I woke up in the morning to see Dannas actually waking up too. He yawned and stretched as he groggily sat up.
"Why are you up?" I asked.
"They're gonna give me my mission."
"Me too."
"I guess we really might have the same one after all."
"Possibly."
We both got up and left for the medical tent. When we entered, Yara turned around from her cabinet of various tools and supplies of her job.
"Welcome back, Ladon. Let's see those hands."
She unwrapped them to unveil my almost completely healed, calloused hands.
"Alright. Today should be the last day you'll need it. I'm going to give you some extra bandages for the road, incase you need them down the line on your mission."
She applied the ointment to my hands and wrapped them back up, before placing a small roll of bandages in them.
"I have a question, Ladon."
"What?"
"Would you like a haircut? Looks pretty unmanageable right now. Might be nicer to shorten it a bit. I'm pretty good at cutting hair, I even cut Dannas's, so you don't have to worry about that."
Suddenly, I recalled my reflection in the river, and the discomfort that came with it.
"Sure."
She pulled a hairbrush, comb, and scissors out from the cabinet.
"This might hurt a bit."
"What?"
She started painfully brushing through my hair. It felt like the comb was getting stuck at every centimeter.
Her expression turned nervous. "Bear with me. Once this is done, the rest will be painless."
She arduously brushed for another ten minutes. Using a combination of her hand, comb, and scissors, she began cutting. After enough time, the pain was replaced by the nice feeling of her manipulating my hair for each cut. Before I knew it, she pulled out a small mirror and showed the final product to me. My hair was still somewhat messy, but it was now chin length. For the first time in a long time, I felt the cool, refreshing morning air on the back of my neck.
"What do you think?"
"I like it."
"Great. Your hair's not a conformer, but I tried.
"Thank you, Yara."
"Don't mention it." Her slightly nervous expression changed to a gentle smile. "And good luck on your first mission."
"Thanks."
"Anything for me?" Dannas asked.
Her gentle smile fell. "No."
We both left her tent and headed for the captain's. I entered before Dannas since my curiosity of what it may look like inside overtook his pace at the last second. I saw the captain sitting at a desk toward the back wall, Soras standing next to her desk on the left, and Enrick standing to the right. Her messers were resting against the right side of her desk. On the right side of the tent, there were curtains leading to what I would imagine to be where she sleeps. At the left side of the tent was a female-shaped armour stand, her leather armor and cloak resting apon it. Next to the stand was a table where a belt, a scabbarded langes messer, and a cloak rested. In the center was a large pole surrounded by a multicolored rug.
The captain placed her hands on her desk and stood up. Now that I got to see her without her armor, it was very clear she was strong. Her muscles were visible on her arms through the sleeves of her shirt.
"So. I take it you two are ready to receive your missions?"
"Yes." Dannas and I answered at the same time.
"Very well. Dannas, Ladon, you two will be sharing a mission. Remember, Ladon, this is your final test. Failure on this mission would mean failure to become a ranger. Is that understood?"
"Yes."
"Good. I will brief you both then. As you both may know, Gerickst has made his appearance. Soon, he will be sundering and immolating the villages and towns of the general area. This is a classic fear tactic of his that he uses to maximise the terror of the people before he kills them. This has been going on for as long as he's controlled his region. Because of this, the people of this region have adapted to this reality. Nowadays, when he makes himself known, the more fortunate villages and towns help the less fortunate ones. A town several miles south on the Great Forest Road named Therrin's End has been helping another town several miles north on the same road named Moltenbell for quite some time. They've sent blankets, food, and other resources five times in this month alone. Now that Gerickst has made his presence known, Moltenbell has asked for more again. It seems odd that they've gained so much assistance just to ask for more, but nonetheless, they will be getting the aid they asked for, though it will be the last time. Unfortunately, the good people of Therrin's End don't have the manpower to spare to make the journey north, nor do they have the beasts of burden to spare either. This is where you two come in. Ladon, it is my understanding you possess great strength, correct?"
