A group of 13 robed humans were knelt down by one of the fires, all raising their hands towards the night sky in prayer, some bringing their head down between their knees as they prayed. All saying their goddess’s name, praying for luck, guidance, and victory.
A little fox girl stared at them in disgust from afar, hiding behind a pile of crates stashed near a carriage ‘That it?’ she asked the ever present voice in her head.
[No, that is just a regular fire.]
She sighed, her breath visible from the cold she had yet learned how to control ‘wouldn’t be that simple…’ she wanted to leave, it was way to risky but for now she was in too deep, she blamed Ami for this.
She rolled under the carriage and underneath an adjacent tent flap, entering the tent.
“Gaia, the lover of humans please forgive our sins, forgive their sins, all will be cleansed in your light, sins forgiven.”
Continuing her roll she progressed under a line of beds, ignoring the singular praying woman in the tent ‘Crazies… Ami, is Gaia even real?’ Mia asked, peaking her head out from the opposite side of the tent, making sure the coast was clear before she darted behind some crates.
[It’s not my place to say.]
She ducked behind the crates, watching as a floating mote passed by ‘Is that because I don’t know like with the skills or…?’ she took her chance, running behind a tent after the mote had moved out of sight, annoyed at the inability to tell what direction they were facing.
[It is more complex than that, but I will say you can work it out yourself pretty easily.]
She paused ‘Eh? How?’ She crawled underneath some weapon racks, a carriage, and underneath a table before ducking into another tent, hearing the occupants asleep, she rolled under the beds again.
[Skill descriptions.]
‘…oh, crafting one, thieves, and, oh I forgot about this one.’ She stared at the one title that was the culprit to her luck stat being permanently stuck at 1.
[Title: Unlucky Child. You are particularly unlucky, to the point a god has taken pity on your soul. Luck has been permanently set to 1, the effects of the luck stat are reduced. Luck works differently for you, particularly unlucky events build points, the higher the point value the more likely luck will be manipulated in your favor, after which the point count will be set to 0. Current points: 4,842]
She was still unsure if luck even did anything, like… wouldn’t her not getting caught right now be considered lucky? Wouldn’t she always fail? ‘that is a lot of points saved up though…or maybe a little?’ She had no clue. The important bit was that it specifically stated a god.
‘Wait… isn’t [Void] a god? Or the other weirdos?” Mia asked, but she received no answer ‘Ami?’
[Sorry, I was stuck wishing I was able to laugh.]
Mia frowned as she continued to sneak ‘so…they aren’t…what does that make me then? Er, you.? Us?’
[Complicated. You would not understand.]
‘What do you mean I won’t? I wanna know!’ Mia slipped, pulling herself behind a tent as a guard was just rounding the corner, sighing in relief that she had stopped herself in time.
[Tell me, do you know how a kingdom operates? Not just with the king and his relatives but everyone under him?]
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‘…it isn’t just the king giving orders?’
[…Point proven. When you are older, I will tell you, when I am able too. Or if [Void] wants to open his big fat mouth again, you can try asking them. For now, focus on the task at hand.]
‘fiiiine.’ She continued her search.
Eventually ending up in the middle of the camp, Mia was sure she had found what they were looking for. From her position in a barrel, she stared at a weird metal structure surrounded by people frantically running around while another group prayed at its base.
She watched the group frantically pulled glass cylinders out from the structure then replacing them with the same cylinders, but unlike the ones they were taking out, the ones they placed back in were glowing ‘So, this is it?’ she asked, staring at the spinning top of the structure.
[Yes…this is it…]
‘What is it?’ She asked, but before she got her answer she heard a familiar, terrifying voice, causing her to sink inside the barrel.
“Report! How is the progress on the generator?” She’d recognize that voice anywhere… the woman who had treated her like a ragdoll in the forest had walked up the structure, generator?
Mia was left to watch, frozen in place as her heart rate quickened.
A man that had been previously praying stood up and ran up to the lady “The barrier is still requiring 10 times the regular amount of cells, at this rate we will run out before the sun rises. We will no-“
“Fuck!” The woman screamed, pushing past the man and yanking free one of the non-glowing cylinders and smashing it to the ground “Useless!” from the broken cylinder, a gooey mixture of brown, green, and pink ooze seeped from the broken casing “Fried! Why is it fried!?” the woman knelt down, running her finger through the substance “Cannot even analyze this mess, you cannot perform a stress test when THIS is the apparent maximum threshold!”
“Erm…is that safe?” the man asked, the others taking note and backing away from the lady.
She stood up, rubbing the goo between her fingers “completely melted, preservation fluid loss, main core overheated and drained, unable to hold form…” she let out a heavy sigh “Have we found the source of the assault? Another monster stuck inside?”
“No… the perimeter is secure, no sign of any monsters, adventurers, or anyone from the port. We are undetected from that end. Additionally, nothing is attacking from below.”
“Good, I will tell the high priest that good news.” She scoffed “and the dungeon?”
“Unlikely, we Rank Scoped it before we set up camp, the average level is around 20, nothing in there is strong enough to cause this much of a strain.”
“Glorious… did we check anyways?” The woman narrowed her eyes at him.
“erm, no…well, we did but…they have not come back yet, he had to return half way to report a change.”
She paused “and that is?”
“Well, as weird as it may sound, the water, previously infested with leeches, was now filled with stray chunks of ice and slush. It was also really cold.”
[Oh, they are talking about you.]
‘n-not…n-now…’
“So a sudden drop of temperature and freezing water.” The lady tapped her chin, stopped, realized her chin was now covered in goo, took out a cloth from beneath her cloak and wiped it “and the Scope?”
“Right, well. Interestingly enough, it is not working. We activated it and it exploded.”
“Tha-“ A small explosion cut her off and one side of the generator popped, cylinders flying out of the machine “Get that thing under control this instant!” she shouted, the barrier flicking for a moment.
During the flicker, the motes of light blinked in and out of existence, people previously unseen becoming momentarily visible, including a man in a black set of robes standing directly above Mia who grabbed her while she was still frozen in fear “huh? Hah?!” she flailed around a bit, coming to her senses, but the man’s grip was too tight.
“Hey Raelynn!” the man shouted over towards the group.
“What!? Can’t you see we a- oh? Oh ho ho ho!”
Mia was left helpless, dangling in the air as everyone’s attention was drawn to her.
“A beast?” “A fox?” “What is a beastman doing here?” “Filthy, she was in an empty water barrel” “someone grab a collar!”
“Found the likely culprit behind the sudden change in the dungeon. This filth is freezing.” The man said, shuffling Mia in his grip to combat his gloves freezing.
“I can tell! Amazing how I didn’t notice… Hey!” Raelynn snapped “Get the barrier back up to 100% now!” she ordered the gossiping people getting back to work. Her attention was then glued on Mia “So, the only fox I knew of that would be in this area was the one that fake of a hero ran off with. So that is where you were hiding?” she laughed, overjoyed at this surprise.
The laugh caused Mia to tense up, curling up into a ball with her tail firmly hugged close to her ‘Ami….’ She whimpered, she wanted out, this woman still terrified her.
[Sorry, if worse comes to worse bite off your tongue. Or freeze your airways shut when you can use magic again, I’ll walk us back...I’m sorry.]