Fantasy Chronicles of Cre' Est

[Mothman]

it was the first night she had slept in her finished shelter, and while it was nothing all that fancy or impressive in terms of its craftsmanship, it would suffice for her. While it was mostly just slightly reinforced wood, with a roof that she wasn't 100% confident in and would have to see if it survived a storm, she had poured enough effort into it that she felt pretty good about it. Sleeping in it didn't feel any different than taking refuge in a tree branch, or sleeping in an abandoned cavern, but she supposed it nice to have the extra sort of safety around her.

She had expected her training with Shadow to resume now that her structure was done, but upon finding not a trace of the man around either her or his cabin, she remembered that the man had mentioned needing to leave for a week or so. The map he left her with only posed more questions, and made her wish she had at least some form of direction to go with it as to it's purpose, or what he expected of her... It took her a moment to put together exactly where she was on the map, but the small body of water and how close it was to the mountains left her no doubt.

"...Wouldn't kill him to stop being so vague." Letting out a short sigh, she turned the map around to simply make sure there was no message from Shadow or anything of the sort, before deciding she would head for the closest X on the map a bit to the west. After grabbing the few things she would potentially need, her knife, a full flask, and a small bag that she kept a few other self-made tools in along with some fruits and berries she knew weren't poisonous from years of eating them on the road, she set out while she still had plenty of daylight to work with.

Her first goal was finding the large almost horseshoe shaped lake. It seemed to be far bigger than the fairly small one that wasn't too far from her shelter, and had been her source of water for the past while. Hard to miss, hopefully... While she kept her knife out as she walked, both to cut through foliage in her way, as well as for those 'just in case' situations, she really wasn't all that worried about animals around. Sure, there were bears, wolves, and other sorts of animals that could cause her trouble, but she was confident enough in her skills to be able to avoid those sorts of situations.

GojiBean​

 

[Mothman]

It took a fair bit of walking, but she wasn't in too much of a rush, all the same. She kept an ear out for surrounding sounds, not entirely sure as to what sort of dangerous creatures might live around in the woods. When she traveled, she tried to do it during the day whenever possible, and when camping out in the forests, she would do a quick scouting around wherever she planned to sleep for the night. Generally sleeping up on large tree branches if she could find one suitable, it didn't matter all that much regardless. She had a time or two in the past where she had been stirred awake by a stray squirrel or owl, only to wake up and fear that there was some sort of threat and nearly throw herself from whatever tree she was on. The only time she had ever had real trouble was when a pair of bandits stumbled upon her and very loudly discussed if she was worth the effort to rob. She wondered if their corpses were found before the wolves got to them, so they could be recognized... Not that anyone would likely care either way, if they were just lowly bandits.

Before the sun was even halfway across the sky above, she had found the horseshoe shaped lake on the map, and just to be safe, grabbed a few sticks to lay out in an arrow like pattern to make sure she had her sense of direction correct when she returned back to her shelter. While setting up the shelter in the past week, she had taken the time to set up a few almost totem like structures of wood, simply to clue into her that she was close if she were to get disoriented in the dark. Now faced with the issue of finding the X on the map, and to figure out just what the hell it was signaling. What would Shadow leave her to search for in his absence...? She had planned to simply train her hardest, and perhaps attempt a climb up the mountain with the weather less stormy, but assumed that whatever this map was for was likely important.

Taking a short breather beside the side of the lake to snack on a few berries and take in the scenery of the lake, she eventually decided she would get this little adventure over. If she found it necessary, she would make for the second X today as well, but more than likely would leave it for tomorrow. Slinging her bag back over her shoulder, she pulled out the map Shadow had left her and eyed it a bit longer, unsure if she would have to do some mountain climbing to find whatever it was she was looking for. While the X's center didn't touch the mountains, she wasn't a hundred percent sure that meant it would be on the forest floor. Knowing Shadow, though, it was more than likely he had put the map together with enough precision.

A bit more walking, and she started getting to the point where the trees met stone, and the dirt faded into the mountainside. "Trailing killers, climbing mountains... Now a damned treasure hunt." She decided to go a quick walk of the general area, and if she didn't find anything, start digging in any areas of grass that looked recently disturbed. No grassless patches or tossed dirt stuck out to her immediately, but she supposed she might run into some if she were to hunt around long enough.

Sure enough, what she was looking for was obvious enough, that after a double take towards an oddly shaped boulder, she had a pretty good guess as to what she was looking for. For a moment, she considered that maybe she was near some sort of hut or shack for a hunter or something of the sort, and the stone was some sort of work station or even just a chair to sit by a fire for. With no fireplace or signs of human life anywhere nearby though, she doubted that was the case. And, with a closer look at the stone, she noticed a small part of it that look like it might be able to be pried out. There had to have been something inside; Shadow wouldn't make her come all this way just to see a boulder and go home.

