The performance was about to begin.
Dark and Sweeper nodded to one another, then Dark walked to a tree and leant against it, pretending to play dead.
Sweeper wondered about what it should do, though Dark soon glanced at it and to Jay's surprise it seemed like it understood.
Suddenly, and strangely, it was like Sweepers whole persona changed.
Its shoulders were pushed back and it seemed to move slower as if it was wearing the heavy mage hunter armour, each of its steps somehow even seemed heavier too.
"Wait a second." Jay thought, narrowing his eyes as he noticed something intriguing, and both of the skeletons froze.
Sweeper had made so many subtle changes to the way it held itself and walked, that Jay almost thought it could have been channelling the soul of a mage hunter - yet it was taking all its directions from Dark.
"I knew they could communicate non-verbally somehow, similar to my thought-commands, but I didn't realise it would be this... detailed." Jay thought.
Sweeper was following the directions of Dark far too precisely.
"Continue." Jay waved his hand.
Sweeper picked up a rock and walked closer to Dark, it seemed to place every step with precision as if guided directly.
Dark was still lying there with the dagger by it's side, and had sprinkled some sticks on top, mimicking the way that Jay had it conceal its weapon with leaves.
The green light of its eyes disappeared, surprising Jay as he didn't even realise the skeletons could do this.
Next, Dark lay its head back and lowered its bottom jaw as if slackened and truly dead.
Sweeper drew nearer, standing over Dark, and even showing the same resolute signs of authority in its body language the mage hunter did.
As Sweeper stood over Dark, it held up the stone in its hand, pretending to grab it from it's waist and held it to its mouth.
Sweepers bottom jaw chomped a few times, making a few clattering noises as it mimicked talking, and then lowered its hand again, dropping the rock to the ground.
Jay could tell it was pretending to use a communication crystal, but couldn't help but smile as he watched the skeleton mimic human speech.
The mage hunters communicating wasn't a surprise though.
Sweeper then bent down and looked at Dark's body more closely, but just as the Sweeper reached forward...
Suddenly, Dark's bottom jaw snapped shut.
Its eyes flickered back with green necrotic life.
Before Sweeper could do anything, a pile of sticks was flung into the air, and a sharp bone dagger was held right next to its neck.
"Huh?" Jay wondered why it didn't stab it deeply into Sweepers neck.
Sweeper seemed to pause, almost in shock or even surprise.
Next, Dark relentlessly stabbed just outside of the neck area.
Sweeper shrugged and then punched Dark's skull. Dark's skull bounced against the tree and caused Dark to stop moving and go limp.
It was over.
"Ah, I see. I guess the dagger didn't get past the armour." Jay frowned.
"At least I sent a message, albeit quite a useless one in the end..."
After the little presentation was done, Jay had Sweeper return to throne-carrying duty.
"Hmm... I may need to throw them off my trail." Jay thought.
While he was far away from them it was better to be safe.
He thought of an idea, perhaps even a dangerous one; one that may not even work.
It could even come back to hurt him in the future, but he couldn't be certain.
Jay quickly sent Dark back, near a place he wished he had never laid eyes upon.
To the innocuous black circle of lifeless dirt.
Of course, he commanded Dark not to cross it, but to sit somewhere ahead of it.
Jay didn't want to risk offending whatever it was that had claimed that land as its own.
A part of Jay even pitied the mage hunters which would foolishly step foot in that place, that dark soil which seemed like untouchable, un-holy ground.
"Do the same as before Dark, and whatever happens, don't step a single foot into the black soil." he ordered as he was carried away on the throne.
"Based on how quickly Dark dies, I'll have a good estimate of how quickly they're searching the forest. The black soil was about four hours away from the desert, and Dark should arrive there in about one day based on his speed. The mage hunters probably still have to cut away more of the desert mushrooms, though I don't know yet if there is still only two of them, it's obvious more are coming."
Jay would have sent another skeleton back to scout, though with the rest of them carrying himself and Asra he was out of spare skeletons.
Besides, it was more important to travel away from the mage hunters than to find out how many were following.
Even if only a single mage hunter was following, it would still be a problem.
As Jay travelled, hours passed, and through the dense forest, he noticed the terrain begin to change.
Hills and valleys became more numerous, the way was becoming more steep, and slowly he was entering a more mountainous, rugged area.
It wasn't like a wall of an endless mountain range, but more like a labyrinth of valleys weaving endlessly between large jagged peaks and mounds of white.
You would have to either be on top of a mountain or surrounded by them.
