Chereads / Lore & Legends / Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Chasing The Sun

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Chasing The Sun

The bright sunlight pierces through the cracks of the wooden bedroom wall as the two friends pack their bags for the few days travel. Zonu packs, then repacks, and just for safe measure, repacks again. He pulls out his component satchel and arranges them to correspond with his spells and does a quick inventory; taking note of the components that he is low on. He grabs his spell book and puts it in his trench coat pocket and hangs Ash's small cage across his shoulder and chest. Meanwhile, Kaizen does his morning routine: pushups, sit-ups, and a few laps around the rugged cobblestone home. He comes back in, rapidly throws some clothes, rations, and a few darts in his backpack then wraps his hands and feet in the familiar white cloth while eating some dried meat in a hurry.

"I'm gonna go by... the stables and get us a small wagon...and a horse. Do you mind going by the gen...eral store to grab some camping gear?" Kaizen pants. "Yeah I can handle that and you wouldn't be in such a hurry if you just skipped the workout routine on rushed mornings. No purpose in doing that when we have better things to do." Zonu sternly says. "That just means I have to get up earlier. How do you think Virren is gonna react knowing that you haven't been working out like you said you would?" Kaizen replies. Zonu shrugs his shoulders. "As long as you don't tell him, there's no problem. He won't notice." Zonu and Kaizen exit the house and go their respective ways to ready their journey to Razelbends.

Kaizen lightly jogs towards the Pit Stop Stables waving at some merchants as they ready their stores for business. A frail old merchant pushes a wagon full of hand made wood carvings in position but the wheel snaps off. Luckily, Kaizen catches it at the right moment and helps the man quickly put it together. The old man thanks him and hands him a wooden angel carving as appreciation. Kaizen bows to the man and starts his jog again, keeping an eye out for more ways to help.

Zonu ducks his head and quickly shuffles his way towards the general store mumbling to Ash who is resting in his trench coat pocket. "If I just get in, grab the stuff, pay for it, and not say anything, there's no way I can mess that up right?" Ash looks at Zonu with a concerned look on her face. "Eh, what do you know? You're not the one that has to deal with people all the time." Zonu says as he pets her head. Without looking, he runs into a gentleman stacking some boxes. "Hey! Watch where you are going!" says the grizzled man. Zonu pulls the trench coat collar up over his neck and shuffles past him. The sound of a bell goes off as Zonu enters the cluttered general store. Wide-eyed as he stares at the attractive manager as she thumbs through some inventory papers.

"Can I help you?" She says with curious blue eyes as she looks up. Zonu fumbles through his satchel for the list that he made earlier. He walks up and hands her the paper. "Oh, I can gather that for you, it'll be around 23 silver for the whole lot." She turns and starts gathering up the supplies. "You're one of those blood hounds right?" She asks without turning around. "Mhmm," Zonu replies as he tries to look around everywhere else besides the view before him. The girl turns back around with a backpack full of the supplies Zonu requested. "Cat got your tongue? No need to be shy, my name is Irena! She extends her hand towards him.

Irena has short blonde hair, dressed in a leather shirt with a red apron around the waist, and looks to be in her early 20s. Zonu wipes his hand against his trench coat and shakily extends his hand towards her. His hand glows white as a beam of ice shoots out and splinters the wood behind her desk. "SHIT! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY!" Zonu quickly grabs the backpack and throws a gold piece(50 silver) onto the desk. "That's for the damage!" He says as he runs out. Irena gets up from behind the desk but giggles to herself as she takes the gold piece.

Zonu dashes through the market past Kaizen who has a horse and a small wagon for them. "ZONU!" Kaizen yells. Zonu stops and turns around, pale as snow. "What happened man?" Kaizen asks as he takes the backpack from Zonu. "I don't want to talk about it, let's just go please," he says as he slouches into the wagon covering his face. Kaizen shrugs his shoulders and climbs on top of the horse, galloping towards the front exit of Towden.