"I am a demidragon."
"Good. They will need you and Dannas to help bring the wagon full of food and supplies to Moltenbell. One person from the town will be going with you. It'll be your job to protect them, and the wagon aswell. I'm sure you both know that dangerous beasts and monsters sometimes wander out of the forest onto that road. Once you have delivered the supplies, you must also bring the wagon back where it came from. Only then will your mission be complete. This mission is all about patience and hard work. Should more than what we can predict befall you two, it will be up to both of your judgments to move forward."
Soras then stepped forward. "Ladon, on the table to your left, you will see your equipment for this mission. That belt can hold a scabbard and quiver, one for each side. As you will find out, the leather attachments are quite flexible. Enrick has informed me you completed his competition, so every piece of equipment given to you minus the messer and the spare dagger are yours to keep. The messer and dagger are temporarily yours. Should you succeed, you will be designing your own messer or messers after your return. Any messers you design will be yours to keep. You will be getting permanent armour when you become a ranger aswell."
"Okay." I put the belt on and started attaching the scabbard to it. As I was doing so, I noticed the belt had a sideways sheath with a dagger in it. I made sure the dagger would be on my lower back.
The captain then continued. "Dannas, though you both share a mission, yours has a slight difference. You will also have to keep track of Ladon, and give us an evaluation of his performance at the end of the mission. Try to be objective in your report."
"Alright."
"One last thing: if you choose to stay in the forest on the journey south to Therrin's End, you will come across a portion of the forest called the deadwood. Avoid it at all costs. If for whatever reason you can't avoid it, do not stay there long, and do not eat the fruit."
I picked up my new cloak. "Why?"
"I am not currently at liberty to tell you, nor are you at liberty to know, but I will tell you this much since I can: you will die, especially if you eat the fruit."
"I see."
"That is everything for your briefing. Do either of you have any questions?"
I rose my hand halfway.
"Yes?"
"Who was that girl? The one with the weird face that left your tent the same morning as my tests."
"How much did you see?"
"Enough to tell she's different. Like me or Lili."
She sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't tell you. I recommend you forget you ever saw her. Or atleast, stop worrying about it."
"Alright."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Very well. Waste not any time." Her expression loosened ever so slightly. "And good luck, Ladon."
"Yes, Captain!" Dannas and I answered at the same time.
I walked out of the tent shortly before Dannas. We walked over to our tent so I could grab my bow. It took me a minute, but through some trial and error, I attached it to my right hip. Once we had everything we needed, I put my new cloak on as we left our tent. The cloak was darker than my last one, and I liked that. I missed the sleeve my old one had, but that got ruined, so I was more than alright with this one.
Just when we were about to leave, I saw Lili walking toward us.
"It seems I'm just on time to see you off. So, what's the mission?"
"We're going to deliver some supplies from Therrin's End to Moltenbell."
"Sounds simple enough."
"Yeah."
She then spoke in my head. "Have you dreamed of that voice yet? In the darkness."
I was taken aback for a moment, then tried talking back in my head. "Y-yeah . . . do you know who it is?"
She cocked her head slightly. "No. I think you're on the right path." She then spoke out loud with her classic smile. "Keep up the hard work. I believe in you." She turned to Dannas. "You too, Dannas."
Dannas took a confused step back. "T-thank you."
She turned to me, gave a knowing nod, then walked away.
"Should we head off then, Ladon?"
"Sure. I have one stop on the way. It'll help us avoid the deadwood too."
"Where are we going?"
"My home."
"Alright, Where is it?"
"South-east of here, on the other side of the river. You'll know it when you see it."
"Let's go then!"
