Outside it was completely dark. If not for a few glowing crystals on some house-trees that is. Now, walking through the dark alley towards the entrance of the city, I noticed that most, if not all the houses had a glowing crystal either hanging somewhere around the front door, or have it embedded in the wall beside it.

At this point of the night the streets were completely empty. The only people I saw were up above me on the walkways, and from the looks of it, they belonged to the city guard. Most armed with bows with small swords by their side. They were few and far in between, and if any of them spotted me, they didn't seem to care. Considering that we were stopped in the middle of the day, that seemed a little bit weird, but I was not complaining and instead quickened my pace.

During the brief walk I was still lost in my thoughts about my last "reunion" so to say, to the point that I did not realize when I arrived at the gate.

At first glance I thought I was alone. Only after I made a few steps towards the outside of the city, I saw a movement somewhere in front, hidden from my sight by trees surrounding the area.

-Who's there? - the unknown figure asked.

-And who's asking? - I replied, not stopping.

The figure stepped out of the darkness and as I saw the blue robes I realized that it was indeed the one I was supposed to meet.

-Ah, so you actually came. You were supposed to be here ages ago. I thought something happened.

-Nah. Just had something to do before leaving and it took longer than expected.

As I came closer I recognized him. It was the same guy that led us to the city, and the same one who explained to me how the "cooking" of mana fruit works.

-It's only two of us?

-Three. The other one is guarding our mounts a bit further out. You ready?

-Yeah, sure. Let's go.

With that we left the city and stepped into complete darkness. It was a bit spooky, after all it was the first time that I was traveling without any light, I usually had at least the glow crystal to light the path up.

-You don't have any light?

-No, I left my crystal with the mounts.

-So may I…?

-Of course.

He knew who I was anyway, so I could at least not try and hide my magic for once.

-Usc fi geksu.

-Woah…

He stopped, gazing at the orb.

-It looks like a small sun… - he said, reaching his hand towards it.

-Careful there…

But even with my warning he almost touched the orb before quickly pulling his hand away.

-Ouch!

-I mean, what did you expect? It is fire after all…

-Yeah, I am gonna be honest, I did not think it was real…

-What is up with you people - I said, shaking my head. - It's either this or completely opposite…

-I don't follow… you mean why do people not take you for your word?

-Something like that… - I was not going to explain my previous encounters with people not recognizing magic that was right in front of their nose.

-Well, if I may be so bold, it might have to do with your appearance a bit… and overall disposition to people…

-Excuse me?

-Don't get me the wrong way - he quickly added - you are a much more approachable person, that is all... People of your stature just are usually… More distanced to people.

-Uh-uh… - I didn't know what to say to that. - Thank you?

-Oh, no, thank you. It's a pleasure seeing your magic from such close.

He started getting closer to my orb again.

-Maybe not that close, you're gonna burn yourself again.

-Right. I should focus.

He regained his composure and we increased our pace a bit.

-We are almost there.

-By the way, why do we have to meet so far outside the city?

-Well, our mounts aren't exactly fit for the city proper…

-What do you mean by that?

He didn't answer, instead he hurried me even more. Still though, he was constantly getting distracted by my flame, like some moth.

Few minutes later I spotted someone just ahead of us, pacing back and forth on the street.

-That your guy?

He noticed us as well and started hurriedly walking towards us.

-Yeah, but I don't know why he's running…

Yes, what just seconds ago was a brisk walk, now was a full fledged sprint.

-Should I be worried?

-I don't think so?

His tone of voice did not sound reassuring so I prepared myself for the worst, looking for a way I should run if the forest, let's say, spontaneously combusted around us.

But it was unnecessary.

-What are you doing! - I heard the guy almost yell at us as soon as he got in the earshot.

-Put out this thing, you are gonna scare them! Are you insane?!

-I looked confused at my guide who looked like he suddenly realized what was going on.

-Right! Please turn off your light, we are gonna scare the mounts!

