Chapter 9: Lavender and wisp

Lissa extended her bare hand towards the small creature hiding under a fallen tree, carefully and telegraphed intentionally to show the frightened creature that she was no threat. The brown hare squeaked and tried to push its body deeper into the log, but the gaping wound on its hind legs prohibited it from even moving. So it shook in place, its beady black eyes stared at the small hand reaching to it. 

"There there… It's alright. I won't hurt you, little buddy!" 

Lissa delicately scooped up the creature and examined it with the help of daylight - a terrible cut on both of the hare's hind legs, caused by a hunting trap with serrated blades. The blades were strong enough to snap bones, but the hare was lucky as the trap was rendered ineffective thanks to a small pebble lodged between the mechanism. But without help, the hare will die of blood loss or infection. 

"Oh… I know you're in pain. Don't worry now!"

Lissa patted the hare, rubbed its head and ears and whispered "It's okay, it's okay now. Don't be afraid." She held her hand over its wound, closed her eyes and channeled the energy of nature to her aid. She felt the lifeforce of the bushes, the trees, the birds, the flowers and the blades of grass around her, all ever-moving, ever-swaying and making their existence clear to those who could perceive them. Nature was always willing to help Lissa, as Lissa was always willing to help nature. She slowly closed her hand, as if grasping the flowing energy stream that nature lent her, and she gently placed her palm upon the hare's injuries. A warm, bright light emitted from her closed eyes, which terrified the little creature laying on her palm, but it laid still as it trusted the halfling girl before it.

Quickly, magically, muscle regrew, new skin pulled out from the wound and closed up as dried blood flaked off and new fur sprouted out - The hare was no longer maimed, in fact, it was in better shape than before it triggered the trap. Lissa smiled, laid the hare down and patted it on the back "Well now, go on. Don't wander out of the forest, okay? It's dangerous out here."

Lissa was a halfling of the Mere tribe in the Barony of Baron Mere Bastovich. Lissa looked like any ordinary halfling - with hazelnut coloured hair and eyes and a short stature - halflings were even shorter than the notoriously short dwarves, however, she was extremely special. See, most halflings were extremely proficient at sneaking around thanks to their lightfoot - so some of them would consider formal training as a rogue. Halflings love food - any kind of food. An ordinary halfling would have 5 daily meals - Breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. And of course they wanted to eat delicious food, so naturally they were good at cooking. Therefore, some halflings ended up becoming famous chefs for larger settlements to make money, with a sole purpose of purchasing more special food that they haven't tried. They have good eyesights, so they could become scouts, they were unnaturally lucky, so some would turn to gambling to make ends meet. 

But Lissa was different. Special. From a young age, she had shown great affinity for natural magic. By the time she reached adulthood, she could communicate to animals and plants. Lissa would spend days and nights learning about nature, speaking to critters and birds from afar to learn about the world. However, this made her out to be a freak, an outlier to everyone in the Mere tribe, so only a few halflings would consider her an acquaintance. Moreover, Lissa was always persuading the tribe leader to stop cutting down trees to expand the village due to her ability to hear the pain of nature. She came up with ways to dig into the ground to build housing, but the tribe shut down her suggestions - for obvious reasons, of course. Why would they hide underground for no good reason? Why should they stop chopping down trees - trees yield wood, and wood builds great and sturdy houses for halflings. Lissa was distanced - from the tribe people, so she usually hung out in the great lavender field surrounding her tribe and in the forest. She loved lavender flowers - they were pretty and smelled amazing. The floral, herbal sweet smell of the lavender always calms her without fail. 

Well I will try my best to protect the forest and the lavender field - even if the tribe hates me.

She thought.

I don't care about them, as long as they don't destroy the forest too quickly, I can learn magic to stop them.

She thought.

