From Blue’s estimations, the journey from Myria Bridge to the swamp in the north would take four days.

The three of them took a trail some distance from Wraiths Ravine for safety. With the seals on Myria Bridge destroyed, Kari, Elwin and Blue were all extremely hesitant to test their luck with the spirits that had regained their newfound freedom.

With news from the Incandestine forces flowing through Blue every hour of every day, they were all acutely aware of the fact that Apolaphia was in a race against time. Lucina’s forces had spread all over the planet intending to prophylactically suppress any form of resistance. No one was coming to save Al Dherjza, and Apolphians were largely too scared to mount a resistance in the face of the Incandestine Empire’s overwhelming technology and impetuous planning.

The overgrown forest trail that they took was largely the same as the other forest trails that they had seen, save for some more unkempt growths that were easy for either Kari or Elwin to move out of the way with their Gifts. Much like the rest of the Ellenian forest, the trail was lined with old oaks and birches. Though walking along the abandoned forest path may have been eerie and unsettling, the scattered beams of golden sunlight making their way through the dense canopy of leaves above coupled with the persistent birdsong made the journey rather pleasant.

The only other notable difference was the occasional glimpse of three-meter tall mossy metal obelisks through the maze of tree trunks. According to Blue, they were remnants of magical seals that existed in the Ellenian landscape, far older than Myria bridge. Elwin was reminded of the strange silver structures that could be seen in the hollow trunk of the Prime Moontree in the centre of Ellenia. He wondered what collective purpose the devices once served.

Blue took the detour as an opportunity to scavenge for plants and fungi that could be used as magical reagents, employing the help of Elwin’s Gift to quickly find what she was searching for. With Blue at his side, Elwin almost began to feel that his long years studying enchanting were put to waste, for the value of the reagents they found in a few afternoons was far beyond several weeks’ worth of painstaking effort in Elwin’s workshop.

Although travelling through the peaceful Ellenian forest was a good opportunity for the three of them to get to know each other, Elwin found that Kari was oddly silent. It was always up to Elwin or Blue to start the conversation. Elwin had noticed Kari’s silent behaviour during the exchange with Effie at Myria Bridge also. The elf wondered how his companion had grown to be such a quiet individual.

On the first night, the three of them had set up a campfire in a clearing, hidden some distance from the trail. It was then that Elwin caught the slightest whiff of a wild beast with his sensitive elven nose. Turning to inspect the edges of the clearing in an attempt to see what it might be, the young elf caught a glimpse of two beady eyes, shining in the reflected light of the fire.

“So, you’ve noticed it too,” Blue observed.

“What is it?” Elwin asked.

“A curious boar,” Kari answered without even turning to look at it. “I can feel every drop of sweat in its matted hide. Shall I kill it? I’m a quick butcher with my Gift. We could feast on the best parts tonight.”

“I would rather not. Besides, have you forgotten that we’ve already eaten? It would be wasteful.” Elwin said in reply.

“You say it is wasteful, but you mention nothing about the prospect of eating meat going against your sensibilities as an elf?” Blue asked in surprise.

Elwin looked toward Blue in surprise. “Are you saying that you were a vegetarian?”

“Oh, what are the Ellenian elders teaching these days?” Blue muttered to herself in disappointment. Then, hopping out of Kari’s pocket and shaping her morphic body into that of a tiny boar, Blue emitted a most unusual set of sounds: squeals and shrieks that continued for a few seconds at length.

Kari and Elwin exchanged a curious glance.

After a short delay, the dark bushes at the edges of the clearing rustled. Two large, curved ivory tusks gave way to the tremendous muscular bulk of the wild boar, standing upon four muddy cloven hooves. The beast must’ve weighed at least two hundred kilograms.

The wild boar approached curiously, sniffing with two gigantic wet nostrils at Blue’s tiny form, standing proudly upon one of the round wooden logs that Elwin had shaped for their seating around the fire.

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“Give him some of that roundcap that we had to eat earlier,” Blue demanded.

Elwin obliged, carefully placing the large, flat mushroom onto the log in front of the boar.

Looking at its quivering mass, Elwin was acutely aware that being on the wrong side of those tusks could lead to a quick and painful demise.

A few short oinks, squeals and snuffles later, the wild boar suddenly turned and disappeared into the wood once more.

“…What just happened?” Kari asked.

“I just made us a friend. He will be journeying with us until we reach the swamp, scouting the way in case there is any trouble lying in wait for us.”

The next morning, they woke up to a windy dawn. Blue calculated a ’99 per cent chance of precipitation’. And sure enough, it rained later that afternoon.

