Chapter 53
“Am I hearing this right? suggesting a game of pillarball?”
Roland looked at me incredulously from across the table. We had returned home after the villagers began to wake and go about their lives.
“Felicia’s never played, and I think it would be a good opportunity for family bonding.”
I responded.
“Hey, you’re not getting an argument from me! I’m just shocked, is all. You always sat out when you were younger.”
That’s because we had a resident star player who removed any question of which team would win the moment he stepped up. A game isn’t fun when the deck is stacked against you.
“Things change. So? Can we get the field put together?”
Roland smiled broadly, but then hesitated and shook his head.
“Tomorrow. We can’t do it today, unfortunately.”
“Why not? It shouldn’t take too long to set up.”
It was an odd reaction. Roland was Redwater’s biggest pillarball enthusiast. Considering how disappointed he was when I stopped playing, I would have thought he would jump on this opportunity.
“Well, we’re expecting another visitor tomorrow morning. An old friend of yours, in fact. There was going to be a big feast and everything, people will be too busy with that to spare time for pillarball.”
“...”
“...”
We sat in silence. My blank stare caused Roland to grow uncomfortable.
“...Aren’t you going to ask who the visitor is?”
“I already know.”
Who else do I know from Redwater? Who else has been coming up in conversation recently?
It hardly took a genius to figure out who it was going to be. I may not have any evidence to support my assumption, but this was how the world typically worked. The person you least want to see will be the one to appear, as if destiny had a strong desire to screw with me personally.
“So, is there anything else you wanna do while you’re here? We could go hunting.”
“Mmm… only if I take lead.”
My view on hunting had changed a lot since childhood. I now understood the importance in respecting the balance of the ecosystem, so I couldn’t in good conscience go indiscriminately killing deer. That being said, I had noticed telltale signs of a particular species that seemed to have been left to reproduce to a dangerous degree.
“Sure, whatever you say, You’ve probably got more experience than me now anyway.”
Roland hurried over to the base of the stairs and selected two bows.
“You got a preference?”
“Clara.”
“Huh?”
He looked baffled at my nonsensical response. As for Clara, who had been in the kitchen preparing my breakfast, she poked her head out to see what we were talking about.
“Grab a quiver and fill it. But I won’t be needing a bow. Clara, once we’ve eaten, change your clothes, you’re coming with us.”
“Ok!”
She vanished back into the kitchen, and the sound of stirring intensified.
Roland smiled along with her, but the second she was out of sight, his face dropped, and he ran over to whisper to me.
“We don’t let Clara hunt. The first time she tried, she could feel the thoughts of the deer as it died, and she went nuts.”
“She’ll be fine, I won’t leave her side.”
Coddling her wasn’t the answer. Her options were to either suppress her Gift entirely or learn to control it. Anything else would result in her becoming a maladjusted adult. Given that she was so attached to me, I might as well capitalise on her trust in a way that will benefit her later in life.
And so, after she presented me with an omelette and a side of bacon, I ran her through the plan.
In short, I would be tracking our prey, Clara would be practising her telekinesis on a moving target, and Roland would be ready to put them down if the attack failed to kill.
There was an additional factor, but telling them would ruin the purpose of all of this. Felicia wanted to tag along, but I had firmly rejected her. Not that it mattered, she would just ignore me and follow anyway.
To solve that problem, I threw in a line about needing some quality time alone to catch up. Naturally, she assumed this was the result of her persuading me to be a better son and brother, so she dropped the issue. Albeit with a smug grin and sly smirk.
Part of me wanted to tell her the truth just to piss her off, but rationality prevailed.
I cleaned my plate, and the three of us prepared for the hunt. The local gobblecluck population was about to undergo a drastic decline.
***
Clara [POV]
I still felt like I was in a dream. My better brother had returned after seven long, excruciating years. I had this exact dream so many times before and only felt even better when I awoke to find he was still there.
