-Two Days Later-
"Rise and shine! You guys sorted out for the ride?" Came Theo’s voice as she knocked on the door. Noticing it was slightly ajar, opened it fully, coming upon the scene of Minoru and the others all finishing up their packing, the three of them looking up at her as she crouched down into view from the doorway.
“All packed and ready to go!” Petra called back. “You come to see us off? Aw, you’re gonna miss us, aren’t you, Theo?” She joked.
“Miss you guys? No way.” Theo shot back. “I just wanted to make sure you were all sorted so you could leave sooner.” She shot back, grinning as she gave a light snicker. “Really though, you guys stay safe, yeah? Roads have been getting pretty dangerous lately, after all.”
“Don’t worry, Theo, we’ll be fine! The caravan’s got guards of its own, not to mention we’re working to help with that.” Petra explained. “We’ve got more than enough manpower to fight off any monsters that try to mess with us along the way.” She declared, pumping one of her fists confidently.
“Well, in that case I sure hope you all end up making it big in Camelot. Don’t go dying somewhere in the wilderness on your way there, now.” She teased.
“We’ll be fine, really!” Minoru shot back with a chuckle. “Come on, have a little faith in us, would you?”
“I do, I do!” She chuckled, waving off his words. “Anyways. You guys should get going soon. Caravan’s gonna be leaving in thirty minutes, right?”
“Thirty minutes!?” Petra yelled back in clear shock, grabbing her bags and shooting straight up. “I’ll head over there now and save you guys seats, but you better hurry!” She declared to Minoru and Milo before sprinting out the door, Theo needing to step to the side to dodge her as she did so. Milo sighed exasperatedly and Minoru shrugged back to Theo as she looked back at them.
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“There you guys are! Seriously, you guys cut it way too close!” Petra reprimanded Minoru and Milo as they stepped onto their ride. The caravan took the form of a large line of carriages, although Minoru noted a distinct lack of horses on any of them. With a single door at the front, behind the driver, of each carriage, they were elevated a few feet above the ground, and the inside was rimmed with a ring of padded wood, acting as seats for all the passengers. There was a top level as well, with a twisting staircase neighboring the entrance that led up to it.
“We cut it too close? Petra, you were the one who completely forgot the time, you only remembered thanks to Theo!” Milo protested as he handed his bag to Minoru, who lifted it above his head. Above the seats was a small area for passengers to stow away any belongings, which Minoru did for himself and Milo’s bags before sitting down– one leg crossed over the other– across from the two, who sat with a bit of distance between each other. Minoru looked around the carriage interior, noting a distinct lack of passengers in this particular car aside from them, although the others had substantially more people. All in all, there were four carriages in total, all lined up and facing towards the exit gate of the city, with theirs sitting at the back of the line.
“Hmph! You should be thanking me for getting here early so I could save you two seats!”
“Honestly, you’re such a kid…” Milo groaned.
“Hey, uhm…” Minoru spoke up, grabbing the others’ attention. “I get that we’re traveling in a sort of caravan but… where are the horses?” He asked, unsurely, to which he got a small moment of silence before Petra and Milo chuckled lightly together. “W-What!? Did I say something funny?”
“N-No, no, nothing like that!” Petra reassured him, still laughing. “It’s just, we never explained this to you, did we?”
“Explain what?” Minoru asked, completely and utterly confused.
“Just wait a bit, you’ll see once we start moving.” She reassured him, to which Minoru could only wonder ‘How are we even going to move?’ before setting the thought aside.
“So how long is this trip gonna take again?”
“A little over two weeks to get to Harnewentia, but we’re gonna be making stops along the way.”
The trip, as explained by the two, was meant to take them from Bolia to the capital of the Draetan Kingdom, a city which shared its name with the kingdom, from which they were going to then board another caravan to head to the capital of the neighboring Harnewentia, Ludmilia. As they explained, Harnewentia’s capital sat upon a leyline spout, and with that huge, endless stream of pure mana, there was a ‘skipper’ system with which they could essentially teleport all the way to Camelot, covering over half of the eastern Villesian island. Minoru was still a bit skeptical if this was actually true, but he decided to put faith in the knowledge of people who had actually lived in this world.
“So where are we going to be stopping?”
“Oh, there’s a few villages and smaller cities on the way. Here in Bolia is one end of the route for this caravan, so it ends up picking up a few people on the way.”
“So this car’ll fill out and it won’t be just us in here, yeah?”
“Maybe! Although we’re in the back here so we can guard this end. We were hired just for that, y’know?” Petra explained.
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“Still, we have lots of room in here to ourselves, we can even go up to the second level if we want!” She smiled, leaning back against her seat with her arms raised up and resting behind her head, before beginning to talk a bit softer. “Just between you and me, whenever I travel like this, I take on these guard duty jobs just for the extra privacy. It’s one of the perks of being a voyager~!” She snickered.
“Do these caravans get attacked very often?” Minoru asked in a somewhat worried tone. “Seems a bit risky with how they need to outsource guard duty to voyagers.”
“Eh, no not really, but the businesses running these caravan routes don’t like paying the premium for stuff like knights or castle guards. They’ll hire a couple who’ll work full-time and then fill out the rest of the spots with voyagers.”
“So even businesses in this world like to skimp out in order to save money…” Minoru lamented prompting a chuckle from the other two.
The three talked amongst themselves back and forth for a few minutes until a loud voice called back from the front of the caravan. “The caravan is now departing! Make sure you’re secure in your seats as we leave!” Called the man at the front of the line of carriages.
