Neil

Shadowy shapes lurked just outside of my vision, how long had they been chasing me? Hours? Days? No matter how fast I ran they were always right behind me. No matter how quickly I turned I could never get a good look at them. They were always just there lurking just outside my line of sight.

What few looks I could get at them were always fleeting and confusing, but I got the impression of too many limbs, and teeth that were too large for all the mouths that I saw.

My breath was coming in ragged gasps by now, my terrified flight had left me so tired there was no way that I could fight back. When something grabbed my shoulders from the front and shook me I swung my arms in front of me sloppily, hoping to drive whatever it was back but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. It felt like my arms were moving through jelly.

“Neil! Nel! Get up!” A voice shouted.

With a start the dark shapes in front of me seemed to change and with a start I realized that in front of me wasn’t a formless monster, but a dark shadow.

Scrambling backwards away from the shadow I bumped into something behind me which prevented me from retreating any further.

Eyes wide and arms up I was unsure of what to do. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t, and I was too panicked to fight. After what felt like an eternity the dark shape in front of me slowly changed as my eyes adapted and my dreams fled back into my subconscious. In front of me wasn’t a monster it was Yallia kneeling in front of me with her arms held in front of her and a worried expression on her face.

Clarity hit me suddenly as the last of the dreams left me and my mind and vision cleared. Looking around the hut moonlight was streaming in from the windows. Nialla was standing over her children who were still asleep, a frightened expression on her face. Gand was between his family and I his face in shadows.

Slowly lowering shaking arms I looked at Yallia who had apparently been shaking me awake.

“Are you alright Neil?” She asked gently. “I think you were having a nightmare; you were even channeling mana in your sleep.”

“I wa?” I asked still confused from having been woken up. “I was using magic in my sleep?”

I was so out of it I barely reacted to the sound.

DING

For practicing you have improved your affinity @#!$%!

Keep practicing to improve this affinity!

“Fuck me.” I thought to myself idly swiping at the box.

“You weren’t casting any spells, just channeling mana.” She said without moving closer to me, probably still worried I was about to freak out.

Suddenly ashamed and embarrassed I nodded. “I’m ok, just a nightmare. I’m sorry, are you ok? I didn’t hit you, did I?”

Yallia snorted “You hit me?” She asked incredulously. “If you could hit me you shouldn’t apologize, you should celebrate. Now are you alright? And don’t say that your fine, I know that’s a lie.”

I was about to snap out that I was fine but stopped myself just as I said “I’m” Taking a moment I shifted into a sitting position feeling my back once again complaining about that stupid rock I must have slept on again. Taking a few deep breaths I looked up at Yallia. “It was just a nightmare alright? A pretty bad one I guess, but that’s all.”

Yallia looked pretty unhappy with my answer but let me leave it at that. Grabbing my clothes from where I had left them I quickly got dressed.

“Where are you going? It won’t be dawn for another hour.”

“I’m not getting back to sleep after that, I’ll just wait for the others.” Standing up I saw that Nialla and Gand had relaxed a little but not moved from their positions. “I’m sorry to have woken you, thank you for letting me stay here.” I said as I picked up my bag and left their house, trying not to run.

Taking a moment to get my bearings in the pre-dawn gloom I looked around the clearing. I really was fully awake now, and judging by the position of the moons dawn probably wouldn’t be too far away. Walking along the well-worn paths towards the village proper I stumbled on a few roots realizing how strange it felt to walk in the dark without using a night eye potion.

Stretching to work out the kink in my lower back I my arms kept trembling and I felt cold despite the nights here being almost too warm. Leaning against a tree I bent over and breathed deeply trying to center myself. In through my nose and out through my mouth, over and over again. When my heart slowed back to normal I started walking again.

While I got my breathing under control life came back to the forest. Something small moved through the underbrush away from me, birds began chirping nearby and from above me there was a hooting sound. The air was clear, the stars beautiful and the temperature was comfortable, it was a beautiful night. The kind of night that I loved more than anything, a shame I couldn’t enjoy it.

