Chapter 16: Chapter 15 – Calm Before the Storm

Poor Cid... I can hear the sounds of Celes and Kreg having a uh, great time, in the room next to me. As soon as we reached the western village Celes had ran off to some bathhouse to clean herself up. I didn't hear her return to the guild, but I sure as hell hear her now. The idea that Cid is also hearing this while crying into his pillow fills me with pity and random bouts of uncontrollable laughter, I'm not quite sure how to feel.
Knock Knock
Well that's surprising, can't imagine why anyone would want to come to my room. Maybe it's Dora? Could be one of the other males listening to this and hoping to experience the same thing. They're going to be very disappointed.
Getting off the bed and answering the door, I'm surprised to see Aresa standing there. She's holding that chalkboard against her chest with her arms crossed over it, it's kind of a cute sight but what does she want with me?
"You need something Aresa?"
She turns the chalkboard around, scratching out a response on it. At first I hated the sound that chalk makes, but it seems I quickly adapted because it's not bothering me anymore. Plus nobody has told me why yet, but I doubt she's writing instead of talking purely because she enjoys it.
{Something to talk about. Also very bored, Celes is.... busy. Do you like Checkers?}
Checkers? That's a board game pretty sure... I saw it a few times in the compound. Every year or two the church puts out a new board game that is sent to all of their local monasteries, people in those villages can come play them for free. Only the rich can own personal boards like this. I knew she was a noble but I didn't think she was just carrying around board games.
"You bring your games with you?"
Scritch scritch
{? Every guild hall has board games. The man named Bara ditched you to play chess, did he not?}
"Well this is Viseux, I figured there was board games everywhere here. Though now that you bring it up, it does make sense for the guild halls to have entertainment present for the hunters." I continued. "Sorry, I automatically assumed the noble girl was carrying around toys."
Aresa took on a complicated face, pushing her chalk into the board but seeming to hesitate to say anything. Just then a loud moan came from the room next door.
Scritch scritch
{Gross} She held up the board with a disgusted look on her face. I couldn't help but laugh in response to that.
"Hahaha oh god, I figured they were doing this all the time and you were used to it!"
{Ew no. I have no intentions on becoming accustomed with the vile meat smashing taking place in that room. I am saving myself for my prince charming.}
Prince charming??? People actually say shit this stupid with a straight face?
.... Sure enough, Aresa is holding up the board with a very charming smile on her face.
"Well uh, good luck with that." You're going to need it.

Also 'vile meat smashing' is an interesting take on sex. Maybe I'm just numb to it... Plenty of people would do it right there in the workshop after all. Over time it barely even registered in my brain that it was happening.
{Follow. I will hear no more of this.}
Exiting my room I'm once again reminded of how eerily quiet this place is. In the rooms you can hear the people next to you, but for some reason nothing leaks into the halls. There is only one unbelievably tiny crystal light setup in this entire hallway. Walking downstairs I see it's a little better with two magical torches going on opposite walls with two medium sized crystals on the others. Why they mix and match like this I have no idea. I know nothing about lighting magic, torches, or crystals etc.
When Aresa sits down at a table (directly below one of the torches) I notice she's already setup a checkers board.
"What would you have done if I said no?"
{Play alone}
....... Alright then.
Sitting down next to hear I immediately move one of the pieces.
{No! Black goes first!}
Wow she wrote that out in like two seconds, she's very passionate about checkers.
"I'm red, therefore red goes first. Law of the jungle dictates that the alpha takes precedence."
Aresa appears to me laughing in response to that, holding her hand up to her mouth. I say 'appears' because all I hear is the slight sound of air escaping her mouth, but you clearly don't need to hear anything to know when someone is laughing. The smile on her face speaks for itself.
{Alpha huh? Pfft... you don't have many friends do you?}
"I've only ever had one friend, and she... lost interest in me? I don't know. We worked in the same slave workshop for four years before she was moved to another one, it wasn't long before she had new friends and eventually she wouldn't even nod at me anymore."
