CHAPTER 25: CHAPTER 25: TRAVELLING

Veyla stared at him for a while. "You’re sure about this, Riven? If we eventually get ambushed, there isn’t turning back," she said straight to his face.

"I know, Veyla. Just trust me on this. Please," he said with a low voice.

Amon stood at the far end, waiting for them to finish preparing for the trip.

Riven turned to Amon and walked up to him. "Veyla still doesn’t trust you, and neither have I. I’m going to be watching your movements, and if you do anything funny, then that’ll be the end of you."

Amon felt slightly uneasy at his threat but kept his cool. "Fine by me."

Riven nodded, then turned to Veyla. "Is there anything we need to pack up before we head out?"

Veyla checked her body for anything she might need, then turned back to him. "I’m all good. What about you?"

"I don’t carry any items apart from the things in my pouch and the sword," he responded, then turned back to Amon. "We’re good to go."

Amon nodded. "Then let’s start going so we don’t meet up with blight spawns on the way."

The forest was silent compared to the day before, almost like the forest animals had all gone.

"Why is it so quiet?" Riven asked, glancing around the area.

"Must be the work of the blight spawns migrating. None of the forest creatures want to get caught in that," Amon answered softly as he walked ahead.

"How bad are they?" he asked, following him up from behind.

"I thought you said you played the game," Veyla muttered, barely above a whisper to avoid Amon from hearing.

"Yeah, I did, but so far nothing has really seemed the same as the game," Riven responded, glancing at her for a second.

"Well, I get what you mean," she sighed, holding on to Riven’s shoulder for a second.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired," she responded, not fully being honest.

The truth was that she was sick, but if she told Riven, then he’d have stopped and camped till she recovered, which would only slow them down.

Riven, on the other hand, felt she was hiding something but didn’t know what it was—and decided to respect her privacy.

Amon walked ahead quietly, hardly saying a word. "You guys should stay focused," he said, glancing around continuously like something would pop out anytime soon.

Then, as if on cue, a creature began screeching. The sound was diverse at first—it was hard to determine where it was coming from—until the creature crawled out from the bushes.

Veyla was on guard the whole time it was screeching, her hands on her blade the whole time.

The creature was worm-like, and it looked weak, like it was attacked and left for dead.

"What’s that?" Riven asked below a whisper as they stepped back slowly.

"That’s a Memory Leech. Though it’s weakened at the moment, it survives on people’s painful memories," she answered. "It feeds off memories. It’s one of the most dangerous creatures you can come across."

"So how do you avoid or fight it?" he asked.

"I don’t know. Just—whatever you do—don’t let it close to you, unless it’ll feed off your memories and grow stronger," she responded.

Amon seemed to be wary as well. "I’ve come across one of these guys before. They hate fire or anything related to it."

"Fire? How would we get fire at this moment?" Veyla muttered.

"I don’t know. But for now, we have to be very careful. Though it’s weak, we don’t know what it’s capable of," he muttered.

He turned to Veyla. "Why don’t I activate the rune? It should do the work," he whispered.

"No, don’t, Riven. We don’t really know who this guy is. Doing that might mean fighting two things at the same time—him and that creature," Veyla answered.

"I didn’t think of that. You might be right. But how do we face this thing? According to you guys, it seems pretty dangerous," he asked.

For the past ten minutes, all they’d been doing was backing away from it as it crawled toward them. Though it hadn’t attacked yet, the tension around them was palpable.

"Why don’t we just run away then?" Riven asked, glancing back at them for a brief moment.

"Well, that’s the problem," Amon said.

"What is the problem?" Riven asked, stopping for a moment.

"If you run, then it just makes things worse. Its screeching sound isn’t a normal screech—it’s like mind control. Once you give in and try to run away, it screeches, thereby trapping you in an illusion until it’s done feeding on your memory," Amon answered.

"Well, why can’t it do it now?"

"I don’t know actually, possibly because it’s weak," Amon said, stopping. "We can’t continue like this. We have to take care of this and go on with the journey."

