A week had passed since she made the deal with Mikeal, and she had been busy ever since. She of course didn’t skimp out on her daily exercises and had quite a few muscles. She could even fully draw her bow now, which was needed for her future hunt. Ada had also been letting her off sooner, giving Quinn time to practice her archery before lunch every day. ‘Investing’ she had said.
Quinn would then come back and eat with the healer’s daughter before heading back out to actually stalk the forest and hunt. She had seen very few animals actually out in the forest, almost all of them being herbivores with only a few predators mixed in. She had asked Ada and apparently, the fog’s effects were not only on humans. They also affected the animals. The animals, aside from a few special cases, were only safe if they sat around the wild warding stones away from the towns and villages.
It was quite an interesting dynamic. Not only would both predator and prey sit inside of the warding stones at night, but they had an unspoken deal. The predators don’t attack the prey during the night, and the prey doesn’t mug the predators with their numbers.
Quinn, of course, didn’t have first-hand experience of this but had been told about it from an old enfeebled ex-hunter in the Silver Grove. Apparently, he had got caught out in the fog one night and was too far from a civilized warding stone, so he had to head for a warding stone out in the wild where he witnessed the dynamic.
Warding stones themselves were definitely interesting. They triggered all sorts of curiosity inside Quinn that she couldn’t solve. Basically, Warding stones were enchanted heaps of rock that repel the nightly fog. The stones were what allowed the towns and villages of the Veiled Grove to be safe even though the fog was so dangerous. There were several stones out in the forest - the aforementioned wild stones - and the rest were located under the bell towers in each settlement - the civilized wild stones. She had never actually seen the stone since only the bell keep could enter the tower.
She had, however, encountered the fog. It was her third day after her deal, the first time she actually went to hunt anything out in the forest. The storm was particularly brutal, the wind blowing even inside of the trees and rain pelting against her sagen. The thunder was monstrously loud, as if some trapped beast was wailing for its freedom, and the lightning was bright and constant enough for her to see by.
She had found a rabbit's trail earlier in the day, one of the several trails she had found. After a brief conflict of opinion, she decided to chase it into the woods. She, of course, noticed the darkening storm, but the thought of eating fresh rabbit pushed her on the hunt.
A lull in the thunder allowed her to hear it. Ding! Ding! Ding! She wasn’t sure quite how long the bell tower had been ringing, but the thought of only just hearing it made ice-cold blood flow through her body. If the thunder had been just a bit louder… It was only then did she start to head back. She ran through the forest, heart pounding as she realized that she was quite far.
She had just made it to where she could see the gate inlaid in the stone walls that she heard it. At first, it was a near-silent whisper from her back. It was too quiet to make out what it said, but it instantly kicked her flight instinct on.
In a flash of lightning, she was running to the gates, not even looking back. The whisper was joined by several others, overlapping on themselves almost as if competing for her attention. They were getting progressively louder as she ran.
“Hurry up!” Bernd, the guard whose face looked like a corpse, had shouted at her from behind the gates.
She didn’t really need the reminder, but she had still pushed herself even harder. The wind pushed against her, almost as if trying to make her lose balance and fall into the grasp of whatever chased her. making it through the gates as the whispers turned to hungry snarls. She tripped as she made it through, stumbling onto her back.
Bernd walked over, holding out his gnarled hand. “You barely… made it, girly. You better be more careful, or we’ll… lose you to the fog.” He had pointed his other hand to the gate.
Quinn had grabbed his hand and looked out past the gate. The sight of it still haunted her even after several days passed. The fog was unnaturally cut off by the gate. Not even a wisp extended into the town, almost as if a pane of glass had slid into the gateway. She couldn’t see what was actually out in the ominous fog. Dark, grotesque shapes that bent in awkward places walked around behind the mirky gray veil. Their dark forms were hidden by the fog, but their voices weren’t.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands of voices were crying for help from within the twisting fog. Some were pathetically pleading for their lives, some were speaking of their injuries, and even some children crying for their mothers. One thing held among all of the voices; they were all asking for someone to come into the fog and help them.
Needless to say that she didn’t have such a close call again. It wasn’t all bad though, she had managed to hunt a few animals and sell them to Eric for some money. He scowled at her every time she made a transaction, but he was at least fair. The money was quite helpful for purchasing some traveling necessities.
She had also learned some more lifestyle magic from Ada. Nothing too complicated, but they were things that were quite helpful. Interestingly enough, lifestyle magic seemed almost as replacements for tools she would have used in her previous world. One, for instance, was simply called light and acted like a flashlight.