Aresa's face changed to a complicated expression. Ahh I ruined that pretty smile... good work Eve.
{That turned heavy fast... you were a slave?}
I was worried I wouldn't remember how to play this game since I had only seen it in passing, that was apparently a needless worry. This game is truly simple and yet rather fun once you try it.
"Yep for fourteen years. Surprised?"
{I don't understand, how does a workshop slave learn to cast invisibility?}
"That's..." impossible to answer, princess.
We continued playing in silence for awhile. Whether it was me not answering her or she just wanted to play, I'm not sure, but I was surprisingly content.
Suddenly Aresa held up the board. {Why are you smiling like that?}
"I don't think I've ever done this before. Just relaxing and playing a game with a... friend?"
Scritch scritch scritch
{Friend is fine. These parties are generally formed through hunting trials, eventually becoming friends and then family... or so I am told.}
Right, she's obviously new and completely out of place. Should I ask? I'm curious but not in any rush to know the answer. Instead there is something else I want to know.
"I know I agreed to join earlier, but do you know where I'm heading or what I'm doing?"
Aresa thought on it for a bit before replying. {I only know a little. A few weeks ago there was a small report that one of the local priests went MIA for a few days, nothing more. She gave an excuse that she was unwell, but there is protocols for such things and none of her friends could find her.} She took a moment to erase it all to make room. {It's a red flag, but the guild is in a 'wait-and-see' approach right now. Kreg is convinced there is something wrong. As for the other location I know nothing.}
"I see... is it normal for the guild to not be worried while Kreg believes otherwise?"
"Not often Eve, but it happens." I looked behind Aresa to see Kreg walking down the stairs.
"Finished already? Getting old is rough."
Aresa began laughing again but quickly switched back to looking disgusted when Kreg responded. "I could go all night long, and I plan on doing just that! However I'm starving so I came down for a little pick-me-up. Give me a few to grab some food in the back and then I'll answer that question for you."
Aresa also stood up, taking her eraser over to the trash and began banging it against the inside. That eraser was nearly pure white a moment ago, it must be annoying having to clean that constantly.
Kreg came back soon after with two plates full of chicken. Literally... just chicken.
"That for all three of us?"
"Nope, go back there if you want more than you ate earlier." Kreg responded as he put a plate next to Aresa.
"Now there's a high class lady! She brings her own waiter with her."
Scritch scritch
{I didn't ask for this. Give Eve the details and then leave, fiend.}
Fiend...
Kreg shrugged. "Celes said to also get you some food since you didn't eat earlier. Don't want it? Give it to Eve."
Aresa stared at the chicken for quite awhile before moving her chair right next to me, bringing the food with her.
After that I thought we were going to eat in silence for awhile, however the 'fiend' began speaking with food in his mouth. I'm not like Jasper, but for the first time in my life I want to start screaming about manners.
"I know that priest, she's my cousin. Lissa would not just disappear for several days in an indiscreet location without telling the others. Also, our team will be going to another village near you. That one is a sanctioned mission given to us. We'll be at a village in the middle ring northeast of you. If you need us just make a mad dash through the peanut farms that cover the entire area there. Obviously if there is a problem, you won't be able to calmly locate the communicator to contact us."
Basically if there is an Eldritch, it's not going to sit around and watch while I make a call for assistance.
"But two right next to each other? That sounds even worse than what is happening up north... Is that where we are heading?"
"No, we are heading to the lands of Levurge. It's the lands south of where those two Eldritch keep popping up and west of Viseux's lands. After Lord Rai'ga blasts the area, it usually takes a few months before those two pop up again, and it's always been in the Duvont's lands up north." Kreg replies, still eating away at his massive plate.
"How often is there actual Eldritch issues? Just from hearing this its way more than I was expecting."
