The woods were silent, vast expanses of trees stretched on for miles, civilization stayed clear of the great forest, for within its borders lived apex predators, born of fierce competition, and extreme pressure, to survive in these woods necessitated cunning, strength and speed far beyond anything an ordinary human could achieve.
Aranea had been wandering through the woods for the better part of a week, and in that time, had not experienced a single hostile encounter.
The woods had a hierarchy, and of the many beasts, monsters, and demons that called the woods home, they instinctively understood Aranea's place near its top, and refrained from making any form of contact.
As Aranea was finally nearing the end of the woods, the demons who had gone into hiding upon learning of her arrival were starting to reemerge, the denizens of the woods giving a collective sigh of relief as the dread ranger departed.
Aranea for her part was leaving the woods far more troubled than she entered, she'd hoped to find a powerful demon, she'd found nothing, wasted time, found herself plagued by traumatic masturbatory memories, and unbeknownst to her, she'd managed to lose something only an unfortunate few people are ever able to lose, meaningful memories.
Yet, she found herself putting her misery behind her as the forest finally gave way to the frontier city of Junea, once, this had been her second home, yet she hadn't laid eyes upon it in many moons, in a sense, this almost felt like a homecoming.
It was a poor town, plagued by raids from whatever orcs managed to make it over the wall, yet the town had always held, despite its low population, in the past, the town's continued survival was owed primarily to Aranea, who fought off whatever raiding parties deemed the town an easy target. She had no idea who or what was keeping the town safe these days.
Before she entered the town proper, Aranea pulled her hood up, making sure it covered her eyes from all but the most determined onlooker, it was already getting dark, so visibility was poor, so the chance of her getting recognized was thankfully small.
She pressed on, making her way through the crowded streets to the town hall. She had come for information on potential demon incursions, and the town hall in smaller frontier settlements was often responsible for reporting incursions to the various heroes and mercenary companies that were de facto responsible for the safety of the frontier.
Aranea's swift movement through the city came to an abrupt halt as she came upon the town hall, only to find its doors locked, with a quaint "closed until morning" sign posted out front.
Cursing she hadn't arrived slightly sooner, she resolved to find an inn, it would seem this would have to wait until morning.
Aranea had no permanent lodging in any city, and whenever she found herself in an urban environment, she found herself an inn patron, tonight was no different.
Aranea knew the layout of Junea like the back of her hand, and she found herself walking to the inn without any need for mental navigation, her legs simply carried her there without the need for thought, such was the regularity of the trip in her mind.
The innkeeper had no trouble recognizing her as soon as she entered the door, Aranea had few friends, but the innkeeper was one of the few she counted as a friend, because they had a trait in common, they both preferred to limit verbal interaction, although the innkeeper perhaps took this trait considerably further than Aranea.
The innkeeper gave Aranea a nod as she entered, she returned it, Aranea inspected the sign to check the going price for a room.
Three gold pieces.
Aranea placed three gold pieces down on the counter, the innkeeper immediately flicked one of the pieces back to Aranea, before taking the remaining two, then providing her with a room key. Aranea gave a bow and departed for her room. They'd had this same interaction every day for three years back when Aranea had functionally lived here, and she couldn't help but smile that some things in the world stayed constant.
Aranea strode through the inn, found her room number, turned the key, and entered.
In a weird way, she felt she was home, she could only regret that she hadn't chosen to come here sooner.
Aranea let out a gentle sigh of relief as she collapsed onto the cheap inn room bed, glad to be back in familiar, and more to the point, relatively safe surroundings, she'd had to sleep with one eye open her entire time in the forest, and now she finally felt like she could relax, tomorrow would no doubt bring fresh horrors, but for the brief period time between then and now, she felt content.
"No more unexpected disappointments, no more surprises..." Aranea uttered, trying to reinforce the belief in her mind that now she was back in the more structured environment of the town, completing her objective would be simpler, if not easier.
This exclamation was strong evidence that Aranea was unable to predict the future.
"Hello, can you hear me?"
A voice from seemingly nowhere made Aranea jump, as she leaped off the bed, drew both silver knives, and found herself surveilling her cramped hotel room, finding nothing.
"Judging by how jumped, I'd wager you can hear me then, that's good, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for someone who can actually hear me."
Aranea was on high alert, frantically scanning the room, searching for whomever was speaking to her, yet she could only conclude that the voice wasn't coming from anywhere, it was coming directly into her mind.
"Telepathy..." Aranea muttered under her breath, before lowering her body into a fighting stance, bracing for a sudden attack. "Where are you mage, come on out, I'll send you to back to Ruen in a casket!"
"Calm down, if you just look down, you'll see me."
Aranea began scanning the floorboards, bracing for them to crack beneath her feet.
"I'm not under the floorboards, I'm hanging around your neck."
Aranea, taking a moment to comprehend what she had just heard took the copper amulet swaying from her neck in hand, inspecting it, while trying to keep her senses tuned to the movements of the room around her, she was expecting a trick.
"So, you're using this amulet as some sort of relay for telepathy?"
"Uh no, I'm actually inside the amulet."
Aranea struggled to comprehend what she just heard "Is it bigger on the inside? I can't imagine anyone could fit in here, even the most skilled contortionist would fail miserably to get into a box twice the size of this thing."
"I wish... it might be more accurate to say my soul's trapped inside here."
"Might I ask how, and why you found yourself in this predicament?"
"Well, you see..."
Aranea felt her suspicions growing as the amulet trailed off into silence.
"What am I supposed to see?"
"Uh... well, it's a rather interesting story, and believe me when I say it's an interesting story, I don't think there's ever been a more inter-"
"Are you stalling?"
"N-no, just setting expectations, um... have you heard of somebody calling themselves the eternal master?"
