“Guys, sorry for the delay...” Cassian joined the party at the gate after dealing with the minor commotion with Merridian, talking sternly to the larger man with a long ponytail who was obviously looked distressed by his female colleague’s berating. “Well then, let’s go. Floki and Lucious, lead the way. We go with the standard formation.” The party instantly changed their position as Floki taking the role of the guide with Lucious behind him. The shield knights including Cassian stood at the sides of the formation and a man with a groomed beard and moustache taking the rear with his spear. Merridian walked in front of the bearded man and the ponytail in crimson cuirass holding a heavy halberd was a few paces away from Floki and Lucious. The Maeists of the party positioned with Cassia at the centre of the formation. Another man cladded with light but sturdy leather breastplate with a large bow and a quiver of arrows, and a small-statured female member donned in leather equipment with daggers led in front of the Tressmoor duo.
Lucious cannot help but felt secured and awed by the silent efficiency as he kept glancing around, checking the formation and finding it to be appropriately placed. Maeists guarded by sword wielders while flanked by defending knights with their middle and rear manned by the warriors with the longer reach. “By Tresses’ belly, what a procession!” “Don’t be such a country bumpkin. Look forward, kiddo.” Lucious looked back to his instructor and recalled his precarious predicament. Clouded by his bleak prospect, Lucious did not feel the rising warm as the sun climbed earnestly in such early hours. They passed through the golden lush of the farmland with several farmers stopped their works and waved at the party which carried their hope.
“Say, Mister Mission Leader. Why did you bring that wimpy kid to this expedition?” Striding through the quiet highway of Tress Wide toward the forest trail, the question instantly occupied the atmosphere. Preoccupied with his dilemma ahead, Lucious did not hear the conversation started by the ponytail man behind him. “Lucious might be helpful since he was also been to the cave before with Floki.” “Either the case, he did not seem to be capable enough to join this troupe. Floki alone is more than enough...Or Cassian my man, you have something up to your sleeve?” Unconvinced, the man in crimson tried to pry the undaunted mission leader. “What more it can be?” “See, Cassian. I...no, we just heard something very interesting. About the boy survived the attack of the Grimkeeper and made it out alive...And walking ahead of us as if nothing happened...” Cassian was silent when the ponytail lined out his trump card but he stared deadly behind at the Maeists where his reckless sister hid behind. “...Don’t brush me off, I SAID STOP!!”
The procession was halted as eyes focused on the confrontation between two squad leaders. Even the absentminded Lucious was snapped from his endless loop of self-condemnation and stared at the silence between the two as the air around them charged with increasing tension. “Boys, even with longer daylight a forest can get pretty dark and scary when the sun starts to descend...” A soft but steady voice spoke from behind as the rest of the members watched the assistant leader of Ex-Gale walked between the two and looked at her squad leader. “...we should make our progress for today and discuss it after dinner.” “...By any chance, you know about that boy, Merridian?” “...Yes, Quingon. I understand your concern. But please withhold it until tonight. I will make that boy squeal out everything you want to know.” “W...WHAT...? Stop saying that, Ma’am. It’s scary...” Lucious could only hope Merridian did not mean what she said.
Pulling himself, the man called Quingon averted his gaze from Cassian and Merridian before settling on Lucious. The gaze was so penetrating that Lucious quickly averted his gaze from the man in fear. “Hmm!” Quingon looked away from the scared boy and stared at Cassian with burning eyes. “Remember. Tonight.” “Right, Quingon. Guys, let’s move on.” The rest of the party returned to their procession as they entered the largest forest in the region. Returned to their greenery vigour after the winter, oak trees burst to carpet the sky above and provide a ragged veil of shades which penetrated by soft pillars of light in the glooming forest. The sound of birds and insects was everywhere, heralding the warm season of grooming and mating. Practically, every forest, even for one as beautiful and peaceful as Farfner Forest, concealed raw and primaeval peril. The proceeding party had to watch out for snakes and bears. At night, they had to rotate guard shifts and constantly alert for the presence of a wolf pack. Given their circumstance, they had to be aware of the possibility of other dangerous beasts which attracted by the malicious presence of the entrance of the Abyss.
