“What’s the plan?” somebody asked.

“We’ll begin with a tour of the nearby area, to help you understand this place before we head to the nearest stronghold. That’s where you can trade items and work with other people to explore.”

The party of about two dozen people journeyed through the forest for a few hours, giving Caesar the chance to deduce his location from the maps he had tried to memorize before. While Mirsal talked excitedly, plans began to form on how to make something shocking happen to secure his escape. A few people tried to draw him into their conversations, but he ignored them completely. Thus, they too paid little attention to him as his mind spun.

They were approaching a miniboss location, where he planned to summon the Stormheart Oak and lash the area with lightning after the monster had died. The confusion should allow a swift escape, with none the wiser about his true ability.

Suddenly, a cry jolted them out of their thoughts, from one of the Order of the Fox members who had gone on ahead to scout for enemies. “Enemy attack! Watch out!”

Fire rained down on the forest before they had even reached the miniboss. People ran screaming. In the chaos, Caesar moved to conceal himself, throwing away the plaque in a random bush to watch the situation safely.

A few people who looked remarkably similar to Obsandalur natives had attacked the travelling group, but the situation seemed a little suspicious. It reminded him of illusion spells, and of being tracked even when nothing should have given them away. He narrowed his eyes and stalked closer to watch somebody more closely as they brought down a fist on one of his fellow entrants, but the man turned around at the last moment and glimpsed his movements. Not a man, but an elf.

With a shout of rage, a fiery attack fell onto his location, blasting the tree apart in a shower of flames. Only shadows remained, dancing with the fire.

The attacker stepped back and narrowed his eyes in suspicion, drawing closer to confirm his kill. Under the effect of Umbral Shroud, Caesar lay prone on the floor and watched him approach, marking him with his ability before stabbing with the Drinker at the perfect moment. As he carved deeply into the man’s body, he dragged it behind thicker foliage and hid while others fought and died around him. His dagger dug into the corpse’s torso and revealed bone, exposing the tail carved onto it.

I knew it. The Fox Cult must be up to the same tricks again. Since these “Obsandalur enemies” had entered the dungeon prior to negotiations, they wouldn’t affect the outcome of peace. But they still served a purpose in keeping tensions high between the two kingdoms, making it easy for another war to start without anybody looking deeper for a reason.

He checked the black wisp he had received from the elf, nodding in surprise. It confirmed that humans and elves were not the same. But this also meant the Fox Cult was more widespread than he expected, since elves were rare in Rishlik. What did they have to offer?

Essence of Elvenkind: Uncommon

Rank 2

Spells: Flame Wave, Flameburst, Fireball, Grasp of the Inferno

A Rare spell? It seems he underestimated my speed.

But getting another essence from a lifeform similar to humans, yet different, made him wonder. Were there other lifeforms like this, who provided different sources of essence?

Caesar saved the thought for later and focused on the situation at hand. More footsteps appeared in the distance, heading towards his location at a quickening pace. Had they divined his location? He narrowed his eyes and prepared to summon the Stormheart Oak.

Mirsal appeared. But she didn’t appear hostile even as she noticed the corpse. “We have to leave. There’s too many of them,” she said as she ran up to him.

Interesting. Caesar thought she’d be hostile immediately if the man he had killed was her comrade, but her behavior indicated a possible trap instead. He decided to play along.

They fled for a long time before she stopped and put her hands onto her knees, panting. She keeled over in exhaustion and flopped into the grass. This area appeared safe. Thus, he sheathed his dagger and looked around the area. Nearby lay a pool of water too small to be considered a lake. A few trees grew around it, with plump orange fruits ripened in the treetops.

“This is a safe spot, discovered by me when I explored the place alone.” She coughed and crawled over to the water, taking a few sips from it. “Don’t worry, water’s safe.”

“I thank you for bringing me here. What about the others?”

“All dead or gone. I don’t know.” Mirsal sat there with her head buried in her knees.

Unlikely. From what he could tell, the Fox Cult needed to consistently feed the hydra over a long period of time and probably sent notice of the dungeon to the entire region in order to gain a high amount of live sacrifices. Thus, they would drag the unconscious bodies away, not aiming to kill unless the person proved too low-level. He expected many to witness this, and perhaps many would attempt to mount a rescue, only to also be fed to the hydra.

In the end, Caesar decided to not drink the water. Although she did not seem to be on the same side as the Fox Cult, it was better to be safe in a situation such as this. Furthermore, he had no essence as of yet to cure any poisons that ailed him. Instead, he climbed the trees to pick out a few of the fruits, furtively scanning around the area on top of the tree. Nothing appeared suspicious, and no ambush spots seemed deadly.

Perhaps the Fox Cult has not taken total control over the Order of the Fox. The two factions should indeed be separated, but by how much he did not know.

“What’s our next move?” he asked.

“I never expected anything to happen,” she said, not looking up for another few minutes before finally responding. “We should return to a stronghold as soon as possible.”

“That’s not going to work.” He took the map from her hands and traced the area before pointing at their location. “We were attacked here, and so it seems likely our enemies have a good command over this area. If we move through there, we’ll be found in no time.”

“That’s true…”

“Let’s instead move around the sides of the dungeon and wait.” Caesar needed to deal with this quickly. Heading towards Mushroom Garden seemed safer, allowing him to travel albeit at a slower pace than on his horse. He’d find another way to get her to leave, but for now, this was the best he could work with.

It wasn’t as if having her around became the worst thing in the world for his plans. Here was an opportunity to gather information about the kingdom of Rishlik and how they functioned in general. But if he approached her with too many questions, it could hint towards him being an Obsandalur native, thus scaring her off.

