We were at the start of our third day investigating the missing merchant caravan. Ari had been sniffing around, looking for any scent trail, while Red scanned from above to see if he could spot the broken down carriage. Ronin, just stayed by my side, as we brought up the rear. Yet from what we have gathered, the caravan was not sighted on the main road, past the Galadon checkpoint, allowing us to narrow down the point at which they diverted from the road, as Ari followed a tire track.
This was two hours ago, and yet we still hadn't located the carriage, and my worries that they were truly lost started to swirl.
The truth was, these past days in this new world had been getting the better of me. Every story I've always read, were straightforward, the protagonist was summoned, and given a life or death quest. Whether to save the world or a single kingdom but yet, here I was completely alone. I was not being controlled by fate or a higher purpose. No, I was just a single man amoung millions, with no past, and no one worrying about my future. I was alone. All I had were my magical beasts. I had never felt loneliness like I was now. Sure, I had company but no one I could talk with, build a relationship with, or even send a message.
This missing caravan was my chance. My chance to be someone's hero. To fulfill the role that every reader dreams about. And yet, the 3rd day was passing quickly and I had yet to make any progress. My hope was dwindling, but would not fully wane. This was my own personal quest, the start of my clan. And a clan of 1 was not in the cards. I will persuade one of the members of this caravan. Whether I did that by decline compensation, being their white knight, or agreeing to some future terms or stock options. I needed to give in order to take. And the most important thing was getting an ally with any knowledge of this world, because right now I'm utterly clueless. Little did I know I was in for the negotiation of my life.
To my annoyance, the day started shifting towards night, and I was no more closer than before. I was just about to suggest we find a place to sleep for the night, before it gets too dark when Ari started to freak out. His bark came out like a storm and in rapid succession. It seems he had found something. Yet, even if he did, this was a little more extreme than I would expect, hinting at his urgency. Ronin, and I headed out to meet him, while Red scouted up ahead.
Shortly ahead, I found the wreckage. The carriage was completely shattered, like it had been hit by a semi truck. Pieces of wood were scattered everywhere, including within the trees, I could see what seemed like shattered glass everywhere, and opened trucks spread across the grass. Whoever, or whatever did this was large, even larger than my humongous dog.
I didn't see any bodies within the carnage, but I did see blood, meaning that people where surely around whenever this incident happened but are long gone now.
Ari, whose bark I followed to the spot was no where to be seen, but Red was circling around the sky. It seemed the raven had a visual on Ari. Thinking this might be a difficult battle up ahead for Ari, ronin and I rushed towards the blood spatter heading deeper into the rainforest. As I grew closer, I heard a yelp that could only have come from Ari.
This rejuvenated me, my best friend needed my help. I gripped RavenRush even harder, the past few days, id spent fighting low level beasts, learning whatever I could. I was still a novice, but at least I knew what I was doing. As I approached the scene, honor filled my mind.
A small cave could be found on the edge of the mountain, on the path that lead up towards a cliff, that must land in the river we passed on our way here. There was no escape once you ventured uphill, with the cave being the only salvation for those lost. Yet, this was not the part I was scared about, Ari was gushing blood, as she struggled to stand up. Her body was clearing guarding something that was behind her, as she was standing in front of the cave, with a litter of dead.. monkeys at her feet? that was the only word to describe these stone atrocities. A pile of them laid dead, yet they were not the enemy that Ari was worried about, no something much larger was standing feet from us.
Towering over 15 feet tall, stood, what I could only call a Gorhino - A hybrid between a Gorilla and a rhino, with a fully functioning tail. It was in the high third tier, which alone wouldn't be a threat to Ari, but with plenty of allies to support him, he was able to get a good attack in, especially since Ari, has no real experience fighting, especially not without me shouting orders from the sideline. Knowing that this was the first time that I truly needed to contribute, I pulled out RavenRush and charged head on. Red gave me the slightest cover as I approached the Gorhino, channeling both my mana and life force, I had one clean shot to pierce the skin. I flipped the staff to point the admanatite tip towards the spleen of the beast and hit it straight on. Blood gushed. But this wound would not slow down such a massive beast.
It would surely slow it down, maybe dwindle it in a long fight. But surely not enough for me to take it down alone. I needed to buy time for ronin to heal Ari.
After taking the hit, the Gorhino changed his approach and made me his next target. His eyes glowed, rage was pulsing.
'Siya then spoke 'Skill learned and then activated, Aggro. Allows the user to pull the attention of any beast onto himself.' This is a basic magic spell used by beast wielders.'
Oh fuck…