Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

"A pond!" The cross-dresser pointed and then jumped right into a pond only a few meters from us.

I actually wasn't paying attention. Something was on my mind. For the last couple of days, Lianne was acting a bit funny. It was almost as if she wanted to go to the forest. I really hoped that wasn't the case though. 

"Be on a lookout for monsters underneath. Who knows what might lurk there." I amplified my voice with my hands, shaped like a cone. He didn't really seem to care about what I said though.

All of us stopped and waited for the cross-dresser to finish. The water was washing over his makeup and he did seem rather good-looking. But then there was the question. Why the hell did he bother cross-dressing?

He seemed to enjoy his bath too. It wasn't my style to watch people bathing, so I just kept on the lookout for monsters. But moments later, he stopped making sounds. I turned around and his pale face became even paler. 

"Something might be down there…" He voice was barely a whisper. 

The water was kind of black in color. So of course there was bound to be something underneath. And yet, this guy had the guts to jump in there without even surveying first. 

"I told you to be careful…" I sighed and just stood there. There wasn't anything I could do about it now anyway. 

"My down there…" His face became even paler… and then there was a scream… "Yaough…. ANGHHH!" Half of it was moans though.

***

"So this is the entrance." We were right in front of the so-called large forest. To no one's surprise, it was large.

The usual traits were present here too. Black forest, black trees, crawling undead bugs, and red dots in the distance. Everything was here. I really didn't want to be near this place, and there was no doubt about it.

"Why do you look so miserable, My Love?" The cross-dresser said something and it literally sent shivers down my spine the way he said it.

Wasn't the unholy smell coming from the forest enough? Now had to cope with this clown too?

It was a good thing the breeze wasn't against us.

"Who you calling love, you damn geezer!?" Dick fumed. Why was he mad? If anything it would should have been me who was supposed to be mad.

The cross-dresser wasn't that old but the way he acted reminded me of the old man: but at least, the old man wasn't a cross-dresser and had some decency.

He cupped his face and pretended to be bashful. "Oh, my dear. You shouldn't say things like that to a beautiful older sister like me…."

Huh? Are my ears malfunctioning?

Even Dick was shook. "What's wrong with this picture?" To think that cross-dressing guy would proclaim himself to be Dick's sister of all things. It was almost laughable.

A lot, really. 

I sighed and carried on. "Anyway, what the hell were you doing here Geezer?"

"It's Jori. Don't tell me you've forgotten my name. What a bad boy you are…." He made another bashful face. "I have something which I must deliver to the branch office of our guild in Tehram."

"Tehram?"

"That's the capital's name," Lianne chirped in.

"Well that's great and all, but we're on a mission here and–" And I couldn't just take him along. 

"And I'd like to tag along." The cross-dresser gave me a smile as he interrupted me. "I can even pay you if you want to." His grin had a lot of ill intentions. I got the impression he wasn't talking about money.

I sighed. "Fine and I don't need your payment. As long as you don't drag us down, its fine." Besides, I got the feeling he was strong. At least that's what it seemed like last time. 

He nodded with satisfaction. "Now. Would you mind explaining, yourself? How did you, a wonderful body- I mean boy, turn into a girl?"

You just said body, didn't you? 

"I'm still a guy. Don't worry about it. I'm only on a little disguise." Honestly, I couldn't come up with a better excuse.

"Oh?" He giggled suspiciously. He wasn't convinced. If someone told me something similar I wouldn't believe them either.

"That reminds me, how did you know it was me?" It was odd. He knew it was me even though I was disguised as a girl. Strike that, at this point, I was a girl. 

"Womanly intuition?"

"Give me a real answer please!" I clenched my teeth. I was already pissed for some reason.

Jori crossed his arms and struck a pose. "Aura, my dear. I'm a half Alf. I can sense aura. Or in simpler terms, the color of one's mana." For someone who was playing dumb even a second ago, he sure liked to spill the beans without even the slightest push. 

"Say what? But the Alves are supposed to be-"

I'd read about it in a book. What was the name of the author again?

Why the hell was I so bad with names?

"Didn't you hear what I said? I said half!"

"Half?" Lianne mumbled.

"Oh? Sounds rather nice. Think you could teach me?" It sounded like a cool ability anyway.

"Nope! Trade secret," he winked. "Besides, I don't think you can learn this. Unless you have Alven blood in you."

Is that how you treat your savior?

And I can pretty much use magic without any special blood though.

But then again, it was probably because of Sisrael, so, oh well.

Grinding my teeth I looked back at the forest. "Fine. It's your secret so I shouldn't intrude." I sighed, looked at Lianne. "It's already afternoon. Are you sure we can go in now?"

"Of course. We'd be spending one night inside either way." Lianne reassured me. I didn't want insurance: not one bit. 

"A Night in the forest? Ha ha hahhahal….." I laughed hysterically. It reminded me of all sorts of traumas. I'd seen so much in forests that I didn't want to get near them let alone spend a night.

"She didn't break did she?" Dick poked my arm and looked at Lianne. Apparently, his target was me but he was asking Lianne.

"Unfortunately, not yet. And it's he, not she!" I slapped his hand.

I was sane, probably.

Dick and the others laughed. 

But then Dick came close. "About her, I think she's broken too," He whispered. I guess he was referring to the fact that Lianne wanted to spend a night inside the forest. 

Honestly just what was wrong with the elf? She wasn't like this before, was she?

I wasn't so sure anymore.

I didn't reply and Dick didn't wait for one either. 

***

And so we went into the forest. The smell wasn't as bad as the other forests, but it was still there. We had to cover our faces with cloth and watch our surroundings. Undead roamed but they didn't see us. If they didn't, then that meant there was a possibility. A possibility that an angel was here. Just how many angels were out there anyway?

Or perhaps something else was here. Something like that undead Lianne had mentioned. I really hoped it was the former though. 

I kept my eyes open. The black ground and the overly convoluted tree branches only raised my tension further up. Even in this cold weather, I sweated buckets. The air was rancid and horrible but I was still out of breath and breathing heavily. My gag reflexes were tingling more than necessary. 

And then all of a sudden a rouge centipede came crawling in my direction. Of course, it was an undead version. I shrieked without a second thought. 

"Are you okay?" Jori said, squishing the damn thing with his feet.

I'd honestly forgotten his name. It was more like I wanted to forget his entire existence, I failed.

But I sure was glad right now, that he was here.

I changed the subject. "I'm okay. But how would we spend a night in a place like this? Find an open field in the forest?" danger was crawling at every corner and it was too dense to set up a camp. And more importantly, I didn't want to be here.

"Are there even places like that?" Dick asked. 

"Oh, I assure you, there are…." I glared at him, grabbing onto his shoulder. 

"I-I believe you." Case conceded.

I was clearly shaken. The very thought of spending a night in a forest was as gruesome as it got.

"Yeah let's find open places. There should be an old graveyard in the middle of the forest. We could sleep there." Lianne's reassurance didn't help one bit to that extent.

Wouldn't that be like sleeping for an eternity? 

"Are you sure she's okay?" Dick whispered.

"Trust me, I'm thinking the same." I'd been thinking that ever since she first brought up the forest in the first place.

Actually, maybe that thought crossed my mind from the very first time I'd met her. 

Was this elf really sane?

Lianne glanced back, with a bloodthirsty look. "You two, let's not fall behind." But her smile didn't waver. As I thought, this woman was definitely scary. I knew it from the moment I saw her slice up the deer back on the mountain. 

Lianne scary. 

Lianne very scary.