Iris stared at the ground in front of her. Deep ruts were driven into the dirt where her she had dug her boots in deep and still the force of the panther's attack had slid her back almost a foot. She turned, wide-eyed and shaking, to Autumn.
"Hey," Autumn said gently even as she clutched the wounds on her arm that poured blood between her fingers, "hey, it's okay. Everything's okay."
Tears welled in Iris's eyes.
"Check her first," she heard Autumn say, her voice sounding muffled and further away.
Titus stood over her, a bright light shone and moved across her body. Titus said something she couldn't hear. Another flash, this one deep red and further away. Iris looked to see Eli striding towards them, away from the smoldering corpse of the other panther. Red smoke drifted from two outstretched finger tips held by his side.
Eli placed a hand on her shoulder and pointed her back towards the fire. She tried to nod, but her head only trembled. As she turned away from the corpse of the second panther, she heard a muffled boom accompanying another red flash from just behind her. The air was thick with the stench of burning flesh.
She approached Victoria, who welcomed her into a deep hug. Behind her, Victoria held out a hand that cupped swirls of magic encircling two floating cards, and Iris felt peace wash over her.
"I almost wasn't strong enough," Iris said flatly.
"It's okay," Victoria whispered, "everything's okay."
Victoria sat Iris on a log by the fire, and released the hovering cards to float in a circle around her where she sat, "you're okay." she said.
Victoria stepped away to meet Eli as he returned. She could hear them exchange words but couldn't comprehend them. Her mind was haunted by the visage of the panther's dying eyes and images of what almost was.
Eli crouched down in front of her, "we need to move," he said with an apologetic tone, "it won't be safe here now."
She looked up at him, not noticing the tears streaming down her face, and managed a nod.
"You did good," he said, his face illuminated by the purple swirls of magic trailing one of the cards orbiting around her.
She nodded again, then pulled the bottomless bag from her belt and handed it to him.
"Good thinking," he said, taking the bag and rising to bark orders at the others.
Soon the camp supplies had been stuffed into the bag, the fire was snuffed out, and they were on the move. They traveled north along the border of the grasslands, keeping a healthy distance between themselves and the edge of the tall grass. Victoria collected the cards hovering around Iris, who insisted she didn't need them anymore. They traveled in the dark, trusting Victoria's supernatural vision to guide the way.
Autumn’s arm was already thoroughly healed thanks to Titus. He had healed his own wounds next, and as they walked Iris's eyes lingered on the large gashes in the metal armor on his back. She could see the scars that had already formed, and below the plate fresh stains marked where blood had leaked out.
A chorus of howls and animalistic cackling echoed from where they'd come, and Eli quickened his pace to which the others matched.
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"Jackals," Autumn whispered, trudging along beside Iris, "they're scavengers, we'll be fine," she did not sound confident.
After an hour's travel they stopped at the base of one of the large stone pillars.
"We rest here until sunrise," Eli said, "no fire, double watch."
No one argued or complained.
"I'll take first watch," Iris said, wishing her voice wasn't shaky.
"Me too," Victoria said, holding up a hand to stop Eli before he could speak.
"Up top?" She asked Iris.
"Yeah," she said flatly before looking up and teleporting to the top of the pillar. The distance drained most of her mana and threatened a headache, but she kept her balance as she reappeared. Soon, a cloud of mist drifted up and around the pillar, settling beside Iris and reforming into Victoria.
"Are you sure you're good?" Victoria asked.
"Yeah, sorry. That was," Iris hesitated, "a lot. I mean, the tyrannosaur was scary, but I had time to think, you know? And I never felt like it was actually going to get me, I had a pretty good idea from the start that I’d be able to teleport around fast enough not to get eaten. Back there, though-- I just had to make a decision, and that decision almost got me killed."
“But it saved Autumn,” Victoria said, “probably not her life, I’m sure she would have survived, but it wouldn’t have been pretty. You made a choice, this time it was the right one, next time it might not be. That’s adventuring.”
“Yeah,” Iris said, taking a seat and curling her knees to her chest, “you’re right. I keep going from one crazy thing to the next without time to process any of it. I think I just need time for it all to settle.”
Victoria didn’t hide the sympathy on her face, “would you believe me if I said you get used to it?”
Iris gave her a critical look, “Which part?”
“Most of it,” Victoria said, “almost dying gets old after a while. Eventually you have so many crazy days in a row that you stop noticing until you have a boring one. About the only thing you don’t get used to is your friends getting hurt.” Her tone turned somber on the last words.
“Does it happen a lot?” Iris asked.
“All the time.”
Iris sat with that answer in silence for a while, gazing out over the plains.
----------------------------------------
Iris awoke in a panic as the sun peeked over the eastern horizon. She shot upright and hurriedly glanced around, searching for the others.
"It's okay," Victoria said, "Eli and Titus took over watch before you fell asleep. You seemed comfortable, so I didn't want to wake you."
Iris looked around the pillar, realizing she had been resting her head in Victoria's lap. Victoria smirked, "like I said, you seemed comfortable."
A whistle came from below.
"That's Eli," Victoria said, "time to move."
She leapt from the pillar, landing softly on her feet on the ground below. Iris followed, leaping off before teleporting to the ground halfway through her fall. Even with the teleport she landed harder than Victoria.
"Check in," Eli said.
"All good," Victoria said.
"Fine," Titus said.
"I’m good," Autumn said.
"Uh," Iris said, "shaken. Very shaken. But I'm good."
The griffin squawked.
"Alright, let's move. We need to be on the other side of that grass by sundown. Stay close, don't lose sight of the person in front of you. If you get separated, stop where you are and call out. Glimmer will be overhead, if you hear a screech it means there's danger."
"Hang on," Iris said, pulling the journal from her bag.
IRIS ORION
Hero Rank, Level 4
Experience Points: 107 / 6510
Progress to next level: 1.64%
Abilities:
- Spatial Distortion
Pending abilities and evolutions : 0
Special Abilities:
- Extra-dimensional Familiar, unknown
Attribute Scores:
- Vitality : 20
- Strength : 18
- Speed : 16
- Intellect : 16
- Spirit : 20
Unspent attribute points : 5
Iris closed her eyes and dumped all her points into strength. She opened her eyes, snapped the book shut, and nodded to Eli.