An attempt at removing the stone with her fingers alone, as dexterous as she was, proved ineffective. Even her fingers weren't that thin. With a small breath, she flicked one of her thinner throwing knives out from her belt, hoping to get it wedged in there enough to prop the stone up even a little. It proved just as unsuccessful, though was definitely on the right track. Part of her worried the stone would be enough to snap or bend the throwing knives, but left with no other option, she sheathed the smaller knife and went for her one she used for close combat situations. It was one that she would prefer not to get damaged, but knew that it was this or throwing more useless ideas at the wall.

Raising the knife up and stabbing it down into the small bit of space, she got it dug in and immediately pushed forward with hopes of getting the stone to lift enough for her to get even just three or four fingers under it and get it hoisted the rest of the way. With a bit more force than she would have liked, she did manage to get the stone up enough to quickly slide her hand under it, and with a small grunt, got the stone lid of sorts lifted up. Sure enough, using the knife in such a way did have it a bit bent, but upon looking down to see just what was inside of it, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Convenient." Smirking and putting the now bent dagger into her bag, she picked up the orichalcum dagger and turned it in her hand. The metal was beautiful, and it was something she had never really seen in her life. A bit heavy, sure, but nothing that some practice couldn't get her adapted to. It wasn't as bad as Shadow's massive knives he had shown her before, at least. "...Almost poetic, especially from someone like him." She saw the knife as an almost touching thing for him to bequeath to her, especially after how similar she had found them to be. While she was curious where the man even got his hands on something like this (she wasn't familiar enough to know where one would or wouldn't get orichalcum), she knew that if she asked, Shadow wouldn't answer.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

The day had been quite the long one, but productive.

Around noon, Linde received her first Gweynuran herbal shipment in over three months due in part to the famine, and in part to the rogue bandits and thief dens between Gweynura and the Central Pass. But this couldn't have come at a better time as the clinic had been rapidly running out of the ingredients needed for some of Linde's more highly sought after (and expensive) brews. As well, her personal stash for the clinic-only supply closet had run low as well. In fact they'd run out of C'e Tua Paste entirely about three days ago. So this was a much-needed relief.

By around three in the afternoon, the clinic received a rather large influx of Royal Guards who needed treatment... But with Shadow and Whimsey out of the Capital, what could have done this to such highly trained guards? She tried to get whatever information she could out of them, but they were bound to silence and apologized for not being able to provide her with more than "we were attacked."

It was frustrating to say the least. Linde's inner demons were beginning to push at the back of her mind.

Find whoever did this, and make them pay...

She couldn't give in to such thoughts. She'd swore an oath to do no harm, and she wasn't about to break it just because a mysterious threat had appeared. And in all likelihood, it was Te'i Sai. Given that they were becoming more active it would be no surprise if this happened again within the next few days. Either they were hunting Shadow, or they were here for another reason. But what other reasons could they possibly have?

She had no answers.

By the time the sun began to set the Clinic had quieted down. No new customers had come in since before the Royal Guards, and it didn't seem anyone was really out and about outside as the streets beyond the windows were empty. Rather unusual. But Linde had also heard talk of a curfew which was recently enforced upon the city for the interest of public safety. And if whatever did this to the Royal Guards was still lurking around, a curfew wouldn't be a bad idea.

Linde sat in her office staring at something on her desk between her hands. It was a piece of cloth from one of the Royal Guards. She'd managed to snip it and save it after tending to his wounds while he was distracted with answering some of Jessica's questions. And the fabric told a story, though admittedly Linde had trouble deciphering it.

"Who are you?"

The cloth could not speak. But the way the fabric was torn suggested that the cause of the wound was not a blade. It was far too rough. But what else could do this? Someone tearing it with bare hands? Certainly a blunt weapon couldn't tear fabric like this, right? A mace? No. There would be holes or at least some other tell that a spiked weapon was responsible.

She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"I hate to admit it, but this is where I could really use your help big guy."

She looked calmly out the window and heaved a sigh through her nose.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

The Apothecary had been nowhere near as busy as Linde had, what with the patients she received from the guard. When the shipments of medical herbs arrived, there was much to be done. He was happy to help out with unpacking the shipments and such, though most of the actual brewing in such fell to those with more experience in doing so. The astonishing amount of wounded men that came in later in the day caught him off guard, and had him just as curious as Linde in regards to what the hell had happened to them, but he couldn't just step away from his station and bother Linde while she had so much to do.

