Chapter Three
The forest was no more inviting than it used to be, although walking around was easier now that I had sunlight accompanying me once again, my mana starved body was not enjoying this one bit. Groans of protest were audible from both my lips and my legs, yet I moved forward. I had caught the scent of something with abundant mana and I intended to collect it. Since as far as I could tell it hasn’t moved at all, I’m guessing it’s a plant of some kind. Or perhaps a hibernating beast, caution would be worth it. I had nowhere near enough mobility to escape any predator worth its salt and wasting my mana on illusions was a death sentence, better to avoid conflict as a whole.
The sounds of the rustling leaves ring in my ears and I’m surprised to admit how pleasant it is. Although I’ve done excursions before I lived just barely outside the city proper for the majority of my life, this was the first time I spent any substantial amount of time immersed in nature like this. Well, yesterday was the true first time, but I struggle to remember most of that harrowing experience, so this counts. While the circumstances certainly leave a lot to be desired, and my broken body gets plunged deeper into agony with every step, the sun on my face and the wind through the trees gives me a feeling I could get used to.
University life wasn’t all that, the pressure to get high grades on topics I couldn't care less about was far from enjoyable. I can’t help but reminisce about my younger days before I lived alone with no friends to call. It’s sobering to realize that the only person that will miss me is the university's treasurer. I did pay a substantial amount to fully ignore their glorious lectures after all. Then again, they’d only realize my absence next year, when the money never arrives. Or perhaps I’ll just get back to an ever-growing debt instead. A depressing topic, even the thought of ever returning seems distant, I have not a single clue to comprehend how any of this happened. The closest thing to a hint was that horrible monstrosity that they kept in their basement, they should stick to regular skeletons in regular closets.
Not that I can even act on that tidbit of information, rather hard to approach someone about the whole topic.
“Hello, do you have a moment to talk about the large and possibly demonic eye in the basement of some castle?” the sentence sounds even more ludicrous out loud.
I’m shaken out of my thoughts when I close in on my prey, I can almost smell the mana that’s emanating from it. My eyes reveal its true nature, a stalk of blue grass poking out from under a bush, hardly noteworthy aside from its unusual color. Reaching out to harvest it, I wonder about how to even prepare it. While I ate plenty of leaves yesterday, which was fueled by desperation, the situation is not nearly as urgent now. Somehow the idea of putting some raw grass in my mouth doesn’t feel very appetizing, Color aside, there’s still dirt on the stalk. Would love to at least wash it off, or maybe boil it, or put it in a sandwich. That last one, in particular, sounds the most appealing, if only I could find some meat to go along with it.
Unfortunately for me, although this blue grass is rather mana-rich, it’s far from enough to sustain me for long. Judging by how many herbs they fed me, I must leak mana like crazy when I sleep. I, very badly, do not want to wake up with withered limbs again. Thus, my hunt continues as before. This time, however, I’ve been getting more experience with my newfound sensory abilities, and it takes just a few seconds to hone in on another mana source in the area. This one is even bigger than the grass in my pocket, and not far off if I’m understanding my sense right. With slightly less audible groans than before, I head off deeper into the woods.
I get to enjoy working out even more muscles when the ground starts sloping upwards, not much but it turns an already straining walk into the realm of actual exercise. Not that I was ever one for pumping iron, something I’m regretting as the day goes on and I suffer for my lacking muscles. My pace is slow but I make good progress over the next few hours. A small smile forms on my lips as I think of how I would have reacted if someone told me this was going to happen.
Dropping my keys into the storm drain had me cursing, and while it would normally be a simple trick to levitate them back to my hand, the drains were protected from magical interference. Something about an anti-vandalism initiative, I only ever noticed it when I was forced to get my hands wet just to get into my apartment, a place I never even got into in the end. Instead, I’m in some basement with an eldritch eye and some guy that doesn’t speak my language. What’s weirder, is that I could understand the doctor and her assistant without issues, I wonder what’s up with that. Their words were odd too like the sound didn’t match what I heard, was my voice weird to them too? Not that anyone could tell while my throat was that dry. I should ask when I see someone next though, the discrepancy bothers me.
