Chapter Three

   The next few days had gone by and the five friends had made their final preparations for their adventure. They each carried a sack full of food, necessities, personal belongings, and a bundle of blankets. The group said their long goodbyes to their family and friends and met up with each other outside the village. As soon as they met up, they started down the dirt path leading away from Samen and towards an adventure they will never expect.
   "Alright, I planned this out. We are heading to the forest and once we are out of that we are going to head northeast towards Caltier, the capital of Malfur. After the forest is the Fallen plains then a straight path to Caltier." Sev held his map, examining the many different illustrations of roads, landmarks, and personal notes. "Oh and there is a little outpost in the plains where we can rest for a bit."
   "How far is the forest? And how far is Caltier from there?" Cal asked.
   Sev put his map away carefully before answering. "The forest is days walk and from there Caltier is only half a day away too. The forest should take about a day or so to get through."
   Cal, Seth, and Anya were walking merrily side by side on the dirt road leading them away from a home in which they had never left. "I can really enjoy this." Anya said, walking in the middle. "And it's only the first day! Oh my god I'm so excited." exclaimed Anya, as she bounced with excitement.
   Sev and Saya, on the other hand, did not look so enthusiastic. They had all gotten up early to make sure everything was packed and ready, but Sev and Saya are not early risers. Saya looked like she was going to murder someone for bringing her on this trip and Sev stayed quiet and seemed to be half sleep walking (one would think going on an adventure would hype the two up more.)

   The group traveled on and managed to reach the forest just before the sun had set. They had decided to camp for the night and head into the forest when the sun was up. Their first night was full on fun. Sev and Saya had finally lightened up their mood. As Anya conjured a small fire and started preparations for dinner, the others set up camp right outside.
   "See! This is fun!" Anya was delicately eating her salted steak, stuck on a stick, and beef stew she had prepared for everyone.
   "I never said this wasn't fun. I just wasn't having it when we started. Just way too early for me." Sev, like Seth and Cal, was devouring his meal with great hunger.
   Saya agreed with Sev's answer and continued to wonder what lied ahead for her and her friends. "I wonder what we will see. What are we plan on seeing after we reach Caltier?"
   "I don't know. We could go anywhere we want. We make our own path." Cal said excitedly. His eyes gleaming from the fire. "I wonder if we would be able to some how get to that floating city. You know, the one we heard about in stories."
   Seth looked at Cal with disbelief. "You don't really believe there is a floating city, do you? That's only a story."
   Seth had failed to break Cal's determination. "I don't know. I bet we can find it. I know it's real." Still, Cal's real excitement remained on the fact that he had his closest friends to experience this journey with him.
   The five discussed their adventure and what they planned to do. They grew tired as the fire started to die and went to sleep. All of them had the similar dream of great exploits from the days to come.

