“Blast.” Caille said with a calm voice as the group of seven men and women rushed towards Igna. Something purple flew from the Eldritch Witch’s hand, and hit the ground beneath the enemies’ feet, then promptly exploded, sending all seven of them flying.
Igna rushed forward, at the nearest enemy, and drew the cursed blade she had bought from Kyle. She swung the blade, and then took a step back as it effortlessly cut through the scale mail armour her enemy was wearing.
“Oh wow,” She smirked. “This definitely was a worthy purchase.”
“Eldritch bolt.” Caille spoke again as the enemies thrown around with her previous spell started to gather around Igna. Kyle didn’t hesitate either, while her purple coloured spell hit one of the enemies, Kyle pointed at the ground beneath Igna’s feet. “Sunburst!” he exclaimed.
Igna stood strong in the middle of all seven enemies. As Kyle’s spell took effect, their opponents started to fall one by one. Whenever his light spel
The wind tugged at their clothes and blew their hair back as they looked down, to the forested area below. A few moments passed in silence as Kyle’s gaze leapt between the land below and Igna, who seemed to be lost in thought. He could almost hear the gears turning in her head. She licked her lips, then a faint smile appeared. “Yeah.” She finally spoke. “Yeah, why not?” She asked as she stepped closer to the edge of the rock. “Why shouldn’t I claim these lands as my own?” She looked at Kyle. “Right?” She asked, her eyes glimmering with excitement. “I am the strongest after all. If they want it, they can try to pry it away from me.” She muttered. “And thus, Igna’s villain arc begins!” Caille giggled. “What?” Igna snapped out of her daze and scowled. “No!” She exclaimed as blood rushed to her face. “Oh, come on, this was your idea first! You can’t mock me for it!” “After all, why should I?” Caille mimicked Igna’s voice as she giggled. “O
The sun was bright and had just now reached its peak. Yet as soon as they stepped through the treeline, the air seem to darken. The bright sunlight couldn’t pierce the veil of leaves and branches covering this vast, thick, and dense forest. The ground was covered with dead, fallen leaves. The earth was moist, almost as if it had rained not too long ago. The air was cool, almost cold under the forest roof. Birds chirped, and small critters scurried away as the three of them passed through the trees. Roots protruded from the earth, wrapping around each other, and making it difficult to walk. If they didn’t look where they stepped they could easily find themselves face first in the dirt. Kyle gulped as he led the group towards the are the vultures circled over. What could it be, he wondered. It was either a dying animal, a quest, or a recent battlefield. Only the second option seemed like a good one. “This place is nerve wrecking.” Caille whispered after
“Alright, you understand what I said, right?” Kyle looked into the eye of the raven, only to see his own reflection in there. “God I hope you do.” He muttered as he raised his arm, and the bird flew off with a powerful beat of its wings. In its talons was a small glass vial filled with a red liquid. Kyle looked at the other vial in his hands. Igna’s ridiculous item hoard had finally paid off. She was able to give him both the vial the raven was carrying, and this vial of very powerful and very dangerous acidic substance. With this, he could easily get rid of the wooden planks sealing the well and take a bottle or two of its waters. That is, if the raven understood his words. He waited patiently, his gaze following the black bird in the air. It circled the village once, then flew over the large temple, to the barn slightly farther away from the other structures. The bird disappeared from his sight as it flew lower to the ground. The temple was blocking his vie
All three of them sighed a breath of relief when the unicorn requested more water by pushing the bowl with its nose. Kyle chuckled and poured some more water. The unicorn drank all of it, then placed its head on the grass and closed its eyes. Not even a minute later, it’s breathing changed. “She’s asleep.” Caille whispered with a relieved voice. “We should leave her be for now. Come on, let’s give her some space.” She stood up and dragged both Kyle and Igna away from the unicorn, towards the treeline. They sat on a fallen tree, and Kyle took this chance to describe the village and the people he had seen. They pondered a while before the neigh of the unicorn surprised them. “She’s healed!” Caille exclaimed as the animal slowly got up on all four legs and strutted around the small opening in the woods, almost as if it was checking how well the wound had healed. Caille hopped off the log they were sitting on and approached the unicorn as it tried to chew
The sound of the waterfall echoed within the cave as they moved further and further away from the water. The tunnel they walked in was wide and high enough for a mounted person to pass through. The unicorn led them through it with no sign of feat at all. “I wonder where this leads…” Caille whispered. Kyle was also curious, incredibly so. His heart was racing as he followed the unicorn closely. His footsteps made no sound on the moss covered ground as he hurried. Not a fee moments later, the unicorn neighed softly, and stepped to the side as the tunnel opened to a large, spacious cave. The sound of the waterfall was near again. It sounded through the thick rock walls. The ground of the cave was covered with dark green moss, but tiny bright blue flowers had sprouted from all around. Their fresh scent suppressed the damp smell of moss. Kyle took a step forward. “Beautiful.” He whispered as he walked forward into the cave. He squinted and tried to see further ahe
The next day, there were clouds covering the sky. “I really hope it doesn’t rain.” Igna muttered as she sat on a log. Come morning, both Igna and Caille had logged in, and after deciding to take a closer look at the fire worshipping village, they had come to the vicinity of it. But then, Caille had suddenly logged off, and informed Igna that she would be back shortly. “Yeah, it would suck to have to deal with that.” Kyle agreed. Doing anything while soaking wet was no fun at all, and nobody wanted to deal with rain. Suddenly, Caille popped into existence before them. “Oh, phew, sorry!” She said as she quickly fixed her clothes and smiled. “Sudden visit from distant relatives. I had to serve them some tea till mom and dad came home.” She chuckled. “They always have such hideous timing.” Igna laughed. “Last time was in the middle of a raid, wasn’t it?” She asked. “Ugh, don’t remind me. I wanted to pour the tea dow
After a short rest, Kyle was ready to try again. The issue was that neither Igna nor Caille was remotely interested in going right back. “Only an insane person would try the exact same thing and hope to see a different result.” Caille said after listening Kyle’s protest. Igna sighed and nodded. “There is no point in dying in vain. We can always come back if need be.” Kyle rolled his eyes. He knew why she was like this – she was worried about him. But now wasn’t the time for that! Where was the spirit of adventure, the curiosity? Where was the willingness to take risks? “I never said we’d do the same thing!” He protested. “Look,” He pointed up north. “We can approach them through the trees, instead of walking down the hill and practically announcing our arrival. The mage took ages to cast that spell. Had Igna been remotely close to them, they’d never get the chance to finish the spell!” Igna bit her lips while Caille mumbled something silently.
Caille found a second token on the group that had just been dispatched of by Igna. She gave that to Kyle as well, and they hurried away. They didn’t know how many of these small groups there were, and it wasn’t worth standing around and waiting to find out. If a larger group noticed them, and they couldn’t kill them off quite as efficiently or silently, then they’d be in a heap of trouble again. They followed the treeline and continued their approach to the village. Soon, the first of the few houses entered their view on the side. Kyle made sure to stay well hidden inside the forest. Once again giving a wide berth to the structures, they circled around the village till they reached the temple in the back. The large stone structure was the least damaged one among the buildings in the village. There were no cracks or broken parts of the walls that would allow them to see what was happening inside the temple, and the windows were way too