Here we go, the 40th chapter is ready and delivered. In a world shrouded in darkness, misplaced trust can have your life forfeit. And sometimes, you find your worst enemy among your closest friends. After you've read this chapter, you'll understand why I say, Wesley knows exactly what I am talking about.

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Chapter 40 - Unveiled in moonlight

Having finally finished our business within the contaminated ruins of our hometown, Paul and I had returned to the broken gate, where we were supposed to meet up with our friends. It was a relief to have escaped that dreadful place, but it felt like the stench was stuck in our nostrils, and I figured it’d be like that for quite a while. Once we had left the town through the broken gate, we found some of our friends waiting for us. Zephyr was keeping watch while leaning onto his impressive spear, spending time observing the surrounding environment. Raksasha was sitting on a large rock that could somehow carry her weight, seemingly occupied by drawing unknown objects in the soil with a stick. She must’ve been pretty bored. In the far back, Archimedes was leaning up against a tree, with his arms crossed. The ancient book was strapped to his side for the moment. But it seemed like the only person who was missing, was our spiritual shaman, Sinqularis. He was nowhere to be seen. For obvious reasons, we couldn’t continue our journey before he had returned. But when Paul and I approached the others, they all turned around and walked in our direction, meeting up with us outside the broken gate. Raksasha and Zephyr seemed pretty impressed by our new suits of armor, but Archimedes kept the usual cold and emotionless expression on his face. He really didn’t seem to care about much, and back when I found him in the ruins of Paravil, the sight of my armor couldn’t strain a single comment out of him. He’s a man of few words.

Raksasha: It’s great to see you finally arrived. Had you waited any longer, we would’ve suspected that something was amiss.
Paul: No, don’t worry. We just had a couple of important things to do.
Zephyr: Those are some hefty armors you got there. Very fancy.
Wesley: Yeah, we’re all armed and ready for the journey ahead. But hey, where did the shaman go? He’s not among us.
Zephyr: Uh, I have a theory about where he might be.
Wesley: Please inform us.
Zephyr: He is most likely by the lake where I found you earlier. I told him about its location, because I knew he’d appreciate a bath too.
Wesley: That won’t be a problem. It’ll only be a minor detour. We’ll pick him up on our way, and then adjust our journey to the right direction.
Archimedes: Let’s get going then. Night is approaching.

Everyone nodded, and once we had regrouped, we began our journey towards the western coast. But before placing ourselves on the right route, we’d have to make a stop by the lake, to find our missing shaman. As we passed through the great valley, I became the one to walk first in line, guiding those of us that doesn’t know of the lake’s location. It was late afternoon at this point, so we were forced to hurry, if we wanted to make any progress on our journey today. By nightfall, we’d have no choice but to make camp somewhere, and rest in a safe location. The rough terrain we were dealing with at that moment, was a challenge to handle with the new armor I wore. It felt like my leg muscles were burning, and the weight of my armor made me worry about the durability of my bones. But I kept telling myself, that my body would eventually grow strong enough to wield these royal plates with ease. The padding inside the armor made it comfortable to wear, but also disturbingly hot. And when your muscles are in full activity, the heat generated just makes it unbearable, draining energy with every passing minute. It was most of all my stubbornness that pushed me forward, and not actually my strength or endurance. Sweat appeared on my face and I panted softly. This was definitely a highly effective way to burn unwanted calories.

When we finally arrived by the lake, my body was begging for rest, but we had no choice but to continue once we had found the shaman. The sun was already about to go down. But fortunately, it wasn’t difficult at all to find the shaman in this location. His brightly pink fur had a tendency to draw attention. He was washing himself just like I did earlier, standing in the lake with only his head and shoulders above the surface. It’d seem like he felt more secure than I did, with moving out to the deeper parts of the lake. His long hair was soaked wet and floated on the surface, motioned by the stream in the water. Despite that everyone else was moving onward towards the lake, I felt something made me hesitate. Wouldn’t it be rude to disturb the shaman while he was washing himself? That’s what I thought, at least. Because I know that I find it highly irritable myself, when someone invades my privacy. He sure had picked a late hour for a bath, though. I could imagine that the water must be somewhat cold this close to the evening. The disturbing noise of frogs croaking had been replaced with a much more peaceful sound of crickets. But it seemed like the shaman hadn’t noticed us yet. He was busy picking water up with his hands and rubbing it into his face. But once we had gathered by the lake shore, Zephyr yelled to get the shamans attention. The shaman instantly looked over his shoulder and noticed us.

Zephyr: Hey, Sinqularis!
Sinqularis: Hello, everyone. Is it time to leave?
Zephyr: Yeah. We just came by to pick you up.
Sinqularis: Alright, hang in there. I will be there right away.

