Beta || Iancorn (NaNoWriMo 2018)

Level Fourteen

David's vision hadn't even regained before he started to feel the water seeping into his shoes, and felt himself start to sink. Once the whiteness had finally diminished to nothing, he found himself standing in water. His legs were already soaked up to his knees, and he quickly stepped away to try and find solid ground.

They were in the middle of a swamp. Most of the ground consisted of soft mud covered with water. The only stable ground was at the bases of the numerous trees that covered the terrain, or the roots of the trees themselves. As soon as everyone had their senses back, they all rushed to the nearest tree to hop out of the water, having to fight through the weeds that already grew from the only sustainable soil that it grew out of.

"You're fucking kidding me!" Mari bellowed in an anger that David felt wasn't because her shoes were wet. "Here? This fucking early?"

"Mari-" Wes tried to calm her, but she cut him off with a withering glare. The temper written on her face was the exact same as it was when she threatened to kill David all that time ago in the plains. Once again, David found it slightly terrifying, and was more than glad that her attention wasn't focused on him this time.

He shot a glance at Matthew, who only shrugged in response. Whatever was pissing her off, he was just as much in the dark about it as David was.

"Wait for the objective," Joven stated calmly. "We might not have to see him."

"We've been here three fucking times, Joven!" Mari yelled in response. "We've never not had to see him."

As if on cue, the signature strong gust of wind of the objective blew through the swamp, making water splash onto their little perch of land to once again soak their feet. Wet feet was something he'd just have to get used to, it seemed.  "Third objective: go to him. He will tell you the rest of your objective."

"You're fucking kidding me!" Mari threw her spear into the ground and kicked the tree trunk as hard as she could. The fact that she didn't hold her foot after that undoubtedly painful action took a lot more willpower than David thought he had. "They do this to spite me. You know they do!"

"Mari!" Joven grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "I'm here too, you know!"

"Oh, you love it!" she argued. "You love going to his stupid little excuse of a-"

"You think I'm not angry at him either?" Joven hollered. "Do you honestly think I'm not? Are you that fucking blind?"

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before Mari started to break down into tears. Joven wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, resting his forehead on her head. The four others watched the interaction take place in awkward silence, David still very much confused. Who was this he?

Finally, Mari wrenched herself out of Joven's arms and yanked her spear back into her hands. "Let's go."

She didn't wait for a response as she dropped into the water and started trudging forward, Joven hot on her heels, as if she'd stepped onto a sidewalk instead of a body of water. Despite the fact that David had a ton of questions he desperately wanted to ask her, he decided that being silent was probably his best course of action, and started to follow her.

That didn't stop him from making his way over to Wes and whispering as quietly as he could to the taller man. "Who's he?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Wes huffed in response, probably not wanting to risk facing his girlfriend's wrath. David didn't blame him.

He spent most of the walk soundlessly by Matthew's side. It was not a pleasant journey. The water was thick and murky with dirt, and moving his feet through the mud took twice as much energy as a normal step would. Every once in a while, a weed would brush up against his leg, making him yelp on more than one occasion. It only took him a few minutes to decide that he fucking hated swamps.

Then, finally, they arrived at their destination. It was a medium-sized house, supported by large beams that stuck out of the water. Everything was made of wet wood, but then again, everything was wet here. Vines stuck out from the railings surrounding the base of the house and were attached to surrounding trees. Hanging from the vines were clothes and furs, which were drying in the weak sunlight. A few of those trees also had wooden platforms protruding from their trunks, which had small gardens on them. It was an impressive building, for a place like this.