And I’m no closer to understanding my condition, even ignoring where I am. My mana leakage is abnormal and highly dangerous, keeping it under control manually is doable, but I still need to rest eventually. No way to stop it mentally while I’m sleeping either. Currently, my only solution is to simply massively overcharge myself so I get to have a good night’s rest. Although perhaps I’ll be forced to wake every couple of hours to eat again, not a pleasant idea either. What confuses me is the attitude that these locals have regarding the whole ordeal. They live in such a magically barren environment and yet they don’t seem to lack mana, I’d suspect they don’t need mana to live, or perhaps just such a small amount that it would be negligible in practice. However the doctor infused me with enough mana to heal a limb, she either has so much mana that this amount was worth the risk, but that she was out of breath makes that rather unbelievable, or she doesn’t fear running out, not really.
That comment from her assistant bothers me too, he didn’t believe my symptoms were mana depletion for some reason. The whole situation is driving me mad and I can’t seem to find any answers. If nothing else, I’m coming up to my target. A mana source that is significantly larger than the grass I harvested earlier is just ahead of me, along with what I now recognize as a second source right behind it. No wonder I didn’t sense it before, they line up near perfectly.
What’s worrying, however, is how it seems to get larger as time passes. Hasty footsteps bring me to the edge of a small clearing, one big tree is taking up so much of the sunlight that the undergrowth has no chance to prosper. Even as I inspect the surroundings, two things stand out from the background.
One is the bear that’s sleeping beneath the tree, the other is the doctor on the opposite end of the clearing. She’s confidently striding towards the clearing, totally unaware of the danger. It’s almost comical how perfectly the tree’s massive trunk conceals the bear, curled up next to the base as it is. The incoming bloodbath is nowhere near as funny to imagine, however, but if I shout a word of warning we’ll still wake the bear. Magic seductively whispers in my ear, but I’ve been straining to maintain my mana levels all the while and that’s not a type of exhaustion you can easily ignore. With the old lady’s steps coming ever closer to the beast I am faced with a choice, and it’s one I make in a heartbeat. Standing still and covering myself as best as I can with a nearby bush, I focus on the mana roaming in my body. Spending precious seconds to form the spell, I cast it successfully and a noticeable chunk of my reserves deplete. My effort is rewarded as a small rectangular screen pops up in front of my savior as I return the favor.
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What I hadn’t anticipated, however, is that not everyone is used to prank pop-ups from their school days. And the old lady does what anyone would presumably do when faced with such an unfamiliar situation. A shrill scream escapes her, although, to her credit, she gets control of herself remarkably quickly. Nowhere near quick enough, unfortunately, as the damage has already been done. The beast in the center of the glade rouses from its slumber, its round and deceptively soft ears perk up. What follows is a yawn that reveals some truly dangerous teeth.
The doctor is on high alert but the tree still obscures the visage of the bear, although not the sound of it waking up. Her eyes dart around to find the source of the noise. My message is of no help because her scream disrupted my concentration enough to have the spell fail. With the peaceful option evaporating like smoke, I try to get her attention the old-fashioned way, with wild waving of my arms. This method proves more successful, but perhaps too much so. Misinterpreting my signal for a call to come over, she steps out of the forest and into the clearing proper. The wrong move, which she discovers as the beast makes itself known to her. It creeps around the tree, the sight of such a colossal silhouette gives my savior quite the shock. Blessedly, her heart doesn’t give out immediately, but she does lose her footing in the scare. The bear towers over her fallen form and I’m forced to intervene more directly.
The clumping of earth hits its head with a thud and does its job of getting its attention quite well, but little else. With its prey forgotten, the beast searches for the attacker and finds him easily enough. A bush only gives so much protection after all. I have precious few seconds to form a plan that involves my prolonged survival, and no ideas spring to mind quite yet. When the bear’s front paws hit the ground, my mind is still desperately searching for a way out. Even when it starts charging toward me with a deceptive speed I can only pray for some higher power to intervene. No such luck as the hulking mass lunges towards me and I do the only action I can think of. The logic was simple, a bear is an animal, and animals dislike fire. The decision to set my clothes ablaze was perhaps not my smartest move but what can you do?
They burn quite well and the acrid smell gives the large predator pause, long enough for me to dispel the illusion and ignite the bear's fur, distance no longer barring that tactic. With its lustrous coat burning surprisingly well, it loses all interest in ending my measly life, redirecting that enthusiasm into getting rid of the flames. An effort in vain, as I simply keep igniting more and more of the bear, generating small sparks of high heat takes more mana than I would like, but it’s nothing compared to the worth of my life.
