The first two days of travel were surprisingly peaceful.
No demons.
No cultists.
No conspiracies.
Just a road stretching across the wilderness.
Kai almost began to believe the journey would be easy.
Then he remembered Andre existed.
That belief died quickly.
---
"You know," Andre said while riding his horse, "if we sold Akshay's letter, we'd probably make decent money."
Kai stared at him.
"You want to sell the king's letter?"
"I'm exploring options."
"Those are bad options."
Andre shrugged.
---
"Still options."
---
The road wound through hills and forests.
Occasionally they passed merchants, refugees, and travelers heading toward Yggdrasil.
Most looked nervous.
Many spoke of monster attacks.
A few spoke of entire villages disappearing.
Nobody seemed to know why.
---
That night they camped beside a stream.
Andre somehow burned dinner.
The meal consisted of dried meat.
How he managed to burn dried meat remained a mystery.
---
Kai didn't ask.
Some mysteries were safer unsolved.
---
The third day brought disaster.
Not the demon kind.
The Andre kind.
---
The two had stopped near a patch of trees.
Nature called.
So both men left their horses tied nearby and walked into separate bushes.
A few minutes later—
---
"KAI!"
Kai immediately knew something was wrong.
"What?"
"Where's my horse?"
Kai walked back toward the road.
Then stopped.
"...Where's mine?"
The horses were gone.