-Huh? Yeah sure, you are the one that wanted light in the first place… Why not tell me sooner? - I asked as I extinguished my orb.

He looked at me, embarrassed, but the answer came from the other guy.

-Let me guess, he was so preoccupied with your little trick that he forgot to tell you any details.

-Well, I think I got most details out of our employer but, yeah, kind of.

-Sorry…

-Doesn't matter. Let's start from the beginning then. Greetings. My name is Abes, this is Eicam, I believe we traveled together already, but I don't think I got your name.

-It's Mor.

I didn't recognize him, although I didn't remember most of the faces of people I traveled with. He was wearing the same blue robes though, so he might as well have been with us before, and they definitely knew each other, most likely he was not lying then. He was bald, as all the other Blue Mages, as they call them, with a very pointy nose and eyes that looked like he was constantly judging me for something.

-Well then Mr Mor, we are to guide you towards our main camp by the accident site. Then you and Eicam are to continue onward as you are to guide you both to the point of interest to take the object in question back to the city. Is that correct?

-Mostly. Didn't know we were gonna split.

-Is that a problem?

-No. Just answering the question.

-Good. I am to see that we are traveling uninterrupted and without any other inconveniences, as well as to acclimate you with your mounts if needed.

-Okay… Speaking of, where are they?

-Just away from the main road, outside of plain sight. Can't get spotted by passersby.

-Riiight…

Can't really imagine that in the middle of the night there were many people passing here, especially with roads being overgrown. We were just at the point where the road started getting more wild and green, so that was especially unlikely. And why does he need to hide a bunch of horses from people to see? Not like we are gonna do some secret mission or something.

Soon enough I knew exactly what he meant by that.

We were not traveling by horseback.

In front of me, between the trees, there were three creatures. From their stature, and amount of legs, they kind of reminded me of a horse, but that's where the similarities ended. They were completely brown, like a dirty tree branch. Their heads were large, dog-like, with a short neck, almost looking like some weird sculpture if I am being honest. Two eyes, completely black, were shining like gems, looking at us three. The legs though… Have you ever seen a table with legs that looked like they were wrapped around with long vines, that spread as they touched the ground? That's how their legs looked for me. Their backs were a lot wider than that of a horse, with a long, almost snake-like tail.

-What in the hell are those?

-I thought you said you were informed about everything. - said Abes, annoyed

-Well, apparently not. I knew there were problems with mounts but I did not expect that we were gonna ride on those monstrosities.

-I also didn't know about… this… - said the other guy, shaken - where did you even get those? I thought we were gonna ride horses...

-That is inconvenient - he said, scratching his chin. - Listen then.

He approached the beasts and said something towards them that I didn't catch.

On command, all three beasts… kneeled? No, not exactly. I couldn't believe my eyes, but their legs just unwrapped themselves, creating three vine-like tentacles each and spread, like an opening umbrella, making them lower completely to the ground.

-Those are borrowed from the King himself.

-What. Wait. Why? I heard there was even a problem getting regular horses, but those you got just like that? How does that work?

-I see you are not informed at all it seems. We have been given those only because they are important to our main objective at the camp. It is inconvenient that you are also included, but since you are a Red Mage, you are to be trusted.

-Wow - the other guy approached the creatures, clearly amazed and maybe even slightly frightened - I've never seen those… or even heard about those creatures… What are those exactly?

-Yeah, I am curious as well.

-No wonder. Apparently there are only a few around. To be honest I only learned about those about two weeks ago, when the mission was scheduled. I don’t even know if their species has a name.

-That is fascinating… - said Eicam, still inspecting the mounts from every possible angle that didn’t involve getting closer than a meter. - So why do we need them exactly?

-I am not sure. I am to inform our leader about them and he is supposed to know. We are just delivering them. I was going to go alone, but apparently now you two are going to go with me. Lucky you. You have some friends high up.

