From a distance, three people: two boys and a girl were walking side by side in the forest. They seemed like seasoned adventurers, trudging their way through the rough undergrowth, stopping only occasionally to get some rest. However, it all seems strange. Something was just not right. Upon closer inspection…
"When will we reach Calderock Village?" Zephyr whined as he tried to put one foot in front of the other, burdened by his exhausted self.
"I think we are going to reach there this evening." Clarice, the only girl of the trio spoke as she walked in front of the two boys, leading them to their destination.
"Why does time move so slowly?" Zephyr looked up, hoping for an answer.
Several rays of light fell through the leafy canopy and a cool breeze gently brushed against their faces, relieving their fatigue for a moment.
"You won't be any help if you keep complaining." Michael sighed and leaned his back against a tree.
"I know but I'm tired and my feet hurt. We have been walking for four hours straight for god's sake." Zephyr squatted down.
"You heard what Clarice said just now, right? We will be in the village this evening. So just shut your mouth and walk." Michael sighed again. Zephyr pouted as he stood up and walked.
"You two, be quiet." Clarice began to crouch down and looked around her. Michael and Zephyr didn't dare to say a word or even took a deep breath. They looked at each other and their attention switched back to Clarice. Only the sound of their breathing could be heard over the rustling leaves.
"Mich, behind you!" Zephyr shouted as he pulled out his crossbow. Michael jumped as he turned around and gasped as he saw a giant flower, taller than him. The flower opened its mouth and its ugly face began to charge towards Michael.
"Mich, bend down now!" Michael quickly bent down as Zephyr shot the giant flower. The flower groaned in pain and Zephyr quickly shot a few more times as Michael ran towards Zephyr. The flower screamed in pain and fell down. Zephyr tried to catch his breath by taking deep breaths. He still couldn't believe what had happened and what he had done just now.
"What the heck was that?" Zephyr said after able to calm himself down.
"That is Sticky Thorn, a gigantic and extremely ugly flower that usually hides underground." Clarice said as she turned around. Michael walked near to take a closer look but the dead flower disappeared just like magic.
"Huh?" Michael stared at the spot where the flower was before it disappeared.
"All monsters are not real." Clarice spoke as she looked around, wary of the next attacks from the monsters.
"What do you mean?" Michael walked back to Zephyr as Zephyr looked at the bow.
"The monsters are not real like us. They are all made up by someone, or something to take control of this world."
"I don't understand." Zephyr rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's hard to say and I also didn't know much. We need to go to Saint Heaven and find him."
"Who is him that you mention?" Michael asked.
"You will know when you get there." Clarice began to tense up as she sensed something abnormal. Zephyr also sensed it too. He bent down and started to tense up too. Michael quickly readied himself with his bow.
"You two prepared yourself. Zephyr, I need you help me distracted the monster's attention. Michael, cover Zephyr's back, he is the kind of person who only knows how to dash to the front but never cares about his surroundings."
"Yes, I understand." Michael said while Zephyr replied with a nod.
"Roar!" A loud roar coming out from the north which made Zephyr and Michael looked towards the direction. A giant orc jumped and caused the earth to shake. Zephyr and Michael crouched down to prevent themselves from falling over.
"Let's go, Mich! Let's teach the orc why it shouldn't mess with us!" Zephyr jumped up and dashed toward the orc. The orc let out a loud roar again and dashed toward Zephyr with the giant hammer on its hand and used the shield to block the attack from Zephyr. Just as Zephyr was going to give the orc a hit on its head, other monsters were summoned by the orc's loud roar. A few groups of goblins, roughly about five or six in each magically appeared around Zephyr.
"Damn! I didn't see this coming!" Zephyr thought as he tried to avoid the attack from the blunt knife that the goblins are using.
"Zep, duck!"
"Duck?" Zephyr was confused momentarily as an arrow flew past him, right in front of his face and hit the goblin that was going to attack Zephyr behind. Zephyr was able to hear the sound of the arrow passing by and he was glad that his face wasn't hit by the arrow.
"I mean, avoid and start killing!" Michael shook his head and began to shoot the monsters.
"O-okay!" Zephyr shot as he ran towards a tree with goblins chasing him. He ran up the tree and jumped off midway, performing a perfect somersault as he quickly loaded his crossbow and shot all arrows at a wide angle, hitting all the goblins. "Gotcha!" He mumbled. The rebound from the attack carried Zephyr past the group of fallen goblins right next to Michael.
