The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

9.2 || Field Experience

Josh had walked multiple trails throughout his life. His parents enjoyed camping at parks with hiking trails during the summer. Sometimes they would roam through woods without finding an established path. They had found some beautiful spots of nature because of it, but in normal circumstances, Garajonay National Park would have been strong competition for everything else he had seen.

Too bad these circumstances were far from normal, and not because of the orcs they were tracking. It wasn't even the weight of a shield on his arm and the sword strapped to his waist. No, it was the godforsaken rain that pelted down against his cloak, challenging how much water it could hold back while making the terrain a slippery mess.

The mud squelched as he continued forward, glaring through the downpour. He could barely make out Akachi's back a few yards ahead of him.

A back which he almost ran into when Akachi came to an abrupt halt. Josh slid as he tried to stop, barely managing it in time.

Akachi turned to face Josh and Cale. "This must be where they first appeared," Akachi said, pitching his voice loud enough to be heard over the rain.

Josh's eyes widened when he saw what Akachi's body had obscured from his view before. Large footsteps overlapped each other, creating a wreck in the trail and leading straight to the shattered railing to their left. Even with the rain worsening his vision, he could make out the trampled roots and the gashed trees along the footsteps' path of destruction through the forest.

"At least they made it easy for us to track them," Cale noted.

He had a point, but Josh thought he caught Akachi frowning. "This rain is proving very annoying," he said after a moment. "It's getting late, and if it continues like this, finding them would be more detrimental than good, so we will follow their path until we can find a spot to stop."

Akachi went first. Josh's shoulders slumped as he trudged after him. I don't get why we don't just go back and forth between here and the Sanctuary, he grumbled, directing his thoughts toward Boomer. He felt the dragon stir at his words. I mean, we could just stop, have Jodas open a portal, sleep there, and then come back, right?

Boomer chuckled. Weren't you the one excited to get a mission like in one of your video games?

I was excited, but that was before nature decided to cry its heart out, Josh grumbled.

I don't see the problem. I miss the rain sometimes.

That made Josh pause. He had noticed it didn't rain on the Sanctuary, though he didn't know if it was possible to just be higher than the rain or if the barrier had something to do with it. Maybe if it wasn't such an annoying hindrance, he would appreciate his first glimpse of rain in a month.

Lightning flashed somewhere in the distance, followed by the crackle of thunder. A sense of longing shot from Boomer through the bond.

Josh took a deep breath and focused all of his senses on his surroundings—the damp wet earth mixed with the smell of rain, the droplets sliding down his cheek, the trickle of water down trees—before channeling those sensations through the bond.

Sorry, he said after a couple of moments. It's the best I can do since I can't really summon rain up there.

Warmth from Boomer spread through him, as well as the mental image of Boomer nuzzling his cheek. Thanks.

It continued like that for another fifteen minutes, and the rain no longer seemed as bothersome. Boomer sent memories of sprinting through forests during storms. Josh had to blink through one of those memories when Akachi came to a stop.