Spark in Darkness: Unworldy encounter/Prototype

Spark 32: United front

"I don't really know where we are at the moment, but according to the map of LeFolia, this is where the castle we fought at, the forest surrounding it, and this is the Capital." Rinya drew a sketchy map on the soil using a twig, labelling places as she explained. "Of this nation, anyway, if we're still in Arza."

Haruki froze. "Of this nation, you say? There are other nations?"

Rinya looked at Haruki, bewildered. "Of course there are a number of nations. You don't expect a world to be of just a huge single nation, do you?"

Haruki nodded slowly and gave himself a mental face palm. How could he be so careless? Surely this was more normal than thinking of LeFolia as a world with only one nation and one Capital...

"Can you draw out the map of LeFolia for me?" Haruki asked. He remembered seeing a map of this world back at Zaki Taiyo School, but at that time he did not exactly commit it to memory.

Rinya obliged and proceeded to draw a map of three continents.

"This is Uo, a barren land of ice at the south of LeFolia. This is Celes, on the North west, and it's the continent which is the base of the Nayshard," Rinya said, and pointed to the largest continent in the centre. "This is the continent of Mora, and is split into three nations, Arza, Brittonia and Yang."

Haruki nodded in acknowledgement as he studied the map. On the assumption that they had not travelled too far away from the castle, they would have to head North to the Capital.

After using Haruki's light to heat up and dry their own clothes, the duo donned on their personal clothes and head North.

They kept silent throughout, unsure of what to say, but it was a comfortable silence, knowing they had each other's back, other than the occasional discussions on which direction to head when they faced crossroads.

The roads they walked on were deserted, giving Haruki a warning vibe, but he still pressed on anyway. Then, they saw a sign with a scrawl of a strange monster, faded and weathered from the beatings of Mother Nature over time. It looked like an animal on fours, with two heads and a tail. That was all Haruki could make out.

"I guess the area is deserted because of this monster, huh." Rinya commented.

"Yeah. We better watch out." Haruki looked around. The vegetation around them were starting to get thicker, until a forest with a sandy path cutting through formed ahead of them. It was the best location for a beast to hide and prey on unsuspecting humans.

But Haruki and Rinya were not normal humans. Maybe other than the fact that Haruki was not even from this world. Still, he kept his guard up, scanning his surroundings as he walked forward slowly. His bow was materialised in his hand, ready to shoot at whatever tried to attack. Rinya also had her three-bladed scythe in her hand.

It was like those horror movies he watched, where the protagonists were in this eerily quiet location, with the suspense building up, and finally whatever that scared the shit out of the actors and viewers just appear suddenly. Haruki's hands were starting to shake slightly from the nervousness he felt, and he wanted to just break into a run and tear through this forest.

Just as Haruki was debating whether to run, he heard a twig snap. Then all hell broke loose. A defeaning roar and two huge mouths with razor sharp teeth threatened to bite him. He immediately took a step back and fired an arrow hastily, while the clinking of chains and a blur of purple flashing past him signaled Rinya's counter attack.

However, the arrow Haruki shot into one of the beast's mouth did as much as a little scratch, while Rinya's scythe was caught between the teeth of the other head.