Caleb wandered through the forest, trying to stay out of sight. After exiting the cave, he
rechecked his hands and confirmed they were fully healed. He then checked the other injuries on his body and saw they, too, were fixed. Not even a scratch was left on his body, but the same couldn’t be said for his clothes. They were torn to shreds and bore a close resemblance to rags. He still wore his work shoes, which were smeared with dirt, leaves, and other detritus.
Finding a large tree, Caleb decided to try his luck at climbing again, as it was
the only way he knew to figure out his location. Getting used to climbing, it got easier to grab the branches and pull himself up. Reaching the top of the tree, he scanned his surroundings to gather his bearings. Towards the southwest, he saw the rock wall from which he had fallen previously. To the east, he saw the clearing where the cave had once been. Towards the west, he spotted tiny motes of light poking through the leaves. ‘Campfires!’ Caleb thought overjoyed. Scrambling out of the tree, he began running towards the source of the lights.
Running through the forest, excitement filled his cells with anticipation of finally being somewhat safe. Seeing the lights ahead, he pushed forward until he burst into the campsite location. Two men and two women sat around one campfire while the other fire burned to the side. However, instead of the kindling being wood, it was a corpse. Seeing Caleb suddenly appear, one of the women moved lightning quick, grabbing a dagger off the ground and accelerating towards Caleb. The other woman unslung her bow, knocked an arrow with practiced ease, and aimed while the men gathered their weapons and prepared to fight. Seeing the woman approaching him with a dagger in hand, Caleb tried backpedaling, not wanting to get stabbed. As he did, he hit the root of a tree and fell back. The archer released an arrow at that moment, narrowly missing Caleb by a hair.
Caleb, realizing their misunderstanding, quickly shouted, “Wait, wait! I’m not a threat. I’m just an office worker that got lost.” Caleb lay on the ground as the dagger woman approached him cautiously. Slowly, he began to get up when an arrow whizzed right above his head.
“Don’t move,” the archer commanded. Caleb sat utterly still, obeying the archer's command. She had leather armor on with a brown cloak draped over her body. Her eyes were piercing green, which made her look like a huntress in her element. A quiver hung to her side, and her bow was engraved with multiple sigils. The dagger woman approached and inspected him before pulling out a pair of handcuffs. It was a dark metal with inscriptions carved along the edges. Putting them onto him, the woman backed away before the archer commanded, “Stand.” Caleb stood up, keeping his head down to look less menacing. He saw two of the men circle him to his sides and heard the archer strolling up towards him. “Who are you?” the archer asked.
“I’m just an office worker. My name’s Caleb, and I got lost and saw your fires. I just want help. Etheria was attacked, and I don’t know where I am.” He stammered. Caleb raised his head slightly and made eye contact with the archer. She was glaring directly at him, a look of confusion on her face.
“Etheria has been attacked?” She asked.
“Yes,” Caleb replied slowly. The archer continued staring for several minutes without saying another word.
After another tense handful of minutes, she finally turned and spoke, “You can stay with us for now. But we will be leaving those cuffs on.” The group turned and walked back towards the campfire to sit. Caleb sat next to Dagger Girl as he started to call her mentally. She had an athletic frame with black armor and a cloak. Her brown hair was cut short, and she tried facing away from Caleb. “My name is Grace. I’m curious how an ‘office worker’ ended up in the middle of the woods at night. Tell us how you got here.” With that, Caleb began recounting the events of his day up to that point. Once he finished telling his story, one of the men stood up and walked behind him. The man had a long coat that was buttoned up with a crest on his shoulder. It had two angelic wings with a radiant sun centered above them. His face was weathered with age and had a clean-shaven look. He placed a hand on his back. Caleb felt a pulse of energy spread through his body, then another and another. The pulses lined up with his heartbeat until the man pulled his hand away.
“There are no injuries I can detect within your body. It is as you say. You have been fully healed.” His deep and smooth voice made Caleb feel a calming warmth throughout his body. “My name is Arthur. I specialize in healing. Sorry if our introduction was a little hostile. We were attacked and lost one of our members.” Everyone’s face darkened at the mention of their lost comrade. Arthur walked around to the other side of the campfire and sat. He stoked the flames and continued, “What you told us is worrying. If the monsters are beginning to coordinate, we will inform the adventurer’s guild immediately. It is most likely still not safe within Etheria. Grace and I will discuss what to do with you in the morning. For now, rest.” Leaving the campfire, Caleb gathered piles of dead leaves to try and use as a cushion. He drifted off to sleep with thoughts of the day still plaguing his mind.
