Chapter 5: Exploration

Creation

The voice of the creator echoes through my mind once again, "Show your brother how to do what you did yesterday" it commands. Its voice caries little emotion, yet I feel its power. It had tried to kill me when I doubted its fog, even still I've outsmarted it. The room was comfortable and warm but nowhere near as suffocating as usual, it appears my creator was only so powerful, still I was curious by what it said. A brother?

I look to my side to notice another being than I, its size was but half of mine. Apprehension took hold, but still I shook it from its sleep. The creator's words echoed through mine once again, "Creation, meet your brother Too." I looked over at two and found that he was wincing at the creator's voice, something I had never done. His eyes appeared glossed over and he held a vacant gaze, even still I motioned for Too to follow after me.

The little guy struggled to walk as he tried to keep pace with me. He was stuck alternating between staggering on his hinds and crawling on all fours. Even I knew how to walk with little effort, yet this little one struggled to do so. Maybe this creator of mine messed him up somehow?

The little guy followed me from the stone into the brush. Moving through the bushes I had found yesterday proved unfruitful, even though I made sure to leave some on each bush they were all empty. Well that was concerning, maybe another animal got here first? The little one starts to gnaw at the remnants of the berries stuck to the branches. I look at his actions and make a note, if times get desperate it might be wise to do that. As we dash from bush to bush I start to notice the regular occurrence of strange larger bushes, ones that lift themselves high in the sky. I gaze at them intently, watching them.

The tree starts to shake and a creature drops down. It hangs from the branch with its arms and tails and grips the trunk with its feet. It then brings its hands over and scurries down, stuffing a strange yellow berry into its mouth. I notice that it's hands look similar to mine and an idea comes to mind. I look at the little one and force him to sit. He keeps resisting and trying to get up but after realizing I'm trying to keep him in place he relents. I slowly make my way up to the tree as I make sure Too doesn't move from the bush. I place my hands and feet on the trunk and slowly scale it, using my tail to try and grab the branches. Its a struggle to say the least and compared to the swiftness of the creature before I look pathetic. As I make my way into the bushy leaves of the tree I find three more of the creatures picking at the yellow berries and eating them.

I manage to avoid their gaze and slowly reach for some berries on one of the branches. As I wrap my hand around the berries my weight shifts and a snap rips at the air. The branch I stood on had broken and I plummet with the berries. The only thing preventing me from falling to the ground is my tail, which had left me shakily suspended upside down. The beasts perked up and the noises I made and began to shriek. Gliding through the branches with ease they make their way over to me as I struggle to reorient myself. They manage to knock me from the canopy and send me hurtling to the ground. Berries in hand I sprint towards the little one and scoop him over my shoulder, only turning my head for a second I am greeted by the creatures beating their chests and screeching at me, 4 more having shown up in the meantime.

As I ran back to the safety of the fog the beasts had failed to follow me, but their screeches could still be heard as he reached the stone floor surrounding the forest.

Aquamarine

"Humamander, meet your Brother Twomamander!" I said as I looked over the 2 waking creatures. I hurried them out the door as I needed an empty room for what I was planning on doing. I watched impatiently as Humamander guided his brother out the door. I began by summoning water, which I did by forcing my mana out of a single point rather than my whole body. I was promptly met with a trickle of water emanating from my form. I then amped the intensity, leading to a veritable stream pouring out. I tried again and again, creating as large blast as I could each time. I improved quickly but a limiting factor brought it to a screeching halt, I could only use so much of my mana at once.

My mana was currently subdivided into four different categories, the ambient mana, my reserves, my membrane, and my core. Each sequential one more potent than the last. Ambient mana was the mana flowing through me, and I could use all of it at once with ease. My reserves were new, it was what I had gained from consuming the berries, but trying to condense any significant amount of mana from my reserves into a spell other than summoning wasn't working. Membrane appears to be gathered ambient mana, and while I do naturally have some using any more increases the time to cast by a ridiculous amount. My core is the most powerful by leaps and bounds, but try as I might it seems I can't use it unless I run out of all other types.

Not being able to throw more mana at the problem forced me to be creative, and I found that by making the stream smaller and the speed I expelled my mana faster the more powerful it became. I believe if I hit one of the Humamander with something like this they would be less than pleased. Sadly even as my skill got better the cast time remained the same, taking ten whole seconds to gather all of the mana for it. I guess now that I've got a satisfying amount of power figuring out how to cast it quickly would be important.

I then heard the doors to my chamber creak. Humamander and Twomamander came flying in through the door only to get flushed out by the huge buildup of water in the room. They where both sent flying back around 10 feet by the veritable tsunami that greeted them at the door. They coughed and sputtered as they spun around and back. The sight was a little amusing to say the least.

They ran back in and hurriedly closed the doors, Humamander placing a stone in the doorway while glaring at me. They then sat down while breathing heavily, the bigger of the two splitting apart a bunch of berries they had gathered. They began to eat them, consuming them in their entirety at a slow pace. I can't tell what emotion is displayed on their face but it clearly isn't happiness. They sit down and catch their breathes before heading back out, the larger one making a point to ensure the stone stays lodged in the door.

They left as soon as they came, leaving my plans to see if I could cast magic while inside them for another time. I really had nothing to do, as I figured I would need more magic power to improve my casting speed and the Humamander's had only brought enough for themselves. I then remembered that I had planned on visiting one of the others like me and entered my astral form. I passed through to the world outside my walls, the pins and needles much more bearable then before, I even still had a limited perception of what was around my core. It quickly faded though as I scanned the cliffside for another entrance and passed through.