Birds were singing lullabies in the morning sky, flapping their wings as they rode along the cold morning breeze, feeling the warmth of the sun which was slowly rising in the sky. The night sky has finally been replaced with the golden rays of the sun, removing the cold silhouette of the dark night.
The leaves fell on the group as the wind gently swayed the trees; the rustling of those beautiful sparkling green woke Lance up.
He squints his eyes and looks around, everyone is still in their sleeping bag except Verin who is tending the horses, and Lithea.
Lance immediately got up and stumbled as he wore his shoes, hopping to his friend, "hey."
Verin looked at the archer, still feeding the horses some juicy apples.
"Pleasant morning to you as well, friend."
Lance wanted to roll his eyes and argue because of his sarcastic tone, but that is not what is important right now. Lithea is missing.
"Have you seen her?" Lance finally got to wear his shoes properly.
"Who?"
"Lithea," he looked at where they camped and reconfirmed if he really did not see her there. There was none.
There's no body inside the sleeping bag, "she's missing."
Verin laughed which made Lance raise an eyebrow, has his friend gone mad?
"Why don't you look around and look for her?" he suggested as he pets the horses.
Lance grunted as he moved away from Verin, "you could have looked for her when you noticed yet you stayed there, tending the horses!"
As he was ranting about his friend, Verin could only chuckle. He knew where Lithea was, he looked for her first thing in the morning when he noticed she's not in her sleeping bag. Even though he knew what she could be doing, he still bothered himself by making sure she wasn't lost or taken when they were sleeping soundly.
"Ah, there she is!"
Lance's loud voice caused the others to wake up and nearly disrupted Lithea's concentration, thankfully, Chi would sometimes test her focus by playing loud instruments while she meditates.
"Are you kidding me?" Verin murmured.
He took a step back and hesitated on leaving the horses, especially since no one in the group is still fully awake. But the possibility of Lance disturbing Lithea's training is dangerous, and they still don't know much about her. All they know is her name, age, and that she possesses the strength and power to enter the rank.
Verin grabbed Lance by the collar of his long sleeves shirt, "you—"
He dragged Lance back to where the camp is settled, "oi, oi! What are you doing, bastard!"
"Come here," Verin growled.
Lance blinked his eyes a couple times before letting his friend pull him away.
He huffed.
When he had Lance back at the group, he glanced back at Lithea before advising them in regards to their new member's routine.
"She's in the middle of training," he began, causing a lot of brows to raise towards him and then peeking at Lithea who's currently on top of a boulder, her eyes closed gently, hands placed on top of her knees, her legs folded apart from each other.
'She's flexible,' Serene noticed.
'I wonder what kind of training that is,' Thenea wondered.
'What the hell is that kind of training?' Lance grimaced.
"Ooooh~" Viv let out a quiet sound.
"I noticed her waking up at dawn yesterday," he turned around and have his back on his teammates to study Lithea's posture, "she probably is polishing her senses or her concentration."
"Huh?" Serene tilted her head.
"Probably both," Verin shrugged.
Thenea took a small step beside Verin, "is that how priestesses train?"
Verin shook his head, "from what I heard, it is only applicable at the Sun temple."
"That's one heck of a weird ass training regime," Lance exhaled before turning his back on the others and started folding the sleeping bags. "Come help me clean up."
Not a moment passed by, no one moved a muscle to help him.
He looked at the people behind him and they were gone. He looked here and there but couldn't find any of them. Just then, he had an idea; they're watching Lithea to escape packing up their things.
"She's done!" He heard Thenea exclaim.
"Good, I'm almost done here too," he grumbled.
Lithea gulped when she opened her eyes, everyone was staring at her.
She's not used to this at all.
"Come, come!" Thenea hopped towards Lithea and gestured for her to come down, "we'll set off now."
The confused priestess just nodded and obediently climbed down the boulder.
"What were you doing?"
Thenea's mind drifted back to the voices she heard while she was in training, as her senses were heightened whenever she meditated to avoid getting attacked, she heard what they were talking about a while back.
'Why is she asking when Verin already filled them in?'
"Training," she blinked.
Thenea clung on Lithea's arm and slowly led her back to their camping site.
"What kind of training is that?" she asked, she genuinely wanted to know. But since Verin isn't also sure of the things he heard about the Sun Temple's training methods, she has to hear it from the real priestess.
"Meditation," she answered simply.
"Can you elaborate it?"
Thenea let out a huge smile, she really wanted to know.
Lithea cleared her throat before explaining, "It is to hone our sensory skills, we must be invincible and there must be no blind spot."
"So, meditation helps you achieve that?"
Lithea shook her head, "there are different stages of meditation, not everyone is capable of entering the zone."
"Who is capable of doing those? What rank?"
"Divine."
Thenea stumbled from what she heard, she blinked her eyes rapidly.
'Divine.'
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?" she moves back, examining Lithea from head to toe, and toe to head.
"You're saying you're one of the Divines?" she started circling Lithea.
"No," she answered.
The short mage stopped in front of her and pointed at the poor priestess, "Don't lie!"
"I don't have a skill for such a trait," Lithea informed her teammate.
"How are you not a Divine if you can do what they can do?"
"Because there could only be one divine in every temple."
Thenea is enjoying what she learned so far.
"So if the current divine dies, you will become one?"
Lithea's face turned dark and swiftly moved her eyes to glance down at Thenea, "huh?"
Thenea gulped and covered her mouth, "I mean if--," she tried to meet her eyes but her gaze is so intense, if it could burn, she is already turned to ashes.
