To The Town

<p>Letting the bat creature slide off his blade, Burch looks down at the girl, who has her hand on her mouth in horror. Tears fall freely down her face.<br/>A dark puddle of liquid is slowly spreading out on the ground underneath her.<br/>Cleaning his blade with a black cloth, Burch turns to look at the rest of us.<br/>"That is a Gremlin. They run rampant in these woods, devouring anything they think is a meal. Especially little fool girls that think smelling flowers is a better idea than listening to the only person that can keep you fuckers alive!"<br/>Everyone is silent.<br/>It takes a while for anyone to help the sobbing girl, who is still sitting on the ground. Finally, one of the girls hurriedly walks over to the weeping figure.<br/>Pulling the girl to her feet, they walk back to the group.<br/>As soon as they're surrounded by the largest group of girls, she's bombarded by concerned questions. One of them lend her a pair of pants, a couple of them hug and cry with her.<br/>Burch, seemingly giving no shits, starts walking again.<br/>Everyone makes haste to follow, staying closer than ever to him.<br/>We continue walking for a couple of hours, occasionally stopping for water breaks at small, clear creeks running across the path.<br/>Once in a while there's rustling in the trees, but Burch ignores it so we do as well.<br/>When we get moving after one of the water breaks, I finally make up my mind and approach Burch.<br/>He throws me a sideways glance, but keeps walking. Taking that as permission to speak, I clear my throat.<br/>"Where are you taking us?"<br/>"You'll see when we get there. Is that the only question you guys know how to ask?"<br/>He says this with a grunt. <br/>"Well whatever you're taking us to this place for must be important, otherwise you wouldn't keep saving us. Is it so we can fight like you?"<br/>Even though I can't see them, I can feel Burch's eyes lock onto me. <br/>He continues to walk in silence, so I continue to speak.<br/>"That Draken guy said we might be an annoyance to 'them' in the future. Then started killing people with a mini battalion of goblins. And you guys seem to have a history, a violent one. They knew you plan to draft us into some kind of war."<br/>He turns away, a hint of annoyance in his tone.<br/>"You're too smart for your own good."<br/>"So I'm not wrong?"<br/>A sigh escapes his hood.<br/>"Listen, it seems like you'll be able to handle this information while we're in an unsure environment. Others, maybe not, so no talking about this."<br/>I shrug.<br/>"As long as they'll be told at some point, I have no problem keeping it hush hush until you think it's best. All the actions you've taken so far have only been for our benefit, so why doubt you now."<br/>We walk in silence for a few steps before I can hear him speaking in a low tone.<br/>"I'll give you the short version. In Folterod there are humans and human like races. There are also those we classify as monster races; like the goblins. The more intelligent races classified as monsters banded together to wage war against us."<br/>I'm still processing the information, stepping over a tree root as we walk. A second later I hear someone curse as they tumble to the ground.<br/>"Whoa, that's a lot. So how are we tied into this?"<br/>He releases another exasperated sigh as I continue to pester him.<br/>"No one knows why people like you appear. All we know is that it happens every five years, and usually the people that arrive have more magic potential than the average denzin of Folterod. You'll get more information in town."<br/>Seeing that I won't get anything else abou that subject out of him, I decide to follow a different line of questions.<br/>"How are you so fast? I couldn't see you when you went to kill that Gremlin and you basically disappeared before the test."<br/>"Training and leveling up. Also, the fact that you sprinting is like a snail crawling to me. In other words, your molasses like perspective makes it seem like I'm fast."<br/>'Ouch. Okay.'<br/>"Eventually you'll be able to see me. Maybe even be as fast, or faster, than me. If you live up to your potential."<br/>I couldn't hear the last part, for some reason he mumbled it.<br/>"I know why you saved me, but how did you heal me? Stuff like that should never be able to fully heal."<br/>"I used magic."<br/>"You mentioned that earlier. Magic potential, was it?"<br/>He grunts in response, and we walk in silence. I wait for a bit, then tentatively ask another question.<br/>"Soooo...how do you use magic?"<br/>"You'll learn when we train you. Everyone gets the basics in most Classes."<br/>I scratch my head in confusion.<br/>"And classes are?"<br/>"You're like a toddler with your endless questions. You'll be told when we get to town."<br/>He calls for another break, stalking away from me as people go up to the stream for some water.<br/>Five minutes later, it's back to walking.<br/>Only now that it is gone can I place the unconscious feeling of claustrophobia that I had.<br/>Tall Elm like trees now surrounding us, which are spaced out a lot more than the pine trees. It makes everything feel more open.<br/>The brush has transformed from lots of pretty flowers to more bushes and tall grass. Critters scamper here and there, exploring the canopy and forest floor.<br/>The cloudless blue sky is a lot more visible too and we're now walking on a hard packed dirt path.<br/>Burch stops.<br/>Turning back to us, he scans the crowd, most of his face still hidden by the hood.<br/>"We are close to our destination. It'll only be a few more minutes."<br/>He turns back around and continues to walk.<br/>There's a soft buzz of excited conversation as we approach the edge of the woods.<br/>It's a lot brighter past the tree line, so I can't quite see what it looks like.<br/>As the group exits the woods we're greeted by a hill covered in grass and flowers.<br/>Bees humm through the air, fighting the soft breeze flowing across the hillside.<br/>We follow Burch up the hill, following the same dirt path.<br/>Butterflies flutter around, one of them landing on Natalia's nose.<br/>Again I notice how cute she is, with her big brown eyes and long lashes.<br/>She catches me looking and I immediately move my eyes away, my cheeks heating up a bit.<br/>'Don't want her thinking I've got the hots for her.'<br/>But when I look back, her cheeks are a bit flushed too and there a look of confliction on her face.<br/>'Maybe I can take this as a good sign?'<br/>As the people at the head of our group reach the top of the hill, they gasp and are left with their mouths hanging open.<br/>This distracts me from my thoughts about Natalia for the time being.<br/>I make my way to the top, Matt on my right and Natalia on my left, and am left gaping at the massive city spread out before us.<br/>"Welcome to the border town, Differentia." Burch says in the most unwelcoming voice I've ever heard.</p>