Over the next week, Abad got to know the adventurers fairly well. They weren't strong per se, but they were competent, working with the rhythm and efficiency of veterans who knew each other inside and out. They also had good rapport, frequently laughing and joking together. They were stiff with Abad at first, but once they had spent several days with him, they acted like he had always been a part of the group.
They took shifts on watch at night, which Abad participated in once he had been able to recoup enough mana to defend himself properly. The watches were typically uneventful, though a loud crack of a branch in the distance did put him on alert one night. It sounded suspiciously similar to what he had heard back at the temple. While trees and branches falling wasn't uncommon in a forest, it still made him wary.
He tried to reach out with his senses a few times, but he never picked anything up. Still, he decided he would stay alert in case there truly was something out there.
He learned that the group had two others members as they traveled. Firtz' nephew, a cleric named Ulfgar, had stayed back to take care of the group's resident scoundrel, a half-elf bard named Enya, who had gotten injured on their last quest. Abad also learned that he was sweet on A-Nis, and despite her insistence that they weren't a thing and that he was mostly a pest that had decided to tag along with them a year before, Abad did catch her talking about him a little too frequently.
Likewise, he had noticed that Shani and Firtz were quite close. Shani was a few years younger than A-Nis and hadn't joined with her sister and the dwarf until five years before. She had been determined to complete her apprenticeship with a renowned sword master in the north before leaving to become an adventurer. Since then, he learned she had been indispensable to the group's operations.
It wasn't unheard of for races to intermingle, and age gaps were complicated with races that lived for centuries, and elves were known for their strong emotional connections. Seeing the two's seamless dynamic, Abad decided to her ask about it. "So, you and Firtz?" He left the question unsaid.
"Yeah?" She didn't catch his meaning.
You two seem pretty friendly." Their feet stomped along the old, ill-kept dirt road they had found the day before. He feet stopped for a moment when she finally realized what he meant.
"Gods, no!" The girl snorted, slapping her gauntleted hand against Abad's forearm. She did that a lot, and she was almost as strong as Firtz. He had definitely developed a bruise under his shirt. "We've just adventured together for years now." She laughed, then leaned into him and whispered. "Plus, you know. He's a dwarf. Not exactly my type. The smell and all." She lifted her fingers to her nose and pretended to gag.
"Your string bean body has the appeal of oatmeal anyways!" the Dwarf shot back, his hearing much better than he let on. "No, lad. I've got a real woman back home in the hold."
"Yeah, a real woman you haven't gone home to in two years." A-Nis chided him.
"Ah, that. See, we both like our space. When you reach two-hundred years together, you need breaks every once in a while. That way, when you see them again, you can lock yourselves away for a week or three and make up for lost time." A huge smile crossed his face, his blue eyes twinkling with excitement. "Can't wait."
"Ugh, spare me the details!" Shani cried out, stomping ahead. The dwarf laughed heartily as he followed her. A-Nis smiled and shook her head as she dropped back to bring up the rear.
***
As they traveled, the group probed Abad about the past. In return for being helped out of the dense forest (he really wouldn't have been able to find his way out), he answered their questions as best he could.
Yes, the Dark One had actually existed. Yes, the thirteen were as bad as they said. Yes, there used to be ten kingdoms (there were apparently seven nations now). Yes, Yslene was real too, though Abad was surprised to hear she hadn't had followers since the end of the last age. Apparently, the last of the moon elves all walked outside of the Great Walls and were never seen again.
No, the Shadowspawn of his time didn't eat babies. No, the humans hadn't always been on Reial as they now claimed. Yes, the Great Hero existed and was as incredible as they claimed. Abad frowned at the last one, but Shani beamed. The Great Hero was her personal hero. Her faced flashed in his mind. And her damn holy sword sticking out of his chest.
