Party Member (Warmy) [Warmth Core] has slain: Glacial Spirit, LVL 1 [x2]
(Warmy) gained 10 EXP!
(Warmy) has levelled up: LVL 3!
Valerie picked up the fallen cores and idly bit into her jerky as she walked through the melting snow. With Warmy’s level up, she began to see the grass hidden beneath the layers of snow, their area of effect having grown with their level increase.
“Thanks, Warmy,” she said as she turned to face the floating Core, patting the top of Warmy’s head as they floated back towards her.
Is it really a head, though? Orb-body? Valerie thought as she continued to pat. Truth be told, she really didn’t know what to make of Warmy, but they’ve been really helpful for the past few hours or so. She hadn’t even needed to take matters into her own hands, which was somewhat of a relief, though not getting any EXP was a bit of a bummer.
She pulled her canteen out of her inventory and brought it up close to Warmy’s sphere of influence. Noticing her intention, the section of space she held the canteen in began to heat up faster, the water inside melting quickly.
At least Warmy was smart, that much she was certain of.
“Thanks again, Warms.”
Through the cutting gales of frigid-cold winds came a voice, speaking in a language that Valerie could not understand.
Looking away from Warmy to face the direction of where the voice came from, she could see over the snowy hills stood a tall, lanky figure, no less than three metres tall with a head of pure-white hair, adorned in a bright light that came from a core that hovered above them, although the snow did not melt from its area of effect. The figure was accompanied by what looked to be a reindeer, hauling a sleigh behind them, cargo tied down and covered over. A mismatched set of furs covered the figure’s entire body and a set of makeshift goggles worn on their head.
The figure approached slowly, stepping past and over the snowy hill, their core hovering in front of them and melting the snow in a 10-metre radius. Their hands were held in front of them in a placating gesture before suddenly signalling for her to come towards them.
A deep rumbling beneath the snow shook Valerie to the core. The grass she stood on vibrated dangerously, specks of dirt and grass shooting up from how violent the quakes were.
The figure suddenly shot forward in less than a second and grabbed onto Valerie, before then shooting backwards, the wind protesting against the sudden shift in her momentum and howling in her ears as she flew through the air. Warmy followed suit, hovering through the air and dodging through the balls of ice that descended from the sky.
Off in the now-distance—where Valerie was just standing a second ago—erupted tonnes of what must’ve been snow, dirt, grass, and permafrost into the air, a fat lump of featureless, pale skin shooting out with it and landing back onto the snow. It carved its way past the snow, burrowing deep into the earth. The rumbling noise returned, getting closer to where they now were.
The figure—who she could only describe as a ghoulish-looking woman in appearance, now that she had a good close look at her saviour—placed her beside them on the seat at the front of the sleigh, directing her hands to hold tightly onto the side, and with a tug of the reins the reindeer shot forward, clearing a hundred metres of snow with a single step. Pure, inky black seeped out of the reindeer’s antlers and dripped onto its fur, coating it. Something unseen had happened to the reindeer which tingled Valerie’s senses, before once more shooting forward through the snowy hills. Warmy tagged along behind them, sticking close to the other core that the figure had floating above the sleigh.
“What the fuck was that?” Valerie blurted out to the figure, turning to face the opposite way they were heading, still worried that they were being chased by whatever thing that was. She didn’t even get to cast Identify on it from how spooked she was. The ghoulish woman barked back a response without taking their eyes off the land ahead, but the howling winds did very little to help Valerie hear their words. That’s not even accounting for the height difference, though she doesn’t think she would have understood what they said in the first place.
Realising that she wasn’t going to get an answer, Valerie just left it all to fate and hoped for the best. Finding herself with nothing else to do but sit tight and wait, she chose to Identify the reindeer in front of her.
Identify failed due to lacking MP caused by the Target’s Level exceeding yours by [LVL Differential Obfuscated]!
MP refunded.
The collar attached to the reindeer lit up a vibrant yellow then faded to a dull white before snuffing out entirely. A sudden flood of pain shot into Valerie’s brain, Valerie bowling over and grasping at her head and shouting far too many obscenities. Warmy shot up from where they were, shooting to buzz around Valerie’s head but finding no Glacial Spirits to sizzle away, their usual warm light taking on a concerned shade of red.