The shaman turned around and faced in our direction, before walking slowly towards the lake shore. This made me frown at first, because I couldn’t imagine why he’d step out of the lake while we were watching. But then I realized, these tribal people probably don’t take off their loinclothes when taking baths. Why should they? Those skimpy pieces of cloth will dry in a matter of no time. We all waited patiently, giving him what time he needed to push his way through the bodies of water. Within a short time, his entire torso was above the surface, so we could see how much the fur on his chest was flattened down by moisture. But then my eyes grew wide, as I suddenly noticed something purple, that had been hidden in the reeds close by. It was his loincloth. My heart skipped a beat. When I slowly directed my attention back to the shaman, I watched as he stepped out of the lake, completely nude. His body was soaked and dripping with water. And he was standing naked in front of our entire group, acting like nothing was out of place here. My cheeks were feeling really warm. Was I blushing? Surprisingly, Paul seemed to be the only person besides me, who felt awkward about this situation. Zephyr had probably seen him naked many times before, and Raksasha actually seemed to enjoy watching him nude. But the sight of the nude wolf couldn’t provoke any reaction out of Archimedes. His face remained pretty blank and expressionless. As always, he just didn’t care at all.

Despite how awkward this situation felt, I couldn’t help it but to look up and down his naked body, and even have my eyes scroll over his privates. Not because I was interested, but because I was curious. Within our kingdom, its considered indecent to approach other people unclothed, but nudity is a very common thing within the tribes. They must have a very natural view of it. That could explain why the shaman didn’t seem embarrassed at all, about being naked in front of us. But once he had shaken most of the water off his body, Zephyr stepped forth and brought him the purple loincloth, that was hidden behind the reeds. The shaman nodded once to show his gratitude, before taking the loincloth from Zephyr’s hand, and eventually put it on. Even after he had dressed up again, I found myself staring at him, while being lost in thought. It suddenly occurred to me, that I actually hadn’t seen another male’s body before, since my childhood. Even during my service as a royal bodyguard, we always bathed individually, to avoid humiliating situations. But sometimes, I honestly question what it is about nudity, that makes it so taboo within my kingdom. We pray to the Goddess every day and follow her guidance, but we hide away our bodies, as if we were ashamed of the way she created us to be. It just doesn’t make sense. These are all thoughts that I have juggled with since we visited the enchanted forest to the east. Even though the tribal people are so different in culture compared to us, their lifestyle has certainly had an influence on me.

Sinqularis: Are you alright, Wesley?
Wesley: Uhm, sure. Of course. Why do you ask?
Sinqularis: You were kinda staring at me while I was naked.
Wesley: …No, I wasn’t.
Paul: Yes you were. I saw it.
Wesley: Was not!
Paul: You were!
Archimedes: Hey! Stop this nonsense. We don’t have time for this.
Paul: My apologies…
Archimedes: Within an hour or two, night is upon us, and it’ll be completely dark. So now that we’re gathered, let’s get going. It’ll be necessary for us to find a place to stay before nightfall.

Though it felt somewhat embarrassing to be scolded by the gloomy sorcerer, he did have a point. So we all nodded in silence, and followed Archimedes as he for once became the first to leave, picking up the responsibility to lead the rest of us. It seemed pretty obvious, that he was desperate to find a place where we could camp before nightfall. The reason eluded my comprehension at that moment, but I just assumed that he was afraid of the dark, of something similar to that. Nevertheless, we left the lake as the sorcerer advised, and followed him as he lead us through the valley. And from that point, I was convinced that he had been here before, because it took him only a short while to locate the road. Even I couldn’t have done it that well, and I’ve lived here for ages. But once we were back on the road, Archimedes stepped back, and let me take over the role to lead. It seemed like he just wanted to get us out of this jumble of hills, so that we wouldn’t get lost, and waste more time than necessary. There were no signs to guide us, but judged by the way that the road curved further ahead, we figured going left would take us back to the ruins of Paravil. So we decided to go right, assuming that would take us west, and lead us closer to our targeted location. We may have accessed this road from an odd direction, but we didn’t need to walk far, before I could recognize the surroundings. I felt secure with concluding, that we were definitely on the right track towards the western coast. Though this was by no means a trip for sightseeing, I was looking forward to see the beautiful beach and the endless ocean, that continues beyond the horizon far away. Despite how much I cherish the sea, I have only had few chances to go there, throughout my life.

