Perspective : Conrad Garnier
My hands were hurting, my whole body felt sore, my head felt heavy and my eyes, I was barely able to keep them open. The chilling air caressed my cheeks as I felt extreme fatigue from casting all those spells.
My mana pool was almost completely drained, It needed to be recovered, I needed rest, as did other spell casters that were casting spells left and right continuously, a few hours ago. Not only was I extremely hungry, the dead body at my carriage was starting to release a pungent oder.
And we were at the middle of a forest that we knew nothing about, at any moment something might surprise us.
As I was about to doze off again.
It was when he spoke to me, Kyle Bonfrost, he didn't look as beat up as we were, and I didn't remember him doing anything during the fight other than barking orders.
He dawned himself with a glistening silver armour, though a little rusty around the corners, his hair was red, he had a well groomed beard adorning his chin, In his hands a staff covered with enchanted stones at its tip, and at last a billowing blue cape that danced effortlessly, in the cold breeze while he walked along my carriage.
He asked,
"Are you tired my friend?".
In all honesty I replied,
"I think I used too much mana .... I didn't seem to be able to keep my eyes open for too long ".
As I said that, I was about to doze off, then I got a hold of myself again, while my body was preparing to doze off again as, the cycle continued.
He fished an hour glass out of his pockets, one of those that tells you "how much time's left" while the sand from the upper chamber falls slowly to the lower chamber. But it was different.
In his hands that hour glass stood proudly, emanating an other worldly radiance, it's glass appeared to be touched by celestial hands as it shimmered with a mesmerizing hue of blue, which felt as if I was looking at a seemingly boundless starlit sky, with each delicate grain falling to the chamber below, a vision graced my eyes as if the very fabric of the universe unfolded before me, I didn't knew whether that was a magical artifact or not, but It rejuvenated my soul, even though the fatigue wasn't going anywhere. At least that felt refreshing.
He pointed out at the hour glass,
and said,
"You see, when the last grain of sand gathers below .... It's going to be night fall and then we could have some rest".
"Those wolves pelt and meat we collected is not going to go to waste".
While thinking about why he felt the need to chat with me, I silently nodded in response.
Then he kept talking about meat and, really that was making me even hungrier, maybe he thought that If he could bait me with food I wouldn't pass out.
As we were talking he casually points towards the the carriage in front of us, as there were people hiding under the curtain, listening in on our conversation.
He said,
"Look at them peeking through those curtains".
Then he calls them,
"Stop it .... I saw you".
"Come on .... out ... show yourselves".
Then as they lifted the curtain, I saw three armoured guys, one appeared to be mage and other two were your standard fighters.
Kyle commented,
"Wait a little .... I didn't saw you guys till now".
"Don't tell me you were hiding there the entire time?".
The armoured guy who appeared to be the trio's leader said,
"It's not like that".
As he was about to explain, Kyle interrupted him,
"Shut up I don't want to hear your excuses .... you thought you could hide your way out of this expedition, while me and adventurers like him, could hall your ass back ..... all so you could claim that sweet 900 gold, huh .... did ya?".
It was very refreshing to watch those three apologise like little toddlers, but something about their voice felt familiar.
Then Kyle ordered them to patrol with him,
"You guys keep watch on those other carts while I keep a watch on this fella here .... make sure they don't fall a sleep".
Then the trio seperated and went to their respective locations.
While all that happened we heard a creepy noise, like something crawling on the snow.
Then the eerily silence started to feel haunting.
Kyle warned me,
"Keep your guards up".
He took out a hand full of sands from his pockets,
with his gentle breath he released them into the air, like tiny fragments of stardust, those sand looked like specks of gold, the luminous particles danced around us, as they enveloped the entire convoy in a shining mist of pure gold.
Kyle's speciality was particle magic, he could freely manipulate small particles like sand and salt that were already infused with his mana, he could control their moment, sense disturbances through the air, and even use them to construct objects such as a sword. He could even destroy objects by infusing his mana in that object, by ordering them to deconstruct, as everything around us is made up of small particles, even us, but he could only perform his magic on inanimate objects no living beings. But even that was magnificent.
