I wake up to a familiar ceiling. I feel kind of dull at first, but take a few deep breaths and try to shake most of the fog out. I'm in the guard barracks again. Emily is right next to me, sleeping fitfully. I stroke her hair, trying to calm her some while I look around. As expected, one of the guards walks over when he sees I'm up. I think I recognize him, he was the same one from the other night, the one who interviewed me.
"Back again already it seems..." he tries to say it lightly, but I can see worry in his eyes.
"Yeah, I seem to attract trouble..." I sigh. "And everyone's always telling me I have no sense of danger, so I wind up getting hurt a lot." Wait, I'm talking too much. I have a bunch of earth mana again from treating Emily. Of course. I glance around a bit, unease bubbling up inside as I worry that I'll tell him everything.
"So it seems..." he mutters. "Well, we're glad that you're both safe, not many children your age would survive a monster attack, and that one seemed particularly bad."
"Bad how?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me. "I... haven't seen monsters before, so I have nothing to compare it to."
"The poison." He narrows his eyes slightly and frowns as he continues, "I let the strangeness of the situation slide last time because you helped those kids, but this time my men got hurt." I gulp under his stern gaze. "Its poison put three men down with just grazes. But you two were completely fine..."
I glance down, I'm wrapped in bandages, but he's completely right about the poison. "Yes, we were..." I can't stop myself from grinning stupidly, fighting desperately against the natural urge to just tell him all about why we're fine. I can't do this! I flail a hand over to Emily, grabbing her and shunting all of the earth mana off onto her for now. My awkward smile vanishes at the same time Emily stops shaking in her sleep.
Idiot, that's way too obvious! The guard's eyes move between us a couple times with outright suspicion. "The soldiers said that something happened after Francis brought you back. Something... weird. All they could say was that you touched them and the next thing they knew, they felt better. They couldn't remember what you actually did. They said it was like magic."
"Magic?" I ask, tilting my head. I'm only half playing dumb, their descriptions are as accurate as I was worried they would be, but I've never heard this word 'magic' before. I can sort of guess it's meaning, but I don't know any of the specifics.
"You know, like the mysterious feats performed by magical creatures."
"What's a magical creature? I've never heard of that before." I shake my head. I'm actually really grateful that I don't know what these things are, asking about them might distract from whatever guesses he might be forming about what happened.
"Never heard of magical creatures? They're strange, powerful beings that live far out in the wilderness, away from big cities. Of course, there are rumors about them performing strange magic, or granting humans special powers..."
I wave my hands back and forth. "I've definitely never seen anything like that!"
"Hmm..." he looks unconvinced. "The one in charge conveniently walked out of the room right when everything happened..." he mutters. "I can't say I'm not grateful everyone was cured, but... It's all way too suspicious. I can't just overlook it." He strokes the short beard on his chin for a bit. "The only one who was there and presumably saw everything was Francis. Maybe I should ask him about it?" He's clearly testing me. I know he's testing me, but I bite my lip anyway. I can't ask Francis to lie for me. He's already done way too much.
"No! You... don't need to ask him about it." I look away. What possible excuse or explanation can I give this man that will satisfy him, without revealing anything?
"No? But wasn't he also the one who went out into the woods with you when the monster was attacking? He even carried you both back, with all of your stuff too. It seems like you two already know each other pretty well..." he just keeps going. He knows he has me.
"I... I..." I'm thinking as fast as I can. What can I say? What can I reveal? What can't I reveal? Is there any way to lie my way out, or will he just catch me and make it worse? "I... I..." I'm still just stuttering over the word, unable to find a way out.
I squeeze my eyes closed and just follow my intuition. "I'm an inventor!" After a moment, I open my eyes again. Why did I say that?
"An inventor?" he raises an eyebrow.
I've set him off balance! I can work with this! "Yeah. I showed you last time, I've been learning about all sorts of unusual things. I made use of that to help everyone with the poison." That is actually true. It leaves out literally every important piece of information that I can't afford to give away, but it's still true.