Minoru shifted in his seat, still curious and eager to see how these things would get moving. In a few moments, he felt a low rumbling from underneath his seat, lightly shaking the entire vehicle as a whirring sound could be heard from below.
“Wait… don’t tell me…” He said to himself, moving to the back of the carriage, when the rumble was at its greatest, opening up the window at the back and looking over the back end. From above, he could make out the shape of four black, roughly cylindrical shapes, two large and two smaller, a bit more towards the center of the carriage. Along their sides, he could make out glowing blue lights, and after a few moments he saw a line of three floating magic sigils form in front of each one. As the carriages ahead began moving, his did as well, visible distortion in the air around said sigils as it began rolling along the ground.
“Well? Whaddya think? Pretty amazing right?” Petra asked.
“I’m surprised there’s engines like this in this world too…”
“Wait… don’t tell me the guys in your world have stuff like this too!?”
“Well… yeah. Lots of people own these personal vehicles, they move thanks to engines like this. Although they run on something else than… magic, I’m assuming.”
Petra just gave a defeated look. “Aw… I thought you were gonna be all excited and surprised…” She muttered out, her ears drooping to the side.
“A-Ah… I-I mean, it’s still surprising, it’s just…” He stammered out, trying to think of a way to cheer her up. Looking at Milo, all he got in return was a little shake of the halfling’s head, to which Minoru sighed, returning to his seat.
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A few hours had passed, and the city was out of view now, the caravan surrounded on all sides by nothing except the rural landscapes of Bolia as they traveled north, plains and trees as far as the eye could see, with a long range of mountains off to the west. Milo was currently asleep, having not gotten much sleep as a result of having to wake up so early to make it to the caravan.
Minoru had one book open in his hand, holding up a pen Milo had lent him, while there was another one open on the seat next to him, Milo’s own spellbook. He was currently transcribing the spells from Milo’s book into the other, whose pages were blank. Milo recommended this on account of spells being a taxing thing to remember as a beginner spellcaster. Currently, Minoru was writing down the names of various spells he had either been taught or informed about by Milo, as well as small pictures alongside each name as a sort of reference point on what they did.
“Workin’ hard?” Came Petra’s voice as she scooted in from the other side, bumping up against Minoru, making him jump slightly.
“Ah… yeah…” He uttered, nodding lightly as he set the books aside, facing Petra as she smiled at him. “It’s all a bit much, to be honest, but I need to get used to using magic if I want to be a voyager and… well, do my whole journey in the first place, I guess…”
Petra observed his expression solemnly. “Do you miss your home, Minoru?”
“Well, Villesia is really interesting, and I’m glad to have met you and Milo… but yeah… I miss home. I… I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Dad. I hope he’s okay. Him and the cops are probably out searching for me now and it’s… it’s hard, you know? Thinking about how he’s probably spending so much time looking for me. I wish I could’ve somehow told him what happened.” He rattled off. “I’m trying to keep my mind off of it but… it’s a little difficult.”
Petra placed one of her hands on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him. “I can imagine. But hey, we’ll find out how to get you back home, I’m sure!” She reassured him.
“Yeah… I don’t know, it’s just… it’s really difficult. He’s the only family I have, you know?”
“You don’t have anyone else?”
Minoru shook his head. “No… Mom died when I was a kid, so it’s just been us since then.”
“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry…”
“No, no it’s okay. It’s been a long time since then, so… I guess I’ve gotten used to thinking about it.”
“Gotten used to it?”
“I-I don’t know… it’s more like… I’ve thought enough about it? Sorry, I’m not good at talking about these kinds of things.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not good at it either.” She reassured him, taking in a deep breath before sighing. “I know how it feels, actually. It’s the whole reason I got into voyaging in the first place.”
“You mean…?”
“Yeah… both of my parents died when I was little. Milo’s parents went ahead and took me in, but I was dead set on becoming a voyager afterwards.”
“Why’s that?”
“Oh… I don’t know, really. Maybe I just wanted something to think about other than them? I haven’t really figured it out myself yet, to be honest, eheh…” She chuckled lightly, rubbing her head sheepishly. “They’re the ones who got me interested in adventuring in the first place, telling me all these stories and letting me talk to the voyagers that came waltzing in to buy their weapons… they were smiths, you know, did I ever tell you that?”
“Yeah, a little bit ago, I think.”
“Mmh… so… I guess voyaging is my way of thanking them? For getting me interested in all that stuff, I mean. They encouraged it when I said I wanted to go to that knight academy in Camelot. So… maybe I’m doing this to remember them by?”
“That makes sense…” Minoru mused.
“Sorry! I started rambling there, and right after you told me about your mom, too… I didn’t mean to go off like that.”
Minoru just smiled slightly. “No, really, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“Well, okay then…” Petra trailed off for a moment. “I told you all that because, well… I wanted you to know where I was coming from when I said I’d help you find a way back home… When you told us that you were separated from your dad I thought ‘We can’t have that, family should never be separated, we need to get him home as soon as possible!’ …Milo had to tell me to rein it in a little, actually.” She said sheepishly, prompting a small chuckle from Minoru. “He wants to get you home just as much as I do, even though he doesn’t show it very much…” Glancing over at Milo, who was still fast asleep.
“Well, thanks. It means a lot. I’m not sure how this whole thing’s gonna pan out, but… I’m really thankful to have you guys along with me.”