The crawling noise around us increased, it was starting to become creepy,
Kyle ordered everyone,
"Stop and stay still".
"Don't make any moment".
"They are near enough to attack us".
The snow storm was thick so we weren't able to see any thing in that hazy display. But kyle, he sensed them.
After that Kyle said something that shook me to my core,
"Usually they are passive creatures".
"But this time we have accidentally barged upon their hunting grounds".
"Now we are their prey".
As he said that chill ran down my spine, he meant that all this time we heard those noises, and that eerily silence were them tailing us, so they could corner us.
With that a heavy thing fell onto the roof of my carriage.
As soon as It fell, I felt an immensely wild aura, I jumped down and looked at the roof of my carriage.
standing right on the roof of my cart was a Huntsman spider, but not just your regular one, This spider loomed larger than us, towering over me with its long, spindly legs spread out in all directions. Its body was dark and velvety, with an unnerving pattern of intricate markings that seemed to dance and shifted with every slight movement. The mere sight of its beady, calculating eyes sent shivers down my spine, as if it could sense what kind of reaction I was going to make. It was a living embodiment of uneasiness.
And soon I heard more of those dropping noises, and before I knew It we were surrounded by seven of those creepy crawlers.
Regina and others were cold out, they had been exhausted and were sleeping soundly inside those carriages.
Meanwhile we were left to fend for ourselves.
I tried to launch a fire bolt at it, but my mana was too low.
Then,
Kyle with swift motion released his sands on to the unsuspected spider that was above my cart, the arachnid inhaled those grains, Kyle clenched his fists and commanded the particles to burst out, In a disgusting display, the spider exploded on the roof of my cart.
I woke up from the snow and shook the snow off my armour.
But it wasn't done, the other spiders started approaching us.
They moved in an unsettling way, each step sent tremors through the air, like the way all their legs moved in tandum with one another, the sound they made all exceeded the maximum limits of creepiness.
As quickly as he could Kyle released his sands on their face, they inhaled those grains, and then he made them explode. But their sticky insight fell on us, our hands drenched in that sticky goo, even Kyle's sands became useless.
Kyle Unsheathed his sword as did I.
Even though the grip was slippery as hell, I clenched my sword as If my life depended on it.
One of the spiders approaching us extended its abdomen and threw its web towards me, I swiftly evaded in advance, sidestepped in precision, narrowly escaping the trap, undeterred, the spider came closer, quickly tapping it's right leg, I adeptly backed off, dodging it's calculated strike. Then It Unleashed its left leg but, I swiftly dodged to the right, maintaining my posture. In a moment of complete focus, I held my breath, In a single fluild strike I severed its both legs, as it tried to retreat I ended it by plunging my sword deep into it's body.
But the problem was, I didn't had much of my strength left, so my sword was stuck in its body, I tried pulling but it won't even budge.
I was stuck as another spider approached me, in a pitiable state, pulling my blade out of a dead spider's carcass.
As the spider's menacing jaws were about to gobble me up, something un expected happened,
A red arc materialized in front of me, slicing the spider in half, the spider erupted into several pieces. Hence I was saved.
Damn! talk about a close call.
It was Emilia once again, but before I could thank her.
A spider lunged on her, she traced back her steps, evading the spider, then she swiftly carved, several intricate arcs in the air, shredding the spider into bits.
Then she came towards me, pulled my sword out of the spider and handed it back to me,
while saying,
"I believe it's yours".
She had a radiant smile on her face,
"Why radiant?"
Because she just saved me, so her smile looked radiant to me.
I took my sword from her hands, thanked her and we all quickly hopped onto the carriages.
In all that time I didn't notice the trio at all, maybe they were in hiding once again.
I really didn't care, whether they made it or not.
In a rush we raced, our carriages out of the spider's lairs.
And after a moment we arrived at a safe location, the spiders were no longer trailing us, the snow storm had subsided.
We had successfully escaped them.
Plus, the spot was perfect for resting the night.
The trees were not that much in proximity to each others, the night sky was visible and we had a route ready to escape just in case.
.