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The Beginning of the Adventure (II)
Jon's eyes stared ahead as he used his sword to cut down the large plants and bushes in front of him. His dark grey eyes shone with obvious annoyance. Even though he had decided to move forward so as not to stay in the same place, his mind still wandered off from time to time, thinking about the shocking information he now knew.
All his life he was Jon Snow, but he had just discovered that that was not his real name. Which only raised more unanswered questions.
Was my father Rhaegar Targaryen? Or perhaps Aerys Targaryen? Jon, who didn't even know what to call himself, asked himself many questions. But he knew that there weren't too many Targaryens years before his birth. The mad King and the prince who was his son. There was also Queen Rhaella Targaryen, but he doubted that she was his mother.
Is Lyanna Stark my mother? It was another question that was born in his mind. Everyone knew about what happened with his aunt and Prince Rhaegar, but that would still make him a bastard, if it turned out that those two people were his father and mother.
"Jaehaerys… Jaehaerys Targaryen…" Jon muttered as he snorted a little. "Maybe I'm not a bastard?"
"The system says no lies in my status window, so I…" Jon couldn't help but slightly grit his teeth. Sadly, at that very moment, he had to stop. His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a large spider web with a huge spider and smaller ones walking across the web formed between various trees, branches, and leaves.
"Gods…" Jon stepped back, a little scared by what he was seeing. That large spider, it wasn't normal. It was the size of a grown man's head, with long black legs and fangs dripping with what could be venom. Jon couldn't help but shiver and tremble a little at the large arachnid. It was disgusting, ugly, dangerous. He just wanted to get away and take another path, which he really did. He didn't want to have those little things crawling all over his body, much less that monstrosity biting his face.
So, slowly backing away and still staring at the web, he began to veer off to another side.
"System, do you know where I am?"
The only response he got, was the quest board window in front of his eyes. Jon stopped and looked, slightly squinting his eyes to read.
[Quest: The Infernal Forest]
[Rank: Iron]
[Description: Many adventures, may take you to unknown and dangerous places. Your mission is to find clues about the unknown place you have been sent to]
[Reward: World Map, Adventurer's Camp Pack]
Jon frowned. The quest he was looking at, didn't seem too difficult. But, if that damn spider was any indication of the dangers that lay in the forest, he was in more danger than he initially thought. If there was a spider that big, then there were probably large snakes as well, after all, it was a forest full of vegetation.
"It seems I can only go forward to find out more," Jon sighed a little before looking to his left and starting to walk. The trees all looked the same. Dark brown trunks and large roots sticking out of the ground, making the path annoying. The large canopies blocked out the sun a bit, but the humidity and heat seemed to get worse as he walked and cut down some large plants and bushes.
As he walked, Jon stopped thinking about his identity, deciding it was best to focus on staying safe and completing the mission. While his identity was something very important to him, he didn't want to die here, completely alone and not knowing where he was. But, that was also the problem. Not knowing where he was, he also didn't know where to go. He had no idea what could be around him.
Jon didn't know how far he had walked, but he continued forward, looking around with a bit of fear, but also at himself. He didn't want a huge spider to fall on his head by surprise.
But, to his surprise and terror, he heard a river. From what they had said when he went hunting with Robb and others, a river could be a good thing if you found it when you were lost. So, it was a surprise to hear a river with water running through it, but that surprise turned into terror when he arrived after walking a few meters. The river did not have clean water, but rather a murky, dirty water, almost like mud. And on the other side, he could see animals he did not know.
All the same, with the only difference that some were larger than others. They were four-legged, with their bellies touching the ground. Their bodies were surrounded by dark green scales and they seemed to be resting on the other side of the river, taking in the sun that reached them.
Jon, for obvious reasons, did not cross or touch the river, he simply walked carefully while looking at the animals on the other side. His side of the river did not seem to have other animals. So, he walked to the left. The water was running in that direction, so there might be an end, a mouth.
But, as he walked, he heard growls. Jon looked to the other side, where he saw two of those animals in what looked like a fight. One of them managed to bite the other, only for it to spin on its body.
Jon's eyes bulged as he saw how the other animal's leg twisted at the sudden and powerful movement. The limb was removed, with what seemed to be the greatest of ease.
"Gods... I better not get any closer," Jon muttered, watching as the injured animal, now without a limb, walked towards the river before sinking into it.
"I really need to find a safe place," as he said that, Jon accelerated his walk as he advanced along one of the banks of the river, holding his sword tightly. And so he continued, walking without stopping, feeling the heat of the sun on him. His steps were firm, until he felt that a few hours had passed. Jon was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted from everything he was going through; physically, from being in a place with conditions he wasn't used to; mentally, from what he had discovered about himself and the thought that he might never be able to get out of the jungle full of dangers.
When Jon wanted to take a break, his eyes saw something that prevented him from doing so. They were pieces of broken and rotten wood. However, it wasn't normal wood he was seeing. The pieces didn't look misshapen and pointed as if they were torn or cut from a tree, but wood that could have been refined into long pieces. Jon immediately ran closer, getting closer to see them better.
The pieces were in the river and on each of the banks. Disordered, broken, but straight. There was mold and grass growing on some that were further into the bank, near the trees. Looking further around, Jon saw nothing else, but this was evidence that there were people in those places.
"Maybe boats?" Jon wondered to himself.
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