"COCK-A-DOOODLE-DOOOOOOOOOO!"
An ear-shattering cry rings out over the town and echoes off into the forest.
"FUCK!" screams Ellis as he jolts up from his sleeping bag. "Why is that damn bird so fucking loud!?!?!?"
Alluen snickers and comments "Did you not get awoken to do chores in the morning?"
Ellis shakes his head and replies "No! How could people make their children do labor! They gotta let them have a childhood."
Alluen stares at Ellis incredulously and says "Most kids help around. We don't have enough liberty just to let the children roam around. Sure we won't have them do anything that hard but they gotta do something to help around once they can. However, my place didn't have a rooster either. We ate them."
Ellis asks "Were they good?"
Alluen nods his head. "Hell yeah. If only it was a hen then we coulda had eggs."
Ellis thinks momentarily before saying "We should eat the rooster here."
"Bro." replies Alluen. "Ya can't just go around eating other people's rooster man. Not that many people can get up so early to do work.
"They should just make a spell that lets you wake up at a specific time" huffs Ellis.
"As if sound magic is a common thing. Pretty sure it's a subset of wind magic that you have to train for years to be able to use." Alluen snips back.
Ellis sighs. "Man, why's so much shit sealed behind years of training? They gotta make shit easier for people to use."
Alluen groans and puts his hands on his face as Ellis snorts at his displeasure. They both then stretch and go through their morning routine before grabbing their weapons and setting out to the forest to find supper. Ellis immediately breaks out into a sprint going ahead as Alluen slithers along behind him watching for movement reacting to Ellis's sprint.
Deep into the forest, Ellis finds a small brook illuminated by a shred of sunlight piercing through the canopy above. Lush foliage grew around it and a deer was resting in a gap within the bushes. Ellis dropped into a crouch and inched forward towards the deer, the thick foliage hid him from the deer's sight but it also obstructed his view and because he was staring straight at the deer Ellis stepped on a branch and CRACK!
The deer's head snapped up and it got on all fours ready to bolt when (((((( Ellis slammed into it, thrusting his sword into its side and fatally injuring it. But the strike was too far down to kill and the deer leapt and threw Ellis into the stream before it took another bound and died. Ellis pushed himself up and stood triumphantly over the deer.
"Oh hey Ellis the fuck, you doing dripping wet like that?"
Ellis turns around and Alluen comes slides into the clearing with a string of rabbits in his hand.
Alluen then looks down at the ground and replies "Oh cool you got us a deer. If we skin it the pelt and meat would sell pretty well. I don't exactly have a hunting knife though."
Ellis holds his hand up and says "Hold up I think I got one." and digs around in his pockets.
He triumphantly pulls out a dagger and tosses it over to Alluen,
Alluen catches it but then stares Ellis straight in the eye and says "I also dont know how to fucking skin animals man lemme finish my sentance."
Ellis slaps his face and groans "That's an important detail to say earlier before you talk about not having a knife. You think Norn and Andy's will let us sell it to them whole?"
Alluen shakes his head "Dude, that's not a product the store sells so I dont think they're gonna buy a whole deer."
The boys sit down and ponder their dilemma and Alluen begins eating one of the rabbits he brought garnering Ellis's confusion
"Dude."
"Yeah?" replies Alluen
"How are you eating that damn rabbit whole?!?!" Ellis asks
Alluen answers "I'm a lamia. Our stomachs reside closer to the lower half of our body and that can digest meat, cartilage, and even bones. I do take a while to digest them however so larger bones and fur usually come back up in a month or so. That time tells me when I need to start finding another meal or my fat storage will start depleting."
Ellis stares at Alluen shocked and replies "Why the hell do you eat so much then man? Bro I coulda ate more if you didn't need to eat that often."
"Tsk Tsk." retorts Alluen "Thats based off of a larger diet rather than a singular rabbit. I also expend a lot of energy fighting and I can use all the energy I've stored up in emergencies like famine or the slithering equivalent of sprinting."
Ellis sighs and clicks his tongue before asking Alluen to toss his knife back to him. Alluen does and Ellis begins awkwardly cutting off the deer's feet.
Alluen leans closer and asks "You're just gonna wing it?"
"Yep I'm gonna wing it." replies Ellis before moving to cut the deer's feet and once again being stopped by Alluen.
Ellis turns scowling to Alluen and asks "The hell is it now?"
Alluen leans down and stares at Ellis before asking "Do you really wanna carry a disembodied deer carcass all the way across the forest?"
"Fiiiine" says Ellis before sheathing his knife and lifting up the deer onto his shoulder
Suddenly BOOM the trees on the left side of the brook fall down revealing a dark mass of tentacles emanating from a cloak.
