CHAPTER 6: ROAD TRIP!

I spend the rest of that day and the next implementing some of my ideas. Changing something internally here, building a prototype there. All too soon however our time is up.

Rayna pours some of her mysterious concoctions over the strange carriage, or ‘car’ as we’ve shortened it. Rayna pours the last potion over the wood and metal structure. “Right, should be all finished now. Nice nails by the way”

I nod and thank her for the compliment, silently grinning inside. We open the car doors and step inside, having already put what we’re bringing into the storage in the back.

“So, how does it work?” I ask curiously.

“Well, you grab the steering wheel and flow some of your mana through it. From there you use a conjunction of mana control and these levers to control speed or whatever else you may need.” Rayna looks behind us, ready to pull out when she blinks. “Mind opening that big door so we can get out?” she asks sheepishly.

I chuckle as I get out and walk over to the door and slide it upward. Making sure it’s secure and won’t crash down I eventually nod in satisfaction. Waving Rayna out I watch as she slowly and hesitantly pulls out of the storage/workshop and into the desert sun.

I hop back into my seat. “That was so cool!” I exclaim.

“Yep, not nerve-wracking at all.” says Rayna with a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel.

“Well, what’re we waiting for?” I ask. “Let’s keep going!”

Rayna nods as she carefully turns us around. With a start and stop method we drive off into the unknown with the city, the sun, and the woman who created me behind us.

—---------------------------------------

As Rayna gets more and more comfortable with driving, the trip becomes more and more smooth. Less sudden stops for no reason, and less running over things we really shouldn’t. It’s still really bumpy though. We decided to try and stay off the main roads in case any rebels or soldiers decided to set up border checks.

And so the bumpy trip continues. At first it’s not so bad. Not hard to drive on flat, sun baked earth with only a rock here or there. It gets harder when the dirt desert transitions to grassland. Miscellaneous hazards that we had no way of seeing due to the grass. Heck, I’m pretty sure we might’ve run over an animal or two.

The forest is what forced us back onto the roads however. Rayna took one look at the treeline then turned to me - who had been guiding us this whole time - and asked where the nearest road we could use was. I obliged her and we drove off to a little used road.

As night began to fall we noticed yet another flaw in the car's design. We had no way to light way ahead of us. We quickly found a clearing along the side of the road and set up camp.

I set up the tent we decided to share as Rayna set up a fire and started cooking dinner. She was making a soup, and when she was finished she left it to simmer. I sit on the ground as I watch her take out a mana stone and seem to concentrate on it. When it lets out a subtle flash she sets it down and repeats it a few meters away until there's a border surrounding our camp.

“What’re you doing?” I ask curiously

“Some small magecraft.” Rayna replies, “it’s an alarm, will tell us if any monsters or anything over a certain size passes the stones.”

“I thought magecraft was just doing stuff with your mind?” I question.

Rayna wiggles her hand. “Yes and no. Manastones can be useful for mages as well. They can be used for mana storage and transport, or as I used here you can enchant them to fulfill a certain purpose. The mana that the stones are storing - and in some cases gathering - will be used as fuel on the spell.”

“Cool!” I say, “But how’d you learn how to do it?”

“That’s just for me to know, kiddo.” Rayna says with a slight smirk.

I give her my best pout, but it seems to have no effect. Which only makes me pout harder.

“If you keep making that face it's gonna get stuck like that.” Rayna says as she walks towards the pot. She takes the bowls she had lying next to the fire and fills them up using the ladle she was previously stirring the pot with.

“Really!?” I ask, immediately ceasing my pout.

“I dunno, just what my pops would say.” Rayna shrugs as she sits next to me and hands me my bowl.

“Your pops? What was he like?” I ask.

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“He was great. Taught me a lot of what I know about alchemy.” Rayna says with a wistful smile on her face.

“If he taught you so much he must’ve been really good.” I say.

“The best, couldn’t teach me everything though.”

“Why not?”

“He died when I was young and left me with his problems.” Rayna states a little heatedly.

With a now awkward atmosphere we continued eating. Rayna seemed to get more and more lost in her memories before she finished her meal and sighed. “Sorry kid, I made this weird. I’m going to head to bed.”

Putting down my own now empty bowl I nod. She walks off to the tent as I take the bowls and clean them. Putting them back into storage I follow Rayna into the tent where I discover she’d already fallen asleep.

Cuddling back into my own sleeping bag I fall into a dreamless sleep.

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I wake to Rayna urgently shaking me awake.

“What is it?” I grumble sleepily.

“The alarm tripped, I checked outside and it seems to be goblins. Get your gear, we’re going to have a fight.”

