This is it... Finally.
Light... Simple, elegant, and often taken for granted.
After months of darkness, he was finally seeing it trickle through the crevasse, his hands and feet helping him climb toward its embrace. His eyes, unable to move away from its beauty, started to tear up and squint, though he was unsure if it was because they needed to adjust or because emotions were welling up after all this time.
But ultimately, he didn't care. It was right there, within his grasp.
Even its warmth sent shivers throughout his body, a body that had so far only learned to deal with a cold and hostile environment.
One hand there, a foot over here...
Soon, he began to hear birds singing and the wind howling.
It's real... It has to be.
And then, a flash, a flash so bright he couldn't help but completely close his eyes and use his hands to cover his face.
Bliss... Pure, unadulterated, bliss.
He was finally outside.
The blue sky, the clouds, the vegetation... He also didn't know how bad he had missed fresh air, his lungs quivering from joy.
After reveling in these feelings for a while, he looked around and tried finding any sort of visual reference, only to see completely foreign scenery.
The only obvious thing surrounding him was a thick and apparently limitless forest.
"Come out Io. We're going to do some reckon."
The nightmare bat subserviently came out of his shadow before lowering its wing, the routine ending with them both taking flight shortly after.
Once they gained enough altitude, they saw how truly huge the forest was.
It covered every parcel of land on the horizon, which, sadly for them, eliminated any type of bearing. With nothing to base their decision on, Derrick just picked a random direction to maintain and on they went.
However, this unfortunate situation resulted in multiple days of consecutive flight, with the necromancer growing desperate for any sign of life. He even began doubting his eyes, thinking he'd start seeing mirages...
But then...
What's that? Surely not???
Through the endless vegetation, he noticed a plume of smoke, meaning they had finally found a settlement!
But before rushing toward it, he pondered, which resulted in him realizing he couldn't approach with Io, instead choosing to land further away to avoid creating a commotion. After all, necromancers were scum on this continent. Exposing this fact would prevent him from gaining new information.
He also decided to store his armor, since it'd send the wrong message. It wasn't like he'd need it anyway, since he had Io and Drako in his shadow.
Derrick then began crafting his identity. It was essential in this unfamiliar land, and since he was someone completely new, he was free from all restrictions. The only detail left was to invent a justification to be here in the first place, as it'd be too weird to come out of nowhere for no reason.
Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him, prompting to smear mud all over his body.
A lost adventurer!
Everything fit the puzzle, and even if he was only 16 years old, his stature exuded an aura of warfare, which made him seem much more experienced than his age indicated.
His plan was foolproof, or so he thought. It was time to meet them.
"Let's do this."
Once arriving at their gate, he pretended to be in a weakened state before 'falling' to the ground and mumbling for help.
"Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis!"
The guard present quickly noticed him, and he kept yelling these words, clearly suspicious of anything coming out of those woods.
That's when Derrick realized he had forgotten something crucial : the language. He didn't know where he was and couldn't understand a thing, so his best bet was to exaggerate his demise and not answer anything.
[Would you like to learn the
The prompt rang out in Derricks' mind and surprised him. This was an unexpected gift!
He immediately accepted and didn't move.
He just had to hold on during this time, since it was evident that he wouldn't be able to use his adventurer's alibi if he couldn't even speak their language.
The burly and armed man kept shouting in Derrick's direction, but to no avail.
After a few minutes, he cautiously proceeded forward and started probing the necromancer with his spear. When he saw that there was no reaction, he finally called for help.
The small wooden gate of the village opened shortly after, with 6 people coming out. The group was composed of 5 well-built soldiers and a beautiful middle-aged woman.
They questioned the guard and carefully made their way over to Derrick. From the tone of their voices, it was easy to tell that they were frightened by the newcomer.
The woman started evaluating Derrick's condition and after another few minutes, she then ordered the soldiers to take him inside, where he was brought to a large hut before laying him on a bed.
Derrick could also tell they had stationed a guard outside.
[The
He was delighted, but there was no time to waste, as he had to pay attention to the conversation currently happening outside between the woman and what appeared to be the village's leader.
It wasn't long before he got the gist of it and realized that they were discussing whether to help him or not, making him frown.
He definitely couldn't be thrown out until he knew where he was.
The necromancer then started using
Almost everyone was only slightly above average while possessing no skills.
There were only 2 interesting individuals, namely the woman and the village chief. She had a
Still, this meant that if they chose to kick him out, he'd stop pretending and get the information he wanted. He hadn't just crossed an ocean of vegetation to simply leave empty-handed!
After a lot of back and forth, they finally both entered the hut and glared at Derrick before the village chief began questioning him.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Derrick, while still acting up his fake injuries, only mumbled in response.
"My name's Derrick Tarlin... I'm a lost adventurer... Please help me..."
His acting skills were rough, but they appeared to be just enough, as the chief visibly lowered his guard.
The village was in a very remote location, and Derrick could tell it was not their first time encountering lost explorers, even if extremely rare.
Seizing the opportunity, he immediately asked where he was.
"You're in the Akata village, located at the border between the Serichi and Krakow Kingdoms. Are you from there?"
Derrick was startled. He had absolutely no clue where that was, and as someone from the countryside, his education wasn't exactly the greatest. This situation called for improvisation.
"Yes, I'm from the Serichi Kingdom..."
After weakly answering the question, Derrick's gaze landed on the woman, who had remained silent so far.
"What... What are your names?"
"My name's Lacha and this is Gregor. We are both respectively from the Serichi and Krakow Kingdoms. Can I know the name of your town? We may be able to help you"
Lacha clearly didn't trust Derrick, and this was a test to see if he'd slip up.
He could tell her distrust had begun when she had evaluated him earlier and found nothing wrong, thus making his true motives murky.
She also knew the various towns in the area, which would allow her to verify his story. She was a very cunning woman.
Derrick's heart sank. He couldn't give an answer at all and realized his cover was most likely blown.
Sensing that something was wrong, Gregor's gaze turned cold, and he unleashed his aura.
"Ah... I never thought we'd have to do this... To be honest, I only want information on how to get to the nearest town. I don't want to hurt you"
Derrick sprightly got up from the bed and now stood in front of them. He tried to clumsily clean himself up the best he could, but he only ended up making things worse.
"Ahhh, why is this mud so difficult to clean?!"
"Who are you really?!"
Lacha and Gregor had both assumed fighting postures, and even though Lacha was a healer, Derrick could tell that she was proficient in hand-to-hand combat.
Nevertheless, they clearly didn't know the opponent they were facing...
"My name's Derrick. Obviously, I'm not an adventurer, but I'm -"
Before he could finish his sentence, Lacha and Gregor pounced towards him, trying to catch him by surprise.
They knew no ordinary person could survive in that forest, so they decided that going for a sneak attack was the right move.
Derrick harrumphed, and his eyes grew cold, followed by a dark aura exploding from his body.