Book 3: Chapter 45: Patch 8.0: The Temple in the Forest

After sending Rao and Shogun back over to The Shoebill to tell the girls aboard that those on shore were going to head back into the forest, checking to see if any of them wanted to come, the ashore group has ventured once more into the forest.

“I’m still surprised none of them wanted to come,” Fenrir says. “Did they have a reason?”

“They said something about some test starting with a B and then the one with the cat ears told me to go away,” Rao explains.

“A test that starts with a B? You have any idea, Cass Cass?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Cassiel asks. “There’s tons of things that start with B.”

“Olly?”

“Nope,” Oleander answers.

“Now it’s going to be bothering me, and if it’s not something obvious, I’ve got a feeling that they’re not going to tell me what the test is.”

While the group talks, Rock and Shogun walk side-by-side and keep on brushing their sides against each other. Whenever one of them runs ahead to look at something curious, the other follows. When one stops to sniff, the other does the same.

Even Fenrir has to admit that they’re a really cute couple at this point. It pains him to admit it, but he does.

His little Rock is all grown up.

“How do we know we’re going in the right direction?” Rao asks.

“Look down, asshole. There’s giant tracks in the ground from that monster to follow back there. He chased us starting at the temple, so obviously, all we have to do is follow them back,” Cassiel explains.

“Hey, I wasn’t here for that part, so I wouldn’t know about all of that.”

“Use common sense. We’re obviously following these tracks. Do you think we’d be following them if they weren’t going to lead us back to the temple – our goal?”

“I – I guess you’ve got a pretty good point there,” Rao says, rubbing the back of his head before leaning over to Fenrir and whispering, “Bro, how do you handle her? She’s kind of a—”

“Don’t say it,” Fenrir whispers back. “One, no being disrespectful. Two, it would piss me off. Three, it would piss her off and you’d get chased through the forest for a few hours or until killed.”

“But, bro… do you know what I mean?”

“She’s just—”

“Just what?” Cassiel asks, standing behind and between the two.

“Beautiful,” Fenrir answers.

“Wha-what?” Cassiel’s face, predictably, turns red. “Wh-why are you sa-saying things like that around this asshole?!”

“I love you, Cass Cass, and you’re beautiful.”

“I – I, what – why are you—”

Fenrir can practically see the steam rising from her ears. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he says, going in for the killing blow.

Cassiel covers her mouth with her hands as her eyes quiver from embarrassment and happiness. She tries asking him why he’s doing this to her, but the only noises that come out from her mouth are various squeaks and mumbles that are absolutely unintelligible.

She doesn’t even mind when Rao whispers, “Nice one, bro,” to Fenrir. “Wait, bro, why are you all red?”

The goal may have been to fluster Cassiel, but Fenrir flustered himself just as much in the process by saying those words to her.

“They’re so cute together,” Oleander says while walking with both of his hands on the back of his head.

Fenrir and Cassiel look at him with the same embarrassed glare.

“I think I understand how now,” Rao says as he mentally takes notes.

“It sucks not having my Cor here with me. Rock and – what was his name, Shogun? Rock and Shogun are walking together, Fenny and Cass Cass have each other, my boyfriend is asleep, and then there’s you,” Oleander says.

“H-hey, what’s that supposed to mean? Come on, we’re both men!”

“Don’t lump me into the same category as you.”

“Then what are you?”

“Better than you,” Oleander says with a wink and a blown kiss.

Rock rushes ahead when she sees a particularly tasty snack lying around.

A rock.

There are two of them next to each other, and Shogun is standing next to her looking at the rocks.

Rock picks up one of the two rocks and crunches away at it, swallowing it after barely even chewing it.

Shogun tilts his head while looking at the rock.

Seeing that he hasn’t eaten his yet, Rock nudges it with her nose and then watches him with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

Shogun nudges the rock with his snout, licks it, and then picks it up in his mouth to try and chew on it.

He wants to whimper and yip from hurting his teeth against it, but he can’t when next to Rock.

Instead, he drops it and nudges it over to her.

Rock looks at the rock, tilts her head, then nudges it back toward him.

Shogun shakes his head before nudging it back.

Rock barks at him, smacks the rock with her paw, and then pushes it back to him.

“What… do you think they’re saying?” Cassiel asks now that her head isn’t a boiler on the verge of exploding.

