A/N: POV is in 3rd person for this chappie. I'm not sure if I'll stick with 3rd person for all the chappies, but right now I'm making plans for future chappies to be 3rd person (maybe, idk)
"Water?"
"Check."
"Food?"
"Check."
"Medical supplies?"
"Check."
"A map?"
"Ch- oh wait. Nevermind. Hold on. I'll go get one."
"Backup weapons?"
"Che- Why would we need them?" Elsword's indignant voice rang out. "We're strong enough on our own, aren't we?"
"You never know what can happen," Aisha replied, walking back with a map rolled up in her hands. "It's best to be prepared, dummy."
"Are we all set?" Lowe asked, peeking in through the door.
"Almost," Rena replied. She grabbed the map from Aisha and carefully slotted it into one of the many pockets of the backpack. "Right then," she said, hefting it onto herself. "Both of you, grab one and then let's head out."
"Elder is an important town for trade and travel," Lowe informed as they walked down the hallway. "We receive quite a lot of supplies from them, and Hagus personally knows Hoffman, one of the head merchants of the town."
"A town of merchants, huh? To be honest I can't really trust them due to past experiences…" Aisha muttered.
"It'll be fine," Rena reassured. She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding rays of the sun as they stepped out. It was still quite early, around mid-morning. "How long do you think it's going to take to get to Elder?"
"Depending on the amount of resistance we encounter, I'd say around a few hours or so," Lowe replied. "Elder is quite far compared to every other landmark around here. This is a small place, after all."
"Isn't the town going to be left defenseless if we just leave?" Aisha asked.
"There's a reason we have a training center. I'm sure the trainees will be fine with guarding the town. However, they're still trainees, which is why I haven't asked them to go out and find the El Shard."
"So you're basically saying we're the only ones strong enough, right?" Elsword commented, a slight grin on his face. They were now walking across the stretch of shore along Noah's Lake.
"I suppose you could say that," Lowe agreed begrudgingly. "Don't let it get to your head, though. We turn right here," he added, pointing at a small gap in between the trees on that side. "If we continue straight we should end up directly at the White Mist Swamp."
"Then what are we waiting for?" He charged straight ahead, followed by one Aisha yelling at him to quit charging off on his own. Rena merely sighed before following after them.
"Slow down!" she called. "We've still got to travel a couple of hours!"
"Yeah, yeah," Elsword grumbled, seemingly reluctant about listening to her but doing so anyway. For about an hour, only the soft crunching of footsteps and the faint hum of the forest resounded through the air.
"There it is," Lowe said, his voice piercing through the silence. Before them was a faint cloud of mist, marking the border of the White Mist Swamp.
"Finally," Aisha groaned as she sat down. "My feet were starting to get sore from all of that walking."
"Do you want to rest for a little before we move on?" Rena asked.
"No thanks, I'm fine," Aisha replied, waving off her hand. She clutched her staff tightly as she rose. "I can light some fireballs to clear away some of the mist."
"The mist isn't so heavy to warrant such an act," Lowe said. "The fireballs will only draw the attention of the Ancient Phoru. We're trying to avoid it if at all possible."
"Like Ann said, the Ancient Phoru is a holy beast. We wouldn't want to do anything that we know will draw its attention," Rena explained. She was cut off by an abrupt scream from Elsword, who suddenly disappeared.
"I'm fine!" he shouted after a few moments, his voice drifting from below the rest. "Ouch..."
"What happened?" Rena asked.
"I fell off a cliff..." he grumbled. Aisha jumped forward and levitated herself down. Rena and Lowe followed after allowing their eyes to adjust more, deftly landing safely next to Elsword and Aisha.
"You totally screamed like a girl," Aisha teased.
"Shut up!" Elsword snapped. "I was just surprised!" Rena couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
"Well, let's get going," she called, turning to face forward again. As she did so, she locked eyes with a fox masked bandit in dark green rushing at her. In the blink of an eye she leaped back, firing a round from her bow. As the bandit fell, a second bandit leaped from behind him to ambush them. A slew of fireballs erupted from the end of Aisha's staff, smacking the bandit full in the face.
"It looks as though they won't be able to do much now," Lowe said, inspecting the now unconscious bandits. "Keep your guard up, everyone. We're now in enemy territory."
The four of them walked onward cautiously. Out of almost nowhere, a knife whizzed at Elsword. He quickly blocked with his sword and charged. By the time Rena and the others had caught up, he had already beaten up the bandit responsible.
"You shouldn't keep charging forward like that!" Aisha yelled. She then turned to Lowe. "Since this place is called the White Mist Swamp I thought that it would be more 'swampy'."
"That's because we're traveling along the only pathway through," Lowe said. "It's the only to get to Elder through the White Mist Swamp. Heads up," he added. "We've got company."
In front of them were two very buff looking bandits, complete with clubs. True to form, Elsword was the first to charge ahead, sword swinging. Lowe followed shortly behind. In moments, the two swordsmen sent the bandits sprawling on the ground. Aisha's eyes widened, clearly showing how impressed she was. Rena couldn't help but feel the same way.
"Piece of cake. At this rate, we'll be out of here in no time!"
"It wasn't the bandits that I was worried about," Lowe said as he strode ahead.
It must be the Ancient Phoru, Rena thought to herself as she followed. It is a holy beast after all.
"Say, how strong do you think the Ancient Phoru is?" Aisha asked her.
"I don't know," Rena replied. "But if the legends hold true and it was created by the El Shard it must be pretty powerful."
"Oi! Hurry up!" Elsword called.
"You don't have the right to say that!" Aisha snapped as she teleported over to him. She then promptly hit him with her staff. "You're so impatient! And you're always charging off on your own!"
"What was that for?!" Elsword yelled as he rubbed the spot where she hit him.
"I just told you!"
Rena merely shook her head and gave a strained smile as she stepped forward. That was when a certain pink-feathered bird fell out of the trees and bashed her on the head. The poor bird didn't stand a chance.
I'm planning out Velder when I haven't even finished planning out Elder... /gunshot/
Gol: Thanks for the criticisms! I can see how someone can see that now that you've pointed it out to me. I think Rena's character is easier for me because she's the easiest for me to write. Elsword and Aisha, on the other hand... yeah. (and now that I think about it, there's quite a few characters that are going to be a pain...) Hopefully I'll be able to fix it up in future chapters! (I don't think this one changed much though, since most of it was written before the review... rippu)
