Anyway, I had to squint to see even the slightest of details about them against the fading light, so odds were they couldn’t see me nestled in the treeline, especially since I wasn’t moving around or anything.
I watched them for a while, almost entranced, surprised at the strange sense of satisfaction and contentment that filled me. Occasionally I caught the sound of a raised voice, usually in laughter or excitement when someone found something on the beach, but then I heard a growl.
At first I feared it was my long neglected stomach finally demanding an offering, but it turned out to be so, so, so, much worse.
For the next thing I knew something heavy, with paws and sharp claws, pounced onto my back, and pinned me face first into the gritty, albeit soft, sand.
#
Letta. A simple girl no older than ten. Stuck in the village of Kormath nestled within a secluded valley that bordered the garden of creation. Her parents moved to this place when she was only three, and did so not out of fear for their lives or to chase prosperity, but simply due to their faith and reverence for the creator God. This, she knew about them, this and little else. For faith led them here, and here they died, leaving her in the care of a hodgepodge of strangers.
And she only knew all this because everyone who lived in this secluded backwater village, beholden to no nation or king, had done the exact same thing. They hadn’t been called here by some great hero or ambitious leader, or plotted with each other to start a new life, no. The only thing binding these otherwise complete strangers, from all walks of life, to this place was their shared claim that they received a special dream that sparked within them the urge to leave their old lives behind.
A dream, they believe, that came from the creator God.
Which was all well and good for them, since their families survived or started anew upon their arrival. But she couldn’t even recall her parent’s faces or voices, and the only things she had to remember them by were the auburn hair, green eyes, webbed fingers and toes, pink fin-like ears, and pale freckled skin that stared back at her each time she looked into the lake or a pail of water.
They died for faith.
Faith.
And left her with nothing but her name and features.
That’s it.
That’s all she had left of them.
True, the other villagers sheltered and raised her, but she’d never had a real home here. Each night, for as long as she could remember, she’d sleep in the corner of someone else’s hut, eat with a different family, and help them however she could so as to not burden them. But she never had the time needed to fully learn an ability from one profession or another before having to move again, so she ended up becoming an ability-less nuisance, and then an outright burden.
She knew this, knew it as surely as she knew the details of her parent’s faith, as surely as the other villagers who, in turn, gave her less and less responsibility; along with gazes not of disgust or annoyance, but of sour, heartbreaking, pity.
Sure, she recalled their pity from before, back when she was younger, but that had ignited into hope as she grew and they worked to shape her into a productive and reverent member of their society. Only now that hope had burned out due to her lack of ability.
Some might think it a harsh assessment of a girl of only ten, but the other children around her age had all learned the basic abilities needed to perform their parent’s professions by now, but she hadn’t, and now no one offered to teach her anything anymore so her opportunities were dried up.
The worst part was everyone knew she was effectively useless, but no one would say it.
They, because their faith prevented them from abandoning her.
She, because she had already come to reject them and their precious faith.
Faith.
Faith. Letta stared blankly into the huge cookfire that roasted the hunters latest catch at the village’s shore and thought. Empty, stupid, faith.
She wrapped her skinny arms around her legs and hugged them tight. The green of her eyes glinted with envy against the auburn evening light as she watched the other inhabitants dance and celebrate their good fortune.
“Praise be to the generous creator! Praise be to this bounty!”
Mugs clacked together, as the raucous hunters downed ale brewed, not for alcoholic content, but simply to add a taste to the otherwise abundant pure water. The rich savory smell of the large sizzling and popping slabs of fierce Grandour meat made every stomach rumble, but it would be a while before the feast would be ready.
And it’ll be a feast to remember. Today’s the holy day of blooming. Supposedly it’s the day the creator God filled the world with plantlife. As if these… people could know that for fact! But that’ll never stop them. Not with their faith… At least it gives me the chance I’ve been waiting for.
Letta once again scanned the village. Everyone was out of their huts, bringing tables, chairs, plates, and mugs. They’d opened the casks of spirits reserved only for special occasions, and several people started playing lutes and lyres, drums and simple chimes to fill the pleasantly cool evening air with joyous, if not slightly off key, melodies.
Long had she considered what to do to them in order to get even for the years of subtle neglect. After all, they’d failed her. They’d failed to teach her even the most basic abilities. They’d failed to offer her the love she’d needed and then failed to listen even when she screamed about their unfair treatment and views of her. Sure they made sure her bodily needs were met, but not once did she receive enough emotional support to fully trust any of them. And how could she? None of them claimed her as their own. To them, she was always the village’s responsibility.
