Iris cracked open her eyes with a groan and a stretch. She lay awkwardly sprawled at the base of a redwood, and hints of the morning sun peeked through the canopy. She noticed the first reddening leaves, and a gentle breeze carried a few loose ones in their wake. She smiled sadly that she would miss her chance to see the forest in its full fall colors – all the more reason to visit again one day, she thought. Pushing herself up on into a sitting position, she scooted back against the trunk and started pulling things out of her bag. First was Littletooth's bowls, then food and water which she placed into them, and finally Littletooth himself who readily set upon devouring his breakfast.
Iris rolled her shoulders, took a few deep breaths, and gently massaged her throat. There was no semblance of injuries from the night before, though the memories still flashed through her mind with more intensity than she would have liked. The memories speaking to her mother came next, however, and brought a smile to her lips as her hand drifted to the enchanted locket she now wore around her neck. Another almost-death added to the list in exchange for a conversation with her mother she never thought she'd get to have was a worthy trade.
Iris pulled her journal from bag and immediately checked for a newly revealed entry from her mother. She was slightly disappointed not to find one, but was more than satisfied with the interaction she had gotten. Next she checked her stats, and found that she had leveled up.
IRIS ORION
Hero Rank, Level 11
Experience Points: 3100 / 9420
Progress to next level: 32.90%
Recent Accomplishments:
Champion Slain: bonus experience 7,500 awarded
Champion Slain: bonus experience 5,000 awarded
Champion Slain: bonus experience 2,500 awarded
So Abby had killed those three shadowy figures, after all. She angled a wary glance at the innocuous purple bag resting on the ground beside her. The bag had held secrets from the day she first found it -- or the day it first found her, Iris wasn't certain anymore -- but the more Abby revealed of herself, the more questions Iris had. She could only assume, at this point, that Abby was a creature of the void, but that flew in the face of everything she thought she knew about the void. There shouldn't be anything there, that just wasn't how the void was supposed to work. It wasn't like she had any proper educated on the matter, as the Giantrock Library had precious little reference to the void at all, but her knowledge came first hand, from personal experience with the void and how it felt. Her Thread of the Void had granted her intuitive understanding of the void as a realm so empty that emptiness itself did not exist, and yet the same source of that power had seemingly bestowed upon her a creature which defied that very nature.
"Can I-- can I trust you?" she asked abruptly.
Littletooth didn't look away from his food bowl. Abby was still for an instant, then twisted in place as if to turn to Iris in surprise. A gentle harmony like a soft wind matching ocean waves emanated from the void within the bag.
Iris nodded, "those men that you killed, they tried to fight you in the void?"
Another affirmative harmony came from the void, though this one was tainted with anger.
"How does that even work?" Iris asked, "how does anything work in the void?"
Abby was still for a moment, then raised her drawstrings in a shrug.
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Iris laughed a little at the gesture, then grew more serious, "you're a lot more powerful than I first guessed, aren't you?"
Abby released another affirmative harmony, this one vaguely foreboding as if it carried with it a warning.
"I guess I'm glad you're on my side, then."
The drawstrings reached out towards Iris, grabbed hold of her belt, and pulled Abby close.
Iris drifted her attention back towards the journal. Another matter that plagued her thoughts and worries was the men who had attacked her -- followers of Morose, she assumed. Their powers had something to do with the void, that much was certain, but it raised many questions. Did every follower of Morose have void powers? Or had they simply sent those who did after her? Cuffs still bound her wrists, even though the chain was snapped in two, and they had completely negated her Spatial Distortion ability. Would they do the same to the Emergency Exit trait of the ability, that would suck her away from danger in the event of imminent death? In either case, she suspected these weren't the only cuffs of their nature in existence, and noted that she would need to be more careful not to be bound in a similar way again.
There was also the matter of the decreasing bonus experience she had received for each subsequent killing of a Champion. Even the highest bonus had been significantly less than the bonus she had received upon defeating the shock wizard. She assumed the trend would continue, if she received any more bonuses for slaying champions at all after this point, but she didn't find herself that upset by the development. More experience was always good, but the less incentivized she was to go around killing people, the better she would feel.
Though her mind and body were full of many emotions, both fresh and lingering and all hard to make sense of, one sensation was glaring. Powerlessness, weakness, the absolute immobility and loss of autonomy she had felt when a titan had simply clasped his fingers around her wrist. She never wanted to feel that way again, so with great certainty she committed all five of her available attribute points to Strength and resolved to return her focus to the stat going forward.
Attribute Scores:
- Vitality : 38
- Strength : 49
- Speed : 33
- Intellect : 37
- Spirit : 48
Unspent attribute points : 0
Iris and Littletooth both snapped their heads up to meet the sounds of claws scratching against bark overhead. High above, a giant squirrel was sprinting through the canopy, running along branches and leaping across gaps. Hot on its heels was a griffin, digging talons into trunks as she kicked off with the agility of a cat in pursuit of its prey.
"Glimmer!" Iris shouted as she shot to her feet and waved.
The griffin lingered for a second longer upon her next landed, twisting her eagle-like head down to spot Iris. She kicked off, but this time not in the direction of her prey. Instead, she leapt in Iris's general direction, spread her wings and glided down to land heavily a few yards away. She trotted over and greeted Iris by nuzzling her head into Iris's chest.
"Hey girl," Iris smiled, "fancy seeing you out here."
Glimmer pulled back slightly and chirped happily, then twisted her head abruptly as she noticed the baby wyvern cowering and quivering behind Iris's ankles.
"Oh right," Iris said, "I guess you haven't met."
She crouched down and scooped up the wyvern into her arms, holding him up for Glimmer to inspect, "Glimmer, this is Littletooth. Littletooth, Glimmer."
Littletooth wanted no part in the introductions, and did his best to hide his face amongst the folds of Iris's robe. Glimmer sniffed at the wyvern curiously, then gently opened her beak.
"No!" Iris scolded, "not food! Friend!"
Glimmer snapped her beak closed and looked away in either disappointment or shame, and for a moment she longingly looked after the squirrel she had been chasing. Iris took the opportunity to stuff Littletooth back into her bottomless bag, then picked up her things scattered around and did the same with those.
"Hey," she asked, "think you could take me to the Gaping Maw?"
Glimmer twisted around and angled her head at Iris in confusion.
"The big boat?" she pointed through the woods in the direction of the lake, "where Eli is?"
Glimmer chirped in what Iris hoped was understanding, and promptly angled herself for Iris to climb on. She wasn't wearing a saddle or any kind of reins, and Iris had also never properly ridden her before, but none of that frightened her. With a blip, she appeared on Glimmer's back.
"Okay, I'm new to this, so take it slo- AAHHH!"
Glimmer launched forward with a pounce that led into a sprint as Iris threw herself forward to wrap her arms around Glimmer's neck. She couldn't reach around far enough for her hands to meet, so instead she squeezed her arms tightly against the griffin and buried her face in feathers to muffle her screams. After a few moments of a truly terrifying, tumultuous ride through the forest, her weight was pressed down into Glimmer as the griffin leapt high into the air. Wings unfurled and flapped, and Iris opened her eyes to see the beach shrinking away below her. She looked out past Glimmer's outstretched beak and saw the fluttering flag of the Gaping Maw in the distance.