Chapter 3: Their First Adventure
Balthazar was up at the crack of dawn, unusual for a night owl like him, more than excited for what lay ahead. He was all too ready to ditch his uniform for something he found more fitting a magician, his outfit was mixed from his own wardrobe and hand-me-downs from his father. The combat style boots he’d kept from field exercises in the academy, and his black pants were taken from his father’s uniform from his time in service to the military. His shirt was a solid gray, and his mage’s robe was a navy blue. It draped down just to his knees, but wasn’t something overly bulky or awkward, the material relatively thin and light, something he could move easily in. His robe had a hood that draped loosely over his brow when he wore it up, but, given the clear skies, he wore it down for now. He placed his satchel at his side once more, this time packed with a few bare essentials for light travel, some food, money, clothes, and just in case, a few cooking utensils. He kept a second bag at his back, mostly just with a sleeping bag, and his personal notebook.
Balthazar wondered if he was overdoing it, as he stood by the front door in silence, broken only by his half awake father, who sipped away at his morning tea. “You’re fine. The whole point of you doing this to find out if it’s right for you, and how you want to do it in the future. If you’ve got something wrong now, you can fix it later.”
Balthazar nodded in response. “Right, thanks Dad.” The sleepy comfort of his father was very much appreciated. His parents had both been supportive of him going, but it didn’t change a sense of nervousness in leaving.
“Honestly, it’s the bare minimum from my days in service,” Anne commented. “I feel like I should have you take more with you.”
“I’ll be a couple days at most, a little bit of travel, and some time checking in on the Guild house in Port Royale, I think I’ll be okay with what I have.”
“Of course, but it’s our job to worry.” Anne hugged her son, her husband doing the same after.
“Whatever comes next is all you. Make yourself proud.”
“I will.” Balthazar opened the door to leave, turning back again. “Thank you for supporting me with this. I love you both.” He waved on his way out the door, a rejuvenated smile on his face. He turned and saw Alice outside her house, sitting at the front steps. She waved to him, having been waiting for him.
“Was worried we might have to leave our resident night owl behind.”
“Oh there’s no way I was missing this,” he replied, going to sit next to her. “Still have some time before we leave.” He paused, and sat next to her.. “Before you leave, and I follow.”
“I’m just glad you get to come with us as far as you do.”
“You want to run over to the bakery at the north end? This is going to be your last chance to get some of their macaroons for a while.”
Alice grew a smug smile. “Please, as if I didn’t stock up already.” She patted her bag with the familiar crumple of paper wrapping around her sweets stash. “But…” She playfully tapped her chin. “I’m never opposed to more.” Alice stood and patted herself down, Balthazar standing again to join her. “So? How do I look?”
Balthazar gave her a brief look up and down, finding her choice in fashion to lean more towards casual attire than he had gone with. Like him, she’d taken a pair of black combat boots, and just like him, wore a Mage’s robe, though hers was white, with red trim, and cut shorter than Balthazar’s to function more as a jacket. Alice let her long hair hang, though as she usually did in casual dress, she wore a black hairband rather than tie it up in a ponytail or braid, letting her bangs hang freely. Balthazar tried not noticing, which Alice definitely took notice of, but he found the white dress she wore something to be perfect for her. It had a soft look to it, and matched her more hourglass like figure, without being uncomfortable to wear. Her skirt cut off mid thigh, just below her robe, under which she wore black leggings.
Alice leaned in closer to a trying-not-to-blush Balthazar “Well? Well?” Her tone was playful and teasing of him, backing off a bit as the red on his face became more apparent.
“I think it’s perfect for you.” He let his eyes wander off to the sky, not quite meeting her line of sight.
From a distance, having been walking up to their homes to meet up with them, Locke had sighed as soon as he saw the two talking with one another, and Alice leaned in to taunt Balthazar. He had dressed rather moderately, wearing simple plate armor, steel in make and color, with shoulder pauldrons, gauntlets, and vambraces. He kept a pair of swords sheathed at his belt, one the arming sword that had knighted him, the other more distinctly a broadsword, and an Escutcheon shield at his back. His armor had a slight clank to it when he took a step. Beneath it all, he wore the military’s standard black bodysuit for use under armor, with white slipping out here and there under the armor in the form of a surcoat, denoting him as a new knight.. “This again,” he said to himself. “For people who talk about not having any regrets…” He shook his head, his gentle smile warming his face, and waved to his friends as he got closer.