Arriving at the elders hut I sat down on the ground in front of the building with my legs tucked up to my chest and arms hugging them while looking straight up at the moons and stars.

It had been so long since I had a moment to relax I had forgotten how beautiful the night sky here was, back country camping was the only thing that came close back home and it still didn’t compare. The two moons shone down on me with their blue and red colours, purple and red nebulas streaked across the night sky and tens of thousands of stars created a tapestry like I had never seen before.

After a few minutes of relaxing I heard footsteps coming from the forest I had just left. Knowing that could only be one person I didn’t even bother looking at them.

Yallia sat down beside me with a thump. Handing a small bundle to me I took it from her hands slowly.

“Nialla made it for you, some food in case you don’t like whatever Talass will be providing.”

“Thank you.” I said examining the bundle. It was a small square shape, and it was slightly maleable in my hands, wrapped with large leaves, still a little warm. “Please tell her thank you for this, and I hope I didn’t cause her too much trouble.”

“It was nothing, they were happy to be our hosts. Especially you.”

“I saw how they were looking at me when I woke up Yallia. How bad was the nightmare, really?”

“It was a pretty bad nightmare, but it was still just a nightmare, the children didn’t even wake up, they overreacted. If you hadn’t run off then I think they wanted to give you a more formal goodbye.”

“You said I was channeling mana though. That doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“Lots of people channel mana when they sleep, especially during intense dreams. Most people grow out of it, and I’m not even sure they could sense it.”

Letting out a breath I hadn’t been aware I was holding I nodded. “Thanks Yallia, I feel better now.”

“Neil, I’m worried about you, this may be too much for you right now. You need to rest a little, recover there's no shame in it.”

“I know, but the reward from this quest is too important. When I woke up this morning, I got a message, I had channeled enough Mana to improve the affinity. Even if I don’t use it, it will still be getting stronger even when I sleep. I need this too much.”

Blowing out a deep breath Yallia looked conflicted. “I hope you understand why I have to stay.”

Surprised I looked at her, was she blaming herself for not coming? “Of course I understand, that’s your father. You need to be close by when he gets here, you have to do that and I have to do this. That’s just the way it is. Be careful Yallia, watch your back.”

“You too Neil, I’ll see you when you get back.” She said giving me a side hug that I awkwardly returned. Looking up we saw three figures coming towards us in the dark. Yallia stood up and walked past the three Lamia. I stifled a laugh when Kallix and Renther’s heads turned to follow Yallia as she left, the two men not being the least bit subtle while they admired her. But when I saw Talass do the same thing, if a little more subtly things finally clicked into place.

She wasn’t in to me, she was in to Yallia and that was why she didn’t like me, she was jealous. If she had similar feelings to Shasalla she might be angry at me for hogging her time just before she left too. Damn, I’ve dealt with jealous guys before, but never a jealous woman. I wasn’t sure how to deal with this and now I had no one to ask.

The two men were so engrossed in their leering they completely missed Talass doing the same thing, the young woman did however see me watching her and for a moment she froze as we met each other's eyes. A second later though she moved towards me giving me a look of fear mixed with hate.

I wanted to tell her that despite our problems with each other her secret was safe with me, but it wasn’t something I could do in front of Kallix and Renther so I would just have to hope she didn’t do anything stupid like giving away the secret herself.

Looking at the other two I saw that Renther had his hands full of some carefully packed food stuffs and Kallax had an extra spear in his hands along with a bow and a handful of arrows. Hopefully I had enough room in my bag to hold everything.

Waving at the three of them I wished them all a good morning. Accepting the food and water first I placed it in the bag along with the food package that Yallia had given me.

“What’s that?” Renther asked pointing to the bundle.

“I’m not sure, Nialla made it for me. I think its leftovers from last night's dinner I guess?” I answered as I put the bag back on and took the spear from Kallax. At his insistence I took the bow and arrows as well. I’d never used one before, but it's not like I had ever used magic, a spear or my knives to fight anything before a week or two ago so might as well give it a try.