"Oh it was roughly two or three a year about ten years ago? It went up a bit overtime but even then, this is definitely abnormal. Eve I really don't know what you can expect to find there, but if there really is an Eldritch in the village then you run to us as fast as you can, okay?" Kreg continued. "Oh also, we're leaving tomorrow at dawn, we'll get there just in time for the blackout. It's a shame we can't help out the local area like we normally do, but this is far more important. This should be good news for you though?"
True, with it being pitch black outside I'll be in a much safer position.
"Something you said Eve is bugging me... why would you think its worse down here than up north? What's going on up there is the worst case of corruption I've ever seen." Kreg said.
"Oh, because that's just one village right? Here there might be two different ones so it could be worse was my initial impression. You're the one with the experience though, so I'll defer to you."
"Now I see what's wrong, you're misunderstanding something. The Eldritch up north don't take one village, it's two nearby like this might be, Lord Rai'ga blasts the entire area**, taking several villages out. Which is why my forcible recruiting of you is being ignored. Honestly, Master Zed is really worried, he thinks they may have gone south. How they gathered influence so fast is beyond me... If they truly are there, that's something we'll just have to figure out as we go."
Whoa, this became way worse than I was expecting. "The best teams died without a trace... this is going to be my first hunt?"
"Welcome to the party Eve! Personally, I am praying it's them." Kreg said, ending that message by grinding his teeth.
I felt a finger tapping on my leg. Looking down I see Aresa's board.
{His family was in the first village eviscerated. Not only that, but his sister was the one reported to be corrupted.}
Ahh no wonder he's hoping they are there then.
Soon after that Aresa had won our checkers match with Kreg idly watching us play. For some reason he stayed after he was done eating. A few minutes later we had all said our goodnights with Aresa thanking me for playing with her. I'm not sure what she is doing here in this group, but I'll happily hang out with her if given another chance.
.
.
.
Just like he reported the night before, as soon as the sun was up we were all in one of the guilds carriages heading west. I said goodbye to Cid before taking off. His attitude had gone from hopeful to annoyed, I guess he really did hear them last night.
Normally leaving a land without a caravan is unbelievably stupid (Dora's words), but we should be okay on the road between Viseux and Levurge. It rarely sees monster attacks, let alone any monsters at all since the guild keeps it clear for the most part. I'll know if there is a strong soul coming up on us anyways. Although I'm not quite sure how I'll tell the others yet.
We've been on the road for four days and a few minutes ago Albel yelled back at us that the outer village had just came into sight.
{Eve come on, you are taking way too long.}
"True genius takes time. A random pretty girl like you wouldn't understand the struggles of a truly gifted individual."
{Oh shut up and move, you're going to be checkmated next turn no matter what.}
Very true... what a dilemma. Seriously, what the hell is going on? I haven't won once... We moved to chess since I was growing tired of checkers, and yet nothing had changed.
As soon as I take my move she immediately checkmates me as expected. That smug look on her face is kind of cute so I'll forgive her.
I still haven't got used to this carriage, it's ridiculously high quality. I thought carriages at max held six people in a small space facing each other with their knees connected. This one however has two massive couches on each side with a table in between us. Far from an emergency travel vehicle, this feels like something you take out on vacation or your honeymoon.
It did however give me a chance to meet and get to know the crew. The one unknown named hunter who joined us in the monster hunt is named Dixon, and he's apparently a family man at the age of forty. He has five kids I think he said?
The other hunter being a boy named Thurston that's only nineteen years old. Honestly, I don't know much about him. He's literally only repeated the same crap about how he has a bad feeling about this mission and that he should have become a carpenter. Over and over the entire damn trip... no one has even looked at him or replied to him once. I quickly understood that he is always like this and people just leave him be.
You know what... screw it. "Hey Thurston! Why are you so worried about the upcoming investigation?" Immediately everyone turned to look at me, including Thurston.
"Huh...? Oh, uh..." He looked down and proceeded to mumble like that for fifteen seconds before Dixon whispered to me in a tone that sounded more like shouting. "He's uh, really shy around girls Eve. Or should I say overly shy in general? But he's damned good at magic!"