-Not really… It’s probably just Mr Bert. I only agreed because he paid a lot.

-Same here - I nodded - but you are right, that's probably Bert. But to think he managed to get in touch with someone that high up… - as I said that I remembered about Odar. - I guess that makes sense. So. How are we doing this? I’m not really sure how to approach this… animal? Creature? Monster?

-They are domesticated. From the time I spent with them they seem like they are pretty intelligent as well. Come. It’s fine. I only stopped you before because I am not sure how they would react to open fire. As even the domesticated animal could be unpredictable, and those… I am not sure exactly if I can call them animals…

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I approached the creatures and touched one that was the closest one to me.

The feeling was… odd. I was not sure what to expect but the creature’s skin was more like a bark than actual skin. It was rough and cold to the touch, just like you’d expect after a plant, not an animal. But it was definitely a living creature, I could feel the regular movement of its body, similar to that of breathing.

-If you don’t have any more questions, can we move out? I’d like to get on with it as soon as possible - asked Abes, getting onto one of the creature’s backs and gesturing for us to do the same.

-I always have questions but they can wait for now.

-Same. Let’s go.

Two of us went and followed his example and mounted our monsters. It was a lot easier than mounting an actual horse, probably because they were lowered to the ground and didn’t move. It was a bit unsettling at first, since it almost felt like we were just climbing on top of some sculptures. We looked at each other with a bit of confusion and curiosity.

-So… What now? - asked Eicam. - How do we… command them?

-Like so. Stand.

All three creatures suddenly spring to life. The legs that were just lying there on the ground spread like some scattered vines started moving and wrapping itselves back together, and pushed the creatures off the ground, like some sort of weird piston, or a tangled bunch of springs.

-As I said, they are smart. They understand simple commands like this, I don’t know their full range of abilities just yet, but you are in for a ride. Forward.

All three, responding to his command, started moving through the forest.

The ride was quite different from what I was used to. While a horseback is not exactly comfortable to ride on, even with a saddle, those creatures were even worse. Even though each of us had a lot more space than we would have while riding on a horse, it was like we were sitting on a plank of wood, and that would be even more comfortable because it would be at least a bit smoother. On top of that, add the weird way they moved, almost machine-like, without any natural spring in their step, which was surprising, since while looking at their legs I expected them to at least walk a bit more fluidly. The only good thing was that they were fast. Even though we were not traveling via roads, the creatures did not care, skilfully avoiding contact with all trees and stomping through everything like it was a flat road. Few times I even noticed that sometimes they didn’t even bother using the ground - when there were some worse patches of forest they just unwrapped their legs again and used them as some sort of hooks to pull themselves along the tree trunks. First time it caught me off guard and I thought that it was about to fall over and throw me off its back, but it just pulled itself up about two meters above the ground and above some large patch of bushes that we were trying to cross and started moving forward like nothing happened.

-Those mounts are great and all but I’d rather just walk… - I couldn’t help but say during one of those weird maneuvers.

The rest of the group seemed to share my thoughts, even Abes, but nevertheless he just gestured for me to be quiet, and immediately almost fell down off his mount, which slung itself past some creveace, or was it another patch of poison ivy? I was not sure, it was still dark.

When the creature finally decided to walk back on the ground he finally managed to reply.

-I know they can be a bit overwhelming, but it is the fastest way to get to our destination. How long did it take you last time? Like a few days?

-I think?

-Well it's gonna take us a few hours. We are almost there.

-If we used a regular horse and a road would probably take the same amount of time - I muttered under my breath.

-There were none in the whole city - said Eicam, breathing heavily.

He was taking this trip the worst of all of us, and I can’t blame him for that. While Abes looked fairly fit under his robes and looked used to this kind of travel, he wasn’t the thinnest person in the world. I only managed to hold on and endure this because I had the advantage of constant supply of energy from my crystal.

