Ray, perched atop a pillar of shadows, looked around surveying the area for anything of interest.
He soon noticed a thicket of vegetation behind some rocks, situated in an extremely hidden location. Ray himself had barely seen it with his vantage point.
The shadows quickly vanished away in smots as Ray was brought down. He then turned towards Feyd as he pointed in a certain direction.
"There seems to be something interesting there. Plants are growing so we might find some water"
Feyd's eyes immediately lit up as he curled his fists in excitement.
It had been an entire day since their water skin had run out, and they hadn't had a single drop of water since then!
Luckily Elven anatomy, and their own individually strange vitality, had managed to keep them running till now.
Usually if they don't find water by the second they would begin to experience the problems normal humans do during dehydration.
Provided during this period neither Feyd nor Ray fight, or perform rigorous physical activity.
They then began to walk towards the location where they had to scale a few rocks and maneuver past tight spaces untill they managed to catch a glimpse of the vegetation.
Ray crept closer as he examined the grass, which also looking past them to check for any anomalies while sending his psychic energy to search for the presence any other intelligent lifeforms nearby.
Every single living with a certain degree Intelligence passively releases a low-level psychic energy frequency. This is involved in communication between individuals unconsciously as feelings and concepts are released out along with the psychic energy.
Ray had learned to release his own psychic energy consciously in similar low-level frequencies while still retaining control of said psychic energy and accurately gain some information of an individuals mind.
Yet the most impressive aspect of this technique is that it can be used to accurately pinpoint the number of living entities in its radius while hard to detect and block!
Yet as he was sensing the area up ahead Feyd leaned forward to get a better look, only to misplace his footing as he began to stumble forward.
Ray immediately noticed it and almost used his shadows to save Feyd by reflex yet when the scans came back he realized there was nothing dangerous so he let Feyd fall.
Feyd couldn't summon Rifts inside objects and since he was tumbling down a slope of vegetation this ability couldn't help him.
If he summoned flames to propel him to safety he would end up burning all these plants so he decided against that too.
His conclusion was to attempt to save himself by pure physical might! And so he did...
...And failed. He swiftly reached the bottom with the same finesse seen in rolling cheese wheels as he ended up infront of an oasis.
And around the oasis were three men, behind whom were horses and carriages.
All three men were immediately startled by Feyd's arrival as they quickly drew their guns out. They seemed nervous and tired.
"Ahh crap... That hurt..."
Feyd began to massage his right shoulder on which he had landed on with a wry smile.
"Ahm! Can we help you, sir?"
Feyd, startled, shot up as he began to look around in a combat ready stance. He had only noticed their presence after they spoke out to him.
"Ah well, no not really"
As he was speaking Ray had arrived by walking down the slope himself.
The three men seemed suspicious of them still as they moved closer to each other while whispering.
They then continued to question Feyd.
"Well this oasis here is pretty hidden, so how did you find it?"
They didn't belive the two individuals infront of them had found their secret oasis accidentally.
"Well you see my friend here has really good eyesight, and he happened to catch a glimpse of the plants growing. And since we haven't really gotten anything to drink in a while we decided to see if there was anything here"
The three men looked at each other and began to whisper.
"Doremi, I think they're part of those bandits! Otherwise how else would they know of our family's secret oasis?'
"Fasola, it could also be a coincidence like they said. Also if the bandits knew we were here why wouldn't they just send everyone here to capture us?"
"Tido makes a good point. We should just let this go since they don't seem that dangerous. In any case they will probably leave soon anyways"
The three men still didn't seemed fully convinced yet they couldn't do anything. They saw no benefit to escalating the situation and thus decided to let the matter go.
Ray and Feyd enjoyed the clean water at the oasis while they snacked on some dried meat they bought from the three men.
Feyd had noticed they seemed to be traveling merchants as he leaned towards Ray to tell him something.
"Hey... Why don't we try buying some stuff from them? Maybe they have some goof stuff"
Ray thought about it for a second before nodding.
"Alright that's not a bad idea. But you can go and talk to them, I'll just stay here"
Feyd walked over to the Doremi, Fasola and Tido as they watched him cautiously.
"Hello good sirs! Are you guys merchants by any chance?"
Doremi's expression soured as be began to panick while Fasola and Tido remained relatively more composed.
"Yes, and?"
Tido replied.
"Well what do you have back there?", Feyd asked as he pointed at their carriages.
"My friend and me are traveller who encountered some trouble, so meeting you merchants might just be destiny!"
"Well we sell..."
Ray looked at Feyd talking to the three merchants while leaning against a rock.
Feyd would usually be the one who talked to others during their travels. Not only because that was his nature, but also because he was more charismatic than him and thus it proved to he more fruitful.
Somthing blocked the light entering Ray's shut eyes. He opened them to realize that Feyd was already done buying goods for them.
"Here's some clothes, and some food. And some other useful stuff. Managed to shave off a few credits by telling them about the bandits in the train"
Ray nodded noncommittally while putting on these new clothes as both him and Feyd began to get ready to leave.