In turn, Abad asked them more questions about the present. In doing so, he came to learn how much of the past was forgotten in this age. Some things, such as the Divine Hammer of Shen or the Library of Xosh, were still common knowledge, while the Night of Red Flames and the Dragon Emperor of the Frostfell Mountains had faded from collective memory completely. He had tried to explain that the latter was even the big threat several hundred years before the Dark One, but the trio said he couldn't have been that bad if he wasn't remembered anymore.
Luckily for the world, they told him that the dragons had nearly disappeared not too long after the War of Shadows had ended. There were still rumors about them from time to time, but there were few credible sightings and even fewer direct interactions.
In all their talk, however, more than anything, he felt out of time. There were so many little comments and phrases he didn't understand. He tried to follow, but the people and places and things they spoke about so casually were largely foreign to him. He was learning, but it felt isolating. And he had never felt isolated before. At least not since he was very young.
It didn't feel great.
It was also odd to see the stars shining down upon the world each night. Being locked in his coffin for so long, he had grown accustomed to the soft glow of the seals he had carved into its lid. Seeing the darkness between the stars reminded him of the vastness of everything and his own place within it. Perhaps he was merely a speck before, but he had always felt like so much more. Today, in this moment, in this time, he wasn't so sure.
He thought on this many times as they walked up the endless dirt road, but no great conclusions came to him.
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***
The smell hit them first.
It was noon on the eighth day, and they had just sat down for lunch when the wind changed.
"It smells like death," Shani whispered. She looked green. She explained days before that, while she liked to fight, she hated the death that followed.
"That's because it is." A-Nis was already up and had her bow in hand.
"That's a person's guts." Firtz stood, putting his bowl of food down on a nearby log. His hand reached for his axe.
Abad stood with them. It was certainly death, and fairly fresh by the smell of it. He reached out with his senses. It was vague, but there was death some ways up the road. But there was something else too. Something... Something else was moving about. Its essence was thick, but obscured. "There's something out there. It's decently powerful. Keep your eyes peeled."
The others had grown used to Abad using his magecraft and elven senses to sense things. The girls could do it some, but his abilities were far more attuned than theirs. They simply scanned the forest, looking for threats. None presented themselves.
The four of them put their packs together at the side of the road, continuing to search the forest for movement as they did. There was nothing. However, the birds stopped chirping as the seconds ticked by, and a dreadful stillness settled around them. Shani adjusted the straps of her breastplate with one hand. Her mail rattled loudly in the deafening quiet.
"Can you tell where it is?" A-Nis had knocked an arrow to her string.
"No idea. Whatever it is, it can cloak its presence. I can barely detect it."
"Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all..." Firtz grumbled.
"Something is on the side of the road." A-Nis hissed. She drew her bow, her fist drawn to her ear, then let an arrow fly, which disappeared into the brush.
Abad could see it for an instant before whatever it was darted back into the brush. It was large and seemed to run on all fours. A branch cracked in the direction it had disappeared. A-Nis let loose another arrow, but there was no indication it hit anything.
"We should move." Firtz suggested. The others agreed and gathered up their gear, emptying their plates and shoving them into their bags. "Goddess protect us," the dwarf said.
[Bless]
Abad felt the uncomfortable light of the Goddess descend upon them. The others perked up, seeming more energized than before. He replicated the movement despite not feeling the benefits nearly as acutely. He felt stronger, but it made him feel queasy.
The party walked up the road, each of them scanning the forest in whichever direction they were facing. They were on a gentle incline, so whatever was ahead was obscured by the ground. Once they reached the top, however, they could see something in the distance. Without the earth blocking it, the stench fell on them twice as hard.
They pressed on, and as they got closer, they could make out what it was. A pair of overturned wagons lay on the road, their wheels shattered and their cloth covers torn. All around them were bodies. Blood was everywhere.
"Gods." Firtz muttered.
As they drew closer, they could see the carnage more clearly. Each body had been brutalized, and many had their limbs torn off. Despite their pitiful state, it couldn't have been long since they had been killed. A day or two at the most based on the condition of their bodies.