The ocean of tall grass dancing from the strong wind around the wide dirt road. Clusters of trees can be seen among the prairie with the bright sun looming over it all. The sound of wheels rattling on the makeshift road as the two adventurers make their way towards Razelbends. Kaizen helms the reigns, enjoying the scenery painted before him as Ash sits on Zonu's shoulder while he reads and writes in his spell book. "Maybe we can find some of the bounties that Birysol gave to us on the way to the church!" Zonu states as he places a bookmark in his book and rests his eyes. "How long have we been out here?"

Kaizen looks at the sun and takes his hand and measures out how far it has moved since they left Towden. "Ehh, about a few hours or so. There's a good sized tree ahead, it'll be a nice place to take a break and feed the horse." Kaizen pulls the wagon off to the side of the road and reaches behind him and pulls out some feed. Zonu steps off the wagon and stretches. He covers his eyes from the sun as he looks around. "Just hills, grass, and trees. It's quite relaxing really." Kaizen takes out some food and climbs one of the nearby trees and eats. "Is that necessary?" Zonu looks up at him. "It's just a new perspective on the same scenery my friend." Kaizen replies as he lays down on the branch and looks out.

As the two finish their lunch, they head back on the road again and travel until the sun is barely visible. Zonu guides the horse to a patch of trees to set up for the night. Kaizen gathers branches as Zonu kneels down and places Ash near the base of the pile. She blows out a small flame but after a few tries, a campfire is born. They sit and Kaizen heats up some cut up vegetables in a pot of water. The wind causing the fire to whip back and forth as they cook. After the three of them finish off the rest of the soup, they roll out their bed rolls and look at the stars. Throughout the night, they take turns keeping watch, only hearing the rustling of the leaves and the flicker of the fire.

As the sun crests over the hills, Kaizen leans against a tree watching as the sun changes color as time passes. "Hey, wake up." Kaizen pats on Zonu's shoulder. He shoots awake. "Are we being attacked?! Is someone dying?! Are we captured?!" Zonu looks around frantically. "No no man, just look at the view." Zonu relaxes and rubs his eyes as the sun rises. "It never gets old." Zonu states. A few minutes later, Kaizen and Zonu pack their things and hit the road once again. Zonu drives the cart as Kaizen yet again does his morning routine in the wagon and finishes

with a sprint alongside it.

"Hey, you see that?" Kaizen points towards a wagon in the distance with the wheel popped off of it and a person struggling to lift the cart. "No Kaizen, we cannot just meander out to them and help out because we do not know them." Zonu says as he pushes forward on the road. "We are bounty hunters, we hunt creatures because we want to help others. This is just another way we can help." Kaizen claims as he puts his hand on Zonu's shoulder. "We also hunt monsters because we need money! But, you want to help them so bad? Fine." Zonu guides the horse towards the broken wagon.

"Yes you there, unlucky patron. We would like to assist you in your situation." Zonu yells sarcastically. Kaizen rolls his eyes as they park their wagon against one of the trees and walk towards the broken one. "Oh thank you, my horse got spooked by a wolf and ran me slam off the road" says the shaking man. Kaizen walks over and lifts the wagon up so the man can push the wheel back in place. Zonu sits by one of the trees and keeps an eye on the man as they are working when he suddenly feels something cold against the back of his skull.

"Shit." Zonu exhales as he raises his hands above his head. Kaizen lifts his head as he's straining to keep the wagon up and sees two other men dropping from the trees with crossbows drawn. Kaizen looks over at Zonu with a sorry look in his eyes. Zonu flicks him off. "Good job boys, round them up and let's see what we got today. The man behind Zonu pushes him forward towards their wagon. Kaizen is guided to the same position and both are facing away from the bandits with their hands up. "You two, go around to the other side of the wagon and see what they got." One of the bandits says. "And you, stay with me and keep your weapon trained on the back of their heads, anything funny happens and you execute.

Zonu curses to himself and looks at Kaizen. "Sorry man, just trying to be nice you know?" Kaizen sighs. "But as you can tell, "being nice" can easily be taken advantage of." Zonu sternly states. The two bandits walk to the other side of the wagon and begin looking through their bags as the other two stay behind Zonu and Kaizen. One of the bandits that stayed behind comes forward and starts patting them down. Zonu looks at Kaizen with intent.

