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Chapter 576:

Arthur\'s Point of View

Vithari Coast

"Oh, god..." I said as soon as I stepped out of the portal into the familiar port town. "Why is it so hot?"

Lucia immediately turned to me with a raised brow. "I thought the hot and cold didn\'t affect you?"

"It doesn\'t. Sometimes it just feels nice to complain."

Vome snorted at that. "You do that all the time from what I\'ve seen."

"Meh."

Looking around Lucia spoke softly. "So, this is Vithari? It looks a lot like Lestrania."

"That\'s because we\'re on the coast. All coasts look the same for the most part. At least the cities and towns do. Ports are vital and having them similar to each other makes it easier for them to navigate." Vome explained. "Not in the layout, but in terms of standards and regulations."

"There are the exceptions of course, but most follow the same guidelines as everywhere else." I added with a shrug. "Why make things more difficult for sailors? Are you all unionized?"

"Unionized?" Camoa repeated. "What\'s that?"

"So, no. Never mind."

Rock started to bob up and down as we were quickly becoming quite the spectacle. "It seems these people recognize you." Lucia pointed out as she looked around.

"That," Vome began as he looked at the living Golem, "Or Rock has taken their breath away."

"Love that song."

The dwarf looked at me. "What?"

"Nothing. So, where are we going? Do we need to ask around or should we just head to the Northern Forest?" I asked.

"Let me ask around a bit. See if I can get us a heading. Someone has to know something." Vome suggested as he pointed off in one direction. "There should be a station with information just a little ways down the water." He then looked at me. "Think you can stay still for a few minutes? I don\'t want to get left behind."

Lucia giggled. "Laugh it up, Chuckles." I told her. "We\'ll be here."

"You sure?"

"Go!" The dwarf moseyed off a moment later. "I\'m never going to live that down."

"To be fair, you had your reasons." Camoa tried to comfort me. "Besides, it could always be worse?"

"True. We could run into another High Elf. Wouldn\'t that be fun?"

Lucia looked at me. "Do you think that might happen?" She sounded a little concerned.

I snorted at that. "Considering every time I\'ve been here I\'ve run into one, I\'m not going to rule it out."

Camoa\'s brow raised at that. "Haven\'t you only been to Vithari once?"

"Exactly."

The Druid rolled her eyes in that condescending way tree people do. "I hardly think that should count."

"Always hope for the best but expect the worst. If you plan for the worst, you can\'t be disappointed when you\'re right."

"You have a disturbing thought process."

My lovely, hormonal, daughter cut in. "I thought we all knew that already."

"And already I\'m missing the snarky dwarf. Stick with me, Rock. Us men need to stick together." I commented getting an unimpressed look from both women. "Or, you know, golem, men... Things..."

"Such a way with words." Lucia said. "What happened the last time you were here? Do you think anyone remembers you?" She asked after a moment and tried to change the subject.

"Well, I cut my wrists due to being poisoned with Demon Stone." Gesturing over to one of the piers, I continued. "Had to do it away from everyone because Elincia freaked out once she saw it, so I did it at the end of the pier." A conflicted look probably came to my face as I thought about my actions. "Looking back, draining my blood into the water probably wasn\'t the best idea." I then turned to Camoa with a brow raised. "You don\'t have sharks here, do you?"

"What\'s a shark?"

"Big fish with big razor-sharp teeth that\'s attracted to blood. Sometimes eats people."

"Do you mean a slant?" Camoa asked back.

"..." Slowly, I turned to Rock who just looked back at me. "A slant?" I repeated.

"Yeah. We have all kinds of slants. Gills, dorsal fins, and all that?" Lucia said.

"You call them slants? That\'s a stupid name."

Camoa scoffed. "And what? Shark is better?"

Throwing my hands into the air, I replied. "Better than slants!"

The women rolled their eyes again. "You\'re being ridiculous."

"Me?" Both hands went to my chest. "You want to what a slant is?" I held my arm up at a slant. "You see this? My arm is slanted." Using my free hand, I pointed at it. "This is a slant."

"That\'s an angle." Camoa said.

