The warm red morning light illuminated my room,
I got dressed and headed out through the white door to the living room.
"Hey, you're up!" Adam asked, he was standing in the living room by the front door, he was tapping he foot so fast it's a miracle I didn't hear it up until now.
"How long have you up?" I asked seeing the bags under his eyes,
"Oh, you know... I couldn't sleep." Adam said scratching the back of his head as he tried to force a smile.
"You know you could have gone yourself, right?",
"No way, that'd be awkward... besides they're probably pissed at me."
I shrugged and headed for the door.
We made our way down the same path down the mountain as yesterday, down to the forest,
Adam was walking ahead of me and as he reached the tree line he stopped.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this... I mean if we just leave them alone they'll get over it." Adam said nervously.
"I don't care, I guess it would save me the walk," I replied.
"Great! Let's go back." Adam said as he did a one-eighty and walked back uphill to the house - "No... I need to confront them about this..."
"Ok... "
Adam walked down the hill, I was following him...
At the border of where the forest ended - he stood tapping his foot and occasionally looking back at where I stood,
"So..."
"Give me a second!"
"..."
"..."
"Maybe I shouldn't..."
"Adam - I'm going to be perfectly honest with you - I don't care..."
"But if you make me walk up and down this fucking hill one more time, you're walking alone."
"...Yeah - you're right..." Adam took a breath and stepped into the forest, as we made my way further into the forest I picked up a bitter scent.
"Do you think they're cooking something?" I asked recognising the smell was smoke.
"Dryads don't need to eat food and they generally tend to stick to raw plants when they do, Why?" Adam replied uncertainly.
"Don't you smell the smoke?" I asked.
"No..." Adam replied, his tone was slightly concerned.
When we reached a clearing Adam described as the dryad's home we were greeted with an unpleasant scene, the ground was charred off leaving blackened dirt and soil, in the centre of the clearing was a large pile of ash and stones, amongst the ash lay a humanoid figure, the dryad was now shrivelled to about half their original size, the leafy hair burned off and the flesh a flaking black - its small figure pressed down by a large stone.
Adam rushed over to the charred body, "Damn - he looked like burnt asparagus..." I thought - I didn't say it out loud,
"H-hey, mind casting one of this healing spell?" Adam asked, his tone worried and panicked - I guess I did owe them a favour after that ice block incident...
I went over and placed my hands over the still-warm body - creating two green magic circles - one on each hand.
"I'm no doctor - but this is looking pretty bad..." I replied wasting mana on a dead body,
"Try bigger circles - or just another spell!" Adam pleaded, I let out a sigh and cast the same spell except for the fact I imagined the circles being larger - as you'd expect, the dead body was still dead.
"Mmmmm - Yep, it's dead," I concluded, standing up and wiping the black dust off my hands,
"..."
"..."
"..."
I stood there silently, Adam fell to his knees seeing the remains - and expression of fear and pain painted on its face.
"Why are you so upset all of a sudden?"
"..."
"I thought you said they're just mana vampires..."
"Dear God! It must be the sunlight!" I exclaimed - Adam didn't reply.
"You're right... maybe I don't have the right to be sad now..."
"I'm glad we understand each other," I replied,
"Still... I have to find whoever did this..."
"Have fun..."
"..."
Adam stood up and the claw weapons from before appeared on his hands - he didn't say anything before walking off down the same road,
At this point - I still sat around the dead child - that sounded a lot worse in hindsight...
"So... are you just going to sit here and look at the kid?" A voice I found all too familiar said from behind - it was the cat.
"I mean - not much else to do," I replied,
"You know - you could have tried some fancier magic..."
"What's the point?"
"True - he is most definitely dead by now - I doubt even you could change that..."
"So - are you here for a specific reason?"
"Are you saying I can't come over and visit my friend, now and then?"
"Bold of you to call me your friend after leaving me in the middle of nowhere..."
"Regardless - I'm quite interested in what you're going to do now..."
"What do you mean? I'm going to go back to Adam's house... maybe sit on the couch and wait till he comes back - or practice some magic in the garden..."
"So you're really not affected by the death of the poor kid?"
I raised an eyebrow,
"Right - I should have known you wouldn't care..." the cat sighed,
"Well - why don't you bury him?"
"Why?"
"..."
"I'm going to let Adam do that and get some closure," I replied, placing the back of my hand against my forehead dramatically.
"If you don't care then why did you come out here in the first place?"
"..."
"Perhaps you wanted to see Adam and the dryads make up? Or did you want to apologise for that incident with the ice?"
"..."
"Plus - what about how you defended the dryads yesterday?"
"..."
"Are you done?"
"Almost - I just came to let you know that there is a really nice spot in the woods if you're looking for a quiet place - it's a very isolated spot most day..."
"..."
"Oh - actually, today might not be a good day - I was going there on a walk and there was a group of strange armoured men - it looked like they were keeping some hostages too... It's a nice spot aside from that - an old crumbling tower on a hill."
"..."
"...that sounds like a terrible spot - I can literally just go to the house..."
"..."
"..."
"I'm off for a walk I guess..."
"Oh - I guess I wouldn't want to get in your way - please, go ahead." The cat walked behind a tree and seemingly disappeared.
I walked back to the house - took the dagger and headed down the road - "This is actually a nice forest..."
After what felt like a solid twenty minutes of walking I reached a split in the road - if I took the road to the left I'd be going deeper into the forest and if I continued straight I'd reach the end of the forest - I can't help but feel Adam would try and search the forest before heading out - and so I took the left turn,
After another while of walking, I saw more smoke - my first guess was "I wonder if they're burning another green child.." I headed over to check - stopping mid-way - "I shouldn't get involved... if I die I might not learn the secret to escaping the cycle of rebirth..."
I sat down for a bit outside the large camp-looking area - the large palisade obstructing my view slightly, I was able to see smoke and the roofs of the tents inside,
"On one hand... if I don't go inside... Adam might die and I'll get to keep the house... on the other hand... actually... there aren't all that many consequences..."