New Ability Learned!
Ability Learned: Sense Mana
Sense Mana, LVL 1
Description: A fledgling mage’s best friend.
A passive ability that allows one the ability to sense Mana.
Any form of Mana will be visible to you, assisting you in discerning its make and what Elements the Mana stems from.
Casted spells/enchantments that are at a high level compared to this ability will be difficult to perceive accurately, oftentimes being dulled out in grey and blended together into a mess of jumbled-up threads of Mana.
With a wave of her saviour’s hand appeared little motes of purple light, held aloft in the air as they floated towards Valerie. Making contact with her, the purple light numbed the throbbing sensation in her head, her saviour saying something to her in a reprimanding tone while wagging their finger.
“Right,” Valerie said after a moment of catching her breath. Warmy fussed over her. “No Identifying. Sorry, didn’t know.”
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
They made quick time of the snowy hills, eventually seeing an opening in the clouds in the far distance in only a matter of minutes. There were trees now, albeit still covered with snow, but compared to the featureless rolling hills, the trees were a blessing by providing much-needed texture to the land.
As they rode over the last hill, Valerie saw clear blue skies cast overhead instead of the cloudy snowstorm, the sun shining down upon them all, a welcome change of scenery as far as Valerie was concerned. A frozen lake, further down the hill they were on, was centred directly below the gap in the clouds. Tents pockmarked the entirety of the lake along with many other sleighs, beasts of burden, Warmth Cores and other people, with a perimeter of wooden palisades surrounding its entirety. Children played outside with one another, throwing concerningly large snowballs that apparated into existence at one another. Valerie’s Sense Mana ability went ballistic, showing the large well of Ice Mana crystalised within the projectiles of snow.
Welcome to Ru’tuawon!
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
New Area Discovered!
50 EXP Gained!
“Ru’tuawon,” Valerie sounded out, unsure how it was pronounced. Warmy buzzed around her with curiosity. “Ru-tu-wah-won? Ru-tu-ah-won?”
Her saviour beside her smiled. “RAH-tu-wah-won,” she corrected. “Ja’waarna mamang lafaye, tor’wani. Mamang lafaye naa’yuma ohlaa’o kampar’waon.” She pointed at the tallest tent at the centre of the lake.
Valerie nodded along, understanding none of it but too anxious to try and say anything that could get her in trouble, though she doubted she would’ve been. She stood out like a sore thumb, dressed in nothing but a cloth shirt and pants. It was obvious to anyone that she probably had no idea what she was doing out in the middle of nowhere—which, to be fair, was pretty accurate.
They descended down the hill, finally nearing the palisade walls. The wooden palisades contorted near the bottom into a circular shape, forming a gap at its centre. A lone man dressed in furs, also incredibly tall, walked through the circular gap, holding out a hand in front of him to halt the sleigh.
The woman beside Valerie got off the sleigh and began talking to the man. Their conversation began to turn heated, turning into a shouting match at one another. Bystanders, both adults and children, peeked through the circle, standing far away from the two that were arguing.
The man suddenly appeared right in Valerie’s face, a blast of mana shooting out from his feet, and grabbed her by the throat with one hand, her windpipe on the brink of being crushed.
You take 183 Crushing Damage!
Panicked, she clawed at his arms and drew blood, notifications of 1 Sharp damage being dealt to the man.
Valerie, gasping for breath, felt her consciousness slipping away, her legs kicking but slowly growing limp.
A wave of influence pulsed from behind the man which forced him to let go of her, Valerie landing on her ass on the ice. Suddenly, an incredible gust of wind smashed the man’s face to the floor, dragging him back through the circular gap in the wall and ending up at the feet of an elderly lady with a cane. Crimson smeared the line where his face was dragged through on the ice, clumps of flesh left behind in its wake.
The elderly woman spat on the man as he groaned in pain before waddling over with her cane, a bright smile on her face as she approached Valerie with her hand out. Valerie, confused and terrified but thankful, grabbed onto the woman’s hand, being lifted up with ease from where she was kneeling.