Mere Bastovich - a brilliant and gifted halfling with an unmatched strength - the general of the Niphilian Empire army in the Fatal Era war. He lost an eye and most of his right arm bringing down an elder dragon with his trusty warhammer - a feat thought to be impossible for such a small man. Yet, small as he is, his strength was undoubtedly immense - to the point that in his prime, he could easily win a tug of war match alone against 10 well-trained men. Some said Mere Bastovich was blessed by the god of war Tempus, but neither did he confirm or deny the suggestion. 

For his valiant and faithful servitude, Mere Bastovich was granted the rank of Baron and a vast amount of land to the east of the capital Niliphy as his barony by the Niphilian Emperor himself. So he built his own castle and made his land into a place where halflings could call home - he made sure they had food and housing, comfort and respite. He had always been a great leader and commander - the prerequisite to be the general of an army. So, the life of the halfling kinds were good in the barony of Mere, for the 50 years that Mere himself oversaw the land and the tribes that settled in his territory. 

Yet, as strong a halfling as Mere Bastovich, he could not hope to go against time itself. Old age befell Mere, and he slowly turned more spiteful and scornful - for no good reasons. He became paranoid that the druids in the forest were setting out to assassinate him - an absurd idea that came to him from a dream. So he had all nature-blessed halflings in his land banished - made up laws that any druids were not allowed in his land and ordered his subjects to cut down forests. Then he locked himself inside his castle, fed only cheese and wine from his servants, counting his days in the dim light of wax candles as he had barred every window of the castle with planks. 

From the first batch of halflings banished from his realm, Mere Bastovich clearly remembered a female halfling with great affinity for nature magic. She could conjure vines and plants to grow from mere dirt, made crops and the like to grow with an unseen speed, boosting the amount of food her tribes were harvesting. She could call lightning, she had pulled water from river afar to the land, enriching the land they called home. She was a threat in Mere's eyes. So he forced her out of the barony with force after he had kidnapped her daughter as a hostage - to keep her from entering his land against his will, he was willing to murder a little halfling girl. So the female halfling - feared for her daughter's life, left for good since there were people and neighbors of her that she could count on to watch over her daughter - it came to Mere Bastovich a few years later that she died in a disastrous dungeon raid. This pleased Mere very much - one less druid, one less threat to his own life.

But there were many things that displeased Mere recently. His cheese was too soft this morning, his wine was too pungent, his servants' footsteps were too loud and woke him up on his throne,... And the most displeasing thing was that the female halfling's daughter that he held hostage had become of age and showed signs of inheriting her mother's affinity of nature magic. He became more and more paranoid, he was sure that the deers and hares that she spoke to daily were spies from the forest druids - bringing orders from the evil druids to the halfling. He was deathly scared when a blue jay flew from the forest to a hole in his window - it must have been the druid - transformed and infiltrated his castle to kill him! He almost burned down his castle that day. It was a slow torture for him, hearing from his spy servant about the halfling girl trying to stop the tribes from cutting down trees - she must be a spy of the druids - trying to spread the influence of the evil forest! 

He must rid his land of her somehow.

He had to, or the druids will get him.

It was an ordinary day for Lissa. She roused from her slumber early, made a light breakfast with fruits and bread and honey, chased down with a warm cup of lavender-infused tea. Then she visited the lumberjack encampment to ascertain the current damage of the forest to make sure that the forest has not been destroyed past the point of no return. She spoke to the trees and shrubs, whispering sorries to them and promised them that she would try her best to save the rest of the forest. Then she left for the lavender fields - her favorite place in the whole world, albeit she had never been anywhere else from her tribe. She sat on her favorite stone and waited for the sun to rise and cast its brilliant, life-sustaining light on the land. She bathed in the warm sunlight until the influence of dark night had left her - then she commenced her usual stroll around the lavender field edge. She walked slowly and methodically, looking for the traps that the tribe hunters had setted the day before. Lissa understood that, even though she tried not to eat meat, her tribesman needed the meat for the energy, which is required for an expanding tribe. But it was not worth the pain and suffering of the animals that got caught in the traps or hunted down in the forest. Lissa would find and rescue any animal that got trapped, but only if they could be healed properly by her magic. Sometimes she would be too late - so the next best thing to do was to leave the animal for the tribe. She knew that the hunters would honor the animal by using every part of the animal to its fullest, and it would keep the hunters from setting out to the forest to hunt for more meat. 