When it opens its jaws to roar in pain I use the opportunity to force all the smoke around its massive shape onto its face. Jamming both the nostrils and the mouth. It trashes around but I wisely remain out of its reach. The smoke taking away its sight while also suffocating it proves an effective tactic. The pain of burning helps the matter too, although it’s a waste of the fur.
It’s a long and painful couple of minutes while the noise slowly dies down. When the blackened form finally collapses, never to rise again, the doctor moves toward me. I take a step in her direction, flash a smile, and promptly throw up. While it’s nothing compared to the agony that animal suffered, just seeing a living creature have its life ended in such a torturous manner is a sure-fire way to have my stomach-turning. When my innards finish turning outwards the tears start following suit. Two days of exhaustion and pain catch up to me all at once as I empty my body of anything I can. Absent-mindedly I notice my mana reserves dropping dangerously fast.
At first, I don’t even care, everything feels too heavy and nothing matters to my traumatized brain. But then the shivering starts again and I’m forced out of my state, survival demands action and I intend to live for a long time still. Hastily and with shaking fingers I reach into my pockets, retrieving the grass I stored there. This time barely noticing the dirt on it I stuff my mouth with the herb. The rich taste of mana fills me and I heave a sigh of relief.
Then my legs give out and I collapse to the ground fully, barely dodging the vomit I previously deposited. In an instant, I have a doctor at my side. A finger on my neck to check my pulse and a hand on my forehead to take my temperature. Typical bedside manners I imagine, and what I wouldn’t give to have an actual bed right now. No rest for the wicked, however, and satisfied with what she felt, the doctor leaves my side to check on our adversary instead.
I’m almost jealous, but then I notice the burning smell and it’s an effort to keep myself from dry heaving. Not like there’s anything else to export out of me. Aside from the mana I’m keeping rigorously contained inside. The old lady breaks the silence.
“Well, you well and truly killed it,” she states, and I can almost feel the tears forming again.
“I... I didn’t mean to do that,” is all I can weakly retort.
“I’m glad you did, it would have no doubt killed and eaten us. This way we can use it to help the patients instead.”
Help the patients?
“By giving them a proper meal?” is all I can say. She turns to look at me with that same condescension.
“No, by feeding them a mana-infused meal. Quite the luxury for us common folk.”
Her words make me focus on the corpse with my other senses, and as she said there exists a plentiful amount of mana inside. No doubt enough to fully rejuvenate me and then some. But I’m not selfish enough to keep it to myself, I even ignore how she just implied it was her right to divide the meat. There’s another problem, however.
“How do you even intend to bring it back? That’s a big creature, it must weigh a ton.”
She just gives a smile, a sight that feels unnatural to see after I just suffocated and burned a bear alive. Then she starts spouting incantations, and although I hear her clearly, I cannot make out a word that she says. Not that it stops me from knowing the meaning of her sentences. A long-winded prayer to lighten the load, quite literally it seems because the moment she finishes I find the corpse starting to glow. A small shimmer of light hangs around the burned cadaver and the doctor wastes no time in lifting the massive bear overhead. My mouth is agape.
“Well, what are you sitting around for? Help me carry this thing back to the village, the spell only lasts so long and I don’t want to drag it through the dirt.”
Even as my mind starts to comprehend what just happened my body is already moving. Our progress is painfully slow, between an old lady and someone with a plethora of wounds we don’t exactly have a record pace, but we make it anyway. The silence gives me time to understand what she just did. Incantations aren’t exactly unheard of, even in the modern age, but they’re mostly just for the performance, the only places where you encounter incantations at my university were in the history electives, and drama class. They just weren’t worth it to a properly trained mage. Most teachers look down upon tradition, they see it as a crutch.
It allows you to cast spells without having to manually control your mana, but it takes away almost all of the flexibility, you can still designate a target, spells would be useless without that, but it always comes with severe limitations. Being able to only target one object for example. Do you wanna lift multiple boxes? Well assuming I had the mana, something obvious back home, I could lighten every box at the same time, or even make it affect only the lower half of them. Not sure why you’d want that but it’s utterly impossible with incantations as I know them.
Which begs the real question, why did she use them?
The question will have to wait, however, because the walls of the village come into view. A sight for sore eyes, If I wasn’t stuck carrying this corpse of my own making I would have sprinted towards the gates. Or at least attempt to, I doubt it would go well with my injured legs. Either way, I am glad to see civilization, even though I used up the grass I still need to get enough mana to last me the night. I can only pray that the meat is enough.