CH918

At the fifth site, it was the same story. Signs of Foast investigating, taking different shapes to do it but ultimately flying off once he’d gotten whatever he’d needed and going off to begin his journey to the next location, leaving the rest of them in a similar boat as Quin opened more portals to go through, taking them on their way to what should have been around the final known destination of his journey and left Ben’s fingers crossed as the trackers began their search.

“Got it,” one said, the rest looking in agreement. “He was here.”

Alright, that’s something.

It meant they wouldn’t need to backtrack at least, no need to search out for where between the two points he might have been brought down in his aerial form or worse, where he might have diverted course, but it did leave a different issue present along the same line that needed to be addressed before anything else.

“And from here, did he fly off again?”

“No, if we’re right, then it looks like he went off on foot.”

Thank god.

“Thank god. Alright, hopefully he decided to keep that up the rest of the way but for now, let’s go. You four take the lead and if anything comes up, the rest of us will cover you.”

It meant a trek through the forest with no way to tell how long it would take, being all the longer for the size of their group, but they had no choice. While Foast could go as fast as his legs could carry him, they had to be conscious of one another as they went, needing to go at a consistent speed and more importantly, take breaks, with the day nearing its end marking a big one.

With consistent cover provided from the treetops, the woods were never bright but it was still plain enough the sun was beginning to set and with their trackers giving no inclination that they’d be stopping anytime soon, Ben filled his role as their leader, judging it was time to stop before it grew to dark.

“Alright everyone, we’re setting up camp here for the night,” he called out once they came across a space just clear enough to set up tents. “Each group, select two of your members to stand watch, with one taking the first half of the night and the other the second. The trackers are excluded from this given the importance of their role, but if things come to it, anyone besides them who doesn’t end up on a watch today will be on tomorrow’s. My stamina is high so I’ll be up all night. Should you need anything, just let me know but for now, begin sorting out whatever arrangements you need.”

With the plan laid out, everyone began setting up their tents, Ben making quick work of his and Thera’s own before he pulled two meals from his rings, giving her one while she looked at him.

“You didn’t sleep last night either, did you?”

“No, but I feel fine. Physically a bit tired but nothing mentally, so kicking my feet up will be enough.”

“Mmh, fine, but if that changes, you better wake me up. I’ll be a lot less confident about how this is going to go if you start falling asleep while we search tomorrow.”

“Will do, but for now, what do you think?”

“I think those four didn’t mention anything about whatever he was tracking.”

“Probably a good reason for that,” Ben sighed. “Foast was sent out to do it for a reason, no matter how good they are, he’s going to be a lot better and whatever traces this thing may have left, they’re going to be a lot older than his by this point. Might not be much left for them to look for.”

“Which also means we still don’t know what we’re getting into.”

“Yep, same as when we started this. Still, the fact that we found him at all is a good sign and, even if it’s not much, following him should essentially mean following whatever he was tracking too. Hopefully, as we get closer, they’ll be able to see something that might give us some sort of clue about what could be responsible for all of this.”

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“Yeah, what? A demon covered in sharp claws and is maybe an archmage on top of everything else?” Thera asked, having seen what signs of magic had been left at the other sites, same as him.

“I’m personally hoping that was more to do with whoever was killed off fighting back. If it is an archmage… ugh, then we’ll worry about that then. For now, it would be nice to assume it’s something a bit more manageable.”