Sweeten My Coffee

Into the wilds

The members of the search group all gather up outside of Kingdom X's surrounding forest. Gingerbrave leads at the front with Madeleine, Wizard and Strawberry are in the middle, while at the back, Red Chille Pepper and Espresso keep an eye out for danger. Their formation lasts about an hour before they all switch to their own pace.

Navigating through the thick spruce forest that has reigned these wild lands for thousands of years is no easy task. Paranoia whispers persistently to Strawberry who keeps her weapon close and watches the dark shadows formed by the trees. Noone can tell what each quiet noise is as well as where and what is making it.

After the great war, reports of new subspecies of monsters and magically mutated animals sounded the alarm in many places. Change can not be embraced by neither the humans, nor the new beings who do not know their true place in this complex world. Walking here in these woods is an open invitation for life-threatening situations.

On top of that, it is more than difficult to put yourself inside the mind of a drugged, drunk and capable of teleporting vampire. The plan is to reach a large valley near the place Sparkling speculated that his friend must have headed. They will set camp there and then split to find him.

Espresso feels no hope for that plan. No matter how lucky they could get, the world is large and the possibilities endless. Vampire could have accidentally boarded a ship and sailed off to another island, or dragged into the lair of a four-winged Iron Tail Harpy. The only thing motivating Espresso to keep going is the possibility of a battle. Although dangerous, battles will provide him with live subjects to test his spells on.

In contrast to the magician's personal goals, Madeleine has taken this mission a lot more seriously. He has been quiet for some time as he scans the environment for signs of a human passing through, or a hoard of bats.

Having mustered the courage, Espresso unexpectedly heads to the front and catches up with Madeleine. 'Any evidence of his presence?'

'None. Only animal tracks it would seem.' The commander stops and points to some large scratch marks on a distant tree. 'Magic mutants I believe.' He remembers a sketch in one of the books he was reading in the library. It depicted the exact same scratch marks, though he can't recall the name of the creature.

They both watch as a soft dark cloud of magic oozes out of the deeply wounded bark. Espresso sighs 'That is unfortunate'.

As the others walk by, Wizard calls for them to keep moving. Time is precious. They realise so as minutes turn into hours. Then, hours become minutes again as the group begins to feel the slowing effects of exhaustion. A gust of complaints blows towards Gingerbrave.

'We are going to get to the Vanilla Kingdom at this point.' Red Chille Pepper groans.

Wizard, now beside her, nods. 'I don't agree that we are even close to the Vanilla Kingdom, but she is right. We have been walking for a long time. It's time to take a break.'

'Guys...we can't camp here. Come on, it's only one more hour until the valley.'

The three of them glance up at the sky. It is almost 5pm already.

'Let's just sit our asses down for a bit. On a log or something.' The hot headed thief kicks a rock. 'I'm getting hungry too.'

Gingerbrave can only huff in defeat. 'Alright. We can do that. But only for a few minutes.' He settles on a rock as he says that.

The rest go on different ways, some find a quiet spot to rest while others tread lightly around the area. Despite the forest being quite open, there are enough shrubs for a predator to hide in. It reminds Espresso of the scratch marks.