Dyaris yawned noisily, trundling forwards down the wide dirt road. Further down the road, his companion Deimi looked back, anger on her dark face, her purple eyes frowning. "C'mon, you big lug!" she yelled. "We're almost there! I swear to Phoenix, if I gotta spend one more night camped by the road, I'll..." her voice trailed off into cranky mutters, and she stomped ahead, her short blue cape fluttering in the breeze.
Dyaris smiled. Deimi was far too easily annoyed. He was just enjoying the journey, travelling in the temperate weather, sun bearing down on him cheerily. The slight breeze rustled through his long blonde hair. After all, they didn't have anywhere in particular they needed to be, they had enough supplies and money to last them a little while longer, and besides, it wasn't like jobs were hard to find for people with their skills. He adjusted the straps of his light armour, and picked up his pace to catch up to his companion, scanning the undergrowth around them carefully. Large rocks scattered the ground, but the region around the road was wide and flat. Still, there were many places things could be lurking, unseen, ready to jump out. All he saw at the moment were fat rabbits scampering about, and little birds flitting through the shrubs. He kept his eyes open and watchful, but mostly out of habit. On such a nice day, he couldn’t be too worried.
“What’s your hurry, Deimi?” he asked, grinning. “Where are we even going, anyway?”
Demi snorted with disdain. “You can’t even remember? Why am I not surprised?” She lengthened her stride, but she stood a head shorter than Dyaris, so he easily kept up, even though she was wearing a light robe while he had an armour plate over his chest.
“Hey, c’mon…” Dyaris tried to placate her, unsure what she was cranky about this time. “We’re making good time, probably? I mean, we haven’t even seen any monsters or anything.”
Deimi stopped suddenly, her short chestnut hair bobbing. “We ain’t seen any monsters… we ain’t seen any…” She scowled. “Of course we ain’t seen monsters, you idiot!”
Stopping just behind her, Dyaris looked confused. “What?” Monsters were everywhere, ranging wildly in size, shape and strength. Some were tame enough, but most were a major pest. He and Deimi were adventurers, monster hunters, colloquially, heroes. They made their living travelling about to rescue people from monsters and other ills, and there was never a shortage of work. They were both humans, which was not entirely unusual, though Deimi’s ears were elongated slightly – a remnant of her mother’s fey nature. In their work, Dyaris relied on his swordskills, while Deimi covered him from afar with her magic, granted to her as it was to any mortals, by the Gods of Magic. But she had a long angry streak, and could adequately defend herself with her fists if she had to. Dyaris ran a hand through his hair nervously, his leather bracer almost getting caught. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to annoy Deimi, but he hoped she wasn’t about to punch him. Again.
“You never listen…” Deimi grumbled. She began to walk forward again, and Dyaris followed behind.
“I’m listening now,” he offered cheerfully. He figured it was better if he was friendly, maybe it would convince Deimi to follow suit and drop her cranky demeanour. It hadn’t worked so far, ever, but he thought it might, sometime.
“Are you?” She turned to him and glared, still walking ahead. He shrugged a response, smiling broadly. She sighed, a long-suffering sigh. “Like I told you, a bunch of times, we’re headed to Laira Glen for the Festival of Seasons.” She muttered under her breath again, calling Dyaris many names. He pretended not to hear them. “And why? Because one of the thirteen Guardians is at Laira! The only one who ever allowed people to live within their forest! So a festival honouring nature and the Goddess is going to be amazing!” She got a little excited thinking about it.
Dyaris scratched his neck thoughtfully. “Uh, which Goddess?” he asked. Deimi slapped her forehead.
“You… freakin…” She stopped a moment to catch her thoughts. “Idiot! I’m talking about Guardians and nature, what Goddess you think I’m talking about?! Fels!”“Fels…?” repeated Dyaris. He looked into Deimi’s violet eyes. “You mean the Goddess Felicity? Is it a luck festival?”
Deimi punched him, hard, in the shoulder. “Ow! I was joking…” he protested. “OK, so the Goddess of Nature and uh…”
“It’s Gaea, the Creation Goddess”, Deimi told him sharply.
“I knew that,” he said simply. “It’s just a little weird, don’t you think?”
“What?”
“Smells like smoke,” Dyaris said. “Faintly, and I don’t see any. A fire must just have started. Which is a bit weird, right? I mean, you wouldn’t usually have a fire to celebrate Nature, would you?” He cocked his head to the side and looked at the small, dense forest they were approaching. Laira Glen lay in the centre of it. “Or would you? I dunno, what do you think?”
Deimi blinked and stopped again. “Come again?” She sniffed the air. It was faint, but there is a distinct smell of burning. The wind blew softly from the Glen. Her fists clenched. Something wasn’t right. As she looked ahead, a small plume of smoke began to rise from the forest. She swore under her breath, and started trotting forward at a quicker pace.
“I take it that’s not normal?” Dyaris jogged after her, his long hair swishing behind. The smoke grew thicker.
As the smoke billowed up, Deimi started to run, her short blue cloak lifted in the wind. “Dyaris! That forest’s protected by one of Gaea’s Guardians! You can’t so much as cut a tree without causing trouble! If there’s a fire…”
Dyaris ran after her.