"If. That. Half. Brain. Moron. Of A Child of Nysgjerrig. So much as scrapes his knee so help me Anlegg I will peel his hide off, heal him again! And then peel it off again!" Malisa held her hand over Anishas Summons who was now, thankfully, lying in bed, which now was in the Guilds basement, and inside a cell with thick metal bars. A site that was sure to freak him out more when he finally woke up, but what other choice did they have?
He laid on the bed unmoving, but unlike before Anisha was sure he'd wake up again, and sometime soon. She reached through the bond and felt him stirring, the nightmares didn't come back thank Kunnskap. He was calm, The overwhelming sense of emotions from when he was awake was a stark contrast to it now, from what felt like a roaring storm calmed to a rippless lake.
Malissa Peddles rose and fell as she continued to mutter curses and punishments to not just the the summon, but to everyone who seemed completely incompetent at their Jobs.
"Drudge filled adventures fighting my patient.... *murmuring* Pupils not obeying clear instructions... Blood drained nobles... Fools... The lot... Could no god make a single species that could actually think!... Well clearly not..."
This round of healing had only taken a few minutes. Malissa had to siphon some mana from one of the adventure mages upstairs just to reseal his chest wound that was on the very edge of ripping open.
Seeing her two days of work almost be undone in a matter of an hour of consciousness has elevated Malissa's Anger to a height Neither Anisha or Kameko had ever seen their teacher show before.
Which was why they both now sat in the cell right next to her teacher, head bowed, not daring to move an inch. Or else face their teachers rage head on.
Kamekos tail and ears flopped down as a sign of humbling. She'd already received her portion of Malisas rage, it was her duty to keep both Anisha and the 'Noble' in their rooms and according to their teacher she had failed spectacularly.
But it wasn't all her fault. Anisha was the one who caused all this, when she tried to speak up on her friends behalf she was quickly hushed by her teacher in a way that clearly stated. Your turn will come.
So they both now sat, waiting.
Malissa's Blue Crystal slowly lowered itself down and its once blue shine dimmed as she slowly closed her gate cutting off her mana supply to the crystal.
She let out a snort of air from her nose like a beast as if to intimidate her summon into staying put.
"You two out." Malissa got up from where she was kneeling. She didn't spare them a glance as she walked past them and out the cell, clearly expecting them to follow like they had been told.
Both of them did so, heads still bowed low.
Murdera who had stood off to the side with two of the nobles personal guards slid the cell door shut and inserted the large key into the lock and with a twist the cell was firmly shut with a loud Kaclunk!
"From no one no one is to talk to the Noble except me, or the guild master. No one is to enter and disturb him while he rests. And for the incompetent love of your senile gods don't let him out again!"
The two heavily armored guards gave only a slight tilt of their heads in acknowledgement.
Satisfied that she was being obeyed she turned to leave the basement.
Her pupils, and Murdera followed behind her lead. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Murdera took his leave, staying until he had more research into the nobles lineage, and running the guild.
"I'll keep you informed of his condition Murdera. He'll be fine, but he is not ready to meet the Oracle wont be for at least three days at the soonest if I apply healing every day. As much as I'd like to make him heal the old slow way, I doubt the Treasurer Braunchus would allow such a time restraint."
"M-Malissa?" Kameko croaked out.
"What can we do to help?"
Their teacher's pedals rose up for a split moment of anger ready to lash out, as she hadn't given them permission to talk yet. But the anger was stifled by a very exhausted sounding breath their teacher let out.
Both watched as they watched Malissa face switch from the stone cold healer and teacher. To a very exhausted Urashin.
"Don't think you're getting out of any punishments, pupils. What happened today could have had tremendous consequences. But luckily somehow by sheer luck the nobles not dead. Had he died under our care his house surely would seek some sort of retribution or consequences." She rubbed at the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, clearly imaging the scenario in her head.
"If. you want to fix your mistakes, you can start by helping collect some ingredients for me. Kameko, you will do this. Head out of the walls and in the south part of the forest near the river there should be some Bark Spores growing on the stumps of old trees, and if you can manage it get some willow mint from the market."
kamekos ears rose as she was not given something to actually do. "I'll do it Malissa! I'll be back with as much as I can carry." Kameko turned to run out the guild hall but Malissa stopped her with her hand outstretched to stop her.