As soon as he recovers from the unexpected twist, he tries to stay skeptical. "You cured the poison with... strange knowledge you learned... somehow."
I nod emphatically.
"And what exactly is this poison curing knowledge?" he asks pointedly.
"Uhh...." I didn't think that far ahead. "I'm not supposed to say!" I blurt out.
"Not supposed to?"
"Emily told me my knowledge is valuable and I shouldn't just tell people!" I know it's wrong to use her as my excuse when she's asleep and can't speak for herself, but...
The man sighs deeply. "Fair enough. A cure for poison could be an extremely valuable commodity, but..." it suddenly feels like he's looking right through me. "A cure for poison that only requires a single touch?"
"There's more to it than that!" I wave my hands. "And it only works on that specific kind of poison!"
"It only works on the specific poison from the monster you've never seen before?" Now he looks almost hostile.
"Urk!" I realize too late I misspoke. "Not that monster, just the type of poison it had," I try to explain it away. "I recognized the type of poison and knew I could treat it..."
"Excuse me if I find all of this too hard to swallow..." he definitely isn't convinced, but he apparently can't find any specific holes in my story. "I can't take you at your word. You're just an orphan girl."
My first reaction is to be offended that he'd completely dismiss me like that, but then I realize that's my way out. "Yeah, I'm just an orphan girl, you shouldn't expect anything like that from me!" Wait, that was way too obvious!
He grins. That was totally a trap! "But... I have multiple witnesses who report that you cured my men. I may not know how exactly, but if you can cure poison without holy water, I have to know how."
I sweat nervously under his gaze. His expression says he will not be denied by someone like me. This is the difference in our standings, isn't it? I have no choice, I have to tell him something. But what? What can I tell him that will satisfy him without giving everything away? Not to mention, even if I did reveal everything, it wouldn't help him because I'm the only one who can do it. Wait, I can work with that! I didn't want to mention this to too many people, but at least it gives me a plausible excuse.
"I... can't really tell you how. It's something only I can do."
He snorts. "Only you can do it? So what, now it is magic?"
"Well, yes and no..." I mutter. "I really, really didn't want to talk about it..." He just stares, deadpan. "I received a blessing," I say quietly.
"No way," is his only response.
"Reena blessed me with... something. I can't really explain it, but I've been using it to figure out all sorts of things." That isn't entirely a lie. It all did start with Reena's blessing.
"You expect me to believe that? Only you can do these things because The Powerless Goddess blessed you? An orphan child?" Now he just looks irritated. He doesn't believe me at all.
"Should I show you... something I learned?" I suggest nervously. His eyes narrow. He clearly remembers the magnetic metal I showed him the other day. What can I show him that will both prove my point, and not be too extreme or scary? Something to definitively prove I received a blessing that lets me do things others can't, but also not something that could be considered potentially dangerous...?
The most obvious solution I can think of would be tin. Just glowing a little shouldn't seem dangerous, right? "Can I have my things?" With a grunt, he goes and grabs my small basket from a table nearby.
"We were wondering why it was full of metal ingots when you were out in the middle of the woods..." he says skeptically.
"Like I said, I was trying to figure out the unique metal interactions I was telling you about."
"Uh huh..."
"Umm..." I quickly pull out a nuvrite coin, but I don't have any tin with me. "You wouldn't happen to have a bit of tin, would you?" He takes a bit from a pouch on his belt and hands it to me without a word. "So, I found out that with this blessing, nuvrite and tin do this..." I hold them together, and push a little to make the tin glow. Finally, the man's eyes go wide. I stop after just a moment. There are lots of other guards wandering around the barracks and I don't want to draw everyone's attention. I quickly hand the tin back.
"Well, that certainly is unique..." he mutters. "But why someone like you?" Even if I'm lying about the specifics of the blessing, I know what he means. A goddess shouldn't bless someone like me. Something like me.
"I have no idea. The more I think about it the less sense it makes. But do you believe me now?"