Perhaps it would be better to approach this with less tact. He decided to first gain her trust by fighting well, before opening up about his “past.” Lying for too long did not appear to be a good idea once seen through, and since he had no real knowledge about Rishlik customs, that would be a guarantee. And if it did not work, then he could simply just leave.

Many beasts appeared on the route, letting them both know the lack of enemy presence. In every single fight, he charged in first with her right on his heels. His knife struck each enemy in different ways, sometimes hitting vital spots, other times only grazing skin or fur. The Drinker seemed to only drink their stats if it drew blood, as those animals appeared weaker immediately afterwards.

As they fought and rested over the day, Mirsal asked many different questions about his background. She was a curious woman, having never met somebody like him before, and seemed quite sheltered. When he deflected each question and bothered answering none, she grew more and more suspicious over time.

“You’re not from Rishlik are you?” Her suspicion rose to a certain point and tipped over after she had asked him enough obvious questions. She wobbled, then stumbled backwards before running off.

Unfortunate. He continued moving towards his goal yet narrowed his eyes when he heard the slight crinkle of a fallen twig behind him. She had returned. Eyes lingered on his back for many minutes at a time, and he occasionally glimpsed movement behind trees.

For the next couple of days, he simply continued fighting and resting – albeit alone – while she continued to follow, never appearing directly in his sight. It gave him the chance to sleep comfortably, with his Kelpie watching him from concealment.

----

Eventually, Mirsal grew tired of hiding and crept into sight. When he saw her, he simply nodded and ignored her otherwise. She stood there, a little stunned, until she regained her boldness and rushed up to him.

“Why are you ignoring me?” she asked.

“I thought you hated people like me.”

“I do, but…” She hesitated. “I guess I don’t, alright?”

They passed the next few moments in silence before she worked up the urge to ask him another barrage of questions. This time, he became more receptive.

“My name’s Lexalos.”

“Can you tell me about Obsandalur?”

“Obsandalur…is home, I suppose. Never really looked much at it.” It felt difficult for him to say that, even as a lie. Elamigrol was his true home, but it had been destroyed. “I wandered from place to place, never really settling down, but always stayed in the kingdom. Finally took a chance to come here and see how everything worked from a different perspective.”

She smiled. “It’s okay. I’d like to experience what you have. Must’ve been a grand journey.”

“Things have been both good and bad, but you’re right. I liked the life I lived.”

Mirsal began to speak about her experiences as well. “I usually stayed inside my tribe, playing around the area with my friends as a child until I could practice my ability once I became of age.”

“How’d you end up joining the Order of the Fox?”

She sat there and pondered for a while before coming up with an explanation for someone new to their system. “Our kingdom is made up of six powerful orders, many tribes, and the strongest warrior of us all rules as chieftain. But since he likes to explore dangerous places, he’s usually not at the capital. So, the orders have the most power.”

“The Howling Desert?” Far from both kingdoms existed a place which contained many dangers, including a very harsh environment. Both Obsandalur and Rishlik wanted to explore it but lacked the necessary abilities to do so alone. Thus, expeditions became the most common cause of treaties between the two.

“That’s right. Anyways, six orders. Fox, falcon, bear, boar, tree, and tiger. Respectively, they represent cunning, precision, might, endurance, wisdom, and swiftness. Can you guess their roles?”

“Foxes. They must be very powerful, as their role is secrecy. Falcons are obviously guards, but I could see them being scouts. Bears are your strongest, and boars form your basic army. Trees are your craftsmen, and tigers seem most like a specialized version of your foxes.”

“Correct! Wow,” she said, nodding with eyes wide open. “Anyways, those six orders recruit from the tribes to gain members. But other than the Order of the Tree, who are the oldest, the other five orders have a tribe which they stemmed from. And they usually recruit from that same tribe where their roots began. As the daughter of the Fox Tribe’s chieftain, I naturally had to join.”

Was this the reason why she remained safe from following the orders of the Fox Cult? He could not check, as doing so meant murder.

“We’re fairly young as an order. As the next ones to rise, the Order of the Boar and Order of the Falcon have stronger ties to the Order of the Tree, while we have ties with the Order of the Tigers, who were the most recent.”

----

“Want to hear a horror story?” Mirsal suddenly asked as they sat around the campfire.

“Alright.”

“Once, there was a tribe who venerated humans as their most supreme animal. One day, they attacked the Wolf Tribe and brought them down from becoming one of the orders. Why? They listened to a madman, dressed strangely, who believed wolves could turn into people! Can you believe it?”

“What happened after?”

“That tribe was expelled, hunted down, and removed from our records. They became vengeful spirits, haunting all the tribes and taking children away.” She made a scary face and waved her arms to grab him lightly before letting go.

He nodded. “Is there any truth to that tale?”

Mirsal shook her head. “The story’s just a myth, but it serves as a warning for all the tribes to maintain cohesion with each other. No infighting during the war against Obsandalur. Frightened me as a child as well.”

That was an odd story. Something seemed important, but he couldn’t figure out what without further investigation.

Caesar refused to sleep without some safeguards, always keeping an eye open and a Kelpie ready in the brush during their slumber. For the next few days, this pattern continued, and he learned many miscellaneous details about Rishlik before the time to separate had arrived.

On that day, he woke up before her as he always did, and when she awakened from her sleep, he said his goodbyes as he led her through the final steps of their journey together.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes. I can’t stay in Rishlik, as you know.” If there was ever a good time for an ambush, it was now.

“Alright. Goodbye, Lexalos.” A nearby stronghold stood tall in the distance, with a fighting force ready to chase if necessary. But he did not fear them.