Forest of Misery

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[*Earlier that morning, somewhere far away...]

"My lord!"

A man draped in a black cloak half knelt in front of a throne, where a man sat cross legged.

"What is it Johnatan? Speak."

The cloaked man raised his head. He seemed to be in his middle ages, his face was a little wrinkled.

"I was carrying out my orders as normal when I saw a man, close to Whiterun. He... used spatial magic and brought out a magic potion out of thin air."

The king immediately sat up, his attention was piqued. "Go on."

"His wounds healed almost immediately he drank the potion. But the most peculiar thing about him was that he had a baby dragon by his side."

"What? It can't be! It's been 500 years already and another one's arrived. This will change the future of the continent and the upcoming war, very fast." A grin was plastered on his face as his thoughts ran wild.

"Gather as much information as you can. See the military commander and apply for as many resources as you need. Keep an eye on him and determine his intentions. If possible, try to work with him."

"Understood."

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Lucian stopped at the stables on his way back.

Earlier, he could not magically bring out those pieces of armor to avoid suspicion. So, he found a quiet place and brought out the materials with his hands in his bag. He then sold them off at different stores, making over 200 gold.

He spoke with the stable manager and managed to haggle a black horse with white mane for a 900 gold coins. He fed the horse some carrots and led it out of the stable.

He brought out his map and looked through it, estimating his travel duration and path.

"It should take about 5-7days depending on the weather conditions." He closed the map, scratching his head, "This is going to be a long week."

He double checked to make sure he had enough supplies to last a week. After that he got on his horse and set off.

"I just hope the dragons are the complete opposite of how the stories describes them."

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The first three days of his travels were a lot more uneventful than he expected.

On the fourth day though, the rhythmic clip-clop of hooves approached from behind. Turning around on his horse, he saw a group of travelling merchants who caught up to him in no time. The caravan consisted of colorful tents and laden pack horses.

"Good afternoon, traveler. The name's J'zargo. Do you mind if we travel together for a while? Travelling can get boring with nobody to share stories with."

Lucian gazed at his heartwarming smile and thought, 'maybe this wouldn't hurt, plus I can make a break for it if need be.'

"Sure. No problem"

"Alright! Where are you headed to my friend?"

Lucian paused for a second before replying, "North."

"North?" J'zargo smiled amusedly, "Some...private business, eh?"

"Maybe."

"Then we might be travelling together for much longer than thought. It'll be good to have a new face to interact with along the way."

"What do you mean?" Lucian asked, confused. It's not like there was only one route leading north.

"The next settlement after the Forest of Misery is about 3-4 days away, if we go around it. Passing through the forest will only take us one day though, but the amount of people who's passed through there and lived to tell the tales can be counted on one hand."

Lucian had already seen the forest on the map. It was marked with a red 'X' with a skull on top. They were already close though. If nothing huge happens, they should be able to see the forest in the next 5 hours.

"Can you tell me what you know about the forest?" Lucian asked, a little curious.