With his brows furrowed, he asked. "Blood? What do you mean by that?"
"Well," Celine leaned on the carriage. "Since they won't be able to, and allowed to," She looked at Duke, emphasizing the last part.
"I figured letting them see a corpse; blood is good enough." She continued, crossing her arms as she made her way inside.
As she grabbed the door hinge, Duke roared. "So you tricked me?!"
"No, I asked a favor indirectly." She replied with a smug face. "Besides, this is for their good." Celine followed.
"You wouldn't want them to freeze up when fighting monsters, do you?"
"So I eliminated that initial blood shock." She explained.
He stared her in the eye before looking away in defeat.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you? Why are you so soft lately?" Celine sighed. Though looking annoyed, she was worried. Duke was known to be a cheerful and straightforward person. Being the second in command, his behavior would naturally concern Celine.
With a dejected look, he answered. "I…just don't want that to happen again."
"..." Both went quiet for a while as a bitter flashback came to before the silence was broken by Celine clicking her tongue.
"Get your crap together!" She yelled as she slammed the door closed.
Closing the blinds, she bit her lips as soon as she was hidden. A single tear went down her cheeks as Duke's word reopened a deep wound.
Wiping it off, she uttered with hatred,
"Klementine…"
—
After the one-sided massacre, the envoy once again took off. This time had low spirits, conflicted from what they had just seen.
They could no longer look at Duke the same way before. Now in the students' eyes, he was a cold-blooded killer though they knew the enemies he ended were the same.
They knew he was kind, but they couldn't help but feel fear in his presence; the presence once felt benevolent.
But the moment they took a step into this world, this was already a given. And since they're the heroes, one day, they too will become like this.
However, right now, they were but teenagers, naive and still shackled by the moral code of their former world. Witnessing a person distinguishing another's fire felt appalling to them.
Even after hours of travel, the scene played in their head like a tape recorder; like how Michael experienced also.
The sun went down and the forest was finally in sight; glowing.
Spotting the scenery as soon as they pass through the mountains, the fear-struck students finally budged from their seats as they admired the view outside from the window.
The forest truly lived up to its name, Jade Forest.
It shone brightly as the fruits it bore glowed like gems. With the night slowly falling, it gleamed more majestically with each passing second.
From afar, it looked like a city. A scenery that made them nostalgic despite the short time they had left. Likely because they knew they would never see one again.
After 30 minutes, they had finally arrived.
Wearily, they all came out of the carriages fatigued. Thinking drained them.
And with the annihilation they had just witnessed, none were able to fall asleep nor feel at ease.
They quite literally worried themselves to exhaustion.
Michael and his group went down last, none talked to each other. They were deep in thought and physically unable to start a conversation, still disgusted with puke at the back of their throats.
They awkwardly walked side by side towards the front.
Chase tried to initiate small-talk but was replied with vague and short answers. Eventually, he gave up as they sat down on the grass, waiting for orders.
Celine leaned on a tree whilst she also waited for Duke.
Sometime later, Duke came out of a thick bush without his armor, wearing casual clothes.
"I know everyone is tired, but just a little more and there's a lake we can settle down in for the night." He stated.
Simultaneously, all stood up and began walking in the direction Duke pointed to. But none could look him straight in the eye from fear. Thinking that this person is capable of killing them with his breath, they remained silent.
Duke looked down in sorrow. Even if it were only a short time, he had bonded with them. He was saddened by the sudden rift that came.
Patting him by the back, Celine cheered him up, "They'll get used to it." Having an unusual sympathy.
He stared at her in disbelief before smiling, "Do you perhaps have fe-" But before he could even finish, Celine already knew what was coming and stomped on his right foot using the heels of her shoe, stopping the words from coming out.
"Ouhh!" He wailed, jumping up and down holding his forefoot in pain.
"I would never," She answered him regardless.
Whilst walking, Michael remembered the survival tips he had once heard and read; assess your surroundings. One of the key factors to survival is a keen understanding of your location, to not only easily access food, but even help an escape in case of a wild encounter.
Understanding the environment is like understanding the mall.
…Or at least says the book.
Heeding its advice, Michael looked all around and took a mental note of the surroundings and the path.
Though everything looked the same so he brought out a pencil and started writing; I, II, III, and so on. Adding arrows towards the path they entered.
It looked bad, but it was better than nothing.
Finally, after an arduous trek, they had reached a huge open area with a lake in the middle, also glowing magnificently.
But what shone wasn't the water itself, it was the organisms inside of it. From fish and bacteria to the fallen fruits and minerals.
The view mystified them.
The scene was no doubt beautiful, but Michael had other things on his mind. So the admiring was cut short.
Recalling the survival videos a certain app recommended him, he looked for a leaning tree in hopes of finding a suitable foundation for a makeshift shelter. But none were seen.
Every tree stood high and mighty, showing no signs of weakness or deterioration.
Scrapping his previous idea, he looked for another; a cave he soon saw and was mentioned by Duke.
"We can bunker down on that cavern over there." He pointed towards the cave of a hill on the other side of the lake.
Again, they all stood up and walked.
Marching through the tall grass beside the lake, Michael's hairs suddenly stood up.
A foreboding feeling came over him. He felt watched.
Looking all around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just grass, trees, and plants. A few rattling bushes were heard, but what came out of it were also normal critters; rabbits.
Although a little different compared to the ones he was used to; the rabbits he saw were green, presumably because of the food they eat.
Michael thought he was just paranoid and dismissed the eerie feeling but still kept an eye out.
If the monsters here are like animals, then they could easily be jumped, assuming they know the land like the back of their hands.
With that in mind, Michael raised his guard. Materializing a dagger and putting it inside his pocket just in case.
Tired, they reached the cavern and sat down inside the cold cave.
As they all rested, Celine lit up a fire using a spell.
Immediately, all circled the campfire because of the freezing breeze of the night, with an obvious division amongst them—singling Michael's group in particular. Making the atmosphere tense and awkward.
Which made him wonder how they deemed it necessary; creating a feud between the heroes.
Is it racism? No, it can't be. They looked like the same ethnicity. Michael may be Asian, but he looks more like a European.
Is it domination then? But It's not like he claimed to be the leader anyways.
Michael sighed and ended his thought with, 'They just hate my guts.'
In silence, they all ate a dinner of their own choice. With a plethora of choices in their rings.
The only noise being was the raging wind and an argument between Celine and Duke again outside.
But even with a large quantity of food, Michael only ate a sandwich and his earlier lunch.
Thinking that if they were to fight tomorrow, he needs to be in top shape—not sluggish from a heavy meal.
After, they brought out cloth and created their beds. Most simply laid down a blanket on the ground.
But Michael decided to go the extra mile and added leaves beneath to insulate his bed. Demonstrating his broad knowledge, learned from random and various sources.
He'd done the same to Chase and Zack for their safety to avoid hypothermia and frostbite. After all, they don't know how low the temperature drops at night in this world. So keeping warm is important.
Especially now that they're sleeping in a cave that can drop down to 40°F.
"Thank you…" Both said.
With a confident smile, he replied. "No problem."
It was their first interaction since a few hours ago.