“Welcome to Ru’tuawon, Otherworlder.” She gestured to herself as she spoke, a glimpse of deep-purple tattoos beneath her fur clothing. “I am Mama Lafaye, otherwise known as Mamang Lafaye—but that is not important. For now, you shall rest.” Turning to waddle back through the gap in the palisade wall, she continued. “Follow me, dearie. You will need to tell me of your journey as we clothe you; you look like an upside-down Ra’tunga in a desert, hah!” Mama Lafaye cackled at her own joke, Valerie’s saviour laughing along with her.
Mama Lafaye suddenly pointed to the man who was currently staining the ice with his blood, almost like an afterthought. “Oh, and please do ignore my son,” she said, not even having to reach down to reach his head to pat it, “He is just a tad too overprotective of the village, but he means well.”
Valerie couldn’t move a single muscle, still dumbfounded at what had occurred. Mama Lafaye, noticing this, turned to the woman that brought Valerie along. “See to it that she’s fine, Ruyaana.”
“Yes, Mamang.” Ruyaana bowed, mimicking the noise of some type of bird as Mama Lafaye waddled away. After Mama Lafaye had disappeared from view, the woman turned to stand in front of Valerie and crouched, her eyes scanning Valerie’s throat. “Are you hurt?”
Blinking rapidly, Valerie momentarily could not reply. Though she did not expect the woman who saved her to speak English, the trauma of almost being killed by someone with nothing but two seconds of being strangled got to her head first and foremost. Despite having already died three times in the game, coming close to dying this time just felt different. Although she knew it was just a game, everything felt… too real.
She could feel the air leaving her lungs as she struggled in his grasp. How her vision began to blur. How her throat nearly collapsed into itself from the sheer pressure of the squeeze.
And the most concerning part? Valerie knew that Mama Lafaye’s son was holding back.
“No,” Valerie lied, her body shaking and betraying her deceit. “I’m fine. Just a bit surprised, that’s all.”
“Good.” Ruyaana closed her eyes and breathed deeply before standing from her crouching position and walking to the front of her reindeer, feeding it a carrot from one of the many pouches on her person. “It is always wise to lie when one is asked if they are in pain,” she said with a scowl before sighing, a moment passing before she continued. “You are not the first Otherworlder to visit us, so do not worry. We promise you safe passage if you would rather, but we cannot—in good conscience—let you go off on your own without at least being prepared for Darkening.”
“You’re fine with letting me go?” Valerie asked, uncaring about this whole Darkening thing before noticing some movement in the periphery of her vision.
A nervous glance was sent towards the waking body of Mama Lafaye’s son. He stood, shrugging off the bits of pulverised ice that clung to his form and turning to face Valerie before spitting at his feet in her direction and walking off. Ruyaana turned her head slightly in acknowledgement of his action before turning back to face Valerie.
“Yes,” she answered with no hesitation, much to Valerie’s relief. “But, please…” She stared back at Valerie, looming over her with her height. “Trust me when I say that you will not last Darkening. It is better to stay here until it has completed its reign over the land. It is not something to take lightly.”
Valerie was torn. Having to choose between travelling alone with Warmy for hours on end—an endeavour that she had already grown sick and tired of, though she truly did like having Warmy around—or having to stay with a community that had almost killed her upon their first proper interaction was turning out to be quite a delicate decision.
She almost convinced herself of going off alone with Warmy when she noticed a pair of toddlers holding hands that walked towards her. Their mouths were agape, staring at her and whispering. Ruyaana giggled at them, gently shooing them away with her hand, though the two toddlers either decided to ignore her gesture or genuinely didn’t notice her, which in turn made her give up on trying to shoo them away.
“They are shocked by your jet-black hair, friend,” Ruyaana explained. “It is not a common sight here, as you can see.” She pulled out her pure-white hair from within her coat’s hood, not reaching for the hair that covered her face. “Last Otherworlder that came to see us had orange hair. You can imagine just how surprised everyone was when they took off the helmet they arrived with.” She chuckled as she continued to speak, “Papang fainted, nearly collapsing onto the Hearth Fire he was cooking on.”
