Marcus looked at Kyrie, the water nymph and her potential teammate. She was looking thoughtful. She had not said much since their meeting with Thimble. Thimble had put up a good case for joining The Librarians faction. Initially Kyrie had not been interested in this faction. But now, Marcus assumed that she was thinking about it.

They were currently standing in a room which exited to the portal. The portal to Opulential was to the East side of Solaris. Each city or town on Una had four portals set up in each of the four directions. The city of Opulential was slightly to the Southeast to Solaris and can be reached easily through the Eastern portal. The villages on Una did not have portals though. Marcus wondered about that. He thought he would find out more about that later. Currently, their objective was to reach Opulential, see if they have good teamwork and join a faction.

Their turn finally came. They exited the room into a short clearing. A giant twenty-foot-high arch stood in front of them. The arch seemed to be made up of brick like material but was black in colour. It was at least six feet wide and about a foot thick. It seemed to shine a bit and Marcus could hear a sort of humming as he stepped near it.

An Umaru team of five was working near the portal. One of them came towards Marcus and Kyrie.

“Good afternoon. My name is Shankul. First time using a portal?” said Shankul the Umaru.

Marcus and Kyrie both nodded. Shankul clapped his hands and said, “You don’t need to worry. The first time might be a bit disorienting, but you get used to it.”

Shankul looked at a screen in front of him and said, “So, going to Opulential. You have paid the necessary units and your documentation is in order. All right, let's get teleporting.”

Shankul went up to the side of the arch and put his hands on it. The other Umaru followed suit. The space between the arch started shimmering. A silvery veil materialized between the arch.

Shankul said, “Just go through it. It will take you to Opulential.”

Marcus and Kyrie stepped forwards. They reached the arch and looked at each other. They grinned and stepped through. As he was stepping through, he heard someone say, “Uh oh.”

Then his world shifted. He felt as if he was being sucked through the darkness. The next moment he fell on the ground, hard. Kyrie was beside him.

“What happened?”, Kyrie asked. She looked confused. Marcus was sure he was mirroring her expression.

Marcus looked around. The area surrounding him, and Kyrie did not look like a big city. It looked like the middle of a forest.

“Not again”, muttered Marcus, “At least I am not naked this time.”

“What was that?” asked Kyrie.

“Nothing”, Marcus shook his head and examined the surroundings closely. The trees looked different from those around Solaris. They seemed to be somehow in a denser part of a forest. Marcus opened the map and frowned.

Marcus said, “Do you know how to search for Solaris on the map?”

Kyrie said, “We cannot search locations directly. However, you can zoom out and pan your map. It would give you an idea of your relative location.”

Marcus nodded and did as instructed. He concentrated on zooming out and panning the map. He found Solaris to the West. That meant that they had indeed teleported to the East. But they had not reached Opulential. What did this mean?

Kyrie said, “It seems Opulential is still about a hundred kilometers to the Southeast from this spot. We would have to walk, I think. Also, there seems to be a small lake with a waterfall about fifty kilometers to the East of here. Should we head there? I would get my monthly dip and would be refreshed.”

Marcus zoomed out the map further to see what Kyrie was saying. It did look as if they were in the middle of Solaris and Opulential, distance wise. He searched in the East but could not see a small lake. It looked as if the map was blank.

Marcus said, “I don’t see anything.”

“You wouldn’t”, said Kyrie, “Only I can see natural water bodies explored on the map. Otherwise, the map sort of remains blank except for the locations of towns, villages and cities until you explore it.”

“That makes sense. Although are you sure we should not wait here? I mean, they could have realized that they made a mistake and come looking for us. I heard someone say ‘Uh oh’ as we stepped in.”

“And you did nothing to stop us?”

“We were already in. I mean it is by chance I heard it. It means that they know something is wrong. Someone could come for us.”

“I don’t know. I am not sure how the portal works or what to do when something goes wrong. They should have a manual or a set of instructions or something.”

“Hold on a moment”, Marcus said, opening his Globalnet and searching for what to do in case a portal malfunction. He found what he was looking for in a few moments.

