Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Aw, again just rations?" Wedan asked bummed. Lynri mourned along with him.

Seth returned to his fellowship who weren't too happy about the decision either. He didn't know why they suffered so much. He really liked the jerky and bread. He had even shared his last snacks with them.

"A traveler can't always choose what they eat. You should be happy you are being fed at all." Duhu scolded the two. As a dimensional traveler, he knew the meaning of starvation.

~ You should have just eaten your fill for the next weeks early on like I did. Then you wouldn't have to eat at all now! ~

"That's isn't how people work, Puff..." Seth reminded the Ivicer.

~ Sorry, I keep forgetting the burden of inferior races. ~

"Hey! Not cool." Lynri exclaimed offended.

"No, no. Let him talk. He has a point." Wedan stopped her.

For a dwarf, he had a very sensitive side. Not every dwarf would have seen the problem in picking a fight with an over 15m long giant flying centipede, that ate angels and acted as their mount. A very comfortable one at that.

~ See, the dwarf sees my greatness. ~

"Yeah, yeah..." Seth tried to end the topic. He would have liked to change it, but he didn't really know what to change it to.

"By the way, are you sure refraining from making a light will keep us safe?" Duhu asked.

The tiger man had natural night vision and had kept an eye on the situation in the forest. Like others, he didn't see any dangers out there. It was just a big endless forest of dim twilight. The only rare movement he saw was a griffin moving in the distance.

Seth also constantly kept an eye on their surroundings. With the Eye of Argus, he could see a lot further and clearer than anyone in the caravan. The problem was that he too saw nothing. No creatures, no dangers. Just an empty forest.

"The absence of any visible danger is what upsets me so much. Especially if there was no danger, there should be other animals around. A danger we can't perceive or detect. For now, nothing happened, so why provoke something by changing something?"

Somewhere to the east was the flooded Deltan, nobody could tell him there shouldn't at least be mosquitos in this place. And if there were insects, there should be bats too, right?

He made sure to stay vigilant along the journey even when nothing had happened yet. An inner turmoil he didn't really understand hindered him to relax at all. Maybe this forest had a greater impact on him than he wanted to admit.

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The murmurs and grumbling of the caravan were not small when the decision was announced that they would continue their journey in darkness. The discontent only grew with time and the conversation kept spiraling around the topic.

"They can't be serious. Don't they feel the cold? Just what is their problem?"

"Yeah, it's been days since we the last time something happened."

"Right? It's not like we are being followed or something."

"Even the beasts see nothing in the forest. They worry too much!"

"They let us freeze and hunger for no reason."

"I have a friend among the scouts. He told me they found no sign of life for miles."

A bunch of warriors was running off their mouths. They had found a silent corner in the camp where they leaned against a cart and drunk alcohol they snuck out. It wasn't like they had anything else to do. The day was night and the night was dark and empty.

The men were freezing and bored. The only danger they saw was the cold and their only enemy were the people that denied them a warm fire and cooked food. Drinking was their way to warm themself and complaining their battle, as they lacked the balls to openly confront anyone.

"I say fuck it! Let's just make a fire!" one of them exclaimed. He jumped up to enthusiastically pitch his idea to his friends. With a slight slur, he kept rambling.

"Let's make a campfire! Let's prove these pricks wrong."

"Hey, Tey! Calm down a little, okay? What if they are right?"

"Yeah... I don't want to take responsibility for jeopardizing the situation."

"Bah! Come on, Guys! I will show you."

Before any of his intoxicated friends could react, Tey had grabbed a torch and ran away from the caravan. All of them wore the bone talismans that granted them <Night Vision>. They tried to stand up and follow but the sudden movement made them sink back down with a groan.

They had made some distance to the caravan. Although he was sure nothing would happen there was still some reason left in the back of his mind. It was the tiny voice of doubt that told him "But what if..."

Now that he stood alone in the forest his drunk bravery dwindled slightly. Only for a moment though. If he could prove that lighting a fire had no effect, he would be a hero! He would be the man who brought warmth and cooked food back to the people.

He shook his head and solidified his resolve. With a short spell, he ignited the torch and held it high above his head for his compatriots to see.

His drunk friends were not the only ones at the caravan that saw the sudden light in the distance. Many eyes paid attention to the small flame and... nothing happened.

They stood there, in the middle of the forest, illuminated by his torch, for almost 30 minutes and nothing happened. With a triumphant smile, he strutted back to the caravan.

Seth could only shake his head. It had barely been a day since they decided not to use campfires and people started going off doing stupid things on their own.

This torch was the spark that ignited the flames of rebellion. If you wanted to call it like that when the people hesitatingly started to ignore the orders and made campfires all over the campsite.

At first, there were only a few small fires where people wanted to warm themself. And they were right. Nothing happened! With time their confidence grew and even the official chefs started igniting fire and cooking for the people.

They didn't listen to Marcel and the other people that plead for them to stop. On the other hand, nobody was willing to use violence to stop their behavior. Everyone wanted some warm food and there really was nothing happening.

Only one voice echoed across the campsite in an attempt to stop them.

"Is some warm food really worth risking your lives?" it was Seth who had watched the situation escalate. Was he the only one who felt the impending doom?

Nobody listened to him.

"With all due respect. It's already been an hour and nothing happened!"

"Yeah! You are exaggerating, Sir!"

They ignored his warning and treated it in contempt. Was he the boy who cried wolf? Seth was far from kindhearted enough to try and keep convincing these people. He didn't want to sound like a broken record.

"Suit yourself then. Just remember, I warned you."

Although he had no proof, he trusted his guts. Especially with the Cloak of Hekate and his unreliable foresight skill. Seth grabbed Evan by the collar and pulled him back to his party's camp.

"Ah, wait, why-?"

"Just saving your life. Unsummon any beasts of value to you."

"Ah! Err. Okay?"

"Puff, let's get some distance between us and the campsite."

"Wouldn't it be safer to stay with the caravan?"

People like Evan may think that there was greater safety in a big group, but this was not true for Seth's fellowship. Unlike Evan, Lynri, Wedan, and Duhu had seen the extent of power Seth and Puffles had.

"Are you sure?" Duhu asked seriously. The tiger man was a nice guy. His concern was not their own safety. He spoke up out of concern for the rest of the caravan.

"They made their decision or accepted others deciding for them. Don't worry, I will move when something happens, but I won't take responsibility for their lives."