I know exactly how the others thought of me, even now that my Gift was silent. I spent enough time in their heads to understand how their thought patterns worked and how they would react in any given situation.
They were all confused by my recent behaviour, but were so used to walking on eggshells around me that they kept silent on the matter. I didn't know what was going on in Rex's head, but I imagine he was similarly in the dark about my affection.
To me, it was only natural. When we were kids, he was always the one who gave the best life advice. He didn't just do things for me, he taught me how to be self-sufficient so I wouldn't need help with the same thing twice. Mum even told me that when I was still in diapers, Rex spent most of his days holding me and taking the workload off her. Maybe that was why he felt closer to a third parent than anything.
He was my understanding and loving big brother, but there was more to it than that. When he disappeared, his memory lingered everywhere I went. Every time Dad looked over at Hans’ destroyed house, it would trigger a feeling of loss and the recollection of his failure as a Father.
Every time Mum set the table and put one plate too many, the entire household would be overcome with feelings of grief, yet nobody would voice their thoughts.
I had to experience all these feelings constantly. The others could shield one another from depressing thoughts, but I alone had to feel the same pain, no matter what they said outwardly.
Rex’s return meant this constant gloom I had to live under was finally at an end. The additional benefit of my mind-reading not functioning in his presence was just the cherry on top.
So, of course, I wanted to cling to him, wouldn't anyone in my shoes? Even if he wants to take me hunting—something I hated—it would be alright so long as he was by my side.
But I wasn't stupid. I knew he had responsibilities as a member of the IMA and would probably be gone again by the end of the week.
At my age, I couldn't follow along unless I had special permission to enroll at an earlier age, but that didn't mean I couldn’t tag along in a different capacity. For example, some nobles brought their personal staff along to tend to their needs. Although it was more common at the main campus, there was no rule preventing Rex from hiring me at the branch campus. He was a noble now, after all.
To that end, I had to endear myself to my favourite brother as much as possible in this short time. If that meant shooting some fat little chickens, then so be it.
As that thought entered my head, and I quietly followed behind my brother and father, I decided to ask the question that had been nagging at me.
“So, like, why are we only allowed to hunt Gobbleclucks? They're tasty, sure, but the amount you're aiming for could feed the whole village twice over.”
Rex looked over his shoulder, then brought us to a halt.
“Look here.”
He knelt down and brushed at the grass. His light movement uprooted a surprising amount of the forest carpet, revealing yellow roots.
“There are patches like this all around the area, but only in the vicinity of Redwater. It looks like nobody has been properly controlling the population for some time.”
Dad rubbed his head awkwardly.
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“Haha… sorry about that. When Hans… well, y'know… I ended up having to take over as the main hunter. But all I know is how to catch and butcher prey, I didn't know anything about all this population control stuff.”
Rex nodded along to his words.
“So, approximately seven years of a mismanaged ecosystem. That explains the conditions around here. The weeds have gone wild, too.”
As he said, there were many tangled weeds all over the place, and many of the flower bushes Mum used to pick from had died as a result already.
“I never knew I was supposed to be weeding the place…”
Dad looked ashamed, but Rex only laughed.
“Haha, that's not what I meant. Gobbleclucks benefit the ecosystem by eating fallen seeds, then defecating in empty areas where the seeds can sprout and grow. The problem comes when there are too many of the critters in one place. They eat a lot, and when they can't find enough of their usual diet, they will start consuming grass, flowers, pretty much anything except for weeds.”
He uprooted a particularly large bundle of weeds and pulled it apart, revealing a dead sapling within.
“In the end, the plant life can't defend itself from the onslaught of the weeds and hungry beaks, and they begin to die out. Luckily, the fix is fairly straightforward…”
“Just cull the flock.”
I finished his sentence. He went to pat me on the head, but he saw the dirt on his hand, and instead, he just nodded.
“Anything else I need to know, oh great master of the forest?”
Roland gave an exaggerated bow.
