Advent of Eternity - Chapter 47 (Normalized) (Patreon)

Stix stood and pulled Knell to his feet, careful to only put pressure on his good leg. Knell got his staff out under him and hobbled over to the dead mage. He flipped the man over with the crow’s foot at the bottom of his staff, then pushed his jacket open.

“There’s something in his pocket,” Stix said, kneeling and pulling out a slip of paper. She opened it and frowned, handing it to Knell. “Looks like a map to a dungeon of some sort.”

“So it does,” Knell mused, studying it. “More crystals, perhaps? Maybe they’ve got the villagers mining in it.”

“Does that mean there are even more bandits?” Cyll asked, coming back to them wearing a set of mismatching bandit’s clothes that were just a little too tight for him. Knell was almost certain there had to be at least one person whose clothes would have fit the man better, but he didn’t bother pressing it.

“Probably a few,” Knell replied. “But I doubt their main force would be out in yet another spot. There weren’t that many tents here, and we killed all the local bandits. I suspect what’s left are just the stragglers.”

“So we’re going to go find them and clear that dungeon out as well?” Stix rooted around in the man’s clothes for a few moments, recovering a pouch of coins and the orb that he’d been using to cast his spells.

“That would bring things to a nice conclusion. I’m getting rather fed up with these people,” Knell said. “We’re getting stronger, but I wasn’t planning on this being a long excursion. I’d like to get the problem dealt with already so we can make sure we’re fully prepared for Mount Bloodwater. It’ll take some time to sail there as well.”

“Do you happen to know where it is?” Cyll asked.

“Nope,” Knell replied. “Probably not far from Blackfoot Bay, or nobody would have been gathering there. We’ll give ourselves a week to get there.”

“So we’ve got, what, two and a half more weeks on the land if we want to play it safe?” Stix guessed.

“That’s about right,” Knell said. “Plenty of time to improve. Before we leave, I want to get an artifact made as well. We can do that once we deal with the bandits in the dungeon.”

Cyll wiggled his fingers for the map. Knell handed it over, and the other man studied it for a few moments. “It doesn’t look like this is too far away, right? Maybe half a day’s travel at most.”

“I was thinking the same,” Knell said. “We should absolutely leave this camp, but I’m not sure if it would be wise to take another fight today. We’re all tired.”

“Speak for yourself,” Cyll said. “I’m more than happy to keep killing.”

“If we take longer, wouldn’t more villagers be at risk?” Stix asked with a frown. “The faster we save them, the better, right?”

“Not if it puts us at risk,” Knell replied. “Don’t forget that my goal is to keep us alive. The villagers are important, but they aren’t worth more to me than our lives. No – we’re going to travel a little closer, but we won’t be engaging today. I won’t take the risk for no reason. Stix, you can focus on cultivating that flower of yours. I need some recouperation as well.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Cyll complained. “I can’t get stronger.”

“That’s because you’re already unfairly strong,” Stix muttered. “Being immortal is completely unfair.”

“Well, you get to use magic.” Cyll crossed his arms. “I can’t do that. I wish I could.”

Stix blinked. “Seriously?”

“I mean, who wouldn’t want to use magic?” Cyll asked. “It’s incredible! Not dying is great, but it gets really boring, you know.”

“Have you ever tried learning?”

Cyll snorted. “It’s impossible. I don’t have a Path. I cast it aside for my immortality. I don’t regret the decision, but I do wish I could do a little more sometimes. You can only swing a sword so many times before it isn’t fun anymore.”

“That’s because you use your sword like a club,” Stix said, mirroring his position. “I knew people that dedicated their entire life to studying the art of the sword in my home village. They loved it more than anything. If you actually cared about your weapon and using it properly, maybe it would be more interesting.”

Cyll blinked. “I – well, huh. I never considered that. Just thought it was a hunk of metal for killing things.”

He studied the huge sword that he’d taken from the captain. “How does one go about learning the art of a sword? From what I’ve seen of you, you’re still just stabbing people.”

“I’m not a swordmaster,” Stix said. “I’m not even a daggermaster. I just use them. To study a weapon art is to dedicate your life to it. I can’t do that. I’ve got other goals.”

“Oh?” Cyll asked. “Like what? Any hot male elves on your mind?”

Stix flicked a dagger at Cyll. He didn’t even bother dodging it, and the blade thunked into his palm. He chuckled, pulling the blade out and tossing it back to Stix. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Knell shook his head, mildly amused at his crew’s antics but unwilling to waste any more time. His body felt like it was mostly back to its normal function, so he raised a hand to get their attention.

“Enough. Let’s get going. We want to make camp before it’s dark again.”

Cyll and Stix snapped their mouths shut and fell in behind Knell. The three of them set back off into the forest, leaving the ruins of the bandit hideout in their wake.

Stix took the lead, carrying the map in one hand as she led them after what they all hoped to be the last group of bandits. They walked for hours, and the forest continued to grow sparser until they reached its end, where it thinned out to a meadow with a few scattered trees throughout it.

“We should stop here,” Knell said.

“There’s still an hour or two left of daylight,” Stix said. “We could keep going.”

“And then we’d be making camp in grassland,” Knell replied. “That’s dangerous. We could be spotted easily. Remaining in the forest will be a lot safer, and we shouldn’t be that far from the dungeon anyway, right?”

“Probably four hours or so, if this map is accurate,” Stix said. “But I honestly wouldn’t count on it.”

“Close enough for me,” Knell said. “We’ll rest at the edge of the forest.”

He sat down against a tree, pushing some foliage and moss together to form a bed. Stix took the spot beside him. She sat cross-legged and opened the box containing the Yin Flower. Her breathing slowed and she closed her eyes.

Cyll, surprisingly, made as little noise as possible as he laid back on the ground, not bothering to mess with it at all. Knell watched Stix draw in the flower’s energy for a few minutes. He glanced back at Cyll, who gave him a thumbs up and indicated that he planned to stay awake. Knell nodded, then slipped back and closed his eyes to meditate.