I gave the bow string a few experimental pulls testing its draw strength. I didn’t know much about bows and arrows but this one was about three feet tall and curved strangely at the ends. Drawing it was actually fairly difficult and I hoped that if I needed to use it, I wouldn’t have any problems pulling it. Of course Shassala had managed it couldn’t be that bad.

Putting the quiver of four arrows on my back along with the arrow I examined the spear quickly trying to judge its quality. It was easily far better than anything I had ever made or used before.

“If everything is fine can we get going?” Talass asked.

“What about potions? Aren't we bringing any healing potions or anything?”

“I will be carrying those, if they are needed then I will be giving them out.” Talass responded.

“Wouldn't it make a little more sense to have each person carry one or two just in case?”

“I will be carrying the potions, if you all do your jobs properly then there will be no need for any potions.”

Thinking of the two potions in my pack I didn’t bother arguing, it probably wouldn’t have done anything anyways.

“Then I’m ready when you guys are.” I said as I slung the bow over my shoulder.

“It will take a day and a half of travel to reach the temple. If we are fast enough we should be able to make it to the mountain where the Air Jacks nest tonight and make camp near them. That will be your opportunity to study them so don’t be slow. Tomorrow morning we leave at dawn again so if you haven't discovered what you're looking for by then you won’t have another chance.”

Nodding that I understood, I followed them to the edge of the village. We approached a rough path in the forest that led along the base of the Summit of the Ancients.

In the low light of dawn we walked around the mountain, on a thin trail. It almost looked more like a game trail than an actual path the Lamia regularly used. Tree branches hung low over the path forcing me to push them out of the way which slowed me down. The Lamia however were easily able to hold their torsos low to the ground avoiding most of the branches easily. If that was how Lamia travelled through the forest it was no wonder they all had such impressive abs.

Being the only person that had to move the branches out of my own way I found myself having to keep a fairly quick pace or risk falling behind the group. Not wanting to give Talass the satisfaction of asking for them to slow down I just kept my head down and tried to avoid getting slapped ias much as I could.

After a travelling for what was probably two kilometers we abruptly left the dense trees and found ourselves on a small ridge on the far side of the summit of the ancients. The ridge was devoid of taller trees and I was finally able to get a good look at my surroundings.

We had been traveling upwards slowly enough that I had barely noticed it as focused as I was on keeping up. The Lamia village was hidden by the base of the mountain, although I could see the valley itself that their village was nestled in.

Looking at my travelling companions I was surprised to see that they were all breathing heavily and Talass was bent over her hands on her hips sucking in air. I hadn’t considered it but it made sense that while their tails could be quick over short distances, they wouldn’t exactly be suited to long distance travelling, especially hunched over like they had been.

Taking off my pack I took out a water skin, had a pull of water from it before offering it to Talass. Reluctantly she took it, wiped at the spout drank some and made to pass it to Renther who was already drinking from his own.

“Are we going near the river again? I’m not sure if we’ll have enough water for a few days of travelling.”

“There are small rivers where we will be travelling, we should have no trouble finding water as we travel.” Kallix said.

“Where are we going?” I asked “The elders were a little light on details.”

“There is an ancient Lamia temple deeper in the jungle, it was part of a larger city long ago but was abandoned when the Ancients died out. It's one of the only places where Warriors Fruit grows.” Talass said.

“If Warriors Fruit is so valuable why was the temple abandoned?”

“When the Ancients died out there was fighting amongst the Lamia, tribe turned against tribe as old grudges came back. Entire tribes were wiped out or forced to move from their ancestral lands. Dozens of cities were abandoned, or destroyed.” Kallix answered.

“What about your tribe? If the plants here are extremely valuable why not move closer to it then?”

This time Talass answered. “Our valley has more of our most commonly used plants, and game, and while these plants are powerful there aren’t very many of them and they take a long time to grow. Once we harvest the fruits that are there, there will not be more for at least another year, maybe two.” She said handing me back my waterskin.

Putting it back in my pack I nodded at her and the four of us started on our journey again. The trail was a little wider now which surprised me a little until I saw what I was pretty sure had been the path I had taken down the mountain when I had ran into that Onca Parda. This was probably the ruins of a road that had at one time led to the temple.

