Now walking alongside her party members through the southwestern forest, Tessa was glad at how a little good luck put her back on track. Though she expected to be on a quest tomorrow rather than today.

She thought, Guess Adventurers prefer to strike while the iron’s hot…

As the four made their way through the forest, Tessa grew curious about her party members. Where were they from? What was it like growing up for them? Do they already have a plan, or are they making it up as they go? And with every step on the mix of shaded dirt and grass, her curiosity only grew. Before she realized it, a question escaped her lips.

“May I ask a question?”

A twig broke under Burf’s boot, giving a response as they continued forward.

“What’s up?”

“I know I just met you three…”

Evera’s eyes got a hopeful twinkle in them, but Puff nudged her to keep moving and prevent Evera from fantasizing too much.

“But what were your lives before becoming Adventurers?”

Burf thought to himself for a moment.

“Well, I grew up in the streets of Carella. Often stealing food and fighting with other people in alleyways just for a place to sleep. But, after a while, I found out about the Adventurers’ Guild and joined once they would let me. And since the guild only really cares about results, I started clearing every request I took like a madman. Soon enough, I was no longer on the streets and could afford more than just the necessities. Skip a couple more years and I’m in, partied up with Puff and Evera.”

Puff followed Burf’s example.

“Compared to Burf, I had a rather plan life. Growing up in Verdanthill, I attended school and did other things expected of a schoolboy, but always wanted something more active. So, once I turned eighteen, I joined the local guard. However, that wasn’t interesting and ended up daydreaming of something much more ‘adventurous’. Then, one day, a couple of Adventurers were passing through. And after sharing drinks with them ‘til dawn, I figured out what I really wanted to be. First chance I got, I left the guard, became an Adventurer, and eventually wound up at Burf’s side.”

After hearing their stories, Tessa loosened up a bit. She originally thought that they’d come from some extraordinary backgrounds or had incredible backstories like the Heroes she’d read and heard about. But Burf and Puff, at the least, were pretty normal. Eagerly, she awaited hearing Evera’s story. More than happy to toot her own horn given the chance, Evera shared her story.

“Unlike these two, I grew up in the forests of Venris.”

Upon hearing “Venris”, Tessa immediately thought, That’s where Sylvie’s from. Small world.

“Had plenty of sisters, but my father wanted a son. So he trained us as he would’ve one. Whenever we weren’t in school or studying, he would take the six of us to the forest and teach us how to hunt or what plants are safe to eat. But after 20 years of two kinds of learning, I got bored and left at my first opportunity. Then came a couple years of wandering around before I wound up saving these two from a couple bears and end up an Adventurer.”

Evera gestured to the backs of Burf and Puff as the three erupted into a minor squabble over past events, both embarrassing and exciting. Puff even brought up how one time a wolf had bitten so hard into Burf’s rear end they had to get a blacksmith to pry out the teeth while the others watched and laughed.

Tessa could only gaze at them in wonder as they continued, their words drifting into the background of her thoughts.

I didn’t expect Adventurers to be so… ‘normal’. Would it be fair to say they’re more grounded versions of Heroes?

Then Puff asked, “What about you, Tessa? You got a story”

Stuck in her own mind for a moment, it took Tessa a little while for her to register Puff’s question.

“Huh? Oh! Yes, uh… give me a moment.”

She’d never really thought about her own past. Aside from reading her textbooks multiple times over and going over her notes from class, all that remained were memories of being with her friends and family on break or dreaming of becoming a Hero. What was her story?

“I… grew up in Solis mostly and spent much of my time between studying and helping my mother with chores around the house.”

Puff interrupted, “So you’re from the City of Light? How’s it in one of the big cities?”

Tessa replied, “It’s nothing too remarkable. Solis is a lot like Faethun, though with mostly humans.”

“Sounds like a peaceful place to live,” commented Burf.

Tessa agreed, “Yes, it is! Though, around ten years ago, monsters attacked it suddenly and could’ve destroyed the entire city.”

Puff raised an eyebrow, both out of concern and surprise.

“Did a rampaging army of orcs siege the city or something?”