“Of course!” Petra replied with a toothy grin. “We’ll cut through whoever stands in our way!”
Minoru chuckled. “I don’t think we’ll need to go that far. It’s not like we have any enemies.”
“You never know! One of us could encounter our greatest rival tomorrow for all we know! And then, we’d need to go on a whole quest to defeat them, ending off with a dramatic battle in a field of white flowers!”
“You have a very vivid imagination for these sorts of things, huh?”
“What? It’s just how these things go!”
“Well… I was going to be sarcastic, but actually I could definitely see something like that happening in this world.”
“Y’see? You get it!”
The two joked back and forth as the caravan marched on, the scenery passing them by as the journey continued on.
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The cool wind blowing past him, causing his hair to blow around in the breeze, Minoru sat at the top of the carriage as it continued along. Night had fallen, yet contrary to Minoru’s initial beliefs, there wasn’t a stop to be made. The caravan had quieted down quite a bit, as more passengers had fallen asleep, and yet Minoru was more than a bit restless. Petra and Milo were both asleep now, and it was too dark to continue transcribing spells into his own book, so he got up, bidding the driver a good evening as he exited the car, and made his way up the staircase to sit on the top level.
The sky had a particular wonder about it at night in Villesia. Not only could Minoru see stars extremely clearly for miles and miles, he could look around and see streaks of turquoise weaving about the sky. Milo had explained that these were minor leylines, paths that mana naturally took as it broke off from the larger ley lines around the world. Wandering, the mana would be faintly visible against the night sky, as it curled and twisted around the air, looking for a way back to the leylines they were separated from.
He let out a small sigh, his breath faintly visible, dancing around like the mana in the sky did. Pondering to himself, he wondered about the world he was in now.
“I can’t deny the fact that there’s multiple worlds now… the similarities between Gaia and stories from Earth are too great… there’s no way this could simply be an alien planet, or something… maybe it’s still possible, but as it is now, I can’t see it being anything other than an entirely different universe. Maybe I’m jumping the gun? I don’t know what to think anymore… What purpose could there have been to me being pulled here? Surely it wasn’t random, right? Maybe Hana and I were randomly chosen, but it couldn’t have been a coincidence that the summoning ritual targeted Earth. Are Gaia and Earth connected somehow? ‘Gaia’ is the name of a goddess of the earth, after all…” He thought to himself, wracking his brain as he tried to unpack his unbelievable situation. “What exactly is Gaia? What is this world…?” He asked, although he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. “Maybe Gaia is just the name given to this world and its goddess? No, that’d be too coincidental… But, it seems impossible for it to be connected to the greek Gaia, with this world being completely separate. And there’s no way this is some kind of past Earth, either… Damn it… I’m really getting nowhere fast thinking so much about this!”
He leaned back against the seat as he sat on the floor, letting his head fall back as he looked up into the starry sky. Maybe he was searching for meaning where there wasn’t any, but he didn’t want to believe in such a nihilistic notion. He had been utterly fascinated by this world ever since he came to it, and he wanted to know what the purpose of him coming here was. He wanted to tear down this world’s mysteries, lay them bare for him to finally see, to make sense of everything.
“Gaia… I hope I can understand you, someday.” He muttered to himself as he continued to look up into the sky and the stars, clouds, and mana passing overhead.
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-The Next Day-
“Minoru… Mi-no-ru!” Petra called out as she snapped her fingers in front of Minoru’s sleeping face, eventually waking him up, with him having fallen asleep on the second level of the carriage.
“Mnh– Ah… huh…?”
“Wake up! We’re almost at our first stop!” She said, louder this time, finally stirring Minoru fully.
Yawning heavily, he stood up and followed Petra back down to the main level of the carriage, entering back into it and finding Milo, also awake, stretching as he stood on his seat. “Ah, hey, finally decided to wake him up, huh?” He asked Petra.
“How long did I sleep for…?” Minoru asked, rubbing his neck which felt sore and stiff from the rough surface he ended up sleeping on.
“It’s still pretty early in the morning, don’t worry too much about it.” Milo reassured him, getting another yawn from Minoru.
“Mnh… I really hope I can lie down in something more comfortable at this stop.” He commented.
“Mmh, might have to hold out a bit longer for that, we’re just supposed to be picking up some people at this village, we’re not gonna be staying here for very long.” Petra explained, getting a little noise of acknowledgement from Minoru.
“Can’t say I’m entirely surprised about that.”
“Don’t worry, we’re stopping at a bigger village to refuel after this, we’ll be able to kick back for a while then.”
“Thank god.”
As the caravan approached the village, Petra’s ears twitched and perked up as she looked over to the cars further ahead.
“Something up?” Milo asked.
“Dunno… I’m hearing some stuff from the other cars, but I’m not sure what it is… People sound worried, though.”
Just as she uttered those words, the door to the front of the carriage opened, with the driver peeking in. “Hey, something’s come up, they want you three to join the guards at the front.” He called in, prompting the three to make their exit, just as the caravan seemed to begin to slow down before coming to a complete stop.
“What’s going on?” Petra asked, to which the driver only shrugged.
“No clue, apparently something’s up at the village, no idea what though.” He replied nonchalantly as the three departed from the carriage, walking up to meet with the guards and conductor at the front.
“You guys needed us?” Minoru asked, granting them a glance from the conductor.
“Yes, thank ya’ for showin’ up so quick. Somethin’s wrong with the village up ahead. Lookit the houses.” He instructed, handing a handheld telescope to Petra, who quickly held it up to her eye, looking at the village on the horizon.
