The sun had finally shined well over the eastern wall when Kaelen and Mari stepped out of the Greystone Adventurer's Guild and into the brisk morning air. The sky overhead was clear, a pale blue canvas streaked with the last wisps of dawn's mist. The cobbled streets were just beginning to stir—shopkeepers unlatching shutters, carts creaking into place, and the smell of baking bread drifting from the town square.
The path to the western gate took them past familiar alleys and quiet homes, where old stone chimneys puffed thin trails of smoke into the morning air. They passed the bakery, its shutters open to let the scent of fresh bread spill into the street, and old Mrs. Lenna sweeping her stoop with one hand while balancing a basket on her hip. She paused to wave at them—more out of habit than recognition—then resumed her sweeping.
Further along, they passed the old fountain in the square, where Kaelen had once played with other children, chasing each other around the cracked stone basin. The square was quiet now, save for the distant creak of a cart rolling over cobbles and the soft bleat of a goat tied outside the general store.
A town crier stood yawning on the steps of the town hall, ringing a small bell half-heartedly and reading from a wrinkled scroll. The news he mumbled was of higher grain prices and some minor dispute over sheep.
Mari nudged Kaelen gently with her elbow. "Still feels like we're just out for a walk."
Kaelen glanced at the shuttered windows and the empty square. "Yeah. Except we've got real weapons, real gear, and a job that might end with us bleeding in a ditch."
She smirked. "As romantic as ever, aren't you."
He shrugged. "Just trying to keep expectations realistic."
Mari rolled her eyes and shrugged "Hhhh… what am I going to do with you"
"We're not going to the market or the mill. We're heading into something that will try to kill us." Kaelen responded.
"Oh come on, we just need to kill it first. Can't do anything to us once their dead"
He glanced sideways at her. "I sometimes forget that you enjoy this part."
She grinned. "You'll thank me when one of us doesn't die because I wasn't afraid to stab something ugly."
Kaelen gave a soft laugh. "Fair enough."
Their boots clicked lightly over the cobbles, the only real sound in the soft, unfolding morning.
"Do you think," Kaelen started, "after this, it'll feel different coming back?"
"Definitely," Mari said. "But that's the point, isn't it? To come back changed."
He gave a quiet nod. "Yeah. Changed, but still ourselves."
She smirked. "Let's just focus on getting through the first quest alive before we start waxing poetic."
Kaelen laughed. "Fair enough."
Their pace didn't falter, but the weight of that truth settled between them. Every step carried them farther from childhood.
The gate rose ahead of them, built of aged stone with a heavy wooden portcullis currently raised. From the inside, the walls of Greystone looked formidable, protecting its people from the dangers of the wild. Banners hung limp in the still air, and the metal studs along the gate's frame glinted faintly in the sunlight.
Two guards stood at their post. One leaned lazily on his spear, while the other straightened as the pair approached.
"Heading out?" the first asked, voice gruff but curious.
"Yep, We have a quest from the adventurer's guild," Mari replied.
The second guard stepped forward and gave it a brief glance. "Adventurers huh, haven't seen you two before, show me your guild badge please."
Kaelen nodded. "Here you go"
The man grunted. "E-rank adventurers, Guess you're new then. Alright then you can go. Don't get cocky out there. Forest's not as forgiving as the practice yard."
Mari gave a nod. "We'll keep that in mind."
The gate creaked open behind them, revealing the open expanse beyond—meadowed fields rolling into the horizon, and far in the distance, the thick rise of Redbrush Woods. It was a world apart from the order of the town.
They walked past the open gate, revealing the world outside: vast, green, and quiet. The main road stretched ahead in rutted, winding lines, occasionally flanked by old markers carved with runes long faded by time. Beyond it, hills rolled gently toward the west where Redbrush Woods crouched like a dark blanket folded over the earth.
Birds chirped overhead. A light breeze stirred the grasses. It was peaceful in a way that felt distant from the bustling center of Greystone.
They began their walk in earnest, keeping a steady pace as the town shrank behind them. After half an hour, the stone and wood gave way to nature's reach. Fields turned to groves. Fences ended. The land grew untamed.
"Feels strange," Kaelen said. "Not having anyone around. No shopkeepers, no calls from the street. Just… quiet."
"You get used to it," Mari replied. "It's the kind of quiet that either calms you—or makes your skin crawl."
"I'm not sure which one I feel yet."
The last stretch to the forest was slow and winding. The cobbled road faded into compacted dirt, then thinned into a worn path barely kept by the occasional hunter or wandering beast. Grass grew waist-high in the ditches, and thorny weeds spilled across the trail, snagging their boots with each step. Trees crept closer on both sides, narrowing the view ahead and hemming them in.
Before long, they stood at the edge of Redbrush Woods. The forest stretched before them in layered hues of green, gold, and red. Massive trunks, twisted and gnarled, rose like pillars toward a canopy that filtered the morning light into scattered beams. The famous, red-leafed shrubs that gave the woods their name clustered thick at the edges, their thorny brambles swaying gently in the wind like they were breathing.
Kaelen took the lead now as they stepped off the path and into the undergrowth. The change was immediate. Sounds dulled. Light dimmed. And the air turned cool, thick with the scent of moss, bark, and something faintly metallic.
