2 Stone Cottage

It is said that the early bird catches the worm.

The sky was still relatively dark, albeit with sunlight now piercing through the clouds. In a desolate place like Silent Colony, this was the brightest it got. In other words, it was high noon. Still lost deep in sleep and intertwined with a skeleton's remains, the adventurer remained in a dreaming state of delirium. His poise was lazy, his hair was unkempt, and his body was emitting a foul odour. These were the tell-tale signs that he'd been sleeping for a while. And yet, even though this was the case, he had no intentions of waking up. He continued on with his sleep, not giving a damn about a worm or the world.

It was only when night fell did the adventurer make a move. But, keep in mind however, all he did was make a move. He did not rise. He did not wake up. He just turned to the other side in his sleep. A skeleton's skull was now unconsciously clutched close to his chest in a bear-like embrace, being used in a manner not too differently from a body pillow.

At night the following day, when the moon was missing, the adventurer finally let out a long stifled groan. This was neither a groan let out in agony nor was this a sarcastic groan. This was a groan let out as a result of the adventurer stretching his limbs after two days of sleep. Waves of comfort spread across his body, elating the adventurer's muscles and making the him grunt euphorically.

Arghhh!

If a person were to visit the graves of their loved ones at this moment, the person would hear restless noises coming out from within the graves. The person would definitely freak out and claim the starting of a zombie apocalypse, losing his job, getting cuckolded by his wife, and collecting money in a coffee mug outside a grocery store, with a picket fence of course.

But, unfortunately, the person would waste his life fighting for a lost cause, a misunderstanding on his part. The so-called "restless noises" were those let out by the adventurer unfolding his limbs. There were no zombies, just a skinny adventurer gripping his stomach in hunger.

"I'm hungry..."

The adventurer stumbled out of the tomb, still unsteady on his feet, and searched the lands for some meat. He looked as though he could eat a corpse, given how desperately his eyes searched around for food. Speaking of how he looked, he looked quite bad. His clothes were shabby to the point where they were coated in a couple layers of dust, his elbows and knees were scraped red, his fingers were scarred all over the place, his palms were so callused that they looked like sheets of metal, and his stature was slim and tiny; the adventurer gave off an air of poverty.

"Will he feed me today?"

Mumbling, the adventurer finally left Silent Colony. Being abandoned, the graveyard was quite far from the nearest town. The only point of interest in a 5 mile radius was Hobton, a shanty village that once made its living off of Blackhaven Mines. Being an old mining village, the place was not very grand. Most of its residents died due to incidents in the mines or incurable illnesses. Half the village was for ghosts and only a handful of people still lingered in such a place after they lost the rights to dig the mines; most that survived the countless calamities had already left to the bigger towns like Velowatch and Dirigdale. Consequently, Hobton faced poverty, but most of its residents were now hunters, so they could at least cater to their needs for food.

Meanwhile, the adventurer was feeling very weak. It looked as though he could not make it to his destination in Dirigdale. He was unable to continue after he reached Mizzlepoint Creak, a few minutes south of Hobton.

In his daze, he could barely make out a cloaked figure heading his way. Judging by the way the figure in black approached him, he was sure that it noticed him. Due to his fatigue, however, he could not continue to gaze onto the figure as his vision soon went blank.

The figure looked at him with a sense of curiosity, amazement and shock. If the figure were not adept in dealing with corpses, it would have already thought that the adventurer was dead. The figure felt a strand of life being emitted from the adventurer's body, albeit not very vigorous. What shocked the figure the most was the strong Death Qi surrounding the adventurer. One had to know that only that dead accumulate Death Qi. The longer one is dead for, the more Death Qi one accumulates. Hence, it was impossible for living beings to have any Death Qi, unless special cases were involved. The figure judged that this adventurer lad was one of those cases.

The figure was the necromancer from the previous day. The figure came to the conclusion that this adventurer had a very special constitution. Thinking these thoughts, the figure hauled the adventure up, draped him across its back, and carried him away.

When the sun finally rose again, the adventurer woke to an unfamiliar roof. He was sitting atop a wooden bed in a stone cottage. His muscles were experiencing immense pain, but he was somehow not very hungry anymore. Looking around the room, he noticed crates stacked on top of each other, a table littered with food, counter tops filled with weird plants, a chest with a fist-sized lock, jars stuffed with organic material such as frog eyes and beetle wings, a steel axe hung on a mantle, pelts of various woodland animals, a wax candle that was currently burning, and a heavy wooden door at the front.

Sitting up in bed, the adventurer noticed that he was naked and all that was covering him was a rough blanket. He also realized that he was being stared at by a girl older than him, maybe approaching her twenties. Cautioning himself, he edged away from her, looking out for any sudden movements.

"Relax, I won't bite."

Noticing his panic, the girl called out in a pleasant voice. What made the voice pleasant was not the way it sounded, but the face of the girl speaking. She was a looker—a very fine one at that. She had shoulder-length brown hair that could tame the world, a curved nose that could captivate with style, lips that any man would want to chew on like gum, and eyes that seemed to remind farmers that, even if life was hard, there were times were it could be beautiful too. The girl was a scenic beauty that many could calm themselves by gazing upon. She was not at the level where she could shake nations, but in a small place like Cogcairin County, she stood amongst the finest of specimen.

"W-why did you bring me here?"

The adventurer voiced his question in a dry voice. Even though he was not starving, he was still quite thirsty. Consequently, his voice was very harsh and raspy.

The girl also noticed this and gave him a flagon of unknown substance. It could've been some alcoholic beverage, but all the adventurer was sure of was that it wasn't water.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you any water. The village is in low supply of it but has high demand. I don't have much of it to give away."

Guessing the adventurer's suspicions, the girl offered an explanation. Coupled with her delicate features and jade-like skin, she looked like an angel offering her sincerest condolences. The scene moved the adventurer, but the questions in his mind caused him to frown.

"What do you want from me?"

The adventurer asked the most important question that he could think of. He knew that it was probably this girl that brought him here and fed him after he had passed out, but he wasn't sure why she did such a thing. He was slow-witted, but he wasn't naive enough to believe that the girl saved him out of the goodness of her heart. The girl may look benevolent and angelic, but the adventurer knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch. The girl must've had some ulterior motive for helping him.

"Then, I'm not going to beat around the bush. If you want me to be direct, I'll be direct. But before that you must answer my question. Do you know the story of the Necromancers?"