Chapter 8: Camp and Rock-Lizard

I jump across the large hole created by the worm that came to the surface, feather weight making me light enough to cross the whole expanse.

Keve uses a skill to dash across the gap, his steps covered in fire, while Shar simply flies over.

The sky, visible through the hole, has turned to night. The moon provides a small amount of light through the roots and foliage, revealing little of the ground where we stand.

I shiver as a cold wind blows through the tunnel, and pull my coat closer.

“What’s the world out there like?” Shar asks, shifting her perch on my pack.

“The earth has reclaimed most manmade structures.” I answer, walking around a trap I hadn’t triggered on my way in. “I’m not sure about others,” I glance over to Keve who is focusing on following my footsteps. “But us humans are just starting to expand beyond our strongholds to easily abandoned frontier cities.”

“The Vishten have only one stronghold, stolen from humans.” Keve says, his gaze meeting mine for a brief moment before I look away. “The rest of our people found guardians or masters. Without guardians, we died.”

“Aren’t your people mana infused?” I ask as the archway that marks the entrance comes into view. “So you kept your magic even with the mana disturbance, right?”

Keve shakes his head. “Our magic was not enough.”

I look back, but he doesn’t expand on his answer.

We finally reach the archway that marks the start of my first delve. It’s still covered in vines, the runes visible from where I revealed them.

I step outside, the grass crunching under my feet with the frost of the night. The drop in temperature is immediately noticeable, causing my breath to cloud out in front of me.

Shar shivers on my pack, her feathers ruffling. I turn off my light-stone, muting it to a dim glow. Light in the night is too easily seen, and I have no desire to attract some of the predators that hunt in the darkness.

Keve unsheathes his swords, having them ready. His gray eyes glow slightly in the darkness, the tattoo patterns on his skin help him blend in with the nighttime greenery.

I wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, then motion for him to follow me. My camp isn’t too far.

The cobblestone road is broken with the roots of the trees and many enterprising plants, forcing us to watch our steps.

Every other coniferous tree is starting to turn light blue with the change to winter and many of the plants have wilted in the cold, preserving their nutrients for spring.

I lead us down the cobblestone road for a few minutes before we reach a toppled tree across the path. I follow the tree to a particularly large and twisty tree that covers a clearing with its many branches.

At the roots of the tree, I find a small statuette of a faceless angel. I inject my mana into the statuette, holding it up.

A rift opens up in the clearing, revealing a small tent and unlit campfire. A small rock formation covered in moss surrounds the camp, protecting it from the wind.

I motion Keve and Shar through, placing the statuette down and following them a moment later. Shar flies over to land on the rock formation and the rift closes behind me.

“I’ve never seen an artifact like that.” Keve says once we’re on the other side.

“It was a gift from my mentor for this delve.” I tell him as I walk over to the rock formation.

I place my hand on where I assume the head to be and pat it. “Hey Jasper, how’ve things been going without me?”

The rocks move as an eye opens. Shar jumps into the air, flying over to me and landing on my pack. With a large yawn, the rock formation stands up, taking the form of a lizard. Moss hangs off of him, having grown in the time I’d left him here. It’s good for his skin, so I leave it.

I scratch him behind his ear, turning to my two other companions. “Everyone, this is Jasper. He’ll be transporting most of our stuff for us.”

Jasper uses his eye to study the Vishten warrior and the golem, then closes his eye and sits back down into the ground, his body again looking like stone. I pat him on the nose as I turn to the campfire.

I set up the wood in preparation to light it as I speak, “Since Shar knows the full layout of the ruins, and I have enough proof of the artifacts within, I’m going to head back to the frontier city to hire a full delve party.” With the use of a firewand, I light the campfire. The flames quickly consume the drywood.

Keve nods, giving no argument. He takes off his own backpack and unbuckles his sword to sit across the fire from me.

Shar transforms into her humanoid form to join us around the blazing fire. “What’s a full delve party?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I shrug, taking a stick to poke at the flames. “They can change depending on the delve. Usually a decently high level mage is hired to kill the worst of the monsters, some muscle to carry the items for us and…” I frown, taking out my notebook to write down my ideas. “Maybe a scribe of some kind to better identify the books in the library? A tamer or druid might be interested in some of the monsters and plants down there, I’ll ask around.” My eyes get lost in the firelight as I lose myself to thought.

My eyes snap to Keve as something occurs to me. He meets my eyes questioningly.

“Keve, you need to be careful. Many humans are still not used to the other sentient species of the world. Defend yourself, but try not to draw your weapon unless I’m nearby.” My eyes move over to Shar. “That goes for you as well, try not to reveal that you’re an automaton while we’re in the city.”

Keve nods in understanding.

Shar shrugs and transforms into a cat, walking over to me and curling up in my lap.