The songbirds chirped their elaborate mating songs in the darkness of the early dawn just as the sun began its gradual rise from below the horizon, basking the heavens in crimson red stains. The light unhurriedly cleansed the land of the darkness forcing it into long shadows. The dawn eventually reached the small camp basking it with its bloody light, announcing the day's coming and. A singular figure sat on a log beside the campfire, its flame had lost its previous tenacity bells prior before the first signs of the dawn but amber embers still lingered in the grey ash. The muscular figure stirred the grey ash, reigniting the embers to shine a soft orange-red light onto its face.

 

The morning light pierced the tent's wall, bathing Kia's pearly white face using her face as a blank canvas to paint its rosy, orange painting. The girl's eyebrows dipped into a frown, unhappy with the morning light shining straight into her sealed eyes. Iris ran her finger on the sleeping girl's cheek, causing her body to shudder slightly. The elf lifted her finger severing the connection with Kia's smooth skin. In response the slumbering undead sat up, her eyes still closed while she scanned the room searching for something.

The elf didn't dare to move while the ancient necromancer swayed unsteadily from side to side. Kia's head locked on the elf although she didn't if this was simple luck or the girl used a spell to locate her. Without warning Kia accelerated forward causing a whistling noise to momentarily fill the tent as air rushed out of the elf's chest. The girl grabbed the elf's jacket and snuggled as close as possible to the risen, hiding her eyes in between the fabric's folds as best she could.

 

"Iris?" Kia whispered after a while, her exhaustion instantly apparent to Iris.

 

"Yes." The elf mirrored the girl's tone.

 

"Sleepy."

 

"I think you had enough sleep," Iris pulled Kia closer to herself. "Want breakfast?" She said receiving an expected nod. She tried to stand up, but Kia clung to her padded jacket. She took off her jacket and gave it to Kia who buried her face into it. "Scandalous~" She watched as Kia turned her jacket into a blanket protecting her from the morning light.

 

"Good morning," The tall pale elf left her tent figuring out the sleepy mage could be persuaded to wake up with a little bit of food. In front of her Albert idly stirred the ashen campfire. "Would you mind if I use some of your group's food to make breakfast?"

 

"You too," Albert's grey eyes reflected the soft light as he responded. "Don't even worry about it."

 

"Appreciated," Iris said. "I don't know how much you slept, but you can take a nap while I'm here."

 

"Nah, I'm all good." The man turned his head back towards the ashen fireplace.

 

Iris quietly went about her business of gathering dry kindling in the area around the camp. After a while, she managed to carry a large bundle of small sticks, dead moss and dry fungi in her hands back into the camp.

 

As she approached, Albert twitched before glancing at her, seemingly calming down. After rekindling the flame, the elf sat opposite to the ageing man and started to peel the brow skin of the earthfruit revelling the poisonous yellow flesh hiding underneath. She placed the last peeled vegetable in the pot with boiling water and stretched her long arm toward Kia's brown backpack. She smoothly pulled the bulky-looking backpack and skilfully undid the buttons holding the backpack closed. She looked inside of it finding nothing, the tall undead was so used to Kia pulling things out of the backpack that she forgot that it was just an illusion.

 

"Something happened?" The man in front of her asked seeing the confusion on the elf's usually neutral face.

 

"Nothing," Iris replied not realising that she clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Wrong backpack." A small self-depreciative smile formed on her face.

 

"And the right bag is in there?" Albert pointed at the tent behind Iris.

 

"Yes."

 

"Oh, that's tough. What do you need anyway maybe we have it?" Adventurer said.

 

"Meat would be nice and I was thinking about adding some bread but if you have hardtack that would work too. "

 

"I think we have some cured lamb...somewhere here," Albert started to rummage through his team's luggage. "I guess we would have to use our emergency supplies." He said showing Iris an entire lamb hind leg.

 

"Is that wise?" The elf asked raising her eyebrow. She and Kia could survive without food but the trio accompanying them were ordinary humans who needed to eat.

 

"If we don't use this on this quest I will need to donate the leg to the temple, had been with us for some time not. Also use as much hardtack as you want, maybe today will be my first time seeing it used for other things then as an improvised hammer." The man said while he spun the brick of hardtack in the air.

 

"I will not use an entire leg but I will try to see what I can come up with." The elf said catching the hardtack.

 

Iris cut a meaty chunk off the leg, cutting it into long vertical strips. She lay the meat strips beside each other and further cut them into small cubes. She then stirred the vegetables in the boiling water and began skewering the small chunks with sharpened sticks.

 

"What you doing?" Albert said as he sniffed the air.

 

"Lightly searing the meat," The tall pale elf answered. "Smaller chunks cook faster."