"Good job, Zep!" Michael said as he continued to shoot the goblins. The orc was angry when it saw its minions being fooled by two creatures that it had never seen before. It let out a loud roar and charged towards Zephyr.
"Zep, behind you!" Michael shouted as Zephyr turned around. Zephyr saw Clarice was standing at the tree branch, giving him a signal. Zephyr smiled and nodded his head.
"You stupid monsters come and get me! I bet you can't get me, because you all are stupid!" Zephyr shouted as loud as he can and he was able to get the attention of the orc and the remaining goblins. He ran towards a whole group of monsters like a madman. The orc and goblins also ran towards him.
"What the heck you are doing?" Michael shouted as he saw Zephyr's insane act. Zephyr just smirked as the monsters were nearer and he bent down. Zephyr jumped up suddenly and stepped on a few goblins' face and did a perfect back flip, landing beside Michael.
"Arrow rain!" Clarice shouted suddenly and jumped up into the sky, aiming the monsters and shooting. The monsters were being hit and collapsed to the ground. The orc managed to block the attack with it's shield but it was broken to pieces.
"Here I go!" Michael said and aimed right between the orc's eyes and shot. The orc gave a loud groan, fell onto ground and disappeared.
"That was close." Zephyr slumped onto the ground while Michael was trying to catch his breath.
"You two did a good job." Clarice climbed down from the tree and walked towards them.
"Well then, let's go." Zephyr stood up again, stretched and began to walk.
"Hey, you don't know the way here, so you should follow me." Clarice smiled as she quickly walked in front of Zephyr.
"Ya, sorry. Mich, lets go!" Zephyr turned back and smiled at Michael. Michael smiled back and stood up.
"Yeah, let's go and visit Calderock Village." Michael smiled and followed Zephyr and Clarice.
Three people: two boys and one girl, walking side by side in the forest, towards their destination. This time looking a lot more lively and more like adventurers.
The next few hours were peaceful and happy as Zephyr kept cracking up some jokes with Michael complaining and shaking his head. Clarice smiled while looking at them.
"Here we are, Calderock Village." Clarice said as three of them stopped in front of a huge gate.
"We are finally here!" Zephyr shouted in excitement and ran into the village.
"You idiot, don't make such a fuss." Michael said and shook his head, following behind Zephyr.
"You two, don't run away. I need bring you to see someone." Clarice said and the two boys looked at her.
"Lets go." Clarice walked with Zephyr and Michael walked behind them.
"Clarice, it's been a long time since last time you came to Calderock Village." A moderately tall human -with brown hair that was tied up into three braids, two at the side of her face the other at the back- was waving at Clarice. Clarice smiled and walked towards her while Zephyr kept looking for pretty girls and Michael was, again, shaking his head.
"Irine, how are you?" Clarice hugged Irine.
"I'm fine. What have you been doing? It's been two months since your last visit here."
"Well, you know, the usual. Staying outside and hunting monsters, observing how things are going on outside and such."
"Oh, so what brings you here?"
"Ah, do you know where master is?"
"She is at her house. By the way, who are these two guys?" Irine looked at Zephyr and Michael who were turning their heads in every direction, looking at the beautiful village, and especially at the two horses close by.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you to them. Zephyr and Michael, this is Irine, my friend in Calderock Village. She knows everything around here so you can ask her if you have any questions."
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Michael." Michael shook Irine's hand and smiled gently.
"Hey, I'm Zephyr. It's a pleasure to know such a pretty girl." Zephyr smiled at Irine energetically and shook her hand.
"Hi, I'm Irine. So what brings you here?"
"Well, you see. We are from mmphhhfff." Michael closed Zephyr's mouth abruptly by placing a hand on Zephyr's mouth. Zephyr smacked Michael's hand hard, begging for air.
"Zep wanted to say that we are from other place and we met Clarice on the way here. She told us that we can go to Saint Haven through here." Michael laughed nervously.
"Oh I see. Then Clarice is right. You can go to Saint Haven through Calderock Village but the airship is broken now and it needs time for fixing."
"Oh I see. " Michael nodded his head slightly. Suddenly he didn't feel Zephyr struggling anymore. He quickly looked down at Zephyr and found out he was lying there, unconsciously.
"Hey, Zep. Are you ok?" Michael looked at Zephyr with inquiring eyes. Zephyr still lay on the ground, unconscious.
Irine immediately took control over the situation and knelt down next to Zephyr. She took a deep breath and started to close the distance between hers and Zephyr's lips. Suddenly, Michael saw Zephyr's fingers twitching. It was a sign that he was enjoying something a lot. Michael sighed deeply as he quietly asked Irine to stop and brought a horse from the stable. The horse lowered its head and snorted in Zephyr's face.