"I guess the two other plant kids are most likely going to be put under thermal processing too... and I'll lose my language teacher... plus the cat will give me shit for this... "
"To be fair it did seem like he wanted me to do something... After all, he did give me the tip on where to find them..."
"Maybe he doesn't want to tell me the secret after all? Nah - he's really against me dying overall...doubt he'd set up a trap like this..."
"...Oh for God's sake! I'm not going to screw around like the Indecisive glasses guy - I'll just go inside, worst case scenario I use the ring to teleport out!" I thought looking down onto my hand and seeing the red-gemmed ring.
Motivated - I stepped towards the gate, looking inside to see Adam's head on a large chopping block surrounded by large, muscular men from one side - beside him stood an even larger man with a bushy beard and massive axe.
"Nope."
I turned around and started speed walking away from the area - "Don't care, absolutely zero fucks given - he should have thought the idea over! Who just runs into a camp of people who look like they breathe steroids?!"
As I walked I heard a noise from behind me, I looked back and saw what looked like an arrow stuck in the soil - I looked to its source (based on its angle) and saw what appeared to be a woman wielding a crossbow,
dressed in a dark purple shirt reaching well past her waist, almost like a disturbingly short dress, she wore shorts, granted they where long for shorts and a cloak that kind of looked like a poncho, it was a dull grey colour, she also wore a light purple scarf which was too heavy to flow in the breeze.
"Watch where you're shooting that damn thing!"
"..."
Another arrow flew towards me, although I guess technically they weren't arrows they were crossbow bolts, it scratched my cheek causing a stream of crimson blood to pour from the wound - "Are you one of the people from the town?" that's when it dawned on me - this person most likely couldn't speak English - and so with the few words I picked up from Adam I tried my absolute hardest to find a way to insult the person.
"YOU... NOT... HAPPINESS!" I exclaimed pointing a finger at the now confused assassin - she took a second to think over what I said before loading another bolt into the crossbow - which I took as my cue to leave - moments later another arrow hit behind me - thank God she has the accuracy of a bad guy in an action film...
After a solid five minutes of running the idea dawned on me... "Why not just burn her with magic?!"
I turned around - extending my hand forward and creating a bright orange circle the shape of a fire - I clenched my fist and tried to concentrate on the imagery - I don't know why but I didn't even have to try that hard to be able to visualise the stuff from before - like the spell became recorded in my mind...
A long beam of fire - charring the leaves and scorching the wood - more importantly, I looked like I hit my target!
I felt a little weak in the head after that - for a second the world spun - but I didn't pass out so that's a step in the right direction...
I felt a cold surface touch my throat - when I looked down I saw the blade of a dagger, almost through instinct I walked forward causing my head to be bulled back by a head from behind - "What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to slice your throat!?"
"Sorry - muscle memory," I explained.
"What?"
"..."
The hand-spun me around revealing me to be standing in front of the girl from before - "Whatever... before I can cut your throat, I have some questions..."
"Actually, if you could not do that - that'd be great..."
"..."
"..."
"What are you doing to Adam!?" the girl demanded, shaking me by my collar - her previously calm and collected persona completely disappeared the moment she asked the question,
"...excuse me?"
"You heard me, wench! What have you been doing to Adam!?"
"...I'm a man."
The girl's face remained unchanging for a while as she looked me in the eyes for some form of dishonesty - after seeing nothing her face turned red before she let go of me,
"I didn't realise Adam was into guys..."
"GOD NO - he said he'd teach me magic if I came to his stay with him - Christ that does sound bad... that's not the point - I'm just staying at his house until I know the language and I can leave."
"Oh - that's a relief..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Nice weather we're having..." the girl tried to change the subject,
"Yeah, yeah... really is kind of nice..." I'm glad we understood each other,
"Well - that was a nice chat - but if you want to go see Adam you might want to hurry up - some bearded guy tried to chop his head off earlier," I explained
The girl's eyes shot open as she grabbed by the collar again - "She's going to tare my shirt..."
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THIS EARLIER!?"
"Because some maniac was shooting at me!"
"WHERE IS HE!?"
Without saying anything I pointed to where the camp was, resulting in the girl running off - still holding onto me and dragging me behind - occasionally running into speed-bumps like sticks, rocks and the occasional small rodent.
"Hey - mind if I ask you a personal question?"
"What is it?"
"WHY ARE YOU TAKING ME WITH YOU?!"
"That doesn't seem like a personal question..."
"I BEG TO DIFFER!"
"I can't have you staying alone at Adam's house - what if you poison his food, or install bear-traps in the floor?"
"I'd say pitfalls filled with spikes are more along the lines of what I'd do..."
"Pfft, amateur..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Right, I don't know if I should feel safe being dragged by a potential murderer to a camp of axe-wielding bodybuilders, or if I should be worried... OH NO - I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL."
I considered using magic to get out - but by then we were already too close, "that's right! The ring," I thought!
I looked down at my hand seeing the gem on the ring was cracked - "I'm in a bit of a tough situation here - if I tell her I don't want to go it might just be pouring gasoline onto the fire... but if I come up with a good excuse she might let me go!"
"Hey~ You wouldn't happen to know if I can use a damaged teleportation ring? I'd teleport to Adam's house - bring some medicine, y'know?" I asked lifting my hand to show her the ring - she looked back to see the ring "ADAM GAVE YOU A RING?!"
"IT WASN'T GASOLINE IT WAS NAPALM,"
When we burst into the camp - the girl wielding her crossbow and me wielding the dagger I considered using on her hand to get myself loose,
"Adam - where are you!?" she demanded - the people around the camp turning their attention towards us,
I pointed towards the chopping block - the girl's head followed where I pointed until she saw Adam's decapitated body,
"..."
"..."
She dropped me to the ground, holding the crossbow in one hand and taking a good luck at everyone in the camp - the girl began her assault - at a speed well past the realistic abilities of a human she began firing and reloading her crossbow - upon closer inspection I saw a small yellow circle on her right palm, I guess this was a spell.
