A glistening film of sweat steadily grew heavier on Equinox’s brow as the pair ticked off all the things they wished to do within Golden Trees Village.
While the innumerable Pyrite Trees offered an ample amount of shade along the paths, it could only do so much with the noonday Sun unrelentingly beating down on all under its merciless gaze.
It didn’t help that the village was far more crowded than the day (night?) before.
With local villagers out at force attending to their everyday tasks, the stream of people moving about the gravel thoroughfares and dirt paths made for an atmosphere muggy with the odours of sweat and dry air born from a village so landlocked, he had failed to find any sources of water in the Hushed Plains for kilometres around.
Fortunately, a quick inquiry to a helpful vendor—one of the many lining the paths—after memorising some of the prices of Essence Condensates helped shed a light on where, exactly, one should go to get water; for free, to boot!
An Essence Condensate-powered fountain, one wrought from pristine white marble and accented by actual, honest-to-Champions gold ornamentation, lay near the heart of Golden Trees Village.
The only reason neither Equinox nor Wyntir had spotted the grandiose construct was due to its specific location – right behind the Hall of Ascension and hidden amidst a noticeably dense copse of Pyrite Trees, presumably to hide it from nosy busybodies.
Reaching the location in question showed that such an intent had been less than successful, however; seeing as how numerous people milled about the fountain’s nearby vicinity.
Many, many others obviously knew about the fountain’s location. The only saving grace? A vast majority of those in the know were villagers residing in the village itself.
On the bright side, none of aforementioned villagers protested when Equinox and Wyntir filled their water canteens to the brim with the abundance of water spouting from the fountain.
From what they gathered while doing so, the fountain was enchanted to pull up and purify fresh groundwater from a convergence of aquifers found right underneath it; neatly explaining away the thriving presence of the surrounding copse of Pyrite Trees.
……
“Tell me again. Why do you want to head to the North gate, Nox?”
Wyntir’s question dragged Equinox out of his head, causing him to pay full attention to the here and now. Looking around briefly, he registered the queue leading out of aforenamed gate had barely shifted since entering it.
“I want to see if the demographic of monsters is any different from those found outside the South gate.” He repeated patiently, even though this was the umpteenth time Wyntir had asked the same, exact question since he made the suggestion earlier.
“I still think it will be a waste of time.” She offered, not for the first time.
“Your protest is duly noted, princess.” He intoned faux solemnly, unable to help himself. And so, when the quick, light slap against his arm came, he wasn’t surprised at all.
“Your cheek is going to get you into trouble one day, mark my words.” Though her tone was reproachful, the subtle, upwards quirk to the corner of her pink lips gave away her inner amusement.
He playfully slung his arm over her shoulder, bringing her in for a side hug. “What’s life without a little risk, am I right?”
Returning his embrace with a gentle hip check, she looked up at him with a wider smile. “That cockiness is going to get you into trouble, as well.”
He shrugged noncommittally, knowing she was most likely right but unwilling to admit it out loud.
As neither had anything else to say, the pair fell silent; Equinox’s arm casually kept draped over Wyntir’s shoulder as he relaxedly took in all the hustle and bustle arrayed around him.
Soon enough, the pair found themselves facing a matching pair of guards at the end of the line. Much like the pair at the South gate, they stood behind a roughly hewn booth of timber easy to take apart.
Before either Equinox or Wyntir could say a thing, one of the guardsman—a burly, bearded fellow garbed in leather, chainmail, and strategic pieces of plate—spoke up.
“Purpose for leaving the village?” He asked, not mincing words.
“Exploration and hunting.” Equinox offered instantly, keeping his own words curt and straight to the point.
The guard nodded sharply and waved at the open, rolling plains just beyond the gate. “Go ahead then. But please keep in mind, return before evenfall if you wish to re-enter the village.”
After thanking the guardsman for his reminder, the pair left through the raised gate.
Equinox unslung his arm from around Wyntir’s shoulders before immediately taking out the Training Scimitar from his spatial pouch, mentally making a note to transfer it from his right pocket to his left as he transferred the weapon in question to his right hand.
