Star Eater

Chapter 576: Chapter 576

Arthur's Point of View

Vithari Coast

"Oh, god..." I said as soon as I stepped out of the portal into the familiar port town. "Why is it so hot?"

Lucia immediately turned to me with a raised brow. "I thought the hot and cold didn't affect you?"

"It doesn't. Sometimes it just feels nice to complain."

Vome snorted at that. "You do that all the time from what I've seen."

"Meh."

Looking around Lucia spoke softly. "So, this is Vithari? It looks a lot like Lestrania."

"That's because we're on the coast. All coasts look the same for the most part. At least the cities and towns do. Ports are vital and having them similar to each other makes it easier for them to navigate." Vome explained. "Not in the layout, but in terms of standards and regulations."

"There are the exceptions of course, but most follow the same guidelines as everywhere else." I added with a shrug. "Why make things more difficult for sailors? Are you all unionized?"

"Unionized?" Camoa repeated. "What's that?"

"So, no. Never mind."

Rock started to bob up and down as we were quickly becoming quite the spectacle. "It seems these people recognize you." Lucia pointed out as she looked around.

"That," Vome began as he looked at the living Golem, "Or Rock has taken their breath away."

"Love that song."

The dwarf looked at me. "What?"

"Nothing. So, where are we going? Do we need to ask around or should we just head to the Northern Forest?" I asked.

"Let me ask around a bit. See if I can get us a heading. Someone has to know something." Vome suggested as he pointed off in one direction. "There should be a station with information just a little ways down the water." He then looked at me. "Think you can stay still for a few minutes? I don't want to get left behind."

Lucia giggled. "Laugh it up, Chuckles." I told her. "We'll be here."

"You sure?"

"Go!" The dwarf moseyed off a moment later. "I'm never going to live that down."

"To be fair, you had your reasons." Camoa tried to comfort me. "Besides, it could always be worse?"

"True. We could run into another High Elf. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Lucia looked at me. "Do you think that might happen?" She sounded a little concerned.

I snorted at that. "Considering every time I've been here I've run into one, I'm not going to rule it out."

Camoa's brow raised at that. "Haven't you only been to Vithari once?"

"Exactly."

The Druid rolled her eyes in that condescending way tree people do. "I hardly think that should count."

"Always hope for the best but expect the worst. If you plan for the worst, you can't be disappointed when you're right."

"You have a disturbing thought process."

My lovely, hormonal, daughter cut in. "I thought we all knew that already."

"And already I'm missing the snarky dwarf. Stick with me, Rock. Us men need to stick together." I commented getting an unimpressed look from both women. "Or, you know, golem, men... Things..."

"Such a way with words." Lucia said. "What happened the last time you were here? Do you think anyone remembers you?" She asked after a moment and tried to change the subject.

"Well, I cut my wrists due to being poisoned with Demon Stone." Gesturing over to one of the piers, I continued. "Had to do it away from everyone because Elincia freaked out once she saw it, so I did it at the end of the pier." A conflicted look probably came to my face as I thought about my actions. "Looking back, draining my blood into the water probably wasn't the best idea." I then turned to Camoa with a brow raised. "You don't have sharks here, do you?"

"What's a shark?"

"Big fish with big razor-sharp teeth that's attracted to blood. Sometimes eats people."

"Do you mean a slant?" Camoa asked back.

"..." Slowly, I turned to Rock who just looked back at me. "A slant?" I repeated.

"Yeah. We have all kinds of slants. Gills, dorsal fins, and all that?" Lucia said.

"You call them slants? That's a stupid name."

Camoa scoffed. "And what? Shark is better?"

Throwing my hands into the air, I replied. "Better than slants!"

The women rolled their eyes again. "You're being ridiculous."

"Me?" Both hands went to my chest. "You want to what a slant is?" I held my arm up at a slant. "You see this? My arm is slanted." Using my free hand, I pointed at it. "This is a slant."

"That's an angle." Camoa said.

"An ang-" I had to stop myself. "How do you people have the same names for so much other shit, but you call sharks fu-" Catching myself as I looked at Lucia, I corrected my language, "freaking slants!?" Holding up my hands, a breath left my lips in a sigh. "It doesn't matter. As for your other question, no, Lucia. I don't think anyone will remember me. Not like I did a whole lot here before leaving."

As if on que, their group heard someone shout, "That's the hero of Vithari and the guy sleeping with Priestess Elincia of Lestrania!"

