14
(Said The Sky, Diamond Eyes- Mountains)
Brenden
“I’m not dealing with her bullshit right now.” I paused and took a breath. “If she doesn’t want help, then that’s too bad. She’s getting it.”
Adam kept pace behind me. “Dude, I’m pretty sure everyone is just overreacting because we’re all tired and-” he yawned “-and beat down from yesterday. She saw us when we were all beat-up, so she’s worried.”
“And you didn’t think to say that earlier? She would have eased up on the bitching if you’d given your two cents.”
“I’m gonna be honest, most of that conversation was me trying to not break shit and find a way to sit comfortably.”
“Well anything you could have said sure would have been better than anything Tells did.”
“Did I do something?” Tells was suddenly caught up behind us.
I groaned a little more obviously than I would have liked. “No, Tells. You’ve never done anything to irritate anyone ever.”
“I know.” She proudly hummed and nodded.
“My ass still hurts from you slapping it.” Adam rubbed his hand on the sore cheek.
She proudly hummed and nodded even louder and harder.
I stopped and looked back. “What the fuck is taking Desmond so long?”
Adam and Tells shrugged in unison.
“Jesus Christ!” Desmond emerged from the door of the clinic about a hundred feet back down the road, yelling back in like a disappointed dad. “I can’t believe you’d drop the hard r on me like that! What would Tells say?!” He started walking away, but after a brief pause, stopped to yell back like an angry gnome. “I'm gonna lay into you after class you freaking worm!”
We all waited, a little shocked at the uncharacteristic display from Desmond. He caught up, shaking his head in disappointment. “I can’t believe her. I thought I raised her right.”
I sighed. “What happened?”
“After everything I taught her. The r is the most important part, man! It’s what separates wannabe gangstas from the real Little Rockers.”
“Desmond, you know you can make jokes that won’t get us punched or hated.”
He chuckled, holding his arms out in a challenge to the sky and waving to a passing farmer. “These people don't have a clue what it means. What are they gonna do, summon the keyboard warriors to cancel me? They ain’t gettin’ up for shit. Got unwiped asses are so swampy their cheeks fused to the cushion. Just look how that Reddit mod turned out!”
Adam turned around, “Erm, it’s called gamer gunk and it’s what we marinate our keyboards in for grip.”
“Adam, I oughta kill you for making my ears hear a sentence so nasty.”
“You can certainly try.”
Tells slapped my back. “Don’t worry B, I gave ‘em the lifetime pass.”
I rubbed my chin and raised a finger. “But we all died.”
“True.” She pointed at Desmond. “Dee, your pass expired, we all died. Say it and I get to legally kill you.”
Desmond pushed forward down the road. “Shit, you right.”
I followed his lead and we wound up back at the stable to pack up. “Tells, what’s the place we’re going?”
She was already leaning against the frame of the entrance to the stable. “On the side of the road, a ravine with a bunch of blue flowers. A cabin with cages outside of it.”
“Did you ask which way?” I rolled up my sleeping mat.
“No. She said it was down the road.”
“Which road?”
“The road out of town.”
I stopped what I was doing and deadpanned at her. “There’s like three roads out of town, Tells.”
“It goes to the beach that makes you old.”
“The what?”
Desmond burped and slapped my shoulder. “I asked the weird old lady. She said the road we took in is the main road, AKA the road.”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You asked her that specifically?”
“Oh my God,” he said to himself. “Brenden, I know what I’m doing. Do I look like a retard?” He wiggled his hand in front of his chest and hung his head to the side with a very rudely stereotypical expression then mocked being afraid like somebody was going to punch him.
Adam tied his stiff mat onto the straps of his bag and cut off my return banter. “Guys, take it easy, we don’t need to start getting mad at each other.” He took a breath. “The information Tells got is enough.” Adam shot each of us a look before realizing nobody was actually mad.
I shook my head and sighed. “I coulda said that myself. You know what. I’m done. Adam, you’re out of the sniper clan.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing, aghast faces locking onto me.
Adam was a little confused, so Desmond continued the bit. “You can’t just kick him like that.”
Tells threw her hands up, grabbing the top of her head in panic. “BRO! He’s our top guy! The rest of us can’t get a 720 Y Y glug glug throwing knife blackscope in a public lobby!”
I squinted at Adam. “He got lucky. He’s just a filthy League junkie now.”
Adam stepped up, posturing his chest and challenging me. “1v1 me. Rust. Interventions only. I’m still goated on the sticks.”
I smirked. “Try me.”
He chuckled. “You won’t even last-”
“But no screen sticker. No laser pointer.”
A chill shot through Adam and he stepped back. “That was never a rule before!”
I scoffed. “No, but… if you can’t win without it, then are you a real gamer?”
He scrambled for evidence. “I’m already on my fifth LoL account! Banned four times! I’m a gamer, I swear!”
“Face it, Adam, you can’t beat me in a fair 1v1.”
Adam weakly retorted. “It’s not unfair to use one! You can-”
“No honor.” I defiantly shut him down with that. He backed up with a playful bow, then smirked and stepped out the door, mumbling something to himself as he broke down into disappointed laughter.