Surveying the area as his boots moved from gravel to dirt, he immediately realised that the Northern Hushed Plains was a fair bit different from its southern counterpart.
For one, far away in the horizon, he could see the vague silhouettes of what looked like a mountain range; the tips of which disappeared amidst a dense, swirling vortex of ominous black clouds. For another, he was pretty sure he had just found the so-called ‘Petrified Woods’ Captain Annie had warned him of.
Where due North and Northeast lay the indistinct mountain range, a sea of grey trees encroached in from the Northwest. Though the woods looked fairly unassuming under the auspices of the brightly shining Sun, he could imagine the terror they might inspire under the oppressive blanket of night.
Like Annie had mentioned, dirt roads wound from Golden Trees Village’s North gate and towards the Petrified Woods, disappearing as it plunged headfirst into shadow-filled, grey depths.
Meanwhile, as the brunet took in the surrounding geography, the partial silverette had walked a distance down the main dirt road; joining a noisy crowd of fellow players as they looked on at something happening at the edges of the Hushed Plains.
Seeing Wyntir’s movement out of the corner of his eye, Equinox followed, slipping into the crowd by trailing in her wake.
Quickly enough, he managed to see what exactly had his fellow players so captivated; surrounding chatter having been hard to parse, with everyone making a valiant attempt at talking over one another.
A team of five natives—comprising three men and two women—were facing off against what looked like an Ironbeak Chicken – that is, if the poultry in question had a larger, meaner-looking cousin, one sporting a razor-sharp beak that glistened like silver under the sunlight.
Before he could even think about spending a moment longer examining the new fowl, the two parties met in furious, wordless combat. Even as an armoured petite woman wielding a kite shield and longsword sprinted forward, the chicken had already acted.
A glow, brighter than the Sun high above and as dazzling as pure silver, erupted from the poultry’s silver beak before coalescing into five orbs of shimmering pearlescence.
Just before the petite warrior covered two-thirds of the distance between herself and the fowl in question, piercing beams of light lanced out from each orb, each one aiming for a member of the party.
Not even hesitating for a single millisecond, the petite warrior continued with her sprint; a confidence well-founded, considering the five arrow-shaped constructs of light that intercepted each beam long before it could reach any of the chicken’s opposition.
Before any of her party members could do anything else, the warrior and the chicken met in a clash of longsword against beak, sparks sent flying as a soft, rubylight aura cloaked the former’s sword-wielding arm from fingertips to bicep.
At a speed almost faster than the eye could track, downwards slash met feinting lunge, before a rapid thrust was parried by an angled deflection; longsword sent sliding down the chicken’s beak and missing it altogether, the petite warrior forced to overextend.
Before the fowl in question could capitalise on the latter’s mistake, a swarm of fireballs careened at it from both sides even as a snarl of roots erupted up from amidst the grass in a burst of displaced dirt. Instead of taking evasive measures in the face of the flames and plant life, as Equinox thought it would, the silver beaked fowl’s feathers abruptly puffed up, each pinion acquiring a metallic sheen a moment before it was obscured behind orange explosions.
Long before the flames had a chance to fade, the only person in the party who had yet to act—a woman taller than any of her compatriots by at least a head—moved forward, slow amble transforming into a fast jog before becoming a full on charge; crimson-clad spear leading the way.
Almost as if the petite warrior had eyes in the back of her head, she sidestepped just as her far taller counterpart went past, sharpened spear’s head a hair’s breadth away from grazing her side.
Without any hesitation, the spear-touting woman charged into the dying conflagration, appearing an instant later on the other side – visibly struggling silver beaked chicken impaled straight through, from front to back, on the steel spearhead.
As the crowd watched on and the lancer continued her charge, the chicken’s struggling weakened and then stopped, going deathly still just as she slowly came to a standstill.
Immediately, the crowd of onlookers broke into a loud applause; Equinox politely clapping along, Wyntir remaining still in front of him.
The lone archer amongst the five acknowledged the crowd, offering them a cheery wave and playful wink before spinning around and walking over to join his comrades around the spearwoman and chicken’s corpse.
