Entering the creepy forest, Selicia was taking every step very lightly and precisely placed, leaving no trace of her footsteps. Some might look at this and think she was being a bit too stealthy for the situation, but in reality, she just didn't want to step in mud or moss. The gross puddles on the ground would only make her bad day worse.
Grok on the other hand weighed so much due to his large muscular stature, his footprints were deeply imprinted in the ground. He had no class or the reputation as an assassin, he was more like a hireling, a mercenary. His strength and monstrous combat capacity filled the gap of stealth skills.
As Selicia was sneaking through the woods, she was keeping a constant check on her surroundings. She didn't want to be surprised by anything, her heart couldn't take it. Grok didn't exactly follow her lead as he was creating enough noise to make birds flee from their trees.
While he was annoying to work with, at least the attention was on him and not her.
Suddenly, Selicia felt a presence in the distance, a larger than your average bear with pretty big claws.
'Steering clear of that place. I think there's a road over there, perhaps we'll get lucky.'
She hoped that they might meet a traveler or merchant on the way, then she could get a ton of information. After all, besides not knowing where her target was hiding, she didn't even know where she was currently at.
'Should I say anything? No, he's trained as well.', just as she was about to inform Grok, she made her way towards the road. It didn't take long before she halted in her steps.
The distinct sound of a massive axe chopping down trees and the roars of bears, Selicia grabbed her head and hoped the oncoming headache wouldn't arrive.
'Why?!', if she yelled it out, the desperation in her voice would be abundantly clear.
The sounds of battle were right behind her, yet she didn't want to get close.
Grok was fighting against two Terrabears who looked like adults, not that he saw the difference. With his two-handed battleaxe, he swung it wide, keeping the bears at a distance. "C'mon little pups, daddy just wants to pet ya."
The bears swiped towards him, and instead of dodging like any normal mage, he swung his axe towards the attack, canceling it out. The electricity that the Terrabears formed flowed through their claws into the axe, shocking Grok. The Terrabears were confident in their strength and power, yet their instinct told them to back off.
His nerves overloaded, his muscles should've cramped up, but Grok moved as if nothing happened to him. Clamping his hands on his axe, he waved it around like a maniac, the bears, while intelligent animals, felt intimated by the display of strength.
Rushing towards the Terrabears, he displayed his skill with his battleaxe and his bravery to almost sacrifice his life in a reckless attack. While a dangerous move, by moving so close and repelling an attack or two, he got close enough to smash his axe right in the neck of one of the bears. The life drained right out of the bear's eyes. The blood flowed down his handlebar, licking it with his lips, he grinned.
Turning around he saw the bear's claws speed towards him. It was too late to dodge or repel, he would just take it head on, he was confident in his defense. But the claw stopped right in front of his eyes.
Stunned in disbelief, the bear in front of him got decapitated without him doing anything. The head falling down to the ground, the body still hanging in the air as if it was a puppet being controlled from above.
"We don't have time for this.", a small voice came from the trees, Grok looked towards the source to find a small girl with brown hair pulling on a string with a single finger. It was then that Grok noticed that the entire area was covered in steel-like threads that kept the bear from falling down.
While the voice was small, the blood in his eyes, made the scene of Selicia a lot more intimidating. 'All these lines, she could've killed me easily.', a strange glint was visible in his eyes. He interpreted her words almost as a threat that he should stop playing around.
'The master was right, she is truly a master assassin!', Grok was in a certain way a simple man, power above all else. If he had to work under someone, that person had to be stronger than himself. Selicia had proven her skill by killing a Terrabear without him even noticing.
"Of course, I guess we should go to a town. I'll clean up.", Grok hoped this would've been enough to satisfy her, since his life was in her hands now. His death was as easy as pulling on a single string after all.
Selicia on the other hand felt her little heart beat in her chest at a rapid pace. When she saw Grok fighting against the two Terrabears, stress had started to build up, almost making her collapse. She threw her almost invisible threads into the battlefield, with all the movement, they spread quickly.
All she had to do was harden them and pull them together, which was a lot more efficient than she hoped. Seeing Grok suddenly make a 180 made her head spin equally if not more. She didn't know how the brutal man switched gears so quickly, but she shouldn't lament it, she was meant to be happy. But the strange admiration in his eyes made her stomach churn.
Making their way towards the road they saw some people in the distance, their skin gray like stone. While they could approach them casually, it was better to do so in disguise. Selicia activated a spell she learned in the camp.
Her skin turned gray, or it looked like that at least since she wasn't actually changing the pigment in her skin but merely placing an illusion on top of it. Selicia felt like she was good now, and started to walk towards them, leaving without saying a word to Grok.