 

While carefully watching the meat cook, the elf picked up the hardtack brick roughly the size of her forearm. It felt more like a rock then something eatable and trying to break it with her hands was fruitless, the creamy paste coloured brick refusing to show a single crack. To make the hardtack into something she could use the elf wrapped the hardtack with in a fabric and began to hit it on the stone's edge until she felt the hardtack had crumbled into smaller more manageable pieces and putting it with the vegetables in the pot.

 

The meat quickly turned into the golden brown Iris desired and she began to pick up each stick unworried about being burned and ran her finger along each stick throwing the skewered meat into the pot and putting the metal lid over it. The crimson light of the sun turned into brilliant yellow painting the sky its usual blue as the two adventurers silently sat watching the orange flame in front of them flicker. Occasionally elf would stir her improvised meal for a brief moment.

 

"Hello Anna, Hello Albert." Cisil yawned his greetings.

 

Iris watched as the young adventurer of a similar age to Anna sat beside her quite clearly not having waken up fully. She gave the older man in front of her a puzzled look but he only shrugged with his bulky shoulders finding the situation funny.

 

*Yawn* Cisil beside her yawned weirdly as his arm stretched high above him before ending up on the elf's shoulder. "Nice morning isn't it."

 

"It's sure nice. " Iris could barely contain her laughter as she spoke.

 

"What!" Cisil quickly pushed himself away from the elf as she sat there unmoved by his push. "..."

 

"Hahahaha!" Albert's loud cackling drowned Cisil's words. "Heavens, she did you good!" He chuckled as he dramaticly removed a tear that formed in his eye.

 

A vein bulged on Cisil's forehead but before he could answer a female voice called out from one of the tents.

 

"What is happening here?" Anna called out from her tent before coming out wearing traveling clothes rather then any sort of armour.

 

"Nothing." The suddenly embarrassed Cisil said.

 

"Just having a good laugh." His companion elaborated.

 

"Sure..." The blond hair human, eyed Iris and the men beside her with suspicion. "Uh! What you cooking!?" She excitedly asked as she spotted the pot over the fire.

 

"Stew," Replied the elven cook. "I reckon it's about ready to serve."

 

Iris started to pour a portion of the brown-coloured stew to each of the humans around her, ensuring that enough of the stew was left to feed the ever-hungry girl still slumbering in her tent.

 

"Why are you not eating?" Anna asked the elf.

 

"I will eat later. I'm going to check on Siri now." Iris stood up and entered Kia's tent. "Hello?" She said as she closed the folding flaps behind her. Kia was still sleeping, face buried in the elf's jacket. "Someone there?" She spoke to the sleeping undead receiving a barely lucid mutter. Iris sat down and placed Kia's head in between her legs. She delicately moved the strands of silky black hair from girl's face. "Is everything alright? Please tell me." The elf asked quietly worrying for the undead who appeared even paler then before.

 

"Mmm?" Kia's eyes half opened, and her eyes glowed brighter than ever. "I-I'm fine." She answered.

 

Iris leaned closer to Kia and whispered softly. "Promise?"

 

"Promise." The girl smiled as her eyes dimmed before quickly darting her eyes away and toward the source of a meaty smell.

 

"Then breakfast is waiting." The risen gave the shorter undead a quick peck before standing up.

 

The two exited their tent and were silently greeted by the other adventurers who were still eating the meat stew. Iris poured two portions worth of stew onto Kia's bowl. For herself she scraped the remaining leftovers that were stuck to the pot's walls, not only did she didn't have to eat but the sight of Kia happily swaying from side to side as she ate her meal filled her body with strange but rather enjoyable sort of feeling of fulfillment. After everyone finished their meal, all five of the adventurers started to pack up their camp. They loaded themselves onto the cart while Albert struggled to calm down their horse. Eventually, they departed towards where the map marked the previously unexplored dungeon. Albert sat in the driver seat along with Cisil while Anna, Iris and Kia sat at the back.

Kia rested her head on elf's arm as the cart lazily made its way forward.

 

"You really care about her." The human cleric whispered to Iris, pulling the petite girl's hood which had slipped off slightly.

 

"Thanks."

 

---

 

POV Unknown.

 

"My Lord." A figure clad in black kneeled before a man or perhaps kneeled before the flag hung behind.

 

"Speak." The man sitting lazily on a luxurious chair with purple cushions said, twirling a knife in his hands. His face was shrouded in darkness.

 

"One of our oracles in the city wrote this." The kneeling figure extended his hand marked with the same symbol as on the flag.

 

The seated man stood up and walked on the wooden floor towards the figure, each step reverberated throughout the room. He unsealed the letter and started to read.

 

"Dismissed." Man said after finishing reading. The figure left without a word. The man turn and kneeled before the flag bearing a purple left hand surrounded by darkness. "No light without shadow." The man said before leaving knowing his God had given him an order to fulfill.