There were still trees on the path, but far fewer than in the jungle and all of the trees were much smaller than the ones beside us. Walking beside Talass I tried to keep an eye on the jungle around us but found I kept stumbling on exposed roots so I eventually had to just focus on where I was going.

“Are you sure you’re able to fight? You can’t even walk straight.” Talass asked.

“I’ll be fine, you worry about yourself. You can barely even keep going.” I said indicating her labored breathing.

We had barely been travelling for another two kilometers and Talass looked like she was ready for another break. Kallix looked pretty tired as well but at least Renther seemed unphased so far by all the travelling.

Although the trail made things simpler it was still a lot of up and down travelling and before long the Lamia seemed to be flagging. It was bad enough that I wondered if we should be using stamina potions.

Calling a break Kallix took off his pack and coiled his tail under himself, sitting down on his own tail, the others soon following.

Sitting next to Kallix and Renther I nodded at the two of them and they returned the up-nod. Opening my pack I took out the food that Nialla had made for me. Unwrapping the leaves from it I found a dozen balls of a sticky rice slightly mushed together from the cramped conditions in my bag.

“Allogiri!?” Renther exclaimed looking over my shoulder. “Can I have one?”

“Help yourself, what are they?”

Rather than answer Renther shoved the entire ball into his mouth moaning in pleasure.

Proffering the package to Kallix he took one as well. “Rice balls with fish and raddish paste. Shassalas mother makes the best allogiri in the village.”

Looking at the balls with a new appreciation I stepped over to Talass and tipped the package towards her offering her one.

Looking up at me she reluctantly took quietly saying “Thank you” as she did.

Sitting down I chose picked one up and sniffed it. Taking a bite a delicious salty fishy taste flooded my mouth and I suddenly realized how hungry I was and that I hadn’t eaten this morning. Eating the entire thing in just a few bites I felt like a pig until I looked up at Renther and saw him staring at the remaining rice balls drooling a little.

“Did you even taste yours?” I asked.

“It was so long since I’ve had one I just couldn’t help myself.” He said with a smile.

“You want one more? I’m not sure how long they stay good for so we might want to finish them today.”

Grabbing another Renther thanked me and ate this one a little more slowly. When I offered one to Kallix he waved me off with a thanks, Talass was still eating hers, looking at the ground.

Sitting on the ground the Lamia loomed over me especially with the way they all sat on their tails, but with the ice now broken we started talking as we shared the meal. Maybe this was why Nialla had made them for me?

“It was amazing what you did to that monster the other day, I’ve never seen someone use magic like that before.” Kallix said as Renther nodded his head enthusiastically behind him.

“No one has a water affinity here?”

“The only person with any magic is Jax, and he can’t do anything like that.” Renther said.

“Sometimes he uses it to help build things, or clear paths, but that’s all.” Kallix added. “How did you learn to use magic like that?”

“I had the chance to practice a lot down there, so I mostly just tried new things and hoped for the best.”

“That’s amazing, I always wanted to go down there, but the elders forbid it. What’s it like?” Renther asked leaning towards me.

“Dark, kinda cold and filled with terrible ugly monsters that want to eat you. I’m surprised you keep your village so close to it I would have thought you’d have monsters coming out of there every week.”

“None of us are stupid enough to go into the mountain, even if we are curious.” Talass said having finished her food.

I offered her another rice ball and she took it reluctantly.

“That’s not true. Shassala was stupid enough to go in with me.”

Renther laughed at that and even Kallix looked amused, Talass just got an offended expression on her face.

“Shassala is not stupid, she's the bravest person I know.”

“She’s not stupid but she does stupid things.” Renther said. “Remember the time she stole your mother's potion pot and used it to make a stew? We all got sick and we spent two days with purple tongues.”

Kallix laughed and even Talass smiled. I laughed as well even though it really drove home how little I had known about my friend.

“She knew what she was doing.” Talass said, although I thought she sounded completely unconvinced.

