The waves were a little uninviting to the small team of seafarers , pushing the rowing boat that they got their hands onto side to side, flinging its front up in the air only to meet an abrupt impact with the seawater’s crystalline surface. It was… definitely something that the real Daiko Flayme would’ve joyously indulged in, feeling like an explorer out in the oceans looking for lands untouched by civilization – as miniscule as that possibility showed itself. As he was now… in the state of a red, warm egg cradled in the arms of a fair elven floramancer, there were no words of excitement. No remarks on the beautiful waters or the irrational fear of oceans. No expressions, no raw passion. Daiko wasn’t Daiko right now…

But Kerii remained resolute. The bird of fire had made a promise, and it intended on fulfilling it. The life of Daiko wasn’t the most unpleasant one; the pyromage was powerful, had accumulated strength and skills to fawn over, and he had made friends from the north to the south of the country. A long scream from the kind of isolated wood life he lived up in Worth Woodsea… those six years of loneliness almost broke him. He used to be but an asocial, preying animal, clinging to the last wishes of his mother to survive and live through anything. The woods were his home, fridge, toilet and bed, and he embraced that barbaric wildlife with no other options in mind.

Until he met Lamia Scale… what a coincidence, that day. He was visited by a tall, steel-built swordsman with lack of manners, who walked straight into his cottage and gazed around in indifference. Daiko had actually attacked him, thinking the adult to have been some kind of burglar or thief, but he was met with a gut-wrenching punch to the chest that almost knocked the teenager out right then and there. It was followed by some kind of condescending remark on the lack of physical fortitude, and as Daiko felt at his absolute lowest so many years after his mother’s death, he was suddenly lent a hand and invited to join the brute’s guild.

The promise was that the swordsman would make him and the other members the strongest. Daiko’s resurrective prowess came in handy during combat training, and he was rapidly molded into a vicious fighter himself. And that… might’ve not been the exact similar case with Kerii. Daiko never got to know her story, but surely she couldn’t have known about his either.

*Bump!*

The rowing boat met land- sand, to be precise, leading into vines and palm trees further ahead. Coda had napped on Kerii’s shoulder throughout the journey, but the sudden bump frightened her and sent her flying abroad. The egg in Kerii’s grasp would begin to glow:

“There is a temple built at the heart of the island. We… we… w-we… still got time,“ the egg spoke to her, revealing a sudden contortion in its voice. Strange…

WC: 500

It was true… the Phoenix didn’t anticipate time to end up this cramped. It could only estimate by the sudden dwindling of its once kindled flame deep inside: “… 3 days. It feels like I can hold on for 3 days… I will let you know if it changes. But we still got time… the temple is not far away. A village is located near it… at the heart of the island… that is where we need to go.” It tried its best to reassure the elf that they could still make it without issues for as long as they kept moving on. The Bird of Fire also revealed that the island was inhabited by people who could prove helpful in leading them to the temple grounds.

As a matter of fact, Coda perked up abruptly at the catch of sounds echoing from the deep, tropical woods. They sounded… human! Perhaps someone in the forest could escort them to their destination, but… the sounds were chaotic.

…

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! It must be some kind of joke?!” a young, paranoid voice called out to nothing and everything at the same time, “H-Hey, Eilidh… Eilidh… Eilidh!”

“Yes? Yes? YES?! Have you lost your mind yet?!”

“B-Bring me the compass… *grab* See, it points the same way- then what the hell?”

“…”

“Safe to say we’re lost, huh? You were so sure that the village was right at the center, but I see no village around… you sure anyone even lives here? All we’ve met were beasts-“

“I-I’m certain of it, Edward! Just- j-just give me some time to think this through… we must’ve missed some kind of road or tunnel, or maybe they’re living underground.”

“Why do you even want to meet them that badly? Let’s just bring these chests back and call it a day, but noooooooo! You do know that if we lose any of this, it’s on you, right?”

“T-This is huge, Eilidh! Trust me, these people will give us everything we ever wanted and even more… it’s worth trying to find them, but fucking hell, they’re shy…!”

A lot of kicking bushes, cutting vines and chanting a few spells on the way generated the sounds caught by Coda who nudged her beak gently on Kerii’s cheek to notify her of those sounds. Whether or not the elf would be able to hear them, Coda noticed that they were near a group of people and wanted to warn her. Maybe they were from this island village or something…

It would’ve been a good time to learn how to speak any human language… or any of the elven languages for that matter. Yet Kerii would likely be able to understand the bird, given her close blood relations to the woods and her heritage as a Wood Elf. Daiko was another case; his and Coda’s bond was just that strong, and they had come to know each other’s antics, patterns and habits to the point where words weren’t necessary to convey messages.

Still, the message was clear; try and face the sources of those voices and see if they would help them.

WC: 529
TWC: 1029

Sighs were aimed at Harald from both Eilidh and Edward. He was too invested in finding this village, and it rubbed off on them in a bad way. Still, as long as they could find riches to fund themselves, then they were able to overlook Harald’s nearly possessed interest in this village. He was also their sailor and, thus, ride back home, so they couldn’t give up on him here.

