Part 2: The Land

Corin stepped foot on the land.

“How does it feel, my boy?” Simeon asked Corin.

Corin took in his surroundings.

“It feels surreal.” He replied, after several seconds of studying his surroundings.

“Isn't it amazing?” Livia asked him as she wrapped her arm around his.

Corin nodded as he held on to his wife.

“It feels odd being back on land.” He mentioned after several moments.

“Aye it'll take some time to get used to the solid ground.” Simeon replied.

“So how long until we get to Belaran?” Nanaua asked.

For Nanaua there was no need to take in the moment. They came here for a reason.

Nanaua looked at Simeon.

“Oh you're asking me? I don't know that.” Simeon replied calmly.

“What? I thought that's why we brought you here?” Nanaua reeled in surprise.

“I don't think I ever said I knew where Belaran was. This continent is vast. He could be anywhere. He could be right over those hills for all I know.” Simeon said as he pointed to the nearby hills that surrounded the bay they found themselves in.

“Or perhaps on the other side of the continent. Which would take close to half a year to reach.” Simeon added nonchalantly.

“So what then?” Asked Livia.

“Well it's obvious! We need to find other furtives and ask for information. I reckon finding a Giant should not be too hard. They are, after all, very large.” Simeon replied.

The moment Simeon finished speaking an object crashed in front of them. They all instinctively jumped back except for Nanaua.

After looking at it, they realized they were looking at a spear that had been thrown towards them and had lodged itself in the ground in front of them.

They turned to look for the source.

At the top of a nearby rocky outcrop stood three humans. They were almost completely naked and were covered in various markings. They glared at Nanaua and the rest of the adventurers.

The middle one was lacking a spear while the two near him held theirs at the ready.

Nanaua walked to the spear and calmly pulled it from the ground with one hand. She took several steps back and a deep breath.

With the spear in one hand she took several steps forward and launched it at the trio. The spear left her hand with blinding speed.

The spear flew past the head of the middle of the group, flying so close to his face that he could feel the air it disturbed as it cut through it. It went by at such speed that it took him a second to realize what had happened.

Instantly the three of them ran away shouting something incomprehensible.

“I hope they learned that violent threats will not work against us.” Nanaua exclaimed proudly.

“They could have just been trying to communicate with us.” Simeon said.

Nanaua looked at him with a confused look and then seemed to realize something.

“Yes, that could have been a possibility.” She admitted in a mutter.

“This is not going to be easy.” Zhi sighed in frustration.

***

The group spent half a day traversing through the foreign landscape. The terrain they found themselves was not flat, but rather consisted of rolling hills, which wore on the travelers quite quickly.

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“I forgot how much I hated this part.” Zhi was the first one to say anything.

Corin’s experience was much different than Zhi’s. Everything he was seeing was new, it all looked so different to everything he was accustomed to. It was hard for him to believe that such a different world existed right alongside Trinixo.

“What kind of tree is that?”

“Is that fruit edible?”

“What mountain is that?”

“What kind of animal is that?”

“Can we eat it?”

These were all the questions that Corin kept asking Simeon as they traversed the foreign landscape.

“That tree is a roosk tree.”

“No that fruit is not edible.”

“I don't know, it is just a mountain.”

“That is a mountain lion.”

“Well yes you can eat it”

Corin had spent his entire life confined within the island of Trinixo, and he had walked the entire length of it many times. Corin felt confident that even completely blindfolded he could circle the entire island and end up exactly at the spot he had begun. But this was a completely new experience.

At the top of a particularly tall hill the group took a quick break.

From here Corin and the rest could see a vast swath of the continent. A sprawling land mass that extended as far as the eye could see and beyond.

“By Jokasta’s grace.” Corin muttered.

Livia, who sat next to him, was also enraptured by the view of the land around them. She, like Corin, knew nothing but the small island of Trinixo. The vastness of this land seemed almost incomprehensible to the world that they had been accustomed to.

“If Cyril could see this.” Corin muttered as he held onto the pendant.

“He'd be so happy for you Corin. That you were able to see the world beyond Trinixo.” Livia smiled as she held on to her husband.

Livia put her head on his shoulders and Corin put his on hers.

“He'd be happy because I get to see this with you.” Corin said to Livia.

“So where do we go from here?” Zhi asked behind Corin.

She didn't seem to be so thrilled about the views. She was focused on leaving the walking behind. She wanted to know when they could rest for the day.

“Well we have walked a ways inland now. There are many roads in the interior of the continent. We need to find one, it will be our best chance at finding other furtives who might be more keen on talking to us..” Simeon said.

