3.
The predawn morning had the crispness of a late spring day. Hints of fog clung to the edges of the ground, already rapidly burning away as the sun began its ascent through the sky. The rest of the team was beginning to file in, their faces haggard and sleep deprived as they trickled to the meeting place. Santi couldn’t help but look at his stat sheet and spells while he waited patiently.
Santiago V. Silva
Strength: 20 (45)
Durability: 18 (43)
Stamina: 18 (43)
Dexterity: 18 (43)
Vitality: 18 (43)
Perception: 19 (44)
Intelligence: 33 (58)
Mana: 36 (61)
Willpower: 34 (59)
Potential: 98%
Title(s): Cockroach (0%)
Spells: Air Current, Gust, Identify, Air Shield, Crosscurrent-Orb
Air Shield: Create a barrier of condensed winds in a small square.
Crosscurrent-Orb: A condensed whirlwind of air. Explosive when the outer shell is breached.
Both of the spells were Basic level spells. Spell levels increased with their versatility. It was why limited but powerful spells like the orb were basic while something like Air Manipulation was a common level spell.
It finally gave Santi some firepower and a defensive ability. He had never used the orb or shield before, having not followed this path at all. He had avoided most combat related skills until later on. He had upgraded and melded spell forms to create some of his most powerful spells that had become staples for him during the later years in the war.
“Good luck out there,” Tank said. For such a large man he was surprisingly quiet when he wanted to be. If it wasn’t for Air Current Santi wouldn’t have noticed him slipping behind him.
“I’ll be back in a week or so. Can’t leave here for too long yet.”
“You will be. Eventually.”
“What?”
“You’ll be leaving us. I can see it in you sometimes. This wistful yearning when we start talking about supply levels or anything that’s not related to fighting.”
“I am who I am. I can’t stand it, being in those rooms and just reading off of lists and complaining about things that need to be done. I want to be out there doing what needs to be done.”
“I know. Administration and governance is needed in a group our size. Even a dictator would need assistants or lieutenants to do work for them.”
“Just think how much easier it would have been for us though. You’d just tell them what to do and get things done. None of this backscratching or favors for favors.”
“Until we get shanked in our sleep.”
“Yeah, there’s that.”
“Be safe. I’ll try to keep everyone alive.”
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“Everyone?”
“Most everyone,” Tank laughed, throwing his head back and filling the early morning with brays of delight. Both of them were thinking of Abraham and how pleasant life would be without him.
“You two done canoodling?”
“What the fuck is canoodling?” Santi spat at Chloe as she walked up to them, axe over her shoulder and a heavy pack on her back.
“It’s like making out,” Tank supplied helpfully.
“He’s too tall for me, I’d never reach,” Santi retorted. He nudged Tank who was in the middle of another guffaw and walked out to his team. Chloe just rolled her eyes and followed after. Once they were all assembled, Santi brought out his secret that he had been working on for a few days.
Bicycles. With wagon attachments.
“We’re riding bikes?” Chad asked as he stared at the seven lined bikes.
“Speed is the name of the game. I don’t want to be stuck walking for fifty miles.”
With his advanced stats he could probably do fifty miles in a day. The others would die trying to keep up with him.
“How are we supposed to scout if we’re on bikes? We’ll be stuck on the road.” Daniel complained.
“Carefully. Once we get out of town and start out into the country, we’ll send you two out ten minutes ahead of us. We’ll have flares in case of emergency. They’re all in each individual wagon.” Santi pointed out the equipment they would all be using and had to repress a smile as everyone nodded and told him it was decently thought out.
Heavy packs were loaded into the wagons and they set off. Santi rode easily, his legs churning as he rocketed down the streets that led out of town. The closer it had got to when they left he more anxious he had grown.
He was going to see them again. His family. He just had to find them.
It took only an hour and twelve minutes for them to work their way out toward the edge of town. Golden light streamed out through the trees and houses while faint chill faded away to the heat of spring. He had told Yesi to meet him here in a week. The time had come and gone and now he worried.
Akthyr’s geas had placed so many needless complications in his path. Had Yesi’s note been read. Would they know to go down Road 96. Would they avoid the barn? He had prayed they’d arrive in the last few days, but it hadn’t happened and he couldn’t wait any longer.
Road 96 was only tangentially connected to the city, running perpendicular to another county road. The ignored fields were filled with weeds by now and the wheeling crows were fat and plump from their feast. Animals walked through the fields with little hesitation. Humanity had been pushed back so fast and hard that the natural wildlife was coming back.
They wouldn’t last. Already there’d be mana driven mutations.Beasts emerging from the initialization that would raze animal populations. When the invaders came it would only grow worse, until every strip of the planet was filled with foreign life. It was like a giant clock over his head, knowing what was coming and being powerless to stop it.
They kept riding, the miles melting away as the sun rose high above them. At midday they pulled off to the side of the road and took a lunch break. The group was quiet with Daniel and Hana sitting off to the side, shoulder to shoulder. Chloe lay sprawled in the dirt with her feet propped up on a wagon while Penelope engaged in polite conversation with Adam and Chad.
Santi watched.
The fields were empty. There were no signs of wildlife that had been so abundant. Even the crows had stopped circling. They were close to Road 96 but would take another hour to reach it. Road 96 would lead them closer to his home and hopefully upon his family. If they could survive whatever it was that had spooked all the local animals away.
“Nobody freak out or anything. Stay calm. But, there’s something close by,” Santi spoke softly to the group, hoping not to startle them. Penelope immediately showed her lack of experience by whipping her head back and forth. Adam and Chad both shifted closer to their respective wagons and the weapons sitting in them.
Chloe pulled her feet off of the wagon and grabbed her axe which was right next to her. Daniel and Hana pulled apart and started to look around without moving their heads. Santi sighed to himself. He missed working with professionals.
“How do you know?” Penelope whispered. She was clutching a long repurposed butcher knife that sat inside a homemade sheathe on her waist. Her knuckles had turned a startling shade of white and fear filled every syllable when she spoke.
“There’s no animals nearby. Nobody wander away from the group. Pack up and get ready to move. We’re pushing the bikes. Weapons in hand.”
They got up and quickly packed up the non-vital supplies. Penelope was shuffled to the middle of the group while Santi sat in the rear. Daniel and Hana moved to the front to start pushing ahead. In the middle of the day, Daniel’s class was at its weakest, but he was still the most experienced scout they had.
Chloe glued herself to Penelope’s side, her wicked axe in hand. Chad had an arrow in one hand and bow in the other while Adam had grabbed a discus. The former collegiate thrower had loaded his wagon with all sort of throwing weapons, javelins, discus, shot put, and even two hammer throw things. His class allowed him to throw each of those improvised weapons with extreme accuracy and prejudice.
Santi let his morph blade slink into his palm. The liquid metal had taken to coating his arm in a sleeve of metal, ready to be deployed in a moment. At the moment he wanted it to stay hidden and as a surprise for whatever it was that was hiding out here in the farmlands.
Eight minutes passed before he felt the hairs on his neck stand up. There was a rustle in the tall crops on the right side of the field. Just a gentle sway as if the wind had stirred them. Except, there was no wind.