Iris awoke to the sounds of the others stirring in the late morning. The smell of cooking meat filled the air and she could faintly hear it sizzling over the fire. Each of the others had contributed their extra blankets to help her form a makeshift bedroll, and combined with the fire she had been able to sleep comfortably through the night.
When she cracked open her eyes, she saw Victoria packing up her bedroll and miscellaneous items. Eli was in the distance behind her, loading up packs onto the griffin's saddle. Iris yawned and stretched as she sat up before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She recoiled at the stench of herself, catching a strong whiff from her underarms. She looked around at the bandages across her body, which had grown damp and gross.
"Yeah, you do kind of reek," Autumn said from behind her.
"Sorry," Iris said sheepishly, "I don't guess there's a creek nearby or something?"
"Good luck with that, we're deep in the wastes," Titus said, walking up and crouching down next to her, "I've treated people who smelled a lot worse, don't worry."
She paused when she looked up at him. He looked perfectly healthy and moved effortlessly. She looked down at herself, noticing all the aches and pains throughout her body, glancing at the various scabs and bruises that lined and dotted her skin.
Titus laughed, a deep and rich sound. "Leveling up comes with perks," he reached out and gently tapped her on the head with his fingertips.
She took a deep, instinctive breath as the magic washed through her. First it filled her with agony, like the pain of each and every wound had been highlighted and intensified. In seconds, the pain faded, and she watched the bruises fade and the wounds heal over. She looked up at him in wonder.
"I can't help with the head trauma," he said, looking at her forehead like he was staring right through her, "that'll have to heal on its own. That should have taken care of all the surface level injuries though. Your muscles will be pretty tight for a few hours, they tend to have the hardest time coping with healing magic."
"Thanks," she muttered, rolling her shoulders and stretching her back, "I already feel great," she said in surprise, rising to her feet without even a grunt.
"It's not all thanks to me," Titus said, rising to his feet and towering over her, "you probably leveled up a few times from that fight."
"Really?" Excitement filled her voice.
"Yeah, your life force is off the charts compared to last night. Check your journal."
"Uh, yeah. I haven't bonded with it yet."
"Victoria can help you do that before we move out, right?" He turned to look at Victoria.
"Yeah," she said, "it won't take long. Just let me finish packing up."
Iris started packing up her own bedding, unceremoniously shoving the unfolded blankets into the opening of her bottomless bag. This got her a few curious glances from the others, but it was Eli who approached and spoke up.
"Where did a first day adventurer get a dimensional bag?"
"Would you believe I found it on the ground?" she asked.
"Nope."
Iris laughed awkwardly, "well, I did. It just showed up after I got my powers, I think it might be my Special Ability."
"Let's start with that," Eli said, "how did you get your Thread of Power?"
"Not yet," Victoria interjected, "let's get her setup with her journal and get on the move first. You can interrogate while we walk."
Eli glared at Victoria but said nothing, while Iris gave her an appreciative look.
Sometime later, Iris and Victoria were sitting cross legged on the edge of camp. Victoria was holding the adventurer's journal and inspecting it closely with glazed over eyes.
"It shouldn't be a problem," she said, handing it back to her as her eyes returned to normal with a blink, "the residual aura closely resembles your own, this belonged to a family member?"
"Yeah, my mother."
Victoria nodded, "it'll work fine then. The original information should remain after you bond with it, but most of it probably won't be legible until you level up further. That's pretty standard for heirloom journals."
"How..." Iris hesitated, "how exactly do I bond with it?"
Victoria laughed, "it's pretty simple." She held the book flat in one hand, then placed the other hand over the front cover, "just hold it like this, take a deep breath, and reach out to it like you're activating a power. You should feel what to do from there."
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She handed the book back to Iris, who held it as she instructed. After an uncertain glance at Victoria, she closed her eyes and took a breath. True to Victoria's words, the sensation felt much like reaching out to her teleport power as it lingered on the edge of her periphery senses. She felt the book reaching back to her, eager to accept. The formation of the bond felt like a rapid mutual exchange of energy, with her own flooding into the book from her upper hand and then returning to her body through her lower hand, now mixed with a trickle of energy from the book. Indecipherable information swirled through her mind, glimpses of powers flashed before her eyes but faded like a dream before she could commit them to memory. She saw a portal, swirling colors piercing through the veil of reality and reaching out to worlds beyond. She saw herself, or maybe her mother? The portal called to her. She gasped and dropped the book, breathing heavily as she stared at it in fear.
