Erani sat against a tree in the dead, gray forest. Arlan had just picked his new Spell and Talent, and was trying to get used to the sensation of boosting his Dexterity by so much using Expedite. Especially with physical Stats, people tended to need some time to acclimate to large changes like that.
With his new Talent – Exponential Reclamation, he’d said it was called – the Ghouls were much less of a problem. He’d apparently close to tripled his Mana/Minute, so he had more than enough to kill them and get used to his new Spell. That Talent was pretty ridiculous, she had to say. It made sense that it was so powerful for him – he’d been focusing on increasing his Conjuration all this time, after all – but still. With that much Mana/Minute… She shook her head. It’d be interesting to see how his build turned out, that was for sure.
They needed to wait in the forest for a while, anyway, since some Dragon was about to go and rampage around in the wasteland, so to stay safe they’d have to stay away from there until it happened. Or, that was what Arlan had said.
He apparently didn’t really know why it went through destroying the area, only that it was in a fight beforehand that didn’t seem to go its way. He suspected it was having some anger-fueled rampage, but Erani wasn’t sure about that. Maybe it’d seen them, and went specifically to kill them. Arlan had said it wasn’t targeting anything specifically, but who knew for sure?
Either way, they’d need to stay back for a couple hours to keep safe. For the time being, Erani just sat and talked with the Dryad.
“So, you keep calling me ‘one of the good Humans’. Do you really think most Humans are bad?”
“Yes. Humans kill animals. Kill nature. Kill me. All for no reason. Horrible, selfish creatures. I hate Humans. I hate all Humans. You are okay, though.”
“Well, you didn’t always feel that way, did you? Back when we first met, if you hated all Humans, you’d have just killed me and Arlan, right?”
“Have learned more about Humans since then. Got lucky with you, but other Humans are bad guys. Kill. Burn. Steal. Species is naturally selfish. Naturally ignorant. You are exception. Your lover is kind of exception.”
“Well, I think you might want to give Humans another chance. There are lots of Humans that are just like me. And the ones you’ve seen don’t want to fight us in the first place, they’ve been threatened into it by the Demons.”“If they threatened into become bad guys, they should die as good guys. Fight Demons and do not become bad to save life. Always fight bad guys.”
“What if their families are being threatened? Should they just let them die?”
“Yes.”
“...Ah.”
It seemed like there were some differences in values between her and the Dryad. Erani suspected she wouldn’t be able to do much to change them. Besides, at least for now, her having a mistrust of other Humans was pretty accurate – most of the Humans that they’d see would be trying to kill them, after all. They’d just have to have a talk about hostility once they got through Kingdom’s Edge.
Out in the distance, Erani heard a roar. Arlan had said they should stay away from the edge of the wasteland, since the Dragon’s movements were so erratic, so she wouldn’t actually be able to see the Dragon’s attack. But it seemed she’d be able to hear it just fine.
“What is sound?” The Dryad asked after the booming roar of the Dragon sounded out.
“Um, it was probably a Dragon,” Erani explained.
“What is ‘Dragon’?”
While Erani described what Dragons were, she observed Arlan dashing across her vision with his magically-enhanced Dexterity. He seemed to be getting the hang of it, compared to the stumbling and tripping she’d watched only an hour before.
“So, how’s it going?” She called out to him. It was surprisingly easy to talk aloud while also messaging the Dryad, once she’d gotten a bit of practice. Because of the natures of the two types of communication – one verbal and the other abstract and mental – they didn’t really get mixed up in her head.
“Better,” he breathed in response, smiling in excitement. He had this unmistakeable smile that he got whenever he acquired a new Spell or Talent, Erani had noticed. It was pretty cute. “Once I feel confident with it, I can start casting it on you and you can test it out. I could also do the Dryad. That way we’re all used to it and I can cast it on anyone when necessary.”
She nodded and Arlan turned to face another Ghoul that’d found them, dashing off to take care of it. Erani couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of his ability to Level up so quickly. With Time Loop, not only could he kill a monster and then go back and keep the XP, but he could also afford to take more risks because of his many lives.
To her, back when he’d blown up the barricade, it felt like an out-of-nowhere stroke of luck. But she was sure that, from his perspective, it was a series of discoveries and fights that led to that one moment. It was bizarre to think about – every day, he effectively lived a few extra hours that didn’t exist.
