Jake walked forward and retrieved the twin knives protruding from the tree from across the clearing where he stood practicing. After continual practice yesterday and today, his aim had significantly improved and he could now reliably hit the tree he was aiming for, even if he found where he hit the tree varied wildly. But it was still progress.

Looking around the camp, it was barren. Yesterday after his talk with Rick, Rick hadn't returned from the woods for several more hours. He didn’t bring any new animals to skin and clean, and dinner yesterday was a simple affair of dried meat prepared from leftovers. It was a quiet dinner, Leopold and Lana talked amongst themselves and would often bring Jake into the conversation, but Jake himself sat in silence. Rick simply grabbed his food and left, not bothering to sit around the fire. He hadn’t made eye contact with Jake once when he returned from the forest.

This morning, Jake wasn’t awoken by a knife but rather by a rock crashing against the stones above him startling him awake. He sat up, glancing around rapidly. He saw no sign of Rick anywhere, but on the outskirts of the camp, he could hear Leopold's laugh and see his distinct outline before it retreated from sight. That had been the last he’d seen of either Leopold or Rick. Lana woke up a little after him and gave him a friendly wave.

Jake had a friendly talk with her, asking her how she was doing, but small talk died off fast. Jake realized that now he was fully healed, he didn’t know much about Lana he could use to spark a conversation. He wanted to ask her and Leopold about themselves, especially after the talk he’d had with Rick sparked some questions in his mind but, Leopold was already gone with Rick. Lana, after an awkward exchange of greetings, buried her nose in a set of books.

With nothing else to do, Jake considered continuing to read through the book Lana had lent him, before deciding his time would be better spent practicing with the knives instead. As grateful to Lana as he was for lending him the book he could hardly understand the book so diving into it felt like a waste of time.

The knives, though by no means a master Jake at least felt like he was starting to reach a level he could almost use them comfortably. He hoped that with enough practice he’d get good enough to hunt soon. That would exponentially increase his odds of surviving when he next fell into a new world. Plus, having some type of weapon he felt comfortable with felt like a good idea. The final reason he gravitated to practicing the knives as opposed to reading the book was not related to survival at all. He simply thought the idea of being able to throw knives around was cool, and though a little childish given his situation the thrill he felt the more he improved helped him push through the frustration of the skill plateaus.

As Jake turned from the tree after retrieving his knives from his latest round of practice, he saw Leopold emerge from the tree line, alone. Looking around, he saw no sign of Rick. Walking over, Leopold gave a friendly wave before saying,

“Pack up, where moving camp. Rick found where we’ll be staying next, he stayed behind to finish scouting the area out. It’s not very far.”

Lana looked confused at Leopold’s words but quickly began packing her bag to begin moving. Jake hurried toward his mess of a sleeping area and quickly shoved his supplies into his knapsack. He finished by throwing his back across his bag and collected his glowing cane to use as a torch. It had been a few days since he last grabbed it, he no longer needed it to walk after all, but looking over it now it looked as if it was slowly growing dimmer. It seemed the magic Lana had cast on it was starting to fade.

Jake finished packing faster than Lana could, as he had far less to pack than she did. He stood silently by Leopold for a moment, before undercutting the silence by asking,

“How far away is this ‘Heart of Corruption’?”

“The Corruption’s heart lies at its center kid, we're not exactly sure where that is as the exact size of The Corruption has always been difficult to measure but roughly it should be somewhere in the Largo ruins,” Leopold said, a thoughtful look crossing his face as he scratched his chin. “It’s hard to say exactly how far away we are, I do know we’re about three or four days from reaching the outer wall of Largo, though where will travel after that I don’t know.”

Jake had more questions, but by then Lana had finished packing and had come to join the two, halting their discussion. She came over with a smile, and after seeing the diminishing state of the magic on Jake’s cane, her hand quickly glowed for half a second before the light returned in full to the cane.

“There you go, Jake. Should help you see clearly.”

“Thank you,” Jake said, giving her a nod.

“You’re ready, right Lala?” Leopold asked Lana, and after receiving a nod in turn he led the group forward out of the striped campsite and back into the forest. Moving back into the dark of the forest, the same spectacle as before, a vastly mixed crop of rotted and living plants greeted Jake once again. This time, however, neither Lana nor Leopold produced any source of light.

“We want to move stealthily, kid. Me and Rick should have already taken care of anything serious along the path earlier but still stay careful.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Jake gave a nod and moved forward carrying the cane aloft like a torch. The shorter field of vision provided by the cane was just enough to wrap around the three, a pinprick of light struggling in the inky black surrounding them. Jake, though he led the group alongside Leopold, could barely see a foot ahead of him as he carried the light aloft. Still, he did his best to act as a guide past any tripping hazards or around anything that looked too suspicious or noisy.

Every crinkle of leaves across the ground or rustling of fallen grass made his hair stand on end. He didn’t like the idea of getting into another confrontation, especially without Rick providing support. So far whenever conflict erupted it had always been Rick who had saved his life. Jake didn’t want to test his luck and find out how well he could hold up in combat on his own right now, right after he’d only just started practicing with his knives.

