Last Haven

Ezma, Shiro, Willow and Aspen winged south on the backs of the giant feathered beasts that the elves used as war mounts. Shiro of course had seen them before at the Dawnwall battle but the chaos of that event entailed had not allowed for him to appreciate the majesty of the the creatures

Splitting the difference between a lizard and bird the sinewy feather coated body was capable of landing on pretty much any space strong enough to support its weight and strong enough to glide high above the clouds where the air was thin. The duel rider saddles of these beasts reminded Shiro of how people would ride two to a motorcycle back in his world, with him behind Willow and Ezma riding with Aspen.

Shiro shook his head, so much had happened so quickly, one minute he had been thinking they would be lucky to be banished from elven lands due to being a security risk, next the Elven Champion who now insisted he call her Willow was proclaiming him Champion of humans and his party guests of honor.

When Shiro had a few moments to ask her the why of the proclamation she simply replied "only a Champion could have freed me and entered that mind space."

Not being able to think of a rebuttal Shiro had embraced the role, it seemed a lot better so far than what the Kingdom had expected from him as the Hero at least.

Once the celebrations of Willow's return reached a point where she could get away she had advised Shiro and the council that she had spoken with the beasts of the land and the balance was disturbed by the long absence of the Seven Champions with the only way to right it being to release the remainder of the Champions.

The council had been ecstatic at the proposal and made lots of military recommendations that would allow them to distract as many of the Holy Kingdom's forces as they could.

Shiro had been less enthusiastic. Lily had been fighting some illness since the sanctuary scuffle and was in no shape to travel, he still was not sure if it was the right call to leave her in the hands of Elven healers without either himself or Ezma to be there when she woke up. Yet with the world needing help he could not afford to dally, and Willow assured him that just travel time would be around a week and a half by air. Meaning that hopefully they should be back fast.

They did not camp often as they were usually able to find a village with an inn long before dark. When they did have to camp Willow, Aspen and Ezma had enough bush skills to make short work of dinner and set up leaving Shiro to feel useless.

After dinners Willow would help Shiro learn Elvish while Aspen and Ezma would slip away with sly grins and mumbled excuses about needing to collect firewood or water. Willow would broadly hint about taking advantage of the privacy but Shiro would always play dumb on the hints. He just could not get used to the idea in this body. He knew he was conventionally attractive and that whatever force had made this body had ensured he had started with an above average physic that had continued to be hones by weapons drills and fights. Yet it felt like a rich friend had loaned him a sports car, it handled like a dream and was pretty cool, it just was not comfortable. Like each dent and scratch was going to need accounted for, making impossible to relax enough to want any sort of romance.

He had thought at first that it was the weight of his duty stressing him out and causing the feelings, but with breaking away from the Holy Kingdom he was pretty confident it was the body.

So he awkwardly muddled through his Elvish lessons and hoped they would be at an inn the next night.

***

Conveniently the next night they were in the last inn before reaching the lands where the Slimes dwelt. As the group had traveled south the grand giant trees of the deep woods and gradually reduced in size until around the village of Lasthaven there was little more than windswept and blight colored vegetation that clung to the ground. This bleak landscape cause the village to stand out all the more as it nestled along the side of a road that had been built for more traffic than the party had seen this whole time, like a bubble of vibrant green.

This splotch of green was due to the whole village being enclosed in a hedge of a plant that Willow said was bred to filter some of the more toxic fumes that sometimes blew in from the Slime lands.

The buildings of Lasthaven would have looked normal except that they had all been built with signs of being able to become air tight if the need arose. Thicker glass windows than any Shiro had seen before, and every open door looked to have a heavy duty seal made of what passed in this world for rubber.

After getting settled at the inn Willow gathered them around to say "Aspen and I have often traveled to the land of Slimes on Champion business back in the day. Shiro I do not want to presume but I am operating under the impression that you have never been here before?'

Shiro shakes his head in the negative

Ezma chimes in before Willow can ask her "I have just heard the tales myself."

Willow nods then continues "With that in mind here is what you need to know. The land of Slimes is a very dangerous place to us. The footing is treacherous as thin layers of rock grow like lichens across everything and something seemingly solid may be no more than a fragile crust over.'

She holds up a hand to forestall Shiro's question 'No we cannot fly. Which brings me to the second danger, the very air will be prone to trying to kill us. Lasthaven has some items which we will purchase to help with that but every little odd feeling needs reported so we can make an assessment. Some of the miasmas will kill in one breath, others will alter reality around you until you fall into something that you should avoid, and yet others will grant a slow lingering death. Clean air is the best remedy we know for all of them, yet it is not guaranteed to work. That said, the people of Lasthaven have been practicing these things for a long time so we will follow our guide and do what they say without question. Am I clear?"

Shiro and Ezma nod their assent. "Well the,' Willow grins 'lets go shopping."