A Hand-Woven Universe 134 133. Sarah and Clayton

It was the middle of the night, and an ever-bright moon hung from the sky lighting up the forest in a soft blue glow.

"Hahaha" The little wizard laughed. "Noone. Noone, listen to this."

"Not now Al. We can talk in the morning, I don't have much time to cultivate – and the energy here is too weak, I can't afford to slack off." Noone responded curtly.

Noone and Alaviv had come to spend most nights together in discussion.

At first Noone was hesitant about dealing with such a frivolous and willful old man. This was especially true after Alaviv revealed his level to the entire caravan. He was apprehensive about what such a being could want with him.

It only took a few nights of interacting with the little wizard for Noone to realize that he gained nothing from being so guarded with Alaviv. Not only did Alaviv help Noone with exploring more capabilities of his divine sense, but Noone realized that with Alaviv's level of power, there was nothing Noone could do if he really did want something from him.

Noone was not so conceited to believe that he could do anything against such a being… But that still left the question, what did Alaviv want with him?

Noone was beginning to think that maybe the old gnome was just curious. Every night the gnome would pepper Noone with questions, about his past, about his people, and about his power.

Instead of giving the old gnome his entire life story, Noone decided to feed it to Alaviv in pieces. Despite their relationship growing more friendly, Noone did not want to make things easy on the mischievous old man.

At the moment Noone was gathering threads of energy and diffusing it throughout his body. It was slow going, but necessary work.

Next to him, Alaviv laid in the grass with a book grasped between his hands. He was casually humming to himself. In his hands was a copy of 'The Lusty Lizardfolk Maid." Noone could only smile wryly at the title and chose to not bring it up. After seeing the book for the first time, Noone went and asked Raelith about it.

"Noone!" The elven cleric smiled and her eyes lit up with laughter and tears as she listened to his question. "Well… with so many people in the common world – especially humans – books aren't just meant for the histories… There are many people who write and read stories for… pleasure." She choked back another chuckle trying to explain the idea to Noone.

Noone had read numerous books in the libraries of Tapestry with Liter so he was familiar with the idea of stories written telling tales of heroic ventures. But… when he looked at the old gnome, he had a feeling this book wasn't one of those.

Suddenly the old gnome looked up into the tree-line revealing a wide-toothed smile.

Noone caught this action in his divine sense and stopped gathering energy to look at Alaviv.

"What is it?" Noone asked, transmitting the thought right into Alaviv's mind.

The gnome looked at Noone his smile a bit more playful. "It seems that your little girlfriend is up to something shady." He wiggled his bony fingers mysteriously as he spoke, teasing Noone. Noone frowned but said nothing. He knew that the gnome was referring to Sarah.

Alaviv had gone out of his way to talk with Sarah a number of times since starting the journey, however he didn't pester her the way he did Noone.

"What makes you think it's shady?" Noone asked. "She could just be going out to train."

"Why don't you go find out then?" Alaviv smiled. "I'm heading back to the caravan, these old bones need rest after all." He said, joints creaking slightly as he stood up and wandered back towards the carts.

Noone thought for a while before finally smiling wryly and shaking his head. "Truly… this old man." Knowing that the old man wouldn't have mentioned it if it really was nothing, Noone decided to head off in the direction the old man had been looking. He spread his divine senses to the limit, easily navigating the dark forest.

After five minutes, Noone reached the edge of a small clearing. From where he was standing, he could see a number of things.

Sarah stood within the middle of the clearing, her armor and weapon were all equipped, and her arms were crossed. Noone was able to tell that she was waiting for something.

Noone immediately suppressed the energy which flowed through his meridians. The normal white glow which was emitted from the power lines etched into his flesh lowered down to the point that they looked nonexistent, blending in with his normal stone-grey flesh.

After practicing for a while Noone had managed to get to the point he could suppress it, but it took a lot out of him to maintain this level of concentration. The energy which flowed through him – the universe energy he absorbed – didn't like to be contained, and it certainly didn't like being suppressed.

Noone sat quietly in tree line hiding his body as much as he could, watching Sarah who was standing patiently in the clearing. Noone's divine sense spread to its limit looking for any sign of what Sarah was waiting for.

