Angravada stood firm with her bandaged forehead as she pointed to the northern sky. "But before going to the town! I want to go somewhere else beforehand. There is a hidden man-made crater in one of the Vaal'Kuth Mountains in the east. As weird as it is, a father of my friend live there."
She began to put on an anxious smile as she noticed the reason why she was in this area in the first place. "I'm supposed to be a guide for that friend of mine, leading them to somewhere along the north vicinity of the southern trading route as there is a huge influx of wild beasts that became a dangerous hassle for the merchants. But I don't know why, I was suddenly transported to this carnivorous forest…
"The party that I'm supposed to guide might have finished their assignment, and hurriedly reported their activity to the guild at the nearby town…" Her expression became even more devastated. "The fact that they haven't been looking for me might be because I was written off as dead or missing. Well, not like I was any good of an explorer or map guide…"
"Your morale fluxes up and down at a much faster pace than a golden retriever…"
Meanwhile, Kivas and Semper had been privately discussing in the telepathic channel about the future verbal statement of the abrasive group they encountered back then, considering that the party Angravada referred to might be them all along. It was actually quite obvious, but there was still a hint of uncertainty considering that anything could happen in this weird new world.
"What do you think, brother? Should we keep it a secret, keeping the clueless facade in our end as we watch everything unfurl later. Or should we tell her everything she needs to know?"
"We have already given her enough revelation about our background origin. If that amount of information is enough to shake her thought for days to come, I don't think revealing the fact that the party she was supposed to guide had been tricked to stir trouble in your realm can calm her for day and end."
"So that's what you're troubled about…" Semper had a feeling, but he didn't think that it was spot on. "Well, there is a reason why we only tell her the basic premise of our history."
"Either way, let's just have the knowledge sink in for a day or two. Maybe there will be a time where we can explain everything clearly to her in the future. After all, a child at her age shouldn't be thinking hard about this kind of stuff."
"As much as I want to tell you that she is not a child anymore, I agree with you on that one. Though, is there a reason why you put such a much trust in her?"
"Didn't I tell you, brother? I can judge person by merely looking at the expressions they make. Heh."
"You should probably teach me how to do that in the future."
"Teach me about this ENE first."
"You two look awfully quiet for a while, I almost convinced myself that none of you listened to what I'm saying," said Angravada who's on the verge of tears due to the assumption of being ignored.
"Aye." Semper snapped from the telepathic channel. "What did you say again?"
"HUEEEEEEEEH!!"
"Hahahah, I'm just joking, lass. We heard you loud and clear while we converse among ourselves about what the future might hold for us."
"You heard him," Kivas followed.
"So we will be going along with you for a while, ey?" Semper restated. "I doubt that Kivas here will mind much, you can pretty much take him along with ye as long as it doesn't involve fighting, really."
Using his teeth and front limbs, Kivas tied the rainbow ore with ropes made out of twisting vines to his back near where the root of his dorsal hand resided. "I don't even mind fighting our way to the destination." He then pulled a last heave, making sure that the ore was tight and steady. "In fact, my mind felt more at ease knowing that the pathetic lass I found back then doesn't end up as a tree snack."
"I just got a new wound, don't rub salt on the old one!"
"And who's to blame for that wound again?"
"There is a proverb saying 'Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually'. Maybe she can learn a meaning or two!"
"I doubt that would convey anything to the rodent lass, Semper. Also, your message is quite out of topic."
"Hey, I'm not that dumb!"
"Angravada dear, if you want to look less of a fool, try planning for your first impression! Changing things around might bring an unrecruited fortune, ye know?"
"Wait, really?"
Kivas barged into the topic. "Just know that my first impression of you will be forever unchanged."
"Semper, you lied!"
"Angravada dear, I'm referring to the future encounters, not the ones that have been established in the past."
"Oh. Well, that actually makes sense now."
"This is why modern education is ruining future generations." Kivas snickered, albeit a hint of long-time annoyance could be felt on his tone.
"I think you're referring to a whole other different generation, brother."
"Ehem, this is not an attempt to shift the topic or anything," said Angravada, attempting to shift the topic of conversation. "Is there a reason why you're bringing that lump of ore on your back?"
"Huh? Doesn't this thing might fetch quite a good price in the market?"
"Well, I don't know if boring gray sediments might fetch any price…"
"Gray?" Disbelief of that statement, Kivas focused his thought at the ever illuminating rainbow ore on his back. "What do you mean gray? It's clearly emitting enough light to hurt children's eyes more than watching television half meter away!"
"I don't know what a 'television' is, but I'm sure that I'm not schizophrenic to the point of imagining your rock to be gray where it should be glittering!"
"Then you might plan to check a mental doctor when we arrive at the town." Kivas shrugged, curving both of his spectral-linked front limbs.
"That is uncalled for! It might be because of your old age that you start to see weird arrangements of light, sir!"
"Wisdom comes with old age, stubbornness sprouts along the young mind!"
"If that's the case, then how come a senile person is harder to take care of!?"
In the heat of disbelief from both side, both Angravada and Kivas came to a mutual conclusion of having the still-silent Semper to be the judge on whether which of them have mental illness.
""Semper! Is this thing gray or rainbow??"
"Aye? What thing that both of you are talking about?"
With the implication that there might actually no such of rock on the first place, and both of them revealed to be crazy, they began to lose their mind.
""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-""
"Heh, joke aside, I'm actually having quite a hard time at comprehending the object that was breathing right beside me," said Semper with a troubled expression.
"How's that even possible?" Angravada was struck with utter shock. "That thing, or lump of sediment, stuff, is right beside you."
"This thing might look illustrious or simply plain to either of you." For a goat head, Semper expressed quite a noticeable worryness. "But to me, it was an indescribable, indiscernible, utter pitch of clumped black matter…
"The good thing is, I sense no malevolent energy from it! Its presence is stable enough that nothing may happen even if the universe comes to an end!"
"Seems like we need to ask an expert in this world about this thing then." Kivas ended his mental predicament on a happy note. "Not to mention, my purple orbs increased to three because of this revelation! If your information triggers the torch's good will, then your statement about nothing might happen to it for a while might be true."
"Good thing if that's the case then!" Semper was glad that he could help to such an extent.
"A-are you sure, sir Kivas?" After hearing the opinion from Semper side, Angravada was more perturbed than relieved. "Semper said it, you know, it's indiscernible in his eyes! We are talking about the entity that may or may not be the important guardian of the world! It might be a silent ticking bomb as far as we know!"
Ignoring the panicking rodent, Kivas started moving his legs toward the east. "Nah, we'll be fine. I have encountered more unknown things than the thing I believe to understand. You'll soon see that a person can still survive with the knowledge of horrifying things that exist in our universe."
"That doesn't calm me down at all!"
While Kivas stated as such, his mind was not fully at ease by what he just learned.
It was still vague at first, but Kivas had basically confirmed that hearing new factual information was counted as a proper discovery.
Kivas realized that some words he heard that he was sure he didn't know a single thing about, didn't trigger the birth of the purple fire.
The implication began to live rent free in his mind.
'Must be an error in the system… Or so I wish.'