BRONZE COURT

EASLISH : SVOTOS

Scarlett's pod door hissed open. She was instantly hit with the smell of fresh air. The woods, the river, the pollinating flowers. She could only take it all in so quickly as her vision adjusted. The ground below her was something she rarely saw on other worlds.

Grass.

And in the distance were beautiful lush trees of orange and green. The sky above was a baby blue that faded into orange.

Scarlett soaked in the light. Something she could never quite get used to. It was miraculous. Her Elven ears twitched as she heard footsteps approaching.

"We should start walking inland," Ziven said to her with Hahna at his side. "The river they warned us of is opposite of the tree line. I believe we move West. Nothing but ocean to the East is what the map displayed."

Scarlett continued to observe the sway of the trees. The wind smelled of the sea. It was the freshest world she had ever been on. Something in it called to her. Begged her in.

"Scarlett?" Hahna looked at her, wondering where she had mentally gone.

Scarlett looked ahead and saw Ziven walking through the grass.

"Sorry," she mumbled and began following behind Ziven.

Hahna took one last look at their pods and the surroundings, making sure nothing followed.

Something within her told her something lurked nearby.

...

"This path should lead us directly to them," Ziven said.

"A whole society and no technology," Hahna observed. "This is not what I imagined our kind to be like."

"We don't know that yet," Ziven said back.

"Take a look around. Shouldn't there be a drone tracking us or something?"

Scarlett observed the dirt path they followed. Soggy leaves made up half of it from a previous rain and the air smelled of wet soil.

"Maybe there is and we can't see it."

"I'm going to have a chat with whoever sits on that throne. They're making us look bad."

"How do you think she knows?" Scarlett asked out of nowhere. She hadn't spoken in the last thirty minutes and they were startled when she did. "Evrin said once we are captured, we should give them Lucian's name. But how would she know if he's even alive? Or if he was ever tortured and forced into slavery or something of the sort. She said they are brutal beings."

Hahna shrugged and Ziven looked forward.

"They hardly could tell us anything about it here," Scarlett continued.

"Maybe it's a risk she was willing to take," Hahna said looking back at her.

"Don't question it, Scar."

Ziven's warning echoed through her head.

Of course, he was loyal to their cause. He didn't understand what it was like.

Hahna grabbed her shoulder with her arm and gave her a smile.

"Boys," she said with a laugh.

The path opened to a larger clearing in the woods. Their first sign of change since beginning the trail. Leaves of orange and yellow were littered across the mud and no path was formed that they could see of.

"We will keep walking forward," Ziven said.

"My hands are itching," Hahna said looking down at her red skin.