Hello and welcome to chapter 3 of the cursed realm. This one took me a while to write mostly because I was finishing my last year of college. And now im finished I should have more time to work on my two stories.
The cursed realm chapter 3.
The first thing Shiro noticed was how much harder the sun beamed down on them than in Nohr or hoshido. He looked around to see that they were in a field with tall grass up to his waist and with odd-looking flowers with peculiar colours scattered across the plains. He looked to his friends whom were doing the same as him.
"So, this is the place?" Sophie asked no one in particular.
"So it would seem…" Siegbert was tugging on his collar.
"Man, it's so hot!" Shiro was already starting to sweat.
"boy, you can say that again" Nina huffed and tried to fan herself with her hand.
They all looked around slightly confused.
"So, uh, what do we do first?" Shiro asked his friends.
They all looked bewildered as if they didn't think this far ahead; after all they weren't given any information about this realm's geography.
"I suppose we could try walking in one direction and hope we can come across some kind of village or town. We should probably learn a little about the realm we're in considering we will be here for a quite a while" Siegbert looked at everyone for approval, to which they looked at each other.
"Sounds good!" Sophie piped up. "Though I think we should reconsider what we're wearing, our clothes are not exactly made for heat this intense" the rest agreed with her.
Siegbert and Sophie shed a bit of armour in favour of something lighter from the large pouches on the sides of their horses. The horses were fitted with large pouches that contained changes of clothes/armour, food and water for them and the horses and some personal items that they decided to take with them. Siegbert and Sophie also shed the clothes they were wearing in favour of something without sleeves.
Nina took her cape off and stored it in her pouch she really didn't much mind the heat but it did get unbearable with that cape on.
Shiro simply took his chest piece off and undone his shirt slightly to bear some of his chest. What Shiro was wearing want particularly thick and had short sleeves so he didn't have to adjust much compared to Siegbert and Sophie.
"Alright which way do you think we should go Siggy?" Shiro asked his comrade.
"Well, I believe we should head that way…" he pointed in the direction down from the Field they were in. "…I have a good feeling we will reach a village much faster if we go that way compared to the other directions. What does everyone think of that?" everyone nodded in agreement.
"all right, you're the boss" Shiro confirmed.
Thus they began to walk.
To Shiro it felt like they were walking through the same field forever. The same flowers and the same kind of grass over and over again.
"*Sigh* how long is this damn field?!" he complained.
Nina sighed "just, be patient Shiro, besides look" she pointed forward and Shiro noticed there was a fork pathway that leads in the direction they were walking in.
Shiro sighed, he could at least appreciate the fact that they were making some kind of progress. They made it onto the fork pathway and continued in the direction they were headed.
Shiro couldn't help but admire the beauty of this new realm how the trees sere that of a lighter tone than the ones in his own realm. The shapes of some of the trees were strange. There were trees that were tall but with long branches near the top almost resembling a mushroom. But most of them were shorter but the branches started near the bottom and went up in a slim cone shape.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Sophie pointed out. "It's hard to believe that the demonic activity originated from this realm."
"Well said" Siegbert complimented her "I find it hard to believe too, but at the same time we must remain vigil, we never know when we will encounter these 'Devils'"
The four of them walked on for quite a while chatting about various things ranging from food to embarrassing stories about their parents.
"haha! Wow I never figured your father to be such a softie Shiro!" Nina laughed.
"Yeah, never knew he had that side to him" Shiro always thought if his father as this stern, bland man with no passion. But he was pleasantly surprised to see whole new aspects to his father.
While he thought of it he started to feel really uncomfortable again. "Gods, its so damn HOT!" he started to flap his Robes to try and cool himself.
"It just gets hotter and hotter!" Sophie started to pant slightly.
Siegbert shaded his eyes with his hand and looked to the sky. "it looks like the sun is at it's peak. Must be midday" he pointed out.
Nina sighed, "it feels like we've been walking all day though"
"hey guys? Look" Shiro pointed along the pathway. There was a man holding the reins to a horse, which was slowly moving alongside him.
"Think we should ask for directions?" Sophie looked to Siegbert for guidance.
"that would in our best interest" Siegbert started to approach the man.
As they got closer they noticed the man was quite old and his horse was pulling a small wagon, it looked like he was a trader or a merchant of some kind. Siegbert rode up to the man.
"Greetings good sir. We are travellers from another land and we were hoping if you could point us in the direction of the nearest town?" Siegbert asked politely.
The man then looked up at Siegbert then looked towards his friends.
"hmm. You lot look a tad, too well equipped to be simple travellers. You looking for mercenary work?" they noticed the man had a strange accent.
Siegbert looked towards the others then back at the old man. "You can say that. We are looking for a way to get to know the land and find some work along the way. Will you help us?" Siegbert asked again.
The old man then eyed Siegbert from top to bottom then spoke after a few seconds. "aye, there's a small town in that direction…" he pointed to the right of Siegbert. "..but it's a small town with nothing you lot're lookin' for but if you keep followin' this path…" he then pointed down the path they were headed "…you will find a bigger town over the horizon by night, coal mining town. 'tis a hotspot for mercenaries like yourselves."
Siegbert smiled. "Thank you, good sir. We will now be on our way"
Siegbert and the others started to move passed the man whom turned to offer a warning. "Word of warning lad, the reason the town is so popular with mercenaries, is 'cause demons spawn near the town. They need a lot of protection."
The four of them looked at each other. "Thanks for the warning old man" shiro thanked in his usual tone.
"aye" the man waved them off and continued on his way.
"is that what they call the devils here?" Sophie asked.
"looks like it. we might have a lead already!" Nina stretched a little and continued to walk with Sophie and Siegbert in tow.
"ho' boy walking 'till nightfall…. Woohoo" Shiro mock cheered
Later
The sun was setting and the four children of fate were now exhausted from walking four hours in the heat. Shiro was especially exhausted.
"uughh! Even when the sun's down it's sill SO DAMN HOT!" he complained.
"oh quit your whining its not that bad!" Nina mocked him and started to speed off ahead of the group.
"is she seriously not feeling this heat?" Shiro looked up at Siegbert who just shrugged.
"Strange woman she is" Sophie giggled slightly.
"anyway... looks like we already have something to go on and its just the first day! Talk about progress!" Shiro was still fanning himself.
"that would certainly be the case. This might not be as difficult as we once thought." Siegbert stretched a little bit.
"hey guys!" Nina shouted coming back towards her friends from over the hill.
"What is it?!" Sophie called to her.
Nina pointed towards the direction she came from and cupped her other hand around her mouth to try and make her voice louder. "you guys are gonna want to see this!"
Shiro, Siegbert and Sophie looked at each other and upped their pace towards where Nina was pointing.
"so, what is it?" Shiro inquired as he looked over the hill to see what she was pointing at. "oh, wow!"
It was a large town a bit larger than what can be considered 'towns' in Nohr and Hoshido. It was lit up like a bonfire in the night.
"it's beautiful!" Sophie was in awe.
"I know right" Nina looked to be rather proud of herself.
"well then shall we check it out?" Siegbert asked his friends.
Sophie and Nina nodded "no arguments from me" Shiro was still fanning himself.
And so, the four of them proceeded down the hill towards the town. Ready to officially make the first step on their adventure.