Strena Quester Part Two

 Journey To The Temple 

As it was night, they all decided to spend the night in the tavern. Yet, as she slept there, Strena looked at Orion and Darkector in her hands, thinking about what Chashathrophogh had said. That Phorap The Mad always wanted to visit the time before The Black. Yet, she too, now had that desire. She too wanted to know what was beyond the veil of nothingness that came before. She wondered if there were old relics of that time, hidden in those ancient tombs…

“I wouldn’t think that there are.”

Why not Orion?

“The gods and goddesses of The First Age Of Gods snuffed them out.”

Wonder why they did that? She thought as she drifted off.

She woke up naturally early, feeling refreshed. She did not remember her dream, but all she did remember was the strange lion that she saw there. Well it was a lion that turned into a lamb and an eagle at will. The strange creature filled her heart with such peace that she had never experienced before.

Yet they all had their breakfast and quickly left. They came to the outskirts of a village nearby. Then they were dived upon. She pulled out her blades to see that the bandits immediately dived for them. She sliced the hands off them before they could even touch them. That was when she saw the kitchen knife diving towards her. She dived out of the way and stabbed to the right and flicked around. She saw another and she blocked it. She saw another under her chin.

“Now will you-”

An arrow hit his eyes and it burst alight. She looked back to see Chashathrophogh drop a bow made of magic. Then a group dived at his hip and he drove a fireball into their heads and something hit the walls of an old building making it smash. After that Zaryb dived to a group of them and threw out several tiny daggers at their throats. Then he threw them at a pace faster than an eye could keep up. Soon all the bandits fell.

That was when Bash and Chashathrophogh checked their back packs to see that their sun protection potions were all gone!

“We need to get to that temple as soon as we can!”

Soon they all ran on and on and on as fast as they could. They decided not to stop for one second as they knew it would only be a matter of time until the heat of the sun would start to get to them. 

That was when they saw a man in the far distance. Strena was the first to see him. She was the first to notice the F shaped scar under his left eye. She could feel it in her gut that he was coming for them. She saw him raise a tube to his mouth. Quickly she dived at Chashathrophogh, the next moment she felt something thin, like a very thin pin, dig into the side of her neck.

Cerpheres quickly pulled her back with alarm in his eyes as he pulled it out. He licked it and pressed his fingers to her wound. Soon she felt something being drawn out of her, but she suspected that it was not blood. Chashathrophogh looked at her and at the purple liquid dripping out of Cerpheres’s fingertips. Then looked back with rage in his eyes.

“Where is he?”

She looked to where she saw him only to see that he was not there! Quickly she scanned the horizon as fast as she could and saw the next dart. She stopped it with her magic. She kept her eye out as she stopped the darts. She saw one after the other. Then she saw where they were coming from. She closed her eyes and sent a great wind to where they were coming from near to the center right. This caused the dart to push back right into his face.

She pushed herself off Cerpheres as the pair ran to where the wind saw and so did the rest. Yet Cerpheres hand to pull Leonardo out of the way and they all hid as they scanned the area. With Leonardo covering Strena.

Then the darts came from the left wall of the sand. He blocked them and looked back at Leonardo. His eyes narrowed for a moment before looking at the small battlefield as the wall of sand and wind rose in front of Bash. It was in this moment that Strena knew that the assassin had magic as Zaryb shot out onwards alongside Strena. Then she saw more coming for Bash and Chashathrophogh.

So.. they’re the targets? Wonder if I should tell them…

“Nah! It’ll be more interesting if they figure it out….”

Yet, as Strena ran on, she was the one to notice this. So she ran on and saw him lying there. She ran up to him as silent as a snake and chopped his head off. 

Then they regrouped. They looked at the body. Bash rolled over the face. Then her eyes narrowed and she looked at the face.

“What do we do?”

“Burn the body.”

“Why?”

“This assassin has an occult mark on his head. He could come back if we don’t. Also, we don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves. Plus, I think that this was my fault. If I didn’t take those jobs then word would not have gotten out that I was here.”

They nodded as they set the body on fire. Then, once the ash had blown away with the wind, they walked on and on. Strena could see that Bash and Chashathrophogh were starting to develop red and flaky skin. There was exhaustion in their eyes as their steps became slow and sluggish as their feet dragged on the sand. Their eyes dropped slightly. Strena willed a black cloud to cover their heads, mainly to see if she could and it worked. He looked back for a moment and nodded at her. He was sweating and his unburnt skin was so pale it looked grey. Yet as they walked on they seemed to get slightly better but it was still not enough. The two pushed themselves on to a point that it took all their will to get on.

Strena had to admit that she found their willpower was inspiring. She marched on and on and noticed that the two were counting on despite being on the brink. So she was determined to do the same. She made a vow to do the same and not rely on piggy back rides to get to her destination, just because she was younger than them. 

Yet she need not start today as they soon arrived at the temple, which gave them all the shade they so desperately needed.