• Chapter 4: Emerald Kavala

    A breeze blew through the trees of Emerald Kavala, a rich forest to the southwest. A lot of deciduous trees and the occasional evergreen blessed the views of all who would trek through these woodlands. Red squirrels, deer, and songbirds of all types were within the forests. Likewise, centaurs would walk about, some gathering safe wild fruits, others hunting for game.
    But there were some hazards in the land as well. Some were just natural dangers, like some wild wolves and bears. Others were monsters, such as the Dark Forest Imps. Still more hazards were there most likely due to Erebus’ sorcery. And it was some of the third group that Valerius and Nauplius would eventually face.
    The two soon arrived at a forest trail crossroads. The songbirds’ warbles calmed their nerves slightly as they tried to figure out where the next trail to take was.
    “So, where to, friend?” asked Valerius.
    “Emerald Kavala City is to the southwest, deep in the forest,” answered Nauplius. “Since the sun is generally south in this hemisphere, it should give us a general idea of where we are going, and I have a good compass and map of the empire.”
    “You seem to have a good idea of where we are going,” said the human hero. “I shall trust you in this matter.”

    The human and the dwarf continued southwest through the verdant woodland. Fallen leaves rustled and small twigs snapped shortly and not too loudly as they journeyed on.
    But it was not long before they encountered their first battle. A pack of Dark Forest Imps appeared before them. They looked like short and scrawny humanoids, but had pointed ears similar to elves, horns that peeked through their hair—if any had hair, as some were bald—beak-like noses, and sharp teeth. Their yellow eyes were narrow and their toothy mouths showed sinister smiles that revealed their cruel intent. Their light tan skin quivered with anticipation to draw blood upon the two intruders. Some of them had loincloths of leaves or animal hides. Others had wooden armor with crude symbols on them. As for weapons, some had simple stone knives, others had spears, and others still had thick clubs. All of these Imps were prepared to gang up on the party.
    “Blasted Dark Forest Imps,” grumbled Nauplius. He then turned to Valerius and said, “Be careful. Individually, they are weak, but the real threat is when they gang up on a target.”
    “The classic ‘strength in numbers,’ I see,” sighed Valerius as he prepared his plasma sword. With a touch of one of the buttons on the slate-colored handle, a sky-blue blade of plasma emerged. Nauplius soon got out his Dwarven Battle Hammer.
    The Imps then grunted in their own language to attack. At first, only three of them rushed up. Valerius then impaled one of the Imps with his energized blade—the very plasma practically cooked the monster from the inside, dispatching it almost instantaneously. Nauplius squashed one Imp flat with an overhead swing, being careful not to accidentally injure Valerius, and then with a sideways swat sent another Imp flying into a thick tree. That Imp died upon impact.
    Two more waves of Imps went toward them. The first was five Imps, and the second wave had seven. All of these soon met similar fates as their comrades. Some of them Valerius decapitated, cut through the waist, sliced down the middle, or impaled. The plasma cauterized as it cut, so no blood flowed out of the fatal wounds. Others Nauplius dispatched by squashing, or sent them practically flying skywards.
    After those fights, the Imps knew they were out of their league in fighting those two, so the leader grunted to them, and all the remaining Imps wisely retreated.

    “Well,” sighed Valerius as he patched his wounds with some medical ointment and gauze, “not bad for a first fight, eh?”
    “Indeed,” chuckled Nauplius as he put some salve on his own wounds. “I haven’t had a good warm up since I fought some bandits on the way here last week.”
    After resting a while, the two continued, as it was still in the afternoon.
    A buck deer and his doe mate ran across the forest before Valerius and Nauplius arrived in a forest clearing. The Dwarf was about to check his map and compass again, when some humans emerged. These had tan cloaks and hoods, and wore biker outfits. Some had steel daggers, others had pistols. These were obviously bandits.
    One bandit looked at Nauplius and said, “Hey! There’s the jerk who gave us the run-around last week!”
    Valerius gasped and asked Nauplius, “Are these the bandits that gave you trouble?”
    “Indeed so,” said Nauplius. “And it seems they want a little rematch!”
    Valerius then got out his Plasma Sword again, and was lucky enough to stop some oncoming bullets.
    “Who the hell are you, getting in our way?” asked the bandit who was trying to shoot at the two.
    “I’m Valerius Magnitis,” Valerius answered. “And we’re on our way to Emerald Kavala to find aid in stopping Erebus Tonadi!”
    “We may not be on Erebus’ side,” said another bandit, “but we still have a score to settle with the Dwarf for making fools outta us!”
    That bandit got out two short swords and charged towards Nauplius. Valerius then swung his Plasma Sword and cut the blades, rendering the swords useless.
    “We gotta split, gang!” said the bandit. At that, the gang ran.
    “For the first time, they’ve played the wise folk!” laughed Nauplius.
    “Yeah,” added Valerius. “I think we can continue on, now.”

    The day was getting late.
    “Night is approaching soon,” said Nauplius. “We need to set camp soon.”
    “Come join us,” said a friendly female voice. “We have camp set up already.”
    The two turned and saw a female elf with vanilla colored skin, maize blonde hair, and amethyst eyes. Her elf ears were almond-teardrop shaped. Her bikini top and skirt were mint colored and looked like they were woven out of leaves that would never decompose. She also wore sandals that were colored dark goldenrod.
    Valerius and Nauplius followed the elf woman to her camp. Another elf was sitting at the campfire, this one a male. His skin tone is what one would call Navajo white, with ears that were curved on the side near the face, but straight on the side facing the back of his head. His shoulder-length hair was chocolate brown, and his eyes purple taupe colored. This male elf wore a Hunter-green hat with a Tiffany-blue feather on it—and the hat was similar in style to most Robin Hood caricatures. The cloth of his top shirt was mainly Hunter-green with Palatinate blue sleeves, and on his hands were robin egg blue fingerless gloves. His pants were Persian green, with some Eton blue designs near the hems. And his archer shoes were Navy blue.
    The male elf said, “Ah, welcome, travelers. You seem to have come quite a long way. Please stay with us.”
    “Thank you, good people,” said Valerius.
    “Aye, much obliged,” added Nauplius. “We’re on our way to Emerald Kavala City.”
    “That’s where we’re from,” said the female. “We’ve been looking for someone to help Emerald Kavala.”