“H-how far do you think we’ve gotten?”

“I would khalkhulate we must be akhross from demon territory by now. Although I khould be inkhorrekht. Cirkhling in the periphery makhes it diffikhult to be certain.”

Oresus carefully checked the rope securing him to the branch, then wearily leaned back against the trunk. “I’m getting t-tired. It feels like we’re constantly being hunted by mevolai. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I have to assume we have finally reached a point where we are powerful enough to qhualify as worthwhile prey. Unfortunately I think it also likhely we only barely attain that level.”

“So they’re just g-going to keep coming?” Oresus sighed. “I’m not sure I can t-take that day after day. And I don’t think we could k-kill one.”

“No, unlikhely. Their hides are legendarily tough. Only high-level adventurers can pierce it.” Emokha closed her eyes and leaned back herself. “Still, we have at least the possibility of survival. Leaving the periphery would be a death sentence.”

“Please don’t b-bring that up. I’m still having n-nightmares about that impalerpus, or whatever it is actually called.”

“Puonkhamp would be how you would say it.” She made a drawn-out clicking noise. “That is our name for them. They figure in some of our ancient tales. Khreatures of dread.”

“I’ve got the d-dread, believe me.”

“Chow’s here.” Gloe swung into the tree.

Taking a sniff Oresus wrinkled his nose. “Menulys again? You certainly seem to favor them.”

“First off, they’re called stabosauruses. Second, when they die they draw off a lot of the scavengers, which makes our life easier. Third, their scent deters hydra tigers and mauler ocelots. Fourth, compared to most things around here they’re relatively easy to kill. Now.”

“I’m n-not ungrateful, sorry. Just t-tired.”

“I get it. Eat and rest.” Their determined mastication blended into the various noises of the forest for a time.

“I believe you are getting better at khookhing Zekhow.”

Taking another bite, this time waking up a bit to pay attention, Oresus nodded. “Especially since you’re using a fire s-so fast.”

“I could do better with more time, but thank you. Sort of odd so many creatures here have minimal fear of fire, but I guess that’s what makes them monsters.”

“What is this green khoating? It khompliments the meat surprisingly well.”

“Berry paste. I found them while scouting.”

Another sniff. “P-probably really good for us.”

“Make sure you eat the liver too. Can’t risk scurvy.”

“Is something amiss Zekhow? You seem a bit subdued. It is unlikhe you.”

“Just thinking. Here, you should have this.” He passed over the axe he had made from various stabosaurus parts.

“Are you certain? You have been workhing on this every night for weekhs.”

“D-didn’t you say that it was key to your survival back in the day? I thought that was w-why you didn’t bring any weapons, just digging tools- because you were planning on making one of these axes.”

“Yeah…” he grinned. “It’s the best I’ve ever made too, which is pretty funny. When I went to use it though I learned some things about how the world works. I’m still trying to work out all the ramifications. Suffice it to say it will be more useful to you Emokha than if I carry it. I’ll explain once I’ve straightened things out in my head, okay?”

“Very well. I shall be patient. In the meantime, when would I use this over the sabers?” She swung it experimentally. “It does not appear to be sharper or stronger.”

“It’s not, but it amplifies force when you swing it with intent. One way push. Hits like a truck.” He waggled his hand equivocally. “A small one.”

“W-what is a truck?”

“It’s a creature from one of the southern continents. They train them up and use them in boxing exhibitions.”

“Oh, that m-makes sense, I suppose.”

“Do not listen to him. A truckh is type of vehicle from the other world. Magikhal, in a sense.”

“What?” Gloe looked convincingly outraged. “That damned sojourner was making fun of me! That lying son of a bitch!”

“Yes yes, whatever you say” Emokha’s delivery was airy at best.

“Oh well.” The storm of emotivism broke up as quickly as it had formed. “You two had better get some sleep.”

“Are you s-sure you don’t want me to take a shift? You haven’t slept since we entered the d-deep wyld.”

“I sekhond this concern, and the solution. I easily khould takhe a watch.”

One hand waved their considerations aside. “No worries. Rest up, you’ll need it.”

“That khannot be healthy long term.”

“Why not? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m not doing it long term, just until we can find a relatively safe place to hole up. Now seriously, go be unconscious. Morning will be here before you know it.”

“Very well. But do not hesitate to wakhe me if you begin to feel unwell.”

