Chapter 7: Buildup

“Is this how it always is?”

“No, not really, it was much more peaceful in my world. The monster attacks were few and far between.”

“That actually sounds boring, I prefer this.” Isaac sits down on top of the monster’s corpse.

“Hey, get off of that, if you rip the fur again, I will make you wear it as a coat. Right now.”

“Okay.” Isaac nods as he gets off the large furry creature. It was similar to the one I saw before I met Isaac. “What is this fur actually going to be used for?”

“Trading. No matter how advanced a civilization is, you will still be able to use furs to gain currency.”

“How much will we get is the true question.” I nod to Isaac’s statement.

“We will find out once we go to a town. Won’t we?” I smile as I pull out the blade from my side sheath.

“Are you sure this is even going to work? It is true I am the one who taught it to you, but it still worries me. What if it doesn’t work properly, after all, we are both only beginners when it comes to magic.”

“We’ll be fine. Probably. If not, we can make a run for it after we cast an illusion. If we work together as planned, we should be able to escape, even in the worst cases.”

“I think it is okay to try it. Even if you get caught, I’m sure there are ways Isaac can escape.”

“Yes, thank you for having so much faith in me, Miria.” I say in monotone.

“Alex, how are you feeling after killing this thing alone?”

“I feel pretty good you know. At first using magic felt stiff and rigid, but I found I was still thinking too much about the result. To use magic as a world spirit, it really is as simple as just using it and not thinking about it too much.”

“It is weird when compared to normal spirits, but we are special.”

“Yeah. We really are gifted though. I don’t know if I should be thankful, or upset at with what was given to me. It is a blessing and a curse at the same time.” I sigh as I wipe the sweat off my forehead. “I will just be thankful for now though.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a month. We have been avoiding spirits and even managed to kill a couple of the weaker ones as a show of force.”

“Yeah. So are we going to change our appearances or are we just going to walk right in?”

“That was the plan, wasn’t it? We would disguise our mana signatures in hopes that they don’t notice we are world spirits.”

“I think that there may be some things that go wrong, the only person we have that can help us with adjusting is someone that may or may not be another type of world spirit.”

“Your point? I spent many years with humans. I am confident I can recognize a human mana signature.”

“Yeah.” I nod slowly.

“Um, this may be awfully rude of me… but aren’t you a little too, untrusting of your wife?” Isaac looks at me with an awkward smile.

“Yeah.” I hang the removed fur on a tree branch and sit on the ground with a large sigh, “This is just so stressful for me.”

“Alex?” Miria floats beside me.

“You know, I was born a farm boy. I was raised on a farm and was put to work from a very young age. The only reason they didn’t remove me from the farm earlier was because I could work almost non-stop.”

“Isn’t that simply the past?”

“Indeed it is, but you know, I lived in solitude with Miria for a little over five years. Then five before that, Miria stayed by my side every day. Before that, I was alone. I worked day, I worked night. Miria was the only person that bothered to spend that much time on me. After I moved to the forest with Miria, I thought I would throw away my humanity, never to speak with another human.”

“Isn’t that just too sad?” Isaac sits down in front of me with a frown on his face.

“I didn’t think so. Miria then told me about herself more and more. Her adventures, the languages she learned, the loneliness she experienced. I decided I would spend my time with only her… but when we came to this world, it changed. I was forced to talk with people. They threatened me, they forced me to travel to take you against your will to the Wind Spirit City.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“I’m glad you didn’t take me there by the way. I don’t know what it’s like, but I have this feeling we should never go there.”

“I agree. Not for a while anyways. Now it’s been a month. We’ve been here for a month. On the run. I was living in solitude almost my entire life. All I had was Miria. I love her, and I thought ‘All I need in my life is her.’ However, now I need to make sure I can survive long enough to make it to the next world, but what if that world is more dangerous than this world?”

“Alex… are you stressed?”

“Yes, Miria. I feel more stressed than I ever have and I am unsure of how to deal with it.” I lower my head.

“I think… maybe the first step to recovery is admitting you have an issue?”

“If you are stressed, why didn’t you tell us before?”

“It’s a stupid reason. I thought that for some reason I had the responsibility of shouldering my worries on my own.” I wipe the tears away from my eyes, “I’ve never really cried you know? It feels strange, this sadness.”

“Sadness?” Isaac pats my shoulder. “I have a feeling you are not crying due to sadness. Relief, joy of having others to help you? Those could be debated forever. One thing is for sure though, you are finally being honest with yourself.”

