Quest

Rowan quickly fell asleep. But the lady was wide awake, looking at Rowan while he was sleeping. She looked like a predator looking at its prey, stalking him, until she gets a chance to attack and murder him. But what bad could an old lady possibly do?

Rowan was feeling uneasy to sleep, after all, the ground is not the most comfortable place to sleep.

The lady, on the other hand, was not sleepy at all. She looked excited for something only she knows.

Rowan just looked up, after feeling it impossible to sleep, to the lady and found her staring at him. Rowan got scared for a moment as in the darkness he thought it was some sort of a creature, but after around 10 seconds, he understood it was the creepy lady.

"Feeling it hard to sleep?" Asked the lady to Rowan, as if someone can sleep with an old lady looking at them as if the moment you close your eyes she would come and eat you up.

Rowan, who was in partial sleep but wasn't comfortable, said "No its fine, just thinking about what happened with me in the past few hours, it still sound like a dream and hard to believe.."

To which the lady asked "Oh really? What really had happened to you in the past that is bothering you enough so you can't sleep?"

"Well, its rather unbelievable..." Said Rowan, before telling her the story of what happened to him, of how a silly a wish to get his time back, led him to a hell-ish place and now he had to defeat something in order to be free... well not free but at least go back home.

"It dosent sound very new." Said the lady in a manner as if she has heard it a million times. "People come here to pay for their wishes, but it has been long since anyone came. They come here traumatised, with uncertainty in their eyes and fear in their hearts, some gets killed on the way and some accept that they cant win and live here forever as ogres... You on the other hand, came relatively less confused and more calm, don't get to see that very often."

"I am equally as confused and freaked out as those people whomsoever they were, I am just very bad at expressing myself..." Said Rowan thinking if he should be proud of it or be ashamed.

"So where are you headed to?" Asked the lady curiously.

"To some sort of forest in the north. A creature named Jelmech told me to do so in order to make some progress." Answered Rowan.

"The forest? You mean the Forest of Hellish fire in the north? Well it makes sense as most Adventurers do there to complete their first task." Said the Lady.

"Task? What exactly is the task" Questioned Rowan.

"You will soon know it yourself." Said the Lady.

"Why just you dont tell me? Why do I have to know it when I get there? You are just like an NPC in a game" Said Rowan.

"Whatever you think, but you will get to know whats there once you get there." Said the lady.

"This feels exceptionally similar to a videogame...." Rowan thought for a moment.

Time passed very quickly and at the end of the conversation, it was already morning. Rowan said bye and thanks to the Lady and he went on his way to the city.

He started walking cautiously looking for any danger that may come n his way. After walking for a few minutes, and after walking for another hour, he reached a lake, which seemed quite odd considering the lake was crystal-clear in a forest which was mostly dirty because of ogre blood and other filth. He decided to go by it.

There, at the other end, 4 figures were seen, they seemed of humanly appearance but it was hard to tell as it was foggy and they were far. Rowan decided to investigate it and went towards the other end.