When Addie opened her eyes, a brief panic swept through her, making her think she might be late for her morning lessons. But that concern was quickly overshadowed by the harsh reality of the previous day flooding back into her memory. Through some miracle, Addie managed to sleep well past bi-rise. The Binary now shone directly into her eyes, fully waking her up. Her mouth was dry and her head slightly ached.
Her soul felt a bit better, but also raw—like waking up after going to bed with a burnt tongue. Unlike a burnt tongue, this discomfort pervaded throughout her being with dull throbs. Though tolerable, it was highly unpleasant.
“It seems fate smiled upon us last night. I watched our impromptu camp throughout the night, and no creature dared set foot upon our territory. Not that I could have done much, regardless…”
Squishy seemed a bit improved, but like Addie, he was still recovering from last night. He had scratches and bruises across his body, though the scratches had turned into long dark scabs, and the bruises tinged his black hide with splotches of dark green. At least he was healing, if not completely healed. Through their connection, Addie could tell that their bond was at least stable, though she wasn’t willing to take any chances for at least another day.
“It was impressive, our feats together last night. Never before could I walk through Realmspace so freely. It was as if we belonged to an ancient order of nomads traveling through familiar well-trodden terrain.”
“Really? I know we moved really far, but was it more than normal?” Addie’s eyes shone and curiosity bled through her tone. She always loved watching her dad work with Dorple in their crazy ways. Addie couldn’t wait to learn how her new powers with Squishy worked.
“Indeed, before our bond, I could perhaps take four steps through Realmspace in a day. I used that ability to intrude into your ‘manor’ in the first place. Yesterday, we must have traveled more than a few hundred times that distance, all in short succession.”
“Wow.” Addie’s face beamed. “You think our magic became that amazing?” Addie imagined what it would be like to suddenly grow muscles that allowed her to pick something up hundreds of times bigger than herself.
Squishy huffed a bit in amusement, some of Addie’s imagination bleeding through their bond.
“Don’t get too excited. I imagine our power will not reach those lofty heights again for a long time, though I do expect we will be able to travel further than four measly steps through Realmspace. We must practice restraint for now, but after we recover, we shall test our abilities and see just how far we can go.”
“It’s a deal! We are definitely testing out our powers later, ok?”
Squishy replied with a feeling of agreement through their bond.
That being said, what exactly should they do now? Neither of them was in much of a state to use magic, and both of them were bruised and battered. Squishy, the poor thing, seemed to treat his back left leg tenderly, not quite limping as he moved along.
Days spent camping with her dad flashed into Addie’s mind:
“Addie cried as she held her scraped knee up to her chest. ‘The streams and rivers in this forest are special, Addie.’ Her dad had said, ‘All you need to do is find one, and all your scrapes and pains will vanish like they never existed at all.’ Her father gently laid Addie’s leg into the stream, the brisk cold stinging against her bloody knee. Regardless, her father coaxed her into the water. He wiped some of the tears out of her eyes and said, ‘Addie, watch.’ Addie watched through the water, the sight slightly distorted through the imperfect lens. Though she couldn’t see it too well, she did notice as the blood on her knee disappeared, and the skin turned smooth. Addie hiccupped, and moved her leg out of the water, staring at it in wonder. The pain was gone, and the wound was healed.”
“Let’s find a stream.” Addie decided for them, “It will help us, definitely.”
“A stream it shall be, then.” Squishy agreed easily since he had seen some of Addie’s flashback through their soul bond.
They just needed to find one before dark. It should be easy since her dad always found streams anytime they looked. Unfortunately, Addie was lost in this part of the forest, so they might have to search for a little while. As long as they got there before dark, it would be fine. Addie didn’t want to think about what would happen if they couldn’t get there before dark.
Despite trying to suppress it, a bad memory flashed into Addie’s mind: A hoarse scream echoed through her ears as she watched a canvas of blood.
Addie shook her head. She really didn’t want to think about it. They should hurry.
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The two of them began their trek through the forest with no subtlety, Addie crashing and breaking through the flora. Neither of them had any idea where they were, though Squishy displayed a slightly less hopeless sense of direction and slightly better agility. For now, Addie made do following behind Squishy’s steps.
They tried to keep a pace of a gentle jog, but it was hard on both of them. Addie’s knees threatened to give out, and she heaved with each breath, the force of it surprising her.
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Squishy didn’t seem much better. He still had open scratches on parts of him from the last day, and Addie had already noticed earlier about his back left foot.
Normally, Addie would have cherished walking through the forest. When she was younger, her dad would take her hiking through trails. One of Addie’s fondest memories involved a long hike with a small lake at the top of a mountain. The glacier melted into a spring, and when she dipped her toes in the water, it felt colder than snow.
In comparison, this ordeal through the forest sucked. It felt nothing like the wonderful memories of riding on her dad’s shoulders, gazing at the flowers, and picking clovers. Instead, thirst tugged at her throat as she trudged through mud in dirty, sweaty clothes. She spent her entire focus calculating each step to ensure she wouldn't trip on some shrub or another. Thorns found a home persistently sticking to her skirt more times than Addie would have liked. Vines and bushes did their best to impede her, and in the worst cases, they thwacked her or got in her way.