Though, when the sun was near set and there was far less to do, Maretu excused himself to Karly before headed to Linde's office, giving the door a rhythmic knock and stepping inside. "Doctor Almna, I wanted to just touch base with you before I left for the evening..." Shutting the door behind him, he noticed her eyeing a piece of the cloth that he assumed came from one of the patients from earlier that day. Though, he didn't come in in time to catch any of Linde's mumbling to herself.

"I'm guessing this isn't normal? That many wounded soldiers coming in? Even with the lockdown going on, it's ridiculous." His eyes moved to the cloth in her hands again. "Something particularly odd about that cloth, Doctor Almna?" He sat down with curiosity plastered on his face, wondering just what was going through Linde's head right now. His first hunch was Te'i Sai, but something told him there might be a little more to it than that.

"If the townsfolk hear about it, they'll likely run about screaming that the Red-Eyed Demon is behind all of it." Shrugging, he leaned forward as he thought a bit more on it to himself. "They haven't attacked you again yet, have they? This aside, things seem to have been at least relatively quiet."

GojiBean

​

 

[GojiBean]

Linde stared at the cloth the entire time Maretu had been talking to her, and only looked up at him when he mentioned the Red-Eyed Demon. She glanced to the door, back to Maretu, and stood up from her seat. Walking around the table, she went to the door and quietly locked it.

Keeping her back to Maretu, she whispered over her shoulder.

"This late in the evening, when the clinic has no customers to help muffle our words... I trust you not to speak of him, or them, from now on should we find ourselves in similar circumstances."

Turning around, she walked back to her seat and looked up at him rather grimly.

"Even if we speak quietly, those walls and that door aren't sound proof. It would only take one of the girls overhearing us for things to get out of hand in a hurry." She warned.

She took a deep breath and sighed.

"But to answer your questions, no. They haven't attacked me since last I saw them. However..." She glanced to the side briefly. "Never mind." She picked up the cloth and tossed it to the end of the table nearest Maretu so he could look at it. "That cloth was torn by some kind of blunt force. There are no clean cuts in the fabric that would suggest a blade. He taught me to look for that. But I can't figure out what did this. What's blunt but could tear the fabric?"

She huffed through her nose in frustration.

"You were a Knight, right? Maybe you can see what I can't? Did someone tear that with their bare hands? Or a blunted mace or something? I have to confess that analyzing such things is a bit out of my area unless there are clear blade signs. Can you make anything of it?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

As Linde chided him for speaking about things here, he nodded and immediately realized he was being a bit careless in asking so here in the clinic, with the others still around. "My mistake..." Clearing his throat, he watched her walk back to her desk before she mentioned she hadn't been attacked just yet. "Wonderful news, at the very least."

When Linde tossed the cloth over towards him, he took it off the corner of the table before turning it over in his hands for a moment as he listened to Linde speak. Clicking his lips for a moment, he let out a small sigh and looked up to Linde. "It's been a while, but yeah... They taught me a fair bit about things like this. It's certainly... Enigmatic, to say the least." While he wished he could have seen the rest of the man's clothes to validate his theory, he at the very least had a guess.

Standing up and holding the cloth to his stomach, he paused for a short moment as he thought on how it could have potentially been ripped in such a way. "I dunno... I don't want to say I'm certain on this, but my guess would be it's just from something blunt." Moving his arm as if it were to be a club, he brushed it past the fabric. "It'd have to be one hell of a swing to rip fabric like this, but it must have been. Either that, or maybe the handle of a weapon being tugged real quickly, if he was in a close quarters struggle." Setting the cloth on the table and sitting back down, he put a hand to his chin. "But I really... Can't be sure." Scratching at his neck, he was just as stumped as Linde was. Even if he was right, it left them with the big question of what the hell could have happened to wound so many knights and leave rips like that...

"Was there a wound under this section of the cloth? A bruise, maybe?"

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Linde stared at the cloth before glancing up to Maretu.

"There were two long, but shallow scratches beneath this cloth. Not really enough to draw more than a few drops of blood. But still... I don't know what kind of weapon could have torn the cloth like this and still had the capacity to cause those scratches. If it was truly pure blunt force, it would sooner cause bruising than scratches like that. That is, of course, unless the scratches happened after the fact, do you think?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"Jeez... That's a real head-scratcher..." Bringing his hand up to his hair and coming through it, he tried to think it over a bit harder. If he had been there looking at the man, and had a view of the entire picture, maybe he'd come up with something more solid. But with the current circumstances, he just couldn't be sure about much of anything...

"I suppose them happening after the fact is most certain possible... I can't see why that would happen, though." Clicking his lips, he let out a short breath a moment later. "But I'm really just not sure... You seem really hung up on this. Do you think there's something important that we're missing here? I bet he would take one look at this and call us dumb for not figuring it out quick enough."

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Linde chuckled.

