A/N: So yeah, its been a year...oops lol im back tho! thanks to Jaeto for reviewing and reminding me this wasn't finished. Ill try to finish this fic this year, and hopefully anyone who reads this will enjoy it haha R&R and enjoy!
"Well when I first left Swordhaven, I headed for Shadowfall, that being the place Kaiban said he was looking for," Green said as he stared at the ceiling of his tent, breathing normally now that his mind wasn't focused on how tired his training made him. "I didn't travel to many big cities, I tried sticking to quieter roads that were less travelled. Kaiban taught me that when we were younger," he continued before being interrupted by Conn.
"He taught you about travel? Why is that? If I recall neither of you ever really left Swordhaven for more than a few hours," Conn inquired. "Oh, he didn't directly teach that to me, I realized that if I did travel on busy roads, a pickpocket could easily bump into me and make off with whatever he grabbed. Magic wielding thieves would be worse too!"
Suddenly Conn remembered HOW Green could have learned this. Kaiban was a pickpocket. Even though they weren't poor or starving, Kaiban was, er... Resourceful. He didn't take any chances with the gold they had, and did everything he could to acquire more. He got a lot from beating up frogdrakes in the sewers. How the hell did those monsters get gold anyway?
"Anyway, the only 'Big City' I stopped at was probably Mobius. This was before the whole Escherion Inversion incident. I didn't stay long, but this kind girl named Anna and her younger brother Otto let me stay in their home."
Conn knew those names. They had helped the heroes of Swordhaven and... Anti-heroes? Villains? Warriors! And helped the warriors of Shadowfall find the town during the inversion incident. If they hadn't escaped, the news of the whole incident could have come late and Escherion and his monsters could have grown in power. They're probably hailed as town heroes now, along with the warriors who helped beat Escherion.
"... She was so hot too. Damn! I shoulda asked if she had a crystal ball she could contact me with. Her glowing sapphire blue eyes, her long, beautiful golden locks..." Conn had not noticed, but while he thought about the events that had transpired, Green had went off on a tangent. "... Oh, but Otto might get in the way... And what about her parents? Did she have any? I didn't see em... Maybe I should go back one day and che-" "AHEM" "Huh? Oh, right, sorry," Green blushed as he proceeded to continue with his story.
"After stopping by there, I headed straight for Shadowfall. I rarely stopped, since I was able to acquire more than enough supplies for survival from Mobius," Green continued. "Acquired... Not bought," Conn said out loud. Green just smirked before continuing. "It was a 5 day journey if you started and stopped traveling from 12pm to 7pm, which is the time people from Mobius suggested," "Wait, why is that?" Conn wanted to know as much as he could, being stuck in an inn for three years, he now realized how much he was missing out on. "You're a smart guy Conn, think about it! Surely you've seen a map before?" Conn slowly nodded his head in response. He never even looked at a map. Dining hall, restroom and his room were all the locations he needed to know about while he was in the inn. Hell, when a traveller asked him if he wanted to hear a story by the dart board, he freaked out and ran cause he didn't know where it was. It was by the steps he ran up to get to his room too.
"Then you should know that Vasalkar's Lair and Bludrut Keep are in the same country as Shadowfall." Green continued before Conn could even remember what those places were, even though he heard about them countless times at Yulgar's when the proud, not-so-strong heroes bragged of their "amazing" feats. "The monsters from the Keep don't just sit there all the time, of course some get out, and despite his best efforts, I highly doubt Galanoth could stop a dragon from flying while in his slee-" Green thought about his would-be statement before continuing. "Despite his best efforts, Galanoth can't stop EVERY dragon in that lair. The few Dragonslayers in his order have other dragons to worry about too. In addition to those places, Shadowfall is the center of all things Evil. Not hard to see why people don't travel much at night. Because of that, the roads are dangerous because you can't see everything that comes at you."
"And you still continued traveling past those safety hours?" Conn asked in disbelief. "Safety hours?" Green replied "Those weren't safety hours, they were just the time when the daily crime rates would drop by .001%" Conn stared in disbelief, jaw dropped.
