Because the green forest was completely covered in decay, and therefore probably infested with undead spawning pits, Lucius decided to take the route through the clan lands.
Though he wasn't familiar with this particular path, he knew that if he just continued going west of the Behemoth mountains, he would make it there eventually. So he ventured on, avoiding whatever wild beasts attempted to attack him on the way.
He hadn't traveled more than three hours before the massive wall the chief had spoken about came into view. However, something even more interesting arose just a small distance before the wall.
From here it looked like a thick black cloud, billowing past the tall trees of the clan lands into the sky. However, even from here the thick choking smell that it was emitting made it quite clear what was going on.
"A fire," Lucius whispered to himself, before increasing his speed.
Usually, people would run in the opposite direction from fires, however, there was something peculiar about this one.
The forest winds were currently blowing in the direction of the wall the council had built, and from the areas where the fires were, it was obvious what the arsonist's plan had been.
Though he was a bit curious as to who the arsonist was, he was more interested in the effect it would have on whatever creatures were guarding the wall. With such a big distraction -which from what Lucius guessed was probably what the arsonist had wanted- there would be enough room for him to sneak through.
~Well, what do you know,~ Lucius thought to himself, as he got closer. A crowd of forest creatures had gathered around one of the trees that were completely engulfed in flames.
It was spreading quickly, and the wind fanning its flames only made it grow larger by the second.
Once Lucius had gotten even closer, he decided to climb up one of the trees to prevent being seen. With the direction the wind was currently blowing, there was a low chance that the tree he was on would catch fire.
~Why aren't they putting it out?~ he wondered, as he watched the forest creatures stare at the fire as if it were their first time seeing one.
~Don't tell me they don't know what fires are,~ he realized, as he witnessed one of the creatures touch it, and instantly go aflame. This seemed to make all the creatures realize the danger it posed, as they began running off in different directions.
The fox-like creature that had touched the fire and was currently burning to death, ran straight towards the council wall, like a kamikaze. Causing a small fire to erupt on the wall, when it should've taken at least a few more minutes for it to happen naturally.
The small embers became a full-fledged fire, that quickly ate away at the tree pillars that made up the 7-meter tall council wall.
From atop the tree, Lucius could see the guards stationed at the top of the walls. They all seemed to be focused on the fires that were on the trees in front of them, and none of them seemed to notice the fire beneath them.
~I've never seen those creatures before,~ he thought to himself, already moving to get into an optimal position to take advantage of the frenzy that was about to begin.
For lack of a better reference point, Lucius could only describe the guards as humanoid tigers. They seemed to be wearing well-made armor, though from here he couldn't tell what exactly that armor was made out of.
Once he was just a few meters away from the wall, and the fire had now devoured three of the tree pillars, effectively creating an opening in the wall, only then did the guards seem to realize.
Many of them shouted things in their strange tongues, before floating orbs came -seemingly out of oblivion- right next to them.
~They know magic,~ he thought, now hiding behind the last few lines of trees before the wall. He was going to wait until the fire got a little larger before going through. Or at least until all the guards were solely focused on the part of the wall with the fire.
From what he had gathered so far, this wall spread towards both ends of the forest, and there were guards stationed every 4 meters or so. If all the guards nearby could just clump up, he would take his chance.
That or he would just dash through the smoke and hope for the best.
Fortunately, whatever spells the guards were casting seemed to have no effect on the fire, which baffled Lucius.
Sure he too had no spells in his arsenal that could possibly stop a fire, but it was just comical that superpowered existences couldn't even put out a simple fire.
Though a few minutes later that simple fire became so large that Lucius doubted even a large fire department could stop it. It was at the level where it could threaten to destroy the entire forest, however, he knew that would not happen.
Although this forest was dense, there were many areas where the river divided the land. Those rivers woulda act as fire breakers, though that didn't mean the fire wouldn't deal some serious damage first.
~ Whoever this arsonist is, they sure are radical,~ he thought to himself, now taking this chance to dash through the walls.
The column of smoke that now clogged the air made visibility near zero, so he doubted that anyone had seen him. However, he wasn't going to stick around to confirm that.
Once he got through the wall, he kept going straight, not bothering to try and see past the smoke.
After running at full speed for a few more minutes, the burning wall was now a good distance away from him, and visibility was now back to normal.
He was now surrounded by the familiar alien-like environment that was the Immaculate Forest. Crystalline stalks of different colors replaced what should've been trees, odd shrubs that seemed to have rubies, sapphires, and all sorts of other gems as fruits were now spread all around him.
Odd purple grass covered the ground like a blanket, and purple vines wrapped themselves around the crystalline trees.
"The floor here feels... good," he whispered to himself. He had nothing against the clan lands, but he couldn't deny that this place felt more pure, like he belonged.