When the dawn started getting through the canopy, we finally reached the crossroads, so to speak. Abes stopped the mounts and jumped off. Me and Eicam followed suit, stretching our battered bodies after long hours of bumpy travel.

-We are almost there. The camp is maybe just a few minutes that way - he pointed somewhere behind him.

-Finally. You can go if you want, I am gonna rest here for a second and we will be on our way.

-You’re not coming?

-Am I supposed to? I don’t think I have, or want, to do anything with those, and especially with your leader.

-Hm. Well, suit yourself. As agreed I will take those beasts to our camp, and you can go on your way.

With that, he left us, leading the three creatures away, towards the camp.

-So, how long of a break do you need? - I asked my companion, who was now lying on the ground nearby, on a large patch of moss.

-Give me a minute, I can’t feel my everything right now - he groaned. - How can you be so relaxed after riding one for that long?

-Yeah, those things are something else… But make it quick, I don’t want to stay near here.

-Why? Something’s wrong? - he asked, rolling over on the side.

-I guess your leader is not the talking type… To put it short, we had… some disagreements.

-Really? He’s usually calm and easygoing.

-Well, he didn’t seem like this to me. Maybe I am not exactly a people person, but from the brief exchange we had… It would be better that I do not say anything more.

-Oh. Did he offend you in some way? - he looked at me concerned. - I am sure he did not mean it.

I laughed.

-And why are you defending him so much? I don't think that concerns you, well, at all pretty much.

-I am a member of Blue Mages. It’s just natural that I am loyal to my leader. I am sure he only means the best for us.

-Loyalty is one, blind faith is another. Doesn’t matter. I’m not holding a grudge, I just don’t want to stoke the fire that is still burning hot. Shall we go now?

-Ah, just a minute more…

Instead of wasting time I decided to check our inventory. I did not expect for this journey to be on foot, so I did not have any plans for this, nor resources really, but luckily my companions did. Eicam had a bunch of provisions - or rather mana fruit - on him from the start, and Abes, when left us with a small backpack that inside contained two large waterskins, that were apparently enchanted “to refill themselves every now and again” as he said, and some other basic supplies. During our break I checked what that actually meant, and it was apparently just a slowly acting frost spell. It constantly created frost crystals inside the waterskin, pulling moisture from the air. Pretty useful. All this while Eicam was still lying on the ground, trying to shake off the aftereffects of our mounts.

After what was definitely more than a minute, we started walking towards, what I assumed, was the direction where we hid the armor. I explained the route we took from the hiding spot to where now was the Blue Mages campsite and he said that we should be able to find it without much of an issue. I had no idea how, but I was gonna leave that for later. However, it was still pretty far off. And we were now traveling on foot.

The journey was pretty dull. At first, we were moving rather swiftly. Eicam was lively and even tried to strike a conversation about random topics. That’s when I learned that he was one of higher ranked Blue Mages, whatever that meant, on par with Abes, who apparently was his childhood friend. He kept rambling about his young years, when he was living in the capital and traveled around the area, exploring neighboring villages, or sometimes just wandering the surrounding forests. During one of those trips both of them got scouted by Harsh and promptly started learning from him. I tried asking him about his magic, but he never said anything specific, saying that he’s not that powerful and works as an “investigator” of sorts. Apparently he’s good at using magic sense and thanks to that he landed such a high rank.

As we were making our way through the forest he started talking less and less, and finally instead started complaining.

-Why do we have to go through all this on foot… - he moaned. - I swear Abes did that on purpose…

-I thought you had enough of those mounts for a lifetime after that short trip from the capital. Or at least that's how you looked lying face first in the grass.

He mumbled something under his breath in an answer that I didn’t hear.

I honestly can’t blame the guy. I expected us to ride closer, not just to their campsite, and definitely did not expect to be dumped just outside it without any guidelines. He did say that he can lead us easily there, but now I started worrying that it was just empty talk, and him getting angry did not help the situation.