"Can't argue with my eyes," he shrugs. "It explains all the weirdness around you at least. Still..." He looks conflicted. "Curing poison without holy water..." He rubs his chin and continues eying me. What's he thinking of now? "I'd pay," he says seriously, and leans down closer. "What's the price for you to cure one man?"
"Umm?" I'm completely caught off guard by the question. Price? He wants to know how much I charge? Wait, this is exactly what Emily was talking about. The things I can do are worth enough that he's willing to pay me. But I have no idea how much I should say. I mentally roll over things I've seen sold in my head. Firewood was cheap. A tamaran was worth ten barr. A hobin is worth two hundred, and they're expensive. Of course curing poison would be worth even more than that. So maybe... triple? I'm worried that's too much though, I'm supposed to protect these people so it feels wrong to charge them for potentially life saving treatments, but I can't just offer to do it for free, that would be way too weird and suspicious.
I gulp, and make my offer. "Six coppers each."
"Done." he answers without even blinking.
"Huh?" just like that?
Then he grins. "You really are just an orphan child..." I have a feeling I undercharged...
"W-well... I'm not really sure how you plan to get me when you need me..." I try to turn the conversation toward the next thing I don't understand, and away from my probable blunder.
"We'll just send someone to the orphanage to get you," he shrugs.
"I'm usually only there at night though, and I have curfew..."
"I'm sure it'll be fine when we explain it to your guardian."
I blanch at the thought. "I-I'd really rather not explain everything... Being able to do things like this is really strange..." That makes him chuckle.
"Don't worry, we'll work something out." I just sigh. Does he even have a plan? Well, I guess if I can help people and make money at the same time, it should be worth it.
"Ok, I guess we have a deal..." I don't actually know his name. "What's your name, sir?"
"Frank." Wait, don't I already know that name? Wasn't Frank the guard captain we talked to one time? I can't really remember. But the way he talks... If he is the guard captain, shouldn't I be even more respectful toward him? "We have a deal then, Frank, uh, sir." I end up fumbling it anyway, which just makes him grin. With that finished, I move on. "But umm... what now? I asked Francis if he would get someone from the orphanage to help us..."
"Ah, that. I think he dealt with that a little while ago."
"What time is it anyway?" I ask.
"Last bell wasn't long ago."
"Late again..." I sigh. Then another thought pops into my head. I have no idea if it's a good or bad idea. "Actually, can I see the monster?"
He raises an eyebrow. "Uhh, why?"
"Well..." Why do I want to? "I just, uhh, wanted to get a better look at it I guess?" I say, only now thinking it through more. It's the first living thing I've encountered that has a significant amount of useful mana, like me. My only guess at this point is that we're both monsters, but I don't have nearly enough information. I don't know if or how that might be related to having mana, and may not have another chance to examine one for a long time. I definitely don't want to, for a long time...
"Sure, fine. Over here," he waves me forward and I stand from the makeshift bed. I make sure to hold onto my basket, who knows when I'll need something from it?
"Guh!" I grunt as my legs almost give out.
"What's wrong?" Frank asks.
"Sorry, I hurt my legs earlier."
"Hmm..." he mutters. I sit and he pulls up the bottom of my robe to take a look at my legs, then inhales sharply. "That's some serious swelling. Looks like you dislocated your knees... and your ankles..." He pulls more, "...and your hips? How'd you manage all that?"
I cover my face with my hands as I respond. "I kicked a bear..."
"A bear..." he repeats slowly. "Why?"
"It was about to hurt Emily after she was attacked by the monster. So I kicked it, but... I hurt my legs."
"No shit," he chastises. "You're lucky it didn't try to eat you instead."
"Yeah..." I lower my head.
"Well, come on." He scoops me up from the floor and carries me out of the barracks. I glance back at Emily, but she seems fine for now. She's sleeping peacefully due to the frankly absurd amount of earth mana I pushed into her. There's probably more of it than her own small amount of mana, now that I think about it. Now I'm worried that will cause some sort of problem...