Lissa would then wander into the forest and find her natural pond to wash up the sweat worked out from the hike - she would've, but before she could set out, Korric Glowmouse called out her name and ran to her. Korric was one of her friends that she could rely on - he was a halfling with musical talents that she liked to hang around with - he also liked nature and didn't distance himself from her. But why did Korric come here today? She wondered. He should've been getting ready to perform in the tribe tavern. The worrying expression on Korric's face struck Lissa's heart. His breath was ragged and sweat beaded on his forehead. Something bad must have happened. 

"Hey Korric! What's the matter?" Lissa asked "Why the rush?"

"Terrible news, Lissa! The baron! He accused you of breaking into his castle and stealing his medallion of valor!" 

"What?! No, I never did that!"

"I know! But he is calling for you, the guards are getting ready to apprehend you! I think… we should turn ourselves in and spare the violence." Korric worriedly looked around, but no other halflings were visible in the immediate area. At least the guards haven't been fully mobilized to  capture Lissa yet, so they still had enough freedom to plan their next moves. Lissa stared disbelievingly at Korric, but she knew Korric would never lie to her.

Why? Why now? It's been so long… since that day…

She always knew the baron was emotionally unstable, unhinged even. She knew he was the culprit who forced her mother out of the tribe and he was the one who kidnapped her from her mother. But she never thought that the baron would get to her next. Naive, she knew. But she had no other choices. She wanted to stay at Mere to protect the forest she grew up in, but now it looked like the consequences of her choices finally caught up to her. 

"Fine… Let's go then. To the castle." 

===

"What else do you have to say for yourself, witch? I'm willing to listen to your babbling."

Baron Mere Bastovich scoffed angrily, his neck and cheeks redden and glittered with sweat. His beady eyes glued on the tiny figure kneeling on the ragged rug. Armored guards stood besides his wooden throne, spears already trained on the female halfling.

"I… I have never been here! Nor do I have any wish to break in the keep of the most powerful being in the area!"

"Is that so? Did your greed compelled you to overcome your fear of "The most powerful being"? Do you see me as a joke, witch? My medallion, the emperor himself granted it to me, what do you want with it?"

Lissa never felt such freezing cold before. The ragged rug beneath her didn't help at all when the cold stone floor was so icy cold. The room was scarily dark because any opening and windows were covered with planks, the air was stagnant and reeked of the sourness of old wine. Lissa was afraid of what would come next. She wanted Korric to be with her, but he was forcefully separated from her at the castle entrance.

"I never took your medallion!" Lissa begged "You can search me, I don't have it!"

Almost as if Lissa's voice went over his head, baron Mere sniffed and theatrically brushed his mustache: "Did the damn druids of the forest order you to take it? To humiliate me? Hmm… that's it right? I can see it on your face! Where is the medallion?"

"I never took it!"

"Stop lying, witch!" Mere Bastovich roared and stood up. His booming voice echoed around the room and caused Lissa to flinch and almost had a panic attack. Mere was an exceptionally large halfling, so his stance was very intimidating towards any of his subjects. "My mages could detect nature magic on the destroyed walls, isn't that your kind of magic, witch?"

Lissa realized that nothing she said could change the corrupted mind of baron Mere. He was too far gone. There was no threat at all from any druidic individual for half a century already on his land, yet he was still clutching the idea of an imminent danger from nature-blessed creatures. 

Before Lissa could retort, the throne room door swung open and a group of 3 armored halflings, with Mere's crest on the torso entered. The two halflings behind held crates full of gold coins, silver goblets, chalices with embedded gems - the kind of riches Lissa, or any normal halflings in the tribe, have never seen before. 

But the leading halfling guard was holding a curious item on his protruding arm - a necklace with a golden medallion, designed to look like a roaring lion's head with rubies for eyes. The medallion of valor - a prestigious item given to commanders of the empire's army - and the item Lissa was accused of stealing.

