Yesrel and Zinlee wake up early and walk around together searching for anything they could've missed. "So miss Yesrel, why did you decide to lead this expedition?" Zinlee pushes some rubble around grabbing a child's toy looking at it.
"Well really the only reason is cause I feel something is here on Sanyx but I knew I couldn't come here on my own," Yesrel looks at a wooden wardrobe that seemingly had been burned and broken. "Do we know how long ago the island of Sanyx turned into whatever this all is?"
Zinlee sets the toy down on a shelf making sure it sits up straight. "From what I've learned we don't know exactly when but the best guess of 200 or more years ago as there are a few records of diplomats from the Sanyx empire visiting Cenonire. Ask Eldan he may have more information on that."
"I'd rather not have to listen to Eldan talk about all the little details so I think I'll go with what you said," Yesrel opens a cabinet with nothing inside other than spiderwebs and dust. "When the others wake up we are going to bury our ally. Even if we aren't home we must not dishonor the dead."
Zinlee nods as she turns and exits the house. The sun begins to rise as dawn approaches. "I believe we scavenged all that we can, let us return to the camp," Zinlee begins to walk back to the camp as Yesrel finds a note quickly grabbing it before following behind Zinlee.
As they arrive Eldan sits at a damaged desk on a chair that looks nothing close to comfortable, he's writing things down as he shuffles through notes. "What was that thing yesterday? There must be some explanation to it, I must get to the bottom of this," he talks to himself like a mad man as he continues to write.
Fafiel sits on the ground sharpening her blade. "Hey genius, quiet down some so the rest of us can think," the other five are gathered at a table talking about how to best disperse rations. "Don't you bastards do any favoritism with our food. We all deserve food just as much as the next."
Zinlee chuckles to herself while listening to Fafiel bicker. "Alright before we head out for the day we must bury the fallen," Yesrel steps in front of Zinlee as she looks around at everyone. Everyone turns to look at Yesrel and Eldan begins to collect his notes. "They shall be buried just as we would back home as best as we can do."
Fafiel stands up and walks towards their fallen comrade. "Find something to serve as a tombstone and I'll begin to bury them," Yesrel seems surprised by her willingness after just listening to her seemingly trying to pick fights.
"Thank you Fafiel. We will find something to serve as a tombstone while you bury them," as Fafiel leaves she grabs a rusty shovel off the ground and carefully picks up their dead comrade.
Hours later the nine of them stand around the makeshift grave in silence. After a little while longer they begin to pack their supplies and get ready to head into the dense forest. As they walk deeper into the forest they can hear birds above them and the sound of animals running about. "Nature and life always finds a way no matter what happens," Zinlee looks up at the trees lost in the sound of the birds.
As they walk, Yesrel hands the note she found to Eldan. "Found it this morning and thought it could be useful for whatever you hope to discover here," Eldan grabs the note and begins to skim through it. He sets it in his bag with the rest of his notes. He nods as they continue to walk.
Fafiel falls behind as she grows lost in thought when the voice that spoke to them before talks only to her. "Such a lonely and neglected child. Don't you wish to be more than this," Fafiel looks around trying to find an origin for the voice. "You will not find me child. I am here to help free you from your stress and your worries. So tell me, don't you wish you could be more than the simple warrior and instead become the symbol you always wished you could be?" Fafiel shakes her head, trying to ignore the voice. "I can give you what you wish for. I can turn you into the protector you wish to be. The symbol of more than just strength." Fafiel continues to try to ignore the voice until it finally goes away. "I'll return to you soon child and I shall allow you the freedom to be who you wish to be."
Zinlee watches a bird fly, noticing Fafiel slightly and quickly stepping to her side. "Fafiel is something wrong? You look stressed?" Zinlee grabs her arm and helps her steady herself as they continue to walk. Fafiel looks at Zinlee as she returns to reality, no longer hearing the voice.
"You can leave me now Zinlee. I am ok now," Fafiel attempts to pull her arm away from Zinlee who doesn't let go, concern filling her face.
"Are you sure Fafiel it looked like you really weren't doing well? I'd rather not have my ally being down, especially in a place like this," Fafiel nods and Zinlee lets go of her arm as she turns walking back up to the front.
One of the adventures notices another small village tucked away in the trees. He points at it and brings it up to Yesrel who then mentions it to Eldan. "That village seems to be a hunting village. I can see some hunting shacks surrounding it. This also confirms to me that this island was inhabited by humans. The village where we stayed was human in nature and so is that one," Eldan continues to point out small details that he saw in the other village saying how they show that it is a human village.