Albel joined in from the front of the carriage, yelling back at us. "Come on man! Eve, Celes, and Euphy are really kind! This is a good chance for you practice speaking in front of girls!!"

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"Never heard anyone call me kind before. Is Albel corrupted? We could be walking into a trap."
To that I could hear Thurston laughing but even that came out as a mumble.
"Eh, it's not a huge deal Thurston. Take your time to grow out of whatever shell you're trapped inside."
With that the chatter inside died down completely. I think everyone was preparing themselves for what is next. The day has just started a few hours ago, so I'll have to immediately head to my village where I will part ways with the others as they head deeper towards the capital.
What exactly is my plan here? Even when I asked the super hunters here, they gave the same advice that Master Godwin and Cid did. You locate the suspected corrupted individual, and then go from there... that's it. I just wing it apparently. Scouts are apparently supposed to get soul magic training to tell who is corrupted and who isn't. Not only do I not have that, but my soul sense literally only tells me the strength of the soul. When I thought there were monsters following the caravan I was in when I was a prisoner, they could have actually been very powerful humans for all I know (they obviously had to be monsters though... I think?). There is also signs to look for but they're different with each Eldritch. You don't even know what you're looking for till something starts to feel strange or out of place. The last option is the worst case scenario, waiting for the Eldritch to seek you out. They will inevitably come for you if they're present in the village, either to kill or corrupt you. Yet again I might end up using myself as bait it seems.
I can hear the Graka's pulling this carriage getting excited, we must be getting close to the town.
These Graka are such strange creatures... Apparently they're spawn to a long dead Eldritch that had the ability to breed. The dwarves bred and taught them to pull carriages, eventually turning that into one of their biggest exports. They look like giant rams and the damn things aren't scared of anything. At the guild or any stable in general, they just sit there submerged in a pool while slowly (and I mean slowly) chewing food.
Abruptly I felt something placed on my legs. Opening my eyes and looking down I see Aresa's board. {You okay?}
... What a sweet girl. I didn't even notice her come over to this side of the carriage and sit down next to me.
"I'll... probably be fine. One half of me is getting progressively more scared the closer we get, while the other half is becoming more and more excited at the same rate." So many people already know what I am so it seems kind of dumb to hide it at this point, but I decided to wait till after this mission regardless. Already way too much on my plate as it is right now.
{Excited? You're in a very small minority of people who would become excited at the idea of scouting out a possible Eldritch lair. Eve, most of the hunters don't move up to Eldritch hunting because of lack of skill. There is far more obvious reasons why they stick to hunting Lords and below.}
While I personally have only had limited contact with those abominations, that small meeting gave me enough of an idea as to why a large portion of the guild is hunters who act more like mercenaries waiting for the blackout, or travel the roads clearing them of potential threats.
I found myself smirking at the fact that she barely fit all that on the board. "hunting Lords and below" was in extremely tiny words at the bottom right of the board, practically on top of each other.
Now I know what I'll do after this mission. I'll tell this smug cutie what I am while asking her why she can't talk. It might even be something as simple as her being born this way.
Outside I can hear a bunch of happy honking from the Graka's as the carriage slows down. It seems we have arrived.
"Yeah I'm kind of bizarre Aresa. How about this? I'll answer your question regarding the invisibility after this mission is over. It will also explain any other questions you may have pertaining to me."
Aresa quickly wrote down {Okay!}.
Across the carriage I can see Celes looking at her with a soft smile. Celes is someone I haven't got to talk to even once so far, I'll need to figure out what her deal is later on as well. She looks at Aresa like a mother hen, I've been really curious as to why since she's obviously not her mother. Kitsune can't give birth to humans after all.
As the carriage stops Kreg blasts out the door almost instantly.
"The hell? He need the bathroom?" Dixon said.
Looking out the carriage window I can see Kreg dashing down the street.