But she’d had enough.
They’re all useless! My parents! The villagers! And especially that heartless creator God who put me here in the first place! She glanced at the hunter’s lodge, where all the monster and animal venoms were kept, and closed her eyes. Only a little longer. Soon they’ll all get a taste of the pain they’ve given me. And they’ll all regret not wanting me!
Grandour are pony-sized lizards that hunt in packs. Known for their paralytic venom, they are one of the more common inhabitants of this valley. And thanks to Letta, all the drinks were spiked with their venom.
I might not have learned any abilities, but I know my way around Kormath at least. I’ll say my goodbyes while they’re helpless, take what I can carry, and be off. It’s clear they don’t want me here anyway, but it’d be wrong not to at least thank them for keeping me alive.
The night settled in and the meat finished cooking, but soon after the celebration really got underway everyone stopped moving in the darkness.
They merely slowed down at first, thanks to the diluted venom, but after a few minutes, the shadows and silhouettes of the celebrating villagers were all helplessly slumped where they were seated or stood, unable to move anything other than their eyes; the nearest of which she saw dart around in wide-eyed panic.
Letta smirked. Got up from where she sat in the gloom of a hut, ready to admonish them for all she was worth, but a twig snapped behind her, and something big hissed.
She froze, but her little heart raced. The very air stilled around her as time seemed to settle into place. Then, unable to bear not knowing any longer, she jerked her head around, and, in the light of the fire, saw a thick, brown mottled lizard roughly the size of a pony flick its tongue out to taste the air.
A grandour! But why? The hunters should’ve killed tonight’s catch far from the village! It’s pack shouldn’t have followed!
She staggered back as the massive monster lurched forward. It blinked, tilted and turned its elongated head this way and that, then flicked out its tongue once more before letting out a grating bark.
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Other similar sounds resounded from the woods around the village, and the rustling of leaves and snapping of branches indicated the presence of still more grandour.
Why? Why are they here? They shouldn’t be here! Not now that everyone’s paralyzed! Letta glanced back at the closest of the unmoving villagers, saw their eyes pleading with her to escape, and withered inside. This wasn’t supposed to happen! I didn’t want anybody to die!
The shadows of more monsters closed in from behind the other nearby huts, and the beast in front of her hissed when it spotted her.
She wailed. “Why?”
#
Sand. Gritty, all invading, sand was about all I could see. As for what I could feel, well, there was some big honkin’ palooka of a creature standing on me and I can’t say that its claws made for a very comfortable back massage.
It took a bit of effort, but I pushed myself up and managed to get the thing off my back, before I turned to face it.
“But what am I even looking at?”
Long like a snake, it was about the size of a panther and covered in… feathers? A pair of deer antlers protruded from its head, and believe it or not it had bear paws, four cat-like eyes, and… dragonfly wings? It was getting too dark to accurately make out its patterns or colors, but it was one heck of an amalgamation that was for sure.
“Uriel, I’ma need a status on this thingie pronto.”
Name: n/a
Species: Sekthalis
Health: 100/100
Mana: 45/45
Endurance: 50/50
Strength: 51
Agility: 67
Speed: 44
Toughness: 22
Spirit: 45
Status conditions: hungry
Titles:
Juvenile
Abilities:
Venomous bite lv: 13
Lightning counter lv: 10
Flight lv: 2
Constriction lv: 20
Tree climber lv: 7
Night vision lv: 23
Stone scale shield lv: 9
Sudden strike lv: 12
As soon as the window opened the monster reared back its roughly volleyball sized serpentine head and snapped at me with surprising speed. Thankfully I had my trusty buckler to ward it off, otherwise I’d be in a lot of pain right now.
I backed up onto the beach, held my staff and buckler defensively and divided my attention between reading about the… sekthalis, and fending it off.
I was a little taken aback at my lack of fear given my life threatening situation, but then again, it did all happen so suddenly and with a creature that looks so ridiculous that I guess it’s possible that I forgot to be frightened.
My jaw dropped a minute, and a few more bites, later “Wait! Its stats are super low compared to the Wise Old Friend! Does that mean it's weak? Or is that tree some sorta secret boss?”
My apparently hungry stalker slunk forward, wings fanned out behind it, making the most disturbing thwack thwack thwack sound I’d ever heard when I had yet another epiphany.
If its stats are so low… doesn’t that mean my gear is like… totally awesome?