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…
When Caleb woke up, his eyes felt glued together, and his body was sore to the bone. Cracking his eyes open, he saw the sun had risen not too long before he woke up. Caleb was covered in bites that he couldn’t identify. His wrists were heavy from the handcuffs. Sitting up, he saw the others packing. The fire had burned out, and the body from the previous night was buried. He sat up, approached Arthur and Grace, and asked, “So, have you decided what you will do with me?”
“You’ll come with us to Citrine, and we’ll verify your story there,” Grace answered. “It will
take a few days to get there.”
“Wait, how? " Caleb asked. “It takes weeks to get there on foot and days by train.” Caleb had been to Citrine only once, but Josh and a couple of his friends had gone during their college years. It was a city built right along the country's coast, making it a hot tourist destination.
“Chris will take care of that. However, we’ll have to blindfold you,” Arthur replied. The man Caleb assumed was Chris nodded in agreement. He stood taller than Caleb, looming about six feet and five inches tall. He had a giant hammer strapped to his back and various tools on a belt. He wore metal armor on his torso and legs. The armor was cut off at the elbows and knees, providing him more flexibility. Caleb’s mind was sent back to the attack. Seeing his dead boss being ripped apart by wolves made him feel sick. Calming himself down, he regained his composure before anyone realized.
Arthur began pulling out cloth from his coat. “We can’t confirm who you are for now, so we’ll do this until we arrive at Citrine. We’ll take it off when we stop to camp.” He also pulled out a robe as he approached Caleb. “This is better than what you have now. Take it for now,” Arthur told him. He turned to Dagger Girl and declared, “Emilia, you’ll be in charge of helping him figure out his new ability.”
“What!” Emilia whined. “Why are you leaving me to babysit him!”
“Because you can handle it, and you’re fast, so if he ever tries anything, you’d be the best to handle it,” Arthur replied calmly. “And if what he says is true, he’ll need some help figuring out his ability. It sounds like it will be abnormal and will take some help to figure out.”
“How can you tell that it’s abnormal?” Caleb asked.
“Based on the environment you described,” Emilia replied. “Items abilities can usually be inferred based on the energy they project around them. The fact that your item affected parts of the forest while it was inside a cave shows it was strong. The problem is the changes sound random and chaotic.” she continued.
Before Caleb could reply, Arthur handed him a blindfold and cloak. “I’ll need you to put this on before we get going. You can ask questions while we travel, but we have to get going soon,” Arthur stated. Caleb threw the robe over his tattered clothes, closed his eyes, and put on the blindfold. The cloth was slightly scratchy, bothering him. He readjusted it until it felt comfortable and gave everyone a thumbs up.
Caleb heard the sound of rushing air and was lifted off the ground, followed by wind hitting him at intense speeds. The blindfold hugged his face as the wind got stronger the longer they went. He reached down to see what was pushing them forward and felt a flat, smooth surface underneath him. Caleb tried opening his mouth to ask questions, but the wind was so strong any words he got out were lost in the wind. Caleb sat there in silence and got bored. He began practicing energy control to accelerate his thinking and solve mental math problems. He passed the time like this, worried about the future.
They continued on for hours in silence until they came to a stop. Caleb’s mind began to process his surroundings with his limited info. He heard birds chirping around him and could smell the flowers in the area.
“Take off the blindfold and help us set up camp,” Grace commanded. Caleb removed the blindfold and was greeted by magnolia trees in bloom around him. In between the trees were Azalea bushes. Bees flew about collecting nectar before speeding off towards their hive. Caleb was blown away by the beauty of his surroundings. He stood still, taking in the area before Chris slapped him on the back.
“Beauty, ain’t it. We found this area while adventuring a few years back,” Chris beamed. “We tend to use this area as our campsite, so we keep it clean. For now, go help start the campfire, and if you want something else to do, just ask.” Chris undid Caleb's handcuffs and left him to get to work. Caleb followed Chris’s order and gathered materials to start a campfire. He’d never done it before but had some idea that included rubbing sticks really fast to get a flame.
After 20 minutes of vigorous work, his hands hurt. He had tried different variations, but none of them worked. He couldn’t even get an ember. Emilia walked up, giggling, and she bent down to help.
“Guess I’ll have to be your teacher for everything, Mr. Office worker,” Emilia joked. She proceeded to show and explain the best way to get an ember and the best materials for it. She then drilled him on what she went over and had him make the fire. Caleb followed her instructions and made an ember. “It’ll only be a few days, but I won’t be easy on you. Once we figure out your ability, we’ll do some basic combat training if we have the time,” She stated. Caleb continued nurturing the flame as she got up to leave. As she turned her back, a strong gust of wind blew, snuffing out the fire. Caleb sat there, a mix of exasperation and annoyance.