RYAOUU! SPLASH!
The stand off was suddenly broken as Suticat leapt off the shore and at the fish. The school of fish seeing the mass hurling towards them finally broke down and scattered, turning tail and swimming back down stream, the current rapidly increasing their distance between us.
“Phew…blugh…PLAH!” *1
“Ha, ha, ha.” Sarra inadvertently drank some river water as she sighed in relief, relaxing her body and Shiara gave off a broken laugh whilst looking up at the afternoon sun. We needed to finish the crossing before we could rest. Still, I couldn’t help but sigh in relief at Suticat jumping in to help. He had at some point silently slunk to the back whilst I was leading and had managed to save us from fighting another battle. Surviving in this jungle was all about avoiding battles as dangers came one after the next. The route I had decided on avoided most of the more dangerous plants and monsters, but clearly it was still very dangerous without a capable adult.
“Come on Shiara and Sarra. Let’s try to finish this crossing soon in case they come back.”
With Suticat paddling at the back and nudging the girls along, we managed to cross the rest of the river quietly and uneventfully. With a few slips along the way, we wearily made our way onto the opposite bank, downstream a meter or two.
“Hahhhhh….So Vixen, you going to make a fire here? I’ll go gr-grab the wood so-so-“
“-No need!” I looked around the undergrowth of some plants nearby, pushing their leaves out of the way. Hmm, where are they…. here! I grabbed the rocks I could find and brought them over.
“Hey-hey, why’d you bring over these rocks? We’re freez-“
“HOT ROCKS!” Without even waiting for the rest, Sarra jumped over and grabbed a piece forcefully from my hands and smashed the red rock against her chest. “Hah…that feels good.” And in more than one way I imagine…well, my bloodline has only benefits, I just need to give it some time… 2*
I smashed one of the rocks against my wet rags to dry them and heat myself up. “Uh…what are you two-“
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“-doing? I’m guessing you’ve never seen these before. These are Hot Rocks. In simple terms, these rocks will heat up when you hit them. The harder you hit, the hotter they get. But-“
“-they are a high class item that is hard to come by. Lot’s of demand for them that leads to quite a number of scammers selling rocks, charcoal or cooled lava as them. Their most obvious feature is their back exterior that gradually becomes redder the closer to the centre you get. A common misconception is the idea that the rocks should crumble on impact, but anything that does is just a con fraud. Another misconception is in the name because a Hot Rock is not actually a rock, but rather the excrement of Lava Hounds. However, due to their rarity, behavioural isolation and normal habitat, the monster is not well known and it makes the faeces hard to come by. Its main strength is that it allows non-flame practitioners to heat things up in a convenient way, and that it doesn’t have a degrading life span unless the rocks gets bumped around a lot. Each piece of Hot Rock is also really weight effective as a heat source, meaning it’s convenient and compact to carry and the heat transfers gently, but thoroughly to objects in contact with it. Directional heat blast I think the book called it. ! Oh! Speaking of which, are there Lava Hounds in here?!” ….all in one breath.
“Huh…well there you go Shiara. And Sarratina, yes they live here, but not close to the river edge.” I stood up and looked towards the centre of the jungle.
“Huh? When did that get there?! Surely I’m not as oblivious as to miss-”
“-No. It wasn’t there before. Vixen care to explain?” I looked at the two, holding each of their eyes for a second. I guess this needs to be said. Sarratina was giving me the cough it up look.
“I think you’ve already realised this Sarra, but there are some things I just can’t say or tell you about regardless of my opinions and feelings. However, you’re pretty bright and there is nothing stopping you from making some good guesses.” As the sole survivor there would unlikely be many if any consequence for breaking these ancient laws, but I’d rather not take the chance of being magically cursed. “About the two giant trees, this forest is called the Jungle of Illusions for a reason, seeing a blue sky instead of trees is just one of it’s many illusions that have been active since the moment you entered. The river in this jungle acts as a border, to keep the dangerous and the weak separate, but it is also one of the reasons why the outer region of the jungle is less dangerous.” I stared at Shiara. “That’s why, I suggest you stay as close to me as possible from here on out and keep chatter to the bare minimum, and DON’T go bashing through shortcuts.”
“Anyways, let’s not stay here at the edge of the bank and climb up that slope. It won’t be pleasant if we get attacked here.” Giving Shiara one last glare, I tossed her a Hot Rock and started climbing up the slope and towards the sun. The sun had already fallen behind the top of the hill. I couldn’t help but stare at the giant trees in the distance. A giant cherry tree and a giant willow tree stood towering above the central region. I was the only living person who would ever remember what those trees meant, what they symbolised.
Reaching the top of the slope, the ground flattened out, small trees replacing the ferns that previously dominated the undergrowth. An assortment of relatively normal wild mushrooms could be seen near the roots of the trees. I searched around and quickly found what I was looking for. Wiping away at the edges of my eye, I approached the rock. The rock was normal and like any other rock, but I could still distinguish it from behind easily. I could still clearly remember that day seven years ago, as if it only happened yesterday- her last moments, her final hopes and words. I offered a silent prayer to her spirit. Approaching the rock almost in a trance, I finally noticed half a meter away- something had happened!
I scrambled towards the pile of uplifted dirt. An empty hole lay where there should have been a bulge. What did this? No! WHO DID THIS?!
“Vixen wait up-… you okay?” I could feel my face paling, my whole body freezing. Neither animal, nor monster would do this. But who would or even could come here normally anyways? And why would they do this?! Or maybe someone survived-
“EEEEHK! G-GHOULS!”
Rachel!? I turned around. 3*