"I don't know what could have done this. There aren't many monsters in this region." A-Nis covered her nose with her shawl as she spoke.
"Looks like it was an escort of some kind." Abad pointed out several mail-covered corpses scattered among the corpses. "They didn't stand a chance." Abad stretched his senses out, but whatever was out in the forest was distant now.
"We need to look for survivors. See what you can find, boys. A-Nis and I will keep watch." Shani commanded the men, waving them towards the carnage. Not willing to argue, Abad walked forward, undeterred by the death.
Stopping at the nearest body, Abad inspected it. It was a human man, maybe middle aged. His breastplate had been ripped open, and his guts had been pulled out. Half his face was eaten, and he was missing both legs, obvious bite marks showing they had been eaten off. From the look of the bites, each was torn free in one bite.
Abad inspected the bodies one after the other on the left side of the road while Firtz did the same on the right. Each was in a similar or worse condition. None had wounds that would have marked a battle among humans or the like.
No. It had been a slaughter.
Several heads were torn off or missing, and most of the bodies were half-eaten. Nearly all of them were missing limbs. A couple bloodstains on the edge of the road suggested some had been eaten completely.
Inspecting one of the stains, he found a book in the gore, a woman's hand still clutching it tightly. He reached down and picked the book up, pried the hand off, and flipped open the pages. Many of the pages were staindd with blood, but some were still legible. He smiled to himself when he realized what it was. It was a spellbook. It's pages were worn with use, and many of them were dogeared and tattered, but it was in decent condition. He flipped through, getting a sense of what it contained and the power of its previous owner. As he did, his scroll unfurled. He willed it to move into his mind's eye. He didn't want to risk the others seeing what he actually was.
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[Traveler's Spellbook] (Average): A simple spellbook of middling quality. It has a strap, allowing the wielder to carry it with ease.
1st Circle Spells
[Arcane Light]: A simple spell to conjure a glowing orb, illuminating dark paths for a limited duration.
[Stone Shield]: Summons a small barrier of stone in front of the caster, offering brief protection from minor attacks.
[Ember]: Launches a small flame projectile toward an enemy, enough to cause minor burns or ignite flammable objects.
[Swift Step]: Temporarily enhances the caster's speed, useful for quick escapes or covering short distances faster.
2nd Circle Spells
[Mirror Image]: Creates a several illusionary duplicates of the caster.
[Gust]: Summons a controlled burst of wind, useful for pushing back enemies or clearing light obstacles.
[Arcane Bolt]: Fires a bolt of magical force, dealing moderate damage to enemies.
3rd Circle Spell
[Flaming Sphere]: Conjures a medium-sized rolling sphere of fire that the caster can control for a limited time, dealing significant burn damage to anything in its path.
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He spent some time flipping through the pages. He had known most of these spells in the past, had recorded them in his old spellbook. The good one. Some were somewhat useful to him while others, like the light spell, were only used by the races that lacked darkvision. It was fine, though. Having more spells would be useful. And, the book had a strap, so he wouldn't have to fiddle with it as he walked.
Closing the book, he slung it over his shoulder and continued his grizzly work. After some time, he finished inspecting the bodies on his side of the road and leaned against a nearby tree to think. There were only a few creatures that ate flesh in this way and left this much carnage behind when they did.
An ogre was his first thought, but that didn't feel right. Ogres didn't sneak around like what he had seen and felt earlier, and they didn't usually live in forests. They generally stayed in remote areas that had little activity and big game, like badlands or mountains.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard something behind him. Casting his senses toward the wagons, he couldn't feel anything inside. However, there was definitely a noise coming from the wagon. Abad cursed himself. He should have been more careful!
"Hiding, are you? Come out and play, little monster." Firtz raised his axe and approached the wagon cautiously. The girls moved, closing in on the wagon on either side. Kneeling down, he pushed the tattered cloth of the wagon top aside and darted inside.
Then there was screaming. It was high pitched. There was a scuffle, more screams, then Firtz reappeared, dragging something behind him.