What was exciting to see about Craiss Caverns was the caves themselves: filled with hidden treasures and gems of all kinds. The possibility of how many precious things one could find in those caverns was endless. If one could find a way to fight off the monsters and wild creatures that roamed inside in order to just explore the area, who knew how big a fortune one could bring back with them?
It was because of this endless array of possibilities that the small group of friends was camping by the forests that were on the border of the caverns.
"From the map I got of the caverns, they're usually consisted of narrow paths that lead to vast and open clearings. They're not too labyrinth-like, so we shouldn't have too much of a problem."
The two siblings sat on a huge wooden log, the sister of the two showing the brother a map of the caverns they were planning on exploring. They were peculiar kids that didn't quite look like other children; their unusual hair colors and pointed ears were a dead giveaway that weren't quite fully human, despite having that appearance.
The girl had long green hair tied in a pony, with a soft yellow tint here and there. She wore a pullover with some shorts and boots, accented by a ribbon she wore around her waist; while she preferred skirts, dresses and heels by far, wearing those in such a terrain probably wouldn't end very well for her. Convinced by her brother to wear something a bit more adventure-appropriate, the sister had complied and worn something more comfortable for action situations.
The brother looked similar to her, having pale yellow hair with tints of a teal-like color, which was also long; unlike the sister's hair, however, it didn't end in a ponytail and simply sat on the boy's back. He was wearing his usual clothes: a scarf around his neck, a sleeveless leather jacket and shorts, together with boots and gloves that matched.
Both sported glasses and wore a similar red band in their hair, making it obvious that they were related. Personality-wise, however, the two couldn't have been any more different from each other. "Okay, so we just follow this map around and we'll get to good stuff, right, Morgan?" the brother asked, the excitement of the journey burning in his voice like wildfire.
"Well, no, it's not as simple as that, Milton," Morgan answered, hoping her brother would listen to her at least this once. "There are wild creatures in that cave, and there's no telling—"
"Oh, please! Some puny animals aren't any match for both of us. We can turn into dragons, remember?" Milton pointed out as he abruptly interrupted his sister in order to say that, and to give her a light punch on the arm. "We'll be just fine!"
Morgan squealed a little at being punched on the arm, despite the fact that it didn't hurt. She sighed and tried to shove the map in her brother's face a bit harder. "Milton, they're not just cats and dogs, they're wild creatures," the sister tried to explain, getting more and more anxious as her brother refused to listen to reason: for a change.
"Ohh, animals? Are we talking about animals? I love critters!"
Next to the bench-log was a huge tent, big enough to house almost ten people. A boy came out of the said tent, his albino features being just as obvious as the pointed ears and unusual hair colors of the two siblings. He, too, was wearing fairly simply adventure clothing, although nothing too fancy: just a light blouse with some shorts and good running shoes. It was a strange style to see on the boy, whom had slightly long white hair tied in a tiny little ponytail, and glasses that gave him a more nerdy sort of look rather than that of an adventurer.
Despite that, the boy was radiant with energy, and his curiosity for anything was quite obvious and even rivalled Milton's taste for adventure. "Ah, no critters you'd want as pets, Mark, I'm sure," Morgan answered to the albino's question about them mentioning animals. "I'm just trying to make Milton listen to reason that the caverns are dangerous, despite us being able to turn into dragons."
"Oh, well, you guys can do just that... So we'll be just fine, I'm sure!" Mark replied, waving his hand dismissively and giving the siblings a wide, confident grin. "Besides, my parents are powerful mages! I've brought a whole collection of spells, so I'll be able to shock or burn a few wild critters," the boy added, looking more confident than ever.
"I knew it was the right thing to bring you along, Mark! Only you understand me," Milton said as he got up from the log and wrapped an arm around Mark's shoulders, pulling him over just a bit. "Morgan's a stick in the mud when it comes to this stuff, so I'm lucky I have you around!"