"Speaking isn't really his strong suit. But you're not wrong that he'd look at us as if we were dumb for not figuring it out."

She picked up the cloth and sighed as she held it flat in her palm.

"I guess it's nothing, though. Nothing I'm coming up with makes any sense... Maybe I'm just tired and over-analyzing things?" She muttered.

Putting the cloth down she leaned her head back and took a deep breath.

"Sorry to trouble you with that." She said quietly as she lowered her head to a neutral position. "The Royal Guards are the most highly trained warriors in our nation. Even he wouldn't mess with them in a group if he could avoid it. One on one? That's another story. But they never travel alone. So the idea that someone, group or otherwise, could do this kind of damage to them has me really worried. Because the question on my mind now is... Why stop here? Why just beat the guards and leave them to be healed? Is it to make a point? And if so, who to?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose while heaving a sigh through it.

"I think I need to head home now. My brain's all con fuddled by all this."

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"...I wish I could answer even a single one of those questions, Doctor Almna. It concerns me, as well..." While he didn't want to think too hard on the topic, he had a bad feeling he would lose some sleep over this issue. Whether it was related to Te'i Sai or not, it was one hundred percent bad news. "Perhaps it's best we sleep on it. If it's something to fuss over, we'll get more information on it sooner or later. Plus, he's going to be back in the area sooner or later, right?" Tilting his head out of a slight bit of uncertainy, unsure of just what Shadow was up to right now. All he knew was that he hadn't seen or heard anything from the man in the past while.

Standing up, he reached his hand up and rubbed at his neck, hoping that whatever was happening could be something they could get to the bottom of soon enough. "I should be going then, Doctor Almna. Apologies for bothering you this late in the evening." Bowing to the woman, he turned back to the door and placed his hand on the handle. "I look forward to another, hopefully less hectic, day with you tomorrow." With that, he opened the door and walked out.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Linde nodded with a soft sigh.

"Goodnight, mister Arjun." She whispered as he walked out of the room.

Turning in her chair and gazing out the window, the words rang through her mind over and over again.

He's on the move now. And he knows where you are... He's on the move now. And he knows where you are... He's on the move now. And he knows where you are...

She slowly stood up and walked to the window, parting the partially see-through curtains as she looked up at the moonlit sky.

"Rosche." She mumbled.

Her fists clenched at her sides, and her brows slowly furrowed.

"Come and get me you bastard... But leave my Clinic, and my people out of this." She growled under her breath.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Whimsey hopped down from the rock and went back over to the lake to get her bearings, tossing the new knife from one hand to the other as she walked. She was like a kid with a new toy, eager to be holding such a weapon in her hand... Especially with how touching it was from Shadow, of all people. She never would have thought that Shadow was so serious about this whole thing, to bequeath a weapon like that to her... Sure, she'd no idea where Shadow got the orichalcum for the knives, and wasn't aware he was skilled in forging either. Though, it was Shadow she was thinking about, so the idea of him being skilled in such a craft wasn't all that surprising to her.

It was barely midday, and a look at her map made it seem like the second X wasn't too horribly far... The circle up to the north would likely have to wait until tomorrow, but she didn't see the harm in trekking up to the second one for today. Her decision being made, she started making her walk up to the northeast. While she was pretty sure that if she kept a decent pace up she could get to the X and back to her shelter before the sun had fully set. It was a much farther walk than the one she had just concluded, but it didn't bother her too much. Not wanting to dwell on it, she checked for any sort of landmark or such that might help her find whatever Shadow wanted her to find there as well. There was no body of water or anything super distinct to look for, but it seemed that the X was just north of a decently large clearing, so that would be her aim. At the very least, she could just walk down the mountainside to make it back to her shelter.

Partway through the walk, about halfway to the second X give or take, movement in the trees nearby that sounded like a lot more than a stray squirrel or fox had her quickly moving to take shelter behind a thicker tree. It didn't sound human; far larger and sluggish than any one man. Peeking her head around the tree to try and get a glance at just what was making the sound, her grip on her knife tightened before she realized what she was looking at. While she was far from knowledgeable in animal breeds and species, not knowing just exactly what she was looking at, any idiot could figure out that it was a massive bear that she most certainly didn't want to screw with. If there was one, there was likely more in the area... Part of her considered trying to move by the treetops, but if she made even one false move up there, she'd be a dead woman. If these beasts were smart enough to shake trees or anything of the sort to get prey out of it, that would immediately put her in a bad spot.

Letting out a small grumble at how much of a pain in the butt this would be if the northern parts of the valley was inhabited by creatures like this, she immediately knew she had to get this trip done sooner rather than later. Seeing these bears would be next to impossible in the dark; she'd be relying fully on her ears. Clicking her lips, she took one more glance around the tree, before heading off in another direction, hoping to give the bear enough space that she could get around it and stay on course. Fighting one of them wouldn't end well for her, for certain, and while it was possible for her to escape one, it'd be risky.

