Two hours pa.s.sed slowly as Marcellus was looking for the flowers. Frustrated he sat down on a rock "Where have all the stupid flowers gone," he screamed at himself mentally. He let out a long sigh before observing where exactly in the forest he was. It was not humid but hot and the sun had now reached the west side of the sky. Seeing that even more time had pa.s.sed he sighed again. He pushed himself off of the rock he was resting on and continued looking for the flowers in the dense green forest that surrounded him. When entering the forest he had decided to go forward and then to the right, keeping a straight line so he could easily find his way out. He suddenly tripped on a fallen log that was hidden by fallen leaves.
He looked next to him to see how he had fallen and he was shocked, there was a low ranked earth elemental eating the flowers he was looking for. The elemental looked like a bunch of rocks made into the shape of a monkey with quartz where its eyes, feet, and hands should have been. Its eyes had many different types of valuable rocks inside making them look like an extremely real pair of blue eyes.
The elemental, intrigued by the sudden noise looked up to inspect what had happened. He noticed Marcellus and stared at him. Having just fallen down and being defenseless he was reaching for his sword on his hilt while staring. When he got hold of his sword he slowly stood up and inched backward.
Marcellus looked at the small looking elemental. He had never fought anything before, all he could do was run. Suddenly the monkey jumped on his back and wrapped its hands around his neck. Marcellus prepared himself for the pain but it never came. He opened one eye and checked his back to see the monkey sleeping on his shoulder.
It was holding five of the flowers he needed for the quest so he slowly reached for its hand but when he tried to pull the flowers away he couldn"t. He accidentally touched the monkey"s hand but it was surprisingly soft. Looking closer he noticed small moss-like fur growing out of the smooth stones. Touching it felt like he was petting the stray dogs he met in the allies sometimes.
He looked at the monkey"s face and it was awake and staring at his face with wide eyes. Marcellus froze "Oh, c.r.a.p. Did I p.i.s.s it off." The monkey then grabbed the hand that was petting it and placed it in its head. The plants on the monkey"s head were even softer than those on its hand.
It continued staring at Marcellus but this time expectantly and then he realized it wanted him to pet its head. He slowly moved his hand stroking its head. It relaxed again and slowly drifted off to sleep. Now he didn"t know what to do. The monkey had the flowers he needed and had probably eaten the rest, so how was he supposed to complete the quest.
He began his hour trip back to the city. He walked and walked with a small break halfway but overall things went smoothly. The monkey shifted on his back and jolted awake. It made a small clicking sound with its stone teeth and jumped off his back. It grabbed his hand and pulled him in the opposite direction of the city. He didn"t trust the monkey he had only known for an hour and now with the sun setting and a high chance of him getting lost he didn"t want to follow it.
It stopped pulling and started tugging repeatedly looking slightly mad. Not wanting to face an elemental he had no knowledge of, he decided to just follow along. The monkey pulled him in the direction of a mountain. He reluctantly followed. So far the monkey had done him no harm so he was pretty sure that it was not it"s intention.
After a short walk, they reached the foot of the mountain. Marcellus looked up at the giant mountain and thought, "If the monkey is planning to take me to the top of this thing I might just pa.s.s out."
The monkey seemed to roll its eyes and pulled him around the mountain to a small cave to the side of it. It pulled him inside and finally let him go and climbed back onto his shoulder. He patted its head and it seemed to appreciate the praise. Marcellus, finally given a chance to rest, sat down on the floor of the cave. He suddenly heard some shuffling and clinking deeper inside the cave.
He stood up and pulled out his sword ready just in case something attacked him. "There is no need for weapons, human." A deep voice said echoing all around the entire cave. A figure of a ma.s.sive gorilla appeared from the shadows of the cave. It was similar to the monkey that was attached to his shoulder so he guessed that this was the father.
"Did the monkey bring me here to die?" he asked himself looking at the monkey innocently sleeping on his shoulder. Finally acknowledging the words of the gorilla he sheathed the sword but still kept himself ready to run for his life. The tree and the rocks around the gorilla fell to the ground and turned to dust. When they reorganized themselves it was into a more humanoid version of the elemental he had just seen.
So much had happened to Marcellus just on the first day of him leaving the city that he didn"t know what to say. He just kept staring at the elemental who was starting to get a little nervous with Marcellus staring at him. "Would you like something to eat or drink?" asked the elemental. "What?" asked Marcellus, looking confused. The elemental waved it off and sat down at the wall of the cave.