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We head around the back of the garrison, into pretty wide alley between it and the next building over, where there are a few men standing around the corpse of the monster. It seems like they are going to do something with it, but I can't really tell what. They have large tools lying around it. The most likely thing I can think of is that they're going to cut it up and use the parts for something, like we did with animals we killed. But what would they be used for?
"Sir!" The other soldiers give a salute when they see us approaching.
"Hey," Frank responds casually and walks us over to the corpse and sets me down on the ground next to it.
"Sir, that's dangerous," one of the men warns.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
"She'll be fine," he waves the man off. I guess he's not worried because he thinks I have special abilities? The other men all look worried though. Sitting on the ground, I take a close look at the monster for the first time. I didn't have the time or attention to really examine it while it was trying to murder us...
The first thing I notice is how it has four legs. They would be suited for running, but it almost looks like they were contorted strangely out of shape, with extra joints.
Its claws are very slender. It almost seems like they were small claws, but then grew out really, really long. They are very sharp, but the way they curve makes them look more suited for stabbing, like a hobins' front claws. Unfortunately, that reminds me of how it nearly impaled me earlier. Just the thought makes my pulse race and it gets hard to breathe for a moment, before I manage to get it under control again.
Calm, calm, the monster is dead, I tell myself. I slowly exhale to let go of the fear, and the trembling across my body goes with it. I turn my attention back to the monster. The back claws are somewhat similar, in how they are thicker and more bladed than the front claws, like a hobins' back claws.
I lean over to get a better look. The fangs it used to tear into my arm are clearly visible, since its jaw is broken and hanging open. The wound under the wrap of bandages is still throbbing as I stare down at them. Its teeth are long and jagged, to the point where they seem to be sized wrong for the mouth. What a creepy creature...
Then there's the fur. I can still feel the way it stabbed out seemingly on its own. I carefully touch it, parting the fur a little. It's... soft? Still, just touching it makes me nervous after what happened, so I pick up a small rock to use instead. I pull away some of the fur at one of its spiky tips, and find... something. It's like some black, hard rock. It's incredibly thin and seems to branch off constantly in every direction. I only manage to get a look at it by carefully pushing the fur out of the way. It seems like the strands of rock are trying to tie up the fur into each of the spikes. Is this how it moved the spikes before? Each thin strand moving individually to make limbs of the strange coiling stone-like substance...?
How could a thing like this exist? I can't imagine how it could have grown like this naturally... I gulp, then set down the little rock. It's time to get a better look. I touch its side. After a moment of waiting, nothing bad happens, so I reach inside. It feels... hollowed out in a way. Like something ate it from the inside. Then it isn't long until I hit the poisonous mana. Blindly reaching into the monster with my shakily controlled mana, it feels like it leaps out and starts gnawing at me, ripping some of my mana away. I wince and draw back quickly, grabbing my absolute mana, and pushing that out instead. Huh, it's so much easier to control outside of myself because it's all one piece.
But I don't have all that much of it. I glance into my basket, but I didn't bring any nickel with me today. I'll just have to make due then. I use the absolute mana, still immune to any outside effects, and smash the attacking poison until it disperses. Then I reach inside as much as I can, but it's not really enough. Since I'm no longer under attack, I switch back to colorless mana, and check out everything else. Like I thought earlier, it's all eaten at and eroded away. Did the poisonous mana do this? Just keep eating at its host until it was a big, desolate cavern inside? But the sides are kind of dark and spiky. It sort of feels like they wiggle and move when I get too close, so I avoid touching them.
One last place to check. I go deeper, down to its mana well. It's hard to find it at first, but I eventually manage. It's... destroyed. I can feel the cracks and ruptures all through the sides, like stone beaten until it broke. Dark, twisting vines fill the holes, piercing down directly into the bedrock around the well and disappearing. Inside the torn up well, there's darkness. Even dead, I can feel the disgusting muck pooling, though it seems to be dissipating pretty quickly. I scour the surface, more coiling vines rising from the filth. Like winding, thorny fingers. The moment my mana touches them, they grasp out, trying to grab hold. I flail away, my mana shaking wildly as I fight to keep it under control and not let it fall apart.
