Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 035 - Part 1

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The Tree of Dreams

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TheirWorld

“How far till we get to the Dragon King?” Dawl asked as they walked through the forest.

Guin checked her map and waved her hand in a north east direction. “Not long now,” she told him. “Should be about five or ten minutes that way, barring any enemies.”

Dawl grunted, and went off scouting ahead of them.

Working together, the trio had accomplished three of the goals given to them by the fox spirit pretty easily. They had disarmed every trap that they had found along the way - which ended up being far more than the required twenty - and Guin’s bag was not full of logs and flowers.

In doing the tasks for the two quests, she had accomplish quite a bit, character-wise. With all the traps and the trek through the forest with her knowledgeable escorts, she had been able to increase her [Herbalism] and [Engineering] skills quite quickly.

Under Dawl’s tutelage, she had managed to not only increase her [Cryptozoology] skills as he taught her more about the creatures of the woods, but she was also gained the very valuable [Survival] skill as he gave her some tips and tricks to living out in the wild. Seeming to find her curiosity endearing, he also gave her a bow and some arrows, teaching her the [Archery Specialization] and a basic arrow ability.

Meanwhile, Jormund seemed focused on his mission at best, and distracted by his own guilt at worst. Guin tried talking to him, but he would usually just smile and give a one word answer. Dawl got fed up with him before she did, and gave him a comical and self-deprecating talking-to which ended up with Jormund making more of an effort to interact with them, even if he ended up looking even more guilty.

As they walked, Guin eyed Jormund. “... Are you alright?” she asked.

“... I don’t know,” he said with some difficulty. “I feel as if I am a liar. A fake. No matter what I do, I am always pretending to be something I am not.”

“What is it that you want to be?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “A person, I suppose. One who can live without being afraid he’ll be executed tomorrow for being discovered that he’s in the wrong place. One who… who can live without the feeling they have betrayed everyone they have ever loved. One who could face the Dragon King with a confident heart, rather than a trembling one…”

Guin had no answer for him. She could see the gears in his head twisting and turning. She wished she could offer him advice, yet she had to admit that it simply wasn’t her place. His wounds are deep, and nothing to do with me, she reminded herself, and looked after the path that Dawl had taken. And perhaps that’s the point.

“You’re pretty good with that spear,” she said, pointing to it. Having time to look at it, she noticed that the spear didn’t seem to be just any spear. It was actually a partisan, with an elaborate white and silver decoration where the blade met the shaft. The shaft itself was wrapped in what looked to be white and black strings of leather.

Jormund lifted it up. “Mmm,” he went. “My mother taught me.”

“What happened to your mother?” Guin asked him.

“She went back to the Imperial City after I took over the church,” he told her. “She never liked it here. She only stayed to see me safe.”

“Do you miss her?”

“Sometimes…” Jormund’s eyes looked sad, but then he smiled. “But it’s no matter.”

“Could you teach me?” Guin asked.

“Teach you?”

She pointed at his spear. “How to use a spear.” Jormund looked at her suspiciously. Irritated, Guin pulled out her dagger, and, pointing it at him, said, “Don’t you dare mention anything about me being a child.”

Jormund chuckled, reached into his bag, and pulled out a plain looking spear. “I suppose it’s safe to say that it’s better for you to be trained on how to use something then for you to learn bad habits on your own,” he said, handing the spear to her. “If you are going to keep using that dagger, you really should have someone teach you how to use it…”

Taking the new weapon from him, Guin grinned. “I’ll learn from you well!” she said, playing with her new toy.

“What are you two doing?” Dawl came out from behind a tree. “Playing?”

“Jormund is going to teach me!” Guin told him with excitement.

Dawl laughed. “Is that so? Shall we take a rest then, before moving on?”

“Just a short one,” Jormund said.

They took a half hour rest in which Guin gained the [Spear Specialization] and the ability [Spear - Strike]. Incredibly glad that she would retire her dagger to her bag, she took a quick look through her character sheet to check her progress. She was happy to see that her little character was already starting to meet her goals for the tutorial. Not only in her stats, but her skills as well.

“Now,” Dawl crossed his arms. “We are in the right area, but how is it that we find the Dragon King’s Grotto? I’ve done a few rounds around the area, but there was nothing that was all that interesting.”

“If I were a real Servant then I would be able to summon the gateway…” Jormund said.

“Is there another way to summon it?” Guin asked.

Jormund shook his head. “I do not know,” he told them. “Perhaps a powerful spirit could, but I don’t want to risk any more corruption…”

A powerful spirit? Guin tilted her head. What about…. “Liorax?” she called, and the cat spirit appeared. “Liorax, do you know how to we can get to the Dragon King’s Grotto?”

“What is a ‘Liorax’?” Dawl asked.

Jormund stared at the cat with annoyance on his face. “A troublesome cat,” he told his friend, who just looked at him blankly. Liorax floated over to Jormund, grinning widely....