Minute after minute passed with no change, however Noone was put more on edge with each passing second. There was a creeping feeling which was crawling up his spine that he couldn't quite place. A quiet danger which lurked nearby…

He thought about approaching Sarah and warning her, but he had already concealed himself and he didn't want to disturb her if it turned out to be nothing.

Suddenly, Noone watched as Sarah's eyebrows raised in shock and she turned her whole body, facing the tree line.

Facing Noone.

"Did she notice me? No… that should have been impossible." Noone thought quickly. "The look on Sarah's face was definitely surprise… what changed?"

Noone began to stand and step out from the tree line, revealing himself to put Sarah at ease and show it was just him. But suddenly his body swayed…

No, that isn't right…

In the split second before Noone stood up, another being entered within range of his divine sense, on the opposite side of the tree he was crouched behind.

As fast as Noone could observe, the other being dressed all in black armor pulled out a broadsword and, like a bat, swung it directly towards the tree.

Noone barely had a second to react before the trunk of the pine exploded in a shower of shrapnel and wood threatening to pierce through his flesh.

Instead of moving back, Noone quickly kicked off from the ground compacting the dirt under him from the rush of force. His whole body shot out from the tree line and into the clearing, rolling heavily on the grass before coming to his feet with his weapons drawn and his back towards Sarah.

"Fast." Noone thought. He wasted no time focusing his divine sense on the man which had appeared as if from nowhere. One look at this being in black told Noone that he was definitely the cause of the spine-chilling feeling which had been creeping into his bones.

Noone tightened his grip on the axe's, preparing to cause as much noise as he could. Hopefully he would catch the attention of the caravan before he and Sarah were seriously injured.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A pleasant but average male voice, slowly walking out from the trees.

"Noone?" Sarah's voice from behind.

No one moved or said anything. Noone's thoughts moved at a million miles a minute.

"He didn't kill me or seriously harm me…. He most definitely could have." Noone's first thought. "And… wait… why was Sarah surprised to see me, but not him?" His second thought.

It only took a moment for Noone to realize he had made a mistake. The man who had attacked him was the person Sarah had been waiting for, Noone was the one intruding. After a moment's hesitation, Noone slowly began to put the axes back into their places on his waist.

The man in front of Noone looked on curiously. Noone stopped suppressing his energy and a white glow began to emit from the lines on his body again. His expression was carefully controlled and neutral, but his entire body was tense. He was prepared to fight with everything he had if it came to it.

"Sarah, you know him?" The man looked past Noone to Sarah who was still gathering her wits after seeing Noone suddenly burst from the trees.

"Um. Yes. This is Noone, he is my traveling companion with the group from the order." Sarah spoke quickly, trying to clear up any of the confusion.

"The one you picked up from the edge?" Clayton put a hand on his chin, revealing a smile that made Noone tense up. He wondered how long this person had watched him without him noticing.

"Shit." Noone thought. Faced with this sneaky being, he was suddenly reminded of how little he was in the common realm. He was truly… weak. So far, he had just gotten lucky with his dealings, but if this person had intended to kill him from the beginning, Noone was afraid there was very little he could do about it.

Sarah nodded, quickly introducing Noone to Clayton.

"Noone. This is Clayton. He is also a vengeance paladin of Hoar. He was sent here to help show me the ropes…" Sarah said. Noone nodded, doing his best to loosen up despite the atmosphere.

"Why are you here Noone?" Sarah asked. She couldn't believe Noone noticed her leaving, and even if he did - Noone wasn't the type to needlessly follow others.

Noone thought about this for a moment. "Why am I here?" The image a wily white-haired gnome flashed into his mind. "Ah." He thought. "That would be why."

On the outside Noone could only smile wryly, explaining that he had been curious what training she was doing to leave the caravan alone without him or Tobias.

Sarah didn't know whether or not to believe Noone, but Clayton could see right through him. Part truth part lie.

Eventually Clayton just shrugged. "Well if he's here anyways then he can help us out." Clayton said emphatically.

Noone tensed again, but kept his expression neutral. A good default expression for dealing with people like Clayton, Noone thought.

Sarah looked like she was about to say something but chose against it. Instead she just shared a private look with Noone.
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"Don't worry." Clayton said. "We are just doing a bit of exterminating in the good name of Hoar. Nothing to be wary of." The way clayton laughed made Noone distrust the man more. Claytons casual look only added to his uncanny feeling.

Chapter end