   The next day, the group got up early and packed up their camp. After they had finished packing everything, they decided to eat their breakfast on the go, which consisted of bread and salted jerky.
   Cal charged on forward beckoning everyone to quickly follow him. "Come on! Let's go!"
   "Why are you in a rush? It's not like we are limited on time here." Saya said, as she sluggishly started walking.
   When the group entered the forest the sunlight dimmed. They continued walking on the path laid out before them. Pairs of eyes constantly peered through the dark bushes, examining the foreigners. Distant howls and cries of all sorts of creatures could be heard ever now and then. The group was mostly quiet and barely noticed that the forest grew darker with time. Anya lit a lantern she had brought with her and unknowingly welcomed giant flying insects, hypnotized by the dancing flames. Anya and Saya tried to keep the bugs at bay by either incinerating them or blasting them spheres of water. Eventually the two became fatigued from the constant use of their powers and had to put the lantern out and stop for the night. The group went to sleep instantly with one person keeping watch on shifts. The first person on watch was Sev, followed by Seth, Anya, Saya, and lastly Cal.
   The next morning, or so they hoped to be because it was so dark, the group packed up and started on the trail once again.
   "That was not fun. Did you see how big those moth things were? They were bigger than my head!" Anya had dark bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep, as did everyone else. They were not used to having to stay up on shifts.
   "I got really jumpy last night. I kept seeing dark figures and bright eyes looking at me." Saya got the chills from just thinking about it. "I think we need to acquire some weapons to defend ourselves. I mean Anya and I have our magic, but we can't protect everyone."
   Sev pondered for a moment. "Well, we all have hunting knives or some sort of knife. But you are right. We need real weapons. But we don't really have the money for them."
   "How do we get weapons then? Steal them?" Seth said with sarcasm.
   "We could." Cal said, earning everyone's shocked expression. "It could be our first 'daft' idea! Steal swords and bows and arrows. Maybe we can even get those new things, what are they called." Cal was puzzled and could not figure our what the weapon he had in mind was called.
   "Guns?" Sev answered. "Only the Malfurion army has guns. They keep that stuff on tight lock. Only officers have them."
   "Damn. Well, we could still steal swords." Cal said glumly. The group ignored this idea and kept walking.
   Hours later the group were still in the forest and were still feeling glum.
   "I think we are lost." Sev said, looking at his map. "We should have hit a river by now. I don't remember taking this long to walk through the forest. Unless it somehow grew in two years."
   "Are you kidding me, Sev?! You have the map!" Saya yelled.
   "And you said you came through here before!" added Anya.
   "That was two years ago!" Sev said defensively. "And look here." Sev pointed on the map where Samen was and trailed his finger on the road to the forest. "See, we followed the right path. But we haven't hit the river yet." The entire group carefully studied the map, trying to find some error in Sev's navigation but could find none.
   "Maybe the forest did grow. But I don't see how trees can grow so fast in two years." Seth said.
   "Neither do I, but let's just keep going. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I don't know how many nights can deal with in here." Saya said, with Anya nodding in agreement.
   The five friends continued on and still have not reached the river they so desperately wanted to find before nightfall. The group didn't even try lighting a torch or a fire when they stopped, rather just fell asleep with one Sev on first watch. Just like the night before, the five friends traded shifts and each of them heard the same creepy howls and gleaming eyes. Except, this particular night, there seemed to be more pairs of eyes watching them although none of the five noticed.
   The next morning was worse for them than yesterday. The group didn't get start their walk early, rather sat and ate their breakfast with a tired silence. After their breakfast, they forced themselves to move despite their fatigue.
   "I think I'm gonna fall over and pass out. I don't know why I'm so tired." Cal said sleepily.
   Half the day went by until they reached the river. As soon as they heard the flow of water, the group sprinted forward ecstatic that they had found the river.
   "There it is! I guess maybe the forest did grow." Seth's mood, along with the others, lightened up now that they had found their first landmark. "Ok, Sev, how long before we reach the end of this forest?"
   "I don't know. I'm pretty sure it only took me two days to get out of here. And we've only reached the river. I think we may have another night in this forest." Sev cursed at this assumption. "Screw this, we are getting out of this forest by the end of the day. We will even keep travelling at night until we reach the end of this forest."
   "Can we even make it that far before we pass out and die?" Saya sarcastically said to Sev.
   Sev ignored Saya's question and pushed forward, with his friends behind. Sev ignored his friends' complaints as he kept their speed. Determined to get out of the forest Sev only let the group stop to rest. Even when nightfall came he still pressed on. Cal, being the one who suggested this adventure kept his determination leveled with Sev's, pushing his friends to keep going. Anya lit a torch and surprisingly, no giant flying insects swarmed them.
   "Sweet, we are almost out of the forest." Seth stated. "It would make sense that the bigger creatures and insects live deeper in the forest."
   Only few short hours past and the group had finally made it out of this forest. The group whooped and exclaimed their happiness as they surveyed the flat plains in front of them. The moon shined brightly, giving light to the land. The group could barely make out the outline of Caltier.
   "Caltier must be huge to be able to see it this far." Anya said in amazement. "It's got to be miles from here. Have you been to Caltier, Sev?"
   "No. I've only seen it about this distance. I came from that direction." Sev pointed in the opposite direction of Caltier. "Alright, now that we have successfully made it out of there, let's camp here and sleep well tonight. No longer will we have to keep watch and deprive our sleep."
   Instead of falling asleep, the group lied awake and a history lesson was taught by Sev.
   "Why is it called the Fallen Plains?" Anya asked.
   "It's called the Fallen Plains because about five hundred years ago, Malfur was a vast and powerful empire. The people of Malfur loved their king, Kane, for he brought them power, expansion, and wealth to the empire. But Kane's military general, Beck, was Kane's brother and wanted more than his own fame for bringing victory to his king. He wanted to rule the empire. Beck, being the general of Malfur's army, had many followers but not enough to defeat the soldiers loyal to Kane. So Beck took some of his most trusted men and set out beyond the borders of Malfur. No one knows why or where he traveled to. A year passed and everyone assumed Beck to be dead, even his own followers, hiding and deceiving among Kane's army. But Beck came back, with an army of thousands. He waged war against his own nation, slaughtering the very people he swore to protect. Beck won many battles against Kane by the advantage of his hidden followers. Beck's army was far more superior and larger than the king's and therefor the king pleaded to his allies for aid. This plain is where the final battle took. Malfur's last stand against Beck's unstoppable army. The battle raged on for three days before Beck's army fell and Beck was captured and beheaded. But before he did he swore he would be back to take back what was his."
   The group looked at Sev as if he had made up the whole entire story. Sev saw their expressions and laughed. "You think I'm kidding?"
   "Almost, but I have a pretty good question." Anya said, testing Sev's story. "How did Beck gather such a massive army after one year?"
   "No one really knows how." Sev replied.
   "How do you know this?" Cal asked.
   "My mentor made my study history, among other subjects, of Uutana." Sev rolled his eyes in his loathing of history. "We should get to sleep. We have a whole day before we get to Caltier." After that the group quickly fell asleep, unaware of how tired they really were.