Boreal watched as the warm one, Zalia, continued to shape the wood into whatever she envisioned. She was as impressed as ever with the skill in which Zalia managed to manipulate things with her hands. The appendages were far better and more diverse in their use to Boreal's own paws. Though her claws were much sharper, Zalia’s hands were able to make and use tools that were arguably superior. Boreal looked down on her ice sculpture, willing the icy ground to shape ever closer to the memory she stuck stubbornly in her mind. Maybe if she pushed it into the ice, it would leave her thoughts forever?
Ever since the message announcing the bond she had formed with Zalia, Boreal found she didn't need to eat as much anymore. This was an excellent ability that made her survivability greatly increased yet she felt almost offended she had to spend what little appetite she had to eat the grey. The warm one did try her best but they would need to find something different to eat or Boreal might just lose her sanity.
Boreal knew Zalia was quite the observant one. She always kept watch on her surroundings no matter what she was up to and even now kept distance from the half frozen pond in case it held danger. Despite this though, Boreal didn't think Zalia had seen the small cave opening near to the ceiling of their cave. It was small, only large enough that Boreal would barely be able to squeeze through and she wanted to explore it.
Leaving behind her ice sculpture, Boreal padded over to Zalia.
“Mreow!” Boreal said, thinking about the tiny tunnel entrance and pushing the thoughts towards Zalia.
Zalia looked at Boreal, frowning.
“What?” she asked.
Boreal moved under where the tunnel was and looked up at it, trying to show Zalia where it was.
“Are you sure? I won’t be able to help you if you get stuck or something bad happens,” Zalia said.
Boreal meowed her affirmation and Zalia sighed.
“Alright, just be careful,” Zalia said.
Boreal ran to the wall and willed some of the ice coating the floor to follow her. The ice crawled up the wall and she used it as a purchase as her sharp claws slid into the ice as if it were made of water, only getting stuck when she willed them to. She made it to the ceiling and half upside down, pushed through the gap into the tunnel. She crawled along in the tunnel before it widened a little allowing her to stand. The space was still small but more cosy than stuffy. She moved further into the tunnel and it eventually widened out into a room very similar to the one she had just come from. Drops of water fell from the ceiling into a tiny little pool in the centre of the circular room. It was quite comfy and a nice chill temperature.
Boreal actually liked it quite a lot and decided it would definitely make for a good space to make her own room. She started forming her little patch of ice into a comfortable bed in the corner, slowly decorating the room with her sculptures.
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Zalia watched Boreal crawl up into the crack with a shake of her head. She had noticed it of course but hadn’t really considered it anything other than just that, a crack. Boreal obviously thought otherwise, seeing the unsearched area as her own little adventure. Watching Boreal manipulate the ice into a climbing surface with such skill made Zalia a little envious and a little proud. She didn't have that kind of control over it but she could probably get there with practice. For Boreal it seemed to come naturally as she explored her powers and their limitations.
Zalia sat back down and got to work.
Over the next week, Zalia started writing a list of objectives into the wall as she thought about everything that needed to be done and sorted to get her out of here. The list wasn't terribly long as there were a few key things that needed doing before anything else could be decided.
In between the short brainstorming sessions she worked on all kinds of different projects. Boreal had started using ice to grind and push at the stone forming the little crack she had explored and Zalia eventually started to help out when Boreal finally told her what was up there. She started using her own heat and cold manipulation simultaneously to rapidly heat and then cool sections of rock until cracks and faults appeared, making it easy to smash apart. Eventually they reached a point in the process where Zalia could actually get up into their little attic as well, the space a snug little bedroom they could hide in. Rather than having to haul herself up every time, Zalia stopped with the expansion efforts to build a little rope ladder that led up into the room.
