Saiya just stopped herself from tripping over a tree root. Something she had done at least a dozen times since entering this forest. The woods were denser than Saiya was used to. It limited their sight and made it difficult to navigate. Neither of these things helped with her anxiety. Something could sneak up on them, and they’d be none the wiser until the last second.

  The three had traveled in silence for the past day. They could exchange only so many words before they ran out of things to talk about. Now, Saiya got to enjoy the gentle sounds of the wilderness around them. She always thought the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind was a song all on its own. It made her hate the wasteland and Mousafont even more. One was ominously silent while the other lacked the elegance nature did. Now, if only she didn’t have to deal with almost tripping so often.

  Her friends had their own ways to pass the time, well Zeltara did anyway. For once, she wasn’t writing in that journal of hers and instead had a tool out. She was fiddling with her gauntlet. Saiya could only guess the reason, but she seemed to enjoy herself if nothing else. Meanwhile, Kaztos didn’t initially have anything to do. He frequently complained until Zeltara threw a book at him. Saiya couldn’t see what the title was, but at least it caught Kaztos’ attention.

  The sun was going down when Zeltara came to a stop while holding up her hand. Her gaze shifted in multiple directions, causing Saiya to ready her staff. Kaztos pulled out his hammer, and the three waited for a minute. Saiya strained to hear or see anything. Nothing popped out of the forest.

  She lowered her guard and asked, “Did you hear anything?” Zeltara also relaxed as they put away their weapons.

  “For a moment, I faintly heard something. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it hadn’t been there before.” The three kept their eyes out for something out of the ordinary.

  Kaztos said, “Maybe you imagined it. We have been going through the woods for the past few days. Anyone would start to feel stir-crazy.” Saiya could accept that explanation, but she would still be a little more alert than before.

  “That could be it,” Zeltara said. She then adopted an irritated expression. “I still can’t believe we lost the plateau wall that easily.” Saiya couldn’t blame her for being annoyed.

  Their original plan had been to go along the plateau, keeping the wall in sight. They had hoped to find another cave. But a fog rolled in two days ago, and they got turned around. After that, it was cloudy, so they couldn’t tell which direction they were going. Once the sun came back, they realized they were heading northwest with the wall nowhere in sight. After a brief discussion, they decided against backtracking. Though that meant they were just wandering through the woods at this point.

  “We should make camp here. It’s getting pretty late,” Zeltara said. “I doubt we’ll find a clearing better than this.” They had only a few dozen feet of space. They’d have to be careful with their campfire tonight, but Saiya figured they could manage.

  As they cleared the immediate area of any sticks and rocks, Kaztos asked, “So are we going to try hunting again?” For the past few days, they had tried to hunt like Uya showed them. Unfortunately, they were less than successful. Kaztos was too loud, and Zeltara missed their only opportunity with a rabbit yesterday.

  Zeltara nodded. “We want to preserve as much food as possible. It’ll also be a good skill to get down for the future. Saiya and I will go this time. You stay here and set up camp.” Saiya smiled, happy that she didn’t have to do chores tonight. Kaztos groaned but began to set everything up. Zeltara and Saiya left him everything he needed before heading out.

  As their walking away, Zeltara turned towards her. “You should be the one to hunt tonight. Maybe you’ll be a better shot than me.” Saiya nodded.

  “Sure, but don’t sell yourself short.” Zeltara smiled at the compliment. Time to pull the rug. “It’s not your fault you can’t hit the broad side of a barn.” The squawk of offense almost made Saiya laugh.

  “Excuse me? My aim is just fine! It was a rabbit, okay?” Zeltara was turning red. “I can see your shoulders shaking, Saiya. Stop laughing!” A few snickers escaped the blond girl as Zeltara got more indignant.

  After getting herself under control, Saiya said, “You should be quiet. You’ll scare off the whole forest at this rate.” Zeltara looked ready to yell at her before finally calming down. She then smiled.

  “Alright, you got me. Let’s get farther from the camp before we start.” The two walked through the forest quietly. They had to go slowly due to how thick the foliage was. After ten minutes of travel, they stopped. “Here seems good. Stay low and start looking.”

  Saiya rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be the one on the lookout? With those ears of yours, you should be able to hear something long before we see it.” The two crept forward, monitoring the ground for tracks. Saiya can’t see anything, but she isn’t exactly a tracker. Maybe Zeltara was having better luck.

