"The night is here, you're telling me to rest now? How do you expect me to do that with things like that crawling around?"
No response, the runes went dormant. Leo sighed and touched his shoulder, the repeated movements tore through his inexperienced muscle. He was sore all over, and it was only now just settling in.
"Gah! Fine."
He didn't want to rest, rest was the least of his priorities in his mind. Not like he could refuse the body though, if it demanded rest then so it will have it, without his body he would be going nowhere, the soul and body were unified, without one the other didn't exist.
Leo walked his way to one of the windows carved out in the wall, they had quite some depth, infact it was far back enough for a person to lay down on the windowsill, and the surface was somewhat convex, not exactly ideal for sleeping.
'I can't even sit properly because of this arch hitting my head.'
The sword lay on the floor while Leo sat himself in his brand new marblestone bed. It was as silent as ever, and he was hungry, and thirsty, and exhausted, but most importantly he was worried.
He'd left Luna alone for so long. Her body had enough magic reserves to feed on plus the reserves Leo stacked up for her, but he'd been gone for ages now.
After entering a coma, the most he'd ever left her alone was half a day, it's been well over a week since he entered the Preceptors Forest.
It couldn't be helped, his worry could only grow heavier as time passed without being at her side.
'I hope you're doing fine, I'll be back soon...'
The dust in the air descended onto the surface following through with the battle that just shook the ground. The moonlight creeping through the cracks was diminishing - painting the surroundings into a deep dark colour.
'Just in case.'
Leo reached over for his sword in the dark and hugged it tight to his side, perhaps he was worrying too much, but it's presence and Lunas assurance gave him some peace of mind - allowing him to enjoy a night's peace for once.
Things started looking up for Leo.
^^^
One could see the sun rising in the distant horizon, its brilliant rays casting the dark away and bringing forth heat to life, every being under its canopy would either burn or relish in the path of the overseeing giant. Morning dew caressed the vines and verdant blades that stained the floor scratched all over, throughout the forest nothing would be left untouched, not even the lurking monsters.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
The grass was being parted and the vines cut down, footsteps rebounded off the muddy surface. It was hard to imagine what could tread the forest with this much stealth when every branch was an eye, but it was none other than the humans.
Two people walked side by side, of roughly similar stature and similar attire, one female and one male as recognisable by their features. They didn't seem to be armed, but if they were, it sure was concealed well. They trode through the land, examining the various attacks landed on the trees and vines.
Evidence of heavy battles was everywhere, it would be hard to say which scar belonged to what and who.
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"These beasts are all one and the same, they all leave the same marks, fight in the same way, I mean what the hell is the empire thinking?"
A mature feminine voice spoke out as her leather gloves smacked against her hands, gripping tight to her fingers. She then inspected the depth of the attacks.
"These parasites have been going rampant recently, its no wonder it all looks the same, the only thing fighting here anymore is them. There's no magic to kill them here so they send people like us to take care of it..."
He responded in a coarse tone, these people were certainly not of common origin, the look in their eyes, their attire, even the way they talked all bore the memory of status. Flaunting pristine obsidian garmets while their long crimson coats fluttered in the passing air – their prideful designs would only add to that suspicion.
"It was definitely around here. Seems like it wasn't alone either."
The golden haired lady pointed to the ground, it was a satchel ripped to shreds that had been trampled on. Her keen sense of judgement made it crystal clear what transpired.
"It was chasing someone, judging by the weight and size of the footsteps a rather light male, with no signs of blood or a body. We'll just have to hope it didn't get hold of whoever it was going after."
She swiped the remains in her hand, some vials were on the floor broken up, but there was nothing in them - she'd just assumed some alchemist dropped his bag and had now released whatever was inside to seep through the ground and fertilise the surrounding vines.
They both looked to the distant horizon, they'd seen the sun a million different times throughout their lives, but this time was different, it was special. And to finally address the matter at hand she spoke up with a mix of shock and fear in her voice.
"So, any ideas on what could've razed such a huge area?"
For miles on end the forest was leveled, only broken nature left behind, usually the canopy would deny all light through, not anymore however — they could see the petrified trees deep within the forests heart towering over the skyline, something you'd never see unless going to the second circle of the forest, but it was now all on display. Some of the petrified structures also fell victim to whatever hit the ground, it was truly bizzare.
"What do I know, anything and everything can happen here."
He looked over his shoulder at the insignia running down her back, a golden griffin as opposed to his – the golden lion. She was still collecting the remains off the ground, taking extra care in handling any crucial evidence for their report.
"This forest sure is a pain in the ass, the vines weren't destroyed completely so we're still unable to use magic, only difference now is that we'd be completely exposed to the beasts if we tried travelling across the area, some of the lesser monsters are also refusing to leave the shade. It's best not to worry about what did it now, I say just turn back, make a report, and finish our mission."
She glanced over, the mood was fairly light, but indeed there was a hint of displeasure hanging in the air.
"The trail ended here, whoever it was chasing must've been swept up in whatever detonated here. The Puppet Master is probably gone now too. There's no reason to risk ourselves anymore. Let's just go, Eleanor."
Her ice blue eyes went dark with disappointment, yet she said nothing. Simply picking herself up and turning away from the scene.
"Let's go."
^^^
Inside the ruins, the situation was much of the same, still the same damp and ruined architecture plastered everywhere, still the same dust clogging up every ventilation hole. It wasn't like it was unlivable though, perhaps not an ideal place for strenuous activity, but it could still do.
A solar ray beckoned down to Leo through the crevices in the wall, burning through his skin and retinas in order to get him to wake up. It pierced deep into his emerald eyes, bouncing back from the corner of his skull and into the surroundings again.
Leo was waking up, the fatigue was somewhat gone, but the lingering stiffness still remained to plague him for a little while longer.
Yawn.
He stood up from his resting place to scan the surroundings, his sword was there, his clothes intact, somewhat, even the pulverised rocks from the pillars were there, just as he'd remembered.
To Leo the moment passed at lightning speed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a dream, it was almost like an instantaneous process for him.
'I need to get going already, I've spent too long in here. Hopefully with this sword intact, if Luna was right and this sword really is that good, then this could be our ticket out.'
The runes reacted, there was something different about the room, just he couldn't see from behind the destroyed pillars. At the end of the very hall he stood in, a grand clock ticked away, it had only a few seconds left untill it's arms struck twelve.
The runes pulsed heavily, pointing straight for the nearest exit. His reaction speed was too slow to process what was about to occur, he was frozen in place at all the information being fed to him.
And that's exactly when the final arm reached the peak. A bellowing chime filled the room and both exists closed off with a huge stone rock dropping on both sides.
Returning to a state of calmness the cryptic writing returned to its seat and relayed a message.
His eyes wrinkled in fear.
[Tribulation Chamber: Colloseum Of Flame]