She glanced back at the Dryad, who was in the process of using her finger to help a line of ants walk across a small hole in the ground. Was it really okay for them to keep Arlan’s Time Loop ability from her? As far as Erani was concerned, the Dryad was a part of their team – at least for now. Even ignoring the fact that it could be useful to get her opinion on things, it just felt disrespectful to keep secrets from her.
Suddenly, a message came through from the Dryad. “What you hiding from me?”
Erani’s eyes widened in surprise and she looked at the Dryad, who was staring up at her. “Um, what do you mean?”
“You feeling guilty. About telling lies. What lies you telling?”
She blinked. “I don’t– I can’t– um…”
“It is okay. You think it dangerous to tell. Tell me later. When not dangerous to tell.”
“You’re okay with that?”
“Yes. You want to tell me. Can’t for some reason. Reason is probably good reason. I trust you.”
“Oh, well, okay. Thanks for trusting me. I’ll do my best to tell you whenever I can. I just… have to talk it over first.”
“Okay.” The Dryad went back to helping ants across the hole.
Erani sighed. She’d have to ask Arlan about telling the Dryad, at this point. She was close to already knowing, and it seemed like she was trustworthy, anyway. At the very least, it was worth another discussion.
Erani turned to where Arlan was. “Hey, do you mind taking a break so we can talk about…”
She blinked. Where was he? He’d been over there just a moment ago, fighting that Ghoul. The Ghoul was dead, lying on the ground with Ray of Frost’s signature icy coat covering it, but Arlan himself was nowhere to be found.
“Dryad. Our partner is missing. Do you know where he could be? Are there any enemies in the area?”
The Dryad got up, glancing around cautiously. “Do not know. Not enough animals around to listen their emotions. Do not see any bad guys. But could be near.”
“C’mon, we need to go find him.” Erani started off in the direction of the Ghoul, peering through the dead trees and looking for him. The terrain of the wasteland-adjacent forest was relatively flat – at least, it was less hilly than the forests she knew – but with the few hills that were around combined with the still-standing trees and boulders scattered around, she still didn’t have perfect vision.
Part of her wanted to shout out his name, but that would obviously be a mistake. If there really were enemies around that’d captured him, all she’d be doing would be giving away her position. But then, maybe he’d just gotten lost?
No, if he could, he’d be shouting for help, himself. And if she couldn’t hear him, then he wouldn’t be able to hear her, either.
She raised her hand, preparing to cast Firebolt at a moment’s notice. It was times like these that made her glad to have a protective option like Angelic Shield. If anything came out at her, she’d be ready.
But nothing did. It seemed like Arlan had killed off most of the Ghouls in the area, taking advantage of his Dexterity-enhancing Spell, so the eerily-quiet forest did nothing to harm her as she cautiously made her way through.
Thankfully, Arlan’s slaughtering of the Ghouls also helped her track him. Due to the abundance of corpses, she could find one, move to the nearest vantage point on top of a rock or hill, and find the next, following the path that he’d traveled.
It only took a few minutes before Erani saw something moving. Her eyes widened when she saw what it was. It was a person, tied up with their hands behind their back, lying face-first on the ground. She couldn’t technically see who it was because of the angle she was viewing from, but who else could it be?
“There!” she mentally exclaimed to the Dryad, who was searching alongside her, and she rushed forward to free Arlan from the strip of fabric binding his hands.
But just as she arrived at the clearing, she realized something wasn’t right. That wasn’t Arlan. It was someone else. Some soldier of the kingdom that’d been tied up and left there. What was going on here?
“Trap,” she said to the Dryad, slowly backing away and looking around for the forces that would inevitably come and surround her now that she was where they’d lured her. “Get away. If they attack me, flank them. Get behind me, and we’ll pincer the forces in that specific area to create a hole I can get through. Then–”
“Oh, hey,” a voice came. Erani looked over, hand raised and prepared to blast off a barrage of Firebolts. And she almost did the moment she saw the figure of a person. But then she realized – it was Arlan, coming out from hiding behind a tree. He chuckled nervously. “Don’t shoot, please?”
“What the fuck is going on?” Erani demanded. Why was he out here? And who was that person tied up next to him?
“Uh, yeah, so, basically,” Arlan cleared his throat, “we have a prisoner now.”