NIGHT

so night looked to day, thumb still shifting on the back of her hand. and the construct bowed forward, slightly, returning the grip stronger. as faint as the rustling of brush they were surrounded by, when grazed by a weak breeze, she spoke in a hushed voice with a small smile. “do you trust me?” the player only needed to nod, before feeling the bump of day’s shoulder behind her own. “then forget this for the time being. take the lead – leave the rest to me.” their held hands were squeezed tight. then, night stepped forward with the shake of her head, trying to present hers

voscira kneeled, fishing out a knife. meanwhile, night hadn’t moved, simply speaking under her breath. “it’s the flower we’re looking for.” part of it was an attempt at focusing on the present, but mindfulness had never really been her strongest suit. and the hunter turned her head to face the player, as she made the fateful cut. “yes, it is. no thanks to you, by the way. it’s been me walking you around and finding the herb.” as she stood up, she tucked the flower away in a side satchel. “that, and you keep talking under your breath about something else.” night wasn’t sure

the quick bump back she’d gotten from her other was supposed to be reassuring. “well, you shouldn’t have worried.” day was trying to catch night’s gaze from being cast upon the ground. the more her hand was gripped onto the doppelganger’s, the more night wondered if she did seem like a lost puppy. “i’ve got your back, remember? i can take care of this. and you. you should be believing in my capabilities more, night.” night hated feeling like this, but the circumstances were honest and true. still, the play of her hand upon her companion’s was in frustration – not

voscira seemed to be comfortable taking the lead up to the waterfall, so night let her, because she was uneasy the entire walk towards it. when night’s hand reached out for day’s, it was in search of comfort and certainty – that her doppel wouldn’t start their transformation or regression back into the past. all the gemini could do was keep her distracted through absurd jests. “so,” day started, prompting the player to focus at the sound of her voice, instead of being cooped up inside her head. “why is it that you went with voscira earlier? i figured this was a fight you could handle

voscira took the crystals, but inspected them, suspect. and then examined night, just as suspect, too. but, without retort, she stormed off to collect her fallen equipment, frustrated as she did. “you know, it’s not courteous of you to grab someone off the middle of town and start talking to them about things that are difficult to believe. at least be gentler when you’re talking to somebody else.” night shared a glance with day, the latter cupping the side of her neck bruised from earlier. and the player sighed. “okay. yeah. i’m… sorry, about that.” “you should be,” came vo

izzlath dipped her head as she retreated into her cavern. meanwhile, as voscira was taking her leave, night grabbed her wrist, just as rudely as she’d left. “wait.” she was promptly acquainted with the tip of the hunter’s spear, the woman reeling backwards from the sudden show of force. “no,” voscira began, but was just as abruptly interrupted with a swift, painless kick to her hand – a disengagement maneuver from day. spear flown out of it, the weapon rolled on the ground beside her, and voscira had to wonder, just then, if there was an external force that was shifting her fates aro

“very well. if the two of you are able to work together, perhaps nethag may be stopped once and for all.” izzlath raised her head again, her eye on the stream. she addressed them with a side glance. “but do be careful. nethag is viscous, and he will show either of you no mercy.” night was already beginning to look through her inventory just as izzlath took her water break. and voscira seemed a little impatient, picking up her spear as she started to walk off. the dragon caught her before she left, however. “the herb you might find – it’s called the emerald bulb flower. it always appe

the player simply cut in with a, “we?” – enough to shut the amazonian up, if only for the time being. it was enough time for izzlath to contemplate the plan, turning her head to face night. “hunter, won’t you lend her your strength? surely, if you have slain a great many dragons in your time, the residents of this floor would stand a chance with your expertise on their side.” so night rolled her eyes, arms folded. “... yeah. sure, i will.” she hadn’t exactly planned to gatekeep her services, anyway. but she simply didn’t want to hear voscira questioning