Marcus spoke out loud, “In case the portal malfunctions and teleports the adventurers to a location which is unknown, then the adventurer should not panic. The adventurer should use a flare which would help locate them. Failing that, the adventurer can use a teleportation scroll, if they have it on them, and they would be reimbursed the same, free of cost. Failing that, the adventurer could use any mode of transportation accessible to them to travel to the nearest village, town or city and send a message to NAIF. NAIF would help. In extreme cases, the adventurer could plan to kill themselves so that they can respawn at their nearest spawn point. NAIF would reimburse the cost of reviving them.”

Marcus looked at Kyrie who said, “Do you have a flare? Otherwise, we are walking. I do not want to kill myself.”

Marcus said in an exasperated tone, “I mean there is not even a mechanism to track lost adventurers. This is not good for the safety of the adventurers.”

Kyrie snorted, “We are adventurers. Our life is supposed to be filled with danger.”

Marcus sighed and said, “Let us go to your waterfall. We can then go to Opulential. If we keep a constant walking pace, I think we can reach there in a few days with minimal rest. Lead the way.”

“We are definitely camping at night”, said Kyrie as she led the way East towards the waterfall, “I am not taking risks with the wildlife in this forest at night.”

Marcus nodded, “Fair enough.”

They walked for hours. The forest around them all looked similar to Marcus. There were sounds of wildlife around them but thankfully nothing attacked them. They did see some birds and critters though. Marcus checked their statuses, especially their species. It was fascinating for him.

The sun had set well into the night when they stopped. They seemed to have walked around 30 kilometers. They still had about 20 kilometers to go. It would take them about five to six hours. Their progress was not fast in the forest.

They debated what to do. They had 13 hours of night remaining. Kyrie did not want to walk in the dark and Marcus wanted to reach the lake as soon as possible. However, Kyrie’s concern was valid. The predators do come out at night. And they did not know what dangers lurked in the forest that they were in. They did not even know the name of the forest. It was shown as a question mark on the map.

Marcus remedied that. He searched for the name of the forest on the Globalnet. It was named Sosquatch forest. Interesting name.

Marcus said, “I shall accept your decision as final Kyrie. I know you want to set camp, but this does not look like a good place to camp. I mean we can climb the trees, but it does not look safe. We also do not know if there are any predators that live on trees.”

“You can search for that”, said Kyrie, “I mean you use Globalnet for information more than any adventurer that I have ever seen.”

“You can do that too.”

“I can. It’s just that I am not that comfortable with it. It somehow feels… unnatural to me.”

Marcus wondered why that was. It could be that Kyrie was not as much used to such magic technology from where she was, and it was still taking time for her to adjust to this world. Then he wondered, why the hell was he so comfortable with the magical technology of Una? Who the hell was he before Una?

Marcus dismissed these thoughts again. They did keep on popping from time to time. He knew they were unavoidable, but he also knew that dwelling on them would not bring his memory back. They would only give him a headache.

Marcus looked at information about Sosquatch forest. He specifically searched about the dangers of the forest. It took him some time. He was thorough. It seemed that Kyrie’s fears were unfounded. There were predators. But they mostly left adventurers or wandering non adventurers alone. The predators of this forest mostly hunted other animals. Marcus also found some interesting information. There was a nymph colony in the forest. The colony was near the lake that Kyrie had mentioned.

The information about the colony somehow perked Kyrie up. She mentioned marching straight to the lake after that. It seemed that she desperately wanted to meet her fellow kin and Marcus had no problems with that. He had after all wanted to reach the lake rather than camp on the trees.

Kyrie was setting a fast pace now and they moved quickly through the trees and thick foliage. It took them almost five hours, but they finally reached the small lake, faster than Marcus had estimated.

Marcus drew a deep breath as they reached the lake shore. The lake suddenly opened up from the forest. It was beautiful. A stream flowed out of the lake on the far end from where Marcus was standing. To the left of the Marcus, some five hundred metres away, was a small waterfall feeding water into the lake. The lake seemed to be glowing in the light of the full moon. Marcus felt even the waterfall was shimmering. He felt that the waterfall had a calming sound.

