The sun seeped steadily through the foliage, scattering light along the ground as Maddox slowly woke up. As he stretched his arm’s behind his head, he turned, there was Daisy’s face right next to his, her arms still wrapped around his waist “Too close...” He flicked her forehead to her discomfort.

“Nrghhh... 5 more minutessssss!” She moaned, unconsciously.

“Come on, it’s time we get going” he ruffled her shoulders as he freed himself from her grip.

“I thought we were on an adventure...” she slowly raised herself up, until sitting upright, sleep still in her eye as she continued “...Can’t adventures have a lie in!”

“If they did, I doubt they would be adventures in the first place...” He said sarcastically.

“Dammit! Fine...” she rubbed the dust from her eye as she stretched, crawling from underneath the covers.

“Good” Maddox made his way out of the bed as well, reaching for his dirty clothes. As he attempted to smell them by bringing them close to his face, the smell had already travelled with ease to his nostrils. The mixture of smoke from the fire, sweat from numerous fights combined pungently with the tatted material, all cut and stained with blood. He moved it away sharply “I wish there a stream or something nearby, this is lethal...”

Daisy nodded ashamedly “You’re right, it’s been a few days without washing, I'm starting to feel pretty dirty” looking down at her tattered shorts and checked shirt, both covered in dirt from her woods craft the day before.

“So, if we find a stream, anything, we have to stop and wash...” Exasperated, he threw his shirt over his head, holding his breath.

“That’s fine... but...” She looked around bashfully.

“But what?”

“Promise... not to peek...” Her face grew redder as she looked away, embarrassed.

*Sigh* he raised his right hand and swore “I, Maddox Laverick, hear by swear I shall not peak”

“Good.” This seemed like it was enough to ease her mind.

“Let’s get going then, we’ve got another long day ahead of us” Resentfully placing the sleeveless jacket through each arm and over his tattered shirt.

The pair exited the trunk of the tree once more, turning around to look at the little home they created.

“It may have only been short, but imma miss this place” Daisy admitted.

“You put a lot of work into it, it feels a shame just to leave it” He looked at the little den fondly.

“Well yeah but not just that...” her voice drifted off slightly.

“Hmm?”

“It nothing... Should we go?” As she began walking away, hiding her face.

“Sure...” Maddox nodded as he followed behind her.

As she led, Daisy had the remanence of a smile on her reddened face. Fondly caught in the happy memory that she had made, hopeful that there were many more to come.

As they continued on their path, concern slowly creeped into Daisy’s mind. “Maddox, what’s the name of the village we’re going to?” she asked inquisitively.

“Garda” he said confidently “it’s a little market town on the way to Minato.”

“Minato? The port city?”

“Yeah” he confirmed “Remember what my mom said? Go to Naga and learn about my heritage, so that’s where we’re going!”

“That far...” she hesitated a little, on the continent was fine, but away by boat, her nerves kicked in.

Maddox seemed to notice her uncertainty as she shuffled her hands midstep. “You ok with that?”

“It’s a little scary...” She admitted, continuing to play with her hands, but after a moment, she looked up confidently, with a wide grin “But also, exciting!”

“Right!” He agreed, he was also nervous, but the thrill of it all took all those nerves away “I get to find out about my past, people there might understand me!”

“I hope so...” She began to her original worry “...But this village, Garda, that would be heading south right?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Obviously!”

“So... Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

He looked at her with a blank expression. “Why do you ask?”

“Have you ever been there?”

“No, I never left the village remember” saying it in a tone of, how could you forget that, a tone Daisy was very dreadul of.

“So how do you know it’s this way then?” She continued her line of questions.

“Well mom would head there from time to time and she’d always head in this direction” He answered confidently.

“...” She was speechless.

“What?” He looked at her, unsure as to why she had such a dejected look come over her.

“You’re hopeless...” She groaned loudly “we’re completely lost aren’t we...”

“How can you say that! It’s definitely this way!” He was shocked that she’d question his sense of direction so quickly.

“Maddox... Did it occur to you that your mother may, I don’t know, have followed the path there! As we have been off the road for quite a while, if not the whole journey...”

“...” It was his turn to be speechless, but he could’nt let this get himdown, he was still confident this was the way. “I mean... I’m sure it’s this way... Positive...”

“We’re doomed...” her voice creaked exasperated.

“Come onnnn, don’t be so pessimistic!” He turned to her, shining a hopeful smile “When we come across a town we’ll know if we went the right way right?”

“IF!” She reiterated “IF we find a town; these woods go on for miles and miles...”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry, we’ll come across something.” He was sure this was the right way, the pair continued onwards into the woods.