"I wasn't finished yet, pupil. When you are done with that task, you are to go to Venus and take over mucking out the specimen cages for him. For three weeks." Emphasizing the length of her true punishment.
Kamekoss face paled and she visible gagged at even the thought of the task. Kamekos stronger sense of smell always made her stay clear of that part of the clinic.
"Y-yes,,, Teacher..." Kamekos enthusiasm before had completely vanished now replaced with barely stifled abject horror.
Malissa watched one of her now cowed pupils solemnly stock up to perform her tasks. Visibly happy with choosing the correct punishment for her.
"Now then... Anisha..." Her teacher now turned her full attention to her now, the momentary smile now replaced back to the stone face of a professional. Here it comes, Anishas blood ran cold as she prepared to receive her punishment.
"Come with me to the training hard."
"E-excuse me?..."
Her teacher didn't explain herself, instead she made her way to the back entrance of the guild which opened up to a small fenced in dirt patch that was mainly used for teaching new adventurers.
Malissa made her way to the middle of the yard and looked around until her eyes landed on one of the older training dummies. It was hacked, cut, burned, and missing an arm. but was still standing.
"Yes that will do. Pupil! Come stand right here... Oh come I'm not gonna bite girl, I'm just checking something, good now begin running through your mana control exercises. Nothing intense, despite your ability to walk right now I'm not risking you over pushing yourself."
Anisha wasn't sure what her teacher was up to but thought it best not to argue and did as she was told.
She ran through the steps she had practiced over thousands of times in her lifetime.
She first started by closing her eyes and pictureing her gate in her head. This was the very basic foundation of doing any magic. And it was what Anisha struggled with the most.
Whenever Anisha tried to picture her own gate she pictured it as a small ring floating between her hands, but her mind had a difficult time maintaining that image. Oftentimes her gate would flicker in and out of her conscious thought. She'd struggle to just keep it still in her head, but it was like trying to catch a wet fish. It always slipped out of her grasp after a few seconds.
"Relax Pupil, you're tensing up." Malissa moved to her side and moved her hands from that of the traditionally taught method of having both your hands face outward to one they had spent years finding worked better for her.
She cupped Anishas hands into the o shape that for some reason helped her picture her gate easier.
"Better?"
Anisha could only give a slight nod of her head as she was putting all of her effort into just maintaining the image of her gate.
"Okay now, just like we practiced, I want you to slowly open your gate and let the manna trickle into this." Though her eyes were closed, Anisha felt her teacher place a familiar feeling crystal into her hands.
It was a gray one. Usually used for creating barriers, or making materials stronger.
Each type of Crystal felt different when you used it. A gray one felt like you were coating your gate in cold stone, it was rough but sturdy. a red one felt like you were running with the wind, pushing you along. A Green one felt like grass or wheat, the essence of life itself, a blue one felt like you were submerged in crystal clear water. And Black...
Black crystals were supposed to feel like refiling through raw sewage, or burning your gate. At least that's what all the childrens stories said, and what most magical scholars agreed with.
But not for her. To her it felt... It felt like stability, control. Like if she had one right now she could control her own gate and then she would be able to do anything with it.
Anisha
If she had one she probably could have healed her summon the night she made him. If only she had more none of this mess would have happened.
"Anisha."
Her teacher's tone cut through the haze of her thoughts like a knife bringing her back to the current moment.
What in Kunnskap was she thinking just now!? Wanting more of those occurred things! No she never wanted to see another one ever again! She would never use dark magic again! No matter what! She wasn't going to get corrupted by it!
"ANISHA!" Her teacher's voice cut through her spiral again.
Her teacher now stood in front of her, green hands cupping her face carefully bringing her face to meet hers.
"Anisha, release your gate."
She hadn't noticed it but right now her gate was assailed by mana that was pouring out of her open gate. With nowhere to go it was building up inside her like a flood threatens to break a dam.
Anisha quickly dropped her hands and made the image of her gate vanish in her head. The flow of mana stopped but her body was still pumped full of it, and it would take a few minutes for it to slowly dissipate.
She was also breathing heavily
"What happened Anisha? What were you feeling?"
"I-i... I--" Anishas hands shook as she tried to calm herself down and answer her teacher but nothing came out.
