Chapter 16: Traveling

“What's that one called?” Van asked, pointing at a tree with a black trunk and reddish leaves.

“That’s fire oak,” Kella replied. “the wood of which can burn for days.”

“And that one?” Van asked again, pointing to another tree, this time with bluish leaves and bluish glowing lines running along its trunk.

Kella sighed, she was thankful he was able to get his mind off of what happened before, but tired from answering his endless barrage of questions. “That's a lumary tree, or a glow tree as it’s sometimes called. Since Alcrav is a land mostly cloudy, the plant life has developed means to produce its own light. At night it glows a soft blue, the leaves of which also glow and can continue to glow a few hours after being picked off, so sometimes you will see a whirlwind of small soft glowing leaves riding along with the wind.”

Van continued to stare out of the window in wonder at all the things he never knew about, or at least at the things he heard or read about, but had never gotten a chance to actually see. Soon the small forest was broken by a truly majestic view of endless fields of produce as far as the eye can see. It seemed that they were passing through a farming community.

“What are they growing there? Van asked curiously

Kella once again turned to see what he was looking at “wheat, potatoes, rice, things like that…” she replied bored.

Van pouted a bit at the lackluster reply but decided that he had been asking a lot of questions so he should hold back for a bit. Instead, he looked outside to the farmers to see how they went about their day. The farmers for their part looked on with interest at the long line of carriages, but only a few actually stopped to watch them pass by. A small group of kids thought did decide to run alongside them for a while.

Van took note of some of the villagers wearing masks and burning down a black tree into ash and had a long line of other trees similar to it ready for the burning. He turned to ask Kella but she already beat him to the punch.

“Those are ash trees, their trees that are easily turned into ash, hence the name. They are mixed in with the soil to help give it nutrients, but the ash of an ash tree can also be used for some magic rituals as well.” Kella said.

Van turned back to watch the villagers burn the tree. It was then he noticed that there were a lot of goblins running around, obeying order from the other villagers. He even saw a few skeletons walking about carrying things.

“There are skeletons!?” Van asked, surprised.

“Of course there are. But they mostly oversee the fruit trees.” Kella said “the farm is far larger than you might first think. Some of the fruit trees owned by the farmers are actually deep in the forest where there are monsters. Because of that, undead are sent to pick them up so that they don’t have to. While there are few animals that eat the fruit, there's usually a surplus, not to mention the predators will try to eat anything that comes into their territory, making them a de facto guardian of the fruit trees. They ignore the undead, mostly because they cannot eat them, though sometimes they still attack if they feel threatened or if the skeletons get too close to their territory.”

“How Big are the farms?” Van asked, looking at the endless sea of produce in front of him. Trying to get a grasp for the farm's actual size.

“Far, Far bigger than you think,” Kella replied. “Not many people know this, but Alcrav exports and sells tons of food throughout the continent. This is because goblins are hard workers and don’t eat much, and skeletons can work all day and pick fruits and other wild vegetables in the wilderness without much problem. These two factors together allow the farmers to extend their farmland and produce far more than most would believe. We're slightly nudged out by Asser for the exporting foodstuffs, but that doesn’t stop us from being in the top three when it comes to producing and selling food. Even our enemies and those who claim to be our rivals will inevitably buy our food, If not directly, then by other merchants selling to them.” she said somewhat proudly.

“And the people are fine with undead walking about amongst them?” Van asked

“Well… are you fine with me?” Kella asked, amused. “I am technically speaking an undead after all.”

Van blinked in surprise. “ Oh! Sorry. I mean, you look so alive and-” Van stopped himself as he realized that that might have sounded rude.

Kella chuckled “well, thank you for the compliment.” she smiled for the first time since the ride began.

“Um… being called looking alive?” Van hesitantly asked.

Kella chuckled again “yes. Though I can understand your confusion. We are also technically speaking considered near undead, that is to say, we are more alive than actual undead. The same with vampires like yourselves, or maybe not, considering you would be considered half vampires since you are a dhampir. As for why people are so used to it, it's probably because they just grew up with it. Though for the most part, true undead, such as the skeletons, usually work out of sight. Not to mention, most of the true undead are unintelligent and are not always made with real bone.”

“They're not?” Van questioned.

