Journey

The sun had yet to come up and the streets were still drenched in shadow. Few in the town were awake in this twilight, but those who were, would be hard pressed to see the two figures making their way through the darkness. Ameri and Kaleb scurried through the alleys swiftly, aimed at the northern gate.

After the meeting with Salarime, the previous day had flown by. They had to gather the supplies that they would need for the journey. Kaleb had also gotten a belt knife and a leather jacket, among other things. There was some disappointment that in their rush, Kaleb had no time to look around the bazaar and learn more about what this world had to offer. He had wondered why he would need a jacket in the desert and Ameri had informed him that the Mountain Tomb wasn't in the desert.

Ameri explained that in two days journey, to the west of the bazaar, the desert would give way to a lush forest. Deep in the forest there would be a mountain range that housed the Mountain Tomb. The climate and weather of the mountains were far different from that of the desert, and they would need to be prepared for this change.

The empty streets allowed them to make good time and they reached the northern gate well before dawn. Still when they arrived they saw the silhouettes of a group already waiting before the gate.

"Nice of you to finally show up. We've been waiting for you." Salarime said, stepping into the light cast by the torches above the gate.

She was dressed the same as yesterday except that she was now wearing the hood of her cape Which cast deep shadows across her face. All Kaleb could make out was a cat like smirk playing across her lips.

"Actually Captain, its still before dawn so they are technically early." Elroth said in a bland voice from behind her, his face showing no expression.

Salarime didn't turn, but her smirk was replaced by slight frown and a bit of annoyance crept into her voice. "Yes, Elroth I'm aware. I was just teasing them a bit."

"Isn't it a little early to be teasing our newest members?" Elroth asked with the same blandness.

"So when is the correct time to tease the new members, Elroth?" She finally turned to look at her second in command, flinging off her hood with the same motion.

Elroth put his finger to his chin as if seriously pondering the question. "At least early afternoon I would say, that way it's right after lunch so they're not hungry and they've had adequate time to wake up."

Kaleb began to feel a strange sense of liking for this plain man and his serious considerations. Salarime for her part did not seem amused and left without another word.

"Don't worry about her, she's quite pleasant once you get used to her." Elroth told them, gesturing to a pile of supplies stacked off to the side. "This will be the luggage that you will be carrying, once you've packed up we will head out."

Kaleb's heart sank. It was not a small pile.

After they finished packing, Kaleb's knee's felt like buckling, which was after he had split half the pile with Ameri. Ameri, on the other hand, didn't seem overly bothered by the weight and jogged to the front of the group to begin his role as guide.

The group began their journey just as the sun crested the first dune, illuminating their journey. A journey, that Kaleb felt would be unbearable, as he trailed at the back of the group.

'Just think of it as training. It will be good, for a weakling like you.' Rackshar's sneering voice once again made its appearance in Kaleb's mind.

'Actually this is a good time for you to wake up.' Kaleb decided to ignore the insult and pull on the dragons expertise while he was awake. 'Everyone keeps talking about this tomb like it's very common knowledge, but what is a tomb?'

'Right, tombs are a pretty normal part of this world. A tomb is the grave of a god. When the god feels that they are going to die they create their own tomb and fill it with monster dens and traps that guard rewards for those who overcome them. The end goal is that someone powerful enough can get to the bottom of the tomb and claim the god's body and cores. Also the god will sometimes leave teachings of some kind with their body.'

'So like a dungeon?' Kaleb asked. His mind going to all the video games he had played in the past.

'No... nothing like a dungeon.' Rackshar said confused. 'There are no prisoners in a tomb.'

'In my world there were these games that had something similar to what you described but they were called dungeons.' Kaleb tired to explain.

'So, in these games there were prisons where people would put rewards of treasure?' Rackshar's confusion deepening.

'No... well there were some like that, but for the most part dungeons just described descending underground areas that would have monsters and treasure but they weren't used for prisons. Except the few that were...' Kaleb trailed off realizing that his often impeccable reasoning skills were failing him.

'...you realize that makes no sense right?' Rackshar asked him. He was starting to question that intelligence score he had given Kaleb.

'Okay, I understand what a tomb is now,' Kaleb said to end the conversation.

'Great, glad I could help you with that.' Rackshar said with thick sarcasm.

'It's a dungeon.' Kaleb thought quietly to himself.

'Well, that's it, I'm going back to sleep. Please never wake me up.' Rackshar said with a huff before going silent again.

'I wonder if he heard me.' Kaleb thought, not sure how much Rackshar could actually hear of his thoughts. He had been under the impression that he could think things to Rackshar and that he could also keep thoughts to himself. Now that he thought about it, Kaleb had never actually confirmed this idea he had just acted under the assumption.

'Still at least that killed some time.' Kaleb looked up at the sun that had now fully crested the dunes and was beating down on the party.

They had made it out of the bowl like plain that held the bazaar and had lost themselves in the maze of dunes, heading toward the west.

'This is going to be a long journey.' Kaleb thought to himself, as he shifted the luggage on his back.