There was still dense vegetation covering everything though.
Many long tumbling moss-covered vines flowed down the side of cliffs, while slender waterfalls flowed over the sides of others, creating perpetual clouds of mist at the bottom.
The valleys became dangerously treacherous, some having powerful rivers flowing through them while others only had flat bottoms carved out of the rock, waiting for a large torrent of water to wipe away anything caught within.
Random pillars and towers of stone dotted the land, each covered with their own lush veils of green.
Jay loosely followed the guidance, walking along between the bottom of valleys and the sides of mountains, but the trees couldn't hope to cover this rugged land with all of its roots, and soon enough, near an overhanging cliff, there was some bare soil.
It was something Jay had been looking for, for a while.
"Finally, my helminth can return." he thought, and made his way to the soil under the cliff and waited for his bone parasite.
But Jay also noticed something else - he heard the sounds of birds, singing their songs to anyone who would listen.
Without realising it, he had left the blood-vine bear territory. He was out of hollow forest.
"Hmm... I wonder where Lamp was hunting those beasts..." Jay wondered.
Since entering this mountainous area he had not seen any movement. He assumed that Lamp must have went deeper into the mountains.
Something about leaving the lifeless area made him feel more free, or perhaps it was the mountains around acting like a maze to hide in.
Either way, he felt good.
As he stood there, waiting for his helminth, he looked around for any birds, curious if he would see anything unusual, curious if he would see that silver-white raven.
As he glanced around, though, something caught his attention.
Across the valley on the opposite mountain, a black shadow loomed.
An entrance to a large cave.
It was either a random, abnormally large cave or a dungeon, but seeing as Jay was missing out on exp while he travelled, he decided to investigate.
It would only be a short detour anyway.
Finally, his necrotic helminth breached the surface of the soil, having navigated around large boulders, through mountains, and under deep valleys.
"Ah, hello there" Jay smiled, glad to have his little companion back.
The helminth didn't snap back as it usually did, as it had something in its mouth.
It must have been important for the little underground parasite to carry it this far, or at least intriguing enough to the bone worm.
"Huh, you got me a little present buddy?" Jay stepped down from the throne and approached it.
Surprisingly, Jay recognised it.
"Hey... didn't that belong to Viladore?"
The performance was about to begin.
Dark and Sweeper nodded to one another, then Dark walked to a tree and leant against it, pretending to play dead.
Sweeper wondered about what it should do, though Dark soon glanced at it and to Jay's surprise it seemed like it understood.
Suddenly, and strangely, it was like Sweepers whole persona changed.
Its shoulders were pushed back and it seemed to move slower as if it was wearing the heavy mage hunter armour, each of its steps somehow even seemed heavier too.
"Wait a second." Jay thought, narrowing his eyes as he noticed something intriguing, and both of the skeletons froze.
Sweeper had made so many subtle changes to the way it held itself and walked, that Jay almost thought it could have been channelling the soul of a mage hunter - yet it was taking all its directions from Dark.
"I knew they could communicate non-verbally somehow, similar to my thought-commands, but I didn't realise it would be this... detailed." Jay thought.
Sweeper was following the directions of Dark far too precisely.
"Continue." Jay waved his hand.
Sweeper picked up a rock and walked closer to Dark, it seemed to place every step with precision as if guided directly.
Dark was still lying there with the dagger by it's side, and had sprinkled some sticks on top, mimicking the way that Jay had it conceal its weapon with leaves.
The green light of its eyes disappeared, surprising Jay as he didn't even realise the skeletons could do this.
Next, Dark lay its head back and lowered its bottom jaw as if slackened and truly dead.
Sweeper drew nearer, standing over Dark, and even showing the same resolute signs of authority in its body language the mage hunter did.
As Sweeper stood over Dark, it held up the stone in its hand, pretending to grab it from it's waist and held it to its mouth.
Sweepers bottom jaw chomped a few times, making a few clattering noises as it mimicked talking, and then lowered its hand again, dropping the rock to the ground.
Jay could tell it was pretending to use a communication crystal, but couldn't help but smile as he watched the skeleton mimic human speech.
The mage hunters communicating wasn't a surprise though.
Sweeper then bent down and looked at Dark's body more closely, but just as the Sweeper reached forward...
Suddenly, Dark's bottom jaw snapped shut.
Its eyes flickered back with green necrotic life.
Before Sweeper could do anything, a pile of sticks was flung into the air, and a sharp bone dagger was held right next to its neck.
