“And what has happened here?" Master Del asks, confused, as we approach my and Tabitha’s welcome back celebration. However, calling it a cel
“And what has happened here?" Master Del asks, confused, as we approach my and Tabitha’s welcome back celebration. However, calling it a celebration at this point might be a bit of a stretch.
I was only gone for about fifteen minutes, and in that short time, Tabitha somehow managed to put everybody to sleep.
Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. No one was sleeping, but most were wobbling on their feet. A few people were still eagerly listening to her nonsensical ramblings, hoping she might say something exciting, but even they were starting to slouch.
Wait, hold on. I was wrong. Two of the village children were sleeping in their parents’ arms, so yeah, technically, Tabitha did manage to put someone to sleep, even if it was just some kids.
"Oh, you know," I wink at Master knowingly. “Just Tabitha being Tabitha.”
“So, you pulled me off my comfy bench, just so she can put me to sleep for real? " Del looked at me incredulously.
Everyone was so tired; no one noticed our approach—Almost no one.
“Ah, so the prodigal genius returns," Pacore happily exclaimed as soon as we were close enough. “And you brought your stone kin friend with you? It's good to see you, Del-Razen.” Pacore greeted Master as if he were seeing him for the first time in forever.
I don't ask; I just shoot Del a questioning look, which makes him sigh loudly. “I’ve been avoiding him,” he shamelessly tells me in front of Pacore.
Pacore nods like it was no big deal. "He's been a busy man, I understand.”
"I haven't," Del deadpans, cutting him off. "I just don't like you."
…..
“Fair,” Pacore shrugs off Del’s hostility like a raincoat does water. I genuinely hope I can be that shameless when I'm his age. Sadly, I'm not given much time to admire Pacore's single redeeming quality before he turns his attention to me.
“I’m glad you returned as soon as you did. I was about to have to lead a search party to find you,” Pacore chuckles like a drunk idiot. But why did it sound like he wasn’t talking about me leaving to find Master and something else?
“Anyway,” Pacore takes another drink from his waterskin, only pausing long enough to offer Del some, which Master promptly refuses with a shake of his head. “I don’t suppose you can take over for my apprentice?” Pacore asks me, glancing back at Tabitha with a resigned look. “I love the girl to death, almost like my granddaughter. She's among the most gifted students I’ve ever enjoyed teaching. Unfortunately, she isn't the best conversationalist," he sighs, exaggeratingly.
“Why, I think she’s doing a good enough job,” I sassily remark, hoping to get a rise out of the old man.
“Oh, I think so as well," Pacore pretends to agree with me, but there was a hardness behind his fake smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sadly, we are in the minority, and as I didn’t have the pleasure of joining you two on your little adventure, I cannot step in and help as I usually would.”
Was he pouting? I couldn't tell. It almost sounded like he was sad he missed the opportunity to go with us and was blaming us for having fun without him, almost like a child would. Was he being serious, or was all this an act?
I don’t want to give him that much credit, so I’ll play dumb like I know he is, and pretend he was just a big child—A child that could solo armies of weaker men by himself.
A small part of me wanted to make him beg for my assistance, but I had the sneaking suspicion he would enjoy that, and by now, we were garnering a lot of attention.
Our heated banter was much more exciting than anything Tabitha was talking about, so naturally, people turned their attention toward us instead of her. A few villagers were even close enough to hear Pacore ask me to take over for her and whispered as much to their friends.
In no time at all, the entire village was once again focused on me, and this time I didn’t have the excuse to leave and find Master Del. Their gazes were particularly ravenous; one look and I knew instantly they wouldn't take no for an answer.
“Don’t look so nervous,” Pacore chuckles mirthfully at my apprehension.
I turn to Del for support, only to find none. “Go on, give the people what they want,” he pushes me towards the group of waiting people like a human sacrifice.
Sure, now the two of them were on the same page, I grumble. Must be an old man thing. Oh well, if I have no other choice, I might as well do things in style.