Marcus smiled and turned towards Kyrie to find her wading into the lake and calling someone. He blushed as he saw that she was completely nude with just her utility belt on her waist. He wondered who she was calling but soon his question was answered. Out of the water rose nymphs. Marcus could tell that they were nymphs as they looked like Kyrie, just a different colour, blue. They were all nude too with utility belts across their waists.

Kyrie gave a cry of joy and greeted them with her traditional greeting. Marcus walked up to them, stopping just outside the water. Kyrie was now standing in waist deep water with others of her kind surrounding her. They were talking. Marcus did not understand it. Must be the native language of the nymphs. Silas had once told him, Loquella would be the language they would be speaking on Una. However, he could speak English, but he had to make a conscious effort. The same would be the case with the nymphs here.

Marcus cleared his throat, interrupting the conversation happening. It seemed that the other nymphs had not seen Marcus, focusing entirely on Kyrie.

There was a moment of silence and then Kyrie said, “I apologize. In my excitement I forgot to introduce my companion Marcus Blank. A fellow adventurer.”

The nymphs looked at her with surprise. Then at Marcus. One of them stepped forward and gave him their traditional greeting. Marcus greeted him back in the same way and he could see the surprise flit across the nymph’s face.

The nymph said, “You know the greeting of water nymphs.”

Marcus replied, “Kyrie taught me.”

Kyrie muttered but Marcus heard her, “He learnt it on his own. Just by seeing it once.”

Marcus blushed and the nymph in front of him said, “I am Talmun Shallowater and welcome to lake Una adventurer. It is the home of water, forest and land nymphs. The other nymphs are asleep at this time. We were asleep too. We were awoken by the cries of our kin.”

Kyrie grinned as she muttered Sorry but the other water nymphs just waved it away.

Marcus said, “Thank you for welcoming us, Talmun. I am Marcus Blank as Kyrie said. I am sure you have some questions, but I am hoping they could wait a bit. I don’t know about Kyrie, but I am tired. Is there a place to rest for now? We can talk in the morning. Also, we did disturb your sleep. I think we should all sleep.”

Marcus was not proud of what he said. But he was tired, and his eyes had suddenly started to droop. He wondered why he was feeling so sleepy all of a sudden. He must have relaxed once they reached the lake and saw the water nymphs. The stress of their survival through the forest seemed to disappear.

Talmun smiled and said, “You are not the first adventurer to come here seeking shelter. There have been adventurers lost in these woods before. Follow me.”

“What about you, Kyrie?” asked Marcus.

Kyrie replied, “I will stay with my kin if it is alright with you Marcus.”

Marcus nodded and started to follow Talmun. Talmun led Marcus up to the waterfall. Then he said something that Marcus did not catch, and the waterfall parted. There was a small opening, fit enough for one person. Talmun gestured towards it.

Talmun said, “The opening leads to a small cavern. It is a safe place for you to rest. Do not worry. There will be sufficient light for you to see. Go ahead.”

Marcus was skeptical but decided to trust Talmun. The water nymphs had been friendly till now. And Marcus was sure if they wanted to harm him, they would have already done so considering their numbers.

Marcus squeezed in through the gap. It was only a couple of feet long. Talmun had been right. The gap opened into a cavern. The cavern did have light. It was a plant which was located on the ground, the walls and the ceiling of the cavern which glowed with a faint cyanish light.

The cavern had a couple of passageways to the left and straight from where Marcus had entered. Talmun entered from the straight passageway startling Marcus.

Talmun said, “I am sorry. There is an underwater entrance from the passage behind me. Let me show you where you can rest.”

Talmun led Marcus to the left side passage. It opened into a big room-like cavern. Stone plinths rose from the ground at various places forming the shape of a bed. The plants with light were also present but they were fewer in numbers. So, the cavern room had a faint glow, but Marcus could still see everything. There were a total of 10 bed-like stones in the ground and at the far end Marcus could see a stone table, some stone stools and a pitcher of water.

