Since the last few days had been kind of stressful and uncertain, Corwyn hadn't slept all that much, but he had ignored his tiredness in order to focus on surviving the impending crisis.
Now that they were safe in the peaceful oasis though, he could finally relax and slept for 10 hours straight after his nightshift was over. Unsurprisingly, the sun had long risen by the time he woke up, and Teo who was the last on watch duty had already prepared breakfast for the three of them.
He seemed to have caught a few of the birds that lived in large numbers here, and grilled them over the fire after removing all their feathers and skin. As a side dish, he had prepared various kinds of fruit growing on the oasis's trees, and served them to Corwyn and Yana. Both of them accepted them with gratitude, and once the birds were roasted enough, they had a fulfilling breakfast. The bird meat actually tasted quite nice, although some of them didn't have much meat on them in the first place. But in combination with the sweet taste of the fruits, it was a very satisfying meal.
"You know, I wonder if we can catch some fish in the lake over there. Do you think that might be possible?"
Corwyn asked Teo with a curious face while savoring the flavor of the bird meat's spilling juices. Teo looked up from his meal, his face showing that he was seriously considering this idea.
"Hmmm, in theory, it should be possible I think. If I can catch birds, then how hard can it be to hunt for some fish?"
"In the first place, how were you catching those birds? Don't tell me you climbed the trees and tried to jump on them?"
"Don't be ridiculous! I used the spear in your backpack and threw it at them! It took a while, but I got better and more accurate as I continued to try. You know, it really hurts when you think so little of my intelligence!"
"All right, all right, I'm sorry! But look, if you managed to catch birds with a spear, then maybe you can get fish with it too!"
"Hmm, I could try at least."
While the two young men were absorbed in their food discussion, Yana had already finished her breakfast and stood up to take a walk around the oasis. By the time Teo and Corwyn had stopped their theory-crafting, she was already out of sight. But they didn't feel alert because of that, as they knew that she was probably only taking a look around the scenery.
Memories of their talk last night resurfaced in Corwyn's mind. How this place had an unusually high amount of Arcor, despite its location being far away from any Arcor vein, as well as the fact that no outer influences were having an effect on this space. It felt as though it was disconnected from the rest of the world. Thinking about all those mysteries woke the explorer inside himself, and he felt the urge to inspect the oasis closer now as well.
After helping Teo extinguish the fire, Corwyn too went out for a walk. As he looked around, the idyllic scenery began to gradually mesmerize him. He felt the same way as when they had entered Konen for the first time, being in awe of that luscious greenery.
According to Rogar, the jungle in the south was on whole other level than those small oasis areas in the desert, with an explosive vegetation and wild animals as far as the eye could see. If the sight of this amount of nature was enough to fascinate him, then how would he react once he got to the jungle?
Thinking about Rogar, he couldn't help but worry about how the expedition party was doing. Did they get caught in the sandstorm as well? Or did they manage to escape and continue their way south? Corwyn hoped the most that they didn't end up getting killed by the Red Vipers.
For the time being, he couldn't do anything else but believe that they were alive. And if they were, he and Teo had to catch up with them as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, Corwyn didn't know about how to proceed from here on out. Since he hadn't been the one responsible for navigation, he had no idea how far Corlina was away from their current location, or in which direction they were supposed to go. Realizing this issue, he hoped that Yana had a plan about their future route, as she was the one who brought them to this place as well.
After a couple of minutes of walking around the lake, Corwyn had a general overview of this place. With the lake at its center, the oasis expanded equally into all directions for around 100 yard. Around the shore, six large rocks in total were placed. Although the rest of the oasis appeared to possess no trace of human influence, these stones seemed to be exceptions, as their shape was obviously not natural. To be more exact, they had the form of obelisks, protruding high into the air with approximately 16 feet in height. Their edges had become dull over the years, and moss covered up parts of their surface, but still, they were an impressive sight to the human eye. What was the most eye-catching about them were their tips though, which were not out of stone but a different, slightly translucent material.
"It is a strange sight, isn't it?"
A voice was reaching his ears from behind. Corwyn turned around, startled, and discovered that Yana was standing behind him, her eyes also looking up at the stones.
"Although I've already seen them the last time I was here, I still can't help being curious about who carved those stones, and what purpose they served."
In her gaze, clear admiration and curiosity were visible. It was an unexpected sight for Corwyn indeed.
