Chapter 2:
Inzdel thrust her sword into the belly of the last dark predator still standing,
Horan and Inzdel seem to have eliminated all but one of the Dark Predators.
His body was sprawled on the ground, his head soaked in dark blood, the dark blood covered his entire head, in fact it also covered his entire neck and even reached his back.
The leader of the dark predators was killed, I…? I did it?
I looked at him, I looked at him for a long time, 5 minutes? 10? I feel like I've been looking at him for at least an hour.
The palm of my right hand was still shaking a little.
I was alone, just me and him.
There were other people there, but still I felt alone,
He was alive a moment ago, but I killed him.
I killed a creature, is that what I volunteered for? Is this what will help the human race??
I hear noises in the background, am I not alone?
"...yuk"
The lump of fur stopped bleeding, the leader died.
Who am I doing this for?
"..aryuk !"
For the human race? really?
"Are you mad?!?!" she screamed loudly.
"You could die! No! It's not that you could… you are dead! That's it! I'm taking your pendant!"
Inzdel's screams brought me back to the world.
I looked at her indifferently, her face was red, she looked very angry.
"Inzdel, look..." Garyuk started to say and was immediately interrupted
"No! Don't start! You put yourself in danger! Why?!"
"He didn't put himself in danger, the leader just attacked him" Lorine chimed in.
"what did you say?!" Inzdel turned her face to Lorine, she had a strange look, not angry... maybe a little.. looks more surprised.
"Wait a minute, Inzdel is right, it was my mistake, I endangered myself and the other members of my party" Garyuk began to explain, he was pretty calm for someone who almost died, even too calm.
"Why?" Lorine asked
"He's a support that's left defenseless, in that situation he's kind of like a meatball walking on two legs," Daril explained.
"Inzdel rushed to the front, that's her job, she needs to attract as many enemies as possible"
Roobers scratched his head "So it's Inzdel's fault?"
"No! Garyuk should have moved on with her"
"But that's how the other dark predators were able to attack him" Sylviana joined in
"In the middle of the way he was supposed to leave Inzdel and join us"
"Wow! Lucky I'm not support, how do you remember all of that?" Roobers grabbed his forehead with his left hand
"Did you want to teach them something? Is that a good example? Isn't that right? Inzdel?" Daril turned his gaze to Inzdel.
Inzdel took a breath and closed her eyes a little, she seemed to be trying to calm herself down
"First I want to know why you stayed behind?" she said
Garyuk looked hesitant, he looked at me and my group members.
"I didn't want to leave them, I thought I could help them if one of the dark predators attacked them... I didn't think the leader would come, maybe... maybe I hoped he wouldn't"
"If I hadn't stayed here one of them would have died, and maybe even worse than that" Garyuk explained.
Inzdel looked away,
"This thing? This thing would wipe us out? There are 5 of us here! Even alone I could wipe it out... If Zophyr succeeded I sure can too.." boasted Dominic
"And if there were more dark predators with him? 2 or 3 more? Would you eliminate them yourself too?" Sylviana asked
"Of course..." Dominic answered immediately, Sylviana gave a disdainful look.
Inzdel looked back, "I was wrong" she said
"I made a mistake, I should have explained to you what to do, but this is an important lesson, always be ready for battle. Even if the battle seems to be about to be decided, the enemy can always surprise and turn the situation around."
"In that case, your 3 warriors surround the mage and the ranger and are ready for whatever may come..."
Inzdel continued to explain, I saw the bones that were scattered in the area, are these human bones?
I noticed a metallic object among the bones, I slowly advanced towards it.
"What is it?" I asked
Inzdel stopped the explanation, she came closer to me, she also noticed the object.
Picked it up quickly, "Check if there's more!" She gave the instruction while showing them the metal pendant she picked up.
Her teammates immediately got to work and soon found 3 more pendants.
They handed them over to Inzdel.
She gestured for us to come closer, we gathered around her.
"This is what is going to happen to you if you are not ready for battle" she presented the pendants, four names covered in clotted blood were revealed to our eyes.
We recognized it immediately, it is the personal pendant that is placed around the neck of every recruit, starting from the moment of volunteering or compulsory enlistment.
One name for each pendant.
I didn't know the names on the pendants
"Like us, they also encountered the dark predators" Inzdel continued.
We also found some white tags, they were beginners, just like us.