"Yeah, I know, the danger lowers so much right? Its hard to believe that vampires and werewolves make up that much of the crime rate." Green commented casually. ".001%..." Conn said to himself. Vampires AND werewolves ONLY!? What else is out there?!
"Well, it took me 2 and a half days to get there. When I got there I searched really hard for Kaiban. When I finally found someone who knew him, a warrior on the side of good, Teej, had said he left a week before I arrived on an assignment from Gravelyn." Conn stared in disbelief once more. "A warrior on the Good King's side in Shadowfall?" "Yeah, it's not really a shock, dude. You remember the treaty we made with Gravelyn right?" He didn't. "Well Teej was on assignment to protect some of the ambassadors on their journey to Shadowfall. He's actually from the Western Block of Swordhaven. You remember that place right? We all used to play with the slimes there." Green said nonchalantly. Conn only remembered they were from the Southern Block, by the gate, because when Sepulchure launched his attack they were attacked by the ground troops first. "Well where did he go?" "I asked Gravelyn personally. It was pretty easy despite the hectic state the whole Evil Council was in because of their recent accident. I just waltzed into her throne room and asked her. Dude, she was stunning, it was sooo hard to believe her father was that... Thing." He said referring to Sepulchure. "Her flowing scarlet hair complemented her startling blue eyes, so full of determination and resolve. Her figure was amazing too, her armor hugged her body in all the right places." Green said blissfully. "Unfortunately, her attitude and way of speech was unnecessarily forceful...and scary," Green said starting to shake. "I still can't believe she could do that with a skeleton... Her and Kimm might have gotten along well." The thought of that scared both Green and Conn immensely.
"Hurry up and continue," Conn said frantically after an extended silence. "Well she said he was on a ship patrolling the borders of the Yokai Islands. Apparently, she had heard some weird things were starting to stir there. There was still a blockade and outsiders weren't welcome, but since Kaiban was part of the pirate faction of her naval army, and our parents were immigrants from small provinces in Yokai, nothing stopped him from docking with his crew. They were exploring the smaller islands first, since it was harder for them to land at the main island, which they couldn't do without starting an international incident. They had finished searching the majority of the smaller islands before the incident happened."
"Incident?" Conn interrupted.
"His apparent death." Green answered solemnly.
"Why do I have to learn how to block first?" Kimm complained as she trained with Teej and Leo.
"Well if you can't defend yourself, then knowing how to attack won't be very useful would it?" Teej replied kindly. He didn't even look tired, despite the fact they were training for at least three hours. His armor was completely off, and he was wearing normal clothes. His mohawk was free and taking in air now that his helmet was off, and his tan complexion seemed unnatural because of how much time he spent in his armor.
Both him and Leo were from Yokai, just like her, Conn, Kaiban, and Green's parents were. They never mentioned it, they could all just tell.
Leo, unlike Teej, was sweating wildly. Teej had him attack Kimm for practice, which he was unwilling to do since she was a girl, and a pretty one no less (but he'd only admit that to Teej). "Is we done yet?" Leo asked breathlessly. It was apparent he was born and raised in Yokai. His accent was still apparent and his mainland speak was broken, but not impossible to understand.
"Almost bro!" Teej said, his accent evident when he used the term "bro." Suddenly messenger ran by them at their training spot. "Hurry guys! Dage's forces are approaching the wastelands! They're planning to make a push for the Portal!" He said before speeding away to warn others. "What?" Kimm said. Teej proceeded to equip his armor. His silver plate shone despite the dim lighting of the Underworld, and his equally silver vambraces and leg braces clanked as he strapped them on. Leo had an issue getting his iron leg braces on, but Teej was already starting to leave, so he left them off and followed. "Stay here," Teej said sternly. "I have a feeling this following skirmish will be even more intense than the last. Nulgath's Nation wants to avenge their fallen generals, there's no way this is going to be any less brutal." With that, he ran off, leaving behind both Kimm and Leo.
Watching from afar was Dilligaf, next to him was Revontheus. "That girl. Are you sure?" He questioned. "I am... Her magical energy lies dormant within her. Her bloodline, whether she knows it or not, boasts a long line of distinguished saviors of Lore." "Her soul could be a valuable asset." "Yes indeed."