Luckily, they did not need to be overtly aware of mystical entities that were always present in an ancient forest, including Farfner Forest. Whoever and whatever that transgressed a certain threshold in cutting down or devouring trees would always disappear mysteriously. The foresters and trackers often refer to this presence as “the will of the forest” or even “the forest’s spirit”. In a sense, its presence hampered the wanton logging and development of the lands. The party trod steadily across the trail which started to be buried by leaves and branches. They should make a steady but not excessive presence of noises to ward off hindering games, but the atmosphere of the procession was quite heavy over the dispute between their squad leaders.
The unusual quietness even pricked on Lucious who always preferred silence. “...Floki. Is the party going to be fine...?” “...Asked the one who is the centre of the storm...” The older man wiped his brow while answering the whisper of his young trainee. “...As if I can help not to be the issue...” “...I think you need to think about my proposal rather than worrying about the party’s morale...” “...But...I...Floki...I feel a terrifying gaze behind me” “Ignore it. Concentrate on your future.” Floki brushed off the intense gaze from Quingon behind their back and urged Lucious to decide his future.
Lucious was struggling to come out with a resolution when the shorter female member in front slowed her stride until one pace away from the young trainee. “Lucious, right?” Lucious looked forward and caught a side of the freckled cheeks and a youthful eye filled with curiosity. “I’m Penn. Is it true? You know. Getting out from that cave alive...” Lucious’s expression darkened at the blatant reminder of his nightmare. “No way...” “You’re being insensitive, shorty. Return to your scouting.” “Geez, Floki.” Penn pulled her face with disappointment. “...Don’t be such a bummer. He will have to spill it out anyway, or...” “Why don’t you wait until then? Besides, Gabriel lad seemed to be quite annoyed...” The shorter scout quickly turned her head to catch the narrowing glare of her colleague who was taking the lead. “...Wouldn’t he give me a rest? I know. Coming...” “Later, Lucious.” Giving Lucious a brief wave, Penn ran ahead and joined her slightly frustrated comrade.
“...Make up your mind...You have until tomorrow night.”Lucious walked absentmindedly, brooding as his mentor turned his head away to the back. “...Cassian lad, tell me...” Floki started to engage Cassian in a conversation, but the young trainee did not have any strength to spare for a casual exchange. Even with Floki’s best effort, the mood remained slightly embarrassed for the rest of the day. “Alright, we should stop for today.” The party felt relieved of the weird pressure when Cassian decided to stop and make camp for the night. As calculated, they managed to cover more than a third of the journey due to the longer daylight of the season. Finding their designated clearing with a small river nearby, the party quickly split their roles. Lucious did not have the luxury of relieving his sore legs as every member counted. Considering his position in the party, the young trainee knew he had to do more to balance things up.
Lucious started by offering his help in setting up the tents to the towering twin brothers of the Centalion squad. After a brief introduction, they worked quietly and did not talk much during the assembling of the tents. Lucious left to gather some buckets of water as Olwen and Lowen checking up the tents after assembling. Leaving the filled buckets for drinking and cooking at the campsite, Lucious was looking around when someone tapped his shoulder. Turning to catch the deep-browned hair below his chin, he sighed at the sight of the petite scout girl. “What’s with that? Are you not happy to be approached by a fine item such as myself?” “...Pardon me, Penn. Do you need help?” “Hmm...Cassia and I are going to gather some woods. We might need a muscular hand...” Lie. The thought crossed his mind as Lucious stared at the cheerful red freckles with a widening smile. “Why don’t you ask for stronger arms in the party?” “Cassian is busying with maps and stuff with Merridian and Quingon. Olwen and Lowen are occupied. Julian is not an option...” Sighed quietly, he surrendered to the ulterior motive those ladies had in mind.
“Lucious. Let’s go.” Cassia was waiting for them in plain clothing when Penn dragged Lucious into the wood slightly away from the campsite. They proceeded to pick up dried and thinner twigs and branches silently. “...Err...So...What exactly was in that cave?” Penn broke the awkward silence with an equally difficult question for Lucious to answer. “...I’m not sure...” Cassia and Penn were whispering and poking at each other when Lucious spoke. Not expecting an answer, Cassia and Penn stopped their small talk and remained still as they waited for more. “...What do you mean...?” Unable to contain their curiosity, Cassia and Penn forgot about their task as they closing into the insecure trainee. “...It was...I don’t know how to explain...” “...A dark and ominous mist...?” The two hold their breath and swallowed loudly in anticipation as Lucious was getting deeper into the juicy detail when a flat but loud voice interrupted.