Thankful, the longer the group walked the less likely that seemed to happen. The densely packed trees, casting long shadows and obscuring the path forward, slowly started to give way. The distribution of living to rotted trees began to tip, till more rotted trees lined Jake’s field of view. Before long, all the trees he saw were rotted husks, struggling to stay up under their own weight. Walking further in, he came across trees so withered they had collapsed down under their weight, leaving nothing but shriveled trunks, ruined stumps, and dust.

Soon the group walked through a graveyard of tree stumps, with no trunks remaining only dust and rotted roots that broke into nothing at the slightest hint of pressure. Leopold stopped in the middle of this graveyard, looking around a saddened look on his face. Looking behind him, he saw a similar look on Lana’s face.

“Me and Rick walked a bit further, about a mile or so inland and the stumps give way to nothing, just empty plains of ruined grass and dirt,” Leopold said, his tone grim and his features drawn back into a scowl. He then turned and started walking to the left.

“Rick should be waiting this way; there’s a few tree trunks left to act as cover for the night. Tomorrow though, we’ll have to start camping in the open plains. We’ll have to start taking shifts at night to keep a proper watch.”

Lana gave a nod, but she looked like she was only half paying attention. Her eyes looked in a daze as she looked around at the ruin of the forest. It didn’t take long to reach Rick, who sat reclined in a rotted stump. Lana sat down, casting a small light to illuminate the area as she did so, and put her head in her hands. Leopold looked at her for a moment, before gently patting her head and starting to walk the perimeter of the camp.

Jake looked at Lana, before deciding she looked like she wanted to be left in peace and jogging after Leopold, catching up to his side and asking,

“Are you ok?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Leopold asked, sounding generally confused.

“Rick said you and Lana were from Largo. Where walking to the Largo ruins, I thought… maybe you needed a moment,” Jake said, only realizing now it may be seen as rude to inquire about this after only talking to Rick and not first speaking to Leopold.

Leopold didn’t seem to mind, he let out a chuckle before saying,

“He told you that huh?” Leopold asked, looking confused.

“He said he met you guys immigrating from Largo as it fell,” Jake said, repeating what he heard and hoping he hadn’t messed up any details or misremembered a name. Leopold let a gasp of understanding before nodding and saying,

“He met Lala and her family, that’s true. Didn’t meet me till later. Was already transferred to the military in Morsel. Smaller kingdom, way back past the mountains. You won’t have known about it.” Leopold said before winking at Jake. Jake found this alarming for a moment, but Leopold continued his story,

“I was born in Largo but left twenty or thirty years before its fall? It’s hard to keep track. Lala stayed behind, tried to get her to come with me but she said she wanted her family to grow up where she did…” Leopold stopped suddenly and shook his head, a saddened look crossing his face.

“Course, Rick didn’t like me much when we first met. Don’t think he likes anyone much when he first meets them.” Leopold continued a moment later, a quick smile returning to his face, “He grew real fond of me after he found out I could help smuggle him in and out of the mountain paths.”

“Smuggle?” Jake said, confused.

“Yeah, see when Largo fell, all the smaller kingdoms began panicking. The largest empire in the known world collapsing will do that. The influx of refugees, food shortages, plague,” Leopold gave a small hand wave with each example as if it were a minor, insignificant problem and not the makings of a horrific tragedy. “A few smaller kingdoms, closer to the Largo Mountains soon fell and it was decided that any land surrounding or past the Largo Mountains was lost forever. The surviving kingdoms passed the universal degree: any travel near Largo was illegal, punishable by death.”

Leopold looked at Jake with a smile but was met with a look of deep confusion and concern.

“What… then what are you three doing here?” Jake finally asked after his mind calmed enough to voice the question setting off alarm bells in his head.

“What do you mean what are we doing here?” Leopold said with mock shock before laughing outrageously, “Do you think ‘The Final Hero’s’ would just let the sky stay stollen? Everyone else may be ready for the end but not us!”

“But you guys said you were tasked with saving the world! If it’s illegal to even go near Largo, who tasked you with retrieving the sky? The king of Morsel!?” Jake couldn’t follow along with what Leopold was saying. All this time he thought he’d been traveling with a group officially recognized for their skills, sent forward to save the world he was stuck in. It was starting to sound like; however, he was with a group of crazy people, very skilled crazy people but crazy nonetheless.

“The king of Morsel? Nah, someone way more important!” Leopold said a wide smile on his face. It slowly died down, before he glanced back toward Lana and said, “Look kid, I’m sorry but that’s about all I can say. If you want to know more, ask Lala about Will sometime. But word of advice, I’d be gentle. Also, give her some time first. She has a lot of bad memories around Largo.” Leopold gave Jake a pat on the back before walking away. Jake turned around and looked back at Lana and Rick.

Thinking about it a minute longer, he decided it didn't really matter who asked them to save the world. Whoever it was might not only save the world but already saved Jakes life. He’d already seen how skilled the trio was, that was enough for him. As he was looking around the campsite, still in the process of being assembled, he locked eyes with Rick for the first time since their talk in the woods.

Wordlessly, Rick pointed to a collection of rabbits piled next to the stump he reclined on. With a sigh, Jake made his way toward the pile and prayed they weren’t crazy.