A Strong Bond (alternate story)- Hiatus

Chapter 7 - head out

I walk out of town and head toward a cave. I know rimuldar was lacking in ore but this area is one of the only sources of metal in rimuldar. The walk wasn't as long but it felt like forever. I had finally made it to the cave, the entrance is well hidden if it was naturally made or it was hidden by humans I'm not sure. I squeeze through one of the gaps not wanting to destroy the camouflage, when I'm in I stand up and look towards the tunnel in front of me. The tunnel is quite deep. It goes on for a long time and then makes a sharp turn. It does the same a bit deeper in I laugh at how much it feels like khumbul dun. Back when I and malroth would go into the cave looking for metal. After Another turn, I found a large vein of iron.

I grab the hammer from my back and swing it at the mountain of iron. After a while I get all the iron I need, putting it all in my bag. I stand up straight and make my way back to the entrance. My breathing is slow and jagged. The cave was quite thin on air. I walked out seeing the sun in front of me, "if the sun is there I guess it's almost nightfall" I say getting my stuff together once I have everything packed I head back towards rimuldar.

I make my way back to the bridge by nightfall, when I get close I can see malroth leaning on the entrance wall. as I walk to the bridge He spots me and I wave, I stop as he makes his way towards me " you idiot you said you wouldn't take long, you've been gone the whole day" he yells as he stands in front of me I hold back a laugh "I'm sorry I got a bit sidetracked"  he sighed "sidetracked? What was I expecting, just know if you took any longer I would've left and found you myself" he says loudly pointing a finger in my face. I hold back a snide comment as he says that "cmon let's get these weapons made" I say walking past him malroth follows behind "you got what you needed" he asked "more than enough I should have enough for Kol to if we need to make weapons there to" I say as we head into town.

I can see Nao and some of the villagers in the town centre. Nao smiles when she sees me "your back, I was getting worried," she says walking up to me. "I got a little sidetracked," I say, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. I shake my head "anyway I need a workbench" I move to the room with the workbench. I laid my supplies on the workbench and got to work. I had to be careful not to damage the sturdy wood. The workbench was old but in good condition. After a while I was able to make 5 iron swords, I grabbed the swords in a bundle and headed back to the town centre. As I make it there I lay the swords out on a table that is close by, the villagers gather around the table when they all are there I call out "all people willing to fight grab a sword" after saying that a couple of men walk up and grab a sword some women do as well

Once all 5 swords are gone I thank the villagers and say goodbye to nao "are you sure you don't wanna stay for the night" she says with a concerned tone, I smile and shake my head "no I wanna get to kol as soon as possible, but don't worry we will come back" malroth says along with me "we can handle ourselves we'll be fine" she smiles weakly "I'll pray for your safety" malroth and I both smile at her as we take our leave

When we are both out of the town malroth speaks "I know you're worried about kol, but I bet you didn't wanna stay cause of those dreams" I laugh it off "as if, I wanted to leave today even if I spent more time down there as I meant to" I say putting my hands on my hips "sure you did' he says sarcastically.

When daybreak comes malroth and I rest along the side of a mountain "told you we should have slept" malroth says as he lays down putting his hands on the back of his head "Nah just needed to sit down we've been walking so much lately" I say laying my head against the rock malroth turns his head towards me then turns back "you said it, do you know what you meant to do yet" I stop for a moment contemplating what I should say "yes or at least I think I know why I was sent here" I finally answer. His gaze turned towards me intrigued "you think?" I nod "yea I'm not sure.. But it was probably because of something that magus said" he stares at me trying to understand what I'm saying, I continue, "he said I shouldn't have my weapon which means he knew I was meant to be here" I look down "not just that he knew I didn't have my weapons when I got here".

Malroth crosses his arms "what are you talking about taru" I sigh and swing my head back against the rock "I think the reason I was sent here was to be killed, most likely for the death of hargon and the lord of destruction" malroth seems to understand what I meant "you're saying you were sent here by those monsters so they can kill you" I nod "yeah that's what I'm saying".

Malroth stands up and gets in front of me "then shouldn't we have headed back the moment you figured that out"

I pull my legs to my chest and bury my face in the "of course I wanted to but these monsters are attacking villages at random to find me, I can't just return home if I do we could risk people dying" malroth steps back and crosses his arms ''I guess that makes sense" he scoffs. I get up and stand next to him "enough of that let's get going, don't wanna sit here all day" I laugh malroth joins "I guess you're right, but you should tell me stuff like that I'm on your side" he says looking at me I laugh "malroth your the last person who needs to say that"

We start walking again "unlike rimuldar, kol should be well guarded so I wasn't sure I'd have to make weapons there but I still wanted to make sure" I explained looking towards malroth behind me "also be careful there's lava, not around the town but we might run into some on our way" I add he tilts his head then speaks "why are you telling me so much, you didn't explain much when we went to furrow field and that," he says "yeah that's cause I didn't know about them I'm just telling you what I know," I say then turning around to face malroth while walking backwards "besides I'm not much help other than making weapons," I say with a smile "not much help, what do you mean by that," he says crossing his arms. I sigh "the towns here don't need to be built, and the people don't need much help other than with the monsters, let's face it your more help here than I a-"

I'm interrupted by malroth yelling "lookout!" Suddenly I fall straight into a pond, my head landing on a rock when I fall. The cold water stings my skin as I sit up "ow that hurt" I groan as I rub the back of my head, my eyes meet malroth his face full of worry I smile "I'm fine don't worry" I say to him. His worried expression disappears as he gets in to help me "you sure" he asks as he holds his hand out "yeah I hit my head on a rock but nothing serious" I laugh as I take his hand "you should really watch where you're going" he says laughing as well pulling me up. We both climb out of the pond "what, are you lulu now" I say putting my hands on my hips and mimicking her "if I were lulu you'd have it much worse" he says, I smile "maybe" I turn back to the pond and stare at it

Malroth walks up to me "something wrong with that pond" he asks as he sits beside me "Nah just making sure I didn't drop anything" I say examining the pond. After a bit, I stand up "well you ready to get going" I say turning to malroth. He smiles and nods as he jumps up from the stump he was sitting on

"How much longer till we're there," malroth says catching up to me "were close i after this mountain we should be there" i with my arms behind my head while i walk "from what i know this place is kinda like krumbul dun though it's not a mining town" malroth nods as we head past the mountain and past it, we saw the kol.