My face slowly sunk into my hands. "No one remembers you, huh?" Camoa's comment was completely unnecessary.

"It's Arthur!" Another shouted. "I remember because he was a party animal and the Priestess kept screaming his name! We couldn't sleep because they kept everyone awake!"

"Rock," I called causing the giant golem to look at me, "Do you think you could hit me hard enough to either turn me to past, or at the very least, make me forget this ever happened?"

Shaking his head, Lucia spoke for him. "Looks like that's a no. I'm certainly glad I wasn't here for that."

"Oh, you're one to talk." I shot back. "Didn't you practically hump Alwin into submission before almost killing him while he was on his deathbed?" A blush came to her cheeks. "That's what I thought. I was drunk, poisoned, and low on blood. What's your excuse?"

"Clearly," Camoa, for some reason, decided she needed to join this horrible conversation, "You had enough blood for certain activities, so you couldn't've been that low."

"I hate my life." I said as I closed my eyes.

The shouts were getting closer as a crowd was starting to form. "He is a god! Look! Lord Pendragon has a golem! It's a sign."

"The fuck is a slant fish?" My small companion looked utterly confused.

Turning to both Lucia and Camoa, I saw the two of them smirking. "I hate both of you." Both girls burst out laughing as I groaned. "This, Vome," Gesturing to the two got him to raise a brow, "This is what I deal with."

"It's your own damn fault for letting these women run all over you. Don't get mad at me because you can't keep them under control."

Lucia, whose magic quickly activated as she snatched the dwarf to move him in front of her, glared at him. "Excuse me!?"

A smile came to my face. "Way to get them under control, Vome."

"Oh, shut up! Lass, you know I didn't mean it. Just some advice from one old man to another." Vome tried.

"You call that advice?" Lucia asked back in an agitated tone.

"What's the saying, happy wife, happy life?" Vome offered. "Not that you're married or anything..."

"I prefer the saying, happy spouse, happy house." I cut in. "The other one usually ends in disaster."

All of them turned to me. "I think we've gotten off topic." Camoa tried to turn our attention back to the forest. "Do you see any checkpoints, Arthur?"

Lucia scoffed as she let the dwarf go. He was still under my control, so he went back to floating. "Uh, what are they supposed to look like?" I asked Vome.

The dwarf shrugged. "How should I know?"

My lovely daughter crossed her arms. "Because you were the one who got our information." She replied.

"Oh. Right..."

"You have no idea, do you?"

"None."

A sigh left my lips. "Camoa, what about you? Do we look for a gate of some sort, a flower as a marker, or some kind of illusion-based magic?"

The druid was not as helpful as I would've liked. "I don't see any magic, and I certainly don't know anything about these new checkpoints of theirs."

"What about old checkpoints?" I pressed.

"There were none. Druids could come and go as they pleased. The forest had the natural protection of our magic. I was honestly surprised to hear the Demons were able to infiltrate it so easily." Camoa answered before shrugging.

"So, what are our options then?" Lucia asked.

"We could always go back to where we saw those merchants." Vome offered. "They were heading in this direction. Maybe we could help one of them along their way." Moving down toward the forest got them all to pause. "I take it you have an idea."

I nodded. "Between Rock and I, we should be able to figure out where we need to go. Unless you think we can see it from above? Not like I can't fly us around for a few hours to find this place."

Both Vome and Camoa exchanged a look before shaking their heads. "Before, it would've been unlikely. While sunlight does come through the trees, our home was masked by the forest and it's magic as I've said before. Your eyes might be able to find it, but you've always had difficulty finding me, haven't you?" Camoa pointed out.

My tongue clicked at that. She had a point after all. "There's no telling how the new capital is set up either. With dwarves and druids working together, it could be well locked away, and those checkpoints could be the only way in."

Resting my hands on my hips, I looked them over as we landed. "But do you really think they've had enough time to set all that up?"

Lucia answered that. "After both of their capitals being decimated by the Demons, with both races close to extinction, I think it's safe to say they might've made that a priority."

"That makes sense." One of my fingers came up to pinch the bridge of my nose as I considered the options. "Well, they are allies, and I'd like to see if I could find the place on our own first."

"Uh," Vome looked around for a moment before he continued in a confused tone, "Why?"

"If the new capital can avoid detection from Arthur," Lucia began as her eyes widened slightly, "Then it has a higher chance of avoiding detection from any demons."

"But what about any that try to sneak in as merchants?" Vome inquired. "We had a dwarf that was a demon all along and none of us knew!"

