Summer Break

Chapter 33

It was mid afternoon and another hot day in the beast glades as Arthur and his friends rode back into the outpost they started from. It had been nearly a week since their final dungeon, and Claire and Lilia were driving the wagons up to Feyrith's uncles business to return them.

The ride back to the outpost was nothing less than peaceful, with them completing a few small ingredient quests along the way to get a little bit more fun in. After Claire regained consciousness, she was very surprised to see her uncle sitting beside her, while she rested in an actual bed at the Inn, several hours after they exited the dungeon. Kaspian had been told in great detail everything Claire had done and accomplished over their travels, and felt no greater sense of pride in his niece for how far she had come.

After returning the beast's and wagons they all made their way through the outpost to the teleportation gate as a wave of nostalgia came over them as they remembered how they were last time they were there. Yes it had only been two months, but they all felt they had grown tremendously in that time, although to everyone else they still looked like a bunch of kids. With the exception of Arthur and Elijah, they all originally felt that the beast glades were a terrifying place, where just stepping foot in there was a danger to their lives. Now however they realized that despite the dangers it held, there was also a beauty in the untouched wilderness.

Where when they began they were all teens wearing armor and having their weapons out at the ready, they were all now wearing more comfortable clothes, with their weapons in their dimensional rings. Although for some the change was a necessity, as Kathyln's dress had two slashes down the back, essentially making it only trash now.

Even though everyone felt they gained something from this time in the beast glades, Arthur felt he gained the most. He had finally unlocked sound magic, he had made memories with his friends that he would treasure forever, and he opened his heart to Tess, something he would never have been able to do as Grey, only more so distancing himself from his past self.

As for his sound magic, unlocking it was one thing, being able to use it was another. As lightning and ice magic were at first, his sound magic was unstable and difficult to even try to use. Unfortunately school was still out for three more weeks, so using the academy library to teach himself about sound magic was out of the question. He had considered asking director Goodsky for help, seeing that she was a sound mage herself, but he quickly dismissed that idea, as every time he tried to get her help with something she tried to use it as leverage to get something out of him, and the last thing he wanted was to owe her anything. Ultimately he decided on reaching out to Pasta Bloom. Seeing as the retired Lance seemed to like him the last time they met, and because he was also an augmenter, Arthur decided to write him a letter asking for some insight into sound magic that could give him some better control, and sent it off as soon as they arrived at the outpost.

The friends entered the teleportation gate without issue, since they don't check Adventurer cards on the way into Xyrus, and were within the city where they left from. Not much to their surprise, there was a Sapin royal carriage waiting, to their surprise, there was also another.

"Prince Curtis, Princess Kathyln, welcome back to Xyrus," a guard said as he bowed.

"Thank you," Curtis replied, "what's with the carriages?" Curtis was pretty sure he know what was going on, but decided not to assume anything.

"All I've been told I can say is that they are for you and your friends," the guard replied with a smile.

"Well, at least we don't need to worry about getting a ride home," Curtis replied, and everyone began loading into the carriages, with a third special one they didn't notice just for Grawder, that looked like a fancy wagon without a cover.