Thankfully, she didn't run into any problems with the bears, and while she did end up hearing another pair of them on her way to the clearing, giving them a wide amount of space and making sure she wasn't seen by them proved effective enough in avoiding them. It definitely wasn't the first time she'd had to dodge aggressive wildlife; though these bears won the award for the biggest thing she'd ever had to deal with. When she finally found the clearing that was said to be near the X, she first peeked around from behind a tree to make sure she didn't see or hear any wildlife. Sure enough, the coast seemed clear, so she stepped into the clearing, a stone very similar to the one she had grabbed the knife from before right at the edge of it.

Once she was halfway into the clearing, a sound from her right made her jump a bit, immediately tightening the grip on her knife and looking towards it. A small chuckle at her own paranoia escaped her as a small rabbit walked into the clearing, seeing Whimsey and freezing up as well. "Don't mind me, little guy." Lowering the knife and laughing at herself once again, she was about to leave the rabbit be and keep making her way through the clearing, but yet another sound reached her ears from the treeline.

A group of four wolves made their presences known as the pack leader darted from the trees and had the rabbit seized in it's jaws in a split second, devouring the animal in seconds. Not wanting to risk anything, she quickly pulled one of her throwing knives from her belt and hurled it at one of the wolves as she decided that making her exit was the best choice, scolding herself for putting herself out in the open like this. The stone could wait for when she lost the wolves. Her aim had improved over her time training with Shadow, as the knife she chucked flew forward and dug into the side of one of the wolves. It bought her a brief second as the other wolves looked to their injured companion, but that was all it took for them to charge the woman, who was a little more than halfway to the treeline, where she hoped to climb up into a tree and wait for the wolves to lose interest.

Though, the wolves were a lot faster than Whimsey was ready to deal with, so one of them was upon her before she could get up into a tree. It lunged at her, biting into her stomach, but Whimsey was quick enough to jab her knife into it's neck before it could do any real damage. It was a nasty wound for sure, but nothing she couldn't patch up when she had a second. Kicking the now bleeding wolf away, she turned and continued to make her way for the tree, managing to make it to the treeline before hopping up on the flat stone and grabbing onto a branch to hoist herself up. A tinge of pain shot through her torso as she strained her stomach wound getting up, but she managed to get up all the same. It took longer than she would have liked, but eventually the wolves lost interest in howling up at her after five or ten minutes or so.

A small exhale of relief escaped her as she watched them leave; and she gave them another minute or two to go away fully. While she was up in the tree, she pulled up her shirt to get a look at the wound, glad to see that it wasn't too terrible. She sighed as she dug around in her bag for the scarce amount of medical supplies she had with her, and had to settle with simply wrapping the wound for the time being. Stitching the injury would have to wait until she got back to the shelter, but as long as she didn't get into more trouble, it would probably be fine.

Hopping down from the tree and back onto the stone, she inspected the top and wasn't that surprised to see that it was a similar lid to the last one. A small smirk crept onto her lips as she raised the orichalcum dagger in her hand and drove it into the small bit of space between the lid and the stone, and unlike with her last night, she was able to crack the top open with ease this time. Pulling the small wooden box as well as the piece of parchment within it out of the stone, she opened the parchment and immediately tilted her head to the side. The symbols didn't immediately mean anything to her, and she quickly realized that figuring out how to open this box was likely best left for after she took care of her wound and got home. Tucking both objects into her bag and hopping off the stone, moving to the side of the mountain range and following it south back to her shelter.

Sure enough, she managed to get back before sunset, and without any more issue presented by animals or the weather. Stepping inside, she let out a long exhale as she let herself fall into her bed. She'd still have to make even a longer walk up to the circle tomorrow... "Ugh." Mumbling to herself out of frustration, she pulled her bag off of her shoulder and tossed it onto the small desk she had made and put in the corner. Once she'd more properly cleaned her wound out and taken care of it, she turned her attention back to the parchment and the locked box with it.

Admittedly, it took Whimsey a lot longer to link the symbols on the box to the circled ones on the parchment than she would have liked to admit. Puzzle solving and that form of critical thinking weren't her strong suit, to say the very least. But sure enough, she eventually rotated the lock properly and heard the sharp click of the lock opening, she wanted to kick herself for having taken so long on it.

Taking the new pieces of parchment out, she moved over to her bed and sat at the edge of it, beginning to read through them.

