Titus trudged forward in the lead, hauling the largest pack of everyone, holding not just his own supplies but also any additional weight too heavy for his companions to carry. He pushed through the thickening brush as the desert wastes gave way to craggy terrain with thick foliage thriving in the shallow ravines that splintered the land. It was one of these ravines that they traversed, eagerly accepting whatever reprieve from the desert sun they could get.
The space was only wide enough to travel single file after the brush was accounted for, and on either side of the line of adventurers were seven foot tall miniature cliffs. Though the walls of the ravine and surface of the cracked plateau above were hard stone, the ground beneath their feet was a sandy, at some points gravely soil. The temperature in the ravines was significantly lower than that of the plateau, which Eli had explained would be dangerously hot even for adventurers of their level, and a day’s travel above would be almost certainly fatal for a low level like Iris.
For her part, Iris fared rather well. She exploited her teleport power to hop from shadow to shadow of the small trees that tenaciously grew in the ravines, and the significantly decreased need for physical exertion helped tremendously in surviving the harsh conditions. That was before even considering that she carried essentially no weight beyond the clothes she wore and her faithful walking stick. She felt pity for the others, even at their higher levels, as she watched them huff and sweat their way through the hike. She had offered to carry some of their things in her bag but Eli had immediately forbidden it, citing that it would be irresponsible to trust someone they just met with their belongings. That hadn't stopped Autumn from sneaking a few pots and pans to Iris to stash in her bag.
Autumn, despite having offloaded some on Iris, still clinked and clanked as she hiked. The worst offender was a spatula tied to the outside of her bag that consistently banged against a pot hanging from her waist. Even as she poured sweat and frequently cursed the difficult obstacles in their path, she powered through the journey and kept pace close behind Titus. Victoria spent long periods of the journey in mist form, eerily drifting through the ravine and often scouting up ahead for dangers or forks in the path. She had an easier time than the others, but even she expressed jealousy at Iris's ease of travel.
Eli held up the rear, making a point to stay ever vigilant. Iris often looked back to see him walking backwards, poised to aim his staff at any threat that might be following them. More than once he halted the formation to inspect an errant sound or rustling in the brush, which more than once had been a harmless lizard. The griffin flew overhead in wide circles, its shadow occasionally passing over them. The journey continued like this for much of the day, until the walls of the ravines began to widen and slope until they were more like small, narrow valleys.
"We'll be losing our shade soon," Eli said, "let's find a spot to break for lunch."
"Hell yeah!" Autumn exclaimed, immediately slipping off her backpack to start preparing her cooking equipment.
"Sure," Eli said in a defeated tone, "I guess right here is the spot. Iris, you're on patrol with me."
"Already?" Iris asked, "we just stopped."
"Yeah, and any--"
"potential threats just starting preparing their ambush," Victoria finished for him, giving a satisfied smirk.
"So he's always like this?" Iris asked Victoria.
"Oh yeah," she said, "you probably won't get used to it."
"You can thank me when we reach Giantrock City alive," Eli said, "let's go."
Eli deftly scrambled up the slope to the surface above, where he found Iris already waiting for him.
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"That really should make some kind of sound," he said, "it's weird when you just show up like that."
"Ooh something like a cool whoosh, maybe?" Iris pondered, "or a little 'blip.'"
"A blip would be nice."
Eli had already taken Iris on a breakaway patrol earlier in the hike to familiarize her with their travel tactics, so she somewhat knew what to expect. The main difference was that rather than traveling in tandem with the party while they patrolled in a crisscross pattern, this time they performed a circular spiral pattern, which they then reversed on their way back.
Above the veins of shallow valleys, the short desert plateau was indeed a barren wasteland. In fact, the lines cut through it resembled the cracks of mud drying in the sunlight. Iris couldn't fathom what kind of timescale it took for terrain like this to form. Though they could see far in all directions, that didn't help them when it was likely any threats would be in the ravines or valleys like they had been. This meant that most of the patrol was peering over edges into the ravines below to inspect for signs of large creatures or other travelers. Iris's ability made this a simple task, she would teleport down into the ravine, then do a few more teleports down its length, and pop back up to give Eli the all clear.
As Eli leaned forward and pointed his staff down into a ravine while he scanned, he heard Iris behind him.
"Blip."
"What?"
"I said blip. You know, for the teleport."
"Don't do that."
"What? You said it should make a sound. I kind of like it, actually."
"It's horrible for stealth."
Iris twisted to look around them, where they stood out as the only two figures atop the plateau as far as she could see in either direction.
"Fair point," he conceded.
The pair finished their patrol without issue, returning to find a large picnic blanket spread out with an assortment of food options, including leftover skewers from breakfast, multiple types of jerky, and a strange congealed substance that Autumn insisted was "travel soup" and "didn't taste as bad as it looks." Iris happily tried it, eager for the true adventurer experience, and found it surprisingly pleasant.
While she ate, Iris flipped through her journal. Only one block of text from her mother's pages had unscrambled itself since she bonded with it and leveled up. It was scribbled in her mother's handwriting.
Adventurer's log, day 3
Big few days, so much going on. Will explain later, but suffice it to say that as far as adventuring goes, I've hit the ground running.
She smiled at the shared experience, even as her heart ached and her mind was desperate to know more. She double checked for similar log entries for days one and two, but if she found them, the text was still scrambled.
She turned to a page near the middle of the book, mentally reached out and thought about her stat page. The pages flipped on their own until they landed on it, still the same as this morning. She read over the name of her ability, Spatial Distortion, and mentally requested more information. The pages flipped again, landing on her abilities page.
IRIS ORION
ABILITIES
Spatial Distortion
Source : Thread of Power (Void)
Cooldown : N/A
Mana cost : Low, varies
Description :
Lapse into the void behind reality and reappear a short distance away, in an unobstructed location of your choosing. Mana cost increases exponentially with distance traveled.
Special Use : Emergency Exit
Cooldown : 30 days (unavailable)
Mana cost : All
Description :
In the event of imminent death, lapse into the void behind reality and reappear an extreme distance away. Activates automatically, location cannot be chosen.
Available Evolutions : 0
Iris was relieved to find an answer to how she'd gotten here, but taken aback by the exorbitant cooldown time. Then again, if she was facing imminent death more than once a month she probably needed to reevaluate her adventuring strategy in the first place. She was a little concerned about the automatic activation, however. Would she find herself once again sucked through the void into lands unknown, whether or not she'd like to stay and attempt avoiding her fate? She closed the book, tucking that worry away for another day.