"Uh, am I missing something here?"
Celes chuckled. "No you two, we're actually behind schedule and this is the town's stable, not the guilds. Thurston's Father has been waiting for us for about an hour now. He manages the guild hall here, Eve."
At the mention of his Father, Thurston slumped even further into his seat.
"That's right! Damned near forgot about that. Didn't know he was waitin though." Dixon replied, jumping out of his seat and exiting the carriage.
"Well he's only waiting for Kreg, but even so we should all go get some breakfast before we head on out." Celes said, following him out of the carriage.
The remaining three of us followed suite, with Albel off to the side helping a stable boy get the Graka's situated into their bath. Can I reincarnate as a Graka next time? That life looks amazing.
Aresa pulled out her eraser and began beating it against the edge of one of the barn doors, making one of the men who works here look at her like he wanted to punch her.
Thurston was waiting over near Albel, I guess he plans on walking to the guild with him? The alternative is walking with us two girls which will probably send him into a panic attack.
After Aresa was done painting some of the wood white, we began our trek in the same direction that the others took off.
"Do you know where it is?"
Scritch scritch
{They all look the same. Want to know the answer to one plus one as well?}
"... True enough. But that's only if we're on the right street idiot."
{It's the right street. The hall is always on the main road.}
Oh, that explains why it's always been so easy to find. I'm also impressed with how she can write legible letters while walking. No way in hell I could do that.
On the way there I couldn't help but look around in wonder. There could be an Eldritch only an hour away, and yet life continues on like normal here. These people really have no idea that everything in their lives could be upended in several different ways over the coming weeks.
.
.
.
It didn't take long before a familiar looking building came into view.
{See?}
"Yeah yeah, your knowledge knows no bounds."
Walking ahead of her to open the door, I move to the side allowing her to pass. "After you, princess."
She holds the board out with one hand as she walks by me. {Hmph}
Upon entering the first word that enters my mind is 'chaos'. This whole scene looks chaotic, why is there so many people running back and forth with shouting apparently being the only form of communication that's allowed?
In the back we spot the group (without Kreg) at a table, the only group not in the middle of a panic attack.
It took me longer than I would have liked, but eventually I found myself sitting at the table after wading through all the people running to and fro.
"What the hell is going on you guys? The Viseux outer guild was nothing like this."
Celes was hanging her head down in silence but seemed to spring back to life when I spoke up. "Hmm? Ahh... that's because Irvine, Thurston's father, had just informed the guild an hour ago as to why we were coming here. Normally it would be wild in here anyways since the blackout is right around the corner. However it was kept under wraps that there was a possible Eldritch nearby because we couldn't have people fleeing this area right before the blackout. Now for better or worse, they'll be trapped here."
"Sounds harsh right Eve?! This is unfortunately necessary though ya know? If the defenders abandon their post and one of these outer villages fall, the whole land quickly turns chaotic! Which is exactly what an Eldritch would love. Hell, even without an Eldritch nearby we can't have an open gap right into the inner circles. They have some defenses of course as a worst case scenario, but we've had a Lord hit an inner circle once which lead to the capital itself almost falling." Dixon joined in.
"So these people are preparing for a crisis that may or may not come? That makes sense, but what's in the boxes that most of them are carrying?"
"Crystals, torchlights, explosive bombs. Lots of different necessities and some I really hope they won't need." Dixon replied.
"Wait, I thought using alchemical explosives was a bad idea? It was only a few days ago you had told me that having them in stock could lead to a disaster if a corrupted individual gets his hands on them."
"Because it is a bad idea! I only know because I saw them in one of the damned boxes being carried past me. Irvine is normally a smart man, but he's not thinking clearly if he thinks some explosives are going to save him if the Eldritch shows up here. It's more likely they'll end up doing more damage to this village instead." Dixon scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air. Celes also looked shocked when he mentioned explosive bombs being carried about.
Just then Kreg came down the stairs, heading over to us with one of the most enraged looking faces I've ever seen.