Shadow hadn't been one for theatrics. What Whimsey was reading sounded like something more out of a fictional tale than anything else, but she knew as well as anyone that Shadow wasn't the type to joke about anything. As much as none of the connections of Cultists, Gods, and Demons made any sort of sense to her, she couldn't help but believe what she was reading to be true. That just left more questions than it gave answers, at least to her... What did that make Shadow? A demon, found and trained by Te'i Sai to serve humanity? The very meat of the issue made her head hurt, and she wished the bastard was there right now to make things make at least a little sense.

But then it hit her that Shadow might not even know what he really was, either. If he was found as an infant, and was... Granted his power, for lack of a more proper phrase, by some sort of shadowy being, did that mean he was still technically human? Was there something special about the man, or did these cultists just need a child for this obscene ritual? She must have reread the pages at least a dozen times over the process of the evening, between getting some food in her system and trying to get herself to fall asleep, trying to find what she was missing in the parchment. Why give these to her? It didn't make sense to her. Shadow was full of surprises, sure, and she was touched by the gesture of the knife, but would never have expected the man to trust her with information like this. It... Did sort of answer why his eyes glowed the way they did, a question that the man had previously avoided, she supposed.

"Damned Te'i Sai bastards... No wonder he killed that Grandmaster..." Muttering her thoughts aloud as she decided that reading the same papers over and over looking for information would only give her a headache, tucked the papers back in the box and moved back to her bed. While she stayed up to fight with her thoughts on the situation of her mentor being some sort of demonic creature for longer than she would have liked, she eventually fell into slumber.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

While Whimsey had been moving through the forest searching for the gift and the information he'd left behind, Shadow was high above in the mountains wearing a thick fur outfit and hugging it tightly to his chest against the high winds. It wasn't snowing, thankfully. But the frigid air stung his face as badly as any blade stung his flesh whenever it sliced into him.

He stood silently for several minutes before another figure wearing a similar outfit arrived, stopping about five paces away before sharing a mutual nod of the head with Shadow.

"I bring news!" He called over the winds.

"Speak!" Shadow replied.

"Master Ven managed to misdirect Rosche away from Valkyom! She's safe for now!"

"Good! What else?"

"We know he's traveling with at least four others! One of them is Kukeim!"

Shadow snarled.

"Lastly-" The visitor had to pause a moment as a powerful gust nearly blew him off his feet while Shadow braced himself against it, remaining tall and poised.

"Ugh... Lastly! We know Rosche got ahold of an orichalcum weapon! The Sword of the Ancients!"

Shadow's mouth curled into a toothy growl as steam billowed forth through his teeth.

"That's all! I need to get back!"

The two shared another nod as the visitor began descending the mountain down another path. Shadow, meanwhile, began a descent of his own in the opposite direction. It was time to return to Whimsey...

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

The next morning, she sat once again and read through the parchment, trying to form a proper opinion of the information she was soaking in. It troubled her, to be sure, that her mentor had some sort of... Potentially demonic power inside of him. It certainly explained a ton, though, and she didn't think less of the man in the slightest... Eventually, she forced those thoughts out of her mind, returning the papers to their box once again, before setting out to hunt some breakfast and take her mind off of the matter.

While she wasn't sure when Shadow was returning, she was more than confident that the man would return for her eventually. And so, she found herself spending the better half of her day training. It was hard for her to work herself just as hard as Shadow did, but she still worked up quite a sweat. Thanks to Shadow's training, even she was noticing the payoff of it all. It'd barely been two weeks yet, but she felt far more agile and sturdy than she did before. Her confidence hadn't reached the level of thinking she could stand up to a Te'i Sai agent yet, but she was getting there.

The coming weather made her a bit nervous. Her shelter had been together for a few days already, but had yet to endure an actual storm. With the grey clouds overhead, she worried that might change tonight. And, seeing as she had a bit of time on her hands, she spent the back half of her evening reinforcing what she could with what she could gather. It still wasn't perfect, but she was at least confident in it holding out for the night. There would likely be a few cracks for her to discover come morning, but then she would know where to be focusing her attentions, at the very least.

With her dinner not taking long to hunt, cook, and chow down on, she was ready to sleep after a fairly simple day. No weird maps from Shadow leading her to groundbreaking information about him, no climbing up muddy cliffsides... Just some training and shelter fixing. It was... Nice, to not be worrying about Ernest or her targets, and it was a feeling she hadn't really realized she was happy to be rid of until she was thinking about it while falling asleep.

---

Whimsey awoke to a particularly unlucky hole in her roof dripping water directly onto her forehead. It was earlier than she would have liked, but the issue would have to get fixed before she could sleep, and by the time she had it taken care of, her body would probably be awake enough that sleep wouldn't come easy. Sitting up with a grumble, she stepped outside and took a quick walk around her shelter to gauge for any damages. Aside from a few tiny holes in the roof, she had gotten off pretty lucky.