-Say, how long is this supposed to take for us?

-With a mount? Less than a day. Without one? No idea.

-Hm. We are not in a hurry. Although I am not sure how we are supposed to carry all that scrap metal back to the capital…

-On our backs I guess… - he exclaimed dryly. - I don’t know if we have much of a choice.

-Riight…

The next part of the march we spent in silence. Complaining or not, he was indeed a skilled guide, and knew the place like the back of his hand, no wonder Bert hired him. Thanks to that we avoided most of the areas plagued by the mosquitoes and the trip was pretty smooth, albeit slow as hell.

The first day went by fast, but according to him we didn’t even get past the halfway point. We set up a small camp under some tree. It didn’t make any difference when we stopped or where, since everything in this forest looked the damn same. Eicam pulled out a small glowing crystal from his backpack, unwrapped his bedroll and looked at me expectantly.

-And you…?

-I don’t need a bedroll. - I said, sitting next to the crystal, leaning my back on the tree nearby. - You want to take the first watch?

-Watch? There is nothing in those forests that would attack us. I lived here for a while, you know, sometimes sleeping alone like this in the middle of the woods without any issue.

-Well, I don’t live here but I got attacked twice.

-That’s… I mean I know, but I still can’t believe it. Animals here just don’t attack people. They are so few and far in between that it would be a miracle to even find one.

-Who said anything about animals?

-Huh?

-What do you mean “huh?” Sure, maybe animals in those parts aren’t the issue, but that is not what I am worried about.

-Okay, but what else could we be attacked by? Bandits? Those woods are perfectly safe, the guard made sure that…

-Isn’t that obvious? I’m worried about monsters! Weren’t you with Harsh back then? Didn’t you hear the screams?

-Yes, but…

-So what animal did you think that was? A bear?

-I mean, maybe? There are some wild species out there, but to call it a monster…

-Well I am sorry that I hurt their feelings, but they seemed pretty monstrous to me. Doesn’t matter. Whatever that was, I don't want to get caught off guard by it ever again.

-Okay, okay, I get it. But didn’t you say you got rid of it? So…

-A few, yes, but I am sure there is more out there. I will take the first watch.

-If you insist… But I am sure you are overreacting…

-Why are you so easygoing? You don’t like your life or what?

-I’m sorry?

-Nothing. Go and sleep so we can move early tomorrow.

He nodded, and buried himself in his bedroll. For a while I was observing him tossing around, until he finally stopped moving and finally fell asleep.

Now used to my sleepless nights, I started watching the black sky, and the dark forest around us. The only visible light source was our glow crystal, lying on the ground between us.

I did expect for something to happen, thanks to my earlier experiences, but surprisingly no, it was completely quiet. No movement, no sounds, the peace of the forest only sometimes broken by a gust of wind. After, what I thought was, at least half of the night, I woke my companion. I felt a little bit bad, since he looked completely out of it when he poked his head out of the bedroll, especially since I was not gonna sleep anyway.

-Shift change. You’re up.

-Mghmm… one second…

It did take him more than ten minutes to actually wake up, but he finally did sit up and started his watch, sitting on his bedroll, looking somewhere into the darkness.

To keep up appearances, I laid down next to the crystal and turned my back to the glow, pretending that I’m going to sleep. He did not pay any attention to me, so I did not have to try hard to fake sleeping, I continued to keep watch and listened to the environment.

It did not even take half an hour for the silence to be broken. But not by some attack, or a wild animal. Nope, Eicam just started snoring.

I sighed and sat up. He was still sitting, although barely, leaning on some tree, with his mouth half open. For a second I wondered if I should wake him up, but decided not to. I was never gonna sleep anyway, so what’s the point? I stood up and instead decided to take a look around.