“Alright, listen up!” I shout as I kick into the air with Air Walk, making Tabitha pause. Every head turns and follows me as I run through the sky. "I hate to repeat myself, so you all better listen," I say theatrically as I stop using my skill and land stylishly on the top of our sled right behind the winged serpent’s severed head.
“Gather around and listen to our tale of adventure, of a forest brimming with mysteries and ferocious beasts!” Everyone oohs and ahhs at my flair for the dramatic.
“Our story begins like everything else around here, with a walk through the forest,” I start with a joke that everybody but the Escort Knights laughs at. "We planned to head straight to the magic-dense region of The Endless Forest, but as was the case with the rest of our adventure, our initial trek was full of surprises. Imagine my astonishment when the first monsters we encountered weren't horrors from the forest's depths, but a familiar face—Goblins. Ghost goblins.”
Most of the people in my audience gasped loudly, with some looking worried. Just last year, a horde of goblins threatened to overrun our village, so it wasn't surprising that the idea of ghost goblins was such a scary one.
“Don’t worry,” I’m quick to assure everyone. "They were harmless, just the last flickers of the goblins we defeated. We checked the spot on our way back, and they were all gone,” and that wasn’t me lying to make the village feel better either. Tabitha and I had camped in the same spot as last time once we left the magic-dense region, and there wasn't a single remnant to be found. If there had been, I would’ve absorbed them for one last bit of free experience, but no dice.
The crowd let out a collective sigh of relief, and with that, I continued my story. I talked about how strange it felt to set foot in the magic-dense region for the first time, how the trees were so vast that just one of them could blot out the sun. Everyone listened with rapt attention as I regaled them about slaying my first bird monster, earning me nods of approval from the Scholl knights.
I embellished a few things, but mostly glossed over how poorly my first fights in The Endless Forest went. Those with combat experience, like our village's hunters and the various Escort Knights, no doubt knew what I was doing, but everyone else was none the wiser. I did the same with all the battles, periodically holding up props like some of the feathers we retrieved from the bird’s nest as visual aids.
A few people booed me when I got to the part of the story where the goblins retreated after our first encounter, but again, that was more because hating goblins was our village's official pastime, and not that we didn’t chase them down. Nevertheless, I decided to skip over our second encounter altogether when I inevitably reached that point.
All in all, I had fun recounting our adventures to everybody up until this point, and judging by all the smiles I was getting, the crowd thought the same way. More than one person paled when I spoke of the center of The Endless Forest and the strange fish-monsters that soared through the air there, but no one looked overly afraid for their safety, likely realizing said monsters were trapped in the crater. At least I hoped they were.
Then I got to the part of the story where we noticed the dead clearing off in the distance, and everything changed. I did my best to downplay how much danger we were in when the winged serpent ambushed us, but I know I could've done better.
It was impossible to talk about everything Tabitha and I went through together without sounding surprised that we somehow survived. I started to pause longer than needed, and at this point, people started interrupting me to call out questions. People asked what we did for food and water, and other miscellaneous questions. I answered a few of them, but I brushed off just as many.
I never mentioned the soul horrors that haunted the ruins before we showed up, nor did I mention the skeleton guarding the chamber deep underground. News of the mural and that The Endless Forest used to be a sprawling city before it turned into a magic-dense region surprised everyone, particularly General Pitz, who looked like she wanted to ask me a slew of her own questions but was holding herself back for a more opportune moment.
I talked about all the preparations we made, stressing that we had a plan. Most people bought the lie easily, but my family looked horrified in the back of the crowd—I did my best to pretend I didn’t notice.
All this led up to the climax of our story and our battle against the colossal winged serpent. “With its mouth wide open, the snake spewed a wave of toxic fumes at us! It would have killed us, but I had a plan, a simple cleaning spell.” There wasn’t much reason to downplay my magical abilities at this point. It was almost common knowledge that I knew some form of magic. Though the announcement surprised a few people, most of the village just nodded along with the story.
"Yes, you might not believe it, but a simple cleaning spell saved the day," I repeat myself theatrically. In fact, I had an idea: Why tell them when I can show them? After all, I was back home, so I could waste my mana if I wanted to.