"That fucking idiot has lost his mind. Come, we're going to eat as we go. I don't want to be in this place any longer than I need to." Kreg said, immediately turning to leave.
Well he's definitely the boss. He didn't even check to see if we were following him, just turned and left right away.
We were barely out the door when Kreg turned to look at me. "Eve, it's only known to a few that you were there when Master Godwin discovered that the blackout is going to start early this time. The church of Rai'ga... no, literally Rai'ga himself has sent a summons to him. He needs to bring himself before Lord Rai'ga immediately after the blackout ends. Most of the people in the guild aren't skeptical of what he said, although they would like to know why Master Godwin seems to think it'll start early. However the villagers are suspicious of the whole thing." Kreg sighed, shaking his head before continuing. "Anyways, Irvine seems to believe you are the reason Master Godwin is saying the blackout is starting early. Maybe you are, maybe you aren't, I honestly don't care right now. My problem is how he found out to begin with and why he is so adamant that you stay here during the blackout. I told him you were part of my crew now *and* you're necessary for the current mission. I need to leave *someone* at that village to make sure it's all clear, but my gut is telling me it's not. So if it's not you, it'll have to be someone else. My team has nobody that'd be good for scouting, they'd all die the second an Eldritch considers them an eyesore. I have faith that you'll be fine Eve, so do your job while completely ignoring any summons the guild gives you to return to this hall, understand?"
"Sure thing Kreg. Why would he want me to stay here though? There's a lot in what you just said that has me worried, but that part specifically is really odd."
"No clue, but after saying my piece I immediately left to grab you lot so we can get the hell out of here. Only come back here if you absolutely must. I don't know what his problem is but we'll deal with it after the blackout and hunt are wrapped up." Kreg replied.
"He's pulling out boxes of explosive bombs too boss, not sure if you noticed." Dixon added in, rubbing the back of his head.
Kreg had begun to leave but that made him stop in his tracks again. "........."
We all waited there for about thirty seconds while Kreg stood there in silence with his head hung down.
"........ We don't have time for this. I'll have Albel talk to the communicator when we reach our destination, he'll inform the guild hall in Seraph about the situation here. Hopefully they'll have a good idea on how to handle this. I hunt monsters and Eldritch damnit, I don't want to deal with shit like this."
Kreg began walking again, at an annoyingly fast pace. I could keep up but Aresa was practically skipping to stay with us. Celes noticed this and didn't look happy at all, but nobody wants to speak up right now.
I was wondering how he planned on telling Albel and Thurston that we left, that appears to have been a needless worry. They must have seen us leave the guild because they ran up next to us not too long after.
'Eat as we go' he says... now instead of a meal I get to eat more of these stupid ration bars the guild gives its hunters. Most of our food on the way were these wretchedly bland bars. Maybe I'll just wait till the village and find an Inn there. I was given a decent amount of money for this... yeah, I'm gonna eat in the village. If it turns out they're all corrupted, then I hope Eldritch worshipers are still good at cooking.
As we reach the gate I can see next to no traffic on the road north. Looks like people have finished traveling to their destinations and are preparing for the blackout.
Fortunately Kreg had slowed down after we passed the gate, allowing me to enjoy what is likely to be the last moments of peace I'll have for awhile. Now I see what he meant by peanut fields... the land everywhere besides the road is dipped down about a foot, filled with small plants everywhere. Well there is little pathways here and there, to get to the peanuts I assume without crushing them. But for the most part it's just open land in every direction. Trees are nice and all, but wide open land like this makes me feel much safer. If I had to find that centipede monster here it would have been way easier and not so damn frightening. Then again it would have likely not hid in a field like this anyways.
For forty minutes we walked in silence, nobody saying a word, not even a single cough or sneeze. It's not easy to tell at a glance, but it looks like everyone is on edge. That's to be expected... I don't know why they do this dangerous job, but even if they love it , it'll still be quite scary knowing you may be entering an unknown Eldritch's territory.
