The Roads West of South Jaga City – Year 1344, Month 1, Evening of the 8th. Spring

Olea Munroe

The noise seemed as if it echoed through the forest to my right just ahead, between me and where I was thinking the gypsy camp was located, yeah, they were merchants, but I couldn’t help but compare them to those earlier times on Earth where gypsy bands would travel about causing mischief or living as freely as they could and being accused of causing mischief. Eye of the beholder on that one.

“Great.”

‘Might I suggest we hide; those trees look splendid. Running would be a nice second option.’

“Nah, fairly sure it knows we are here and running in the dark is likely to end badly. Also, how are you seeing?” I had known my little chatterbox could somehow sense things nearby in my thoughts, but I had not thought it could see things as I saw them, I hoped help-chan didn’t turn into some weird peeping AI or something.

‘I gain more perception in the wider world as you advance, I do remember telling you that my powers and knowledge would return as you grew. This is part of that, I can see through your eyes without the distraction that causes your own observations to be lacking.’

“Rude to answer my questions while insulting me.” The nerve of some people

No sooner had I finished the statement than a large number of white, red, brown, and black forms rounded the bend. It was a herd of cattle.

“Just a bunch of cows.” I had been scared for nothing it would seem. This whole wilderness thing must have been warping my imagination.

Having overcome my false sense of danger, I decided to march onward. I’d give the cows some distance so as not to spook them but, meh. Cows.

“Ha!” I’d still get back early enough to not worry Alex if he even noticed me missing and maybe find a way to get more of that stew and get a place to sleep.

“Mooooooooooooooooo.”

I looked up at the source of the bovine sound in time to see the cows all look in my direction, like, all of them. Each and every cow was staring at me as if I had just ordered a load of veal nuggets while giving some chickens a high-five.

As I began to get bad vibes from the steaks-on-legs, I decided to assess my new toys.

I let my mana flow through my body, or rather I focused on its flow. The stuff was always moving about, though without conscious thought and applied will it didn’t really follow a noticeable pattern of any kind that I could discern. I focused my intent and my desire as help-chan had instructed me during our days travel, I was so focused I ignored the small mental comment of ‘Would you stop calling me that.’ It came across as more a statement as I am sure no one would think I’d stop using such an easy to remember name. Getting back to my train of intent I called up three of my spells, the first was Armor, it felt somewhat tickly as the mana flowing through my body exited at various points near several of my body’s joints as well as some softer area simultaneously. Like a cloud of feathers just tore through the air and touched my body in passing, and then it shifted, stretched, and flexed. I could feel the tough membrane across my body as I willed the spell’s information into my vision.

Armor: This spell temporarily imbues the target creature with an increase in physical damage resistance. Used on existing armor it will give a small increase to durability, this effect is permanent on items and caution is urged. Bonus applied is based on the combined Wisdom and Intelligence of the caster at the time of casting.

Next up I channeled more mana into the second spell, Detect Magic. Again, my skin got tingly as the mana mobilized and then locked into a spell form. A small symbol flashed in the air around me visible to me probably because of the nature of the spell, my eyes felt strained for a moment before it subsided which was weird because I did not know the eyes could pick up tactile sensations. I took in the world around me as things became a little Extra.

Detect Magic: This ability grants a spell to allow the caster to detect magical energies imbued in objects, creatures, and even the very air. Colors and patterns can help discern the nature of many magical spells and items. Spell effectiveness increases with the level of Magical Attributes, tier of Piety, and tier of Arcana.

I guess it was not just for the eyes, I mean, I could see the flowing energies in the area, yeah. But now I could also feel it caress the exposed skin of my body like a hazy breeze of rainbow light brushing my senses. It’s not easy for me to explain it all as anything more than a vague sensation of almost water and almost wind hitting me at the same time except, I could feel the colors and flavors of the magic in the immediate area with every part of my body. It became vaguer at a distance, like heat on the pavement it kind of bent the magic light before dissipating away.