"S... Stick in the mud?" Morgan whimpered quietly as she stared at her brother with slight disbelief, although she wasn't surprised by his blunt — if rude — honesty.
"You're the one who'll be a dead stick in the mud if you don't listen to your sister; God knows she's more brains than you."
The final kid of the group appeared through the trees, and she made the biggest entrance of the four as she dragged a bloody boar behind her by the tail. "There's probably magic creatures in there, or ones as big as you are when you're a dragon," the red-haired girl continued, dragging a dead boar and being covered in animal blood slightly not fazing her in the slightest. "I'd listen to your 'stick in the mud' sister and be grateful when she ends up saving your ass with her strategies."
While the lecture could've probably been phrased better, it wasn't the words from the girl that left the other three kids dumb-founded: it was the boar. "Dude, Linfan. Did you drag this thing all the way here by the tail?" Milton questioned, pointing to the boar still bleeding behind the smaller red-haired girl that had just appeared with it.
"Er, yeah? Or was that rhetorical?" Linfan answered, letting go of the small boar tail now that the food was in camp. "What, were you going to eat grass all weekend?"
"I meant to point out that you're unusual strong," Milton continued, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "And you're calling me dense?"
The scarred redhead frowned and gave the boy a hard glare. "And I can point out that I'm strong enough to pick it up and throw it right at you; want me to show you?"
The fourth kid of the group, Linfan, was a bit harsher than the other three, whom were all more soft-hearted or gentle. Unlike them, the redhead was blunt, and she didn't mince her words in any way, saying things for how they were rather than beating around the bush. Like the siblings, she had ears that were unlike regular human ears, but not by much; unless someone really sat down and stared at her, it was hard to see, at first glance, that Linfan's ears were slightly longer and pointier. She also bore scars on her arms and face, and she wore an attire that would usually get a few curious eyes looking in her direction. Wearing a long scarf that doubled as a hoodie, her clothes were light-weight. She wore a light t-shirt for a top and pants, together with a regular pair of boots. She also had bandages wrapped around both arms from the elbow to the wrist, but she was moving well enough to prove that they weren't there because of injuries. The last noteworthy detail about her was the peculiar sword that she carried with her, including a few smaller, sharper daggers. In particular, the bigger sword had a small trinket hanging from it, which looked like a small teddy bear that had been mangled over time, missing an arm and a leg.
"It's incredible how crazy strong you are, Linfan," Mark commented, trying to prevent the situation from going downhill considering how fast Milton and Linfan could disagree about the smallest of things. "With four of us, there's no way we can't best those caverns."
"Unless this idiot strays from the group to go explore on his own," the redhead commented, glaring in Milton's direction the entire time.
"You know," Milton started, his usually happy and excitable mood completely replaced by an angrier tone, "you didn't have to come," he reminded the red-haired assassin, glaring right back at her.
"Well, how about we think about something else and cook that boar instead?" Mark continued, trying to edge closer to Milton in order to prevent him from doing anything rash; the boy was known for having a hard time managing his anger, so the last thing the group needed was for the two hot-headed kids to break into a fight.
The whole time, all Morgan could do was sigh and wonder how in the world she'd gotten stuck into this whole mess. The story behind the group was that their parents were all good friends, and as such, so were the kids... for the most part. Morgan and Milton were siblings, so they always did everything together, even when Morgan couldn't stand to do half the things her brother loved doing. Mark was the son to their father's good friend, and he was too friendly for anyone in the group to dislike him. As for Linfan, she was the daughter of one of their father's friends. Her parents being travellers, it was especially hard to see the red-haired girl. While Milton often clashed with her, Linfan was good friends with Morgan, and she could also tolerate Mark: for the most part.
So when Milton had mentioned that it would be exciting to go on an adventure, just the four of them — no parents involved — Morgan had been elected as the "responsible" one, and now she had to make sure every single kid came back in one piece to their respective parents. And with how quickly Linfan and Milton were to jump at each other's throat, it would prove to be a challenge to keep all four kids intact throughout the journey.