“There are no toilet facilities. I am sorry about that. You would have to come out of the cavern for that”, said Talmun behind Marcus, “You can sleep on one of these stone beds. I hope you have a sleeping bag, otherwise you might get uncomfortable. You will be safe here. Do not worry. Someone will come get you in the morning. Sleep for now. We shall talk tomorrow.”

Talmun then left. Marcus looked around the cavern room one more time. He chose a bed at random and got his sleeping bag out of the inventory. He had remembered to buy it before leaving Solaris. It was a simple one, nothing fancy. However, he had heard of sleeping bags which gave certain buffs when you slept in them. They were expensive and mostly he would buy one in the future.

But for now, he got into his sleeping bag. He only took off his boots. Talmun had said that it was safe, but Marcus could not bring himself to trust Talmun completely somehow. Maybe he was just being paranoid. However, he decided to sleep in full armor. He lay down and closed his eyes. He was out in a few moments.

***

Kyrie swam with her kin for some time. Her heart filled with joy. The lake was not large, but the water nymphs swam up and down the stream. The stream was narrow in width but that did not matter to the water nymphs. Once they were in water, they were water itself.

After swimming for some time, the other water nymphs led Kyrie to a hidden lake behind the waterfall. The lake opened into a huge cavern, and it seemed that it was quite beneath the original lake. The walls of the cavern with a plant which Kyrie recognized. It was the lomous plant from her home planet Tarados. She wondered how it had gotten here.

Kyrie focused on various small pools in the cavern. It had to be the sleeping pods.

Talmun came from one of the passageways in the cavern. He said, “Your adventurer friend has been shown the guest chambers. Considering how tired he was, I am sure he would be asleep by now.”

Kyrie thanked Talmun and then said, “Do you wish to talk now or in the morning?”

Talmun shook his head, “We shall talk in the morning. Rest for now. Take one of the pods. I am sorry. All are occupied and we do not have the time to create a new one. Our priestess is sleeping. You shall have to share.”

Kyrie shrugged, “I am all right. Is it okay if I share with you?”

Talmun nodded. Kyrie walked with him up to his pod. The other water nymphs had already started to walk towards their pods. Many of them shared the pod. The sleeping pods could fit up to five water nymphs based on the size of the sleeping pod.

Talmun’s sleeping pod looked as if it could fit three water nymphs. However, it was empty as of now. It seemed that Talmun was not mated.

Talmun slipped into the pod and Kyrie followed. She became one with the water and relaxed. Soon, she was also sleeping.

Tomorrow will be a good day, was the last thought that passed her mind before she fell asleep.

***

Marcus woke up with a start. He felt a bit groggy. Where was he? What was he doing here? And why was his back aching?

Then Marcus remembered the events of last night. What time was it? He looked at the clock from his utility belt. It was already morning. It was currently five o’clock in the morning. He had slept long. Marcus liked Una’s system of time. Sunrise was considered zero hour. Then it took about fifteen hours till sunset. Then there was night for fifteen more hours and then again sunrise. The time was taken accordingly. Midnight was not zero hour and for some reason that pleased Marcus.

He got up and stretched, massaging his back a bit. He knew why it was painful. He had slept in full armor. In his sleeping bag. On a hard stone surface. Not the epitome of comfort but still not that discomfortable either. Moreover, he had slept for about twelve hours straight. He did feel refreshed.

Marcus exited the cavern and squinted into the sunlight. He saw no one in the lake or the area surrounding the lake. As soon as he exited there was some disturbance in the lake and Kyrie came out.

Kyrie said, “Good morning, Marcus. Did you sleep well?”

She was still naked. Marcus was somehow getting used to all the nudity. Other water nymphs followed her out of the lake. Talmun was amongst them. Talmun nodded as he saw Marcus.

Marcus replied to Kyrie, “I slept well. How about you?”

Kyrie sighed, “I slept so peacefully for the first time after coming to Una.”

Marcus could feel the emotion in her voice. It seemed that Kyrie did miss her home planet even though she had decided to be an adventurer on Una.

Marcus said, “So what are we going to do today?”

