He drew a small circle, then way, way larger circle around the small one, and in the big one, he made a small dot. He pointed at the small one, and then at us. After, he pointed at himself and his companions, and again to the side, in a direction away from the city, and made a second dot. Outside big circle.

- I think the small dot is us - said Will.

Then he pointed at the dot inside the big circle and repeated few times:

- Us. Us. This is us. This dot is us - he started to point at the dot on the ground, then at himself, and again at the dot.

Oooeee made a sound.

- I think he agrees - Will continued looking at me. - This small dot is us, then the outside one is them... Their home! It's where they come from!

- Maybe. We can't talk with them to confirm, and this drawing is almost useless... - was my answer.

- But we need to! They might know about this place way more than us! We need to communicate with them. This is groundbreaking, Peter! We should take them to the city.

- Hold your horses, Will. We know shit about them, and you want to take them to the city? Lets... Let's try to communicate, and then we will figure out the next steps.

Creatures were looking at us curiously the whole time we were talking.

- I have an idea - Will said with a big smile on his face and started to draw with his sword.

He made a simple-looking house.

- Home. Home - he kept repeating while pointing at his drawing, then he suddenly pointed at the dot outside the large circle. Oooeee home. Oooeee home.

Oooeee repeated as best as the vocal cords allowed.

- He is confirming, Peter! He is confirming!

He was excited like a little child who is going to the amusement park for the first time.

Then Oooeee pointed at the small circle and repeated sounds of "home" and "Will" as good as they could.

- I think he says we live in the city... He knows about the city, Will. How the hell does he know?

- I don't know. Maybe they build it, and the left?

The creature started to draw again. First simple straight line, then a circle above it. He scratched the sand to fill the inside of the circle.

- This looks like the device. I think he is drawing the device.

Oooeee pointed at his new drawing, then at the small circle which we identified as the city, and made an angry sound. Then stomped on the ground heavily.

- Why the heck is he angry? - Will asked looking at me like I had an answer.

- How would I know?

Oooeee kept pointing at the drawing of the device and stomping.

- What does he mean? Did he go crazy?

- I don't know Will! Half of this doesn't make sense to me! You are way better at figuring out what they say.

Oooeee suddenly pointed at the sky. There was a harpy flying around like it was looking for an opportunity to attack. Then he pointed at the drawing again and kept stomping while making this strange angry sound.

- I get it, Peter! He is trying to say that the monsters show because of the device and the device is a bad thing. Machine... Whatever that thing is...

- Fuck that! There is harpy above us!

I just couldn't ignore a monster a few meters above, clearly looking for the right moment to attack us.

- It's been there for ages. This is more important. We are making contact with another civilization.

- I don't know about you, Will. But in my dictionary contact is something entirely different than playing charades, and drawing on the sand with a stick!

- You are just being an asshole, Peter!

- I'm being reasonable here! We can guess for a whole eternity what they want to tell us! We need a translator!

- How the hell are we gonna get a translator, who know their language when we even didn't know they existed just a moment ago?!

- I could pick up a linguist class. Maybe that will help?

- We can't just leave them. They might go somewhere! Besides, who knows if that class will allow you to understand jack shit? We are making progress here.

- Progress?! Are you nuts Will?! We can't even repeat their words, just as they can't repeat ours! This is waste of time. We should lead them to the city, and find somebody to help with this or try using the device.

- Ok. Fine. I'll ask them...

We both turned to the creatures, as they were looking at us with confusion, I believe, painted all over their faces. I couldn't blame them, when such a stupid argument played out just a moment ago, in language, they couldn't understand. Also, maybe our actions and behaviors differ from what they were accustomed to.

- Hey look at me. You - he stuck the sword into the ground and started to point out with both of his hands - and us will walk to the city. The city.

Will's pantomime was hilarious to me and very confusing to the creatures. It took them a solid moment to understand. Oooeee made another strange sound and stomped on the ground, heavily. He was not going to go anywhere.

- See? He is refusing! - I said - This is dumb. We are not qualified for this!

- But there is only us here! Do you see somebody else?! I don't, so shut up, Peter, and let me work!

- Will we are in the middle of monsters territory, with some of them literally flying above us!

- Then what do we do? Just leave? I'm not gonna ignore an opportunity to find out some information about this damn place.

- I get it, Will! I do! Just not here, and not in this way.

- Ok, but what do you propose?

- I don't know. Maybe... Maybe I'll run to the city, and get that linguist class? Maybe it will help?

- Even if you run there at full speed, without stopping, it will be at least a full day. Even with your stamina, I doubt that's possible.

- Give me two days. I can do it in two days.

- Ok, fine. But how do we let them know to wait for you?

-Eee... aaa... Shit. Let's just try. Hey, Oooeee, look at me.

And I started drawing with the ring at the back of my weapon. I drew sun as a little kid would do. Then I made some motions with my hand, to imitate the cycle of the star, traveling thru the sky. Rising, and setting. Finally, I showed them two fingers.

- Two days. I will be gone for two days. Then we can talk.

I made a duckbill with a hand and pretended like I'm talking, then again repeated the whole pantomime, and finally after started to point at myself, and the small circle representing the city.

- Me go, to the city. Peter go to the city and return in two days. You understand?

Will observed carefully with a straight, serious face, and both arms crossed on his chest. Creatures on the other hand looked at me very carefully, trying to understand. There was a bit of communication between them, as everybody took a part in solving this charade.

I hat to repeat everything several times, but finally, Oooeee made a nice, soft sound and gestured me to go.

- I think he gets it. Go, Peter. I'll try to survive with them here. We should be relatively safe if we set up a camp in a safe spot.

- I don't like leaving you here with them, Will. Be careful, and don't drop your guard. We have no idea what they are...historical

- I know. I know. I'll be fine. Just hurry.

I gave him a nod as confirmation and started my run, from the very beginning pushing for a full speed. With my upgraded strength, I was way faster than evet fastest sprinters, but the road back to the city was long and filled with monsters. Orcs and goblins.

It didn't take more than a couple of dozens of minutes to encounter the first orc patrol. I dealt with them quickly, leaving crystals behind. My greed kept nagging me to grab at least one, but there was no time for such stupidity.

I kept running, and from time to time, cutting my way thru the canyon. Time was passing rather quickly, to the point when I finally started to feel the energy leaving my body. I focused on breathing and used ki reinforcement to keep pushing, and pushing. By the night, I finally reached the forest.

It was still a long way to go, but my body needed a bit of rest, so I decided to just march for some time. With limited light running thru the forest occupied by goblins was not the best idea, but I still had to keep pushing. I hoped the hunters more or less cleared the area and I won't have to fight when I could barely see the outlines of trees. At least not until they respawn.

Around an hour later, I returned to running. This time taking it a bit slower. Unfortunately, not for long since the noise of me making it thru the occasional bushes, or rubbing against the tree trunks I barely managed to avoid, lured goblins in the vicinity. They started to chase me, but unable to keep the pace, had to eventually stop. The problem was more and more were joining on the way.

Eventually, I made it to the city. Sun was still not up, but only minutes separated my arrival from the sunrise.. The night started slowly fade to grey, as I walked thru the cobblestone alleys, heading to the device.