«You are not seriously considering fighting this thing just like that?» Melissa asked in a tense voice and grabbed Sarah’s arm.
Sarah stopped walking and looked back at Melissa with a firm gaze. “I know it is difficult to understand for you. But I just… need it. I even walk the path of the conflict. I can only progress when I fight.”
Melissa pressed her lips together and her eyes got an angry glint. “Why do you even need to progress? We are fine as we are. Do you want to risk dying for such a stupid reason?”
For the first time, Sarah felt anger rise inside her towards Melissa. She stepped closer to her and the surprised Melissa gasped slightly.
“This. Is. No. Stupid. Reason.” Sarah said through gritted teeth. “Why do you think I was able to get us out of the fucking dungeon? How I was able to protect you, huh?”
Melissa looked to the ground and wanted to say something, but Sarah interrupted her.
“I don’t know if you already forgot in the cozy time we had, but this world shows no mercy towards the weak. Maybe we can be lucky like the guys we met here, sure. But think about what has happened to them. One freakin monster, and they must already fear for their existence. They are starving, because no one can stand up to it. Is this what you want? Waiting and hiding until something or someone decides, that we look like an easy meal? Living in fear? No. I will not live like that.”
Melissa looked up to her again, and Sarah saw her angry reflection in her blue eyes.
“I just don’t want to lose you,” Melissa whispered in a choked-up voice and her eyes started to get a little wet.
Sarah’s anger deflated as quickly as it came. She bit her lips ruefully and grabbed Melissa by the shoulder. “I can not promise you, that I’ll never get into danger, nor that I will survive for sure.”
Melissa jerked as if she had been hit physically. She wanted to turn away but Sarah held her in place. “But I can promise you, that I will always give everything I have to come back to you. Only death can stop me from that. And I guarantee you, it is not easy to put me down.”
Melissa looked up at her, a crooked smile on her lips. She laughed shakily and wiped away the tears in her eyes. “I guess that’s as romantic as you can get.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!” Sarah shouted, which caused Melissa to laugh loudly. But before she could press the matter, she remembered that they were not alone.
She looked at the others in shame and saw the people who were guiding them to their homes. They all looked away awkwardly, trying to act as if they were very interested in the surrounding trees.
“Come,” Melissa said with a soft voice and pulled Sarah at her hand. Still a little bit ashamed, Sarah followed her.
It had taken a long time to convince the people, that Sarah would not eat them all upon reaching their home. But the prospect of the monster that had threatened them getting killed and Melissa's promises of their peaceful intentions convinced them in the end.
Even so, they didn’t talk much with them. The people were still highly suspicious of them, and Sarah could feel the anxiety rolling off of them in strong mental waves. She noticed with a slight chuckle, that they hadn’t even exchanged names with them.
The next hour, they walked silently, until they reached the entrance to the home of the strangers.
The man, who appeared to be some sort of a leader, turned around to speak to them. The only thing she could see through the thick furs surrounding his face were startling green eyes and a bushy beard.
“We’ll enter first and explain to them our trade. Please don’t just barge in. They might be… afraid.” The man said, with a quick and fearful glance towards Sarah.
Melissa already opened her mouth to talk, but Sarah interrupted her. “Now that you say it, we haven’t talked about your side of the trade yet.”
The man blanched as he looked at Sarah. “W-we didn’t mean to… I mean, you didn’t say…”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t wet yourself,” Sarah interrupted him, and the man's white face turned red quickly. Melissa kicked her shin and Sarah rolled her eyes. “Sorry, that was mean. I know I didn’t say anything until now. But I thought you would be more willing to cooperate if I already knew the location of your tribe.” With these words, she smiled slightly but made sure not to show her teeth.
Angry mental waves flowed from the people and Sarah held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Listen, before you assume anything. We have only met horrible, murdering, and manipulating people up until now. I am highly suspicious of everyone I don’t know. I’ll always make sure we won’t be screwed over by anyone. Deal with it.”
“What she means,” Melissa quickly added in a calm tone. “We have had horrible experiences in the past and are very careful because of them. Please understand, that we have a hard time trusting strangers. It has nothing to do with you. I promise, that if you turn out to be trustworthy, we can become good allies.”
Sarah shrugged, not quite sure she had wanted to say what Melissa told them. But she didn’t care.
The people seemed to calm down a little again and the leader of the group looked at Sarah again. This time though, he was able to hold her gaze. “So what is it that you wish from us in return?”
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Sarah smiled brightly and forgot to hide her teeth. “It’s very simple. Knowledge.”
The man looked at her in confusion. “Knowledge? Just that?”
Sarah snorted and crossed her arms. “Should I demand more? Did you expect I want to eat someone as a snack or what?”
The man flinched a little and Sarah bawked at him. “Seriously?”
Melissa lay a hand on her arm before Sarah could get angry at this interaction. She took a few deep breaths and addressed the man again.
“So,” She began again, “What kind of specialized knowledge or skills do you have?”
The man hesitated a moment and glanced towards a plain woman in the back. She nodded slightly and the man turned forward again. Interesting.
“We know tanning, woodworking, edible plants, and traps. And uh…” He hesitated a moment but continued talking. “Well, we have someone who can make mushrooms grow.”
Sarah’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Mushrooms? Did you just say mushrooms?”
“W-well, yes, but for some reason all the mushrooms he grows are poisonous, so you can’t eat them.” The man stammered but Sarah had other thoughts.