Did they find it? Am I free now? Finally!

But before Lissa could breathe a sigh of relief, the leader of the group bowed to the baron and, while he was raising his head, his eyes met Lissa's. His eyes were moist and sad, as if portraying a feeling of pity. Pity for whom? 

"We found the treasures inside the home of Lissa - our alleged culprit, alongside with the medallion, sir Mere."

It was as if a large glass pane broke down - the sound of realization. Lissa understood - Mere Bastovich didn't want her here for her to confess to a crime she didn't commit. They wanted her here so that the guards could make a sloppy performance for the tribe - they are trying to get rid of her by excommunicating her from the tribe. Lissa slowly turned her head towards Mere, just to be greeted with a vindictive, toothy smirk.

"Well well well… all that lying… and you couldn't hide the stolen goods somewhere else. How shall we deal with this thieving wench, head mage?"

"I.. uh… I recommend we should exile her from the Mere barony…" The head mage halfling stuttered

"Is that so?" the baron sat straight on his throne, casting his senseless eyes onto the kneeling Lissa. "Well… I'm a generous man. You may leave the land and never come back, then your crime will be pardoned."

Baron Mere Bastovich had won. His plan was fool-proof, and the stupid druid girl fell for it. Now, his land will be safe from the influence of the evil druids of the forest once more. And Mere will order the lumberjacks to speed up cutting down the forest to make sure that the druids won't lurk in his land any more. He will be free then. After that, he can once more traverse his beautiful land without fear.

"No."

A single word spoken from the tiny figure kneeling. Lissa stood up, her eyes turned fierce and gazed upon the maddened baron. She knew what she did next might get her killed and set in stone an unstoppable turn of events. But enough was enough. Lissa had repressed her thoughts about the unfair treatment of the nature-blessed halflings in the land, she had stopped mourning her mother since she was 10, she had tried to live her own life away from the tribe so that she could take care of the forest. But this man. The baron of the land - still wanted to force her away from where she was born and raised. 

She took sturdy steps toward the throne, each step was imbued with determination and a burning passion. The guards on both sides of the throne immediately pointed the speartips towards her as the baron scoffed loudly "Stand back, witch! What are you doing? You are to leave my castle and leave my land, don't you hear?!"

"No."

Lissa growled quietly in her throat as two vines spurted out from the stone wall behind the throne, pulled the legs of both guards and three more grew below and held them prone.

"Foul magic! You dare cast your filthy nature magic in my castle?" Mere shouted, blood rushed to his head and his eyes went crazed. 

The druids are attacking. He thought.

This witch is actually with the druids. I was right the whole time. He thought.

"Kill her!" Mere shouted to guards behind Lissa, but they were hesitant. They knew the girl their whole life - they knew of the terrible things Mere did to her mother and other unfortunate halflings. They only followed Mere's order just to keep themselves out of trouble and try to not harm others. But this order was a line they would not cross.

Lissa slightly nodded to the guards and took another step towards Mere.

"Baron Mere, I'll show you that nature isn't evil as you think, and the tribe can live in harmony with the forest."

Mere Bastovich was like a cornered animal. He pulled on his already parse hair, tears swelled in the corner of his eyes and he hissed as Lissa stared at him with her two brown eyes. As Lissa held up her hand and focused, a warm light coalesced to her palm as she turned it up and presented it to Mere.

The next seconds were indescribable. Everything happened quickly and unnaturally quietly. Lissa did not take another step towards the throne. She couldn't.

Mere - now dazed by his own fear - right hand grabbed the decorative warpick on the wall and left hand clutched the medallion of valor. His excellent instinct took over him - to dispatch threats around him. The two ruby eyes of the medallion grew bright as the warpick swung and ripped Lissa's delicate throat and her windpipe.

