Yaotl

'Hmm?'

Elder Eldrick suddenly stopped throwing pebbles. This threw Grisko off.

'W-whats he planning now?!'

"Hey old man, why did you stop? I was just getting the hang out of it! Don't tell me you are afraid to lose hu-Argh!"

Grisko got hit at the forehead.

"That freaking hurt, you know!"

"Shut up for a second will you!!! *cough* *cough* Damn it!"

Elder Eldrick threw in a fit of anger his walking stick on ground, which then broke.

"Ah... my walking stick! That stupid!"

A few moments earlier...

'Uhhh... father, I don't know how to tell you this, so I will tell you straight how it is'

'Whats wrong? Why are you sending me telepathic messages when im busy!'

'Uhm, this is harder then I thought..'

'Stop being fidgeting for and tell me what you want to say!'

'Well, you know that their companions are separated and need an administrator to guide them to the resting place that was designated to them right?'

'Arvan tell me what I don't know already!'

'Well I wanted to send Aedos or Dike...but...'

'But what?'

Then there was silence for a few moments.

'Arvan but what? What did you do?'

'Elpis volunteered..'

'So Elpis volunteered?'

'Yeah she volunteered..'

'Don't tell me...Arvan...are you serious?!'

'I couldn't say no, she was practically begging me to let her go'

'And you let her? Elpis?! Really Arvan! You know how Elpis is! Arghh! My head is exploding from the headache seriously. Just thinking about it!'

To now

"Change of plans, your training has to wait."

Elder Eldrick snippet his finger, Griskos injuries were now not visible anymore. They were all gone, his face was recognizable again.

Grisko touched his face in disbelief, all his bumps and blue eyes were gone.

Elder Eldrick snippet again and then, they teleported instantly, but not just them Arvan, Elisa and John were too teleported without warning.

Everyone was as a result pretty shocked to find themselves in the resting place.

Except Raven, he slept like rock and was drooling. He was smiling from ear to ear, seemingly dreaming a good dream.

"I welcome you to the Ancient tribe of Lugal Kur Kur! Well, this little miss already got to know this place hohohoho!" He then ruffled Elisas head.

"This is your resting area, the place you can journey on or get back to rest. We have food, weapons, health care takers, vendors, basically everything you need. Be warned fighting here is prohibited and will be punished. The punishment will be determined by Elder Eldrick here, this one named Arvan will be here, answering questions as far as I am allowed too, rest assured, as long as you are here nobody can hurt you, except you can't stay here forever. If you don't decide to climb, you have few options, one is getting out, make a deal with the administration, my father or the arena. If that is understood, I have to go now." Arvan then looked at his father.

His father then sent his son a signal via eyes.

'Arvan, go take care of the reinforcement of the red litte group'

Arvan nodded and went his way.

"Wait a second where is James?" Grisko realized after looking around for a while that he couldn't find James.

Arvan's steps hastened until he ran.

A vein bulged on Elder Eldricks forehead.

"This little..."

*cough*

Elder Eldrick cleared his throat.

"Hohoho, well there were complications..."

"Complications?" Asked John.

"Yeah the thing is, we didn't expect him to go towards, another entrance. He is not under my jurisdiction anymore, my hands are bound, but don't worry, That musclehead you saw earlier sent someone who is very very.. uh... unique yes! Unique! Hohohoho, now then please rest and take your time, I have business to attend to!"

Elder Eldrick teleported away.

"Does running away lie in their blood? ARGH!!! What the hell?"

After Grisko complained, out of nowhere he got hit by a pebble.

He heard a voice, that could not be traced back.

"Don't badmouth your Elders hohohoho!"

"Well you kinda deserved that, if you ask me." John was giggling like a madman.

"Shut up john! Come on lets explore this place and do not say another word!"

"As you say hahaha"

Grisko then pinched Raven's cheek, which made raven squirmish.

He groaned a little, not waking up at all.

Dumbfounded, Grisko looked at John and Elisa.

Grisko pointed his finger at Raven.

He poked him, on his cheeks. He pulled on Raven's hair. Nothing he did, helped him wake him up.

"Yeah he was always like that" Elisa giggled.

"Nothing could wake him up once he falls in a deep slumber, which sometimes wonders me how he is able to sleep through all the things I tried to wake him up with" Elisa began to laugh as she remembered the pranks and mischievous things she did.

Someone approached them.

"Greetings guests from afar, my name is Soteria, it is in my duty to help those, who wish to rest, to safe them and keep them safe, I am your nanny"

She wore lightly orange garments with a laurel wreath. She never made an expression, kind of blank, she had white skin, curly brown hair, a small nose, brown eyes.

She seemed very kind.

After her introduction was was over she made a peace sign with her hands, without changing a single face muscle.

Grisko's mouth twitched.

"Follow me I'll guide you to your rooms, where you will be staying."

Griskos group was following her, while Raven was sleeping in a floating position. He seemed pretty comfy in his little bubble.

"So.. uh.., solitaire, can you tell us more about this place?" Asked Grisko.

"Sure what do you want to know, my name is Soteria, not solitaire Grisko, or should I call you chr-" she was shortly cut off. Grisko placed a finger on her lips, which surprised her.