Despite the speed, her aim was off - and only a few hits actually struck anyone - mostly on the shoulders and legs,
At this point I was stuck considering another escape - "I bet I could get away - it sure is a shame Adam's dead - but who cares, not me..."
"She is actually pretty fast... I'm surprised she doesn't -"
"I'm out of crossbow bolts..." she complained as the people who previously hid behind tables and inside tents charged out quickly apprehending us...
As we were dragged to the large tent the girl was kicking and screaming - meanwhile, I got used to the whole being-dragged-around thing and just went with the flow.
Inside were several wooden stocks - chained to the ground with large black chains, as you'd expect we were placed in said stocks,
"...Nice job back there..."
"..."
"Really - I love the way you came prepared to fight an army of pissed off men,"
"..."
"I totally agree with your style - waste all your ammo and hope for the best,"
"..."
"...this isn't any fun if you're not going to react..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
She sat there - her head in her knees seemingly mourning Adam's death...
"Voice 1: Go on - start a conversation!"
"Voice 2: I can't think of a single thing I want to talk about with this psychopath..."
"Voice 1: you're one to talk..."
"Voice 2: ...you're talking to yourself right now..."
"Voice 1: Heh - yeah... I guess we might have some more serious problems than we expected..."
"Voice 2: ...what would we talk about anyway? Like the weather?"
"Voice 1: A man just died and that's the best we can do?"
"Voice 2: Fine, I'll think of something..."
"So - how long do you think he suffered before death?" my question did get a reaction but in the form of judgemental staring and not words,
"Voice 1: NICE - great job buddy! YOU COULD CONSIDER A CAREER PRODUCING SANDPAPER WITH HOW SMOOTH THAT WAS,"
"Voice 2: I tried my best!"
"Voice 1: THAT IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM"
"What is wrong with you?" the girl finally said something,
"Aha - that that voice one, it worked!" I announced - much to the girl's confusion,
"Never mind that - why don't you tell me how you met Adam?"
"Voice 2: What the hell man - I don't give a shit about that!"
"Voice 1: YOU ARE NOT TOUCHING THE STEERING WHEEL EVER AGAIN!"
"Why do you care? You don't even seem phased by his death..."
"I mean... I'm not phased with any death, really... - I wouldn't mind dying if not for a deal I made with this one cat."
"...Right..."
"Anyway - talking about the glasses-guy beats sitting in silence so..."
"...I guess you can consider me Adam's...closest friend."
"...that's kind of sad."
"We met about...twelve years, three months and seven days ago..."
"Ok - that's awfully specific..." she didn't reply to my comment,
"I met him when I was in a bad situation... My parents and siblings passed away, and he was the first one to - you know... come and help me out,"
"I guess he walked around helping random kids even back then..." I commented with a sigh,
"So what - did he drag you to his house in the mountain too?"
"Well - actually, back at the time he used to live with the monster-hunter guild..."
"... if only this guild was here to help him out..."
"...funny you should say that..." contrary to what she said, she didn't seem to find the situation funny,
"What?" I looked at her then looked around before noticing the crest of a dragon with a sword through its skull on the inside of the tent...
"...This is the monster-hunter guild isn't is...?"
She nodded silently,
"..."
"..."
"What's your name by the way?" she asked,
"I don't have one."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean - I just appeared in this world a few days ago - I still didn't come up with a name," I explained.
"...You are the strangest child I ever saw..."
"Well - you are the strangest crossbow-wielding woman I know."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The silence returned and as such, I decided to look around a bit - I shuffled over to the exit of the tent - getting a better view of the outside, "Hey - quick question, was Adam secretly a scarecrow?"
"..."
"Because it's not - I think that wasn't Adam we saw get decapitated..." I said pointing (albeit with great difficulty) to the group of men picking up the limp hay-filled doll designed to look like Adam,
Her eyes lit up as she moved over to confirm what I said, "That means Adam could still be alive!"
"I don't see how you got that conclusion - if anything this proves their hatred..."
"Maybe that was just the...practice decapitation..."
"...as unlikely as that is - there is no blood at the chopping block, guess that's possible."
Two men carrying another doll walked over to the chopping block - placing it down as the bearded man walked over, axe in hand and chopped the head clean off.
He knelt down and looked at the cut before saying something and gesturing for someone to come over,
"I wonder what he said..."
"He said to bring the real one over!" the girl exclaimed string to stand up and wiggle her way free of the stocks, the black chain making noise and gaining the attention of the bearded man - who walked over to us,
He asked me something, "What did he ask?"
"He asked you if you know Adam."
I frantically shook my head,
The man continued to look at me - I just did my best to put on an innocent expression and eventually he gave up - shrugged and turned to the girl - they had a short conversation - eventually the bearded man went to the centre of the room where all the chains joined together and lifted the massive, solid metal cylinder out of the floor and carried it outside, it's as if we were attached to a bath-plug.
"What did you do?" I asked looking over to the girl - "They offered us front row seats for the execution."
"FANTASTIC - WE MIGHT EVEN GET SEATS IN THE SPLASH-ZONE"
"The what?"
"..."
"..."
"I hope you have a plan for us to get out after this..."
"Why don't you use some of that magic you used before - the fire?"
"Well - that's because I have absolutely sure I'm going to pass out," I explained,
That's when two men carried Adam out - his entire body was tied up until he resembled a sausage from which only his head and shoes stuck out - He continued to struggle - they placed his head on the chopping block before the large, ginger-bearded man stepped up to him with the axe - it's handle was made of dark wood and the head was large and rusty,
"Adam!" the girl called out - some of the people turned to look at her - that group included Adam who turned towards us, when he saw her he stopped struggling and seemingly awaited his decapitation,
"I don't think he's too thrilled to see you..."
"No, you're just imagining things..."
"Are you doing alright over there?" she called out,
"Ah Dohn Beher (I've done better)" his speech was muffled by the piece of cloth tied over his mouth.