  “So, how are you feeling about this so far?” Zeltara asked. The two came to a stop near a small clearing. There wasn’t anything there at the moment.

  “Well, we just started, so I couldn’t tell you.” Saiya looked towards the horizon. “We should hurry, though. It’s an hour before sunset, tops.” Zeltara nodded, keeping her gaze on the clearing. They sat behind a bush overlooking the area.

  “I meant in terms of our journey so far. You’ve been relatively quiet for the past few days. I want to know where your head’s at.” Saiya took a minute to consider her answer.

  While she would rather not be aimlessly walking through the woods, it could be a lot worse. They may not have accomplished much, but they still helped the people in the ruins. Meeting Team Yinsdal was an unexpected surprise that helped them a lot. Saiya didn’t know if they still would have avoided that cave if it weren’t for them. Zeltara and Kaztos could have gotten overconfident and gone in without all the information they had gathered. Would Saiya have put her foot down? Maybe. Going north into the forest wasn’t her first choice, but she didn’t really mind in the end.

  She said, “It’s going better than I feared it would. I just wish there were a sign that we were getting somewhere.”

  “I agree. If we travel any longer in these woods without finding anything, then I’m going to go crazy. It reminds me too much of the start of our march through the wastes. Just rock and sand as far as the eye could see.” Saiya shuttered just thinking about that.

  “I hope we find something soon. We’ve already used up over a week’s worth of supplies with nothing to show for it. The ruins showed us what could happen if we fail here.” Zeltara’s ears twitched as she turned to look towards the right of the clearing.

  “Our packs still have a month’s worth of food. We’ll figure it out. Just have a bit of faith.” If there was anything Saiya didn’t have, it was faith. “But quiet down. I can hear something coming.” The two stilled as Saiya kept her gaze towards where Zeltara was looking. For a minute, there was nothing in sight. But Saiya didn’t relax. Zeltara could likely hear from fairly far away.

  That’s when she heard it. The soft rustle of leaves, and then a snapped twig. Something was getting closer. Saiya froze in anticipation as it entered the clearing. A doe walked into the clearing at a languid pace. It stopped for a moment to look around before it started grazing. For a moment, she could only stare at the creature.

  Saiya felt a nudge on her arm. She looked to see Zeltara giving her hand signals. SAIYA. GO. The elf nodded towards the deer. Saiya glanced back to the animal. She wondered how she was going to kill it. Her staff was out of the question. There was too much of a risk of a forest fire. But her knives felt insufficient. If she didn’t strike the right area, then the animal would flee.

  An idea came to her. Saiya signaled back. POISON? Zeltara shook her head. She then mimed the act of eating and then choking. Saiya hadn’t considered that. The poison could taint the meat. She wondered how any of her poisons could affect meat like that. Something to research later.

  With no other options, Saiya pulled out a throwing knife and took aim. Uya told them to aim for the heart when hunting deer. But would a knife work as well as an arrow? Maybe a headshot would be better in this case? Saiya didn’t know, but they needed to find a better hunting weapon in the future.

  She took a deep breath and concentrated. There was only one shot at this. Time seemed to slow as Saiya tensed. The deer kept grazing, its left side facing them. It had no idea that its life was about to end. Saiya released her breath and stepped forward to throw.

  Her foot landed on a stick, which loudly snapped. The sound caused Saiya to stumble in her throwing motion and the deer to bolt. She had to watch as her knife embedded in the ground two feet to the right of where the doe was, which had fled the clearing.

  Zeltara started almost roaring with laughter. Saiya growled as the elf had her hands on her knees, her shoulder shaking with amusement. “It wasn’t that funny.” Zeltara continued to laugh.

  “It was... you said that I... couldn’t the broadside of a barn... and then you.” She couldn’t get anything else out. Saiya turned red with embarrassment.

  “Shut up! You’ll scare off the entire forest at this rate.” Zeltara steadily calmed down, but a smug look remained. Saiya wanted to punch her in the mouth just to get rid of it. “Now what? We don’t have anything to show for this trip.” Zeltara settled down and looked at their surroundings.

  “The sun is setting soon. We’ll have to go back in a few minutes. Let’s look for something small. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a rabbit before we make it back.” Saiya went into the clearing and grabbed her knife. She walked back to Zeltara, holding her hand back. “Maybe I should take a crack at it. Your aim looked pretty off there.”

  With her pride stung, Saiya said, “I’ll do it.” She then stomped off into the forest with Zeltara following behind.

