Walking along side the beach was a refreshing change. It wasn't all good, but it did at least make navigation far, far easier. Sadly it also brought sand, a pain to walk in, a pain to be around, and generally a pain. Let us not forget that were there is sand there are sand flies, meaning that as we picked our way down the beach we woke up in the mornings with all kinds of new and fun bites all over ourselves.

On the upside we also now had new and simple sources of food, like crabs, shellfish, and coconuts. The last of which were, as far as I could tell, exactly the same as the ones from my previous world. All of these could be gathered with ease as we moved, either through picking them off rocks and sand or my magic snatching the little crustations from where they skittered nearby. After some thought I even managed to figure out a way to cook them with magic. That mostly involved holding them in a little kinetic box in the surf and heating the inside to boiling, mana intensive, but effective.

As days passed us by I began to notice a change in my companion, though not one I could readily explain. People like myself, those with magic, had an aura, a sort of visual phenomenon around them. This was a constant, though with a bit of effort I could make it appear small or larger. They were each unique, their own type of calling card. There was also at least some correlation with power, as I noticed that the stronger one was magically the more energetic their aura tended to be. Atal's for example was a terrifying cloud in his general area.

However, most elves didn't really display that. There might be a little poof of magic around them whenever they used their ability, but little more. All elves that I'd ever seen had at least some magical ability, and this mostly manifested as a slight distortion when using it. Ian's though, was flashing more than normal. It was as if there was a flickering light, coming on and off every now an then, sending an almost marbled sheen through the air.

Normally I'd have tuned this out, but the flashing got my attention. In fact I ignored auras completely most of the time unless someone was doing something with one, or unless someone had one that was oddly potent.

“Hey, are you using your strength a lot?” I finally asked, confused.

“No, why?”

“Because you're sort of flashing, never seen something like that before.” I was trying to parse it, but some things just didn't add up.

“Odd, maybe we can ask someone when we get back to the city?” he suggested.

“Yeah, probably should.” I didn't really like the idea of something going wrong with my friend's power, we'd already seen what could happen with the kids, and so far as I knew anything like that was detrimental.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The one who'd taught me about magical tattoos and potions, Jina, would certainly know. That was if one of the older elves we all knew didn't already have an idea. If it was a common, or even slightly abnormal thing, knowledge on it should be known, it was on most things. I just had to wait and hope that it wasn't something too dangerous.

Along our route there were clear signs of other elves every now and then. Small places where there were footprints or pits in the sand. One morning we even got close enough to see a group of girls harvesting mussels from some rocks, but we avoided all of these. Neither of us knew well the villages around this part of the coast, and we still had to suspect that there was a traitor somewhere who'd sold us out.

Did the hunters from those villages realize we were passing through? I didn't know, but if they did they didn't approach us. It was likely that if someone followed our trail for even a bit they realized we were just passing through, and nowhere near where they lived. Technically if we got close enough we were supposed to go and give our regards to their village elder, but without knowing where those villages were, we weren't even too far out of normal behavior.

The worst thing that could happen is for someone to locate us and then think we were part of the enemy force. That would cause a quick and violent response. Were the villages in this part of our lands even concerned with that though? Most of the invaders had been in the mountains, slowly creeping East, not near the coast.

Eventually we came upon a rock, jutting forth from the frothing waves. It stood like a spire in the sea, tall, lonely, and without any others in its immediate vicinity. Among the rocky and sandy coasts, the places where waves crashed upon the shore it stood out, a sentinel.

“Wait, I know that,” Ian said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it's one of the landmarks we used during training, about a day's march from the city. If we hurry we'll eat lunch tomorrow within the walls!” he cheered, both of us were tired, and this was just the thing to bring our spirits up.

This thing would be visible for a mile or more in either direction, but still we rushed to pass it. Both of us wanted to get back to our loved ones, back to our home, back to safety. We needed to alert Atal to the potential of traitors in our midst, and to strike back for the damage done to our unit. So close, we were so close.

The stone fell into the distance behind us, but before it was fully out of sight I heart a small rustling. I didn't even hesitate to put up a shield, instincts trained for that much over the years, but there was nothing.

“You hear that?” I asked Ian.

“Yeah,” he was on edge too, and carefully we picked our way towards the source of the sound.

There were a number of monsters in this world that we wouldn't want behind us. It was probably nothing too dangerous this close to civilization, but just in case we needed to take a look. Worst case scenario we had to retreat, something I was confident we'd be able to do so long as we weren't caught with our metaphorical pants down. Actual pants were something I'd yet managed to introduce.

After another rustle we found it, a bird standing atop an odd rock, nothing too bad. With a sigh I lowered my spell and shook my head at my companion. I was clearly too jumpy for this right now. A good drink and a proper sleep would do me wonders.

It was for that reason that I wasn't properly prepared when the beast charged. The rock was no rock at all, but rather stony skin from something roughly the size of an alligator. In a single fluid movement it rose and threw itself at me, large maw opening to snap upon my frail body.

My instinctive dodge was fast enough to avoid getting bitten, but I was still tossed when it struck, slamming into one of the nearby trees. I briefly realized that I'd seen one of these before. Then there was a crushing, agonizing sensation, which bloomed out from my side taking my breath away.

I tried to pull some kind of defense around myself as it turned, glaring at me. Before either of us could fully angle an attack though something hit its side like a cannonball.