"It's alright pupil. I should have waited another day before checking your mana control. In my old age I've become as hasty and foolish as the gods it seemed."
Her teacher continued to help Anisha calm down for a few minutes. Once it felt like her heart wasn't trying to escape her own chest, she managed to ask her teacher a question.
"Why were you checking my mana control?"
"After seeing what you did for the noble last night, I had hoped it to be a sign that you had finally gotten over whatever barrier is preventing you from controlling your gate fully."
"Oh.. I see." Anisha arm crossed her chest and held tightly to her other and lowered her head.
"I'm sorry teacher, I still can't control it."
"It is not your fault girl. But I think I know what's going on now."
"Y-you do?" Anisha asked cautiously.
"Your control before meeting Hmota cursed Oracle was better, whatever she did to you only seemed to make your control worse... I'm sorry I didn't stop her sooner, I should have never let things go that far. There's no telling what she must have done to you, and the noble for that matter. Of all the gods' mistakes those disgusting creatures are the worst of them."
"Oh.. I didn't consider.." Anisha wasn't sure how to feel about the Oracle right now. She knows what she did, she knows that Kab, yes that was his name she wasn't going to forget it again.
Kab was her summon, but didn't tell anyone. At least not yet, why not? Was her teacher right and the Oracle was up to something else.
Oh knowledge of Kunnskap of course it is! Its a Oracle all they ever do is scheme and gaze in to the depths of Hmota.
"Get some rest, pupil. Some Real rest. I don't want you to leave your room until at least tomorrow afternoon. And I'm certain this time you will listen to me? Right Pupil?"
"Yes Malissa, I will not leave my room." Anisha left her teacher in the training yard. Malissa continued to stand their hand on chin as if trying to work out some puzzle in her mind. A Puzzle Anisha knew she didn't have all the pieces to.
Anisha didn't like hiding stuff from her teacher, but what choice did she have now? She's drug not only Kameko into her problem but also Malissa, Venus, And Murdera! They were all trying their best to make things work and here she was making things infinitely harder from everyone. Per usual.
She made her way up the stairs past Murderas study, tempted for a moment to knock on it to talk to him. She wasn't sure what she would say, but she could hear the shuffling of papers and the dwarf muttering something to herself that she wasn't able to make out. So she decided it would be best to leave him be for a while.
In a roundabout way he had demoted her back down to carrier, so she thought it best to maybe just avoid him all together unless it involved her work.
Past the guild masters office and down a short hall her room was not as big as the one she'd use when studying with Malissa. This room could barely be considered a one person bedroom as all it had space for was a cot that took up a majority of the space, and a small dwarf desk that when she sat down at her knees came up to the table top.
If the door didn't open outwards it would have been impossible to even get into.
Exhausted from the days 'excitement' Aniahs was fully intending to follow her teachers instructions.
But...
There was one more thing she had to do before sleeping.
She reached into her gate and focused on one of her bonds. But not her bond to Kab, no this time she focused on her bond to her first summon. Bruin.
He should be safely tucked away under her bed, in a hypernation-like state due to what Anisha had started calling a "Link Rest" Which happened whenever Anisha had to travel far away and couldn't bring her summon with her. Which she didn't do often.
Bruin was a rather unique animal. Or rather, thing... She wasn't really sure what Bruin was.
In his small form he looked like a small kids toy of a black bear with a large purple crystalized horn coming from his head. No bear on Borotone matches that description So she wasn't sure where he came from.
Just my luck I don't know anything about either of my two summons
Anish moved her spare clothes to the side and pulled out a small whicker basket from the bed.
"Bruin, I'm back, did you miss-"
The Basket was empty.
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What on Verden was that thing?
From the corner of his eye Kabshiel Atsumbaul saw some black hairy creature with a purple... Knife? was that what was coming out of its head? Well whatever it was. The animal stood on four legs and glowered at him from the shadows. It took him a few moments to see it as his eyes had a hard time making out the shape of it in the dark, which it blended into exceptionally well.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
In a very low tone he heard it make some sound deep in its throat that sounded like grumpling. And he got this odd sense that it didn't particularly like him for some reason.
Without much warning, or visible movement for that matter the animal disappeared back into the shadows of his cell.
