No,no,no,no,no,no,no Garus thought to himself. The world started to spin, everything started to look more red, like a filter was covering his eyes. His mind started to go blank, emotions started to run rampant: anger, wraith, malicious intent, all of these feelings swirled around inside of him consuming his being. Garus looked down and felt his skin start to grow longer, his muscles began to break through the skin.
"Please not now," Garus said in horror.
"Garus," Rijin said, shaking Garus's shoulder. He looked up and everything cleared. The red dissapeared, the emotions faded. He looked down at his skin, it looked like it always had, nothing different. He let out a sigh of relief. "Are you alright?" Rijin asked.
"Yeah," Garus said, still looking at his hands, "I think I am ok."
Rijin nodded suspiciously, "you got pretty freaked out by that thing."
"Who wouldn't be," Garus said, shaking off the way he was feeling. He regained his composure, "What was that thing?"
"A reaver…" Rijin answered, "although it wasn't like any I have ever seen before."
Garus had heard this word before. Hundreds of years ago after the first Pavest War, there was an uprising in Midoku. A terrible sorcerer turned the husks of men into what was called 'reavers'. The reavers almost overtook all of Midoku until the Sentinel at the time did…something. It was unclear. In Limgren this was all they knew of the incident.
"You mean those things that attacked Midoku? I thought they were all gone," Garus asked,
"They aren't gone…that is for sure," Rijin had a distant stare in his eyes. "The reavers I have seen have all had blackened and sunken skin. They are husks on the verge of turning to ash."
"Then how is…he…a reaver?" Garus asked.
"The eyes, all reavers' eyes, are orange. It is some sort of side effect from the spell used to create them…" Rijin answered.
"I see…do you want to expand some more on that?" Garus asked. Rijin gave him an intense side eye, but said nothing else. Garus knew Rijin was not going to tell him anything else, typical. "Right, well what would one be doing here?"
"I don't know Garus. No matter how many questions you ask me this is as much of a mystery to me as well. Reavers are not something Midoken's like to talk about nor is it something I want to divulge into," Rijin replied. Unfortunately, Garus understood. Everyone had things with their country they were not proud of. If the Reavers were anything like the secrets that the people of Limgren held, then it was not worth bringing it up. Maybe secrets were sometimes necessary. Garus simply nodded his head.
"We should at least tell the others," Garus said.
"Agreed," Rijin answered. He began to pull out the ramble rock he had received from Fuju.
"By the way," Garus said, "thank you for saving me back there." Rijin stopped moving for a moment. He seemed to be stunned or shocked in some way. "Is it that shocking that I would say thank you!" Garus said, angry.
"No I just…wasn't expecting that," Rijin answered, "you are welcome." There was an awkward silence between them. Two people who were not used to appreciation or being appreciated did not know how to handle it well, the entire moment made them feel cringey and gross. Rijin shook the feeling away and held up the rock. "Hello?" Rijin said into the rock; no response came.
"Make sure you talk through the correct side," Garus said quietly. Rijin looked at the stone in his hand and realized he was talking into the white side.
"That wizard is an idiot," Rijin said, turning the rock in his hand. Garus couldn't help but laugh awkwardly. "This is Rijin, can you hear me?" Rijin said into the stone. It was quiet but then a small voice started to come through the stone.
"This is Lia, wow these really do work," Lia said.
"Of course they work!" the voice of Fuju came from what sounded like somewhere far off.
"Is everything ok?" Lia asked.
"No, Garus as I just came across a…reaver," Rijin said hesitantly.
"A reaver!" Fuju yelled in the distance. The sound of footsteps came through the rock and then the Fuju's voice came through much clearer than before. "What do you mean you saw a reaver?"
"Why did you run if you didn't have one of your own?" Garus asked.
"That is irrelevant right now, what did you say about a reaver?" Fuju said ignoring Garus's comment.
"It was different from the reavers I had seen but it was clearly one of them. It had the same orange eyes," Rijin responded.
"I see…that is a disturbing development to be sure. I will let the leaders of the other countries know. Where is the reaver now?" Fuju asked.
"Dead," Rijin replied.
"Yeah he burnt it to a crisp with some sort of holy golden fire. I had never felt so convicted in my entire life," Garus said. Rijin gave a look like he was not amused by the comment but Fuju and Lia laughed.
"This changes things though," Fuju said, "reavers are not something to be taken lightly. Their very being is dark and twisted. How was it different from the reavers in Midoku?"
"This one was mutilated. It looked like it had been patched together, sewn with different parts of different bodies. It was more grotesque in nature, less like the ashen ones of the lands," Rijin replied.
"Meaning it was more fresh. That is alarming to say the least. I won't divulge too much to show respect to Rijin and Midoku but a fresh reaver is an incredibly alarming sign to say the least. Everyone, be very careful. There is more at play here than we thought," Fuju said.
There was an ominousness over the group. The weight of the situation they were in was beginning to set in for the first time. Rijin put his ramble rock away. He held his trident a little bit tighter. Instead of letting it disappear he held it close as a recognition of the very present danger that now existed. Garus hung his lute on his back, but kept a hand on his dagger. He had no idea what it could do, but it made him feel just a bit safer in this present darkness.
Rijin began to walk deeper into the woods, "Rijin is this a good idea?" Garus asked, "we just encountered a reaver and you want to go deeper into the woods?"
"All the more reason I need to go," Rijin answered, "I need to make sure he is safe."
"Who Rijin?" Garus asked, a little annoyed. But Rijin went back to being silent Rijin. Garus sighed in frustration but continued to follow. It was his nature. Garus was a leader back in Limgren, people looked to him for hope and inspiration, but more often than not he felt like a puppet. He was only what other people wanted him to be. If he was expected to be a musician, then he was, if he was expected to be a leader, then he was. Garus discovered at an early age that his own will was not of much importance so he did not use it very often. He followed behind Rijin frustrated that was doing so but it did not do much to stop him at all.
The two continued to walk until it got into the late evening. The darkness was so thick from the trees that Rijin had decided to let his trident glow in order to illuminate the area around them. Garus at some point got tired of walking and started flying slightly above the ground. All of the sudden, Rijin stopped.
"He is here," Rijin said. He stamped his trident into the ground and began to look around. Garus floated to the ground.
"Great finally…yah woohoo…" Garus said faintly. He put his hands on his knees and panted a bit, "you know I began to question where we were going around the first mountain we went up, but figured you knew where you were going…that was until we went up the second mountain!" Garus yelled, "Are we even in Penzamen anymore?"
"No," Rijin said, not paying attention. He still looked around the area with intense intent. He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out what looked like crumbs of some kind. He began to sprinkle them on the ground.
"No…great no yeah we just walked all the way to another country for who knows what reason," Garus complained.
"You did not have to come," Rijin said. Garus gave a sarcastic laugh. He kicked rocks around the area, resigning himself to being Rijin's unwanted sidekick.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. The sound of large footsteps echoed through the woods. Garus perked up at the sound. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, the footprints got louder and closer. "Rijin what was that," Garus said. He didn't get a reply. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. The light of the moon reflecting off the rings around the planet allowed him to see just the silhouettes of the trees above. One of them toppled over with a loud thud. Whatever was coming was large.
"Rijin seriously what is that," Garus asked again, more panicked. Sweat beaded his brow. Garus quickly grabbed his lute and held it in front of him. He became more frantic in his movements looking around the area. Garus felt a large gust of wind against his back, but it was strangely hot. It felt more like a breath, but a big breath at that. He slowly turned to see just the blackness of the forest around him but with one clear difference. Blue glowing eyes showed through the darkness more than ten feet above his head.