Faustus had not asked where they were going. And at this point he didn’t care. All that mattered was that he would become an adventurer. The Mage wanted to live one day in a world where he didn’t need to hide his face.
The Peacemakers were out there. And he was certain they were searching for him. He shuddered to think what a group built around suppressing free will might do to him. Faustus made a conscious choice to leave them.
A fear that one of his companions shared. Aldin, who stood nearby. The group of five wannabe adventurers followed the ranked member of the guild. His friend shared those worries as they went through a portal. He had run away too. On the same day in fact.
Both runaways had killed the same guards, fled down the same alley, and now were allies in arms on the same mission. Would they be forced to fight each other? Did he even care?
The other three that he counted as allies, if not friends felt the same. Trent called himself a Druid. He had demonstrated that he was connected to nature. Magic in general was dangerous. This one could manipulate so called ordinary and worldly forces into something new.
Meanwhile he had to also contend with a certain Bard. He didn’t care for her name much. Faustus sensed hostility from her. But she had another skill that seemed so alien to him.
Her very voice was a weapon. And not limited to sheer loudness. Though there was no doubt that she was capable of that. Indeed she was screeching right now. Freaking out about how the Adventurer’s Guild was ruining prime dig sites for the sake of a trial.
His other companion was the strangest of all. Faustus felt like he didn’t belong in the outside world. Jyona seemed to showcase that she belonged less. Yet she didn’t seem to realize that. Every new thing she saw demanded her attention.
It didn’t matter that the group was now in a dangerous jungle as they emerged from the portal. The exotic smells only seemed to excite her. Even Faustus knew that life here would not be kind to them. He wanted to get to the end.
This jungle was located on the Continent of Origin. Faustus had never been here before. Perhaps the Peacemakers would be too busy searching for him in the Imperial City. Should he run into the brush and hope to never be seen again?
That wouldn’t work. He lacked survival skills. Even if he asked Trent for advice he wouldn’t be able to learn enough to live out here. His only choice was to stay close to his companions and find their way through to their destination.
“Stay close.” The Druid warned. “We aren’t alone.”
“Oh clearly not.” Siobhan acted like the warning was a joke. “This is a place where we don’t belong.”
“Where you don’t belong,” Trent corrected. “I’m at home here. If we all want to survive you should listen to me.”
“Tell me where to point my sword and let’s go.” Aldin declared. But his weapon was already drawn. It seemed he had chosen violence already.*
“There is so much here.” Jyona was already in her own little world. She might get eaten and find it to be fascinating. Faustus couldn’t fathom her way of thinking.
“Yes. And much of it is dangerous.” Trent stated once more. “I smell water in that direction.” He pointed immediately ahead. “Let’s head that way and get our bearings.” The portal had already closed behind them. “Once we leave here we don’t want to get lost.”
The Druid moved ahead at a careful yet steady pace. Faustus didn’t want to get left behind but preferred to let others stay in the front. Instead, he helped push Jyona along who somehow tried to stay and look at each individual flower.
What a waste of time! Does she even want to be an adventurer? Before he could vocalize his thoughts, he was forced to stop. Faustus heard steady breathing from the brush nearby.
Faustus tried to warn his allies, but they were more intent on the way forward. Did he try to attack first? What if he missed? He couldn’t risk attacking an unknown enemy and not having the upper hand.
Yet this might be his only chance to have the element of surprise. Instead of committing violence, he had a better idea. if he exerted dominance against this potential enemy, they wouldn’t attack at all.
Puffing his chest and doing his best to look frightening, he looked towards the noise and shouted. “Leave here now or you will die!” It didn’t have any immediate effect.
Trent however turned around and looked upset. “That wasn’t wise.” He hissed. “Run. There are more coming. Quickly! To the water!”
The Druid sprinted forward and Faustus had no choice but to follow as he heard more noise in the underbrush. On both sides now. He had made a mistake.*
Faustus ended up in the rear. Even Jyona managed to outrun him. That was bad. He was the first to find out the identity of their pursuers. He had read about tigers before. But these beasts were far larger than what any book had described.
Their fangs looked to be about the size of his hand. And he didn’t want to find out how strong their bite was. Instead he attacked. They might be massive beasts, but magic didn’t exist in their minds.
A good thing too, because it didn’t slay the monster. Though it hesitated long enough for Faustus to move away from the second one on the other side.
With the open ocean behind him, it seemed strange that the group would want to be cornered. But they had done just that. Trent had urged them in fact.
“Now what?” Siobhan asked.
“We kill them.” The Druid instructed. “Use the water to keep them back. Even cats living near water will avoid that from the ocean.”
Aldin didn’t even wait for the tigers to attack again. He splashed nearby water towards them. The plants seemed undisturbed by the additional salt, but the creatures reacted differently.
One got the water in its eyes and screeched in agony. Faustus used this chance to send a second spell its way. Blinded by the water, the tiger had no chance to react. Only one remained.
Trent summoned fire once more. Faustus found it weird that a person so in tune with nature would be so willing to set it on fire. But that was exactly what he did.
The remaining tiger found itself trapped in a flaming underbrush. The addition of salt water did little to help. Indeed, this magical fire seemed completely unaffected by the water.
The poor beast didn’t understand what was happening. But that didn’t matter. Faustus wasn’t going to be food today.
“Put the fires out.” Trent instructed once the second creature died. “We have already done damage to this place that will take a long time to mend. But we had no choice.”
“Can I take a tiger tooth?” Faustus had forgotten about Jyona. Why hadn’t she helped in this fight?
“I won’t stop you.” The Druid didn’t seem bothered by her morbid curiosity.
“Can we hurry up?” Aldin asked. “We have not seen the others and I don’t think that bodes well.”
“Maybe they died!” Siobhan said.
“I doubt it.” Faustus knew that having no competition would make things too easy.
“We should be able to find their trail though.” Trent stated as if it was common sense.
To him at least. Faustus had lived inside a cathedral his entire life and knew nothing about this. He would have been doomed if he had tried to go it alone. For the first time he was thankful for these allies.
“Let’s go then.” Aldin repeated. “I don’t want to wait for more beasts.
Trent nodded and motioned for the others to follow.
The underbrush was thick and many of the plants looked dangerous. Even with his lack of worldly experiences, Faustus understood something vital. Those brightly colored leaves served as a warning.
And not just of poison either. The moment the green surrounded them on all sides, another threat emerged. The local insects decided they had found their next meal.
Swatting all the bloodsuckers away, Faustus wondered how much worse experiences were coming. Did the Peacemakers have the right idea?
No! Never think that!
Furious over his moment of weakness, he did what he did best. The Mage decided to vocalize his frustrations once more. “This stupid jungle better reveal its secrets and fast!” The entire group stared at him as if he had committed some grave sin.
“What are you doing Faustus?” Aldin demanded as he continued swatting bugs away. “Do you want everything nearby to hear us?”
The Mage remained quiet afterwards. Letting his anger stew, he thought long and hard about how he would deal with his emotions. Things he had not been allowed to deal with before.
All of a sudden, his movement was interrupted. And as he tried to move forward, some force pulled him back. It took a couple moments more to notice that the green leaves here looked different. And the ground was covered in brambles.
Unfortunately, as he traced them to their source, he realized that the plants were all around him. By proxy the rest of the group were the man eater variety. And they were all now ensnared.
If the excerpt above interested you, check out the series here.