“Ahyt ls weem appiss!”
As my spell completes, I’m bathed in a pure white light, feeling clean and refreshed. It wasn’t a grand display of magic like most anticipated, making the handful of golf claps I received in return more like salt in an open wound than the congratulations they should have been.
No matter, I’ll give them something to clap about.
Empowered Spell kicks into high gear, and suddenly the soft light surrounding me extends until it’s covering the entire crowd, even the people in the back, like my family and Pacore. Many people jump as my spell field washes over them, but most calm down once they feel the effects of my spell.
All at once, everyone around me is cleaned. The Escort Knights look at each other with disbelief as their once pristine armor is brought back to life, though my spell does nothing to eliminate the new scratches littering their surfaces.
While the knights celebrate, most of the village experiences being cleaned by magic for the first time and are understandably wowed by the feeling. As people turn around to see the effects of my spell on their friends, fine particles of dirt and debris are tossed into the air like trees releasing pollen.
People are forced to shake out their clothes, releasing even more dirt into the atmosphere. Luckily for everyone, I kept my spell activated until the last of the grime drifted harmlessly to the ground.
“When empowered, even the weakest spell can be useful,” I boast from atop the sled as everyone looks up at me in amazement. “Once I neutralized the serpent’s toxic breath, it was only a matter of time until Tabitha cut the beast down. Though the beast didn't make it easy," I say, placing a single foot on the lesser dragon's severed head.
Throughout everything, I refused to call the winged serpent a lesser dragon other than in my head, so as not to cause a panic. While people knew dragons existed, they were like storms or natural disasters; you hear about how bad they are, but until you experience one for yourself, it’s all just hearsay.
Thanks to Tabitha, my village knew a dragon was responsible for Scholl invading Olebert and their food shortages. They knew more than most what a dragon could do, and they would be rightfully afraid if they heard The Endless Forest had dragons living deep within it. Even if those dragons were technically lesser variants, it would still cause some to panic. So, for the sake of my story, the winged serpent was nothing more than a giant snake with wings, and I was going to keep it that way.
"Slash. Slash. Bam," I swung my arms wildly from atop my impromptu stage, simulating swinging a sword and hammer. “The feathered bastard eventually realized we were winning, so it launched a horrendous last-ditch attack." I narrated the ending of our fight, making it much more cinematic than it actually was.
“There it was, rushing towards us. But we weren’t afraid,” I lied through my teeth. I still sometimes relive that moment in my dreams, which was terror-inducing.
“And that’s when our hero swoops in at the last second,” I point at Tabitha, making everyone turn towards her, which she was not expecting. "In a single swing, she beheaded the foul monster with a mighty slash!" And before I can say anything else, everybody cheers, shouting Tabitha's name.
Tabitha does her best to appear unbothered by the heaps of praise thrust upon her, but from where I was standing, I could see her subtly inching her way behind Pacore, who was standing next to her, cheering with the crowd.
I purposely wait until she's moments away from turning scarlet before I once again gather everybody's attention. “And that’s why we were so late,” I inform everybody. "We couldn't leave such valuable materials behind, so we had to drag everything with us from deep within the forest. A few magic beasts attacked every so often, but nothing like this big guy,” I motion to the snake head under my foot.
"Now, if you don't mind, I’m going to spend some quality time with my family and likely sleep for a few days in my bed, which I have sorely missed." I feel it's only right to end with a joke.
Hopping down from the sled, I’m immediately bombarded with more welcome backs and well wishes from people, but none of them stay overtly long. They quickly stepped aside so I could reach my family, who were waiting for me with bated breath.
I don’t even get a chance to say anything once I reach them before Mother is pulling me into another hug. “I’m so glad you are safe,” she whispers breathlessly. As I thought, no matter how well I dressed up the story, she could tell how dangerous it was for us.
“Me too,” I hug her back, careful not to use too much of my new Strength. “But I kept my promise,” I remind her. “I’m back safe and sound.”