Tessa shook her head in disagreement.

“No, but a horde of wyverns did.”

Burf, Evera, and Puff all looked in disbelief at Tessa.

Evera spoke, “A ‘horde of wyverns’?! It usually takes a fairly large army to fend off that many dragonkin. How’d they even wind up attacking Solis in the first place?”

Tessa responded, “No one’s really sure. The wyverns appeared on the horizon just as dawn broke over the horizon without warning. I was six when it happened, and it was mostly a blur. My father heading off to fight the wyverns that morning as a member of the guard while my mother and I were going to run for shelter further in the city.”

Tessa didn’t notice it, but she had the full attention of her party members. Her story was more dramatic than any of theirs by a wide margin, and they all wanted to know what happened next.

Puff asked, “And then what happened?”

“That part is hard to remember exactly, but I remember a wyvern attacked us as we ran. Trying to recall the memories is a blurry mess of running, an explosion, fear, destroyed cobblestone, and seeing the many fangs and darkness in one of their maws.”

Burf immediately responded, “How did you survive?!”

Evera followed, “Yes! How?!”

Puff eagerly nodded his head in agreement with the other two.

Hearing Burf’s question, Tessa got a bit excited. While most of what happened during the attack wasn’t easy to remember or made the hairs on her skin stand up in fear, recalling when the Heroes appeared and being able to gush about them made her happy when she got the chance.

“Well. At the very last moment, a stranger saved my mother and I. We still don’t know who it was, but he called himself a ‘Hero’, and ever since then I…”

At the moment Tessa uttered the title “Hero”, her three companions’ faces turned from eager and excited to disappointed and scorned. Noticing the mood had gone cold, Tessa wondered what was going on. She’d never expected this kind of reaction.

“Of course it was a Hero,” muttered Evera.

Tessa was horribly afraid she’d offended her new party members. Would they kick her out of the party right there and then, tell her to go back and never speak to them again?

“D-did I say something wrong?”

Realizing his own mistake, Burf tried to explain why the three of them showed such contempt for Heroes as delicately as possible.

“Tessa…”

“Y-yes?!”

“We probably should’ve told you this, but Heroes aren’t something Adventurers enjoy hearing or talking about.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Puff tried to help lighten the mood.

“Hey, hey, no worries. It’s not your fault, you’re new after all. And you can’t really leave out that kind of detail when talking about what happened to you, so don’t worry too much.”

Evera nervously tried to help.

Tessa wondered, Why are Heroes a taboo subject amongst Adventurers?

To her, she’d only ever heard of Heroes doing good in the world. So why are they so disliked by Adventurers?

Evera tried to move things along so they can move on from this topic.

“We can fill you in later, this isn’t really the place to do it.”

Confused, but wanting to understand, Tessa agreed, “A-alright…”

With the matter settled, the four continued further into the forest and soon came close enough to the cave entrance to see the change in terrain. However, Evera suddenly spoke up.

“Everyone, stop moving.”

This wasn’t a suggestion, but a hushed order.

Immediately, Burf, Puff, and Tessa all stopped and stood in place. Confused, Tessa looked at Evera, wondering what’s going on while Burf and Puff both raised their guards and scanned the surrounding area.

Burf asked, “Spot something Evera?”

Evera didn’t respond immediately, instead she had a hand to her ear and closed her eyes. No one made a move as leaves rustled above in the overhead forest canopy. Then Evera spoke up.

“I’m hearing chatter ahead of us and slightly around us. We’re not alone.”

Burf responded, “Animal or humanoid?”

“Definitely humanoid. Not sure if they know we’re here, but best to get out while they may not see us.”

“Understood. Everyone, draw your weapons and begin pulling back. The quest’s compromised and we’re not in a favorable position here.”

Tessa panicked a bit, she took out her staff but wasn’t sure of what to do exactly. This was to be an easy quest, right? So why had things gone from light, to heavy, to dangerous so quickly? As Tessa got lost in her thoughts, Burf spoke to her directly.

