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
After their discussion, Jai and Darrion split up to save more time. Jai immediately went to several shops, asking about the forest and the possible antidotes, while Darrion visited the local windlet office. Their windlet service had expanded and conjoined with mail services in all of the continent, this included small towns like Rettaza. His colleagues would obviously know a thing or two.His colleagues were a bit confused and concerned when he asked them about the forest and the dragon in detail. Sadly, what they knew about the dragon or the forest was what he had learned from his father’s book years before. But they suggested he ask the elderly in town about it. They also asked him to be careful which he happily responded with a “Of course! Thanks so much brothers!” which didn’t really lessen their concern.After getting the recent news and the small book containing a list of the monsters in Central Region, Darrion thanked his colleagues and l
They went to the direction according to the map Darrion had memorized in the windlet office. It led them further east past a small ravine until the road split up into two branches. A wooden pole stood between the two roads with two different directions. The left road led to the Affedor Path while the other one was hardly noticeable. The sign of the right road already looked decayed and its letters had faded a bit, but it was still readable to the boys’ eyes.“Grun…rind? What’s that letter in the middle?” Jai pointed to the crooked letter in the middle of the name.“Letter ‘E’. It’s Grunerind,” Darrion answered. “Oh yeah, I just remembered it was called like that,” the blonde said, opening the small handbook he got from his colleagues in Rettaza.“Grunerind? What does it mean?” Jai asked as he observed the right road.Darrion pointed to the handbook. “Green bark. The