Sachi and his newly formed party began to move westward; the opposite direction from where he found the desert. They hiked through the forest, through bushes and trees with all sorts of unfamiliar insects.
"Hey, Serendelle. You don't suppose you could make me some shoes, could you? Like how Zephyr made this sword."
The bird on his shoulder shook its feathers. "Most of my power is being used to keep your system running, I am not able to make you any item at the moment…"
Sachi sighed. Now was a better time than any to see how useful his new companion could be.
"Dion, do you happen to have any shoes in that storage realm of yours?"
Dion smile lit up. "Sure do, let's see what we have here…" he reached his hand through the air, once again reopening the portal. "Ah! Here you go!"
He pulled his hand back out, to reveal two hulking metal plated shoes - the kind you'd see true medieval knights wearing.
'Absolutely not. That would make my situation worse'
"Do you have anything more… light weight?"
Dion scratched his chin. "Hmm… let me see what the big guys got."
He reached back into the portal, fumbling around for a moment before pulling out a pair of sandals - the bottoms enhanced with metal.
[Metal Sandals]
[Uncommon Boots]
[+5 VIT]
'Better than nothing, thankfully.'
[Equipped: Metal Sandals]
Dion rested his hands behind his head. "So where are we going again?"
"According to Zephyr, there's a town farther out this way." Sachi replied. "One with less Eternal Flame influence."
Sachi had asked Serendelle if that was true as they walked, but she had apparently never had a Champion get farther than the starting area.
Through the forest, the area began to change. Almost as if an invisible line had been drawn across the ground determining which area was which. The terrain became more open, and more humid.
As Sachi stepped beyond the vegetation he felt a strange surge through his body, as if a wave of magic coursed through him. He wasn't the only one who felt it.
"Ugh… what is this?"Lyra looked like she was going to hurl.
Moments after her comment, her falcon companion landed on the ridiculous metal helmet Dion now wore.
"This is a 'Zone Shift'. We now leave the Eternal Flame's territory, and begin to enter another. This is the neutral middle ground between them."
"Another God's territory?"
"Precisely. We now head for the Tidecaller's territory."
Sachi felt conflicted. "Is it even a good idea to enter another God's land? We've already riled up the Eternal Flame, shouldn't we just finish the job there so we can get out of here?"
Zephyr let out a laugh. "If only it was that easy. We head for the Tidecaller's land because we've ruffled his feathers. I've heard rumors that those two have a messy history."
Dion tried to look up at the falcon on his head, but wasn't very successful. "You seem to know a lot, Zeph. Was your last Champion super strong?"
Zephyr laughed again. He had never had a Champion give him a nickname before. "No, quite the opposite actually. He was more interested in learning more about this realm than he was trying to dominate it. He worked for the Eternal Flame for a while, before stumbling across something he shouldn't have seen."
Dion smiled ear to ear. "And that would be?"
"Why, I just told you of course. Their messy history. When the Tidecaller found out he knew, she sent her own assassins after him. Poor Nicholas could hardly defend himself…"
"Oh geez, sorry to pry, Zeph."
Sachi had something else on his mind.
"So your former Champion was killed because the Tidecaller doesn't want her history known? So how would that help us?"
"Well, I think the Tidecaller would be very pleased to know you slew an Eternal Flame's captain. I'm sure you've noticed that many Champion's you've fought so far have been fairly weak, and that's because they funnel all their prey to their higher ups first."
"Like the prison?"
Zephyr's falcon head nodded. "Most Minor Champions have resorted to picking a Major god and trying to climb their ranks to get stronger, very few are as foolhardy as yourself, Mr. Sachihiro. Those strong kinds are few and far between, losing any capable champion is a devastating blow to an army. And lucky for you, I took the badge tucked away in the captains outfit before he disappeared."
Sachi put his hand to his chin. 'If we can get her on our side…'
"Alright then, let's pay this Tidecaller a visit."
The air inside this new zone was devastatingly humid. They had walked for what felt like hours as they trudged through a barren land. The only sight worth seeing along the way was a lake with several fishermen sat atop their boats.
The group dragged themselves along as the humidity felt like it'd kill them sooner than any Champion.
Lyra looked the worst of the three. "How much longer, Zepyhr..?"
"We should be arriving any moment now… I must admit, this area is much larger than I remember."
Finally, the next area came into view. A clouded and rainy land with a light fog preventing much of their view.
Sachi stepped over the line, once again feeling the strange pulsating feeling flow through him.
This time, Lyra did puke. The combination of the strange feeling and the torment of the humidity must have been too much for her.
Something felt off in this new area. The rain pouring down drenched all of them - including the birds - and had a strange scent attached to it.
Zephyr felt similar. "That's strange… it wasn't raining like this when I were here last."
Sachi felt something, a movement in his Foresight. The ability only triggered when someone had hostile intent, whether to him or someone else. Much like when he noticed Lyra in the cave, they didn't need to be hostile towards him, or even his group.
[A party member has fallen unconscious!]
'Lyra…!'
Lyra slumped to the moistened ground, the harsh conditions proved to be too much for her.
To make the situation even worse, he could feel the hostile presence surrounding them, just beyond the fog.
They weren't alone, and whatever was out there didn't like that they were here.