“... well. i too have been unable to move enough to find the flower myself. and if this other dragon were to descend upon us, i am hardly fit to defend my family right now.” night contemplated the situation, somewhat seething. under her breath, she could only complain, tapping her foot, “well if you don’t trust of nethag running around, why exactly is your daughter allowed to make the pilgrimage in the first place…?” her volume was instead overpowered by an eager pipe from voscira. “i’ll go,” she said, taking a step forward, weapon in hand and at the ready. “i’ll see to it

so voscira had to sit with this information for a moment, just as night began to speak again. “nethag. what’s he like?” “another of my kin, with a penchant for toxins and hiding in the shadows.” she paused to consider her own choice of abode. “much like myself. though i am not quite in a state to be terrorizing the lands that others so live on.” i should hope not, day mouths, before looking to voscira. “even if i were… it makes little sense to disrupt the ways of life for creatures less hearty than myself in my regular state.” night gestured to izzlath w

voscira shoots a glare at night as izzalth speaks, recoiling enough to be held by day, who does so with a sly smile. “though i am not accustomed to your ways, amazonian – there must have been some hunts with drastic outcomes, were there not? a party or two of eight to ten strong, only returning with half of the size, or with multiple grim injuries on survivors…” instantly, the hunter knows what is being commented on. “the veningale? surely not. i figured it was always a force of nature, a turn of fate rather than a mythical beast… such as yourself.” izzalth speaks

night played with her fringe, feeling the water from earlier causing it to hug her skin. she hummed, in thought, just as day returned to her side cloakless, with a new attire of turtleneck and jeans on. voscira was made to decipher the answers for herself, instead. “...child? so there are other dragons on this floor, much like yourself?” “indeed.” izzalth but chuffed as a sigh. “my daughter, cyness. she’s presently at the waterfall of the sage for a pilgrimage, for safety and blessings. i suppose she only wanted to do so for my own sake, in fear of my health.” “bu

so beast and man together waited for the quest initiators to clean themselves up. night trudged up first, in a basic shirt and pants, whilst voscira wore the same look she’d given the player at the use of the word ‘we’; the player wasn’t going to address that error again, however. they were much more occupied with the resting dragon trying to conserve her strength. and izzalth chose not to move this time, instead responding to their approach with the opening of her eyes. “ah. dragon hunter. you’ve made it here after all.” and night folded her arms, having not expe

squared beneath her, however, was the entity that had pulled her to one side for safekeeping, if not additionally for laughs. but day rose rather woozily, hands upon the player’s back as the latter got up enough to sit on her knees. in night’s mouth was day’s own cloak – completely soaked, just like her tracksuit. there was a warm mark on the entity’s neck where there hadn’t been before. night released the fabric gently, as it fell into the pond, drenched even more. “sorry for the disturbance, izzalth. … we might need a moment to change our clothes.” the dragon bu

she must’ve woken it from its slumber. this was not a good sign. in her own tales, it was best not to wake sleeping threats unless with a direct kill. so she had already lost two advantages in a potential fight. “gently, now.” and there was an echo in her head. the gentle voice, alongside the slow winks of the beast before her signaled to her that she should follow along, and so she did, form loosening. the moment voscira put her spear’s head away, and set it into position of a proper salute back in the village, the dragon turned away, eyes upon elsewhere instead.

the light faded away quickly into shade, a few steps further into the grove. obscured by only shadow from a large bodhi overhead, there came a trembling and a low yawn from something large. almost like a tiger, but the vibrations of its movements spoke of grandeur, more than just a large cat. by the time the beast showed herself, voscira was already prepared with her spear out, in a low pose, ready to fight off the predator she knew of and expected. but she lowered her guard soon – not out of safety, but of sheer disbelief, the way her eyes widened at the sight of something unbelieva

