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
Caille’s happiness lasted for about half a minute as the number of enemies inside the temple left her jaw dropped, and eyes wide open. “Well, fuck.” She whispered. Igna and Kyle agreed with that statement. Hiding by the entrance, they were peeking inside through the open door. “I count thirteen, plus that woman.” Igna whispered. Caille affirmed her. Kyle also nodded, his count was the same as well. “Well, what do we do?” Igna asked after a short moment of hesitation. “Can we take them on?” Caille shrugged and shot Kyle a glance. “What do you think?” Kyle bit his lips. “I’ll summon the Fallen Knight.” He said after a moment’s hesitation. He hadn’t spoken to Aoris ever since that… that fight they had. It felt wrong to summon her for aid, he didn’t want to. But now, it seemed as if he had no alternative. “No, don’t.” Igna quickly stopped him. “That woman there is the same person as the one who nearly killed us. If you can take her as a summon…”
While Igna scoured her inventory to try and find a healing potion, Caille looted the enemies, and Kyle looked around the temple. This place seemed to be dedicated to this Golden Flame from the start. The flame motif was everywhere – walls, windows, the ceiling, the floor tiles, even the sides of the pews. The altar was made of a single marble slab. Unlike the rest of the temple, it wasn’t the masterpiece of a master craftsman. It had jagged edges, cracks on the surface… plenty of imperfections. Yet, the statue depicting the flames they worshipped behind the altar, also made from the same type of marble was simply stunning. “I wonder what this Golden Flame thing really is.” He muttered. Why were they hostile in the first place? Caille chuckled. “Why don’t you ask the priestess?” She suggested. Kyle hesitated, “Oh. Yeah.” He turned to the side. “Come forth.” Unlike the raven or the Fallen Knight Aoris, Irena, Priestess of the Golden Flame didn’t appear
They arrived at the fortress in construction shortly after dusk. Walking the narrow rock bridge in the dark was one of the more terrifying experiences of their lives, and each and every one of them breathed deep sighs of relief once they reached the other side of the chasm. To Kyle’s surprise, there was quite crowd in the land now. While some were simple workers, NPC’s of the game, he saw more than a handful of players working on the construction as well. Men and women, even some young, high school aged children had come. “Well, they sure took the memo.” Caille smirked. “Allow me to do the introduction.” She added upon seeing Kyle’s confused expression. “These are the Phoenix Guild members. Igna’s and my guild. We created it together, though she’s the leader, and I’m the second in command. She owes much of her first rank position to these guys and gals.” Igna nodded, then hurried off to talk with an older man. A player again, as it was quite obvious from the
Come morning, the chirping of the birds and the slightly muffled sounds of the construction woke him up from his deep, and surprisingly comfortable slumber. He had never thought before that a blanket thrown on some piles of hay could be so comfortable. He yawned, stretched his arms and legs, and left the barn to greet the new day. Igna and Caille were nowhere to be seen, and nor were any other players. There were plenty of plain clothed NPC’s working on the outer walls and the towers, and there were a bunch of others slowly uprooting the grass and bushes from around the lake, but nobody who shouldn’t see him asleep had seen him. That was a win in his book. He approached the yet untouched sections of the river, took out some breakfast from his inventory, and ate it while splashing some water around with his bare feet. “Good morning!” Igna’s cheerful voice soon sounded. She waved at him from afar, checked the construction for a few minute