The land they had to walk on was wretched. One wrong step could doom them. Meanwhile, they also had to keep an eye around to ensure the enemy was not watching them in hiding.
Sylvester looked above his head, and from the shadows cast down, he reckoned it was close to sunset. The face of the guide was also turning anxious as they had just reached the dinghy.
They got on it and started to row carefully. The water was so green that it appeared they were moving on the land, but they all knew what lay beneath them—death.
"What are the other creatures that live in this place?" Felix wondered.
The guide answered. "Great Pythons, Great Crocodiles, and the River Dragons. Nearly everything here wishes to kill or devour you."
Sylvester looked at the water carefully. Any animal name with great as a prefix meant that the animal was much larger than usual. He remembered seeing a Great Lion, which was as big as a one-story house. How big would the crocodiles and pythons be? That was a scary thought in itself.
But their problem now was that they had no idea where they should even go because the Vine forest was like a maze with interconnected waterways. Some were even dead ends.
'If there are people living here, they would likely be somewhere they know they can hide. They also need a large land area to stay as far away from the dangerous waters as possible. They also need some structure, as sleeping on the ground is nothing less than a death sentence.'
"We need to find the largest land in the Vine forest and hope the sinners are hiding there—before sunset." He suggested.
"Max, why don't we just follow the little water flow? If it's flowing, that must mean it leads to an end, right?" Gabriel suggested to him.
Sylvester looked at the green water. There was indeed a very faint current. "We can, but that's the least likely path the sinners are to take to hide… but, let me try something, take the dinghy to the shore first."
His command was regarded as the highest authority, so they did as asked. Sylvester then jumped off. "Wait for me here. I'll be back in a minute."
"But, Priest S-"
"I'm not going far, Sir Dolorem. Just wait here. I will be back with a direction to head." Sylvester reassured and walked away.
His destination was not decided, as he just wanted to be out of the direct line of sight of everyone else. So once he came past a few trees, he talked to Miraj. "Chonky, I will throw you above the tree line. You look around and see if you notice anything of interest."
"Aye-Aye Ma… What? No! I hate heights."
"Come on, Chonky. I will catch you easily. Don't you trust me?" Sylvester insisted.
Miraj looked at his face nervously. "Will you catch me? Really? What if you can't?"
"I will, trust me. I can use the air element to pull you towards me, so don't worry. Besides, you're a cat. You can handle falling from heights." He assured me.
He could have climbed the trees too, but that would not help as the view would be limited. To see from a better height was the only way.
"Okay, throw me."
"Here you go then." Sylvester put Miraj's butt on his palm and made him fold his hindlegs so his body appeared like a ball. "Keep your eyes open and look all around. Look for any giant out-of-the-ordinary tree or building structure."
"Ha!" He threw Miraj up with enough strength.
"Meoooowww…"
Miraj felt the air push against his face, forcing his eyes to close. But he tried his best and looked around, slowly reaching the peak. However, he soon realized that falling was more terrifying than going up.
"Nyaaaa…."
The furry boy fell back briefly and was caught in Sylvester's arms. His white fur now looked messy, as if an electric shock had hit him.
"So, did you see something?"
Miraj looked at Sylvester's face and wondered how important he was to this boy. "Yes… I saw. There is a big tree in the East, big like the Soul Tree. And in the North, I saw some broken roofs of towers."
Sylvester caressed Miraj's hair back into normal style as he walked back to the dinghy. "It seems we should get to the towers first. If there is some building structure, then the chances of someone living there increases."
"Head north." He ordered as he jumped back into the dinghy.
Others eyed him in suspicion but knew better not to ask for anything as it was not the right time. So Felix and Sir Dolorem started to row the dinghy in the desired direction.
Gabriel was not a knight, so he needed to preserve his energy. Jax was an old man. At the same time, the guide was tense, looking around, and finding the right path. Sylvester, however, was only focused on sensing the surroundings.
On their way, Sylvester had to throw Miraj a few more times as they had no map of the land. So each time, they'd sometimes have to move upstream to keep going north without missing the spot.
"This is bad. It will be nighttime in an hour or so." The guide muttered in fear.
Sir Dolorem shrugged and patted the man on the shoulder. "You are in the presence of the strongest light wizard in history. Nights are of no concern as long as we are together. Even Priest Gabriel can use the light magic."
"Indeed," Sylvester reassured. "The only reason these vines don't move has something to do with the sunlight. So as long as we all stay together and I use my magic, we shall be fine. I am worried about the Inquisitor army, however."
"You called the army?" Jax exclaimed. "Armies are not suitable to fight in such a landscape."
Sylvester nodded, even though he had reservations about the man. "Agreed, but as long as their Commander is smart, they would not enter the forest so easily."
"We must reach the shore and get ourselves a base for the night. We can't be on the wate-" As the guide spoke, his voice suddenly stopped with a choke.
