Their journey to the west led them to an area just north of Eylswaer. He could only see the banespawn-filled city faintly with his enhanced vision noticing some flickering lights from within. We’d best avoid wandering into that place ever again.

Something bumped into his side towards his right. A gasp escaped a feminine mouth as they managed to spook themselves.

“It’s alright,” he said. “It was just me you bumped into.”

“S-sorry,” Silvy said embarrassed.

“You’re afraid of the dark, aren’t you?” Lar said as she walked more towards his left.

“What? No, of course not.”

“It’s alright to admit it. I won’t judge you.”

Silvy clicked her tongue. “Somehow I doubt that.”

Felmir—whilst in their bear form—stopped up ahead. Kiran paused his briskly paced walk along with everyone else. “Quiet down,” he said softly. “We wouldn’t want to alert any potential banespawn of our presence out here.”

“Aren’t they supposed to leave us alone?” Silvy asked.

“Would you take them at their word?”

“Well, I suppose I wouldn’t.”

Lar chose to respond quietly. “If that’s such a real concern for us, then we should’ve taken another path rather than wander so close to where they live.”

Felmir grumbled to himself. “Doing so would add far too much time to our trip. I’d prefer to get you all to the border in a timely manner. So long as we don’t draw any unwarranted attention to ourselves, we shouldn’t encounter them.” He began to walk again allowing them to continue their journey to the west.

The land itself was rather flat. It spread out for miles offering little change in their environment. His enhanced vision revealed dry shrubbery and cracks in the ground. He knew that if they had sunlight, it would reveal a rather dull and uninspiring landscape that they tread upon.

Both Yorais and Frederek walked behind him. Considering how big Frederek was, his footsteps sounded a lot different than Yorais who wasn’t all that loud or noticeable as she walked. Frederek on the other hand was practically causing the ground itself to weep.

Numerous lights flickered towards their northern horizon. It was far enough away that he didn’t fear what might be encamped out there. So long as they didn’t wander closer to it, they would likely be fine. Unless the banespawn had some way of enhancing their vision, he felt safe at least for now.

After several more hours of walking on flat ground, the ground shifted dramatically. What remained flat, no longer did forcing them to use great care with every step. It slowed down their progress immensely. His potion unfortunately had begun to wear off. He pulled a potion out and drank a little to further enhance his vision.

Due to the valuable nature of such potions and the limited quantity in their possession, everyone only drank a little bit at a time to make traversal possible without some kind of light source that would alert every banespawn of their position.

“Can’t we light a lantern or anything for that matter to get us through this particular area?” Silvy asked.

“If you want to let the banespawn know of our existence, then yes,” Felmir replied.

Kiran stepped over an elevated piece of ground making sure to place his feet squarely on the higher ground. He got up completely only to hear somebody fall as they tried to get up as well.

“Are you alright?” he called out softly.

He peered down towards Yorais who had ended up falling onto her rear end. He lent out a hand to assist her up the hazardous inclining piece of land. “Thanks. It seems I better take a little more from this potion.”

She pulled out a potion from her robe and uncorked it. She drank a few sips and put the potion away.

“Keep up, we need to keep moving,” Felmir muttered as he stood ahead of them all.

The white bear was eager to get them out of this area since it was known for having a higher quantity of banespawn in and around it apparently. Frankly, Kiran was eager too but they could only go so fast, especially considering this rougher terrain that had a multitude of rapidly changing elevations and hazards eager to make everyone fall flat on their face.

So far he had avoided tripping or falling, but he felt as if it would eventually happen to him eventually regardless of his efforts.

That fear of any possible misstep made traveling more difficult. In the back of his head, it berated him and pleaded for him to light a spark whether from a torch, candle, or one of the numerous lanterns they carried with them. The natural light would give them all a far easier time but it would make it obvious of their existence out here.

Along another elevated path, they walked for at least another mile until they uncovered a cave. They found themselves in a somewhat mountainous area if he were to judge. The colder air here caused him to pull the hood over his head and he hoped that they would be able to light a campfire in this location. It should be safe to do so here. There are enough cliffs and mountains that we should go unnoticed by anything around here.

Everyone began to enter the cave cautiously. They eventually reached the end of it—which wasn’t very far. Lar began to sit down and as she gestured towards a spot beside her, he sat down there. As he sat, Felmir rested his enlarged furry body and nestled his big bear head into his arms. “From here, we shouldn’t be that far from the border. Just remember that once we’re there, you’ll all be on your own. It’ll be your responsibility to locate that cave and do so without getting caught or causing unnecessary trouble.”

“You still have the compass you were given, don’t you?”

Kiran pulled out a compass in his pocket showing it to him.

The white bear nodded their head and closed their eyes. They hadn’t shown it thus far, but they were apparently quite tired. They quickly fell asleep while everyone else was still awake in the relatively small cave.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Thankfully the cave itself provided them an opportunity to light a fire without concern for it being seen. It combated well against the colder atmosphere in this elevated position and provided some relief for his eyes that grew tired of the dark.

Yorais’s eyes lifted away from the fire towards his. “Are you confident in what direction we will take once we reach the border?”

“I’m confident enough. I know a few landmarks to keep an eye out for to direct us in the right direction. As long as we keep heading west for a bit, we should be fine. What I’m going to be hoping for is for a dear little friend of mine to appear to me.”

“Who is this friend of yours anyways and why haven’t you mentioned them before?” Lar said crossing her arms.

“Because it would be easy for many to just assume I’ve gone mad and that I’m just seeing things that aren’t actually there,” he said. “For whatever reason, I seem to be the only one capable of seeing them. They’re most certainly real though.”

“Well, I hope whoever they are, that they actually show up.” Lar let out a yawn and promptly lied down putting her arms behind her head. She kept her fauchard right beside her and worked towards getting some sleep as well.

