Ashes of the Fallen

We had reached our destination.

And we didn't even know it.

The creek was only fifty feet away and the mountain side was an equal ways off to the east of us. The cave system that the two had mentioned, was visible in plain sight. The corpses of the weird rats were littered about in front of the cave, as everything started to make sense to me.

They attacked us, because we invaded their territory.

"So, we made it after all," I mumbled as I looked at Kate, who had fallen asleep in my arms. She was safe; comfortable with me around. Exhaustion had set in, so I didn't blame her for catching a wink of sleep.

Selene on the other hand, was clearly upset.

"Ah," I whispered to myself.

A lot of things were starting to make sense.

Selene wore the same expression when they went hunting a while back, and though she never explained why to me, Kate had later informed me that they had a close call. That Selene blamed herself for failing to protect Kate when faced with desperate odds against a pack of wolves. Selene wasn't good in dire situations, where her panic and fear could take over and cloud her judgment.

Yeah, I had seen it firsthand now.

She shot her bow well, was a proficient hunter, and was someone I could trust to hold the rear and continue to attack… she came through when we fought the village chief's henchmen. But, I also took every attack… not one was directed at her, and despite her continual pelting of arrows, I nearly died back then too.

Selene wasn't that reliable in a pinch.

She wasn't bad though, maybe a bit absent minded at times, was all.

It didn't really fit her serious persona, but that was natural.

Appearances often belie a person's true self.

"Let's rest, Selene, come here."

Beckoning her over, she sat down next to me as I opened an arm and brought her in.

The two of them could sleep while I watched over them.

There was no reason for her to worry over the past.

People aren't perfect, and it seems, even AIs aren't perfect either.

Chapter 56: Rattanorv

(Saturday, August 7th Game Day / Sunday, March 14th Real Day)

Letting out a yawn while stretching my jaw, I cracked my eyes open in order to take in the scenery before me. Selene was occupying the space between my left arm and my chest and was fast asleep, while Katherine had taken up residence on the right side, with her head resting on my shoulder, and my head, on top of hers. With my back against a tree, the three of us had napped rather peacefully during this mid-summer day.

Thoughts of rodent mutations were still on my mind, but I enjoyed the moment that was at hand, first and foremost. I was starting to wonder if I had chosen wrongly, having picked Selene over Katherine, as the latter had been steadily growing on me.

Well, even Selene told me to reciprocate some of Katherine's advances, less she lose all her womanly self-confidence. Knowing her past, I sort of understood it… but these were NPCs. They were realistic, far too realistic really, with their advanced Artificial Intelligences. Yet even with such evidence staring me in the face, I was hard-pressed to believe that she would be scarred if I turned her down.

That seemed rather, improbable, to say the least.

I wasn't looking for a harem anyways, or a three-way, triangle-anything.

Eh, it was a complicated matter… one that I didn't want to deal with.

The area we had ended up in was awfully beautiful, despite the perilous journey that preceded it. At the base of the eastern mountain range that separated my territory from an undisclosed neutral region, and with the elven territory a ways off on the other side, we were quite a distance from Dragon's Breach. It was at least fifty miles by the end of it, and I was a bit mystified that Kate and Selene had ventured this far out into the forest on some whim.

An odd thing, really.

Meh, who was I to question what two women did on their spare time.

Glancing around at the scenery, the trees were much larger here, and considerably greener as they were near a large source of water. At the base of the mountain were multiple creeks spreading out like a web, as the melting snow and ice trickled down the mountain and filtered out through the forest.

Dragon's Breach sat at the end of all these creeks, streams, and rivers and was quite lively in its own right, but the source was a bit different.

Lush grass and green foliage throughout, this isolated area had been largely undisturbed. Humans didn’t travel this far out, only animals and beasts. This area was truly a secluded one, far more so than my village.

That was something we could all enjoy.

Listening to the soft sounds of rushing water all around, the creeks weren’t such fast movers to be loud. If one walked hurriedly, they would miss out on the soothing, ambient music of nature itself. A gentle mountain breeze, kept one cool under the shade of a tree, while the sounds of nature relaxed one's mind. The lack of outside influence, allowed one to let go of his or her inhibitions as well.