Tells leaned back, double-pointed at me with an approving nod, and faded away out of the room.
Desmond followed her out, throwing me a casual salute.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
We finished our packing and set off. The messy dirt roads were slowly being encroached on at the sides by roots and small shrubs. The infectious void of wood and leaves on either side of us felt like towering fingers, preparing to drag us into the darkness at any little stumble. I couldn’t help feeling anxious. We didn’t know a damn thing about what could be lurking in the woods, ready to kill us at the drop of a hat. How could I not be anxious or even a little scared. More giant bugs and mammoths were already out there somewhere, so what else could there be?
I had to know more. “Hey, Tells, did you ask Mother Yeline about what else could be out here that wants to kill us?”
Tells thought for a second and shook her head.
Desmond groaned. “Brenden, we’re chilling. Whip out that fire hand if we see an animal. It’ll probably run like hell. It might be fantasyland up in this bitch, but no matter where you go, animals are always afraid of fire.”
“And what if it doesn’t? What if the animal isn’t afraid of fire?”
“Then we throw Adam at it until it dies or we’ve run far enough away.”
Adam checked back into the conversation. “Huh?”
“You’re gonna be bait when we get attacked by a wild animal.”
“Oh, cool.”
The conversation died away, so I reopened the discussion. “Hey Tells, did you ask her how long of a walk this would be?”
Tells thought for a second and shook her head.
We continued until dusk, rarely taking breaks to eat or drink. Our supplies were only what we came with. Each of us had a loaf of airy baby blue bread, a pouch full of jerky, and a water skin. We packed the rest of everything in Adam’s bag, including the box of green bulbs and a large jug of water. What nobody anticipated was how Adam absolutely demolished our food supply. Without telling any of us, he had eaten all of his own food when we were resting in the stable, so we had to split our already diminishing rations with him.
I was just glad it was near the end of summer. The hot sun poured its scorching light on us all day while we trudged from shadow to shadow for brief moments of respite. The heat was made at least a little bearable by the aggressive lake-chilled winds that beat against our backs like we were in a wind tunnel.
By the time we set down for the night, everyone was beat. Even if these bodies were in good shape, our fast walking pace drained us of all our energy. No Geren yet.
Adam slurred his words in exhaustion. “One of you guys gotta take first watch. I’m fuggin tired.” He flicked out his mat and fell face first onto it.
Desmond tapped Adam’s back with his foot. “Not yet, big man. We need you to go out and get some firewood.
He looked up at Desmond pathetically. “I don’t wanna go into the woods at night. It’s probably dangerous.”
“Pussy.”
Tells cut in. “You are what you eat.”
Desmond smirked. “No wonder Brenden’s been such a dick this whole walk.”
I turned around ready to bitch slap a motherfucker. “The fuck are you on?”
He snickered. “All I’m sayin’ is your mood blows harder than a thot tryna make it in Hollywood.”
I stopped what I was doing and glared at Desmond. “Oh, sooorry. I guess I just care too much about our survival. God forbid I have to be an asshole or you guys won’t listen to a thing I say. Weren’t you the one having a hissy fit right before the bugs? Because the others wouldn’t shut up?”
“See,” Desmond said with a slight frown breaking through, “he can’t even take a joke anymore. Hey, B, did that body come with the anti-fun settings or did you just wake up on the wrong side of the stable?”
“He’s short,” Adam observed from lying on his face. “Short people are naturally angrier.”
“Yeah, Desmond.” Tells said, slapping his arm and standing tall.
“I ain’t short, bitch, you’re just tall. Hell, I’m probably taller than you.”
She walked up to him and stared straight ahead at Desmond’s forehead, then looked down with a smile. “Short.”
“Well at least I’m not as short as Brenden is now. He’s probably the shortest one out of all of us.”
“Nope,” I said confidently. “I already made sure I was taller than Vetia. She’s shorter than me by a few inches. Y’all are just freakishly tall and I’m average.”
“Speaking of which,” Desmond glanced down at Adam. “Wanna get the fuck up and help us? We ain’t got long till nightfall.”
“I’m good sleeping in the cold. I didn’t sign up for any of this camping shit.”
Desmond and I exchanged a baffled glare, so I walked up to Adam and prodded his thigh with my boot. “Bro, none of us signed up for this. We’re supposed to be dead and shit. All you gotta do is go pick up sticks in the woods! It’s easy!”
Adam shut his eyes. “If it’s so easy then why don’t one of you do it? My guts are still hurting.”
I started kicking him harder. “Bullshit, you’ve been walking all day.”
“I’m still hacking up yellow shit.”
“Then hack up yellow shit while you’re getting sticks.”
Adam reluctantly and slowly made a scene out of getting to his feet and walking to the edge of the woods to do the bare minimum.
Desmond looked at me and smiled in disappointment. “If it was me in that body, I’d be so fucking pumped. I don’t know how he can still be so lazy.”
I shrugged. “You can beat a horse to water but you can’t make it fish.”