Over in Riku's ruins, Finor awakes to a wet sensation. He gets up and realizes that he had been drooling all over the ground the night before. He blushes before looking around and spotting Riku brushing his teeth.
Finor shakily gets to his feet and says "Yo Riku."
Riku whips around with the toothbrush in his mouth and panickedly attempts to gargle something. He is interrupted by Finor, who says, "You got a spare toothbrush for me, too?"
Riku spits out the water and toothbrush in his mouth dumbfounded but quickly recovers and says "Um– no. I mean I-." he takes a breath of air in before saying "No. I never really planned for someone else to be here with me so I only have one brush." and letting out a breath of relief.
Finor nods and replies "Gotcha. Anyways, is there anything you need help with right now?"
Riku begins to shake his head but then pauses and glances towards the left of the ruins where a group of sheep graze.
"Actually." he begins "I've been more or less raising these sheep as a food supply and source of money by selling their wool. It's about time I shear them again and sell them to the adventurers guild since they do count as monsters as mana has seeped into them."
"Gotcha man." replies Finor as he runs over to the sheep.
"Wait, Finor!" calls out Riku
Finor turns around to answer right as a sheep rams into him sending him rolling across the ground.
Riku rushes over to Finors side and asks "Are you okay after that shit?"
Finor draws in a ragged breath and coughs heavily before recovering and shakily giving a thumbs up to Riku. Riku walks over and helps Finor up anyway while he explains how to take care of the sheep as they walk back to the campfire to take a seat.
Finor groans inwardly at himself and asks Riku "I don't think the sheep particularly like me."
"Yep." agrees Riku "They sure don't. I mean they don't like anything getting near them usually but I've never seen them actively ram someone before."
Finor sighs and asks "Is there anything else I could do that wouldn't include interacting with animals?"
Riku nods and from his cloak, he draws out a staff hanging inside and says "We could go hunting for some meat. Sheep takes a while to grow anyways so we would have had to do this sooner or later."
"Ok don't need to be gentle with the animals so that's fine then." replies Finor before asking "What animals hang around the woods here?
"We have a rather high population of rabbits hanging around as well as badgers which are rather fierce. I believe there are some disguised Ents around the woods though so be carefull." answers Riku
Finor nods in understanding and Riku asks "Anything else you want to ask me about the area?"
Finor shakes his head and head and Riku grabs a leather satchel and heads North from the ruins with Finor hurrying to follow.
Outside the ruins lies an expanse of trees. But there is something unsettlingly different about it. No birds sing and the trees stand perfectly still, and the rustling of animals that permeates most forests is nowhere to be heard. The entire forest is deadly silent save for the rustle of Riku and Finor's feet. Finor huddles closer to Riku as they walk warily, eying the surroundings while Riku confidently strides through the trees. Every snap of a twig underneath Riku's feet causes Finor to jump, earning the mirth of Riku.
Eventually, they stop by some animal tracks and they huddle around it.
"It's got two smaller marks and then two big ones. Was there an animal chasing the other one?" asked Oskar
"Nope." answers Riku "That's rabbit tracks, their larger back legs land in front of their smaller ones. Looks kinda wet so it's gotta be some recent tracks from the river that lies behind this massive hunk of foliage. It probably went back sooner or later for more water and we probably will find other rabbits there."
Finor nods at Riku and they split up into the underbrush searching for any other traces of a rabbit.
Riku moves off towards an outcrop with small holes near the base hoping to find a rabbit or something with the holes.
Finor decides to head towards the river hoping to find something drinking there and heads into a particularly thick part of the underbush becoming hidden from Riku.
As he emerges from the underbush into the steam Riku mentioned Finor spies a boy and a lamia standing together over a deer. He quickly ducks back into the bush and surveys the situation. Something about the two boys feels . . . familiar somehow. Almost like he'd seen them before. Suddenly his eyes widen. Finor had seen them through his water scrying before and they . . the. . they were the reincarnations of Alvin and Greg!
Suddenly a wellspring of memories floods into his brain. Memories of before Finor was captured. Happy memories of being with family before . . . before! NOOOOOOO!
Oskar screams and as he mentally retreats from the horrors invading his mind dark mass begins emanating from his cloak and wrapping all around him just as the lamia and boy whip around.
"Holy shit Alluen what the fuck is that?!?!?" shouts Ellis
"I've got no damn idea!" replies Alluen "But whatever the hell it is I'm not staying around here nor am I gonna try to save the deer we hunted, RUN!"
As they turn to run a tentacle from ???? whips around and slams Alluen and Ellis into a tree. The tree snaps and they go tumbling over the forest floor before shakily getting up and Alluen readying his shield.