Wide eyed, and a little giddy, I took a cautious swing with Witness the next time the sekthalis snapped at me. I’d noticed that the initial movement was super fast, likely due to its sudden strike ability, but the withdrawal of its head was much slower, and I easily made contact during one such opening.
Crack!
The monster let out a startlingly adorable yelp as it stumbled back from the unexpected hit. It shook its head a few times, blinked its four eyes repeatedly, and then eyed me warily, clearly no longer driven solely by hunger.
I used the opportunity to check its status again, and found that it was both down 10 health and gained the status conditions: injured and surprised. Yeah I’d be cautious too if I suddenly lost a tenth of my health in one hit… Not that I’d even know if I lost a tenth of my health… Stupid status system and its stupid discrepancies!
It didn’t advance or try to attack again, but it didn’t flee either. But then again, neither did I.
After all, I wasn’t about to turn my back to it again, and I was too concerned about its stone scale shield, lightning counter, and constriction abilities to try and go on the offensive myself. That left us in this awkward deadlock where nobody moved and nothing changed.
I guess I could’ve tried to throw one of my spears, but if I dropped either my shield or staff then it’d probably lunge at me, and that was the last thing I wanted given its attack speed.
The sun finally got tired of watching our waiting game and hid behind the mountain range, and before I could decide on what to do to break this stand off I heard a pleading, desperate scream resound from across the lake.
“Why?”
It was so pitiful that I almost forgot my situation and looked in the village’s direction. The sekthalis did much the same, so it wouldn’t have mattered either way, but now I was worried. Oh hey, I understood that! But can I really afford to just keep standing here? I mean, they were fine last I checked, but then what could’ve happened that would prompt such a devastated shout from a little girl?
Frantic and fed up, I ground my teeth, and snarled at the monster in front of me. “Will you just hurry up and leave!”
Suddenly, the monster’s four feline eyes dilated, then it reared back onto its hind legs, wings extended, as if ready to throw itself at me.
And then it abruptly turned around and ran away at top speed.
I tilted my head, lowered my shield and staff and muttered. “What in the–? Oh! Yeah! I have the intimidate ability!”
Another, more frantic scream came from the little girl in the village, only this time it was wordless.
Now freed of that needless conflict born of that beast's necessity, I gripped my staff and concentrated on finding the fastest path to the village.
Again, I felt something flow out of me and into my handy walking stick, but this time more flooded out.
Before I even knew what was happening a fat set of vines had reached out from the nearby trees, wrapped around me, hoisted me high into the air, and then unceremoniously launched my unsuspecting self in the general direction of the village.
And oh boy was I flying.
I mean dang.
One moment I’m in the air on one side of the water, the next all I see is water, and then just after that Boom!
Dirt! Air! Dirt! Sky! And then you guessed it, more dirt!
It hurt all over, but to my utter amazement, I hadn’t broken anything. As I brushed myself off and staggered to my feet I noticed a slew of torn and scattered vines that I guess tried to catch me, so I assume that’s why I got off with only some bruises.
Though I don’t feel so great about getting up from a narrow, several foot long crater. I know I’m not exactly normal anymore, but come on! Who even does that?
It’s not like I’m some sorta super hero or anything… Or am I?
I shook off that thought when another louder scream reached my ears. “I’ve got more important matters to take care of!”
I spun on my heel and bolted through the brush in the direction of the last scream and it wasn’t long before I heard frenzied hissing.
I sprinted at full pelt, which resulted in a few facefuls of leaves and branches, but I ignored the pain and soon came upon the source of the commotion.
A little redheaded girl with, like, something akin to fish ears surrounded by a pack of around eight or nine pony sized lizards.
The monsters slowly closed in on her as she pressed her back against a wide tree. Her simple tan dress was in tatters, her leaf tangled hair was stuck to her sweat stained face, and she was breathing so heavily I thought her little lungs might pop at any second.
Then her lonely, desperate green eyes landed on me, and she froze.
Oh, crap. Don’t tell me she thinks I’m going to hurt her too! I swear I’m nice! Just so long as you don’t try to eat me that is.
A single tear feld her eye and she slumped to the ground without warning.
The monsters, either aware of my noisy arrival or picking up on her strange behavior all turned to face me. It was clear their original prey wasn’t going anywhere, so it stands to reason that they’d focus on the new potential threat.
“Lucky me.”
The closest beast opened its toothy maw wide, but I immediately sneered at it and felt my intimidation ability activate.
They didn’t flee, but it proved enough to stop the initial attack and force them to back up and regroup.
Now’s probably my best chance to get their status.
