We quickly left the ritual site, putting as much distance between it and us as possible. I had a feeling that the bigger black wolves would not be happy if they knew that someone had used one of theirs as a resource to strengthen themselves, once that happened, we would be hunted again. So, it was vital to create distance while keeping up Adra’s anti-tracking spell and my own concealment spells. Neither were perfect, there were undoubtedly countless ways to beat either, just as there were different ways to hide tracks, But we were using what we had, hoping that the combination of different spells and distance kept us safe.

Or we would have to fight again. But staying was not an option, there were far too many no-win situations that could occur if we did.

So, we hurried, first on foot and later on horseback, with Sigmir running next to the mounts, demonstrating that she had gained power as well, gaining more strength from her connection with Ylva. It would be strange if the spirit-partner crossing the first divide did not give benefits to the contractor of that spirit. I would have to ask Sigmir in a quiet moment, or I would have to wait until Lenore crossed over as well. It was something that would happen, I had no doubt about it, now that I knew how to help, I would do so.

Despite our exhaustion after a busy night, we continued to move at a high pace, driven onward by fear or rather caution. None of us wanted to get cornered by a large pack of wolves in the open, that would be a good way to get ourselves killed.

Finally, we stopped for the evening, almost all of us exhausted and in dire need of rest. The only two who had been able to rest during the day were Lenore and Ylva, in their respective Hallows. They shared their strength with their partner, but it was not as exhausting as a day of riding or running.

We made camp for the night on a small clearing, hoping that the indefensible position would not come back to bite us during the night, None of us felt like hunting, so the dinner were warmed up-rations from Adernas, cooked into a stew with some wolf-meat and served with bread. It was a simple but quite delicious meal, with all of us enjoying the warmth after a day of riding in the cold.

I was curious about Ylva’s new strength but I remembered that Sigmir had told me once that it was rather impolite to ask something like that, so I stopped myself. But just judging by the fact that Sigmir had kept up with the horses for the entire day and her new size, I would assume that she had become a lot stronger.

Lenore must have felt my thoughts and added some perspective, telling me that normally spiritbeasts had trouble crossing divides, as it required them to devour the essence of other beasts, similar to me, using their blood for magic. I needed a blood-rune to draw the Astral Power out and bind it into their blood or the power was lost when they died. So, when devouring other spiritbeasts, most of the power was lost in death, even if they managed to start feasting while their opponent was still alive. Bringing an opponent down as a group and having one designated eater afterwards would make it impossible to absorb power.

And bringing down a being strong enough to be worthwhile was difficult in the first place, sure it could be done with either luck, good tactics or more powerful allies but at the end of the day, it was not something that happened on a regular basis, I was sure that there were some nobles or other important beings that had the inherited power to have someone assist them in strengthening either themselves or a partner, just like in the real world wealth had its own, inheritable privileges. It seemed that even a medieval, multi-species world like Mundus could not escape some social problems.

Shaking those philosophical questions, I let myself slip into a trance, thinking about the ritual I had conducted and possible ways I could further my blood magic, it had passed skill-level fifty after all, allowing me to learn about a new rune. There were two distinct paths I could divide the blood runes I currently had, either giving or binding. Giving allowed me to heal and strengthen or, if I invested it using Darkness-curse-runes do the opposite. Binding allowed me to bind power into blood, using it at a later point, mostly in concert with my non-rune-based Blood Magic. Both paths would allow for interesting possibilities but I had just demonstrated that I was able to use the binding ways to a degree that was sufficient for my current power, so I wanted to focus on the strengthening ways.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Binding would either allow me to bind more power in less volume, meaning that it might allow me to create a solid substance instead of the viscous liquid I was currently creating or it might allow me to bind more than just Astral Power into Blood, allowing for interesting applications but those were less of a current focus and more something that might be interesting in the future.

But Strengthening might allow for stronger buffs or better healing, both things that had an immediate benefit for the group and me.

With my mind fixed on a path forward, I dove into the Astral River, looking for the part that represented Blood Magic, soon finding what I searched and feeling the sticky sensation of the power envelop me. Each flavour of Astral Power had a different, distinct feeling to them, Ice was crisp and cold, Darkness was ephemeral and haunting and Blood was a sticky, pulsating warmth.

Feeling around in the sensations, I gained a familiar impression, it was an impression of me, using Blood Runes to strengthen myself, allowing for greater acceleration and more force but without allowing for better reactions or increased agility. Sure, higher strength was useful for most fighters, but agility was just as important and for me even more so.

Keeping that idea in mind, I tried feeling for a rune that would allow me to increase the agility and maybe the reactions of the spelled person.

Threads of power coalesced into an image, forming a rune that I knew to mean ‘Hasten’, exactly what I had been looking for, making me smile. I stayed in the soothing flow of the Astral River, letting my mind, or maybe my spirit, float as it pleased, only holding onto a connection back into my body.

Spreading my senses, I felt the different elements in a way I had not before, some welcoming the connection with me, others rejecting it. The first rejection, I got from what I believed to be fire, the scorching heat burning me before I got more than the faintest impression to its nature. I was reminded of the Grandmother’s explanation that I was moving on a path of extremes, following and searching for the purest of my chosen element. I wondered if the rejection of Fire would become stronger as time passed and my power grew or if it was based on my personal affinity which I believed to be an intrinsic quality and not subject to change.

After the short but painful experience with fire, I continued drifting, enjoying the gentle contact with air and the soothing sensation of water but not managing to understand anything about either of the elements, other than they existed. I had touched the element of Air before, but only when working with and through Lenore, not on my own.

It was fascinating, the different elements gave me completely different sensations, Water and Air welcomed me but felt slightly indifferent, Fire and Light reacted with strong rejections while Earth did not even seem to notice my existence, ignoring me completely.

It made me wonder, if I could learn to use more than just the elements I was currently wielding, remembering an ancient cartoon. But I knew that I would never command all elements, not even the prime elements of Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Light and Darkness. But maybe once I hit a limit to what I could do with the elements I knew, I might delve into the Air and Water, they were connected to Ice after all. Maybe, I could use that connection to learn more. It was strange, feeling a desire to acquire knowledge and magic ability, even knowing that it was not real, I wanted to understand it, wanted to learn all there was to know about it.

I was reminded of the beginning of a classic play, a doctor cursing the world about his inability to learn the fundamental truths of the world, finally summoning a spirit, or maybe the devil, to acquire more knowledge. Somehow, I understood the sentiment and made a mental note to avoid all poodles.

Finally, I pulled myself from the Astral River, emerging refreshed but tired, snuggling into Sigmir’s comfortable embrace and going to sleep. Unless something bad happened, we should get to Yaksha the day after the next. I was slightly apprehensive about visiting another city. Yari had not turned out that well.