Time wore on. While I talked to Oaxaca, XaMayCa was still busy on her guild line. Oaxaca kept me from falling asleep by constantly keeping me alert of her spell usage. I thought if I didn't pay attention, I would end up like the burned out corner.
Oaxaca began to sniff the air a bit. "Hmmm...something smells."
I sniffed as well. She was right. I did smell something. Smelled like fish. It also seemed to come off of me. Was it that fish I got way before? I checked my pockets.
In one of my pockets, I found the broken crossbow. The fish was stuck through the tip of it.
"Interesting," I said.
Oaxaca gave me an odd stare. She probably wondered about the fish. "What's up with the fish?" she asked. I was right.
"You know...I have no idea..." I really didn't feel like talking to her about my drunken walk down south.
"I see..." Oaxaca started to ask another question, but was stopped.
XaMayCa had just stood up. She gave a sigh of relief. "I did it, I got them to give up the search." she said. "It wasn't an easy thing, but I convinced them that person riding with me was just a friend who would be kept under my constant watch." She gave me a suggestive wink.
I looked at her, just glad that this whole thing was over. Then I looked back at Oaxaca. She seemed extremely puzzled, and it showed on her face.
"What search?" she asked.
XaMayCa looked more thoughtful. She probably couldn't avoid telling Oaxaca about the search now. "Should we tell her?" she asked me.
I didn't see Oaxaca, but I was sure Oaxaca was staring right at me. I shrugged. "Why not?" I said. "The danger is over anyways. Nothing to really worry about. I still need to get back to Nepeth though."
"Okay, this might take awhile. Why don't you take a rest for awhile? Then we'll see how to take you back to Nepeth." XaMayCa pointed at the bed.
"Yeah, I am pretty sleepy." I remembered about Oaxaca keeping me awake, so I walked over to the bed and quickly fell to sleep. The voices of XaMayCa and Oaxaca slowly faded out of my mind.
I eventually found myself in a dream world. The environment had a surreal feeling to it, and I knew that I wasn't in the natural world. I found myself walking on a grassy path, with a few trees in the landscape. It was very foggy around me, so I couldn't see too far ahead or behind me. I didn't see that much.
Suddenly, as I was walking, I heard a voice in the distance. It sounded faint, but I could pick it up. I headed towards the source.
I could slowly start picking up words from that voice. "Knight...rescue...me..."
My attention peaked. Rescue me? Who was saying this? I ran more quickly towards the source. The voice got louder and louder. It reached an extremely high intensity. I found myself being pushed back by it. It was so loud, I couldn't bring myself to go further. It was like an invisible wall. But I couldn't give up on whoever was saying this. I had to get past this obstacle. I grit my teeth, closed my eyes, covered my ears, and jumped through the invisible wall.
Extreme pain racked my body. I felt just like someone had beaten me with a large club. My brain felt like mush. My ears were throbbing with pain. I touched them, they weren't bleeding luckily. However, I had made it through the wall. The voice was gone. I took my face out of the mud I fell into and looked around the new area.
It was heavily forested. It really was a whole new place. There was the faint scent of perfume in the air, and the sound of birds chirping was a soothing sound to my exploded ears. And in the middle of all these tress, there was a lake, and someone was sitting on a stone in the middle of the alke. I didn't have to second guess who was sitting on that stone.
"Kushana!" I called out. I had a feeling that it was her on that stone. The figure on the rock turned to me.
"Knight!" she called back. I knew it was her, you couldn't forget a voice like hers. "Have you finally came?"
I wondered what she meant. "Come for what? What do you mean?" I said.
"Have you come to rescue me?" Kushana said back.
"But I don't..." I was about to finish that sentence with "have any equipment". At that moment though, I noticed I was fully equipped in armor, and a large longsword in my hand. "Never mind. I'll come to rescue you!" It didn't seem hard, there was nothing else in the way than trees and water.
"My gallant knight!" she gasped. I ran for the lake. As I did, I heard a rumbling behind me. I turned around and saw a very large boulder, rolling towards me. It broke the trees in its path, leaving behind it empty space, only broken by tree stumps on the ground.
"Oh crap," I muttered. I ran faster, to avoid getting crushed. It was hard, I had to weave back and forth, just so I wouldn't hit a tree. The boulder was quickly gaining on me. I saw a clearing to my west. In desperation, I jumped for it.
I rolled along the ground over and over until I hit a tree. That hurt, but not as much getting crushed by a boulder would. I barely missed getting crushed, as I lay in the clearing, I heard the boulder keeping rolling along, crushing trees, until it reached the lake. Then I heard a very large splash. I got up from the ground. The splash from the boulder had moved enough of the water onto the shore to reveal a path to the stone in the middle.
"Easy enough." I said. "I'm okay, I'm still coming!" I shouted to Kushana, to keep her calm. She seemed okay enough from my vantage point. I headed from the revealed path. As I reached the shore though, I heard a sound come from beneath the ground I was standing on. I took a few steps back. The ground below me was moving, as piles of dirt started forming. Three figures emerged from the ground.
First, I saw Witling. That little boy in the park had scarred me with one of his mad fits. I was a weak Knight back then, but the scar never healed with time.
After him, I saw the Horner from the haunted lighthouse arise. His fierce anger towards the world had scarred me as well. I tried to fight back, but a cut from his weapon had left a permanent mark.
Finally, out came the Arctic wolf. I was searching from Starblade gems (under orders from Zwr) when I found her guarding one. Her animal instincts made her attack me. She took a big bite out of my leg, leaving a mark forever.
Three scars, three enemies. They were the only ones who had gotten lucky enough to mark my body. Other enemies hurt me, of course, but these were the three that wounded me for life. Now was my revenge.
I charged at Witling with my sword. He was unprepared for it, so I had the element of suprise on my side. I quickly gutted him with my sword. He let out a long groan, then I threw the body off of my sword. He was weak and puny, no match for me now.
I turned my attention to the Arctic wolf now. The Horner, the coward that he was, order the wolf to attack me. She followed, like she was a ranger's familiar. The wolf lunged at me. I quickly ducked, and the wolf sailed over me. She flew through the air, and ended up in the pit Witling had emerged from. It was a pit that looked bottomeless.
I stood to my full height, and faced the Horner. His scar was the one that had healed in my mind. It was the scar that Kushana had comforted me for. When I struggled back to Nepeth, barely alive, she was the one that helped me to my feet and back to health. As I walked towards him, he seemed to get smaller and smaller. Until I got so close, he was no more. Or so I thought, I probably had crushed him under my boot.
With all that done, I ran on the path towards Kushana. As I got closer, I could make out more details. Her smiling face, her teary eyes, and her hopeful heart. This was the Kushana that I missed at the Nepeth bar. I continued to get nearer, when I saw a figure appear behind her.
"Kushana! Watch out!" I screamed, pointing behind her. She quickly turned around and saw the looming figure. She let out a chilling scream, and I stumbled back. The dark figure then envloped her, and disappeared. Kushana did so with it.
I let out an angry scream. One of the loudest in my life. I would not lose her again. I stood up, but the moment I did, the ground below me starting shaking violently. I fell back down. Water splashed all over the path and on me. The earth opened right below me. I grabbed onto it as it separated, but it was of no use. I fell in, and kept falling and falling.
