"I’m getting sick and tired of this meat….can’t we have some vegetables?"
In a camp nested in the dark reaches of ravenswood forest, two cohorts could be seen seated around a campfire with sparks of dazzling light floating in the dark.
After staying here for 6 days, they had come to realize that the fog did come to the area; however, they were too high up for it to reach them here. So when night came, they no longer needed to climb on trees.
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"Not unless you want to die by leaf poisoning," a member of the cohort responded with a smile on his face. He was from the outskirts; they didn’t get much meat there, so there was no way he would get tired of it.
Besides, the leaves around here were contaminated with variants of the poisonous plants in the shelter. Picking up the wrong one could get you killed.
Even the old ’vegetarian’ Hamdel had been forced to eat meat. There was no two ways about it.
At least not right now,
"Don’t worry guys, I’ll cook the next meal….it’ll be special," all of a sudden Victoria spoke with all seriousness as if trying to calm the troop.
She had no idea she had achieved the complete opposite effect.
Sweat began to drip from foreheads and bitter smiles appeared on the faces of everyone here. They’d rather have tasteless meat for 100 years than have her food!!
She didn’t know this though.
"Congratulations again, boss Cyrus, truly spectacular," one of the Slayers from the dual blade cohort said, raising his hand in praise at the two brothers.
Today, they had attacked and killed a grand beast and received an echo; they were now a step closer to achieving what they set out to do. With that elevation, it would be much easier fighting that mythic beast.
Of course, it was much deeper than that.
There was an unsaid competition going on between the two cohorts. Cyrus felt inadequate when Victoria first showed up with the head of a grand beast; it felt like she was purposefully trying to show him up.
So the next day he went after a grand beast. It took him a while and a broken limb, but with the help of his brother Quinn, he was able to defeat the grand beast.
"Thank you… we are all trying our best," Cyrus spoke with a tinge of humbleness that, to an extent, radiated with pride.
Victoria had gotten one, and he had gotten one. It was no big deal; they were all trying. There was no one above the other.
"Ehnn…. by the way, I also got a beast echo today…" Guilliman said randomly, causing nods around the team.
Getting an echo had suddenly become incredibly hard; even a sacred one was worth celebrating.
"That’s nice, kid," Cyrus smiled as he glanced at Guilliman briefly.
However, as he did, his eyes also caught a glimpse of Morgan’s expression. It was one of doubt and disbelief. They were on the same team; how wouldn’t he know whether or not Guilliman killed something?
Clearly, he knew, but why then was he surprised if he was right there?
’That can’t be right?’
A thought passed through his mind, but he swiftly threw it to the back of his mind. There was no way that was possible.
Guilliman had Morgan, that dodgy youth in his team, even though he was good at repairing weapons and even echoes, that was about it. He had no real fighting power.
The fact that he even qualified to come here was a mystery. He didn’t hate the kid; they were teammates, after all, however he knew what was in his capabilities and what wasn’t.
But…he didn’t know what was Guilliman’s limits.
"Congratulations, Guilliman, you’ve worked hard," to the side, Victoria’s voice resounded as she recognized him.
Cyrus and the rest might not know how lethal this kid was, but she and the rest of her cohort did.
"Congratulations, man."
"More kills."
"Excellent work, kid."
Jemie, Barthold and Hamdel offered congratulations, causing the campfire to lighten up and confusion to appear on Cyrus’s face.
Weren’t they blowing this out of proportion? At best he got a sacred echo, right? Right?
His eyes dwindled once more, finally landing on Morgan once more; he would need to question this kid after all.
.
.
.
The next morning, instead of going out for the usual hunting escapades, Victoria and Cyrus gathered the two most useful scouts in the cohorts and brought them down towards the outpost’s gates.
"It’s nothing too fancy, we just want to confirm that nothing changed," Cyrus said with a calm look on his face as he walked down side by side with Victoria.
They had already done a good job in recon of the outpost, but things were ever-changing; going in without confirming was just stupid.
"Since your ’beast souls’, as you call them, can be attacked, you will be in charge of the less dangerous right gate…" Cyrus spoke as they walked closer to the outpost.
They weren’t going in right now, of course; they still hadn’t found a solution to the poisonous air.
"Sure, can do," Guilliman smirked. Cyrus’s mood seemed to have changed a lot since last night; that kid Morgan must have told him what he did.
He was now trying to superimpose on Guilliman; having one person superior to him was enough… two was trouble.
But what really could he do? This wasn’t the Blacksteel shelter; status did not matter here.
Soon, the two scouts found a clearing close to the outpost; there they both sat down cross-legged.
"See you on the other side, my guy," Quinn smiled coyly, then closed his eyes to extend his senses outward.
The next moment, Guilliman felt the kid’s soul split in half, one hovering above his body albeit being fairly sparse and scattered.
In fact, it was very hard to detect if he wasn’t sitting so close to him right now.
A small breeze soon blew and Quinn’s ethereal body glided through it as he made his way over the fence and into the outpost.
"Focus fully on getting a correct gauge on the place, we will protect you from here," Cyrus assured Guilliman, patting him lightly on the shoulder.
"Sure," Guilliman smiled, then turned to Victoria. She nodded, then he proceeded to close his eyes.
"Manifest," Guilliman muttered.
All of a sudden a flying swordfish with shimmering scales and a sharp snout appeared above him. Its body shook lightly, then it took off into the sky, heading towards the outpost.