Another hour of travelling passed before Gahan spoke up again. Taking a path off the straight road and into a thinned treeline, he began:
"Did you enjoy my earlier points, brother Welt?"
"I told you not to call me that, Gahan."
Gahan let out a deflated sigh and his posture sank.
"So, even with all of my convincing, you don't think we are brothers yet? Lets see.."
Gahan played with the hem of his robe. It was torn and damaged from the path they'd walked in this past day, far rougher than his clothing was designed for. It was funny to Welt, seeing the man who could so easily talk him in circles until dizzy accumulating scratches and damage to his robes on the walk. Justice, in his mind, wasn't far from this.
"Well, we are both men of faith, correct? You follow this... so-called Lord of Midway, whilst I am of one of the Cardinals, The Dreamer."
"You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't follow the Cardinals, Gahan."
"You'd be surprised, brother. From what I hear, the East is moving away from it all, now."
Welt balked, a bold lie.
"Nice joke, priest. Next you'll tell me that Eastern men are moving away from the need to shit every day."
"Ah, clever one, brother Welt! I suppose that joking is not beyond you, just a skill you haven't had time to hone yet."
Gahan hit Welt's back with a smack of approval. Welt felt the impact but, due to his weight, wasn't shifted very much.
"The East is filled with all sorts of new oddities making their way out into the Harvestlands, brother Welt. I'm sure they will catch up with you whether you wish them to or not."
"Like they seek to catch you?" Welt replied.
"Quick again, brother! Yes, I suppose the East is catching up to me. Paladins are after my head, you see. Don't like all the things I've been saying in these parts."
"The bandits?"
"I was their lucky break, brother! Whilst I am happy to be of use to somebody, I feel that my head is better put to work as an ally than as a trophy."
Welt considered asking the priest if he knew the payment for the bounty, but didn't want to give the man cause for concern. Alas, Gahan had been watching him intently from the side.
"A thousand silvers." Gahan said, a smile creeping onto his face as Welt's eyes went wide from surprise.
"The East must value you a lot."
"Yes! I'm quite shy of it, honestly. All you need to do to become worth the attention of the Paladins of The Truth is just say that their god is a crying child! Or maybe they just think I'm pretty enough to be kept in a box?"
Welt let a small chuckle escape him. He'd been keeping what he thought was a decent poker face for the whole day, but was slowly cracking bit by bit.
"Brother Welt, some open emotion! I'm surprised how far you've come in just a day on the road together. Soon, you'll be loving life, like me, even if you are hunted to death by The Truth."
"Excuse me?"
Welt's light mood sank into a pit. He really said hunted? To death?
Gahan's happy faced also dropped. He hadn't matched Welt's seriousness, more pulling a face as if he made a mistake, looking guilty.
"Sorry, brother, it is just the fact of it. To those Paladins, I'm sure that you will be worth a lot more than mere silvers."
Gahan gave Welt a pat on the shoulder before continuing to walk.
"They'll probably want you alive first, brother. Don't fret too much!"
Welt wanted to ask more, but it seemed futile. He wouldn't be able to get anything else out of Gahan, to whom talking must be an art without end.
***
They'd headed far enough East over the past day that Endsham was just one day's travel North.
It was bad luck to head North on a journey. Heading North meant, throughout all the world, heading uphill. And the Northern god, The Dreamer, had a reputation, due to their position at the summit of the world, as being a god who represented great trials and struggle.
They'd headed so far East first in order to stay off the most used roads, which all headed North East. Welt still didn't want to draw attention, especially after that last reveal from Gahan. He wanted to keep as low of a profile as possible from now on.
This didn't bother Welt too much - he'd never been good at talking to others, anyways. A childhood filled with odd experiences made it hard to connect and relate to the farmers and quiet folk around him.
Though being without Drun, the only person who knew him, felt much lonelier than Welt had thought. He'd always wanted to go off on his own, picturing it as a rebellious celebration of his independence from all of the studying, work, and camping he'd been forced into by his father. Drun would maybe chase after him as he travelled the world, seeing magical sights until they eventually spent their time catching up. Not the other way around.
His world had gone from being made up of one person, to none.
