Ball of Nothing

Zero groaned. Again? This was the fifth time tonight on his watch that they were attacked. He looked over at Bob and Truen, who slept soundly in the tent that they set up. Thanks to the soundproof barrier, those inside the tent could enjoy a peaceful sleep.

The doctor looked over at them longingly. How peaceful!

As the faes that tried to attack him fell to the ground, twitching, their comrades started to flee. Zero couldn\'t allow that to happen. According to Cleo, not all fae-kind were good. Some spirits have become twisted, much like Sylvia the Silver Witch. They were known to harm others for their personal entertainment and enjoy destruction.

Zero checked the array he and Truen set up before they took turns to watch over the camp. Did Truen already expect this? Still, it was annoying having to constantly dispose of the bodies even if these dark faes couldn\'t do anything to their powerful spell. They couldn\'t even scratch the defence, much less destroy it. Yet, Zero couldn\'t understand why there were so many dark faes in the area. Wasn\'t it natural for the weak to fear the strong? What was encouraging the dark faes to be so bold? They don\'t seem to be working together either, judging by how they were of different species.

Stepping out of the defence array, Zero inspected the twitching bodies of the weaker dark faes. These gnomes and fairies were definitely newly born. They shouldn\'t emit such an evil aura this quickly or gain intelligence enough to coordinate an attack on their camp.

"Mii, show me the mini-map."

The strawcherry assistant hesitated. Truen told her not to let Zero know about it, but when Zero became insistent, she gave in and apologised silently to Truen.

The map was riddled with red dots everywhere, and Zero couldn\'t hide his astonishment. Truen and Bob probably knew about it already. Why didn\'t anyone inform him about the enemies in the area?!

Angry, Zero glared at his companions peacefully sleeping in the tent. What was going on?

Mii didn\'t stop Zero from barging into the tent and waking his friends unceremoniously. He used a very blinding light spell, and Bob screamed in pain at the light. Truen groaned and tried to shy from the source, but Zero wasn\'t going to forgive them so easily.

"Is it time for my shift?" Truen asked, and Zero stomped his feet.

"Shift? What\'s with the crazy barrage of dark faes on our camp? Shouldn\'t we choose a safer location to set up camp? Didn\'t you say we were near Pocky\'s location?"

With Zero so worked up, Truen sighed. He thought it would be alright to drag it out a little longer before informing Zero about the situation\'s complexity. Cleo did tell him about the unusual activities Fae King Vivian noted in the wilderness outside of his border. However, the Fae King didn\'t mention what was causing it. Cleo warned them about the possibility of a new dark fae leader in the area, but she didn\'t have more information.

Bob was nervous as Zero confronted Truen. The wood elf was surprisingly calm, and Bob didn\'t understand where Truen learned how to be so gutsy. Zero was scary when he was angry. Ever since his trip to the abyss, his master was no longer the kind of child who would get angry and call you a poop head until you give him a candy to pacify him. Zero wouldn\'t forgive easily now, and he could hold his grudges well.

Truen\'s calmness made Zero feel a little odd on the inside. Wasn\'t he too calm about the situation? Did he already know about this? Why was Truen doing such a thing? As best friends, shouldn\'t there be no secrets? A slight sting inside of Zero made him flinch. He felt oddly betrayed, even though Truen did nothing wrong.

"Yes, I knew that this would happen. That\'s why we made that array. If the boss doesn\'t appear tonight, we could sleep soundly till the next morning. I didn\'t inform you about this because you would rush to Pocky\'s aid without further investigations. We could have gotten into a lot more trouble if you flew into action at the first encounter of danger."

Listening to Truen\'s explanation, Zero felt his cheek heat up. Truen wasn\'t wrong. Although he learned a lot over his journey, Zero was still very much a hot-headed person who would jump into action before he could think about it. Endangering Pocky was the last thing they wanted, and Truen wasn\'t wrong. Still, it didn\'t make Zero any less sulky.

"You could have warned me about it," he looked away, and Truen apologised. Zero must have gotten very alarmed to know that they were targeted prey in this wilderness.

"We will hunt for the boss after some sleep. What time is it now?" Truen yawned, and Zero checked the time. It was almost time for the second shift anyway.

"Sorry about waking everyone up," Zero clapped his hands and screwed his eyes shut. He should have known better than to act so rashly.

As Zero waited for forgiveness, Bob watched how Truen bopped him on the head gently and called him a dummy.

"Get some sleep," he told Zero. "I\'ll answer all your questions tomorrow. You too, Bob."

Zero snuggled with Bob in the tent with no further questions as Truen calmly burned the fae corpses with magic. He was still a little sleepy, but if the dark faes continued to attack them, it would make his job simpler the next morning.

Zero might have figured it out already, but Truen thought it wasn\'t important if he hadn\'t. After all, these dark faes were going to lead them directly to the person they were trying to find.

Thanks to these dark faes occupying the wilderness near Mystic Meadow borders, Truen\'s tracking arrows weren\'t very effective. He couldn\'t find the person they needed to find with so many camps and settlements in the area. If they could find the leader of these dark faes tomorrow, they would be able to find some answers. Who knows, it could just be the shipwright they needed.