As I quickly gather my things (who knew nigh panic was such a good wake-me-up?) I ask what a goblin is. Apparently they’re little green creatures with a mob mentality towards killing what’s in their way. Sometimes they’ll have shamans - basically mage goblins - and sometimes they’ll have a hobgoblin leading them. Just bigger, meaner versions of their lesser kin.

We quickly make our way outside, hoping for the best case scenario but expecting the worst with how many times the alarm tripped.

Rayna is in a light leather armor set that clings tightly to her frame but allows her to move swiftly. She has her bandolier of potions crisscrossing her torso and holds a pair of daggers in her hands.

I on the other hand have started to realize I may be a bit underdressed. No armor, just the clothing I was wearing previously.I do have weapons however. Unfortunately I didn’t really have the foresight to test the prototypes. Unsheathing my dagger in my off-hand I take a stance towards the goblin horde.

And horde is the right word. Dozens of goblins face us. Little green men was an accurate description. They were also hideous. Bulging eyes and snaggle teeth, they seemed custom made to make you recoil in disgust. The fact that most were wearing just a loincloth or nothing at all just solidified that idea. Most wielded clubs or spears, but two wielded a stick with a manastone atop it. The shamans probably.

The one that drew your attention however was the tall specimen rippling with muscle.

“Shit! A hobgoblin.” Rayna cursed. Like her words broke a spell the goblins started screeching and ran at us. Numbering perhaps two dozen in all we were doomed. There was no way we could fight them! We had to–

A smack rings out as Rayna slaps me out of my spiraling thoughts. “Snap out of it! You wanna save your mom? Well this is just the start! I’ll distract them, can you take them out?”

Firming up my resolve I nod. Nodding back at me Rayna rushes off towards the charging goblins with a speed I didn’t know she had. She slashes the hobgoblin before he can react. The hobgoblin bellows at her and takes a swing, but she had already moved out of his range. Drawing the attention of the goblins with shouts, she runs in circles around the crowd and leads them away from me, dodging weapons and fireballs all the while.

I quickly reach down into one of my new belts containers and take out one of my prototype grenades. “Nothing like a live fire test to get the blood pumping.” I mutter self-recriminatingly as I press the priming button and throw it into the crowd.

BOOM!!!

The explosion is much bigger than expected, taking out a good chunk of the goblins and one of the shamans, and sending many of the others tumbling due to the shockwave.

Rayna stumbles a bit too before she catches herself, just barely dodging a swing from the hobgoblins great club. “The fuck was that!” she yells at me.

“Sorry!” I yelp.

“Just use something that won’t mess me up as well, kid!” She yells back at me.

I nod even though she can't see me and take something else out from a different pouch. It's a blowgun, and I sheathe my dagger so I can grab some darts with my off hand. Quickly loading I attempt to shoot the darts out. I miss the first few times but eventually manage to hit a goblin. The goblin that was hit seizes and hits the ground. Dead.

It works but not quickly enough, so I put away the darts and blowgun before grabbing another grenade and tossing it into the crowd.

Rayna and the hobgoblin notice it and attempt to brace themselves. “gods dammit kid!” Rayna yells at me.

When the grenade goes off however there’s no explosion. A buzzing fills the air as electricity flails out of the grenade and takes down most of the rest of the goblins.

“Ok, as long as you keep it away from me, that one's fine!” Rayna yells. Rayna's eyes widen as she notices the hobgoblin moving away from her. And towards me. “Watch out!” Rayna attempts to chase after it but is held back by the last shaman and a few goblins who cut her off. Leaving me alone with an angry hobgoblin.

It roars as it charges me and I definitely do not let out a squeak as I run away. Quickly searching through my field tested arsenal I don't think there’s anything that can really help me. Blowgun takes too long to set up. The grenades are long range suicide to use it so close. The daggers are short range suicide since I never learned how to use them.

As I’m panickingly thinking over my options I trip over a root and fall over. I turn over onto my back as the hobgoblin approaches. It looks down on me and I swear I see it sneer. It raises its club to end my life and I hold up my hand as if to ward away what I know is coming.

Which is when I notice my dull red nails. Knowing it’s my last option I point my index finger at the hobgoblins head and activate the internal mechanism. My nail shoots out with a sharp crack as it launches itself toward and through the hobgoblin's head. It teeters, then falls over backwards with a thump.

Rayna clears up the goblins she was finding and finds me shaking, staring at the hobgoblin. She crouches down and pulls me into a hug at which point I start bawling.

“I-it got so close!” I wail, “I was s-so scared!”

“Shh,” Rayna shushes me, “It’s alright now. All the monsters are gone. I’m here for you.”