“Alright. So, umm, what do you guys know about the Fire Kingdom?” Jai asked when all of them had settled down in Barun’s house. The old man had lent him his house so that they could converse in a more relaxed condition and without anyone else disturbing them.
Darrion lowered his iced tea. “Lots,” he simply answered. Then he double take, “Well, only information though.”
Oki laughed. “I bet my lots are not that much compared to this guy,” he pointed to Darrion who smirked in return. “Both of us had never been there. But we have our own share of information.”
Jai smiled. “It’s alright,” then he turned to the other man in the room. “How about you, Sir Phillips?”
The older man with pale red hair chuckled nervously. “Woah, I’m not comfortable with that nickname. It made me seem old.”
Oki tilted his head. “How old are you, mister? Not tr
Jai was in Darrion’s house, preparing for the rest of the things he’s going to bring. Darrion wasn’t around when he arrived, but Darisha was already there waiting for him. They had a talk for around one hour and a half about the journey before moving on to the preparation.Since Darrion’s father was a traveller herbalist, there were many stories in his letter. Darisha had searched the letters when he was working in the Fire Kingdom and read it to Jai. Thanks to that, he had more clues on what kind of place he was going to.The Fire Kingdom was in a mountain with many trees. He understood immediately that it must be in the middle of the forest, and he was smiling in excitement at the thought of it. It wasn’t that the forest in Deleima and Heruba wasn’t interesting enough to him, but the thought of going abroad and traveling in a forest. ‘I can finally travel just like people on Earth. I wonder if they have snow in there too? May
Jai left the square to return to Darrion’s house. Darrion and Darisha were already there waiting for him with food ready, and he immediately joined them for lunch.“So, I found some information about the Fire Kingdom and its surrounding. Is there anything you want to know?” Darrion asked after he swallowed his food.“Learning from experience, I rather talk it out with you after eating,” Jai answered before he fed himself a spoonful of food.Darisha giggled.Darrion frowned. “What? What’s wrong with me?”“You talk gibberish when you’re munching your food. I can make out simple words, but not an entire passage,” Jai said. “We’re doing it after we eat.”Darrion whined a bit and they continued eating. Half an hour later, they were done, and they were now enjoying dessert. It was the blueberry cake Darisha gave Jai before. It was sweet and refreshing after a meal
“Wait. I don’t understand. You’re coming with me?” the windlet nodded. “But don’t you have your job as a windlet? I’ll be going for at least one month. Do you have any idea how many days that is?” Jai asked. “Thirty days! You can lose your job!”Darrion smiled. “Relax, Jai. Everything’s been taken care of.”“What do you mean by that?” Jai frowned.“I have a mission. I’ll be accompanying you,” Darrion smiled.Jai blinked, suddenly feeling relaxed because he wasn’t exactly the only reason. “Oh… Okay… Part of it makes sense to me. So… You’ll be going with me in the span of your mission. How long are you going to be in the Fire Kingdom and what kind of mission? Maybe I can help you while we’re there. Two birds with one stone, you know?”Darrion snickered. “Jai. The mission is ‘you&rsq
Jai and Darrion walked together in the plains. Darrion was holding a blue bunny as big as a calf with a smile on his face. The bunny didn’t seem to protest and instead, it tried to lean its back to the windlet often, as if trying to get even more closer. There were several blue and green rabbits with the normal giant size hopping alongside the two humans. One particular bunny bigger than the rest, almost the size of an elephant but still considerably shorter than the trunked animal, was walking on Jai’s right. The bunny’s pace was slow, as if trying to match Jai and Darrion’s footsteps. It didn’t seem to be alerted at all walking beside the two and seemed very relaxed.A green giant bunny bumped into Darrion’s left, sending him bumping against Jai and letting go of the bunny he was carrying. The smaller bunny fell to the ground with a shuffle and made the blonde almost tripped. But Jai helped him got back to his feet with a small laugh. &ld
The boys arrived at the border after dusk. The rhinoceros beast, or rather, the Jagged Horn Beasts, took a lot more time than the usual monsters for them to handle. It wasn’t because of the Jaggedhorns only, but rather, the distractions from the Moostets. These furry and bigger sized meerkat like creatures were hopping around everywhere, trying to distract Jai and Darrion from the charging Jaggedhorns.The Jaggedhorns were actually easy to handle because they were only charging forward like a bull or, rhinos. Dodging was an easy matter for Jai or Darrion, if only the Moostets weren’t hopping around them and taking turns kicking the two. Their kicks were not powerful per se, but it was their number that was troubling our heroes. The Moostets were many, more than ten but fortunately less than twenty. The two humans were having trouble keeping up with protecting the bunnies and themselves, but they eventually succeeded in scaring the enemies away in an
The next day, Jai and Darrion continued their journey. They didn’t forget to pick up Jai’s visitation permit at the lobby before going to the other section of the lobby where the other gate was located. This was also the lobby, but this part was“Safe trip, boys,” a middle-aged guard behind the desk smiled at them. “Do not forget to stay alert. I know this is the first time for you crossing the border.”“How do you know?” Darrion asked. “Do we look like it?” he looked at his own outfit.The man smiled. “Your clothes aren’t the giveaway. It’s your eyes. You have those dreamy eyes of a child. Filled with wonder and stars.”Jai and Darrion looked at each other in the eyes. The guard chuckled. “Yes. A newbie to the travelling world. Do be careful out there, alright? The Central Region is still infested with monsters.”The two smiled and waved at the man. &ld
Their walk was fortunately, uneventful. But they were glad there were no monsters coming their way. They did come across several Moostets on the way though. But maybe because they were in groups, the Moostets weren’t confident they could take them down, so they shared a glance before walking away. The boys didn’t pursue them.At their leisure but careful walk, they arrived at Rettaza before noon. The town was quite lively when they arrived. There were people walking out and into the town like normal settlement would. The walls were built with dark bricks along with the buildings, and the roads were paved and clean, except for some dried leaves that did not need to be cleaned as the wind swept them away easily.Rita immediately got excited and ran among the crowds of people, shouting, “Jelly rolls!”The three men laughed when they saw her reaction. “She won’t wait for us. Let us go to the bakery,” Alfred said.Jai
Darkness… That’s all he could see. He wondered if that’s was just because he forgot to open his eyes or because it was just too dark to see in the place he was in right now. He got tired of waiting for a chance to escape that he unconsciously fell asleep.The sound of wind could be heard outside, blowing and gusting. There’s also another sound, it sounded like a growl and a hum, something that’s obviously not human.“Grrawwk!!” the sound echoed.He didn’t know what kind of creature that is, but the fact that he was somewhere unknown and in mid-air sent unknown sensation and feelings all over his body. He was tired, hungry, and smelled so bad. Or it was maybe the place he was currently held in.This… Small and dark place that smelled like nothing he had ever smelled before. It was a mix of potato, something sour and rotten, and dirt. It messed with his nose that he couldn’t figure out whether th