Zinlee walks up behind him and softly hits him on the back of the head. "That's enough Eldan we get that we are in a land where humans lived," Zinlee walks behind him as he stops talking. "More important question, have you figured out anything about what could've happened here or what that thing we fought was?"
"Well not really much so far. Whatever we fought didn't seem natural obviously, but I have yet to figure out what caused it to become that," he pulls out the note that Yesrel gave him reading it some. "The only clue I have at the moment is this note I found," Yesrel gives him a death glare and he stutters for a second as he corrects himself. "Umm I-I-I mean that Yesrel found. Anyways it simply seems to be someone who is reaching a terrible point mentally breaking down and just writing their true feelings. Cursing out friends and talking about how they wish they could've just reached the dream they had, and simply cursing out the world."
He returns the note to his bag as the group reaches an opening seeing a small lake at the center of the opening. A woman in a row boat floats through the lake looking around as if she is looking for someone. Yesrel holds her hand out saying nothing and blocking the others from walking forward. The nine of them watch the lady gracefully row through the lake. "It's just a lady rowing a boat. Why are we stopping?" Zinlee whispers to Yesrel.
Yesrel points into the distance at a figure standing at the edge of the opening. The woman sees the figure and begins to row towards the figure. As she approaches the figure begins to move sporadically and attempts to back away but the water itself begins to move wrapping around the figure's ankles. Sounds can be heard from the woman but no words can be understood. The figure is dragged by the water towards the woman before he reaches the lake. The woman gives a loving embrace before the man is quickly brought under the water. The group retreats slightly into the forest, still close enough to watch. The woman rows the boat back to the center of the lake and returns to looking around. Ten minutes later the figure has not come up from the water.
"What the hell is that thing and what the hell did I just watch it do?" Zinlee eyes dash from each of her allies faces, all of them surprised, some of them horrified except Fafiel and Eldan, one looking at his notebook writing down small observations, the other staring the woman down her katana at the ready, seemingly waiting for a command to attack.
"This one seems more dangerous than the last we witnessed. Unable to walk within a certain area of the lake or else be pulled into its waters," as Eldan continues to write Fafiel stands next to him.
"Should I kill it?" she asks Eldan as she glances behind herself at the others. "Should be a simple kill, nothing too hard."
"Even if you had the ability to walk on water it'd be too dangerous. If we assume that the woman controls the water then your approach would be impossible. While she may come close to us if we approach you'll be fighting water which will most likely just reform and continue what it was doing even if it is sliced," Eldan taps his chin with his writing utensil. "I'd say we simply go around for now. I've made two amazing discoveries today."
The two of them return to others after Eldan tells Fafiel not to attack. They all seem to have calmed down, no longer filled with fear. "How the hell did you both see what we saw and simply go to observe and kill it so quickly?" The youngest member looks at them confused.
"I'm here for discovery and advancement of our alchemy and science. How could I see something as intriguing as that and not immediately write down what I'm seeing? It's my dream to see these kinds of things," Eldan voice is filled with child-like joy.
Fafiel simply looks at the others, her face stone cold. "I'm used to watching people die and used to killing no matter the difficulty of the kill."
The youngest member seems surprised as they both answer. "You're both crazy," before he could continue, Yesrel walks over.
"Eldan you said it is best we go around correct?" Eldan gives a nod in response. "Alright we go around and continue our exploration."
As they begin to go around the lake they give passing glances over to the woman who still rows her boat in circles as she looks around. After a while they come across a house of decent size and decide to stay the night inside. Searching the house for anything of use before sitting down and eating. "About what we saw at the lake by the way. The thing that was grabbed looked too short to be an elf and too tall to be a dwarf or goblin. Along with those it had none of the attributes of the arachnids nor the serpentoid or the draconic. This leaves me with one answer. The humans of the Sanyx empire never truly died out. There must be some form of inhabited village or something somewhere on the island and close," there is a moment of silence before Eldan speaks again this time with a less serious tone, his joy returning. "Oh and that one I've written down as The Lady on the Lake."
The group laughs at his obvious naming. The thought of the Sanyx empire not truly having died out sits in the back of some of their heads except for Zinlee and Fafiel who seem to be putting some thought into this discovery.