It was fascinating. As I was reaching through the Astral River to find the two kids who were channelling Lightning together, I noticed something else, a strange sensation through the feedback. It was vague, incredibly so, but intense at the same time, as if I was seeing the sun through thick, tinted glass, only discernable because it was so incredibly powerful. If I had to put a word to it, I would have called it desperation, or maybe terror, two emotions I had become somewhat familiar with, thanks to my experiments with Mind Magic. The test subjects I had back at the tower frequently felt those emotions, so I could put a name to them, though in this case, that didn’t help me much.

I still needed a way to get to the kids and, if anything, the emotions only underscored the need to get to them right now. The only way I could think of that had a chance of success, given that I still hadn’t figured out how to correlate positions within the Astral River and the real world on a whim, was to use the Shadows. Darkness was everywhere, in one form or another and I could sense some Darkness Astral Power within the Astral River, just a lot less than Light, as it was daytime at the moment.

For another moment, I considered the risks I was taking. Stepping into the shadows was easy, as was travelling through them. The only actual risk I was taking was that I would get a little lost, ending up somewhere else. But it was a fairly small risk, at least for me. If I failed, I wouldn’t get to the kids, I might end up on the other side of the mountain, or in some nearby cave. Sure, that’d be annoying and the kids would be in just as much trouble as they were right now, but if I did nothing, well, nothing would change. So, unless the kids managed to scare up something that would give me trouble, everything would be fine.

Nodding to myself, if only within the back of my mind, I took action. The shadows were everywhere, Darkness was everywhere. Pulling on the shadows around me, I let myself drop into their realm without leaving the Astral River, following the connection between the Darkness Astral Power within the Astral River and the shadows in the world. Curiously, there was more to the shadows than just their connection to the Astral River, something deeper and more primal but now wasn’t the time to investigate strange curiosities about the unfathomable depths of darkness. No, now was the time to follow the strands of power all throughout the Astralr River, use them to flow through it towards the kids, their presence no even stronger as their desperation allowed them to draw in just a little more power than they’d normally be able to. Maybe that was why I could sense the emotion, I wasn’t sure.

But it didn’t matter why I could, the only thing that mattered was that I did and that it had guided me here. Pushing outwards from the strand of darkness closest to the kids, I felt a strange resistance for a moment, before finding myself sitting in the shade of yet another tree, feeling somewhat disoriented. I had no idea where I was now but I could hear the crackle of lightning nearby, the sound familiar enough to push me into action.

Rising, and only stumbling a little bit, I walked forward, mindful of the uneven ground. Normally, I could have walked across the various roots, crags and rocks without even thinking, my agility and a few traits enough to let me move with preternatural grace, but now, still somewhat shaken from the trip through the shadows and the Astral River at the same time, I wasn’t as steady as I normally would be. Additionally, I idly noticed that it had taken a lot more Astral Power than a normal trip through the shadows would but given that I had managed to move in an entirely different way, I couldn’t complain too badly.

I could only move forward and soon, I saw the flashes of lightning through the trees, the two kids becoming visible moments later. And the reason for the lightning and their desperation, can’t forget about that, certainly not now that I could see it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

In this case, it was a decently sized mountain lion of some sort, or maybe it was a cat which had undergone a greater alteration than usual, I wasn’t quite sure. And, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what had spawned the thing, what mattered was that it was still trying to get close to the two kids who managed to dissuade it with sparks, flashes of lightning and the rolling rumble of thunder. A small, curious, part of me used Observe to find out what we were dealing with and almost had to laugh. Sure, to me, a level twenty-five Big Cat, as the thing was called, was little more than a joke but to two kids, barely in their teens in age and below level ten? It was a deadly threat, though one that suddenly shifted focus to me and instantly turned to flee.

Not that I could blame it, I had barely hidden my use of Observe and my control over my aura was somewhat frayed, meaning it could easily sense that I was stronger than it by a long shot. And I let the thing run, unwilling to kill it and shunt EXP to the two kids. Sure, it would be a meagre amount if I did but I didn’t want them to get any EXP and levels, not while knowing what it would do to their bodies. What it had done to Luna, something I still was incredibly torn about.

If the elders of their community, or whoever considered themself to be responsible for them wanted them to take that step, it was on them. But while I could shield them from the responsibility that came with that kind of power, I felt it was the moral thing to do. At least as long as there was no pressing need as there had been for Luna, if it became a question of survival, well, the dead didn’t have to worry about accelerated maturity, only about accelerated decay. And even that wasn’t really a worry, it was simply something that happened to them.

“Miss Jade,” Liam gasped out as he noticed my approach when the cat fled into the trees. He sounded winded and I could see some sweat beading on his head, showing that he had pushed himself quite hard. Similarly, Sandy looked equally relieved and exhausted, moving towards me until she stumbled against me, her arms hugging me tight. It was a surprising display of childish need for comfort, not something I would have expected from the girl who had tried to be seen as an adult as much as possible but it might have something to do with the stark reminder of their mortality. That cat could, and would, have killed them if they had run out of Astral Power, or even if it overcame an instinctual avoidance of flashing lights and loud noises.

Moments later, as I was wrapping an arm around her to give her some comfort, she was joined by Liam, in a fairly similar situation. Uncertain how to handle the pair, I decided to act similar to the way I would act with Luna, though I wasn’t quite sure what that would look like. Luna was, luckily, by now not as foolish as that, though if she was, I would have to scold her for it, but only after making sure that she was actually alright.

So, I let the pair cry on my shoulders, even if I had a feeling Liam would claim there was pollen in the air or something along those lines. Or maybe not, I didn’t know the pair all that well, mainly from my lessons and from a few conversations, some they had with me, some I had overheard. either way, first came the support for them.

And then, once the tears ran out and they didn’t shake like leaves in the wind, came the scolding. Or rather, came the lesson, held on comfortable, for me, chairs of Ice, sitting right there on the path they had taken away from the tower. I was curious how long it would take Maggy and Silva to find them and maybe, out here, the lesson would sink in in ways it couldn’t back at the tower.

It was almost amusing how much they cringed and tried to whine, though luckily without tears. The fact that they could still see the spot where they had almost been mauled by a literal Big Cat helped to drive the fact that the world was dangerous home in ways few tales and dire warnings could.

Like this, Silva and Maggy found us, with me lecturing the kids who looked as if they wanted to be almost anywhere but here. Or maybe there was no ‘almost’ about it, though that was mostly due to their lack of experience. Either way, the pair was safe and I had learned an interesting new trick and got a few skill points in the process.