Chapter Six
Moira woke early, just as the red suns climbed over the horizon, turning the morning sky crimson. She rolled her shoulders and adjusted her neck, groaning with each movement. Muscles she didn’t even know existed ached with a furious passion.
Cyrus was already awake. She watched as he packed up camp and rummaged around in his pack for something. He turned back to look at her, some dried meat and bread in his hands.
“Breakfast?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Moira took the meager breakfast gratefully. Her stomach grumbled. Yesterday’s training session had worn her out more than she was willing to admit. Moira ate half of the bread and some of the dried meat and then offered the rest to Duke.
Cyrus stood, stretching his arms and extending them to the sky. He yawned and shook his head before turning toward Moira.
“Alright,” Cyrus said. “Let’s try to find a way out of here.”
He sauntered into the forest, “stay close—it’s easy to get separated.”
Moira obligingly moved closer, Duke right at her side. As they moved further into the forest, Moira looked up, the deep purple trunks and white leaves gleamed against the sunlight. The towering trees and canopy of leaves should have hidden the sun from view; instead, the leaves reflected the sun’s rays onto the forest floor, providing additional light.
Analyze, she thought to herself, trying to activate the skill. She waited for a moment and—nothing happened.
She furrowed her brow and focused on the tree.
Analyze
This time it worked, and a notification popped into view.
Silivea Tree of Light
Provides light to the residents of the forest. The Silivea move with the forest, rearranging as they desire.
Ding!
Analyze lvl 2
Moira grinned. “It worked.”
Cyrus glanced back at her. “What did?”
“I just Analyzed the tree.”
“What level is Analyze at?” he asked.
“Level 2.”
“You’ll need to level that.”
Her nose crinkled in annoyance.
Ding!
Quest: Go Exploring
Analyze 100 unique beings.
1/100
Reward:???
“A Quest.”
Which meant Quests existed in Caelum. But who created Quests? Were they automatic? Something must put together the wording? Some sort of ultra-powerful A.I.? She opened her mouth to ask Cyrus when he interrupted.
“Which one is it?” he asked.
“Go Exploring.”
“Standard Quest. Most beginners unlock it. What’s the reward?”
It was standard, then. Which meant there were a set of standard Quests, and if there were standard Quests, then there were other types of Quests, too.
She read back over the quest, listing off the reward, “It’s just a bunch of question marks?”
Cyrus stopped and looked at her. “It’s just question marks?”
“Yeah, I’m guessing that’s not exactly normal?”
“No, it’s not,” he paused. “Let’s just keep walking. I’ll teach you how to hunt as we walk.”
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Cyrus grabbed his pack off his bag and rummaged around in it until he pulled out a bow and quiver.
“A deal’s, a deal. Here’s your weapon.”
“A bow? Why did we just spend the last day training with swords, then?”
“Training with swordplay teaches you the basics of fighting. Learning footwork, posture, how to move. It’s all transferrable to other fighting styles.”
“But a bow, really?”
“A bow is a ranged weapon. At your level, you don’t want to be dealing with close-quarter fighting. Your opponent’s strength will almost always overpower you. But, with a bow, you could possibly gain the upper hand.”
“Fine. But what about the bag? Who are you, Mary Poppins? How’d you do that?”
“I have no idea what that means,” he said. “It’s just a dimensional bag,” he shrugged. Cyrus stuck his arm up to his shoulder blade into the bag. “See, it’s bigger on the inside.”
Moira watched him carefully; dimensional bags were a game changer. They could allow people to travel more easily. It also meant that her inventory wasn’t as unique as she’d first thought.
“You don’t have these in your world?” he asked.
“Uh, no.”
Cyrus shrugged and handed her the bow and quiver. “This is an old practice bow that I carry in case of emergencies. The quiver refills itself with an injection of mana. Start practicing as we walk and let me know when you get the archery skill.”
Moira looked at the bow in her hands and activated Analyze.
Practice Bow
Basic bow made of simple materials.
Note: must be below Tier 1 to use.
“What’s Tier 1?”
Cyrus looked at her and sighed. “It’s the first Tier to break through. You hit Tier 1 at level 25. Tier 1 strengthens your body and gives you access to new skills related to your class.” He paused. “And before you ask, your class is your calling and profession. You get to choose from several classes that are based on your experience until that point. You get your class options at level 10.”
“What—”
Cyrus interrupted, “Just shoot the damn bow—I’ll answer your questions tonight when we set up camp.”
“Okay—fine,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes.
Duke looked up at her and then turned to Cyrus and growled. Cyrus sighed and stepped back on the path.
Moira gave Duke a nod of approval. The edge of her lip twitched up. Duke tilted his head and smiled, his tongue lolling out, before he leaned down to sniff the path ahead.
Moira focused back on the bow, and carefully took out an arrow, placing it on the bow. She looked around and aimed at the forest floor to her right. Moira pulled back the bowstring and let go. The arrow shifted as she let go and—Plonk!
The arrow fell to the ground. Moira coughed and looked around to see if Cyrus saw. Thankfully, he was still forging ahead on the narrow path. Duke, however, saw the whole thing.
He barked, twisting the end of the bark into an obnoxious howl. He bent down into a play bow and shaking his head, clearly laughing at her.
“I’d like to see you try,” she said.
He barked at her and continued sniffing the path up ahead, just out of view.
Moira grabbed another arrow from the quiver and tried again. This time, she meticulously secured the arrow before pulling back the bowstring and letting go. The arrow flew true for several feet before hitting the ground.
“Yes!”
She waited to see if the notification appeared. After a minute, she accepted it would take more work than just shooting an arrow once to gain the archery skill.
She reached back and grabbed a third arrow.
The world started shaking, the ground quaking beneath her feet. She shrieked as the surrounding trees moved, shifting back and forth, over and around, changing the appearance of the forest and blocking Duke and Cyrus from her view.
“Duke!” she screamed.
She searched for him desperately, straining her eyes to catch a glimpse of him. He was nowhere to be found.
“DUKE!” she yelled, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn’t lose him. She could deal with a lot, she had dealt with a lot up until now, but losing Duke, it would break her. Just as the thought passed through her mind, she felt his presence. Like his soul resided next to hers. She reached out to him and felt him reach back out to her. Moira grabbed onto his presence. Duke suddenly appeared in front of her.
“Duke!” she cried, throwing the bow to the ground as she hugged him around the neck.
Ding!
Companion ability discovered!
Mind Walker: Always be a mental step away from your companion!
“I guess you’re stuck with me, buddy,” she said, stroking his head.
Now that Duke was safe, she looked around again, searching for Cyrus.
“Cyrus!” she yelled, “Are you there?” The only response was silence.
Moira turned to Duke. “I guess we are really alone now.”
#
Cyrus felt the forest shake and watched the trees move and realign. He turned to shout at Moira to move closer. She was nowhere in sight. She was gone. He rubbed his hand through his hair, recalling how naïve and lost she looked in her strange clothes without a stitch of armor on her.
“Son of Dagda. She’s not going to survive this place on her own.”
He heard panting and looked around. Her dog was frantically running back and forth, searching for her.
“You’re not going to find her like—” he stopped mid-sentence. The dog was gone.
Cyrus pulled up the screen, looking over the quest he’d received two days earlier.
Quest: Stay with Moira
Remain with Moira Thompson and use every means necessary to get her to join your team.
Reward: Divine Weapon
He sighed with relief when he saw the quest was still active. He hadn’t failed it yet. It looked like the two of them would meet again soon.
“Maybe she will make it out of here,” he said to himself before trudging forward alone.