Elmo wasn't sure what he had expected when Kim had mentioned about how they'd be able to see the mountain more easily once they reach the edge of the trees.
However, he hadn't expected to find what lay before him.
What he could see in the distance was cliffs that sparkled like they had either a fresh coat of snow on them or someone had poured glitter over them. There was a river running through, between some of the mountains, but it looked rather narrow, so Elmo wasn't sure how deep it was or if it was just close to its source.
Most of the other parts of the mountains were covered with varying degrees of vegetation, but even there, he could still see the same sparkle as with the cliffs. Only here, it wasn't as easy to tell what exactly was sparkling. If he didn't know any better, he thought that the plants themselves might be sparkling.
"You know, if nothing else, I'd think this was the start of the mountains," Jonas murmured quietly, which Elmo didn't hold against him.
He could only imagine how the others might react if they hears what Jonas said. Especially given how touchy the people of this world seemed about other things that really weren't that significant to Elmo, but to them , it seemed like it was a big deal.
"So, where do you think we'll find the fire dragon?" Kim asked, looking around.
Elmo couldn't be sure, but he wasn't going to let that get him down. Not when they'd come this far already.
"Why don't we travel further into the mountains before thinking about that?" Jonas asked. "Maybe we'll see something that will make it clear where we might find dragons."
"How dangerous do you think the dragons are?" Elin asked, sounding more curious than Elmo would have expected, given how much a single roar of a dragon had shook the ground a week ago.
"Hard to say," Jonas replied thoughtfully. "Some stories I've heard had dragons as very dangerous, while others had them was merely misunderstood and only fought when attacked. Yet, there are those stories telling about dragons amassing a horde of gold, jewels, and all that." Jonas paused as he took a deep breath. "If these dragons are going to be anything like the ones mentioned in those stories, I can't say whether or not they'll be easy for us to fight, but from what I understood about what we were told a fire dragon is, I'd have to say it's going to be more dangerous than you could imagine right now."
Even though Elmo had already accepted that fact, hearing it said out loud seemed to somehow make it worse. To the point where he felt like trying to complete this challenge was a bad idea. That they should just let one of the other contestants complete it. Just so they could be certain that they'd survive this challenge.
"You're not having second thoughts about this are you?" Kim asked disdainfully, pulling Elmo out of his thoughts, a little surprised that Kim apparently had similar thoughts herself.
"Not really, just thinking out loud," Jonas answered. "Even if we knew it was a losing battle, I'd still think we should try anyway. Stranger things have happened." Jonas paused for a moment, as he looked at the view in front of them. "Besides, why would the people in charge of this competition give us a challenge we couldn't complete? If they did that, eventually their viewers would get tired of it and stop watching."
Elmo didn't like that what Jonas said made sense. He'd rather just forget about the matter entirely, even though his mind seemed to have completely recorded Jonas' statement in its entirety.
About that time, the rest of the army started moving ahead on continuing on the journey into the mountains, so they continued their walking again.
"Well, aside from that, any additional thoughts of what Elin saw last night?" Kim asked as they made their way down the hill. "She did have another of those feathers, so it's not like she couldn't have seen something like she described."
"Hard to say," Jonas replied. "The only thing that comes to mind in regards to mythical birds that have an association with fire would be a phoenix, and I'm pretty sure phoenixes don't look like they're on fire until they self-immolate and die on their funeral pyre just to rise from the ashes."
"What if there's something else?" Elmo ventured. "I mean, I've heard of the firebird model cars, and a number of the models that I can think of were named those from something in some mythology somewhere. You know, like Ford thunderbirds, or T-birds."
Jonas and Kim didn't say anything for a few minutes, and Elmo wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It didn't feel like a good thing, but he tried to keep his emotions from pushing him down strange roads that he was certain would only leave him a wreck and not help him at all.
"Well, whatever it is, I don't think we should worry about it until the fire dragon is slain, whether we participate in that or not," Jonas said finally. "If it is something important, I'm sure it'll become clear soon enough. Otherwise, I can't see what good will come of debating about what it is or if it means something or not."
Elmo sighed. While he understood what Jonas was saying, he still felt like it was the wrong way to look at it. He wanted to say something to that effect, but when he tried, his throat felt like it was closing up on him and only opened back up when he stopped trying.
It wasn't pleasant, but he was used to that. It usually happened when he started getting nervous around other people. Especially when it came to someone that he either thought of with higher authority than he had or when it was about something he wasn't entirely sure about.
Both of which applied here. While he thought it was a mistake to just disregard it out of hand, he couldn't be sure about it and so doubted his own thoughts on the matter.
As they traveled into the mountains through the day, leaving the trees behind them, Elmo couldn't help but wonder at what it was either about the mountains themselves or some other element that he couldn't quite identify that made them sparkle so much. Like they were a kind of crystal themselves.
While the mountains seemed rather peaceful and tranquil, it wasn't until they were about to stop for the night, that they encountered tracks of a dragon. Footprints that were left in the soft soil of the river that they had been traveling beside, mostly so they'd have a source of water.
Elmo couldn't tell how old the tracks were, though it was clear that the dragon who had left them was quite large and probably wasn't something they wanted to encounter. Despite the fact they were there in search of a specific dragon.
He couldn't help but wish there was a way to locate the fire dragon, wherever it was currently, so they could head straight to it and deal with it quickly. Before that much time had passed. Especially since he'd much rather find a way to finish this competition as quickly as he could.
He couldn't quite figure out when it happened, but he had started to want to get through these competitions as fast as possible so he had a better chance of getting back to his own world, and where his computer was. Where he was the most comfortable and away from everyone else. Mostly.
The night was uneventful and when Elmo got up, he hardly even paid the dragon tracks any mind. Not that he found them any less concerning, but it was more that he didn't want to think about them because of how that might make him lose his nerve. Which in turn could make it less likely that he'd be able to return to his own world when this competition was over with.
When they set out, Elmo couldn't help but wonder if there was a plan to search for the fire dragon, or if they were merely planning on wandering around, hoping to find the dragon. Which, while it wasn't a sound strategy, it was at least better than waiting for the dragon to come to them. Simply because there wasn't any guarantee that it would ever do that.
However, a little after they'd had a quick lunch, Elmo was surprised when they were forced to stop moving forward. He wasn't sure what the reason was, aside from the fact that they hadn't encountered a dragon, as there certainly wasn't enough excitement to be felt around him for that to be the case.
It took him a few minutes, or maybe closer to at least ten, for him to locate Kim. Although, he'd have been satisfied with Jonas or one of the higher ranked officers.
"Why'd we stop?" he asked falling into step next to Kim, hoping that asking why wouldn't create problems for him.
"I'm not sure, myself," Kim said, as she walked through the rest of the army.
Elmo could only guess that she was looking for someone who knew the answer to that question as well.
"Kim! Over here!" a voice called out, drawing both Kim's and Elmo's attention.
"What is it?" Kim called back, heading towards the direction of the voice.
"We have a problem. You're going to need to tell us how you think we should handle it," the person replied, and as they got closer, Elmo could see that it was Lance.
"What's the problem?" Kim asked, her voice indicating to Elmo that she felt she shouldn't have had to ask that question in the first place.
"They are," Lance said, pointing up the slope of a mountain maybe a mile away.
Elmo looked and couldn't be sure, but it looked like a large group of creatures. Although, at this distance, he couldn't tell what they were exactly.
"What's that?" Kim asked.
"Orcs," Lance replied grimly. "And they're heading for us now."