Afore dawn entered, the lingering cold air swept across the village. Natalak still waits for the caravan to make a move. In his hand, a cup of coffee offered small comfort against the early bitterness. Additionally, the cloak he wears shields him from the incoming wind and hides his armour. The claw gauntlets were strapped to his belt.
Unknown to the traveller, just forty meters from where he sat, Lavrish watched him intently from the balcony and casually sipped her pipe.
An hour passed while the adventurer kept watch, and gradually the drivers gathered. After inspecting the cargo and assembling the drivers and merchants, the wheels began turning again, and they resumed their journey.
As for Natalak, he couldn't believe he was seated with Ziana again. Even now, he still sensed an invincible presence watching the two. The journey continues in silence, no word spoken, no jokes to be made, just the sound of rattling wagons and horses' hooves.
Crossing two more miles, the caravan reached the bridge of Kresh. Colossal and majestic, the bridge spans more than 30 meters. Natalak stood to estimate the length, carefree, beside Ziana—
"Dang, this bridge must be two or three miles."
Awe—struck by the view, moreover, as the wagon train gradually moves into the bridge's centre. Natalak is lost in thought, and even Ziana's perception of him has shifted. She no longer sees him as a danger in disguise but perhaps as an ordinary traveller. Gazing at the open view, Ziana senses this might be his first time experiencing it.
Even the cold, wretched wind wasn't enough to distort Natalak's concentration. He could see that the bridge was old, very ancient, with bricks missing and dense moss coating the stones. Small trees were growing from each side of the parapets, and even the colossal columns were wrapped by nature itself.
On the right side of the bridge, Natalak observed patches of creatures flying over the mountain cliffs. Below lay a large basin, possibly formed by a meteor impact.
"What are those flying creatures?" Natalak said.
"Those are griffons." Ziana finally respond. "That place is called Gryphons' Cliff." She adds, pointing north.
Shifting to the left side, the sea eventually flooded into the opening, leaving only the narrower choke point where the Bridge of Kresh was built. And as they neared the endpoint of the bridge, Natalak could see the faint outline of Aghraim's capital. And just below the capital was the port of Aghraim, where ships came and went.
Alas, when the caravan exits the bridge, the view is soon covered by thick forest and hills. Natalak sat in silence, remembering what he had seen.
"It's a truly marvellous sight, isn't it?" The Ziana initiates
"Y-yeah… It's more than I can take." Natalak respond before silence again takes over.
More than thirty minutes passed…
"Natalak was it?" Ziana voiced. "Is this your first time travelling?"
"Well, it's not my first time, but it's my first time travelling outside of Keshoval."
"Ah, so where are you heading then?"
"To Endregar, at Dragon's Lake."
"Endregar?" Ziana raised an eyebrow. "You might have made a small mistake… the thing is, this caravan is headed to Mavigrid."
"Wait, really?… That's quite a problem… that the bystander has tricked me."
"Well, you need not worry too much; there will be a nearby village where you can seek a carriage, just a few hours from where the road will soon branch. It's also a stronghold for teleportation."
"Thanks for the advice." Natalak slowly nods before silence returns.
As they head deeper into the forest filled with large trees, signalling they've entered the land of Dolvadish. But here in this forest, something was eerie, for there were no animal sounds coming, no insect echoes. Only the breezy wind is being felt.
Crossing three more miles, and as the sun stood centre, something alarms—
"Sir Lucas." One of the adventurers whispered.
"I know," Lucas responds.
"Should I inform Madam Lavrish—"
By the time the adventurer could finish his sentence, a roar of explosive blasts battered from both sides. Providentially, the unseen barriers absorb the impact, leaving no damage to the caravan.
Horses panic; the driver grows nervous, but for the adventurers, calm and composed, they stand prepared.
"AMBUSH, GET READY!" Lucas shouts, drawing his sword.