"Then we have to fight it, or we’ll never get out of here," Veyla said.

Riven stepped forward, taking a stance. "Alright then, I’ll go first. You guys back me up."

"Be careful, Riven. This isn’t a normal monster you can fight purely based on strength," she warned.

"I know what I’m doing. Just be on alert, you guys," he responded, walking slowly toward it.

He unsheathed his sword and moved toward it with practiced ease. His body aches were less than the day before.

He attacked, cutting it from the top to the bottom. "See? Easier than you guys talk about."

"Uhh... Riven? It’s still there, and you were just playing with the air," Veyla said, pointing at the creature.

He turned back immediately and saw the creature still laying there like it was never touched.

"What? How’s this possible? I’m sure I just cut it in two," he muttered.

"That’s why it’s a troublesome creature, despite not being a combat creature," Amon answered. "When it’s threatened, its body releases a toxic gas, immediately creating an illusion so the attacker thinks he has killed it—then it attaches itself to them and feeds on their memory."

"Well why didn’t you guys tell me this sooner?" he shouted.

"We thought you knew. Everybody who has lived in this world knows about these things. I don’t understand why you have less knowledge about them," Amon asked, now getting suspicious.

Veyla immediately changed the topic. "Don’t get distracted, guys. This thing isn’t going to kill itself."

"So how do we kill it?" Riven asked, backing away from it.

"I thought you knew how to, that’s why you wanted to take the lead," Veyla questioned, raising her eyebrow.

Just when Riven was about to answer, the Leech sprung on him, causing him to panic, immediately jumping.

The Leech crawled its way up his body toward his head.

"Veyla, do something!" he shouted, trying to get it off him.

He was more furious because he couldn’t activate his abilities due to what Veyla said. But if he didn’t do something about the Leech soon, he might not even remember what his abilities were.

"I have no choice, Veyla. I have to do it!" he said, as the Leech crawled onto his neck.

"Do what?" Amon asked, confused but still guarded.

Riven didn’t wait for approval from Veyla. He immediately burst into flames as the Leech attached itself to the back of his head.

It screeched loudly, still attached to the back of his head, but Riven increased the intensity of the heat and eventually melted it off.

Amon stared at him with his mouth open, his face full of surprise and shock. "What the hell just happened in front of me?"

Riven turned to him. "You can’t absorb remnants?"

"What do you mean ’absorb remnants’? That’s not possible to do. Are you actually a Cinder or some kind of freak?" he asked, backing off slowly.

"Not every Cinder can absorb remnants, Riven. And Amon, yes—he is a Cinder, but not the type of regular Cinder you know or have seen," Veyla interrupted, trying to calm the situation.

"What do you mean he’s different?" Amon asked, taking his stance.

"This isn’t the place to explain or talk about this, alright? When we get to this so-called Cinder camp of yours, then I’ll explain everything," she said, shrugging a bit.

Amon stared at them both. Though he wasn’t fully convinced by what she said, he decided to accept it. "Alright. But I’ll be watching you both the entire time," he said, pointing at them.

"Now I feel like I shouldn’t have found them," he shrugged before walking on ahead.

Veyla and Riven turned to each other before they followed him.

"I thought we agreed you wouldn’t use your powers unless necessary again," Veyla asked, her voice a bit high-toned.

"What choice did you give me, Veyla?" he retorted, his expression darkening slightly.

"Well, there were other methods we would have come up with," she fought back.

"Methods? Under whose life were those methods being tested, Veyla?" Riven asked, walking further away from her.

She sighed. "Alright, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that."

Riven didn’t turn back. He just continued walking on ahead without responding.

They walked on until they arrived at the camp. It wasn’t much of a camp—it was like the first fort they were at, but this one was built in between the ribs of a giant skeleton.

"Welcome to the Cinder Fort. And don’t mind the giant bones—they’re the bones of the Rot God that once ruled over this place," he said, chuckling as he scratched the back of his head, then turned over and walked into the fort.

Riven stared at the fort and the bones for a while before he followed him. "I hope this meetup ends up better than I think it would."