"My name's Dante," he said casually, flicking snake guts off his boots. "I wandered into this forest by accident. Any villages or towns nearby I could crash for the night?"
Bluenose blinked, as if still trying to decide whether Dante was a hallucination or an anomaly.
"You . . . you're not gonna eat me? Or skin me alive?"
Dante let out a short laugh, but something about the way it echoed through the jungle made it sound a little too . . . creepy.
"No," he said with a shrug. "Unless I don't find a village soon and end up starving . . . then I just might."
Bluenose's entire body jolted like he'd been struck by lightning. "D-don't eat me! I know a village! A good one! Humans go there sometimes! Peaceful, very peaceful! Please don't eat me!"
Dante raised an eyebrow, amused. "Relax. I'm just messing with you. Mostly."
Then he leaned forward, smiling—but not the comforting kind. It was the kind of smile that said I have used femur bones as stirring sticks.
"Alright then. Lead the way," he said smoothly. "And don't try anything funny. Unless you want to end up as crafting materials. I'm sure your ears would make excellent potion filters."
Bluenose whimpered, nearly tripping over a root as he turned around.
Why does he smell like blood and lavender?
Why does he look like a god but act like a butcher?
WHY is he smiling like that?!
He sniffled quietly and waddled forward through the jungle, muttering prayers to the forest spirits under his breath.
Behind him, Dante followed, unbothered, hands tucked behind his head as if they were just out for a casual evening stroll—completely ignoring the fact that he still had viper blood on his sleeve.
"For some reason," Bluenose thought, casting a glance back, "this guy is way scarier than those snakes."
"By the way," Dante said casually, his voice slicing through the quiet like a flicking blade.
Bluenose jumped. "Y-yes?"
"What's your name?"
"B-Bluenose."
Dante blinked. He glanced at the little creature again, and yeah—that name made perfect sense. The little guy had a massive blue nose, glossy wrinkled skin, and bright watery eyes.
Still, Dante kept his thoughts to himself. He wasn't the trusting type—not with strangers, not with allies, and especially not in a place he didn't know.
But sometimes, survival meant knowing when to play nice. Bluenose was local. That made him useful.
And if things went south?
Dante's hand brushed the edge of his coat where a dimensional pouch sat strapped beneath—filled with enough escape scrolls, flash bombs, and emergency stat boosters to survive a demon ambush. He wasn't some level-one newbie without backup.
"Nice to meet you, Bluenose," Dante said with a small nod. "Do you know where we are exactly? I'm new to this forest."
Bluenose perked up, though still wary. "Ah! Y-you're in Animalara. It's part of the Fey Continent."
"Animalara?" Dante raised an eyebrow.
Bluenose nodded enthusiastically, then paused as if checking whether Dante would bite his head off for talking too long. "That's right. Animalara is one of the remaining safe places here. For humans at least."
Dante's gaze sharpened. "Wait—remaining safe places? You make it sound like the rest of the continent's gone to hell."
Bluenose's ears twitched nervously, and his little hands fidgeted with the end of his tunic. "W-well, not hell, exactly. But ever since Nagi the Wretched Wyrm took residence in the Applewood Forest, a lot of towns and villages got . . . um . . . eaten. Or burned. Or cursed. The malevolence of Nagi touches this region. This dark corruption spreads from the influence of its dark aura, or from the overflowing ichor and dark energy spilling out from it."
He said it like it was just bad weather.
Dante stared. "Charming."
Bluenose continued with a whisper, as if the wyrm might hear him. "So now, there are only a handful of safe spots left. Aside from Animalara, there's The Low—a wandering town that shifts locations daily, Fearryn, the fortress-village in the northern cliffs, Lunafloren Citadel, where the moon elves rule, Purpleleaf, deep in the enchanted glades where we would go, and . . . uh . . . the secret Oni village, but I probably shouldn't talk about that one."
Dante wasn't taking physical notes, but his internal library was updating. A soft mental ding echoed as locations marked themselves on his map.
"Got it," he said with a nod. "Animalara. Safe zone. Wyrm-infested forest. Sketchy traveling towns. A bunch of mysterious names."
Bluenose offered a nervous chuckle. "Y-yeah! But don't worry. I know the safest roads. And I've only been bitten by forest vipers three times this week!"
". . . Good for you."
Bluenose beamed with a thumbs up. "I got better!"
"So this Nagi . . . you said it's a wyrm? That means it's a dragon, right?"
Bluenose nodded gravely. "That's right. A cursed one at that. Its power grew monstrous over the years, and it turned the entire Applewood Forest into a corrupted wasteland. The trees shriveled, the flowers died, the rivers ran thick with poison—and the air itself is tainted with miasma. It wasn't always like that . . ."
Dante's brow furrowed. "Let me guess. Applewood used to be a paradise?"
Bluenose sighed. "Exactly! It was the crown jewel of this region. Vibrant meadows, golden trees, fruits that healed wounds and lifted curses . . . But all that changed after the Appletree Dragon, Sagara, fell into one of its long slumbers."