The three youth sat around the flickering flame of a campfire. The oppressive heat of day had turned to the omnipresent chill of night and everything beyond the campfire was coated in shadow and darkness. The trees twenty odd paces away groaned ominously and the calf-high grass surrounding them on all sides sway gently in the breeze. The road was within eyeshot but invisible under the cover of darkness. The peacefulness of the clearing they'd chosen for camp had twisted into a more sinister feel without the light.

  Jeoffrey shivered despite the warmth of the fire as he scanned the treeline. This quest had never meant to take so long and he knew with certainty that his friends would never let him plan an expedition alone ever again. Jeoffrey looked past Horace who was slumped sitting on the log next to him half asleep and looked at Cassandra who was warming her hands by the fire.

  A sudden crash and crackle broke Jeoffrey's focus and ruined his night vision as a branch was added to the fire and a small fleck of ash landed on the back of his hand. Hissing, he swatted at it and turned to their new travelling buddy.

  "That's more than enough wood, thank you." Jeoffrey said. The strange farmer smiled broadly and took a seat next to him by the fire. He began warming his hands with a contented expression.

  "You've been very helpful sir, what exactly was your name?" Cassandra leaned forward and asked from the other side of the log. "My many friends call me Bal." Bal responded. "Well then Bal, we unfortunately don't have a fourth tent, but you're more than welcome to spend the night by our fire if you have a bedroll." Cassandra offered.

  Jeoffrey's face scrunched up slightly. He didn't feel it was smart to share their campfire with a stranger, but he couldn't deny that Bal had helped them and etiquette demanded Jeoffrey remain quiet.

  "I'll have to accept your invitation then, thank you. What were your names?" Bal asked. "I'm Cassandra, the wannabe mage over there is Jeoffrey, and this lump of beef here is Horace." Cassandra responded with a grin as she patted Horace's sleepy shoulder.

  The night dragged on slowly and before long the youth began to tire. Horace would normally demand someone keep watch, but he had fallen from the log and snored loudly next to the fire for the past hour so no one particularly cared what he thought. Cassandra retired to her tent and Jeoffrey moved to go to his.

  He paused and observed Bal's back from where he still sat pensively by the fire. Then, comforted that Bal was not looking, Jeoffrey harnessed a tendril of mana and drew a runic mark in the air. It glowed brightly for a split second, then faded and Jeoffrey entered his tent to sleep knowing if anything were to enter the clearing overnight he'd know.

  Bal'Nox the Great and Terrible was quite bored.

  He sat by the fire playing with sticks and fantasizing about the various creatures he could create or lure to the campsite for the adventurers to battle. He'd realized over time that he didn't really understand much of what they spoke of during the day. Konep for example, was no god. Just an uptight spellsword who shined rather annoyingly most of the time. Additionally, a quest for herbs? What was even the point of that? They weren't particularly difficult to find nor dangerous herbs so there was none of the risk of death a good quest needed. And what did they mean by a promotion to D-rank? Bal'Nox was at quite the loss.

  He was glad the youth had gone to sleep, pretending to be as knowledgeable and grounded as the youth surely believed he was took great effort and mental stamina. Still, despite the fatigue and confusion he was having a good time. Bal'Nox had forgotten how funny kids were and he honestly found the silly little trio quite adorable. He leaned back on the log and sighed. He supposed he'd best be like the adventurers and sleep, or at least pretend to.

  He extended his senses outwards and quietly spoke an incomprehensible word in the language of the arcane that seemed to make the air around him ripple slightly as he took in every living being within 5 leagues of the dimming campfire. A nightstalker followed a herd of deer with its eyes locked on an older male limping towards the edge of the group. A few goblins roamed around scavenging for berries or small animals. No real threats of substance were nearby so Bal'Nox reined his perception back in to himself satisfied.

  He spoke again. This time, the word he spoke caused the campfire to be suddenly extinguished as his surroundings dropped in temperature drastically. Bal'Nox's breath misted in front of him, then it flowed away from him and expanded outwards until it had formed an incredibly slim but roughly humanoid shape with clawed hands.

  "Watch over us if you would." Bal'Nox invited the spirit. It dipped it's head to him in respect and then vanished.

  A chattering sound brought Bal'Nox's attention down to Horace's curled figure. He shivered as he slept without the campfire. Bal'Nox smiled lightly and waved a hand. Horace floated up off the ground and Bal'Nox carried him gently over to his tent and lay him down under the covers. Then he exited the tent and closed it behind him. He walked back to the remains of the campfire and lay down next to the log he'd previously sat on. Then he closed his eyes, approximated sleep with his illusory body, and lost himself in his imagination until morning.

  Jeoffrey woke violently as he felt his alarm spell be tripped by a foreign creature.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  He extracted himself from his bedroll and carefully opened the tent flaps to see it was still night. At some point the campfire had gone out so it must've only been a few hours since he fell asleep, he thought. He scanned the camp warily but saw nothing.

  Then, he saw Bal's figure walking towards Horace's tent with the paladin by its side. Jeoffrey was both confused and impressed. It took a great deal of strength to move that lump of beef and metal and he hadn't realized the farmer had it in him. Something was a little off about the way Bal's silhouette carried Horace, but in his sleep-addled mind Jeoffrey just couldn't quite put it together so he dismissed the oddity as a trick of the dim light.

  Jeoffrey emerged from his tent as Bal went into Horace's tent. He let off another glyph into the air, replacing the alarm. Then, he scanned the entire clearing and campsite as carefully as possible and upon seeing no strange shapes or sounds he shrugged and returned to his tent.