Along with the expansion, Zalia also made a little cot out of branches and vine. She padded the surface with more grey creature hides so it became something of a bed. They managed to fit it into the upper room as well, taking up most of the space but Boreal didn't mind so much, crafting her ice sculptures around it. Boreal hadn’t stopped doing that, recreating various memories and sculptures, each one better than the last. Zalia hadn’t been expecting to have her own little cat artist but there she was and here they were.
They had perfected their method of hunting the grey creatures but each time took a little bit of Flameroot. She’d run out eventually but wasn't too worried about that just yet. She also transplanted a few of the glowing mushrooms around their cave making a dim and even lighting that lit up the space purple. She planted a few of the Water Lilies in the bigger pond, hoping they would be able to survive off the purple light. They might be plants but they were Bronze and Iron ranked so it might be possible that they grow. Either way, she didn't take all of the ones she had stored out of stasis so wasn't too worried if it didn't turn out.
She didn't explore any further out of her cave during the week and neither did she try to explore down into the watery depths of the pool in the main cavern. Despite that, she still managed to gain a few levels in skills passively and actively from practice,
Congratulations! Survivalist and associated skills have gained three levels reaching Iron 16.
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Congratulations! Preparation has gained three levels reaching Iron 10.
Congratulations! Herbal magic has reached Iron 11.
Congratulations! Healing presence has gained three levels reaching Iron 16.
Congratulations! Aura observation has reached Tin 20.
Congratulations! Aura observation has gained two levels reaching Iron 2.
Aura observation - passive
Tin - you are able to identify what rank a creature is by sight, unless it has a method of hiding that information.
Iron - you are able to identify a creature's general progress to the next rank.
At the end of the week, Zalia finally made the move to mentally map out the surrounding area to her cave. She wanted to find a couple of possible safe places around that would allow her to expand and travel further and further in each direction. It was definitely the long way of doing things but it would be much safer and in an unknown world, safety was key.
Engraved into the wall of her cave was her list. Number one on that list was escaping this world, of course, but there were also a few more currently do-able items. One major one was to investigate the flying island, another was finding a way to harm, kill or defend herself from the shades. She had a few ideas around that already but would need to test them. The last and one she was about to work on was investigating the immediate area for safe spaces, possible dangers and possible advantages.
And so Zalia found herself leaving her cave with Boreal in tow, moving outwards towards where she had first arrived in the world. She wanted to see if Juniper really had died when Zalia had left her there and to check if there was anything she had missed in her rush to find someplace safe to compose herself. Arriving back in the open world once more, the corruption started pressing down on her and Boreal again. Zalia used her cold manipulation to purposefully cool Boreal, now knowing it would work to heal her. She kept her healing equally focused between the two of them as well, hoping to keep them both in good shape.
They travelled for a bit through the warped woods and found themselves right where Zalia had left Juniper for dead. Unsurprisingly but still to her annoyance, there was no body to be found.
“Damn it,” Zalia muttered.
She knew it had been a mistake to leave her alive, another idiotic decision on her behalf. As she was berating herself, she heard a quiet shuffling sound and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Using her heat and normal stealth techniques, Zalia immediately looked towards the sound and found who she was looking for. Shambling along looking gaunt and lifeless was Juniper. Her eyes held a vacant look, arms held limply at her sides still with the cuts made from the ritual that brought them both here. She shuffled through the leafless and thorny undergrowth, tripping and shoving her way around aimlessly. Zalia sent a thought to Boreal and she stealthily moved off to the side, preparing an ambush. She had made the mistake to leave Juniper alive and would fix that now.
Zalia quickly and quietly performed a few rituals namely Dodge-vine to push away attacks directed at her and then a Dodge-vine, Manifest and Snow-leaf ritual she had recently discovered. One of her most complex rituals so far, it created an icy armour all across her form that she could manipulate with Cold resistance and protect her from a range of attacks. She summoned her bow and stood, drawing the string as a starlight arrow conjured already nocked. She released the arrow, aiming for Juniper’s thigh to cripple her. At the same time she applied Hunter’s mark and performed a Dodge-vine and Bitterbalm ritual around the woman that would draw attacks towards her. A swirl of different coloured dusts formed a glowing ritual around Juniper just as the arrow struck, lodging halfway into her thigh as she let out an otherworldly howl. She was definitely not herself anymore.