"Fuck." says Ellis "Running isn't an option. Alluen I can use a bit of light and fire magic. Now I don't really wanna be in a burning forest but there is a stream over there and I'd rather not die now."
Alluen nods and begins slithering at the thing and blocks a tentacle causing the thing to shriek and launch a dark orb at Alluen, He dodges to the side as Ellis starts running towards the being readying his sword and sinking it into the dark tentacle spraying red blood everywhere. The thing shrieks and again another dark orb materialises but much larger this time and is launched point blank at Ellis.
Ellis panics and frantically mumbles "lumiyen." and light washes off of him in a wave blocking the orb.
Alluen snaps his head to look at Ellis and shouts "You didnt fucking tell me you were a mage!
As Ellis backs up behind Alluen now no longer glowing replies "You never asked! And I can only do a basic flash of light and puff of fire so there wasn't any point!"
"c—---------" another tentacle slicks out from the darkness inside the cloak.
Alluen curses and says "God damn thing's growing by the moment. Think if you blast the cloak with light it'll die or something?"
Ellis shrugs and replies "Wouldn't hurt to try."
Alluen nods and asks Ellis "Ya ready?"
Ellis looks at Alluen confused and asks "Wha?-AHHHH!" as Alluen grabs Ellis with his tail and throws him at the cloak as he also shoots forward, sinking his blade into the new tentacle and bashing the other away with his shield.
"FUCK YOU!!!!" screams Ellis as he flies before grabbing onto and wrenching open the cloak and chanting "LUMIYEN!"
The thing inside the cloak screams and writhes under Ellis's grasp before they fall over and both the light and darkness dissipates leaving 2 boys crumpled together on the hedge.
Alluen frantically slithers over to them as Ellis shakily gets up.
"Ya alright man?" asks Alluen.
Ellis shakily gives a thumbs up before getting smacked in the head by a rock and faints on top of the other boy again. Alluen whips around as another rock sails at him which he parries with his shield at the same time there's a loud rustle and another boy charges at him about to strangle him before Alluen lurches back and swipes him with his tail sending him at a tree. The boy crumples to the ground and then tries to push himself up before Alluen slithers over and smacks him over the head rendering him unconscious.
Alluen looks at the scene and sighs before searching each of the boys. He then comes up with a length of rope, which he uses to lash all the boys to his tail and slithers back to camp.
At camp he unties Ellis and splashes his face with water he pocketed from the second boy causing Ellis to groan and groggily get up sputtering while shaking his head to get the water off him
"You're finally awake." says Alluen. "How do ya feel? I didn't see any bruises on your body, so from my non-existent medical knowledge."
Ellis nods as Alluen speaks before answering "Yeah I feel alright. But where did the dark cloak thingy go? I think I saw a body inside the darkness as it faded away. Was there a guy inside?"
Alluen affirms Ellis's suspicions and tells him what transpired after he was knocked out.
"Ok. Alright. So where'd you lock em up?" asks Ellis after Alluen finishes.
Alluen stares at Ellis for a second before swinging his tail forwards along with the two boys strapped on it.
Ellis gets up and examines their features before looking up at Alluen and asking "Not scared that they're gonna stab you in your tail when they wake up?"
"Nah." replies Alluen and explains "My scales are decently tough and their arms are tied up so any attempt to slash at me won't do anything."
Ellis nods in understanding before jumping as a sudden moan surprises them both and causes them to look over at the boys and see that one has woken up.
Ellis waves at them and says "Yo you're finally awake. What the hell did you try to stab us for? And actually, before that, y'all have a name?"
The boy's head deliriously lolls around before finally settling his gaze on Ellis and mumbles "Riku." before turning his head as far back as he can to stare at Alluen and digs his arms into him.
Alluen ignores him and nods at Ellis to continue the interrogation.
Ellis shrugs and squats down to face Riku. He asks him, "Alright, Riku. You got a name for your pal there as well, then?"
Riku stares at Ellis for a moment before spitting in his face and proclaiming "I have nothing for you filthy Tuimou's"
Alluen bashes Riku over the head with his shield and in response, Riku shifts towards him and shouts "You damn traitor to your own kind. What self-respecting lamia would pair up with slavers." and the struggles against his restraints even more until. *POOF* a cloud of smoke envelopes Alluen and the restraints slacken as a bat flaps up and dive bombs Ellis.
"AHHHHH" screams Ellis as he swats at the bat until it flies away.
Alluen snickers as Ellis breathes a sigh of relief before turning to Alluen and asking "So what are we gonna do now that dudes turned into a bat and ran away?"
Alluen gestures at the boy and responds "I mean we still got a hostage."