there was no ill individual in sight. no animals, little insects; the grove she’d stumbled into was cut in a near diagonal from where she rose from, a waterfall to her right, while the moss that rolled into grass the further she’d walked extended, followed the path of the stream. and what sunlight bore down into that quiet clearing was through broad leaves she would have never thought about touching to begin with – never, because she recognized falls as such to be locations she should have never approached. voscira was stunned. remained silent. as she stood in the center of the clear

behind her, voscira was finishing off the last of the fowls that had kept up with her – surprised, even, that she was capable of doing so whilst running off at full sprint after someone who was, by her acknowledgement, supposed to be sick. and, between the burst of strength from herself pegged against the capability of someone else that matched, who wasn’t in full, she was starting to wonder if her experience in krycim was even worthy enough to be known by who she believed was a stranger to their world. no hesitation, unlike the player who’d lead her. leg first, she slid down the slo

luckily, their guide came out just fine. up ahead, however, was the approaching loud roar of a waterfall, enough to have night start to trip in her run – though she did, eventually find her stride once again. her eyes darted about, reading the telegraphs day had set out, doing her best to ease her nerves from what was up ahead. the earth shaped as such: a linear stretch flanked by trees and brush, with a few rocks and rotten logs as obstacles. then there was the growing presence of bright green moss against dull, aged foliage. and finally, an opening in the mountain, appearing almost like a mo

perhaps, for the first time in the game’s history, in this instance, the yellow flower that hung from that tree’s branch shook, welcoming the ceremony of the hurtling flock. it was enough for voscira, who was technically still drifting upon the wave of jungle fowl, to take her eyes off her target for one moment to notice the change in her environment. wherever they were, she was not familiar with these outskirts. and day continued charting a path, axing out waypoints in blue and white, shouting out vague movements that night wouldn’t believe afterwards she was able to deciphe

in between racing chicks was their final group member – their supposed guide – being lead around by giant prey, the likes of which should’ve been afraid of encountering a hunter such as herself. and likely, voscira should’ve been preoccupied with trying to take advantage of the situation for herself and her village – if not, protecting the wildlife from being struck down numerously, especially all at once without gain. but likely cardinal was the common distractor amongst all of them. so too was it for night, though the player did her best to keep up – at some point, ducking under br

so what did she get in return? cock party. just kidding. still a chicken run, though. the flood of fowls that burst out of the group’s roost near overpowered their chasing npc, preventing her from moving, and the sounds were enough for day to look back and wonder why in the world night had done such a thing in the first place. the player didn’t have time to read the question on her face, however. night realized her error fast, even after day shot her the vocal, “why?!” so the player, sword drawn, continued to run with searching’s aid, highlighting her path in reco

off in full sprint. if night hadn’t known better, she would’ve assumed this a racing game, the way she was fighting to keep up with day’s head start. the moment she noticed a few enemies casually lounging by, she cast her gaze over her shoulder to check if voscira was still there. she was. and night didn’t like the look in her eyes. unlike day’s own predatory gaze, the amazons of the floor seemed almost to be paralytically striking; the player had felt compelled to stop, so she slowed. but unwilling to be caught up with, the player waved down her sword into existence as she gave the fe

so day shot a coy look to night. “you are a horrible person to perform quests for,” she said, with full honesty. “you know that, right?” and just as night was about to shoot back a retort, day tore herself away from night, taking off down the path ahead of them. night but followed quick, and despite being generally silent, caught the attention of an alert voscira, who spotted her gunning down a hazardous path. “hey! wait!” seen by no one, the amazonian but rolled her eyes again, tilting her spear’s end to rest on the edge of its end. “ugh, luna

well, it wasn’t her fault that the moment they’d passed through foliage that her end destination was immediately located. there was something completely obvious about the gold flowers, with red styles, were leading them one way, in a direction completely different from where voscira was headed towards. still, the quest did register as the woman following the party. so part of night did wonder if she was going to be able to lead, rather than be led, after all. “day,” night began to an almost-crying npc. day wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, grinning, despite th