It was immediate. Lissa dropped a stalk of lavender - the symbol of the Mere tribe that she conjured to hold her neck with both hands. Blood painted the front of her gown a deep crimson red. Her legs gave out as she kneeled down, she couldn't muster any strength to heal herself as the wound was fatal. Terrifyingly quickly how a living being could fall dead when the brain's supply of blood and oxygen was cut - in this case the "cut" was literal. 

There were no last words, no curses - She didn't even completely understand the situation until she was unconscious 10 seconds after Mere swung his weapon at her. She only knew that she was no longer able to protect the forest again as darkness slowly crept out from all corners of the room and gradually enveloped her completely. It lulled her to an eternal sleep, and she accepted it. It was warm and comfortable, there was a slow and rhythmic sound vibrating the darkness, similar to that of a heartbeat. Dark, warm, comfortable… almost as if Lissa was still in her mother's womb.

Lissa was dead.

===

"Woah! What a beautiful field! It's lavender!" Roselie the cleric girl ran forwards into the lavender field, letting the flower surround her waist. Most of the time in her adventure with her party, she would act older than her age, but she couldn't hold her excitement and flailed her arms around "Guys! Check this out!"

"Damn, these things grew naturally into a field? Impressive, if I say so myself." Harrison the human warrior smirked and picked a stalk of the light purple flower and - according to Charlie - cheesily sniffed it. It was a strange sight, indeed, as a fully armored man enjoyed the scent of a flower.

"This lavender field is the symbol of a tribe nearby, if I recall correctly. The … uh… Mere tribe, or something like that." Elluin the elf archer remarked. She also picked a stalk and put it between the top of her ear. "It's a tribe of halflings! The head chef of the guild bistro in Serepike told me he lived there for a while, until he got exiled."

"Exile? What did he do? Did his foodie invention poison someone?" Charlie let out a silly sound of surprise and asked.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me when I pressed." Elluin shrugged "But I don't think that tribe is friendly to outsiders, so we shouldn't come in contact if not necessary." 

"Well, the quest indeed never mentioned the tribe, so yeah, if you recommend us not to, we should not then. But what happened there though? I'm curious." Harrison said, casting his gaze to the silhouette of a town on the horizon, past the seemingly endless field of lavender. He could make out some windmills and a large flat building akin to that of a small castle or garrison.

Charlie picked a decently sized stone to sit atop as he saw a curious trinket glimmered in the soil. What's this? He reached for the item - an intricately crafted cloak pin with the motive of leaves and lavenders made of brass. The pin must have been dropped for a while as greenish blemish marks have appeared all over it. 

Nice. I should purchase a cloak just to use this fantastic pin. He smiled and greedily pocketed the trinket.

"I heard the baron of the area banned any druids from traversing through his land. Some adventurers didn't know and got their druid friend seriously hurt." Roselie tapped her finger on her lips "But it was a passing chatter in the market. I'm not sure of its authenticity."

"Is that so? I better steer clear of that tribe then." Elluin said "They might also hate elves for all I care. Whatever… We are wasting time here. Let's continue the investigation."

"Sure. Sure."

Charlie's party was tasked by the Headmaster of the Serepike guildhall - Liam Hazecrest - to investigate a strange phenomenon that occurred near the Adne river - a fork of the main river Smyrcymenai. The quest was located to the east of capital Niliphy - Charlie's party's next main destination, so the party took on the task from Liam to make some extra traveling fund and two rooms at an inn in Niliphy.

The task was simple enough for Charlie's party: investigate a strange light that sometimes appears around the Adne river, discover the source of it, determine the threat and if necessary, neutralize the threat or report back to the guild for instruction. With Elluin's expertise on bestiary, the party narrowed down the list of creatures that fit the description of multiple witnesses: A bright, floating orb, about as big as a metal helmet. It wandered the Adne river bank and had been seen near multiple animal corpses. A knight errant stated that he saw the orb spew lightning or a ray of fire or light into the river once or twice with unknown intent. 

"This could be an orb creature" Elluin exclaimed to her party "A fire or light or storm orb. They are elemental in nature and most of them are neutral to living beings. An easy task I would say. There is a possibility that this could be something else, but none of the witnesses saw any other creatures besides the glowing orb, so I think we can overwhelm whatever it is if need be, I dare say."