  “You need to be more quiet. Your loud footsteps will scare the wildlife.” Zeltara’s mocking voice called out behind her. Saiya wanted to yell at her but refrained. She took a minute to calm down. Zeltara was just having some fun with her. It was payback for her earlier comment. And it wasn’t like Saiya wouldn’t do the same if their positions were reversed. Zeltara came up beside her and patted her shoulder. The two exchanged nods. Time to get more serious.

  The two crept through the forest again, hoping to find something to bring back to camp. There was a certain amount of guilt within the hunting party every time they came back empty-handed. While Kaztos wouldn’t say anything, it made Saiya feel bad to make him do all the work setting up camp. She had to do it once herself, and it wasn’t fun. Bringing back fresh food would ease that guilt.

  After a few minutes, Saiya asked something that was eating at her. “Why are we even going this far in the first place? It’s not like we can expect to find something this deep into the woods.” Zeltara kept her head on a swivel as she answered.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised to find anything at this point. With how messy the world had been ripped apart and put together, anything could be out here. A town, city, castle, farm. I wouldn’t bat an eye at any of it. There’s not much rhyme or reason to anything.” Saiya couldn’t exactly agree.

  “It’s not random.” Zeltara glanced at her with a curious expression. “At first, I thought it was random too. It’s not. Sure, everything is in a new place now, but it’s not all chaotically scattered. Think about it. So far, we’ve found a large wasteland, large plains, and a deep forest. These are all biomes that almost seem to fit together. If everything were random like you said, there wouldn’t be any continuity like this.”

  Zeltara said, “Maybe it means the pieces ripped away were larger than we first thought. Like the forest was one piece and those plains another. Instead of a thousand-piece puzzle of the world, it’s more like a hundred.” Saiya shook her head.

  She thought of that too, but there was one problem. “Then how did Mousafont end up where it is? It used to be along a river in a different area. If the pieces of land were that large, then Mousafont wouldn’t have been as affected. No, I think the pieces are inconsistent in size, but were put together in a certain way.” Now Zeltara looked confused.

  “Are you saying someone or something was responsible for putting the world back together?” Saiya shrugged.

  “I can’t say, I just know it’s not completely random. I wouldn’t go so far as to say anything was put together with purpose, just that things came together in a certain pattern.” Saiya paused, trying to figure out how to describe it. “Back to the puzzle analogy. Think of it like putting two different puzzle pieces together that aren’t supposed to be together. You can find sides that fit well enough, but it won’t create the image you’re looking for. Think of that but with the whole world. Plains sometimes go into forests, so those are two sides that fit together. They aren’t the intended pieces, but the two sides snap together.”

  Zeltara nodded. “I get it. And then the mountain ranges are when the other sides of the puzzle don’t fit. It’s because the pieces weren’t put together properly. Eventually, you’ll find two sides that don’t go together. But instead of putting the pieces in their proper spots, you just glue the uneven sides together. Those mountain ranges are a clue.” Saiya wasn’t confident in that explanation, but couldn’t think of anything else.

  “Maybe you're right.” Saiya rubbed her forehead. “This is all so confusing. Why do we have to deal with this? The sixth crisis was less than thirty years ago. It was supposed to be a few hundred years a peace.” Zeltara shrugged.

  “I don’t know, but you just have to deal with what’s thrown at you. No use crying about it.” Saiya knew that all too well. “Now come on. We don’t have much time left.” Zeltara was having them slowly circle back to camp. The sun was setting, and it was getting darker. Saiya was losing hope that they would get something at this rate.

  Five minutes passed before Zeltara signaled them to stop. She pointed to their right. Saiya turned and saw a rabbit just outside its burrow. It seemed to dig for something in the dirt. The two girl’s gazes met, and they nodded. Saiya pulled out her knife and got ready. At the moment, the rabbit was moving around too much to get a good throw in. She needed to be patient. Her breathing was steady. The rabbit kept moving around. Not yet. It needed to be the right moment.

  It stood up and paused. Saiya threw her knife. The blade flew at high speed and nailed the rabbit in the neck. It weakly struggled for a few moments before stopping. Neither of them moved a first, basking in the successful kill.

  Zeltara lightly punched her arm. “Nice throw. Guess you can hit something.” Saiya smirked as she walked over to the downed rabbit.

