Alpy376

  “Your carriage is at the northern city gate. Depart whenever you're ready, and good luck.”

  The three of us were just in the Guild after discussing transportation with Linda the receptionist. We're being provided a carriage free of charge that we will hand over to the branch in Lithhelm, the capitol of the Territories. On top of that, housing will be provided until completion of the quest. After saying our goodbyes, we left to the gate. I noticed when we arrived that there wasn't any driver, but before I could point that out Rick jumped up and tossed me his luggage.

  “You mind settin’ that down in there for me? I'll be driving.”

  “Sure.”

  “Good. Hurry up so we can get going. It's already a week long trip by default and I'd rather not take longer.”

  As Rick picked up the reins I quickly climbed into the cab with Luci following just behind me. We pced our belongings in the corner and sat down on the bench just as we started moving. Across from the suprisingly comfortable bench there was a long table that could be flipped over and converted into a bed. If I had to rate it I would give it an I-wish-we-could-keep-it-instead-of-returning-it out of ten. I opened the window to ask Rick something.

  “Hey, Rick. You said this is gonna take a week, right?”

  “That's what it takes for most trips, yeah. Most of the time though they got several wagons and take breaks overnight and for lunch. We won't be takin’ any lunch breaks and we'll be moving for a few hours into the night though, so maybe it'll only be five or six days. That what you're asking?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  I closed the window and sat back down as Luci started speaking.

  “I suppose this would be as good a time as any to review what we're doing, right Mira?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Alrighty then.”

  The elf girl reached into her pack and brought out a roll of paper that she unraveled over the table.

  “I take it you haven't seen a map yet?”

  “Ah. That's right, I should probably take a look then.”

  “Take as long as you need, this one is a map of everything that has been explored before.”

  I took a few minutes to examine the map in question to familiarize myself with the nd. It showed one continent - which according to the map is named Chinoko - that was somewhat shaped like a wide oval and was mostly divided into three portions: The western portion was mostly covered in forests and was divided across the middle by the Stub Mountains where the dwarves live. To the south of the mountains was the kingdom of Pristel, homend of the elves. The northern area was covered in the Beastfolk Territories, and their capitol is our destination.

  The central portion of the continent was mostly covered in open pins with a few small wooded areas or lone mountains. There were also several settlements of people from various races who simply wanted to get away from the rger nations to the east and west. The portion of the nd was rightly named the Central Pins. Just off the coast to the south of the continent there was a series of isnds, the rgest of which was Valstuun, the home of the Gestians.

  The portion of the nd to the east belonged to the humans, where there were many kingdoms of many sizes constantly competing to become stronger the rest. Many wars were fought between the human nations over nd and resources, but they usually choose to keep their wars between humans, as anyone who would attempt to take their petty fights anywhere else would be swiftly defeated by the allied forces of the dwarves, elves, and beastfolk.

  The nameless capital of the Stub Mountains was on one of the mountains furthest to the east, and as a result was technically in the Pins. Simirly, the elves tended to live near the eastern edge of the forest as well, but their cities were never outside of the trees. Currently we were traveling on a path heading north through the pins. After a while the path would enter the forest and after passing through the catkin territory we would arrive at Lithhelm.

  Finally, what caught my eye the most was a giant ke in the middle of the Pins. In the middle of said ke was an isnd with what looked like a giant tree on the map.

  “Hey, Luci, do you know what this thing in the middle means?”

  “You mean that tree there? It doesn't actually mean anything special. It literally is a giant tree. It's known as the Mother Tree, and is also named Arduin, the same as the Goddess. Some say that it's where mana comes from, but those theories have become less common recently. You'll probably get to see it eventually.”

  “I see. Anyway, you wanted to review our pns?”

  “Yes. As you can see, Lithhelm is here in the center of the Territories. That's where the Guild there is located and as a result where we're headed. Directly to the north is the wolfkin territory where the Shadows have been appearing and likely where we'll go to take down this ‘Goliath’ we're after. If it isn't there anymore when we arrive, we should check either the foxkin territory to the southwest or the harekin to the southeast. The Territories should have the situation handled enough to at least keep the creatures in the area at least, so we likely won't have to search much.”

  “I mean, I'd assume they'll at least know its location, so we'll probably be told that when get to the Guild.”

  “Right. I guess we'll just have to see. We should have a day after we arrive before we need to actually go on the quest, so we can discuss the rest during that time, and also go over everything again with Rick.”

  We spent the next few hours discussing pns, combat strategies, and anything else that felt important until we decided we should eat. I dug through our supplies until I found the food we brought and took out the bread and butter of an adventurer's diet: Literal bread, only without the butter. Speaking of which...

  “Did you happen to bring any butter?”

  “No? What's that?”

  “You've never had butter before? It's a type of cooking ingredient made from milk that you can spread on bread to make it taste better.”

  “Um, no, I've never even heard of that. When did you have this butter stuff?”

  “I- Actually, I'm not sure.”

  “Hm… Maybe your memories from before Tahli found you are starting to come back.”

  “Maybe…”

  I never considered that possibility. I thought my memories were just simply gone and I would have to assume based on those visions I've been getting or find somebody who knew me before I lost my memories, but I guess it'd be nice if they were coming back to me.

  I handed Rick his portion of bread through the window and I sat down to eat. Once finished, i figured I might as well get started on learning the magic from those tomes I bought, and by the time we stopped for the night a few hours after sunset, I had already mastered both first tier Mind spells.