“Not all of them. But that’s something Lorenzo can probably tell you better than I can. He’s been studying necromancy and such, give it some time and he’ll probably teach it to you when you're older.” Kella answered.

“So how are near undead made?” Van continued questioning.

“The same way you were born, I had a mother and father.” she replied “though it is true that lesser ghouls can also be created instead of born if the necromancer is powerful enough. There's a small industry for stuff like that on the west coast, people not wanting to die, coming with bags of gold in hopes of a successful chance of becoming a near undead and living for a few centuries more.”

“Really!?” Van asked

“Really,” Kella replied.

Van sat back absorbing everything he had heard so far, It boggled his mind that there was so much he didn’t know about the society he lived in, his society. “I can’t just play and train all day.” he thought looking out the window once more. “The next chance I get, I’m going to learn as much about the world as I can. More importantly, about society, I can’t keep going on not understanding the things that everyone sees as common sense.” Van sighed a little to himself. “Lorenzo was right, even if they are a jumbled mess and I don’t remember anything clearly, the past lives I supposedly have, have influenced me in a way that makes it more difficult for me to pick up on the social norms of the world... I can’t wait for when I'm fixed.”

Van went silent, deep in thought, the scenery passing him by and the farmland giving way back to forest then open plains. He was taken out of his thoughts when Luna and Anna brought out a board game and asked if he wanted to play.

Like that Van distracted himself, trying to pass the time until they reach their destination with board games, snacks, and asking Kella a few more questions about the scenery. Hours passed and soon the kids were starting to grow tired of being cooped up inside the carriage all day. They were still excited about being outside, but that didn’t change the fact they couldn’t directly enjoy it. What was worse was instead of stopping for lunch, one of the maids from outside entered while the carriage was still moving and dropped off their lunch to eat in the carriage. It was interesting to find that the carriage had a retractable table, but they wished they could have gotten out to stretch their legs and enjoy their meal in the sun.

It wasn’t until near the end of the day that they finally stopped, by then the sun had mostly gone down and it was dark. Van was surprised by the sudden stop because he wasn't paying attention. He was on his back with his head on Luna’s lap who was gently stroking him, it was a little awkward at first, but Luna didn’t seem to mind it, in fact, Anna also wanted to do it too, so she would switch with Luna from time to time and it would be her turn to have Van’s head rest on her lap.

“Did we stop? Are we there?” Van asked Kella, not wanting to get up from having his head stroked.

“Yes young master” Kella replied amused by the scene in front of her. “We are at one of the waypoints to our destination.”

“Wait. Waypoints? How far is the castle?” Van asked, raising his head up to better look at Kella.

Surprisingly, It was Luna who answered. She gently, but forcefully pushed his head back down on her lap and continued to stroke it. “When I last left my home to travel to yours, it took a few days to reach it. The seats in the carriage can retract and have a hidden bed inside which can be pulled out, where we can sleep for the night.

“Really?” Van asked

“Yes. Also they make a really big bonfire and cook a lot of delicious food and stuff. And there's these really big pillar things that glow outside that surround the camp and make the bad monsters go away.” she replied.

“Really!” Van said, getting up to look outside the window. Excited for something new to see.

Luna pouted, wishing she kept her mouth shut.

Kella looked amused at the scene, she had begun to relax a little as the journey continued. She even stopped glaring at Anna for every little thing. Though she still did from time to time. It was hard to forget or forgive, even if she knew that Anna had nothing to do with it.

Van looked in wonder at the large spires that surrounded their encampment, it appeared to be that they had stopped near a clearing next to the main road and that they weren't the only ones using this area. A little off, there was a large tower that looked over the trees, probably to watch for threats, and a fairly large cabin and storage shed tucked in the corner with a just as big an outhouse, no doubt for those passing through. As he watched, he saw what appeared to be guards and workers leaving the cabin and making their way to greet his father who was getting out of his carriage.

Van got out at the ushering of Kella alongside everyone else, and the three of them started to explore their temporary encampment joined by a few of the other Annas. The rest stayed behind to help offload a few things. He wondered how they decided who did what and whether or not it was fair, but decided to save those questions for later.

