He looked up. I can't believe we jumped from there. Now that he was past the jump, it didn't seem so bad to him after all. Still, he wouldn't do it again in the near future.

The group took a short break before heading to their next destination.

The town of Whisperwind. And Elijah's first social venture in a new world.

Chapter Begin

Elijah’s legs felt like pudding for the first ten minutes of their journey toward Whisperwind and while his three friends tried to hide it, he noticed that the jump left an impact on them as well.

Kael let out a deep exhale to release the tension he had built up during the descent while Erik had a broad grin spread over his face and put his arm around Kael’s shoulder. “We did it!”

“I won’t do that ever again,” Kael stated.

“You say that every time,” Aric said as he led the way. “I look forward to a long, hot bath.”

“I missed Lilly,” Erik said while he stared into the distance. The comment about his fiancé earned him a snort from Elijah and Kael, but he ignored them.

“How long will it take us to get to Whisperwind?” Elijah asked as he scanned their surroundings. After what felt like an eternity, not even a sign of a city could be seen far and wide. All he could see was a river winding through the terrain to his right while rolling hills stood around them. There were also occasional clusters of trees and Elijah used some of the wood to summon Root again.

“We’ll need around two days,” Erik said. “I’m thinking about taking a shower in the river.” He stroke his hand through his hair before he looked at the dust on it.

Elijah stepped away from Erik while he threw a glance at the river again. “Good idea. Me too.” Usually, he took a shower every day and the whole fighting and the jump off the island made him sweat a bit too much for his liking. “A shower would be great.”

“We don’t have time for that. Let’s hurry back to Whisperwind and report, after that you are free to shower as much as you want.” Aric said as he shook his head.

While Elijah didn’t need to listen to what Aric said, he didn’t want to travel alone either. Begrudgingly he postponed his shower to later and kept walking. Erik didn’t seem to mind and simply used his earth manipulation abilities to roughly get the dirt off himself. He had to take a shower nonetheless as there was still dirt all over his body.

Another hour later Elijah spoke up again. “Are we going to walk the whole two days?”

Kael answered him this time. “The reinforcements Alex is going to send should have some mounts for us. We should see them in an hour or two.”

“Alex is our guild leader,” Erik added before Elijah could ask. Elijah nodded in response and kept walking. He couldn’t wait to get to Whisperwind.

A few hours later the sun was already up, bathing their surroundings in a reddish light. In the distance, huge birds flew across the horizon and Elijah feared the monsters could attack them but the other three assured him that they weren’t rift monsters.

“There’s Arnold!” Aric called out as he waved his hands. Elijah perked up and looked in the distance. He could see tiny silhouettes a mile ahead but it was impossible to tell what the things moving around ahead of them were. If he was alone, he wouldn’t even have noticed.

“Why are you waving them? They can’t see you.” Kael said as he, like Elijah, tried to make out the figures in the distance. Narrowing his eyes, he turned to Aric. “Is Vivienne with them?”

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“Don’t worry. Seraphina is also there,” Aric took down his hands as he turned to Kael. Erik wiggled his eyebrows at Elijah. It was obvious that the two had crushes on members of the group that is approaching them right now.

As the party of ten came nearer, Elijah could make out more details. They were all dressed in different gear but all of them shared the same insignia Elijah had seen on the trio he traveled with. A small logo of a white rabbit which was probably the mark of the Lepus guild.

Elijah was interested in their mounts, though. They were all riding some kind of snow-white giant rabbits with tiny wings at their sides. The rabbits glided through the air with each jump, which made them excellent mounts and he couldn’t help but hope that they would get those mounts too. He was tired of walking.

The biggest rabbit, which was probably the leader’s mount, landed in front of Elijah and towered over him. He stumbled a few steps back in surprise as he didn’t realize how big the giant rabbits really were until the group stopped in front of them.

The beast looked down on Elijah with what felt like curiosity written over its face. It was at least the size of a horse. Elijah’s hand moved to his mace as he looked it in the eyes. Elijah was ready to act at moments notice but relaxed when the rabbit’s rider began patting its head and looked at Elijah and his minion from above. “Who’s that?”

Aric stepped forward. “Hey man, Arnold. How you’ve been doing? He’s a friend.” He turned to the other riders before his eyes rested on a woman among their group and he smiled. “Hey guys.” She smiled back at him and waved.

Arnold jumped off his mount before he shook hands with Aric. “Long time no see. I am back from Ravenholm. Where’s the rift? Honestly, I’m tired of all this war with Cloud Raiders.”

Before Aric could answer, a chubby man with a rectangular shield fastened on each arm shouted from behind. “A few more weeks and Serpent’s Embrace will have taken care of them.”

The comment earned the man an elbow from a woman next to him with long curly hairs. Elijah thought the turquoise color was odd at first glance, but it somehow suited her. “You shouldn’t talk so carelessly about other people’s deaths Gideon!”

“Even you have to admit that they asked for it, Freya.” Magnus, a burly man with a massive warhammer on his back said. “You can’t make light of their actions.” A few of the others nodded as Arnold turned to Elijah.

“The name is Arnold, strategist and passionate swordsman.” He looked at the trio next to Elijah. “I hope they weren’t too exhausting.”

Erik let out a deep laugh as Elijah smiled and shook Arnold’s hand. “Don’t worry. I’m Elijah and that’s Root.” He felt the eyes of the whole group on him and his minion as he introduced themselves. They were looking at his skin and Elijah couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with everyone’s stares.

Aric put his hand on Elijah’s shoulder. “He has helped us quite a bit with our mission. It would have taken longer to find the rift without the map he provided us with. We had checked a few islands already and none of us would have had the patience to look for a possible map we weren’t even sure existed.” He turned around and pointed to the island they came from. “The rift is on that island.”

“We’ve destroyed all settlements up there. There could be more on the smaller islands, maybe three or four of you should check them out while the rest guards the rift.” Erik added.

“There is a mine on the island as well. You should make sure it stays in our possession.” Kael said. Elijah noted that the man barely had spoken since they met the other group and was fairly sure that the reason for his sudden sillence was the presence of Seraphina who was probably the woman with the fiery red hair around which tiny flames were constantly flying. Based on the inconspicuous eye contact, Elijah wasn’t the only one aware of it.

Arnold jumped back onto his mount and took the reins. “We’ll move forward. Asher, Isabella, and Astrid, could you give them your mounts? Magnus, Gideon, and Freya will check out the other islands while the rest comes with me. We’ll secure the rift and establish a spatial formation.” The three handed their mounts over to Aric’s group before they moved to share one with another member of their group.

Elijah saw how Aric’s eyes followed Vivienne and Kael watched Seraphina as they set off toward the island. He couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh before Aric handed him the reigns of a rabbit. “You and I will ride one on our own. Erik will share a mount with Kael.”

“Why do we have to share?” Erik asked in protest. He was already sitting on the giant rabbit and had made himself comfortable.

“Because you two are cousins. And Elijah has Root with him.” Aric answered while he mounted his own rabbit. “And I’m the oldest here.”

Erik groaned as Kael joined him on the mount. Elijah ignored their bickering as he stared at his own rabbit. It stared back at him and appeared slightly afraid of Root’s uncanny appearance. It probably had never seen wood walking around.

On a whim, Elijah decreased the size of Root and coiled his first minion around his other arm, imitating Timber’s form, which was still covering his entire right arm. He stepped onto the rabbit and took the reigns.

He had never ridden a horse, but how hard could it be to ride a giant rabbit with wings?