Broker

Side Story: Camp 3

Lillian crouched among the trees with the others, aspirants who were considering taking on the role of scout. They crowded over the map they had made so far. Stealth wasn’t exactly her thing, but she’d gotten used to sneaking around a little bit as she worked with the other scouts. While she probably wouldn’t end up taking the scouting role in the future, it was good to have a strong understanding of what went into it, at least in her opinion. She ran her fingers over the digital map and tapped a spot where the path in the trees opened up, “Another camp over there I’m guessing,” She said thoughtfully as the others glanced up at her. She rubbed her chin and glanced up for a moment, feeling the air again. The mana was steady as always if a bit odd. She couldn’t put her finger on it though.

“The instructors have been culling the dungeon, right?” One of the others asked.

She glanced down at the young man across from her. He had a backpack on his shoulder and metallic gauntlets that shifted a little like liquid when he adjusted his crouch, “Yeah,” She said with a nod, “We should be good for a while.”

The other scouts around her nodded and they got to their feet, slipping through the trees towards the spot she’d indicated. A good amount of the foliage in the dungeon was far too dense for passage but there were portions that were loose enough that they could creep through if they were careful. She had a suspicion that these spots were actually areas that monsters would be lying in wait so she’d marked them as such and the others didn’t argue her points. She stepped over a dry patch of leaves and pointed down at it, the others following her example as they made their way through.

A dense cloud of mana popped into her senses, just at the edge, and she slowed down a little. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed the hilt of the sword on her back, adjusting her posture to move sideways as they tried to reduce the amount of sound they were making. Faint light shone through small openings in the canopy over them, flickers that washed over their skin. She licked her lips and drew in a bit more. We haven’t seen any monsters since we started, the culling was just recently. She thought, Maybe this one hid? She narrowed her eyes and turned to gesture towards the others to move deeper towards the denser trees and hang back a little. 

She hopped into the limbs and kicked off with a silent movement, landing on one limb after another before alighting on a tree just at the edge. She crouched and pressed herself against the trunk, peering through the leaves at the path outside. The grass, dirt, and soil stretched out about a dozen feet before stopping at the trees at the other side of the route through the dungeons forest. Where is it? She thought, concentrating on the feeling she got from whatever it was. Then it stepped into view and she raised her hand to her mouth to hold back a sharp intake of breath.

The creature looked vaguely humanoid, it even had a face, but that’s where the similarities ended. It was tall, nearly seven feet, and had overlong arms that stretched down to the knees on its stretched, eerily thin legs. Its skin was somewhere between flesh and bark, stretched tightly against muscle and bone. Its long neck was wide and misshapen, stretching out all the way to its shoulders as it tapered out. It had long hair made of leafy vines that hung down to its lower back..It’s face, though, was the eeriest part. It had dark slits where its eyes should be, green embers burning inside. Its nose seemed overly stiff and rigid and its mouth was shut in a permanent frown. It turned its head slightly and she caught sight of long tapered ears.

Is… is that an elf? She thought, There’s no way.

It turned its head again and looked into the trees she was hiding in. She held her breath and forced her legs into stillness. The creature flexed its fingers before turning away, marching slowly back the way it had come in slow, steady steps.

She let out a slow breath and hopped backwards, landing on one tree limb after another as she reversed course to where the others were waiting. She hopped down, “There’s a monster patrolling the path towards the open area,” She said quickly.

One of the girls brightened and pulled out her tablet, “Details, please!” She said quickly, “Whatever we can learn, the better.”

“It’ll sound insane, but I’ll try,” Lily said with a nod and did her best to describe the thing she saw. The more she explained, the more horrified the others started to look. A few of them exchanged glances with one another before swallowing hard. When she was done she let out a breath and searched their faces. Worry, fear, anxiety. Her lip twitched, This is bad. She thought, That thing was terrifying, how are we supposed to scout when everyone’s so scared. 

She scratched the back of her head, Teacher would give them an earful for chickening out. She paused, What would Firestorm do? She could use her aura to ease their discomfort. No, not now. They need something real to lean on. She exhaled, We’re heroes, right?

“What we’re doing is dangerous,” She started, getting their attention. “We all knew that going in,” She put her hands back on her hips and tilted her chin up a bit, cracking a wide smile, “What? You guys scared of a couple monsters when there are supervillains out in the world?” She chuckled and rubbed her nose, “Sure, it’s easy for me to say, I’m strong,” She flexed her arm, “But so are you guys. We’re freakin’ powerhouses and what we’re doing is going to help keep our teams safe, yeah? Somethin’ to be proud of,” She looked each of them in the eyes, “Some monster isn’t gonna get in our way!”

The others started to relax, a few of them smiling. One of the guys slapped the other on the chest and said something in a low voice, the both of them laughed and the atmosphere eased even more. “We should take it slow,” One of the guys said, “Observe and record. If there’s only one and it looks like an easy target, take it out so we can get a full map undisturbed.”

The others nodded, “Right,” The girl with the tablet said, “Nothing we can’t handle! Let’s go!”

A chorus of agreement followed and the procession through the trees resumed. Lily watched them go for a moment, smiling to herself. She reached up and put her hand on the hilt of her sword, And I’ve got your backs. Don’t you worry while I’m here.

They crossed the short distance in just a few minutes before arriving at the break in the trees where the path started. Lily checked again and this time didn’t see the creature. She nodded to the others and they quickly checked to see if there were any traversable spots in the treeline leading towards the open area but found nothing but a wall of wood. They settled on taking the path proper, following it between the trees all the way to the point where the path opened up into an enormous open space. They all stopped and stared, awestruck.

“Woah,” Someone breathed.

“Yeah,” Lily mumbled.

They’d expected a campsite or some kind of small village, instead they stared upon an old ruin. A single massive ziggurat made up the center of the space with dozens of small stone buildings surrounding it at various distances. They were all made of a dark gray stone and covered in thick moss that hung at places. The architecture was strange, it jutted out at odd angles in places, making it look like the corners of the buildings were spiked. No, like they’re in the process of growing. Lily thought. Weird.

She scanned the area in front of her once, frowning a little, “I don’t sense it,” She mumbled, “Where did it go?” She turned her attention in a full circle, her awareness drifting backwards in a wave going in both directions. Her eyes shot open and she whirled around. 

Everything seemed to slow down for her, her heart beating a mile a minute, she kicked off the ground and launched herself at the girl with the tablet who was taking notes at the rear. The girl barely had time to look up as Lily flew past her, bringing her sword down in a fierce arc, gold flames following it in a trail. Just a few feet behind her, the misshapen creature let out a pained gurgle, arching its back to look up at the sky before collapsing to the ground. She stood up straight and let out a sharp breath. She turned to look at the shocked faces of the others, especially the ghostly pale face of the tablet girl, What was her name? Nina, right, Nina.

She slung her sword onto her shoulder and grinned, “Where were we?”