"But why are only the bones left? Where is the rest of their bodies?" Lorine asked in confusion, maybe even innocently
"It is not clear?!" grumbled Sylviana "the rest of the body was eaten by the dark predators"
I understood it from the beginning... no, actually I didn't understand it either, the dark predators wanted to make us their second meal.
We were all shocked, I was shocked, it hit me straight in the stomach, I'm feeling nauseous, "Khu Khu",
I want to throw up, no no.. I have to relax. I'm the leader, I can't look like that.
I look up at the sky and try to relax.
II managed to hold on after all, I was breathing heavily.
My teammates were also shocked, at least that's what it seemed to me.
They looked at the bones in silence.
"Are you okay? You're really pale" Lorine said and looked at me with concern.
"Y.. Yes.. yes, everything is fine"
"I didn't know that there were other recruited volunteers passing through this area, I chose it on purpose, so that it would be just us here," continued Inzdel.
She looked again at the remains of the volunteers' bones "Remember this picture, survive... fight with all your might or you will be next in line"
There was a brief moment of silence, it seems that everyone listened to Inzdel and engraved the picture in their heads.
"Usually the newcomers don't get anything, because the quest is ours, but… you saved Garyuk so… the leader is yours…" Inzdel said and pointed to the body of the leader of the dark predators with her hand.
"But… Inzdel! It's the most expensive thing here!" Daril grumbled
"It's fine.. we have the rest of the dark predators" answered Inzdel.
"Do we have to carry him to the Union Quests House?" asked Roobers in confusion.
Sylviana looked surprised "no… just their teeth"
"They are sharp and strong, after processing they can be added to weapons, armor or basically anything that needs strengthening and sharpness. For example, arrows improve the ability to penetrate if their heads are made from the teeth of a dark predator," Sylviana continued to explain.
It seems strange to me that Sylviana speaks so openly, I got the impression that she is more shy.
After the explanation we went to work, Inzdel and her teammates showed us how to take out the teeth, some of the leader's teeth were cracked. Well, apparently I'm quite strong, father was like that too... at least that's what he says.
Inzdel said it was fine, 'even if they are cracked, they can still be used.'
The leader's teeth were stronger, bigger and sharper, compared to the other dark predators, whose teeth were also strong and sharp but looked less big.
The Union Quests House will be happy to receive them.
We started heading back towards the place where we fought the Arnaliles, before we left I looked again at the bones of the party members who were killed by the dark predators, we won't get to that, I won't get to that... I will carry on my father's legacy.
We advanced, Garyuk once again lit the way with his staff.
We arrived to the place where we fought the Arnaliles,
In the area was a round orange-brown object that seemed to glow with pulses, it was still there.
The Arnaliles themselves have no value in the eyes of the Union or the private traders, what's more, the orange-brown colored ball is called Tunka, and it is used for many things, mainly in the field of clothing.
It is not yet known if the Arnaliles are the ones who made the Tancha, or if the Tancha attracts the Arnaliles... In any case, they are always together, in each Arnalile cave there is at least one Tunka.
The Tunka can be peeled into layers and used to make clothes, from what I remember the clothes of assassins and ragers are almost entirely made of Tunka, because the garment is very flexible, has a high stretchability and still has a high absorption capacity of blows and cuts. That's how Silviana explained to us...
Inzdel showed us how to pull out the Tunka without destroying it, and we won that too.
It might not be worth as much as the teeth of the leader of the Dark Predators, but still, it's our first loot as a party, we got it all by ourselves.
We returned back to the campfire area.
We started getting ready for the night around the campfire.
Inzdel explained that in such dangerous areas, a guard must always be posted.
One of the members of the party will stand guard for one moon round, and once the moon round is over he will wake up the next member of the guard and go to rest.
Since there are 10 of us, Inzdel suggested that we divide into pairs, a pair for each round, one from each party will be on the guard, this way, the experienced ones will be able to make sure that we are doing our job well.
I lay down, the fire is warm and pleasant, I feel exhausted and tired.
Even so, I try to close my eyes and fall asleep, but I can't.
Turns to one side, turns to the other, and still can't fall asleep.
How does that make sense? I'm really tired, the fighting, the march to the Great Forest.
All of this really exhausted me, and yet I can't fall asleep.
The body of the leader of the dark predators repeatedly jumps into my eyes, as if he is in front of me again.
I killed him, that's my job, for the sake of the human race.