We headed out south-east with our gear. We were moving pretty fast through the forest, fast enough that we were making good time, but not so fast we were exhausting ourselves. After maybe thirty minutes, we made it to where the shadow wolves were. There was almost no sign beyond a faint scent that that fight ever happened. Not even my old bow was left there. After traveling for another hour, we eventually made it to the river, near its split. It seemed Dannas was as adept as I was at traveling through nature, so he never slowed me down, and I tried not to speed him up. Once we reached the split, we grabbed some long, strong sticks, wrapped our boots, equipment, and gear in our cloaks, then attached those to the ends of our sticks. While we were doing that, I felt a presence; a presence that wasn't there a second before, like it just appeared. I rose my head to look across the water. I saw a white fox. It had light blue highlights on its fur, but that wasn't the oddest part. It looked slightly transparent, and its fur looked like it was perpetually flowing into nothingness . . . like fire, but calmer.
I looked at Dannas. "Did you see that?"
"What?"
I looked back. The fox was gone. Not even a scent left behind.
"Nothing."
We rolled up our pants, carried our sticks, and walked through the river onto the small island. After that, we crossed the next part of the river and began to put all our stuff back on.
"So, how much longer until we get to your home?"
"Another hour or two. Can you keep up the pace?"
"On this empty stomach? Probably not."
"Then probably two. I should still have some food to eat at home. Hopefully it hasn't gone bad. Do you like deer?"
"Enough to eat it, sure."
"Then let's keep going."
We continued to follow the long river east for an hour and a half. Eventually, we reached a very familiar part of the river. It felt normal here; just the beautiful, glistening river, the bed of stones along the edge, the light pushing in through the gap of trees, and fish swimming against the current. Finally, I was close to home. We continued south from there until the fragrant, earthy scent of a familiar dragon reminded me that Dannas didn't know about him.
"Hey, Dannas?"
"Yeah?"
"We're close now. I just realized I neglected to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I live with a dragon."
"WHAT?!! Woah woah woah woah! A real dragon?! You're joking right? Tell me you're joking."
"I'm not. He's the one who sent me to the rangers in the first place."
"What?"
"His name is Abraxas. He's a very good person. He took me in a few weeks ago."
"Uhuh?"
"He's the reason why my life improved as much as it has. I owe him everything, but I doubt he'd agree on that."
"Okay . . . okay."
"I'm surprised you didn't know about him, all things considered."
"You'd be surprised by all the things I don't know."
As we started walking to the clearing, I let a small smile creep onto my face.
In a whispery tone, Dannas teased me. "I got you again, heheh."
After a short time, we slowly entered the clearing. I saw my cabin looking as it did when I left just two weeks ago. Abraxas was sleeping in his usual position, with his massive head over his massive crossed legs like a comfortable giant dog.
"Oh gods. You got this Dannas; just a dragon. It's . . . just a dragon."
"You alright?"
"Y-yeah. Just . . . big . . . very big."
Abraxas's eyes slowly opened.
"Oh gods."
He looked at me, eyes opening wider as his massive mouth opened. He rose up onto his feet and began to plod over to us.
More excited than I've seen him, he greeted me. "Welcome home, young Ladon!"
Dannas fell on his butt, petrified by fear.
I let a warm smile shape my face. "Thank you, Abraxas. I've missed it here."
Abraxas turned his head toward Dannas. "Who is this young man?"
"P-p-please… don't eat me."
"Silly boy, I wouldn't eat a human."
Dannas let out a shaky sigh.
Abraxas's mouth curled somewhat into a smile. "I prefer deer anyways."
Dannas's expression turned back to fear.
Abraxas laughed his low, slow, and air-shifting laugh. "I am only kidding, young man. I would never eat a human, nor have I ever tried. You are safe here."
Dannas was still shaky, but seemed more relieved now. "I-I've never met a dragon before. Thought they were all . . . murderous."
"Nowadays, most of my kind are, unfortunately. I do not associate with them, both by choice, and without choice."
"A-alright."
I turned to Dannas. "Still hungry? I am."
Dannas stood up. "Ooh, yeah."
"I can smell the meat. Seems good from here. Follow me."
