The land was desolate and speckled, with jagged rocks and cliffs looming on either side. The traveler, hidden beneath a tattered and worn cloak, moved with a pace that was far from hurried, yet he never stopped for too long. More than a few people have heard of this mysterious nomad, and a fraction of them have actually seen the wanderer with their own eyes.
The whispers about him talk of a human-like figure, a man draped in a weathered and faded robe, in a ceaseless pursuit of something or someone. However, the truth concealed within these tavern murmurs was a far more mysterious tale. But more so, they refused to spread the word since the siege.
Some claim to have seen the cloaked vagabond and even met him, but to those who've actually found themselves in his presence, they know he is not someone you simply approach. They quickly realize this bizarre traveling man is not a man at all, nor is he human. With hooves for feet, the lengthy vagrant continues his trek across the land, venturing through unexplored valleys, ancient ruins, and lively towns, all the while passing by near-uncanny statues.
Nobody knows where he hails from or what he seeks, but a few idealistic visionaries have their thoughts, with the most common being he comes from another planet or realm. Some think the more logical answer is a mutated person, animal, or maybe even a cryptid, an undiscovered creature. A few have even claimed the tall phantom to be a beast born of hellfire that has crawled up from the Depths below to claim souls for the devil. Nobody knows, and everyone who has heard of the shrouded specter has their wild speculations on his origins. As for the nomadic traveler, his journey had been dotted with both tranquility and turbulence, yet his course remained deadlocked and his will steadfast.
For the most part, the lone roamer was left alone, with townsfolk giving him a wide berth. This wasn't always the case, however. During one of the first encounters with the stranger, he was approached and heckled by a trio of drunk men, causing trouble outside a tavern near a seaside town. The men taunted and prodded at the figure, even going so far as pushing him, but his balance remained oddly centered. The entire village witnessed this, but nobody did or said anything. Eventually, the three men would lose interest and scurry off into the dark alleyways to likely sleep off their drunken stupor. The following morning, however, the hecklers were nowhere to be found. It took a few days before anyone would locate the three dipsomaniacs, and their discovery was quite macabre. Their bodies were face down in the shallows, with barely two feet of water covering them. The bizarre thing was their pockets were weighted down by gold coins and chunks of bones.
As the tall, thin wanderer approaches a place known to few as Bone Pass, his demeanor changes slightly. His posture relaxes just a bit as an ominous and guttural sigh escapes his lips. The chilling winds wisped through the air, disguising the pleading whispers of forgotten souls. Over the jagged indigo rocks, a grotesque beast emerged. It was unsightly yet large and emitting a stench. Its body was stout, with lethal fangs protruding from its mouth. The hooded visitor stopped and stared as the hellish creature slithered through skeletal remnants, scavenging for scraps like a starving dog.
It was a gluttony spawn, a malformed, gnarly-minded freak of nature with an insatiable love for consuming corpse tissue. With the body akin to an enlarged viper possessing semi-scaled flesh, the foul beast caught the scent of something familiar. It smelled almost like a friend to the monster, but something was different about it. Slowing its reckless squirming, the disgusting thing altered its position when its repulsive tongue caught the wanderer's scent in full. The pheromone of the intruder became apparent; it was not a friend but an imposter. In one instance, the voracious deviation pinpointed the wayfarer. Amidst the suffocating silence, a guttural roar erupted from the archaic mutant, shattering the fragile tranquility like a war hammer to a sundried skull. It echoed through the shadows, dispelling dust and debris from the surrounding pillars of bone and rock like a stench-laced gust of wind.
The gluttony spawn erupted from its perch, abruptly ripping its way through piles of rubble and discarded remains on a direct course for the tall stranger. The nomad remains firm in his position, he prefers he doesn't slaughter the supercharged aggressor. Just before impact, a loud THUD echoed off the surrounding landscape as a short woman smitten the attacker with a compact shield. She was fairly small, not just compared to the tall stranger, but even for an average human. Her skin had numerous dark splotches and appeared to glow with the same tenacity as the moon that hung overhead in the night sky. Not only that, but her one horn appeared to serve as a lantern of blue light. Standing guard and seemingly defending the traveler, she knelt down to brace for impact as the beast lunged at them again, even more viciously than before.
