Fey and Mimi ran deeper into the forest at a rapid pace, showcasing the benefits of a high stamina level.
When Leandriel messaged her, Fey was too excited about the prospect of gaining wings to slow down, continuing her pace while her concentration was split between two tasks.
For most people, the minimal amount of attention diverted into reading and replying to text messages in a virtual overlay system controlled entirely by thought would not cause problems with a simple action such as running. However, Fey had extremely low base physical abilities. She could, with practice and concentration, accomplish specific actions well enough to mimic grace and coordination, but no matter the amount of practice, the movements never became second nature.
Generally speaking, Fey was well aware of her limits and never attempted to multitask when it came to potentially hazardous activities, but the increased strength and dexterity of her avatar combined with the excitement of her upcoming quest clouded her judgement enough to overcome her natural caution.
It was no surprise when Fey tripped over a tree root and crashed, head-first and at full speed, into a tree. (It was somewhat surprising that she managed to finish the whole conversation before this occurred.)
Halting her momentum at a more gradual pace, Mimi returned to where Fey lay on the ground, too stunned to even voice pain. The force of Fey’s collision was such that she had sustained intracranial bleeding. Fortunately, her game body was capable of healing the damage (allowing her to avoid progressive loss of neurological function followed by death), but she would certainly not be up and running again for a period of time.
Mimi crouched beside her (clumsy) friend. Assessing the damage, the sniper pulled out a medium healing potion. She paused in the act of opening the vial, hearing the thud of heavy hoofbeats approaching at a rapid pace.
Boris galloped into view with the other Feypets on his back, having been summoned by Fey’s telepathic signal earlier. The iron boar came to a rough stop next to Fey’s supine form and nudged her with his nose. (As gestures of concern went, this one looked particularly threatening, given how it brought his sharp tusks into close proximity with the major arteries in Fey’s neck.)
When Fey failed to react, Amethyst used Boris’ snout as a slide onto Fey’s forehead (*wheeee*), secreting healing potion as soon as she landed.
Fey blinked and grimaced as the sticky fluid dripped into her eyes. She put up with the discomfort until she felt well enough to move (not that she had much choice before then), then picked the slime up by the bubble and put her back on Boris’ head. Sitting up, she wiped her face. “Thanks, Amethyst. Hi, guys.”
Fey’s greeting triggered a group hug as the Feypets celebrated their reunion after a long period of minimal contact during the laser tag tournament.
Mimi watched the affectionate exchange with a warm expression, not quite a smile. It was at this time that a shadowy figure approached from low to the ground.
Long and thin and flat, the shadow was almost unnoticeable in the dappled shade of the forest. Mimi’s keen eyes detected it only by movement as it slithered in a snake-like motion towards her.
Stopping a polite distance away, the creature lifted a smooth, featureless head on an equally featureless neck to bring itself level with Mimi’s crouching height.
Surprised (but not really surprised, given that she’d left it in the Feypets’ care for a month), Mimi evaluated her soul-bound pet, which should have still been incubating inside its egg.
The prompt came without any information that might help select an appropriate name for the creature.
Mimi caught Fey’s attention with a hand gesture. “Any idea what this is?”
Fey looked over. Seeing the shadowy creature, she did a head count of the glooms cuddled in her lap and came up with six. “Did you guys make a new gloom friend?” she asked her pets.
They shook their heads.
“Well, it’s not a gloom,” she said to Mimi. “Is that what hatched out of your egg?”
Mimi nodded.
Fey squinted at the creature as if that would help her understand its simple shape. It looked like a simple ribbon of shadow, its sharp lines not suggestive of anything organic. “No idea,” Fey said, giving up on guessing.
Amethyst chimed in helpfully with a squeak. (“Show ‘em, dude.”)
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In response, the shadowy creature rapidly shifted forms, first turning into a sword, then a spear, then a staff, and finally a crossbow bolt.
Mimi carefully picked up the bolt and tested it. Unlike the shapes the glooms could morph into, which were as soft and flexible as their rabbit bodies, this bolt had the density and rigidity of a real projectile, only its soft black colour and slight warmth to touch hinting that it was anything other than an inanimate object.
“It morphs… into weapons?” Fey said.
The Feypets nodded. Amethyst squeaked, and Fey grinned at the visual of the slime wreaking bloody havoc with a heavy cluster of shadowy spikes attached to its bubble-arm. “Awesome.”
Mimi did not take long to choose a name for her new pet. Not trying to be clever (is this snark directed at our protagonist or the author?), she chose something simple and cute. “Shifty,” she declared.
“Level 30,” Mimi read aloud. She directed a look at Amethyst, who shifted uncomfortably before squeaking a confession.
