Chapter 9: a choice amidst ruin.

Graum meticulously watched as Maltreesh searched the destruction, questions flooded his mind.

'Who was that spell directed towards, them or us? What is she searching for, signs of life? Proof of death?'

As the questions occupied his attention, Maltreesh searched the crater for signs of life. And when she didn't see any, she walked towards the tree line. Unbeknownst to her, that was where graum managed to escape.

Graums heart pounded as he felt the malicious energy from Maltreesh getting closer to where he was hiding.

'I don't have enough mana to stride us both through the shadows… And after the effort I put in to saving this girl I'm not about to abandon her' he thought gripping her tightly.

Maltreesh stopped just short of the tree line.

"Who's there?" She called out! readying herself by raising her stick-like catalyst.

'F*ck me!' Graum internally screamed.

"I know someone's there" Maltreesh followed up, scanning the tree line.

Graum heard the breaking of sticks on the ground coming from his left.

"Hi, I'm coming out" a feminine voice answered Maltreesh.

Graum managed to get a partial view of the stranger. From what he could see she looked like a devil-kin.

She seemed young... for what you could consider young for a devil-kin, in terms of human years perhaps early 20's. She had two small horns poking out of her forehead. Her hair was the color of silver and pulled back into a short ponytail. Her slightly pale skin contrasted her ebony black armor. From what graum could see, it looked like a medium type armor

"You startled me" Maltreesh sighed examining the stranger, deducing she wasn't one of her targets.

"Sorry, I was in the area when I heard the explosion. Was that your doing?" The stranger asked with a sweet yet intimidating tone.

"Actually yes, I was sent by the Grey Coin to apprehend two suspects" Maltreesh swiftly replied.

"Two suspects you say..." the stranger paused.

From where graum was positioned he saw the women grasp the hilt of her sword that dangled from her belt. "What did these suspects look like?" There was no sweetness to the strangers tone.

"They were two men, one claiming to be a dwarf but was the size of an adult man. And the other was a human who brandished a quiver and no bow, are you after them as well" Maltreesh explained before following up with a question of her own.

The stranger replied with no hesitation, "No as a matter of fact I'm not. I got separated from my fellow guildsmates. A pair of Imalidae twins, you haven't seen them have you?" The stranger asked suspiciously.

"No I haven't seen your guild mates. I haven't seen anyone else out here but you… and the culprits of course" Maltreesh lied.

"So you saw your marks, and ended up desalinating the clearing?" The stranger asked

"I'm ashamed to say yes. I thought I could handle their capture but when they resisted I was forced to defend myself" Maltreesh continued to lied

"I see... who did you say your employer was... the Grey coin?" The stranger remarked her guard still up.

"Yes I am Maltreesh of the Grey coin. B-ranked: adventurer, Pleasure to meet you" Maltreesh introduced herself.

"I see. Well, I am Zeida of New Zenith. Ranked: A adventurer" the lady introduced herself. Graum sat still holding his breath so that neither Zeida nor Maltreesh would find him.

"If I see your friends I'll be sure to let them know I saw you this way." Maltreesh said as her voice trailed farther away.

"Much appreciated" Zeida called out as Maltreesh walked away towards the opposing tree line.

Once Maltreesh was out of her line of sight Zeida examined her surroundings for any trace of her guild mates "Where are those silly twins?" Zeida said aloud to her self, unaware that graum was only a few meters away.

Graum stared at zeida as she stood there for what seemed like an hour; hoping that she would give up her search and retreat to where ever she came from so he could finally move.

"Seems like they aren't around here. I swear they are going to make my age show" zeida sighed walking deeper into the woods.

Graum's heart pounded the quieter it got, for if there was noise he would know he wasn't alone. but in this silence without his 'sense skill' there is no way for him to know. After waiting for sometime graum finally stood. After confirming that he was alone, he proceeded towards the crater.

"Brother." Graum called out with the cat eared Imalidae in his arms.

Graum looked down at the girl in his arms and a memory of him holding his little sister in such a way flashed through his mind. It was so vivid like he was reliving it, From her lavender scent to her soft skin.

The memory faded; and when it did Graum was pressing his nose against the Imalidae's hair .

"Lavender..." he smiled in nostalgia.

Graum walked a few steps forward stopping at the edge of the crater. "Bjorn!" He called out.

Moments later the ground started rustling, and eventually, opening up.