"An ang-" I had to stop myself. "How do you people have the same names for so much other shit, but you call sharks fu-" Catching myself as I looked at Lucia, I corrected my language, "freaking slants!?" Holding up my hands, a breath left my lips in a sigh. "It doesn\'t matter. As for your other question, no, Lucia. I don\'t think anyone will remember me. Not like I did a whole lot here before leaving."

As if on que, their group heard someone shout, "That\'s the hero of Vithari and the guy sleeping with Priestess Elincia of Lestrania!"

My face slowly sunk into my hands. "No one remembers you, huh?" Camoa\'s comment was completely unnecessary.

"It\'s Arthur!" Another shouted. "I remember because he was a party animal and the Priestess kept screaming his name! We couldn\'t sleep because they kept everyone awake!"

"Rock," I called causing the giant golem to look at me, "Do you think you could hit me hard enough to either turn me to past, or at the very least, make me forget this ever happened?"

Shaking his head, Lucia spoke for him. "Looks like that\'s a no. I\'m certainly glad I wasn\'t here for that."

"Oh, you\'re one to talk." I shot back. "Didn\'t you practically hump Alwin into submission before almost killing him while he was on his deathbed?" A blush came to her cheeks. "That\'s what I thought. I was drunk, poisoned, and low on blood. What\'s your excuse?"

"Clearly," Camoa, for some reason, decided she needed to join this horrible conversation, "You had enough blood for certain activities, so you couldn\'t\'ve been that low."

"I hate my life." I said as I closed my eyes.

The shouts were getting closer as a crowd was starting to form. "He is a god! Look! Lord Pendragon has a golem! It\'s a sign."

"Correction, I hate everyone else\'s lives. I wish they didn\'t have them."

"Didn\'t you save them?" Camoa asked.

"We all make mistakes."

Thank whatever shitty fucking gods were on this floating ball of magic that Vome returned. "Arthur!" He called as he moved through the crowd. "I know where we need to go! Our new capital is in the Northern Forests where the Druid lived!"

Without so much as a warning, my eyes activated as everyone lifted off the ground. "Great! Let\'s go!" With my gravity pillars, there were a few startled gasps, but I ignored them as we quickly left that port town. Never to return. Ever.

Vome, not being aware of the situation, shouted from behind me as I guided us on a gravity pillar ride. "Not a fan of hero worship?" He asked over the wind as we were moving at a decent speed with my energy protecting us.

"More like he didn\'t like the overly detailed praise he was receiving for his sex life!" Camoa answered. "He makes women scream his name-"

"Okay!" I shouted. "Can we please focus!?"

"I heard about that from Allen! The man said it was super awkward waking up in the morning!"

"Apparently not." I grumbled.

"Said something about the Priestess screaming about your tongue!" Vome exclaimed with a chuckle.

I, myself, chuckled when I dropped him. The dwarf\'s screams brought me great pleasure. It was only a few dozen feet before he floated back up towards us as we continued to shoot north. Vome wizened up and kept his mouth shut while Camoa giggled. Lucia had a massive blush across her cheeks stretching up to her ears.

Clearing his throat, Vome spoke up. "So, do you want to know where we\'re going?"

As unimpressed as ever, I glanced at him with a raised brow. "You said the Northern Forests where the Druid lived, right?"

"Yeah, but their forest is weird. They got all kinds of plant magic protecting it."

"Of course, they do. Will that even be a problem for me?" I tapped the side of my head near my eyes. "I mean, I should be able to see it, right?"

Vome shrugged. "Why are you asking me? I\'ve never been there. Apparently, they set up a few check points around the border to assist merchants and other travelers in finding the city." The dwarf explained. "We should head for one of them."

"Or, and hear me out, we have our own druid with us." My attention shifted to Camoa. "Think you can identify your people\'s magic and get us entry if I can\'t?"

Lucia quickly cut in. "Are you seriously worried you won\'t be able to enter the city? Can\'t you just negate the magic like you usually do?"

"I\'m pretty sure Camoa\'s weird ass plant magic potion thing she made for me let me taste the rainbow. So, while I\'m flattered by your faith in me, I\'d rather not breakthrough any tree hugger magic unless absolutely necessary." Was my reply.