TWHUMP! Another strike with the wooden shield, but as she drew back for a third, the fiend lunged towards her head with its fissure-like mouth. But she was quicker and blocked its sudden strike, forcing it to devour the armament grotesquely. Fortunately for the glowing girl, the buckler momentarily became lodged in the attacker's throat, giving her an opportunity to dispatch the oversized mutant. To her left, she noticed a giant pike clutched by a fallen warrior, and without a second thought, she tore it from his hands with such force that the skeleton's arms shattered into a cloud of bone dust. With one quick motion, she drove the dull blade into the sternum of the infernal being, causing it to writhe in pain. As the monstrous creature desperately tossed and turned to escape, the woman skillfully drove it deeper into its entrails. With a deft touch, she twisted and manipulated the weapon, showcasing a mastery of torture that only someone with intimate knowledge of inflicting immense pain could possess.
After a few excruciating moments, the gluttony-spawn took its last breath, riddled with the gurgling of its oil-like blood. The small girl sighed heavily and put her hair into a ponytail before turning to the tall figure. Of course, that was a bit of a tough fight, so the sweat on her skin glistens.
"Hey, you alright?" she asked, dusting off his cloak, ridding it of its creases.
The traveler didn't say a word.
"My name is Beth. You don't look like you're from around here," she paused and side-eyed him, giving him a moment to respond. A dozen or so seconds passed before she realized all she was getting was a subtle shake of the head. "Hey, no worries, mister, I don't judge. As you just saw, this place is just morbid. You're more than welcome to stay with me, at least for a little while."
Still, after garnering no clear response and waiting around for a few minutes, Beth opted to saddle up and continue her long trek back home, but not before wiping the glowing sweat from her face. Vigilantly perched on the back of her slightly oversized Shire, she pushed on, making her way toward the edge of Bone Pass, towing her weathered covered wagon behind. The carriage was laden with provisions, a treasure trove of essential supplies that seamlessly blended necessities for her quest with cherished items she had discovered and eagerly wished to take back with her. She watched as the figure seemingly faded away into the distance, becoming no more than an inch tall against the far-off horizon.
"Huh, I kinda thought he'd follow," she said to herself with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders.
Nearly a hundred yards from the edge of Bone Pass, she turned to take one more look at the hellish landmark. At first, she saw nothing more than the whimsically shaped rocky outcrops jutting from the barren earth beneath it. The piles of bones almost looked like bleached rocks from a distance; it was damn near pretty, but the truth of what it actually was quickly reminded her of the brutal history Bone Pass holds. Before turning around and hunkering down for the weeklong trip back to her home and bar-café in Crest Town, a fleeting speck off in the distance caught her eye. It was him. He was following her, after all. Not wanting to risk scaring him off by being too forward, she adopted a slightly slower-than-normal pace to make it easier for the enigmatic wanderer to keep up.
With nearly a day burned off, Beth was coming up to Eclipsar Rift, a small but rather captivating location nestled between two expanses of flat land. If you haven't seen it before, you'd think it was a rather astonishing place, almost biblical in description. The hypnotic sound of water flowing below twinkled like the celestial melody one might imagine if stars made a sound. A colossal stone slab and chain link bridge connect the two hunks of earth into which the valley is carved. During the day, a ghastly pale blue fog floats in the valley about halfway down the cliffside, creating an eerie ambiance that conceals the water from onlookers above. While it's not easy to make it down to the Eclipsar River, anyone who does will see the same blue cloud hang overhead, unnaturally mimicking the sky.
Local lore weaves tales of the fog as an omen, and the villagers believe that a foreboding storm is imminent when the water becomes visible from the stone bridge. According to their beliefs, the high winds accompanying a storm front sweep the dense fog out of the valley, unveiling the usually concealed waters. As for the river, some caution against drinking too much, attributing it to the unworldly powers the nearby townsfolk believe it holds. However, Beth had tasted the cool, clear, refreshing drink on a few occasions, experiencing no ill effects. In fact, she incorporated it into a recipe at her café last summer, a concoction that received a lukewarm reception from the villagers in her hometown. Still, she was always game to try something new.
