After two days of travel, we reached the eastern rivers. We walked a short distance away from the abominable grasses. Tom didn't want to walk into them, because the mana streams could hide in them. A single wrong step and you died or grew a leg on your forehead.
You could get those growths removed, but they'd just come back whenever you went through a more intensive healing treatment.
"Anyway, how does cancer work here? Do people like glug a healing potion and boom, the cancer is back?" I poked Tom.
"What? Uh, not exactly. The body kinda fixes itself when you evolve. Higher races can't even have cancer." The kid helpfully explained.
"Peasants?" I poked the kitten's ears some more. He swatted my hands. "They die.. from cancer, or while trying to evolve."
I hugged Tom's head. Once I met them, I'd make sure to - with Diada's cooperation - annoy the hell out of his parents. They wouldn't get cancer in their old age.
The kid stopped before the water and asked me to lower the bags. He searched for a bit and took out a map. I lifted the luggage back above us, while he searched for something.
I took out my diary and wrote "Can you help me throw him over the water?", then showed it to the spider. I had to poke her a bit before she turned to read my message. She nodded.
I jumped off and boosted to the other side of the rivers. It took me about twenty charges. I turned back and Diada was running through the water on four limbs, holding Tom in the other four, tied up in a cocoon.
As she ran, I noticed she was breaking extremely thin ice, that covered the rivers in some places. I squatted and poked at the water before me. It also had a thin sheet of ice, building up, on the shore.
The spiderling put Tom on our luggage and nodded. I shrugged and we continued our trip.
After a while, Diada grew bored of walking on her own legs and untied the cat. As he didn't get up or start complaining about the unfair treatment of kittens I lowered the bags. He was napping. The spider slapped him on the nose, then I slapped the nose. We took about five turns before Tom got up, swatting at our hands.
"I'm up, I'm up." The kid grumbled. He got on the ground and stretched, looking around. "We haven't gotten very far."
I shuffled my legs. "Should we cut your legs down to size?"
Unceremoniously the cat picked us up. He secured us under his armpits and entered into a jog. After a couple of steps, I relaxed my body and dangled. When I looked to the side, Diada seemed to be doing the same. Trying to read or look around was difficult like that, but I didn't give a fuck. It was fun.
I was dozing off when Tom put me on his shoulder. I splashed some water on my face and looked around. Grass. Tall disfigured grass on the left and short, normal grass on the right. I yawned and picked up the book on blood.
Two chapters later, we stopped in front of a gathering of stones. A large group of them, just ahead of us, leaned slightly towards us. Behind, there were some sparse rocks. Some lying on the ground, others tilted in random directions. The furthest out, were just five or six, standing upright.
Beyond them, stood something resembling a figure. Tom walked around the stones and we sat down in front of the interesting one. It looked like a sculpted gravestone, smoothed out by time. An obloid figure, as if kneeling. There was a small protrusion where a stomach would be and from the lower back, came two wing-like shapes.
Before the figure laid a slab of stone, too worn down, for whatever message was once written on it, to be readable. Except for the figure, all stones were light grey, the figure being from some sort of black stone.
Diada sniffed at the stone, scrunched up her face and turned away. "Fugly souls."
I and Tom nodded and got to cooking. "How old would they be?" I wondered out loud.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Already gone, just nasty leftovers here." She said and pulled out the violin. After she began playing, a buzz I didn't notice was there, disappeared. I shrugged and endured the musical nightmare while enjoying the smell of baking meat.
Tom seemed to last a little longer before he had to plug his ears. Once we finished, I clapped for him.
The spider took a portion for herself and we enjoyed the meal in silence. Slowly, the buzz built up as we ate. Our moment of peace was interrupted when a couple black, fleshy owls flew out of the tall grasses.
They dived towards us, screeching bloody murder. There was something human in their voices, something dead and full of regret.
I shot a wave of fire into the air. The creatures melted when they came in contact with my magic, dropping to the ground, with wet sounds. After moments they reformed and flew back up. I continued to shoot, not paying attention if Tom and Diada were joining me.