“You sure did, Kido,” Dad reaches over and rustles my hair like he used to do when I was little—Well, little-er.
"Gods, I can't wait to go home and sleep in my bed and not on the ground," I sigh with relief, moments away from walking home with my family, but someone had other plans for me.
“I’m sure you are,” Pacore interjects with a battle-hungry smile, obviously worked up from the talk of us beating a lesser dragon by ourselves. Behind him, Tabitha stood like a statue in his shadow, her expression unreadable. “You’ve missed your calling as a bard,” he teases me.
“And you as a comedian,” I shoot back hotly, but Pacore isn't bothered.
"I'm sure you're exhausted," Pacore says, looking at me with fake sympathy. “But I believe we have more to discuss. Headman Downs, would you be so kind as to lend us your lounge again?” He turns and asks Camden, as if he could say no.
“I would be honored to host you again,” our headman doesn’t even try to argue with Pacore, rolling over immediately. My inner voice complained about how easily our headman complied with the man trying to take me away from my family, but my common sense was louder. Camden could no more defy Pacore than I could. He could complain and pretend he was in charge, but we all knew that wouldn't accomplish anything.
“Thank you, you’re all welcome to join us,” Pacore tells my friends and family with a wide smile.
“Us not being there was never an option,” Master Del shoots Pacore a look that could make a child piss themselves, but as usual, it only makes the crazy old man smile wider.
Regardless of the outcome, I moved over and hugged Del in support, making sure to definitely stick my tongue out at Pacore while I did so.
Pacore looked ready to say something else, but he was interrupted by someone I kept running into. "Excuse me, Master Pacore, Sir?” Escort Knight Stevenson coughs awkwardly to get his boss's attention.
Stevenson can’t see Pacore roll his eyes from where he’s standing, but the rest of us can. "What is it, Knight?" Pacore turns and lazily addresses the man.
“Sorry, Sir,” Stevenson awkwardly apologizes, looking meek before Pacore. "Your orders?"
“What?” Pacore snaps.
“It’s just—” Stevenson hesitates.
“Spit it out, Man!” Pacore demands firmly.
“Well, we were wondering, Sir,” Stevenson gestures to his fellow Escort Knights, who huddled closely together a reasonable distance away from Pacore. “Now that Lady Leres has returned, should we start reading for our departure?"
Pacore stares at Stevenson momentarily, making him even more uncomfortable, before snickering hollowly. "I'm sure all of you would like that a lot," Pacore grins sadistically at the waiting group of knights, who flinch back in fear. “I bet all of you would love nothing more than packing up and running away. Too bad for you lot, I’m a man of my word.”
“I promised my good friend Headman Downs here that my men would help his village speed up building his wall,” Pacore smiled viciously. “How can we leave when the wall isn’t finished?”
“We—” Stevenson flinches under Pacore’s heavy stare.
“You want to leave?" Pacore calls out loudly enough that every Escort Knight can hear him. "Then finish the wall, you have three days,” he shockingly proclaims. “Hop to it,” he hollers, scattering all the Escort Knights except for Stevenson.
“Make sure they don't cut any corners," Pacore warns Stevenson. "Or else I'll leave you all here to tear it down and start over from scratch.”
“Yes, Sir, Master Pacore, Sir!” Stevenson salutes before rushing off as if he were being chased.
“And, Knight,” Pacore calls out to Stevenson before he can get very far, forcing him to skid to an abrupt stop. “I want that sled pulled to our camp by the time I’m finished meeting with my apprentice. Understood?”
“Right away, Sir,” Stevenson quickly nods, pausing to wait for any more orders Pacore might see fit to spring upon him at the last second, before rushing off when that wasn’t the case.
Part of me felt bad for Stevenson, but I was mainly happy I had at least three more days to spend with my family. Tabitha said she would talk to Pacore for me, but knowing I wouldn't be dragged out of the village tomorrow was nice.
And with the Escort Knights gone and the rest of the village dispersing to continue their work, we were free to leave. However, that comes with its own issues.