The mages, the druids, and the adventurers who deal with magic quickly soothe the horses. In the middle of the caravan, Lavrish, who was unbothered by the commotion, stopped to take one last puff before jumping out of the wagon.
Following the explosion, monsters from the veil emerge from the dense forest. Creatures of different kinds, from different veils, march towards the caravan. To Lavrish, a single glance at their odd behaviour and movement is enough to tell—
"These are conjured creatures. Someone from the forest is invoking them."
Then, without any further interruption, on her palm, Lavrish conjures a ball of fire, which she then tosses through the air. And when it reaches a height of thirty meters, the ball bursts into hundreds of arrows, decimating the monsters in mere seconds.
Surprisingly, the monsters keep coming endlessly, as winged creatures soon appeared.
Nailing her staff, Lavrish unleashed a murky velvet pond surrounding the caravan. The enemies who came close were pulled by a strange tentacle-like root, pulling them to who-knows-what godforsaken realm awaits. Still, the monsters keep coming as abyssal demons and nether devils replace those common monsters. And when Lavrish saw that abyssal and nether creatures were involved, this was not ordinary banditry.
At the front of the caravan, the presence Natalak felt emerged from behind. Leaving Natalak and Ziana as they bathe themselves in the hordes of monsters. Misguided by their rash attack, something emerged from the ground where the horses had stood. And between the two horses, a giant insect-like burst, separating the horses with vicious claws.
"LADY ELETZIA!" A woman's voice shouted at Ziana; it was one of the two invincible presences that rushed into the battle.
Fortunately, Natalak swiftly takes action. Leaping towards the maw of the creature, clashing not with a weapon but with his claw gauntlet. Surprisingly, the serrated teeth of the monster didn't leave a dent, nor did they penetrate its surface. And before the insect-like enemy could follow with a slash, Natalak pulled the long dagger and hurriedly decapitated it.
Another sprang from the left side, ready to take Natalak's life.
"Shit!" Natalak voiced, before a spear rams its body, hurling it five meters away.
Natalak looks to see who the person might be, and quickly, Sir Lucas gallops in their direction. The creature tried to recover, but the paladin of Adra cut it in half, spewing putrid green blood.
Lucas didn't bother to stop for a speech, nor for comforting words… not even for encouragement. Instead, he rushes towards Lady Lavrish.
"Madam Lavrish!" Comes Lucas, "If you could teleport the whole caravan into a safer place."
"Sure thing."
Lavrish nods as one of her bangle bracelets glows, unveiling an ornamented scroll. Right before she could fulfil Lucas's request, Lavrish took a step, and somehow a duplicate was made. Even the scrolls and items were fully replicated. But somehow both she and the duplicates' shadows can't be seen.
As for the duplicate, she activates the scroll, and all the hidden markings etched on the caravan begin to glow, teleporting the caravan and leaving only its image behind. To the people who say we're Lavrish, her clone and Lucas.
"See through the caravan," Lavrish said towards her duplicate.
"As you wish, my other half." Her duplicate gave a teasing smile before teleporting herself to where the caravan was sent.
On the other hand, Natalak was left wondering as all of the people, even the wagons and horses, were oddly different. The monsters that manage to pass through Lavrish's spell couldn't even manage to dispatch the adventurers as they soon revive. They claw through the carriages, but in seconds, the shattered woods and frames regenerate. And the once-slain adventurers, drivers and horses return to life, as to their flesh.
But when the creatures turn to Natalak who's still in the process of understanding the situation—
"Shit-shit-shit… I'm fucked!" Natalak panics to extract his sword.
To where Lavrish and Lucas.
"Now then—" Lavrish mouthed, as she glided her fingers through her eyes, shutting them close, while drawing out glittering dust of many colours before it quickly formed into an ornate eyeball.
Gently tossing the eyeball, it quickly soars nearly thirty meters above the ground. When it opens, Lavrish gains a bird's-eye perspective of the land. Strangely, she saw Natalak being chased by ten creatures from the veil.
