NIGHT

“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

voscira was a woman slightly shorter than night – and to the player’s memory, shorter than nari, too. she’d spun her spear and prodded the butt of it onto the panel she was standing on, turning her back towards their party. “come, follow me.” so night looked towards day, who had her own eyes covered, the construct doing her best not to snort up a storm. at least, at her own expense, she was able to force a smile onto her counterpart. “we’ll be passing through the jungle for a bit. and don’t worry, there’s no way i’m letting the sick travel harmed.” the player but

“– the floor’s in danger!” “pardon?” with two hands, the gemini sank her face into nothingness, doing her best to cope with her original’s mad ramblings. voscira but glanced to their floor – a sturdy rope bridge. “then just move off of it. how did you even make it here if you were afraid of a little bridge?” forget the poison on this floor. even without it, night seemed like she was doing way, way worse than the tortured souls. the player tried to correct herself. “i mean the village. the jungle, the – everyone’s in danger here.” “... you know, if you’re

go night. well, if that wasn’t it, then perhaps the player should change tactics. “no, not dragons, just… hunting in general.” two hands rubbed at her cheeks, night trying to wake herself up. “look, just – we’re here to hunt a dragon today –” “we?” “– er, me! me; i’m here to hunt a dragon today –” “dragons haven’t exactly been seen around our village for a very long time.” “– well! that’s… exactly… why i’m here to… fffffind one…” night simply looked constipated by this point. her teeth found the back of her thumb, to the bewilderment

shortcuts allowed their stranger not to wait long. with a few taps on her interface, night was able to glimpse a brief profile of their guide. “you are… voscira.” and the woman folded her arms. “how do you know that?” by now, if day had been at her side, surely she would’ve gotten a whisper of an ad lib. unfortunately, the exchange only told her how much her secondary wasn’t exactly excited on interrupting their time out together, despite the fact that night wasn’t exactly counting on it. besides, the quest was much easier to complete this way.

then, unwittingly, she bumped into someone, and from the corner of night’s eye, day’s head snapped to their presence. “sorry,” they said, though night hadn’t looked, noticing how her hound’s glare was more reflective than was normal – absent whites from lucid blues, like a predator’s in the dark. their stranger was still, emanating briefly coldness and hostility. “though i think you should be the one to watch where you’re going.” the player was slow to register who that was. on the dragon hunter’s questline, she wasn’t expecting to have gotten help from any other individual

run down, indeed. she wasn’t exactly able to tell if it was due to the matriarchal society that this floor seemed to be fairly unpopular, or if it was simply the presence of disease and blight. there was also the factor that the enemies present on this floor seemed to be targets that weren’t frequently appreciated – night knew she had difficulty in trying to take each fight with a big cat seriously, and the jungle was full of such beasts. discarding the humanoid figures, the plants, though hostile, didn’t exactly seem like fun combat experience either, especially in a dense environment such as