I finally manage to stabilize it, then push the absolute mana in too. I don't have enough to use it exclusively, so I just try to attach it to the end of the arm-like projection of colorless mana. It is not a great solution, the two types of mana don't actually attach at all and I basically have to hold onto the absolute mana with my colorless mana. Like having a hand that you hold in your hand...
I shake my head and keep focusing. This is really hard since I'm still not that good at controlling my mana. I use the absolute mana to prod the vines. They snap up, attempting to grasp on, but can find nothing to catch on the perfect surface. While the vines try futilely to ensnare the absolute mana, I follow them back. Where do they come from? It doesn't take long to reach the surface of the muck. I take a few deep, nervous breaths, before reaching inside. I can feel the poison, immensely stronger than what I dealt with before, press in from all sides. My heart jumps into my throat and my whole body shudders a little in response. I don't know if I would be able to fight off a poison like this...
Thankfully, the absolute mana continues to display its indifference to everything, and it has no effect. That manages to calm my racing heart, at least a little. With shaky movements, I stretch the absolute mana down into the depths, following the vines down. This one is deeper. Nothing like the puddle inside a hobin's mana well. I don't know if I'll have enough absolute mana for this. For now, I keep going. The vines thicken, more of them condense and concentrate until I find it.
At the bottom of the well, there's a rock. It's hard to tell with my absolute mana stretched so thinly, but it immediately gives an impression similar to the winding, spiky stone that's grown all through the monster's fur. It's like... something was put inside and grew into this creature. This stone... I grab onto it with the absolute mana. The vines strike out, coiling around every bit of the mana. It feels like this thing is still alive!
I use the last of the absolute mana to wrap all around the stone. It feels like it's embedded directly into the bottom of the well. I can feel where the vines extend out from all parts of the stone. I don't really get it myself, but I feel the automatic urge to pull it out. I don't know why, some sort of mixture of worry that it'll revive and keep attacking people, or that a dangerous thing like this can't be left alone.
It's such vague reasoning, but I feel certain about it anyway. I've been having more of those thoughts lately... I ignore that for now, and just focus on the rock. I want to take it out. That means I'll need to pull. I don't know how hard it'll be, so I'll just have to see.
Then I start pulling. At first it doesn't budge at all. So I pull harder, and harder. I grit my teeth, leaning into it with all of my mana. It's really difficult since I have to focus on keeping my long arm of mana together, and keep a solid grasp on the absolute mana as well.
"Hey, what are you up to?" Frank asks, leaning down close and I stop pulling for a few moments.
"There's... something inside the monster." I speak in a low voice so only he can hear me.
"Inside...?" he mutters with a concerned look. He eyes me for a moment, but apparently decides to leave me to it, because he stands back up without saying anything else. With that, I close my eyes and focus once more. I pull harder and harder, but the rock isn't moving. I keep going, and it just begins to feel like it's starting to work, when I have to stop. It feels like I'm going to pull apart my colorless mana, it can't take this much force.
I let out a long, slow breath and look around. All of the guards are watching me. Of course, they have no idea what I'm doing. As far as they can tell, I've just been crouched down, touching the dead monster for a while. Trying my best to ignore their gazes, I grab nuvrite and iron from my basket and generate a little more earth mana. Why do I always wind up making more of this stuff? It's such a huge pain as soon as I'm done with it... I keep half of my attention on that, while I use the other half to keep a hold on the rock, barely managing not letting my mana fall apart.
I make the smallest amount I'll need, then drop the metal back in the basket. I place both of my hands on the monster, and return my full focus to my task once more. I take a deep breath, pushing the earth mana in to support the colorless mana, then grab the sizable quantity of the lightning mana I still have sitting around, and sort of wrap it around the column of colorless and earth mana to try and keep it together.