Not that she didn't have anything to say, rather, she wanted to do this by herself. Information gathering wasn't an easy job after all, and Grok didn't seem like the most capable when it came to that field.
"Excuse me, sorry for bothering you all, but would you be so kind as to tell me where exactly we are? I got lost during my travels and don't have many provisions left.", while staying polite, she was indirectly asking for directions to a nearby town. With her average looks, she would never be seen as an enemy, merely another common peasant.
The group of people were loading a cart with a bunch of boxes. There were about three to four people with one of them standing on the side. 'He's either their leader or the weak one.'
The man who had nothing to do turned around to face Selicia, seeing her kind looks and small stature, the man felt at ease talking to her. "Oh, well hello there. To answer your question, we're in the Kiroko forest close to Frontier, well, not that the name does it justice now."
"Why do you say that?", Selicia asked, ignoring her first questions and focussing on the gathering of intel. While it might seem useless, getting a grasp of a country and the politics was somewhat important. If there was a war, and you walk through the battlefield because it's the closest route, you're asking to get in trouble.
"With the new Emperor, the focus has been on defending the Empire instead of exterminating the barbarians, he's weak.", the man shrugged his shoulders, it was clear to him that claiming the lands down south was more important than anything else.
"Hey Jack, the Emperor's just a kid. It's already amazing the Empire didn't collapse.", a member of the group interrupted Jack. "We should be glad the switch went so smoothly, besides, the Emperor has a Starborn by his side."
"Then even more so, a Starborn is a sign of power! He should be more aggressive, our Empire wasn't so defensive under Aurelian, that man brought glory to the country, his fake son won't do much."
"Argh, have some faith in the Stars will you?"
Jack looked back at Selicia and noticed his little conversation was probably annoying for her. "Sorry about that, don't listen to that blockhead, he's only good for manual labor. Anyway, if you're looking for a place to restock on your items, better go to Frontier, just follow the road thataway.", the man pointed down a derelict road filled with puddles and mud.
"Since you're traveling around, you might've passed the Rainzone. I've heard that the irrigation channels were badly damaged, did you see anything?"
"Uh, no, I must've missed it, sorry."
Selicia knew that pressing any further now might give away too much, she had a place to go to next, sticking with them wasn't worth it. Besides, if they started to ask more questions, she might not be capable of holding up her disguise.
"What's a Starborn?", a deep voice came from behind Selicia, looking sideways she noticed his skin had changed. Holding in a sigh of relief, it seemed that Grok wasn't as hopefully stupid as she despaired.
Jack was surprised by the sudden voice, but more so because of the massive stature of the man, easily towering above him. Muscles that rivaled maybe even the previous Emperor and a look of a beast in his eyes, he swallowed his spit before scrambling the words to answer.
"The... A... A Starborn is a man of the Stars with fair skin to reflect that, he came here some time ago, apparently."
"So he has white skin?", since Grok pushed forward anyway, Selicia took the next step since she was easier to talk to.
"Have you never heard of Starborn from where you come? Where did you grow up?", Jack didn't look at Grok since he was a little too intimidating, luckily Selicia was the exact opposite.
Selicia became extremely nervous, she didn't have a good answer ready, so she improvised. Since they walked through the woods towards the north, she thought of an idea.
"We come from a pretty far place down south, you've probably never heard of the place.", she said as she scratched the back of her head, smiling slightly.
"You're a barbarian? No wonder you look like a monster! Farian!", Jack called towards one of the men, who immediately summoned a large mana sword and focussed on Grok. Jack himself also conjured a small dagger in his hands. They didn't attack, but were clearly very on guard. Grok wasn't impressed, only looking at their weaponry and scoffing.
Selicia on the other hand made a grave mistake, one she didn't fully understand yet. 'What the hell? Why the sudden aggression? Barbarians? Do I look like a barbarian to you? I'm a young fair maiden!'
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she knew she had top make certain that there was no fighting. If they got caught up in a fight, they would win for sure. Although they would also be leaving a trail and killing people who weren't a target wasn't on her wishlist.
"Grok.", Selicia was about to ask Grok to not react, but she was too slow in her wording.
"I understand, she doesn't want any witnesses, prepare yourselves, you pipsqueaks!", pulling the massive battleaxe from his back he rushed towards the people, slaughtering them in mere seconds since their weapons didn't stand a single chance against the pure power contained within his weapon. She looked away to avoid the horrid scene.
Selicia criticized her actions for making such a stupid mistake before making amends with herself. 'At least we have most likely found our target. Now we just need to know how to get to him.', which was easier said than done. There was a high likelihood that this Starborn was what they needed to go after, but they needed more information.
