Anna
There was a particular satisfaction with knowing you’ve made progress. Like checking off several boxes on a to-do list all at once. Anna had always loved lists, they made her feel centered, that whatever goal she had was attainable. So, as the others experimented with their own skills, trying to find different uses for simple abilities, Anna sat at the edge of her clearing and made a list.
What do we do now? What do I need to do now? Clearly, survival was at the top of the list, she’d need to find a way to survive her current situation. What does surviving mean? Get stronger so I can protect myself. Find food, water, and shelter? Where though?
As questions mounted in her mind, Greg walked over to Anna’s side, “Thinking about what to do?”
Anna paused and patted the soft foliage near her, gesturing to Greg to sit as she responded, “How can you tell?”
“I’ve been thinking about it too.” Greg said as he removed his shield, using it as a platform to rest his equipment. “Johanna wants to bury the dead, that’s fine. I don’t think I can convince her it’s not a good idea to go back. But then what? Do we wander around, fighting off aggressive locals until we stumble upon a place to live? Can we negotiate with some of them as neighbors?”
“How about we start with what WE want.”
“And what do we want?”
“That’s where I’m stuck at,” Anna laughed, “Our quests are very specific and it seems like we have a lot of leeway to accomplish them. Except, I don’t think finishing the quest is a good enough goal.
“I think,” Anna paused, collecting her thoughts, “that we need information, more than anything else. We’ve fought others, but have no clue who they are, or what they want. If we had a better lay of the land, then we could make informed decisions. I can’t say with any certainty, but we all probably have different goals. You and Helen want to find somewhere safe to raise your son, Hobbes and Kalvin want to find their friends, and the others all want something too. Maybe we can accomplish all of those goals as a group, but maybe we’ll all need to split up. That being said, I think the one thing that serves our best interests is just knowing what the hell is going on.”
“Sounds simple… at first. The most glaring issue is how do we get knowledge? We can’t simply walk up to someone and say, ‘Hey! I’m new here and have no clue what’s going on. Can you give me a brief history on who everyone is and what they all want?’”
“Why not?” Anna asked as she pulled out her map, “We know there are some villages in the area. It’s a risk, but if we stake out a village…”
“Steak out?”
“I mean if we watch them, set up surveillance to ensure they’re not going to attack us on sight.”
“Okay, sure…”
“Well.. then we approach. Not all of us, just a few to make contact safely while the rest wait at the ready in case something goes wrong. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.”
Rather than answer, Greg sighed deeply and the pair fell into quiet contemplation. Eventually, hunger led the group back into the cave where they all dug into their remaining biscuits. After today, they would have to scrounge up their own food.
Feeling the time was right, Anna broke the silence first, “We should discuss what we’re doing after we bury the dead tomorrow.” She described her thinking and plan to the rest of the group as they gave their input.
Tormin and Collin learned they shared the ranger class when they both offered their opinions on the best village to approach. Turns out that classes could receive knowledge rather than just skills. Rangers were given knowledge on terrain navigation and wilderness survival. Both of the rangers suggested a village closest to the eastern mountain range. According to the map and their best estimates, the forested hills provided coverage for the group and would make escaping and hiding easier, should the need arise.
The discussion continued for hours, each time it seemed a consensus was made someone would offer up a problem or probing question and the conversation would start anew. Hobbes grumpily suggested a vote as darkness fell and the others, too tired to continue arguing, agreed. The next morning, they would head back to bury the bodies of their former group and then seek out a village roughly 25 miles to the east.
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In the end, the trip back was blessedly uneventful, although it was mentally draining for the group. Each snap of twigs and rustle of bushes terrified the travelers. Anna’s senses were constantly on high alert, making her exhausted and irritable by the time they reached the bodies.
The stench wafting from the carcasses of the dead permeated the air. Small particles of debris, like mushroom spores floated above the grisly scene. Anna had expected birds or some other carrion feeders to take over the former campsite and found it odd that everything was left untouched.
“Don’t walk into the spores,” Hobbes warned. “Near the mountains where we’re from, there’s a particularly nasty fungi that feeds on the dead, breathing in their spores leads to decaying sickness.” As he spoke, Hobbes and Kalvin walked over to the river and drenched their extra shirts in water. They tied the shirts over the mouths and nose to protect themselves from the air. The others followed suit.
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Once everyone had at least some protection from the spores, Hobbes led the way into camp. As they walked, he conjured small bursts of fire in front of him, burning away spores. Once they reached the center of camp, Kavlin set about creating a large pit. The previous day, he’d argued with Helen and Johanna over the pairs’ request to have him create individual graves for their slain comrades. Hobbes ended the debate by declaring, “His powers, his rules. Feel free to dig the graves by hand if you don’t like it.”
While the pit was being dug, the other gathered bodies and gently paced them into the pit. The group was silent as they worked, as Hobbes cleared an area of spores, the others moved in to pick up the fallen. Once the level of bodies reached the brim of the pit, Kalvin dug the pit lower, allowing the next layer of the dead to be placed over the previous one.