“Hmm… considering the natural mana in our water, the local fauna, the presence of elves only a day's travel from here… yeah, quite a lot.”
Rex responded with a serious expression, causing Roland to freeze.
“Er… but the consequences wouldn't be too bad, right?”
“Depends. There's a dryad that watches over this section of forest. If you piss her off, she might start sending her servants to harass villagers and destroy crops. You could also get the elves on your case if you don't respect the hunting borders.”
I had no idea there was so much to hunting. Was old man Hans handling all this on his own?
“I'll write up a dummy's guide for you tonight, don’t worry about it.”
Rex spoke nonchalantly as he followed some tracks that might as well be invisible to me.
“Hurry up, Dad. We're going to lose him!”
I snapped Dad out of his stupor, and he quickly jogged after us.
“Hold up.”
Rex signalled for us to stop after only a few seconds, and we all crouched down, slowing our movements so as not to spook the prey.
I followed the direction he indicated and saw a flock of gobbleclucks scurrying around. Their pitiful intelligence was clear to see in their behaviour as they knocked into one another, tumbling over and kicking their tiny feet in the air in an attempt to regain their footing.
Rex nodded at me and ushered me forward. He was telling me to take this opportunity.
With a simple thought, one of the arrows in my quiver hovered out and positioned itself in front of me. The sharp end pointed at one of the rotund chicken-like things that was rocking back and forth on its back.
We were trying to remain quiet, but was there even a point? The racket these things made was absurd. I tried not to think about how cute I really thought they were, and instead reminded myself they were practically vermin.
My arrow shot forth. It wasn’t quite as fast as it would have been if I used a bow, but it packed enough force to pierce my target. But my aim was off, and the gobblecluck sprung up with a bloody gash on its side, the high pitched garbled shriek sent the whole group into a panic as they fled in all directions.
“I got it.”
Roland went to fire his bow, but I didn’t want to fail like this.
I willed my own fired arrow to lift itself from the ground and fly back in a straight line, finishing off the wounded prey.
“Good work. How many can you catch before they’re all scattered?”
Rex put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
I continued sending arrows out, but I could only properly control one at a time. I only caught three of them before they were all gone. That herd alone must have contained about 50 of the creatures, with that in mind I didn’t exactly do very well.
“Don’t sweat it. Roland, can you please bag them? Clara and I will continue the hunt.”
“Aye-aye, cap’n”
Dad followed his orders, and I followed my brother.
We kept at this pace for hours, stalking prey, catching one or two at a time, then moving right on to the next. I hadn’t used my telekinesis for such precise work before, so it was surprising how fast my accuracy was improving.
“You’re doing really well, Clara. I’m proud of you.”
Rex patted me on the back and began collecting the most recent kills. Dad had to run back to drop off the full sack of dead birds we had collected, leaving Rex on pick-up duty until his return.
“There are multiple tracks leading just down that way. I’ll be right behind you, but don’t stray too far, ok?”
Rex pointed the way, and I went ahead, self-confidence blowing away my hesitation.
I just walked straight ahead as directed, paying no attention to my surroundings or checking for tracks. There was no need after all, Rex would be with me soon anyway, and he could handle all that stuff.
A flash of white feathers caught my eye as a gobblecluck ran past. I sent an arrow after them, but I was too slow to catch my target. I think I had killed 29 so far, and Rex said 30 would be a good stopping point for one trip.
Once we were done, I could go relax at home with my brother and have him tell me more about his adventures while basking in everyone’s praise. With that in mind, I ran after my prey, sending the same arrow homing in on the target ahead of me.
But try as I might, I just couldn’t catch them, and before long, they were gone entirely.
I stopped to catch my breath and took in my surroundings. Where was I? Where was Rex?
“”
Tiara brushed up against my leg, apparently having followed after me at some point.
“Hello, you. Where’s your Daddy got to?”
I lifted her, and she quickly made her way to my back, settling in and purring softly with her face right next to my ear.