She hadn’t messed around with her mana too much since she talked to Ada, other than releasing it from its balled-up shape. She was worried about doing something irreparable to herself due to her lack of knowledge. For the same reason, she decided to ignore the other… energy, for lack of a better word, that she had felt and briefly controlled. That also, unfortunately, meant that she had to deal with the hollowed heaviness that came with her mana.
Quinn sighed deeply. It was raining lightly this morning, almost more of a faint mist than actual rain. Ada had given her the entire day off, saying that she would be able to pay her debt off easier this way.
Quinn entered the Silver Grove. Almost no one was in the warm tavern. The crippled old hunter that she had spoken to briefly sat at the bar, He was wasted at the bar every day she came by, so nothing new there. A few people were quietly having breakfast, enjoying what looked to be some kind of egg dish. And then there was Mikeal. His red hair was quite hard to miss as he chatted up with several ladies eating their breakfast.
Mikeal saw her and glanced over briefly before turning his charming smile back to the table. “Ladies, I’m afraid I must go. My apprentice is here. Fear not! We will return after braving the mysteries of the Veiled Grove.” He stood up and walked over to where she was waiting. “Ah, Quinn. Good morning to you, my inteligiment guide.”
Quinn simply arched a brow as she glared at the redhead. “Apprentice?”
He rubbed the back of his head and laughed. “So you heard that… I just didn’t want to give the ladies over there the wrong idea when I came over to you…”
“So you told them we were off to brave the mysteries of the Veiled Grove?”
“W-well… understand, I simply have a reputation to maintain…”
“Ugh, whatever. Come on, we got a full day ahead of us.” Quinn led him out of the Silver Grove and began the short walk to the southern gate.
“Day? Aren’t we just going to pop out, bag a Rain Deer, and come back?” Mikeal asked as he shot finger guns at a group of passersby like he was some kind of protagonist.
Quinn hadn’t been idle in the last week. Although there wasn’t much space to sate her curiosity, there were still questions that could be answered. One of them being the location of migrating Rain Deer. On a side note, she had found that they were called Rain Deer here and not reindeer, probably on accounts that they could turn their body into water.
“You do realize we’ll be gone for about three days, right?” The Rain Deer we’re about a day’s walk to the north of the town. Unfortunately, that also meant they would have to stay overnight at a wild warding stone. Then add a day to hunt one and another to come back.
The cocky grin on his face vanished. “You mean we’ll be outside for three days? By Merlin, that’s too long. I don’t know if I’ll make it…”
Quinn stopped walking before they reached the gates. “Then find someone else to take you!”
“No, no. I uh, was just kidding. Ha ha.” Mikeal resumed his saunter towards the town gates.
They were stopped at the southern gates for a brief moment but otherwise passed through with no hassle alongside a bunch of farmers. They crossed the bridge and then broke off from the people, headed north alongside the misty river.
Mikeal asked, “So where are we going, exactly?”
“North.” The less she had to talk to him, the less she would want to murk the guy in his sleep.
“But where in the north?”
“If I answer you, will you stop talking?”
The redhead laughed lightly. “If that is what my lady desires.”
“We are following the river straight north until it crooks to the northwest. From there, we are headed east until we arrive at the warding stone.” Quinn picked up the pace.
She also forcefully pulled a bit of mana from all over her body and focused on her left hand. She held her palm turned to the sky, feeling the light drops of rain hit it, and made a circle of the weighty mana. A dark ring formed, floating just a finger's width over her palm.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She had realized that mana was actually visible to the naked eye a couple of days ago, which made casting magic so much easier. The entire time she was going off how it felt with her eyes closed like an idiot when she could’ve just seen it.
Four runs engraved themselves into the circle as it started to spin. Three were new runes she had learned from Ada and one of them was the circular rune for Light. As the magic circle faded and the magic cast, four more runes showed up alongside a ball.
The first, pointing forward was the tip of an arrow, almost like the symbology for a mountain. It meant north.
The second, pointed to the right, was half a circle with the other half being like the first but pointed outward. It looked very similar to a location pin back in her home world. It meant east.
The third, pointed behind her, was a circle with a line horizontally through it. Its meaning was, of course, south.
The fourth, pointed to her left, was a crescent pointed outwards. Its meaning was west.
The ball was where things changed slightly. It was a bright yellow that emitted a faint light. The ball hovered just slightly above the symbol for east. It denoted the sun.
The magic she just cast was called Compass. Its effect was quite obvious. It gave her the directions as well as the time of day. It cost a tad bit more mana than Cleanse but still didn’t drain her in the slightest.
