Let's face it, getting reincarnated as a tree has got to be the lamest thing to get reincarnated into. But when the tree is actually a King Forest Keeper, born every thousand years with a 15% chance, with abilities beyond human comprehension, even p...
Time had come to a standstill when Ionia had demanded such from me. I couldn't choose without knowing anything about either side. I was torn through and through.
"Guild." My answer was seemingly plain and simple. I may not have known nothing much about this world, but it seemed better to choose the side of where i first landed. I'd met Lune, Tatheo, Chell, and the others there. If it all boils down to the worst case scenario where i had chosen the wrong side, I'd just fight for a side that shares my beliefs.
I couldn't tell if Ionia was happy or stunned. She had on this small, stiff, unmoving smile.
"fine. Go. I'll clean up here." her voice was small as Needa trembled behind her.
Masha sighed and snapped twice, the scenery shredded itself around us before piecing itself back together again into the walls of the Guild commons.
"You chose correctly, Lucien." Masha yawned, as if bored, before turning away to her quarters.
She may have felt that but i still had the feeling that something big was coming and I will do all that I can to brace myself for it.
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Lucien hurried over to his quarters, tossing out 'excuse me's when he had to. After one particularly bad encounter that painted 10 feet of the corridor with at least an inch of white powder, he burst into his room, startling Lune, Chell, and Tatheo.
Chell frowned disapprovingly, Tatheo kept his eyes glued to anywhere but Lucien, and Lune looked as impassive as ever.
"o....kay?" Lucien broke the silence with heavy suspicion. "Since you guys are in this too, you all have a choice to join me or not."
Tatheo breathed an audible sigh of relief. "That's good becau-"
"Because we plan to run away!" Chell beamed, interrupting him.
Lucien raised a skeptical eyebrow and turned to Lune. "and you, of all people, approved of this?"
Lune gave an unapologetic shrug, but made no sound.
"We saw what Masha did, and it did not come off as something someone would do if they meant well." Lune and Tatheo nodded, agreeing to Chell's statement.
And so, they packed up what they could.
"You guys know this country more than I do, I'll be needing your help with navigating." Lucien said, sitting next to a nearly empty box. In it was an extra outfit that Leiah and Sen had picked out for him, and the blanket that Filomena had given him when they had first met. With a straight face, she had insisted that he keep it.
Chell and Tatheo were sharing boxes, tossing stuff between them. "It's quite alright." Tatheo laughed, violently proceeding to toss a garment after garment at an overwhelmed Chell.
Lune sat off to a side polishing his abnormally large battle axe.* He was long done. "I'll ensure that we don't run into any witches." He lifted his gaze from his task at hand to punctuate his sentence with a freezing glare.
"Sweet." Lucien smiled, plopping down on his cot. So much has happened in such a short span of time that he honestly didn't know what to make of it: reincarnation, the strange guild leader, the existence of witches and magic, the ability to see other people's stats...and his own too. He had not tried it yet on objects but he assumed it would work the same.
Lucien gave an exhausted sigh. He needed a thorough plan to ensure that things went smoothly from now onwards. It may have looked like he was running away from his problems, but he honestly felt as though he was not ready fro it. He needed breathing room away from the guild...the entire country in general.
Together, they planned that they would flee that night.
Dusk arrived with a soft dusting of orange light that played across Lucien's sleeping form. He sharply blinked open his eyes. he sat bolt straight, remembering the plan to leave. Why exactly did he have to sneak out? Lune had insisted that the guild leader would not let them off easily. "Just look at how she ran off guns a-blazing to get Lucien."
They escaped without any problems. Chell was suspecting that the Guild Leader, Masha, already knew. None of the other guild members were to be found, where they would usually be out and about.
Tatheo had reassured her that that night was the eve of hallows. Anyone who had half a brain knew to stay inside. Chell had then giggled with a "So that's why you're coming along." Tatheo had sulked for the rest of their escaping.
Once they were outside of Aiona's city walls, Chell summoned some familiars to carry some of their luggage. Lucien was in awe of the giant, bulking creatures that resembled a cross between a horse and a mountain cat. They had blazing manes, clawed hooves, and dripping fangs. Their scales seemed to shine under the moonlight, and their red eyes seemed to know more than their canined mouths could say.
Their statuses read:
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Lucien sharply withdrew a hand at the sight of "poisoned bite."
Chell laughed. "It's alright. I make sure to watch what they eat. The venom in their bites are affected by what they eat." She affectionately patted their flanks. "This specific species of equine drakes don't have wings, sadly"
The creatures shook their manes and snorted at her statement. Tatheo, on the other hand, was completely freaked out. He nervously shifted his feet in place behind Lune, who was unimpressed by his show of bravery.
"What tank hides behind the vanguard." Lucien raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure they don't bite." Lune's voice was low and did not give away any emotion. They've all been trying to get more information about his personality for the month that they've been together. They came up mostly blank.
Patting the flanks of the beasts, Lune led the way.
"So...where are we going." Lucien asked.
"Don't worry. According to the map, there should be a forest up ahead. It may be a bit hard to see in the dark for regular people." Lune confirmed.
"Well, I'm not regular." Tatheo scoffed as he looked at no one in particular. Chell rolled her eyes and held on tightly to his hand.
"Part golem doesn't mean you can necessarily see in the dark."
---
Back at the guild, Masha was completely aware that a group of her favorite new guildies were gone. She did not care about why they did it for she already knew. She just wanted to see how far they would go.
She had ensured extensively that if they were to enter another city, they would not be harmed or denied access. Smiling to herself at her brilliance, Masha decided to call up the prince once more.
A/N: sorry about the late update...i've got 7 more weeks left of school and it's exciting if not for the mountain range known as "Finals" that were in the way. I have a general idea (or two or three) of where i want the plot to go