Hours had passed as they continued their onwards through the woods, the scenery remained consistent the whole time, continuously surrounded by large trees. The silence between them had been equally consistent for some time now. Finally, Daisy broke the tranquillity, releasing out an ominous moan “We’re gonna die here aren’t we...”

“It’ll be fineeee, we’ll find somewhere soon...” he reassured her as it fell quite once more.

A few more hours passed...

“Maddox... we’re literally going nowhere”

“I’m sure we’ll find something soon...”

And a few more hours...

“Maddox...”

“Don’t worry...”

The sun was gently setting in the sky as they continued to walk.

“Maybe we should find somewhere for the night?” He looked around the area as they continued their never ending journey.

“You think...” Bit Daisy, her patience had been slowly thinning all day.

“Let’s just keep on going a little further, see if we can find somewhere to set up camp?” He suggested, unaware of the sensation of fire in Daisy’s eyes, burning into the back of his head.

“No...” She had lost it.

“What?” He turned around and saw the look in her eyes, fear poured over him as he began to sweat beads.

“I said no Maddox! This is becoming a joke!” She stormed off ahead of him, her rage ever increasing “First we set off without knowing which way we’re going! We have limited food! We stink! And now you want to keep on going forward! Are you dumb! We should cut our losses and head back! It’s clear we’re not getting anywhere going this W...Wayy!!!” Suddenly, as she continued her tirade against him, her foot got caught on something, sending her tumbling down a small hill and into a wooden fence. “Ow...Ow...Ow... Wha!?!”

“Looks like a farm” Maddox steadied himself down the hill, a smug look on his face “... Won’t find anything hmm...”

“Please... Don’t speak...”

“Well... What do we do now?” He looked over the fields, in the distance he could make out the shape of a building. "Be kind of rude to just jump the fence...”

“I’m sure we can explain what happened...” She hissed “At least we can get directions”

“True” he held out a hand to the fuming Daisy “So was I right?” The smug face seemed permanent.

She slapped away his hand “Just... Don’t... Let’s get directions and get out of here...”

“Hold up... Maybe this is convenient?” His gears started turning in his head, causing Daisy to be sceptacle.

“How so?” She looked at him doubtfully as she pushed herself off the ground, standing next to him.

“How much money do you have?” He asked while rummaging in his own pockets.

“Hmm...” She reached her hands into her pockets, pulling out a few small coins, she started counting what was in her hand “Let’s see... Few Coppers, One silver piece... That’s it...”

“I have? Literally nothing...How are we supposed to afford travel if that’s all we have... Perhaps we can get some work here, then when we have enough, we can be on our way, aren’t farms always looking for handy work?” He suggested to Daisy’s surprise, it wasn’t a completely terrible idea.

“I mean we could try...” She agreed, but there was something else bothering her.

“You don’t sound keen?”

“It’s just...” She thought aloud “I just thought we were going to be adventurers and go on quests and things; how many adventures begin with a nine-to-five...”

“Well we’re kind of out of options” Shrugging his shoulders as he looked at her “it may not be exciting but it’s something...”

“Hmm, I guess” she conceded “let’s try at least and if not, they can point us in the direction of the nearest town?”

“Exactly!” Maddox nodded precisely as he jumped the fence, Daisy soon followed as the pair made their way towards the house at the centre of the farm.

As they got closer, they could make out small details of the house, the chimney seemed lit as smoke poured from its stout, the building itself was quite large, with many windows occupying the outside walls. Facing their direction was a large door behind a nice-looking porch area, accompanied with chairs, a table and a few plant plots filled with blooming flowers of multiple colours.

“Must be a pretty successful farm huh?” Daisy observed as they were three quarters the way to the there.

“Looks it” Admitted Maddox “I hope we can work here, looks beautiful.”

“Right!” She agreed.

In the distance, to the right of them, Maddox noticed a small dust cloud heading towards their direction. Hmm, that’s odd? he thought to himself, there wasn’t much wind as he put his finger ever so slightly up in front of him. Suddenly it became clear why it was unusual, it wasn’t just the wind, between the dust a large figure slowly began to appear as it got closer. “Daisy, get behind me, NOW!” he instructed her as he faced the on-coming storm head on.

Finally, the figure pulled to a halt in front of them. A giant of a man with a withered face, horns protruding from his head, muscles rippling around his old body. A shabby beard protuded from his chin, and underneath his furrowed brow, his piercing eyes starred down at them intensely.

“IF YOU WANT TO LIVE YOU BEST GET OFF MY LAND!!”