Chapter 3

"So I forgot to ask you, Clementine, why were you in Yalsuri?" Terrick curiously questioned the blue-robed sorceress as they walked up the dirt path towards the Yalsuri Mountains.

"Well, I came to Yalsuri to go shopping," Clementine answered.

"Then why are you coming with us?"

"Well, I was bored." Terrick looked at her and chuckled.

"You don't have enough money, do you?" he asked.

"Everything here is so fucking pricy! Like the taxes alone is 3 varli! 3 varli! Who pays 3 gold for taxes? The hell are they even using that for? For their fancy guard uniforms? Fucking greedy bastards!" ranted Clementine as she angrily raised her fist.

"Yeah, yeah, don't pop a blood vessel, short-stack," Terrick replied.

"Shortstack! I'm 5'5! That's normal size!" Clementine yelled.

"But you will always be 6 inches shorter than me, shortstack. Remember, you will always have to look up to me."

"You're so arrogant, it's not even funny. Tone your ego down a bit, will you?"

"Arrogant is such a harsh term. I prefer confidence."

"Confidence is such an understatement. I prefer the word narcissistic asshole."

"You do know that's two words right?" Terrick pointed out.

"You do know that's two words right?" mocked Clementine in a fake masculine voice.

"I-I don't sound nothing like that!" Terrick said, obviously offended by the mocking.

"You're right. Your voice actually sounds a lot higher," Clementine assured.

"You dare insult my masculinity!?"

"Can you two shut up?" asked their brown-hair friend. Dealing with these two constant nagging and bickering were really taking a toll on Amaris's psyche.

"So where is the cave anyways?" Clementine questioned. Amaris took out his map and showed it to the cerulean-eyed girl.

"The cave is at the very top of Mount Yashi, the tallest mountain in the Yalsuri mountain range. As you can see, it is between Mount Yapi and Mount Yuree," Amaris explained. Clementine blinked a few times before opening her mouth.

"Why do all of these start with a Y?"

"Obviously because the author is too lazy to think of actual creative names," Terrick explained.

"Terrick, what are you talking about?" Amaris asked.

"It seems I exist on a level you ignorant mortals cannot even begin to comprehend," Terrick replied as he sighed.

"Mar! He's doing that "thing" again," Clementine complained.

"Damn it, Terrick. What did I say about pretending you can break the fourth wall?" Amaris inquired.

"But I'm not pretending!" Terrick yelled. Though, his companions weren't trying to hear it. He sighed. "Anyway, Clementine, you're the magic-based character in this story. What can you tell us about the undead?"

"I only know the basic knowledge that everyone knows," Clementine told him. "Wait, do you not know anything about the undead?"

"Yeah, come on dude. Did you not pay attention back in the monastery?" asked Amaris.

"Broski, do you really sell me that short? Of course I didn't," Terrick responded.

"This answers a lot of my questions," added Clementine.

"See this is why I don't try to be smart and ask questions. Anyways,can someone fill me in on the undead?" Terrick demanded. Clementine sighed.

"Well, basically, the undead are simply corpses filled with souls an-."

"Aren't we corpses filled with souls?" interrupted Terrick.

"Stop interrupting me. Like I was saying, the undead are simply corpses filled with souls. However, these souls are mutated souls. Usually a sorcerer would use necromancy, which is forbidden, to take souls from people who have just died, and summon chaos energy from Jinkusu to merge the soul with it. Since these corpses don't have a functioning brain, just a soul, they just seek to destroy and cause anarchy. If one were to control the undead horde, they would need to put some of their own sosu in each individual soul, so the corpses would obey their commands. If that's the case here, then it is safe to assume that we are dealing with a powerful necromancer, who specialize in the arts of necromancy."

"We should turn back, shouldn't we?" Terrick inquired.

"Definitely."

"Will we?"

"Probably not."

"Of course not!" Amaris suddenly blurted out. "We are heroes, protectors of the innocence, vanquisher of evil, the light in the darkness. We are the immovable object facing the unstoppable force head on. And we shall be victorious!"

"He really doesn't know how cringey he sounds," Clementine whispered to her dark-skin friend. Terrick can only nod his head in agreement, as he was mentally thanking Ordo that no one was around to see this embarrassing display of heroism.

"Now my friends, onward we go!" Amaris proclaimed.

The trio walked up the path to the mountains until they got finally to the base of the mountains. The trio looked up at the mountains and sweat dropped.

"So...are we supposed to climb that?" asked Terrick after a moment of silence.

"Hell no. I cannot do that. Way too much physical work. That would ruin my ," robes, which were not cheap in this Ordo-forsaken city," Clementine replied.

"We must climb this mountain! I gave the wounded man my word, and as a hero, I need to vanquish this evil so it won't harm the innocent again!" Amaris exclaimed.

Clementine and Terrick started desperately looking for a path that led to the mountains.

"No way in Jinkusu would I climb that!" Clementine and Terrick both thought.

"Oh, never mind. I found a path," Amaris said as he pointed at the path.

"There is a god!" yelled Terrick.

"Now's let go!" Amaris urged as he started walking up the path. Behind him, Clementine and Terrick were following, still thanking the Triumvirate.

As they excitedly walked up the path to Mount Yashi, none of them could ignore the sense of impending doom that was creeping on them.

One thing remains for sure, however.

To become heroes, they must survive.