"Buy us some time and I can get us all out of here!"
"...eh?"
"Hurry up!"
"Alright - I need you to translate for me!" I replied,
"Hey - ginger-beard-guy!" the girl spoke on my behalf...
He turned towards her with a raised eyebrow,
"You seem to really dislike this blue-haired stranger!"
"Don't you think decapitation is too clean a death for him?"
Adam's eye lit up before she even translated the message,
"If I were you - I'd skin him alive or maybe burn him piece by piece until he dies a slow and painful death..."
The bearded man scratched his beard, "I know you're a reasonable barbarian - nowadays the art of brutal mutilation is all but lost - you have to do your part to keep it going!"
The man looked towards me, an expression of disgust followed by admiration came over him - he said something which the girl translated for me - "He asks you for the cruellest method possible."
"How much longer do you need to get us out?"
"A minute or so..."
"Alright..."
"My fellow barbarians - It is true that like the most brutal method is often the best, however, I am convinced that physical pain is not the worst form of torment!"
The men looked towards me like a student looks upon a teacher - "Picture this - prepare a cauldron - fill it with water before inserting the victim and place it over a low flame before covering the top - now over potentially day the person is cooked alive - every breath fills their lungs with hot, humid air as their sweat and waste fill the pot - every few hours you can crack open the pot to let in some oxygen extending the torment - until they pray for the sweet release of death, only for their hopes to dissolve away much like their burned skin in the form of a fresh breath of air - guaranteeing countless more hours of torment in this hell!"
When I finished my speech I had to take a breath, I looked over to the men and towards the girl, she looked at me with disgust as making her say those words - tainting her tongue,
I looked towards Adam who seemingly passed out,
And so the entire camp was filled with silence before in the distance a clap came, then another until the entire camp applauded my speech - the bearded man walked up to me, placed a hand on my shoulder and knelt down before saying something which - as you could have guessed, the girl translated - "I thank you, child - for sharing with us the wonder and passion for the pastime we cherish so much... it is good to see that the younger generations still have what it takes to fill our place one day."
We exchanged a glance before he grabbed my chain and crushed it with his bare hands,
"..."
"..."
"..."
Before we could get any further a bright light illuminated the camp, blinding me - when I was finally able to see something I noticed we were no longer in the camp, in fact, the girl was dragging Adam and me by the collars away from the camp,
"What the hell was that?!"
"I cast a light spell, I blinked out of the stocks and cast a speed spell to get out of the camp..."
"...WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT BEFORE?!"
"I needed to save up enough mana to cast this many spells in succession - thankfully Darthold released you himself saving me some mana..."
"Wait, how do you know his name?!"
"I told you already - Adam made me join the monster hunters guild, Darthold is the leader..."
"He didn't seem to recognise you..."
"I changed my image a bit..."
At this point, the still tied up Adam woke up - I took the gag out of his mouth and threw it out - "Hey, glasses-dude - how are you doing?"
He looked like he was in shock - "PLEASE DON'T PUT ME IN THE CAULDRON!"
"Relax that was just to buy some time..."
Adam seemed to calm down slightly - he looked around getting a decent idea of the situation - "...what the hell was up with that story?!"
"Yeah - how do you just come up with things like that?!"
"You told me to buy time - so I bought some time!"
"You scarred Adam for life!"
"It's not that bad - I'm alright now..."
"See, he's alright!"
"Wait, how'd you come across this psychopath?!" Adam ask gesturing towards the girl with his eyes,
"I was on my way to your rescue when she started shooting at me,"
"That's not true!"
"Yeah - that sounds like something she'd do..."
"Adam!"
"So - Adam, how'd you manage to piss them off?"
"It's a long story..."
"She already told me you were in the monster-hunter guild before..."
"Ah - great, I'm glad you're talking behind my back like that, Lily!"
"It's not like that - I thought you were dead!"
"OH BECAUSE THAT MAKES IT BETTER!?!"
"Relax - she saved your life,"
"This woman's been stalking me for years now..."
"I call it friendship at a distance..."
"Why the distance?" I asked,
"Adam insisted there be a distance..."
"Ok... as fascinating as your... friendship... is - I'd like to hear more about why Adam was almost killed by his guild?"
"It's a misunderstanding - A friend of mine from the guild died because of me and they're kind of upset about it..."
"It's wasn't your-" Lily was cut off by Adam "I DON'T NEED THE INPUT OF A STALKER."
"I guess this dead person was important to the guild?"
"yeah, it was Darthold's - the ginger-bearded man's daughter..."
"Ah - so it all comes together!"
"So how'd she die?"
"You can't just ask these things!" Lily complained,
"We were sent out on a mission... and - eh... we had to go off kill this group of monsters....and..."
"I guess she was killed by the monsters?"
"I...don't know...maybe..."
"Did you forget or something?"
"...no..."
"Let's change the topic..." Lily suggested,
"We slaughtered the entire village... burned the whole place leaving nothing but charred remains and the burnt wooden huts..."
"What kind of monsters live in huts?" I though...
"She decided to keep some small ones and... one day she just didn't wake up..."
"So... you're not the killer?"
"..."
"..."
"Oh look, guys! Can you guys see that?"
"What?"
"A different topic of conversation - let's investigate it further!"
"...fine" I sighed,
Eventually, we made it back home - Lily dropped Adam off at the couch,
"Phew~ Looks like we made it back in one piece!"
"Yeah - Adam almost became two..."
"Can one of you untie me already?"
"Sorry man - no idea how to do that," I replied,
"You hear that? You have to do it, stalker..."
"Oh - Adam, I'd love to do that... but-"
"But what!?"
"But if I do it, you'll kick me out of the house again!"
"I'll do it regardless!"
"There, there, you need some rest..." Lily said patting his head,
"Leave me alone, woman!"
"...right - I'd love to let you guys do your thing right now... but I believe Adam was meant to go and rescue the green kids?"
"He's not stupid enough to run out there and get killed by the monster-hunters!"