They continued, with Quinn casting Compass every so often to make sure they were still headed in the right direction.
At some point, Mikeal had become even more of an annoyance. He pulled his lute free and was strumming it as he sang along. That in itself wouldn’t be an issue if he sang as he did in the tavern, but he was terrible as they walked.
He would start singing terrible phrases then stop and mumble to himself about lyrics before singing an entirely different tune. All the while he would play his lute in a terrible amalgamation of off-tune pain as he tried to write a new song.
Mikeal served an ear destruction purée free of charge almost the entire way, only stopping to drink water. That and the freezing cold rain increasingly pelting her face even while she had the mask up was about to send her over the edge.
And that wasn’t even including the pain in her legs from going uphill the entire way. That’s right, uphill! The bastard that told her where the warding stone was never mentioned it was a hike uphill! Add on a heavy pack full of camping essentials, and she was having a rough go of it.
They arrived at the crook in the river around midday, according to Compass. She didn’t even need to cast Compass to tell the direction changed since it was so drastic, but it didn’t hurt to double-check.
“Ah! We’re here!” Mikeal sang as he furiously strummed his lute which somehow worked just as fine in the inclement weather as it did in the tavern. “Now then, my fair maiden, where are the Rain Deer?”
Quinn rubbed in between her eyebrows. “We haven’t arrived yet. We won’t arrive till near nightfall, and even then we won’t hunt till tomorrow.” If he wasn’t paying so much, she would’ve left him out in the forest.
He nodded his head in understanding. “Then I shall continue to create ballads of your beauty.”
He’s dying. She was going to kill him. There was no way he was making it out of the forest alive. “Hey, I have an idea! Let’s play a game.”
He looked intrigued by the notion. “A game? I do so love games. What game?”
“Simple, first one to talk loses. Starting now.” Quinn sighed as she trudged towards the pin-looking symbol.
He actually seemed to be taking her words seriously as he didn’t talk even after the sky had begun to darken, nor did he speak as animal activity suddenly increased by several times. The animals, of which there was quite the variety, ignored them entirely as they passed the duo by. It was rather nice, almost an affirmation they were headed in the correct direction.
They had been walking to the point that Quinn had quite a bit of pain in her legs even though she had been working out recently. Her shoulders ached with the weight of her bow and pack. Each step revealed more of the same trees and foliage as if a laugh in the face of her hope they weren’t too far.
A rustling came by from behind it, but she simply ignored it. This close to nightfall, no animal worth their salt would attack and risk not making it to the warding stone. This mindset was proven correct as a duo of wolves sprinted by their side. Their speed alongside Quinn’s lack of interest made it quite hard to pick up any details.
She cast Compass as they trudged along, making sure they were still headed east. The ball of light was growing dimmer with each passing second as it approached the western rune. Mikeal looked in on the magic, a slight look of concern on his face. “I hate to lose our game, but do you know how far we are from this warding stone? I’d rather not die…”
“Umm… it shouldn’t be too far. I was told it was half a day’s walk up the river, and then half a day’s walk east.” Unless the old hunter lied to her… but she fact-checked everything he said with Ada. “It’s just a bit ahead of us, I'm sure.”
She continued her march while Mikeal followed behind her. It couldn’t have been far, maybe five hundred paces? Something quickly changed. The darkened day slowly had its light return as they trudged on. It wasn’t long before she could see a clearing through the gaps of the trees.
Quinn stepped out into the dimly lit clearing. In the middle of the place stood a tall stone monolith intricately etched with hundreds, nay thousands of pulsing runes. The monolith shone with a faint light, illuminating the entire clearing.
The clearing was filled with tens of thousands of critters. They were separated by species but didn’t attack each other as they settled in for the night. The most notable of the animals were the packs of wolves in a massive dog around the monolith center of the clearing. Right next to them were foxes, and rabbits were next to the foxes. There were hundreds of different other species coexisting as they cuddled for warmth under the onslaught of rain.
“Well I’ll be. This is quite… magical.” The redhead said from behind her. He had a look of wonder in his eyes as he looked out across the clearing. “This could make some good lyrics…”
Quinn nudged his arm. “C’mon. Let’s find a spot.” They moved into the clearing. The small animals fearfully moved out of their way, but didn’t fully give into their flight or fight instinct. Although they could coexist with their predators, it seemed as though they didn’t trust the two humans.
They walked to a small gap in the animal population and sat down on the ground. The nearby animals - of which were namely a sea of squirrels and coyotes - eyed them wearily the whole time as they sat there.