The group turned their attention to the village on the horizon as Petra looked forwards, before she reacted with a contemplative sigh. “What the hell happened over there…?” She asked herself.
“What do you see?” Minoru asked, before she handed the telescope to him. Following her motions, he looked through towards the village.
It wasn’t hard to make out exactly what was wrong. The first building that Minoru saw was in a state of severe disrepair, it almost looked abandoned. “What…?” He continued to look through the rest of the village seeing only ruined or destroyed buildings, and not a single person in sight. “What happened there?”
The conductor shrugged. “No clue, we might be the first people to come here since… Whatever caused this happened. No word about a ruined or abandoned village on this route, either. That’s why I want you three to go and check the place out.”
“Why just us?” Minoru asked, handing the telescope back to him.
“Well we need some people to protect the passengers, and my guards are fit to do just that. Y’all are voyagers, right? You should be plenty equipped to do some reconnaissance.”
“Pawning off the dirty work on us, huh?” Milo commented.
“I ain’t payin’ you three to make snide comments.”
“Milo…” Minoru commented to the halfling. “We’ll go ahead and look around.” He confirmed, the conductor just giving a gruff huff in response, the three heading forwards on foot afterwards.
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Coming upon the hill which the village sat on, the true state of everything was much clearer this close up. The buildings weren’t merely dilapidated, many of them were almost totally destroyed. Broad, gaping holes seemingly punched through them, debris was even still falling from some, giving the group a startling crashing sound as wooden planks fell.
“What the hell happened here…?” Minoru commented.
“This all looks recent, none of the wood from these houses has decayed any, these buildings look recently lived in, too.” Milo mused. Glancing over to Petra, standing a few feet away from the group, he found her with her head hung low, frozen as she stared at the ground. “Petra? Petraaa? You find– Oh…” He began, before cutting himself off as he got closer and looked to where she was. A few feet away, sticking out from a pile of rubble from the nearby building, was a hand, blood splattered out from underneath the rubble.
Petra let out a sigh, her shoulders slumped and her ears folded back on her head before finally pulling her head up, walking away solemnly from the scene. “Fuck…” She cursed under her breath, biting her lip in frustration.
“Is Petra okay…?” Minoru asked quietly.
“Stuff like this… it’s a sore spot for her. It’ll be best to let her calm down on her own.” Milo explained.
“Oh… I see. Should we look through the rest of the village in the meantime?” He asked, to which Milo nodded, the two taking their own path as they searched through the ruined town.
Sword drawn, Petra stepped quietly through the ruined village road. She kept looking back and forth from building to building. Some looked utterly destroyed by an impact, others were charred to a catastrophic degree, blackened and coated in soot. There was no indication of what could’ve transpired here, and it made Petra’s blood boil all the more for it. Corpses continued to line the destroyed village as she moved, making her sick. The body of a woman missing her head, a man with his entire front side cut open, a smear of red splattered across the wall of a still standing building, as if that was all that was left of the original person.
It was all starting to be a bit too much, and yet she soldiered on. Almost in a trance, she continued walking, regardless of what it was she saw as she did so. Her breathing was becoming heavy and labored as she clutched her chest, her heart beating at an unbelievable rate as she walked through, looking upon more and more scenes of carnage, of death and destruction, of lives cut short by an unknown force.
And then she stopped when she felt something underneath her boot, something softer than the ground around it.
Pulling her foot away and looking down, she found a dirty, slightly torn doll, a facsimile of a little girl.
And a few feet away, slightly buried in dirt, was a small, severed arm, like that of a child.
Petra’s eyes opened wide, her tail bristled as she almost instinctively fell to her knees and she reached for the small, open hand.
“Save yourself, please… don’t die here… run far, far away, don’t stop running until you’re safe… please…
Run, Petra…”
Memories replayed in her head, jumbled and without any sensible connection, as her breath quickened, sweat dripping down her head coldly. Her fingers just about brushed up against those of the child’s hand.
Petra’s ears perked up as a creaking sound, loud in the deafening silence of the village, cracked through the air from her side. Strange scuttling noises and clacking could be heard from the ruins of a destroyed building. Slowly, Petra pulled her hand back, shakily standing up, trying her damndest to quiet her breathing, but her heart beat like a jackhammer, her tail bristling uncontrollably. With her ears standing to attention, she brandished her sword, pointing it at the direction of the noise, digging her heels into the ground.
Her hands shook, and she took one off the handle of her blade to grip her wrist, trying to steady herself, with little effect.
Slowly, an appendage came into view. Spindly and fleshy pink in coloration, yet looking rigid and solid, four digits branched out from the end, pulling whatever it was attached to forward as it stepped into view. Gross, sickly slurping sounds could be heard, until eventually it came into view. Its head was roughly oblong in shape, and adorning all around it were four large, yellow, bloodshot eyes that seemed to jitter around. Extending from the front was a tubelike proboscis that flared out at the end, giving the thing’s head an overall shape similar to that of a vase. At the end, wriggling out from its mouth, was a dense collection of tendrils, rough and leathery in texture.
Wrapped up in those tendrils, staring back at Petra with a horrified, dead expression, was the severed head of a woman, bits of her spine still hanging from her neck. Its head seemed to distend and warp as its mouth opened wide before its tendrils lifted the head and brought it into the creature’s mouth, where it was instantly swallowed, disappearing from view.