A radiant glow could be seen coming from the wound that Zalia left with her arrow but she didn't stop to admire. She might be severely weakened but this was still a Bronze rank enemy she was facing off with. Zalia released another two arrows, one was dodged entirely but the other managed to scrape across the woman's side. Juniper approached with an eerie jerking motion that was much faster than it should have been but was waylaid before she could reach Zalia. Boreal launched from the woods emitting a bright blue glow from the shards along her body and landed against the same leg that Zalia had impaled. She landed with force and an explosion of ice spread across Juniper’s leg, rooting her to the ground. Both Zalia and Boreal began spreading and thickening the ice as Zalia quickly performed the Dodge-vine and Dodge-vine, Snow-leaf and Manifest rituals on Boreal. Swirls of glowing runes spread around Boreal as similar icy armour tailored perfectly to her form appeared on Boreal.
Now distracted from Zalia, Juniper turned to Boreal and began to try and attack her. Due to the Dodge-vine ritual, Boreal’s own speed and Juniper’s frozen leg she fell just shy of hitting and Boreal sped back into the shadows, vanishing from sight once more. In the space of the distraction, Zalia managed to get off two more shots, one hitting Juniper’s other leg in the calf and the other shot in the stomach. Juniper now glowed from four different wounds as her body was burnt up from the painful starlight Zalia’s attacks applied.
Despite this, Juniper finally broke free from her icy cage and finally reached Zalia. Her bow morphed into its sword form and Zalia went on the defensive, waiting for the starlight and Hunter’s mark combination to damage down Juniper. She was still actively spreading the ice across Juniper’s body to try and slow her as well.
Despite it all, Juniper was still quick and Zalia found herself quickly giving ground. A particularly nasty hit shattered the shoulder section of Zalia’s icy armour and left a deep gash on her shoulder. Luckily it was her left and she still fought on with her right arm. Boreal jumped out at various intervals, spreading more and more ice across Juniper’s body and leaving large gashes in other places. Still small for her species, Boreal was playing the hit and run tactic perfectly, letting Zalia keep the main attention.
The fight went on for a few minutes before Juniper finally faltered. The build up of ice and glowing starlit wounds became too much and she fell to one knee. Without indecision and all mercy gone from her mind, Zalia instantly beheaded the woman with one final stroke enhanced with Kill shot.
Boreal came out from the woods and paced around the body, not letting down her guard until Juniper’s body stopped twitching. Zalia dropped her sword, letting it dissipate into starry mist. Her healing was slowly taking care of the shoulder wound, taking longer due to having to actively fight the corruption as well.
Congratulations! Kill shot has gained two levels reaching Iron 10.
Congratulations! Hunter’s mark has reached Iron 9.
Congratulations! Hunter class has reached Iron 9.
Congratulations! Herbal magic has gained two levels reaching Iron 13.
Congratulations! Healing presence has reached Iron 17.
Zalia quickly jumped back as a dark form slowly lifted from the body, floating up and away into the sky above to join the other shades in their eternal torment. She watched it go with mixed feelings of sadness and exhaustion. It had needed to be done for the lives Juniper had ended, the misery she had brought. It was a mercy to the woman and justice to those she had wronged. As she looked into the sky she noticed what strangely looked like a crow sitting on a high up branch of one of the warped trees. Noticing her attention it gave a single, hoarse, croaking caw, before flapping up and away into the trees.
Juniper’s body slowly disintegrated from the starlight within while Zalia and Boreal watched. Eventually there was nothing left but a pile of ash, slowly being blown away by the gentle, sulphurous breeze. Zalia looked up to the warped and twisted hellish landscape around her and grimly set off to continue her exploration.