Seeing the show was over, most of the crowd rapidly dispersed. Where a vast majority headed into the Hushed Plains proper, a fair minority moved down the dirt road, seemingly intending to delve into the Petrified Woods.
Equinox took away several points of interest from the fight.
- Creatures stronger than their baseline variant existed within the Hushed Plains – case in point, the Silverbeak Chicken (proper name pending).
- An aura imbued with reddish tones seemed to announce a boost to physicality – case in points, the swordswoman’s significantly heightened dexterity and spearwoman’s unnaturally strong charge.
- Though it had been brief, flickering wisps of the deepest sapphire blue had wafted off the weapons—a bo staff and a cudgel—wielded by the last two men; something that preceded the salvo of fireballs and entangling snarl of roots.
All in all, the fight only further stoked his desire to get a full complement of Essence Condensates as soon as possible.
“That was quite an impressive show.” Equinox eventually commented, getting Wyntir to turn around.
“It was adequate, I suppose.” She said, after remaining silent for a moment.
“You don’t need to sound so reluctant, you know?” He teased lightly, slight smirk stretching his lips. “It’s not like it’s a crime or anything to praise others.”
She graced him with an unimpressed, arched brow. “Please, do continue. I would greatly appreciate an excuse to hit you.”
“Since when have you needed a reason?” Even as the words left his lips, Equinox was dancing away, smile on his lips, avoiding Wyntir’s hand as she lashed out with a slap while stepping onto the grass of the Hushed Plains. “Anyway, now that the show’s over, let’s get to hunting, yeah?”
A furious pair of Ironbeak Chickens attacked Equinox moments after he stepped foot into the Hushed Plains.
Sidestepping a hopping, squawking lunge from one of them, his torso was nearly impaled by the other; something he only avoided by the skin of his teeth when he dove out of the way.
Coming up from his dive and then instantly whirling around, he swiftly brought up the Training Scimitar in a desperate, upwards slash, sending sparks flying as piercing beak skittered off curved blade.
He instantly reversed the blade’s swing at the peak of its arc, bringing it down in a rapid, cleaving blow. Before the Ironbeak Chicken could react in any way, the scimitar cracked its head open and caused blood and bits of brain to flow.
Seeing the ‘!’ appear in the corner of his field of view, he turned away from the dead fowl – only to be forced to dive and roll again as the other Ironbeak Chicken, having slipped his mind, lunged and pecked at him from what would have been his blind spot.
Coming up from the roll, he ripped out a throwing knife from his left thigh and flicked it at the poultry, missing it by a mile and causing him to curse under his breath.
At the same time, the Ironbeak Chicken speedily hopped towards him, a brilliant flash of light going off after two hops and blinding him momentarily.
Blinking furiously, he dove sideways as a blurry, feathery figure lunged for his chest; movement admittedly a tad over the top, considering.
Then again, his mind lamented ruefully even as a pained grimace twisted his features, the line of fire blooming across his side told him his reaction had been far from enough.
Popping up, he whirled into a spin with Training Scimitar extended, slashing at the area all around him, uncaring if the chicken was nearby; only wanting to fend it off briefly in the case it so happened to be.
Judging from the lack of any impact recoil, it became clear it wasn’t. Equinox carelessly swiped away the last, lingering tears in his eyes, clearing up his vision and seeing that the Ironbeak Chicken was still several hops away – even if it was closing the distance, fast.
Ripping out another throwing knife, he actually took the time to aim before flicking it at the fowl.
Its loud, pained cluck and the satisfying sight of metal thwacking flesh as he sprinted towards it told him it was completely worthwhile. The instant he was in range, Equinox slashed down at the Ironbeak Chicken only for his scimitar to get deflected to the side.
As the chicken pecked at his chest, he pulled the scimitar back and blocked its beak, before lashing out and smacking its head to the side with a horizontal slash. Before it could recover, he pulled his arm back and lashed out with another horizontal slash, breaking its neck with a sickening crack.
Even without seeing the ‘!’ glow and then dim back down, Equinox would have known the Ironbeak Chicken was dead. With a neck twisted to such an extent, how could it not?
