Aya deflated at the sound of the phone hanging up, she turned to her sandwich, eating the rest of it and downing a glass of water as she tried not to think of the emptiness that welled up within her. It was nice talking to Atlas, it was nice talking to anyone.

  So why didn’t she reach out more?

  Aya lifted her hand and smacked her cheeks twice.

  “Silly girl, all you need to do is pick up the phone and call. You’re not alone anymore.” She said to herself.

  “That’s right.” Mars said from behind her, the other girl had just stepped into the apartment with an armful of groceries and other miscellaneous items. “There are a couple of nice stores around here, and best of all I won’t need to beat anyone off me with a shoe.”

  Aya laughed, recalling the way Axen’s streets had made her guarded against even the most seemingly innocent passerby.

  It would be a bit tough to wrap her head around and a part of Axen would always be with her, but it didn’t have to be the bad parts.

  “I just got off the phone with Atlas.

  “Yeah?” Mars asked as she carelessly stuffed some of the food items into the fridge, Aya took a moment to wonder if that was safe but Mars’ expression prompted her to keep going.

  “It was nice, he talked a bit about work and his dad and then we talked about Moon Valley.” Aya said, unpacking the rest of the groceries from the bags.

  Mars snorted at the mention of Atlas’s father and Aya recalled that she knew his family personally. Mars took a sip out of a branded cup and spoke.

  “I know his dad, stubborn guy. Always shot Atlas down, I...can’t imagine what it was like growing under that shadow.” Mars took another sip from her cup as she pondered.

  Aya wondered if she once again felt bad for disappearing on Atlas.

  “I always told him he needed to carve out his own path, but-” Mars stopped herself, gritting her teeth with restraint. “It’s not my life, I’m happy to hear he’s at least doing well.” she sighed then ruffled Aya’s curls and excused herself from the kitchen to her room.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  “I wonder what was going through her head.” Aya said, she knew she would never fully understand their relationship, they had known each other longer than they had known her and while that would have made her jealous she knew it was a complicated relationship.

  But Mars’s eyes had looked so sad at the thought of Atlas’s problems.

  “I was right that she had eaten.” Aya said, sifting through some of the leftover wrappers of fast food, she disposed of them and went back to her room to play. If she couldn’t think through her real life’s problems she could at least figure out Verdant Vale’s problems.

  ----------

  Yvlena woke up to the sound of the wooden floorboard sizzling. She jolted as if the liquid would somehow touch her where she laid.

  “Oh right.” Yvlena said in relief, memories came back to her, the Verdant Vale, the Miasma sick person she fought off before they found this abandoned home to rest in.

  “Risel are you there?” Yvlena called. The elf came running, nearly stepping across the area where the black liquid had eaten away at the floor.

  “Yvlena, you’re up. I was just looking out the windows and not a single person passed by.” Risel said, her ears drooped in sadness and she came to sit on the bed where Yvlena sat listening to her.

  “I don’t know if we’ll find Freude at this rate but we should do something for the town.”

  “Don’t worry Risel, we can do two things at the same time. We should be able to find survivors who know some things, I mean Cedar can’t be the only person.”

  Just as Yvlena was thinking about how strange it was that a quest window had not popped up yet she was suddenly alerted with one.

  [Subclass Quest: An Eerie Town

  The Verdant Vale was once a thriving town known for it’s lush greenery and its proximity to the Caldress Mines.

  Now the great Verdant Tree that once nourished the town is poisoned, the rivers polluted and It’s town ravaged by sickness.

  As the Harvest Guardian you must investigate the Verdant Vale and find survivors for more information.

  ***

  Rewards

  ????

  ***

  Moon Points x1000

  Moon Gems x10

  EXP:1500]

  [Do you accept?]

  [Yes/No]

  Yvlena knew just by looking at the rewards that this would be a perilous quest, the town was worse than she imagined, nothing like Bloom Haven at all. It was her first taste of the world outside Selendriel and Vaelindor’s blessed town.

  Still it was her duty as the Harvest Guardian and she took it very seriously. She sighed and accepted the quest, more quests and more stories. Maybe she would find out more about Rael, he was here after all so how did things get so bad? Wasn’t it his job to fix the Verdant Tree?

  What if they blamed her for his failures? A shiver ran up Yvlena’s spine at the thought of the survivors transferring the grudge from Rael to her. She released a breath.

  “Are you okay?” Risel asked, her friend had suddenly gone silent and looked to be in deep thought. Yvlena shook herself out of thought and nodded to Risel.

  “I’m okay, I guess I’m just worried about the survivors.” Yvlena said getting off the bed, she looked around the bare room and nodded, maybe this could serve as a place for her to rest for the time being. Something told her it would be a while before she saw Bloom Haven or the Rose Manor again.

  Risel followed behind her as she looked through the house, for something so run down it seemed to be in relatively good condition.

  “Let’s make this our base, we’ll need somewhere to rest after all our investigations.” Yvlena said.

  “Good idea and it’s the most stable of the houses we’ve seen so far.” Risel replied. “I just hope we can find someone in time.”

  “We will, I also have some questions of my own. I know that Rael was heading to this town so how could the Miasmic sickness have gotten this bad?”

  Risel squinted for a bit and pondered Yvlena’s words. Of all the NPCs in Bloom Haven she was the most likely to have known him given her age.

  “I didn’t really speak with him much but he seemed like the responsible sort so you’re on to something. What could have happened?” Risel held a hand under her chin and combed through her memories, trying to understand he previous interactions with Rael.

  “Wait a minute, I remember something.”