"Shhhh!!! Im sorry! Im really sorry I got your name wrong! Won't happen again! I swear! So keep it a secret !"

Soteria looked amused by his action.

"Do not forget what you promised, do I have to remind you that we are part of fate, so we know more than you hope for " Soteria giggled and laughed slightly.

John looked at Grisko befuddled, he didn't think Grisko would act out of character because of his name.

' I'm sure she called him chr-? Christian? Christopher, Chris? No maybe christen?'

"Christopher " john called out to Grisko trying to get a reaction from him.

Grisko just looked wierd at him.

Seeing that he showed no reaction, John tried few other names, to no avail.

"Stop calling me those wierd names! My name is Grisko!! Grisko understood!?!"

Soteria smiled at them, then looked at Elisa next to her.

"They are good people around you, you will get along well with them."

"Are you saying that because of your fate thing?" Asked Elisa.

"Hahaha no silly, even blind people can see that they care for each other, so you are in good hands, because I know they will care as much about you two. Child of nature, as the wind is unchanging and free, so is your destiny."

Elisa seemed like drawn to her words.

"Hm, they are good people! I don't know about my future, but I like the way you said free. I like to be free!"

Elisa watched as the wind carried flower petals along, one of them tickling her nose, she got her hair out of her way and looked at the place, the beauty of this enigmatic place that is in unison with nature. She was at peace.

They finally arrived.

"So here we are staying, i guess huh."

It was litte nice house, in no case whatsoever modern, but it had its own charm to it.

Soteria prepared to go, until Grisko stopped her.

The others went inside and explored the little house.

"Wait before you go back, I need some answers!"

"Sure no problem, 34/24/33 are you satisfied?"

"What? No ! Not these kind of answers!"

She began to laugh.

"Am I not allowed to tease you? Alright, alright don't make that expression, so what do you want to know?"

"Is this still earth?"

"Indeed it is."

"How do we get out?"

"You will get out if you complete all trials."

"Can we abort?"

"You can't."

Grisko looked conflicted as he heard the answers.

"Who are you?"

"I think we told you or didn't we?" Soteria smiled.

*sigh*

"Alright i get it, I get it, my final question, is James alright?" Grisko was a little bit worried.

"He is for now, we can't say more, as to we assume he is. We only can see so far as we are allowed to. Am allowed to go now?"

She looked with a smile at her sleeve. Grisko was holding her in place, until he realized his mistake. He let immediately go and apologized.

"Ah, I'm sorry.."

"If you then excuse me, im needed somewhere else." She then bowed and went on her way.

Grisko then turned around to find John standing there.

"I didn't know you were a pervert to that extent." John giggled at Grisko.

"Shut up, not another word..."

"I have enough! Why am I the only one working?!" Elpis complained.

Since she found them, she was forced to work for them. From fishing to building a hut, cooking. Everything.

"We are injured and tired, hungry too!"

Elpis threw her shovel to the ground that pete made.

"My shovel!"

"Damn your shovel!" Elpis leashed out.

Seeing Elpis was on her limits, James tried to diffuse the situation and calm her down.

" now, now how 'bout we all calm down a little bit, it's true that we are tired, we didn't get any sleep nor time to rest, we fought beyond our limits, the injuries make it worse on top. We couldn't really eat either, so we are really grateful that you are helping us."

"You are?"

James then send a signal to the brothers with his eyes.

"O-oh yeah its true, we are soo grateful!"

"Uh yeah soo grateful, we wouldn't know what we would do without you otherwise!"

"Ah you just saying that~"

"No, its the truth, we only need you Elpis!"

""Elpis! Elpis! Elpis!""

"Oh, fine, I guess it can't be helped ~ I will show you what it means to work hard!"

Seeing his strategy work, James sent Pete and Dan a thumb up.

They made their little base close to the shore.

They made little huts for everyone, they had a racket with fish hanging on, to dry smoke. They build various things to help them cope with the wilderness.

James went to Elpis who was trying to make field for vegetables they found.

"Here let me help you." James then grabbed a tool made from stone and used it to help her dig.

"Thanks..."

"You are welcome"

"You must think, I'm pretty useless for a goddess..." Elpis pouted.

"Hmm, kinda but, thanks to you we at least got to rest a little, so all the things I said about thankful and stuff like that, I mean it. Thank you."

James conveyed his honest sincere thanks to Elpis.

Elpis blushed in response.

"Well it was the only thing I could do.."

"And thats more than enough, you give your best, we can not ask you for more."

"Thanks, its nice hearing such things once in a while, especially when your nickname is clumsy Elpis or useless Elpis"

She then brightly smiled at James, which caught him off guard.

He didn't knew she could smile like that.

There was suddenly sound from the bushes coming, it was rustling.

Next thing he knew Elpis was falling down, then Dan and Pete.

He felt a sting on his neck,he touched his neck to find out that he was hit by a dart.

"What the..." he then fell over and went asleep like the others. The last thing he saw were some people with tattoos and bushes and leaves as camouflage, as well multiple bracelets, necklaces, piercings, they looked like hunters.

"Chief, what do we do now?"

"Hmm, lets take them to our village."

"But..."

"No buts! Come let's go "