Time: Morning to Evening
Location: Sun Elf Kingdom to Riverport Ferry
An hour. An entire hour was what it took to fully convince Kaleb he had not been kidnapped for ransom, wasn't dreaming, hallucinating, or on some reality game show. He'd searched for cameras and hidden microphones despite what the light elves that greeted him told him.
Then he demanded the elves explain everything to him again so he could have an understanding of things.
A place called Avalia in a different dimension…
Aid in saving the light elves with my untapped magical abilities…
Training regiment, meals, and protection provided. Definitely important. I hope lodging wasn't deliberately left out…
I'm one of the heroes. More like the[ hero. I doubt anyone is more qualified in saving the world than me…
I'll beat the big bad in some epic showing of all the things I learned since coming here, and then back home…
Maybe I can get a book deal out of this… All of these thoughts came to mind and circulated as he was led by his trusty chaperones to River Port where Kaleb would meet what he imagined to be supporting cast types. He was wearing a purple outfit purchased for him and though he expressed distaste for it, it was far more heroic-looking than the other choice. There was a bit of a debate about his Gucci high tops but after much debate, a backpack was purchased for Kaleb to store them in while he wore the boots that went with his outfit. A second round of debating occurred when he requested the traveler's kit. He was informed he had no need for such an expensive kit and that their group had everything Kaleb would need in what was being sold. After some back and forth, Kaleb settled on the bow and quiver of arrows so he could
feel comfortable and wouldn't stand out while traveling. Once the elf ears were on, the group stepped off to travel to River Port.
It could have been a quiet walk, but Kaleb just casually asked question after question.
"What's my magical power?"
"How far is River Port? How long is this walk?"
"Who are you guys fighting?"
"No cars?"
"Amoras huh? Why didn't we just take that?"
"Is River Port nice?"
"Anyone have food?"
"Anyone have real food?"
"Are these princesses… single?"The last question caused the light elf leading the group to sigh and shake his head. As Kaleb became more bothersome, he also became more of a distraction. A distraction from a trio of opportunistic venriuk vipers. Two struck both the light elf leading and the other that was trailing. These three serpents were a hunting trio, finding small parties of Light Elves easy pickings due to their bright reflective scales. Kaleb looked around with wide eyes as the two elves yet to be attacked readied themselves. One was more adept with offensive magic while the other was wielding a sword and shield. They seemed ready to each take on a viper, but the third was just waiting to jut out from the thicket of the jungle and kill the magic adept. Kaleb fearfully held his bow and arrow in hand, but the guy wasn’t going to accomplish anything.
Lucky or perhaps even unlucky for Kaleb, it had been quite a few hours since Eris had been silently following the group while keeping herself invisible. She knew the invisibility may have been a bit excessive, but this group was skilled enough to summon a human and so their skills weren't to be underestimated. Were they as skilled as she in light magic? It was unlikely in her eyes. From the time she could walk and talk her mother had taught her magic, but of course the extent of her magic was unknown to most others anymore. She was a nobody, a simple traveler that was all.
About an hour ago when the group entered right into the hunting grounds of some venriuk vipers, Eris knew things were about to get interesting. Could she have "stumbled" across them and warned them? Sure, but where was the fun in that? There was no guarantee that the vipers would even find them and so Eris would have to intervene then, but she was realizing the chances of them making it through this dangerous area unscathed was growing thin as the human was rather loud with all his questions. She had to applaud him, though, as it helped keep the light elves distracted.
When the vipers finally attacked she remained hidden at a safe distance, but where she could watch everything happen. She had to keep an eye on the human, he needed to remain alive if she was to use him. Finally, her opportunity arose as the number of light elves dwindled after the third viper attacked. She grinned excitedly before letting the invisibility drop and running into the fray. She looked very concerned as she threw some half-assed magic attacks at the vipers, but of course, it was all for not as they were about to finish off their prey.
"I was too late." She said, loud enough for the human to hear, sounding distraught. She then began looking around, as if trying to figure out the best move, before her eyes landed on Kaleb. He was about ready to forget the rest of his group and make a run for it, his eyes searching for the best opening.
"You...we need to run! No others should die to these things today." She said as she ran up to him, tears in her eyes as she gently tugged on his arm. As she did so, she also prepared 8 incredible illusory images of the two of them and sent them running in different directions at different times. Now she could only hope her act would convince this human to follow, otherwise, she might actually have to try and do something about these snakes and that would be such a pain. To her surprise, he just booked it without a word. There was no need to ask him twice.
As far as Kaleb knew, the Light Elf crew had really fucked up with whatever route they had planned and this woman was a damsel to the rescue. Kaleb kept with Eris’ pace and lead as he didn’t want to run into another one of those vipers or something far worse. As they ran, Eris threw beams of light at branches to break them and make following their trail more difficult. It should also create a bit of heat to throw off the vipers' heat-sensing abilities.
After 45 minutes of running, Eris finally began to slow as she knew they needed to rest a bit and figured they were likely safe. She turned to Kaleb now, breathing a bit heavily as she spoke.
"We should be safe, we’re nearing a well-traveled road. Are you hurt at all? What were you doing so deep in the jungle?” She asked him while he himself was somewhat catching his breath. He hadn’t run that long in a while.
“Uh…” It was rare to catch Kaleb speechless. He tried to recollect the things he had been told.
“I’m fine. We were going to some port town to meet with a princess… Annya?” He wondered if the name would ring any bells. He leaned up against a tree and shook his head as the viper attack was on his mind.
”Can you get me there uh..?” He intentionally paused to indicate he did not know her name.
”Oh yes, how rude of me. I’m Eris.” She took another moment to catch her breath and seeming to ponder his words.
”The princess you say? You must be very important then. I can certainly get you there if it’s the port town I’m thinking of. Does River Port sound familiar?” She knew full well that was the port as she’d overheard them talking, but she was curious to see if he’d actually listened.
“Yes! River Port. And I’m Kaleb and yeah, you could say I’m very important. Might be your only hope in saving Avalia.” He now had a cheeky grin.
”So if we can get there, Eris, I will make sure you are very well compensated for assisting me.” He was already making empty promises.
With that, the two agreed to travel together to River Port. Eris had claimed that she was conveniently heading to the port town for more merchandise, revealing her occupation as a traveling merchant. While on the road, Eris made sure to swoon over Kaleb's heroic gesture of being someone who could save the Avalians. This only loosened the guy's lips some, making him reveal he was a human and fib about how amazing he was on Earth. The swooning only continued, keeping an aura of confidence around Kaleb and an aura of excitement around Eris. As a way to maintain some more control and safety over the situation, Eris warned Kaleb not to be so open about who and what he was due to spies. He agreed easily, being the "only hope" and all. Anything to remain alive.
With some walking and light casual talking, the two eventually reached a port with the ferry that would take them directly into River Port just before sundown. As the two "acquired" tickets for the ferry, Eris noted Kaleb reacting very awkwardly when seeing a few Demi-human that were also boarding and excused his odd stares as Kaleb simply being uncultured and a young elf that had never stepped foot outside of Sun Elf Kingdom. And Kaleb being Kaleb, played along nicely to sell the falsehood. In a few hours, Eris had saved Kaleb twice, making him really hope Princess Annya could deliver on
his promise.
“Y'know, I heard a rumor about humans having abilities. What can they even do?” He cleverly asked Eris as he wondered about his own untapped capabilities.
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