Chapter 57
"Ready?" Riley projected in a harsh whisper.
"Ready," Tobias replied, crouched low with his sword out, pausing to ferret into a pouch with his free left hand, only to crush some leaves between his fingers.
The monster's nostrils flared as their pupils dilated. Just ahead of them, the fabric of reality seemed torn, the air distorted in a strange warping effect around a glowing white aperture pulsing with light.
Riley could feel the magic racing through her body like an electric current, causing her fur to stand on end.
"Now!" Tobias ordered, keeping his voice far from sound.
Riley dropped the veil, and they appeared, causing the monster to startle; its mouth yawned wide in threat, opening a long vertical slit that appeared across its furless, vaguely feline face, rows upon rows of teeth showed proudly, revealing a barbed tongue that crawled out of its throat like a worm.
"Wow, you are one big ugly," Riley remarked as Tobias thrust, piercing the palate of the creature's muzzle before driving the sword into its brain.
With a shuddering protest and a whine, it fell dead.
"It's a valkovick," Tobias said.
It seemed like an almost normal creature dead with its head flopped closed. Chitinous plates covered its body but were puffed out by squares of wiry fur underneath.
Eight long legs came down from its felinoid body, with three toes on each paw; the centermost had a velociraptor like claw. At its back was a long rope like tail that ended in a chitinous spiny tip, much like Zorna's.
"Riley, hand me the three crystals," Tobias asked as he stepped over the body.
She hopped next to him, rising to her hindpaws, holding her forepaws out towards the ground.
Three white, dull gems appeared.
Tobias set them in a triangle formation around the aperture, and, as if synced, each began to pulse with light, slower at first, only to increase, until the effect mirrored a strobe, the tear in reality began to dim, and then fade, before snapping away in a flash.
He grinned, taking one up, "Mana potions."
"Give 'em here," she said, pawing at them dramatically. Tobias set them down in front of her as each vanished back into her inventory.
Mana crystal X 3
The label hovered over them as she checked her overlay, a near instinctual action anymore.
So much had changed in seven weeks.
They were still in training, but it seemed like things were nearing their end. Still, neither she nor Tobias knew when that would be; they weren't supposed to know.
Cid had said that was part of the fun.
Still, it was clear they were building towards something. Morning exercise, instructions in wild plants, and the occasional mission had all given way recently to them actually doing their job, working on their own without support while Cid waited back in camp.
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"Do you think Cid ever gets bored without us around to torture?" She asked Tobias while he checked the plants and bushes around the aperture.
A curious, star shaped glowing white flower was in his hand; with practiced subconscious action, he placed it into a pouch on his belt.
"He's probably busy thinking about the next recruits he'll get to grind down in fun and exciting ways. Don't you want to be friends?" Tobias grinned like a psychotic axe murderer, then shuddered.
"If I never hear that phrase again, it will still be three steps past too soon," Riley shuddered in marked solidarity with her sorcerer before scanning around one last time.
"So, you think we're about done too?" Riley asked, looking around nervously as if her words could bring a curse, "We should go, just in case he's timing us again."
Tobias nodded and began to move stealthily, being careful of where he put his feet.
Riley skulked after him.
"It seems likely. Cid says we'll know we're done when we get to Ranger Central up in the northern highlands. We've been moving north to my reckoning," Tobias projected his voice, keeping to stealth.
"That's what my map says, too. For the last two weeks, almost straight north, which is out of our pattern, normally we range around," She confirmed.
"Hence the name," Tobias let the chuckle go audible, happy with his pun.
Riley groaned, "It's been getting colder too. It feels like snow, even if there isn't snow. There's a scent to the air."
"Well, we are up in the mountains. The evidence really seems to be stacking up, doesn't it?" Tobias pondered.
"Which is what has me concerned. With Cid it's never direct or easy. There's always an angle with him," Riley's anxiety rose with each bound as they broke through the wood and found a long road stretching out toward the horizon.
"How's your magic?" Tobias asked.
"I leveled recently. I've got plenty of juice!" Riely beamed with pride as she regarded her 80% full mana bar, checking her status sheet.
Riley, Celestial White Tailed Jackrabbit, 2-4
Righteous flame progression to 2-5 now at 40%
Chaos Bolt progression to 2-5 now at 35 %
Healing Halo progression to 2-5 now at 20%
Minor Veil progression to 2-5 now at 80%
Plant Whisperer Progression to 2-5 now at 80%
"You have gotten stronger. I think we both have," he said, not quite getting the concept.
"You have. You seem confident. I'm proud of you!" She praised.
Tobias looked up and down the lane.
"Veil us," He ordered.
Riley pulled at her power as Tobias stepped onto the road, keeping to the far side near the bar ditch.
"It's far from a scriptorium, or what I thought I wanted to do with my life, but after Landon, I'm glad I can use my magic for good. It's nice to be out here and free, I guess. Outside of Cid and his orders and his ways, when we're on our own, we're on our own, with no one telling me where to stand or what to do. It's like I'm on a threshold between that life and this one, with Cid being a doorway. Is that weird?" Tobias asked, sounding distracted, watching carefully for monsters to come exploding out of the wood.
"That sounds like growing up to me, but I never made it much past you, and I never had that sense of direction. Life was just rote survival until my end. I tried to do the right thing, whatever that means, and it kinda got me killed, but I never really had the opportunity for a path like you did." Riley admitted.
"Didn't you go to, what was it you called it, the place of higher education, the university?" Tobias asked.
"Because I was supposed to like you were supposed to go to the academy and be a sorcerer. It's fuzzy, though; I don't remember why I was there, just that I was there. It's one of those things I lost in transition, so, I mean, I'm not that reliable of a source," There were so many things she couldn't remember, stacked next to things she knew she'd never forget.
Riley caught the scent of smoke and cooking food in the air, "Cid's cooking, so I guess we're going to have a little time at least."
Tobias brightened, "A few hours to rest would be nice. How much purified moon water do we have left?"
Riley checked her inventory, "Four bottles. We should restock in the next town if we can. The high moon is next week, isn't it? "
"Yes, but only Lordia so it's the lesser of the two. Hadia isn't for two weeks after, lesser moon, lesser effect," Tobias explained.
"You're the expert. Do they ever go full at the same time?" She asked, her curiosity bubbling.
"Twice a year, marking the solstices, that's when you can do some real crazy stuff, magically speaking," Tobias stopped. There was a flickering light ahead, just off the road, filtering through the branches.
Riley dropped the veil as Tobias looked back towards her, making a low whistling noise, mimicking a night thrush bird.
Cid answered back, calling out, "Dinners ready!"