Chapter 15: Chapter 15

“Peter, how far away are you from affording a summoning stone?” Deric asked.

Peter silently continued onward through the forest as he recollected how much money he had on hand. “I think maybe a month or so away. Probably sooner at the rate we'll be going now. Why?”

“Mmmm,” Deric hummed aloud. He scratched the back of his head. “Well, I've been thinking about what Vargo had told us. We might head on over to Roadsen soon as well.”

“Oh.” Peter froze as he grabbed hold of a branch blocking his way. “When are you planning on leaving?” He gently pushed it above him and turned around spotting Kalista right behind him, who wore a plain expression. He held it in place for her, and she quietly thanked him.

“In about a week. I saw an escort quest leaving for there around that time frame and thought we could make a little extra coin during our travels.”

“A week...” Peter's voice trailed off. “I guess there's not much left for you to do here, huh.”

“I knew you'd get the rationale.” Deric smiled. “With our first stamps out of the way, Wildburry doesn't have much left to offer. Maybe if we wanted to tame some more primals here, but Kean and I talked about it a bit and decided we're probably set.”

“Do you have enough saved for travel? You both just blew through most of your money right?”

“That's why the escort quest works out so well for us. We'll save up a bit before we head out this week and the quest will cover a bit of the expense as well.”

“I see. Well- Woah!” Kalista's hand suddenly wrapped around Peter's chest and pulled him back.

“Dryads!” She snarled. Peter saw a vine jutting out from where he had been about to step before it quickly withered. Deric quickly summoned Berry and Kean summoned Tin in response.

Peter narrowly avoided a burst of wind by ducking to the floor as Kalista blocked another with her shield from there.

“Where are they?” Kean shouted. He was struggling to help Tin get free from a vine coiled around her foot.

“Everywhere!” Anda replied, panicking as she dodged one gust of wind after another.

“How did they surround us?!” Deric asked.

“I don't know, they must- wah!” Anda's sentence was interrupted with a scream as the ground beneath her began to shake. Between Deric, Kean and their primals, all but Berry were knocked down to the floor as what felt like a miniature earthquake rattled beneath them.

Vines began to sprout near their now prone forms, Deric and Kean rolled around as they tried to evade them while their primals got back up to defend the group. As soon as some of them got back up another earthquake began and knocked them downwards once more.

Peter's eyes darted around. Everywhere he turned there seemed to be a Dryad now standing amidst the trees. Across the battle nearby Deric and the rest, Peter noticed a primal which looked different from the rest. “I think that's their leader!” Peter shouted as he pointed towards it. Although it seemed similar to a Dryad, rather than flowers it seemed to wear a crown of branches instead, and had a more intimidating aura.

It spotted Peter pointing at it and turned its attention to him, it's lips moving briefly as it said something incomprehensible while waving its hands. The ground began to shake beneath Peter now, though he latched onto a nearby tree to stop himself from falling down.

“Peter!” Kalista shouted.

“I'm fine! Try to get the Dryad closest to you!” Peter used his index finger to direct her towards a nearby Dryad while he still held himself upright.

Kalista quickly charged towards her, the Dryad clearly caught off guard from an attack in such a scenario. “Double Cross!” Kalista shouted as she quickly slashed the Dryad twice. Blood splattered out from its body while it shouted in pain. In response, two Dryads nearby began to attack Kalista, slowly forcing her backwards and away from their friend.

The injured Primal quickly used its healing ability to recover its wounds, the area where Kalista sliced still soaked in the blood already lost though now sealed. It joined the others and it was all Kalista could do to block and dodge their attacks.

“We have to get out of here!” Deric finally shouted as he managed to catch his footing on stable ground.

Peter shook his head in agreement, although he wasn't sure if anyone could see. For a moment, a sense of danger filled him, and he quickly pushed himself away from the tree and fell backwards onto the dirt, just barely catching outstretched branches from where his hands just were sinking back into the bark.

“Berry, use Sticky Bomb on their leader!”

“Tin, Kya, use Throw and Fallen Leaves on her as well!”

The three primals all launched their ranged attacks on the leader, who took cover to avoid them. The shaking beneath Peter finally lapsed. He immediately began to scramble to his feet.

“Come on, let's move!” Deric shouted. Him and the others began to push towards the direction they had come from. They slowly made progress despite the assault from all the Dryads nearby. Peter grabbed Kalista and closely ran after them. Peter made it a few steps before the ground shook once more beneath him.

“Ah!” He fell to the floor along with Kalista. “Keep going!” Peter shouted to her, now crawling as best as he could. A vine sprouted and latched onto his arm. Peter began to tug on it with his free arm, a quick slash from Kalista's sword freed him. He caught a glimpse of Kalista's expression, a mixture of intimidating and fearful. “Keep going!” He shouted again.

“Sticky Bomb!”

“Throw! Fallen Leaves!”

Another barrage of attacks went towards the leader who avoided them once more. They managed to find stability for a brief moment before quickly being knocked down again. This time Peter looked upwards towards the rest. Tin and Kya both seemed to be bleeding, although Kya was actively healing. Even Deric's clothes looked to be slightly torn. Deric seemed to be glancing back and forth between Peter and the Dryads while grimacing. Upon seeing his expression, Peter's stomach felt heavy. There was nothing more he wanted to do than vomit out of terror, but he suppressed the feeling.

Vines continuously shot out of the ground trying to wrap around Peter's limbs. Kalista continuously hacked away at them, but she alone could no longer keep the two moving. Peter let out a strange sound, a mixture of laughter and wheezing as he looked up at Kalista who had managed to stand up for a brief moment. As she desperately swung her sword, she fell down once again. Peter couldn't help but laugh some more and shook his head.

