In a dark background.
Dark and monotonous. A black haired boy, slowly walked through the scene, warped to show a black and white.
Gray.
With each step he walked, more and more gray...a gray scenery...gray silhouettes of people standing along the path.
The same scene, again and again. Only a black haired-golden eyed boy moved, walked.
Everything else...still. Like a sketch...
Walking and walking, he stopped, feeling a tug at his shirt.
He turned around to look with a smile, not exaggerated, just an everyday smile.
Not a false one either, a true small smile, also reflected in his eyes.
But...there was nothing, instead...he suddenly found himself in a cave.
A cave?
Color flooded his eyes again. Blurry mush of green everywhere.
In that cave there was a small waterfall, and then a river made from that waterfall.
The river's origin unknown - destination unknown...
The grass beneath his bare feet was slightly wet and springy.
Small insects making their own... small sounds in that silent area. A continuous whoosh!! of the waterfall in the background.
This black-haired, golden-eyed boy saw it all...but hazy.
He knew what it was, but everything was blurred and somewhat blended.
Where?
He felt the wet grass waving by his feet, the loud calm from the waterfall.
Unreal and dreamy...
He opened his eyes again and saw a roof, a wooden roof.
Ray looked up, as he sat. He had seen a dream.
With a puzzled face and a confused voice...he asked,
"why?..."
That was all. His voice trailed off, and then...another voice, slightly different, still growing, still childlike, somewhat illusory even...
It asked calmly, with a tinge of concern hidden.
"What did you see?"
----
It was the day of their departure. It seems the perfect day.
Kyle was waiting at the bus station.
She looked up at the bright blue sky, with few clouds making the scenery. She was first to come at the bus station. She was always the first, the being first, she thought, was good luck.
She always had this few extra weird beliefs, all adventurers had, in fact, all people had weird beliefs, unique beliefs, and hers was that if she was the first to arrive, everything would go well.
That is why she always prepared the fastest, the earliest, and it kind of worked out for her. Next to arrive at the bus station was a smiling demon.
Anyone looking at that young man wouldn't think he was a demon. He showed no characteristics of a demon. It was Ray.
He wore casual clothes just like Kyle. Matt who trailed behind Ray talking about something. They both waved at Kyle.
Next to arrive was Lily. Last was Tidlen.
In fact, he had arrived, right before the bus, causing them all to rush inside the bus, instead of welcoming him.
Lily asked Tidlen,
" why are you so late? You are normally not this clumsy."
Tidlen looked at her with an exhaustion in his face, eyes and voice, and said,
"I was packing."
Then, Matt asked, "Packing? What packing?"
All of them, other than Tidlen, had only arrived with a small backpack.
Ray, of course, did not have any backpack. He had stored it all in his ring, his new ring, much to the envy of Tidlen, who had instead bought a adventuring toolkit bag.
He took it out of his own dimensional storage, which was a lower grade than the ring that they had found. It was only a few meters of space. Not much, a couple of meters.
The tool bag was quite huge, and it was only half open, when the entire group looked at Tidlen, a single question in their mind.
What had he packed so much ?
Looking at their expectant gazes, Tidlen scratched his forehead a bit, as he said,
"We are going to THE festival, I have never visited it before. So, I wanted to do a bit of research on the history..." and his voice trailed off.
Then, Ray, with a question mark still lingering on his face, asked,
"Okay..., you could pack a few things... But...why so much? No, I mean, what even is there to pack so much?"
Lily nodded. Matt also put on an 'I agree' face.
It seemed that they had forgotten to take their seat. The entire group just stood in that narrow bus and stared at Tidlen.
Feeling the continuous gazes of his teammates, Tidlen said,
"Let us take a seat first, it is a long story to explain..."
'Long story?'
Making his teammates even more confused.
So, after taking a seat, he started in a flat and explanatory tone.
"I am an admirer of the Demon Lord, and as such, I must record, take photos of every single historical thing that he has done. And thus, I will- "he continued.
With each word, his face became brighter, while his teammates slowly revealed looks of acceptance and slight exasperation.
He took out items one by one from his tool-bag, explaining their use. After his entire explanation, he heard...
"You won't have time. Its going to be crowded. Very crowded."
It was Kyle.
Tidlen revealed a slightly surprised look with a bit of indignation evident. He asked,
"Have you gone there before?"
Kyle said,
"Yes...once... I am actually from there. I was an orphan in the nation and for some reasons, I had ended up visiting the festival in the capital.
"What?!"
It was Matt, who exclaimed.
"I didn't know you were from the nation of demons. Are you a demon?"
He asked, and at that every one looked at him.
After a short silence.
Tidlen explained, "The nation of Phoenia has more people who are not demons also.
Demons, Elves and dwarves are the majority. But Humans and other races are also quite present."
Then it was Lily's turn, who asked the obvious question.
"Matt, as a dwarf, how do you not know this?"
At that Matt chuckled embarrassed. He raised his hand to scratch his head and revealed an even more embarrassed face.
The group didn't know what he had remembered but they sure knew that he was- infact- very embarrassed.
They didn't press him, they knew that if he wanted to say, that he would. And as they continued to chat, the group had arrived at the nearest teleportation hub.
Teleporting to the Demon Nation would be very costly.
But, of course, they didn't need to do that. As the festival was a month away, they could instead book a ride, which were also available near the teleportation hubs.
Walking up to a coachman, Kyle asked, how much do you take for a ride to the festival in the nation of Phoenia.
That short looking coachman who also seemed to be a dwarf, looked at Kyle and then the group behind. He said, explaining to them,
"Ma'am, taking a carriage from here to the capital of Phoenia is going to cost you a fortune!
Instead, I suggest that you take a carriage from here to the nation's border. From then, you can take teleportation hubs. Those are cheaper in Phoenia."
Of course, this was information that Kyle and the group already knew and considered. It was actually Kyle's suspicion on the actual prices that she had asked the coachman like this... seeing him answer honestly, she was quite satisfied, and after a short discussion, they decided to take the carriage to the nation's borders.
The trip was going to take two weeks, and the food costs of the coachman would- of course- be paid by them.