Chapter 3: The Village
Diego, Pota, Fae, and Jaimie introduced themselves to Ira, and told each other their classes. While they were introducing themselves to each other, the Mysterious man and the King were discussing something.
"Do you think sending them on a mission is too early? They just got here."
"It will benefit them if they start early, your Highness. Leave it up to me."
The mysterious man walked up to the chattering group. "Esteemed heroes, your next mission is to go to the "Asktracts" village and figure out why some villagers are missing. Report to the next city, "Lunaria," where I'll be going." The mysterious man recited. He pulled out a blank piece of parchment and threw it on the ground. A magic circle formed on the ground. "Step on the circle so I can transport you to the forest. Make sure to go south. You'll find the village there."
The group of them walked in the circle. "I'm starting to feel this isn't a dream, guys." Said, Jaimie. Pota rolled their eyes at their behavior. The magic portal activated, and they all vanished.
In a random place in the forest, they all materialized. Seeing everyone fine, Ira decided to take the leadership role, "from now on, we'll head south." Walking through the forest, they heard animals roaring in the distance, which made Diego shake in fear, but he pretended to have a strong front. After walking for a while, they sat down to take a rest. "Aughhh, I'm thirsty. Is there anything we can drink? Is there a river nearby?" Hearing Jaimie's complaints, Pota and Fae felt their throats were also dry. Diego stood up, wiping grass off his butt. A smirk crept on his face, "Don't worry, guys. I know where to find a river," He pulled Fae up from sitting and threw his arm around him. "He can use his fairy magic, whatever bullshit, to find us one." Feeling proud of his plan, Jaimie looked at Diego as if they were enlightened.
"OH yeah! Fae use those magical butterflies to find us water," she exclaimed.
"But I don't know how to do that?" Fae furrowed their brows, frustrated.
Ira raises his hand, "I know a way. Usually, the elves I've spoken to before just ask the forest to guide them. Maybe try that?" He rubbed his chin as he recited his memory.
Fae sighed and mumbled some mumbo-jumbo as if he was talking to the forest itself. Blue butterflies started to appear out of thin air. They looked ethereal. Fae commanded them to find a water source, and the blue butterflies left a faint blue trail leading the way. The group proceeded on the path. Fae's magic disappeared after reaching their destination. Jaimie was about to put their crusty lips on the water before Ira pulled her back by the hair.
"You have to purify the water first. We don't know what animals have done their business in this stream." Ira scooped the water in his leather flask and encased it with light magic. After 2 seconds, the faint glow disappeared. "Now drink it. It's purified."
Jaimie gulped down the whole flask in a second. Rubbing her stomach, she burped really loud. "Thank you, Ira. That's better than drinking water at 3am." Ira looked at her in confusion.
"OH, don't worry about it. That's a thing in my world." Jaimie reassured.
Pota looked at the flask and back at Jaimie. "Why would you drink all of it? I'm thirsty too, you asshole." Jaimie pretended not to hear Pota and started digging in her nose, further angering Pota as they began catfighting. Ira purified the water a couple more times so the others could quench their thirst. He then saved another flask for later if they got thirsty. After another hour of walking, they reached a village.
"Why does this look like a ghost town?" Fae asked. The village was eerily silent. There was no one outside. The buildings looked abandoned, and the window shutters were closed. Creeking of wood could be heard, and the whole town had a gray atmosphere.
Cautiously walking through the village, Jaimie kept yelling if anyone was there. Suddenly they heard a scared voice, "Shh! You're gonna attract the bandits to come here." Looking toward where the voice came from, they spotted some raggedy, beaten-up villager. They ushered them to go into the house before locking it. The inside of the house looked reasonably clean, despite the outside appearance. Ira asked the villager, "What's the situation here?" He asked sternly.
After catching his breath, the villager spoke. "My name is River. The village was normal a couple days ago… until bandits ran through and took most of our people. I was one of the people to fend off the bandits. They beat me and took away my younger brother. They're further east from here." He fastly said without any stuttering. River fell onto the ground clutching Ira's clothes. "Please! Save them from the bandits. I don't have much to live for! The villagers are all I care about. They all are nice people and didn't deserve any of this!" Tears formed in his eyes, threatening to fall. Listening to his sob story Diego stepped forward, pulling River up by his arm. "We'll save them for you, don't worry." He flashed a cheeky smile. 'With my sword, I'm pretty sure I can slash down anyone,' He thought confidently.
Hearing Diego's reassurance and seeing his sword strapped on him, River trusted Diego more. River told them they could stay at his house to ready their equipment and wait for the bandits to return to the village again to attack.