Of a Wayward Journey

Shortly after obtaining a map to Psalm from their current location, the two set out on their own, leaving the other Wild Elves behind in what seemed to be the deepest part of the forest.

Though to Drake as he looked over the map, a piece of parchment made from moss fibers, seemed to be just scribbles. There was no coherent pattern, despite the fact that his new elven companion could read it as plain as day! There were no words on it, not even a runic language.

There was no indication of north or west, not even numeral coordinates, but constellations marking their path instead. It was truthfully strange for him, if not frustrating. The skills he had obtained from the Grimoire didn't at all seem to help with this.

Though there were plenty of spells that allowed one to track a person, or to lead them to a location, he just didn't have the knowledge to use them accurately. He had no idea what Psalm looked like, he didn't know its general location or a number of other identifying characteristics.

Of course, he had no idea what the constellations were on the map, let alone where to see them

Letting out an aggravated groan, he looked to the back of the girl's petite form as she was walking in front of him, a few feet away. The fact that she was hardly dressed actually bothered him. Forget having her chest flat as a pancake, if not flatter, her nethers were easily seen depending on the way she moved about.

The corner of his lip twitched as he looked to the sky above, through the trees.

There were going to be no stars tonight, or during the day, despite the fact that she apparently knew where they were going. His eyes then traced back to her as she was looking at him from over her shoulder. She smiled all big seeing his attention on her.

Silas Drake gave a faint smile back to her, though once she looked away, he let it fade.

"So your mom...?"

"She was taken by human slave hunters," she folded her hands behind her head as she walked in a somewhat casual if not nonchalant manner. The movements of her legs were over-exaggerated, kicking up moss and leaves. "Most die within the first few months, if not year, of being taken. At least that is what Auntie said," she let out a puff of air through her nose.

Silas nodded slowly hearing her words and chuckled quietly to himself, "And you want to believe it?" He asked as it seemed she didn't like to show that she cared for her mother.

"My mother hated me, refused to take care of me," she waved her hand slightly to the side as if dismissing the whole thing pertaining to her biological parent. "Doubt she cares I chose you."

A sad smile formed itself across his lips as he sunk into his armpits as he crossed his arms. His sword at the moment hanging within the scabbard on his back. "Unwanted Union?"

"You can say that..." Her voice got low, her movement slower, for a moment as she looked him over once more before shrugging to herself. "You're not going to abandon me, right?"

"Do I have a reason to?" He placed a hand on the top of her head, with a slight roll of his eyes.

"N-no..." Her eyes lowered to the ground for a few seconds as he began walking passed her towards the direction she had been going. She quickly grabbed onto the side of his shirt as she caught up with him and began strolling beside him.

"So how do you read this map anyway?" He pointed to the item rolled up in her hand.

"The map can only be read by elven eyes," she let the map roll open as she held it out in front of them so he could see. "This isn't even the order the constellations... It uses special ink to hide words and images," Cicilia giggled as she explained.

Pursing his lips as she had said this, it turns out the people didn't trust him and made sure he needed her in order to get to Psalm. This only made him shake his head in an annoyed manner before just giving into the idea. He wasn't going to just leave her behind for any old reason.

She had her uses, even after they get the City of Psalm, there had to be something she could do.

Cicilia ran a hand through her black hair, whistling a small upbeat tune on repeat, taking her place in front of him again with a skip to her step.

Silas, on the other hand, took turns watching over her and paying attention to their surroundings. The last thing he needed was for slavers to pop up or more of those Black Rot things that seemed to have enough intelligence for somewhat intellectual conversations.

If anything he didn't know if they were just parrot-like, or if they actually had some sort of sense in their minds. His eyes traveled along some of the tree trunks, noticing many of them had grown disfigured or strangely mottled in color.

As his eyes moved forward, his gaze rested on Cicilia once more with a faint lull of his head to the side. He was definitely curious about her and what made her tick, but it seemed she liked him, that was enough for now and prying further passed than her mother would take time.

They would go on walking for hours, no real encounters at all other than the creepy two-headed, four-winged, crows with strange nightmarish purple eyes that oozed strange liquid. Their cawing was like a child's cry of agony and blood-curdling screams of bloody murder.

Silas knew he was definitely going to have nightmares tonight, even as he stared blankly forward, trying to ignore their ominous gazes. They were nothing like the ones from his old world... He was pretty sure one of them had a set of teeth!

Yet it was as if Cicilia was entirely unaffected by this, though it made sense since she lived here. She just skipped along over the twigs and leaves that littered the ground, moss sticking to the bottoms of her feet.

In a way, her semblance of a carefree spirit helped him to continue following after her. His eyes continued to stalk their environment though, ready to draw his weapon or cast a spell.

Still nothing other than being observed by otherwise strange and even creepy creatures. He didn't hear the crunch of twigs, the low growls of predators. The area seemed devoid of greater life, nothing here wanted to eat him like that woman back then.

He couldn't help but stride a few more steps faster in order to get up beside her once more. "Is there nothing out here except for creepy crows and other strange ass birds?"

"Strange ass birds...?" Cicilia's mind was taking his words extremely seriously, picturing a bird that quite literally looked like someone's bare behind. Then her eyes glanced about, blinking, as she saw nothing of the sort. "Probably?" Her answer itself seemed like an inquiry rather than an answer.

"No boars, deer, or rabbits?" There was no creatures running around on the ground, at least from what he could see. "Or wolves?"

"Oooh... Most creatures live near the base of the mountains, there's a lake there that leads into a ravine... The only thing you'll find out here are birds, fruit and grubs." Her eyes narrowed on a number of spiders that were creeping about along the path they had come, feeling the air. Shrugging, she then looked back up at him, "Though there are giant spiders from time to time, and burrowing rodents."

"Giant spiders?" Silas narrowed his eyes on her before taking note she had looked over his shoulder before saying anything. For some reason, his mind was telling him not to take a glance back.

"Yeah..." Taking a few steps as she began to lead him along with her hand grabbing his collar.

For the moment he let her drag him along since she was the only one who knew where they were going in the first place. Or at least that is what he allowed her to let him believe. If this was a waste of time, he probably would have no idea what to do with her.

His eyes remained on her little head of black hair which bounced every now and then, well that was until he could hear the scurrying of the needle covered legs coming towards them.

Turning his head to the side, he finally set his gaze upon three giant spiders. They weren't massive or taller than himself, but they were just over his knee in height, and as long as a large dog and much wider. It could clearly kill him and suck out his insides after reducing him to liquid. His lips parted slightly seeing this.

"...Ah... Nope..." His head following his eyes forward, he darted ahead despite the fact that his knees immediately started clicking, he wasn't used to all this exercise. Grabbing the young elf and tucking her under his arm like a soccer ball. There was no way in hell he was being food!

"Woah!" Cicilia was entirely confused by the action and flailed initially in his arms before clinging to his side.

The spider ahead of the other two let out a hiss and the next thing they knew, a bolt of webbing went flying passed his head and ripped a low hanging branch off a tree.

"Holy shit!" Silas cursed.

"There is nothing holy about shit!" Cicilia cried out as the monstrous creatures were running after them, their disgusting fangs dripping with venomous acids.