Heroes. Seldom did a day go by when Royal hadn't thought back to that conversation. It was permanently engraved into his mind. Word for word, he thought it over often.
They had just sat down and gotten some water and bread to snack on. Royal didn't know what to say at first, but he knew he had to say something. Esther was too busy being ecstatic about the hard, dry bread to focus on such a deep topic. So Royal began.
"Hey, Esther?" He asked, nervous. "I know we haven't really been friends for very long, but something is on my mind..."
Esther stopped munching and looked up, crumbs on her face, and concern underneath them. "What is it?" She asked, voice laced with worry.
"Heroes, Adventurers. Everyone keeps saying that, and it just... I Don't know, it feels weird. Can we really be that?" His doubts showed in full color.
Esther smiled softly and put her hand on Royal's head. "Once, somebody told me that if I ever had the chance to roam free, I could do anything. They helped me learn magic. The real question should be if you want to. Right?"
Royal nodded along. It made sense, sure, but still. "I just don't feel like I have what it takes. You have your magic, but I barely know what I'm doing..." He bowed his head.
"Practice! It's easy. There's a lot of things I didn't get to learn either. But we can learn together. That's what friends would do, right?" Esther countered.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. It's all we can do here and now... Lead the way, I guess? I've always wanted to lead a more interesting lifestyle. I guess this is both of our chances..."
"That's the spirit!" Esther cheered encouragingly. "Come on, let's go find a nice quiet spot to practice." She started to pull Royal towards the door.
"Wait, but what about the bread..." Royal glanced to see that Esther had palmed their food already, and had put it into her basket. "How does she do that...." He was left to ponder as Esther more or less drug him to find somewhere nice.
His thoughts were disrupted as Esther lightly tapped him with a few cinders. "Come on Royal! We're sparring, not doing math for Mister Paku!" She stuck her tongue out. Royal laughed and readied his sheild and practice sword.
"Ok ok, I'm sorry." He laughed sheepishly, before attempting a running tackle. Esther dodged, but not fast enough, so she couldn't counterattack in time to get Royal good. She looked around to see where he had gone.
It had been months, 2 or 3. Royal wasn't quite sure on the day count. Overall, he could use his sword properly, but any semblance of grace or elegance was still lacking. At least it was better than swinging like a drink monkey. Esther hadn't been slacking either. She never lost their little duels thanks to Paku, who lent her a new spellbook. She knew a few tricks other than her Fireball and Shadow Bolt now.
Royal pounced, trying to pin Esther down, but she rolled over and hit him with a magic missile. He didn't block that time, and was knocked away a short distance.
"Hehe, I win again!" Esther cheered. She hadn't gotten any more mature in all that time, and Royal loved that about her. So happy and lively, unlike the people from back home. Some days he felt bad for everyone, but he couldn't think of nearly anyone that would miss him. Maybe his parents at most.
Royal sighed, groaned, and laughed all at once, sitting up. Even when Esther took it light with him, she packed a punch. "What's the score again?" He jokingly asked.
"The score is you gotta focus!" Esther stuck her tongue out. "That's why I keep winning. You keep letting me recover my energy all the time." She bumped his head lightly with her fist.
They returned to their tent, which was honestly getting a little smelly. Luckily they were used to it. Royal wanted to look up how to shampoo a tent, but he didn't have his phone, or shampoo either. And it wasn't like the general store had soap for cloth, Esther had checked. She had been given a washboard. It was less than helpful, since neither teen knew what to do with it. But they kept it nonetheless.
Back at the tent, Royal was sitting to take a quick breather, and Esther was outside. Royal, always the worried, felt like something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he had learned to trust his gut on these things, it hadn't steered him wrong yet. He went outside to see why. But before he could, Esther burst into the tent.
"Royal, hurry! Something is burning!" She said rapidly, breathing frantically. She ran out again towards the village, and Royal followed. When they got there, they saw many of the village RS being pushed around or attacked by terrifying, hulking beings of flesh, bone and shadow. Royal reacted fast and raised his sheild and sword to do battle. He charged the nearest target, a smaller creature no bigger than he was.
Esther lobbed a fireball over his head as he slashed at the thing. The blows seemed feeble, but they got it's attention. The kid it was chasing ran off to the cover of the woods.
