It was a moonless night, but tonight was special. The speckles of glittering stars glowed more luminously and flickered impatiently in the dark sky.
Silent steps moved through the already quiet forest as Ansel followed the stream of pulsing stars directing him from the starry sky.
"I've been walking for a while now. This is much further than I thought I'd would have to travel." Ansel stated to himself. The possibility never crossed his mind that he may have to go to deep into areas he's never ventured.
He was cautiously surveying the area with his every move.
"Something doesn't feel right. It's been too quiet." The unknown areas of the region held more dangers, but the young man was confused as he had yet to see any creatures.
Whispering to the cosmos, he complained, "I trust you, but um, how much further do I have to go? This place is giving me anxiety."
As if hearing his complaint, the stars pulsed brightly as if reprimanding Ansel.
Feeling unfairly scolded, he pouted and whispered a sarcastic reply. "Geez, sor-ry."
The stars ignored him and continued to pulse as they pointed him in the direction they wanted him to follow.
If not Gin, the starry sky was the only other thing that Ansel would be willing put some trust in. Tonight, he took another leap of faith and followed his instincts, but he never knew the starry sky had a temper.
Ansel sighed inside. "I might as well follow through, I'm in much too far and too deep now." He gripped the talisman in his hand more tightly as it gave him comfort knowing he could immediately return home and avoid danger.
Continuing, he moved further in the still-wet dense forest. As he slowly advanced, all of a sudden he stopped.
"What the hell is this!?" Ansel wanted to yell out but he exclaimed his alarm inside. He had never seen anything like it before.
"What happened to everything around here? There's nothing left…" A large empty crater was out of place in this dense forest. Aghast at the destruction, Ansel tried thinking of creatures that could cause such destruction, but anything capable such devastation was to be avoided.
Standing at the edge of a crater with his talisman at the ready, he crouched low while moving around guardedly to survey the area. "Whatever caused this wasn't done with one attack." Ansel noted as he noticed the edges overlapping from the edges of other craters.
"What could have caused this?" Ansel continued pondering as he crossed off the possibility of a dragon. The damage from the breath attack of a dragon would cause parts of the ground to fuse from the heat and there was no such indication here. Crouched down, he touched the earth with his hand, which left a yellow powdery residue. "Possibly man made." Ansel deducted as he then moved mana through his hand.
The three rings he brought from home reappeared on his fingers, and a glass-like tube made from tree resin popped into his hand. He proceeded to collect samples of the faint and thin layer of yellow powder on the ground. "Another thing to add to my to-do list. I'm am curious though to what could possibly be used to cause such destruction… maybe it has some hidden benefits for me."
It took quite some time for Ansel to circle the perimeter of the destruction. He decided to check closer to the impact point of the craters as there was not much left around the fringes. He was crouching and moving slowly to reduce the noise of his footsteps on the dirt. As he got closer to the center, he was stunned to find something another than dirt in the area. Getting close enough, he realized what he saw was the bodies of two men in thick metal armor. He moved quickly to them and first noticed the symbol of the Phoenix on their chest plate.
"Damn. Nobles or their knights." Ansel already didn't want to deal with the two. Bending down he checked their pulse. They were both still alive but in pretty bad shape. He was curious and confused as to why they were so far into the forest, but he didn't want any troubles following him. However, Ansel was more so curious how they were still alive. "Were they the reason why there were no beasts in the surrounding area?" He noticed an orb that could produce a barrier, but nothing else that could ward away magical beasts. All that was left was the two knights caked with dirt and dried blooded.
Ansel looked up to the starry sky and with a quiet screaming voice demanded, "is this what you wanted me to find?!?!"
There was no response. The stars returned to once as they were, gently flickering in the macrocosm of the universe. Ansel looked like a madman conversing with the sky.
"Shit! The stars left me hanging!" Ansel realized the pulsing stopped, and the feeling of beckoning was no more. Looking down at the two unconscious men, Ansel's face turned shades of red.
He no longer cared for caution and blasted the heavens above, "You meddlesome bastards! You guys left me hanging! With two unknown troublesome bastard nobles too!"