Shogun barks at Rock, and then Rock barks back at him.

“I think they’re… maybe having a fight?” Fenrir suggests.

The two pets start growling at each other.

“That was a short relationship,” Oleander says. “Guess we won’t be getting rocky fox puppies.”

“That’s alright,” Fenrir says.

Then they hear the creaking of the tree that Rock and Shogun are standing in front of.

Nobody noticed it before, but the tree is cracked and partially uprooted already. It likely got bumped into by that monster as it was chasing them through the forest.

While Rock is distracted with stomping her paws against the ground to illustrate whatever point she’s trying to make, Shogun takes notice of the now-falling tree.

It’ll land directly on top of them.

“Move!” Fenrir and Rao both shout at once, rushing forward to try and save their pets, but they’re not fast enough as the tree breaks in half and falls directly over them.

Shogun, extending his wings, summons a burst of speed to knock Rock out of the way!

All Fenrir and Rao hear are whimpers and cries coming from both of their pets as the tree obstructs what just happened.

When the dirt and leaves settle, they see Rock and Shogun safe next to the fallen tree.

Rock was only whimpering out of surprise from being rammed into by Shogun, and Shogun is trying his hardest not to cry more after slamming full-speed into solid rock.

Rock looks at the tree and then Shogun.

The left side of his face is bruised and already swelling up from the impact, so when Rock realizes what just happened, that’s where she gently licks and nuzzles her face against.

“Damn, bro, I would have asked you to teach me if I knew you were this smooth,” Rao says, watching the two canines make up and lick each other.

Shogun walks over to the rock that got pushed aside from the tree, picks it up, and sets it down in front of Rock.

Everybody thinks that the fight is going to start again, but instead, Rock licks Shogun and then eats the rock herself.

“My heart,” Oleander says.

“I know, right?!” Cassiel squeals before realizing that she’s let out her girly side.

“I guess we’re getting rocky fox puppies after all,” Fenrir says with a sigh. “At least they’re safe.”

“Bro, if they have kids, which one of us is the grandpa?” Rao asks.

“That’s not… you can have multiple grandpas.”

“Yeah but like, which is the grandpa.”

“What do you even mean?”

“You know, like, the grandpa.”

“I don’t… you can be the grandpa.”

“Seriously? Sweet! You’re the best, bro,” Rao says with a bright smile. “I’m gonna be a grandpa!”

Fenrir is starting to doubt that this man has a career and knows how to function as a normal human being in reality.

With Rock and Shogun leading the way, side by side once more, the group eventually reaches their destination.

A small, Greek-styled temple is standing before them. A few of the pillars have been knocked over, and it’s overgrown with vegetation, but the marble structure is in remarkably good condition despite that.

Resting on a marble slab in the middle of the structure is a sword with a white and gold sheath. The handle and guard follow the same color scheme with the handle being white and the guard being gold.

Fenrir whistles. “That’s a pretty nice-looking sword. I can see why you wanted to get it. I wonder why this place is here, though.”

“Don’t know, don’t care. I just want that sword,” Cassiel says, approaching it while keeping an eye out for any more potential, oversized monsters.

“Hey! Looks like there’s some stairs over there,” Rao calls out, pointing to the back corner of the temple.

Rock and Shogun run over to look down the stairs but see nothing other than the steps leading into darkness.

“Maybe it’s like a dungeon?” Oleander suggests. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone dungeon diving, Fenny.”

“Yeah, but with that logic… if there was a sword up here and a giant boss monster, wouldn’t the actual dungeon be even more defended? I doubt we’d be able to handle it on our own,” Fenrir says.

Cassiel picks up her new sword and unsheaths it, letting the silver blade reflect what little sunlight shines through the forest’s canopy.

She’s got a massive grin on her face as she unstraps her current sword from her side, tosses it away, and then straps her new sheath there.

“I feel kind of bad for the old sword,” Fenrir says.

“It was just a sword. Let’s test this one out!” Cassiel says, walking over to where Rock and Shogun are.

As soon as Cassiel stands at the top of the stairs, she sees a dozen thick, slimy tentacles start reaching up out of the darkness.

“Nevermind. We’re leaving,” Cassiel announces.

After seeing Nyaiko with the tentacled creature on the beach earlier, she already knows where this would go were they to descend the stairs.