End Of Our Worlds? Not today Chapter 04
#4 of EOOW? NT
Chapter - 04
The group is walking on the rocky path toward their destination on a steady pace. The landscape around them is bare and is really lacking nature and colors. Just rocks and more rocks under a bright blue sky. The temperature is nice accompanied with a gently breeze, making a perfect day to be outside.
"So, we are going to Twilight Town, how much of a walk is it? I've never thought about it." Donald asks, having interest in all the small details of the journey.
"It's about a week and a half from Traverse Town. It is quite far away and we could have taken a flight straight but where is the fun in that? Once we arrive there, we will rest for a few days before moving onward. I know there is a portal from Twilight Town to End Of Sea but of course it is quite expensive. So maybe we can catch a flight to the End Of Sea, less expensive, longer travel." Oswald answers naturally. "I expect some monsters on our way there and I wonder how fast the vampires or werewolves are spreading around. If they reached this land and area already. We had a lot of teaching about those but no experience at all and suddenly they are showing up, released from god knows where."
"I that makes me nervous actually." Goofy muses as he swings his backpack to the front and grabs a book about old monsters. "I've bought some books from our academy because everything useful hints or things are written there." He flips the pages until he finds the " Disappeared Creatures" section. From there, the first chapter is about vampires.
"That must have been quite expensive since it was written by professional hunters from all around the worlds." Donald jumps to read some details in the book, very comical. "Knowing your thirst for knowledge and love for books, I bet this is a first edition or a special edition at least." He teases Goofy, trying to get a reaction from him.
"Actually, you are not wrong. This is a special edition that I bought when a hunter came to our academy to sell his books remember? I had to fight my way there to get it."
"riiiigghhhht, you came back with a few bruises and a black eye." Oswald adds in with a smile while Ortensia giggles beside him. "Took you a while to heal from those since you didn't want to waste any magic on it. Well, especially because we had a test after but you didn't care, you had your book."
Goofy suppresses a laughter as he keeps reading the book. "well according to the book, vampires travel very fast during the night of course. Let's see here...hate the sun...crosses, silver weapons and ammos...yyeeeaahhh just the classic information here, I will look into it more once we stop for the day tonight." He says before putting his book away in his backpack.
"Gotcha, there must be a crap ton of information just on vampires too." Ortensia remarks.
"Yeah, the vampire section is divided in six different type of vampires. It is quite complete indeed. It is written that there are monsters that haven't been studied before and they do warn us about mutations. Mother nature may and I'm sure, will surprise us." Goofy shivers lightly.
Silence falls upon the group as they keep walking among the rocky environment. Noon is coming up and the noises of their stomachs can be heard loudly.
"Okay! That's it! I'm hungry! Let's stop and eat" yells Donald before reaching for his backpack, dropping it on the ground and dives in to find a sandwich.
"Good call, I'm starving" answers Oswald.
"So am I." follows Ortensia.
They all find a spot to eat on the side of the road, away from the sun to eat their lunch. Of course, nobody speaks as they are on "Eating" mode and nobody got time to talk until they are done and back on the road. The group's progression is slower in the first part of the afternoon because of a full belly and the rising heat. Nothing eventful happens on this day and the quartet decides to set camp for the night. Goofy and Oswald decides to go hunt some boars which took quite a while to find one and they make some beef jerky with the meat.
"Alrighty guys, so how do we organize our turns as guards for this night. I'm willing to go first." Starts Ortensia.
"mmm sure, I'll be next" Donald continues.
"Next" adds Goofy.
"And I'll be last" finishes Oswald.
"Alrighty, that is settled. I'm going to bed now, we should all wake up just when sun rises up so we can travel further every day." Mentions Ortensia before releasing a big yawn.
"Yeah and we will arrive sooner as well. The faster we are there, the better." Concludes Donald, the others shaking their head in agreement.
"I'm going to bed guys. I am exhausted already after a day of traveling. Got to get use to it again." Donald stands up and walks toward his tent. "Good night and don't forget to wake me up for my watch Ortensia."
"Will do, Donald, will do. Good night."
Oswald and Goofy soon follows Donald's steps and are soon in their own tents, all sleeping soundly; all except Oswald who is thinking about Mickey and the opened gate.
'flippin hell' he thought 'this is starting great. I wonder what the gate looks like and in what state the land will be like when we arrive? How are we going to close this gate? And what about Mickey? I do hope we will find him quickly. How does he look like now? Does he have a family?' he turns around trying to find a position to fall asleep. 'so many questions; please brain, shut down for a few hours. I want to sleep.'
Seeing there is no way he is about to fall asleep, he dresses up and leave his tent to see how Ortensia is doing. Surprisingly, she was not there at all, in fact Donald was doing his shift. 'did I lie in my bed for that long? A whole shift?'.
"Hey Donald, doing good?" He sits beside the duck.
"Doing alright, nothing abnormal going on. All clear. What are you doing up so late? this is not your shift."
"Couldn't sleep at all. My mind is racing in every direction; Mickey, the gate...everything is rushing into my head and I cannot stop it." The bunny stares toward the sky and the millions of stars.
"I barely remember Mickey, he was lively, lots of energy for sure. He loved reading books about arcane, enchantments and magic but seriously though, I've never seen someone train that much, especially without any prior practice you know." Donald remembers.
"Yeah, he was a ball of energy that's for sure. Had a hard time taking him outside unless it was to see you guys. He did practice a lot by himself, his favorite element was lightning but he always loved fusing elements. Lightning and fire was the first combination that he tried and the next thing he tried was fire and ice. That one frightened me a lot actually. He had a good control of those two both in defensive and offensive ways. And then he found a book about enchantments, artifacts and arcane...oh boy, we lost him on that day." Oswald giggles, Donald joining in.
"We did, but he learned thigs so fast though. Remember when he managed to create a fire rune? When we heard that the famous magician, Yen Sid was in town, looking for students, we brought Mickey there. He remade that fire rune in front of Yen Sid and the latter's face was just priceless. Apparently, Mickey was a young prodigy or something especially for his age? He asked us if he could take him right way to his school. That's when we found out that Yen was in charge of the University of Spell and Enchantment." Oswald continues
"Mickey was excited for sure. Nobody could change his mind anymore. A dream come true I bet. He used to write to us regularly too. I guess I'm now curious about it now and I understand how you feel now. We will find him, do not worry." Donald promises.
This settles Oswald's mind quite a bit, a promise, that's what he needed all along.
"Thank you, Donald, thank you. I'm going back to bed now, sleep is coming fast hahaha." Ossy walks back his tent to rest and Donald finishes his watch.
And this time, Ossy falls asleep very quickly and rests until it is his turn to watch.