A month had passed since I started living with Lavanda and my training is going well. I thought that as an exiled vampire, she would spend all her time hidden in her bed sleeping, but she’s very active and hardworking. Okay, maybe, bored would be more appropriate.
Without any knowledge about how to do most things myself, she had to teach me a lot of things normal people would consider basic. Like doing dishes, washing my clothes and keeping my stuff clean, chores in other words.
She also started to teach me the humanoid language. The translation collar was amazing, but in her opinion, I needed to learn to do things myself without relying entirely on magic.
Right now, I was on a sky island, far away from Lavanda’s island. She wanted me to hunt a few wolves on my own, and bring back the corpses.
Randal dropped me near the edge of the forest and would wait here for me to come back. He was ordered to intervene only in extreme situations.
On the tree, I could see scratch marks and other signs of wolves being nearby. With the range of my root detection reaching close to one kilometre now, I detected a pack of 5 wolves closing in on my position.
Acting as if I didn’t know that they were there, I waited till one of them jump out of a bush and try to bite my arm off. Instantly, vines came out from under its feet, and he couldn’t move. Reaching for a pouch on my belt, I throw some burning sand at him. It catches fire midair and I directed the fire to burn him to a crisp.
Lavanda told me that creating an element using magic used too much mana to be viable in most fights. Burning sand was a good alternative for fire magic. As soon as the sand gets out of the enchanted pouch, it rapidly burns and creates flames I could control easily if I infused a bit of mana in it.
The wolf stopped trashing after a few seconds and drop dead. Whoops, its brown fur was now completed burn and unusable, I guess fire magic is out for today.
The other wolves were now on the offensive, their fang, and claw rushing toward me. I open the glass flask, filled with water, attached to my belt. Without a water source nearby, this was a decent way to use water magic. Controlling the water into a blade shape, I slash the closest wolf with it and cut through his heart.
The third one got splashed with a similar technique using an acid liquid, but this time I made it rain on him. With the acid slowly melting its way through the wolf's skin, he was too in shock to do anything.
As I dodge the attacks of the last two wolves, I slowly gather ambient light in the shape of a lance. It could be used anywhere with a good amount of light available, but it was slow to prepare and too obvious to be hidden. When the spear of light was ready, I throw it at one of them. Even with how close he was, he was able to sidestep and dodge it. However, I could still control the spear and made it come back. He did not expect it and now got a spear piercing his side and heart.
I entangled the last one in my vines as I unsheathed my dagger. Lavanda wanted at least one in perfect condition, and this was the best way to get it. I could have ensnared all the others, but it was too easy, and I wanted to put my training to the test. Also, where's the fun in that?
Its wailing and whimpering did nothing to stop me, as I stabbed his heart in one quick motion. I had nothing against him, so a quick death was the least I could do. After putting back the water and acid in their bottle, I returned to Randal, dragging all the wolves with vines. There was no way I could move a single wolf myself, even if their size seems the same as on Earth.
I tied the corpse together, and ride on Randal's back. Less than an hour of flight later, we were back home. On Lavanda's appraisal, we had more than enough for what she planned and still have spare parts.
We started by butchering them. With no experience, I was initially worried, but with her directive, I was able to do a decent job. The inside was smelly at first, but with Lavanda water and wind magic, the stench was gone pretty quickly.
Tanning came next. Washing the pelt was easy with water magic, and wind magic was used to dry them, with some salt. My vines were useful to scrap any fat or meat left on the hide. The last step was putting some vegetal base substance that protects the pelt from moisture and bacteria.
The full tanning process took ten times longer than the hunt itself. It was a long process, but in the end, it was worth it. Now I know how to make my own leather, and with more practice, their quality would only go up. Lavanda even gave me a book on tanning, I still only understood a fragment of the alphabet, but it could prove useful, both for tanning and learning the language.
It took the entire next day, but in the end, I got a warm coat for colder weather. With all the spare material we got, I could make a few more if I wanted. The only thing on the menu for that week was without any doubt wolf meat, it was better than I expected. She even tried to teach me how to cook, with less successful, and maybe eatable results.
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The next week, Lavanda asked me to clear a cave in which a colony of caterpillars lived. Before the caterpillars, she used to go in and mine any resource she wanted. She specified that she was not a blacksmith, but she can handle basic forgery.
Randal was too big to clear it himself and when I ask her why she didn’t do it herself, she avoided answering. She even specifically told me to burn every single one of the caterpillars to a crisp, leaving nothing behind, not even their body.
When I got in, I used magic to create a light ball and lead the way. Without access to natural vines, if I wanted to use them, I would need to create my own. Lavanda already taught me how to create the element I wanted from raw mana, but in doing so, I probably would run out of juice before reaching the end of the cave.
