Chapter 33: The Journey to Thornvale
The sun beat down mercilessly as Eren trudged behind Viva through yet another seemingly identical stretch of forest. His feet ached, his water supply was dwindling, and his patience had worn dangerously thin. They had been traveling for days now, each one bleeding into the next with Viva’s constant assurances that they were "almost there."
"You’ve said we’re almost there for the past two days," Eren finally said, wiping sweat from his brow. "And you said we would find horses along the way, but there are none. You claimed it would take five days to reach Thornvale, and now we’re on our seventh day of walking."
Viva turned, adjusting her armor which had once again slipped off one shoulder. "I only said we’d get horses if we were lucky enough to find them. Not my fault we weren’t lucky," she replied with a shrug.
As they continued walking, the dense forest finally gave way, opening to a vast expanse before them. Eren blinked against the sudden brightness, taking in the strange landscape ahead.
"What is this place?" Eren asked, staring at what appeared to be a plain stretching before them. The ground looked peculiar—almost as if the sand itself was floating just above the surface, creating an otherworldly effect.
"Are we in a desert now or what should I call this?" Eren questioned, bewildered by the abrupt change in terrain.
Viva paused, looking around with a slight frown. "I think I may have... lost my track a bit. That’s why it’s taking longer."
Rather than responding further, Viva suddenly held up her hand. "Wait." She crouched down and tapped the ground three times in a deliberate pattern.
Before Eren could ask what she was doing, the ground before them shifted. Eren watched in astonishment as a figure clothed in assassin’s garb emerged from the earth behind Viva, two daggers already drawn and aimed at her neck.
"Watch out!" Eren shouted, but it was too late.
The attack happened so swiftly that Eren didn’t even have time to finish his warning. But he needn’t have worried. With astonishing speed, Viva spun and countered the attack, her movements fluid and precise—nothing like her usual clumsy demeanor. The two engaged in combat, trading blows at a dizzying pace that spoke of years of training.