Passing the stone slab bridge, Beth decided it was time to try communicating with the 'lost puppy' follower she had secretly hoped would take her up on her offer and accompany her home. She wasn't sure what it was about him, but something told her their paths were meant to cross. Slowing down and pulling off to the side, Beth was pleasantly surprised when the nomadic figure approached her and came to a stop. He still didn't utter a word, but this was progress, regardless.
"I'm just going to rest for a spell, and then I'm going to continue on to Crest Town," she waited for a reaction, but nothing. "Have you ever been?"
A subtle shake of the head determined he hadn't.
"Hey, no problem! You'll dig it, I'm sure. It's pretty laid back, a few crazy folks, but nothing like Bone Pass, that's for sure." Beth rambled on a little bit, not because it was her personality, but because she was trying everything she could to ease the stranger and help him feel more comfortable about the situation. He didn't show it, but there was a nervous air about him.
Not one to sleep often or long, Beth woke up to the sun a few hours deep in its daylight cycle. Rubbing her eyes, she noticed the towering being was still with her, staring back across the Eclipsar Rift in the direction of Bone Pass. "Do you ever rest?" she asked, not expecting an answer.
And not receiving one.
"Look, I'm going to double down on the pace and see if we can't get home a little quicker. It'd be easier on the both of us if you'd just hop in the wagon for a few clicks; what do ya say?"
Without hesitation, the hooded specter drifted over to the wagon and peeled open the cloth covering the entrance. Holding it up in his bony fingers, he turned to Beth as if looking for reassurance. Half still waking up and half impressed, he did as she asked; she nodded to him with a smile. He responded with one singular nod and effortlessly glided into the back of her covered carriage. It was stacked with a few wooden crates filled with non-perishable food items that were neatly arranged. In the front corners were two barrels of fresh water that jostled gently as they started for the day, making their way down the pebbly path. And the travel arrangements stayed just like that. The weeklong trip was cut a day and a half short thanks to the more grueling pace set by Beth.
Once they finally rolled into her hometown, Beth approached the back of the caravan and took her mysterious companion by the hand, leading him to the outside, where he saw Crest Town for the first time. "So, this is it! What do you think?" she held her hand up like a game host, revealing the grand prize.
With deliberate slowness, he pivoted his entire body, executing a gradual rotation that seemed to go on for minutes as he gazed upon the strange new world. His hidden stare appeared to sweep across the surroundings, absorbing every morsel of detail like a hungry mouse snatching up bread crumbs. As he completed the turn, a relieving sigh escaped from his shroud. There was a subtle easing in the tension that had gripped his posture, a momentary release of the apprehensive energy that seemed to engulf him.
Crest Town revealed an ancient yet charming aesthetic in its architecture. Elegant eaves extended gracefully, reminiscent of the gentle curvature found in traditional old-style roofs. Wooden lattice screens embellished with subtle floral patterns framed the windows, casting delicate shadows on the polished surfaces within. Stone lanterns, standing tall along the winding paths, illuminated the white flowers in the meticulously trimmed Cherry Blossom trees. In the town's central square, a semi-natural water fountain trickled, speckled with lotus flowers, while the gently rippling waters reflected full-bloom flowers dotting its minuscule shore.
Even through the folds of his cloak, the wanderer felt the wind, gentle and cool, brushing against him. If tranquility had a physical touch, this was it.
"Well, listen, don't take this wrong way, but you don't exactly scream 'people person,' so..." she looked him over. "How about this? Let me get you put up at the inn for the night; you can grab a nap, take a warm bath, rest your feet, if you have feet—whatever you want, on me. Sore ga ore ni dekiru semete mo no kotoda."
The drifter stared at her, showing no reaction to her words, but as she took the coin from her satchel to pay the innkeeper, he followed closely behind, doing everything she asked.