"The potion wasn\'t that bad, was it?" Lucia asked back.

"..."

"I guess so."

Camoa finally decided to answer my question without her usual snark. "Yes, I could guide us if absolutely necessary, but I\'d like to remind you that we are here for diplomatic reasons. Did you really just plan on flying into the city, without any forewarning, and just expect everyone to be okay with that?"

Vome, the little bastard, agreed with her. "She has a point. Last time someone flew into our city, it kind of ended up in ruins. Well, a few someone\'s. You flying assholes could\'ve just fought outside instead of the giant underground cavern."

"Me?" I asked back, amused.

"No. Just, flyers in general."

I snorted at that. "We\'ll go with the native\'s recommendations and land at one of the forest border/city checkpoints. Where should we go?"

"Toward the forest and desert border." Vome answered.

"No, I mean, where are the checkpoints."

"How the fuck should I know?"

My eyes settled on the dwarf for a moment. "You are starting to lose your appeal."

He snorted at that. "I\'m an old dwarf. The fact you thought I had any to begin with is fuckin hilarious."

"Well, I guess we either get lucky running into the border, or hope Camoa can sniff it out?" Lucia suggested.

"I suppose I can try to find it by communicating with the local foliage." Camoa answered hesitantly. "Although do not expect them to answer. The last time I was here, I wasn\'t exactly welcome."

"Oh my god. Please don\'t tell me you\'re some sort of runaway Druid princess or some shit." The words left my mouth before I could censor myself.

"Of course not." Camoa replied as we continued to fly over the desert. "Not everyone you meet or pick up is some manner of royalty, Arthur."

Vome spoke up. "Not heard of many druid being unwelcome in their own home. What\'d you do?"

The druid crossed her arms. "You know why I like Lestrania?" Lucia snorted at that and the expression I wore, which I can only imagine was an unimpressed one. "The people there are smart. If something needs to be done, they\'re willing to do anything to do it."

Turning so my back was facing the ground, I looked at her. "Did you kill anyone?" She shook her head. "Perform some weird experiments on your fellow druid?"

"Of course not!"

"Anything to do with slaves or children?"

"No!"

I shrugged. "Then I don\'t care. If it\'s an issue, tell me now, if not, they\'ll get over it."

Camoa looked oddly pleased at that. "Good to know."

A sigh left my lips. "Camoa, I sweat to god, if you ruin whatever weird ass reputation I have with these people, not going to lie, I\'m going to be a little upset."

"There\'s nothing I\'ve done in the Northern Forests that I haven\'t done in Lestrania or for you." Then she shrugged to match the one I gave her. "Not like I need to speak to the trees here."

"You know what I say to the trees?" Vome asked, and I just glanced at him confused. "Chop, chop, bitches."

Ignoring them, I turned back around before shaking my head. Rock was the only one who wasn\'t bothering me. Part of me hoped it was because he couldn\'t talk. Although, with how things\'ve been going, somehow, I doubt it.

Sand passed by down below as clouds made way for us. At least, they would\'ve if there were any. It was a desert after all. Miles, and miles of desert. Lucia was looking around along with Rock. Both seemed to enjoy the ride as they didn\'t have to do anything. My gaze drifted toward the east toward where the remnants of Dwardew were.

Aside from my guard being up, because I was serious when I told Lucia about the possibility of running into another Aridian, I kept scanning for any sign of life. We saw a few merchants that Lucia and the others waved to. Elephants tooted their trunks as we flew overhead. We were high enough without them having to worry about getting covered in sand.

After about an hour, we finally started to see some green on the horizon. I could\'ve gotten us here sooner, but that\'d cost more energy, and I didn\'t want to waste an abundance of it just to reach the border in two minutes. Plus, it was nice to just fly around at times. Rock was enjoying it for sure, and I wanted Lucia to have a moment to look around as well.

"That\'s the forest." Vome pointed.

"Oh really?" I asked back. "Because I thought it was just a canyon before continuing into more desert."

"Now who\'s in a mood." Vome sniped.

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry. Wasn\'t sure if you called it a forest or a slant."

