We snuck out of the city in the middle of the night. It wasn't that dealing with the authorities would be difficult at this point...just that it would be annoying.Regular soldiers were little more than gnats to us now. Having so much power felt good, but it came with responsibility. I didn't want to massacre the common people with it and we had a job to do.Once we were far enough from the city, I stopped, then pulled out my old map and compass.The ones Maul gave me.I had to fight back tears this time as I set the destination for a port that would likely take us a week to reach on foot."Mizik, shouldn't we have taken a couple of horses?" Isabella asked me."I admit it would be useful but...I've never ridden one before..." I said."Well, you could always ride with me. I'm experienced with horse riding."I imagined holding onto Isabella from behind as we rode a horse through the wilderness and felt somewhat flustered.I also cursed myself for not getting a horse."Something the ma
For the next week, Isabella and I slept in shifts to make sure none of the other passengers bothered us.A few times they would encounter us, but ultimately we were left alone. Much to my surprise, at least. Isabella, on the other hand, wanted to trust people more than I did. I couldn't fault her for it, though. Being friendly was something that was slowly slipping away from me.I was becoming more closed off and resentful of others. Distrusting everyone to an extent.As much as I could tell, everything that happened was also affecting Isabella. Her mind was becoming somewhat damaged as a result of the loss, grief, and stress. She coped with it by clinging onto me relentlessly and making friends with others.But I knew the truth.She put on a front of someone willing to protect me and others. Someone willing to shoulder people'a burdens... As a former Princess, it was what she was raised to do. But internally, she was breaking.I recalled the time where I saved her from death by div
After the horrifying eye I'd seen the night before disappeared, I somehow managed to sleep.Somehow, the presence of that thing made it hard to relax. Once it was gone, I passed out shortly after.Still...I didn't get enough sleep.And once Isabella woke up, we got ready immediately and headed towards the door.The image of that eye was still fresh in my mind and I couldn't forget about it. I elected not to tell Isabella what I saw because I didn't want her to worry.But she knew I didn't sleep very well. She didn't say anything, but I could tell she knew. She was smart like that.We went downstairs and reached the door, quickly.Hana stopped us before we left and offered to lead us to the location. We accepted and went on our way.Before we went to the meeting place, we made a few extra preparations and followed Hana back.In the short time we'd known Hana and Ikoma, Isabella and I grew attatched. It motivated us to protect the water dragon. To protect Hakumo.Once we saw the gatheri
We continued walking down the massive hallway until we came to a huge set of double doors. They towered above us."This is...the door to the Water Dragon's sanctum. It's where they would bring offerings and worship her while she taught them. I hope she's okay..." Tareen said."Have you been here before?" I asked."A couple of times. But I would go between here and Kalsa... Wherever there was work..." She replied."Do you know what we should expect?" Rose asked."Well, the water dragon is one of the most powerful beings in the world. She's actually pretty nice, though. Really wise too. I doubt these monsters could actually manage to kill her..." Tareen replied."That's comforting to hear... If she's okay, she might be able to help us destroy the Source of the Black Ooze," I said."Black...Ooze?" Jay said fearfully."The dark stuff on the walls and floor. The stuff spawning monsters and infecting our comrades. That's what we call it," I said."Wait...you mean you two knew about this shi
Once we were back at the docks, I tried my best to collect myself.I had taken the time to mark the location at the docks before we joined up with the adventuring party.Just in case of an emergency, that is.I could see my hands shaking and I saw Isabella down on her knees with her head between her hands.She was mumbling something."I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry I couldn't save everyone... Please forgive me...make it stop... Please make them stop..." She whimpered.This kept going for a few minutes while I tried to calm myself... I couldn't stop shaking.That shadow dragon...that abomination did something to our minds. Never before in our lives had we witnessed such horror...It was mimicking the voices of our fallen friends and family...even someone like Tyranus. An enemy.I decided to glance around the docks to see if anyone was around.It was dark outside and currently, the docks were mostly empty. I didn't see anyone around.I turned to Isabella who was still whimpering in terror
Once the ship pulled into port, we said our thank-yous and goodbyes, then left towards the mountain.The port was quite busy with mostly dwarves, but a few humans as well.I saw a small number of people with mechanical appendages, as well. So it really was dwarven technology that the Kalsan's used on Arvild...Despite the impending catastrophe, people seemed mostly calm.Perhaps news hadn't spread, yet...There was a large field near the port and the mountain. High walls lined with strange machines that I had never seen before surrounded the mountain entrance as well. The field was barren and cratered heavily.It seemed that the machines might have been weapons of some kind.To be honest, I knew in my heart that they were going to need them. The Black Ooze would one day arrive here.But until then, Isabella and I were determined to spend our lives in peace. One day, when the Ooze arrived, we would fight to the death to protect our new home.Until then, we had time to spare.As we m
The next day since we didn't have work, we decided to visit Bronan. "Welcome! Please come in!" He said."Hey Bronan, we have the day off so we wanted to come over. I hope you don't mind," I said."No, not at all, I was just getting things ready to start teaching you two. Eh...by the way, what did you say you wanted to learn first?" "I don't think we did, but...I'm not feeling too particular about which we start with. They all sound very interesting," I said."I agree! They all sound amazing!" Isabella said cheerfully.Interestingly enough, even though we still had regular nightmares about the shadow dragon, as well as the end of the world, both of us were quite happy lately. Especially Isabella."Okay, lets start with alchemy then. I'll teach you what I know and then we can move onto machines." "Sounds good," I said.We spent the entire day learning about alchemy equipment, brewing processes, ingredient types, and potions themselves.Alchemy was often used for brewing potions, maki
Once we had reached the new cavern, Dufoth began walking behind us with the rest of the dwarves."The golems should be appearing soon. Be ready," he said.Almost immediately as he spoke, we heard a loud rumble. Several of them, actually.In the dark, I could see forward thanks to night vision. Isabella kept the cavern lit up with Grand Illumination and Grand Lantern Light for the dwarves.I saw several boulders begin to change shape and we were confronted with a group of huge golems.Not wanting to collapse the caverns, I decided to take it easy here."Assassinate," I said.I teleported within the group of golems and my blade sliced through the crystal in its chest as if it were nothing. As soon as I destroyed the core, the golem fell lifelessly to the ground."FULL MOON SLASH!" I released my second sword as the magic extended them and slashed multiple times within a circle around me. Four more golems fell. "Attack support!" Isabella said, raising her sword.At once, I was cloaked i