Kalé, at the forefront of their group, raised his lantern higher. A futile measure, the thick fog that surrounded them smothering the light before it could reveal much of anything other than the dirt trail leading ahead and the shifting branches above.
Onyx hadn't seen everything Limgrave had to offer but had concluded that forests were a rare sight in its boundaries. Gatherings of scattered trees and brush that provided both food and great places to avoid passing patrols of knights? Definitely, but the region was predominantly made up of rolling hills and planes dotted by old ruins being worn down by the winds constantly passing through.
The Mistwoods proved itself to be an outliner before their first step into its territory.
"Stay close and on guard." Kalé warned, glancing back at him. "Many have lost themselves within these woods. If starvation and insanity didn't take them, what prowls the woods did."
Onyx hummed, glancing about.
The dark oak trees, their silhouettes just barely visible through the thick fog, were densely packed compared to the rest of Limgrave and they grew plentiful enough that their many branches intersected, a canopy of dark leaves formed above. Combined with the fog, both worked to block all but the odd strays of light from the Erdtree and sun. The air was noticeably colder than anywhere else in Limgrave. Not quite shiver temperature but goosebumps spreading across one's skin low.
This place being considered a danger was a given for most, its unique atmosphere likely to be pegged as ominous.
Donkey held on a tighter leash, Kalé continued forward, gaze kept straight despite the rustles and creaks coming from all sides, cautious but not hesitant. Onyx barely got a step forward before Torrent's head pressed into his shoulder, reins between his teeth. Melina held onto the saddle, reins unnecessary at the slow pace they were going.
"I'm not going to get lost." Onyx said.
Torrent snorted and nudged him again.
"It called exploration, buddy. There's a difference." With a faint snort of his own, Onyx took the offered reins, walking alongside the two as they followed Kalé.
"I would not recommend any exploring here." Kalé said lowly. "Even those of notable skill and strength have lost their way here." A long howl, distant and distinct, stood out amongst the many noises around them. "Even now they wander." Kalé finished, traces of amusement in his voice.
"Places like this tend to hide the most interesting things though." Onyx said. Kalé didn't object, grunting as he stopped, lantern raised towards their right where faint rustling had come from. A squirrel darted past, his donkey threatening to rear help but swiftly cowed by a yank of the reins. He shifted their advance slightly, but they continued onward.
"Know anything about this place?" Onyx asked, looking up to Melina.
"Very little." Melina admitted. She'd told him of the Lands Between major regions and was a font of information when it came to the place as a whole but it'd become increasingly clear that local and more minor things with little to no ties with the Golden Order fell beyond her expertise. "…Aside from rumor and conjecture concerning the persistent fog, it is not spoken of often. As far as I am aware its only significant landmark is the Minor Erdtree said to lie somewhere within it."
"Minor Erdtree?"
"A place where the roots of the Erdtree gather in abundance. Enough to form a tree that serves to extend its presences to even those furthest from Leyndell."
Of course. He wouldn't be so quick to chalk it up as a coincidence that the place where the Erdtree's light barely reached housed something like that. The Golden Order, or perhaps Marika in particular, were quite thorough in their spread before The Shattering.
"Such a place would've been a place of worship in spite of the woods which surround it. It may prove prudent for thee to indulge in a bit of exploration and locate its base. Shouldst any offerings remain, their usefulness will eclipse anything this merchant can provide." Marika said, appearing on Torrent's rear as usual.
She was finally doing something other than insisting on abandoning all else to head straight towards Stormveil? And more than that, despite the cold, calculating way she spoke, there was a certain disgust oozing off her. Not exactly something someone talking about worship that could be traced back to them would be expressing.
"Something wrong?" He questioned, curious about whatever the source of that disgust was. It couldn't be Kalé. She looked down upon him, that much was clear, but felt nothing for him beyond that superiority.
Marika met Onyx's eyes. She said nothing, however, her eyes eventually falling closed as she vanished, that disgust, like all other emotions, snuffed out by the endless anger coming from her at all times.
Fair enough, he supposed.
Onyx brought his gaze back to Melina who gazed down at him with the faintest sense of curiosity.
