The rest of the day was like the emotional version of walking into a warm room in winter. The last day and a half had dragged, but now our journey was on much better footing. Noren actually turned out to be pretty likeable, albeit incredibly over the top. And pun-obsessed, but there wasn’t much to do about that except pray.

  The night passed quickly and without stress, since Cassie had gotten plenty of practice with her Minor Flame cantrip over the last week. She and I ended up in a similar position to our old practice meet ups for most of the evening, her on improving Shield and me still on illusions.

  I was beyond frustrated with my illusions by this point. I was actually glad for Noren’s presence requiring me to dedicate more time on them, because I hadn’t realised how much trouble they would prove to be.

  For whatever reason I just couldn’t hold an illusion that got to complicated. It was similar to the problem I’d had when I first started, albeit further along. Back then though I had been steadily improving, even if that improvement took weeks to show.

  Now though, I wasn’t sure if I was actually getting any better. Sure, I was doing better when it came to multi-tasking with illusions, but the illusions themselves were at the same level.

  I sighed and cut the mana flow to my current illusion, which was a miniature rain cloud. Despite my best efforts the majority of the rain vanished in mid-air or fell directly through the floor. I looked up to see Cassie with her eyes glued to the page of her spell guide, mouth twitching slightly as she read.

  After a moment I realised that it was quiet. Far too quiet for a group with Noren in it. He really was like Cassie with even more energy. If he wasn’t talking to one of us he was humming, or whittling, or tapping his fingers on something. Not now though, now he was completely quiet.

  I quietly stood so as not to disturb Cassie, turning to see Noren sat quietly on a log, legs crossed and eyes closed. He looked rather serene, which was not a word that would mix well with him in almost any scenario. I crept over to get a closer look.

  When I was close enough I got a glimpse of his vitae and had to stifle a gasp. He was definitely doing… something. All of his vitae was pulsing, like the beating of a heart throughout his entire body. I couldn’t help but watch in awe. It was beautiful.

  Sensing vitae for me was something like a full sensory experience for me. The easiest way to describe it was through sight, but if it was dense enough I could smell or even taste it. Noren’s was definitely dense enough, and he smelled… coppery, like molten metal and blood. He tasted similar, although it was a very subtle taste to begin with. With each pulse of his vitae though, the smell and taste would briefly magnify before falling back to where it began.

  I stood stock still as the core of his vitae around his heart throbbed once, twice, three times. With each pulse more and more pulsing vitae was drawn into it until he had none in the rest of his body. Now gathered, the round orb of pulsating essence began to condense slowly. I watched as it slowly drew in on itself like a frightened hedgehog curling into a ball.

  Over the course of several minute the orb visibly shrank. Not by much, but enough that where it once spanned most of his torso it there was now a much more visible gap on either side between the orb and where his ribs would be.

  Soon, like the unfurling of a flower in dawn, his vitae began to expand through his body again. It began slow, but before long it was close to the rushing of a violent river coursing through him. In less than a minute his vitae was spread throughout him again, slightly more dense than before.

  I stood frozen as Noren opened his eyes and looked at me curiously. “Did you want something my dear?” He asked, as though he hadn’t just done… whatever that was right out in the open.

  “N-nope. No, I’m fine. Thank you, Noren,” I managed to get out, before turning walking over to Cassie. I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the fire. I glanced over my shoulder to see Noren looking at me, clearly confused.

  “Hey! What’s this about. Let go of me! Lia!” Cassie yelled, finally breaking me from my fugue. I let go of her arm and glanced back to the campsite, which was definitely far enough for us to have a conversation. Not for the first time I found myself missing the dense woodland of the land around Vernal.

  “You gonna tell me what this is about or are you planning to just stare at camp?” Cassie said, waving a hand in front of my eyes.

  I turned back to her. “Cassie, Noren just did. Well, it was something weird. We needed to talk out of earshot.”