“Amen, brother.”
Tells joined Adam in gathering wood. I couldn’t hear them, but they seemed to be having a fun conversation.
I got my sword and started digging a hole with Desmond. “They always giggle and laugh like that together but I never know what they’re saying.”
Desmond glanced up at me, then focused as he listened with a perplexed expression. “Yeah, no, um, they’re literally just making noises and voices at each other and giggling at the weird ones.”
“Yeah, that checks out.”
Everyone was quick to lay down and sleep once we had the fire pit set up. I was on first watch until whenever I felt like it was long enough to wake somebody up. I peered over my sleeping friends, conflicted even though I was just happy we were all alive again, somehow. This reincarnation made my mind race.
We’re different people physically, so is that gonna change how we all act in the long run? Desmond is the most similar to his old body out of all of us, but that’s just because he’s still a human and a man. Adam and I aren’t human anymore, and Tells and Rowan are women. Looking at all of them, I don’t associate their names with their new bodies yet. It’s just strange referring to them as my friends when they don’t look at all how they did before. How do they feel about me? When they look at me, do they see Brenden, or am I just some elf with the same name and personality as Brenden. Are we all gonna drift apart and change because of this? Will this world absorb us into it before we can find a way back home? What if not all of us want to go home? I don’t just want to go home, I need to go home. My family needs me, even if I love these guys as my second family.
My attention was taken to the book from my crate. The simple leather binding and thick parchment sheets within made it feel like some ancient tome, except it was just an introduction to jzanmah. It didn’t explain what jzanmah was, just how to use it. The people of this world used jzanmah by scribing sigils into the air. Each sigil had a set amount of shapes that determined how the sigil would manipulate jzanmah. Everyone could use these sigils and invoke their effects, but not everyone was compatible with jzanmah to the same degree. Apparently there were a bunch of different types, but the book only contained sigils listed as thermal and spectral.
According to the book, sigils became more intricate and varied in their uses as more shapes were added, but that increased the possibility for them to become volatile. Volatile sigils would essentially become overcharged and produce stronger effects that overwhelm the wielder and cause adverse effects like exploding or loss of control. It didn’t say what would happen if this occurred, but I could only deduce that Vetia used a sigil she wasn’t experienced enough for and it went volatile.
To top it all off, there were some sigils that required more jzanmah, so they had the ability to nuke the user’s brain. This was why the book recommended non-proficient jzanmah wielders only use sigils with two shapes. It didn’t talk about single shape sigils, though, other than saying that only using one shape would cause an uncontrolled eruption of whatever jzanmah was being channeled.
Sigils were categorized under what type of jzanmah they harnessed and how many shapes they had. The type of sigil ended in -kel and had the number tacked onto the beginning as a label. The names of the categories used the numbers in the language this part of the world spoke. Two shape sigils were called ten-kels, three shape sigils were tik-kels, four shapers were tat-kels. It was strange, understanding a language that wasn’t the one I remembered using for my entire life. I still remembered English words and used them where Triali words didn’t exist, but I couldn’t form a solid sentence in English because my new default language was this “Triali” language.
Even counting, the numbers didn’t go back to one after ten. There were different symbols that went up to twelve before going back to one. They all had different symbols and names, but they made sense to me. Even just thinking about that was wild. There were probably different calendars, months, and maybe the lengths of years were different.
Thinking about all of this exhausted me. The important thing was that I didn’t have to learn the basics because they were already in my head somehow. I sat next to the fire mulling these thoughts over until I decided it was time to wake Adam up.
* * * * *
“Rise and shine motherfuckers.” Desmond’s booming voice shot through my sensitive early-morning ears and rattled my brain. “We got a long day of walking.”
I opened my eyes to a dim, hazy sky, where the sun was just starting to break the horizon. The sky was a hue the color of rich blueberry ice cream.
Fuck, ice cream sounds amazing. We’ve all been eating dried meat and bread that was in our bags from the first day and we’re already pretty low on food.
I sat up, flipped the flap over and took stock of my pouch. There was half a loaf of bread and about three thick slices of dried meat left.
Desmond looked into his bag, then scanned all of ours. “We gotta take it easy on the eating, guys. We’re gonna be out in no time if we don’t do anything. Hunting for food isn’t gonna be easy, either, especially since I don’t know what’s edible and what’s gonna kill us just by touching it.”
“Those blue things smell sweet,” Tells observed, sniffing one of the strange fungal spires.
“So do poppies,” Adam pointed out.
“I never tried smelling them,” Tells misheard, “I was always more of a cat guy.”
“Let’s hope we get to Geren’s before we need to worry about running out of food,” I picked up my bag and stood at the edge of the road, waiting for them.
We packed our things and began our second day of walking. We only walked about half the day yesterday, so we definitely still had some distance to kill. The sun rose, and the heat grew immense. Walking on this open dirt road was brutal. We were running out of water quickly and there was no magic for generating water. Around noon, we saw a shape appear in the distance, coming down the road toward us. It looked like a wagon being pulled by some of those creatures from the stables, and they were hauling serious ass.