If you wanna come by and vibe, maybe even hear me read you a book, just slide in the server.
Discord: /PecUxPxMZQ
28 years after the death of Himmel the Hero, on a dirt road, on the road to Käufer
"Ain't it weird that they refer to Verkäufer by his first name, but only wanna be called by their last name, despite being brothers?"
Senken took an inhale through his abdominal mouth and his nose at the same time, finding Bericht's insistent questions about this minor issue grating. It had been almost a full day since they had met the ale brewing brothers, whose brother had not returned from selling their wares.
Verkäufer was a dwarf as well, and pretty much looked just like the other Lakritz, greasy black hair and beard, short, it wasn't much of a description in all honesty. The one saving grace was that they were the only dwarves that were around here that weren't traveling through, so most settlements had some interaction with him, since he sold their products to businesses and homes alike.
"Yep." Winzig said, equally annoyed by Bericht's questioning. She was far kinder than Senken, however, in still choosing to communicate with him. Once he was annoyed, Senken had resolved to give him the silent treatment.
The day's trek had, with Bericht's questions, dragged to a crawl, and more than once had Senken needed to stifle a yawn as they walked to the village Käufer, the main stop that Verkäufer made to sell their ale, since it apparently had three different taverns.
Senken drifted his gaze upward, to the clear blue sky. In the distance, a bird could be seen, riding the thermals. The breeze rolled over the trio, pushing against them and slowing them minutely.
"So," Bericht continued, not picking up on the mood. "Where do you think we will find him?"
Winzig sucked at her teeth. "Probably drunk in a tavern."
"What about you, Senken?" Bericht asked, turning to the giant of the group only to find he wasn't there. Turning more, he saw that Senken had stopped in his tracks, still staring up at the sky.
Bericht saw all four of Senken's eyes focused on something, but when he looked himself, he didn't see anything.
"Senken?" He asked, Winzig finally turning to regard the two of them.
"There's a body up ahead." Senken said plainly. Winzig raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know that?" She asked, hip cocking as she crossed her arms.
"I can smell it on the wind. Rotting meat." Senken answered easily, finally taking his gaze from the sky and beginning to walk, his long legs helping him clear the distance easier.
The trio of mages moved at a brisk pace, ready to act on any threat there could be. Yet, while both Winzig and Bericht focused on what was around them, Senken's gaze never left the sky.
It was the evening when the scent was something his travel companions could actually smell, the sweet rot of meat clawing its way up the road. The one grace was that they were still far from Käufer. Moving to the side of the road, it ended in a slope that was choked with trees of varying ages, all vying for their space, but several had been broken, bent, or uprooted.
This natural window let them spy, beyond them, the smashed and ruined remains of a cart. The beast of burden that had been pulling it had crumpled into a mass of meat and bone. The cart itself was unusable, both wheels smashed and the cart itself almost bent in half as it had hit a large boulder. Shards of wood littered the area, but there were still some barrels visible, as well as a humanoid form, but both it and the draft animal had been well picked over, bones stuck with gristle left uneaten.
Senken didn't bother trying to find an easier way down, using flight magic to lower himself down to the wreckage as the Winzig and Bericht kept watch. Senken, floating above the corpse, took a look at it. A lot of soft tissue in its face was gone, leaving the macabre grin of a skull and little else. What hair was left was dry, but black. Beneath it, what hadn't been taken to build nests and line burrows, there were longer strings of the same material. This, and the fact that the corpse was short, even if it was missing its legs, meant it was probably the dwarf they were after.
Turning to one of the barrels left somehow undamaged, Senken channeled Schrein into one of his fingers and pushed it through the wood, creating a borehole that began glugging a brown liquid that, when he brought it to his nose and sniffed, he learned was ale.
"This is him." Senken called back, his shadow deepening and swallowing the corpse. "Looks like he lost control of the car-"
"SENKEN!"
Interrupted, the tone of Bericht's voice was the only indication that danger was close. An air bubble formed and popped just behind the small of his back, giving him the needed momentum to fly out of the way of a devastating crash.
Turning, what caused it was obvious. A massive creature, one and a half times the size of the biggest horse Senken had ever seen had landed upon the cart, folding it the rest of the way in half and smashing the rest of the wood. Covered in a plumage of feathers the color of rust, two massive taloned feet, with the face of a bird of prey staring at him. Behind it, a furred tail waved behind its two massive wings, spread out to intimidate.
"[Brentien]" Winzig said, from above. Lifting to float around her staff, four small rocks came into view, which quickly began to orbit the tip as well as glow a bright orange.
Pointing with her staff, two of the rocks flew, screaming with flames into one of the wings of this Griffin. It screeched, turned, and lifted up into the air, aiming to attack the source of its pain.
It didn't even get more than a foot off the ground before the wing was burned through and, with a hole in the appendage, fell back to the ground. Winzig carefully aimed the other two heated rocks, and sent them into the griffins body, one along its flank and the other into its throat, its screech of pain becoming a burbling, wet noise as the flesh melted, reminiscent of a cauldron on a high flame.
In the space of a moment, the griffin had attacked, missed, and been killed.
Senken watched as it coiled up into dust, drifting in the faint wind, leaving them only with the smell of rot again. He drifted up back to the road.
"Thank you, Winzig." he said, then turned to the other mage. "And thank you, Bericht. I wasn't paying attention."
Winzig was quiet, but nodded, and Bericht made up for it by speaking about the entire encounter they just had while they turned around and headed back.
It was still quite annoying.
They made camp, slept, and the next day made their way back to the Lakritz Hovel, much to the surprise of the dwarves within.
Initially, they believed they were here to tell them that they wouldn't be doing the quest given to them, but the correction and subsequent delivery of their brother's body was a far sadder ending.
The three mages helped dig a grave, Senken dividing the land and Bericht and Winzig both using magic to lift the blocks of dirt up and out of the ground.
They were asked to stay, and while it was awkward to watch these brothers grieve, it was also awkward to say no and leave, especially since Bericht and Winzig insisted on staying when he brought up the idea.
As Senken stood there, looking at the grieving family as they buried the remains of their sibling, the thought crossed his mind of him, being in that grave.
If he died, which was a possibility, who would grieve over him? Winzig and Bericht were nice, sure, and would probably bury him, but they weren't going to be traveling forever. Äußerst was the end of their travels together, and from that, he would be alone again.
If he, then, died on the side of the road, he would probably be left there. He would be scavenged and rot away into bones and dust.
The idea of his family never knowing what happened to him stirred something in his chest that he did not like.
He had told Heben, when he had decided to leave, that loving his family was not going to be an obstacle in becoming a great mage. It still wasn't.
But for the first time since he began his voyage, he felt a semblance of homesickness. Not just for his mother's food, or the warmth of his bed, but for the dinners they had, for the morning fog that clung to him as he trekked for his breakfast.
Senken resolved, then and there, to go home when he received the rank of first class mage.