The Great Outdoors

Fumihito decided that he hated the outdoors.

Days had been spent traveling through muddy roads, high grasslands, over a couple of hills, and camping on the ground. He never thought he’d have to do so much physical labor in his life, but he was proven wrong. Through all this time, the worst part was that Erlana didn’t look the least bit bothered. Despite wearing a rather fancy little outfit, she seemed more suited to the outdoors.

Who set up the campsites? Erlana.

Who cooked the meals? Erlana.

Who ended up handling most of the manual labor?

Not Scrimgeour, nope. Erlana once again!

How could someone so nervous and clumsy end up being the most stalwart woman he had seen in his entire life? The poor man was slumped over and compared to the skeleton casually walking beside him with Erlana chatting them up, the poor college student felt like he was going to die from overworking himself.

And he hadn’t even done any work for the most part!

“Are we any closer to the nearest town yet, E-Erlana?”

He piped up with the slightest wheeze and plopped a hand onto his chest to try and keep it to himself. If Erlana noticed, she didn’t pay it much mind.

“Oh, we’re approaching it. If we keep at this pace for the next two hours, we should be there by afternoon. Don’t worry, we’re going to be there soon.”

And she smiled at him.

Another bright and honest smile sent a hot flush across his face. Why was he always so flustered around her? The two of them had just met and yet she had done the bare minimum for a friendship. How was it that she kept him so optimistic despite how things were? Shouldn’t that have been impossible or was it just his bad luck that he ended up stumbling onto someone with arguably the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen?

“Don’t worry too much about it, necromancer. I’m just shocked that all those little lessons haven’t gotten to ya. Don’t ya wanna try again? See if you get lucky?”

Right, lessons.

Apparently, because he had nobody else to rely on, Scrimgeour had taken it upon himself to try and guide him through necromancy. Yes, the undead didn’t possess magic in his life, but he had taken it upon himself to try and teach. Erlana didn’t seem to have a problem with it. He thought she’d want to question him or poke, but she looked more than happy that she wasn’t involved.

It felt like she was avoiding him sometimes.

The lessons, on the other hand, weren’t very helpful. Most of it was Scrimgeour encouraging him to reach out and tap into the spiritual side of the world. Something he kept rejecting because of that first experience. It wasn’t like the undead understood. He hadn’t been assaulted by what felt like thousands of hands trying to dig into his skin and peel his flesh apart.

It was also the fact that trying kept bringing up memories. Memories that he would have preferred to keep buried rather than dig them up. Most of this ‘training’ was just making sure he didn’t lose it and cause another incident.

“If it isn’t too much trouble, I’d like to avoid trying. Again. Erlana, couldn’t you tell me more about this town so I can avoid this topic?”

A sorry attempt at humor, yeah, but he thought it was better than giving Scrimgeour any more ammunition. The undead looked about ready to cackle and nudge him around if he got any closer to them again.

The young woman offered him a small smile before she stepped over to walk by his side. The undead took that as his cue to back away and walk a little further behind the two while trying to form an expression on his face. Fumihito knew it wasn’t possible for a skeleton to make a smile, but he swore he could see that smug bastard giving him an unruly smug little smile.

He scowled before Erlana nudged his hand once with a poke, enough to have her fingers glide across the top of his skin. Whether she knew it or not, Erlana was leaving him more flustered than a ripe tomato.

“Well, the town’s known a lot for a bustle of ancient history. The previous town was mainly home to trade and cultural exchange because of Scrimgeour’s… I want to say accomplishments, but now I kind of feel bad saying that…,” and there he could see the pout that built across the poor woman’s face.

It was as strangely endearing as ever.

“Hey, I did the best I could with what I could work with! Most of those were still somewhat true though,” the undead in the background piped with crossed arms. Even then, Fumihito could tell that was not a tone of pride, but rather an excuse.

“This town isn’t very special inherently, but it possesses a wealth of historical knowledge that’s been sold out years ago after Scrimgeour’s activities. Most of it went to the Center. The knowledge was history, for the most part, regarding the gods. A place they once touched,” Erlana smiled brightly and tipped her hat upwards to give her face some exposure to Fumihito.

