Finding the Lost

Cyrus woke up to the sound of the Pedaloians chirping and fluttering around his hovel. They wouldn't normally act up like this but something has them spooked. He looked at them as they swarmed the upper sections of the trees. Whatever had them spooked they didn't want to get caught up in. Cyrus leaned over the edge and looked around for anything out of the ordinary. But nothing was there, he shrugged as they must have been spooked by a sound or something.

Cyrus sat down while the birds continued to squawk and scream at each other as he was trying to focus. Their screams were loud and obnoxious as they continued for several minutes. He couldn't drown them out and he was thankful his Wolf Senses weren't active with the other Shackle so he wouldn't be completely deafened. Getting annoyed he decided to climb down the tree using a rope he managed to get from a beast he killed and got some random loot for a couple weeks ago. It was useful for getting down quickly without jumping from nearly 30 stories up.

Sliding down the rope, Cyrus landed on the large root from the tree as he looked around for any beasts that might jump out at him, luckily for them, nothing did. The bird's screaming was a lot quieter down at the base of the tree, but the numerous birds didn't stop not for a moment. As it was still loud even for normal hearing. Cyrus walked away from the location of the birds as he would soon hear less and less noise from the birds. The reason being was so he could think and focus on his daily routine.

Although he was now on ground level he knew that beasts could be around him at any given moment. Deciding it was best to start the day with his run, Cyrus started to jog through the forest and head into the more sturdy land rather than the swamp area. His system had updated the required distance by an additional 10km. Now having to run 30km in a day was not taxing to him since his stats have been growing from day one. He didn't even bother with using his Enhance skill as it would feel like he wasn't having some challenge.

Gentle breathing and subtle steps across the grass floor, Cyrus traveled a fair distance from his hovel. He decided to stop by a local stream that flowed through the trees and take a small break as he has been jogging for a good 20 minutes at a steady pace. Reaching the stream Cyrus looked down into it and cupped some of the water and splashed his face with it. He did so a couple of time as his hair was now wet and dripping, he noticed that there seemed to be a red tint coming from up stream. He pulled out a towel he had stored in his inventory and dried himself off before following the stream up river.

'Might as well see what is causing the river to run red.' He thought, walking along the bank and inspecting his current objective. He saw that he only had another 12km to go before he completed that section of his daily routine. With a sigh he continued up the river and noticed the river was getting darker with the red coloration. It was bothering him that something may have contaminated this river as he used it to bathe and drink from. He luckily had other means to obtain water, just that it was more dependent on rain and purification.

Finally reaching a large section of open ground around the river, Cyrus found a few dead creatures and a battle that had taken place. The creatures seemed to be reptilian in nature. Their wounds were from arrows and blade cuts as he inspected the bodies. It was not a pleasant thing to see as he could see scraps of clothing as well as broken equipment. Seeing this, he had Vexxitiz cover his face as he wasn't sure if anyone from Eath was here, but he had a guess this was done by a Fighter type with a mixture of evocation magic. Whoever did this was trying to escape as he noticed that the bodies were all pointing in one direction or roughly in the same direction. He followed the general direction they all were going, following tracks by a size 9 boot of a human. It seemed to jump around a lot during the encounter. He guessed it was to dodge attacks or the individual was very agile and covering his retreat.

That's when Cyrus saw a much fresher blood trail leading behind a tree. A bloody handprint was plastered on the trunk of a tree, smeared as it was dragged around its width. Walking around the tree he could see a man laying against it at the base of the trunk. It seemed some roots were pulled up and ground to make medicine of some kind to stop excessive bleeding. Cyrus walked over and placed a hand on the man's neck, feeling a faint pulse from the man's heart.

With a sigh of relief Cyrus held out his right hand to cast his Heal spell, but just before that happened, the man spoke. "Please... warn... Urik..." he let out a labored breath, "The giant moves... north..." Cyrus couldn't wait any longer. He cast his spell as the green chains wrapped around the man gently as they radiated their light. The man's wounds began to close and return his body to normal. However, he didn't pump Chaos Energy into the spell as he wasn't sure if it would be a waste or not. Picking up the man Cyrus summoned Visne to carry him back to the tree.

Hearing that a Giant existed here in this large expanse of a forest. He wondered if the man was referring to the massive creature he ran into before. The Mutilamposaurus was likely the creature he was talking about and that didn't bode well. However, right now, getting the man to a safe place for him to rest was his current objective. As his system had given him a small quest.

[Keep the man alive and return him to his group. Rewards ???]

He wasn't bugged by having mystery rewards, it honestly made it more interesting. As Cyrus wasn't too concerned about rewards at this point. He had gained a lot of skills, a new shackle, and Fafnir as a new summon. Though, now it was dealing with returning him to his friends or group that traveled with him. Cyrus wasn't too keen on seeing other people to let him know that he was here.

But that ideal situation was now out the window and wouldn't help but cause problems. For now he would heal the man so he could get better then hope that he could tell Cyrus where they were located. This was running through his mind as Visne flew through the trees.

"Yer thinking of avoiding the beast that closes the Rift eh?" Fafnir spoke almost startling Cyrus. "If ye wanted to avoid it, then don't go searchin' for it. But I know ye well enough, ye'll go and fight it someday. But help is going to be needed." He chuckled before returning to being silent from within the shackle.

"Not like I'll have a choice, if I managed to beat that thing I might grow some levels and get to unlock some more skills from your shackle." Cyrus saw the alcove of the tree he was staying at as Visne clung to the edge of the rim. Allowing Cyrus to enter and set the man down. He could hear his breathing was stabilized and was more sleeping than being in the threat of death.

All he had to do was wait till the man woke up. So for the time being, Cyrus wanted to gain some coins to test out his transformation. Summoning his knights, he commanded them to guard the man but not to attack the Pedaloians. Climbing back on Visne he descended back to the forest floor. The massive roots leading to the swampy part of the forest as they absorbed the water to grow. It was time for a quick gathering of coins as he proceeded to slay Chaos Beasts gaining coins from being defeated.