Alaric dashed through the woods with his friends at his sides, depending on his senses to pick up on subtle changes and lead them deeper into the woods.
Much as he was itching to go full-throttle, he knew that would be unwise in case anything happened. Alaric still remembered Garin’s words clearly. The knights would help them in case of demons… but that was not the only danger in the woods.
These woods were filled with one other kind of danger… Aether Beasts. For that reason, Alaric didn’t utilize his full power lest he risked getting separated from Finn, whose guardian hadn’t awakened yet.
The minty smell of eucalyptus was getting stronger the longer they ran… but so was the rich sense of aether in the air. Alaric put his hand on the pommel of the sword hanging by his side, then kept running.
On top of the armour they’d been given, the children had also been given swords to help them out. Unfortunately, the knights didn’t trust them enough to give them deadly weapons on their first mission.
For that reason, they were stuck with blades enchanted to go blunt if they cut themselves by mistake. The sentiment, while coming from a good place, made Alaric grind his teeth.
‘We are ready for this. This is a simple mission… and we’ve trained hard,’ Alaric tried.
[ Feel free to hold back ] Alia yawned from the back of his mind.
The boy sighed, then called out to the boy running slightly behind him, “Finn, want to take the lead?”
“You serious?” Finn coughed, surprise evident in his voice.
“Oh yeah… Let your mind go wild. We are yours to command,” Alaric replied with a smile.
Finn wasted no time rushing forward as Alaric fell back with Darla. They’d practised similar drills many times before… even though never alone really.
The trio had been out hunting with the villagers before, mainly with members of the Village Watch, helping them with their luggage and learning as much as they could.
After profuse requests from the trio, they’d managed to badger the men into letting them join their formation as they made their way through the woods on several occasions.
“Where is the target?” Finn asked shortly after taking the mantle in front of them.
Alaric could feel his lungs going cold with every breath now. They were very close… Close enough for him to rely on his other senses. Straining his ears, he relayed the information Finn was asking for, “About three hundred metres in front of us. Two herbivores. Most probably the kind we are looking for.”
“Any nearby enemies?” Finn asked.
Alaric focused more… A distinct growl to his right, the swish of a bushy tail to his left and further ahead, the soft shuffle of a quiet predator’s paws… There was more information creating images in Alaric’s mind but no time to get a clearer image.
“Crystal Bear, about a hundred metres or so to our right. Jade Fox, three hundred metres to the right but closing in slowly. And… another catlike animal I couldn’t identify stalking the Silver Deer,” Alaric relayed.
“That’s a little bit too accurate of an update,” Finn chuckled, “Darla and I will handle the Silver Deer and whatever is stalking it. Alaric, you make sure the Crystal Bear stays distracted and don’t let the Jade Fox anywhere near our position,” Finn ordered.
Of course, the distribution of manpower was a bit skewed considering two people were handling one situation while another had to deal with two all on their own… however, there was also the fact that they didn’t know what was hunting the Silver Deer.
The unknown took the most priority when it came to hunting.
“Be careful,” Alaric said before dropping back and taking a sharp right. The Northern reaches of the Valerian continent were known for their warm tropical weather and relatively dense aether.
There were places with denser aether and even terrifying storms of the ethereal substance that made them uninhabitable or so Alaric had read.
As a result of the magical substance, animals around the world took on varied ‘somewhat enhanced’ appearances as well. Such as the massive white behemoth that appeared before Alaric.
Tall crystalline monoliths rose from its back, towering over the boy as he approached the creature. When the bear saw him approach, it growled in chorus with the ominous clinking sound from the crystals on its back.
Alaric stopped at that moment and went still, staring into the bear’s eyes. Of course, there were several ways to take down a crystal bear Alaric and his friends had learnt from the hunters during the occasional hunting sprees.
“You’re not my target today, mighty one,” Alaric whispered.
The creature stared at him for a while longer… then turned and walked away.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Alaric let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and rushed back. His sharp ears confirmed that the Crystal Bear would not attack or go close to where they were hunting… but the same could not be said for the Jade Fox.
‘Sneaky Fox,’ the boy thought to himself.
Jade Foxes were not so threatening as far as Alaric knew. However, they were pests that hunters looked out for. It would be very unwise to overlook the cunning Jade Fox.
When Alaric got to the clearing, he felt the blood drain from his face.
His friends were fine… but everything else had happened without any need for his intervention. Impaled through the heart, a large tiger with red gleaming crystals jutting out of its shoulders hung from the side of a tree, nailed to its stem by a steel arrow.
A similarly thick arrow could be seen on the ground beside a large Silver deer. Finn had cut the tip of the deer’s antlers and was currently siphoning a silver liquid from them and into the vials they’d been given.
Finn looked at him with a grin, “Flame tiger… It was a young one but Darla took care of it.”
“I didn’t get to do anything,” Alaric whined.
“You had a Crystal bear,” Darla replied.
“That doesn’t count. The bear didn’t even fight me,” Alaric continued whining.
Unbeknownst to the children, a large stingray and a mighty lion hovered high in the air, their riders staring at them with open mouths.
“It happened so fast! You think we should warn them about the Jade Fox?” Garin tried.
