“What happened? Are they alright?” Quin asked, finally unable to tolerate the quiet.
“They’re safe, don’t worry,” Thorin said.
“What were you trying to check?” Clay asked as Thorin closed his eyes and recalled the paths his undead had taken.
“Two things,” Thorin said. “My Ghosts’ perception is far better than I first thought. They seem to be able to sense the undead’s territory and its threat level instinctually. We can use that to plan for each of the areas instead of going in blind.”
Both of his brothers lifted their brows and looked at him in surprise.
“What’s the other?” Clay asked.
“This,” Thorin said, taking out the map and overlapping it with the image in his head. “This part, this part, and this one.” He traced the boundaries of these areas. “These are red. We need to avoid them. But a thin line goes through them where my Ghosts felt no pressure. It was almost as if it was a safe crack running through their territories. We can use that to travel around and target the yellow and orange areas. We still need to reconfirm the danger level just in case, but it should be accurate.”
Clay focused on the map and fell into deep thought. Quin scratched his head halfway through the explanation though. “You mean there’s a buffer zone between two territories, and we can tell which territory has stronger or weaker undead?”
“You just said it in reverse but yeah,” Thorin said. “Since these undead are highly territorial, they probably end up fighting and killing each other if they cross their range of activities. So, things must’ve evolved into today’s situation where they leave enough buffer zone to prevent any deadly clashes.” He looked at his brothers with a grin and dazzling eyes. “We can use them as safe cracks and move around. We can initiate the fights on our own terms now based on the danger level of the territories.”
“Will there be any treasure in that crack?” Quin asked.
“Maybe,” Thorin said. “I’m not sure if someone else has discovered this phenomenon. If many have, we’ll probably come up empty handed.”
“Let’s hope we’re the first ones,” Clay said. “Or at least one of the first ones.”
“There’s one more thing,” Thorin said, pointing to a nearby region on the map again. “This area was kind of weird. There’s a big patch here that acted the same as these buffer zones. Neither Enya nor Vraak felt any threat here. Instead, they were calmer, almost peaceful. I think it could be another safe zone. Let’s go there and confirm it ourselves though.”
“A safe zone in the inner circle would be really convenient,” Quin said. “I hope it is that.”
Once they double checked the map, they took deep breaths and stepped into the inner circle, walking the buffer zones with Vraak and Enya as their guides. Regardless of the speculated safety, the dense churning mist had strangulated their perception. So, their hearts were in their mouths with each footfall.
“I do not like this,” Quin whispered, clutching the hilt of his greatsword, ready to swing it at anything that moved. “I can't see anything beyond a few steps.”
“We don’t have to like it.” Thorin matched his volume too as the biting breeze joined their conversation with their eerie whispers. “We just have to use it to our advantage.”
They halted their steps when Vraak and Enya stopped and shuddered, and they moved again when his undead changed directions. The safe crack indeed looked to be safe. They barely encountered any wandering undead, and what they met was weak enough to fall at their hands within minutes.
They even met some Ghosts in the buffer zone. Perhaps their weakness became a guarantee of life inside the inner circle. No undead bothered to hunt them even when they hovered into the red zones. Their perception was far below Vraak’s and Enya’s, or they were reckless. Nonetheless, when they bothered someone enough, they met a swift end. They couldn’t even let a scream out before they vanished from a casual swat.
The Aether brothers were walking a tight rope here, so Thorin ignored the Ghosts for now. The battlefield had a plethora of them for him to brand anyway. He could do it when their situation wasn’t so delicate. And at last, after an uneventful prowl through the dense mist that kept their nerves taut, they reached the patch.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Indeed, as Thorin had guessed, the clearing was a safe zone with a banyan tree at its core. It matched their previous safe zone in size and layout. But this was a different safe zone. The denser mana, the radiation that the tree gave off, and even the tree itself was unlike the last one.
“Nice!” Quin exclaimed with a hoot and rushing in to grab his spot.
“Another safe zone,” Clay murmured, craning his neck to gaze at the crown. “This tree looks much…richer though.”
“I’m getting more and more curious about them,” Thorin said, caressing the rough bark of the hefty trunk. It was much healthier and plump. Even stronger. As if it had plenty to eat. Not that the other one was dying but seeing this made that contrast more vivid. Even so, this tree didn’t have any fruits or seeds either. But that just intrigued him more. There was some oddity behind these safe zones that popped up on the deathly battlefield, and he was itching to find it out.
“Do these safe zones follow some pattern?” Clay commented. “This feels random but deliberate.”
“Can it be those higher leveled Magi?” Quin asked. “Maybe they found the place and created such safe zones, so that the weaker Magi could hunt better.”
“Of course.” Thorin laughed with sarcasm. “They are all such friendly and helpful people. They would even offer all their treasures to you if you asked nicely.”
“How else do you explain the safe zones then?” Quin retorted.
“I can't,” Thorin said. “But that is not possible. I’m more inclined to believe that the tree itself is creating this situation.”
“Do you mean it also has sentience like the battlefield?” Quin asked.
“Who knows. Maybe it’s just their instinct,” Thorin replied. “Or maybe they’re just something that the undead avoid and they happen to grow in these areas.”
“But why haven’t we heard anything about them?” Clay questioned. “Even the battlefield burying Magi by itself and creating tombs for them is common knowledge.”
“I would like to know that too,” Thorin said. “I can presume that me finding such a safe zone was related to my heart or mother. But I don’t have any evidence. I can't be sure.”
“You found the second one through Vraak and Enya,” Quin said.
“I have them because of
“No use worrying about it now when we don’t have enough information,” Clay said and plopped onto the grass, spreading his legs. “Let’s take a rest and plan our first move in the inner circle.”
“Let’s hit a yellow zone first,” Thorin said, spreading the map on the grass. It had new markings and legends now in red, orange, and yellow, with a white line snaking in between them.
“I vote for orange,” Quin said, sitting by the side with his legs crossed. “We can do it.”
Thorin clicked his tongue at him. “Don’t be reckless. We’ll start with the yellow and gauge how strong they are. We can slowly expand towards orange.”
“Will we eventually hit a red?” Quin asked.
“We’ll see,” Thorin said. “If we can break through another layer or two here, we can try a red zone. But not as we are now.”
“I’ll scout this area first,” Clay said, pointing at the yellow zone that was the nearest to their safe zone.
“Yeah, it’ll be easier for us if we know what we’re fighting,” Thorin said. “I’ll send Vraak with you. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can get started with the potions. They’ll come in handy here.”
“What should I do?” Quin asked.
“You need to go back out,” Clay said. “Go back to the Moonstead town, buy a crystal ball, and use the inception spellcard on Byram if he passes the test. If he doesn’t…Well, we’ll see about that when it happens.”
“Hmm, I’ll send Enya with you, just in case you lose your way,” Thorin said to Quin. “Follow the safe crack and get out. Don’t go off and fight any undead in the inner circle if you can avoid it.”
“I know, I know,” Quin grumbled and mumbled. “I’m not that reckless. What kind of image do you guys have of me?”
“That of a boar,” Thorin quipped.
“Fuck you!” Quin jumped at him.
“Come, bitch!” Thorin fought back.
“Alright,” Clay said and clapped as Quin and Thorin almost brawled. “Let’s head out. Try to finish your task as soon as possible. Remember, we also have a deadline to complete that man’s task. We need to head to the Shepherds’ country eventually. The sooner we grow stronger, the sooner we’ll be able to complete that and pay our debt to him.”
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