So the party prepared enough rations and supplies for a week of horseback riding to reach Niliphy, checked in the inn and left the horses at the inn's stable and hiked to the other side of Adne river, where they were at the moment. After a thorough search alongside the river, the party wandered farther inland to reach the lavender field and stopped for a break.

"Hang on, do we remember what was the time of the day when the witnesses saw the orb?" Charlie asked

"Oh! Yeah! 5 of them said that they saw the phenomenon very early in the morning, when fog still lingers around. The knight errant said that he saw it at midnight." Elluin replied enthusiastically "So it's probably safe to assume that the thing won't come out until nightfall huh?" 

Harrison heard Elluin and sighed "Damn… Are we camping out tonight?"

"Probably… If you want to finish the task…"

"We finally got to the capital city and decided to sleep in the wilderness? Colossal waste, I tell you!"

"Oh shut up you. Finish the task and then we can do whatever the hell we want in Niliphy, I dare say."

The sun slowly faded down the horizon, casting a few rays of warm golden light across the looming darkness of the night sky. A flock of birds flew from the direction of the city towards the forest for shelter as a loud chirp of a lizard broke the silent field. The party had set up camp, but no campfire was lit - they were expecting to catch some sort of glowing creature so the cover of darkness might help them spot it easier. 

As the cold, moist blanket of fog slowly crept over the lavender field and the Adne river, Charlie saw a glimmer in the cluster of trees adjacent to a turn of the river. His party also immediately recognized the curious light and quietly moved to Charlie's position. It was a dark night, the moon and stars were partially covered by clouds, to the point that Charlie couldn't see his own hand if he had raised it in front of him. But the extraordinary orb was real, and it was slowly floating around the woods. Back at Charlie's old world, these phenomenons were usually chalked as burning phosphorus from buried bones or an exceedingly rare ball of lightning created by thunder clouds. But in this fantasy world, whatever the light is, it might be sentient.

With the utmost care to quiet his voice down to a whisper, Charlie asked "What is it, Elluin?"

The elf archer shook her head, but Charlie didn't see her gesture due to the dark night "I don't know yet. The fog is too thick. We should move forward."

And the party slowly left their camp, creeping along the scarcely traveled path leading to the riverside forest. 4 pairs of eyes trained on the weird ball of light as it weaved and turned across the trees, Charlie felt a strange twang in his calves - He was not afraid of phantasmic or ghostly creatures, as they were not real or not seen in his old world. That could be a real ghost or soul or whatever… The party reached the treeline and slowly entered the forest, meticulously placing their footsteps on solid ground as noiselessly as possible so as not to alert the creature. It was actually a miracle that Harrison's clunky armor did not make any noticeable noise. 

"What is it doing?"

The strange orb of light stopped moving in a clearing and emitted a warm, yellowish light. It was mesmerizing to Charlie - the orb almost looked like a miniature sun.

"Is that a dead deer? On the ground there." Elluin said, and the three humans - who did not possess the ability to see in the dark - focused on the slump below the orb. A deer, whose leg was grievously wounded and must have bled out, was laying on a large root, and the orb slightly lowered. 

What is it doing?

Charlie focused on the sight before him, his hand instinctively reached for the holster and unlocked the pin. A sickly green ray of light emitted from the deer corpse slowly merged with the creature, almost as if the creature was feeding on the deer's soul. At this moment Elluin pulled on her quiver and squeezed her magic longbow. "Guys, this is not an orb creature. It's a will-o'-wisp, and they are most likely evil in nature. We should try to take it out."

It was clear what they should do. Charlie checked his upgraded flintlock, loading in actual bullets with integrated gunpowder compartments and pulled the hammer. But there was something still bothering him, almost as if his instinct was telling him not to attack the creature ahead. Harrison prepared his Dragon's Claw - a magical battle axe and raised his fingers to indicate a countdown.