Kabshiel decided to just chock that up to just another trick because he didn't know what else to think at this point.
He had been awake for about an hour now. But he didn't move from his new bed. The cold stone floor ceiling, darkness, and shuffling of armored boots nearby told him all he needed to know.
He was finally being treated like an actual Prisoner!
He wasn't entirely sure what he had done to break the enemies resolve and have them show him the proper respect of treating him as an actual prisoner, but he couldn't help but feel happy about it. If for nothing else whatever mind tricks they were trying to use on him would hopefully stop soon.
Being alone and isolated in this sell made him think this was how he was told things were supposed to be done in other countries. He was injured in battle, taken prisoner, and now they will either torture him for some information, or would try to negotiate some sort of deal with Roclycia for his release.
It was all pointless of course. Roclycia didn't make deals with other countries, because everyone who wasn't raised Roclycian were liars and selfish. Making a deal with an outsider was a good way to just get you shot in the back.
Something I know all too well He thought bitterly to himself.
Roclycia stood strong against every foe by ourselves, and Kabshiel believed it would be his country to finally unify Verden again, it was only a matter of time.
Which was all he seemed to have right now.
His eyes traced the outlines of his cell probably a hundred times now, he wasn't looking for a means of escape or that creature from before but was instead looking for more wood. The place he was kept in didn't seem to be built of the stuff like everything else seemed to be here. It was oddly comforting to be surrounded by stone.
Well its not like I'm a Mountain carving Scommand or anything, I'm just glad its not... so weak. He admitted to himself.
While wood was a very rare item on Verden it was exceptionally weak compared to all the other materials currently used in Roclycian architecture.
C grade Bynstal could withstand about 42% of the other countries strongest artillery bombardments for an extended amount of time. Wood on the other hand. could be broken by hand if someone was strong enough.
Which made Kab wonder if what he had seen was actually wood at all. Because who would build entire buildings out of such weak material?
He'd seen the depths these people were willing to go to mask their true intention so perhaps even their very architecture was a mess of lies and misdirection.
If Tyos was here he'd probably go mad from being idle and not getting into a fight with someone. He might even have ripped his way through those metal bars and just made his way home by himself.
Kab smiled thinking about his squad mate but that smile faded as his loss came back to him.
And these recreants took my armor so I can't even engrave his numbers onto my chest piece,
Did Frea already carve his numbers into hers? Did she know he was alive? Was she even still alive?
Kab felt his anger spike unnaturally again, something that's started happening all too often. Since childhood he's been trained to control his emotions. But ever since coming here he's had to fight to keep them in check. The only thing that seemed to keep him calm now was trying to maintain a constant state of a meditative state. He slowed his breathing and heart rate down, and instead of trying to focus on the here and now, and the past. He focused instead on his past life's memories.
It took a little longer than usual but through patience he was able to see it.
Any memory from a past life was always blurry, you could never truly tell who you were, or where you were, but you could still see snippets of your life.
Currently Kab was going through one of his favorites. He believed it was his 4th life ago. Before Verden Burned and unity was broken.
The Sky was a swirl of blue and green. Huge Gammetal buildings stretched high into the sky. Even fuzzy their emasculate architecture was something truly to admire. Not limited to their modern weaker materials, the people of Verden had been able to make buildings that almost seemed to defy reality. They twisted and turned in the sky before coming back down to the ground.
Higher in the sky, the Haven Needle floated around the world halfway completed. A far cry from the current needle which was only 1/16 of its original size and only could be seen during certain times of the year.
In this moment Kab felt it. True Unity, he was happy. Not the kind of happiness you feel nowadays, which was messy and made you distracted, but a cerine almost quite happiness. It was comforting, so comforting that Kabshiel didn't realize that he had drifted off to sleep again.
-----------------------------------
Murdera closed the another log book and added to the stack to his side which was in serious danger of toppling over onto him.
With a resigned sigh he pushed himself away from his desk and began to pace his office for the twelfth time.
None, absolutely no record in any log book of a noble crest with any semblance to his.
Murdera turned and glared at the metal crest that sat on his table almost mocking him.
Sure not every noble house is tracked, and every crest notarized. But to have a crest of such quality, armor of such craftsmanship and weapons of power! He had to come from one of the more financially wealthy ones. But nothing matched!
