Strange Coincidence

Tia didn't remember much from her dream, well at least not from the second half of it. She remembered the dialogue between the strange girl and the man called Derixus. She also knew that she saw Toby, but that was all. She told Anju everything she remembered. "Maybe it's somehow connected to Serpentra?" he said one of the possible options he could think of.

"Maybe." they begun to walk again. They couldn't waste any time. "And they also spoke about teleportation magic. Is that really a thing in this world?" she asked him as she walked by his side. He nodded in agreement.

"Yes. There really is teleportation magic but it's so difficult only few mages know how to use it. Moreover its forbidden in Morath, only the king Radiant can use it." he answered.

"I see." then they continued in silence. Morath was a really calm kingdom so far. They rarely met someone and they didn't visit any village nor town except the first one. They were getting really close to borders, mountains could be seen in the distance. "Are we going to those mountains?" she asked him.

"Yes, Zaryan lies behind them, we will have to walk through if we want to get there fast." he answered. They spent the rest of the day walking towards the mountains. When it started getting dark, they climbed on the closest one. They found a small hole in the rock surrounded by trees and other plants. It was a perfect place to stay the night. "Okay we will rest here" said Anju as he grabbed some sticks to make a campfire from. They brought them into the cave and lit the fire. Then they ate some food they had packed, but they had only little left. "We'll have to visit some merchant once we get across the mountains."

"How do you want to find Artrog?" she asked him while she prepared her place to sleep.

"He is popular between the people. We will definitely hear something about him once we get into the town." he answered and did the same.

"Is that so..." she said and went to sleep.

She woke up early in the morning, it wasn't dark already so she noticed that Anju is not there with her. *Where did he go?* she asked herself as she stood up. *I should find him.* she thought while she begun to walk away from the campfire, leaving all the things there. She found a small path after a little while that was made from trampled dirt. The path was disappearing behind bushes in front of her. She followed it and went through the bushes. When she got on the other side she saw really breath-taking scenery. A giant rock formed a mountain cliff with dark never-ending depth below it. There were no trees nor plants, just the rock. Anju was there too. He was standing on the edge of the cliff with stretched arm. He couldn't see her because she was behind him. She noticed a crow that was sitting on his hand. It looked like if he was talking to that bird. *What is he doing?* she asked herself as she headed out towards him. The crow noticed her and immediately flew away. Anju turned around.

"I see you are awake." he said with neutral voice. It looked like something was worrying him.

"What were you doing here? And what were you doing with that bird?" she asked him in confusion.

"I've just wanted to take a look on this landscape. Shall we go now?" she knew he is dodging the conversation on purpose. *Why is he like this? I'm getting sick of it!* she shouted on herself in her mind. Then they went back to the campfire together, packed their things and continued with their journey.

The mountains were full of life. There were many bird species, small animals and so many plants that Tia would never be able to count them all. They didn't meet anything dangerous though. After a very exhausting journey they climbed the highest mountain and the view on Zaryan appeared in front of them. The scenery in front of them was magical. Huge forests with giant trees, rivers with water so blue it looked like if it was glowing. And there, far in the distance, was some stone statue that was as big as tower. "This is amazing!" Tia shouted. Anju smiled.

"You are right. From all the places I have been to, Zaryan is the most beautiful one." he answered as he sat on the large stone. Tia sat next to him.

"I would never see something like this .. back in my village."

"I guess." he answered. He didn't want to dig into that topic. The silence got interrupted by weird sounds coming from a bush behind them. They quickly turned around. Something was moving there, branches were breaking. And then some strange man came out of it.

"Who are you?" Anju shouted immediately. The man was wounded. His right arm was bleeding and he looked really terrified. He walked towards them slowly with a limp.

"Please, help me!" he said and fell to the ground from exhaustion. Both of them ran to him. He fainted. Anju examined the stranger.

"He was attacked by someone. He has cuts from blade on his arm and chest." he told Tia.

"We should help him." Anju looked at her.

"We don't know him and he would slow us down." she gave him reproachful stare.

"We can't just leave him to die!"

"Fine." he said with annoyed face. He grabbed a healing potion from his bag and gave it to Tia. "You are the one who wants to help him." she took it from him and used it on the stranger immediately. Then she looked at Anju.

"Is this one potion enough?"

"Yea, now take this and cut some of his clothes so you can bandage that wound." he gave her a knife he had attached to his body. As she did what he told her to, he said. "You stay here with him and I will get some wood." he said and disappeared in bushes. Tia was left alone with the stranger. She stopped the wound from bleeding. He looked much better after drinking the potion but he still hadn't woken up.

"I wonder what's your story" she told the stranger who obviously couldn't answer her. Anju came back after ten minutes and lit the fire. He prepared dishes for three from the supplies left. The stranger woke up not too long after that.

"How do you feel?" Tia asked him. He looked at her.

"My body hurts like if I was on fire." he answered. Tia gave him a bowl with a food that Anju prepared for him. "Thank you, both of you." Tia smiled but Anju had disinterested expression.

"So... what happened to you? I guess you were attacked by someone?" The stranger frowned.

"Yes. Our village is not far from here, it's right on the borders. A group of bandits has settled down not a long time ago in the forest close to our village. They have been threatening us, saying they would kill us all if we didn't give them what they wanted. We tried to tolerate it... but their tyranny was quickly escalating. That's why my village sent me to find any help I could." he was talking with worried face. Anju frowned.

"And I guess bandits found out?" the stranger nodded in the agreement.

"Right after I left I got followed by three men. They tried to kill me when they caught me but somehow I ran away and survived." then he looked into Anju's eyes. "Please. You look like someone who could deal with them. Our village will be doomed if you don't help us." Anju looked away.

"I don't have any reason to help you nor your village." he answered. The stranger got gloomy. Tia wasn't really surprised by Anju's answer, but she wanted to help him.

"Anju, I think we should help those poor villagers." she told him. Anju looked at her.

"We can't waste any time. We need to find Artrog as fast as possible." the stranger's eyes widened.

"Artrog? Do you mean that Artrog?" he asked them. Tia was really surprised.

"You know him?!" she asked him. Anju was also surprised.

"Everyone in my village does. He is our leader's friend."

"So does your leader know where Artrog is?" Anju asked.

"Yes, he is the only one from us who knows that." Tia looked at Anju.

"I think you have a reason to help him now." she smiled. He frowned and made a decision.

"Fine. I will help you." the stranger's face brightened after he heard that.

"Thank you. And by the way, my name is Brig." he introduced himself at last.

Everyone's mood got better. Brig was glad that he found a help for his village. Anju was pleasantly surprised that they got information about Artrog so quickly and Tia was glad that Anju decided to help those villagers. They had to get ready for an upcoming battle.