"Woah! What the heck you are doing?" Zephyr opened his eyes immediately and jumped clear of the horse.
"Great, you're awake. Now let's not waste any more time and go see Clarice's master." Michael said while giving both Clarice and Irine a knowing smile.
Zephyr looked at Michael square in the eyes and was evidently unhappy that he was found out.
"What the heck is in your mind?" Michael hit Zephyr's head playfully.
"Ouch! Okay, okay, I'll be a little bit more serious."
"Oh well, Clarice, would you please show us the way?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, where is your master?" Zephyr walked while rubbing the bump on his head.
"Here we are. According to Irine, she is resting now. Let's go in." Clarice tidied up her clothes and hair to make sure she looked all okay to see her master. Michael and Zephyr also tidied up their clothes. Clarice took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Master, I'm Clarice. Can I come in?"
"Yes, you may." Clarice looked at Zephyr and Michael and three of them walked into the house. Zephyr and Michael gasped as they saw a beautiful elf with a long blonde hair and jade green eyes, drinking a cup of tea.
"Master, it's been a long time." Clarice bowed. Zephyr and Michael quickly bowed down although they didn't know what they were doing.
"Clarice, it's really been a long time. What brings you here?"
"Master, this is Zephyr and Michael. Zephyr, Michael, this is my master, Master Adelynn."
"Master Adelynn, it's nice to meet you." Michael bowed down and forced Zephyr to bow too since Zephyr was too amazed by Adelynn's beauty.
"It's nice to meet you two. Come and have a sit." Three of them quickly sat down.
"Master, we need some place to stay for awhile." Clarice asked as Michael and Zephyr nodded their heads in unison.
"Well, I can help you all find some place to stay. Clarice will be staying with me. Zephyr and Michael, I will inform Deckard to see if there's a place for both of you to stay."
"Okay, thanks a lot." Zephyr smiled at Adelynn which caused Adelynn to blush with a sad expression on her face.
"Master, are you okay?"
"I'm okay, Clarice. I just remembered him." Adelynn smiled bitterly. Zephyr and Michael looked at each other; both of them looked at Adelynn with sympathy although they didn't know what had happened and who 'him' was.
"It's late now. I'm going out to inform Deckard about this and buy some ingredients for dinner. Do you all want to stay for dinner?"
"Of course! It's our pleasure to stay for the dinner." Zephyr said excitedly which caused Adelynn to remember a certain person once again.
"Okay, please wait for me for awhile." Adelynn smiled sadly and walked out from the house.
"Clarice, I have a question." Zephyr said as he confirmed that Adelynn was out of earshot.
"What is it?"
"Why are Adelynn's ears are more pointy than yours? She seems to be the same age as you."
"You are wrong. She is older than she looks. "Clarice took a sip from her cup.
"No way!"
"Yes. She is older than she looks although I'm not so sure about her exact age and about the pointy ears of hers, I have no idea."
"Oh, I see. She sure does look young." Zephyr said and drank the tea.
"I wonder how our life will be here. By the way, Clarice, why aren't you sleeping at the same place with us?" Michael asked and Michael's question startled Clarice.
"W-well, I- I just want to have a deeper bond with master since it has been a long time to meet with her." Clarice said nervously.
"Ya, besides, what are you trying to do with her if she is sleeping at the same place with us? You already have Jessy." Zephyr grinned and looked at Michael.
"Shut up." Michael hit Zephyr's head hard.
"I was just kidding. You no need act so harsh on me. I thought we were best friends." Zephyr said, looking at Michael with a pitiful look on his face.
"Drop your act. Your act is useless against me." Michael sighed.
"Geez, you are so cold hearted." Zephyr pouted. Michael sighed and three of them continued to talk while waiting for Adelynn to come back.
"Smells yummy!" Zephyr said while sniffing.
"Where're your manners?" Michael was trying to make sure Zephyr didn't run and hug Adelynn.
"Food's ready." Adelynn said while Clarice helped her to bring out the food.
"Woah, it not only smells delicious and it looks delicious too."
"Please eat now. An adventurer needs energy to continue his adventure." Adelynn smiled. Zephyr and Michael started to eat and suddenly Clarice was able to see a bright, happy aura forming around them.
"This is delicious!" Michael said and smiled happily.
"This is the tastiest food that I ever eat in 18 years of my life." Zephyr continued to eat. Michael only nodded his head.