"The hell I'm not!" Adam exclaimed struggling to get the ropes loose.
"Are you seriously planning to go out there and hope for the best?!"
"Of course!"
"Yep - that sound exactly like something he'd do..."
"Back me up here - we can't just sit around!"
"..."
"Seriously?!"
"I mean... did you think I'd opt to go off and die now?"
Adam took a deep breath and sighed a drawn-out sigh,
"Alright... what do you guys suggest?" he asked,
"We need to find out where the dryads are - no point going off to die now..."
"Actually - I know where they are, according to a certain talking cat - they're kept in some abandoned tower on a hill," I explained,
"..."
"..."
"I don't know about you guys... but I wouldn't want to put my life on the line based on what some magic cat said..." Lily replied,
"Yeah no - me neither but -"
"Let's go there!"
"Yeah... though he'd say something like that..."
"...I think I know where the tower is... there is this one abandoned watchtower in this clearing in the forest - I may have kind of lived there for a while..." Lily explained,
"I thought you lived here?"
"never," Adam replied - "not yet..." Lily corrected Adam.
"Where do you live then?"
Lily put a finger to her lips and laughed,
"...Lily...Lily where the do you live?" Adam asked nervously,
"That's not important~"
"IT'S SOMEWHERE IN THE WALLS, ISN'T IT?!" Adam demanded,
"Of course not! I have a proper house!"
Adam squinted trying to confirm if she was lying or not.
"..."
"Alright - it's weird you had to insist you're not homeless - says a lot, dunno if it says a lot about you or glass-guy, but it says a lot."
"Alright - let's focus..." Adam said in an uncharacteristic burst of logic.
"I can get us to the tower - but we might get attacked by the monster hunters,"
"I don't think any of us have a good chance of distracting them for long enough..."
"I could use some of the magic to distract them..." I thought - "But can I risk it? It's not like I don't want to help the dryads... but I can't die - I have to keep my priorities straight..."
"He and I will go straight for the tower - you can do something useful and scout ahead of us." Adam proposed pointing at me when he said "him"
"That might work..."
"Alright - let's go!" Adam exclaimed trying to go towards the door, seemingly forgetting he was tied up and fell face-forward onto the floor - "Would someone cut me loose already?!"
I walked over and cut his ropes, instantly he jumped to his feed - wiping a nosebleed with his sleeve and hurrying over to the door, Lily and I followed him, Quickly Lily cut in front of Adam and me - creating a blue magic circle beneath her feet and launching herself up to the branches of a tree above us,
We were on a straight path as described by Lily - so there was no need to worry about having to have her guide us.
I looked down at my dagger - I wasn't ever a fan of fighting, in a few lives I was lucky enough to win the genetic lottery - but most of the time I was the one getting stabbed or beaten.
"GET DOWN!" I heard Lily call out - confused I ducked down only to have my foot caught on a root - I looked up seeing a beam of lightning shredding trees and even larger rocks in the way,
"Are you alright?!" Adam called out - "Think so..."
A smooth voice of what sounded like an adolescent man said something I couldn't understand - "It's the monster hunters!"
I poked my head out slightly - seeing a pale, black-haired man with dull, grey eyes and glasses - he wore a long black robe and black cloak - if not for the fact he could literally be a necromancer in this world, I'd call him emo...
He raised his hand and without any magic circles a bolt of what looked like water shot towards me - it was too fast to dodge and so I took it head-on - being knocked to the ground and feeling an immense, throbbing pain as I felt the skin get torn off my face from the pressure of the water,
I couldn't see anything - I guess my eyes were damaged too - the pain was really something else, but dying as much as I did helped build a resistance.
I gave Adam a discrete thumbs up before pretending to pass out - I proceeded to discretely heal myself - when I regained my vision I saw a twisting vortex of grey clouds suspended above me - "Shit..."
Last-minute I was pushed aside by Adam casting the spell which shot him forward - it was called "boost", I guessed that based on Adam sometimes announcing the name of the spell before casting it.
I looked back seeing that Adam has also managed to avoid the incoming lightning bolt which not only lit up the area - but also managed to melt the earth and soil into a bubbling lava-like mess.
"Who the hell is this guy?!" I asked in frustration,
"No idea - but he said he decided to go out here to trap us!"
I decided to risk being blinded and looked up - I saw the man turn his attention towards me - he said something to which I - still, couldn't reply.
"Who are you?" he asked - I was shocked at his ability to speak English - "What the hell?...is he from Earth too?!" I wondered - my question was answered by him personally, "No - seeing as you were unable to understand me - I used magic to speak to you telepathically."
"Well - in that case, is it possible for you to stop attacking us?"
"No..."
"Thought so..."
"But I have no reason to kill you personally - you must be a skilled mage to be able to heal your wounds after my water bolt..."
"What do you have against Adam anyway?!"
"He's caused a friend of mine great pain - This is not a matter of personal hatred on my behalf."
"Do you mean that ginger-beard buy?"
"Correct, Darthold - he's the leader of our guild."
"What if he was wrong about Adam?"
"What do you mean?"
"He thinks Adam killed his daughter right?"
"I assume Adam told you about it then..."
"Yeah - but according to Adam's version of the story he didn't kill the girl - it was some monsters that drained her mana!"
"Interesting... and you believe the murder suspect?"
"Well, he helped me survive in this world so far... and we're trying to save some kids at the moment,"
"Kids?"
"Yeah - these two plan-kids - Adam's been keeping them as pets or something and someone kidnapped them."
"So you're saying the reason you put your trust in Adam is - because he helped you?"
"Not shredding my face with a water bolt is also a big plus in that regard."
"Understood - I will deliver this information to Darthold - if he rejects it you will most likely die."
"Can't say I'm looking forward to it for once..."
"What the hell is that mage doing?!" Adam asked quickly moving over to me,
"He's off to tell the ginger-beard guy you're not the murderer..." I replied,
"Alright, maybe that's a bit of a stretch - it's more like... he's going over to say Adam's collaborator doesn't see him as the murderer... I'm starting to like our chances less and less..."
