4-Rock flies everyone die
Lucas woke in a daze to find himself stuck on the top of a mountain overlooking a small village graced by the moon's beams. "What the…where the hell am I?" Yawned Lucas as he slowly held himself up on his elbows.
He stared quietly at the view in front of him as he slowly looked around. But he saw nothing but vast forest and great mountains forming a makeshift wall over the town. Lucas couldn't help but feel…nostalgic.
Though he was slightly dazed, all of it disappeared as a tranquil voice reached his ears.
"Not now"
Lucas was stunned. The words themselves were not the issue, but the voice behind them was…Divine. Yet familiar. Lucas knew the voice, and he knew it well.
Before he could say or do anything, the voice spoke with finality.
"Return when the inheritance is yours"
And just like that, Lucas woke with not a hint of anything but a foggy dream on his face as Coin stood over him protectively, with Ruby sitting not too far behind.
"Hey, little buddy, how long have I been out?" Said Lucas as another voice answered.
"About twelve whole hours. Which is by no means normal for the average man," answered the blond from the night before. Lucas turned to see them with a bowl of soup in their hand as they ate. He was about to ask if he could have some food before they simply pointed to his side with their spoon, where a bowl sat hot and ready.
"Thanks for the food," said Lucas as he grabbed the bowl and chugged it down. "Gods, you can not believe how nice it is to eat hot food and not live off berries," Said Lucas with much more fervor than before, as if recharged by the meal.
"You're welcome, and may I ask a question?" Asked the blond. "shoot" replied Lucas, "is that a yes?" They asked once more, a bit confused. "Huh?... I mean, yeah, it's a yes," Lucas nodded, as the blond looked at him oddly before asking.
"What are you doing in Stonepine?" They asked as they ate their soup slowly, enjoying every bit of flavor.
"Stonepine? What's that?" Asked Lucas as he stared enviously at the bowl in the blonde's hands.
"The forest? It's called stonepine and you haven't answered my question," Said the blond as they took Lucas's bowl and poured more soup into it. "Eat slowly and blow, it's quite hot."
"Thank you, and honestly? Can't remember a thing. Woke up on the beach with Coin poking me," Said Lucas, mouth half-full as he pointed his spoon to his friend, who was suspiciously not stuffing his face in the soup.
"No recollection of how you ended up here… and Coin? That's the penguin's name? True name, I mean," Asked the blond as they laid down their empty bowl.
"True name? I wouldn't say that. Found him and named him Coin…oh! And before I forget, Ruby is the lazy one over there," replied Lucas as a twig hit him in the back of the head. Looking over his shoulder earned him the glare of Ruby.
"Oh, and on the topic. I'm Lucas," Said Lucas as he shot a glare back at Ruby. "Oz" mumbled Oz as they cleaned up the empty pot. "Just Oz? Whatever floats your boat, I guess," replied Lucas as he helped them pack up their things. Eventually, leaving Oz with a packed bag as Lucas stood there.
"Could I-" Lucas tried to get out a word, only to be interrupted by Oz with a simple "Yes. You may" Lucas quickly thanked Oz as they walked side by side, as the penguin duo followed behind.
One hour later
"Soo…why's the forest called Stonepine?" asked Lucas as he grew tired of the quiet.
"Because if someone passes on here, they turn to stone. The longer they are here, the bigger their stone becomes. Some of those mountains are actually people if town rumors are to be believed," answered Oz as they walked past several stones of different shapes and sizes.
"How does that work? A forest turning people to rocks? Does that mean all the rocks here are people?" Asked Lucas as Oz answered again in their monotone voice. "To answer all your questions in order. First off, people used to be buried here. Then the forest eventually did it on its own.
Second off. No. The forest was simply a forest before it all."
"But...how?" Asked Lucas as the confusion started to stack high.
"Because that's the forest's tale," said Oz as if it were obvious. But Lucas was still at square one. "Explain it to me like someone who has never heard of a tale, " Said Lucas as Oz stopped in their tracks and simply stared at Lucas.
"Huh…you really don't remember a thing, do you? I figured you just didn't wanna talk about it," replied Oz as they stood silent for a minute before answering Lucas's question.
"A tale, in simpler terms. Is the power you get if you pledge a story of yours to the spirits? But some tales can happen naturally, for example, the forest has so many buried that it eventually becomes its own tale that automatically has the dead turn to stone." Lucas followed along as Oz continued, "Any more questions?" Asked Oz as Lucas thought for a moment before nodding.
"What's the spirits?" asked Luca as Oz appeared silent before opening their mouth. "Don't tell anyone what I've told you besides, it's just a personal theory, but I believe it's a parasite that injects its fangs into you via these tales that it hands out," said Oz as quietly as they could, as if a single whisper would rat them out to the world.