I clamp down on all of it, holding it as solidly as I can, tightening my grip around the absolute mana and the rock, until everything feels sturdy. Unfortunately, it feels like I'm going to give myself a killer headache focusing so hard already. Do I even have enough attention left to do anything with this? I take a few more deep breaths, slowly stretching my concentration further. It feels like I'm trembling a little as I fight to broaden my view even as I spend so much effort on holding everything together tightly. But I pull it off. Also focusing on the rock while I do all of this, I begin pulling once more. Everything feels solid this time, but it takes so much effort, beads of sweat immediately start forming all over my body. I grit my teeth and close my eyes. I let everything else fade away and let my entire mind center on my task.
I pull with all of my might, the sturdy construction of mana is holding strong. My breath comes heavy. I can feel the rock begin to dislodge. I pull bit by bit. The vines writhe all around, wrapping, lashing, going completely crazy, but it has no effect. Then I feel it come free. I pull more, it comes in starts and stops. I can feel the vines digging into everything around the well. They tear free of the foundations a little at a time.
How much was buried? The harder I pull, the harder it gets as it feels like the vines dig into everything. I can feel every bit of it tearing out. Suddenly, I hear the actual, real tearing sounds. I pull once more. The vines uproot from every surface inside the monster. All of the shredded insides with coiling spikes, it was all grasping vines. Everything tears apart, and I feel the whole thing come apart as the vines tear out of it.
Then they retract. I can feel them all suck themselves back inside of the dark rock, just as I finish pulling it out. With one last tear, the rock breaks through the monster's side, and I'm holding it in my hand. A real, physical rock, in my actual hand. No more vines, just a rock. I blink at it for just a moment, before it moves again. The vines lash out, and I barely hold all the absolute mana in my hand, forming a barrier between us. It feels like it's trying to attack me, going after my mana and physically as well.
For just an instant, I react automatically and push back hard, crushing the vines back inside. I think I feel the absolute mana push through it though. Like I can pass through its surface. Like... the whole thing is the inside of a mana well?
I don't know how to describe the horrible feeling it gives as the absolute mana slides partway into its surface to push away the vines. Meanwhile, it feels like it's actually trying to dig through my skin, though it's not getting far with all the mana in its way.
After the moment of automatic reaction, I finally look down to stare at the rock in my hand. I can feel it moving. I can feel it attacking. Like a parasite, trying to take over anything it comes in contact with. Like the monster I just pulled it out of. All those vines, all that poison, everything torn up inside... it's trying to do that to me. It's trying to do that to everything. I jolt to my feet.
Every hair on my body is standing on end. This thing is dangerous. Eyes wide, my breath goes shallow. Before I can think anything through beyond how insanely dangerous this thing is, I act.
I spin on my heel, sending my long hair flaring out all around me and aiming away from the men nearby. My eyes lock on the stone base of the wall nearby. With my entire body and all of my mana, I push, and pitch the rock as hard as I possibly can. I actually see a streak of light trail behind the rock for just a moment when I throw it. The rock crosses the distance in the blink of an eye, crashing into the stone wall with a deafening crash, and instantly disintegrating into tiny fragments against the hard surface.
As soon as I think it's gone, I wince and hold my shoulder. I think I just dislocated it too... Then I notice, did I throw some of my absolute mana with it? It definitely feels like I have less now.
"What was that?!" Frank asks incredulously. I turn to him, and he actually shrinks back when he looks at me. I'm only vaguely aware of how freaked out I must look right now. I can't keep my body from shaking at all.
"I don't know, but it was dangerous. Like, really, really dangerous." I'm shivering when I tell him: "It wanted to consume everything."
"It what?" the surrounding soldiers mutter.
Ignoring the soldiers, I keep speaking. "Like that," I point at the dead creature on the ground. "I think it turned that into a monster." I don't know if what I'm saying even makes sense, I'm too scared to think about it too much. My legs really hurt, so I just let myself slide down to the ground. Eventually I manage to bring my breath under control again, but I can't stop my shakes at all. The memory of that feels like it's burned into my mind.