Name: n/a
Species: Grandour
Health: 50/50
Mana: 15/15
Endurance: 30/30
Strength: 21
Agility: 14
Speed: 22
Toughness: 10
Spirit: 15
Status conditions: Fear (weak)
Titles:
n/a
Abilities:
Paralytic venom lv: 30
Pack hunter lv: 11
Co-ordination lv: 11
Savage strike lv: 4
Strong sense (smell) lv: 9
Stone scale shield lv: 6
There were minor differences from one to another but for the most part they averaged fifty health, and were considerably slower and weaker than that sekthalis thing. Which is probably why they’ve taken so long to corner this girl.
Their paralytic venom had me more worried than anything I’d encountered up to this point, but Uriel came to my rescue and supplied me with the details in a side window.
Grandour Venom: A paralytic substance secreted by the front teeth of a grandour. Because it causes no other effects, and is fast acting, it is thus favored by hunters.
As an added note, mixing it with alcohol creates an aroma undetectable to most people, but grandour can smell it from considerable distances and come to investigate.
So their venom not only helps hunters, but can be used to call in fresh stock when you’re almost out? Convenient!
While I was reading, the beasts moved to surround me. I wasn’t about to let them, and tried to back up to escape the encirclement, but then a pair rushed at me, and I was forced to hit the deck to avoid their jaws and the venom that would bring this confrontation to a swift end.
Now I was trapped and more than a little agitated with myself for taking so long to read. I had no doubt that the intimidation was wearing off, and they’d probably rip me to pieces if I just stood here or tried to fend them off conventionally, so I did the only thing that came to mind.
“Help me out here!”
I planted my staff into the ground and willed those thick vines from before to entangle the grandour.
But the beasts weren’t just going to wait for me and they rushed all at once, gaping toothy maws ready to snap my life to a gruesome close.
Again, that same something flowed from me and into my staff, and before they got me, and I do mean just before they got me, we're talking maybe a few inches here, heavy gnarled roots burst from the ground, enveloped the monsters, and then swallowed them back down into the earth.
I shuddered, all too aware of just how close of a call that was, and then turned to face the fainted girl.
She appeared to still be out cold, but she didn’t look too badly hurt, just a couple scrapes and bruises.
I shook off my jitters and the guilt of having just doomed several creatures to an early grave, and gently scooped the child up, and followed the path of broken underbrush that the monsters made when they chased the girl here.
It took only a few minutes to make it back to the edge of the now dead silent village, littered with bodies slumped all over the place.
I froze, but Uriel informed me that they were only paralyzed, and I relaxed. “I guess she led the monsters away before they could be eaten, but they're not hurt so that doesn’t explain how everyone got paraly– Oh! Their drinks! But then who spiked them? Oh well, I guess I can figure that out later. After I’ve gotten them back on their feet. But what should I focus on after? Learning practical abilities? Getting the lay of the land? Or maybe something more combat oriented? How about seeing if I can get magic lessons?”
#
Captain Horn led forty other temple knights through the thick brush and trees of the garden of creation. Unlike their last visit and every other trip to the garden he could recall, the whole of the garden’s vegetation seemed to impede their movement as if the plants were willfully holding them back.
A journey that should’ve taken only a few hours for a well equipped, trained, and able, group of knights had spanned an entire day. And as night set in, Captain Horn sighed.
“That’s enough for today! Make camp, and get a fire going! We’ll be beginning our climb of the copper mountains tomorrow so be sure to turn in as soon as you’ve eaten!”
A chorus of voices answered. “Yes sir!”
As his unit broke up to perform their assigned tasks, his adjutant, a woman with a long snake’s tail in place of legs slithered up to him and asked. “Sir? About the garden, was it–?”
“Yes. It’s strange. I don’t know why, but something’s trying to stop us from following the Apostle.”
“Do you think it’ll persist?”
He crossed his arms, and listened. “It’s utterly silent tonight, just like on the way here. Either all other creatures have departed, or they’re all lying low. And since it’s only been the plants inhibiting us, I’d like to think that things will be easier once we’re clear of the garden.”
“That’s a relief. But do you think the Apostle will go quietly?”
He frowned. “After our last encounter? Not really. But I owe it to them to at least offer a chance to surrender peacefully.”
“I see.” She turned, and started to slither away. “Then I’ll go and get some rest. We’ve still got a long way to go.”
He watched her back until the darkness obscured her. It’ll take us three days to cross those mountains assuming nothing goes wrong. After that… well… here’s hoping the Apostle didn’t stray too far from the garden.
He chuckled sadly and muttered. “This could be a really long mission.”