Less than a day after leaving the farm, the group made their way further into the nation of Ceresia, Nurien seemed hyper focused for the majority of their trip so far, only making the occasional jokes with his apprentices.
The boys were always three paces behind their master, Blue taking in all of the sights, as this was the first time he'd been off the farm and Trev trying his hardest to bare Blue's naivety and aloofness.
"You guys are moving too slowly!" Nurien remarked, Trev's face twitched, as he was carrying a massive backpack filled with supplies and Blue also had a similar pack but slightly smaller, while the only thing that was on their master's back, was his spear.
Blue's mind was overflowing, his dreams and the tales that he heard could have never prepared him for what the world was actually like, in his short time off the farm, he'd seen rushing rivers, towns filled with a wide variety of people, incredible architecture and even magical beasts. However, the most precious thing he'd gotten was the loose fit white cotton tunic that Trev lent him when he noticed that the boy had no shirt.
"Let's stop in this clearing to rest, we've been on the move for a while now." Trev said
"You guys are tired? I feel perfect, but fine, we shall rest" Nurien responded, his tone genuine
Blue took off his pack and sat on the floor, he was quickly followed by Trev, the young soul caster shared his drink with his new blue-eyed companion. "Is he always this focused?" Blue asked, referring to Nurien.
"Honestly, no, although he is a very powerful individual, it's very rare that he's this serious. You just happened to join us in the middle of a mission is all." Said Trev, Blue inspected Nurien, his short black hair fringed over his forehead, he did not sit with his apprentices, he simply stood and look at his rune tablet, the technology completely foreign to Blue.
The tablet began glowing red and white, releasing screeching sounds; a look of worry fell upon Trev's face, he knew something was up.
After looking at the information on the rune for a moment, Nurien turned to his boys and smiled, "It appears I'm needed back in the capital, its unavoidable."
"Okay, let's go, we can continue the mission another time" Trev said,
Shaking his head, "No, the mission must go on, I'm needed back in Elysium, you two aren't."
The man takes a blank rune tablet out of his pocket and hands it to Trev, "You two are going to have to deliver this to Hiemro, it's of utmost importance."
Trev tries to object but is quickly interrupted "The tablet is to be given to the King of Hiemro, no one else is allowed to open it, got?" Trev nods
"Blue, I hope you're alive at the end of this mission, there's much for me to teach you, much for you to learn-------so don't die, okay?"
"Have fun in the valley" Nurien said as his body erupted into pure energy, and he disappeared.
Almost instantly, Trev began digging in his huge pack, "Okay Blue, here's the plan, we've got to get out Ceresia and head into Hiemro." He spreads a map on the ground and Blue joins him in looking at it. "The only way to get to Hiemro is by passing through the point here, its huge valley that's surrounded by two large mountain ranges" Blue points at the mountain range that's adjacent to Hiemro "Wouldn't it be faster to go through here?" He said, his voice genuine.
Trev placed the tablet into his pack and then rubbed his temple "You really weren't lying when you said you knew nothing of the world outside the farm, huh? That entire mountain range is protected by a mist that only allows natives from Hiemro to travel through it safely, anyone else, well, they're doomed."
Blue wanted to ask a dozen more questions, but he thought it best to just listen for now,
"That valley is known as the Death Valley, it's home to a plethora of dangerous creatures and terrain, there's even chaos beasts roaming wild there." Trev said, his voice slightly shaky. "Master taught me what he thought was the best route to pass through the valley."
"Thought?" Blue asked.
Trev put the map back into his bag and stood up, his tone serious, "Yeah, it's not a guarantee, after all, no one has ever made it through the valley before"
Blue could feel his core shaking, it felt as if a storm was brewing in his soul, but it wasn't from fear, it was from excitement.
"Remember Blue, we're going to be in a lot of situations that'll require us to soul cast once we enter the valley, the key is going to be managing the amount of chaos energy we intake, master's first lesson to me was to avoid reaching the limit by any means necessary" Trev had a blank look on his face as he said this, expecting Blue to have at least some knowledge of how souls work.
Blue scrunched his face and closed his eyes as he said, "Limit? What's that?"
Trev sighed, "A limit is the amount of chaos energy a person's soul can intake before it becomes strained, when the limit is crossed, the soul begins to decay."
"Limits vary by the person, creatures and beasts usually have lower limits, that's why it's common for incidents like what happened on your farm to occur."
Blue listened intently to Trev's lecture while they walked, rarely interrupting him, they had a long journey ahead of them and neither of them had any intention of failing this mission.