Sadly, there was nothing that would even remotely be different from all of those woods I’ve seen and traveled through. Only trees, bushes and sometimes grass, and definitely nothing that would tell me if we are close to our destination. There was also no sign of the road, although I was unsure if we were even supposed to be traveling via the road. Not like it would make any difference, since it was overgrown anyways. I did start to wonder how did he even know where we are, I never saw him use a map, or a compass even.

Back at the camp, he was still sleeping soundly. I used that occasion to take a look at the supplies we got from Abes. It was pretty dull, besides what he showed me, I did not find anything else that would help us travel through these woods. He either was keeping it on his person or he was just that sure of his own skills. I went back to my spot and back to pretending.

The morning came pretty fast. Eicam was still asleep, but I decided to stop pretending and stretch out a bit. Not much changed since the night. Luckily, no creature, or bandit, took any interest in the snoring that was heard loudly through the large part of the forest. I guess we walked far enough from the burned down tree and the swamp where I met the weird leech-monsters.

I waited for the sun to rise completely and then maybe even an hour after, hard to tell without a watch, but my companion was still sleeping.

-Wake up - I finally poked him in the arm - Hey, lazy ass!

-Arhh… Ah! Everything is fine! No attacks! I’m not sleeping!

-Come on, it’s morning. And you were sleeping.

-Oh. I’m…

-Next time if you can’t handle the watch, just say so… - I shook my head - You are lucky that I have a light sleep. And I guess we were in the peaceful part of those woods…

-How so? Last night you weren’t so sure - he started rubbing the remainders of the sleep from his eyes

-With your snoring? If there was someone or something here, it would’ve either attacked us already or ran away from that horrible noise.

-Sorry… Was it really that bad?

-Maybe.

It looked down at the ground, ashamed.

-Just do better next time. Now get up and let’s move.

This time we did not waste time on “cooking”, to the dismay of my companion. At first it seemed like he was about to complain, but he changed his mind almost immediately, maybe because he still felt bad about me taking most of his night watch.

When we started moving again, he asked about that.

-I am ashamed to ask, but when did I fall asleep? I don’t really remember the night very well…

-Like an hour later? It’s hard to keep track of time in this environment - I gestured towards the endless canopy of the trees above our heads.

-I don’t know what to say… I made you lose sleep too…

-That is the least of your concerns. I had enough sleep, thank you very much. Maybe not comfortable or very refreshing but it is good enough, considering the circumstances.

-How long did you sleep, actually? You said you heard me fall asleep that means it...

-As I said - I interrupted him - enough.

He did not look very convinced so I added:

-If you must know, I also used to travel a lot, and thanks to that I am used to sleeping with, let’s say, one eye open. Not literally of course - I stopped him, before he managed to interrupt me.

-I see…

I think he bought that explanation, because he stopped asking questions about that.

The whole day went pretty peacefully. Although this time, we were making a lot more stops on our way, we still made some progress towards our destination. Thanks to that, he was a bit more lively, chatting about random topics, or explaining some random plants we saw on our path. Not like I've been listening to him too much, instead I was focusing on the path we were taking.

It definitely looked like he was guiding us without using anything besides his own head. It was a bit unsettling, since even Bert had problems with that, thanks to the apparent rampant growth of the surrounding forest. I did ask him about it, but he just dismissed me.

-I lived in this forest for my whole life and it never changes - he admitted proudly. - There is no way I am gonna be lost here, ever, just wait and see!

-I somehow doubt that.

I swear, no one can think rationally in this world. Or, at least most of the people I’ve met.

During the night we camped in another, similar-looking part of the forest, and I slowly was regretting agreeing to this deal. I expected a quick trip and return, but this situation started looking worse and worse.

-If it goes like this for much longer I will have to argue for a raise… - I thought to myself, while observing Eicam ”taking a night watch” - or rather falling asleep ten minutes into his shift, even though I just told him to try and stay awake for a change.

I hoped that the night would be as peaceful as the last one, but to my dismay, it was not. The wind was howling, and I think for the first time I’ve been here, it started to rain.