“S-so, Quinn.” Mikeal’s voice was almost a whisper as he eyed his surroundings. “I can’t help but notice a lack of Rain Deer.”
Quinn sighed. She was also slightly stressed by the animals, but not as much as she probably should’ve been. Maybe she was still in shock from the whole world transportation thing. Peaceful animals weren’t all that weird by comparison… “Did you research Rain Deer at all?”
“O-of course I did.” She glared at him. “Not really.”
Of course, he didn’t! What did she suspect from a guy that only has his looks? “Rain Deer can turn to water, yeah?”
He looked at her like she was the idiot. “Of course. That’s why I hired you, my brilliant guide.”
“Haaaa… they basically don’t need to come to a warding stone since they are safe while in their water form. It’s the same logic as why you can’t hunt them on your own.”
He nodded along as he pulled some food from his bag. “I see! You are so smart, my lady!”
“Naturally.” She decided to keep it to herself that she came to know about that particular interaction from an old drunkard.
She pulled off her pack and cast Cleanse on herself. She fiddled around inside the pack for a while until her hand gripped what she was looking for and pulled it free. It was a linen wrap. She carefully unrolled it, pulling free a piece of bread and some jerky from the stash. The delicious scent wafted to her nose as she bit down on a piece of bread.
As Quinn ate her food, she noticed a commotion from the monolith. A couple of soaked foxes were slowly forcing their way through the crowd of animals toward them. Mikeal also seemed to have noticed them as a faint magic circle appeared in front of him.
The duo of foxes worked their way through the less-than-pleased squirrels, arriving just a few steps away from her. They were quite beautiful. Their red fur gleamed softly in the light of the warding stone as they looked at her.
Quinn looked back, leveraging her gaze onto them. As they stepped closer, she got a faint feeling from them. It was a familiar warm pulsation that she had felt when she reached for the mysterious energy she had mistaken as mana. The sensation oddly comforted her. It reminded her of sitting around the fire with her family.
They slowly edged closer, their eyes wearily looking towards Mikeal as they walked right up to Quinn. Then they simply sat down and stared up at her with their fluffy tails slightly wagging.
Mikeal dispelled his magic circle. “Uh, Quinn? What’s up with your foxy friends?”
She looked at them curiously. They kind of reminded her of puppies the way they sat there. “No idea? Maybe they’re just friendly? Foxes are known to be playful…” She didn’t fail to notice their tails wager harder as she bit into her jerky. She tore off a piece and tossed it over which was promptly snatched out of the air. She finished the rest of her pitiful meal while tossing the last piece of jerky to the two.
“Maybe.” Mikeal leaned towards the three of them.
Both foxes instantly growled at him and snapped their jaws with furious looks in their eyes. They put themselves between the two humans and only calmed down when Mikeal backed off. He muttered to himself as he sat a fair distance away. "I'm a redhead too, you lousy scoundrels."
“Glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t like him…” She said equally quietly.
“What did you say, my lady?” Mikeal looked like he was about to start a brawl with the foxes.
“Nothing. Just ignore them? No point in causing a disturbance…” She pointed towards the other animals. Mainly she pointed out the wolves that were glaring at them from their sodden mound of fur and fangs. She would rather not be rushed by hundreds of wolves.
Mikeal was about to reply but was cut off as a whisper came from the edge of the clearing. Instantly all animal chatter cut off except for the ever-present thunder. Every single animal, even the two foxes who were moments ago happy, looked out towards the south side with trembling bodies and hackles raised.
The fog billowed from the south, slowly rapping around the entire clearing as more voices joined the first. The swirling fog seemed to form agonized faces as it coated the edges of the clearing.
The stone illuminated twisted abominations hiding in the fringes of the fog. They twitched and writhed as the whispers turned to begging for help and pleading for her to come to save them.
Several animals too close to the edge were whisked away by gnarled limbs that seemed to ooze with rot. They were unnaturally long as they dragged away the poor creatures. The victims' screams and cries were short-lived as silence fell back over the clearing.
She looked over to Mikeal. For the first time during the entire trip, he had a serious look on his face as he gazed out to the whispering fog. He slowly laid down, facing the closest edge of the clearing with a weary look in his eye.
He was not the only one looking out towards the foggy edge. Every animal in the clearing was joined together in a solemn watch of the vile fog. They united beyond species until it was simply a matter of life watching the cursed phenomenon.
Quinn lay down too, blocking the majority of the rain with her sagen and using her damp pack as a makeshift pillow. Sadly the town didn’t have tents, not that there would’ve been much room to pitch one in between the critters. She gripped her bow tightly. It was going to be a long, rainy night.