Questing

Grass shuffled through the forest, a party of three making their way through the greenery.

“Ew, what’s that smell?” a distant feminine voice seeped through the trees.

A deep masculine voice replied, “must be a goblin camp.”

“We should check it out, see if they have any goodies!”

“Whaaaa, I’m already all sweaty and musty, let’s just go home. This forest gives me shivers"

“C’monnnnnn Eira, Ansel back me up!”

“We just finished picking all of these,” raising his sack filled to the brim with green pointed leaves Ansel reasoned , “for the sole reason of taking a break from all that.”

“Yeah, and especially for you ‘cause- ”

“I’M FINEEEEEEE” a childish wine echoed, the blonde hair wavy hair drooping as he hunched over in a pout.

“Listen we-”

“Y’know what, you guys can go ahead,” the blonde hair shooting up, and his eyes sparkling with resolve, “I’ll go check it out and take ALLLL the goodies for myself.”

“Wait!” Eira yelled. But the boy had run off, oblivious of the place he was in.

““TALOS!!!””

—--

Leaves rustled and twigs snapped. Kaito groaned atop the rotting body; taking a deep breath, his eyes still closed, he coughed at the smell of expired flesh and mud. He coughed and coughed, hunching over on his knees and soon plugging his nose. He gagged at the smell, still in his throat, his clothes—the remains of his two piece suit. They were now covered in blood, the stench fusing with the cloth.

Sighing in disappointment “Mannnnnn,” Kaito patted whatever dust he could off his suit.

“Wow! What the heck happened to you?”

“Huh”

A green-eyed boy emerged from the forest, jogging joyfully toward him. He wore a brown, leather looking sweater, with his left arm hidden behind the unnaturally long sleeve. His voice was childish and high-pitched, his mannerisms matching in turn.

“You didn’t hear me?”

“Uh.. I- yeah, I heard you,” the surprise of another human kept him from organizing his thoughts, “I uh, I’m lost.”

“Pfft! HAHAHAHAHA, no shit you're lost! You were sleeping on top of a damn goblin! HAHAHAHAH!”

Kaito’s eyebrow twitched.

This freaking kid.

““TALOS!!””

“Awwww mannnnn, how’d ya’ll find-”

“Hey! You! Get away from him!”

A girl rapidly approached him, her brown eyes sparkling under the leaf-piercing rays of light. Her fair face looked at him in disdain, her long black hair swaying from side to side as she took broad strides toward them. Kaito was suddenly blinded by sunlight, her sword unsheathing from her waist belt as she pulled on the little boy’s collar.

“Who the hell are you huh! What are ya doing here!!”

“Calm down, look at him.” A man walked up behind her, placing his big hand on her shoulder to deescalate.

The girl, Eira, was pointing the tip of her sword at Kaito’s neck looking at him intently. His bruised face covered in dried blood, his spiky hair with splotches of dirt and mud, the torn up clothes he had. Turning toward Talos, he giggled quietly, covering his mouth in an attempt to keep quiet. She looked around the camp, the dead goblins, a disgusting sight to behold.

—--

Eira thought back on her last experience with them. The quest was essential for them to be able to pay for their room at the inn. It had been Ansel’s turn to pay, but he’d been swindled by an old lady just hours before. Now Ansel, Talos, and Eira were stuck trudging through the forest of Teraj, up in the northern lands of Falmah, the nation of humans and elves. The mission was simple: find and eliminate the goblin camp near the traveler's path. The quest had been up for no longer than a day, which meant that if they completed it that night, they were sure to get a small bonus.

Eira, Ansel, and Talos clambered through the thick pine and raspberry bushes that led the path. Another quest had been put out to clean up the path for a little more money than the quest they currently had. A rare occurrence in the guild since normally the F and E rank quests paid less than the higher ranked ones. The quests in the guild were all rated F-A, F being the lowest paying and safest quests, whereas A ranked quests were extremely dangerous often requiring giant parties, but also giving glamorous rewards.

“Aren’t you glad we took this quest instead of the pathway one?” Ansel slashed the bushes to his left and right, clearing a path for Eira and Talos, “We would’ve been stuck here for hours if we tried to clean this place up.”

The atmosphere was tense and eerie, the sun setting and the wind picking up as they made their way. The only light they had came from Talos and his light magic, lighting up their path occasionally so they could at least see where they were going.

“Mannnn I want out of here,” her back shivered as the wind brushed against her exposed shoulders, “this place gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

“Everyplace gives you the creeps, the heebie-jeebies, or whatever else you want to call it. Every single time we go out at night, all you do is wine. Ain’t that right Talos.”

“Hehe yeah your al-”

The leaves suddenly rustled and Eira hid right behind Ansel, clutching his sleeve as he walked.

“Stop being such a scaredy cat, it was probably just a Larock.”

“So? Even those attack people sometimes. Ugh I hate those things, their defense is too strong for a buncha of rodents!”

A minute passed in silence, Ansel slicing and Eira hiding. The forest was only growing in vegetation, the moonlight becoming useless as their guide.

“Hey Talos? You good?” Ansel turned around to look at the boy, “Did you run out of ma-”

“What?” Eira, still clinging to him, looked back and found nothing but leaves and grass in their wake.

“Talos?!”

She let go of Ansel and started backwards, her eyes peeled and ears wide open. Her feet cracking branches and her arms pushing thorned bushes back. The three of them were not related to each other by blood, but they were still siblings. Ansel had seen Eira pick-pocketing and caught her red handed as she tried to swindle him. She had escaped his grasp, or at least had been led to think that, and used the money to buy two pieces of bread. Ansel had followed her and found a toddler, just waddling around behind a butchery. Ansel was only a few years older than them, but he was all alone, just like them. He sympathized with their situation, having been in their shoes years ago, which led him to taking them with him. He took them with him on his adventures, questing and making a name for himself as “The BIG Brother,” a pun at his size as well as his bringing his “siblings” along on quests. The siblings were close, and had become family, never even wishing that the others would just leave them alone or go away.

“Talos I swear if this is a prank!…, we gotta focus on the quest! Dontcha wanna eat dinner and sleep?”

“Talos!!!”

Ansel felt a wet feeling as he passed through another thorned bush, raising his arm to touch it. It felt uncannily watery but also not wet like water.

Sniffing his arm, Ansel whispered “Blood!” under his breath.

They grew worried, both Eira and Ansel searching under every bush they could see and behind any tree trunk in their view. Then, the silence and wind cracked with a cry. Talos’ cry, a scream so horrifying that even the Larocks in the trees shuffled about. They ran into the forest, growing further and further from the path searching for any signs of Talos, only darkness staring back at them as they looked ahead. That is, until they saw a little glimmer between the trees. A goblin campfire, the one they had been looking for.

Eira and Ansel dashed toward it, chasing the immobile light and closing the distance between them and the campfire. As they ran, Eira suddenly stopped in her tracks, her body almost frozen in time. Ansel slowed his pace and turned toward her,

“Eira? What’s the matter?”

“Ansel…”

She covered her mouth and crouched, her gaze locked on the ground. Ansel kneeled down, looking at her face he saw the terror in her eyes, the tears welling up. He looked down, the ground was almost pitch black, his eyes were still adapting to the darkness. He saw an ominous looking branch, the color lighter than the tree around them. Focusing his gaze, Ansel’s face scrunched into itself and his mouth covered his mouth, keeping his breath steady.

An arm was resting on the ground, the blood slowly leaving and pooling up under it. I could have been anyone's arm, yet they knew. Talos had been taken.