  “Guess that proves I have better aim than you do.” She took her knife out and cleaned it. Zeltara took the rabbit, wrapped it, and put the carcass in her satchel.

  “Just wait, I’ll get it on my next try,” Zeltara said. “Come on. Kaztos will wonder where we are if we take any longer.” The two began to make their way back towards camp. Their steps were louder now that they didn’t have to worry about hunting. Saiya smiled. She led the first successful hunt. Dinner was going to be good.

  The forest continued to get darker. Crickets started their evening song. The wind blew in a chill that had Saiya adjusting her cloak. Around them, the first leaves had begun to turn a collage of red, yellow, and orange. It was beautiful to look at, but Saiya didn’t look forward to the sound of walking through leaves. Until then, Saiya would enjoy the peace and quiet of the forest. Zeltara seemed to walk without a worry in the world. Then, her ears twitched again.

  The elf stopped, causing Saiya to as well. The two stood there as Zeltara looked to her left. Saiya checked but couldn’t see anything. She asked, “What is it?”

  “It sounds like... buzzing,” Zeltara said. “I can see what that boy back at the ruins meant. It’s like an insect, but completely off.” She frowned. “It’s getting closer.” Saiya kept searching but couldn’t see anything. “We need to hide.”

  Zeltara grabbed Saiya and pulled her into a bush. She yanked her arm back and was prepared to scold her. Then she heard it too. A steady buzzing. If Saiya could make a comparison, it sounded like a combination of a fly buzzing and the sound an old mana light sometimes makes. It started quietly, but got louder. Whatever was causing the noise was heading this way.

  “What should we do?” Saiya asked. Zeltara kept her gaze directed towards the noise. The shadows of the forest grew as the sun continued to dip under the horizon. In a few minutes, they’d be in pitch black darkness. Any light would become a beacon to whatever that thing was.

  “I don’t think it knows we’re here. It’s not heading directly towards us. We should wait for it to pass, see what it is.” Saiya approved. Getting into a fight with just the two of them was foolish. Especially since they didn’t know what was out there. They waited in the bush as the buzzing got closer.

  Then Saiya saw it walking by. It was forty feet away from them, shambling through the forest. The monster walked with an uneven gait. Though humanoid in shape, its body was emaciated with a slumped posture. The skin was discolored a dark grayish brown with wispy hair on its scalp. Its mouth hung open, revealing only gums. Its nose and eyes were seemingly rotted away. From the body emanated a buzzing sound that was grating on Saiya’s ears. This thing was a true monster.

  That’s when the smell hit. She covered her nose at the smell of rot and decay. Zeltara did the same and gagged. The two froze as the sound caused its head to shift towards them. The two sat frozen as it seemed to search for the source of the disturbance.

  Darkness overtook the forest as the monster continued to listen for them. Saiya couldn’t see anything. A part of her wanted to panic, but she knew that would give away their position. Minutes passed in the blackness as the buzzing continued. Sometimes getting closer, sometimes farther away. Saiya’s heart beat in her ears as she tried to stay silent. After a few minutes, the buzzing started to move away. It got quieter until she could hear it anymore.

  Saiya turned to say something to Zeltara, but her mouth got covered at the first syllable. She heard the elf shush her and then fall silent. Her hand lowered as the two sat there for another minute. Finally, Zeltara said, “Okay, now it’s gone. What the fuck was that?”

  “How am I supposed to know? I’ve never seen anything like it.” Saiya had also never heard of anything like it either. “Whatever that monster was, it smelled disgusting.” Even now she had to hold back a gag.

  “You’re right about that. It looked like a corpse, but it was way too tall to be a person. How tall was it? Eight feet?” Saiya nodded and then realized Zeltara wouldn’t be able to see it. She channeled some mana into a light. The immediate area lit up. Zeltara’s grimace was the first thing she saw. “Well, at least we know what that buzzing sound is. I don’t want to deal with that.”

  Saiya wasn’t optimistic. “Knowing our luck, we’ll have to deal with a group of them. There’s probably going to be more if we keep going.” Zeltara turned away.

  “We’ll talk about that later. For now, we need to head back to camp before another shows up. Kaztos might be caught off guard if we’re unlucky.” The two made their way back to camp as fast as they safely could. Saiya’s gaze kept scanning the edge of their immediate area. Her anxiety about the situation was rising. Soon, they saw the light from a campfire in the distance. A part of Saiya relaxed at that moment.

