NOVEL NEXT Arc II Chapter 15
II
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Arc II Chapter 15
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18th of Anima Lunar
VIII AAC 753
Plenty of adventures claimed tents were a science on their own, an essential skill of fieldcraft, often neglected by bloody amateurs and beginners alike in their youthful hubris. The choice of material, the quality, both were crucial. Hemp, linen, leather.
The guild was full of such people, full of aspiring adventurers, full of soldiers of fortune. They dreamed of glory, of accolades, of riches, but they paid dearly for their naivety and inexperience. Blind to advice and counsel, they charged into their demise. They thought a sword, an axe, a spear, made them proper adventurers. They were wrong.
Rudolf smirked with a certain sense of satisfaction and schadenfreude warming his heart. He pitied the fools, but his pity didn't run deep. Sooner or later, they learned the error of their ways the hard way. Disparaging proper fieldcraft was an unwise decision. Arcadia's climate was mild for most of the year. The summers might be temperate, the springs humid, the autumns fresh, but the winters were treacherous, harsh, and unforgiving, brutal for the unprepared when supplies were exhausted and temperatures fell. Snow and frost reigned the land and knew little mercy.
In the meanwhile, Rudolf faced his own little battle and cursed his luck. “Argh, stupid stone ... Stupid ground ...” He hated Valentia. Every time, the same story. Every time, the same hassles. The tents gave him trouble. The pegs were a pain in the arse, as usual. The ground was covered by naked stone, making setting up a camp a nightmare. Rudolf tried his best to drive the pegs into the ground, but to no avail. Even his trusty hammer failed him.
Lambert and Michael fled the battlefield to patrol the citadel, leaving him alone with his camp duties. Meanwhile, Iris was busy collecting firewood and watching their mystery girl. The girl's curiosity was boundless, and her incessant questions got on his nerves to no end. To the point, he thought it was a supremely stupid decision to pick up. The girl was only eating into their supplies and nagging them all the time.
His hammer struck, driving the peg deeper into the ground, but his grumbling didn't cease. Fuelled by dissatisfaction, Rudolf struck once again with force. The soil proved hard like granite, challenging him, defying him.
“Rudolf!” Iris returned in a state of hurry, ... and without her promised firewood ... Rudolf's frown deepened. No wood meant no fire. No fire meant no warmth, which meant only more work for him and his poor back.
Iris was sweating, her panic painfully obvious. Her troubled expression didn't escape his notice. “Rudolf, ... did you see per chance the girl?”
“Not that I know of.” He shook his head before grabbing another peg. One done with plenty to go. “Didn't see our little princess and her doll anywhere, but shouldn't she be together with you?”
Her hands were fidgeting, as Iris was hesitating. Guilt was written all over her face. Iris did apparently not only forget the firewood. “She should, but I might ... have ... potentially ... lost her.”
“You did what?” Rudolf froze in shock.
Iris offered a nervous chuckled. Once again, poor Iris had messed up, committed a serious blunder. “We were on our way to the forest to collect firewood when she suddenly ... went missing.”
“How?” Rudolf didn't believe his ears. He was aghast.
Iris averted her eyes, distressed by the whole situation. The girl's disappearance was indeed troublesome. “Well, we were chatting along the way before I somehow ... lost ... sight of her. The girl simply disappeared, ... vanished, ... evaporated without leaving a trace. I searched the entire area for her, but the girl somehow slipped away.”
Scratching her head in embarrassment, Iris mustered a strained smile.
...
...
...
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Rudolf took a deep breath to restore his peace of mind and fight his choleric streak. Anger and fury were bad friends. Meanwhile, a calm mind helped to process the new information. “Didn't you warn her, Iris? We have no idea what possibly lurks among the ruins. They are no place for a little girl like her.”
“I did warn her.” Iris protested. “I told her so, but the girl didn't listen. She insisted on ‘wanting to explore the ruins’ no matter what.”
An exasperated sigh escaped Rudolf. “I guess that we must search for her. Immediately. We must find her before it's too late. Time is of the essence. Only the gods know where the stupid brat is.”
Iris agreed, time was of the essence ...
A blast hit them with overwhelming force, with the force a violent force of nature. The earth trembled, and the air oscillated in fear. The shock wave travelled fast. Unable to brace themselves, the impact caught them both off guard, knocking them back, staggering them.
An explosion roared in the distance, a furious cataclysm of primal force and unrestrained aether. A giant flare illuminated the entirety of Valentia with the intensity of the sun. Radiance, brightness, gleaming light blinded their vision before a hellish column of ash rose skywards, unbothered by earthly needs.
Rudolf struggled to regain his composure. “What the fuck was that?”
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Nelaeryn observed the horizon, as his experienced eyes were drawn to the site of the explosion, studying the cloud of smoke. The accompanying traces of natural aether didn't escape the trained scholar. Amidst the torrent of chaotic aether, his eyes discerned a high concentration of lightning in the air. A detonation had occurred. A quite powerful detonation no less. Far beyond natural phenomena in size and strength, the explosion must be the product of magic, magic of the more potent kind, easily surpassing mere human capabilities. As such, the explosion piqued his academic curiosity in more ways than one. “Arwing, I think we should investigate this matter.”
Arwing nodded in tacit understanding. No further words were needed. “I agree. I guess we should take a better look.”
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Lambert gulped after witnessing a flash and a thunderous roar at the horizon. His guts had a bad feeling about this, as he and Michael watched a column of smoke and ash rise skywards, the product of massive explosions. “Michael, do you see what I see?”
“...” Taciturn as usual, Michael merely nodded.
“Follow me.” Lambert broke into a sprint.
His actions took a dumbfounded Michael by surprise. “Hey, ... Lambert, ... wait, ... where ... Where are you going?”
“Less talking. More running. No time to waste. No time to talk. Time is precious. We need to hurry. We need to get to the camp immediately. They might be in danger.” Lambert raced ahead with a myriad of thoughts following him. What? How? Why? Who? The explosion defied all reason and logic. Nothing about it made sense. It was far too powerful to be of natural origin, but who or what was behind it then? He had no idea. What he knew, tough, was that the explosion took place near their camp, which meant that danger loomed.
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