Valerie saw that Ruyaana was thinking of a distant memory before turning to face Valerie once more, her face turning serious. “If I must, I will force you to stay until the end of Darkening. I do not care if I shall suffer ma’yaa ba’yaan for my actions. It is not right for any person to travel during Darkening when the par’maanya roams free.” She reached for Valerie’s arms and grasped them, holding a significant amount of Valerie’s forearm in her wide hands. “Please. I beg you: stay.”
Valerie gulped, taken aback by the sincerity of the woman. Despite Valerie’s lack of awareness most of the time, she could feel something hidden just beneath the surface of the woman’s pleas. Putting two and two together, she concluded that there was probably someone who braved this ‘Darkening’ alone and never came back.
Or never came back the same, Valerie thought as she stared at the woman’s face. Ghoulish in its description, Valerie also noticed that a significant portion of cracked skin was hidden beneath the woman’s hair like someone had shattered glass but instead, it was skin. It was deeply reddened and scarred, much like how a chemical peel worked, although Ruyaana’s case was tenfold in its severity and was likely permanent.
“Please,” Ruyaana begged, this time bowing herself before Valerie by kneeling. The two toddlers from earlier watched as she did so, turning to face each other in puzzlement before turning around and waddling away like two little penguins.
Feeling sorry, Valerie bent over to reach for Ruyaana and tapped her on the shoulder. The woman refused to stand, however, instead continuing to bow as she lowered her entire body onto the ice they were on and practically lying face down. This time, Valerie was the one to beg. “Please, stand up,” she urged Ruyaana. “I will stay, so please get up and stop lying on the cold ice!”
Ruyaana lifted her face to smile faintly at Valerie before getting up. “Thank you, my friend…”
“No need to thank me, Ruyaana.” Valerie said, helping her to stand, Ruyaana laughing at her response. “Did I pronounce your name wrong? Sorry, I really didn’t know! I’ll get it—”
Ruyaana raised a hand to stop her. “Do not worry, you have not said it wrong, friend. I only laughed because that is not my name. Ruyaana is a title given to the Chief’s daughter,” she explained. “My name is Pinaya, which means ‘Little Star’ in Ni’wuataktu.”
“Pi-na-yah?” Valerie sounded out with a bit of confidence before realising something.
Before Ruyaana could say whether her pronunciation was wrong or right, Valerie interjected. “—Wait a second! Are your people the Ni’wuatu, by any chance?”
Pinaya tsked before answering, though Valerie was certain it wasn’t directed at her. “We are the Ni’wuatak, not the Ni’wuatu.” Pinaya placed a hand over Valerie’s shoulder. “I do not fault you for not knowing, but the System is not as trustworthy as it may seem. It would be best to learn for yourself instead of relying on it as a—” She stopped for a moment, seemingly searching for a word. “—Oh, that is the word: relying on it as a crutch. Now.” Pinaya grabbed at the cloth shirt Valerie was wearing. “We must clothe you in the proper wear, or else you will not last long even with your core following you around.”
Warmy hummed from behind her, turning from its warm, yellow core colour to a raging fire of red. Pinaya simply laughed as she ignored Warmy, strutting through the palisade walls and over to the other side, her reindeer dragging along everything on its own through the circular gate.
With a deep breath, Valerie stood just outside of the entrance and took a moment to peer inside the village proper without officially going inside. Drafts of smoke lifted out of the tents, the smell of cooked meats wafting in all directions of the wind. The sun bore down on her, warming her without the need for Warmy’s own sphere of influence. Valerie soaked up the sun’s rays, Warmy getting jealous beside her, putting itself between the sun and her and warming itself up. Valerie giggled at Warmy’s antics, snuggling the little orb to her chest and patting its head. “I’m not replacing you, Warmy! Don’t get jealous—we all need a bit of sun in our lives!” Warmy hummed in discontent but accepted her words, opting to return to its orbit around her head.
Valerie took one step forward closer through the gate, her foot landing on the bloody stain that came from earlier. A shiver went through her spine, imagining just how screwed she was if she were to get on their bad side as a level-one player, knowing full well just how deep she was in the shit.
Shaking her head free of the thought and imagining both Pinaya and Mama Lafaye protecting her, she had enough confidence to take her final step, finally entering the village.
“Here goes nothing.”