"You okay?" Victoria asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah," Iris said faintly even as she clenched shut her eyes and shook her head.
Titus approached and looked over Iris with a careful gaze, "I can't see anything wrong, can you?" he asked Victoria.
"No, her aura looks fine. Shaken, but fine."
"I'm okay," Iris said, opening her eyes and gazing at the book, "I think I saw my mother."
"Mmm, that would make sense. I've heard of heirloom journals holding residual memories. As long as you feel alright, it should be nothing to worry about."
Iris cautiously picked up the book, flipping it open to the first page. The pages then flipped by themselves, as if pushed by a nonexistent breeze, until it landed on blank pages somewhere near the middle of the book. Markings began to appear on the page, then words and numbers.
IRIS ORION
Hero Rank, Level 3
Experience Points: 255 / 6350
Progress to next level: 4.01%
Abilities:
- Spatial Distortion
Pending abilities and evolutions : 0
Special Abilities:
- Extra-dimensional Familiar, unknown
Attribute Scores:
- Vitality : 14
- Strength : 14
- Speed : 14
- Intellect : 14
- Spirit : 14
Unspent attribute points : 10
"How many levels did you get?" Autumn shouted from over by the fire, where she was gathering up finished skewers of meat and veggies.
"Just two, I'm level 3 now," Iris called back.
"Aaaayy!" Autumn celebrated, "moving up in the world!"
"You should spend your attribute points before we get moving," Victoria suggested, "it's almost noon though, you can read up on the details of your abilities when we take our first rest break."
Iris nodded, then realized she had no idea how to spend attribute points.
Victoria saw the uncertainty on her face, "just focus on the book and think about your decision, it's pretty intuitive."
Victoria and Titus went to finish cleaning up camp, while Iris sat and looked at the page for some time. She contemplated the collective knowledge she'd gained from books and magazines over the years, realizing that most authors had spent very little time on the finer mechanics of being an adventurer, if they acknowledged them at all. She could take some guesses at what she should do, but was worried about making the wrong choices and messing herself up for the future. Finally, she got up and took the journal over to Eli, who was grooming his griffin's feathers and fur.
"Uh, Eli," she began awkwardly.
"Yeah?"
"Can you help me? I don't know what I should spend my points on."
Eli moved to stand beside her and read over the page, then glanced at Iris with consideration, "it really depends on what kind of adventurer you want to be. You'll need to decide what kind of weapons you'll want to use and what kind of role you want to play in battle. You don't get a lot of say in what abilities you gain, though, so it's best to work with what you get. Don't make the mistake of being too stubborn and trying to fight against the aspects you can't control," his eyes flickered in Titus' direction for a moment as he spoke.
"Okay, well... I don't know any of that yet."
Eli laughed, "fair enough. Your spirit attribute will increase your mana and its regeneration, that'll be useful for making the most out of your teleport power until you have a better idea of where you want to go from there. You also can't go wrong with Vitality, that's the stuff that keeps you alive."
Iris thought it over for a moment, "how does Intellect work? Will that literally make me smarter?"
"It'll make your mind quicker, and help you figure things out that you otherwise wouldn't. It won't give you any knowledge you don't already have, though. Usually journals have a page that describes all that in detail somewhere."
"Hmm," Iris looked at the page for a moment longer before placing her hand over the numbers, closing her eyes, and making a decision. When she opened her eyes, she saw the updated attributes.
Attribute Scores:
- Vitality : 18
- Strength : 16
- Speed : 14
- Intellect : 14
- Spirit : 18
Unspent attribute points : 0
"Good choices," Eli said as he read over the updated page, "what made you go for strength?"
"I figured a few points can't hurt in general. Besides, maybe I'll want to fight with a sledgehammer or something."
Eli laughed, "that'd be something, a swinging sledgehammer appearing out of nowhere would be quite the technique."
Iris smiled at the thought and thanked him for his help before closing up the book and shoving it in her bag.
"Alright team," Eli spoke up, "wrap it up, we have ground to cover."