Picking up the bow, I quickly strung it before leading the way forward. I had left in such a rush that I had forgotten to bring our sacks with us, but luckily Shiara and Sarra had grabbed them whilst I was tugging them along. If we had left it behind, I would not have gone back into that red goo to get it. Just imaging our sacks infested with leeches made me blanch.
“Ok, we’ve both been eager to ask you about yourself, so we’ll take you up on that. But first, as I assume it will be a long story, why don’t I do the asking based on what I have assumed and we can go from there…that okay with you?”
I glanced back at Sarra before continuing along. “Sure, what’d you wanna ask?” Somehow I felt stronger after that meeting with my parent’s souls. It sounds unusual, but it was as if something had just flipped in me- like I had come to the realisation that there was no point hiding it, nor any point to continue to dwell on the past tragedy. What had happened had happened, and I could only move on.
“So you’re name is Vixen Uralya, twelve years old, you were part of a tribe with bloodline magic that use to dwell in the jungle. At the age of five, your village was destroyed and you are the sole survivor who fled to Frankfurt. Is that all correct.”
I glanced back again. Shiara was innocently looking around, but I could see that she was secretly attentively listening. Meanwhile, Sarra had a triumphant face as if she was assured in her assumptions being correct. “Well mostly.”
“-Mostly?”
“Ah, sorry…something my parent said that I’ve been thinking about. But yeah, you’re right.” Ah, the fluffiness...this was fulfilling somehow… I didn’t know when, but Suticat had quietly snuggled up next to me, and my hand as if having a mind of it’s own had started petting and scratching.
“-Hey, you listening? Well, in combat you mainly use earth and wind magic, and you’re an average shot with the bow, but I wanted to ask…what is your bloodline magic- is it to with taming?”
“-…I don’t know?”
“You don’t know?! You serious?”
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“Has she ever not been serious?”
“Thanks Shiara…but yes, I’m serious.” Sarra stared me down for a bit before averting her eyes.
“Ok, so assuming-“ “That’s the truth” “-that you don’t know, how are you meant to use it?! Surely you must have some clue…”
“Well normally everyone in the village would go through an adult rite of passage when they turn fifteen. The adults never tell us kids what it is and that’s probably when we are taught to harness our powers…after all, kid’s might misuse their strength.” I took a peak at Shiara before continuing “But I can tell you some of our folk tales that hint at our ancestry, like the twin giant trees that we previously saw in the centre. We use to visit them once a month to offer tributes as well as baptise new babies. Oh and we also used the place once when an elder passed away…I think…I don’t really remember it that clearly…”
I brushed away a few branches as I continued on. “The cherry tree represented the phoenix and the willow represented the dragon and I think they also represented females and males and…” My voice died off as I noticed they both had a puzzled expression. “…What’s wrong?”
“What’s a phoenix?” “-And what’s a dragon?” Ah, of course they would not know about them. Even I only heard people mention them during my time at the village.
“Have you never heard of dragons before Shiara? Well they’re like a giant reptile, uh…” Seeing the glance for help from Sarra I added on a simpler explanation “You remember the spearfish monsters that came onto land and we ran away from? Well imagine them, but bigger and with wings.” “-Oh dear god.” A rueful smile crept onto Sarra’s face. Was my description bad or did she find Shiara’s response funny?
“Hey, where’s my answer. It must be another monster- animal, um another animal right?” Good, at least she had the tact to change and not call the phoenix a monster...it only took a glare. But how was I going to describe this. Neither had heard or seen one before and they were apparently very uncommon and rare….
“I guess it would be like a toukou bird or a chicken, but on fire…?” That should have been what my parents had told me, but my voice died off after feeling an inexplicable sensation as if someone or something had snicked deep inside of me.
“Hmm…I see.” “So is it tasty?” The gluttonous response came from Shiara. Had she always been a glutton? Well, back when we were in the slums, she did ask for a week’s worth of food for saving me. But her response also reminded me of a major problem, my stomach grumbling in agreement. We were going to run out of food imminently and we didn’t have any easy sources for food. We could turn back to the ford and try hunting, but that would only delay us and present more issues- we were on a timer with paralysis and had no antidote. Not to mention we were only armed with some daggers and a bow with only three arrows remaining. I was also not willing to go to the village to search for food or the antidote. It would be infested with monsters and I would just be giving up on our lives by going there. “…Vixen!”
“-Wha what?” “You ok?” I felt Sarra’s hand grab my shoulder. “Sorry, I just got a lot on my mind.” I shrugged her arm off and continued our march forward.
“Shiara!” “Sorry Sarra, I shouldn’t have mentioned eating uh…her trees?” Hearing the scolding, I couldn’t help but laugh inside. They had misunderstood me and thought I had taken offence at her blasphemy whilst I had just merely been in deep thought. Suticat came running back over, so I gave him a pat. He had been avoiding the other two ever since they were covered in the powder, seemingly not liking the smell. Most of it had fallen off after walking and running, and they had brushed the rest off, but he still steered clear of them returning to me after his adventures-!!
“YES! Why did I forget! He’s not just an extra mouth to feed, we can also use him!” I felt the odd gaze of the two behind me. Maybe I had really developed a sixth sense.