"We don"t get a lot of visitors here, it"s nice to have some company that I don"t have to kill," the elemental without thinking about it too much. "I"m going to die here, n.o.body will find my body and I will never be remembered." Seeing the expression on Marcellus" face the elemental let out a laugh saying, "Don"t worry I won"t attack you, my daughter has taken a liking to you.
Marcellus chuckled back nervously, secretly thanking the monkey on his shoulder for letting him live. Then he turned to the elemental and sat down next to it. "What are you guys exactly?" Marcellus questioned the elemental. Looking a bit surprised he laughed and slapped Marcellus on the back. "You are one funny kid," he said, still laughing. "You aren"t here to kill us or steal our treasure?" he said after another second. Marcellus couldn"t help it and once again said "What?"
The elemental picked up the monkey off his shoulder and into his hands stroking her head. "Does she have a name?" Marcellus asked with curiosity. Continuing to stroke her head he replied, "No, we are elementals we don"t have names. I suppose that I could let you give her one as she will probably stay around you for a long time." Marcellus asked, "What do you mean?"
"She seems very attached to you for some reason. You seem very naive and while that is dangerous it makes me trust you more" he responded simply.
"Although I would like for her to stay in this cave and grow strong in the presence of our treasure. I cannot force her to stay and she wants to go with you on an adventure. She was always a troublemaker." He said sadly. The monkey wrapped her arms around her father gently pulling him closer. "How about, Alyssa?" whispered Marcellus looking at the cute moment.
They both turned to look at him when he said that. "Or maybe not," he said. "She likes it" quickly said the father putting Alyssa back onto Marcellus" lap. He then stood up and walked deeper into the cave saying, "I"ll be back soon, wait here." Marcellus leaned farther back onto the wall getting into a comfortable position. He fell asleep patting Alyssa"s head.
He felt a tug on his arm and he woke up slowly blinking his eyes. He noticed that the humanoid elemental was walking back towards them from the back of the cave and stood up. When the elemental reached him it handed him a small rock that strangely multicolored. "This is a gift to you so that you can better protect my daughter. It"s an elemental treasure with a 70% understanding of the earth element. It"s a high grade aura treasure."
Marcellus took it and placed it into his pocket not sure what that meant exactly but based on what the book said earlier this should help him cultivate faster because of it"s high understanding. Marcellus having accepted the gift looked at Alyssa hanging on his shoulder nibbling on her nails sharpening them. For some reason, he found it cute. Looking at her, he noticed that the sun was much farther down than it was before his arrival.
"Sorry sir but I must be going, if the sun sets before I get back to the city a beast could attack me," he scrambled to say goodbye as he left for the city leaving the cave behind. He shouted, "Thank"s a lot. I hope we meet again sometime." as the scene of the cave faded behind him.
Alyssa was already asleep on his shoulder two minutes after he left. Then thirty minutes later the sun was gone and the forest was pitch black. "Luckily I only have 20 minutes left before the city I should be fine," he reasoned.
The fresh leaves softened the crunch that the dry ones under them made. The forest was bathed in sounds of crickets and birds and leaves that Marcellus wasn"t sure that he could even hear a beast coming to attack him. Marcellus was usually right but this time it seemed that he was lucky and that nothing was going to happen to him. Unfortunately, he was right. A small lion with silver fur jumped at him out of the bushes and bit his arm. However, because it jumped and Marcellus moved sideways to dodge following the momentum of the lion so it didn"t do much damage.
Looking at the small scratch on his left arm Marcellus clenched his sword, waiting for the beast to attack again. Not knowing his intentions the beast lunged at him again, Marcellus not being able to keep up with the speed of the beast blindly spun to the right while swinging his sword, slashing its stomach with a shallow cut.
This time Marcellus didn"t want to give it a chance to recover and dashed at it. The lion swung its claws at the incoming Marcellus who was taken by surprise, lifting his left arm to block the claws. Since it was young it was not strong enough to cut off his arm but it did expose his bone.
Marcellus fell down breathing harder and harder. He was losing blood and time. He needed to get out of the forest before he died of blood loss. He plunged his sword into the already open gut of the lion which was above him, having knocked him down. The lion wailed in pain for a second before it collapsed.
Marcellus threw up immediately, even though it was an animal he had never taken a life before and he considered animal lives as important too. He started crying while vomiting, after a few more moments he stood up and sheathed his sword barely staying conscious from the physical and mental pain.
He stayed over the lion crying and patting it for a few more seconds before checking his shoulder and saw that the monkey was no longer there but a second later reappeared from a bush. As he was about to leave with Alyssa he heard an angry low growl behind him and he turned to see what seemed to be a larger version of the lion he just killed. His body was screaming for him to run but he couldn"t move.