"Ugh, it had to happen right there...?" Wiping the water from her forehead, she rolled her eyes and set to fixing the issue, taking extra efforts around the area just above where she slept to make sure a similar situation wouldn't present itself in the future.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Descending the mountain was an arduous task, even for Shadow. With the caps encased in snow, his usual tactic of sliding down the slippery surfaces and using his daggers to slow his descent down sheer faces was no longer viable. The snow compromised too much of his depth perception and the integrity of the cliffs and paths. So he had to get down the old fashioned way. However, once he cleared the snow layer by early next morning, the rest of the descent was classic Shadow. And by mid-morning, around 10am, he'd touched down on the valley floor.

The forest went quiet, and out of the corner of his left eye he caught a glimpse of a tuft of fur disappearing into the brush. A tail. A big one too. Hearing the sounds of growling and snarling, he spotted a pack of Vei Wolves stalking through the trees and beginning to encircle him. Shadow drew both daggers, and his eyes began to illuminate more intensely as he scraped his foot against the ground and growled audibly with teeth bared.

The Alpha stepped out of the trees scraping its claws against the grass as it walked. Teeth bared. Nose curled. Tongue hanging. And eyes dilated glaring a hole right into Shadow's forehead.

The two stared each other down, and as the Alpha inched forward the others began inching forward breaking the tree line into the open. Shadow's daggers came up halfway, one to either side, and flipped in his grip to flash light off the blades into the Alpha's eyes. It flinched, and in that moment Shadow charged with a primal scream while jumping into the air with eyes now flashing as maximum intensity. The Alpha jumped backwards as Shadow slammed his daggers into the ground, ripping them free and standing to full height with the daggers brandished above his head and a vicious snarl of his own on display.

The Alpha ducked its head and cowered back towards the trees, and the others did the same before they all disappeared into the tree line.

... Slowly, the sounds of the forest returned to his ears as the Vei Wolves vanished into the forest. Sheathing his daggers and taking a breath, his eyes returned to their normal intensity as he walked into the woods.

----------------------------------------------------​

About an hour later, he came upon Whimsey's shelter as she was in the middle of trying to fix and upgrade it.

"Did you find everything?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Maybe she just hadn't been paying enough attention, but Shadow's voice ringing out behind her snapped her out of whatever train of thought he was stuck in and made her jump a bit. A hand pulled her new dagger, now tucked in her belt in place of her old one, out for a brief second, before processing it was Shadow. The slight shock quickly passed as she let out a small chuckle at her own paranoia and tucked the dagger back away.

"...Jeez, it's just you." Moving a hand up to the back of her head, she scratched at her head before answering the question. "...Uh, yeah. Didn't know if you'd wanna talk about it..." Setting the pieces of wood she had been planning to secure up on the roof for extra support down, she leaned against the wall and let out a short huff.

"All that's true? About... Your mother, and what happened to you?" While it wasn't like she didn't believe the man, she was more in disbelief to the entire situation. Cultists, a demon...? It was a lot to take in. "...Not that I don't believe you, I just... Never believed in supernatural stuff like that."

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow simply stared at her as she asked her questions and made her comments.

"Nobody believes the unbelievable until it happens to them." He said calmly as he walked over to get a better look at her shelter.

He remained silent as he walked a full circle around it to appraise its construction.

"It's not terrible." He remarked flatly, stopping at right about the same spot he started his appraisal.

"Did you encounter any issues along the way?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Whimsey rolled her eyes as Shadow dodged the question of it being true. Though, she supposed she had no real reason to doubt the man... A story that fanciful wouldn't have any real point in sharing if it wasn't real. With a shrug, she followed Shadow as he took his short walk around the shelter. His backhanded compliment did make her feel a bit better about the structure, knowing that even half-praises like this were rare from Shadow.

"Awe, how sweet." Making fun of his response, she leaned against one of the supports of her small home and crossed her arms.

She moved a hand down to raise her shirt and show Shadow the wound she got from one of the wolves from yesterday. She had taken care of it, disinfecting and stitching it up. The work on it wasn't top notch, and was clearly far from efficiently done, Whimsey seemed satisfied with it. "Saw some bears. Only thing that actually saw me were some wolves. One of 'em got me by those letters you left for me."

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow turned his head to look at her over his shoulder after scanning the environment.

"Vei Wolves. One of the apex predators of this valley and surrounding area beyond."

He returned to scanning the environment.

"How big were the bears?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"Gotcha." She made a mental note of the name, not having heard it before in her life. Her eyes stayed on Shadow as he looked around, unsure of just what the man was looking for.