I was so lost in my own thoughts that when we walked through the villages gates it actually took me by surprise. I didn't even notice we were nearing the village or had walked for about forty to fifty minutes already. It probably didn't help with Dixon's giant back in my way.
Looking around I see this village is also rather busy preparing for the blackout, nothing out of the ordinary in sight. Not that I expected to find signs of corruption after being here for only five minutes. I'd be more surprised if an Eldritch was sitting down at one of the bench's waiting for us.
There's no need for it but I kept walking with the group towards the northern gate. Plus Aresa had grabbed my hand at some point, there's no way I was shaking it off and saying goodbye early after that.
People are looking at our group sideways as they go about their lives. Was it always like this and I just didn't notice? I can't remember what reactions we were getting in the outer village... now I'm wishing I was paying attention. Also, the more I look around the more I notice there is a lot of people just sitting around doing nothing. I only just got here and I'm already looking for meaning in every little thing. I can tell this is going to be a long ten days.
Upon reaching the north gate, Kreg stops to look at me with the rest of the group following suite.
"Alright Eve, I don't know how you're feeling inside right now, but never forget that we're directly across the fields here to the northeast if you ever need us. Until then you can use the communicator but... here's hoping he's not corrupted and properly sending out messages with unaltered words."
"Thanks Kreg, I'm a bit freaked out at the moment for sure." I looked over at Thurston. "If you do a good job and survive this, Celes told me she's going to let you fondle her breasts. True story, she told me last night."
"Ooh lucky you Thurston!!" Dixon yelled out while slapping his back. Albel put his hand on Thurston's shoulder and was laughing as Thurston hunched over even lower than normal. I really shouldn't be picking on him like this, but there is just something about it that's very entertaining.
"Sounds like we have one more reason to make this succeed!" Kreg said with a smile before continuing. "Alright, let's go get this shit over with everyone!" Kreg turned around and headed out the gate, with the others following him shortly after. Celes smiled at me while shaking her head as she passed me.
Then I felt that tiny hand stop gripping my left hand before hearing a familiar sound.
Scritch scritch
{Don't die okay?} She held the board up to her nose, looking upwards at me.
"Oh cutie, I have no plans on dying. Here's a little hint though regarding me, there's a good chance I'll still be alive somewhere on this moon even if something in this village kills me."
She raised her eyebrows high upon hearing that.
"Hahaha surprising right? Even I have a hard time believing that to be true... but hopefully I'm never given the chance to test it again."
{You're immortal??}
Immortal... I never even considered that till now. Would I really live forever like this if nothing ever absorbs my soul? I can't even imagine what it would be like to live for hundreds, even thousands of years.
"... Possibly, I'm not certain yet. We'll talk more about it after this is all over, okay? See you soon Aresa!"
Instead of replying she came up and hugged me instead. I've never been more frozen in my entire life, including the time that Wendigo was staring at me.
Have I ever been hugged before? It's such a strange feeling... this is a different kind of joy that I'm not use to.
Before I could come out of my stupor and hug her back, she let go and began walking at a fast pace in the other direction to catch up with the others.
I watched the others walk off into the distance as I decided what to do from here on out.
Honestly, the possibility of an Eldritch nearby is only one problem I'm facing right now. I could kind of feel it during the monster hunt but it's turning into a full blown problem that I can no longer ignore. The other half of me needs to eat again. It was just a slight feeling for awhile till two days ago, when it began to feel like it was screaming at me again. It's been increasing in ferocity with each passing day, becoming borderline unbearable today. I think being surrounded by a bunch of powerful souls was making it way worse than it needed to be.
I wasn't lying when I told Kreg I was freaked out, but that's such a minor emotion compared to the hunger I'm feeling right now. I really hope there is an Eldritch here that's going to try and take me out in the next couple of days, otherwise I have a feeling I'm going to end up eating the first mage I come across.

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