"Now!" Harrison leapt from his bush and swung his axe in a perfect arc, cutting through the will-o'-wisp. The creature's body wavered, but it held its form and quickly floated further away from the surprise attack. 

Charlie also raised his gun, but he stopped his finger from pulling the trigger when he heard a low, ghostly sound when the creature vibrated.

What?

He actually heard a clear pained voice emitted from the will-o'-wisp. Yet he was conflicted - none of his allies said anything about it as they pressed the attack. Two fiery arrows found their mark on the creature, but the fire was extinguished immediately in contact with the will-o'-wisp and there was no explosion - Elluin's magical longbow attack was not effective.

"Wait! Please don't attack!"

Once again, Charlie heard the low ghostly sound coming from the creature as its light flickered, the sound formed into a comprehensible spoken language, but it was not a language Charlie heard before: not Common, not Elvish, not Goblin's Tongue or Dwarvish. Charlie looked over to Roselie to confirm his suspicion, but she was not paying attention to the creature. She had closed her eyes and joined both hands into a praying position, she chanted a long spell and released a burst of light, illuminating the whole forest canal.

She did not hear the voice, either! I must do something!

Harrison planted his leg firmly and put his back into the next swing, completely destroying a tree when the wisp evaded his attack. But before he could swing again, Charlie shouted out loudly:

"Hold on guys! Stop attacking!"

In battle, especially against monsters and unknown creatures, one must always finish what they started - a moment of distraction could spell doom for a whole party. Harrison knew his party well enough to know that they understood this unspoken rule. And yet Charlie stopped them from eliminating the clear enemy ahead. 

Harrison held the axe with both his hands and held his action as he took a step away from the glowing wisp. Elluin the elf archer also stopped her arrow barrage, she shot a look over at Charlie, who hadn't fired a single shot yet.

"Don't you guys hear the wisp speaking?" He asked

Based on his party's confused expression, Charlie figured out none of his allies heard the pained voice. The wisp's glow dulled under the bright light of Roselie's spell as it floated in place, completely docile as if it was sure that it was no longer in harm. It pushed the arrows embedded in its body out and made a dull vibration sound.

"You understand me?"

"Yeah I do understand what you just said." He replied, ignoring the shocked expression on his friends' faces. "You are a will-o'-wisp, right?"

"Well… I've come to terms that I am, in fact, a wisp."

"So that means you were not a wisp before? Or you were a wisp but just got self awareness?"

"I… It's a long story… Can you tell your friends to put down their weapons? I can assure you that I mean no harm."

Charlie communicated the suggestion of the wisp to his friends, but of course, immediately met with negative answers. Elluin barked "Is he under Charm spell? Roselie, please check him for any trace of beguiling magic!"

It sure was a strange sight for anyone on the current plane of existence to behold, and this can be definitely assured. A party of humans and elf, all raised their respective weapons trained onto a will-o'-wisp, which was floating in the middle of the gang. A camp fire was lit, which was a godsend in the coldness of the night, and Charlie started to translate the wisp's story to his allies.

"My name is Lissa…"

===

"Well well well… finally a well deserved meal for a quest well done!"

Harrison loudly joked and raised his mug of pale ale, arousing laughter from the tavern patrons around him. He was currently in his casual civilian clothing - a white shirt that had seen better days, a vest made of hide and cheap fur, with simple leather pants and boots. His party was also the same - they had left their equipment back at their inn to fully enjoy the celebratory meal for the completion of their latest quest, and for their long-awaited arrival at the capital city of the Niliphian empire - Niliphy. It was an important city of the empire, so the security was tighter - which was why the party decided against their better judgment and left their weapons away. They were always donning their gear at every wake hour while staying in the frontier village Serepike as the chance of being attacked by monsters were significantly higher. But currently, being surrounded by stone walls and patrolling guards - they were safer than a pearl in a clam.