“That's enough, Kalista,” he chuckled. “It's no use. They won't let all of us go.”

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“No!” Kalista roared. Her pace quickened. Kalista had never swung so fast in her life. Not against the Fren. Not against Jet's Goblin. But still it was not enough. “No! No! No!” She continued to swing with reckless abandon. “Help me!” She shouted out loud without turning. Was her plea for Deric and the others? Or perhaps some mysterious power? Even Kalista herself was unsure.

“It's alright Kalista. I know you'll come back to save me.” Peter's voice shook as he uttered those words. As best as he could, he tilted his hand upwards and formed a fist.

“No,” Kalista said fearfully as she watched him.

Peter's hand briefly glowed. With as much authority as he could muster in his voice, he said, “Kalista, go with the others and leave this place.”

“No!” Kalista shouted, her swings became suspended, and her body twitched in resistance, but she soon crawled and stumbled towards the others before breaking into a run.

Deric watched as Kalista ran towards them and stared at Peter. For a moment, he was frozen.

“Come on!” Anda shouted, breaking him from his stupor.

“R-right!” The group began to flee, and Peter watched as the distance between him and the others grew. Although the Dryads seemed to attempt to continue to pursue them, it seemed they managed to escape.

With his restricted movement, Peter could only move his head. As his friends forms shrank in the distance, he twisted his head towards the ground and began to shake his his head, as if trying to dig through the soil using his jaw and nose. Peter let out a small chuckle. The Dryad's soon surrounded him from all sides, releasing the bindings which rooted him towards the ground. Peter made no effort to run. They then bound his arms and legs together, and two of the Dryads picked him up to carry him.

Their leader arrived and seemed to say something to the others, and the group began to move, heading deeper towards the forest.

---

“You have to do something!” Kalista screamed at the receptionist.

“Please, sir, would you calm down your primal?” He spoke calmly, looking towards Deric.

Deric shook his head. “She's not mine.” He spoke plainly. Deric looked towards Kalista. “Kalista, they've already opened an emergency quest to go after him. The guild won't force tamers for something on this level. All we can do is wait for other tamers to volunteer and regroup.”

“It's easy for you to say! You are not the one who was left behind!” Kalista snarled.

“We did not leave him behind. Peter chose to heroically sacrifice himself once he realized the same thing I was thinking. There was no way we were all leaving that forest at once.”

“Sacrificed? Heroically? Is that the best you could come up with?” Kalista shook her head. “I thought you told him that there are no heroes anymore. Guess you were just talking about yourself.”

Deric's eye twitched. “You're not making any friends here. Without us, you...”

“You're not going back.” Kalista interrupted. She let out a chuckle. “You never intended to. Even Peter realized it, I think.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I'll find someone else. Or go by myself if I have to.” Kalista gritted her teeth and stomped out of the guild.

Once outside she walked around to the side of the building and sat down, covering her face with her hands. She shook her head. “Why did you send me back?” She croaked. She sat in silence for a short while, before abruptly jumping up to her feet. “No time to waste.”

Kalista headed to the inn that she and Peter had been staying at. It was a popular resting place for tamers, and she made an attempt to appeal to anyone who was there. After failing to convince anyone, her temper began to show and the town's security forces were called over. A tamer along with a Squire and a Fern arrived and threatened her if she did not leave.

“We are meant to be symbols of order and security.” The Squire said threateningly to Kalista as she was leaving. “Yet here you make a mockery of our kind. You embarrass us, sister.”

Kalista spat back. “I see the kind of order you keep. A primal is trying to save her tamer and you throw her out of an inn.” Kalista made several more attempts around the town, including the battle center, but her efforts were rewarded with nothing. Exhausted and frustrated, Kalista returned to the inn to rest, only to find that she was barred from re-entering. A result of both her previous transgressions and the simple fact that she had no money. Peter had been supposed to pay their keep tonight..

Kalista wandered the streets of Wildburry looking for somewhere to stay. Eventually, she made her way over to a rougher looking part of the town. Here, makeshift tents and homes seemed to be the norm for the more destitute folks which lived there, both humans and primals.

Kalista found a spot that seemed empty and secluded and laid down on the ground, closing her eyes. With every passing moment, she knew, it drew closer to Peter's last. Perhaps when she woke up he would be miraculously returned to her side. Yes, that was a nice dream. The kind which she needed to fall asleep.

When she awoke, those dreams were crushed. The fact that she had not gone berserk yet was a sign that Peter was still alive, but she could not imagine how much longer that might be the case. Unaware of how long she slept, she returned to the guild, hoping to hear some good news.

No-one. Not a single person volunteered to go on the emergency quest. Even Deric and Kean were nowhere to be found. Despair filled Kalista. She had searched across town for any tamer willing to lend a hand, and none were found. She felt as if there were no options left.

She slowly stepped back towards the place where she had slept. “Perhaps some of the more destitute people will understand,” she said to herself aloud. She tried to say it cheerfully, despite knowing there was no chance of these people being able to offer any help. Their lives were already hard enough, why bear the burdens of others as well?

As Kalista began to consider leaving town and heading out herself, she spotted a line of people. Inhabitants of this area, she could tell. Skinny, dirty, holes in their clothes. Yet still they waited patiently before a table set up.

Behind the table stood several members of the Church of Pura, handing out warm meals to those waiting in line. Kalista immediately recognized one of them.

A thought occurred to her. Her hand clenched into a fist, and she gritted her teeth, nearly every fiber of being told her not to do it, yet still she approached the table.

“We do not serve prim-, oh, it's you.” Serina spoke calmly. “Come to challenge me yet again?”

Kalista shook her head. “No. I've come for something else.”

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