If he's not a noble then what in Delvets Forge was he!
Murdera sat down on one of the soft couches that were laid out in the center of the room.
In the corner of the room, now polished back to its proper and beautiful metallic shine, his copper armor shone in the candle light.
If he was some crook then why did he stay and fight? He could have tried to escape as soon as he unleashed that first volley of magically produced lightning. But he didn't. No instead he had stood his ground, for spilled silvers sake he charged into one with nothing but his bare hands and a knife. No crook no matter how strong they thought they were. would ever risk their lives like that, they were cowards a lot of them. Would rather die running away than die fighting.
A soft but attention grabbing knock on the door brought his attention back to the present.
"Guild master? May I enter" It was the Gray Elf Quest Handler Ruvyn Iliyra.
"Enter Ilirya."
The tall elf entered the room with little to no noise save it for the squeak of the hinges that Murdera still needed to fix.
He made his way to the coach but stood across from him, stiff and rigid as always, he bowed his head before talking.
"I'm leaving for the night Guild Master, is there anything else you need from me?" His tone clearly hinting that he believed theirs was in fact more he thought he could get done, but had run out of his regularly scheduled tasks.
Ilirya was the kind of worker who, even if you told him to do a meaningless task like organize the quests by the type of wax seal they used, would get it done as if his life depended on it, and it would be done right. so perhaps it was time he utilised the man's attention to detail.
"Actually there is something. Something I need to get to the bottom of."
It was a very subtle movement but the gray elf's ears perked up a little, a sign that Murdera had learned was comparable to someone giving a big toothy grin. He didn't show much emotion, few full blood elfs did.
"What do you need done guild master?" He bowed his head again.
He stood up and headed back to his desk, picking up the crest he held it out to him.
"By any chance have you seen a Noble crest matching this one?"
The elf took the emblem as if he was holding a delicate piece of glass art.
He turned it over in his hands and with a neutral tone returned it to Murderas hands and said.
"I'm sorry sir, but I do not recognize the symbol." His ears fell down ever so slightly, meaning he was absolutely distraught with himself right now.
"It's alright Iliyra, neither could I or any of these log books." He gestured to the pile of over thirty years of log books.
"No quests, important news, or messages have ever come from this noble house, if it even exists. And that's the problem."
"This is the crest of the..." Iliryra trailed off for a moment as if carefully considering his words. "The man who claims to be a noble in the cell? Yes I heard from Mr. Null about what happened today. An unfortunate circumstance the guild seems to have found itself in."
"That's putting it lightly. We're delvers in a mine stuck from a cave in."
"What do you mean sir?"
"The nobles found it... Concerning the guild has no Nobility leadership, or 'supervisor' and have been on my boots heels for years trying to weasel their way in. But Lord Sog, though a drunkard bastard he is, has done his part in quelling any of their real attempts at power over the guild. But this, this whole mess could be used for justification. Think of it like this, if he is a noble, then one of our own adventures just pummeled the man to the ground who was already medically on his deathbed a few days ago. So of course the nobles will call for some form of punishment on us. And then the other possibility. If he's a liar. If he's not a Noble, but a common criminal masquerading as one, the nobles will be out from my silver blood for protecting a fake and offering him aid. They'll use it to destroy my reputation. Explanations or not I'm a smoldering piece of slag waiting to be hit with the hammer."
Ilirya didn't respond, instead his ears only dropped even more, and his eyes moved side to side as if assembling the pieces himself and coming to the same conclusion as Murdera.
"That is... Very unfortunate"
Murdera could help but laughs at the elfs change of words.
"Yes, very."
---------------------------------------
"BRUIN! There you are! Don't wander off like that again! You made me worried sick!" Anisha scooped up her summon into her arms. He was a little heavier than a dog but no less energetic. He desperately pawed at her chest and face trying to climb up to lick her face.
"Yes yes I missed you too!"
Bruin excitement usually wasn't this strong. He ran around the small room jumping from her lap to the floor to the desk back to her lap. He did this a few times before Anisha finally had to reach out with both arms and pull him in to chest scratching behind his ears and rubbing his face.
"Did you have a good link rest? I'm sorry I was gone for so long but you need to settle down now ok?"