"Why does it have to be me?!" Natalak exclaimed, dashing towards the forest, hoping he could outmanoeuvre the enemies.
Though when he finally pulled his sword, Natalak stopped running. The sword unsheathed, and the moment he took a stance, he felt his whole body become lighter, almost as if the fibres in his muscles became fluidly flexible.
"Should have asked what enchantment old Barry put on my sword." Natalak ponders before clashing with the creatures.
Surprisingly, the blade cleaves through their flesh as if it were made of wet mud. However, his combat skill is raw, aggressive, and brutal. It is not a contest of a disciplined fighter nor a knight, but a man desperate for survival. Either way, Natalak came out victorious.
"Now, where did I come from?" Natalak muttered, heads swinging in all directions.
Sweating and heart racing from the after-battle, he completely cleared his memory. Completely unaware, an insect was eyeing him, following him. Furthermore, the black book strapped to his belt began gathering leftover magic. Natalak couldn't see it, but through the eyes of an archsage, Lavrish could clearly see the mist of magic being absorbed by the book itself, not through any particular spell, but rather from the insect observing Natalak.
"Should I go there?" Natalak asked, glancing away from his starting point. "Bollokcs," he clarifies, noting his earlier words.
Covering more than thirty meters of dense bushes and trees, Natalak came upon a bizarre sight.
"What kind of abomination is this?" Natalak paused, hiding, watching from afar.
Dressed in robes, kneeling, the four men were positioned in a quadrilateral formation. At their centre was a shattered black crystal, opening a portal for creatures from the Veil and abominations from the abyss. And seems to say that he had found one of the conjuring sites.
The closer Natalak observes the site, the more clearly he sees how the obsidian shards consume both their spirit and their flesh. Stripping away their bodies into ashes before merging with the shards. Then something came from his mind—
"Should I? They seem to be in a state of stasis."
Natalak waits, and once the portal suspends its discharge, Natalak dashes, decapitating one of the men. And just as he was about to do the second one, the threshold closed its portal— compressing before exploding.
Sensing danger, Natalak sprints away before the explosion can claim his life.
Once the dust settled, Natalak lay flat on the ground. Vision blurred and ears ringing, still… his hand grips his sword tightly. He looked back at the robe men and saw that all four of their bodies were left in carnage. Their insides scattered everywhere, the obsidian shards tore through their skin and bones, and some were still embedded in their flesh.
When he finally stood, the abyssal pact triggered, and all four men's bodies slowly gathered, returning as though time was reversing, not through existence itself but only for them.
"I need to run. I need to fucking run. These guys are dangerous dick heads."
Ten seconds before they could be completely revived, Natalak races away.
"Get him." One of the cultists commands, and the three quickly teleport without the help of an item or a spell.
When the man took ten steps through the broken portal, the bug that followed Natalak gleamed in golden light, teleporting Lavrish, just ten meters behind the cultist.
"Good day, gentlemen—" Lavrish paused as she looked around. "Oh, seems I'm quite late."
The man confidently turns, then, without any warning, his hand vomits a putrid smoke, corroding its surroundings. But when it reaches the lady, all of the fume where suck into a peculiar vial floating on her palm.
Startled, he didn't react in time as Lavrish suddenly appeared behind him. He attempts to counterattack, but his body won't respond. Looking down, he sees a velvet-like liquid creeping through his legs, eventually covering him and transforming him into a stone statue.
Elsewhere…
Once that caravan had teleported, Lavrish's duplicate followed. As for the adventurers, they scramble at every wagon— accounting for every passenger, driver, and good. And after more than ten minutes, the wagon had been teleported; something had occurred.
"Why do I feel so sleepy?" Ziana wonders before dropping to the ground; not just her, but the whole caravan, even the adventurers, fall to their knees, except for Lavrish's other half.
That's when a figure slowly emerges from the woods, and when the figure exits the shadow, Lavrish can tell that the man is a high elf.