The walk back to Camden’s house feels like it takes forever. I had to hold back a great deal in how fast I went, and even that wasn't enough. Multiple times, I would turn back to say something to one of my parents or Sandra, only to realize that I had pulled ahead of everybody without realizing it. What's worse, only I had a problem keeping pace with everyone.
Pacore and Tabitha didn’t struggle to remain in the center of our little group. The old man had the benefit of being used to his stats, but I knew Tabitha was like me and was still getting used to her increased Strength, so how come she wasn’t struggling as much as I was? And of course, Pacore found my struggling to slow down hilarious, and he wasn’t the only one.
“Can’t wait, can we?” Pacore laughed openly at my sour expression.
“Sister has never been good at slowing down,” Brother happily joins in, to my dismay.
“Please forgive my daughter, Master Pacore,” Mom adds, bringing her hand to the side of her face, faking embarrassment. “Ever since she was born, she’s been an active child. Always in a hurry to go somewhere…. At least when she’s not refusing to leave the safety of her bed,” Mom giggles to my horror.
“What is this, gang up on Aaliayh day?” I pout in embarrassment. "Sandra, help me," I pleaded to my friend with fake tears in the corner of my eyes.
"Sorry, Aaliyah." Sandra shakes her head as if unable to help, held steady by my brother, who is sporting a shit-eating grin. Maybe if you stayed out of trouble and returned on time, there wouldn't be anything for us to complain about," she smirks knowingly at me.
"Traitors! You're all traitors!" I shouted in mock outrage, while on the inside, I felt a warmth spreading throughout my body. It didn’t matter if Pacore was here to ruin everything; I had missed this deeply. The back-and-forth with my family, everything said in jest without any true venom. This was my family, and I wouldn't change a second of it for all the levels in the world, but all good things must come to an end.
Eventually, we all found ourselves standing in front of the headman’s house, and soon after, we were sitting in his meeting room. I sat in the middle of one couch, nestled between my parents, who refused to sit anywhere else. It was a bit cramped, but in a good way.
Across from me on the other couch sat General Pitz and Pacore. Standing behind them was Tabitha, who had barely said a word up until this point since I took over telling the story for her.
Headman Downs sat to my left in the lounger closest to the door. His wife Sarette was sitting on one of the armrests, leaning against him affectionately, while his two boys stood against the wall behind him.
To my right was Sandra. As the only pregnant woman in the room, it was only fitting that she got the remaining chair. Sadly, she was having trouble getting comfy in her current state. Brother stood beside her, fretting over her, the picture of a dutiful husband, while Master Del did his best to blend into the wall behind them.
Everyone I cared about was in a single room. Despite knowing what was coming, I couldn't help but smile, surrounded by all my loved ones.
“Now,” Pacore grandiosely proclaimed, uncorking his waterskin, making many of the people in the room flinch at the noxious fumes. "I'd like to hear about your adventure—your real adventure," he stresses as he takes a large gulp of his alcohol. “And none of that flowery language you used out there. I want the real story, the good— and the bad," he looks over his shoulder at Tabitha, specifically her heavily scarred left arm.
Looking around the room, Pacore wasn't alone in this sentiment. Even Sandra's brothers, whom I rarely interact with, looked at me like they knew that I had been embellishing our adventure outside. From both sides, my parents each reached over and took one of my hands in solidarity, nodding encouragingly.
“Fine,” I sigh loudly, untensing my shoulders, allowing myself to relax between my parents. And for the second time today, I tell our story. The good. And the bad.
I talk about my struggles fighting my first flying magical beast, which made no sound as it flew and almost injured me badly.
I talk about how we ambushed the goblins from the treetops and how they eventually retreated.
I went over my silly plan to help a single frog and drank its friends’ eggs to gain Poison Resistance.
It wasn’t all bad. I go into greater detail about how magical The Endless Forest really was, all the unique creatures that called it home, and how each day it felt like we encountered something new and interesting.
Pacore was surprised about the Earth Elemental and the hunting party following it, but General Pitz chimed in to say that it wasn’t that surprising and that it was known there were a handful of such elementals that called the forest home.
