The Rain was coming down, Hana had been flying for almost three days solid to catch up with Dissait and the boy. 'I can't believe this!' Repeatedly scolding herself, Hana didn't know what else she could do. To suddenly find herself in the Dimensional Rift, something had to have happened and she couldn't make heads or tails of it.
There were no formations laid and she had not cast anything, her mind was a blur as she grew tired of flying. Three days, stopping only to drink and notice landmarks along the way, a week had passed since her disappearance.
Hana wondered what Caoimhe was doing.
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In the Cave, Dissait and the Boy had been leisurely chatting. Dissait traded stories he had heard among the Transmigrated, widening the boys perspective and giving him a lesson in futility. A lot of the stories ended badly, Heroics tended to be the downfall of Heroes.
"It doesn't sound like being a good person is kind to yourself." Kuleon pressed his head to the floor and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for treating me kindly." He got up and looked toward the forest outside of the Cave.
"Don't mention it kid, Where I come from, Children are important enough of a reason to stick someone's neck out.. though, I do appreciate the praise." He grinned and heard a footstep in the distance. "Kid, get back." Dissait whispered.
He listened to instructions and hid further into the cave behind some rocks.
Dissait melded into the shadows and hid his aura.
A large shadow passed over the mouth of the cave and an Eye peered in from outside. It was wide, almost as wide as the mouth of the cave. A thunderous crash and landslide accompanied its passing, burying the entrance.
"Dissait?" Kuleon called out from the dark interior of the Cave.
"Don't sweat it. Its just a cave in." Dissait felt the ground rumble periodically. "At least we survived that."
"Survived? The ground has swallowed us!?" Kuleon was afraid, as a child he had never been in such a situation and was unable to contain his discomfort and panic.
Dissait pulled out a glowrod and passed it over to the boy. "Here. Hold this and relax. Yes, I said we're lucky that we survived that. Do you know what just happened? A Wyrm just passed by, a Great Wyrm is so massive that even Espers would have to band together to defeat it. They are a force of Nature. Its eye was bigger than this cave. But, it didn't seem interested in us and moved on. Those tremors, those are its footsteps. I don't know where Hana has disappeared to, but Caoimhe has been circling on occasion so she can't be dead."
Dissait didn't feel like his words helped and started to clear debris with the help of his storage ring.
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"Amazing!" Hana took in a deep breath as she saw the track marks below. There were wild beasts scattering, anywhere she looked they were fleeing the large beasts heading. A Shadow in the distance gave off a strange and familiar feeling and Hana immediately knew that it was Caoimhe. Meeting in the Sky, Hana landed on her back and reconnected.
There was a moment of recollection and then they finished passing through the cloud layer. Below, Hana saw claw marks and broken scales the size of Greatshields laying in the landscape. She took anything that looked of value and returned to Caoimhe. 'There must have been a battle.' Looking around the scene, there was blood. Hana found a small pool of it and bottled what she could. It was old by traditional standards but still held an aura.
Hana spread her wings and flew over the forest canopy as fast as she could. Caoimhe followed from above.
Ten hours later, they had arrived at the remains of the mountainside. There was a small hole, big enough for someone to crawl out of, that had been cleared away. 'Thank goodness.' Hana's worried face changed to one of optimism again. "Where could they have gone?"
Hana fired a fireball into the sky, signaling her arrival but the forest was silent.
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Dissait and the Boy struggled for a few hours and made their way back to the surface. Kuleon's expression got better once the sunlight got onto his fur.
"We can't stay in the hole any longer. I will leave a message for Hana and escort you to the nearest town, continuing with her last standing order and objective." Dissait slipped into the shadows and flew through the hole. Minutes later when he re-emerged, Kuleon was missing. 'This fucking kid.' When he finally found the child, he was three hundred meters away and chasing a small animal that had been abandoned by its mother. 'Wonder what he's caught.'
In the bushes, when Dissait pulled the leaves away, Kuleon grabbed the small beast.
"What have you got?" His curiosity was piqued now that the boy had caught it.
"I don't know but it looks tasty." Kuleon held up the baby beast.