“Those weird marked men keep stalking our steps.” Nanaua growled as she looked at a rocky formation.

Corin looked over to the area that Nanaua was looking at.

He struggled for some time, trying to see what exactly she saw, but suddenly he saw them. They were very still, so much so that it made it hard to notice them when looking at the environment as a whole, and they were keenly focused on the group. Corin marveled at how well they were able to blend in with their environment.

“Yes I'm afraid they have been following us the entire time.” Simeon replied.

Nanaua picked up her pike.

“We don't need to do that. If they meant to attack us they had plenty of opportunities.” Simeon urged Nanaua.

She still held onto the pike with an iron grip, moving her eyes from Simeon to the marked men.

“Darling, if they threaten us we will deal with it.” Zhi spoke now and Nanaua finally let go of her pike.

Corin continued studying the men. They seemed to be as interested in the adventurers as they were with the marked men.

The group continued on their trek down from the hill in the hopes of finding a road. At one point Corin slipped and fell on his bottom. When he got up his pants got tangled up with a broken branch and ripped a large hole in them.

“Oh great.” Corin said out loud as he looked at the large tear in his pants.

From a distance the three marked men could be heard laughing at his expense.

“Really?” Corin shouted in their direction.

A lot closer to him Corin could hear Nanaua and Zhi struggling to stifle their laughter as well.

Livia came over and helped stitch up his pants before the group once again continued moving. After several hours they finally encountered a road, but we're unsure of which direction to follow down the road.

“Which way do you think we should go?” Zhi asked Simeon.

Simeon looked both ways.

“I'll say this way.” Simeon began following the road that led them into the mountains.

After several steps heading in that direction the group heard a loud commotion.

“WAAAAHHHH!” Was shouted at them as the three marked men jumped in front of the group.

“Oh these fools again! That is it!” Nanaua shouted as she grabbed her pike.

The three men jumped back upon seeing the pike but kept raising their hands, impeding the group's way, and shouting words that none of them understood.

“Simeon, I don't suppose you understand what these men are trying to say do you?” Livia asked.

“No, not exactly.” Simeon replied as he looked at them with a puzzled expression.

“Of course the majority of the people in the continent speak the common tongue, but there are those that develop their own dialects.” Simeon finished as he studied the men.

The three men stared at the group, not moving an inch. It was clear that they did not want the adventurers going beyond them.

“We're don't mean any harm.” Corin said to the men. “We just want to continue on.”

He grabbed his blade and placed it on the ground.

The men looked at him puzzled, but did not move out of the way.

“I don't think they consider us a threat.” Livia stated.

“Are we not able to go that way?” Corin asked as he pointed behind the men.

One of them moved to Corin and stood in his way. He pointed behind Corin, to the opposite side of the road.

“Well they definitely don't want us going that way.” Corin said. “But why?”

“Hmm. Let me see something.” Simeon said as he cleared his throat. “Gulkharante?” Simeon asked as he pointed behind the three men.

The three men’s excited expression seemed to be a clear indicator that whatever Simeon had just said was in fact what the men were trying to explain to the group.

“I see.” Simeon said.

“Well? What is it?” Zhi asked him.

“If I understand them correctly these men are warning us that this path leads to a giant.” Simeon added nonchalantly.

“Are you serious?” Corin asked.

“I believe so. I have heard many names for the titans being used before. Vorletes, Airofieros for example for dragons. Belrodins and Gulkharantes for giants. Ozaitios and Koorobs for leviathans. There's a lot of different names for the titans.” Simeon replied.

Aside from Simeon the rest of them were too terrified to say anything.

Nanaua put away her pike and bowed her head.

Corin picked up his blade.

“So it seems we won't be going this way.” Livia was the first one to reply.

“They probably saved our lives.” Corin said as he was still in shock.

“Yes, of course, they did.” Simeon replied. He stopped to take off his bag.

He searched inside it and found a handful of sharp metal arrowheads.

Simeon grabbed them and placed them in front of the three marked men. As he stepped away he bowed to the men.

“Furtivos.” The men spoke to Simeon as they grabbed the arrowheads, bowed and left.

Simeon turned around and grabbed his bag and began to walk away. The group followed him as they followed the different path.

“Why do you think they helped us?” Corin asked Simeon. “It's not like helping us benefited them at all. They could have just left us to die.”

“Though we may lead different lives to them, they still experience the same torment at the hands of the Titans. It is a shared experience among furtives. They don't need a reason to help us, some just cannot stand idly and watch others be trampled upon due to the whims of those who have more power than them.” Simeon replied.