Harald’s head peeked up at lightning speed. A clear voice had called out to them, but it sounded like it didn’t come from the rumored hiss-voiced inhabitants of this island. Were there other explorers here?! If not for the friendly tone that came with the next sentence coming from the bushes, then Harald would’ve snapped at the… u-u-unusually dainty-looking elven lass. Given by the few moments of silence that passed by, she must’ve come alone… in the company, contradictorily, of an avian bird of prey and… a red, large egg?

Eilidh couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. They thought that they were the only people from outside who had visited the island. Was this elf also an explorer in search of riches? That smelled of enmity to the Wind Mage, while the Water Mage Edward replied: “We’re not. And I take it that you aren’t, either?”

Harald didn’t say a word, but his eyes were glued to that red egg of hers. At one point, Eilidh glared back at Harald’s frozen state and snapped her fingers. “Hey, hotshot, you sure fell quickly! What, she fancies you?” Thinking that Harald was probably just digging the elven lady in front of them, Eilidh found even more reason to lose droplets of respect and hope for the obsessed Earth Mage. Yet, it wasn’t the elf that intrigued him so strongly… his eyes were merely on the egg.

“T-That pattern… that egg, it’s from the books! I’ve seen it illustrated in the old texts before!” he spoke up to the two other treasure hunters, “Himba Villagers were carrying that egg over to the Temple of the Sun… it must be one of their most treasured belongings! W-Where did you find that egg?! We’ve searched everywhere up until now…”

Eilidh and Edward gazed back at Harald and exchanged a look. Then, Eilidh slowly approached Kerii with a friendly smile on her face and a raised hand to exchange a handshake. “S-Sorry about him, I think he’s lost his mind during the time we’ve spent here. That egg is like an ancient artifact from the Himba Village… so I believe that you’re heading there too, right? I don’t know what exactly you’d want to do in a ruined village that old, but… hmh… no, you want to return the egg to them? Like some kind of act of kindness towards them? If that’s your intent, then…”

Regardless of how little Eilidh knew of the circumstances as well as the history of the egg, its true identity and the weight that Kerii carried right now, her actions were unreasonable. She simply thought that this blonde, pretty elf was attempting to returning the egg back to where they assumed she found it… since she was moving away from the shore and further into the mainland. That wasn’t the action of a treasure hunter, and thus they saw an opportunity. While Eilidh’s friendliness was meant to keep Kerii at bay, Harald clapped his hands once and summoned a dome of dirt around Eilidh and Kerii. That was when the previously friendly lady drew her dagger in the darkness and continued: “… that’s kinda lame.”

*FWOOOOOOOOSH!*

Eilidh never had the chance to attack and snatch the egg from Kerii, because a strong blast of wind emerged from the dome and had pushed the Treasure Hunter several meters away. Coda was trapped in there too, but her avian eyes could see clearly in the darkness that had engulfed them. Her wings of power had intercepted with Eilidh and saved Kerii from an ugly injury… but the others were alerted. Edward immediately whipped out with a Water Whip from his hand, but Coda was faster than that and tackled into the Water Mage with full force. Her beak almost drilling through the Treasure Hunter’s torso stopped him in his tracks, while Eilidh was recovering from the blast earlier and readying another Wind Spell.

Coda couldn’t attack all three of them at the same time. Not without backup…

WC: 735
TWC: 1764

”Damn it! Edward, on your feet, now- *cooooough*”

Harold was taken aback by the sudden, quick session of events. That bird of prey had unleashed some kind of… gust, akin to a Wind Spell of the same caliber or, dared he say, higher than Eilidh’s herself. It even tore through his Earth Dome with ease… this was bad. This was really bad. But they were always finding themselves in these intense situations, being such daring Treasure Hunters that the bunch were. Surely, if they brought down the bird first, then the elf with the apparent Plant Magic wouldn’t be able to take on all three of them-

Which led to the cause of Harold’s coughing. His skin and throat were burning, uncontrollably contracting his muscular fibers in irritation. He couldn’t focus his Magic under these conditions, and given by the yellow dust that rose up from the ground… it was the elf’s doing! Edward, having Coda’s beak ingrained into his torso, had whipped the bird away and almost severed her left wing with his Water Whip, but then the spores got to him as well. Coda was engulfed in the spore’s dust and cried in pain, only to witness the pain subside and her wounded wing recovering from its injury in record time.

Basking her newly healed wing for safety’s sake, Coda watched Harold get one-shot by Kerii’s arrow. That took him from nowhere, having assumed that the elven Flora Mage wasn’t an offensive fighter. Edward and Eilidh were both sliced by Coda’s Gust, suffering from heavy blood loss.

Harold watched his teammates in pain and decided that they were outmatched. In struggle, he pulled the arrow out from his chest and suddenly allowed himself to be swallowed up by the earth, along with the two other Treasure Hunters who were too hurt to continue fighting. Simply as that, they never made an appearance to Kerii again… and even for several minutes afterwards, only silence filled the forest now.

They fled in defeat.

WC: 333
TWC: 2097 [END]