Petra’s resolve faltered and her legs felt weak under her own weight, almost buckling as she laid eyes on the creature. Not only was its very appearance alien and simply wrong, she felt her spine chill and her instincts screaming at her for one very simple reason.
She recognized this thing.
Its movements froze as its many eyes locked onto her, staring and boring deep into her, like there was a hole being carved out of her stomach. It watched her, studying her every move, and every second that passed it felt as though Petra’s senses were weakening, as if just staring at the thing for too long was making her mind crumble. Everything felt wrong, and her head throbbed painfully, her heartbeat almost deafening as she focused on the creature before her.
Slowly, it crawled out from behind the ruins of the house and faced her. Its body, adorned with six, double-jointed legs, was freakishly large. Despite its small, misshapen head, its body was bulky, with a cylindrical thorax lined with spikes along its carapace, and an abdomen that was taller than the rest of it, striped, with sections that were apparently see-through, glowing a sickly, puslike yellow from whatever fluid was contained within.
Petra could make out the silhouette of various human body parts within its abdomen, only for those silhouettes to quickly disappear, seemingly dissolving into nothing.
Petra stepped back, and in an instant, the creature began rushing towards her, causing her to yelp as two of its mouth tendrils seemed to almost extend out towards her, stretching as they tried to pierce her. Stumbling a little, Petra dodged out of the way, swinging her sword upwards as she did so, the blade striking the tendrils, but doing little besides scratching one. Their flesh was tough and leathery, and it did not yield easily to her blade.
Her instincts taking over, Petra began running closer. The creature’s eyes watched her, and it whipped its head to the side, extending its tendrils out to drag them across the ground, attempting to strike at her feet. Leaping over them, Petra’s sword rose above her head as she prepared to bring it down upon her landing, only for one of its tendrils to break away from the cluster and swipe at her, slamming into her stomach and wrapping around her, swinging her through the air before she was tossed like a stone, barreling straight into the wall of a nearby building, the wood splintering and denting from her impact.
Scuttling towards her, it closed the distance fast as she grit her teeth and grunted, shakily lifting herself off the ground. Shooting out its tentacles once more, she managed to swing her sword to deflect them, the metal clanging against its rough skin as she stood up once again. Retracting its tendrils, the creature reared up on its two backmost legs and swung its abdomen, such that it seemed to point towards her.
Her ears flattening against her head, Petra kicked off the ground and jumped out of the way, just as a caustic spray of yellow fluid rocketed from its abdomen like a hose, steam rising out from it as it sprayed. The sizzling liquid splattered against the wall of the house, and instantly it seemed to begin to decay, the wood rotting and practically melting apart as the fluid ate through it without any difficulty.
“Shit…!” Petra exclaimed as the creature attempted to turn towards her and fire the liquid again. Green lines spread across her arm as she wielded her sword, and the blade began glowing white hot. Blooming from the metal like a plume of flowers, flames erupted forth as Petra poured her mana into her sword, blasting a torrent of fire forwards. Righting itself, the creature quickly scuttled to the side, beginning to circle around Petra, who whipped her blade to track and follow its movements, continuing to pour her mana into the stream of flames erupting from her sword.
Crawling up the side of a building, the creature scuttled along the wood, Petra’s magic leaving behind charred, burned markings across the side of the house, embers smoldering amidst the charred wood as she attempted to rend the alien beast from the world. Gritting her teeth, she pulled back the flames, imbuing her blade with them once more as she ran forwards. Pulling its head back, its tendrils once again sped through the air, attempting to stab into her. Swinging in a wide arc, Petra slashed her burning blade through the appendages, the flames searing right through their flesh, ripping them apart as they landed on the ground, wriggling and writhing as the last signs of life vanished from them.
Continuing her pursuit, Petra followed, dashing after it. As she rounded the corner it scuttled behind, she raised her sword behind her head. As soon as it came into view, its head turning to look back at her, her brow furrowed in a sort of primal fury as she brought the sword down towards it, letting out a rough, heavy “GGRRRAAAAHH–!!” as she did so. In a flash, the creature became a streak of pink as it slammed its abdomen against the ground, using the force to propel itself away. It landed multiple feet away, screeing as it landed on its back, its legs writhing around before it managed to flip itself back upright.
Petra’s blade had lodged itself into the wall of the building from the strength of her swing, and she glared at the creature, removing her hands from her blade as it wailed in a horrible tone. Outstretching her hands, she held them up, pressing her thumbs together, green lines appearing across both of her arms as she shouted.
“BURNING HANDS!!”
Plumes of flames exploded forth from her hands, spraying forward, wisps of fire flew everywhere. Around Petra’s feet, fire began burning the grass, spreading out to the field around her. She had long forgotten trying to keep her magic under control.
Crawling around, the creature continued scuttling about, avoiding her flames, running around in a circle, Petra continued tracking it, recasting her magic as she continued trying to catch it, her voice growing more and more frustrated. With one final cast, she broke her hands apart, reaching back to grab her sword, yanking it out of the building behind her as she lifted her other hand into the air.
In a flash, the creature’s only remaining tendril was shot out just as she loosed her sword, grappling and wrapping around her wrist. Yanking its head, she was lifted off the ground and swung around before being thrown into the field, dozens of feet away, rolling and skidding across the ground. Jamming her sword into the dirt, Petra stopped her momentum, shakily pulling herself up, she pulled her blade from the ground as the creature approached her. Grunting in anger, she channeled mana into her blade once again, causing it to glow a deep, blood red as she spat out her words.
