Surprisingly, it was Zack that woke everyone up the next morning, before the sun had even risen. He seemed rather frantic. Or excited, it was hard to tell. He wouldn’t say what was going on until everyone was in the same room listening. The party sat around, holding back their yawns as Zack prepared to let them know what the deal was.
“Okay, so,” as he began to explain, his tail whipped around excitedly. “I woke up early so that I could go check on Cupcake, y’know? Well. While I was down there, I decided to ask the stable owner if he knew anything about Zaru’s location. You know, since people are always coming in and out of stables-”
Allen quickly stood, raising his eyebrows as he realized what Zack was saying. “Did you get any information?!”
“... I was getting there. But, yeah!” Zack pulled out a map, unraveling it to reveal a large mark on a nearby point. “Behold! The exact whereabouts of Lord Zaru’s hideout! Pretty cool, eh?”
The others all jumped to their feet and cheered in celebration. Allen laughed, grabbing Zack’s shoulders. “Zack, that’s incredible!” Somewhat surprised by the sudden contact, Zack chuckled, sputtering out a few variations of 'I know, right!' He passed the map to Allen, who examined it closely. "Looks like he's camped out in one of our old soldier bases. Makes sense, it's in a very secluded area."
Lynn rolled her eyes. "Leave it to him to steal more of my stuff."
“It’s not too far from here,” Allen continued. “If we approach on foot, we may gain the element of surprise.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?!” Lynn raised her scepter, her eyes flashing with hope. “Let’s beat this guy up and get my sister back!”
Everyone seemed on board with this. Zack leaped into the air and hurried toward the door, with Lynn and Allen following close behind him. One stood behind, however, frozen where she stood. “W-Wait!” Charlie called out. The others paused, looking back at her curiously.
Charlie could feel her heart pounding. This was happening so fast. This whole journey had only been a few days, she had expected it to go on for much longer so that maybe it would count as some sort of training. But still, whenever she tried shooting her bow, her arrows would either fail to fire or miss completely. She felt as though she was at the same skill level she was when she first arrived in this world. And now it was already time to storm the Demon King’s hideout…?
“Are we…” Her voice trembled as she spoke. “... Ready for this?”
The others looked at each other, their smiles fading. The initial excitement of locating Zaru seemed to slowly melt away. Their silence made it clear that none of them had complete confidence in the task ahead.
“Hey now,” Lynn was the first to speak. “We didn’t come this far to doubt ourselves, did we?” She moved toward the middle of the room so everyone could see her. “I’ve seen kings send their men to their deaths on impossible missions. I always promised myself to never become that kind of king… So believe me when I say, I would not go through with this quest if I didn’t have complete confidence in each one of you! I should consider myself lucky to be in your company!”
Her faith was contagious, managing to subdue the fears of the party for a fleeting moment. Yet still, Charlie couldn’t convince herself. Her gaze fell to the floor. “But what if… We can’t do it? What if we fail…?”
Lynn tensed. “We won’t fail.” She stared forward, clenching her fists. “We can’t fail… Because… Well, we’re too good to fail!” She gave a stiff smile. Charlie furrowed her brows. Did she really believe that? Lynn’s confidence never faltered, but the way she spoke almost felt forced… Or was that Charlie’s own fears muddying Lynn’s intent?
Though Charlie still felt uneasy… She forced herself to nod. She may never feel ready. But for the sake of her party, she needed to at least try and believe in herself as much as Lynn believed in her.
Zack inched closer to Charlie, offering some comfort by placing a hand on her shoulder. He wasn’t sure about what he had gotten himself into, and feelings of guilt from roping Charlie into this were beginning to rear up inside him. Whatever would lie ahead, he would have to be vigilant, for her sake.
Allen watched them all with his arms crossed. Several days ago, he would’ve accepted that he was being sent to his death with a party like this. But seeing them now, he couldn’t help but feel pride for his allies. They weren’t perfect, far from it, but he was glad to have them by his side.
With everyone now in agreement, Lynn nodded firmly. She once again raised her scepter and called “For Alayna! For Sarinia!” The others cheered out… As did an unrelated listener. They glanced over, seeing that the innkeeper had apparently overheard the whole thing, and was giving a hearty round of applause. They bowed their heads to them in acknowledgment, then turned their attention back to each other. With everyone as ready as they’d ever be, Lynn led them away, onward to Zaru’s hideout.