"The bears? God, they were massive... Ten feet tall, probably. Not the brightest, from what it seemed." Shrugging at the thought, she was grateful to not have been attacked by the animals. A proper run in with the beasts and she wouldn't have stood a chance.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

"An adolescent." He said flatly, seemingly staring at one particular point in the trees before continuing his scan.

"Don't underestimate Gil Bears, Whimsey. Even with poor eyesight, they can smell prey for miles in any direction. They knew you were there. They were either full, or chose not to pursue due to being unfamiliar with your scent. Despite their size, they're cautious creatures."

Finally, he turned his back on the forest and looked at her.

"You're here. So it's time to begin your training proper. Join me at sundown at the valley entrance. Until then, hunt yourself a filling meal and get yourself hydrated. The first few days we spent together were to discover your limits... So we could break them here."

He turned on his heel and began walking away, turning his head slightly to say over his shoulder... "I'll be waiting for you."

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Damn, he was smart. Even with her years of traveling, she didn't have even close to half as much knowledge about the world as Shadow did. It was admirable, to say the least, just how wise the man was. "...Yeesh. Guess I'm a lucky woman." Pushing off from the corner of the building, she kept her gaze on Shadow, but occasionally looked over towards the forest as well, trying to figure out just what he was looking for.

As he turned around, she raised an eyebrow in confusion. "...Been here, yeah." His next words worried her slightly. If all of this so far had been just the tip of the iceberg, she feared just what Shadow had in mind for her tonight. Either way, she'd come this far, and didn't plan to throw in the white flag now. "Yessir." Watching him walk off, she scoffed and tucked a hand into her pocket. No point in wasting time, she thought.

Over the time she had between then and a bit before sundown so she could make her way to the entrance of the valley (being very grateful for the map Shadow had left her serving a second purpose for her), and did just as the man said. A large meal fit for at least two or three people, which she made most of her way through and felt at the top of her game afterwards, before drinking as much as her body saw necessary, and bringing her flask with her as she started her walk up to the valley entrance. Of course, she brought her knives and the new dagger as she always would, and her tools, but aside from that, left her few other objects, such as the papers about Shadow, back at her her cabin. Though, she did tuck the list of symbols into the bag with her tools, curious to look over them again and ask Shadow what they all were.

Thankfully, her walk to the entrance of the valley didn't seem too troublesome for her. When she arrived at the way through the mountains, she called out for Shadow, assuming the man was lurking around somewhere he wouldn't be seen, just in case.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

"Glad to see you're here on time." He said.

Shadow was seated on a tree branch near the entrance, dressed in his usual all-black attire. Given the lower light of the fading sun beyond the valley, he'd been almost impossible to spot since his eyes were closed until he heard her call to him. Dropping down from the branch and landing hard with a "THUD," he stood up and let out a breath.

"Before we destroy and rebuild your body, I will say that your limits during our first sessions were impressive for one of your frame and with so little training going in. However, you've a long way to go before you're ready to face the world and the threat of Te'i Sai without help. By the time you leave this valley, that won't be the case anymore."

Shadow then abruptly lunged forward putting his face directly in front of hers with eyes wide, pupils dilated, and his eyes flashing brightly with a snarl on his face.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Listening to Shadow speak, she took the compliment at face value, hiding a small smirk under the guise of stretching her arms above her head and letting out a yawn. Though, by the time she was lowering her arms back down, Shadow had finished speaking and was lunging straight at her, barely giving her half a second to lean backwards and try and process just what the hell he was doing.

Despite the situation, she didn't want to swing at Shadow, despite knowing well enough that there was no way Whimsey could beat the man in a real fight even if she wanted to. While she did unsheathe her dagger and make as much distance as she could with her short time to react. "The hell are you doing!?" Wanting at least some sort of explanation on the sudden aggression, she kept a firm grip on the orichalcum dagger while moving another hand to her belt, letting it hover near her throwing knives.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow slowly stood straight with a short, satisfied nod.

"I told you before that true self defense starts in the mind. So here's your next lesson: A mind that's not prepared to act is a mind wasted."

He gestured to the dagger he'd given her.

"Clearly your mind isn't wasted, which makes both our lives a lot easier. Had you failed to respond to my lunge, your training would have taken much, much longer."

He took a moment to look up at the first glimpse of the moon poking its head up from behind the mountains on the Eastern side of the valley, visible above the tree line.

"As it stands, we have exactly one month of training ahead." He said as he looked back to her. "And it's going to be a long, long month, Whimsey. So I don't want to hear any of your typical complaints about the way I speak or act towards you. So long as we're training, I'm your teacher. Nothing more. Nothing less. And from this moment on if anything you have to say wastes our time, you will be punished... Do I make myself clear?"

Mothman