They weren’t the only ones staying here, there were a few other carriages and wagons in the area that they got as close to as possible without wanting to worry anyone of moving away from out of their sight. Watching merchants and workers work was interesting for a time, but soon they got bored of it and moved on.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much else to see, everyone was busy setting up tents and things, but they were making the large bonfire like Luna said. Soon a cooking station was made and the smell of food waft all over the camp, making Van realize how hungry he was.

He walked over to get something to eat and was given a large bowl of rice and meat with a few meat skewers. With that they decided to enjoy their meal outside and watch the stars. He noticed he wasn’t the only one with this idea in mind and soon a few others joined in around them, placing blankets and such on the soft grass near the edge of the camp like they were. They ate in silence, enjoying the view, Van wondered if this was what an adventure felt like, though probably with less crampedness from traveling by carriage.

“Well, it looks like someone is enjoying their time.” A voice said coming from behind. Van turned to look behind and saw that it was his dad coming to him with a few sweets such as biscuits and honey with a slice of cake, which he shared around with everyone else.

“I’m just glad to finally be out of that carriage.” Van replied, “ I don’t think I could have taken another hour of it without going a little mad.”

Alvaroz chuckled and slowly sat next to his son, offering him a small plate with some biscuits, honey, and a slice of cake. “I know how you must feel, when I left my home for the first time I thought everything would be exciting, I was quickly forced to realize that it's long periods of boring treks with sudden bursts of terror!” he half-joked

Van smiled at the joke, accepting the plate and its sweets while wondering where his father got the cake from. “At least it was by your choice, and you could have done whatever you wanted, you could travel and explore at your own pace.”

Alvaroz slowly nodded “I suppose there is that… sorry. It must be very boring for you being cooped up in that carriage all day.” he said thoughtfully.

“It‘s not like it’s your fault.” Van quickly replied. Worried that he somehow hurt his father’s feelings. “We're just traveling, and traveling takes time. I’ll get just to it.” Van said, trying to reassure his father.

Alvaroz smiled kindly at his son and patted him on the back, he was about to say something when he noticed a familiar sight in the distance. “Well… you’ve always wanted a little adventure right? Then this is going to be a night to remember,” he said with a smile at what he was looking at.

Confused, Van looked at the direction that his father was looking at and paled a little at the rolling waves of thunderous fog coming their way. As if to make their presence known, a large thunderclap was heard, shocking everyone into silence before a small cheer rose up from the other travelers.

Alvaroz chuckled at Van’s confusion and worry and explained. “See those pillars?” he pointed at the pillars that surrounded the camp and were beginning to glow with magic. “Those create a barrier of sorts to prevent monsters and bad weather like the fog storm from entering. It won’t stop things like rain, but it does its job on almost everything else and it's thanks to this kind of technology that we can create waypoints for people to safely travel from place to place.”

Van nodded but was still worried at the approaching fog storm which he couldn’t look away from. Luna and the Annas clustered around him and his father for protection. None of them moved to any real shelter for fear of looking cowardly when everyone else was staying outdoors.

Soon the fog storm was upon them and it crashed into the invisible barriers the pillars produced and a loud thunderous roar that scared Luna and the Annas. Van himself paled a little in fear at the sight and sound. The fog storm crawled up the barrier and slowly surrounded the encampment until there was no more exit to be had. All there was to be seen was a black rolling wave of cloudy like substance with flickers of lightning and electricity dancing across it. The fog storm couldn’t completely envelope the barrier and so one could still see the stars through the top half of the barrier produced, but considering the size of the barrier, it was clear to see how large the fog storm was.

For some reason, Van felt like he was underwater, the way the fog storm acted was similar to what his past lives remembered as something called, the tides. The fog rolled back and forth, motes of electricity moving about within it, sometimes gathering together to create something bigger and then sending it out as a lightning strike. In fact, Van was sure that it wasn’t just the motes of lightning he was seeing.

“A pretty small one by all accounts,” Alvaroz said with the weight of years of experience. “Just as well, it's still a pleasant sight to see.” Van looked at his father with incredulity. Who only returned the look by nodding towards the fog storm. “Relax and actually take a look, once you get used to it, it's kinda soothing.” He said

Van wasn’t sure but decided he had nothing to lose by doing so. After the initial shock and terror of coming face to face with a fog storm wore off, Van finally took a good look at the scene before his eyes. And if he was to be honest, it was quite mesmerizing. The rolling cloud-like substance, the glowing motes of electricity, the strange glowing fish-like creatures swimming through it.