“Truestrike.”
Kicking off the ground, she began running forwards just as it reared up again and spat its abdomen’s fluids at her, eating away at the grass and soil as she dodged. Weaving in-between its sprays, she closed in on it rapidly. It screed before whipping its last tendril at her. In a quick motion, she jumped, landing with her foot on the appendage, squishing it against the ground and causing the creature to stumble forwards. Grappling onto it with her hand, she yanked it backwards, pulling the creature towards her. In desperation, it bit down hard onto its own tendrils, severing its last one from its body.
Jumping off the ground, Petra closed the distance once more, causing the creature to scuttle and creep from side to side, slowly getting closer as she did as well. In a quick motion, Petra swung her sword, only for the creature to rear up and catch it with its hands, grappling her sword. It snapped its mouth at her, trying to bite down onto her face, with Petra craning her head from side to side to avoid it. Pushing her sword, she forced it away before swinging her foot upwards, striking one of its eyes with her foot, causing it to recoil as it was caved in, blood pouring from its head as its eye popped from the strike. Shakily, it reared up again, blasting its corrosive fluid in a concentrated stream, now no longer a wide spray, as if it was trying to shoot it right through her.
Almost growling in anger, Petra jumped to the side, rolling through the grass in a desperate attempt to dodge. It continued spraying, the caustic fluid flying through the air and burning through anything it touched, getting closer and closer to catching Petra. Quickly, Petra formed a small mote of light in her hand. After dodging another blast, she stood up and chucked the light forwards, which formed into a streak of bright red flames. Slamming into the creature’s abdomen, it pierced its outer walls, ripping right through and causing the fluid to begin spilling out uncontrollably. Its abdomen was soon dissolved as its own fluid ate right through its body, leaving it unsteady as its rear legs were melted as well.
Falling onto its back, Petra approached quickly. In a fit of rage, Petra swung her foot into its head, again and again, each strike making it screech in pain until she finally plunged her sword into its thorax, the blade smashing through its outer shell. Grunting in exertion, Petra continued stabbing into the creature, her head currently devoid of reason as her eyes conveyed a mixture of anger and soul-chilling fear, continuing to drive her sword onto its body. She shouted and shouted, her voice becoming hoarse, almost screaming as she kept stabbing it, even after it stopped moving.
In a fit of rage, she brought one foot up and slammed it down into the creature’s head, smashing it to bits and splattering its viscera everywhere with one last shout, her voice cracking from the strain on her throat. Finally stepping back, her voice shaking, her legs finally gave out as she dropped her sword, falling back onto the ground as her hands shook.
Why was this thing here? Why did she run into it? Why did she have to remember it? Why why why?
She killed it. She destroyed it and it wasn’t moving anymore, so why was she shaking? Why was she still trembling? Why did it feel like she was drowning?
“Run, Petra…”
She let out a shaky breath, almost curling up into a ball, her head hanging as she rested her forehead against her knees, continuing to lightly shiver. It felt like every breath was choking her, like her heart was going to explode, like her body wasn’t under her own control.
“S-Stop it… stop shaking…” She squeaked out, trying to will herself to stop trembling to no avail.
In the empty field, her mind wracked itself over and over, thinking of memories from a long time ago, ones that kept her in her current state, almost unmoving as she couldn’t muster up the strength to pick herself back up, remaining on the ground.
In her stupor, she was almost deaf to the world around her, lost in the scape of her own mind, she didn’t hear the sounds creeping towards her. Another one of these creatures, crawling through the grass, followed close behind by another, closing in on her. Quietly, they crawled towards her, before getting into striking range, one of them rearing up on its hind legs as it opened its mouth wide, about to strike at her.
“PETRA!” Screamed Minoru’s voice as he dove between her and the creature, just as it lunged forwards, holding up his shield, the monster bashed its head against the cold metal. As it recovered, Minoru pursued it, slamming the bottom point of his shield against its head, causing cracks in its carapace as it recoiled from the strike. From behind it, the other attempted to rear up on its legs, aiming its abdomen right at Minoru, only for the organ to be burst as a streak of green magic flew through the air, piercing right through and covering the creature in its caustic fluid, causing it to quickly begin melting.
Minoru quickly followed up his strike with his sword, jamming the blade into the large crack made in the creature’s head, the sword piercing through the other end as it writhed before quickly dying.
Pulling his sword from the creature, he turned to face Petra, who was frozen in place from the sounds around her. “...Petra? Are you okay…?” He asked, sheathing his sword before crouching down and extending his hand out to her.
Slowly, she seemed to escape from her own world, unfurling from the ball she had curled herself up into, tentatively grasping her sword as she took his hand, standing up with his help, although she stumbled a little as she stood up fully.
“Y-Yeah… I’m… I’m okay…”
“You’re absolutely not okay, Petra.” Came Milo’s reprimanding voice as he approached the two, sighing. “Stop trying to put on a brave face when you’re as hurt as you are.” He said, looking at her body as it was covered in cuts and bruises from being thrown around, her clothing torn in various places. Turning her gaze, Milo saw the creatures dead on the ground, getting a closer look at them. After only a moment, he froze, completely silent as he stared at them. “Petra… are these…?”
“Yeah…” She replied solemnly, looking down at the ground.
“Dammit…” Milo cursed to himself.
“What’s wrong…?” Minoru asked quickly, prompting a frustrated huff from Milo, whose head was resting in his hand.