So why can't I get this image out of my head?
Another image came to my mind, the bones of the party members who were eliminated by the dark predators.
I'm up to guard next round, which means I don't have much time to rest.
If I can't fall asleep now maybe I should not fall asleep and try again after my watch round.
I opened my eyes, the fire was still there, Dominic was sleeping next to me, Roobers is supposed to be on the other side, but I can't see him right now, probably because he's guarding.
Dominic looks calm, it seems that this day did not bother him much.
I closed my eyes again, Dominic is not bothered by this day, what does that say about me? I am very upset…
The thoughts started to come up, and they didn't stop.
I feel that I have a lot of responsibility, that I have to... that I have to lead the party... I have to.. I have to do it.. I need…
"...phyr"
"Zophyr!"
I opened my eyes.
"It's your time to guard" said Roobers and while he was leaning a little to whisper to me.
Has the moon already finished a cycle? I sat down and looked at the moon, yes it really was a moon cycle.
I saw the red eye of the moon a little after the start of the track.
I must have managed to fall asleep after all.
Garyuk was already on his feet, I quickly joined him, Roobers lay down and closed his eyes.
"Zophyr, come, join me" Garyuk called out to me in a whisper, loud enough to be called a call and yet soft enough to be called a whisper.
I advanced to Gariuk, I stood beside him.
Garyuk was silent for a long time. I felt a little strange, like I should talk to him about something, but I don't know him at all, so I don't know how pleasant it would be for him to talk to me. And even if I start, what will I talk to him about?
I looked at Roobers, it seems he managed to fall asleep.
"Thank you" Garyuk said suddenly.
The moon has already passed half a cycle.
"Huh? About what?"
Garyuk continued to look at the fire, "You saved me, you and your party, if you hadn't acted the way you did, I think I would be the end for me"
Well, it's true that I healed his wounds when the leader of the Dark Predators attacked him, I chuckled a little, "Yes, it's thanks to the good training they gave me, anyone can do it…"
"I've participated in several battles in the past, it's not at all obvious" Garyuk looked at me, "You saved me, I won't forget it."
I was filled with a warm feeling, a spring of joy mixed with excitement.
Garyuk is right, we saved him, not only me, the whole party helped.
This is what I volunteered for, this is what I fight for, helping the human race is actually helping people, saving them. So is that what dad was talking about? This is how I help the human race?
We didn't talk anymore, so slowly the moon completed the cycle.
The next one after me is Lorine, she was lying next to Sylviana, I approached Lorine carefully so as not to wake Silviana.
Her face is covered with dirt, her hair is completely scattered, her closed eyelids radiate contentment, the skin of her hands illuminated by the fire of the campfire brought me a feeling of delicacy and softness.
Her face is covered in dirt, her hair is completely disheveled, her closed eyelids radiate peace, the skin of her hands illuminated by the fire of the campfire brought me a feeling of delicacy and softness.
I moved even closer to her, my face was already close to hers.
She looks really good.
"Lorine" I called.
She opened her eyes and looked at me.
"My turn?" She spoke in a weak voice, probably because she had just woken up.
I nodded affirmatively.
"I need to get up" she said and motioned for me to move away.
Our faces are very close to each other. Kind of embarrassing when I think about it.
I moved away a little.
She got to her feet and started to walk over to Daril, her guard partner.
I looked at her again, she turned her gaze to me with a "need something?" I immediately looked away.
I am tired, very tired, I got up and went to my makeshift bed.
I went back to sleep.
In the morning we put out the fire and started walking back to the Herash.
Herash is a city located in the area of the Iron Tribe, it is a big city and it is actually the closest to the Great Forest.
From there we went to the Great Forest, yesterday it took us around half a day.
After a few hours of walking I noticed several buildings. We are still far from Herash, how does it make sense to have buildings here?
The buildings were not far but not very close either.
I don't remember encountering these buildings on the way there.
This is very intriguing, who lives here? What village is this?
Inzdel stepped forward, I'm sure Inzdel knows the answer.
I advanced towards her, "Inzdel, what is the name of this village?" I asked and pointed towards the buildings on the horizon.
Inzdel stopped, she looked at the buildings, "I don't know and it doesn't matter either"
Does not matter?
"Why doesn't it matter?"
"It's a city of ruins, no one has lived there for decades and maybe hundreds of years"
I looked at the buildings again, with another look you can see that many of the houses are destroyed, and some of them are even burned.