"What the hell was that brother?!" Bjorn asked crawling out of the opening with a slightly terrified and impressed expression.

"Not a what brother, A whom... It was Maltreesh." Graum's tone was stern.

"Come on, this isn't the time for your jokes. I know you care very little for her but..." bjorn started to chuckle but was cut off

"Bjorn... I'm not joking" graum replied in a tone bjorn had seen once before. Bjorn understood the severity of this tone.

"Oh, I see" Bjorn softly replied "So what do we do now?" Bjorn followed up trying to soften the tension.

"Well I followed you when you decided to save the girls, so I'll follow your lead with what we do next" graum looked at the cat eared Imalidae in his arms.

"We saved the girls, now we got to make sure they get home safe... where ever that may be!" Bjorn's expression illuminated their daunting circumstance.

"I guess we should figure out where that New Zenith guild is located" graum remarked passing a glance to Bjorn, then to the tree line.

An eerie gust of wind blew through the trees, rustling the leaves.

"Let's head south, perhaps we can find out where that New Zenith is located, in Ivalsetr " Bjorn casually recommended.

"Sounds good to me." Graum replied in agreement. Bjorn and graum cautiously made their way south through the goblin territory. Taking great effort to make sure they traveled unseen, in their current condition they wouldn't be able to fight effectively.

"Brother, when did it get so late?" Graum asked looking at the already setting sun.

"And here I thought we were making decent time. Seems like avoiding goblins took more time than I thought" Bjorn chuckled.

"Why don't we travel just a little farther, the woodlands must stop eventually" graum naively suggested.

If it were just him and bjorn he wouldn't mind, but since they were injured AND had the two unconscious Imalidaes Graum felt uneasy.

"We can... but once it gets dark we have to stop and make camp. Its ill advised traveling blind in goblin territory" bjorn replied.

Bjorn had collected a formidable degree of knowledge when it came to monsters; which Graum had come to rely on. Bjorn's extensive bestiary knowledge came tried-and-true from skirmishes and battles when he faced the beasts. As a warrior, Bjorn made it his mission to face challenging opponents.

Graum followed Bjorn, as they traveled till they couldn't see the sunlight through the trees canopy.

"Brother what's that?" Graum pointed out a flickering light in the distance.

"A fire or a torch perhaps?" Bjorn answered uncertain.

"Do goblins carry torches?" Graum asked inquisitively

"No,not really. Goblins tend to not carry and or make light sources. They tend to associate lights with traveling adventurers" bjorn answered precisely.

"So it's safe to assume that light is man made?" Graum asked conclusively.

"I would assume so, but unless you can use your focus skill, there is no way of knowing whether they are friend or foe" bjorn sighed.

"I wish, I have enough mana to use my guise in case they are friendly" graum admitted.

"Well they have a fire and we don't. Maybe they wouldn't mind some extra company" bjorn shrugged adjusting the Imalidae in his arms.

"Agreed" graum nodded.

Though he didn't care for the company of strangers he had to admit there was safety in numbers. The two made their way towards the light. Passing over fallen logs and small trenches, the light source became more visible. It was a camp fire. They carefully approached announcing their arrival.

"Hello?" They both called out in the direction of the campfire. "Is anyone there?" They called out once more as they walked up to the camp site.

"That's strange, I wonder where they went?" Bjorn said looking around the campsite. He saw a man made tent with meat skewers roasting over the fire.

"Strange indeed." Graum remarked trying to use his focus skill... but to no avail, he didn't have enough mana.

"Well we may as well wait for who ever, they should be back soon... unless they want their meal to burn to a crisp" bjorn chuckled setting the yukata wearing Imalidae somewhat near the camp fire.

"Let's be real, you would eat them before that happened" graum chuckled following Bjorn's lead, setting the cat eared Imalidae next to her fox eared twin.

"Assuming you boys live long enough" a voice whispered from behind the both of them

*drain touch*

Both graum and bjorn felt a hand on each of their shoulders followed by the feeling of extreme fatigue and tiredness.

-thud-

-thud-

Both graum and bjorn collapsed onto the ground.

"It's quite the distance to Aelhyrst, but once we get there The guild master is gonna have a lot of questions for you... once you wake up that is" said the mysterious voice.

Before graum and bjorn lost consciousness, they saw a devil kin with silver hair, and fair skin, clad in ebony black armor. Graum recognized the person as Zeida of New Zenith.