A Hand-Woven Universe

Near the entrance of the tent, a large figure moved swiftly stepping outside while making next to no noise. If it hadn"t been for Noone"s overly keen perception, he doubt he would have even noticed.

A small frown appeared on Noone"s face and he stood up, quietly avoiding the scattered equipment on the ground as he followed the figure outside.

The night air was pleasantly calm and there was no bitter chill or sweltering heat to ruin it.

Throughout the camp the noise of drinking and chatting could be heard, carrying over the night air. All in all, it was peaceful compared to the rush of the day

Nearby, the large figure stood close to the edge of the camp, facing up towards the mountain.

It was Tobias.

Unlike his usual demeanor, his shoulders were lightly slouched, and his breathing was deeper than normal. Tobias was lost in thought as he stared up the mountainside.

Noone watched the large paladin for a while. They both stood, unmoving and unbothered like statues in the dark.

The mountain itself loomed over the 800 strong army like an immense beast. Although they were formed as a subjugation unit for what they knew was a small break-off faction of dark elves, no one felt at ease… especially during the night.

Dark elves were notorious for their skill and movement in the dark. Their entire lives were spent training in the ruthless underworld of the southern land, moving through shadows.

Around the edge of the camp, about every 50 meters, a pair of soldiers were stationed to keep watch in the night. They used special magic to heighten their senses in order to deter any sneak attacks or ambushes from the dark elves.

After a while, seeing Tobias make no further movements, Noone decided to go back and leave the paladin to his own devices.

"Since I am already out… there"s something I want to check." Noone thought silently, he backed away from the edge of the camp and began weaving between tents moving inwards.

Right now, a smile was ingrained onto his thoughts. The smile of the captured dark-elf from the general"s tent.

Noone had been lucky earlier, it had seemed that no one realized that the prisoner had been staring right at him the whole time. They had been too occupied by the expression and the chill which had pierced into their bones.
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That expression was that of a beast… not a person.

As he walked, he recognized the tents he pa.s.sed as one"s near the center camp. Spreading his divine sense to its very limit, it wasn"t long till he had come to the generals tent they had been led to before.

Noone easily snuck up next to it, hiding behind some nearby supply crates which were stacked near the front of the door.

He closed his eyes and spread his divine sense into the tent.

It was empty. The general was nowhere to be seen, and neither were any of his officers or guards. Noone frowned and continued to scan the tent. In the middle of the room he could see the cage that the dark elf had been in but…

She was nowhere to be seen either.

A chill ran down Noone"s spine.

Suddenly, out of the edge of Noone"s vision he saw something shift on the ground. He quickly trained his divine sense on it and his frown deepened along with the chill which had made his skin crawl.

The guard he had seen before – Johnson – his entire form was laying lifeless just out of view.

Just beyond the corpse of the guard, disappearing into the shadows of the tents Noone saw the lithe figure of a female dark elf turn and stop - only one step away from being out of sight - and smile at Noone. A large inhuman white-toothed smile.

Then she was gone.

Noone"s eyes widened and he shot out from behind the stacked supplies and back into the maze of tents and barracks. His feet landed lightly but his speed pushed him away as fast as possible. He wasted no time to distance himself from the scene.

"Either she escaped… or someone broke her out." Noone thought quickly as he did his best to return to his tent before anyone could notice he disappeared.

Suddenly, a horn loud enough to send vibrations across the entire camp sounded out, followed by the scramble of hundreds of groggy soldiers rushing to their equipment.

It took no longer than a minute for the entire camp to become a glowing torch in the night. Every tent and every path was soon so brightly lit it may well have been daytime.

Noone was only a couple tents away from where Tobias and Sarah were by this point, so he slowed his pace and casually joined in with the soldiers who were now standing on guard. He saw Tobias standing near the dwarven squad leader and Sarah was stood close by, eyes trained on the forest near the base of the mountain.

Soon, Tobias approached Noone and Sarah, gathering them together.

"What was that horn for?" Sarah asked. Being an especially astute person, she had her own ideas. Noone had also been eavesdropping on nearby chatter and managed to get a picture of what was happening.

"According to the squad leader, that was the horn in case of potential ambush or attack…" Tobias let his words trail off as he gazed towards the mountain. His fist clenched slightly as he thought about his party"s struggle the last time they pa.s.sed through Stone-Eye.

Noone kept his face perfectly expressionless - the same kind of neutral expression Raelith had mastered – giving away none of his thoughts.

Once every soldier had found their positions the entire camp had quieted down until only the ragged breathing of tired men could be heard in the night. Gradually the night grew tenser as each minute pa.s.sed uneventfully.

On the other side of the camp, General Armuu was stood next to a young soldier who had been the one to blow the horn.

He was one of a two-man team who had been on watch that night. He was quickly explaining to the General what he had seen, but as the minutes dragged on, he became less sure of himself.

The pressure of the general standing so close by was causing a nervous sweat to build up between his brows. "I wasn"t wrong, right?" He thought, shuddering.

If it was deemed that he had falsely blown the horn and woken the entire camp… he could very well kiss his days of peace gone.

After 15 minutes of nothing happening, the scouts they sent out came back and reported that there was nothing to worry about. The general sighed, and gave an order to blow the "all clear" signal.

The young soldier immediately felt himself sweat out a day"s worth of water as General Armuu came to stand right in front of him.

"How long have you been with the army?" The general sighed as he looked down at the nervous young man.

"S-Six months sir." He stuttered.

"Six months. You should remember to temper your nerves better in the coming days. I want you running laps around the perimeter of the camp until sundown." General Armuu said evenly but left no room for discussion.

"S-sundown… sir?" The young soldiers" eyes widened. It was still the middle of the night… surely the general didn"t mean to force him to run laps through the next day…?

The look from general Armuu made it very clear that is what he meant before walking off into the camp.

Despite his tired expression, his steps weren"t lacking the force that he had grown used to carrying in his posture after a life in the service of Cinapul.

He didn"t even make it ten steps though, before a familiar aid ran up to him, looking panicked and calling his name.

"General Armuu! We have a problem!" The man spoke quickly. Immediately the general"s eyes hardened as he looked at the man.

"The dark elf woman! She"s escaped! And Johnson…. Her guard, he is dead." He spoke in broken gasps having just come out of a full sprint from the general"s tent.

"What!" The general yelled, his eyes widening to the point they looked like they might pop out of his skull.

Everyone within earshot froze as they stared at the general. Someone was killed in the middle of the camp unknown to any of them? How was that possible? Unless…

The general shot a look at the young soldier who had blown the horn initially.

"Show me the body." He said after taking a moment to compose himself.