Sir Dolorem pulled the man back from the front of the dinghy. "What happened?"
"The neck!" Sylvester moved quickly and noticed a small dart planted in the throat. "Get down! Quick!"
"I got this covered," Jax suddenly yelled and took out a golden coin from his pouch. He then placed it in the middle of the dinghy and placed his palm on it.
Woosh!—Like a gust of wind touching them all, they felt an invisible barrier form around the dinghy.
"I made these, my rune tokens. They come in handy in times of need like now, as they decrease the Solarium used for casting a rune with our elemental magic. Extremely helpful at night." Jax explained calmly.
Bam!
Bam!
Every now and then, some darts would come flying and hit the invisible shield made of air. The good thing about the air shield was that they could still row the boat, albeit with more exertion.
"As expected, they are great hunters, especially at night," Sylvester muttered.
"Max, how far can your light reach?" Felix inquired.
"Far enough, but it's no use fighting right now. They can easily run away, leaving us stuck in some water hole. And we can't remain on the water either. So let's get to the shore and hold the ground there. If they dare to come too close, we have enough means to kill them from a distance." Sylvester quickly planned.
So as planned, they reached the shore without knowing where the darts were coming from.
"What about the guide?" Gabriel asked as he got out.
"Dead." Sir Dolorem replied and left the body to float in the dinghy.
"Poison?" Sylvester reckoned and got more careful.
The night had arrived, and it was impossible to look forward anymore. So Sylvester took the lead and used his right hand to create light. They all used some sort of a shield with their magic as they walked to safety.
Bam!
The darts kept on coming out of nowhere. However, they knew they were being watched. They could feel it. And it was an unnerving experience.
"Stop, let's rest here." Sylvester stopped after arriving at a reasonably open space where they could look around themselves.
They could have made themselves an Earth dome for protection, but they stuck to air-based as they didn't want to wake up the next day, unable to get out because vines covered them.
"Let's use the light crystals now," Sylvester suggested.
None of them were scared or even rushing to do anything. Sylvester didn't know about Jax, but everyone else had been through so many nerve-wracking situations in the past few years that this was nothing in their eyes. Not when the enemies were so weak they resorted to using darts from a distance.
Heck, even Miraj was happily sleeping on Sylvester's lap. While Gabriel was reading a book, Felix sharpened his sword, and Sir Dolorem was also dozing while sitting. Only Jax and Sylvester were doing nothing other than keeping a watch.
"Priest Sylvester, did your father also have golden eyes?" Jax asked suddenly.
"Don't know, never saw my father. He probably did have them because my mother certainly does not have them. What about you?" He asked back.
Jax smiled as if he remembered something. "Of course, my son and daughter both got golden eyes, but only the girl took my hair, and the boy took his mother's black hair."
'At least he's not lying here.' Sylvester sighed as he looked around. The vines had indeed started to move. But since they had light crystals, the vines stayed away from them as if they were the plague.
"Wraaaaaa!"
"What was that?" Sylvester stood up and used his hands to throw as much light as possible to look around.
Everyone was alerted by the cry.
"Stay alert!" Sir Dolorem warned and prepared to defend.
"Haaaa…!"
The cry came again, but not in their direction.
"There!" Felix pointed to the left.
Sylvester quickly moved his hand and looked. "Wait… that's! I'm going out. Cover me!"
He jumped out of the air shield quickly and ran towards the humanoid figure. It was covered in mud, but Sylvester recognized the hair, eyes, and build.
"Sir Arnold, what are you doing here? Where is the army?" Sylvester got to the man, who was covered in mud from head to toe and appeared tired. His sword blade was also chipped in places, showing the man didn't have it easy.
"I could not let my boys walk to their death here at night, so I stopped them outside… but I vowed General Joseph I'd go with you—I'm here to keep that promise!"
Sylvester helped the man by giving him a shoulder and walking him into their little safe space.
'What a man.' Was all Sylvester could think about this man.
Once they were safe, Sir Arnold sat down tiredly and took long breaths. "I… I was lost initially, but then I saw the light far away while resting on top of a tree. Sanctum Inspector, I know what we're dealing with… I came across a shrine of these heathens."
"Shrine? They pray to someone?" Sylvester narrowed his gaze as he passed a glass of water.
The big man nodded. "Yes, these filths… There is a reason why they are so good at hunting at night. They pray to Ka'Zul—so we must rest at night and in the morning—hunt them!"
Jax cursed vocally as he was not clergy. "Ah, shit! Now it makes sense why they kidnap, ****, and murder Bright Mothers."
"Wait, who is Ka'Zul?" Felix asked confusedly.
Sylvester sighed and responded with contempt in his voice. "The bloody God of Goblins."
[A/N: One more chap coming in a few hrs.]
YOU CAN DO IT!
**669 Stones = Bonus Chapter!**
APE TOGETHER STRONG!