Branches reached low and grasping, tugging at their cloaks. Fallen logs blocked their way, slick with age and soft with rot. Mari climbed over one with a grunt of effort; Kaelen followed more cautiously, careful not to catch his cloak on the broken bark. Roots jutted up like twisted veins across the forest floor, making the ground uneven and slow to navigate.
To their right, a shallow stream trickled between rocks and patches of green moss. Its water was dark, touched by the tannins of the forest, and the soft gurgle it made was the only sound beyond their steps.
As they approached, they stepped carefully onto a set of wide, flat stones to cross it. The rocks were slick with moisture and streaked with green algae, forcing them to test each step before committing their weight.
Mari moved first, her steps light but deliberate. Her boot slipped once on a slippery rock, forcing her to crouch for balance before quickly regaining her footing.
Kaelen followed, arms out slightly to steady himself. The same rock shifted under his weight as he slipped and stepped into the stream, getting water and mud all over his shoe. He grimaced and muttered, "Could've warned me that one moved."
Mari grinned back at him. "Now now, where's the fun in that?"
He gave her a flat look. "Pretty sure you're not supposed to sabotage your teammates."
"Think of it as training. Builds awareness."
Kaelen rolled his eyes, carefully stepping onto the next rock. "Or a cold."
She laughed. "You'll be fine. It's just water. You're not that delicate plus it's only a single shoe."
"A brand-new shoe, though I guess it was just going to get ruined anyway out here." He made it across and stepped onto the far bank with a wet squelch.
His shoe was damp now, soaking through the seams with each step as they moved along the muddy edge of the stream. Water dripped from Kaelen's shoe, leaving half of a footprint behind them on the rocks.
The stream led them deeper into the trees, winding past boulders and deadfall. They kept close to the water's edge, where the underbrush thinned just enough to move without forcing their way through.
Mari pointed ahead; voice hushed. "We'll follow it a bit further, then veer north like the guild report said. Shouldn't be more than a half hour from the clearing."
Kaelen nodded. The pressure in his chest wasn't nerves—it was focus. Every step deeper felt like the world watching them draw closer to something unseen.
They navigated around a narrow stream slick with algae and crossed a dry wash of smooth stones, the terrain rising and falling without warning. The woods grew thicker, wilder. Here, the sun barely reached the ground. Mushrooms glowed faintly under the shadowed canopy, and thick roots curled like sleeping beasts beneath ferns. Every now and then, the call of a distant bird would pierce the stillness, but it never lasted long—swallowed quickly by the hush of old trees and the slow creak of branches in the wind.
A fallen pine blocked the path ahead, its trunk damp and swollen with age. Mari vaulted over it easily, while Kaelen took a longer step around, brushing past a cluster of thorny undergrowth. The red-tipped brambles clung to his cloak before snapping loose with a dry hiss.
They moved in careful rhythm, taking turns to lead when the path narrowed or twisted around knotted roots and stones slick with moss. A squirrel darted across a branch above them, causing Mari to reflexively reach for her sword before relaxing with a half-laugh.
The further they ventured, the older the forest felt. The trees grew taller, spaced unevenly like nature had forgotten its pattern. Strange patches of red moss-covered stones and tree trunks alike, and once, they passed a circle of mushrooms growing in a perfect ring—untouched and eerie.
They passed no markers, no signs of human life. Only the faint trail of disturbed underbrush or a snapped twig gave hint to recent passage. The goblins wouldn't be far now.
Mari stopped and checked their rough map they got from the receptionist. "I think, we should start heading up north from here, and in a few minutes or so, we should reach the clearing."
Kaelen reached back, touching his bow.
They started moving northward, the ground sloped gently upward, and the brushes grew denser. Ferns and briars reached knee-high, and the trees packed tighter together. They began to move more slowly, speaking only in brief murmurs or gestures. Their boots sank into soft patches of earth, muffled with decades of fallen leaves.
Kaelen's eyes scanned every shadow. A breeze tugged lightly at the treetops above, but the undergrowth barely stirred. He could hear the faint crackle of his own breath, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, and Mari's light tread ahead of him.
It wasn't long before the underbrush thinned slightly, and shafts of warm light began piercing the canopy in greater frequency. Mari raised a hand to halt, crouching beside a fallen tree draped in moss.
Just beyond it, nestled in a shallow dip between the trees, lay the clearing.
A crude camp had been thrown together in the shallow hollow. Torn cloth and stretched leather hung between crooked branches as makeshift shelters. A broken wagon wheel leaned beside a low fire pit, where greasy smoke curled upward. Half-burnt logs surrounded the pit, blackened and crumbling, and bones—some disturbingly human—were scattered among the debris like forgotten trash.
Goblins milled about the clearing. Most clutched crude blades, splintered spears, or rusted metal scraps resembling weapons. Their mottled skin ranged from a dull green to a pale, sickly gray. Restless eyes flicked from shadow to shadow as they snarled and snapped at each other in their guttural tongue. A few hunched near the fire, fighting over scorched meat, while others lounged in the shade or shuffled along the perimeter, barely alert
Mari narrowed her eyes. "I count fifteen," she whispered. "Slightly more than we expected."
Kaelen drew in a slow breath. "Then we pick our moment carefully."