  Cassie expression went from annoyed to confused. “What do you mean he did something weird. He was just sitting there.”

  I huffed. “Sure, physically he was ‘just sitting there’, but inside?” I tapped my sternum as I spoke. “Inside he was doing something.”

  Cassie just looked at me quizzically. “Something? That’s the best description you’ve got? We’re all doing something, Lia.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Cassie, this is serious!” I hissed. “His vitae was… condensing. He was definitely doing something to it. Consciously.”

  Cassie expression grew more serious. “Oh, right. He shouldn’t be able to do that, should he?”

  “No. But I can’t exactly confront him about it without him asking how I could tell, and I’d rather not get into that with him.”

  Cassie looked over at Noren who had taken out his whittling project and begun to work on it. He clearly wasn’t that perturbed at our offside meeting. “You want me to ask?”

  “Why would that be better?” I asked, a little thrown by the suggestion.

  “Well, he said he wasn’t a mage. So if I said I had a spell to explain away why we knew, then he couldn’t know that I don’t.”

  I thought for a second. “No, that won’t work. He saw me watching him, and I’m telling you about this, which wouldn’t be hard for him to figure out.”

  Cassie looked over to him again. “Maybe we just ask anyway then? We can just not tell him, what’s he gonna do?”

  I levelled a flat stare at her. “Not tell us?”

  Cassie threw her arms up in the air. “Well I don’t know! Do we have to ask? We get to Perch tomorrow, then we’ll probably never see him again. We could just ignore it.” Even as she spoke I could hear her lack of confidence in her words. She wanted to know too, after all.

  “And never find out what it was all about?” I prodded.

  Cassie sighed. “Fine. What’s your suggestion then, if you’re gonna keep shooting me down.”

  I thought for a minute before striding back over to Noren. I had a theory that I really wasn’t a fan of, but I needed more evidence first. I came to a stop next to him, waiting for a moment for him to lift his gaze from his newest project.

  “...Julie? and Cassie as well. Is something the matter?” He asked, his face a mask of innocent confusion.

  “Hey, Noren. I was just wondering, why don’t you ever sit closer to the fire?”

  “That… came out of nowhere. Well, I overheat quickly, so I tend to prefer colder temperatures.”

  I nodded. “Right, okay. Well, how come you didn’t get any blood on you when you killed those bandits?”

  Noren narrowed his eyes. “It’s called moving. Why the questions, Julie?”

  “Just figuring something out. How come you never sleep?”

  Noren seemed taken aback by that one. “What do you mean? I’ve slept every night we’ve been travelling together?”

  Damn it, call my bluff why don’t you.

  I said nothing and watched as Noren put two and two together. “What brought this on, Julie?” His tone was neutral, in the same was that Cassie’s tone was neutral when she talked to her mother.

  “What were you just doing before we spoke. When you were meditating.”

  “What? Nothing much, I was just taking stock of myself. Keeps the mind sharp,” he lied through his teeth. He was a good liar, I’d give him that. I knew what I’d seen though, and that was not normal.

  “Give it up, Noren. I saw.”

  Noren’s expression changed. “Ah, I see what’s happening here. The little changeling saw something she didn’t understand and assumed the worst.”

  I froze, and I heard Cassie’s breath hitch behind me. He knew? How did he know? I hadn’t shifted once in any way that was visible since he had joined us.

  “How?” I asked simply.

  “What, did you think you were hiding it well, did you? Julie, you look like a different person than the one we made camp with, who in turn was different from the person who ate lunch and again from the one who woke up this morning.”

  I took stock of my body and sure enough, many of my features had drifted slightly. Not enough for me to consciously notice, but enough that over time I must have been slowly rearranging myself into a completely different appearance. I had even ended up taller than I had been, which I really should have noticed. I consciously pulled myself back to Lia Prime before turning on the spot to face Cassie.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Cassie looked sheepish, her gaze locked on the ground. “You seemed so proud of being able to control yourself, I didn’t have the heart to tell you when it got worse.” She was mumbling by the end, and I was more than a little upset.