  They make it back to camp without incident. Kaztos had their sleeping bags down and the fire going. He set aside a couple of logs to last the night. He heard them approach and turned to greet them. “You’re back! I hope you caught something. I’m starving.” He noticed the serious look on their faces. “Is everything alright? You were out there for a while?”

  Instead of answering, Zeltara pulled out the dead rabbit. “It isn’t much, but we've got this. Let’s prepare dinner, and then we can talk while eating.” The words did little to ease Kaztos’ apparent worry, but he didn’t question it.

  At Saiya’s request, Kaztos found and shaved down something sticks into skewers. Meanwhile, Zeltara skinned the rabbit and handed the meat off to Saiya. The meat was cut into chunks and seasoned. After that, she grabbed the skewers and set about cooking. Saiya had to prepare some of their rations, since a single rabbit wasn’t enough to feed the three of them. It was better than nothing.

  The three sat around the campfire half an hour later. They had already eaten their food rations while the rabbit meat cooked. It smelled almost divine to Saiya. The past week of eating almost nothing but preserved food made her crave something good. She checked the meat one more time and declared it done. Each of them grabbed a skewer and took a bite.

  Zeltara hummed. “This tastes great. We should hunt more often if we can eat like this. Maybe we could forage for some food too.” There was an idea. Foraging would help them preserve food, but Saiya didn’t have any idea of how to do it. Just grabbing random berries and mushrooms didn’t seem like the best idea. Maybe she should find a book about it?

  “I agree! This meat is marvelous!” Kaztos cried out between bites. Despite what Zeltara had said earlier, the three were too engrossed in enjoying their meal to talk. This wasn’t the first time Saiya had made something the others liked. But it was the first time she had taken pride in it. She always saw cooking as just a skill of necessity. Now, she was gaining a sense of satisfaction from it. Seeing her friends happy because of her meal gave a warm feeling in her chest.

  But too soon, the three of them finished their meal. After a moment to savor the lingering taste, Zeltara got their attention. “You wanted to know what bothered us earlier, Kaztos?” He nodded. “Well, we found the source of the buzzing that one boy mentioned.”

  “Well, what was it? Some kind of insect, I’d imagine,” Kaztos said.

  “More like a corpse,” Saiya responded. “The monster was an eight foot tall humanoid. It was so thin, it looked skeletal. The skin was dark, like it had rotted. The eyes, nose, and teeth were missing, and it shambled as if it lacked fine motor control.” Her faced pinched. “And the smell. Lords above, it was awful.” Zeltara nodded in agreement. Just remembering it made Saiya nauseous.

  Kaztos looked disturbed by the description. “That sounds terrible. I wish I’d been there to help you.” He then leaned forward. “What do you think it was? You mentioned it looking like a corpse. Could it be from some kind of necromancer?”

  Zeltara scoffed. “It’d be very unlikely. There haven’t been any necromancers since they all died during the fifth crisis almost five hundred years ago. The Amedori blocked any channeler’s ability to gather the souls necessary.”

  “The Amedori might not be around anymore. “If they're gone, then that block might be too,” Saiya said. A terrifying thought if true. She had heard many horror stories about necromancers. How they would kill you and then bind your immortal soul to a corpse. You’d be forced to do their bidding for all eternity.

  “Maybe. But I doubt anyone has figured out how to do it in the past few months.” Zeltara traded glances with the two of them. “So, let’s assume it’s something else. What could have a corpse like that walk across the forest like that? Assuming it was a corpse, that is.”

  Kaztos said, “Well, you described the monster as eight feet tall. Only the tallest of people get to that height, and they’re usually from a noble bloodline.” The thought made Saiya wonder how tall Kaztos was going to get. He was already the tallest of them by a few inches. “Maybe the buzzing has something to do with it. What could cause that buzzing noise? Bugs?” Zeltara shrugged.

  “Maybe. But I don’t really know any insects that sound like that. The buzzing sounded too unnatural.” She reached for her ears. “They also kind of hurt to listen to.” The conversation died down for a moment. Saiya focused on the sound of the campfire, trying to relax after the long day. She felt more exposed now than on the previous nights.

  “So, what’s the plan? Do we continue on?” Kaztos asked. “We’d have to be more careful if we do. We don’t want that thing to get the drop on us.”