(Hey! They're listening to us)
'What!?'
Although internally shocked Feyd managed to keep a calm expression while continuing to talk to Ray normally.
'Are they planning to attack us?'
(No, they just seem to be keeping an eye of us discreetly)
'I see then what do you wanna do?'
(Well I've also been listening in on them, and I have an idea. So we just...)
...
Doremi, Fasola and I, Tido, are triplets, sons of the great merchant Moohsic!
However he does also have dozens of other children so we aren't that important...
Somehow all of my father's children seem to have the makings of a merchant, for which he is very grateful for, and thus there are many competitors to succeed my father and take over his business.
Me and my two close brothers are neither very talented nor have a mother particularly beloved by father. However we still wanted to be merchants, to follow in the footsteps of our great father, Moohsic!
And thus we had began our trades in a place many merchants, including our siblings, would go. The Wastelands.
Business had been pretty fine over the last half a year, nothing great nor terrible, steadily earning profits. Untill out of the blue bandits attacked!
The guards we had hired all died or ran and most of our goods were stolen.
They seemed determined to capture us as they chased after us on horse back. If not for the superior horses we had and the fact that we had a few hand held explosives from the black market we would not have survived.
And this was right when we scored an important deal to transport materials to build 'vehicles', expensive chunks of metal that are faster than horses, do not tire or need food, and can be more easily maneuver while being more comfortable!
Me and my brothers suspected that one of our confidants had betrayed us for whatever reason. Maybe a rival merchant or businessman.
Ofcourse it could also be one of our siblings, but one of the few rules imposed on us during this bid to gain our father's favor was to not out right harm each other in anyway.
And in any case we had all grown up together playing and enjoying without much grievances so I don't expect one of them to be after our heads.
We soon escaped to a hidden oasis our father had found during a trip he made through this place, to which I have to admit makes me envious of my father's luck.
But soon after a man fell through some thickets into the oasis!
At first me and my brothers thought he was a bandit, but soon realized he didn't seem like one. A friend of his soon came down too as and he bought some simple things from us too. We had lost most of our important goods and only had decoy stuff, like clothes, grains, etc.
I used a magical tool me and my brothers bought to eavesdrop of the two strangers just incase they try something funny.
And as I do so I hear them recollect a rather far-fetched tale.
"Ah my arm still hurts after throwing that car at the bandits... Makes me regret not having just attacked them directly"
"Now thats stupid! We were on a train with them. How else were we supposed to de-rail the train if you didn't chuck that car at it?"
Dejected the red haired stranger sighed.
"Yeah... But I hope we meet those bandits again! Then I can thrash them even harder!"
The white haired stranger chuckles before he nods his head.
"Yeah yeah I know. You killed almost a hundred bandits when we found that bandit camp yesterday. Can't believe the only thing that stopped you was a manipulator and a gifted working together!"
"Hehehe! You can always count on me brother!"
The red haired stranger rubbed the tip of his nose as he looked up with a proud expression.
Disbelief washed over me as I scoffed at them. No way someone is THAT powerful!
Throwing cars... Stopping trains... Killing a hundred bandits... Fighting a manipulator and a gifted at once...
These people were crazy!
Yet as he listened to them more they just seemed like regular people, and not crazy. Perfectly sane.
I told my brothers this who seemed to contemplate the situation.
"I think we should try hiring them. Who knows, maybe the bandits have a way to tract us down!"
Fasola says, clearly worried about the being attacked again. Although it would be a lie to say I wasn't either. Who knows if they're hot in our tails right now!
"Well they still seem a bit suspicious to me, and a lil cookoo"
Doremi cautions, but I don't think he really means it. He has taken up the role of 'the cautious one' among us three, though he usually just acts cautious instead of actually being cautious himself.
"Well I think it's worth the shot. It's not like hiring two people will cost much anyways"
I chime in. I'm quite eager to get them to join us as I believe they truly do have the strength to protect us.
My reasoning for believing in them is very simple. Who talks to each other, completely serious with a straight face, and makes up fake stories while the other adds on.
People usually do that to other people, not each other!
After discussing it further we soon decide to hire the two stranger. During our talk I continued to eavesdrop on the strangers' stories that seemed to get crazier by the word!
Their talk grew less... fantastical... as we approached. They turned towards us with a look that seemed to say 'Hey, we were in the middle of recalling our great adventures. What do you want?'
"Hello travellers. If I may so, could we ask you a few questions?"
I stepped forward while trying to keep my words polite.
"Sure why not"
The red haired one casually answered.
"You two seem quite powerful. Do you think you guys could help us with a few matter? Ofcourse, with compensation!"
The two looked at each other with a strange smile. For a moment I thought I saw a strange glint in their eyes but its probably the sweltering heat.
"Sure sure! But I will warn you three in advance, our services are pretty expensive"
I nod at him with the most confident look I can muster and smile.
"Then I'll expect equally valuable services in return"