(On the other hand, she already told me that her reason for accompanying us is to see the world and learn about all kinds of things. Seeing it from that perspective, it should be no surprise that she is interested in these kinds of mysteries. I'm fairly curious myself, as well.)
Corwyn walked next to Yana and asked her while looking at the stones at the same time:
"Is there anything special about those stones that makes you say that?"
It was a question out of pure interest, in the hope that she knew something about this strange oasis.
Yana at least didn't seem to mind his query, as she turned her head towards him as well and replied while making a thoughtful expression.
"Hmm, I wouldn't really say "special", but their very existences are weird, aren't they? If this oasis was part of a settlement once, then shouldn't there be other remains of it in the nearby vicinity? Normally, an abandoned or destroyed village has some broken down pieces of buildings left over, even if it has perished a long time ago. But there are no such clues in this place. It's strange."
What she said was certainly correct. Corwyn too had wondered if the oasis had been inhabited once, but he couldn't tell no matter how much he thought. And there also were those other strange factors like the desert not being able to intervene with this place that made the whole thing even more suspicious.
"Furthermore, there is this weird phenomenon that occurred every time the sun approached noon."
"Hm? What did you say?"
Corwyn who had sunken into his own thoughts abruptly snapped back to attention.
"We had only resided here for a few days, but always at noon, the tips of those stones showed some strange reaction to the sun for a few minutes. Back then, I didn't pay it much mind, but I remember that it was a magnificent sight to behold."
"You mean the sunlight did something to those crystal-like parts of the stones?"
"Yes, I think so."
Certainly, the more he learned about this oasis, the stranger it felt to him. Corwyn shook his head. All those mysterious details were only distracting him at the moment. He would be able to watch it once the sun hit noon anyway, so there was no need for him to further bombard his mind with questions.
The more urgent issue was what they should do now that their lives were saved and the imminent danger had passed. Thinking so, Corwyn cleared his throat awkwardly and resumed the conversation with Yana again.
"Once noon is here, I can see that phenomenon you were speaking of with my own eyes, but for now, let's discuss something else first. Yana, we survived thanks to you guiding us to this place, so I'm grateful for that!"
"You're welcome. But like I told you before, it was in my own interest as well to keep you alive, so there's no need to be humble about it."
Corwyn realized that he hadn't expressed his gratitude for her cooperation yet, so he settled that matter first. Yana nodded in acknowledgment and responded politely, her expression as emotionless as ever. Lately, he thought he noticed her face becoming more relaxed and natural, but as expected, there was still a long way to go. He eliminated that thought process quickly though, as his mind was going off-topic again.
"Right! Still, I wanted to tell you that. But now that we have survived our crisis, what are we going to do from now on? We are far away from the regular routes, and I have no idea how we are going to reach the next city from here. Do you have some kind of plan for this as well?"
"...A plan, huh?"
She muttered. Yana's expression changed from indifferent to pensive. It appeared like she wasn't all too sure of their future actions as well.
"If you're asking for a plan, sadly, I don't really have anything that grand in store. Although I roughly knew the location of this oasis, unfortunately, I'm not a walking compass, so I'm not certain of the destination we have to follow to reach the nearest city."
It was exactly as Corwyn had feared subconsciously.
"But that is a grave issue! If we don't know how to proceed from here on out, then isn't our situation still quite grim?"
"We are still alive, aren't we?"
"Yeah, we are, but if we are stuck here, then our food supplies will dry up eventually."
"In that case, we just have to find a solution before that happens. Look, I understand your concern, but it won't help us if we get desperate. Even if I don't know the exact direction we should follow, we can still get a vague picture of our position judging from our past route. Like this, we can narrow down the overall direction we should follow. Besides, Corlina is a very large city, so even if we don't know the direct route, we should still be able to see it once we get near it."
At this moment, Corwyn didn't know what he should be more impressed about. The fact that Yana actually proposed a realistic solution or the fact that she was so positive about it?
Well, it wasn't that important anyway. For the time being, all he could do was to agree with her proposal and think hard over the next few days in order to increase their chances.
After they had discussed a few other things, both of them headed back to their temporary campsite where they had left Teo. Said one was currently immersed in the idea of fishing in the lake with Corwyn's spear, so he hadn't been bored over the time Corwyn and Yana were away. From the looks of it, his attempt appeared to have been successful, as there were multiple fish of different sizes lying on a piece of cloth he prepared beforehand. Corwyn merely shook his head. In this oasis, nothing would surprise him anymore.
He didn't know that the greatest upset was waiting right around the corner.