  Zeltara grimaced. “I think we’ll need to have someone on watch for now. I know Dollanti trained us to wake up at any disturbance, but it feels too risky to rely on now. We’ll rest for one more hour to help mitigate the lost sleep.” Saiya hated to hear that, but knew it was necessary. “I’ll take second watch since I suggested it. That way we won’t have to argue over it.”

  “Then I’ll take first watch,” Saiya said. “I don’t feel tired yet.” That, and she felt a bit too anxious to fall asleep yet. Kaztos nodded.

  “That leaves me with the last one. So, three hours of watch each then? Well, only six hours of sleep isn’t the worst in the world.” The three stay up for another half hour before going to sleep. Saiya settled in as her friends dozed off. She kept her eyes and ears peeled for anything. The crackling of the campfire and the autumn chill were her only company.

  The three hours passed without incident. An hour in, Saiya finally relaxed enough to get some reading in. There wasn’t a hint of buzzing or anything else during that time. Soon, it was time to wake Zeltara. The two exchanged small talk before Zeltara settled in for watch. Saiya got into her sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep. She slept without nightmares, a new development since her talk with Kaztos.

  Waking up came all too soon as the sun reached her eyes. Saiya sat up to see Kaztos shaving a large piece of wood with his knife. Noticing her awake, he offered a quick greeting. Saiya turned to see Zeltara still out of it. She quietly got up and started breakfast. Second watch was the worst, so she wanted to give Zeltara a bit more rest.

  The three were back to eating rations, unfortunately. Saiya felt more determined to catch something tonight to avoid eating any more. The three packed everything up and were prepared to leave.

  “Another day of walking then?” Kaztos joked. “I wonder if there’s a competition for this somewhere. At the rate were getting practice in, we’d get first for sure.”

  Zeltara laughed. “Sure, right after we place last in the hunting competition.” Saiya and Kaztos joined in chuckling. “Hopefully, there will be a cooking competition to act as a tiebreaker.” The three settled down. “We’ll keep our current heading. Remember to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. We don’t want to be surprised by anything.” Getting surprised was the least of their worries. If that gangly monster could be out here, what else was?

  They traveled for the next few hours. Saiya kept her gaze on their surroundings, looking for the thin monster. Zeltara and Kaztos were quieter than normal, their attention not on the limited conversation they shared. While walking, Saiya realized that the monster from last night had traveled in this general direction. They had of chance of stumbling onto it if they were unlucky. Zeltara should be able to give them an early warning, at least.

  The sun was just about to reach its apex when Zeltara turned her head to the left. She slowed down and came to a stop. Kaztos and Saiya watched as she concentrated on something only she could hear.

  “What is it?” Kaztos asked. Zeltara kept her gaze west and took a few steps forward.

  “It sounds like... people. A lot of people.” She smiled. Saiya felt surprise wash over her. There were people out here? Did they finally find something?

  Kaztos said, “Then, we found a settlement?” Zeltara shrugged.

  “I’m not sure. I can’t make much of it out.” She started walking forward. “Let’s go check it out. This might be what we’re looking for.” Saiya and Kaztos followed her at a quickened pace. The three jogged through the forest, following the sound only their leader could hear. It took a few minutes of traveling, but the trees parted into a massive clearing. There in the middle of it was a village.

  It wasn’t large by any stretch of the imagination. If Saiya had to guess, only a thousand people lived there, if that. The houses seemed to be mostly made of wood, though the occasional stone building could be seen. Surrounding the village were several farms with fields of crops growing. It was just what they were looking for.

  “I can hear a lot of people in there,” Zeltara said. “The place looks to be thriving.” Kaztos cheered.

  “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go introduce ourselves!” He prepared the run over when Saiya grabbed him by the arm.

  “What do you think you’re doing? We know nothing about these people. They could attack us on sight or worse.” Zeltara chuckled and put a hand on Kaztos’ shoulder.

  “It probably won’t be that bad, but Saiya’s right. We don’t want to make a bad first impression. We’re supposed to be adventurers, so running in like kids would hurt our credibility.”

  Kaztos nodded. “Makes sense. Then let’s get a move on.” Kaztos led the charge and marched towards the village. Zeltara shook her head with a sigh. She followed him. Saiya took the rear and kept an eye out. While it was a small chance, this could be a trap.

  As the three approached the village, Saiya couldn’t help but feel like this was too easy. Expedition headquarters made this journey seem much more difficult than it currently was. Sure, there were dangers, but they had navigated them successfully so far. She was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Their luck wouldn’t allow things to go any other way.