  "Must've been a rabbit or something." He mused to himself. He peeked out of the gap in the tent and saw Bal returning to his place by the now dead campfire and, assured that Bal wasn't harming Horace, he closed the tent again and returned to sleep.

  The party continued on their way to Yabor the following morning and reached the outskirts of the city by noon. They paused briefly to gather the necessary Lycanthrope Ears then continued on their way. Soon enough, the trees thinned then cut off entirely as the road sloped down tumbling hills.

  The city walls came into view. They were quite large, maybe 50 to 60 paces high Bal'Nox estimated placidly, but didn't circle the entire city. They merely cut off the pass as it narrowed into a towering drawbridge and gate leading into the city proper. The drawbridge was currently lowered to facilitate the constant traffic into and out of the city. The walls were stone, etched with flowing waves and symbols of a leviathan serpent racing upwards with jaws open wide towards an unsuspecting war galley. It was clear all the etchings were decorative and the walls had never seen real use, but the noble sigil implied by the leviathan and the boat was unfamiliar to Bal'Nox.

  There were towering cliffs surrounding the city which formed natural barriers against all but the most determined foes or monsters and there were several watchtowers seemingly carved into the stone itself halfway up the cliffs and at their peaks. The sapphire expanse of the open ocean stretched on endlessly past the city where it peeked out over the walls from Bal'Nox's position high on the hills. The air smelled of a lovely combination of sea salt and open grassland and the crashing of waves graced his ears. The youth, having seen this all a million times before, continued on without pause. Bal'Nox paused and smiled while he drank in the view. Then he followed them as they walked down.

  The party stopped just outside the walls as it became clear there was a queue to enter. They were behind a few travelling groups, a couple wagons, and another adventuring party.

  "First time in this hunk of junk city?" Cassandra joked, elbowing Bal'Nox's arm. They'd become fairly comfortable over the course of the journey to the city.

  "Not exactly, but it has been quite some time. I really must speak with whoever did the etchings on the wall, they're beautiful." Bal'Nox replied. Jeoffrey stepped forward with a smug grin on his face at Bal'Nox's words.

  "That, was my teacher. The owner of the Yabor academy of magic. He's unmatched in his geomantic skills." Horace turned to them from his position at the head of the group and looked skeptically at Jeoffrey.

  "I thought you'd said he was an peerless talent in aquamancy not geomancy?" Jeoffrey's grin only widened. "Two things can be true at once my thick-headed friend." Horace stretched an arm out towards Jeoffrey and flicked him in the forehead with his gauntlet. "Ow! You can't -"

  Jeoffrey was cut off by an amused looking guardsman as they reached the front of the line into the city. Two guardsmen stood in front of them with spears crossed lazily. Looking around Bal'Nox saw several other guards chatting amongst themselves behind the pair. Backup presumably, two guards wouldn't do much to shut down an angry adventuring party but ten of them would be a very different story.

  They were all dressed in what Bal'Nox assumed was the standard fare for guards in the city. They had a short sword on their hips, a spear in their hands, and they all wore navy blue leathers with the leviathan and boat crest on the front over top of chainmail, topping it off they wore steel skullcaps.

  "You three are back pretty late aren't ya?" The first guardsman drawled. He had some curly ginger hair poking out just under his skullcap and a thick beard. His counterpart stationed opposite him continued "Your mom's worried about you Horace, and Cassandra I hear your mother's pretty annoyed. I swear they've told half the city by now how you should've been back yesterday. Another few hours and a search party might've been called." The second guard looked much the same as the first to the point where they could've easily been twins. Both had imposing statures, bigger even than Horace.

  Cassandra and Horace both blushed and looked down at their feet like naughty children. Bal'Nox couldn't help but notice Jeoffrey's expression sink at the guards words a little bit before bouncing back into an expression of forced indifference.

  "We really only meant for it to be a day trip, but we went way too far out and then -" Cassandra started explaining before the guardsmen waved her explanation away. "Save it for your parents. We're all glad you're back safe. Go make sure your families know you're back and get some rest if you survive." The second guard said laughing.

  They started uncrossing their spears to wave the trio into the city then noticed Bal'Nox following them in. They crossed their spears again "And who might you be stranger?" the first guard asked cautiously.

  "My name is Bal, it's a pleasure to meet the both of you and lovely to see your beautiful city. I am just thrilled to look around inside." Bal'Nox responded. The two guards looked at one another strangely and turned back to Jeoffrey. "Do you vouch for him?" The first guard asked. Jeoffrey grit his teeth and thought for a moment before begrudgingly nodding his head.

  The guards uncrossed their spears and let the party into the city. Bal'Nox was quite puzzled as to why his entry into the city was so easy. Surely it takes more inspection than a simple vouching for most travellers to be let into the city? Regardless, he dismissed the thought to be re-visited later and turned to the three youth.

  "I think now I must take my leave. It has been a pleasure meeting you all and I hope we bump into one another sometime again in our journeys." Bal'Nox said.

  "Woah, no need to be so final about it all. Come find us at the adventurer's guild sometime before we next leave." Horace rebuffed. Bal'Nox was taken aback, then overjoyed. "Thank you. Of course, I will." He responded.

  Horace reached his hand out and Bal'Nox met it for a hand shake. Bal'Nox was shocked at the level of force the kid had in his grip, his illusion was nearly overwhelmed for a brief moment before stabilizing. Thankfully, it didn't get close enough to failing to flicker or have any outwardly noticeable effect. Bal'Nox similarly shook the much less firm hands of Jeoffrey and Cassandra. Then he walked into the city proper and began his exploration.