"If," her voice became shaky, "if she resigns?"
Thenea tried to peek at the person she's exchanging conversation with and Lithea's softened expression made her sigh in relief.
'Thank God,' she mentally praised the Gods for escaping a sudden death. She told herself to watch what she is going to say when she's with Lithea.
"She will choose a successor," Lithea looked at the sky, "but even if she would regard me with the title, I will have to decline."
"Why not?"
"I do not wish to become like her, I just wish to destroy the root of this all."
Thenea was left dumbstruck.
'What a terrifying person,' she felt her whole body covered in thick ice.
So cold.
"Let's go!" Lance shouted to call everyone. They have to set off before the sun burns them, they must arrive at the nearby village before the sun sets.
"Serene, Verin, you two will drive the wagon." Lance assigned.
"Why am I paired with him?"
"Verin still needs a guide as he is new with all of this," Lance explained, "so you have to monitor his driving skills."
Serene squints her eyes.
"Make sure he's not doing it wrong."
She shrugged, "alright."
The two assigned drivers climbed up and positioned themselves.
"Come on!" Serene shouted, becoming impatient.
Serene watches Verin intensely, making the guy awkward and conscious with her eyes not taking off his hands.
'She's taking this way too seriously,' a sweat dropped from his forehead.
Lance calculated the speed, if they would hurry and not give the horses a break, they would arrive by noon. If they speed up with breaks, they would arrive no later than noon. If they keep up this pace with breaks, they would arrive before the sun sets.
No matter how late they arrive, they still have to spend the night in the village and rest. Traveling is a hassle but necessary.
Horses are known as strong creatures, but they too cannot be overworked or it will be hard for them to travel. And even though he received a huge discount from Terrence, silvers are still hard to earn. If they happen to injure the horses and overwork them, they will pay for compensation.
"Why do we have to get up early?" Serene yawned.
"We should rest some more, we are all dead from all of that travelling."
Verin did not say anything.
"You should compensate for the lack of food, commander!" she shouted, hopping Lance would listen but he didn't let it get through him.
"If only Viv did not eat all of those treats while traveling, we would not have to starve this early!"
'Now he's targeting Viv,' Verin sighed mentally.
"I told you already, Lance will have us rest at the nearby village!"
"I AM TIRED!"
Verin gritted his teeth, "WE ALL ARE!"
Lance is getting worried at the two driving, he is starting to hear them bicker.
"Hold it properly!" she smacked Verin's hand.
"Could you just stay still?" he shouted back.
"How can I do it if it's my job to watch over you?!"
"Leave me alone!"
Serene growled and pinched Verin's ear, "the commander told me to supervise you!"
"Let go of my ear, woman!"
Lance closed his eyes as he felt the wagon rock, he was sweating hard.
'Is it the best choice to pair those two?'
He is starting to question his past decisions with just a single mistake.
Serene suddenly sat properly and her eyes started to wander, "hmm."
Verin blinked, 'what the fuck?'
She continued to look for something, but unfortunately, they're still inside the border of the east and the northeast.
"Oi," Verin tried to get her attention, her sudden mood swing scares him.
"I'm hungry," she uttered quietly.
"What?"
With only a piece of bread, and a hare stew shared with the group last night. She is incredibly hungry, especially since they did not have any breakfast before they left.
"I'm hungry."
Still, because of the horses, Verin couldn't hear her.
"What did you say?"
"I'M HUNGRY YOU MINDLESS SHIT!" she screamed in his ear, "AND I'M TIRED!"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ON?! STOP SCREAMING!"
"YOU ARE SCREAMING TOO!"
"I AM JUST GIVING YOU YOUR OWN MEDICINE!"
As Serene is getting more and more irritated with the lack of food, and the loud voice of Verin paired with the heat of the sun, she could not control herself any longer.
She screamed before attacking his teammate and grabbed a handful of his hair.
"Oi, oi!"
Verin tried to not let go of the bridles but her grip is too strong and he feels like his hair is going to get ripped off any second.
"Get off me, I'm driving!"
"You stupid stupid stupid jerk!"
Serene couldn't hear Verin, all she wanted was to let out her frustrations.
"Fucking noble!" Verin spat.
"AAAAAAAAAAA!"
He could not take the pain anymore and let go to pin down Serene. Unfortunately, as he successfully stopped Serene's attacks, without his lead, the horses sped up.
Lance blinked as his veins on his forehead started bulging.
"YOU TWO!"
Both Verin and Serene gulped at the sound of Lance's voice.
"Oh no."
Thenea let out a calming magic again to help them stop the horses and to calm the two who were in the front.
"Thank you," Lance said.
Thenea only giggled as a reply, in reality, she's having fun listening to those two bicker. It reminded her of her cousins back at home.
The effort of Thenea calming the two did not last longer.
Serene once again started whining and irritating Verin. He is having troubles with all of her stomping and waving, not to mention her mouth not resting from spitting too many words in a second. It is getting loud and noisy, he couldn't stand it,
Verin ended up hitting the horses because of her constant movement making them run wild. On the bright side, they arrived at the nearby village in no time.
Thenea stretched when she got off the wagon, "finally, we're in the village."
She walked towards where the two drivers were seated and found them not feeling well. Their eyes sunken, their faces pale, they look like dead monsters who just climbed out of their graves.
She laughed at the sight, "what is wrong with you two?"
"No," Serene said, "what is wrong with you!"
Whoever in their right mind would agree with Serene, they almost died with the horses going rampant while she just stood there, giggling, and enjoying the incident.