"You appear to be…getting lost in your thoughts as of late." Melina noted.
He and Torrent snorted in unison. "You realize you're always doing that too, right?" He didn't mind her constant pauses when they spoke, always curious to see how complicated a line of thought she could form when asked the simplest questions, but he'd seen her few conversations with Irina. More often than not Irina had to check if Melina hadn't just walked off or Torrent had to draw her back to reality.
"I..have little experience with speaking to others." She admitted, catching herself before her thoughts could take her away for once.
"Trust me, you don't have to tell anyone that." He said with another quieter chuckle before turning his attention forward. "It's nothing to worry about. Just sorting out some extra thoughts."
Melina would pick up on what he meant. Probably.
He couldn't be bothered to name drop Marika with Kalé right there. Dealing with whatever came from that sounded like a hassle he could do without.
The merchant in question suddenly stopped, they doing the same.
That distant howl. The typical rustling. The wind.
And breaths.
Deep breaths, slow yet a volume to them that could only be produced by something of massive size, came from straight ahead.
One hand on the shortsword at his hip Kalé steadily raised his lantern forward.
Eyes, dark and wide, peered through the fog. A bear, its furred head easily bigger than them, rested along the trail's dirt, gaze locked straight ahead. Dark brown in color with lighter markings that disappeared into the fog as it traveled along the rest of its fur, the shrouded beast was just as big as the bear he and Melina had taken down when she first started fighting alongside him.
Kalé stepped backward.
The bear's shadowy ears twitched.
Kalé, like his donkey, froze in place, hand drifting from his sword and to his pouch.
Its gaze remained ahead, focused completely on Onyx.
The predatory glint others would've faced was replaced by confusion. The creature was wrestling with instinct and pattern, unable to completely understand why something so small, prey by all appearances, was inciting such a reaction. A common occurrence with bigger animals at the top of their respective food chain.
He'd picked up on the thing long before their paths crossed and it wasn't a threat.
Just as Kalé hand begin to slip out of his pouch, the bear slinked back without looking away, the fog quick to fill the space left by it. The ground trembled, the creature's dark silhouette growing more distant with each heavy backward step.
That distant howl. The typical rustling. The wind.
As the woods' normal sounds resettled, a faint breath left Kalé, his shoulders lowering.
He looked over his shoulder, eyes a measure wider than usual. "Something truly has changed about you."
Onyx opted to just smile.
XOXO
Onyx leaned against Torrent, feeding the steed a handful of wild berries as they awaited Kalé. Melina stood at his side, both of them watching the distant silhouettes of Kalé and one of his people. They spoke in hushed voices, trading a variety of things from their respective pack animals.
He'd reined in his senses, leaving them to their private conversation.
As the minutes dragged on, Onyx found himself fingering his beard. It'd almost come in completely, but with his mana now fully stabilized it wouldn't change unless he allowed it. Honestly, he didn't have much of a preference, but the question remained, what should be done about it?
"Hey, Melina." He said, getting her attention. "My beard, what do you think?"
She slowly tilted her head.
"Should I cut it or grow it out?" He clarified.
"I…" She trailed off into a long pause, gaze dropping to his chin. One would think she was pondering the mysteries of life itself the way she stared. "…I am not sure." She finished. Seemed they were in the same boat, no real preference on the subject.
Thankfully, as he dropped the consideration, Kalé stepped away from his fellow merchant, joining them as his brethren took off into the fog. A rolled up piece of parchment was held in one of his gloved hands and swiftly stored away as he stopped before them.
"My thanks for seeing me here, friend." Kalé said with a nod.
"Got what you wanted?" Onyx asked.
"Not exactly, but I did receive some new information pointing me in the right direction." Kalé said, brow wrinkling. "You'll be helping that noble?"
Onyx shrugged. "Not planning on it. Just want to go see this blood magic for myself. If the commander doesn't attack me, I'll leave him be. If he does, well, whatever happens happens."
"Mmm." Kalé headed over to his donkey, putting away other tools he'd gotten from the other merchant. "I'll guide you out of these woods then. We'll be making our way south from here." Onyx nodded, pushing off Torrent. "And, if you don't take issue with a detour, I want to introduce you to someone. I believe the two of you will get on well."