"According to the story, it was a prosperous and successful city, but the goblins attacked the city and killed everyone who lived in it," added Inzdel, "they destroyed the whole city."
I looked at the city again, why didn't we take it back? Did we give up on the goblins for what they did?
The more Inzdel explained, the more questions arose.
I think I understood... no, actually I don't understand, but I assumed the subject.
After a short time, we arrived at the Union outpost. In front of it was a large wooden gate, with guard towers to its right and left, and a long wooden wall along several tens of meters.
The entire outpost is located on a small hill, with the borders of its walls touching the tiny valleys that the hill creates. Valleys is a big word for these low-lying geographic areas.
The entire area is an open field with few trees scattered around. To my right there are only a few clusters of trees located in the right valley and they are adjacent to the outpost and mountainous terrain. The valley to my left is almost completely open except for a few isolated trees. Both valleys end in mountainous terrain, which seems very difficult to cross.
It seems that no enemy can pass without encountering the outpost and the Union forces.
The guard in the watchtower, leaning against a wooden wall, looks quite sleepy. On his back you could see his bow and quiver of arrows by his side. It seemed that he didn't notice us until we reached the gate. However, when he did, he immediately called for the gate to be opened.
Another enlisted soldier opened the gate for us and we entered the outpost. Both enlisted soldiers had a metal triangle on their black shoulder badge.
From the inside, you could see a pair of wooden stairs that allow you to climb to the top of the wooden wall and then to the guard towers.
The area itself was covered by a few small wooden sheds and a few scattered tents. In between, many enlisted soldiers roamed around the area.
Some of them had a metal triangle, some had a metal square on their shoulder. A smaller number had a single X on their black tag. I'm not an expert on enlisted ranks, but it seems that those with the X are the commanders, and the enlisted soldiers with the triangle and the metal square are the subordinates.
The outpost wasn't particularly big, in fact it wasn't particularly small either, medium is the word? I don't know... I haven't seen many outposts in my life..
Well, medium sounds appropriate for this outpost. I estimate that about 70 soldiers are manning this outpost right now... 70? Looks like more.. maybe 150? Not sure.. maybe 100.
The soldiers continued about their business without paying attention to us, that's clear, no enlisted soldier would simply turn to us just like that.
We continued to move forward and in a forward glance we could see the city of Herash.
The first thing that caught my eye was the large amount of smoke coming out of many chimneys,
Many knocks and taps are heard, these were the sounds of metals in the process of preparing weapons and equipment.
Although we were still a little far away, it was clear to see that the city was full of people, people in the streets, near the houses walking back and forth, living their lives.
There were a lot of blacksmiths, much more than any other city I've been to, it's probably clear, we're in Iron Tribe territory.
"How good to be back home!" exclaimed Dominic.
Sylviana looked suspiciously "Didn't you say your house is in Sella?".
"Oh Sylvie! Sylvie! Every Ironman feels at home in any city of the tribe"
"Her name is Sylviana." joined Roobers, his look not particularly pleased.
"There are many things to do in Herash, the city is full of life!" Dominic continued, ignoring Roobers.
"Didn't you say you hardly ever visited Harsh?" Sylviana asked.
"Don't worry Sylvie! I've visited enough… and I know the best places in town!"
"The first thing we have to do is get to the Union Quests house" I joined the conversation, this is very important, we must not forget.
Inzdel and her party were already moving towards the city, I started to follow them.
"That's right Zophyr, the leader decides" replied Dominic jokingly.
Are you mocking me? You supported me being the leader, I gave him a serious look, but his smile didn't leave his face...
We continued to move forward, in a short time we reached the city.
We passed through the main road of the city, on its sides there were a large number of shops, vegetables and fruits, meats and breads, equipment, weapons and blacksmiths. The city is vibrant, active and abundant.
The main road was made of light yellow limestone, every few tens or hundreds of meters you could see a statue made of stone or metal showing the image of a hero from the past, I especially remember the statue of Inzdel the orcs slayer, she is so famous that every tribe knows her, according to scholars she single-handedly wiped out a thousand orcs in the First Union War. This is of course not the Inzdel that is next to me. Inzdel the Orcs slayer lived 300 years ago...? Or maybe 250 years..? I don't remember exactly...
To my right I saw some children laughing.