***
Balthazar found it surreal as he waited a little ways to the north outside of town, his heart pounding as he could hear distant popping of leftover pyrotechnics from the Liberation day festival, knowing that it was the people’s way of sending off the prince and his friends. He found himself pacing in a circle, a plethora of scenarios playing out in his head, he partly acted them out in his isolation, and eyes closed, losing himself to his imagination. Fighting off bandits, saving a village, he had a very content look on his face, as he stood proudly, hands on his hips, facing the still rising sun.
CLAP!
Balthazar found himself jumping and sprawling as he snapped back to reality, and a snickering Alice who had snuck up on him while he was lost in his own world. He sighed deeply and recomposed himself. “Ah, sorry about that. Good to see everyone. Prince Atma, sir.”
“Just Atma is fine, Balthazar.” Atma smiled with a gentle amusement at seeing Balthazar and Alice making fun. He wore plate armor that was tinted azure, though relative to the fully armored knights that Balthazar had seen a few days before, he was armored rather lightly. It covered his chest and part of his stomach area, leaving much of his sides under his ribs relatively exposed. He wore shoulder pauldrons, some lighter armor on his biceps, and a pair of gauntlets with black gloves. While his legs were also armored, it was lightly so, for the sake of intercepting light hits, rather than taking them head on. His armor as a whole, Balthazar could see, was intended to sacrifice some durability for agility. Beneath it all, Balthazar could make out a black bodysuit in gaps in his armor. He kept a shield and spear strapped to him at his back, and carried a singular, heavy bag at his back. From how nonchalantly he carried it all, there was no doubting he had an impressive build, unburdened by the weight of it all.
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“If you don’t mind me saying sir, aren’t you a bit overdressed for this short trip?” Miles piped in, not having too much room to talk, given that he wore the standard Dark Mage Military uniform, akin to what Balthazar wore, though his robe was longer, black, and he made particular point to wear the optional pointed magician’s hat.
“I don’t mind at all, but it’s a lot easier wearing this than carrying it in my bag, Miles. Besides, we have a job to do.”
“Oh, you grabbed a request at the guild?”
“I snuck by early this morning. The receptionist was a little upset I was there so early, but, the guild house posted a request on their own behalf to go through the Forest of the Elders on the way to Port Royale.”
Balthazar was familiar with the forest, if only because there were always stories they heard as kids about people going missing in the forest, that monsters lived in its darkest depths. It took up a massive area, fed by the coastal rains. Generally speaking, it was avoided, most people opting to take the fairly longer route of going around it rather than through it. “Just to go through it?”
“Right, there’s an old path that several of the guilds and businesses that are thinking of using to speed up travel to Port Royale and Linia, even if only by a little bit. All we have to do is go through it and give a survey on the general safety of the path, its condition, and so on. Considering how many people have interest in it, it also has a rather hefty reward behind it of 3,000 credits.”
“So we’re clear, Atma,” Alice chimed in, “You are familiar with the stories about the forest, right?”
“Of course. Pay aside, there are good reasons for us to travel through the forest. This is our first opportunity to test our skills together, find out where we stand, and how we can improve.” Atma smiled confidently.
“Can’t really argue with that.” Alice sighed. “Alright then, let’s do this.”
The trip towards the Forest of Elders was simple enough; from the north end of Linia, they would head due east for the nearest crossing of the Linian river. Rather than turn south to circumnavigate the forest, they would keep heading east, towards a marking Atma had made on their map, the entrance to the old forest path. It was closer to ten in the morning as they neared the borders of the forest, Balthazar staring up to the massive trees that seemed to devour the sky itself. As he looked to the woods before him, he was surprised by how dark the forest became once one stepped foot into its border, light cut off from above by the ancient pine trees surrounding them. The path wasn’t all that wide, enough for a pair of horse-drawn carts side by side, nor any brighter than the rest of the forest. Birds and other critters called out from within, echoed by the trees. “Whew, that is a lot more intimidating up close, isn’t it?”
“You don’t have to come with us if you’re scared, Balthazar.”
“In your dreams, Miles.” Balthazar took one last look to the looming trees above, before stepping into the woods. The air was cold within the forest, despite summer being just around the corner, almost biting. The path was relatively still intact, not enough sunlight reaching to the forest floor to let many grasses and weeds grow. “Well, it doesn’t seem like there’s too much to be done to repair the road, maybe further up, but this is in surprisingly good condition.”