Kari used his Gift and stasis bracelet to create a barrier around them to protect them from the cold and wet as they continued their journey north. Unfortunately, the wet mud prevented Elwin from using his trick of surfing along a front of rolling dirt, as the extra moisture ruined the structural integrity of their footing. Kari and Elwin were forced to trudge along the wet path, Kari making some effort to dry the immediate area in front of them.

Conscious that his human companion seemed stressed, and that the bad weather was likely to only worsen his mood, Elwin asked Blue to tell a story in the hopes that it would raise their spirits.

Blue was happy to oblige.

“Have you ever heard the story of the Hermit of Giant’s Beach?” the ancient elf asked.

“Giant’s Beach?” Kari asked. He recalled seeing the name on his map. It was southeast of their location, forming a great sandy barrier between the Shimmering Sea in the north, and the Endless Sea to the south.

“I take it that you haven’t. Long ago, The Lord of the Great Basin, Exerops, once commissioned a most epic quest to the people of all the lands and kingdoms of Apolaphia. The quest was simple: one was to deliver to the king, a perfectly round, unaltered grain of sand from Giant’s Beach. Without crack, chip, smudge or blemish. The only problem was, that the chance of such a grain of sand existing is so low that it may as well be an impossibility. For you see, the grains of sand on Giant’s Beach are about three thousand times larger than the grains of sand you can find anywhere else in Apolaphia.”

Elwin spoke up. “Ulberich, the greatest and oldest mage, cast a spell upon a beach that enlarged every grain of sand, didn’t he? Hence the name of the beach, named by those who thought that the giants must’ve roamed a place where the grains of sand are so large.”

“Yes. You are right. It seems that modern Ellenians still know their history.” Blue said in praise. “Exerops heard of the folly of his request from his advisors, but it mattered not. And although the people of the world knew that it was a near-impossible task to procure such a grain of sand, countless thousands nevertheless took to the quest, for Lord of the Great Basin offered his very own title and authority as the prize.”

“For a single grain of sand?” Kari asked, unfamiliar with the tales in this part of the world.

“Yes. For a single grain of perfect sand.”

“So… what happened?” Elwin asked.

“At first, many people appeared before Lord Exerops with a supposedly perfect grain of sand, though none passed the tests of legitimacy. All liars were put to death, though that did not stem the tide of foolish grifters and charlatans. After many, many long years, not even one grain of perfect sand was brought before the king.”

“But was it found?” Elwin asked with earnest curiosity.

“I doubt it. Undeterred, Exerops doubled down on his efforts to find the perfect grain. He spent countless resources on magical reagents to cast the most complex and thorough searching spells on Giant’s Beach, but nothing yielded results. In the end, his kingdom fell into financial ruin and was fractured, leading to the Great Basin we see today. Exerops himself was overthrown. However, the Lord, then an old man, managed to escape the coup.”

“So what happened to him?” Kari asked. By this point, even he was intrigued by the story.

“No one truly knows, though it is said that for some decades after that a hermit resembling the late Lord could be seen near Druford, a small fishing village on the southern edge of the beach. Due to the magical contamination of the area owing to Exerops’ magical search efforts, a mysterious fog would cover the area near the fishing village every morning. When the fog rose, every grain of sand that the fog had covered would be different from before.”

The rain continued to pour down as Kari, Elwin and Blue travelled along the silent forest path, the gentle squelching of their footsteps punctuated only by the gentle hiss and drip of rain, falling from the spring leaves into puddles and small shoots.

“Every day, the hermit would walk the beach from dawn until dusk, searching for a perfect grain. The children of Druford, with nothing to do during the day when their fathers were out on the sea, often spent time with the hermit, who lived in a simple shack with sparse belongings. The hermit kept to his routine, rain or shine, and was so well known by the locals that Druford’s troublemakers were often sent to help the hermit as some form of punishment.”

A crack of distant thunder echoed through the forest’s dense wood, followed by the rush of a passing gust, causing a cascade of clear droplets to fall from the canopy above.

“One fateful day, the children of Druford had found that the hermit had disappeared. At first, they thought that he might’ve fallen onto the sand, unable to get up with his crooked back. But, it was soon discovered that the hermit had retreated to his shack on the sandy shores. He refused to leave, not even for food. After days, and growing worried for the hermit’s health, the people of Druford delivered the hermit sustenance, which the old man barely touched. The consensus was that the hermit had finally found his ‘perfect grain’, and was so enamoured by his treasure that he had lost his mind.”

At this development, Kari raised a sceptical eyebrow, while the innocent Elwin’s eyes were filled with worry.

“What happened then?” Elwin asked.