And somehow, through all this, Squishy marched forward without any fighting any surroundings. He walked lightly on top of the mud, sidestepped pernicious thorns, and carefully navigated around scraggly bushes while making it look easy and natural, even with his slight hobble. Addie couldn't help but feel frustrated.
“How are you doing that?” Addie demanded.
“Doing what exactly?” Squishy replied without even looking up, continuing to sniff the ground at a normal walking pace.
“Walk so easily through the forest! Every bush in here is hitting me in the face!” Walking in the forest off-trail was awful.
“I thought it obvious.”
Addie scoffed, “What’s obvious?”
“Observing my surroundings, that is.”
Addie scoffed, but she knew she had no time to interrogate the silly creature. Her breath was already spent just on keeping a good pace. She looked up into the sky and saw the Binary more than halfway across the sky already. Addie gulped in between breaths. They needed to find a stream, and soon, before nightfall.
For a while, Addie got lost in the simple act of following Squishy’s steps, pondering how he could move across the forest so easily. He thought it should be obvious, or so he had said.
Addie went back to focusing on this ‘obviousness’ Squishy described. For some reason, her mind drifted back to the moment just before she escaped from her room in the manor. Though yesterday had passed in a blur of terror and then flight through the woods, Addie vaguely recalled someone standing outside her room, even though Addie knew she couldn’t properly see outside into the hall.
The person who had been in the hall... Addie wondered if that had been Christena. She still couldn’t believe that Christena could be a murderer. She didn’t want to believe it. Addie grew up with Christena always by her side. At the end of each week, they played board games, and in the mornings Christena taught Addie her lessons. Addie shook her head, she didn’t want to think about Christena right now. She had barely escaped alive, and even then someone had been in the hallway moments before she escaped. Addie was certain someone had been there, she just didn’t quite know how she knew.
“Hey, Squishy?”
“Yes, my lady?” Squishy replied, his use of the title not bothering Addie as much as she thought it would.
“Do you know where I am right now?”
“Of course.”
“Would you still know where I am even if you couldn’t see me?” Addie probed.
“I pride myself on knowing my lady’s location at all times, so I may guard her with my life.”
Blushing at his admittal, Addie responded with an undignified “Oh”.
With that confirmation, a sense of excitement began bubbling up deep in Addie’s chest. She couldn’t tell what yet, but something magical was happening. Maybe this was the first manifestation of her bond?
Addie shook her head, though she was bubbling in excitement, she needed to focus. Her excitement vanished and was replaced by a bit of fear. She looked up to the sky and tried to see how close the Binary was to setting. They had to find a stream or river before then. But, wait? Maybe she could accomplish both at the same time.
“Squishy, if I’m ‘obvious’ to you, what about everything else?”
“Yes, my surroundings are always apparent, regardless of my vision or hearing.”
Addie smiled wide, “Then, do you know where the closest river is?” she asked hurriedly.
“Unfortunately not.”
Addie’s heart dropped, her hope extinguished.
“I can only observe my surroundings within a few meters of myself. Anything outside of that I am blind to.”
“Oh,” Addie said. Now, Squishy’s ability to navigate through the forest so easily made more sense. If he could see everything around himself, that would make it easier to coordinate his body around all the random stuff in the forest.
Addie wondered, how could she do what Squishy was doing? She had already done it once before, with the person from the hallway. Addie thought back to that moment when she knew someone was out in the hall without being able to see them. Once again, her thoughts drifted to Christena, sending a spike of fear through her heart, almost causing Addie to trip on a rock. A fear of someone Addie thought had loved her.
With a force of will, Addie pushed those thoughts down. She didn’t want to think about it. Instead, she managed to fully concentrate on that feeling she had back when someone was in the hallway—she hadn’t been seeing anyone, it had been more like it was ‘obvious’ that someone stood outside her room.
Something about that resonated in Addie, especially when she thought about how Squishy phrased it in the same way.
Well, plenty of trees occupied the forest, providing Addie with plenty of test dummies. As the two of them walked forward endlessly, Addie tried to practice her new sense on Squishy, while also attempting to ‘see’ the trees around her as she went. She had little success and more than a few times Addie had to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. She was starting to get mad.
She continued to grow more frustrated as they made it through the forest, and thirst started to crawl up her throat, becoming increasingly unbearable. The bugs weren’t helping, either. She kept having to smack them away as they tried to steal Addie’s personal space. One of them, Addie knew was flying right behind her head, and she managed to smack it satisfyingly.
Wait a second, Addie knew there had been a gnat back there! How did she know that?
A wolf’s howl sounded in the distance, echoing across the forest in a wave. Even the bushes rattled at the noise— interrupting Addie in the middle of her revelation about magic. Both Addie and Squishy halted their steps and listened to their surroundings.
“How close was that?” Addie had her eyes wide open, looking around the forest. She also glanced up at the sky to check on the Binary’s position. Not good.
“In your human measurements, perhaps a kilometer or two. Not as far as I would want.”
Addie quickly looked over to Squishy as he answered her question. Really not good.