"How do you know?!"
"Telepathy..." I replied.
"That's a thing?!"
"Apparently..."
"Doesn't matter - let's hurry!"
We moved to where we heard Lily's voice - she was sitting on the ground - pressing her hand against a wound on her stomach - "I was wondering why she didn't help us!" I exclaimed realising it's because she was dying.
"Wait - why are you dying?"
"...I tried to shoot him, but the bolt just flew back at me..."
"Damn, he's over-powered!"
"It's alright - we'll remember you, Lily," Adam said turning to leave,
"It's alright - I can just heal her..."
"No, no it's too late... we must let her go..."
"It's alright, you can heal me any time..."
"No - we cannot do that - her soul will never find peace if we bring her back,"
"Adam, she's still alive..."
"Yes - sometimes I feel like she's still around too - let's give her a proper burial..." Adam said dragging her over to the lava pit from before,
"It's what she would have wanted..."
"IT'S NOT WHAT I WANT!"
"..."
"..."
"...fine heal her..." Adam sighed,
"I was planning to, regardless..."
I walked over and healed Lily - feeling dizzy already I sat down and took a few deep breaths before standing up.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah - I'm fine... I think the healing magic takes more mana than I expected..."
"Sorry about that..." Lily said apologetically...
"Don't worry about it..." I replied - "Now, let's get going..."
We continued to head towards the tower - at one point we were able to see it - before we were surprised by a whistling noise - I looked up seeing a volley of arrows in the air - "Guys - look up!" Lily warned,
"Yeah - I see it..."
"How many archer?" Adam asked - "About twenty," Lily replied - "did she count the arrows?!"
We sped up - at this point I was barely keeping up - Adam looked like he was about to die of exhaustion - Lily was the only one who was in decent shape.
The arrows came from above - we seemingly ran past the area where the arrows landed - at this point, the trees above us blocked out most of the sky - if there was another volley incoming - we'd never know until the end...
Suddenly I felt myself being tossed to the side - I fell to the ground, looking up to see what happened only to see a sword swing past where I stood - suddenly a man dressed in leather armour appeared, the sword in his hand.
"They're using invisibility magic!" Adam called out,
Lily used the boost spell and stood atop on of the trees - a golden circle appeared in the sights of her crossbow - "There are four of them - look on the ground for footprints!" she instructed - I looked around seeing footprints appearing - it looked like someone was running towards me, I grabbed the dagger from my side and swung is - not feeling any resistance I guessed I missed - next I felt a blunt hit to my back causing me to fall over,
I rolled to the side and with the dagger held in front of me I charged at the area where the invisible person stood last, I saw sparks fly as I struck something hard - next, I felt a sharp pain in my gut - I looked down seeing no blood - guess I must have been punched...
I fell back - a sharp pain spreading across my body as I felt a piercing pain in my arm - "Arghh! FUCK!" I cried seeing the stream of blood gushing from my wound - it shot out covering the invisible blade of my attacker - it looked like they tried to wipe the blood off but in the process their hand also became visible - I extended my hand and created a red magic circle before unleashing the fire spell from before - suddenly the still-invisible person burst into flames - screams could be heard as they stumbled around before dropping down resulting in the spell wearing off.
My vision began to blur - but I couldn't pass out - "If I pass out... I'll get stabbed... I'll get shot by arrows... or-" the realisation struck me,
"ARROWS!" Lily called out as another volley of arrows flew towards the ground - this time striking not only around us but also impaling some of the invisible people - "There are two left!" Lily explained "Guh!"
I looked over, seeing Lily was being choked by one of the invisible people - "Well fuck... I kind of hoped this world end better... well... Let's hope Adam can-"
My thoughts were interrupted by the splash of blood coming from Adam's torso, shooting out and covering the previously invisible person as Adam fell limply to the ground, "Adam?"
"..."
"..."
I was starting to see double - the world did three-sixties around me as I started to feel the effects of not being passed-out while mana-deprived intensify.
"Not again..."
"Why does this always happen..."
I tried to move towards Adam - Lily dropped from the tree Limply - landing in a bush next to Adam,
"Am I just bad luck to be around?"
I tried to stand up - the dagger I held limply thrown out of my hand by another invisible figure,
"If my mana pool is so empty... then why can I still create magic circles?"
I opened my hand creating an orange magic circle - it had only a dim glow and faded in and out of view - I clenched my fist and a slow stream of fire came out - at best keeping the attackers away...
I felt my mouth fill up with blood as the flames from my spell got dimmer and the circle shrunk.
"Now even my magic is dying on me.."
"I knew this world was a load of shit since the beginning..."
"Don't overcast like that..." the voice came from my head again,
"Glasses guy?"
"My name is Abe - as expected the boss doesn't buy your story..."
"It's alright - looks like we're on our way out of this world anyway..."
"However - Darthold has decided to help you out since the children shouldn't suffer on Adam's behalf..."
"Oh - that's nice, I'll let Adam know if I run into him in the next life..."
I felt myself getting picked up by the neck,
"Well, looks like I'm getting chocked - it was fun chapping to you glasses-guy..."
"You're not behind choked..."
I forced my eyes open slightly seeing the glasses guy bending my head forward letting the blood drain from my mouth before leaning my head back and pouring a clear liquid down my throat.
"What the hell what that?"
"It's a mana potion - go heal Adam and the girl," he instructed before lifting his hand into the air - I looked up and saw a swarm of arrows suspended in mid-air,
I turned my attention to Adam and rushed over - I pulled out the sword and began the healing process - when I was about to lose hope he seemingly snapped to life with a gasp - "Oh good... you're alive..."
"I moved over to the bush from which I dragged Lily's limp body - I repeated the same healing process and she woke up a lot faster than Adam, "
"What happened?" Adam asked,
"You got stabbed - she got choked - I almost died, then glasses dude appeared - gave me a mana potion and told me to heal you guys," I explained,
We all looked over to Abe who with nothing other than his mind collected the arrows in mid-air - rotated them and started firing them on at a time at high speeds like a Gatling gun.