The idea was to explore the caves ahead, but for the time being, the group had established their small camp right by the forest outside of them. They would camp here for the night, and then tackle the caverns tomorrow.
It was because of this endless array of possibilities that the small group of friends was camping by the forests that were on the border of the caverns.
"From the map I got of the caverns, they're usually consisted of narrow paths that lead to vast and open clearings. They're not too labyrinth-like, so we shouldn't have too much of a problem."
The two siblings sat on a huge wooden log, the sister of the two showing the brother a map of the caverns they were planning on exploring. They were peculiar kids that didn't quite look like other children; their unusual hair colors and pointed ears were a dead giveaway that weren't quite fully human, despite having that appearance.
The girl had long green hair tied in a pony, with a soft yellow tint here and there. She wore a pullover with some shorts and boots, accented by a ribbon she wore around her waist; while she preferred skirts, dresses and heels by far, wearing those in such a terrain probably wouldn't end very well for her. Convinced by her brother to wear something a bit more adventure-appropriate, the sister had complied and worn something more comfortable for action situations.
The brother looked similar to her, having pale yellow hair with tints of a teal-like color, which was also long; unlike the sister's hair, however, it didn't end in a ponytail and simply sat on the boy's back. He was wearing his usual clothes: a scarf around his neck, a sleeveless leather jacket and shorts, together with boots and gloves that matched.
Both sported glasses and wore a similar red band in their hair, making it obvious that they were related. Personality-wise, however, the two couldn't have been any more different from each other. "Okay, so we just follow this map around and we'll get to good stuff, right, Morgan?" the brother asked, the excitement of the journey burning in his voice like wildfire.
"Well, no, it's not as simple as that, Milton," Morgan answered, hoping her brother would listen to her at least this once. "There are wild creatures in that cave, and there's no telling—"
"Oh, please! Some puny animals aren't any match for both of us. We can turn into dragons, remember?" Milton pointed out as he abruptly interrupted his sister in order to say that, and to give her a light punch on the arm. "We'll be just fine!"
Morgan squealed a little at being punched on the arm, despite the fact that it didn't hurt. She sighed and tried to shove the map in her brother's face a bit harder. "Milton, they're not just cats and dogs, they're wild creatures," the sister tried to explain, getting more and more anxious as her brother refused to listen to reason: for a change.
"Ohh, animals? Are we talking about animals? I love critters!"
Next to the bench-log was a huge tent, big enough to house almost ten people. A boy came out of the said tent, his albino features being just as obvious as the pointed ears and unusual hair colors of the two siblings. He, too, was wearing fairly simply adventure clothing, although nothing too fancy: just a light blouse with some shorts and good running shoes. It was a strange style to see on the boy, whom had slightly long white hair tied in a tiny little ponytail, and glasses that gave him a more nerdy sort of look rather than that of an adventurer.
Despite that, the boy was radiant with energy, and his curiosity for anything was quite obvious and even rivalled Milton's taste for adventure. "Ah, no critters you'd want as pets, Mark, I'm sure," Morgan answered to the albino's question about them mentioning animals. "I'm just trying to make Milton listen to reason that the caverns are dangerous, despite us being able to turn into dragons."
"Oh, well, you guys can do just that... So we'll be just fine, I'm sure!" Mark replied, waving his hand dismissively and giving the siblings a wide, confident grin. "Besides, my parents are powerful mages! I've brought a whole collection of spells, so I'll be able to shock or burn a few wild critters," the boy added, looking more confident than ever.
"I knew it was the right thing to bring you along, Mark! Only you understand me," Milton said as he got up from the log and wrapped an arm around Mark's shoulders, pulling him over just a bit. "Morgan's a stick in the mud when it comes to this stuff, so I'm lucky I have you around!"
"S... Stick in the mud?" Morgan whimpered quietly as she stared at her brother with slight disbelief, although she wasn't surprised by his blunt — if rude — honesty.
"You're the one who'll be a dead stick in the mud if you don't listen to your sister; God knows she's more brains than you."
