Iris walked home in the dark. She didn't use her teleport even though no one was around to see it, instead she walked slowly back to town and enjoyed the cool night air while lost in thought. She hadn't bonded with the adventure journal yet. She hoped that when she did more of her mother's entries might be revealed, though her hopes weren't high. More likely, she thought, her mother's pages might turn blank entirely, wiped clean for the journal's new owner. She very much hoped that wasn't the case, but tonight wasn't the night she would take the risk to find out.
Still, she knew she shouldn't wait long. Once she bonded with the journal, it would read her magical aura, convert the knowledge into readable text, and display it on the pages for her. The information provided by an adventure journal was invaluable, so much so that it was widely considered the first item any adventurer should buy. She would need it if she wanted to be a serious adventurer, and she wouldn't find another one for sale anywhere in this town, and wouldn't be able to afford it if she could.
A large boom shocked through the sky, birds cawed and scattered from their nests just before the shockwave that followed swayed the branches back like a strong gust of wind. She whipped around to the source, a plume of dark smoke rising into the sky in the direction of the Weird Farmer's farm.
"Son of a bitch," she whispered to herself, teleporting towards it.
Several smaller booms rung out as Iris raced towards the farm, sprinting as fast she could maintain and teleporting as often and as far as her mana reserves would allow. By the time Iris appeared in the path leading up to the farmer's house, smoke had completely filled the air and the barn fire had spread to the surrounding grass. A field of overgrown wheat covered the space to her left, while the haphazard maze of corn covered the right, neither of which seemed to have caught fire yet.
Iris hunched over and gasped for breath. Her cuts and scrapes stung under their bandages, her head throbbed in pain, and her joints ached with every movement. Another boom rang out, this time close enough to ring her ears. Through the ringing she heard an unfortunately familiar voice shout out, "they've found us Gertrude, save yourself!"
Iris squinted her eyes through the smoke, where she could barely make out the shape of the Weird Farmer backing away from a fiery hole blasted in the side of his barn. He whirled a staff through the air in a motion towards the hole, and another blast rang out from within the barn -- sending splinters and scraps of wood flying off as the pressure of the blast threatened to pop the barn like a bubble. The farmer let out a scratchy scream -- which sounded like he was literally screaming "ah" as loud and drawn out as he could -- as he turned to sprint in Iris' direction. Iris teleported closer, appearing shortly in front of the farmer, who skidded to a stop and interrupted his scream with another, more genuine sounding scream.
"Erin!" the farmer shouted, "you came back!"
"It's Iris, what's happening?"
"What do you think is happening, girl?" the farmer pointed across his yard to an empty patch of grass.
Iris looked where he pointed, then back at him.
"Scarecrows! You idiot, the scarecrows!"
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"Alright, Mr. --" she paused for a moment, "Mr. Valley, let's get you to Mrs. Rousey. I think you--"
Iris turned her head as someone walked out of the corn field in her periphery. A pair of straw-stuffed overalls shambled from between the stalks, its blank face of bundled straw supporting a weathered farmer's hat. In the figure's hand was a piece of the post that had presumably held it up, the end of which was sharpened to a point to stake into the ground. A chorus of clucking and fluttering feathers whizzed past Iris, leaving a Gertrude-sized wake in the smoke.
"There's nothing to be done, girl!" the farmer shouted, "we have to burn the fields! Just think about fire and hope it'll work!" He shoved his staff into her hands, then took the tattered hat from his head and plopped it down on hers, "and take care of my hat for me."
Iris stood there dumbfounded. The farmer stepped away and turned to face the approaching scarecrow.
"Alright, Jack," the farmer said to the scarecrow, rolling up his sleeves.
"Uh," Iris tried to interrupt.
"I guess you get what you wanted," the farmer finished, charging forward and tackling the scarecrow off its feet and back into the corn.
"Uuuuuhhhh" Iris said again, as smaller blasts of fire erupted one after another from within the cornfield.
She looked down at the staff in her hands and backed away from the corn. She looked towards the barn but couldn't see inside through the smoke, flames around the edge were beginning to spread upwards and outwards to engulf the barn. She turned and looked back the way she came, then at the wheat field. She stared at it with uncertainty for a moment, until she saw the silhouettes of multiple scarecrows stumbling out of the field in her direction.
In a panic, she awkwardly pointed the staff at the scarecrows, closed her eyes, and thought about fire. Mana was sucked from her body gradually and then all at once, pouring into the staff and draining her completely. The staff kicked back as a fireball erupted from the end of the staff, sending her falling backwards onto the ground with a skull splitting mana headache. The fireball slammed into a scarecrow, instantly engulfing it in flames and collapsing it to the ground. The flames whipped around in all directions, quickly catching fire to the wheat field.
Iris groaned and clutched her head, her vision swimming and her sense of balance betraying her as it felt like she tumbled in all directions. Heat from the growing fires crept in around her, the smoke growing denser.
"Is that good enough?" She yelled out, not sure if the farmer would even hear her, "the field's definitely on fire!"
She turned on the ground, looking all around in the smoke as she began hacking and coughing.
"Farmer?" she called out to no reply, her eyes squinting shut from the smoke, "Mr. Valley? I can't see!"
Iris felt straw scratch the back of her neck as something gripped her by the collar and started dragging her backwards. She wiggled and squirmed as she gripped the staff in both hands and swung it over her head as hard as she could. She felt it hit something soft and recklessly swung it several more times. She felt the grip on her collar release, and immediately pushed herself forward and scrambled onto her feet. She barely dodged out of the way as she caught a glimpse of a pitchfork stabbing towards her, but she lost her footing and tumbled back to the ground.
"Why did you give them hands?" She yelled out angrily, regretting it as another coughing fit took over.
A scarecrow grabbed her ankle, another one approached from the side with a pitchfork pulled back to stab down at her. A third one grabbed a hold of the staff and tried to yank it away from her.
She felt the sensation of teleporting. Something she didn’t usually feel, always disappearing and reappearing without perceiving the instant between. This time, however, it lasted for nearly a second. It wasn't so much a sensation as much as a total lack of one, a moment in the void where space did not exist, like when she had first absorbed the Thread of Power. She felt reality completely abandon her, then return again.
She appeared on a slab of rock, warm against her back. Her eyes still squinted, not from smoke but instead from the bright sun beating down on her. She held up a hand to block the sun from her eyes and tried to stand, but quickly collapsed back onto the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.