Denwen sulked in silence, crouched beside a crackling fire as he skewered more birds with sharpened sticks. This time, he roasted them in small, manageable pieces—just enough to pop into his mouth before the glutton across the clearing could notice.
Kop lay sprawled against a tree, his back turned, face hidden beneath a wide straw hat as he snored softly—completely at ease.
As the sky darkened into twilight, Denwen exhaled and extended his palm, channeling a soft pulse of essence. Crystals shimmered into existence, rising and interlocking until they formed a modest dome—a tent of sorts. With a reluctant glance toward the sleeping Kop, he sighed and summoned another one over the man.
"No way I'm letting him wake up and think I left him to freeze," Denwen muttered, sealing both tents from within. "Can't trust him... but still."
With the shelters complete, the camp fell into a tranquil silence. Denwen lay back, his body aching but soul lighter than it had been in days. Somewhere nearby, Riven quietly vanished into the void, giving the boy a rare moment of peace.
________________________________________
KNOCK KNOCK.
"Oi, boy! How long are you planning to sleep?" Kop's voice rang out, muffled but unmistakably loud.
Denwen stirred as light refracted through the crystal walls, painting the tent in dazzling morning hues. Day had broken—and with it, so had the silence.
"Could you be any less loud" he grumbled from within the crystal breaking apart as he deactivated the crystal manifestation skill.
"Why would I be, when a man is hungry, he should do everything in his power to get his belly filled" Kop said his stomach grumbling in agreement. A visible brain began to pop out of Denwen's head as he head this clenching his fists tight remembering the horrible things this all devouring monster in front of him did to him yesterday, but just as he was about to speak Kop continued talking:
"Don't worry I won't give you the chance to get the honor of feeding me this morning as the village is just a few miles away" he said as he raised his hand over his eyes looking into the distance.
"Just give up man" Riven said in a voice filled with consolation: "I can't really gauge how strong he is but trust me he means no harm to you, that I am very sure of" it said as it flew out of Denwen's head hovering around.
This statement caused Denwen's fists to loosen up as he gave a sigh of relief: "How many miles do we have to walk then" he asked Kop who just turned and looked at him with a wide grin on his face:
"Nah this would be more fun and faster" he said as his body flickered suddenly appearing right behind him as he held him by the waist. Denwen felt a bit of aura covering him as he looked up with a surprised expression:
"What, wasn't this what you wanted initially" Kop said looking down at him bending a bit and leaping to the air before he could muster a response.
BOOM
The ground cracked with a crate as Kop landed a distance away from the village's entrance still within the forest. His landing sent a tremor around the surrounding as the crowd who included dwarves and humans all had their guards up. The enforcers around had already began moving to ensure that there was no immediate danger as they calmed the public down.
On the other hand. the journey was extremely swift as one moment Denwen saw themselves in the woods, the next they were in the sky and next thing they were the center of the commotion:
"See this is another reason why we didn't do that earlier" Kop said as he let go of Denwen.
"Wait couldn't you have landed better, like quieter without all the commotion" Denwen asked dusting himself.
"Heh, where's the fun in that, a real man must always be spectacular in all his does" Kop said laughing as he began walking out of the woods, the enforcers saw him and after affirming his strength quickly gave a little bow in order not to offend a powerful figure even though they were a stranger.
He bent over to speak to an enforcer as soon as he was done the enforcer immediately shut up straight:
"With me sir, I know of the finest diner in town, I would be willing to lead you there" he said as he turned around to lead him away when he slowly turned around and pointed towards Denwen:
"And how about your boy good sir" the enforcer said with a polite expression.
"Him, he's a tag along I don't know him" Kop replied with a shrug looking helpless.
"Hey, old man" Denwen said as he saw the enforcers begin to approach him with hostile faces causing him to take a step back.
"Hahahaha, don't worry about him enforcer, he might be a tag along but he's a pretty interesting one, just let him explore a bit of your town and when I'm done, he would leave with me" Kop said laughing as he began to walk away with the enforcers.
"Oi, kid, have fun and don't get lost" he said one more time without looking back.
Denwen stood stunned as he watched the figure of Kop disappear into the village with the enforcers in disbelief.
"Uhm, I think he just abandoned you…" Riven said flapping gently as he slowly turned around "so this is how it feels when dad's go to get the milk from the milk store…" Riven was about to complete his ridiculous analogy when as dodged an extending crystal spike by a hair's breathe:
"Hey, that could kill me" he said with a loud voice.
"And I wish it did" Denwen said with a cold expression as he began heading into the village.
"Oh, come on, I wasn't the one who abandoned you in the first place, why do I get to be treated like this" Riven said in a sulking voice tears pouring out its eyeball as it lazily flapped its wings.
---
Both of them had finally caught yup with the crowd of people entering the village as they gave him odd looks due to his torn uniform making him feel really uncomfortable with the stares as some guards at the gate had their eyes honed onto him from afar.
"Sigh this is getting embarrassing, I think you should have a look at the dungeon vault that you unlocked recently" Riven reminded with a sigh as the screen menu popped up:
[System Notification]
Event: Dungeon vault feature of the Nexus Vault is now available. Get access to various skills and hone your strength and abilities in various types of dungeons all built to aid your growth.
-- DO YOU WISH TO ACCESS THE DUNGEON VAULT? -- YES or NO
The screen popped as instinctive Denwen clicked yes without hesitation, a white light quickly wrapped around him as in the next instant he disappeared from the environment entirely causing many people to jerk in reaction to it. Although sudden it wasn't strange to have people with spatial abilities walking around as people didn't really pay too much mind to it, only the guards did as they began passing the information to the higher ups and scrutinizing the environment.
---
Meanwhile Denwen stood in a plain white area, he could still see the outside environment as he saw what his disappearance had caused as he was still on guard:
"Relax, this is a separate plane created for hosts of the constructs and each space is unique to each construct. Think of it like a one-way mirror, those outside can't see within and those within can see outside. The only downside is that you will always exit from where you entered from" Riven's voice said calming down his nerves as he stood in front of five massive towers and a long front desk at the front.
Hovering over it was a bigger version of Riven, a giant eyeball, hovering calmly: "Welcome to the dungeon vault sir host, which would you like to enter today" a similar voice rang out from it in a very respectful tone causing Denwen to turn and look and Riven:
"What, don't get used to it, the mimics in here are programmed to act in a certain way and have no proper sentience. I am the real deal, humph" Riven replied quickly but Denwen just smiled.
"Heh, I think I am going to get used to it" he responded with a chuckle.