After Kalvin closed the pit, several swords were stabbed into the loose earth and then the ground was hardened to hold the blades in place. The stench of decay still hovered in the air and the group marched further south to escape it. The women, and then the men, took turns bathing in the river. The somber mood slightly lifted as they washed themselves of not just grime from the last several days but also some of the survivors’ guilt they didn’t realize they were carrying. Even those that were initially against returning to the destroyed camp felt better for it.
From there, Collin led the group east, while Tormin went scouting ahead with Miranda, in search of food. A short while later, they returned with a large gemsbok laid over Miranda’s shield as they dragged it using Tormin’s cloak.
“Anyone know how to cook this thing?” Tormin called out.
“I can dress and clean it, but it’ll take me most of the afternoon.” Replied Collin. “You picked the ranger class without ever hunting?”
“I’ve been hunting plenty, but it was always with my father and he’d never gotten around to teaching me that bit before he passed.”
“Oh, sorry…” Collin awkwardly mumbled before quickly recovering, “Why don’t you help me then? I can teach you what I know.”
“Alright, thanks,” Tormin said.
At Collin's request, Kalvin laid several boulders side by side, creating a misshapen table for the ranger to work on. The trio then skinned and gutted the animal, the hide was tossed away as no one wanted to go through the effort of carrying it around to be cured later. Miranda kept the two large antlers as her prize for helping with its slaying. The meat was then cut into large steaks and wrapped in leaves before being placed into shallow holes in the ground. Hobbes then filled the hole with pebbles from the river and heated them with several small fireballs.
Anna watched as Hobbes controlled the size and shape of his fire with more finesse than she was currently capable of with her own magic. “You’re really good at that,” she commented.
“From what I hear from the others,” Hobbes said without looking away from his task, “most of you come from places with little to no magic. I’m not sure why that is, but my world is a lot like this one in terms of ambient energy. Plenty of people learned and controlled magic, except we didn’t always rely on the system to help us. I learned how to use ambient energy to search mines and map out veins of minerals in rock. I’m just applying those same principles to control my fireball skill.”
“So why did you pick your fire mage class? You’re clearly pretty skilled with earth magic.”
“My class was never directly related to earth magic, I was a soldier like Greg, except I never trained my class.”
“Why not? Wouldn’t you want to grow your power?”
“Some people certainly focused on personal growth through their class but definitely not the majority. Why would I want to constantly put my life on the line, possibly going to war, fighting and killing others just to increase my class?”
“Then why did you choose the soldier class?”
Hobbes gave her an odd look at first, “I didn’t pick my class.” Then brought the palm of his hand to his forehead, “Oh yeah, we got to pick them through the system this time. Back in my world, your class was random, there was a whole ceremony you went through when you came of age and a god would give you a class, you had no say in what you got. Some people were luckier than others and received a class that they could grow without direct combat. Those folks usually got jobs related to their classes. The rest of us learned a vocation or two and lived regular lives.”
“You couldn’t become an adventurer?”
“Adventurer?”
“Uh, someone who makes a living completing odd jobs and slaying monsters?”
“Oh, yes, there were people who would travel killing monsters, we called them monster hunters. Most hunters traveled from place to place, never truly settling down, and they typically died before they retired. Those who did retire became houseguards if they were lucky and utterly destitute if they weren’t.”
“Killing monsters and selling monster parts didn’t pay well?”
“It paid fine if you could work in established territories. No one’s going to pay you to kill some random troll deep in the jungle unless it threatens them directly. Working in an established territory meant that you had the permission of the local lord to take hunting jobs and that usually meant you were either a knight or houseguard already which come with a soldier's duties and salary. Most hunters serviced rural communities out in the boonies or became mercenaries once they realized that poor people don’t pay well and constant travel is expensive.”
“This conversation is making me sad. You’ve made me sad, Kalvin.”
Kalvin snorted, “Sorry to burst your bubble Ana. Of course there are plenty of stories of poor adventurers saving the day and winning over the heart of a princess, but that’s just what they are, stories.”
“Well, I guess there’s nothing for it other than to hope your world and this one are different enough that there is plenty of adventuring to be done. Otherwise, my husband is going to be devastated.”
Once the steaks had been cooked through, Collin passed out a slice of stake to everyone and packed the rest into his back for breakfast. Ana stared at her steak as the others dug in, a deep frown forming across her lips.
“I know there’s no salt,” Collin said, “but it’s edible I promise.”
“What’s wrong, Ana?” Kalvin asked.
“Just another of this new life’s disappointments Kalvin,” responded Ana, “I was a vegetarian in my last life.”
System Alert:
Arn Pand has sent a message, would you like to receive it?
Giving her mental assent, Ana heard her husband’s voice directly in her mind. “Till then my windows ache.”
“Well, not everything is disappointing I guess.” Ana said as she took a bite of her steak. Pablo Neruda hardly ever disappoints.