"They're using magic to shoot these arrows… what a waste…" Abe sighed.
"REALLY!? HERE I THOUGH THEY WERE USING A MACHINE GUN STUFFED WITH ARROWS! OFCOURSE IT'S MAGIC!" I complained.
Abe said something without telepathy - "He said he's starting to run out of mana - we're meant to keep going forward."
Without further discussion we headed towards the tower - with no more enemies in sight, we finally reached the big clearing where the hill was located - "What the hell..." we all uttered in unison when we saw a large force - dozens of men - wearing armour and wielding sword and shields.
From the distance came the sound of a horn - "Let's hope it's the monster hunters..." Adam exclaimed before rushing towards the small army - the men seemed poorly trained - if it was a one-on-one first Adam would have surely won - but his chances were a lot worse now - from the rear Lily was having a shoot out with the five or so remaining archers atop the tower - most were skewered by Abe with his arrow-Gatling-gun
"Who are those people?!" I asked concerned for Adam's safety… I mean… I don't want to be homeless again.
"I used telepathy to ask Darthold to send some men over to hole - he insisted on sending an army - still it might be for the best…" Abe clarified.
Feeling no negative side effects when it came to mana-loss so far, I cast the fire spell - bigger than before towards the army - making sure not to hit Adam by accident - well it's fair to say I was out for the rest of the fight after that - but I managed to take out ten or so men - I saved up just enough mana to heal on or two people - the army began to push Adam back - the number overwhelming even his fast moves - suddenly the ground began to tremble as from the other side of the clearing the men could see - a group of a dozen or so barbarians - dressed in furs - wielding maces and axes and even a flaming mace in one person's case.
The barbarians forced the army to separate - with a vast majority of the men focusing on the newcomers - leaving Adam to pick off the remaining men,
Another group of barbarians came from behind where Lily and I were - leading them was Darthold, the ginger-beard guy - over his shoulder he held Abe - "What are you doing?" I asked
"Sorry, could you ask that again?" Abe's voice asked in my head,
"Why are you being carried by the ginger-beard guy?!"
"I ran out of mana... I burned through sixteen mana potions today."
Darthold put Abe down beside me and started walking toward the battle - the clashing of blades and ringing of metal filled the area - Adam - with his claw-weapons cut through dozens of men - when Darthold walked over he started punching them - that's right - punching them, he punched a man - so hard that the armour deformed on his back and front - that person's organs must be pink chicken-nugget-slime now...
Darthold and Adam seemingly had a conversation in the midst of the fight - "Hey, glasses-guy - could you translate what they're saying for me?"
"Alright..."
"I hear you're in the mood to help somebody's children for a change!" Darthold commented whilst squeezing the heads of his enemies...
"Yeah - but since when are you capable of reasonable decisions?"
"Don't think I don't plan to snap you in half once this is once!"
"I guess that's fair!" Adam stabbed the claws through the eye-holes of one of the men's helmets,
"So? Who are these plant kids?"
"The dryads..."
"Oh, the trophies from the dryad village..."
"..."
"So you couldn't keep your wife or the dryads safe!"
"..."
"Wait, Adam had a wife?"
"Yeah - she's the one he killed." Abe replied,
Adam cast a boost spell slicing through a few men as he moved resulting in a bloody mist formed from the men who's blood sprayed out a crimson stream turning the earth beneath them into mud - the attack let Adam's back open leading to him getting slashed again, turning back and landing a kick to the attacker's neck making them fall over limply, as another attack slashed him from behind.
"Don't you dare die before I get a chance to skin you alive!" Darthold commanded,
"Tempting offer..."
From inside the tower stepped out a man - dark red hair tied into a ponytail behind his head, blue eyes and a defined jawline,
"Looks like he's in charge of them..." Abe explained,
The man was dressed in vibrant red armour with a golden trim - a red cape attached to the front of his armour with fancy golden pins.
"Who are you people?" The man demanded - his voice was loud and assertive, yet seemingly unphased with the dozens of corpses littering the battlefield,
When the question was asked - the men fighting Adam and Darthold stepped back - their weapons still drawn but they allowed for the men to answer.
Adam took a few deep breaths - "Are you the one who took the dryads?!" he demanded,
"Watch your tone commoner - unless you think you can drag this fight on any longer..."
Adam clenched his fists at the comment - looking down at the shallow cuts on his arms and feeling the several deep cuts on his back, with the corner of his eyes he saw Darthold who despite his unchanged stern look - was also covered with cuts and bleeding.
"We're here to get the Dryads back!" Adam replied - in a slightly calmer tone,
"What would you want with those monsters? You seem too skilled in combat for slave traders, are you mercenaries?"
Adam grit his teeth at the suggestion of keeping the dyads as slaves - "They are not property for you to take! Return them at once!"
"We're getting nowhere with this..." the man sighed, waving his hands as his men returned to combat - he sat down, cross-legged - watching over the battlefield,
The armies shrunk - the field was covered with so many dead and so much blood that it looked like a shark-infested pool,
With only about ten of the original thirty or so men from Darthold's camp surviving, and a dozen or two of the men from the red-armoured man's side feeing into the woods - the battle was over.
His legs shaking like a new-born deer - Adam walked over to the man - "We've won this fight - return the d-"
He was cut off by the man standing up and drawing a sword from his side and a shield from his back - "I have to admit - you killing my underlings is a little annoying... but judging by the amount of damage you've taken from those weaklings - you're still below me."
He raised his blade - bringing it down before Adam - the blade hasn't as much as grazed his flesh but Adam was sent flying back across the battlefield - "WATCH OUT - WE CAN'T HEAL YOU IF YOU GET HURT NOW!" I warned him - Lily focused her crossbow on the man, she shot out a single crossbow bolt hitting him in the torso - just as Lily celebrated a direct hit she noticed the armour hasn't even been deformed and the bolt shattered into splinters,
"Go on, mercenary! Show me that threatening face of yours again!" the man demanded - not a hint of pleasure or hatred on his face - only focus.
