Maryanne showed Lucius where her parents stored the spare bedding, and together they set up two cozy sleeping areas around the woodstove. After eating another full can of soup and drinking two bottles of water, Maryanne drifted into sleep with her hand still lying on Whisper's back. When Lucius noticed that she had fallen asleep, he moved her hand to her side and pulled the blanket up to cover her.
"Tomorrow morning, we'll head back to the farm. I won't be able to scout and drag her along at the same time so I need to drop her off, and she's too weak to walk. I'll have to carry her. She'll probably fit in the backpack if I leave the top unzipped. That might be the easiest way. You'll have to share your ride with Maryanne, Whisper."
The little bat looked up at him before glancing at the backpack lying on the floor as well as at Maryanne with a scrunched-up nose.
"If it's open, the sun will get me, Father!"
Whisper flapped his wings and quickly flew over to Lucius' side, pointing at the Adventurer's Ring on his left hand.
"I'll just stay in there. As long as you give me permission, I can move in and out of it as I please."
Lucius looked down at his ring as he scratched his chin. "Are you sure about that? I get the feeling that living creatures can't survive in there..."
"I am not a living creature. I am a mythical being. Give me permission, and I will show you, Father."
"Okay... You have my permission."
The moment he said the words, a big grin spread across Whisper's tiny face, and with a blink of his eyes, the bat was gone. Lucius concentrated on his ring to bring up the image of the dimensional space in his mind, and sure enough, Whisper had moved inside the space. The tiny creature was currently manipulating the shadows inside the ring in order to move things around, setting up a living area for himself. When he reached the ape's corpse, he stopped moving as he stared at it for a long moment. Lucius heard the familiar voice in his mind.
"You never fed me. I want that," Whisper said, pointing at the corpse with a look on his face that brooked no disagreement.
"Uhh... You can have it, I guess. I only kept it to try and make some leather with the skin."
As soon as he received permission, Whisper pounced on the creature's body, covering himself as well as the body in a blanket of shadows. Lucius let the image of the ring disappear from his mind as he lay down to sleep, but as soon as his head hit the pillow, he felt a familiar warmth flowing up inside him. It was the same feeling he had felt when he added points to Vitality. Lucius pulled up his status to see if anything had changed.
Strength 24 Vitality 11 Dexterity 30 Intelligence 5 Creativity 6 Luck 1 Stamina 15 Magic Power 0 Magic Resist 5 ... ... Free Att... 16
"Sure enough, my Vitality went up by one point..."
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Lucius looked back inside his ring, and by now, the blanket of darkness had retreated from the body of the ape, which had become shrunken and desiccated. Whisper was lying on a pile of clothes nearby with a comically bulging stomach and a satisfied grin on his face.
"I guess I can still use the skin. That's good. Whisper, can you explain what just happened?"
Whisper didn't open his eyes as he snuggled comfortably into the clothes.
"I am a part of you, Father. When I grow in strength, you do as well."
The little creature was obviously struggling to stay awake now. Apparently, digesting his meal was taking a lot out of him, and his chest soon started to rise and fall rhythmically as he fell into a deep sleep. Lucius decided not to disturb his resting companion further as he made himself comfortable and followed Whisper and Maryanne's lead.
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The night passed without incident. Lucius had awoken a few times as he felt slight pulses of Sense Danger, but the feeling had faded soon after, and he decided that it must have been some creature passing by outside. He threw a few pieces of fresh wood into the fire to stoke the flame before opening a few cans of food and placing them on top of the stove to heat up. Maryanne awoke soon after when the smell of the food drifted into her nose. The young child sat up cautiously, rubbing her eyes and staring toward the food above the fire. Lucius used a towel to grab one of the cans, shoved a fresh spoon inside it, and placed it on the ground close to Maryanne.
"Be careful. The metal is hot. Don't touch it with your fingers."
Maryanne was too eager and burned her finger anyway, but she ignored the pain and dug into her breakfast with great enthusiasm. When Whisper popped out of the ring a few minutes later, Lucius could tell that the creature had grown a few centimeters in height, and the feeling of magical power emanating from it had increased. Whisper fluttered around the room a few times when he saw the two humans looking at him, happily showing off his slightly increased stature, before landing on Lucius' shoulder. He pointed his chin in the air and puffed out his fluffy chest. Maryanne clapped with a big smile as she watched the animal put on his show, further encouraging the behavior.
Lucius shook his head as he packed up the sleeping materials and added some of the starter logs to his ring, looking over at Maryanne as she finished her meal.
"We will be leaving soon. I will take you to the place where my friends live before I search for your parents. Is there anything you would like to take with you? We probably won't come back here anytime soon. This might be your only chance."
Maryanne looked down at the ground, squeezing her hands together under her chin as the meaning of his words sunk in, before standing up and slowly moving into the bedroom where she had been hiding when Whisper had captured her the night before. She came back a few minutes later carrying a heavy book of children's stories, holding it up with both hands as she gave it to Lucius.
"Mom and Dad promised to read all the stories to me, but we never got to finish it. I need to bring it so when you find them, we will be able to have story night again."
Lucius accepted the book solemnly, nodding with resolve as he carefully placed the large tome in his storage ring.
"I'll do everything I can to find them. Let's get moving. The sooner we get you to safety, the sooner I can start."
Lucius held up his hand, and Whisper fluttered into the air before diving toward the ring, disappearing in a showy puff of purple smoke. He was turning into quite the attention seeker. Lucius waited outside the bedroom door as Maryanne put on the warmest clothes she could find, before climbing into the backpack that he held open for her. She held her knees against her chest as she squeezed into the bag, facing away from Lucius as he hoisted it over his shoulders. After one last glance around the cabin for anything he might want to take, Lucius found a toolbox containing various small hand tools, which he added to his ring casually, before stepping out the front door.
The sun was shining brightly overhead, but the constant wind gave the air a slight chill. It was a good day for traveling.