“Ha, I was worried about saving you guys. Worrying about what would happen to you guys if I was to die, or worse, get forced in to fighting against you.” I smile and laugh slightly. “It seems I am just as weak minded as I was all those years ago. What a man I am, let alone husband.”

“As a husband you are a failure.” Miria bluntly states “But as a man, I have met no better. The best kind of man is one that is able to see his true self and tell it to others without fear.”

“Without fear? What has motivated me to wake up after I sleep is fear.”

“I don’t know what Miria said, but I will guess. Alex, everyone fears many things. Some fear standing in front of others, some fear small bugs. What do you fear?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“I have a feeling you are afraid of fear itself.” Isaac stands up and takes a deep breath. “Now I am going to do something I may regret.” Isaac breathes out heavily and brings his foot to the side of my head.

I fly up in the air and hit the ground several meters away.

“What the fuck was that for!? Do you want me to stab you!?” I pull out the knife from the sheath attached to my hip.

Everyone stays quiet. Isaac and Miria don’t move, but they both smile towards me.

“Are you feeling better, Alex?” Isaac asks me while smiling.

“Like hell I do! You just kicked me in the side of the head! How would that make me feel better!?”

“Then what are you waiting for? Come at me bruh.” Isaac stretches out his hand and curls his fingers in towards himself.

“You’re on! Body strengthening only!” I re-sheath the knife.

I lunge towards Isaac after strengthening myself with magic. I shoot across the small distance in no time at all. Isaac raises his arms to block his face, so I continue the charge straight in to his gut.

Isaac’s lungs empty as soon as I impact him. He almost falls over but steadies himself as he grabs on to my chest. He lifts me up, but I wrap my leg around the back of his neck and move his legs to either side with my free arms, forcing him to fall on his back.

He rotates his body quickly and I am suddenly underneath him. I move my arms to brace myself and lift my leg slightly so I kick him in the back of the head. His head now between my calves.

As my arms touch the ground I use all the strength I can and twist my body so Isaac’s head slams in to the ground. His legs lift off the ground, but he uses his arms to pry open my legs just enough to remove his head just before it hits the ground.

He moves his body like a cat and lands on the ground with one knee down, hand on the other knee with his foot on the ground.

We both stand up on our feet and I swing my right fist towards his face.

Isaac easily blocks the swing and uses the momentum of the block to swing his arm towards me after spinning.

I crouch down and swipe at his legs from underneath. He jumps up to avoid me and I smile to myself. I extend my legs and place my hand on his chest I jump up slightly in to the air.

Isaac smiles as I slam him in to ground and the air is once again forcibly removed from his lungs. He coughs violently as he is held against the ground. I stand up and offer my hand to Isaac.

“Good fight?”

“Ha… Good… enough.” Isaac says between wheezes.

“You feeling better now Alex?”

“Actually. I feel much better.” I dust myself off and stretch a little, “We should spar like that more often Isaac.”

“Please no. My body wouldn’t be able to take it. I am very far behind you in terms of strength. You have a lot more mana accumulation time than I do.”

“I think that’s fair, but we really should practice using each other more, we are a group after all.”

“That’s the first time you’ve labelled us as a group and not a burden you know.” Isaac smiles

“It feels nice to be acknowledged finally.” Miria smiles as her shadow like figure hangs off of my body. “I think I’ve fallen in love with you all over again Alex.”

“I Know I can’t see Miria… but you know I can still roughly sense where she is. Do you two need some alone time?” Isaac frowns awkwardly.

“No, Miria was just telling me how much she loved me. Now then, I love you too Miria. I’m sorry I neglected you for so long. I will reflect upon it for the rest of my life.” I smile as I put my arms around Miria’s figure, making sure I never put my arms through her.

“Even though you are unable to feel me… this is nice. Judging from Isaac’s expression though, it looks awkward.”

“Just a simple hug Isaac, nothing you wouldn’t see exploring a town.”

“Speaking of that topic, I think it is about time we discuss which town we should head to.” Isaac pulls out the map which I had given to him. “I think we should avoid main cities and the like.

“I have a plan… it’s risky, but will you two hear me out?”

“What do I have to lose?”

“I literally can’t lose anything you know? Maybe you… actually I take it back. I have everything to lose.”

“Great! Now then I say we should head back to the town I first appeared in. I want to kidnap the village elder.”

“Why kidnap!?”

“Calm down Miria. We need to get more information than we currently have, what better way to do that than someone who has run a village for a long amount of time?”

“It makes sense in theory, but how do we kidnap a village elder?”

“So, the plan is to stash Isaac outside the village. Miria, I want you to keep an eye on the entire situation as well as Isaac’s location to make sure he isn’t caught on his own…”