Chaos was a whole separate thing from the rankings and interworkings of Vie. While neither Alice nor Caelum knew much about it or its origins, they noted a few things. The first thing was that humans were fairly immune to its effects. Another was that anything that fell to Chaos would inevitably show aggression toward that which had order. Lastly, Chaos' influence was curbed by the 9 Gods.
It was a mysterious concept that must hold some great power, but what could be more powerful than Gods?
Staring at the edge of the Island, Zero judged the distance to the next island, and it was woefully too far away. Then, when he looked towards the sun, it was much too low.
"Looks like we're calling it a day? Shouldn't be too hard to find shelter for tonight." Alice spoke.
"Shouldn't be, are we just going to walk right until we see something?"
Far down the right edge of the island, a rather large jut of stone extended from the island. If it were surrounded by water, it might even be considered a peninsula.
Although it looked somewhat close, it was merely an illusion due to how grand it was. It would take them a good few hours to reach it, and by that time it would long be night. So crossing islands for today was out of the question.
"Sounds good to me, but maybe let's not be that close to the edge while we walk."
Zero looked down once more at the endless void, then followed Alice and Caelum, who had already begun to walk.
They were not having much luck with finding a place comparable to yesterday's cave, but perhaps they were just being picky. They had plenty of extra time anyway and were already heading in the right direction. Anytime they passed a suitable ledge, Alice would mark it on her map.
When the sky was just starting to turn a bright hue of orange, they found their spot. This one was more grand than yesterday, and had ample room. As they did not have to huddle near each other for warmth, since the storm had passed, the cave made the perfect spot for the night.
"It smells really damp. I hope it's not too wet from the storm," Zero said as he placed their water source by a cave wall. Then he summoned Valiant Blade and focused on making the crystal glow.
"I'm going to check deeper and make sure there aren't any snakes."
Alice stopped him for a moment, then struggled to pull her poison snake tooth from the leaves she used to cover it during travels.
"If you're checking for anything lurking, we should all go, no? Unless you want to die when they jump you, and then drag you into their layer."
Zero thought back for a moment to the creature that almost pulled him into the lake, then candidly agreed.
"I'll still go first, if there's a snake, I can react first."
"I know you've backed it up until now, but aren't you getting a bit too cocky?" Alice said, waving her hand dismissively.
"No, no, you're talking to the undefeated cham…"
Suddenly, Zero held his hand out, blocking the two behind him from going any farther.
"What is it, Ze…"
Zero whipped his head back and raised his finger to his lips, prompting silence. Slowly, he lowered his finger from his mouth and pointed forward, down a bend in the cave. After seeing no visible reaction from Caelum or Alice, he slightly shifted his blade so the crimson hue touched upon where he pointed.
Alice stared for a moment before her eyes widened, while Caelum's eyebrows narrowed.
Sitting before them, three round lumps mostly blended in with the surrounding rocks. The only thing distinguishing them from the rock around them was orange streaks plastered around their bodies and a tail that tapered down to a snake's length.
Before them were three sleeping dragons. Nascent Drakes to be specific. These ones had larger amounts of orange plastered on them than the last one Zero killed. Additionally, they were substantially larger. Not quite twice as big, but well on the way.
A crazy thought entered Zero's head.
'We could all get matching drake heads.'
Zero quickly brushed that thought out of his head and was about to slowly creep backwards, when the tail of the largest drake rose into the air, then fell onto its sibling's head. The hit drake snorted. A moment later, its nose twitched again, and again.
It smelled something–it smelled them.
It would wake up soon, and they would be forced to run… unless they chose not to run. Zero had a split second to make a decision, but he did not need it. Every conflict he had faced before, he had killed to survive, and this time would be no different.
Zero lunged forward, while Valiant Blade exploded with brilliant light.
From the moment he spotted danger, the skill Optic Sight had been activated, so he knew every vital point available for his first attack.
The thick blade fell onto the neck of the largest drake and sank deep into the dragon's flesh. Before the beast could react, Zero twisted his blade so the point faced inward, then pushed down.
{Enlightened Nascent Drake slain}
{Remembrance…}
Zero's instincts screamed out, and he braced at the last moment before being thrown into the cave wall. He felt his instincts flare up once more, but all he could do was throw his hands up to protect his face.
A second impact from a drake never came, but he was pushed over onto his other side by a sudden gust of wind. When his vision gained clarity once more, he saw the head of a drake get slammed into the ground by Caelum's staff.
Caelum must have shouted something, but Zero was in no condition to decipher it.
Having a dragon's head slam into the ground next to him shocked Zero back into focus, and he rolled onto his feet. A sharp pang of pain burst from his shoulder causing him to stumble to the side and away from the action.
Valiant Blade was still lodged into the largest drake's neck, but now the third drake was awake, making retrieving it impossible.