Within a short time, the road seemed to lead us into a small boggy area, where only a fool would leave the trail. Any person who step into the swamped area, might get sucked in, and never make the way back to the surface alive. This was basically a much smaller bog, compared to the one where we got attacked by a group of rotten zombies. So we didn’t expect any ambush at that location, and as long as we treaded carefully, no harm would befall us. Just like the larger swamp, there was a disturbing stench attached to this area. But I was able to look past that, once I noticed that swarms of beautiful dragonflies seemed to be living in this bog. They flew right past us as we crossed the bog, releasing the soft noise of their beating wings close to my ears, before making subtle retreats to the reeds scattered around the area. Their presence seemed to bring peace to my soul. But by this time, the sun had almost disappeared by the horizon, causing the sky to turn brightly red. We estimated that we had no more than an hour at most, before it’d be too dark for us to move on. So it was time for us to find a place to camp. For obvious reasons, none of us had any interest in spending the night sleeping in a bog. But thanks to the road leading through the swamp, we could pass through this area fairly fast. If no one had done us the favor of constructing this road, passing through this bog would’ve been much more time consuming. And worst of all, I would’ve been forced to step into dirty water and muddy soil, while wearing my new fancy greaves. The thought alone was enough to give me goose bumps and make the fur on my back rise.

Right after we managed to find our way out of the small bog, we left the road and camped in a forest nearby, just like we did before we found the town of Ranador. Unfortunately, this forest was somewhat less generous when it came to berries and other edible supplies. But Zephyr promised us that he would be able to hunt something down, that we could roast over the campfire. He disappeared into the forest on his own, leaving the rest of us behind to set up the camp. Raksasha proved that her gigantic axe could be used for more than just crushing enemies, as she chopped down massive logs of trees, shaping it into useful firewood. But our tribal friends insisted, that we should only make firewood out of trees that had been knocked down in the storm, instead of chopping down trees that still are healthy and growing. It was a reasonable request, and as guardians of Gaia, it didn’t surprise me that they were so keen about leaving nature unharmed. Once the firewood was ready, Paul and I set up the fireplace, while Raksasha went out to collect logs for us to sit on. That muscled woman was able to carry two great logs with her superior strength, balancing them on her shoulders while holding then with her strong arms. Wet and dirty logs weren’t quite my first choice of furniture, but it’d be foolish to expect anything fancy out here in the wilderness.

Later the same evening, when the forest finally had been cloaked by darkness, we were all sitting around the campfire. The fire had just been lit, and was slowly catching on to the dry wood we managed to collect. My stomach was growling, but Zephyr hadn’t returned yet. Paul, Raksasha and the shaman were having an open conversation, but I was too hungry to pay attention or participate. My interest in conversing tend to drop when I’m left with an empty stomach. But from what I could hear, it sounded like they were sharing opinions about various things, to explore their cultural differences. It seemed like a wise way to pass the time, because there’d never be a greater opportunity, to get to know each other on a deeper level. Once my stomach was fed and satisfied, I’d make sure to join the conversation myself. But at this moment, the hunger was making me impatient, and perhaps a little unreasonable in behavior. I was dangerously close to complain about Zephyr not having returned yet, despite that it would be highly impolite. But only a couple of minutes later, my ears caught the sound of something moving through the leaves nearby, before someone pushed the growth aside. It was Zephyr pushing himself through the growth to enter our humble camp, and a broad smile curled on my lips, as I noticed he had a dead deer resting on his shoulder. The tip of his humongous spear was stained with blood. He stepped forth and presented his prey with pride, and I was quite excited about having it roasted. It seemed like that rugged fruit bat was not only a formidable warrior but also a remarkable hunter. There was food enough for us all.

Once we had carved off the fur and skin, and cut off several heavy chunks of meat, we impaled them on wooden sticks and stuck them into the campfire. My eyes ached a bit as they met the heat from the fire, as I stared hungrily on the chunk of meat, that I was slowly turning inside the flames. The meat didn’t look all that appetizing at first, but once it was roasted properly, it certainly improved a lot. It was a real torture to have the food this close, and be forced to wait for it to be ready. My hunger was driving me insane. And it certainly wasn’t helping, when the delicious scent of the half cooked meat teased my nostrils. But once it was finished, I pulled it off the stick with no hesitation, and ate it with my bare hands. The chunk of meat was still quite hot, and the first bite burned my tongue a bit. But the pain was all worth it, once my sharp teeth sunk down into the juicy flesh. The others begun eating their chunks of meat only few minutes later, except Archimedes. He was sitting on the log, reading his book as always, and showed no interest in having a meal himself. The shaman attempted to coax Archimedes into eating at least one slice of meat, and he even offered to roast it for him, so that he didn’t have to put away the book. But Archimedes couldn’t be persuaded. He wasn’t really being impolite though, he just wasn’t hungry. That mysterious sorcerer never seems to eat or drink at all. I thought the guy was probably dangerously undernourished at that time, but he was a grown man. So we couldn’t force him to eat anything against his will.