Ash leaps out from the collar of Zonu's trench coat, landing on the bandit's face. The man screams and rears back trying to get her off. In that split moment, Kaizen vaults over the wagon kicking one of the bandits in the head as he lands. Then, he quickly spins around and palms the other bandit's face, slamming it through the side of the wagon. Zonu turns and ducks under the crossbow bolt the other bandit behind them fires. Zonu grabs some dirt from the ground and clasps his hands together. "Terra Oppresione!" Zonu yells as the ground around the bandit slams together crushing him, the spray of blood and guts shoot out of the cracks as it impacts. Kaizen reaches over to the bandit he kicked and reaches around and snaps his neck. He does the same to the other. Ash is thrown off by the last bandit and as he looks around with scratches and burn marks on his face, he screams and quickly sprints off.

While they look at the guy running,

"3 out of 4 is good enough, let's just leave him be." Kaizen says as he massages his shoulder. Zonu gives him a stern look, "we leave someone alive and they come back with more reinforcements, yeah you're right, that's smart, it's not like we have our name on our clothes or anything. Oh wait, you do." Zonu says as he pushes past Kaizen and grabs a blue feather out of his component pouch. He circles his hands around each other, the familiar sound of lighting crackling. He extends his hand out, "Azra's lux penetrabilior!" Three beams of lightning shoot out of his hands towards the bandit. The scream is cut short by the impact and sound of thunder.

"No more stops till we get to the church. Zonu pants and leans against the wagon for a brief moment. " I can't just keep expending spell after spell like this, I'll run out before the day ends." Zonu climbs inside their wagon and Kaizen loots the bodies except the one crushed and finds 8 gold and 5 silver. He also grabs one of the crossbows and the bolts and hands them to Zonu. "Now you don't have to use your spells as often." He grins and pulls the horse back onto the road.

The two friends travel for another few hours before seeing clouds of smoke billow out from the chimneys of a small town about a mile or two out. Kaizen breathes a sigh of relief. "I can't wait to see Solaris and Virren!" Zonu tilts his head and cracks a smile, "me either." The horse gallops towards the entrance of the town with a sign that reads "Razelbends."

The town is loaded with people walking across and along the main road. The buildings look restored with new makeshift changes. "They sure have improved this town quite a bit!" Kaizen says as he guides the horse towards the church, that can be seen in the distance. The sound of children running and playing while other sounds of people chatting about the weather and the day. The two reach the front door of the church which contains a huge glass mural of a sun and moon above the dark stained wooden double doors. Kaizen wraps the reigns around the post on the side.

Kaizen knocks on the door. A few moments pass, and he knocks again. "Aren't churches suppose to be, you know, open door?" Kaizen asks as he pushes the door open. The loud creaking of the door as sunlight travels across the stone floor. Zonu looks in. The room opens up with benches lined up on both sides of the main walkway. A stone slab sits on top of ascending stairs that lead to the main stage. Not a single person in sight. Zonu blows on his hand causing ice flakes to grow around it and steps in, Kaizen follows. The two make their way to the middle of the sanctuary, Zonu a few feet ahead of Kaizen.

"Wait, wait do you hear that?" Zonu points his finger up and listens. A brief sound of an organ playing on the next floor. Kaizen rushes back towards the door and sees stairs on the left leading up. "Wait for me! Zonu states as he sees Kaizen turn the corner. Kaizen ascends the stairs with quick haste and turns to a room that looks open. Zonu, not as fast, chases after Kaizen up the stairs then hears a thud. He runs faster as he turns the corner into the same room. He sees Kaizen wrapped in chains laying in the middle of the floor. "Oh shit." Zonu sighs.

"LOOK OUT" Kaizen shouts. Zonu quickly turns around and feels the force of a person impacting his chest as the air is knocked out of him. Zonu hits the floor and raises his hand with the same glow up to the assailant only to meet the point of a large blade inches away from his face.