“You can say it’s almost like visiting a festival or a place of celebration. Most of the people who live there are those who descended from their ancestors from the beginning. It’s a nice town from what I hear. My mother and father thought it would be a good place to visit for inspiration.”

He could see the way her eyes dimmed at the mention of her parents. There was still something that she hadn’t told him and as much as he wanted to say he deserved it, he really didn’t. All he wanted to do was ask more about her and yet he couldn’t pull up the will to try. It always felt like he was scaring her away which didn’t even seem to make sense either.

She seemed fine with him when the two weren’t going over necromancy.

“And we’re going here, why? Is it because it’s a good path toward the Center?”

But it was better he focused on the now. There was no point trying to force an answer out of her. It wasn’t his place to do so.

“Well, that’s part of the reason, but it’s mostly because it’s the closest town with resources. If we’re going to go, we’ll need food, water, and just a few basic supplies for some of my potions. Other than that, we should also be able to purchase transportation. Preferably from somewhere that doesn’t have everybody on high alert either.”

He almost forgot about the fact that they still left a town where the hero’s body was no longer to be found and his armor was left in a grave. It sounded so insane when he said that out loud, but here he was with a walking skeleton and a young woman who clumsily summoned him from another world and into this house of horrors.

“Don’t you have portals or something? Couldn’t you contact someone to use a portal or something like that?”

Once again, Erlana looked almost insulted judging by the rather deadpan look on her face.

“I know we’re from two different worlds and all that, but that’s not exactly very simple. If it was that easy, nobody would ever need a horse for anything. As far as spatial magic goes, only a few people know how to do it and I can count the number of practiced users on my hand. It’s a difficult craft, Fumihito,” Erlana poked him across the cheek just once before she chuckled.

“Still, magic has been used for a lot more than just that at least. As soon as we get there, I’ll be able to conceal Scrimgeour AND we’ll have transportation in no time after a good night’s rest.”

Well, that explained something about stereotypes. In this case, maybe he needed to stop trying to imagine that every person with magic in this world had the ability to do anything. If things had a limit, then that was obviously going to be one of them.

“So, Fumihito… You’ve asked me a lot about my world, but what about yours? You know about magic but it’s not real? Do you mind indulging a researcher?” Erlana even stepped on her tippy toes, getting way too close for his comfort. He could smell the lavender off of her body and her vermillion eyes were locked onto his.

His face grew hot before he stepped away and gave the young witch a simple nod.

“Y-Yeah, something like that. My world’s normal in the sense that there’s no magic at all. Most of the stuff we have is just manmade. Machines, computers, cars, and….,” he wanted to go in-depth a little more, but Erlana’s face looked perplexed.

Right, he was explaining foreign concepts that probably didn’t even apply to her or this world. Nobody here had the internet and he doubted anybody in this world drove around in a luxury car while burning gas.

“It’s something I’d have to explain more about, but don’t worry. I could tell you about college?”

That seemed to have lit up the woman’s eyes as her eyes grew wide with excitement. He smiled softly and slipped his hands into his pockets as the two talked further on and so on. It felt nice being like this. Maybe it was because of the fact that he didn’t have a choice or because he was saddled up with the only person who could offer him a talk that wasn’t about his social life, but…

It felt nice.

Being around someone who just seemed so kind was new. School was different mainly because he stayed away from people and most didn’t exactly try to get near him. Sure, he worked with a few other classmates, but they all came together about studies or a few discussions. Nothing is ever so simple or casual.

But Erlana seemed so bright.

And her eyes were still the most beautiful he had seen. The man took a breath as the group strolled through the dirt road past a couple of signs. Some of them all direct them to a few other places. One of them, which stood out to him the most, was the letters plastered across the sign that spelled a single name.

The town that Erlana spoke of frequently.

Tartarus. 

And even he wasn't aware of the deathly chill that rattled Scrimgeour's bones.