She felt through their link that he was very excited to see her. In her mind she saw an image of a young cub digging its way out of a burrow with melting snow all around it, the cub began to run around just like Bruin was doing, enjoying the spring air and the end of winter.
Bruins thoughts were much easier to understand then her Kabs were. She figured it must just be the difference between humans and animals. Yet now she had to manage having one of each.
"Oh Bruin, I have some news for you."
The bears head broke free of her tight hold on him and looked up at her eyes wide and tongue flapping out, very much like a dogs.
"You now have an older brother! His name is Kab."
Bruins head tilted showing he was confused, but a few seconds later a image came to Anishas mind. It was the cub climbing out of the den again, but this time he was joined by another cub.
"Not quite Bruin, he's a human!"
Bruins head twisted to the other side and after a few seconds a new image came to Anishas mind.
It was the cub again, and.... Anishas face turned as red as her hair.
Kab was coming out of the den but, he didn't have any um... clothes. And his face was grossly disproportioned. He looked frail and weak, and his face was glazed over like he wasn't even thinking. He stumbled around slipping in the snow and mud.
"Umm not quite Bruin... How did you know what he looks like?"
Bruin turned his head again inconfusition and his eyes got all big and innocent looking.
I'll just worry about that tomorrow.
Anisha undressed and got into her night wear and once ready she laid down on her cot padding the bed for Bruin to join her.
Her summon eagerly hopped up and buried himself under her arm.
His body didn't give off any heat, and even when he was running around his footsteps were very quite. But his fur was very soft, almost like silk.
He was a comforting presence that Anisha very much needed.
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"Sixty five Sixty Sixty Sixty SEVEN! That should be enough!" Kameko stuffed the Bark Spores into her alchemist satchel Next to the few other ingredients she picked up along the way. She rose up from the ground. And stretched her lims out.
"HURRRRR GAAAW!! I've Been hunched over for hours! The suns already down so I better be heading back to Malissas."
When the son had gone down Kameko had cast a small spell to create a ball of light that followed her. It was very simple and only required concentrating your own raw mana into a single physical spot.
The light consumed little mana at its current brightess, which was comparable to a lantern but instead of the orange hue that burning wood created it was a bright white that made things just a bit brighter.
She could see the town lights in the distance, she'd ended up going out a lot further than she thought she would. But she wanted to be sure she brought back enough that Malissa would be happy, and with any luck reduce her punishment by a week or two.
Carefully making her ways through the shrubs and fallen trees of the forest she eventually made her way back to the main road.
It was obviously barren of people except for herself, few were traveling far out past the walls this time of year with all the raids on caravans recently. But since she was just one person and close to a capital she figured it was safe.
But.... Just to be safe.
She made her light disappear and instead put mana into a blue crystal that she then used to cast a spell to increase her hearing and sight just a bit more.
Her feline like eyes adapted to the dark quickly naturally, but with the enhancement it was instantaneous and almost like she could see everything as if it was in daylight.
Her ears were also enhanced allowing her to hear things bumping around in the dark. Off to her left about 30 feet their was Racoon slowly moving through a bush. And above her a bat glided through the night only flapping its black wings occasionally as to not disturb its prey. And to her right a twig snapped.
Suddenly all other noises faded away. On reflex her eyes turned to the right, eyes wide trying to take in as much information as possible. Another twig snapped, it was closer than the last. But she couldn't see what made it snap.
Her body tenses ready to dash at the drop of a pin.
Snap.
It was getting closer.
Snap.
She could hear breathing now.
Thick and heavy, and just around the one of the great oaks she saw somethings breath fog in the night.
She grabbed a red crystal and started putting mana into it.
She prepared a spell that would shoot out a red slash of raw energy that could cut deep into anything that tried to attack her.
Then in her other hand she prepared a speed enhancement spell. Ready to run as soon as she got her attack off first. Better to wound whatever was stalking her then just attempt to flee.
Snap.
A deep brown figure emerged from behind the tree.
Kameko braced her arm and was moments away from unleashing her slashing attack before she finally saw what it was.
A Moose emerged from the bushes and from behind the oak.
"Haha you scared me big guy." Slowly the adrenalin left Kamekos body and her senses returned to normal. But everything was alright. She smelled something.
Something vile and sick.
