Arya had anticipated the time wrong; the evening sun was at dawn much sooner than he expected. Arya was sprinting for as long as he could without a break, using star energy to make himself faster. But the tunnel was in no way close.
He caught a salmon on his way up and burned it raw while trying to book it using Star Energy. He did not have time to learn anything new, so he ran and ran.
bzzzz. z..bzz...
"Oh, no! They are coming out of their eggs. Find the road..."The evening was ending, and the bloodflies were coming, and they scared Arya more than anyone. He did not try to remember the road's name; all he cared about was that he lived that night.
Arya remained safe until thousands of blood flies emerged from their eggs. The race against time was not looking promising until...
"The roots!"
He noticed something peculiar: a leafless oak tree was extending to the river's edge, and its roots blocked the way.
"I was running at this place!"
Arya's hopes rose as he realised that he was near the road. He ran to this place during the dawn just like now; it was that he was frightened away in fear then. Now, he was frightened by the dangers.
He activated his natural ability, jumped over the roots with his spikes, and ran further.
Bzz..zzz…
Arya looked to his left and noticed that the bloodlines were coming out more and more every second. Their noses began aching his ears, as did the fear of what would happen if he got caught.
"I need to get there before the newborns finish drinking the visceral nectar." After that, Arya would be the feast of the next set of viscera nectar.
"I see it." Soon the point came where Arya saw trees and empty land on the other side of the river. A little bit ahead lay the stone-built entrance, a large and open stone shaped like a round arch entrance.
"Ach.." The lemony scent of the pine resin came into Arya's nose. He was already breathing hard from all the running, and it made it more difficult.
Arya used his ability once again, and the spikes came right through the water, and he jumped over and over to cross the river.
"I don't want to get cut by a fish or electrocuted by an eel." He reasoned to himself and finally entered the tunnel.
"Safe…" He breathed heavily, his heart pumping and his abdomen was nearly torn, and he could kill a hundred dwarfs for water at the moment. He sat down across the stone to take a breather.
b..zzz.ZZ
This noise will kill me, goddamnit. Arya closed his ears to the noise, but when he closed his ears, an eerie memory started coming up. People were riding on their carriages, getting eaten alive, and bleeding themselves out.
"Stop thinking about this! Stop thinking!" Arya wrapped himself once, thinking about how he got here. What happened to the tomb of the warlord that day he was attacked? Where did the red priest with him vanish?
"Something is missing. What can't I remember? What happened that day?" He scratched his head, the noises of the bloodflies ringing in his ears.
"Hello…"
"AaaaH!!!!"
"Aaaahhh!!!!"
Arya screamed as a little voice interrupted his thoughts and jumped back. The other voice gave a scream of its own; it was like a little girl's squeal.
"Shut up! Seraphina and you idiots Didn't you see us coming?"
Arya stopped screaming and looked at the other side; a magic prism was lying in the sky. In the blue-white light, one woman and one kid were standing in front of him. The kid tugged at the woman's trousers.
"Who the hell are you now? Do you know me?" Arya asked.
"I do know you. I guess." The woman talked in a softer voice now, and then Arya began to notice her straight blond hair and sharp black eyes.
"What are Mercy's group members?" Arya asked.
"Group Members? That idiot might be helping me, but never in the world would I be that psycho's group member." The woman spoke in anger.
"Hey! Don't talk about my uncle like that." The little kid with a short black and green dress argued.
Arya was overwhelmed when suddenly three new people appeared in his life in just one day. He was in a place unknown, and people unknown.
"Wait, did the girl say uncle? Mercy has a sibling. What are you doing here? The forest of the forsaken is still far away." Arya fired questions to clear up his confusion.
"You don't get to ask questions; you are in my territory. I ask first and answer second." The women answered aggressively with a bit of respect.
'Bitch has a big mouth." Arya made a mildly angry face.
"What are you thinking? ...Your name is Alya."
"Arya… Have some respect for me, woman. I might be an exile, but I am still a warlord. Mercy might have told you that. I am quite powerful, you see." Arya proudly declared.
euhhhh...
The girls both gave Arya a look of disdain; the child was worse; she was looking down on him.
"Try me. I don't believe you are powerful or a warlord for sh*t. Give me a signature; show me some raw power in your hands. And the name of the woman is Reva." The woman's expression changed to a sharp smirk, and a child holding her did too.
"Okay! You owe me a table of food and wine if I do." Arya smirked at Reva's stupidity.
Arya moved his hand forward and tried focusing his power forward. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine his star ahead of him. But nothing came.
"What…?" He tried once again and failed. He felt the smirk of gazes piling on top of him.
"Little Puppy can't even summon raw energy in his area. People like you are all mighty and confident until they are asked something in reality. Get and follow us; this place is protected by a spell; you can't use star energy here."
Completing her words, Reva, along with the kid, turned their backs on Mercy and started to walk away.
"I should better trust snakes instead of women," Arya whispered to himself as he got up and began following them.
He knew something was changing; Mercy had definitely lied about the forest of the forsaken story.
The girls and women were awfully frank about him; his hiding spot was one of the biggest adventure destinations in the world, as was his speech about overthrowing the kingdom. What was going on that he did not know?
"We need to keep going forward." the ravine of the Lords, the biggest mass grave of warlords, where nearly 10 died in a single battle on that day.
Arya had seen the broken rocks, crumbling rocks and valleys, and dragons tell weapons that remained on the ground.
"Keep the pace, Arya. You might be scared if we leave you behind." The little girl called Arya out in a friendly yet sarcastic voice. Arya began running towards the two in response, as the tunnel was long and he was feeling lonely.
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