He apologized, “Sorry Tessa, seems we’ll have to get you a quest tomorrow or something.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Not sure, but likely not something we want to stick around and find out about. Evera, focus on knowing where the unknowns are.”

“Already on it.”

“Puff, you handle rearguard.”

“You got it.”

“Tessa, stay in between me and Puff. We’re best equipped to handle any close quarters combat, so do your best to support us any way you can.”

“R-right!”

“Alright, let’s move slowly to try to not arouse any suspicion.”

Evera climbed up into the treetops and monitored their surroundings, following her party members as they slowly left the forest. However, Evera noticed some movement just ahead of where Burf was.

“Burf! Two entities just ahead of you!”

Knocking an arrow, Evera took aim as a green glow formed around her.

“Beawel bel Snakeshot!”

Letting the arrow fly, it flashed with green light. For a moment, the arrow took on the appearance of a snake before disappearing into the forest. Near instantly after she shot, two pained cries rang out as Burf ran ahead with his spear at the ready. Now able to see them, Burf struck with all his might.

Thrusting with his spear straight into the lower abdomen with his spear, Burf struck his target and lifted him up. However, it shocked Burf with how difficult it was to send his target flying. It took all of his might, but he sent the unknown man flying a short distance away. But in the time to get one of them out of the way, the other drew his dagger and struck at Burf. Quickly raising his spear, Burf blocked the attack but was being slowly overwhelmed.

“What the..?!”

The second of the two didn’t seem any bigger or stronger than Burf, yet he was pushing the half-orc back. Burf’s greaves leaving drag marks in the dirt. Hearing the grinding of metal on metal, Puff left his position as rearguard and ran to his friend’s aid. Upon seeing Burf barely keeping his guard up, Puff began glowing orange.

Puff chanted, “Alroc ard Earth Rush!”

Stabbing his sword into the ground as he ran, a growing wave of dirt and rock followed Puff. Then, once only just a foot away from the one engaging Burf, Puff slashed upwards with his sword; as if to cut the one before him across the chest. Following his movements, the rush of earth followed and struck the enemy from underneath. Lifting the man up into the air and tossing him a good distance to the side. Getting him out of the way.

“You good Burf?”

“For now, yes. But I think that may have alerted the others.”

Tessa ran to catch up with Burf and Puff. She desperately wanted to know what was going on and how everything had gone South so quickly.

“Wh-what’s going on Burf?! A-and who was that?!”

Burf answered, “Not sure. Probably some bandits or highwaymen camped out here, and we wandered in without knowing.”

Just after Burf explains things, a whistle echoes through the forest. No one’s sure where it came from exactly, but they all have a feeling their escape window is closing. Still up in the trees, Evera catches up with her party.

“We need to move! They’re all converging in on u-!”

Cut short of what she was going to say, something hits Evera in the back of the neck and she falls to the ground.

Puff shouts, “Evera!”

Dashing to where she would fall, Puff catches her.

“Hey! Are you alright?!”

Puff shakes her, but there’s no response. Then he notices a small dart had hit her. It’s small and not deeply embedded. Not wanting to waste time with it potentially doing more damage, Puff pulls it out.

Burf asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Not sure, but Evera’s been KO’d. Hit with a poisoned dart.”

“Damn.”

Burf runs over and hoists Evera onto his back.

“I’ll carry her, you take point.”

“Understood.”

With that said, Puff runs ahead with Burf and Tessa following.

“Tessa, do you have any means of treating poisons?”

“Minor ones, yes.”

“Hopefully that’ll work. Do what you can for Evera.”

“I-I’ll do my best!”

Summoning forth her miracles, Tessa glowed gold as she chanted.

“Alsanct yaha Restore!”

The golden light surrounding Tessa slowly moved along her body to her hand, leaving from her fingertips and transferring to Evera. Tessa wasn’t sure if this would be effective. Her miracles are still only at a basic level, and she doesn’t know for sure what kind of poison this is.

Continuing through the forest, they hear running and rustling around them. It starts distant but quickly catches up to them.

Burf addresses the others, “Damn. I think they’re catching up. How much farther do we have to go, Puff?”

