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After the battle with Detra, Cas had went off into the forest, seeking out a place to make camp for the night, not too much farther from where he thought Detra might be set up. He secured the hastar and got busy building a small fire. Once settled, he had gotten busy cleaning both the wound at his neck and ear. Taking great care with them both, despite being very minor wounds. Infection was something he knew to watch out for, thanks to Lithian. Once cleaned, he bandaged both of the wounds as best he could. Cas rubbed the back of his neck as he stared into the fire, mind instantly wandering to Lithian and his future with him. It could have easily ended that night. He sighed as he laid back on his makeshift bed and let his eyes fall shut.

Casseth curled up tight and waited for sleep to take him over. It wasn’t long before his body was relaxing and a soft snore escaped his mouth. His sleep was a mostly peaceful rest. He dreamt of the ocean and the way it felt rolling over his feet and his body as he walked deeper into the water. The familiarity of it made his heart ache and long for being home.

Cas slept for a long while, late into the morning, jerking awake when he realized that he’d slept later than he had intended. He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face and grunting as he pushed himself up off the ground. Cas brushed at the random bit of debris, that had managed to get stuck in his hair, away. Soon he was moving, making sure the remainder of the embers were dead before packing up and moving off on his hastar, back towards where he was sure Detra had made camp the night before.

Despite his lack of training in tracking, Casseth was able to finally find the place where Detra had slept. However, the man was long gone, having likely left either the night before or early in the morning, while Cas was still snoring away. He cursed his sleeping habits as he turned the hastar and headed back off in the opposite direction. He traveled for what seemed like hours, never finding the main path between Obsidian City and the port town. Cas was restless as he traveled, hoping to either catch up with Detra, by some random piece of luck, or find his way back to the path and to the port town.

By the time the day faded into evening, Casseth was still lost and grumpy. He had hoped to not have to set camp up again but as the day wore one, it seemed like that was becoming a huge possibility. As he dismounted from his hastar a sound caught at his ears, causing them to twitch as he strained to listen. It wasn’t footsteps but more of a slithering. Some kind of creature, maybe? Cas absently patted his hastar’s neck as he glanced around, his oblivionite sight aiding him in seeing his surroundings.

The sound came again, followed by a low hiss and was soon joined by more. Casseth’s fingers curled around the hilt of his axe as an arvathi lunged out of the brush to his right. He quickly pulled his axe out of it’s holding, swinging it in an arch in front of of him and slicing into the creature’s neck. Cas jumped back as he nicked one of the stripes on the beast and its poison seeped out. His tail lashed back and forth as he used his foot to kick at the beast. It had been an easy kill, the thing already weak from the amount of poison stored in its body. Drove mad from it, most likely.

Cas jerked around at the distressed sounds coming from his hastar and growled. Two more arvathis, older as well, but not quite as old as the one he’d killed, were slithering around the beast, ready to strike at any moment. Without a second thought Cas pulled at his magic, sending a wall of earth up and around the hastar. Though frightened from the sudden burst of magic around it, the beast was safe from attack, for now. With their way to the hastar block, the arvathi’s attention focused in on Cas as he backed away fro the two beasts, axe still in hand and the blood from the first arvathi dripping off of it. “Come on you bastards, I needed this.” Casseth spat at the ground as he cursed, goading the two snake like creatures into motion.

It had been a while since he’d had a proper fight against anything, beast or magescian, and it felt good to make use of his skills. Not to mention this would allow him to blow off some much needed steam. The arvathis launched, mouth opened and ready to clamp down on whatever body part of Cas’ they made it to. His tail twitched out, slamming into the face of one of the beasts as he swung his axe at the other, slicing its body in two. The third arvathi hissed, curling away from Casseth as the recently killed one’s body still twitched. Cas took that moment to pull at his magic, bringing the soil up around the remaining arvathi, surrounding it and shrinking the small, tomb like enclosure. He kept at it until he heard bones break and the hiss from the creature died out.

Cas let the walls around his hastar drop at the same time the soil around the dead arvathi fell back to the ground. Still, the beast of burden was restless, as if more arvathi remained. Surely, though, the creatures would have made themselves known had they been around. As Cas took a step towards his hastar, he froze in place as a clicking sound became louder and louder. Casseth swirled, stumbling backwards as a Soudul cah came barreling out of the fungal trees at his back. His feet tangled up in some roots, throwing him off balance. He lost the grip on his axe as he fell backwards, sending it flying and burying itself deep into a tree too far away for Cas to reach from the ground.

He cursed as he pulled at his magic, sending boulders flying towards the beast. It only managed to knock them out of the air with its tail, advancing quickly on Casseth. Before he knew it, that very tail was slamming down at him, barely missing. It swiped back and forth as Casseth scrambled backwards on his butt, trying desperately to put some distance between him and the beast. As he pushed himself up, the cah swung it’s tail this time, ripping into Cas’ upper, right leg and tearing a scream from his throat as he felt the burn of the beast’s poison enter him. Casseth fell back down, back against a tree and found himself staring up at the beast’s poised tail, ready to strike him down.

Casseth let out a breath as the Cah changed direction, seemingly interested in something else other than himself. He groaned as he let his body relax against the earth. He was poisoned again and if it didn’t kill him, Lith likely would, for getting himself hurt again. He laid an arm over his eyes as he listened to the ensuing battle between his savior and the beast that had managed to get the better of him. He tensed up at the familiar voice, arm slowly moving away from his face. “Detra…” The name came out on a whisper as Cas propped himself up with his arms.

He winced as Detra called him stupid and looked away. “I…” He flushed at Detra’s question. “...was trying?” He winced as Detra cut away at his pants and retrieved his healing supplies. “I had planned on keeping an eye on you for a day or two but...you were gone by the time I woke up.” Cas gave a small shrug of his shoulders as he watched Detra move.

Cas took the offered liquid and leaf, doing as he was told. When the leaf touched his tongue, Cas’ stomach rolled and he almost spit the leaf back out. “What the hell…” He grimaced as he chewed the leaf, nose wrinkling. “This is god awful.” Cas grumbled as he watched Detra work on his leg. When Detra spoke to him, he pushed the nasty tasting object to the side, glad to have it away from his tongue for a small bit of time. “Yes, trying. I kind of...got lost.” He waved his hand through the air, as if to brush that bit of information away as non-important.

Casseth grunted as he pushed himself up from the forest floor and leaned against a tree. He plucked the leaf out of his mouth, figuring that it would have been chewed enough, already, to run its course. He shook his head at Detra’s offer of a map. “I can manage.” He hesitated as Detra turned to leave and then spoke. “Detra…” The oblivionite paused. “Thanks.” With that, Detra disappeared into the trees and out of Casseth’s sight.

Cas let out a breath as he let all of his weight sink against the tree. His leg, despite Detra’s cleaning and removal of the toxins, throbbed with pain as he finally pushed away. He retrieved his embeded axe and sought out his hastar. Climbing onto the back of the beast, Casseth took off in the direction that Detra had pointed out. Soon he found the pebbled road and was riding off towards Ruthven. He didn’t bother stopping to camp, Cas was already tired of the oblivionite continent and longed to get back to his intended. So instead, he rode straight through, opting to rest once he was safe and comfortable in one of the ferry’s small cabins.