The dwarf looked at me confused. "A slant? Like an angle?"

"No, the fish."

"The fuck is a slant fish?" My small companion looked utterly confused.

Turning to both Lucia and Camoa, I saw the two of them smirking. "I hate both of you." Both girls burst out laughing as I groaned. "This, Vome," Gesturing to the two got him to raise a brow, "This is what I deal with."

"It\'s your own damn fault for letting these women run all over you. Don\'t get mad at me because you can\'t keep them under control."

Lucia, whose magic quickly activated as she snatched the dwarf to move him in front of her, glared at him. "Excuse me!?"

A smile came to my face. "Way to get them under control, Vome."

"Oh, shut up! Lass, you know I didn\'t mean it. Just some advice from one old man to another." Vome tried.

"You call that advice?" Lucia asked back in an agitated tone.

"What\'s the saying, happy wife, happy life?" Vome offered. "Not that you\'re married or anything..."

"I prefer the saying, happy spouse, happy house." I cut in. "The other one usually ends in disaster."

All of them turned to me. "I think we\'ve gotten off topic." Camoa tried to turn our attention back to the forest. "Do you see any checkpoints, Arthur?"

Lucia scoffed as she let the dwarf go. He was still under my control, so he went back to floating. "Uh, what are they supposed to look like?" I asked Vome.

The dwarf shrugged. "How should I know?"

My lovely daughter crossed her arms. "Because you were the one who got our information." She replied.

"Oh. Right..."

"You have no idea, do you?"

"None."

A sigh left my lips. "Camoa, what about you? Do we look for a gate of some sort, a flower as a marker, or some kind of illusion-based magic?"

The druid was not as helpful as I would\'ve liked. "I don\'t see any magic, and I certainly don\'t know anything about these new checkpoints of theirs."

"What about old checkpoints?" I pressed.

"There were none. Druids could come and go as they pleased. The forest had the natural protection of our magic. I was honestly surprised to hear the Demons were able to infiltrate it so easily." Camoa answered before shrugging.

"So, what are our options then?" Lucia asked.

"We could always go back to where we saw those merchants." Vome offered. "They were heading in this direction. Maybe we could help one of them along their way." Moving down toward the forest got them all to pause. "I take it you have an idea."

I nodded. "Between Rock and I, we should be able to figure out where we need to go. Unless you think we can see it from above? Not like I can\'t fly us around for a few hours to find this place."

Both Vome and Camoa exchanged a look before shaking their heads. "Before, it would\'ve been unlikely. While sunlight does come through the trees, our home was masked by the forest and it\'s magic as I\'ve said before. Your eyes might be able to find it, but you\'ve always had difficulty finding me, haven\'t you?" Camoa pointed out.

My tongue clicked at that. She had a point after all. "There\'s no telling how the new capital is set up either. With dwarves and druids working together, it could be well locked away, and those checkpoints could be the only way in."

Resting my hands on my hips, I looked them over as we landed. "But do you really think they\'ve had enough time to set all that up?"

Lucia answered that. "After both of their capitals being decimated by the Demons, with both races close to extinction, I think it\'s safe to say they might\'ve made that a priority."

"That makes sense." One of my fingers came up to pinch the bridge of my nose as I considered the options. "Well, they are allies, and I\'d like to see if I could find the place on our own first."

"Uh," Vome looked around for a moment before he continued in a confused tone, "Why?"

"If the new capital can avoid detection from Arthur," Lucia began as her eyes widened slightly, "Then it has a higher chance of avoiding detection from any demons."

"But what about any that try to sneak in as merchants?" Vome inquired. "We had a dwarf that was a demon all along and none of us knew!"

"Ghouls are foul creatures that even the Hollow Forest can sense. The air becomes stale, and if I can detect when Arthur, or one of these ghouls enters my forest, I\'m sure the druids here will have some defenses in place." Camoa stated.

"Good enough for me! Who wants to go hiking?" I asked the group.

Rock, in response, turned into a ball and started tumbling through the forest. "Well, I may not be as excited as him, but I\'m up for it." Lucia answered. "It could be fun."