Dissait face twinged. "Its a Demon. You shouldn't eat that, more specifically.." He put his finger to the beasts forehead and didn't sense malice of evil intent. 'Strange.' Dissait kept inspecting the baby until he was satisfied and then constructed a small cage. "If you promise to keep it in here, for the time being, you can care for it. However, and I mean this.. if its parent shows back up, abandon all thoughts of keeping it."
Dissait walked north with the child as he carried the cage. The child seemed to struggle with the weight of the cage after a bit and he was forced to carry it himself.
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Hana crawled into the cave, her body was slim enough to fit through the narrow opening. Inside she found a scroll that seemed intended for her. She read it. 'Hana, we've gone north. I will leave a trail, do not interfere with the Great Wyrm that passed by, even the Emperor would find it a challenge.'
"Its like he wants me to go looking for it." Hana burned the letter and left the cave.
Caoimhe stood outside the entrance and waited.
Hana's fists tightened, she really wanted to take a look at the Wyrm. Shrugging it off, a better mindset won and she reluctantly flew North.
With Caoimhe's speed, Hana soon caught up with Dissait's trail. He had left clear markings that only a member of the Sect would recognize. 'At least he left a lot of markers, maybe he worried.' There was a strange smell at every location that Hana couldn't make heads or tails of, eventually, she assumed it was the Boy.
Two days later, Hana saw a figure with a small boy. He was wearing a dark colored hide to cover himself from the suns and the boy was walking beside him carrying a medium size cage. The closer she got, the more the smell permeated her sense of smell. "Yuk, What is that smell?" Hana couldn't help but exclaim while she cast a fragrant bottle of cleaner to the boy. "Kid, go clean up."
Dissait shook his head and facepalmed. "Young Miss, It is not the child." He caught her attentions and she scoped out the cage.
A Small black beast, somewhat looking like a puppy with horns on it was laying down in the cage.
"Horehound." Hana had seen its picture plenty of times, they were very territorial and proud. "They get pretty big and.." Hana looked around nervously. "Where is its Mother?"
The words gave Dissait the creeps, he shuddered and then passed a large piece of meat over to the small beast. It devoured it. "I think its kind of cute, plus it doesn't give off the usual dangerous vibe."
"That's because its a Demon. It can hide its presence." Hana didn't know if she could pry it away from the child without getting a dirty look. "I won't tell you how to handle yourselves, but honestly.. This can go badly very quickly." Hana remounted Caoimhe. "Well, get on. I want to reach the Gomstone area as quickly as possible. There is a lot I need to tell you."
Hana spoke about her experience on the journey, Dissait had suspicions but wasn't sure if it was even appropriate, especially if he was correct. Leaving much unsaid, they both flew toward the Gomstone hunting grounds.
The Child was left in a small village camp, its residents were mostly transmigrated humans, regular humans who were living in the wilds, living a somewhat secular life among the beastkin. They welcomed the young boy, Poocha were a strong species and were great protectors. Although they were not members of the Zao Clan, they were grateful for the Emperor bringing them to a new homeland.
Hana wasn't sure that leaving them with the Horehound was a great idea but she left instructions on how to kill the beast with the Elder, just in case. Saying her goodbyes, Hana flicked a small bag of cookies to the boy.
The journey to the Gomstone from the village was only about 100 miles to the north, the villagers were certain of it, much of their prey was driven to them because of the frequent lightning storms in the area.
Upon their arrival a thick storm was headed their way again. 'Why is the weather so terrible here?' Hana kept her thoughts to herself but noticed that the rain was circling the area in an almost sideways manner.
"These are the reason why its such a formidable hunting ground?" The words came out of her mouth and dust flew in. She spit it out and wiped her face.
"No. The reason its such a formidable hunting ground is those!" Dissait yelled, the roar of the storm was drowning out his voice. Pointing into the distance, several flocks of birds were circling a large stone obelisk.
They shrieked often and after a few moments, Hana noticed that each time they made noise, no matter how small, lightning occurred. 'Wandering Stormers' "I am almost certain these are Stormers, In the legends they can topple entire kingdoms with a great flood!"
"Yeah, I heard that too." Rain pelted Dissait in the face again, he was forced to cover it with a cloth and yell harder. "LETS GO DOWN!"
Just as he finished speaking, a flicker and booming light came between them.
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