One thing I did notice with my new vision was that the mana around the herd of angry bovine was a distinctly ugly red black. Like the festering wound of trauma patients, it warped and twisted in on itself before undulating outward, the closest thing I could think of was that the mana around them seemed to move like the inner orbs of a lava lamp with no specific part keeping the same size and shape for more than a single rotation.

“Nope.” Not normal cows, I wanted no part of this.

I channeled more mana as I cast Wind Walk. This time I did not get that cool tickle along the skin. I instead felt the mana leave my body, a large chunk of it just oozed out from my pores like a cold sweat that forms for no reason all over. Immediately after I could sense the air, and thanks to the overlap from Detect Magic I could also taste the wind. Very, very odd. I could also sense that I had a small amount of say in what the wind near me did, I doubted I could form a projectile out of my little slice of the sky, but it did feel as if the potential was there for more.

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Wind Walk: This spell creates a field of moderate wind control for use by the wielder. It can be subtly altered by the target of the spell to shift the winds and allow for faster movement while lowering stamina consumption. Unlike other spells you will benefit from both Intelligence and Wisdom while receiving minor bonuses from your overall Dexterity and Constitution.

There it is, strange how it uses multiple stats for the single ability, but I could totally see myself going all glass cannon and then accidentally ripping myself apart in flight if I got carried away, I may want to balance my body’s toughness before I do any serious wind warping magical ninja flight. Wait a minute, I got two ranks of this spell.

“What gives?”

‘I was waiting so as not to stress your brain, you savage.’

I was about to retort but then saw the magical information flash across my vision.

Rank Two: Your skill now invokes a passive benefit whereas you may expend a portion of your mana regeneration to maintain a lessening of your weight. Not unlike gravity magic, this will allow you to somewhat alleviate the pull on your body by external forces, be they natural or other. Further decreases the Stamina cost of many actions. Passively increases control over the magics of Wind and Air.

“Hrmn.”

I did a quick little jump in place, yep definite weight reduction. I had meant to only do a small bunny hop but somehow my vertical clearance was nearly two feet off the ground. No effort dunking, I like.

Of course, the cows were not idle as they had gotten much closer to me by this time, I really should try focusing more on my surroundings. They looked very hostile at this distance; a mere forty feet separated me from the hamburger brigade, and I was running out of time to make my escape.

“Time to go.” I turned and ran feeling the air shift with my change in direction as I sprinted away like a true warrior of discretion. I heard the cows behind me take up a run as I was no longer waiting for them to arrive, I wondered if they had thought I would remain there and be eaten or stampeded or some other such thing. Nope.

My hair was whipping behind me as I ran faster than I remember being able to run, “Wind Walk is bloody amazing!” It was at this time as I was making my escape that I couldn’t not help but celebrate me new spells when I heard the ominous sound of doom ahead.

“Moooooooooooooo!” came the long-drawn-out battle cry of a large bovine beefcake from the forest tree line to my right. I turned my head keeping my feet beneath me even as I was only half paying attention to the ground ahead and saw a large red and brown spotted cow flying at me from the dense foliage, not running fast, FLYING!

It was one of those ludicrous imaginings of a world so completely foreign to my previous one that I was caught flat footed. Time seemed to slow as I saw the cow hurtling toward me in a line parallel to the ground spinning like a top with its eyes focused straight on me, I swear I saw milk spraying outward in a white liquid parody of a water wheel gone mad as the crazed cow approached in a rush.

I attempted to stop in place and instead tripped on a perfectly positioned rock under foot sending me stumbling through the air with my slightly reduced weight making me maintain my forward airtime just long enough to collide with the whirlwind of farm raised flesh.

“Gah! That REALLY hurt!” I had to confess my pain to the world as our two bodies collided.

I was thrown from my forward trajectory and went careening sideways in a spin of my own and could not help but catch a glimpse of the foul beast as it did a pirouette upon landing in the soft dirt of the road. Just, how.