Mimi did not pursue the matter further. From the stories Fey had told about raising her own pets, Mimi understood that pets were more likely to gain unique abilities that were complementary to their owner’s fighting style if they had a variety of adventures with their owner. She would have preferred to raise Shifty from level 1 by herself, but there was no point in being upset at the turn of events. Having the Feypets train the weapon spirit to level 30 did save her a great deal of time, and she still had quite a lot of training with it before it would catch up to her level.
“Sorry,” Fey apologized on behalf of her pets, who seemed to be agents of chaos in cute animal form. She stood up experimentally; her limbs felt shaky, but held.
Mimi likewise stood, Shifty-the-crossbow-bolt in her hand, and steered Fey towards Boris’ saddle.
“I can run,” Fey protested. In real life, she was lazy and would not hesitate to avoid physical exertion, but faced with real-time notifications on stamina decreases, she behaved like an exercise addict.
Mimi did not point out that if Fey had sustained a similar injury in real life, she would be on the way for emergency neurosurgery. She simply held Fey’s gaze until Fey meekly got into the saddle.
Mimi took off at a run, Boris easily keeping up with her pace despite his extra passenger.
Mimi was startled at the sensation of the crossbow bolt in her hand dissolving away. She glanced at her hand in time to see Shifty shift back into ribbon form. It was followed by the sensation of cool silk as the weapon spirit wound itself around her arm. The sensation disappeared as Shifty underwent a final transformation, leaving nothing but a tattoo-like marking against Mimi’s bare skin.
***
Fey shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. Boris had quite a large girth, and her adductor muscles[i] were protesting the stretch. She glanced over to judge whether Mimi was in the mood to let her travel under her own power.
Mimi had disappeared from her place beside Boris.
“Mimi?” Fey called out. “Hey, stop for a sec,” she said to Boris. The boar thudded to a stop.
“Mimi!” Fey called again. There was no reply.
Fey resorted to private messaging.
“I guess we’re on our own,” Fey said to her pets. “Almost there.”
With no scary Mimi present to make her do otherwise, Fey dismounted and walked the rest of the way to the centre of the Elvenwood.
The first thing Fey noticed after beginning to walk on her own was the hushed silence (formerly drowned out by Boris’ galloping hoofbeats). There were no animal sounds in the air, nothing but the peaceful rustling of leaves.
The second thing Fey noticed was the faint glow being emitted from the trees. Upon closer inspection, it was not the trees themselves that were glowing, but rather a pollen-like dust that coated the surrounding trees.
The ambience was magical and peaceful and beautiful, enough so that even the Feypets’ tendency towards lively chaos calmed down and they looked around quietly. Fey was not much of one to seek out the beauty of nature, but she thought that she might want to visit this place again, soak in the peace and quiet until she could carry part of it into the noisy world.
The glow of the pollen on the trees intensified until the Mana Tree itself came into view.
Majestic with size and age, the Mana Tree resembled none of the trees in nature. Its leaves glowed translucent green. Four-petaled blossoms of every colour grew profusely along the branches, each emitting their own glow. The air itself sparkled with drifting pollen that made hypnotizing swirls and waves on the air currents. At the top, robust branches reached endlessly into the sky, while near the bottom, weeping-willow-like appendages draped almost to the ground, creating graceful curtains.
Amidst enormous, ancient roots, a clear, winding path led to the Mana Tree’s massive trunk. Fey walked it in hushed wonder. Her skin and hair began to sparkle as it picked up pollen, and she smiled at the thought of becoming part of the beauty of this place.
Coming to the end of the path, Fey saw the Mana Tree’s trunk had a palm-sized patch of bark at chest height that was worn smooth by the touch of countless hands. Inhaling deeply, she touched her hand to the spot.
Daughter.
The word was not really a word, more of the essence of meaning behind the word. Fey had the sense of an ancient intelligence, of being part of an incomprehensibly vast ecosystem that was nurtured and cherished by an equally vast power.
It is time for your evolution.
Fey felt the eternal cycle of life, of growing and changing and death. To the Mana Tree, she was no different than a caterpillar preparing to transform into a butterfly.
You must complete a task.
Fey had the sense that her quest was a necessary part of her development as well as essential to the balance of the forest, just like the life cycles of all the other inhabitants of the forest.
Take this. Nurture it.
A single branch descended, carrying what looked like a pearl, if pearls were green. Fey gently picked up what must be a mana tree seed.
In her mind, a map bloomed, showing areas that would support a new mana tree. Fey nodded her understanding.
New colours bloomed on the map. A rush of information filled her mind. These were unbalances in the ecosystem. She understood that correcting them was not her primary task, but that the knowledge was given to her because of her Guardian’s Blessing. She nodded again.
Be well, daughter.
The vast sentience returned to its eternal watch over the forest it guarded.
Fey lingered for several minutes before quietly going back the way she came.
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Footnotes:
[i] The adductor muscles of the hip, colloquially referred to as the groin muscles, are responsible for bringing the legs close together and include adductor brevis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, pectineus, and gracilis.