Dark sky above, green moss below, the unending maze of trees that held a sea of living lights on its top. The caves that end at start on the rift's walls.
There, in this outlandish land were four youth's walking in a line.
One the front stood a tall boy, his physique tough and refined, with Ashen hair faintly covering his eyes. Like a guardian spirit in looks and aura, he was always carefull while taking the next step, the green scale armor he wore would have done nothing againt poison or spells.
Right behind him was his benefactor. Lean, slender body that showed miniscule signs of malnutrition. Deep blue hair accompanied by two eyes as calm as a lake.
He carried himself with ease, unbothered by the hidden dangers of this unknown world. A smile was on his handsome face wherever he went. He carried a spear on his back, aswell as a sword on his waist, having to carry both his and Zephyr's weapons was decided by him himself.
Who knew what hid in his head, or in the bag on his back that occasionally twitched.
The third in the line was a girl, with a fierce gaze at that! Truly made one think twice before getting close.
Her short red hair cut in bob cut accompanied by her amber eyes, like two little flames sitting in her head. Thin build similar to Marco's, just more fragile.
She didnt carry a weapon, why should she? She never used one to begin with. What would someone do if they couldn't even get close? Nothing! She is a mage and skilled one at that, talent truly can shine when well nurtured.
And lastly...
Hm...
What more to say?
Another boy, who seemed quite out of place. His attitude not helping other's in the slightest. Blinded by the smallest things he sees with his narrow mind.
Everyone just went along with it because they didn't have the time to argue.
Even his looks! His slightly longer than short white hair and his low gold eyes made him look like some sort of thug, or just a tired lazy guy.
Wearing a shield on his forearm, it didn't seem to suit him much based on his displeased expression.
Not that it mattered, his skills were quite lacking to handle any kind of weapon.
And thanks to the thorough inspection, the author of this novel who forgot to put much thought into the character creation came to a single conclusion.
He was the ugliest out of the four.
The weakest.
And the Dumbest.
The ugliest.
'What did I do!?'
Well, someone had to put some restrain on the group because their life would be like a walk in the park.
Even then, they didn't have to risk their lifes so far.
Whatever beasts hid in the lush caverns before they came, were long gone thanks to the Order who cleared most of them up.
It was still neccesary to maintain caution, hiding under the cover of the nature's camouflage and trying to maneuver around the path's that were already marked by delvers.
Thus they had it easy making it past the overgrown forest.
Partially.
"Don't touch that."
"That too."
"Are you a child? Stop that."
Vlad couldn't focus at all.
Despite everything going smoothly and him being satisfied with what he had done, even if it was simple luck. There was one thing that made his head go dizzy.
'I want to eat so much...'
He hadn't eaten for an entire day.
Now, it doesn't seem like something really important. People can survive for days without food or water so he didn't need to eat. It didn't matter that he was kidnapped before he had the chance to taste his food. Other's didn't show such signs of hunger because they had eaten their share so he wanted to try and hide it atleast partially.
But his stomach told him otherwise.
Whenever he saw on the side that resembled any kind of fruit from his fragmented memory, he always reached for it when no one was looking.
This is an exotic place after all, there are a lot of diffirent plants or fruits to choose from.
Yet one irritating thing bothered him.
"It's poison."
Ash explained while swatting his hand away from something black that resembled grapes.
He knew that she was simply tried to keep him alive, it was weird. She act's like she wants him dead and now she didn't want him to die?
'I would appreciate it if she pointed at something edible instead of hitting me all the time.'
He could have asked her himself but his pride could not allow that. She was an enemy of his! All of them were!
Except Zephyr because he was cooler.
Thus he was stuck in a weird limbo of trying to eat something weird and then being hit by her for attempting to do so.
She did seem to enjoy it a little.
'Maybe she lied'
Of course she did! Why would someone be nice to someone like him when he feels such pain in his stomach.
A few minutes later, when he finally stopped trying to touch the plants. Ash seemed to have finally lost interest in him. He didn't waste that moment of calm as he swiftly plucked out another type of fruit. This time it was green, barely the size of his palm with some sort of light brown dots across it's surface.
His greedy stomach seemed to possess him as he bit half of it off.
.
.
.
.
"Ugh-!"
They stood against the trees, waiting for Vlad to finally calm down.
Vlad's eyes teared as he fell in another coughing fit. His chest heaved a few times before retching for the third time in a row.
His head felt light after he did so, just like his hollow insides.
After he took a bite of the fruit, he felt it.
The stench, like that of a rotten fruit straight from a trash can, he had even yet to know which rotten fruit! It wrapped around his nose and without any warning, flooded his lungs making him feel its reeking odor with each breath.
Hovewer that was just the easy part, the moment his taste buds came into contact with the trash fruit, he almost fainted. The flavour reminded him of cheese but not in a good way, like an aged mold from expired cheese. It was bitter, a few times more than a lime. It's sharp sour flavour leaving it's aftertaste clinging to his tongue.
"Urk.." He grasped his mouth with both hands, trying to hold it in.
His stomach somewhat settling down.
"Done?"
Ash asked from the side. He gave her a side eye, noticing the smirk on her shameless face.
"It was healthy so i let you eat that one, aren't you gratefull?"
"Ash..." Marco called out to her. His tone somewhat frustrated.
"Can you both stop this.. nonsense. Be a little more professional."
"Why? He was acting so hungry just moments ago so i let him eat it. It wasn't my fault that he ended up vomiting like a baby." She said in a humoruous manner.
"I just wanted to help him out-"
- Grab
Vlad grabbed onto the sleeve of her uniform, looking down at the place where the previous contents of his stomach were. She turned to him raising her brow.
"Are you done already?"
"I.." He uttered through his breaths. Looking her in the eyes.
"I feel like a god-damn watergun."
Her face soon contorted into a grimace.