After landing on a broken branch, or rather after picking myself up from atop some branches that had broken as I fell upon them, I took a quick survey of my surroundings.

The road was ahead, upon it was the cow now on all fours again and looking at my hungrily. I have no idea where cows are on the food chain in this world but there is no way I am going to go down without a fight or at least a very climactic chase.

I patted my hip and felt that my knife was still there, not doing any good before I pulled it from its sheath and gripped it in my right hand. Now armed I looked back up the road, the cow that had tackled me was patiently waiting as I had yet to move after my forceful relocation, instead content to wait for its fellows as they were mere moments from arriving.

A sound of breaking branches and heavy movement from behind caused my mind to misfire briefly as I realized that the cow-turned-ballerina was not alone while waiting ahead of the other cattle. There was a right proper herd in the forest behind me, I’d been well and truly trapped by several tons of hamburger.

I dug in my heels, or soles as I do not think my soft leather boots had much in the way of parts other than the leather string and a few stitched edges. Never was a shoe girl. I sprinted up the small rise to the road committing the whole of my strength to a jump to assist in my withdrawal, I got much better airtime with this attempt as I found myself nearly eight feet from the ground.

And obviously the spinning diva was expecting my attempt at escape from this pickle as she launched herself forward to give chase. To my dismay I was easily outpaced as the red devil ran under my airborne form and turned in place by planting its forward feet and raising it rear legs to spin about in the air and bleed off extra momentum as she looked up at me with a murderous gleam in her eyes.

“That’s not fair!” was all I had the time to shout as I descended toward the waiting cow, it flashed its sharp, obviously carnivorous, teeth my way and that was when I knew I had seriously screwed up. I’ll never leave a cozy gypsy camp alone again if I make it out of this somehow.

“CAW-CAW!” I felt a solid THWOCK in my rib cage as a feathery black mass of crow struck me in the side. WE, my most favorite of birds and I, landed all a-jumble barely feet from the perplexed cow.

The small hit from my valiant friend sent me off course with my reduced weight enough to save me from being a Shis kebab but it was obvious I was in danger, and I doubted my bird friend would survive either. Such a valiant effort from a bird I barely tolerated, and too seldom appreciated.

I grunted out a small thanks to my savior and received a labored attempt at squawking in return. So courageous.

“I guess this is where it ends, eh Brutus?”

Another pitiful squawk, we were in perfect agreement.

I managed to get my feet under me again channeling Cure Wounds through both hands as I gripped my own left wrist while my right hand held my bird-buddy. Until that moment I did not know that I could use the spell like this, but it seemed to work just fine for about two seconds, my small cuts and scrapes disappeared, and my feathered friend regained it’s footing before taking flight as I felt the spell cease with my mana levels tanking.

I was only just starting to get distracted with the specifics of my rapid mana depletion while dual casting my low-end healing spell when I was struck from behind by a truck. My body buckled and bent as the impact drove me forward before whatever had assaulted me halted its forward progress to send me flying into a large tree where I stopped abruptly with a CRACK.

I felt my ribs painfully scraping at my insides as I took a sharp breath while I looked at the world upside down and through a curtain of fading light. In the well-trod road occupying a space I was just forcefully removed from stood a large bull of crimson spotted with a sickly purple. Its horns were glowing a shade of green and seemed to be wet with something red.

It would seem that I had been gored, and as that thought struck me, I could feel through the shock that; yes, I was indeed leaking vital fluids from a spot that may or may not have just missed piercing a kidney.

The bull tossed its head left and right as it ran its steel grey hooves across the ground tearing deep furrows into the earth, I would not be making it out of this one.

“I wonder if I’ll have another go at it when I pass this time.” Was all the speech I could muster as my vision kept swimming in the gloom of near unconsciousness.

It was then, as I was sure of my imminent death that the expected happened.

A large figure stepped from the tree to my right, silhouetted in shadow and wielding an axe the size of a door to a famous uncle’s station wagon.

In my stupor I will not say that I was ashamed of muttering, “Get ‘em Buck.”