“I don’t exactly think that’s the detail too many people are worried about.” Miles kept glancing left and right. He and Balthazar were at the back of the group, left to each other. Alice, in the meanwhile, pulled out a lantern she had packed in her bags, opening it to light it. She snapped her fingers, a small, well controlled flame dancing at the tip of her index finger, which she placed at the core of the lantern, holding it ahead to light the way. Miles and Balthazar both kept note of her taking the front, before turning back to one another. “Something here inspired those stories about people going missing, Balthazar.”
“And if it were all that strong, it probably wouldn’t be confined to the forest, right? Or the Kingdom and Linia would have done something about that.”
“I’m just saying people avoid this place for a reason.”
“For all we know, we’ve been avoiding it for the wrong reason.” Balthazar thought back to his personal studies on legends and history. “Name considered, this place probably has some old, forgotten significance to the Linian elders, and people mistook that as this place being some sacred ground.” The two weren’t quite sure if they were debating the idea of some horrid monster in the forest, or trying to talk down their nerves.
Atma slowed his pace for a moment to join in on the conversation. “I can’t say I found a reason for this place being called that in my own studies. If I had had the time, I would have liked to visit your temple’s library someday.”
“You couldn’t, it would take years with how much is piled up in there,” Balthazar made an attempt at joking, which did give some relief to the tension of the forest. “I’m sure there’s an answer in there, but with how vast the collection of books is, you’d have a hard time finding it.”
“All the same, a place like this, left so unexplored after all these years? There’s something fascinating about it all.” Atma looked to the forest canopy as he spoke. “Legends of the past, history we’ve forgotten, for a lot of my time in the castle, learning about them were the closest I could get to adventures, so call it a soft spot of mine.”
“I can partly understand that,” Balthazar replied, his voice building with excitement and curiosity once more. “I’ve considered the adventurers guilds, and archaeology as careers, there really is something special about the ancient world. I think of all the treasures we’ve lost, about what inspired the myths and legends!” He caught his rising voice, quieting back down. “Ahem, yeah, I agree that it’s something of an adventure.”
Atma shared a look of excitement over their common interest. “I have little idea of the strange places I may yet visit, but that only makes me more excited for whatever may come.” He paused for a moment once he stopped speaking, cautiously observing the forest around him as he walked. Balthazar did the same, trying to take note of anything Atma might have noticed. Nothing. No birds singing, little in the way of insects chirping. The forest, as they had gone further in, had become more overgrown, darker, tighter, strange overgrowth hanging above them, almost making a cramped ceiling of sorts. “Keep calm. Stay moving. Be on your guard.” He readied his spear and shield, eyes still scanning the area.
“What is it? I don’t hear anything.”
“It’s too quiet. Everything in the forest is hiding from something. Even if we’re foreigners here, we’ve been sticking to the path, there’s not much reason for the local wildlife to be scared of us. Form up, Locke, you’re on the rear guard, I’ll take point. Alice, behind me, Miles, you’re in the center, Balthazar, next to Locke.” One by one the group nodded and moved into position, Alice extinguishing the lantern, so as to not magnify their position.
Balthazar kept his head on a pivot, searching side to side for any sign of danger. He felt Locke tap him on the shoulder, turning back slightly to see him, their voices a whisper. “What?”
“You’re still practicing those sword techniques I taught you, right?”
Balthazar nodded. “Twice a week.” Locke nodded and passed up the arming sword and sheath at his belt. “Locke, this is the sword you were knighted with, I can’t-”
“I trust you with it. Besides, my other sword is too heavy for you.”
Balthazar silently nodded, and placed the blade at his belt. Still nothing. He wondered if perhaps the depths of the forest were simply muffling the sound of the wildlife, rather than something being looming around them. He was so intensely focused forward, he flinched on hearing Locke stumble slightly behind him. “You alright?” The group stopped to make sure they stuck together.
“I’m fine,” he muttered, catching his footing once more. “A root or something I missed.”
“That’s odd, I didn’t see anything in the path like that a second ago.” Balthazar sighed in relief, relaxing a bit after the slight scare. He noticed something hanging among the overgrowth above them, out of place in a coastal forest. “Are those vines?” While they looked up, they once again hear Locke fall, Balthazar turning in time to see him being dragged away. “Locke!” He tried reaching out for his friend, though the knight was long gone from the path by the time he could. A moment later, he felt the light breeze of something swaying behind him. He was perfectly motionless, feeling his hair stand on end. He reached for the sword Locke had given him, ready to turn and draw. He didn’t have time to process as he felt something wrap around him, and violently tear him away from the others.