The caterpillars were, to say the least, bigger than the ones on Earth. The biggest ones were even bigger than the wolves I hunted before, their size closer to the couch in Lavanda's house. It did make them easier to hit with burning sand and fire magic.
They move so slowly that I didn’t need to dodge any of their fangs or spikes, not that I could have anyway with how small the cave was. It was in time like this that it was a boon being small. Yes, I was still growing (I think), but even in a few years I'm probably going to be a little smaller than other girls. Lavanda herself is more than a head taller than me. Well, it works for me right now, so I leave the problem to future me.
In the deepest part of the cave, I found caterpillar cocoons and eggs. I gave them the same fate as the insect that defended them, making sure nobody saw the species ever again, as I was told. After god knows how long, every caterpillar that lived here was not living anymore.
Making my way out was straightforward, with the singular path offered by the cave. When I got out, it was getting dark. The ever-so-loyal Randal was sleeping just outside, waiting for me all along.
“Come on buddy, we don’t want to miss supper, don’t we?” Back home, a real feast was waiting for us, I didn’t know why and didn’t care. When someone makes that much just for you, I believe it to be a courtesy to shut up and enjoy.
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More time passed and Lavanda finally got a new task for me. Yet again it was another hunt, not that I minded. To have practised my tanning, sewing, and weapon sharpening, for I don’t want to remember how long, anything that get me some exercise was welcome.
This time, she didn’t tell me what I was going to hunt. She just told Randal to get me to “that island” He didn’t hide his bitter face.
Hours later, we finally reached it, and I was impressed. Its size was enormous, the island in itself was bigger than all the ones I have been on so far. But the most remarkable thing was the floating rivers.
It was surreal, even more than flying islands. The water started from a normal lake, but the centre of it just shoot up in the sky and created a flow that connected to other rivers coming from islands even higher.
Flying through one felt so refreshing, that I ask Randal to dive again. They were even fishes climbing the waterfalls in packs, of course, Randal didn’t spare himself a free meal. I wondered a few times where the fishes Lavanda was cooking were coming from. I wouldn’t have believed the answer without seeing it.
Leaving me near the lake, Randal took off toward the waterfall to scoop up more fish. Leaving me alone.
From the sky, I wasn’t able to see anything below the trees, but back on the ground, the roots were detecting small animals the size of a rabbit. Upon seeing them, they were effectively rabbits, with the addition of a horn on their head. In mythology terms, they were perfect pictures of jackalopes, with only a single horn.
They ran away as soon as they detected my presence. I doubted they were the expedition target, but I still strangled one and put it in my shoulder bag, never hurt to bring back at least one.
With nothing outside the ordinary with the roots, wandering was all I could do. A real hunter with experience in the field could probably track whatever I was supposed to search, but Lavanda deemed my detection ability enough for now, so she didn’t teach me anything special about hunting.
I really can’t explain how beautiful the place was. Everything seems more colourful here. The whistling of the bird gives a sort of relaxing, enchanted tone to the forest. I could hear the flow of the flying river, above me. Even the air and its humidity ad some kind of purity to the place. It was a real question of why Lavanda didn’t settle on this island instead, I definitively would have done so.
A wandering while later, I arrive at the border of the island and sit on the edge, contemplating the view. A sea of clouds below and an endless sky full of isles under the shining sun was a view too beautiful to simply ignore.
Lavanda tried to make me meditate for a while now, but I was never able to follow her instruction and truly relax as she said. On this spot, however, I felt calmer than I ever did. Kneeling in the meditation position she taught me, I focused on my breath and relax.
Forgetting everything around me, I got lost in myself. Since I got into this world, I took the chance to think about it. Fighting and Lavanda training always kept my mind away from thinking about how or why I got here.
Compared to my old world where I was a cripple little girl who couldn’t even take a shit alone, here, and now, I got nothing to complain about. I would even go to say I'm grateful for it.
I love my family, who did their best to take care of me. Furthermore, I want to thank my friend who still came to visit me even after she broke up with my brother. And how could I forget my cat, the only one who kept me sane from all the time I wondered what to do, with a knife on my wrist, or when I looked out the window, in my room on the fifth floor.
I missed them a lot, but I was given a fresh start in this world, where I wasn’t the lonely cripple little girl they knew, anymore. I swear to never go back to Earth, even if it is possible. To never be scared of being alone or abandoned by others. To explore as much as I could now that I wasn’t imprisoned in my bed. I'm done complaining about my existence and being alive.
Now I can do what I want and if I want to do something, I will do it. I don’t have any excuses anymore. To whoever got me here, I thank you from the deepest part of my heart.