An introduction to someone? By the reclusive Kalé of all people? Consider his curiosity peaked.
XOXO
"Awoooooo!"
"Seems he's still here." A faint chuckle left Kalé as they came to a stop within a set of ruins. Crumbling walls with roots growing throughout their foundation, plants blooming from cracks, and all sorts of other vegetation having taken over. Aside from the mist gathered around them the place matched every other like it he'd come across.
"Awooooooooo!"
Of course, there was also the howling coming from straight above, at the loudest it's ever been. Kalé paid what would've been the typical sound of a nearby predator, little mind, looking upward as he snapped his fingers, the start of another howl cut short.
Onyx followed Kalé gaze upward.
A shadow, outline emphasized by the distant full moon that hung above, shifted, then moved forward, falling from the mossy old tower they perched upon. The clink of armor filled the air alongside their hefty collision with the ground, the figure crouched before them.
The shadowed figure slowly rose.
All of them craned their heads back.
Towering, the man before them cut an intimidating sight. A maw full of razor sharp teeth. Eyes a yellow gold that traveled over he and Melina, an almost predatory gleam to them. The dark layers of armor and rugged fur cloak curved the ferocity of his appearance, they and the equally sizable greatsword on the man's back marking him as a fighter of some sort.
A lupine warrior.
"Kalé. Wasn't sure I'd be seeing you again." The wolfen man said, voice deep but holding none of the wildness one might expect from appearances alone. Despite speaking to Kalé his eyes didn't leave them.
Either of them.
"And traveling with others to boot. Hmmm, odd ones at that." The man finished, still gauging them. Unlike others who, so far, wrote Melina off to focus only on him, he kept his attention split between them. His hands might not have been on his weapon, but the man stood ready, an attack from either of them prepped to be intercepted and returned with equal force.
"No odder than you." Kalé retorted.
"Ha." That got a short laugh out of the man. "No arguing with that. You've got something for me?"
"Something but not much. Not sure it'll help a boorish fool like you find what you're looking for." Kalé said. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pouch and handed it over, the lupine reading it over.
"Be cautious. That one leads to another who could just as easily fulfill the part of ally as foe." Marika's words played at the forefront of Onyx's mind, Marika herself making no appearance to deliver the warning.
"Hmmm, my thanks." The man offered Kalé a nod after reading through the paper and slipping it beneath his cloak, focus back on them. "Maybe to our friend here, you two don't seem so strange but you're not like any tarnished or Finger Maiden I've crossed paths with." Despite those words, he offered them a slight nod. "Name's Blaidd. I'm here looking for a man who goes by Darriwil. Come tell me if you find him before I do."
"Onyx." He returned the greeting with the same nod. Melina, as usual when it came to others, didn't bother introducing herself, content to remain an observer rather than an active participant in the conversation. "Anything I should know about this Darriwil if we do cross paths?" Neutral as the man was right now, the way he said that name alluded to nothing friendly.
"Only that he's a traitor in need of a fitting end to his tale." Blaidd turned, the ominous statement left the hang in the air for a few moments as he took handful of steps away from them. "I can offer you an ample reward if you bring me any information."
"I'll be leaving Limgrave behind." Kalé announced before he got any further. "Have business to take care of in Liurnia. Thought it best you both knew if you came looking for me."
Blaidd nodded without looking back, continuing his trek away and soon disappearing beyond the mist.
"Interesting friend." Onyx said.
"He's boorish, blunt, and couldn't find his nose with both hands." Kalé said with a faint exhale. "But he's a good egg. Thought it best to introduce the two of you in case you ever crossed paths. Wouldn't be good for business if one of you killed the other. You never know how things will go in these times."
"Mmmm, thanks for looking out for me." Onyx said, absent mindedly, following the man's presence.
There was something odd about him. They didn't always go by the same names, but he'd encountered lupines enough to know that there wasn't much difference between them and any others when it came to the essence of the soul.
Whatever it was, he was probably a good guy. Good enough for someone as paranoid and resentful as Kalé to tell him where he was headed next.
If they ever crossed paths, hopefully there was time for more in depth conversation and examination.