Puff shouts back, “I’m not sure. We should be nearing the edge, but I can’t tell.”

Meanwhile, Tessa notices something shimmer off in the corner of her eye. It looked like some kind of insect, a butterfly or moth.

Puff calls back to them, “I’m gonna move ahead and clear a path if I can!”

Burf responds, “Alright! But avoid conflict if possible! If they catch us, we’re done!”

With that, Puff dashes forward and out of sight. However, they can hear Puff faintly in the distance saying something. It’s too quiet to hear properly, but then there’s the sudden clanging of metal on metal and a heavy thud off to the left against a tree. Then silence.

Burf yells, “Puff! What happened?! Are you there?!”

No response.

“Dammit all.”

Tessa asks, “What happened? Is he alright?”

“Not sure, but we can’t stop here.”

Moving ahead to catch up with Puff, the two end up coming to the entrance of the cave. Before them stands most of the bandits, one larger than the others, and Puff on the ground next to a tree. His shield cut in half as he quivers in pain on the ground. Burf cursed under his breath.

“We’re cornered.”

Laying Evera’s body on the ground with no other option left than to defend himself, Burf readies his spear. Meanwhile, Tessa tries to figure out how they went from running through the forest to cave’s entrance.

“But, how? We ran in the exact opposite direction of how we entered.”

The biggest amongst the bandits chimes in, explaining the situation.

“Illusion magic. I’m not one for it myself, but you need to use every resource available to you when hunting big game.”

Then… that butterfly I saw, thought Tessa.

The bandit chief continues, “Our apologies for having attacked you, but we can’t allow ourselves to be discovered.”

Burf tries to buy some time as his eyes scan the encirclement of bandits.

“You said you’re ‘hunting big game’, what do you mean by that exactly? There shouldn’t be any large monsters or animals near Faethun aside from bears or wolves. What creature would require so many people and powerful abilities to take down?”

Tessa did not know what was going on. In her nervousness, she tightly gripped her staff.

Burf whispered, “I’ll going to make an opening. The moment I do, make a run for it.”

Tessa responded, “But I can’t leave you h-.”

“There’s no time for arguing, just run the moment you can. As your seniors, we’re supposed to protect you.”

Burf turned his attention back to the bandit chief.

“So, if we’re not allowed to leave, would you at least humor me by saying what it is you’re hunting?”

The bandit chief apologized, “Sorry, but…”

At that moment, a poisoned dart hit Burf in the back of his neck. Slowly falling to his knees, Burf tried to resist its effects. The bandit chief wasn’t leaving even a chance of escape possible.

"I can’t tell you. You’re probably blacking out right now. It’s a sleeping drug powerful enough to knock out an elder landshark. You’ll be out for a few days.”

Burf uttered, “D-damn…”

Losing his grip on his spear and collapsing into the dirt, Burf lost consciousness. Now, with all of her party members out of action, Tessa slowly fell to her knees. She wondered how this had all happened. She wondered what was going to happen next. What would they do to her? Would someone come along and save her just like what happened ten years ago?

Tessa stared at the bodies of Puff, Burf, and Evera, all while realizing she was powerless to do anything. And then it hit her.

Nothing’s… changed, she thought.

I’m still just a helpless child, unable to do anything when it matters most. Is this why the Heroes’ Guild rejected me? Is this some kind of karmic punishment for chasing a dream forever beyond my capabilities? Or am I fated to always be at the mercy of another?

Tessa’s mind was running through thoughts over and over in her head. A cold sweat forming as she sat there. Then one bandit suddenly hit on the back of her neck. It wasn’t a sharp or piercing pain, just blunt force. Her body slowly fell as she lost consciousness. As it all faded to black, she heard the bandit chief saying something.

“Tie the girl and the elf up, we’ll use them as bait. We’re all too familiar with one of prey’s tastes, after all.”

“And what of the two men?”

“Throw them in a cage just in case one of them is resistant to the drug.”

“Yes, sir.”

As it all soon faded to black, Tessa pleaded for help in thoughts. Praying for help.

Please… Someone… Anyone… Save me…