Stealing the horses, they followed the path Jack pointed out. They travelled for some time until they saw the town in the distance.
'I have to say something here, we've been riding in silence all this time! Why is this so awkward! If only they gave me someone more normal.'
Selicia didn't want any more bodies under her name. If that was the case, then she would need to hold back the bulldog next to her. Not being the best with her words, she tried to figure out what the best ones were in order to make certain he would interpret it correctly.
"Grok... no killing.", she said in a small voice, her heart beating a bit faster and her cheeks starting to turn red. Grok was also a Rank 2 mage, even if she whispered it, he would hear it.
'She doesn't want to kill the peasants here, why? No killing? Ah!', it dawned on him, 'She means to hold back so she can gather them perhaps? Then there wouldn't be any runaways if there was a fight! Genius!'
Grok nodded and gave her a knowing wink, which confused Selicia. 'Oh ow, what did he think I meant?'
Without getting a chance to think it over, they arrived in the town. Seeing everyone with gray skin made her feel a bit off, but Grok didn't seem to have any problems. There was a bit of commotion down the street. Having nothing better to do, she got closer, picking up the voices from afar.
A bunch of farmers were surrounding someone in strange white clothing that draped over his body. "Can you believe it!? There's a Scholar here to help us out!"
"A Scholar in the Farmlands!?"
"Yeah, they even brought a bunch of soldiers to aid us in our work."
"I thought the Emperor was incompetent since he was so young."
"Well, the rumors say that all the work is done by his advisors."
Selicia didn't involve herself, just gleaning the information was enough. 'It's clear a lot of people don't like the Emperor, but he has advisors that are loved? First we need to make sure that the Starborn is who we're after. Then we can find a way to kill him.'
She could easily let Grok create a bunch of trouble to attract their attention and confront them head on, but that wasn't her way of working. Knowing who her target may be, she just needed to get to the capital.
It would be a long journey. If things went well, she should arrive in a few days, not that there was a way to tell the time.
Making their way to the capital Selicia made sure that Grok didn't do anything stupid at the cost of his amusement. It didn't take long before they saw the capital in the distance. There was a massive beacon of light at the top of the castle, providing decent light to everyone present. The never-ending evening was seemingly put on hold as a ball of flames was providing clear light.
Then it suddenly went out, Selicia felt her heart skip a beat. The light that made her think of the outside world vanished, making it almost like night in an instant. Did they somehow know they arrived, was it a sign of protection or a warning? Her heart would've stopped if not for the ramblings of some random merchants.
"Ah, time to go home Jareld, pack it up.", said one of the guys holding a stand on the market. His stand had a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables in little wooden baskets. They were all filled to the brim, as if nobody had touched them.
"Already, thc, people aren't buying anything.", his friend Jareld had a stand of pieces of meat on a stick, the smell was wafting through the street, making anyone's mouth water. Yet, even he had trouble selling his product.
"Don't hate the customer, man, everyone's on edge, we should be glad that there are still nobles who are as frivolous as ever.", the man laughed as he started to put his wares in boxes.
Selicia, seeing an opportunity stepped in, "Excuse me, I'm from the farmlands, I've never seen that light before. What does it mean?", not making the same mistake again, she opted for an easy-to-understand introduction.
"Ah, you're from there, poor girl, you could probably do well in a brothel here. Then you don't have to go back to that shithole.",
"Hey Jareld!", his friend pulled him aside and pointed to the mountain that was looking their way. Jareld immediately realized that this wasn't the place to joke around. Knowing that he needed to turn the situation into a favorable one, he quickly informed her.
"The Beacon is responsible for creating a cycle of work and rest. Under the Stars many people live their lives at their own pace, but in bigger city's the bosses and aristocrats wanted a clear system of when to work. So a Starborn of the past introduced the "day/night cycle", but I forgot what those words meant."
"Thank you, good luck with your business.", Selicia quickly made way to avoid them, answering them in a somewhat hushed tone, but loud enough for the men to hear it. She didn't end the conversation because she felt a bit awkward, even if that was somewhat the case, but more so because she could almost feel the bloodlust from the man behind her.
'Hah! I did it, they didn't notice a thing! Hell, I was even loud! And I took this boar with me without causing trouble!', she puffed her chest a bit in the air, Grok didn't know what this meant, but he put his guard up.
'The people here don't know what a day is, only the Starborn do. So Starborn are people with pale skin that know about the world above. I guess he's our target then. The only issue is, he's living in the palace, isn't he? Oh god.'
Riding a bit further, she could see the massive castle right in front of her.
'Here we go, I guess'