They walked slowly for the first day, Murphy unable to keep up much of a pace. The camp they chose was a hollow tree beside the river, and the night was mostly uneventful. He found himself coughing up a lot of black dust and mucus. With what Uundah had told him, that could only mean he was going to keep improving. He was lucky, and for once he wasn't taking that for granted. He had a newfound drive, and promised himself he would never be that weak again. While they camped, he pulped plants he collected through the day. He had to use river stones as tools, but he made do. The goal was aspectral paint. It would never be as strong as ink, but it would do in a pinch for some wild magic. He also cut his trousers just above the knees with his sharp stone, then Uundah used stringy dry plants and his claw to sew the filthy fabric into a bag. Uundah had no trouble making a fire, since he seemed to know a trick. He shot a small fireball from his hand, catching Murphy by surprise.

"So you can do magic now too?" He scoffed.

"I'm made of magic, stupid" Uundah chastised.

"I know that, but I've never seen you cast a spell before."

"Why are you so surprised? We learned that rune together" Uundah said, tilting his head.

Murphy knew it looked familiar, but he didn’t see the rune anywhere. "How did you do that then?"

"I drew the rune."

"Where?"

"Inside myself."

"Uundah I swear to the gods. If you don't tell me I'll push you out this tree."

The O'jin snickered. It creeped Murphy out every time he did that. "Fine" Uundah relented. "I told you I can do amazing things."

"And so humble too."

"Do you want to know or not?"

"... I'll stop."

"I don't believe that" Uundah sighed. He held his hand out, and summoned a rune structure. It was the exact same rune as the fireball he drew in his grimoire, except it was empty of aspect. "Forming structures comes naturally to O'jin, but I still need to understand the rune."

Murphy pulled his friend's hand close to his own face for a closer inspection. "That's amazing" he said.

"That's not all" Uundah continued, not wasting the Warlock's limited attention span. The symbols in the structure started to fill themselves with aspects. First came fire, since it was the primary, then other symbols scattered throughout filled with the likes of force, flight and combustion. All the colours he'd used himself. "As soon as I understand an aspect, I can replicate it."

"That's incredible" Murphy gawked. "So you can do any kind of magic?"

"As long as I understand the aspect" Uundah repeated.

"What is there to figure out? It's not that hard."

Uundah frowned. Another expression that was off-putting when it came from his raccoon face. "Easy for you maybe" he grumbled. "For everyone else, it's about frequency, and that can be complicated."

"Now you're just making up words."

Uundah closed his hand and dismissed the spell. The aspect that filled the structure retreated into his core. "The point is" he said, noticeably holding his temper. "For someone to understand an aspect well enough to generate it themselves, they need to know the frequency of it. Before you ask, a frequency is the speed at which an aspectral particle vibrates. It informs the shape of the aspects particles."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Murphy blinked at him dumbly. "That sounds complicated, and I don't know some of the words you just said…" he muttered, counting on his fingers for some reason. "How do you know the colour of fire then?"

The O'jin rolled his eyes. "Study, you imbecile. Our master taught us both how to understand it, I'm not surprised you didn't notice."

"I think I'd remember something like that."

It was Uundah’s turn to blink dumbly. "Somehow I doubt that."

"That's rude, I'm a great listener."

"Then maybe you do remember hearing the forks."

"Forks can't talk. Now I know you’re making this up."

"Tuning forks Murphy" Uundah snapped impatiently.

That touched on something in his memories. The old man once sat him down for what he assumed until now was torture. At one of their meals, Callus had placed a series of tuning forks onto the table. Each of them stood in a small pot with ink at the bottom. He set them to ring and launched into a boring lecture. All Murphy payed attention to at the time was the obnoxious ringing in his ears. The forks stayed in place for several days, he just assumed it was punishment for a crime he didn't realise he'd committed.

Uundah saw the gears turning in his Warlock's mind, and smiled. "So you remember?"

"I remember a three day headache. How was that supposed to help me learn magic?"

"It wasn’t for you. It was done for my benefit."

"Since when is the old kook your master anyway?" Murphy scoffed.

"As long as he's been yours" Uundah replied with a hint of annoyance. Something about his demeanour made him realise he'd upset the little creature. " I'm not just pretty furniture." Uundah huffed.