Kyrie replied, “Come. We were waiting for you. The other nymphs want to talk with us.”

“The other nymphs?” Marcus was curious but no one replied. The water nymphs led Marcus and Kyrie through the forest and into a short clearing.

Marcus saw other nymphs in the clearing. There were two other types of nymphs other than the water nymphs. Marcus guessed that the green and brown nymphs would be the forest nymphs while the yellow and maroon nymphs would be the land nymphs. All of them were naked save for the utility belt around their waist.

Marcus looked around the clearing. Dense trees surrounded it, but no tree grew in the clearing. It was clearly about five hundred meters on each side. There were three wooden chair type structures, which were occupied with three different nymphs in the middle of the clearing. Mostly the rulers of each type of nymph. It was there Marcus and Kyrie were taken.

One of the nymphs near the three ruler nymphs announced Marcus and Kyrie as they approached. Kyrie performed her traditional greeting and Marcus followed suit. The forest and land nymph rulers looked at the water nymph ruler, smiled at Marcus and Kyrie.

Then the announcing nymph said, “You are in the presence of the High Priestess of the water nymphs, Tananashadra Moonglow. You are in the presence of the High Priest of the forest nymphs, Wush Fallingleaf. You are in the presence of the High Priestess of the land nymphs, Dashandara Stonemould.”

There was silence after the proclamation. Marcus did not know the etiquette amongst the nymphs. He decided to follow Kyrie’s lead, but Kyrie seemed to be silent.

After a few moments of silence Tananashadra spoke, “Welcome adventurers to the nymph colony of the Sosquatch forest. I hope you have been welcomed well by my kin.”

Both Marcus and Kyrie nodded together. Tananashadra continued, “That is well. Now could you tell us adventurers as to what you are doing here? Most adventurers do not travel on foot. They come to this forest only if they have a quest. Are you on a quest? Can you share with us any details?”

Marcus looked at Kyrie who understood. Kyrie started to explain to the high priest and priestesses about their failed teleportation, Kyrie’s need for a natural water source and how they came upon the nymphs by chance.

The high priest and priestesses were lost in thought for some time after what Kyrie had spoken. Marcus looked around the clearing and it seemed to be filled. All in all, there had to be about two hundred nymphs in the clearing. Marcus was not sure. He was simply guessing.

Tananashadra said, “So it is all some sort of coincidence. However, this coincidence works to our advantage, you see. Adventurers, we require your aid. My friend here will explain to you the situation.”

As he heard Tananashadra’s words Marcus had a feeling of foreboding. Before he could dwell much on it, Wush said, “The forest is changing. The land is changing. Water is the last to change but change will come”, his voice felt old and rasping, like the sound of leaves rustling, “A great evil has come to the Sosquatch forest. It is corrupting our very roots and we are afraid it will soon come for us. Already the animals of the woods fall victim to a dark plague, and it is spreading. We ask you brave adventurers. Help us. For if this darkness is not stopped, it shall consume all of the Sosquatch forest.”

There was a stunned silence after Wush’s proclamation and Marcus got a quest.

Major Quest

Stop the spread of evil in Sosquatch Forest

Something is corrupting the land, trees and the waters of the Sosquatch forest. Find out what it is and put a stop to it.

Rewards: 1000 experience and a magical equipment

Marcus read the description of the quest. It was a major quest. And here they were, only him and Kyrie, only two adventurers. The last major quest required a horde of adventurers to stop a demon lord. This would not be well.

“Fuck”, said Marcus out loud. He turned to Kyrie and said, “And you guys said there were no quests in the wilds.”

Kyrie shrugged and said, “We shall help you. Could you please tell us where the darkness has most spread.”

Wush said, “Open your maps.”

They both did. Wush scrolled and pointed to a location on both their maps. It was to the Northeast of the clearing that they were standing in. He said, “It is from here the darkness spreads. It is spreading slowly but surely, and we have not been able to stop it.”

Marcus nodded and closed his map. He looked at Kyrie who looked back and shrugged.

Marcus said, “Shall we then?”

Kyrie grinned and said, “No rest for the wicked.”