Something about the monsters felt wrong. They didn't belong among the feeling, among the sapient, among life. They were a primal desire, ravaged by the passing of ages.
I couldn't tell how long I shot wave after wave of fire when the birds ceased getting up.
The spiderling took off her lock earring. A wave of dark mana spread from her, removing the filth on the ground. She looked around and after some thought, nodded. Whatever task she completed, satisfied, she put the earring back on.
"I will sleep now," Diada informed us and climbed onto Tom's shoulder. I agreed with the sentiment and followed her example.
As I was drifting off to the land of dreams, I heard Tom mumble, "I feel like a dad..." I chuckled at that.
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After the spider did her ritual, the air cleared. A weight I didn't realise was on my chest, lifted. With it, a fog on my mind left as well. I realised where we ate.
A grave, of one of the ancient witches and the birthplace of the striga that came from the village folk's transgressions. I heard the remains, of such, turned to stone villages, were all over the continent.
I shook my head, secured my friends in my arms and began to walk. Slowly, I picked up the tempo. With the Academy just a couple days ahead, I was growing impatient. A city built under the protection of dragons!! How would it compare to my hometown? What wonderous towers would make up its skyline?
After an hour, I noticed I was pushing mana into my legs and eased up a little. I still needed to recover the mana from the fight.
Suddenly, the grasses on my left exploded in height. I skidded to a stop and jumped back. A stream of mana extended from the ground, shifting to its afternoon position. I exhaled slowly and waited for the force of nature to reach its full height.
In an aggressive wave, it shifted from the mountain towards the edge of the bowl. The air crackled with electricity and the stream settled about forty meters above me.
I pushed off and charged beyond it, in case it fell back down.
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I woke up rolled up in a fur. I looked around and it was dark. With a shrug, I went back to sleep.
I woke up to a roar. I opened my eyes and it was still dark. From the grasses, walked out some quadrupedal lizard thing. I boosted up, the fur rolling off me at the peak of the jump. I noticed, Tom also got up.
I gathered my mana between my horns, building up a stronger fireball. Tom charged at the creature and slashed at it with a yell.
His sword glanced off the scales and the monster swiped at him. The cat jumped back, mana-shimmer extending over his body.
I felt my control over mana was straining and shot off the projectile. It swooshed through the air and exploded on the creatures head with a roar.
Tom followed up, cutting into the disoriented lizard with a mana-extended blade. Blood sprayed and the monster growled out its anger. I pelted the creature with a few weaker fireballs and continued to boost towards its behind.
In position, I exhaled a torrent of fire onto, what I hoped were the vulnerable parts. The beast affirmed my decision with a loud yelp, cut short by the sound of a sword entering something soft.
I flew over to Tom. He stood, his sword piercing the roof of the creature's mouth. I patted the boy on the head, mid-fall and went back to sleep where I landed.
When I woke up at sunrise, the monster was skinned and missing some meat. The kitten must have worked throughout the night. Diada, on the other hand, was up and munching on a burger.
"Let's put Tom on the bags and you can carry me, running on your longer legs for a couple of hours?" I requested.
The girl nodded and rolled me up in a cocoon. She then secured me on her back and got up on eight legs. I lifted Tom and the luggage and we were off.
Around noon, we run into a group of human teen-girls busy fighting some Tom-waist high reptiles. The noise woke the boy up and he jumped off the bags.
We observed the three girls for a while. They seemed to be around fourteen, all three had blonde hair and tanned skin. One in the back wore the usual blue robe, while the other two wore green gambesons and waved around maces.
They seemed to be doing fine, so I and the spider got onto Tom's back. He nodded and took over the running duty. I dangled my legs a little and shrugged.
In the evening, far in the distance, we saw the tiny outline of the city at the foot of the Mountain, lit up by the setting sun. Tom sped up and run long into the night until his legs gave out.
I chuckled as he was falling, and puffed some mana to soften his meeting with the ground.
A small section of the Mountain was lit up by the city lights. It seemed we wouldn't get a good view of the stars at the Academy. I yawned and fell asleep.