Alice stood at the ready as five wolves ran at her with a howl. Two of them darted behind trees on her left and right in an attempt to flank her hole the other three quickly closed the roughly 6 metre distance between them. It had been multiple weeks since Alice had been burned, and each week Alice would go hunting. At this point patrols smaller than three had started avoiding her, she had also increased the quality of her spear while familiarising herself with her skills and combat as a whole. But with that being said, Alice had one particular goal for today: not getting mortally wounded.
Alice stood with her double sided spear readied as the lead wolf launched itself jaws first at her throat. With a single movement Alice angled the spear in such a way that the wolf would impale itself on it. But before the wolf had even so much as a hair on the spear, one of the two wolves flanking her jumped at her from her left. Alice leapt backwards to avoid the attack before launching one of her own. She threw a kick into the wolves jaw before piercing into the first wolves abdomen with her stone tipped spear. She pulled out the smooth stone spear and jumped to her left, keeping away from the second wolf behind her while keeping the other three in her view.
So far Alice had been so successful since the wolves always used the same tactics every time. Some amount of them would attack from behind while the rest would distract from ahead. They would also change tactics every time one of them died, this would continue until there was only one left, and the last wolf standing always ran away. However, since they were no longer in their starting positions Alice found it much harder to predict their next move.
Alice initiated the next phase of her plan. Alice began to heat up as a bloody mist rose from he skin. The mist began to congeal into a liquid flame that cloaked her arms and legs like a pair of flaming gauntlets reaching up to her elbows and boots that went up to right under her knees.
Alice stabbed the spear into the ground and ran for the wolves ahead of her. The group separated with one wolf going left and the other right. She was now surrounded on all four sides, despite that, Alice wasn’t worried, she rushed to the wolf in front of her and threw a punch at its jaw. Due to [Flames of Vengeance] Alice felt a dull throbbing in her jaw while the flames slowly started burning on the wolves face. The other three wolves charged at her in a synchronised manner, but by the time they got to her she had already overpowered it.
The other three kept launching themselves at her but Alice kept avoiding them while landing her own attacks on occasion. Despite how threatening they had seemed to her before, they had an incredibly limited move set. All they could do was bite and swipe, with biting being the most effective of the two. They almost always jumped at her because it would always do more damage. This meant their attacks were incredibly predictable. Alice could confidently say she could beat any group of wolves less than three. She wasn’t nearly as confident with other animals though.
Alice easily won against them and the last wolf ran away with a few patches of red flame on it and its tail in between its legs. She didn’t walk away completely unscathed though, she had more than a few bruises, claw marks and bites on her, but none of them too dangerous, aside from being an infection risk. Alice walked over to her spear and pulled it out of the ground. While Alice did wish she could’ve used it more but she couldn’t for two reasons. The first was that blood would have fed her flames and her flames benefited her and her opponents. The other was that she was still a bit bothered by blood.
Alice dragged two of the wolves back to her campsite, she did think it was a bit wasteful to kill four wolves and only bring back two, but there was no way she would have been able to chase the other three away since they had a habit of fighting to the last wolf standing. Alice contemplated going deeper into the woods, seeing as it was already quite safe for her at this depth.
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Alice made it to her campsite at a few hours to sunset. She began preparing the wolves by hanging them up to drain their blood, being very careful not to get any on her. She also placed a small ward on them to stop flies and insects getting on them. This reminded her of the amateur leather she still had. She would probably turn it into a skirt or a top, seeing as her clothes were now nearing their end. They barely stayed on, hanging by frayed threads and torn ribbons of fabric. She just needed to find a way to sew the leather together.
Alice conjured some water, enough to bathe in, and heated it up over the campfire. Ever since she had cast that healing spell Alice could use her magic much easier than before, she also had more mana, but she still wanted to economise it by using the fire instead of her own mana. Alice took a quick shower with the warm water, missing the luxury of soap. She remembered her dad saying something about fat and ash as a substitute for soap, but she wasn’t too keen on trying it out just yet. Alice also washed the neglected leather she had left hanging out, resolving to actually make something out of it tomorrow. Alice dressed her wounds with the first aid kit, now almost empty, and put her shredded ribbons of clothes back on before going to bed in her sleeping bag.
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Alice didn’t usually dream. She had a few nightmares, but only about once a week. This dream was, thankfully, not one of the usual nightmares. She was standing deep inside the forest, in a section her dad had always told her to avoid. The air was unnaturally still, and the chilly cold snapped at her skin. The pale yellow light of the full moon giving everything a grainy quality to it. Alice looked around, finding nothing of interest she walked deeper into the forest. Alice wasn’t sure how many steps she took, it could have been five or five thousand, but she found herself in front of a sleeping wolf. It was a gigantic creature, it’s head alone towered over her at a height of three metres. It’s fur was a soft silky grey silver that sparkled in the moonlight. One of the wolf’s eyes twitched open.
“Æftíęgvçlēpœräczxłįon”
Alice’s mind shook as the meaning of the entirely incomprehensible mass of disjointed sounds echoed around her. The voice seemed to echo from everywhere all at once, dragging its meaning into her brain in an uncomfortable manner. The wolf was asking a question. Many of them actually. It was asking who she was. What was she doing in its section of the forest? What was her quarrel with its brethren? Would he be forced to force her out? All these questions arrived all at once and Alice struggled to separate them all in order to give a coherent answer.
“I’m Alice and I’m just passing through the forest, I’m trying to get to the city at the other side of it. I don’t have any issues with the other wolves, I’m just defending myself as I journey through. You also won’t have to chase me out since I plan on going deeper into the woods within the week.”
As Alice sped through her words she could feel more information on whatever she said being drawn out, all the the context and ideas associated with her words were sucked out and compounded onto her words. The concept of self defence and human settlements were added in along with things like the other side of the forest.
Alice was bombarded by another blast of psychic speech. This time it was saying she didn’t have to be so scared, that she wasn’t actively attempting to harm their children, that she treated her children well in accordance to the rules that existed. They also said that the other wolves would avoid starting any fights with her, but that this would only last for the week she was staying for, after which it would come personally to evict her.
“Thank you, I’ll definitely be out by the weeks end. But if you’d forgive me asking, who are you?”
From the ensuing blast, Alice could feel surprise. The wolf was shocked at her politeness in asking who instead of what, as many others had done before as well as her bravery for still asking a rude question. The wolf seemed to say it’s name wasn’t to be given out lightly, but that he was The Great Dreamer, the first released from Asphodel. The Dreamer also said that he had taken a liking to Alice so she could stay as long as she wanted, on the condition that she harmed no wolves during her stay. The message also sternly warned her not to ask such questions as many would take it as an affront to their intelligence and power.
Alice thanked the beast once more and walked back to her campsite, after an indeterminate amount of time, she woke up in her bed.