Before LionHeart could speak, they witnessed Darla look to the side and give the hiding Jade Fox an icy stare.
The cunning fox, which blended with its surroundings so well, shivered in fear before darting away from the clearing, bumping into trees and large exposed tree roots on the way, frightened out of its mind.
“They have it covered,” LionHeart sighed.
Garin ran a hand through his head, “That Darla is something.”
“Finn wasn’t so bad either,” LionHeart observed.
“How so?”
“He gave all the orders.”
“Seriously?” the stingray rider’s eyes could have popped out of their sockets.
“Yup… Let’s just wrap this up,” the burly master of Aslan sighed and tapped his guardian.
With that, the two guardians descended, meeting up with the children.
“Well done! Honestly, that went a lot faster than I thought it would,” Garin mumbled.
“Is something wrong, Garin?” Alaric asked.
“No, nothing’s wrong. Where did you go? We saw you separate from the group and tagged you but left surveillance to SwiftWind,” Garin asked.
“Tagged me?” the boy started looking himself over.
“You’ll learn how to do that soon enough, now speak,” the man waved him off.
“I went to keep the Crystal Bear away from our hunting grounds,” Alaric replied.
“Crystal Bear? You defeated a Crystal Bear without your guardian?”
“What? No! I asked the bear to stay away and he did. Must have not been hungry,” Alaric shrugged.
Garin turned a few shades paler, ‘What’s wrong with these kids?’
LionHeart let out a chaotic burst of laughter, “In any case, we got what we came for. Let’s head back to the orphanage.”
………………………
The wait lasted two days in total during which the children helped around at the orphanage, trained and went hunting the Garin and LionHeart that one time.
Alaric was also able to make more progress in understanding how SwiftWind’s power worked. Truthfully, the power was confusing to the normal mind and required time for the boy to slowly learn and digest.
Trying to understand that the stingray was capable of controlling every single particle of air within a limited range to achieve the effortless flight that made it look so graceful was something Alaric was still trying to wrap his head around.
He’d already tried it a few times on his own and granted himself the mother of all headaches on each attempt. Fortunately, the headache lasted at most an hour before he could try again.
This was not so different from how he’d struggled to learn Thomper’s power. It had taken him a lot of time and dedication to be able to use the power without breaking down in a pile of agony.
If anything, SwiftWind’s ability was giving him less trouble. While Alaric and his friends could easily come up with a few more ‘fun’ and ‘important’ activities to keep them occupied, the day finally came. They were going to start the Temper Ritual.
The adults had made sure to prepare everything away from the children’s eyes, adding to Alaric’s curiosity. So much so that the boy had referred to every book he had in his possession or whichever book he could at least get his hands on.
Alas, none of them gave him anything concrete. He had, however, managed to see a few images of people sitting cross-legged and focusing hard on parts of themselves Alaric had never heard of… ‘Spirit Vessels.’
“Have you heard of Tempering Rituals, Alaric?” LionHeart asked, walking beside him.
Garin, Marla and Gunther were leading them ahead, a black knight walking along as well. For the past few days, Alia had also been spending a lot of time with the adults, discussing matters she never relayed to Alaric.
Since the boy’s instincts didn’t raise any alarms, he assumed everything was out of control and didn’t ask.
“I’ve heard you guys talking about it… and I’ve tried looking for books on Tempering Rituals but I can’t find what I need,” Alaric sighed.
“Seriously? We need to get you more books,” LionHeart was genuinely shocked, “You’ve heard of Wild Aether and Spirit Energy?”
Alaric nodded and the man continued, “Wild Aether is all around us, untamed and unyielding. Of course, in some places, it’s far more concentrated… and a little more deadly. Spirit Energy is something even harder to perceive.
Authority over it mostly lies with our guardians. Of course, there are people out there with the power to use it.”
“What does that have to do with the Tempering Ritual?” Alaric asked.
“Well, Tempering requires the cultivation of a body that’s strong enough to withstand the dense Spiritual Energy of one’s guardian and allow a stronger flow of aether through their body.
If a normal human even tried to take on half the power of their guardians, they would be torn to pieces in an instant, destroyed by the power that makes up a guardian’s body,” the man responded.
Alaric had experience with this pain and had even known that this ritual was the key to him getting closer to using Alia’s power but it never occurred to him that it was actually the main purpose of the ritual.
Alaric had been quiet a bit before his next question, “Does it hurt?”
His guardian stirred at the question, throwing him a worried glance before returning to her discussion with the adults.
LionHeart sighed, “That depends on the person. For some people, it hurts like hell… while some find it to be as peaceful as sleeping. In the end, it’s about how much you want your body to change or how willing you are to accept the change.”
“How was it for you?” the boy asked, trying his best to hide the increasing anxiety.
“It didn’t hurt one bit,” the man smirked.
Alaric nodded… Oddly enough, this was reassuring. If LionHeart could do it, why couldn’t he?
The adults led Alaric and his friends to the Forest Hillside facing away from the village. Here, Sister Marla cast a spell that revealed a dirt path leading deep into the forest.
Something told Alaric that despite all the times he’d played and trained with his friends in these woods, he would not recognize anything they saw inside.