  “What were you going to do when we got back to civilisation? Just politely ask everyone not to mention the girl who keeps changing shape everywhere we went?”

  Cassie shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know! I didn’t really think that far ahead.”

  I huffed, before turning my attention inward. My form had already begun to drift slightly, so I pulled it back again and did what I could to hold it there. I dedicated a portion of my attention to making sure I didn’t loosen my grip over my form, thanking the gods that so many of my abilities had trained me to multi-task.

  “I definitely wasn’t this bad before. When did I get worse?” I asked Cassie, who finally met my gaze again.

  “After the wood-thing. The Gloom Stalker.”

  Ah. So was it a shapeshifting thing or a vitae thing? I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I definitely need to keep a closer eye on this though.

  I turned my attention back to Noren. “You. Why didn’t you mention that you knew? Do you know how much practice I missed out on because I was trying to avoid showing you?”

  Noren had the nerve to laugh. “That’s what you complain about? Not the breach of privacy, not the cheap diversion? No, you wanted to practice?? Oh, that’s perfect.”

  I scowled at him and turned away. I stalked away from both of them, taking a seat on a boulder near enough the fire to be lit but far enough away to send a message. I watched the two of them share looks before Noren calmly returned to his whittling.

  Gods damn it! We never even learned what was going on with him! Well played, Noren. It’s pretty obvious that I was wrong anyway.

  My leading theory had been that he was secretly a vampire, since he was actively controlling his vitae. Of course, that theory had been a bit far-fetched from the start, but still. At least it would have been really interesting.

  Eventually Cassie wandered over to me, hopping up on the boulder and crossing her legs. She didn’t say anything, just watched the fire for a while, occasionally stealing glances at me.

  “Sorry,” she said eventually. I knew she meant it, because she always meant it. I was still upset with her, but I knew from experience that it wouldn’t last long.

  I sighed. “I know. Just… tell me next time, okay? I think we’ve both learned recently that keeping stuff from each other is dumb, and possibly also stupid.”

  Cassie giggled slightly. “Yeah, it is both of those things. Maybe foolish, too.”

  “Heh, maybe it is,” I said. “Maybe it is.”

  Extract from a speech titled 'The Warrior's Guide To Not Being A Weakling' by retired adventurer Mel Redding.

  "Do you like strength? Do you like hitting big things with equally big weaponry? Do you like being better than everyone around you? If that's the case, then do I have the technique for you.

  Some folks think that most consistent path to power is magic. Those people are idiots. Some fancy wizard with his fancy spells will still die if you hit him really hard with a big sword, which makes him weak! No, real strength is found in physical prowess. If you can't go head to head with a monster, then you aren't going to make it a day in this business. Chump.

  Now, I know what you're going to say. 'But Mel! How can we physically compete with the ability to bend reality to someone's will?' And to that I say Shut Up and Try Harder, because today I'm going to be introducing you to the concept of Life Enhancement, or as I like to call it: Victory.

  Some people who practice Life Enhancement like to talk about how it's all about 'connecting yourself to nature' or 'finding your perfect, inner self and removing impurities from your being'. Those people are idiots! Life Enhancement is about cultivating strength until you can fist fight a magical abomination against the Gods and win!

  All you have to do is kill a monster, drink its blood and voila! Either you get strong, or you die! Simple, like all things should be. No years of study, no complicated diagrams. Just a test of raw will and you're in! Then all you have to do make sure you 'centre yourself' or whatever, and you're in!

  So the next time some pansy wizard rolls up all high and mighty with his 'understanding and mastery of the universe' or whatever, just take his needlessly big book and hit him with it faster than he can cast a spell!"

  *The recording crystal dictates that the rest of the speech is mildly maniacal laughter*

  Extract End