“M-me too. Goodnight.”

Turning his shooing motion into a wave good-bye Gloe watched them roll themselves up in their bedrolls. Once he was certain they were both secure and fast asleep he crept away to a better vantage point. A clump of leaves provided him with some concealment without blocking his view of the base of the tree and the area around it.

Truth be told he would have liked to have slept. At the moment he wasn’t too badly hurt or strained so it wasn’t a problem for him to heal up the damage from skipping sleep, but that didn’t keep him from missing the relaxation and removal of strain aspects of the process. Whatever though. This was the smartest play for the moment.

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On to more important matters. As he’d leveled up his ability to multi-task had improved, so he could easily stay alert while thinking about something else, and he certainly had something to ponder. He’d finished his axe and tested it today, and the implications were…well he wasn’t quite certain what they were.

As he’d told Emokha it was the strongest magic stabosaurus axe he’d ever made. That was only natural. Not only had he leveled up quite a bit since he’d last made one, but he’d also killed more stabosauruses, so he had a better understanding of their essences. He’d been able to push quite a bit more magic into the tool this time.

So he’d been a wee bit excited when he’d swung it the first time, and in a way that anticipation had been rewarded. The new axe employed the full strength of a stabosaurus tail swing. On top of that he’d been able to push in a little of the sharpness he’d learned from all those runes on the executioner sword, combined with bits of sharpness from various creatures. The end result was a lumberjack’s dream. He’d could chop down in a tree in a number of blows roughly equal to the width of the trunk divided by the width of the axe blade. Less if he aimed intelligently and took advantage of physics.

Unfortunately that was not all the axe did. Durability and sharpness were somewhat generic concepts, and his understanding of the related magics was not derived from single sources but amalgamated from various places. The same with the climbing and running ability from squirrel lizards and zip squirrels. It was like there was some sort of overall magical schema of how those abstractions functioned, and he had been slowly deducing portions of those principles as he breathed in the magic of the destroyed. He only understood one or two percent of the overall principles, but that small bit of knowledge was extremely well-grounded.

By contrast the force increase he’d pushed into the stabosaurus axe was based entirely on that creature. He’d assumed that was why he’d never succeeded in using that magic on anything not made of stabosaurus bones. He had too specific an understanding so he required the boost that material affinity yielded. He’d learned to add durability and sharpness to tools or turn random footwear into squirrel boots but he’d never replicated that one-way push in anything without affinity.

So he hadn’t realized that the magic involved was inherently different. The climbing and running magic affected him, increasing his nimbleness and somehow temporarily reducing his weight very specifically to allow him to run along narrow branches or up trunks with the minimal amount of friction involved. It didn’t affect the environment directly. Similarly durability and sharpness affected the tool in question, holding it together and giving it an enhanced edge but not changing the surrounding area per se.

One-way push was achieved differently. When he swung the axe he’d been shocked to detect an imbue. The axe itself had imbued, anchoring itself and him in order to cheat physics. He couldn’t really track what it was doing, but best he could tell it was somehow imbuing air. How that was possible he had no idea.

More saliently, when he’d last used one of these he hadn’t been able to imbue. Now he’d could, and the results had been ugly. From what he could figure out his body had instinctively rejected the foreign imbue. The clashing forces had broken both his wrists and sent him and the axe hurtling in opposite directions.

Once he’d recovered a bit he’d tried some experimentation (one-handed. He needed one of his arms fully healed and functional.) If he tried to imbue the axe the force increase simply didn’t work. If he didn’t he automatically rejected the axe’s imbue and he couldn’t hold onto the thing. Throwing the axe resulted in the magic not functioning unless the target was extremely close. The enchantment seemed to activate based on sapient intent, and not at all unless that intent was proximate.

What did all this mean? In the short-term it meant the axe was more or less useless to him. That was why he’d given it to Emokha. In the long-term…he wasn’t sure. Magic was apparently far more complex than he’d thought. Not only could it affect material properties like the bonds and configuration of matter and use energy to affect forces like momentum or gravity, but it could also react to more ephemeral things like human decisions. Which left him with more questions than answers to be honest.