“It’s… a long story, and not a good one, but… now that we’ve run into these things, you should probably know, if you’re going to keep traveling with us.” He glanced at Petra. “Is that acceptable, Petra?” He asked, to which she nodded.
“I meant to tell him last night, but… I didn’t have it in me. Sorry…”
“No, you’re fine. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Okay…”
Milo sighed. “That being said, we should probably scout out the rest of the village and make sure there’s no more of these things. Not to mention…” He trailed off, looking off towards the village again, lamenting the scenes of carnage therein.
“Yeah…” Minoru commented solemnly before turning back to Petra. “Can you walk alright?”
“Yeah, I should be fine…” She replied, her voice feeling hollow and weak.
“Okay… if you need to rest just tell us.” He reassured her, to which she nodded, following the two as they walked back towards the village.
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“So you’re saying the village was attacked?” The conductor asked as the three relayed the story to him, having returned from the village after looking through it thoroughly, finding no trace of any more of the monsters.
“We’ve cleared out the village of any monsters, but the road is in no condition to be driven down. We should go around if possible.” Milo suggested.
“Well, that might be for the best if it’s as you say…” He mused, pondering to himself for a moment before giving a gruff sigh. “Very well, it won’t be that big of an issue. Besides, I’d rather the passengers not see what’s gone on in that village too closely.” He commented, looking back at the carriage, a few of the people inside confusedly looking out front, curious as to what was going on. “You three can head back to your car, we’ll get goin’ again in a few.”
To that, the three simply nodded, walking to their carriage at the back. Minoru moved a hand to Petra's back, trying to comfort her.
“Doing any better?” He asked, not sure what else he could say.
Taking in a deep breath, Petra readjusted her posture, trying to not remain slumped over as she was. “A little…”
As they got into the carriage, sitting down, Milo crossed his arm and let out a heavy breath. “Now… we’re going to be here for a while till our next stop, so now’s as good a time as any.”
Glancing towards Petra, Minoru spoke. “Are you okay with talking about this? I don’t want to pry if it’s too personal.”
Breathing in deep, Petra let the breath go slowly before sitting up. “No, it’s okay. I’m fine now. Besides, I think it’s important for you to know… exactly what monsters are capable of.” She said tentatively. “It was… ten years ago, now…”
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Fires roared into the night sky as destruction surrounded the young seraut. Running through her hometown, her small legs ran as fast as they could, carrying her past scenes of carnage. All around her were cries for help from people she had known all her life as they were attacked by alien creatures, the likes of which had never been seen before.
“H-Help!”
“Save me…”
“I don’t wanna die!”
Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her face, her eyes stung from the heat and soot in the air as she reached up, grabbing onto her ears and folding them down onto her head, trying to block out the voices surrounding her as she ran and ran. She turned a corner and continued running, gasping as her breaths became labored and heavy. Her very last bit of hope shone through as she laid eyes upon her home, still standing and spared from the fires.
Rushing in, almost barrelling through the door, she came into the entrance of her home. Gasping and panting, she drew in a deep breath before yelling, her small voice desperately calling out.
“Mommy? Daddy?” She yelled, her voice almost echoing through the seemingly empty house. She walked deeper in, calling out for her parents, her voice becoming hoarse as she strained it, walking upstairs to the second level.
“Pe… tra…” Came a weak voice from one of the rooms, to which Petra immediately rushed in, her ears perking up and following the source.
“Mommy!?” She asked as she burst in, finding her mother laid out on the floor, blood pouring from her stomach. Just barely peeking into view, Petra could see the legs of her father, also on the floor, the rest of him obscured by the bed. Crouching down, Petra tried to help her mother up, but the woman only groaned in pain, clutching her stomach. Petra tried to reach over, but her mother stopped her, holding her arm firmly.
“Petra… you need to get out of here…” She urged.
“No!” Petra declared defiantly. “I-I’m not leaving without you, o-or Daddy!”
“They… They got Daddy…”
“Huh…?”
“I’m not long for this world either, Petra… please, you need to go… F-Find someone and leave with them, get somewhere safe…”
“B-But Mommy…!”
“Petra… there’s no hope left for us… but there’s still a chance for you… you’re still alive…! T-Take your father’s sword with you…” She said, pointing weakly to a huge blade that laid on the floor. “You have to go… you have to run, Petra. Save yourself, please… don’t die here… run far, far away, don’t stop running until you’re safe… please…” She begged, her voice straining as tears ran down her face.
Sobbing, her entire face wet with tears, Petra grasped her mother’s hand with both of her own. “I-I don’t wanna leave! I wanna stay with you and Daddy!”
Reaching up, her mother softly placed her hand on Petra’s cheek, caressing it. “I know, sweetie, I know… but our village is done for… We… We couldn’t do anything to save it… so please, save yourself… your father and I… we’re entrusting our hopes to you, Petra…” She gasped out, her voice getting weaker and weaker. “I know… it’ll be hard… but… but… you won’t be alone… me… D-Daddy… everyone in the village… we’ll be with you… we’ll watch over you…” Her hand slowly weakened, falling slowly down Petra’s face as her life gave out. “So… for your sake… and ours… and the whole village…
Run, Petra… Run and don’t look back…”
Her hand fell from her daughter’s face, hitting the floor weakly.