After collecting Cupcake from the stables, and giving all their thanks to the owner, the group departed from the village. They stuck closely to one another, eyes studying the woods around them as they grew nearer to the spot marked on the map. Any little noise would make them burst into a battle-ready formation, even if it was just a mere slime hopping along its way.
At some point, the concentration of slimes within the forest became rather suspicious. They were easy as always to dispose of, but they couldn’t help but wonder where they were all coming from. This question was soon answered by the presence of an abnormally large slime suddenly blocking their path. “A mother slime–!” Allen exclaimed.
Though before he could even finish his sentence, an arrow whizzed past and impaled the large slime. It let out a pitiful hiss as it slowly deflated. The party looked back at Charlie, who was shaking slightly with her bow drawn. “Oh!” She gasped softly. “I hit it…!” Charlie proudly smiled at her work, and the others congratulated her before continuing on their way.
“Soooo, what exactly is the plan here?” Zack asked as he carefully wove through the densely packed trees. “Just bust in there, beat up the bad guy, then hurry out with the princess?”
“Pretty much, yeah,” Lynn replied. “Of course, we’ll probably have to improvise once we’re there. Taking out guards, actually searching for Alayna, all that. Don’t worry, though!” She put a hand on Allen’s head and gave his feathers a good ruffle. “We got a master battle strategist in our company!”
Allen knocked her hand away, seeming to resist the urge to glare as his face flushed with embarrassment. He cleared his throat with a quick nod. “Yes, I suppose you could say that. I’m not a big fan of ‘improvising’, but we know so little about Lord Zaru that we don’t have much of a choice.” He paused, before adding, “We should be careful. Demons are known for setting traps.”
“Are we?” Zack raised an eyebrow.
Allen’s eyes widened. “Th-that’s not what I-!”
“Ha! I’m just kidding, I know what you mean. Wouldn’t be surprised if there were some placed around, sounds like something a princess-napper would do.”
Charlie shuddered, her eyes darting toward every dark corner of the forest. “This whole place gives me the creeps… Why is it so shadowy, it’s the middle of the day!”
Zack shrugged. “Demon magic? Maybe this Zaru guy wants his evil lair to have a good surrounding ambiance.”
Allen shook his head. “No, it’s just the canopy of the trees blocking the sun. This is a good location to have a base, to be honest. These close-knit trees make it difficult for enemies to traverse, and it’s near impossible to spot any structures that might be up ahead. Why did we abandon this area?”
“Because it sucks!” Lynn blurted as she nearly tripped over a tree root. “You don’t seem to realize this place is just as difficult for us to get through as it would be for enemies!”
“Fair point, I suppose.” Allen shrugged, keeping his gaze focused ahead of him. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, his hand jolting upwards to stop the rest of the party. “Hold. I think I see something.” He squinted as he inched forward.
One individual had ignored his command, however. He hadn’t expected Cupcake to creep up behind him with a curious chirp. His focus broke and he flinched away from Cupcake, stumbling away as the surprise caused little puffs of cloud to burst from his fingertips.
Zack tilted his head at Allen’s reaction. “Jeez, that was oddly jumpy of you.”
“And what’s with the cloud??” Lynn questioned as she waved bits of the vapor out of her face. “I’ve never seen you do that!”
Allen cleared his throat as he regained his bearings. “My magic tends to activate when I’m startled… It doesn’t happen often, I’m just not fond of a wild beast sneaking up on me like that.”
“Hey, Cupcake’s not a–!” Zack stepped closer to Allen but paused when he spotted something through the trees. He moved forward and the others followed close behind him until they had all entered a clearing.
There stood a Sarinian soldier base, though it seemed to have undergone some renovations. Any part of the structure that may have decayed with time had been fortified with a dark stone, and windows had been boarded up. At the peak of the building sat a large flag decorated with what could be assumed to be the colors of Zaru’s kingdom, lightly blowing in what little wind reached this area. Although there were jagged barricades strewn about the perimeter, there was not a single guard in sight.
Zack chuckled. “Nobody on lookout duty, eh? This is too easy.” Without hesitation, he flew towards the base.
Seeming to notice something he didn’t, Allen gasped and hurried forward to stop him. “Zack, WAIT–!” But it was too late. Zack had gone straight into a magical barrier surrounding the structure, one that burst out a glistening powder the moment it was touched. It covered each party member, except for Cupcake, who bolted away with a screech. Zack stumbled backward, dazed and watching helplessly as each of his friends collapsed one by one, before quickly succumbing to the powder’s effects himself.
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