Number 100 Red Nova Sorcerer

Chapter 16: Back To Safety, Back To Traveling

"It's so cute!!!"

The squeal of Amber as she fangirls over the stuffed dragon nearly makes my ears break and bleed. I cover them to be safe, but I still cringe. Amber giggles and gives it a squeeze before giving it back to me. Crimson gives Bura the egg to hold on to.

"Here," he says, "hold that."

Bura grumbles and puts the egg in his cloak. He's been putting all the things Crimson gave him in that cloak. I wonder how they're not all falling out. He must have pockets of all sizes in there!

Coal then walks up to Crimson and whispers something in his ear in a strange tongue. My only guess is that he's speaking in his own language, and Crimson knows said language. The volcanic being seems to have this urgent look about him, not at all like his playful self. Crimson stays silent for a while and then whispers something back in the same language. Then, with that, we say our goodbyes.

"Bye, Coal," Amber says with a hug. "It was nice staying with you!"

"It was nice having you here!" Coal chuckles. "All of you be safe, alright?"

We nod and leave with one last goodbye.

"What were you and Coal talking about?" I ask the ninja. "Was it important?"

Crimson messes with a strand of his scarlet hair with a straight look on his face. "Coal told me that a Moon Messenger from the kingdom gave him a letter while we were gone. It said that more of our own have been stolen by the Humans."

Blackie stiffens. "Is 34 not doing her job?"

"Far from it, my king. She is doing an excellent job, but it seems they were from the village. Not many guards are posted there as you know." He then sees that Blackie's New Moon Energy is rising and bubbling to the surface. "Anger not! She has already assigned exceptional guards to protect the perimeter and the inside! Should Humans arrive from anywhere, they will take care of them."

"Good," Blackie grumbles, toying with the paws of his dragon while his New Moon Energy slowly subsides. "Now, which territory shall we visit next?"

Crimson looks around for any sign of the next border. When he finds it, he walks over to it, and the rest of us follow.

As soon as I cross the border, my vision is obscured. For a moment, I believe that I am blinded, but small, blue lights in an irregular pattern prove me wrong. The lights seem to be moving, which leads me to believe that they may be animals or torches. Crimson then sparks a fire in his gloves so we can see. I do the same.

"This is the Realm of Obscurity," he states while the shadows on his face dance eerily with the fire. I'm sure my face looks the same. "There is no sun; the plants survive by another means. The only source of light is on the creatures and another place, but I'll get to that later. The creatures' bodies glow mainly on their front so that they can see where they walk, but the prey usually have lights all over their bodies to look for predators. The only way the creatures know when to sleep is by their bodies. Their biological clocks tell them when it's night and when it's day, and while that's a strange concept without a sun, those two times still exist. There is no sense of time unless you follow your own instincts, which is a hard thing to do, I know, but you get used to it the longer you stay here. I wouldn't recommend it, though." He waves to me. "My prince, take the rear. We will need your light behind us to watch for predators. I will lead us to shelter."

I nod and take my place at the end of the group. I follow behind  with my red hands and fire glowing in between them. Crimson keeps talking. He needs not raise his voice since it carries just fine.

"This realm has no civilized beings; only wild animals. We have no one to ask where the item is, but that's fine since it gives off a very distinct glow. We just need to find it with pure instinct."