She shouldered the big pack on her back— ignoring the way it fit awkwardly, made for Avyr’s stature rather than her own, only her last-minute modifications preventing it from being utterly unwearable at all— heaved a sigh, looked out to heaven stained bright with the noontime sun, and set out.

It was not a lie to say that she was nervous. For a variety of reasons— without Avyr with her, she lacked her best defense against all the beasts and smaller terrors that slunk through the forests of the Dragonspine— and while they’d turned out rather… normal so far, all things considered, she’d heard enough horror stories of explorers stepping on the wrong herb or stumbling onto the wrong cave and getting… dunno, blown up or eviscerated or whatever else happened in horror stories. She weren’t sure how many of those were real, but given how many warnings to be super careful had been on the networks, she guessed that at least some of them had a bit of merit.

Carefully picking through the forest— as fast as she dared while still being very, very purposeful about everything from the broader route she picked down into the valley to where exactly she put her feet down— she almost didn’t think about her other worry. Namely, that she didn’t actually have all that many funds to her name. Most of it had been used getting them the tickets to and from East Saffron, and what little she did have on her was mostly because they’d ended up not having to pay their driver to take them out into the Dragonspine. She hoped the villagers were open to bartering…

It was a stressful, exhausting activity, and she’d only been walking for less than an hour—

But.

Slowly… slowly, it transformed. Her steps came easier, her spirit, buoyed up by the sheer serenity of the nature around her, the endless sea of white and snow. Even a world frozen failed to hide from her the wood’s verdant bounty— dense pine leaves still heavy above, the sharp scent of them soothingly pleasant. Leaves poking from beneath the snow, and roots ran over meadows, and even a few small flowers, their delicate petals just barely catching the sunlight beneath the canopy, swaying gently on the soft breeze— breathtakingly beautiful.

It was not like the forest had gotten any less dangerous

. Still, with that abounding nature around her for what felt like forever, infinite in its vastness… as though all the world was mere mountains, stretching so far she could not even imagine their extent, there was a certain sort of gente… peace, that soothed her soul. The motions became relaxing— no frantic solving or working or carving, just—

One step in front of the other. She snickered at that— it was something that Avyr might’ve said to cheer her up— but it was true. Just… continue walking, and she’d get there eventually. So long as she didn’t stop…

She let herself forget about it all, and surrounded by the frozen pillars of earth, stretching to bite the very sky—

Continue.

It was almost dark when she reached the village, the bright mountain-sunlight replaced with an almost pressing gloom familiar from her first days in the mountains. It was even more pronounced than it was near the hot springs— this deep into the valley, sunlight felt almost like a faint memory, a peach corona crowning the ridgeline far above her with the last light of a day long-passed. The lights of the village had already come on— electric bright, spilling out into the little dale it was nestled within and illuminating the fields and far forest branches almost eerily. Like a pearl, dropped into the middle of a dark pool, shimmering still. A stream ran through the valley, glittering beneath the moonlight, and gleaming refulgent beneath the electric lights of the village houses.

A path emerged— not even a game trail, but a real path, leading out of the forest and winding through the fields towards the cluster of houses all steep-roofed, sharp walled, ancient looking despite their clearly modern construction. Divorced from the modern construction of what lay beyond the Dragonspine.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

There was no gate into the village, no wall… but only as she really started to get close did she start to realize that there was no way to get inside but to follow the path. All the houses butted up against each other, forming a wall of their own construction— a barrier to the world outside them.

“Ho there, traveler!” She flinched back in surprise at the voice, then caught glimpse of the caller, leaned against a balcony halfway up near the path’s entrance. “What brings you to our fine little village? And from the forest path no less! No car to carry a lass like you?”

“We’re exploring the forests around here,” she responded, a little warily. He seemed friendly enough, but still, when it came to the cutthroat cultivation world, it was good to be a little careful. “I came down here to restock on supplies.”

“Huh.” He stared at her for an almost uncomfortably long while, before waving her down the path. “Well, come on in then. It’s not safe to be out there at night. Don’t think you’ll find anyone willing to haggle at this hour of the day, but head halfway up the ring and you’ll find Kaige’s tavern. Not too many visitors around this part, but so long as you don’t cause trouble he’ll help house you for the night.”

“…thanks? I think?” She nodded cautiously to the man as she passed, but wasn’t acknowledged in turn. Whatever could be said about his lackadaisical attitude at watch, he certainly wasn’t lacking when it came to actually watching the far darkness beyond the village edges.

The inside of the village was a whole lot livelier than the outside. It was dense— dense but not dirty. The street curved in a circle, turning from hard-packed dirt into cobblestones that just looked ancient in a way that was hard to fake. The buildings, too— they had the look of those hard-built, hand-crafted buildings that remained in East Saffron after the big attack at the end of the second-to-last great war. A roughness, around their edges.

Though, that wasn’t to say that the town was entirely ripped out of a period drama— a few semi trucks had been parked on the cobbled road, and there was an abundance of electric lighting strunk up above her. It almost gave the place a weird, half modern, half ancient feel that granted the whole image far more verisimilitude than it might have had otherwise…

That, and the people. Most waved as she passed, and some even traded a few short words of conversation asking after why she’d come all the way out to their small town. She gave the same response every time, but it was obvious that they weren’t ancient villagers— their clothes were clearly modern in make, and a few of them even had dataslates. A glance through the windows of one of the houses she’d passed— glass windows, made with the same crystal clarity as any other window in East Saffron might’ve had— saw a family watching television.

It was almost disconcerting, but— before she could let it weigh on her too much, she’d arrived at her destination. There wasn’t any sort of sign that marked it as the tavern, but it was just so very obvious that it didn’t even need one. The sound of chatter, of laughter and gentle-warm light spilled out, catching on the cobblestones and mixing with the sounds of night, so almost-headily. As she stepped inside the scent caught her— a mix of alcohol-tang, the scent of a locker-room after going too long uncleaned, and food, some sort of roasted meat and the mouth-watering hint of hot bread.

A momentary pause rolled through the small crowd as she stepped in, gazes of what felt like every second person in the entire town falling on her— before one particularly drunk man raised his mug and gave everyone a beaming smile. “Two travelers! Two cheers for them! And two more drinks!”

“You’re drunk, Chenggong!” Shouted the bartender, not even looking up from whatever he was doing. “I’m sure as stone not giving you any more drinks!”

“I’ll drink to that!” The whole room broke into laughter as the man— Chenggong— spilled half his drink over himself and drank the other half, raising a toast in the frantic way only drunkards could do. Everyone turned back to their own little things, their own groups, laughing and chatting and transforming the whole room into mere noise and brightness and a chaotic mess of things.