"Huh?" Jay wondered why it didn't stab it deeply into Sweepers neck.
Sweeper seemed to pause, almost in shock or even surprise.
Next, Dark relentlessly stabbed just outside of the neck area.
Sweeper shrugged and then punched Dark's skull. Dark's skull bounced against the tree and caused Dark to stop moving and go limp.
It was over.
"Ah, I see. I guess the dagger didn't get past the armour." Jay frowned.
"At least I sent a message, albeit quite a useless one in the end..."
After the little presentation was done, Jay had Sweeper return to throne-carrying duty.
"Hmm... I may need to throw them off my trail." Jay thought.
While he was far away from them it was better to be safe.
He thought of an idea, perhaps even a dangerous one; one that may not even work.
It could even come back to hurt him in the future, but he couldn't be certain.
Jay quickly sent Dark back, near a place he wished he had never laid eyes upon.
To the innocuous black circle of lifeless dirt.
Of course, he commanded Dark not to cross it, but to sit somewhere ahead of it.
Jay didn't want to risk offending whatever it was that had claimed that land as its own.
A part of Jay even pitied the mage hunters which would foolishly step foot in that place, that dark soil which seemed like untouchable, un-holy ground.
"Do the same as before Dark, and whatever happens, don't step a single foot into the black soil." he ordered as he was carried away on the throne.
"Based on how quickly Dark dies, I'll have a good estimate of how quickly they're searching the forest. The black soil was about four hours away from the desert, and Dark should arrive there in about one day based on his speed. The mage hunters probably still have to cut away more of the desert mushrooms, though I don't know yet if there is still only two of them, it's obvious more are coming."
Jay would have sent another skeleton back to scout, though with the rest of them carrying himself and Asra he was out of spare skeletons.
Besides, it was more important to travel away from the mage hunters than to find out how many were following.
Even if only a single mage hunter was following, it would still be a problem.
As Jay travelled, hours passed, and through the dense forest, he noticed the terrain begin to change.
Hills and valleys became more numerous, the way was becoming more steep, and slowly he was entering a more mountainous, rugged area.
It wasn't like a wall of an endless mountain range, but more like a labyrinth of valleys weaving endlessly between large jagged peaks and mounds of white.
You would have to either be on top of a mountain or surrounded by them.
There was still dense vegetation covering everything though.
Many long tumbling moss-covered vines flowed down the side of cliffs, while slender waterfalls flowed over the sides of others, creating perpetual clouds of mist at the bottom.
The valleys became dangerously treacherous, some having powerful rivers flowing through them while others only had flat bottoms carved out of the rock, waiting for a large torrent of water to wipe away anything caught within.
Random pillars and towers of stone dotted the land, each covered with their own lush veils of green.
Jay loosely followed the guidance, walking along between the bottom of valleys and the sides of mountains, but the trees couldn't hope to cover this rugged land with all of its roots, and soon enough, near an overhanging cliff, there was some bare soil.
It was something Jay had been looking for, for a while.
"Finally, my helminth can return." he thought, and made his way to the soil under the cliff and waited for his bone parasite.
But Jay also noticed something else - he heard the sounds of birds, singing their songs to anyone who would listen.
Without realising it, he had left the blood-vine bear territory. He was out of hollow forest.
"Hmm... I wonder where Lamp was hunting those beasts..." Jay wondered.
Since entering this mountainous area he had not seen any movement. He assumed that Lamp must have went deeper into the mountains.
Something about leaving the lifeless area made him feel more free, or perhaps it was the mountains around acting like a maze to hide in.
Either way, he felt good.
As he stood there, waiting for his helminth, he looked around for any birds, curious if he would see anything unusual, curious if he would see that silver-white raven.
As he glanced around, though, something caught his attention.
Across the valley on the opposite mountain, a black shadow loomed.
An entrance to a large cave.
It was either a random, abnormally large cave or a dungeon, but seeing as Jay was missing out on exp while he travelled, he decided to investigate.
It would only be a short detour anyway.
Finally, his necrotic helminth breached the surface of the soil, having navigated around large boulders, through mountains, and under deep valleys.
"Ah, hello there" Jay smiled, glad to have his little companion back.
The helminth didn't snap back as it usually did, as it had something in its mouth.
It must have been important for the little underground parasite to carry it this far, or at least intriguing enough to the bone worm.
"Huh, you got me a little present buddy?" Jay stepped down from the throne and approached it.
Surprisingly, Jay recognised it.
"Hey... didn't that belong to Viladore?"