"Sounds like you're a mad alchemist with a grudge," Said Lucas with a hint of tease in his voice as Oz shook their head. "No, I'm perfectly sane, plus I...I don't blame a parasite for being a parasite; in fact, I thank the spirits for being one. My distrust of it actually put me on my path of alchemy, so if nothing else, I'm thankful," said Oz as Lucas became a bit more convinced that Oz was mad.
"I don't think you tell all of that to someone you've just met. Doing a very poor job of convincing me otherwise, mad alchemist…heh has a nice ring to it," replied Lucas as Oz's face seemed to pale a little more than usual.
"I…I have no rebuttal. You're just very charismatic, I suppose," Said Oz as a not-so-small hint of embarrassment took hold in their voice. Lucas chuckled as he looked back at Coin snacking on some berries Oz had given him while Ruby stood near. Watching over Coin like his own personal shadow.
"Maybe you're just by yourself for a bit too long," Said Lucas as they passed by a particularly large rock. "How old would that rock be?" Asked Lucas as Oz stared at him, "How would I even know that?" Replied Oz
As Lucas thought something through, "Huh, good point, how do you calculate how old rocks are?" Ask Lucas, as he kept trying to figure out at least something.
"Normally, I would be opposed to wasting time on something this odd, but considering we have time to waste, I will help you on this one," Said Oz as they both came up with ways to measure it.
Oz went first to explain their theory on the rocks. "Let's say the rock starts off the size of the body, and it grows each year. By let's say 5 inches give or take, then that means they would measure yearly, so let's say that boulder over there," explained Oz.
As they pointed towards a singular boulder, which looked majestic with the sunlight beaming down on it as leaves fell in circles around the rock, not that any of them besides Coin cared. "It looks to be about 250 inches of rock, which means it should be at least 50 years old," said Oz as they finished their explanation.
"My turn?" Asked Lucas as Oz nodded.
"So the rocks, instead of being bound by your math, are instead given a size to grow, dependent on the person. Let's say if a legendary warrior was buried here, their rock would start small. Eventually growing and turning into the tall spikes of earth that pop out," Said Lucas as he continued while the group passed a rather large spike of earth
"So instead of measuring by age, we measure by the greatness of the person," finished Lucas, but not before adding another point. "Plus, it makes more sense with the story thingy you said earlier."
Oz nodded once more as they looked deep in thought. Lucas took the opportunity to slow down his pace and walk by Coin and Ruby. "Hey, little buddy, so what do we think of the new add-on?" Asked Lucas
As Coin nodded, which Lucas took as coin being paid off if the new colour of berry on the bird's beak was anything to go off, while Ruby gave her best impression of an ehh. By flapping her flipper in a wiggle-ly manner. "So we like 'em then," Said Lucas.
The group then spent the better part of 5 hours continuing their conversation on how rocks grow, which was surprisingly insightful for both sides, mainly consisting of Lucas and Oz going back and forth while Coins butted in now and then before Lucas finally got back to a question not about rocks.
"Where are we going?" Asked Lucas as Oz stopped walking for a second. "Has that seriously slipped my mind?" Oz replied, only for Lucas to give a nod, holding back a chuckle that eventually got out. Causing the tiniest bit of embarrassment to cross Oz's pale face.
"For Father's sake Oz, slow on the uptake twice in a single week isn't optimal" muttered Oz before they keep on walking while they answered, "We are going to the town of Boulders edge, and before you ask it is named that because it's at the edge of the forest, for the record the forest was named first" explained Oz as the night has finally started to catch up to them.
At the notice of night, Oz immediately went into their bag and pulled out three cubes each the size of Lucas's palm. They looked like plane cubes.
But Lucas had been wrong before, but would he really be wrong about assuming a cube was a cube? Hopefully not. "Why do you have cubes?" Asked Lucas while Oz said "these ain't cubes," So he could be wrong about a cube. Great to know.
Oz dropped them to the floor as glyphs along the faces of the cube glowed a bright orange before unfolding to reveal a make fireplace, along with another cube that unfolded into a set of ingredients, with Vials appearing alongside them. The final cube opened to reveal a set of sleeping bags.
"Huh, pretty neat," Said Lucas as he sat down and looked over at Oz, who was preparing their little alchemy station. "Got anything like a camera in your bag?" Asked Lucas as Oz swept their hand into the bag before nodding their head no but promising to get him something similar.
"Thanks" Said Lucas as he sat and looked around the campsite.
Everyone has found their spots with Coin and Ruby in one spot to the west of the fire while Oz sat east with their alchemy set putting in various colourful flowers and what looked like thyme and marygold? Odd.
But despite all the energy the group had, Lucas was beat, so he would knock a bit earlier than he liked but he couldn't help it. With a yawn he laid on his back and closed his eyes.
Wishing for starry nights and vibrant skies.