With all being said and done, the start of a journey doesn’t always go smoothly. For example, the numerous amount of times Tinz fell off Ferry, or the first occurrence of his phone’s battery dying. After stopping by a gas station to chill out, Tinz decided they needed a better battle plan… If that was even plausible.

Thinking to himself, he sipped on some trashy energy drink Magnolia bought with his money. The mountains are still a fair ways away… if we get caught up every so often like this we may not make it, he thinks. Magnolia came out of the gas station carrying a bag of chips amongst some other items.

“Got a portable phone charger! Why didn’t we think of this before?” she waved it in the air. Tinz sighed.

“I figured we’d stop places less… often. And that you wouldn’t let it die this quickly.”

Magnolia simply shrugged. “C’mon, let’s get moving again!”

Thus, the party moved forward. The bumps in the road only just began, however. Ferry wasn’t that high maintenance of a dog-like creature, but after a few nights of camping out in the wilderness, they agreed to stay at a motel if they could find one next time… The issue being Ferry.

She was getting antsy after doing so much hard work, and Tinz kept getting practically thrown off of her. By the time they found a motel, Tinz was ready to collapse despite not walking much himself.

“Dude… this dog…” he mumbled under his breath. Ferry sneezed.

“What? She’s probably anxious or something, poor thing,” Magnolia frowned. As Tinz checked his meager wallet to pay for some rooms and the pet fee, he frowned as well.

“What, do I like, give her more treats?” he asked, completely unsure what to do.

“Bluh. Let’s stay at the motel for a bit, I’ll take care of her,” Magnolia gave a thumbs-up. Tinz rolled his eyes.

That night, Ferry slept in Magnolia’s room, and Tinz was alone. He hadn’t had time to himself for a long time, and despite his body’s urges for rest, his eyes were wide open. The worries from the nights and nights beforehand crept in like a bug, eating away at his thoughts. What if the healers aren’t there after all? Or are dead? Or, maybe worse of all, they don’t know anything about his illness? Was that the worst outcome? Tinz wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore as he finally drifted off to sleep, uncomfortable in bed.

The next morning, Tinz got up at exactly not morning. 2pm, to be exact. Magnolia was nowhere to be found, and he rummaged through his luggage to find something to pass the time. Surely she’d come back sooner or later. It was then he heard barking from outside that piqued his interest, and he peered outside through a window.

Magnolia was outside giving Ferry a bath. From the looks of it, they’d been outside a while, as there was stuff strewn around quite far. Ferry looked much more chilled out and happy, giddily accepting any treatment Magnolia was giving her. Tinz rested his elbows on the windowsill.

“Huh, I forgot she’s a Goddess of animals, or somethin’,” he remarked. 

Soon enough, Magnolia and a super fluffy, air dried Ferry came back indoors to a tired Tinz. He was slumped over in a chair by the window.

She looked at Ferry, who looked at her, and they quickly pounced on Tinz, making all three of them fall over. Magnolia rolled over to the side, but Ferry stayed on top of Tinz, crushing him and wagging her tail innocently.

“What the f– what– hrrfgh–” he groaned, arms flailing as he struggled under the oversized dog. She stood up and looked down ominously at Tinz.

“...I see she’s feeling better,” he quipped, brushing off the fur now stuck to his clothes. Magnolia huffed in pride.

“Of course! I trimmed her nails, gave her a bath, brushed her a lot, snipped some hair here and there, talked to her for hours, y’know!” she grinned. Tinz stayed on the floor, opting to regain his sanity before attempting to stand.

“If she’s feeling better, let’s get a move on again.”

“”Righty-O!” Magnolia saluted.

The trio began their trek after getting some late lunch. It had been about two and a half weeks since they started; they could have gotten their quicker if plans hadn’t gone awry. However just as they reached the town where the mountainous range was ahead of them, lady luck decided to throw a curveball.

“What do you mean no one knows the way up the mountain?!” Tinz banged his fist on the table of a tavern. They were deep in the boonies, far away from the advanced civilization Tinz was used to. He hadn’t called the country home since he was a small child. However, maybe that’s why he could stand up without fear to the huge adventurers that shrugged when he yelled out the questions.

“Sorry kid, but you’re out of luck. No one’s but up there for ages, that is… without. Heh, well,” a hefty man said while wiping the beer off his lip. “Without never being seen again.” 

Tinz’ foot began to tap. “There has to be a way, I’m kind of desperate here!” he glowered. The adventurers he was “conversating” with all looked at each other and shrugged once again. 

“What do you even want to go up there for?” one asked.

Tinz paused and put his hand on his hip. “I need to find healers up there, I’ve heard that’s where some are and–”

It was then the whole tavern, who had been listening to Tinz outrage, began laughing in an outroar.

Various echos of ‘A healer?! This kid wants a healer?” rang throughout the room, and Tinz became more and more red by the second. “FINE! I’ll figure it out by myself!” he said before storming out, leaving the howls of laughter behind him.

It was nighttime, and the fireflies shone throughout the small streets that Tinz walked through. The chill of the air calmed him a bit, but he realized he was indeed horribly lost. In his angered haze, he made it to the edge of town, near where the mountain range starts.

However, something in the distance catches his eye. Someone small, wobbling around far enough in front of him to be hard to make out, but they were glowing. Quickly, he crouched, hoping to not be seen by whatever kind of creature it was. 

“...Is that…?”

He heard sniffles coming from the small creature, and cautiously, he made his way over.