“M-Mommy…?” Petra squeaked out, shaking her mother. “Mommy…! Mommy! Mommy!!” She cried out, shaking her mother’s body, trying to rouse her, only to get no response. Tears fell from her face onto the floor as Petra desperately tried to get any kind of response from her mother to no avail, her voice growing weaker as it truly set in that her mother had died. “M-Mommy… Daddy… don’t leave… don’t go…” She croaked out, burying her face into her mother’s hair, sobbing as she cradled her body in her small arms.
Whimpering, she slowly let go of her mother, gently resting her head against the floor as she stood up, shakily. Taking a few, unsure steps forwards, she came upon the sword lying on the floor. It was much longer than she was tall, and yet, as she crouched down, her hands grasping the hilt, she was able to carry it. Holding it as steady as she could muster, she shut her eyes, not wanting to gaze upon her parents’ bodies again, and ran from the room, from her house, and from her village as it was razed to the ground…
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“I was picked up by Milo and his family shortly after. They managed to escape and found me as I was running away.” Petra spoke calmly, her voice almost detached, as if she was trying to divorce herself from the situation she was describing as best she could.
“There weren’t many people left after our village was attacked. Those of us that were left stuck together… When news about the attack reached the Lemurian capital, we were taken in as refugees, but… life didn’t get much better from then on. With all that we owned destroyed, hardly any of us could make ends meet.” Milo explained. “The Lemurian royal family was able to support us and the other refugees for a time, but it just wasn’t sustainable. So… eventually, Petra and I became voyagers. It wasn’t much, as we were novices, but with my parents’ own work we were able to get into something of a stable situation… Not everyone was able to do that, though…” Milo lamented.
Minoru was almost left speechless at their story. “I… I’m so sorry you two, I had no idea…”
“Don’t be, you couldn’t have known.” Milo reassured him.
“It’s been… long enough now that I can handle talking about it, at least.” Petra affirmed.
“So then… those monsters from before…?” Minoru asked.
“They were the same as the ones that attacked our village.”
“But… why? Are they just attacking for the sake of it?” He continued, prompting an unsure noise from Petra.
“Petra, we should tell him.” Milo added.
“I know, I know! It’s just…” She trailed off before sighing. “There was… one more thing… When I was running away from the village, before Milo and his family picked me up… I looked back. Back in the village, just near the outskirts… there was… something… it was standing on two legs, and it was holding an enormous sword, but it was absolutely a monster of some kind! It looked just like the others, and had the same number of eyes… t-they were staring right at me…” She explained, looking down at her fists as they rested, balled up on her lap. “It didn’t chase after me, though… I don’t know why but… it just stared at me… I didn’t look back after that…”
“The truth is… ever since we left Lemuria, we’ve been trying to find traces of whatever it was that Petra saw back then… from the sounds of it, that thing could've been leading the attack. We still don’t know what it is these monsters want, nor why they keep cropping up everywhere and attacking cities all across Villesia, but… Petra and I… we want to find out.”
“Why are you two going to Camelot, then?”
“To get stronger.” Petra admitted bluntly. “One of the greatest knight academies in the world, Camelot Academy… we’re going there to train ourselves, become as strong as we can be, so we can join the fight against these monsters.” She explained, her voice taking on a much more serious tone. “That’s why we’re attending. Milo and I made an oath to each other, that we’d find out what these things are… and once we learn that… we wipe them out.”
“So you’re trying to eradicate these monsters?”
“We want to see them gone from this world. Gaia shouldn’t have to suffer the stain that is their existence. Nobody should have to go through what we went through. We’re going to fight against them, and we’re going to kill every last one, no matter what it takes.” Milo replied solemnly.
“So, Minoru… I need to ask, just to confirm.” Petra began. “Do you still want to travel with us, knowing what you do now? Of our past, our reasons for fighting, and our goal?”
“I…” Minoru trailed off, unsure of how to answer. This world… Gaia… he couldn’t help but feel like there was something more going on here, something bigger at play. And yet, he could help but think of Petra and Milo’s story, of innocent people and families torn apart by these creatures… not to mention the idea that it could be led by something. No matter what, he couldn’t get the image of Petra’s farewell to her mother out of his head, it played again and again, snuffing out all other thoughts.
Meeting their gazes, he breathed out. “Petra… Milo… with what you’ve told me, I recognize how dangerous this world is… I recognize the… gravity of the situation that Gaia faces… I realize how much of a risk this could end up being, but…”
He thought again to the mental image of Petra running from her destroyed home, carrying with her the hopes of her parents and all those who died in that village.
“Knowing what I do now… I can’t turn away. Until I can find a way to go home, I’ll help you both, any way I can.” He replied resolutely.
Both Petra and Milo couldn’t help but have their solemn expressions gradually turn into thankful smiles. Petra got up from her seat in a flash, surprising Minoru as she quickly pulled him into a hug. “Thank you…! We’ll do this together! I know we will!” She thanked him profusely, her voice beginning to waver.
Milo approached, extending out his hand as Petra pulled away, which Minoru took into his own, being given a firm handshake from the halfling. “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Minoru.”
“Of course. Besides, you two are the reason I’m not dead in the water already. I’m with you both, every step of the way.” He affirmed confidently, prompting a similar smile of confidence from the both of them.
“The journey ahead will be a long one, but this is the duty Petra and I have undertaken, and we’ll see it through, no matter what.” Milo declared.
With their spirits lifted, the three discussed their next course of action.
As the caravan trucked onwards, having returned to the main road, dark clouds brewed overhead, rolling in and blotting out the sky as the carriages rode on into the shadows they cast…