“Give him to us.” She demanded with glowing eyes.
“Sarah!” Melissa said angrily and Sarah realized, that she had demanded for them to sell one of their own.
“But… but are you sure? He is useless. He is obsessed with mushrooms and that’s all he does. He only eats and…” A man behind him slightly kicked the man and stepped forward. “Sure, you can have him.”
The other people around him started shouting angrily and the man held up his hands in defense. “What?! He only eats our food and does nothing else but grow these disgusting mushrooms what use does he have?”
The woman who had nodded towards the first man in the beginning had been silent until now. And now she spoke for the first time, and all the others became silent immediately. “The only thing we can promise you is to ask him to migrate to your tribe. But are you sure you want this? I don’t want him to have a hard time at your place when he doesn’t do much productive work.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” Sarah said with a beaming smile. “You can tell him, that his work will be more than appreciated in our place. Oh and throw in your knowledge about edible plants and traps. We’ll also share what we know about plants. Deal?”
“Deal.” The woman said and hesitantly stretched out a hand.
Sarah looked over towards Melissa and jerked her head. When Melissa stepped forward to take the hand, the woman was visibly relieved to not have to shake Sarah’s hand.
“What’s your name?” Sarah asked the woman with a slight smile. She liked this one.
“Tara. And your name?” Tara asked back.
“Now to the fun part,” Sarah said, completely ignoring Tara’s question. The gleam in her eyes turned vicious. “Where is the promised monster?”
The woman looked at her nonplussed and narrowed her eyes. “It’s at the bottom of the cliff, more or less right beneath us. But you have to go through our home if you…”
But she didn’t get any further than that, as Sarah had pressed a quick kiss on Melissa’s mouth and ran towards the cliff. She swung herself over the edge and started climbing and jumping down the steep stone wall.
Her heart raced in excitement. It had been so long since she had fought something worthwhile. The cozy time had been nice, for sure, but something inside of her had started craving the fights.
The last few meters, she let herself fall and she landed in a heap of snow with a muffled thump.
“Well, I imagined that differently.” She grumbled angrily, as she fought herself out of the neck-deep snow.
When she finally managed to get out of it, she stretched with joy and let her claws slip out of her fingers. She could barely contain her excitement.
With a conscious effort, she stopped herself from blindly running around until she found the monster and started carefully sneaking around, looking for any sign of the beast. There was no reason to put herself at unnecessary risk. She had promised Melissa to come back after all.
After a short while, she found old tracks of the people from the local tribe. It was a well-trodden path through the woods. And not long after that, she found her first clue.
Up until now, she had been a little afraid, that the people had misinterpreted a bear or something similar for the monster. But the footprint she found in the dirt beneath a tree proved otherwise.
With glittering eyes, she crouched down and inspected it. It didn’t take long for her to realize, that she had never seen anything like it. It was larger than any other animal track she had seen up until now. It was also a very strange one. It was a very long foot with very short toes, apart from the one on the right, which seemed to be long in comparison. It also had very long claws, which had burrowed deep into the earth. But probably the strangest part about the footprint where the blackened roots in it.
Sarah swiped her finger over one of them and smelled the substance. “Ash?” She murmured in astonishment. As it was very unlikely one of the people had come over to burn the roots inside the footprints for whatever reason, the monster itself must have been responsible for this.
And up until now, she had only once met something, which was able to produce fire. The memory came to her mind clear as day. The giant lizard thing in the swamp, wreathed in flames and looked down at her contemptually.
Her heart started beating in anticipation and fear. Had it come out of the swamp? Would she be able to defeat this monstrosity?
A deep snarl snapped her out of her musings. The sound reverberated through the ground and into her chest.
She turned around in shock. She had noticed absolutely nothing. No sound, no mind. Just nothing. And although she had been on high alert the whole time, there it was.
A giant white lizard, wreathed in turquoise flames, which seemed to come out of wholes in its skin.
Sarah snorted and let out a heavy breath. “Seems like the big lizard had kids huh?” The monster before her was big for sure. But not as titanic as the one she had seen in the swamp. As it was looking more or less the same, it must have been at least the same race, if not the child of the thing.
Glowing, intelligent eyes looked at her with an evil gleam. Its tongue flicked out of its mouth and another snarl came out of it. The whole area vibrated from the sound again.
Sarah’s heart started beating wildly and she felt a strange kind of energy pump through her body. This was it. She had missed it so much.
Suddenly, the point in between her collarbones started burning like it had caught fire. For a moment she was afraid, that the lizard had attacked her in an unknown way. But a system message proved otherwise.
. . . Analyzis complete. Special Mutation is now available: Nightmare’s Heart (Class-specific, 20LF): Crystalized Magic Power, able to channel and amplify certain Mental powers. It is unclear if there are more effects. Connected (formerly dormant) skills are now available: Waking Nightmare: You can disrupt the perception of your enemies. Your Nightmare’s heart channels your Mental Power and disrupts the sensory organs or your target, resulting in a skewed perception of your appearance. Unclear mode of operation. Nightmare’s Target: You can track a Magic Power Signature. The Magic Power Signature of your target is saved inside your Nightmare’s heart, through which you can track it down. Unclear mode of operation.> An insane smile stretched over Sarah’s face, and she could see a glint of fear in the lizard's eyes. “Time to try something new,” Sarah said and activated her now finally active skills skills.