More and more people including Yorais and Frederek fell asleep leaving just him and Silvy awake. She sat to his left opening her palms towards the fire.

The flames reflected off her eyes. “How’s your leg doing?”

“Oh, it’s doing alright.” She mentioned earlier to him how it had been hurting. Apparently it happened earlier when wandering through this rougher elevated terrain. She had stepped into a small hole awkwardly with her right foot which caused some pain afterward.

“Say, Kiran. I’ve been thinking about something that’s been bothering me.”

“What about?”

“It’s about Juna. I’ve just been worried about her. I’d like to think we’re somewhat close friends by now and I feel it’s my responsibility to look out for her but I just don’t know. I’ve tried speaking to her about some things but she always turns the conversation away to something silly and by the time I realize what’s happened, she’s somehow wandered off. I just get the overall impression that ever since she lost Fred, she’s been quite different from her usual self.”

“I get what you mean.” He somewhat understood it. Loss had a way of changing people. “She at least seemed to be doing a lot better by the time we left Valak.”

“I know. She really does. It…it just doesn’t feel right to me.”

“You think she’s faking it?”

“You’ve known her longer than I. Do you feel that way?”

He leaned back a little keeping himself upright as his palms stretched out behind him. He let out a sigh considering Silvy’s thoughts towards Juna. “I’d like to think I would notice her faking the better mood she’s been in recently. I can’t say I am absolutely certain, however. I suppose it’s possible.” Maybe we should’ve dragged her along so she had us to keep her company. If she was still in a really bad place, he didn’t want to be absent but they couldn’t change the trajectory they were on at this point.

At the end of the day, relationships in general, especially close friendships, felt like some of the most important things in the world. All of these issues pertaining to the world itself felt secondary in some way. Perhaps that was why when he had been given the chance to settle down with Della, he had been prepared to do that. If she hadn’t been murdered, he liked to think that he and her would still be living every day together in some capacity enjoying life to the fullest.

His joy for having close friends such as Juna made him want to prioritize her once he got back. It did worry him though that Silvy appeared concerned and thought it quite possible that she wasn’t doing all that much better than what she projected out to everyone.

Eventually, like everyone else, Silvy too ended up falling asleep not long after giving him her thoughts. He chose to stay up and keep an eye out just in case anyone lurked about or tried sneaking up on them while they all slept. He leaned his back against the shallow cave wall looking out towards the darkness to the elevated space they occupied.

It sounded quiet outside. All he could hear was the fire crackling behind him.

Eventually he too was given an opportunity to rest. Felmir woke up and chose to keep watch. By the time Kiran woke back up, and even though he felt like getting another ten hours of sleep, he had no choice but to get up and prepare to wander for another long period of time.

The rough terrain remained for many hours. Unfortunately for him, a fate that he wanted to avoid came to him finally.

His foot didn’t hit the ground correctly and because he hadn’t noticed it soon enough, as he pushed his body forward, instead of keeping itself upright, he quickly down towards the ground. Due to a declining surface, his body began to roll bumping up against rocks and other hard surfaces.

After a dozen or more seconds of rolling, his body stopped finally and all he could do was muster the strength to let out a low-tone moan.

“You alright down there?” Lar yelled down from the elevated position.

“Y-yeah.” I just knew this was going to happen eventually. It has happened to nearly everyone else, so I had to be up next.

Someone stepped over towards him. He blinked several times and then noticed Frederek lending him a hand. Kiran took the man’s hand and gripped it tightly. Without even struggling a little bit, Frederek helped pull him right off the ground so he could stand once more on his two feet.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Frederek asked genuinely.

“I might painfully moan every now and then from now on, but I don’t think I received any serious injuries or anything like that.” A slight stabbing pain ached in his lower right back near the area he had been stabbed at. I’ll surely be fine. I just have to grit my teeth and move along.

It wasn’t the first time he tumbled over and hurt himself. He had fallen down dozens of steps back at that jail and survived that fall back then in a much worse state of being. If he could survive that encounter, he’d survive this fall. Or perhaps that was what he chose to tell himself in order to keep himself calm. He wasn’t about to dig any deeper to find out.

Felmir continued to lead them towards the west. For several more days, they wandered. Thankfully after a day or so of walking from the cave, the land became flatter allowing for a more pleasant traveling experience from then on out.

Felmir stopped walking at a certain point. They turned their big burly body around to look at them. “We’re here,” he said with a bit of finality in his tone of voice. “This is as far as I can go.”

“So we’ve finally reached the border,” Lar said. “It’s about time.”

“You will still need to be cautious. While the banespawn are more heavily concentrated over in these eastern lands, the west is not without them entirely. I’d advise caution towards using light sources outside of specific situations as well. Do so if you must, but be aware of the dangers.”

“We should be alright,” Kiran said. If we do encounter trouble, we should be capable of defending ourselves. “Thanks for helping guide us here to this point.”

“It is of no issue to me. I’ve traveled these lands so many times, that I’ve lost count at this point. I just hope that whatever happens, you succeed in this mission of yours. Lucias and I have dedicated much of our lives to resolving the problems plaguing this domain only to end up with nothing after time after time again. Perhaps you outsiders can manage such a task whilst we couldn’t. Anyways,” Felmir said walking away from them. “Be careful out there.” They strode away from them step by step. Soon enough, they disappeared in the dark leaving the five of them to themselves and on their own.

Kiran stood where Felmir once did looking out towards the vast empty darkness directly to their west. He had been at this border not really all that long ago. So much has happened since then and from before.

“Shall we continue on before we are all ready to collapse?” he said only to receive nods from the other four of them. “Then let us continue with our journey.”