“Girls, I don’t recall asking you to bring the boy here and clobber him up when you should have brought back those twigs you have under your arms...” Cassia and Penn snapped from their immersing focus and turned to meet a surge of a huge wave within the crystal blue eyes of a slender woman with coral lush of hair over her shoulder. “...But Emma...” “No more excuse, or no dinner for you two.” “YES, MA’AM!” The girls ran away with the twigs in their arms as the woman looked over them with a sigh. “...I’m sorry about the girls. They can get pretty forceful without any concern for others...” “...Err...Thanks...” The faint sensation of the traumatic memory was still lingering in his mind as Lucious did not recover from the sudden turn of events.
“Ah, my apology. I’m Embrance Gale. Call me Emma. Are you alright, boy?” “...Ah, yes. Thank you. I’m Lucious...” Gale. A surname? It was something that was reserved for nobles and riches. “Yeah, I know. I mean, we all know your name, considering your extraordinary adventure...” Lucious noticed the smooth texture of cheeks and well-shaped nose with sparkling sapphire eyes when Emma brushed her hair away from her sweaty neck. What a pretty lady. “Ah, ah, ah. I know you like what you saw, but I don’t think you can handle it just yet.” “What?” Lucious tilted his head slightly in confusion as Emma touched his nose lightly with her finger and smiling flirtatiously with a wink. “...I see, too early for a boy huh? Never mind. Get the stuff in your arm back to the camp. Julian and I need it for the fire.”
Turning away, Emma was about to walk away when Lucious stopped her. “...Lady Gale...?” Emma turned to the boy in amusement. “...Oh, aren’t we sweet? Suddenly you become gentle...” The beautiful woman stopped when she saw the timid and uncertain look from Lucious and sighed a helpless laugh. “No, whatever you are thinking of about me is wrong. I am not from nobility although we have quite a few in this expedition.” “...Then, the surname is...?” “I see, you mean that?” Emma caught the question and smiled proudly. “Every member of a team which was recognised by the Principle and added into the rank and file of a squad in a division can have the name of the squad as their surname if they want.” “Wow...I see...Fascinating...” “Yes, is that all?” Lucious snapped out of his appreciation for the Principle when Emma started to return to her duty.
“Emma, why is everyone including old Floki and perhaps the Principle make such a big fuss over the fact that I coming out from the cave alive?” A moment of silence had passed as Emma stopped some steps away from Lucious and pondered her words. Turning back to look at him, Lucious caught the serious gaze from the beautiful Maeist and getting cold feet for an instant. He recovered and returned the gaze with an equal desire to know about himself. “...I don’t know about the Principle. Speaking as an experienced Maeist, I am not sure how did you survive. The Grimkeeper always make sure to kill every intruder or ended up dying or sealed...” Emma started to explain while brushing her hair uncertainly with a sigh. “...It is rare but not without some precedent cases of people surviving the ordeal...” Lucious held his breath in surprise as he did not expect there were other survivors. “...The records from the Principle often described the survivors narrated of taking on the full onslaught of its powerful elemental attack yet came out almost unscathed...” Lucious froze with the uncanny familiarity as his last memory of the cave, being bathed and blasted away by the demonic flame and woke up at his bed with only scratches.
“...What happened to them...?” Lucious walked closer to the female Maeist with his hands slightly trembled at his side. Urged by the keenness of the young trainee, Emma continued reluctantly. “...They were all dead not too long after that...” The air around the vicinity turned cold as Emma looked away from the aghast trainee. “...To be exact, I’m not sure what happened to them...there was no record...” Continued with almost a whisper, the female Maeist looked grimly at Lucious. “...but judged from a recent case, it seemed they did not live for long after the incident...Anything other than that...” Words trailed off as Emma exhausted her knowledge to the trainee and turned away from him. “...Sorry...” “...Wait...” Emma stopped once again and waited for the question she instinctively expected. “...May I know how recent and how long does the survivor lasted...?” “...More than two years ago...for least than half a year...” With a deep breath, Emma dropped the bombshell and walked away hastily.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