One of the children shook his friend's hand and read
"HeE Szee Eiee"
A spark of white and small lightning appeared from that hand and immediately after disappeared, it seemed that the spark electrified the hand of his friend who shook his hand and he immediately released the shake and waved his palm quickly, as if he had just touched a burning coal.
Seeing the reaction all the other friends who were around them started laughing again.
They switched between them and did exactly the same action, each time someone else tried to shock their friend, sometimes they succeeded and sometimes they didn't. Looks like a strange and painful game.. Why do they do this?
Not everyone can perform lightning magic, in fact not everyone can perform any kind of magic, of any kind, it takes a special talent or a lot of time of practice. The right pronounce, the proper flow of magic power, the flow of magic power through a staff, in my opinion it seems much easier to perform the healing ability.
And even though it's so hard, some of these kids still succeed? How long have they been training for it?
we arrived.
Facing us is a wooden structure, painted dark orange with dark brown window frames and brown tiles.
Two enlisted soldiers stood at the entrance to the building. One had a black badge with a metal triangle on the sides and you could see a pair of short swords. The second soldier had a badge with a metal square and a long sword stored in a scabbard behind his back. An assassin and a warrior, I easily identified their roles.
The Union flag flew on the roof of the building. Its background was light blue with a large, glowing five-pointed star in the center.
This is the Union's Quests House.
We entered, Inzdel leading the way.
In the building there was a large space that was mostly empty. Brown wooden chairs were scattered around, and there were also a few tables. The floor was made of light brown wooden planks that stretched across the entire space. In the center of the room was a large black board with pictures on it. This is the Union's Quests Board, and each party of volunteers can choose the mission they want.
There were several people in the room, some sitting on the chairs and some standing in front of the quests board.
At the far end of the room, opposite the entrance, there was a high, long, dark brown wooden table, like a bar counter, but it was more limited on our side. On the other side of the table, you could see several women working with papers and sheets, maps and on smaller blackboards than the large one in the center of the room. These boards are called screens. Although they were busy, they were still aware that we had entered the building.
We approached the table, and immediately one of the women stopped what she was doing and stood before us.
She looked slightly older, probably in her 30s or 40s. Her hair was straight and slightly tousled, short and blonde. Her skin was light brown, her face had a few freckles, and she had a small smile on her face. The smile didn't look natural, it looked like she was doing it out of habit and not really happy to see us.
"Hello dear volunteers, how can I help you?" the woman asked.
"Yes, We completed the trial mission, we guided Zophyr's party," Inzdel said, pointing at me.
"Hmm.." the woman looked at the screen, "Yes, I see... Hmmmmm..." she continued, pressing a few buttons next to her black screen. "Did you encounter any unusual problems?"
"No, nothing special," Inzdel replied, "but we eliminated a dark predator, is that normal?" Roobers asked in confusion.
"Really? You encountered a dark predator on the trial mission?" the woman asked, "If so, you've seen how to deal with a dark predator, and I'm sure you'll be able to eliminate it yourself next time!"
Dominic stepped forward, "You probably didn't understand... We eliminated a dark predator, and not just any dark predator, the leader of the dark predators." He had a smug smile, and well, after he said that, I got a smug smile too.
The woman looked at the members of Inzdel's party and they nodded in agreement.
Her eyes widened for a moment, was she surprised? It definitely shows our abilities, but it doesn't sound that rare...
"Wow! That's very rare and very impressive! You eliminated the leader of the dark predators on the trial mission! Now I know you have a bright future ahead of you!" the woman exclaimed.
As soon as the other women behind the counter heard, they also joined in congratulating us, apparently it is really rare.
"Why is this so exciting?" Lorine asked.
"The party of Balder, the Sword Champion, who left from Herash for the trial mission were also eliminated the leader of the dark predators" the woman replied.
"Although dark predators are very common in our area, it is very rare to encounter them on the trial mission, and even more so, to eliminate the leader? It is reserved only for those with the greatest future," another woman added.
Balder? Balder the Sword Champion? I was filled with great satisfaction. I never felt like I was special, but today I was proven wrong.
The women continued to cheer, I looked into the eyes of my teammates, Dominic, Sylviana, Roobers and Lorine. Their faces looked happy, they looked at me and smiled a big smile, even Inzdel smiled at me.
Now I know, I, Zophyr Alaw, have a bright future, I will be the best.