In an instant a line cut through the battlefield - shredding the dead and dying men below him - it was like the boost spell from before!
Quickly he brought down the blade onto Adam - the blade almost stabbing into Adam when he cast the boost spell shooting him back,
Adam looked down to see his jumper torn and the skin also covered with cuts - "I don't need to touch you to kill you." the man taunted - as Adam looked back up to him he saw a distorted line of air coming towards him - "Air magic..." Abe said - "He's using air magic to damage Adam at a distance."
"Can't you do anything about it?"
"I'm already using up too much mana translating the fight for you..."
"Crap - I forgot about that..."
Another bolt flew towards the man - this time about to strike his head when it exploded into bits just before touching him - "Are you done trying to shoot me, yet?" the man asked, looking over towards Lily who was already loading a second bullet into the crossbow.
The man looked back towards Adam seeing that he was already boosting towards him - blades in hand, the man moved his shield in their way - as Adam crashed into the shield he limply fell to the side - his left arm seemingly broken from the impact as evident by it doing a loop-ta-loop, something which (although I can't confirm as I am not a trained specialist) seems to be a bad sign.
"I admire your determination, commoner, if you join me I could offer you anything you would want..."
"My name is Liel, the youngest prince of Exversia, I am second in line for the throne,"
"I don't give a shit... about your... stupid politics..." Adam blurted out, he tried to stand up but fell back, it looks like his leg is also busted.
"Have you not suffered from the reign of the king? Have you not lost anything? Have your parents or siblings not been drafted for an avoidable war?!"
"The only one taking something from me right now, is you..."
The prince looked at Adam, his glasses were broken revealing eyes filled with hate and rage - his clothes torn - his bones broken - covered with blood and mud - it was impossible to tell who's blood is who's...
"Are they really that important to you? Are you willing to die or kill dozens to get your hands on two animals?" Liel taunted.
"Don't call them that..."
"Would you allow them to attack travellers and sap them of their mana? They are a parasite in this country - they make nests and spread like a disease!"
"They haven't done anything wrong! why should they pay the price for their kin?"
"Are you trying to tell me that a cub should be released into the woods because it is not a grown bear yet? Idiotic!"
"We have almost cured this disease, and you would try to stop us!?"
"You are just like my father, you would make us suffer for your sake!"
"You can keep you daddy issues for yourself! Parenting is hard, y'know…!" Adam replied.
The man slowly walked over towards Adam who tried to move away but his leg was grabbed by one of the dying men on the ground - "What the hell!?"
"You may see me as the tyrant her - but this is the will of the people - and we will not put it below the ideals of one man!" the sword came down on Adam - stopping just shy of his head,
Adam looked up and saw the man was being held by the head - the one holding him was Darthold - the two dryads atop his shoulders.
"Nice try - but you can't hurt me - I have a wall of hardened air around me..."
"I see..." Darthold replied - as he put more pressure on the invisible wall.
"Not giving up?" the man cracked a smile as he felt something warm running down the side of his head - he moved his hand up to touch it - revealing that it was blood - "What are you doing?!"
The man tried to break free - next his nose began to bleed until eventually he passed out and fell to the ground.
"...how did you know... you could increase the pressure inside of the shield to make him pass out?" Adam asked,
"I didn't - I just hoped it'd crack eventually..."
"Heh... that... sounds about... right..." Adam fell face-first into the blood-mud conscious,
"Go heal them..." Abe said handing me a bottle,
"Why didn't you just give me this earlier?!"
"What part of that fight could you have changed with your magic?"
"...I could have taken out a few more men earlier!"
"And then you wouldn't have been able to heal them up - or you would have gotten caught up in the fight - Adam would try to help you and get killed in the process..."
"...guess you're right..."
"Then go heal Darthold and Adam." Every word he spoke was cold and devoid of emotion,
I headed towards them - stepping over the bloodied bodies of the enemy and over to the two wounded men.
I dragged Adam out of the blood-mud and started casting the healing spell - "..." - "..." - "Come one, Adam..." - "..." - "Adam?"
The wound was already gone but he didn't reply...
"Five more minutes..." he pleaded trying to roll over to the side only to choke on some mud causing him to sit up.
"Good...he's alive..."
I walked over to Darthold and started casting my healing spell, within a few seconds he was back to normal.
I looked back only to see that not only the corpses, but also Liel and the few survivors all began glowing a pale purple light as they disappeared with a flash.
"Where the hell'd they go?!" I asked turning towards Adam before realising he was still doing his whole 'almost dying' thing and turned towards Abe instead - "It looked like teleportation magic - considering the number of people teleported… it would have had to be the wizard's court." Abe explained.
"Wh- …Never mind… Let's just go home…" I said with a sigh.
On the way back, Abe and Lily filled me in on the details I missed.
"Why the hell would a prince have so many people here in the woods?" I asked,
"Well, it was clear he wanted to capture the dryads - and he displayed a clear distaste for his father, it's a safe bet it was some sort of rebellion," Abe replied.
"A rebellion?! Here I thought the politics here were calm and nice for once…"
"They usually are…" Lily replied she was also uncertain of what was going on.
"Probably family business…" Abe replied lazily.
"Wait… one thing still seems off, what were you guys doing here in the first place?!"
Darthold was the one to reply (his reply was translated by Lily) "We've been looking for the blue-haired brat for a few years not - a while back one of out 'interns' spotted someone matching his description so we've been looking here - honestly we never thought to go look specifically in the mountains…"
"Convenient," I commented.
"I know…" Abe replied.
We made it back home, Lily dropped Adam off on the couch and I passed out the moment my head met with the soft pillow on my bed.
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Check out a tts reading of chapter 1 and potentially more in the future! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xorRJDGAQk&feature=youtu.be