Arrival
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Liam Rocco
The intensity of Myra’s stunned gaze boring into my back hadn’t faded even after I’d returned to my mother’s side. The words I left with her on a whim must have had a significant impact, I was hoping they did, given how useful that ability of hers could prove in the future.
Judging by her reaction just now; I was certain that she could in fact see through lies.
That power was an indispensable asset in this world since I had yet to fully grasp even the basics of common sense here.
Once upon a time, I had no problem seeing through deception, but that was only thanks to my direct connection with the source. Now that I was on my own, outside aid was no longer an option so the best I could even hope for here was a compromise.
Myra had mentioned something about seeing distortions just now but that wasn’t how it worked back in Eden. I didn’t actually see any visible changes; it was more like an alarm went off in my mind every time I was being lied to.
Losing that power was certainly a setback, it felt as if I was missing one of my senses. In hindsight, it kind of feels like I was just taking it for granted.
If I’d been able to do it back in Zale, it would have certainly made things easier considering that entire ploy was only being wound together by deception in the first place.
As my eyebrows twitched in deep thought, I stole a glance at the figure looming over me – The woman I was now using as a lap pillow. She must have sensed my drowsiness even from yards away because the second I made it back to the tent we pitched; she smiled at me before saying that it was past my ‘bedtime’.
Before I even knew what was happening, the low humming of her voice had all but defeated me. It was the one clever tactic I could never quite get around ever since my days of infancy. Even now, as I rested my head on her lap, I could barely even feel the sensation of her fingers running through my hair.
All the strength I could muster was constantly being drained from my limbs.
While laying on my back and waiting for my vision to blur, I hear the dull sound of our tent flap opening. “You put him to sleep already?” Oliver asked with a giggle.
“He dozed off just now. You know, ever since we left Zale Liam’s been acting kind of different.”
“That’s true, he seems a lot.....livelier than before. I’m starting to wonder if he just didn’t like that place.”
“Well, the way I see it, that’s not quite right...” She mused in thought
“It's more like, he’s just figuring out how to be a child. That’s what I’m getting from his new attitude, but who can say for sure? I’m just a doting mother after all.”
“That’s the kind of thing mothers are good at picking up on.” Oliver replied modestly, before taking up his position on my right and leaving me trapped between them.
“I can’t even imagine what my father’s reaction to all of this is going to be, he’s probably upset that I didn’t bring Liam back sooner.”
“Well, even if he is mad, he probably won’t stay that way for very long. He dotes on you quite a bit, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, I suppose so.” She chuckled
“You don’t have very much to worry about but, me on the other hand.....When I get back to the capital, I’ll probably have to answer a few questions myself.” Oliver sheepishly remarked
Ever the optimist, I heard Julia mutter a well-timed ‘good luck’ before pulling out the covers. That was the nail in the coffin, once the covers were drawn, I no longer had the mental vigor to prolong this semi-conscious state.
My final thoughts for the day circled back to the contents of their conversation.
I pondered my plights and progress ever since coming to this world along with all that was sure to come. It certainly hasn’t been easy so far but somehow, having these people around made the load feel a bit easier to carry.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Perhaps I was actually becoming somewhat of a ‘normal’ child.
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The next few days into our journey had solidified my suspicions about our destination. At the break of dawn, the answer to those speculations were becoming that more obvious. As the mountain’s silhouette drew closer, I could clearly see the horizon’s light starting to seep through it and not over like what one would normally expect.
Once we reached the base, the roaring sounds of a waterfall could be heard growing louder and louder the further up its span we traveled. Noticing my perked-up ears, Oliver chuckled before giving his input.
“That sound is probably coming from a stream somewhere around here, but it gets much louder on the other side because that’s where the ‘fissure’ is. ” He said jokingly
“A fiss...ure?”
“Well, yes. This mountain is basically on the edge of Sylvan and because of something that happened a long-time ago, it's kind of broken.”
I made a mental note of that.
No matter which world you were in, there was hardly any chance of something commonplace possessing the power to outright ‘break’ a mountain.
“Liam!” Flynn yelled enthusiastically “You’re in for one hell of a view kid!”
“No need to spoil the surprise for him Flynn, let’s just save it for the top. He’ll see it when we get there.”
“All right, I’ll wait then.” I remarked, keeping my gaze fixed on the winding dirt road that weaved itself through the slightly overgrown forest paths.
“Haah....talk about a lack of tension.” Flynn’s dejected sigh immediately drifted off with the wind.
Although I was interested in seeing what exactly was going on with this thing, it seems my lack of excitement had something of a gloomy effect on him. Apparently, that was something I needed to work on too.
“Aaaagh! I forgot how much of a pain this climb is....” Jytte grumbled out her lackluster thoughts, earning herself a sigh from Myra in the process.
Ever since I mentioned the whole thing about souls, I could feel the subtle shift in Myra’s attitude towards me. It was a slight shift in her demeanor that suggested I was now being watched.
Ever so often, I caught her stealing cautious glances at me from afar.
“By the way, why am I always the wagoner?” quizzed the furry eared girl to my right. At some point, this had become our default orientation with me sitting in the middle, accompanied by Julia and Jytte on either side.
“Because you’re a ranged warrior.” Myra answered through a yawn. “If we get flanked, it's harder for you to get hit when you’re at the front and you’re good enough to hit anything that pops up ahead of us, so stop complaining.”
“Y-you yawned just now didn’t you!? I knew I wasn’t the only one that hated climbing this thing!”
“That’s really all you got from everything I said just now huh?”
Despite appearances, these people were in fact professionals. From the moment we left Zale, our formation was completely geared towards protection. Oliver and Flynn were each positioned on one side of the wagon to ward off both ranged and melee assaults, while Myra usually road on top of the wagon to watch for threats coming from our flank.
It was a smooth, yet surprisingly effective arrangement, one that you wouldn’t ever notice if you weren’t paying keen attention to your surroundings. However, I had yet to see just how efficient this formation would prove to be in combat.
“What’s a warrior?” I piped up from between my two guardians.
“They’re superhumans” answered Julia
She saw my head cock in confusion, and as if to anticipate the question “How is that different from a regular mage?” she chuckled before continuing.
“They’re not exactly mages, but they are stronger than regular humans. Warriors have semi-awakened mana cores so they can strengthen themself with mana but they don’t have any affinities or radicals. That’s why they usually carry enchanted weapons and things like that.”
I glanced at Jytte, and she winked in return before saying “Yup that’s about right!” with a bold thumbs up.
“Oh that reminds me!” My mother clapped her hands enthusiastically for some reason. She fiddled with one of the pouches strapped to her side before bringing out a plain piece of white cloth.
“All right Liam, c’mere~” She gestured delightfully, and within a few seconds she was already tying the piece of fabric around my forehead.
“Hm? Mother?” I muttered, looking up for answers
“It’s just a precaution, don’t worry about it.”
There could only be one real reason behind her actions just now.
“Better safe than sorry, who knows what kind of creeps are taking advantage of the chaos up there.” Myra remarked indubitably
“Oh! We’re getting close!” Flynn exclaimed.
As we neared the plateaued top of the gigantic landmass, I caught my first real glance of what the civilizations of this world truly had to offer.