The thing lashed out, and Royal took the blow. Despite blocking the brunt of it, he was still jarred. But Esther came to the rescue with a focused beam of light. It lasted for only a few seconds, but it did a lot of damage. The thing ran off, screeching. Instead of chasing after it, Royal and Esther came to the same conclusion at nearly the same time. They had to find Paku.
Running towards his house while doing Their best to ward off attacking creatures from all sides, the pair arrived to find that the house was a wreck. Bodies were strewn about, joints at odd angles. Paku was nowhere to be seen.
Terrified, Esther ran into the house, with Royal watching her back. Inside, she found a horrible sight. Paku sat in his chair, several creatures struck down around him. But when Esther looked right at the old man with hope in her eyes, it was dashed. A large blade, ebony with green runes, was buried deep in the man's chest. He was gone. Esther knelt and shed tears of despair as Royal entered. He found her sobbing before the one that gave them the inspiration to be heroes.
They were interrupted by a shuddering breath and the squeak of a trapdoor.
"You, Adventurers. Are you... Oh, it seems I got you with my ruse. I'm terribly sorry..."
Paku was speaking from behind them. They turned to see him, and several others peering from the door.
"I'm alright, young ones. But this village is in ruins. I will take those who survived to find a new home, so not worry for me. You must go now, there are other places in danger." Paku said, with a serious voice for once.
"But what will happen now?" Esther asked, still teary.
"A long time ago, these void monsters came. They were repelled by the humans last time. But this time, the humans aren't coming. You need to be the heroes that these poor people need. Be brave, Adventurers. I will cherish our time in each other's company, but nothing may last forever. Now hurry, they're coming back." Paku said, closing the trapdoor. A lock was heard closing.
"We need to go Esther. Come on." Royal was now the one to pull on Esther. "We need to get our things, like your book. Hurry."
Esther hesitantly nodded, and the pair ran off. When they got back to the tent, a single monster was outside it, with a torch in hand.
Swiftly, Esther used her focused light beam on its general head area, while Royal impaled its general chest area. This surprise attack proved strong, and the creature fell to the dirt.
"They're vunerable from behind, good to know..." Royal mumbled as Esther ran in to grab her things. They didn't take the tent itself, there wasn't time. They did take the cloth from on top of it, however, but left the frame.
The acrid smells of smoke and rot were becoming more and more apparent as Esther and Royal ran. They didn't have a destination in mind, nor did they have a real plan. It was Esther's escape from slavery all over again. Just run and pray. Fortunately, they were small and limber, while the flesh beasts were large and awkward. They stood no chance pursuing the pair as they fled through the trees.
}Drustvar, Venthyr
They had been running for a while before Esther asked to stop, growing tired. They had gone so far that the trees weren't the same anymore. Instead of shadowy and green, they seemed half dead and red. The grass was brown, and there were many short cliffs and shallow caves here.
"We're not in Umberwood anymore..." Esther said, feeling nervous. She shook it off. They had more important things to do. "We need to find food." She said resolutely, going to search.
Royal, meanwhile, busied himself with shelter. Picking a cave he seemed good enough, he set up the tent sheet so that it kept out rain and his them from potential danger, while also allowing some fresh air and light in. Royal didn't like this place one bit, it smelled of decay, faintly but insistently. And soon, he came to learn why. Mushrooms everywhere. Some were bipedal beasts, but nearly everything was covered in various kinds of fungi. And some of the creatures were beginning to notice him...
Meanwhile, Esther had been using her newest spell to check the various plants to see if they could be eaten. So often the answer was no, but she came across a patch of gourds to tide the pair over for a few days. It would have to do, so she picked them and put them in her basket.
Royal hacked and slashed. The mushroom men would be slain from any odd swing, but their pieces would still be rowdy, so he was being forced to butcher them. It was messy work. Only three had attacked, but he had "killed" them over a dozen times now. But finally, they stopped flailing. Every body part useable as a weapon was cut too short to do anything. Royal pushed the pile of fungus away and sat to think. His stomach rumbled. Luckily for him, Esther returned soon after with the gourds. Squash and pumpkins, all looking a little overripe but edible. They ate in silence, the terror weighing heavily on their minds. They both had the same lingering question on their minds. And Esther said it out loud.
"So, what now? What do we do?"
Royal had no answer just yet. Only sorrow and regret.