I led him into my cabin. Quickly, I moved to the trapdoor on the floor, opened it up, and pulled out some of the cooked meat. Surprisingly, most of the meat was still good. Not all of it, but most.
"Woah.. Did you make all this yourself?"
"Mostly. Abraxas helped lift the logs. I did everything else though. Never got around to making a table."
"Wow… Well, let's eat!"
"You can eat in here if you want." I grabbed some food for myself. "I need to talk to Abraxas."
"Alright."
I left my cabin and walked to Abraxas now sitting in his nest.
"What brings you home so soon?"
I opened up my cloak to show my equiment. "I've been training."
"So I can see."
"I've been doing well apparently. They've sent me on my first mission. If I succeed, I'll become a ranger."
"Well, that is certainely good news. I was expecting you to be gone much longer. Nonetheless, I am proud of you, young Ladon. I hope you succeed in your mission."
"There's one other thing."
"What is it?"
Should I tell him? That voice said I shouldn't. I don't have any strong reason to distrust or trust it. I have no reason to trust it more than Abraxas. Screw it.
"I've been having these . . . dreams. In the darkness. There's been someone talking to me in those dreams. In one dream, three voices, though two of them were a combination of voices."
"I see. Does one of those combinations contain your voice?"
"Yes."
"What about the second one?"
"The second one was a combination of two female voices I don't know. It was shifting constantly as was the other one. One of the voices sounded very weak—concerningly weak."
"And the third?"
"It just sounded like a man. But it somehow sounded like it came from the same source as the girl. I don't know how to explain it."
"I see. And the other dreams? What happened in them?"
"There were only a few. But I talked to the first voice each time."
"Interesting. I thought that this might happen, but I did not think it would be likely, so I did not want to worry you with it. But now it seems to be real."
"What is it? What's going on?"
"Do you remember what soul seeing is?"
"Yes."
"Good. Well, there is a similar thing mages can use called dream seeking. Sometimes, it can be hard to find a person in this world if you don't already know where they live. There are many different planes of existence. Ours is one of them. Another one is where our minds go when we sleep. It was often called the dreamscape. Many magic users who have access to the dreamscape use it to find and communicate to people they couldn't otherwise. That is dream seeking. There is also dream walking, but that is less likely to have anything to do with this."
"Does that mean someone was dream seeking me?"
"Yes, but it must be much more than that."
"What do you mean?"
"That voice. Was it confident, powerful, rude, hated to waste time, and low on patience?"
I furrowed my brows. "Yeah."
"That is the voice of a very old friend of mine. The fact it shifted with yours means it definitely was him. Somehow, the person dream seeking you gave the soul combined with yours the ability to communicate with you, along with their own ability to talk with you aswell. His soul is still a part of yours. Otherwise, his voice would be solely his own. That has a lot of very interesting implications."
"Uhuh."
"The original Ladon is dead, yet somehow his soul was activated in some way—maybe even given life, or maybe was just meant to be permanently dormant. Maybe it's a temporary thing. Were the female voices separate, or just shifting?"
"Just shifting."
"This must mean they saw your soul, dream sought you, then used your souls to communicate. And for whatever reason, gave the original Ladon the ability to talk to you along with the knowledge of things that have yet to happen. They must be able to see through time aswell. She must be a very powerful magic user. And since their voice was the same shifting as his, that could mean she is a demidragon like you, though she did not activate the dragon in her like she did with you. She must be using the dreamscape to make it easier for your souls to communicate, otherwise she would just be telling you everything herself. She must be in a difficult situation. Or something else is going on. I apologize. This must be a lot of information to receive all at once."
"Do you think this person is dangerous?"
"She might just be. But then again, she seems to be trying to help you. At the very least, my old friend is."
Dannas walked out of the cabin, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I finished. It was dry, but I've had worse."
"I guess we should leave soon. I'll probably come back in under a week. Thank you for the help, Abraxas."
"Anytime, young Ladon. Anytime."