But things got interesting when I got to the part about reaching the crater at the forest's center.
“I can’t believe you actually went there,” General Pitz said, her eyes massive as she stared at us in wonder.
“Is it really that big of a deal?” I can’t help but ask. Sure, we ran into several strong magical beasts, but it wasn't that hard to get there.
“Yes and no,” Pitz tells the room seriously. “We know what lies at the heart of The Endless Forest. We also know how dangerous it is,” she stresses. "Only people above a certain level can tolerate being in such a high mana environment for any extended period. Then there are the monsters that call it home. You yourself said you saw some of them.”
“The shark,” I nod. Now that I had something to compare it to, it was definitely higher level than Tabitha is now. Not by a lot, mind you, but still.
"And you said you saw the beast that lives in the crater's depths?" General Pitz leans forward with fire in her eyes. “There have been rumors for centuries, but no one has definitely said that they’ve seen it.”
"That depends. Do you consider seeing a single tentacle to be 'seeing it’?” I shrug helplessly. “It was massive, and it grabbed the shark like it was nothing and pulled it into the condensed water mana in a split second. It’s one of the reasons we barely left the rim of the crater,” I tell her.
“Was it dragon class?” Pacore abruptly turns around in his seat and asks Tabitha behind him.
“We believe so.” Tabitha’s answer is brief and to the point without any fluff, but Pacore nods thoughtfully as if that was enough to go on.
"I see," Pacore strokes his beard in thought with a crazed smile. “The world is indeed large,” he laughs happily, as if we were talking about a puppy, not a tentacled monstrosity that could level cities. "I wish I could've seen it with my own eyes," he sighs longingly.
“Well, it’s not going anywhere,” I tell him sassily. “I’ll draw you a map if you want to go for a walk yourself.”
"Trust me, I would love nothing more," Pacore's laugh echoes off the walls, rattling the few paintings hanging there.
“Sadly, I fear I am too old and too busy for such a trip,” Pacore shakes his head sadly, painting himself as an old man. “Please continue,” he urges me with a smile. “I do believe we are getting to the good part." He grins in excitement, but beneath his crazed smile, I sense sadness and a hint of worry, and I think I know who it’s for.
"Yeah, fine," I lean back in my seat, taking a steadying breath before continuing. "We didn't realize it until it was too late, but the winged serpent had some sort of attraction skill,” I sigh again. “We didn’t realize anything was wrong until we were standing close to the center of its clearing, and when we did, it attacked us, pushing us deeper.”
“I see,” Pacore nods solemnly without a trace of his earlier smile. “Those types of skills are profound and quite dangerous. How did you survive?”
From there, I told the room how I sensed the arena buried underneath us and how I dragged Tabitha down there after she had been critically injured. Everyone in the room recoiled as if struck as I described the poison we were hit with and what I had to do in the dark to save us.
I swear, Camden nearly had a heart attack when I mentioned the price of the potions we drank to stay alive, but was quickly distracted by my description of the soul horrors that came out of the walls.
And that is where I paused my story, pretending I needed a drink of water. It was all I could do to buy some time to decide how I wanted to talk about the next part.
No matter what I said, Pacore and everyone else would notice that I was glossing over some essential details in the story.
What was I going to do?
…..
Fuck it, I’ll say what I want to and leave out the rest. And if Pacore doesn’t like it, well, tough luck.
**********
Author’s Notes:
I know this chapter is late, and it's entirely my fault. When I said I'd have this out last Saturday, I didn't realise I would celebrate Mother's Day as much as I did. I thought I'd have time to rush through it, but I spent the entire weekend with both sides of my family. I celebrated two mothers’ days, which was great, but that meant I didn't start on this chapter until Monday.
Sorry again, my bad.
The next chapter will be from Pacore's point of view, and while it will start off with some more recap, it'll get more interesting as the chapter progresses. I hope you all look forward to it in the next few days.
Thanks for reading, and as always, stay safe and comment below.