I N F I N I T E S

To Be A Hero

Tessra, Frost, Fern, and Brite set out for the central part of town. That is where they believed they would be given the best chance for a job offer. Most times villages would have some form of notice board where people could post up missions for straying adventurers and bounty hunters to take on.
These missions didn't have many requirements as they were not like contracts where certain deeds must be fulfilled, but they did require proof of completion to whomever posted the mission.
They thought this would be the perfect place to scout out new business ventures. Although they really only took on missions like deliveries. None of them but Tessra really had any battle experience, so they stuck to things like delivering letters for distant families or businesses.
They made their way onto the main road just a bit farther away from the barn and a bit right of the farm owner's house. It was a dirt road like many they had traveled before. They didn't go on the stone made paths because those often led to capital cities, where strange parties like two different kinds of Tytenian felines, a human knight, and a total stranger in strange armor were not often very welcome.
They walked and continued conversations while they traveled the path. Brite had become a much better conversationalist after learning a few things from Frost. Fern was surprised with how much Brite could learn in such a small amount of time. If Tessra was surprised she didn't show it.
"A notice board should be somewhere further in the town."
She said as her boots crunched dirt and pebbles under foot.
"Once we find it we should look for any jobs on herbal delivery. A forest town like this should have plenty of herbs to gather and sell to neighboring villages."
Fern put his hands behind his head and his elbows in the air.
"Ok ok you don't need to narrate everything we're supposed to do."
"We? I think that you mean what YOU are supposed to do, and I only say it out loud so you can remember what you're SUPPOSED to do over all the other stupid things I know you WANT to do."
"Ttt."
Frost continued to go through the drills of phrases with Brite as they made their way to town. Frost made signs with his hands so he could try to help Brite remember the words. Brite didn't really need the aid, but he enjoyed being able to engage with Frost.
"Flower."
"Good, now what's that."
Frost pointed to a tree with light brown bark and triangular leaves lining the road.
"Tree."
"Good, you're doing great, now keep it up."
Tessra followed from behind and watched Frost teach Brite how to speak to someone about the weather. For almost a second Tessra had a small smile adorn her mouth, but then it vanished as she saw that they were approaching the buildings and structures of the town.
"We're here."
She was right when she had said that the town was just a few buildings in the woods. There were but just simple wooden houses along the road that served as the bulk of the town. No blacksmith but there were plenty of herbal shops. Teas, medicines, potions they were all there kept in these small leaf covered houses.
The inhabitants in Barkhold did not bother to cut back the encroaching trees so they would often grow over the exteriors of the buildings. Some of the shop owners found creative ways to incorporate the tree limbs into their actual shops. Such as hanging their signs from the branches, so that they did not have to bother constructing something to hold them in place.
With all of the overgrowth throughout the town it was also particularly easy to grow needed plants within one's own house. Winding vines held up potted flowers and various vegetables.
It was a town of very little human construction, and more of nature's doing. Frost and Brite stopped speaking to look around in bewilderment at their environment.
"Wow, the plants here look like they own the town!"
Tessra waved a hand over to the trees.
"The Cyndri people used to live in these woods a long time ago. Their magic probably enhanced the properties of the wildlife in the area."
Fern looked skeptically at Tessra.
"How come you know so much about here."
"I'm a knight. It's my job to know about all the places I've traveled to. It helps you keep track of roads you've been to and haven't."
Brite liked all of the pretty flowers in the shops.
"The flowers are nice."
Frost nodded and smiled.
"They are."
Just then the gentle calm was broken.
"Help! Someone Please!"
A man was screaming in the streets. He had long dirty brown hair. He was wearing a mud stained cloth shirt, and a pair of musty old woven pants.
He held something in his arms. It took a while for Brite to make out what it was but when he did his eyes widened. The man was holding the body of a boy no more than seven years old.
The boy was unconscious and looked like he was in the middle of a nightmare. The man saw the four of them dressed in their armor and he stumbled over to them.
"Please adventurers, you have to save my son!"
Frost was so shocked he couldn't make out any words, and Tessra just stared at the child. Fern answered for them.
"What's wrong with him?"
"The Black Paladins came to our village when I was gone selling my crops. I came back to find my family dead, and I can't wake up my son. I don't know what's happened to him."
Tessra wore a dark look on her face.
"Necro. Your son was hit by a spell made of Necro."
Fern's face contorted into fear.
"Necro, isn't that death energy?"
"Yes."
Tessra looked up at the man with intensity in her eyes.
"Did you go to the medicinal shops in town?"
"Yes."
"Did they have a flower that was blue on the outside and white on the inside?"
"No they didn't, they all said they didn't have anything that could cure my son."
Tessra's face went up in a snarl.
"Figures, they're all probably to scared to go there."
She whispered to herself. Adjusting her gauntlets she addressed the man again.
"There's a flower that can save your son, but it only grows in places where Cyndri magic is strong enough."
"I heard there was a ruin not far from here."
Tessra clenched her fist and looked down at the ground.
"I know, but that ruin is also probably full of unstable magic."
The man collapsed to the ground still holding the boy. He grabbed his hand and clasped it close to his heart. Tears ran like rivers down from his face. His breathing stuttered and jumped.
"P-please he's all I have left."
Brite looked down and saw this man and his son in pain. He could feel it, the sadness, doubt, tragedy all of it. He squatted down by the man and held the boys hand. He looked to the man and smiled. His golden eyes seemed to shimmer in the light that peaked through the leaves.
"Ok"
He stood up and looked at his friends with fists ready. His helmet shifted over his face. The V appeared and glinted in the light.
"Let's be heroes!"