“Come on Neil, it’s the City of the Ancients.” Renther said, hissing the word ancients. “You have to tell us about it!”

“Well, it’s bigger than I thought it would be I guess.” I started. After that the words started tumbling out of me fairly quickly. I told them all about the stairwell down, the office I had found with Shassala, and the corpse in it.

After a little while we started hiking again but I kept telling them about the city, and then after that the monsters I had found there.

“the clicking and sliding just kept getting closer and closer, I knew it was coming straight for me but there wasn’t much I could do, at least until it turned the corner.” I said pausing to gather my thoughts.

“Then what happened? What was it?” Renther asked leaning towards me.

Remembering how the monster had looked was bringing back uncomfortable feelings, but the worst part was remembering the smell. Suddenly wishing I hadn’t started to tell this story I tried to think of a way to end it without going into any more detail, but seeing even Talass looking at me interested in the story I pressed on, looking at the ground.

“It was a Lamia, or at least it looked like it had been at some time. Half of it was missing, its arms had blades on the end made of bone instead of hands, and it was leaking some black fluid, like an oil. Oh, and it spat acid at me.”

“What happened? How did you fight it?” Renther asked leaning towards me.

“I dodged the acid and bashed its skull in with a metal pole. Nothing fancy.”

The silence after I finished my story was awkward for me and I was hoping that I hadn’t ruined the tentative friendship I had been building with Kallix and Renther.

“That’s amazing!” Cried out Renther. “The most dangerous thing I ever fought were Jagalos with the other hunters. To have an epic battle of life and death is the truest calling for all hunters!”

Confused I asked “Shouldn’t the truest calling of all hunters be hunting for food?” And weren’t you guys supposed to be the best hunters the village could spare? What were the elders playing at?

From behind us Talass started coughing, but when I turned to look at her she seemed to be getting herself under control and waved me away.

“Hunting for food is the least of what hunters do. Hunters protect the tribe, scout for dangers, guard the gatherers and if we must we fight other tribes as well.”

“Well the name is a little misleading then. I’m pretty sure hunters are mostly supposed to hunt.”

Another fit of coughs erupted from Talass and she was holding a waterskin up and her face and shirt wet from where she spilled water on herself when I looked back.

Kallix began speaking, softly at first as if he were quoting someone. “Long ago we had warriors rather than hunters, but when the ancients came and they conquered us we were forbidden to have warriors, the ancients protected us instead and in return we were their servants. But we were still allowed to have hunters so that we could feed ourselves. When the Ancients disappeared the hunters were the only ones who knew how to use bows and spears so they became the protectors of the tribe, and the name has stayed ever since.” Kallix explained. “Despite some peoples incessant complaining.” He finished looking at Talass.

“Some people just think the name should be more accurate.”Talass spoke up from behind me. “The Hunters barely hunt anymore. The fishers and gatherers provide more food than you do. Just call yourselves what you are warriors, fighters, guards, babysitters.”

“When Onca Parda stalk the villagers, or Krockloks attack the fishers you won’t be calling us babysitters then.” Renther said with no heat in his voice.

Despite their words I could tell from their tones that this was an old argument and there wasn’t any animosity between any of them, just some good natured teasing.

The path we were on had been travelling along a ridgeline between two valleys and away from the river. While it had a little bit of an incline or decline at times it was fortunately relatively flat and we were able to make good time, although we did have to stop to rest more often than I wanted to.

Still the sun was starting to peek under the distant mountains when we stopped for the night at the base of a mountain.

“The Air Jacks make their nests in this area, and there is a nest straight up there.” Kallix said pointing to the top of a tree. I looked where he was pointing and nestled in some branches about 30 feet up was a large nest that I hadn’t seen at first. “There should be some Air Jacks there still, they migrate later in the season but that shouldn’t be for a few more months at least. If there are none here then we can search this area a little but you won’t have much time. We leave tomorrow at dawn so whatever you're going to do, you should get to it. We’ll take care of the camp for now.”

Nodding my thanks I put down my pack and looked up at the nest. It was time to gain magical powers, how hard could it be?