The Ancients World

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~~~(POV: Cera Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: Small Village, The Continent Of Alforza)~~~

~~~(Time: 11:20 AM)~~~

Sally and I watch in fascination as they disassemble the huts. Storing them in their inventories and preparing to leave. All of them are NPCs Turned Players, which shouldn\'t be possible without partaking in the Player trials.

You have to head to the capital of whatever Kingdom or Empire you\'re in to do it. Meaning the Des\'merta is unique in the fact they don\'t. The most impressive part of all this is the Player Cathedral has disappeared now that most of the huts are gone.

"Why do you think the system has done things differently for the Des\'merta?"

My girlfriend seems as curious about the Des\'merta as I\'m trying not to be. As much as I don\'t want to learn more about these people. I don\'t think I\'ve got a choice.

The system has always done things in a specific way. Or should I say Angelus since she\'s the one in charge of everything. I don\'t know why she\'d make an exception for the Des\'merta. Not unless she was instructed to by The Almighty Father.

"I don\'t know. Angelus has always been very strict when it comes to Players and NPCs. She wouldn\'t bend the rules unless given a good reason or instructed to. That begs the question about why the Des\'merta is so important to do this for..."

Before our conversation can continue, Xilo makes her way over to us. She has the same smile she had yesterday when we entered the hut. It\'s going to take some time to get over what happened. But in the end, Xilo did it to help us.

Sally is on edge around her. Xilo isn\'t unaware of this. In fact, she makes her way to Sally specifically, changing course altogether. Instead of saying anything. She reaches down and grabs both of Sally\'s hands. Looking into her eyes with a sorrowful expression.

"You may hate me now, and that\'s fine. But what I did was the only way to make you Des\'merta. I saw your attachment to Raduerial. I knew if I told you, neither of you would accept. There are no great and open cities in the lands of Des\'merta."

That would\'ve been nice to know beforehand. However, it explains why they\'re taking us with them.

"You\'re right that I wouldn\'t have let anything happen. Neither would Angel Zern. I\'m not forgiving you for what you did. But I understand it."

Sally lightly pulls her hands away from Xilo. She gives a slight nod and leans over to kiss the forehead of Sally. She doesn\'t like it, but she accepts it. Xilo turns her attention to me and takes a step in my direction.

In the end, she\'s trying to help us. She did it the way her people only knew how. I suppose she made the best she could out of what she had on hand. I won\'t be forgiving her anytime soon, but I understand it as well.

"Raduerial. The night the three of us shared will never be forgotten. Sally and you share a powerful bond. I assure you, I didn\'t come between that. No love has been lost between you too. Trust hasn\'t gone away either."

She does the same with me as she did with Sally. Since I\'m taller, she has to stand on her tippy toes. After kissing my forehead, she makes her way to the village leader.

Leaving Sally and me to watch as they have a brief conversation. After a couple of minutes, they both make their way back over. The tall man from before stands across from us. A much less serious expression on his face.

"We\'ll be crossing the Safari soon. It\'s an 8-day trip from here, and the journey won\'t be easy. You\'ll have to travel on foot with us if you wish to find a place similar to what you\'d call a city for the Des\'merta. Since you\'re one of us now, you\'ll be under our protection."

I should know the name of who I\'m talking to. Since he\'s the leader of this place, I\'ll be spending a lot of time talking and traveling with this guy.

"What\'s your name? We already know hers, but we don\'t know yours."

He cracks a smile and unfolds his arms. Bringing his right fist into his left palm. Only to take them apart again and beat his chest once.

"I\'m Relio, leader of this caravan. You\'ve already met Xilo, she is our spiritual leader and guide. I\'ve sought her council many times. She\'s never been wrong with her visions."

I look at Xilo, and she\'s as calm as can be. She\'s a seer. Someone who can see events before they can happen. She might\'ve seen our arrival here.

"Does your caravan have a specific name, or do all groups of people out here refer to themselves as Des\'merta?"

I might as well learn the correct way to address them since we\'ll be with them for a while. This is what Sally and I wanted. An adventure out of nowhere.

"We refer to ourselves as Des\'merta. The caravan has no name."

We spend a couple more minutes talking, but after a while. They leave Sally and me alone. There is much we\'ll be doing in the coming week. I don\'t like the idea of crossing a hot and dry climate on foot. Even if we\'re not in the desert anymore.

A Safari is dangerous in many ways other than heat. I don\'t know what we\'ll find out here. The dark-skinned people of Des\'merta are a unique bunch. While I don\'t approve of some of their methods. They\'re a kind people.

Sally walks beside me as we start moving with the caravan. Her hand is held in mine, and she\'s wearing a smile.

"What\'s got you so happy?"

I thought she\'d be angry for a while. But I guess she\'s not dwelling on what happened for very long.

"It\'s been a while since we got to walk side-by-side like this. Where there is no rush to get anywhere. It\'s been a long time since I got to hold your hand like this. Usually, I\'m riding on your back as we fly. This is a nice change of pace."

I\'ll be honest. Holding hands is something we don\'t do a lot of and something that I actually like to do. But before I can say anything in response, a familiar voice interrupts us.

"Would I be welcomed to walk with you?"

Xilo pops up next to Sally, and she\'s wearing a hopeful expression. She\'s apologized and is looking to make amends. Even if her culture says that she did nothing wrong, she recognizes how much we didn\'t like what she did.

Sally looks like she could either say yes or no. I\'ll leave the decision up to her since she\'s my girlfriend.

"I\'m not ready to have you around us. But that might change in the future. Give some space, and we\'ll see later."

That\'s a very mature response and one that I admire coming from Sally. Her emotional growth is apparent. I know that she\'s done it on her own, cause I\'m not good at growing emotionally. I haven\'t changed too much.

The places that I have changed have been big ones. But Sally\'s have been small incremental changes that have built up.

Xilo accepts the chance for a better relationship with us and walks ahead with a smile. Joining the leaders. There are about 200 people apart of the caravan. We\'re near the front.

"That was very big of you, Sally..."

We can say a lot of things about Xilo. But one thing is for sure. She bore no ill will when last night happened.

"Yeah, while I don\'t like what she did. She\'s not a bad person. Our lives and cultures are way too different for something not to conflict. This happened to be one of those times when the difference was too big."

Yeah, giving us a powerful drug and having a three-way isn\'t something we do on the regular. It seems to be common among the Des\'merta.

I hope there isn\'t too much of this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Below this line, I\'ll be keeping Cera\'s player information. That way, I won\'t have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.237][Tier-4]

[Exp: 72/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 440] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir\'s Whistle (Divine)] [Camping gear] [Fishing poles 2x] [Festival Garbs 2x] [4x EXP Boosts] [Princess Saliandra\'s Panties (Black Lace)] [Desert Warrior Nomad Set (Rare)]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.74 325/7400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.74 225/7400] [Slash Lvl.92 4600/21000] [Parry Lvl.68 85/6800] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controlled Fun] [Aspect of Transportation (Legendary)]