I look carefully over at the area where I threw it. It is completely broken, but I can see tiny black shards of it on the ground still. I look back to the soldiers. I speak seriously, unable to shake the fear. "I'd recommend sweeping up every fragment, and burning it all until there's nothing left." The men gulp nervously at my words. I don't want to imagine the damage that thing could cause if it nested inside of a human being.
I look back at the creature it was infesting before. It is still heavily contorted, but it looks like the stone spines that held it together have all vanished. It's still very different, but I recognize it. This was a hobin. That thing turned one of those tiny fluffy hobins into a horrible monster like this...
"Ok, I'm done," I say finally. "I've seen everything I can take today..." I put a hand to my head. It hurts, along with lots of other parts of my body. I'm also getting tired. It's not as bad as some other days since I spent most of the day just sitting in a tree, but just the bit with the monster already has me really worn out.
"Sounds good," Frank says gruffly. He plops my basket back into my arms as he sweeps me up and carries me quickly back inside.
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"Trent, take these kids back home." Frank ends up calling the same guard from last time to bring us home.
With a 'yes sir,' Trent picks us both up and takes us out of the barracks. "So, hard day again?" he asks as we head north toward the orphanage. I guess that means he remembers me from the other day, even though we only saw each other for a bit.
"You could say that..." I mutter.
"What was it this time?" he asks.
"We got attacked by a monster in the forest. We mostly got away alright, but it was really scary..." I shudder. Though I'm much more scared by that black thing than I even was of the original monster...
"Yeah, monsters are bad news. You should be careful when you're deep in the forest and keep your distance if you see one," he advises. Of course I already heard that from Emily when she told me about them. But this one came right for us, keeping our distance was never a possibility.
"Yeah, I'll try to do that," I answer anyway. Then I just rest my head while he walks. Even more than last time, I pushed my body way too far. Unlike before, the worst of my injuries now are self-inflicted. I should probably be more careful when I use my mana like that, it's clear I can make myself do things to such an extent I'll injure myself pretty badly. Normally I wouldn't be concerned about that, but I could be called for combat any day now. Going when I'm already badly injured would remove any possible chance to survive that I might find.
For now, I should focus on healing Emily's and my wounds. If I really try, I should get us healed in just a few days, but it will take a lot of work... I sigh, I don't know how much time I have. Well, tomorrow is church. I suppose my next course of action will depend on if I'm able to get any more useful information on what I should do from Reena. I just rest during the trip home, mindlessly absorbing earth mana while I wait. I'll have to take back what I put in Emily, so I need to start converting it now.
We finally arrive, Trent knocks on the door, and Mister Fredricson answers a short time later. "Good evening, sir," Trent says with a nod.
"Good evening," he answers, then, "what happened this time?" He asks with his characteristic mix of concern and annoyance.
"These kids got attacked by a monster in the forest today."
"A monster?" That one actually seems to surprise him. "Well, let's get them inside," he's keeping a concerned expression, whether it's fake or not I have no idea. Trent nods and passes us off to Mister Fredricson. "Thank you for your work," he thanks the guard and sends him off.
"So, a monster?" he asks skeptically.
"I ran away and it chased me to the gate," I explain, "so the guards killed it."
"I see," he says simply and sets me on the ground. I wince a little, my legs still really hurt.
"I'm sorry for breaking curfew again," I say while bowing my head. Surprisingly, he just snorts and gives a shrug. I guess he doesn't care about us breaking curfew because of the circumstances...
"How are your injuries?" he asks. Maybe he's worried because of how bad they were the last time.
"Not that bad, just some cuts and stuff. The worst is that I hurt my legs... running," I lie. I swear his eyes shift when he catches my slight hesitation, but he doesn't say anything.
"What about her?" he asks with a look. Clearly, I'm still awake, but she's been asleep the entire time since we got back.
"She got kind of hurt too. I think she fainted. She's been asleep for a little while, and seemed really scared before." I'm not too sure where she stands right now, she seemed really out of it before. It's hard to say.
