*Notes*

Here is your second chapter of the week!

Enjoy!

This is a little short but I figured that it was a good spot to stop.

Chapter 6

|Ranald's Pov|

I wake up in the middle of the night feeling anxious about the day to come. The pressure makes it hard to sleep, even with the calming sound of the river nearby. While not on the level that I felt before, I can't shake the feeling like I'm being watched. Am I imaging it, or are my instincts telling me to head back? Still, I feel drawn to the mountain regardless, it's perplexing.

I head out to take the night shift from Rudy, "Go get some rest if you can, who knows what'll be in store for us tomorrow."

"Alright take care Randal, see you in the morning."

I sit there watching the grass weave in the moonlight and listen to the river, trying to calm my nerves. I begin thinking about all the places I've been and the dangers I've faced up till now. After 30 years of being an adventurer I've come close to death many times, so what is this feeling. Almost like excitement and fear combined.

The sun begins to rise and slowly makes its way above the horizon. I get up and head to the tent to wake the others and I find them all wide awake and ready. I shake my head a bit, knowing that no one probably got any real sleep.

I break out in a laugh, "Hey, you guys look like you're ready to go to war... It's just a mountain, how many times have we been through hell and back? This much is nothing. Let's go!" I tell them to start packing up so we can head out. My attempt to loosen up the tense atmosphere helped, but I can tell no one relaxed their vigilance.

As we come closer to the mountain I can't help but marvel at the size of it. The mountain reaches up into the clouds and branches out as far as I can see towards the North and Southwest. Colorful flowers ranging from orange, yellow and pink cover the mountain in a blanket with lush green trees jutting out from them occasionally. Through gaps and cliffs, you can see the dark red rocks that make up the mountain and if you look closely you can even see small streaks of gold and black.

Outside we would get flowers that would cover areas, but never like this and it isn't even the season for it. It feels like the mountain just radiates life. Ironically, though, we still haven't found signs of animals. It's like the world was taken over by plants.

The closer I get the more I feel like we've stumbled across something that could determine the future of not just us but the entire city. Just this grasslands by itself is a perfect place to move the city. I feel like if we tried to plant crops here they would explode. Our food problems would disappear in one season.

It's almost too good to be true. It can't be that a biome is near? I heard mana concentrates around their entrances but I've never heard that the concentration can extend for dozens of kilometers. It's been roughly 200 years since we've had regular contact with the kingdoms... Our intel might be outdated. That doesn't explain the gaze I felt, though; it was like it pierced my body and soul.

Whatever caused this we'll find out soon enough.

I had our party trek north along the mountainside looking for anything out of the ordinary, other than everything that we've seen so far. After five kilometers we reach a waterfall and take a break. This waterfall most likely feeds the river that runs through the grasslands. When our break finishes we head north for another three kilometers before we find something.

"Hey, Carter why don't you take the lead in?"

"No I think the brave archer should take the lead, you have better eyesight than any of us."

"Don't tell me you're scared, oh valiant warrior?"

"Nonsense, it's just that it looks pitch black in there so your eyes are the best suited to scout it out."

"I'll take the lead just follow behind me," William walks through the arguing couple with annoyance written on his face."

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What we found was a large cave entrance that could easily be at least 20 meters wide. Vines seem to be extending out of the cave and spreading along the mountain nearby. As we are about to enter we hear something coming from the cave. Everyone takes a defensive stance and gets ready for the worst. We can hear it coming closer and closer almost in a rhythmic pattern.

I prepare to fire off my most destructive wind blade while Rudy has an explosive arrow ready to fire at a moments notice. William and Carter both form a layer of energy on their bodies and swords in preparation to take on any beast.

"Here it comes!"

A figure makes its way out of the vines and hops out. What greets us is... a rabbit. The rabbit is huge, though, being at least double the size of normal ones and it has a horn on its head. We all drop our stances and start to inspect this unusual rabbit. It doesn't appear to be hostile.

"Hahahaha, what you guys all scared of a rabbit. Let me catch the evil thing for you maybe it'll be good for lunch."

As Carter walks up to the rabbit the rabbit doesn't seem scared of people. It stands there maybe slightly cautious but doesn't run. When Carter finally got within arms reach he takes his sword and swipes at it, but what surprises everyone is that the rabbit suddenly bursts forward and rams his shin with its horn.

"AGHH FUCKIN RABBIT"

Carter takes a much more serious swing at the rabbit and ends its life. With his defenses down Carter actually let the rabbit stab him down to the bone. With his constitution, though, it shouldn't impede him too much and will heal soon enough.

"Wow, Carter you're right that thing was evil, good thing you were there for us. It might have got us too without you." Rudy starts to laugh at Carter's misfortune."

"Hmph, at least we get some fresh meat for lunch, sounds like you don't want any, though."

"I don't need your food, I can get my own. There's probably more where that came from."

"Enough standing around let's get ready to head in. Don't let your guards down, as you can see even the rabbits here are unusual." After I said that we get back into formation with William in the lead followed by Rudy and me with Carter holding the rear.

We delve into the dark cave entrance and we see nothing but pitch black until we come across a light in the distance. It's a soft purple glow coming from up ahead and it's the only source of light we've seen other than our own equipment since coming here.

"You think there's treasure?" Carter whispers while eying the glow.

Rudy rolls his eyes, "Just because it glows doesn't mean treasure, it's like all you got on your mind is money and women."

"Keep quiet" I said while giving them both a stern look. I don't get how they can start bantering even in a situation like this.

We edge up and turn a corner before our eyes get flooded with the dim glow of plants. It turns out there were strange plants in here that glow. The plant had small purple leafs and it covered the cave from the floor to the ceiling.

While we were inspecting the plants we heard a rustle in the leaves. I signaled for Rudy to shoot an arrow once he pinpointed the location. After a minute he fires and collects a rabbit that has been skewered through the shoulder.

"Told you I could get my own Carter."

Carter just ignores Rudy and looks at the plants. As we head deeper we find more variety of glowing plants ranging from soft blue to white glows and also a single red plant that stood out.

The only animals we've run across have been rabbits. Rudy shot another rabbit shortly after the first one and continued to goad Carter about it.

Something feels off, almost like we went past a film earlier and now the atmosphere has completely changed somehow.

As we head deeper along the cave guided by the glow of the plants we see an opening. We close in on the opening and when we step through our entire party is stunned silent. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I feel like I'm thinking that a lot ever since I started this mission. At the moment it's hard to find words to describe what I'm looking at, so I just stare and gawk. Could this be what we've been searching for all along? Have we finally found the elusive biome of our dreams?