Half an hour passed by, and the bones were stacked in a pile, once we had picked them clean for meat. My hunger was slowly fading away. And the peaceful sound of crickets had moved into the forest as well from that point. Every now and then, the constant noise of crickets throughout the woods, was interrupted by the hoot from an owl nearby. I could easily sense that there was a great activity of nocturnal creatures inside these woods. Within a short time, the beautiful moonlight finally broke through the dense treetops, and illuminated the forest around us. But the next moment, the harmonic peace was instantly interrupted, as Archimedes suddenly released a loud groan of agony. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards Archimedes, staring at him with a hint of confusion in their eyes. Zephyr had a chunk of meat hanging out of his mouth while having his head turned to stare at the sorcerer. A very awkward silence occurred. Once we directed our attention to Archimedes, we found him panting, with sweat sliding down across his face. His round orange eyes were wide open, focusing at nothing. Only a few seconds later, his hands and arms begun shaking softly, becoming increasingly worse with every passing moment. This seizure seemed to be very similar to what we experienced back in the forest outside the town of Ranador. If he needed our help, all he had to do was ask. I was starting to suspect that there was something in these woods that he was allergic to. Since I was the guy sitting closest to the sorcerer, I attempted to lay my arm on his shoulder, to console him and show a little concern. But once I did that, he freaked out even more.

Archimedes: Don’t touch me!
Wesley: Woah, easy there… I meant no harm.
Raksasha: What’s going on here?
Sinqularis: Are you alright?
Archimedes: I’m f-fine… just please, leave me alone.

Just like last time, the sorcerer suddenly left his seat and disappeared into the forest, pushing his way through the growth. But this time, he brought the ancient book with him, and his retreat was done by great haste. Zephyr sucked the chunk of meat into his mouth, but chewed it very slowly, while seeming quite speculative. Everyone else appeared to be just as confused as him. So I thought that it was about time that we investigated this mystery further, to find out what was going on. Zephyr suddenly spoke, while still having some of the food left in his mouth.

Zephyr: Well… That was quite weird.
Wesley: That’s it. I’m gonna go check up on him.
Paul: That sounds highly rude and impolite. Can I come too?
Wesley: No, I’d prefer to head out on my own for now.
Paul: Fair enough. But be careful out there.

Paul seemed a little disappointed that I wouldn’t let him join me, but if the sorcerer lost his temper because we stalked him through the woods, I’d want to take the full responsibility myself. So I left my seat and accessed the deeper parts of the forest, through the opening that Archimedes left behind in the growth. Despite that I was moving through the forest during night, it wasn’t really a challenge to find him. He hadn’t walked far away, and all I had to do, was follow the trail of trodden down leaves and broken branches. He had apparently rushed through this area, very eager to distance himself from the rest of us. To be honest, I was feeling a little guilty for stalking him like this throughout the woods. Perhaps he really needed some time alone, just like he claimed. And yet, my intuition told me that something was going on, that only a careless fool would be oblivious about. Archimedes is a man of few words, who keeps many secrets to himself. So if we didn’t take these matters in our own hands, the truth would most likely never be revealed. After having pushed my way through the growth for a couple of minutes, I suddenly located an open clearing in the woods. And there he was, standing in the tall grass, holding the book loosely in one hand. A strong wind passed through the forest between the trees, making the sorcerer’s mantle flow with the breeze. Instead of entering this clearing, I remained behind the bushes and branches, observing Archimedes from the dark shadows.

No more than a few seconds later, something horrible happened that left me greatly startled. At first, I simply couldn’t believe my eyes. A strong ray of moonlight entered the clearing from above, since the surrounding trees left the sky exposed in this location. Archimedes dropped to his knees and released a deep wailing noise, with a haunting echo attached to his voice. The next moment, my eyes opened wide, as I noticed his fur was falling off and his flesh was instantly rotting away. A dark cloud swirled around his body. The mantle covering his torso, was suddenly sucked even closer to his chest, showing his ribcage frighteningly clearly. And once his fur and flesh was gone, all there was left of his otherwise large and fluffy tail, was a thin and creepy tailbone that motioned slightly. When the hideous transformation was complete, the black clouds enveloping his body suddenly dispersed in all directions, causing me to gasp out of control. Archimedes heard my gasp, and slowly turned around, facing in my direction. That’s when I realized, he had transformed into a lich. An undead lich. The gloves he always wore was clinging onto his skeletal hands, and his skull was fully exposed. Fear struck my heart as I gazed into his hollow eye sockets. As a lich, his entire dentition was shown, since there were no lips to hide it. I had no idea what was going on, but I could only assume that he had been a traitor in disguise all along. And there was no turning back now. He knew I was there. A weak light glowed in his empty eye sockets, staring directly at my hiding place. I sensed that his powers had increased significantly, throughout this unholy transformation. He could probably wipe me out with ease. But there was no other way. I slowly drew my sword in silence, preparing for a battle that I couldn’t possibly win.