Worse was the imbuing. How could an inanimate object do that? The energy involved didn’t bother him that much. Presumably the enchantment forged some sort of link with a magical…say a reality from whence abstract ideas like ‘durability’ or ‘nimbleness’ derived. It made sense that energy in the form of magic could pour through that link. But an imbue was far more complicated. Making a tool unnaturally sharp was cool but simple. A tiny amount of force could simulate different edge angles and the whole thing was done. Just like sharpening, once it was accomplished you were done. But an imbue had to be calculated every time. It required knowledge of your surroundings.

Was the axe somehow sentient? How could it know what was around it? And how could it imbue the very air itself? He was reasonably intelligent (for certain after leveling up) and he’d been practicing for years now. Despite that he still struggled with imbuing all sort of things. He could only imbue inorganic or dead material, and the more dense it was the easier it was to imbue and more shroud he could pack in. (The same went for enchanting actually. He wondered if there was a link?) Imbuing air was completely out of the question.

But the axe did it. On command. Over and over, apparently without a hitch. How was that possible? Unless…unless…magic was natural in this world. Presumably at least. That explained why there were magical flora and fauna, magical hotspots, aberrations. It also would account for how he was so (comparatively) easily able to forge links with ideas like ‘nimbleness.’ So what if…could imbuing be reflective of some sort of underlying principle or reality here that he was otherwise unaware of? Humans who existed in a physics-based environment learned to sub-consciously take into account all sorts of forces they barely comprehended: centripetal force, aerodynamics, conservation of energy, etc.

If magic was part of the natural order here it would make sense that he would be able to organically incorporate it into his operations. But if this line of reasoning was correct then imbuing was not some sort of magical technique invented by the gods to allow for superhuman behavior. It was related to the very building blocks of existence here. Somehow. Otherwise it wouldn’t be able to occur so naturally.

By extension that would mean that magic’s relationship to intentionality was also natural. There was a…directness…to magic. One that probably did not come from the gods. Otherwise…he grinned to himself. That jackass Lamur would never have risked it if he’d known what he was giving away. So it stood to reason that he hadn’t. And if a high priest didn’t know, then the gods…

Anyway. He had a lot to think about. A lot. Good thing he was smarter and relatively tireless. He kept watch and pondered until the first rays of light began to break the horizon.

“M-morning.” Oresus yawned and stretched.

“Good morning. You’re up early. You could probably sleep another fifteen minutes or so if you want.”

“N-no. I planted some s-seeds last night. I don’t want to s-slow us down, so I’ll go harvest quick.”

“Be careful. I don’t have eyes on that patch from here, but I think there were some critters wandering around over there earlier.”

“Thanks, I’ll s-sneak.” He vanished into the shrubbery. Gloe shook his head in admiration. Oresus was getting better at that all the time.

“Good morning. Anything of note okkhur during the night?” The creaking of Emokha’s exoskeleton under the strain of her vigorous flexes would have been quite alarming to someone who wasn’t used to it.

“Quiet. More or less. Oresus is checking on his seeds.”

“Exhcellent. I will khlean up and be ready when he returns. Cold menulys for breakhfast?”

“No. Cold stabosaurus cold cuts.” She made a rude gesture at his retort and moved deeper into the woods.

Less than ten minutes elapsed before she returned, refreshed. “How much of this is mine?” she asked, looking into the hanging provision bag.

“All of it. Oresus took his with him to eat on the way, and I snacked through the night.”

“It seems to be qhuite a bit. Are you certain?”

“Stabosauruses are pretty sizable. I took a big cut and there was still plenty left for the scavengers.”

“Fair enough. Thankh you.” She began digging in. Her mandibles and maw made short work of the tough flesh.

She wasn’t too engrossed though. When Gloe dropped out of the tree she reacted quickly. “What?”

“Trouble. Oresus is alarmed, and there’s something pissed over there.” He winced. “Really pissed.”

Streaking into the clearing Oresus shouted a warning without stopping. “R-run!” Snatching up their gear the other two followed in his wake.

“What did you do?”

“N-nothing! It ate one of m-my saplings!”

“Which variant did it khonsume?”

Oresus muttered something. “What?” He shook his head in frustration. “A f-flame spear.”

“Well, no wonder it’s so pissed.”

“I thinkh we should assume it will not cease pursuit for some time.”

“Hey, but I got good news ya’ll!” When no one took the bait he continued on cheerily as if they had. “I think a mevolai already picked up our trail!”

“Shut up Zekhow” came the chorus.