The moose that she had dismissed a moment ago kept walking as if it couldn't see her. Even though she was a folkmen most animals avoided anything that remotely looked humanoid. But the moose kept walking closer and closer to her.
And Kameko realized that it was the moose that the smell was coming from.
She covered her nose with her mouth and coughed and gagged as she saw what the smell really was.
On the moose's back leg, deep gashes marred its leg, and she now noticed it was limping and struggling to stay up at all.
Its huge bulky body swayed side to side and its legs struggled trying to balance itself. But it didn't stop its continual march forward.
"What did this to you?" The moose didn't heide her words but continued on.
Kameko bit her lip, looking back to town then back to the injured moose. She couldn't let it keep suffering. She'll try to heal it. And if she can't, well she'll end its suffering for it.
She approached the injured leg, but firmly kept her forearm over her nose and mouth.
"It must be severely infected. Healing wont do anything unless I kill the bacteria... Well lucky for you I just happen to have some of the stuff I need to solve just that problem!" She began digging through her alchemist bag and pulled out some dried Lotuses A Bark Spore and just a few seeds of Kelgin Flowers. She stuck the ingredients in her mouth and chewed them before spitting them out into her hand and mixing them with her finger.
"Blahh! Gross! But this should kill that infection real quick. Now stay still. And this is gonna sting a little." She reached out her hand and very gently began applying the antibiotic compound to the wound.
The smell started to fade and was replaced with a smell that was very similar to Malissas Clinic.
"Hugh Venus would be so proud of me." She said to herself, pride physically beaming from her.
"Now lets make Malissa proud. Don't worry this part doesn't hurt." She reached out and placed her on the wound again, taking a green crystal in her other hand she focused her mana into it.
I've never tried healing anything other than a cow or pig for a farmer, but this shouldn't be to different.
She reached into the mooses mind and began the letting the mooses own body do the healing.
"There we go- OWWW!!!" Something feeling like shards of glass suddenly embedded themselves into her hand with an explosion of black and blood.
"OW WHAT IN THE BLOOD OF THE DAMN GODS!!" She pulled her hand away from the moose who seemed undisturbed from the now black shards of some shiny material sticking out of its wound that were not there a moment ago.
She clenched her fist close from the pain but it only made the pain worse.
She had to slowly open her hand to see just what she's been stuck by.
Dozens of tiny black shards stuck into her palm and fingers. Each one felt like a burning dagger digging deeper into her skin.
The moose now finally stopped its continual marching. Its head slowly turned to her as she kept taking steps back away from it.
Its eyes were black with purple swirls. A black viscus fluid began to drip from its mouth. And one of its large antlers began broke off as if suddenly whitened down to almost nothing.
It gave one loud grunt and a muffled scream with the fluid in its mouth as it fell over on the side of the road. Dead.
Kamekos heart felt like it had completely stopped as she now realized just what was injected into her body.
"Corrupted Crystals."
Panic was swelling inside her mind. She was gonna die like that moose just did.
It was almost impossible to remove a black crystal from a body. It broke off and flaked in to hundreds of smaller ones and if just one flake entered her bloodstream she was as good as dead already.
"No, no no no no Please no!"
Snap.
Another twig snapped in the forest from where the moose had come from.
Then another and another.
Kamekos head turned slowly to the noise.
Another moose came out of the forest, then another, then another. A Dozen mooses all walked unsteadily in a straight line. All of them born deep gashes and black rotting blood spilled from their mouths as they walked.
"Gods... What is this."
She began backing away from the infested herd.
She had to calm down, she had to, or else it'll spread faster through her.
She took deep breathes and reluctantly released all her mana. Since Black Crystals feed off mana using mana only expedites its growth process. She needed to get help. Malissa would know what to do. She'll save her.
A deep mocking laugh couldn't come from any god made specimen cut through the night and locked in her in place.
Behind the herd emerged a thin but monstrously tall giant. He wore a ragged cloak and hefted a scythe made of pure black crystal. Its jagged crystalline structure glinting in the night. Which contrasted with its wielder's ghoulish complection.
It spoke to her.
Bastard Gods! Why Do I have to understand it.
It spoke in the language of the dead. The same language Anisha used for summoning.
"Virtute Utere ut Ignem Crea, Ette Uret."
Use Magic to Create Fire, And It Will Burn You