Van paused at that. “Strange glowing fish-like creatures?” soon his feeling of being underwater took a more literal interpretation. Floating amongst the fog were fish-like creatures that seemed to eat the small motes of electricity. Their glows like beacons in the dark, and every so often a lightning strike will illuminate the nearby surroundings, revealing even more and larger creatures swimming through the fog. Some of the creatures would make a tinkling bell-like chim, as if communicating with each other, others a deep echoing bellow, almost like a whale but deeper. Strange alien creatures floated amongst the fish like ones as well, giving a truly otherworldly sight.

Van, Luna, and Anna, watched in wonder at the sight before them. It would have never occurred to him that such a thing could exist in the world. As far as he knew, you never wanted to be caught outside in a fog storm. But he had to admit, in the safety of the barrier where he can look at the fog at his leisure, it was truly a sight to behold, one he could get addicted to.

Just then something landed on Van’s hand, he looked down to find a strange bee-like creature, but instead of yellow and black stripes, it was a dark electric blue and black stripes. Every so often it would glow a soothing bluish light. It had a bit more floof than a normal bee and its wings were translucent and butterfly-like with a fascinating electric blue design to them that glowed a little. It flew silently, its wings only flapping every so often slowly as if some other force kept it afloat. Now normally Van hated bugs and was terrified of them, but bee’s were something else entirely, and it didn’t seem to mean any harm, plus it was fluffy and cute, which was enough for him.

Alvaroz who was watching the children enjoy the show also noticed the bee-like creature landing on Van’s hand. “Oh?” he said. “Looks like you caught yourself a zapper. Be careful, though they might not have a stinger, they can discharge some of their electricity and shock you if they think of you as a threat.” he stated, “we must be in an area that has a zapper colony nearby, they usually like to come out during fog storms to also take part in eating and absorbing of the motes of energy that floats around.”

Van looked down on the little bug on the back of his hand. “It's kinda cute,” he said. Gently patting it with a finger from his free hand.

Alvaroz chuckled, “ They are, I remember when I was young, watching a small swarm of zappers float and fly around with my father. We watched them dance and create amazing little shows of light, it was truly a sight to behold. My father and I really enjoyed our time together, our backs on the ground and our eyes gazing up, we would talk about everything and anything as we watched the show the zappers played for us.” Alvaroz's eyes began to glaze over as he remembered his youth before snapping himself out of it and coming back to the present as he remembered something else about zappers. “Ah! Whatever you do, don’t feed… them” but he was too late.

“Huh?” Van said looking up, the zapper feeding on one of his fingers that had honey on it from the plate.

Alvaroz looked at the sight and sighed “Zappers can either get easily attached or aggressive, worse they can call other zappers to come nearby, and if you accidentally harm one of them, they will swarm and attack you.”

Van looked a little worried now at the bug, and looked around to see if there were anymore nearby, thankfully it seemed that it was the only zapper in the area.

Alvaroz did the same and felt relief when he saw no other zappers in the area. “ It looks like it's the only one here, the rest of its kind must be feeding in the storm, if they aren't being eaten themselves.”

Van looked down once more at the bug on his hand, greedily eating up the honey with enjoyment. His heart melted a little at the sight and he began to stroke it once more, its little eyes slowly closed and seems to give a strange purr of contentment.

“Don’t grow too attached to it.” Alvaroz said. “You have to let it go eventually.”

Van looked a little sad, he stared down at the small bug and gently tried to move it away. Except it just flew back, and then Van did so again, and it just flew back again. Van looked up at his father a little worried.

Alvaroz sighed, “Just give it some time, I’m sure that it will go away on its own eventually. Just make sure not to name it.” he then clapped his hands together. “Now, let's get cleaned up so we can get to bed, we have a long day tomorrow ahead of us.”

Van inwardly groaned a little at the thought of another day in the carriage but got to work with everyone else cleaning up. The zapper, not wanting to get in the way of everyone, silently flew up to Van’s shoulder and made that its new perch.

After everyone was done cleaning, they went to their carriages where the beds were pulled out. They then changed, ‘or at least he did’, into sleepwear and went to bed, the zapper sleeping amongst them.