Charlie and the party had ordered one of anything that was new to them and had a blast of a party at a famous Niliphy tavern called Long Bearded Dwarf. It was also ironic that Elluin, an elf archer, was the one who recommended the venue. "A place with good wine and good food can be named after a cow, for all I care." - She said. The cuisine was - according to Charlie's otherworldly food standard - unexpectedly good: Niliphy was an open city, which meant it harbored many races from all over the continent and even overseas. This led to an exciting mixture of food variety, some of which even closely resembled Charlie's world food. He ordered a mutton curry dish served with white rice, which used less spices than he would have preferred, but the taste was strikingly similar, a stew chicken dish and a dessert flan. He greedily shoved spoonfuls of curry rice into his mouth, to the point that Roselie laughed at his silliness, which caused him to choke and made the whole table bursted with laughter. It had been almost 2 months since Charlie's arrival at this magical world and it would be a terrible lie if he declined ever missing his old world. The food somewhat alleviated part of his anxiety - a luxury not everyone could afford.

After the staggering amount of food and drink had been devoured, the party had lemonade and planned out their next agenda. Before Charlie could voice his suggestion, Roselie shyly raised her hand: "Um… actually, I have to report to the Niliphy supreme church of Lathander, so I probably have to go alone for a while."

"Is that so?" Elluin smiled, she was still a bit drunk from just one cup of grape wine "I guess I do have something to attend to alone. What say you, Harrison, Charlie? Should we split up for the time being?"

"Fine to me! Imma visit a friend of mine, y'all can join me if you want to, but the destination of our tour around Niliphy might be too… hehe … inappropriate for our little Roselie and our elf here." Harrison ugly laughed and looked at Charlie.

So everyone had their own plan then. This time Charlie would be alone in a new city. Not that bad, actually… 

"Fine. I do want to visit some place here for a few days anyway."

He remembered that he was not actually alone. Lissa the will-o'-wisp was accompanying him, albeit being completely silent and invisible at the moment. After their fateful meeting, Charlie and his party had accepted Lissa's request to help her travel the world. She had wanted to see more of the world since her death, since her attempt of protecting the nature around her tribe had ultimately been fruitful. Her unjust death had roused the population to protest against the baron, and he was forced to give up his reign over the land to an appointed mayor. The tribe had memorialized her and other unfairly treated druids by naming the forest after her and stopping cutting down trees. They had also tried her recommendation of digging housing underground, which was a great success in resource saving and temperature wise. She had wandered the land as a wisp for a while before meeting up with Charlie's party - she had no idea that the sight of her was causing problems to passersby. Her being a wisp was also helpful - she could go invisible or light herself and the surroundings, so she could tag along with Charlie's group without being spotted.

Yet, the most annoying aspect of being a wisp was she couldn't physically consume normal food - wisps only consume the electricity made in the brain of dying creatures. And if she wanted to travel along, she had to force herself into an almost hibernating state to conserve energy while maintaining invisibility. She had a brilliant idea of anchoring her orb body into the cloak pin which belonged to her and was picked up by Charlie and traveled with him that way. An unnatural companionship, but anything could happen in a fantasy world - Charlie thought.

"Fantastic. So let's agree to check the guild here and then for letters from each other, okay?" Elluin said "If any of us need something, leave a message at the guild."

"Sure"

"Sounds good to me!"

Charlie nodded. He could spend this time exploring more of the capital city he was in. He also had multiple agendas he had wanted to fulfill - some of them involving researching about his situation - getting transported to another world, and if there was a way back. He also wanted to find a place to train more on his combat - he had felt that he was lacking in experience when he joined his party clearing quests from the guild. If he wanted to survive in this world - a world with many dangerous creatures and beings, filled with weapons and magic, he had to get stronger himself. He had to make himself an Identity in this new world - similar to how he would approach a game back in his world. 

Charlie mindlessly touched his cloak pin - currently hanging on his leather vest as he had not purchased a cloak - which prompted Lissa to emit a dull yet quiet sound only he could hear. He had decided to dedicate his next few months to training and researching - even if he didn't want to return to his world, it would still be nice to know that there was a way to go back.

"Safe travel then, guys." Charlie said "See you all soon."