"You’re not pretty at all" Murphy laughed. "I'm sorry to offend you my fuzzy friend, I didn’t realise you cared so much about all of this."

"It can't be helped" Uundah sighed. "You don't realise much, after all." He said with a smirk.

Murphy laughed, but cut his amusement short at the sound of a howl. It was loud enough to drown the noise of them both, yet it was obviously far enough away to cause no immediate concern.

Uundah promptly snuffed the fire they were using for warmth, then curled against his Warlocks chest.

"I almost forgot we were in the wilds" Murphy whispered.

"Hush" Uundah barked through a strained voice. "If we get eaten because you can't shut up, I'll hunt you down in your next life and cut out your tongue."

"Hush" Murphy said back. "You’re talking too much."

He couldn’t see the O'jin’s face through the darkness, but he was confident he was receiving a deadly stare. With that, he smiled, and nestled into his place for the long night ahead.

~~

When they set off the next morning, he felt noticeably better. His gut cramped and the wound stung, but he at least had the strength to be useful. He even had the energy to chase a baby hog through the trees, though its little legs were too determined, and he decided to stop before he met its mother. What they did eat was berries, a lot of berries. The woods grew more dense as they trekked along the banks, and the trees grew thicker as they neared the heart of the forest, it felt like home. Murphy used some of his aspectral paint to create a light when the day faded to evening. Since it was what he had the most of, he wasn’t worried about wasting it. The giant trees blocked most of their view, and he was chilled to the bone at the thought that something could see their light. He was also chilled to the bone from the snow, but he was trying not to think about that. The sound of birds died off, leaving the whistling wind in the trees as their only companion.

The sound of a stick snapping nearby reinforced his paranoia, and he whirled on the spot to see behind them. Pointing the light showed him only the woods, so he sighed in relief and kept walking. It wasn't quite a half hour later when he heard another sound in the trees.

"Something is following us" he whispered to his staff.

"I know" the crystal whispered back. "Just keep walking, don't run."

He felt a cold sweat coat his skin, which made him shiver. He wasn’t ready to meet a monster. They kept walking, and kept hearing the occasional evidence of something following along. Their stalker was either inexperienced at the hunt, or didn't care if they knew. He realised it was the latter, when they rounded a tree to see a great and glistened wolf waiting for them with a soul sucking grin across its toothy snout.

They froze in place as they took the sight in. It stood as tall as a Demai, had six legs covered in matted fur, and ending in finger length claws. Its coat shone in the light, the metallic flecks standing out against its already silver pelt. The imposition was finalised by its deep blue crystalline eyes. Murphy gulped, and gripped Uundah tightly as they listened to the deep rumble of an angry monster.

"Bold for food to be in my home" the wolf said in a demonic tone.

"Most people keep their food at home" Murphy replied timidly. It was one of those rare moments where he wasn’t surprised by something. The miners of Malnir told plenty of stories about the metal beasts they hunted. Plenty of those stories involved a dialogue of some kind. He knew that if an animal lived for long enough it would grow metals, and an opinion.

The wolf growled in return. "Man food. So long since I have eaten man". It sniffed at the air, and shivered. "A feast. A mageling" it started to prowl around them. Murphy kept his face to the monster the whole time.

"Oh no, You don't want to eat me. I taste terrible" Murphy offered. The wolf ignored him, and continued sizing up his relatively small prey.

"This is bad Murphy" Uundah said in his mind.

"Can't you just do your fireball thing" Murphy responded out loud.

The wolf stopped in place, and lowered itself slightly. It's crystal eyes stayed firmly directed at him.

"You idiot" Uundah sighed.

"I have an idea" he assured the O'jin.

"Silence" the wolf barked. "No ideas. Only food" it growled, right before lunging at him.

He was ready for it. The moment the wolf moved he put his plan into action, and sprinted like a mad man through the trees. There was a crash and splintering sound behind him, but he didn’t dare turn his head. The rapid stomp of six heavy paws came soon after, and he knew he couldn't out run the beast.

"What's your plan?" Uundah yelled, to be heard over Murphy’s fear.

"This is my plan" he screamed, before turning sharply away from the river and bolting into the thick underbrush.