Nights in the Arelion forest was often silent apart from a few branches breaking from the movement of its large beasts and chirping crickets that sang lullabies for the juveniles. In his dragon form, Darkness lay in his cave, Emmy coddled beside him under her excuse of feeling cold. He on the other hand was ever watching. Sleep wasn't something that was possible for him to achieve. It's not as if he didn't want to but rather couldn't due to something he couldn't quite grasp. His existence in the third order of the second order of the world was mostly filled trips down memory lane. At the moment his thoughts were of the small being comfortably nesting beside him.
His body wrapped around her careful not to crush her fragile form before he closed his eyes. An astral projection of his humanoid form left the draconic body. Two black wings sprout from the projection's back and with one flap, it went through the ceiling to the top of the mountain high above the clouds. The night air shimmered as he passed, lanterns glowing faintly in the distant town below, laughter spilling from taverns, guards pacing with weary eyes. He memorized every detail—coins, insignias, clothing—so his forgetfulness would not betray them.
. . .
"What I think about going to a human settlement?" Emmy repeated the question unsure of how to react to it. Her hand playing with the waters as she thought about it. It was almost noon and they were waiting for when the presence of Crimson and Rune would disappear. "I don't really know what I think of it because it doesn't seem important. I've seen how humans are though from just few encounters and that wasn't even me actually meeting them. I feel it might be scary if all of them are like those two. I wouldn't really know."
"You do know they only attacked because of the masks we were wearing. I was planning for us to go and see what it looks like for them. It won't be my first time but it's been more than a decade so my reactions might be a bit off. Wanna try?"
. . .
She agreed to it and so soon. We are supposed to head out tomorrow since we have nothing better to do here but......….which one should we go to? One closer to here would be fine but preparations must be made.
He picked a direction and his astral form flew towards it, disappearing into the night.
. . .
Emmy woke to find Darkness not beside her but rather floating some distance from the ground near the caves entrance. Hands and legs folded as if seated. He had that habit which he knew he had to stop before they left the mountain. She stared at him for a bit. He was facing outside but still noticed her gaze. She was rather discontent on the fact that his horns were not there. They were one thing that she admired a lot.
"Today, we'll have our morning meal in the town of Escher." He stated as if she knew what or where that was. He then turned his gaze to something on his palm.
Emmy walked over to him yawning, sleep not fully out of her system. "What's that?" She asked looking at the round gold object on his palm her face close to his, ignoring personal space. He didn't mind either way.
"It's what human's use to obtain what they need from other people and is the core foundation of every nation. Whether it be the elves the demi-humans dwarves or humans, without this it seems you can't achieve anything. It's mediocre at best since I can just as easily materialize it." He explained as a similar coin materialized in his other hand. "You can have this one" he stated as he place one on her palm.
Emmy held it up to the light, eyes wide. "It's shiny… does everyone carry these?" She bit the edge experimentally, then frowned. "Tastes weird."
I spent all night gathering information on Escher so that my forgetfulness could be compensated. If I show up with something weird, it would draw too much attention and right now I wouldn't want those four finding me just yet even though in the long run it'll be inevitable.
"What am I supposed to do with it?" Emmy asked inspecting the gold coin, disrupting his thoughts.
"Probably exchange it with something that you want when we get there."
It will be first venture into the other species' environment after more than a decade.
He got down to his feet before turning to her. "What would you like to wear?" He asked.
"I don't really know but...….. I think I liked what that lady yesterday wore." She stated excited.
"That wouldn't be an issue but I can't replicate the insignia and I could also add a bit of what I saw in Escher. Then to match I'll go with what that mage wore, hoping it doesn't cause any problems later on."
. . .
Two young beings walked out of the Arelion forest heading toward the dirt path. Darkness' with the same blue outfit the Infernal mage wore with the black army cap that Rune was accustomed to wearing, letting his abyssal black hair to flow down his back. From the middle section upwards, Emmy had the same attire as Darkness. Only difference was the bottom half. A short blue skirt to match her top and long tall boots, blue with its design marked in gold lines.
"Why did you have me wear this instead?" Emmy asked.
"I thought it would be appropriate since I saw someone in Escher with the same design plus we can't duplicate too much of what those two had. Humans have a tendency to exaggerate the small irrelevant things."
"I guess its fine since I like the boots but I feel like they'd hinder me in battle."
I'm not surprised that's what worries her.
"Will we have to walk a long way?" Emmy asked almost discouraged as they got to the dirt path. "It's not my ideal choice but no." he answered
"You're going to fly us there?!" she asked, excited
"Of course not!" he exclaimed pointing in to the distance on the dirt path.
A small magic circle appeared on her right eye as she looked in the direction he was pointing.
"Those are horses! They seem to be pulling something big too." She stated in awe, acting like the sheltered girl she was.
It was only a short time before the wagon was only a few paces from then. It stopped once it got to them the driver looking tired and particularly not interested in them. A young man, possibly in his early twenties got off from the back. Bright and short blonde hair and a sword strapped to his back on the leather armor he had on.
"So where you kids heading?" he asked.
Without warning, Emmy took a battle stance despite not having a weapon. Her aura flared faintly, the driver stiffening under the sudden pressure. Darkness ushered her to stand down, a part of him blaming himself for not foreseeing such a scenario. His hand rested gently on her shoulder, his calm presence smothering the tension.
"I'm sorry about my companion's behavior. We are heading to Escher." Darkness stated politely even though he didn't have to.
"But he has a weapon." Emmy whispered with childish concern.
"Not everyone with a weapon is bad." Darkness stated, forcing himself to be calm.
The two of you seem like a lively duo and that uniform...…., guess even the United front has fans. We are also heading to Escher, luckily for you. The name's Lloyd. We'd be more than happy to take you there." He stated with a mild reassuring grin, his posture relaxed, sword carried casually rather than threateningly.