"Can\'t we just go back to flyin?" Vome questioned as he spread his arms. "The wind in my beard... It was quite the experience."

A chuckle escaped my lips at that. "I\'m sure you\'ll survive." He grumbled as he started to step over some roots. "Tell you what," I clapped my hand on his back, "I\'ll find some time for us to go flying again. Maybe on the way back or something."

Vome cackled madly as he ran through a bush. "A dwarf works better with a reward waiting for him at the end of his ordeal! For a smith, it\'s the end result of a magnificent weapon or new equipment! Me? I\'ll feel the wind in this dusty old beard if I have to jump off a cliff!"

"Someone\'s excited." Lucia said with a chuckle before following him.

My eyes glanced toward Camoa. "Anything?"

Her hand was on a nearby tree as her eyes were shut in focus. "Nothing. They\'re all silent."

The druid glanced at me as she stepped back. "The silent treatment, eh?" She rolled her eyes. "How\'s it feel?"

"Like it has for the last several decades. You ever get the cold shoulder for that long?"

"I mean, I don\'t want to brag, but..."

Breeze\'s Point of View

Volcanic Curtain

Father had given me a mission. The Dragonlands behind the Volcanic Curtain... Dragons were hidden away from the world, and none had been spotted in centuries. Well, not in mass like they had to visit Lestrania when father returned. Arthur Pendragon had a way of bringing out the most ridiculous characters from all walks of life. Now, I had to make contact with Pyrite.

However, upon entering the volcanic field, I found nothing except what you would expect. Flying around through smoke, sulfur, and steam, I tried to look for any dragons. Yet, despite looking for days, I\'d found nothing. It wasn\'t like I expected them to be lounging around in lava or magma, but there hadn\'t been a single sign of them.

With a barrier of wind around me to cycle the air, it made me stick out like a sore thumb. Someone should\'ve seen me by now, but that was another thing that was concerning. Ever since I entered this place, something had been watching me. Leaving, and reentering the Dragonlands took time, but it wasn\'t exactly safe for me to sleep here. It was just... Every time I left, the feeling would go away, yet, whenever I returned, that feeling came back every time.

"Hello!?" I called out again. Not that anyone had ever answered. "I\'m here to speak with the Dragon Representative, Pyrite!"

"..." Only silence ever greeted me.

However, something did catch my attention. A bubbling from down below among the liquid hot magma. Not unusual given where I was, but it was the amount that gave me hope. It looked like a massive creature was moving around as parts of cooled molten rock began to reignite right before my eyes.

Lowering slightly as I watched, waited, and hoped, a massive claw soon climbed from a pool of the formed molten liquid. Finally, a dragon I could ask for some manner of help or aid. Then again, it was a dragon, which meant it could also try to eat me. Keeping my distance, I increased my barrier in strength as a glob of the melted rock up at me.

Darting to the side, I huffed in annoyance at the obvious attack. "Of course." Part of me had hoped it would be as simple as asking for directions. "I\'m not here to hurt anyone or cause any harm. My father, Arthur Pendragon, sent me!"

My annoyance grew as the claw resubmerged into the magma pool below. A huff left my lips as I lowered slightly to see if I could \'persuade\' the dragon into leaving. Whether that be by attacking me again or by actual conversation. I didn\'t hope for either.

Unfortunately, things quickly escalated as the pool of molten rock below exploded! Chunks of the liquid fire were sent flying. I dodged in and out of the sudden fire rain, but was horrified as I glanced back to see some manner of creature jumping up at me. Flying up into the sky, my barrier expanded as it slammed into the strange creature, sending it back down to the magma pools below. It bellowed in pain as it thrashed around angrily.

"I\'m starting to think I should just leave."

This was no dragon. If I had to guess, a demon was the most likely. There were no known creatures made out of lava that I knew of, and yet, here one was. A literal blob of molten rock that glowed menacingly. A face would form every now and then, just like how claws would form to climb around faster or throw things at him, but now it just looked like another pool of magma again.

A sigh left my lips. "Why do I have to deal with the lava monster?" I asked no one in particular. "Or is it a lava demon...?" Maybe this creature was why I couldn\'t find any dragons.