"Brother Welt, are we headed into that valley tonight? I would advise against heading North without preparing first."
Gahan stopped atop the crest of this latest hill, between two lone trees at its centre, with grass and hedges all untrimmed and running rampant. Wild flowers of blue and white dotted the tall stalks of deep-yellow and brown grass. Dots of fluorescence in fields of mellow tones, they poked up with high stems to the fading light of day, reaching impressive heights for such small flowers - sometimes reaching as high as Welt's waist.
Before them was a steep valley that lead into an opaque shroud of white. A bed of mist, appearing thick and lifelike, swayed and licked at the base of the hills surrounding. A few spots of gold could be seen within, the leaves of Harvest Oaks and Pines dotting up above the mist, like the flowers in the fields surrounding them. They looked drowned, stranded.
Some small songbirds sat on the underside of branches in one of the trees atop the hill, dangling like bats. Welt felt a familiar, cold shock run through his body at the sight. An Omen, a strong indicator to avoid the valley.
"The valley looks dangerous, around the ridges will be far safer, but slower."
Welt assessed the land, and going around the valley was definitely the safest option. Even in a quiet countryside like this, you couldn't be certain of what was hidden. Fog was a particular worry for everyone, where monsters of the Veil would often emerge and take the life of someone passing through. Without a Lantern there was a high risk of them getting lost, or even losing their lives.
NORTH. DOWN.
A whisper came on the breeze, then another. Welt perked up at the sound, turning his head rapidly trying to discern its location. Though it seemed to sound from nowhere, and everywhere. It was on the breeze, but also rattled inside Welt's head. A mix of low tones and high whispers coming together in a gasp to sound as words.
Gahan looked to Welt with surprise and suspicion in his gaze. Then shrugged.
"Yes, we will set off along the ridges tomorrow." Welt repeated.
NO.
"..."
Welt sat on one of the thick tree roots that jutted from the ground. His back was slouched, and he stared at the valley before him. He said it again.
"Around the valley."
NO.
"...I did hear you the first time, brother Welt."
Gahan was grabbing some dried meats from Welt's ruck, and now sat cross-legged looking at him with a surprised look.
"...Why not?"
NORTH. DOWN.
"I will go around the ridges, it is safer."
NO. COWARD.
"Coward?"
Welt kicked at the ground and shouted upwards.
"Who's a coward? Fucking voice."
Gahan was staring with complete investment and perplexity. This was something novel to him.
"Forget it. We rest here tonight, and walk around the valley tomorrow."
"...Yes, Welt. I agree."
NO.
Welt ignored the voice and set about practicing his swordsmanship.
Should I call it sticksmanship?
Welt was getting used to having a cane as a weapon. It worked wonders as both a defensive and offensive tool with its ability to be instantly summoned to his hand.
NO.
He had put it to great use as a throwable tool with the bandits, but wanted to incorporate it into his close-quarters style, too. It seemed very durable, having withstood a strike from the bandit captain's sword without so much as a scratch.
DANGER.
It's use as a tool for feints and fake-outs was almost limitless in Welt's eyes, who'd always had to deal with the restrictions of the normal world around him for battles. It was nice to have an edge on people.
NORTH. DOWN.
GO.
Welt ignored the voice, it was clearly terrible advice. Sure, it might have helped him before with the rock, but there was nothing good about going into mist without a Lantern. Not that Welt would ever use a Lantern, anyways. He'd rather die.
Along the peaks was safest, it was wrong this time.
Welt prepared to sleep between the two trees after some hours of practice. He kept his guard up as he fell asleep. It was difficult to sleep deeply, with constant whispers in his ears, but eventually he managed to tune it out.
NO.
DANGER.
DANGER. HIGH.
NORTH.
DOWN.
DOWN.
GO.
DANGER.
GO.
A deafening screech sounded in the night, waking Welt, Gahan, and it seemed everything surrounding them. It sounded as though the sky had ripped open, shedding its cold and sombre persona, becoming complete black.
Something was blocking the moonlight.
And the starlight.
A creature of great proportions, bigger than Welt had ever seen with his own eyes, was approaching, like a void cut open in the night sky falling upon him.