"But you seem fine," he comments.
"I..." I'm not sure how to answer. After the absolute terror of that black rock thing, thinking about the initial monster attack doesn't even make my heart flutter. I can still remember how scared I was in the moment, but it simply doesn't have any effect on me now. The levels of fear are just too different. "I've been through a lot already," is the best I can say.
"Uh huh..." he doesn't really seem convinced. I just shrug. "Well whatever, just go to bed, we'll continue this tomorrow." I nod, but then remember something.
"Oh, sir, we asked someone if they could help us with the hobins we caught today..."
"Tomorrow," he says firmly. I just nod again. Then we head upstairs to bed. Walking is pretty rough, but I manage alright. Climbing the stairs takes so long though, that I've only made it to the second floor by the time Mister Fredricson is coming back down after putting Emily in bed. It feels a bit awkward, but we pass without comment.
I finish climbing to the third floor and finally make it to our room. Now my legs are really killing me again. I should try to stay off of them for a bit while they heal. Since Emily is already in her bed, I don't want to move her, and climb into bed with her. I'm probably going to need more help with my dreams than usual tonight. I snuggle up to her side, then consider the issue with the earth mana.
I haven't done this with a person before. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and reach into Emily. The first thing I notice is that she is full. Totally full, the earth mana I pushed into her has her full almost to bursting. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but she definitely can't hold as much mana inside of her as I can. My only guess why is that she normally has less than I do, though I don't know how that relates to the maximum she can hold. I'm just glad I didn't push in too much, I don't know what might have happened... I try to shake off those worried thoughts though so I can move on. I need to be more careful in the future.
I examine the way her mana mixes with the earth mana. They all seem to flow together without any obvious issues at least. I carefully scoop out some of the earth mana, putting back any of hers I catch in the process. I know it will keep her from feeling too scared, but I also have a really bad feeling in my gut about using that as a crutch. I know from lots of personal experience how bad an experience like that can be, and I get a really bad feeling that having those feelings dulled will make it almost impossible to face them later. So for now, I take out a good deal of the earth mana, carefully this time rather than just sucking it out like I've done before. I also have no idea if sucking out someone's mana over and over could be bad for them, so I'll try to avoid it if I can...
Once I've done that, she clearly isn't sleeping as soundly, having nightmares of her own now I'm sure. It makes me feel bad, intentionally making her more afraid, but I worry more about what will happen if she doesn't feel any of it... Once I've finished dealing with the earth mana, I move on. I want to make absolutely sure she's alright.
It feels wrong, but I move forward, telling myself my intentions are good. I look further inside, finding her mana well. I carefully touch around the outside. It looks fine, so I just back away and leave it alone. I get the impression that the well is important. Like, the most important thing, a the core of a thing's being. I think the word is 'soul'? I absolutely do not want to mess with hers. I don't know nearly enough about it, and it feels like a massive invasion of her privacy.
But the other part of me wants to make extra sure everything looks good and healthy after seeing what that stone did, and what that poisonous mana did to the insides of that monster. I tremble a little just thinking about it. I can fight off something like that, but Emily can't. It would have hollowed her out and destroyed her...
I shake my head, trying to quiet my terrified thoughts and trembling body. I need to sleep now, I have to go to church tomorrow. I need to heal my legs as much as I can so I can at least walk and stand for that. I draw back out after examining Emily. I've confirmed everything looks fine.
I am not messing with it anymore.
I close my eyes and let my mind kind of drift off, trying to naturally push the earth mana down into my legs so they'll heal faster. It's difficult to try and make it automatic, doing it without focusing directly on it.
I just lie there for a while, holding close to Emily and trying to focus without focusing. I don't know if I'm really getting anywhere with it though. It seems to just be keeping me awake. But I try for a little while longer while letting myself start to drift off.
On the up side, my overabundance of earth mana now will help me with what are sure to be some of my worst nightmares yet... With those not so pleasant thoughts, I finally go to sleep.