  The first spell, Imperfect Illusion, was pretty much just what it sounded like. It can cause any humanoid target to begin seeing very realistic hallucinations, but the castor has little control over what is seen and the victim can easily break break the spell if they realize that what they're seeing isn't real. The second spell, Detect, can be used to see the magic cap and attributes of a target, and is also the spell implemented into the crystal balls that seers like Freiya use. However, when implemented into an object, it can only be used to check caps or attributes, but that version is much easier to read and more accurate as well, especially with caps involved. When casting the spell on its own, the castor will see an aura around any targets. The color represents the attributes, and the size represents the cap. After trying it on Luci, I found that her aura was only the green for Wind magic, so I looked back in the tome and it said that hereditary magic will appear as colorless, so if the target has any other types of magic that type will be shown. People who have no magic will simply have no aura.

  Luci was the first person on the night watch, and after three hours she would come get me for my turn which would st just as long. After I was done I would wake Rick up and we would start moving a little before sunrise. The schedule in mind, I fell asleep to the sound of Rick snoring on the bench.

  Later, I awoke to the door of the carriage opening. I got up and swapped pces with Luci, standing watch outside the carriage. After a short while of walking around the wagon, the moon was slowly hidden away behind the clouds, and when I noticed I cast Spiritmp to give me some extra light. Mere seconds ter, I heard what sounded like light, speedy footsteps in the woods to my side. In response, I sent my Spiritmp over to see what it was, and I was gd I did, but at the same time I almost regret it because of what I saw.

  There were maybe around 20 of these things, and the only way I could describe then were shorter humanoids, only a little bigger than the average dwarf. They looked shorter than they probably were though, because they ran around hunched over running like an animal with their extremely long arms that ended in clearly sharp cws. Their heads were almost perfect spheres, with no hair and faces devoid of any features aside from two beady red eyes that almost glowed against their pitch-bck skin. I could only assume these creatures were the Shadows, but what were they doing so far to the south of the Territories?

  Unfortunately, I had no time to think about that right now. The instant I saw them, I jumped back to create distance between myself and the Shadows. I began the incantation for the 4th tier Light spell I learned as the group charged at me.

  “Oh Holy Goddess, creator of all! Hear my plea and grant me your strength to remove this stain from your sacred creation! Purge!”

  The st words left my mouth as my feet hit the ground, and a piller of light shot from the ground around me, illuminating my surroundings and disintegrating all of the Shadows who came into contact with it. Just as I learned at the Guild, these things were even weaker to Light magic than usual undead. When I cut off the mana supplying it the light of Purge dissipated, and I wasted no time in eliminating the few stragglers remaining using Expel. As quickly as the fight had begun, it ended.

  Suprisingly enough, the commotion didn't wake either of my companions, so I decided to let them sleep and tell them in the morning. Of course, with my amazing memory, I completely forgot. Luckily, there were no more attacks for nearly all of the trip. Nearly.

  The night of the 5th day, we were only a few hours away from crossing the border of the catkin territory into Lithhelm. At this point I had managed to learn all of the spells in the tomes I bought, and I was currently sleeping while it was still Luci's turn for the night watch. Unfortunately, my rest was interrupted quite abruptly.

  “We're being attacked! Everyone get out here!”

  “Shit!”

  I've noticed during the trip that Rick was a bit of a heavy sleeper, so I quickly shook him awake before running outside.

  “Luci!”

  “Mira! Thank goodness! I think these are Shadows, my arrows are useless!”

  One of the Shadows swept it's long, cwed arm at Luci. She knocked it away with Burst.

  “Divinity!”

  My spell was cast, and her bow began glowing, along with every arrow to pass through it. Immediately after that I cast Spiritmp to light up the surroundings before I used Divinity on Rick's daggers once he came out. I could see more than 50 of them this time. Purge wasn't going to cut it this time, good thing I had the 5th tier spells as well. Unfortunately, the incantation was even longer and we were already in active combat.

  “Cover me!”

  I leapt onto the driver's sear of the carriage as I began chanting.

  “Oh Holy Goddess, creator of all! Head my call and grant me your sacred spear to destroy my unholy enemy!-”

  One of the creatures managed to jump on Rick. Luci shot it a second after, hopefully not to te. She stood over him firing arrow after arrow, but she was slowly being overrun. I had to finish this spell. During this time, a glowing white spear appeared in my hand, and I raised it above my head.

  “-With your power in my hands, all evil shall be cleansed! 'Light Javelin!”

  The second I could feel its weight in my hand, I threw it straight into the horde. The Shadow I hit vanished instantly, and a giant explosion of pure Light magic spread through the area. Thankfully, the explosion can't harm the living in any way, otherwise I would be blind and unable to watch Luci use Healing on Rick… and see it fail.

  “Rick! Damn it!”

  I jumped down and ran towards where Rick was lying on his stomach. I could see deep gashes along his back. From the amount of blood, one would assume he's already gone, but the slow movement of his shoulders rising and falling proved that wrong.

  “Mira! It's too deep! Healing doesn't work!”

  Luci looked up at me with panic and horror visible in her eyes.

  “As long as he's not dead I can fix it, but I used too much mana! You're carrying me inside!’

  Time was of the essence, I couldn't take the time to answer her shocked and confused expression. I almost slurred my speech with how fast I tried to chant.

  “Oh Holy Goddess, creator of all! Hear my plea and grant me your holy light to heal these wounds! With the power of your healing hands, all injuries shall be repaired! Mend!”

  A light somehow even brighter than earlier burst from my hands in a concentrated area over Rick's back. The light began to dim, and my vision went with it.