"Master, did you add anything weird in it?" Clarice asked suspiciously.
"Why should I?" Adelynn smiled and started to eat her food.
"No, it's nothing." Clarice also started to eat her food.
"By the way, Deckard said its okay for you two to stay at the adventurers' dorm since they have some empty rooms."
"Thanks, Adelynn."
"Thanks for everything." Zephyr and Michael smiled brightly. No one except Clarice noticed that Adelynn was staring at Zephyr all the time.
"Maybe Zephyr just resembled him." Clarice thought as she continued to eat her food in silent although Zephyr and Michael kept making weird noises.
"Thanks for the food and everything. I believe we need to find Deckard now." Michael bowed.
"Yup, thanks! We will be seeing you tomorrow." Zephyr smiled.
"Okay, I will be expecting your arrival tomorrow. Please have a good night sleep." Adelynn smiled warmly as Zephyr and Michael walked away.
"Master, tomorrow, can I avoid meeting them?"
"Of course you can, Clarice." Adelynn smiled gently.
"So here is your room. We will be giving you some missions." Deckard said as he led Zephyr and Michael to their room.
"What? You mean this is not for free." Zephyr whined.
"Of course. We don't have enough people to help us on the missions that had been given by the people. So you two will be helping out too."
"Okay, I understand." Michael nodded his head.
"That's good. So now I will leave you two be. Good night and have a sweet dream." Deckard laughed while walked away.
"Oh man, I didn't think that we had to work."
"Zep, this might be our chance to find our way to go back."
"Ya, I know. Let's go to our room."
"We sleep in separate rooms." Michael said matter-o-factly.
"I know. Well, they said we sleep in separate rooms but our rooms are just beside each other." Zephyr shrugged his shoulders and walked into his room.
"Good night, Mich. We need plenty of energy to welcome tomorrow." Zephyr smiled brightly and walked into the room
"Good night, Zep." Michael sighed but still smiling while walking into the room. For the next few days, nothing special happened. Zephyr and Michael still didn't get any missions so they visited Adelynn and Clarice a lot, but somehow they felt something suspicious.
'Hey, Mich. Don't you think Clarice is acting weird?"
"Well, now you mention it, yes, I do. By the way, this is a nice place. How do you find it?" Zephyr and Michael were now lying on a grass plain.
"I just accidentally found it. Clarice seems to avoid us all the time."
"Yea, I wonder why."
"Oh my, aren't these Zephyr and Michael?"
"Adelynn!" Zephyr and Michael shouted out at the same time. Adelynn sat down on the grass while Zephyr and Michael sat up too.
"What are you two doing here?"
"We were just thinking and slacking." Michael said.
"Oh, what were you thinking?"
"Well, Adelynn. We have one question to ask you."
"Zep, you shouldn't ask to her."
"Mich, she is the one closest to Clarice and this is our only way to find out what we had done to cause Clarice avoiding us all of a sudden."
"Well, okay. If this is what you want, then go ahead and ask."
"What are you going to ask me?" Adelynn asked confused, looking at the two boys with her head slightly tilted to one side.
"Oh my god, she is really cute! I can't believe she is older than us." Zephyr thought but soon he realized he was embarrassing himself in front of her.
"Well, Adelynn. We want to know why Clarice is avoiding us? If we did anything wrong, please tell us so that we can apologize to her." Zephyr asked. Adelynn giggled right after she heard Zephyr's question.
"Why are you giggling?" Michael asked.
"It's not what you two did. It's just one of her habits."
"Habit?" Michael asked while Zephyr was looking at Adelynn, still being amazed by how cute Adelynn was when she giggled.
"Yes, she doesn't really know about the human race, at least she has never met one before. Suddenly you two appeared right in front of her so she was kind of scared of you two."
"I don't understand, she seemed okay when we're on our way here." Zephyr asked, recalling back what happened last time.
"That's because she was forcing herself to be strong since she doesn't want you two to laugh at her."
"Oh I see. Thanks Adelynn."
"You two are welcome. I better get going now. Please don't tell Clarice that I told you this." Adelynn walked away with a gentle smile that can melt a guy's heart for hundred million times.
"I think we need to find Clarice to make sure about this."
"Wait, Mich. I had a better idea." Zephyr began to smiled, but in an evil way.
"Oh boy, Zep is going to come up with some 'good' ideas of his. I hope you will survive from all these and I'm sorry for not being able to stop him, Clarice." Michael thought and sighed.