The final kid of the group appeared through the trees, and she made the biggest entrance of the four as she dragged a bloody boar behind her by the tail. "There's probably magic creatures in there, or ones as big as you are when you're a dragon," the red-haired girl continued, dragging a dead boar and being covered in animal blood slightly not fazing her in the slightest. "I'd listen to your 'stick in the mud' sister and be grateful when she ends up saving your ass with her strategies."
While the lecture could've probably been phrased better, it wasn't the words from the girl that left the other three kids dumb-founded: it was the boar. "Dude, Linfan. Did you drag this thing all the way here by the tail?" Milton questioned, pointing to the boar still bleeding behind the smaller red-haired girl that had just appeared with it.
"Er, yeah? Or was that rhetorical?" Linfan answered, letting go of the small boar tail now that the food was in camp. "What, were you going to eat grass all weekend?"
"I meant to point out that you're unusual strong," Milton continued, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "And you're calling me dense?"
The scarred redhead frowned and gave the boy a hard glare. "And I can point out that I'm strong enough to pick it up and throw it right at you; want me to show you?"
The fourth kid of the group, Linfan, was a bit harsher than the other three, whom were all more soft-hearted or gentle. Unlike them, the redhead was blunt, and she didn't mince her words in any way, saying things for how they were rather than beating around the bush. Like the siblings, she had ears that were unlike regular human ears, but not by much; unless someone really sat down and stared at her, it was hard to see, at first glance, that Linfan's ears were slightly longer and pointier. She also bore scars on her arms and face, and she wore an attire that would usually get a few curious eyes looking in her direction. Wearing a long scarf that doubled as a hoodie, her clothes were light-weight. She wore a light t-shirt for a top and pants, together with a regular pair of boots. She also had bandages wrapped around both arms from the elbow to the wrist, but she was moving well enough to prove that they weren't there because of injuries. The last noteworthy detail about her was the peculiar sword that she carried with her, including a few smaller, sharper daggers. In particular, the bigger sword had a small trinket hanging from it, which looked like a small teddy bear that had been mangled over time, missing an arm and a leg.
"It's incredible how crazy strong you are, Linfan," Mark commented, trying to prevent the situation from going downhill considering how fast Milton and Linfan could disagree about the smallest of things. "With four of us, there's no way we can't best those caverns."
"Unless this idiot strays from the group to go explore on his own," the redhead commented, glaring in Milton's direction the entire time.
"You know," Milton started, his usually happy and excitable mood completely replaced by an angrier tone, "you didn't have to come," he reminded the red-haired assassin, glaring right back at her.
"Well, how about we think about something else and cook that boar instead?" Mark continued, trying to edge closer to Milton in order to prevent him from doing anything rash; the boy was known for having a hard time managing his anger, so the last thing the group needed was for the two hot-headed kids to break into a fight.
The whole time, all Morgan could do was sigh and wonder how in the world she'd gotten stuck into this whole mess. The story behind the group was that their parents were all good friends, and as such, so were the kids... for the most part. Morgan and Milton were siblings, so they always did everything together, even when Morgan couldn't stand to do half the things her brother loved doing. Mark was the son to their father's good friend, and he was too friendly for anyone in the group to dislike him. As for Linfan, she was the daughter of one of their father's friends. Her parents being travellers, it was especially hard to see the red-haired girl. While Milton often clashed with her, Linfan was good friends with Morgan, and she could also tolerate Mark: for the most part.
So when Milton had mentioned that it would be exciting to go on an adventure, just the four of them — no parents involved — Morgan had been elected as the "responsible" one, and now she had to make sure every single kid came back in one piece to their respective parents. And with how quickly Linfan and Milton were to jump at each other's throat, it would prove to be a challenge to keep all four kids intact throughout the journey.
The idea was to explore the caves ahead, but for the time being, the group had established their small camp right by the forest outside of them. They would camp here for the night, and then tackle the caverns tomorrow.