"Ghouls are foul creatures that even the Hollow Forest can sense. The air becomes stale, and if I can detect when Arthur, or one of these ghouls enters my forest, I'm sure the druids here will have some defenses in place." Camoa stated.

"Good enough for me! Who wants to go hiking?" I asked the group.

Rock, in response, turned into a ball and started tumbling through the forest. "Well, I may not be as excited as him, but I'm up for it." Lucia answered. "It could be fun."

"Can't we just go back to flyin?" Vome questioned as he spread his arms. "The wind in my beard... It was quite the experience."

A chuckle escaped my lips at that. "I'm sure you'll survive." He grumbled as he started to step over some roots. "Tell you what," I clapped my hand on his back, "I'll find some time for us to go flying again. Maybe on the way back or something."

Vome cackled madly as he ran through a bush. "A dwarf works better with a reward waiting for him at the end of his ordeal! For a smith, it's the end result of a magnificent weapon or new equipment! Me? I'll feel the wind in this dusty old beard if I have to jump off a cliff!"

"Someone's excited." Lucia said with a chuckle before following him.

My eyes glanced toward Camoa. "Anything?"

Her hand was on a nearby tree as her eyes were shut in focus. "Nothing. They're all silent."

The druid glanced at me as she stepped back. "The silent treatment, eh?" She rolled her eyes. "How's it feel?"

"Like it has for the last several decades. You ever get the cold shoulder for that long?"

"I mean, I don't want to brag, but..."

Breeze's Point of View

Volcanic Curtain

Father had given me a mission. The Dragonlands behind the Volcanic Curtain... Dragons were hidden away from the world, and none had been spotted in centuries. Well, not in mass like they had to visit Lestrania when father returned. Arthur Pendragon had a way of bringing out the most ridiculous characters from all walks of life. Now, I had to make contact with Pyrite.

However, upon entering the volcanic field, I found nothing except what you would expect. Flying around through smoke, sulfur, and steam, I tried to look for any dragons. Yet, despite looking for days, I'd found nothing. It wasn't like I expected them to be lounging around in lava or magma, but there hadn't been a single sign of them.

With a barrier of wind around me to cycle the air, it made me stick out like a sore thumb. Someone should've seen me by now, but that was another thing that was concerning. Ever since I entered this place, something had been watching me. Leaving, and reentering the Dragonlands took time, but it wasn't exactly safe for me to sleep here. It was just... Every time I left, the feeling would go away, yet, whenever I returned, that feeling came back every time.

"Hello!?" I called out again. Not that anyone had ever answered. "I'm here to speak with the Dragon Representative, Pyrite!"

"..." Only silence ever greeted me.

However, something did catch my attention. A bubbling from down below among the liquid hot magma. Not unusual given where I was, but it was the amount that gave me hope. It looked like a massive creature was moving around as parts of cooled molten rock began to reignite right before my eyes.

Lowering slightly as I watched, waited, and hoped, a massive claw soon climbed from a pool of the formed molten liquid. Finally, a dragon I could ask for some manner of help or aid. Then again, it was a dragon, which meant it could also try to eat me. Keeping my distance, I increased my barrier in strength as a glob of the melted rock up at me.

Darting to the side, I huffed in annoyance at the obvious attack. "Of course." Part of me had hoped it would be as simple as asking for directions. "I'm not here to hurt anyone or cause any harm. My father, Arthur Pendragon, sent me!"

My annoyance grew as the claw resubmerged into the magma pool below. A huff left my lips as I lowered slightly to see if I could 'persuade' the dragon into leaving. Whether that be by attacking me again or by actual conversation. I didn't hope for either.

Unfortunately, things quickly escalated as the pool of molten rock below exploded! Chunks of the liquid fire were sent flying. I dodged in and out of the sudden fire rain, but was horrified as I glanced back to see some manner of creature jumping up at me. Flying up into the sky, my barrier expanded as it slammed into the strange creature, sending it back down to the magma pools below. It bellowed in pain as it thrashed around angrily.

"I'm starting to think I should just leave."

This was no dragon. If I had to guess, a demon was the most likely. There were no known creatures made out of lava that I knew of, and yet, here one was. A literal blob of molten rock that glowed menacingly. A face would form every now and then, just like how claws would form to climb around faster or throw things at him, but now it just looked like another pool of magma again.

A sigh left my lips. "Why do I have to deal with the lava monster?" I asked no one in particular. "Or is it a lava demon...?" Maybe this creature was why I couldn't find any dragons.

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