Ellis nods in understanding and gives a thumbs up to Alluen before a loud gurgle echoes throughout the camp.
Ellis warily scans the surrounding forest before Alluen speaks up and says "Uhhh. That was me. . . . I dragged the deer here too so you wanna cut that up and eat some?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm pretty hungry too after all that let's cook," responds Ellis as they begin preparing for a fire.
Oskar surfaces from some inky depth. Or at least he feels like he is. But as he opens his eyes he once again sits in a room filled with books and stares at Finor. Oskar casts his gaze around the room noting that the room seems more orderly now and there are even a few shelves behind the mass of books before he stares back at Finor who's leafing through one of them.
Oskar clears his throat causing Finor to look up before asking "So why are we back here again of all places?"
Finor shrugs and replies in the same voice as him but more raspy and slightly slurred "Because youu seemed too unlock. another part of my memories again. And it seems your brain is trying to unlock a memory of theese two fellowss called Alveen and Greg."
Oskar frowns as he ponders why he could be trying to think of Alvin and Greg once again. There was that sheep, then they went out hunting, and then. . . and then . . . Oskar scrowls even deeper and racks his brain to try and puzzle out the weird blackness that takes over his memory next. Finor watches this occur with mild curiosity before sighing and walking up to Oskar's face.
"Wha-What are you doing that for!" Angrily stammers Oskar before Finor grabs his head and stares into his eyes before they wake up.
Oskar awakens with a gasp and stammers "-I- th-these a-are oh god what have I done," frantically as Alluen and Ellis turn around to greet the newly risen Finor
"A-Alvin? . . G-Greg? . ." stutters Finor looking wildly around
Ellis replies "Well we should probably talk to the child staring at us yeah Alluen"
Alluen shrugs and says "You go first if you wanna introduce us."
Ellis walks over and looks down at Finor before saying "Well nice to meetchya I'm Ellis and this is Alluen."
Finor gasps and stammers before finally muttering "I-I'm O-O- I mean Finor."
Ellis reaches his hand out to Finor before realising he was completely tied up and sheepishly retracting his offer.
Alluen snickers and Ellis shoots a glare at him before clearing his throat and asking "So do you know what the hell that shit at the river was? It was clearly attached to you as you fell out of it when it disappeared or whatever."
Finor furrows his brows and tries to think about the events before he passed out but there's this weird space within his memories of seeing Greg and Alvin for the first time till now that he feels has something but his own mind is blocking it out.
As Alluen and Ellis wait for Finor to puzzle it out suddenly a bat dive bombs them and in a flash of black Riku pops out and tackles Alluen while using a knife to cut off Finor's restraints causing him to slide off and drop on the ground.
"Alluen!" shouts Ellis as he grabs his gear at their tent before brandishing his sword at Riku straddling Alluen and now holding up the knife to his throat.
The two of them stare at each other before Finor gets up and shouts "Whoa whoa whoa! What the hell is happening right now?!!??!"
Riku shifts his gaze over to Finor and replies "Rescuing you. Don't believe what those slavers have told you, Finor. Those god damned Tuimou's have been enslaving any demihuman that crosses into their land. Fucking pigs."
Ellis snorts and retorts "And I'm telling you we ain't god damn slavers. You'd be the more likely candidate considering you're holding my buddy Alluen hostage! There's no way my family would do that either! They dont allow slaves on their territory!"
Riku snarls and presses his blade deeper into Alluen's neck and opens his mouth again before Finor shouts "Enough! I don't know what the hell transpired before I woke up but I've been treated cordially and I don't believe two-" Finor glances over at Ellis and Alluen quickly "Teenagers! Are gonna be slavers especially since one of them is a demihuman that you said would've been captured after wandering on this land."
Riku loosens his grip on his knife as Ellis lowers his weapons before Alluen then uses his tail to flick Riku off and shoot back to Ellis' side but not unsheathing his weapons quite yet. Finor extends a hand to Riku and then one to Ellis. They each take his hands and he brings them together to shake.
Everyone finally sheathes their weapons and relax slightly as they move and sit down around the campfire where Alluen chops up and offers parts of the deer to each.
After they finish the meal and talk over their differences Riku asks them "So since we're all adventurers or well in Finor's case we're signing him up, do you want to make a clan to pool funds and look more organised?"
Ellis nods and says "Ah yeah we've got just enough people for that now."
Finor adds on and says "Yeah. We should think of a name perhaps. Ardaetnoir"
Ellis questions "But why the hell that of all things man."
Finor shrugs and says "Eh I like the darkness and part of it relates to a really hardy crop that survives a lot. "
Alluen shrugs and says "Sure why the hell not"