At least I wasn’t completely alone now…
That small comfort vanished almost as quickly as the thought came to me.
A hauntingly familiar sensation was beginning to take hold of me. The feeling of foreign thoughts and feelings entering my head.
The fear of the gobblecluck that was still running from its pink-haired predator. The confusion of the birds above, seeing so many things scurrying about below them. The hunger of an unseen lizard preparing to gobble up a small worm writhing in the dirt. The feeling of the worm’s body being swallowed whole.
These feelings invaded my mind all at once, causing me to tightly shut eyes and block my ears reflexively. I knew it would do me no good, but I couldn’t shut out this instinct to try and shut everything out.
But even with my eyes closed, I could see flashes of mental images. Even with my ears blocked, I could clearly hear the unintelligible whispers of lesser-minded creatures.
Where was Rex? I needed to find him right away.
This forest has too much life. Too much personality. Too many minds.
I needed something else to latch onto —something simple, calm, and collected.
But there was nobody here. Animal minds were less intrusive, sure, but they also worked in such a way that I couldn’t make sense of anything. The way animal instinct was processed in their bodies made no sense at all when translated into thought for humans.
“”
Something coherent entered my mind. I realised I had begun to hyperventilate and tried breathing slowly and deeply.
“”
The voice spoke again. I couldn’t see anyone around, but they were definitely directing these messages to me personally.
“Who are you? Where are you?”
I called out, but no voice responded to me. Whoever was watching me surely would have heard my voice if they were close enough for me to read their mind.
“”
How the hell was I supposed to do that!? If it were so easy to control this curse, I wouldn’t hide away in my room all day. Mum and Dad wouldn’t have to keep leaving the house for made-up reasons just so I could get some peace.
So many whispers were crawling in now that I could not hear anything with my own ears anymore. I tried to listen out for Rex or Dad calling for me, but even if they were, I wouldn’t have known.
I tried walking back the way I came, but my vision kept overlapping with others to the point I could not tell where I was. I would think I was walking straight, but then my vision would snap to a bird’s eye view, and I would collide with an unseen tree.
“”
The voice seemed to know what was happening, but also didn’t understand the extent of it.
“...I can’t see.”
Explaining it would be too hard, so I kept it simple.
“”
What nonsense. Even without my condition, blindly stumbling in the Verdant Divide was a recipe for disaster. There was no way this method would work.
But what else could I do?
I tried to trust only in the feeling of the ground below my feet and the occasional object my fingers brushed against, but the invading images continued to disorient me.
“
The voice offered more words of advice.
“Just come out and help me! Stop with this hidden master crap!”
I yelled, but the voice ignored me.
“...Fine.”
My hand found Tiara’s side, and I concentrated on the uniquely soft feeling of her body. There would be nothing else that imitated this feeling in the forest.
With my hand kept in place, I tried again to move. It was easier this time, but I was still blindly stumbling around.
“”
I groaned but did as they suggested.
The result was still the same, but I found that having a unique feeling to hone in on let me differentiate my own vision from that of all the others.
“”
The voice seemed curious about my progression. The fact that they were asking questions now meant I must have been right, and they were close enough to hear me.
“Better… but I still don’t know which way to go and my head feels like it's going to explode.”
“”
“How the hell would I do that?”
I gritted my teeth. I really wasn’t in the mood to be explaining this stuff to some creep who took joy in watching me suffer like this.
“Just help me, damnit!”
“”
“...It’s too hard. Their minds are too chaotic.”
“”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
The voice went quiet again. Whoever this person was, they weren’t one for explaining themselves.
Fear, huh? That’s one of the worst things to feel coming from another person. It wasn’t like feeling my own fear, it was version of fear I experienced. For example, one person may react to a loud noise as if it could end their life, while I would just flinch and forget about it soon after.
But why would fear be coming from the direction of Redwat—
I fell to the ground and began shaking involuntarily. There was too much of it, it was too intense, I couldn’t take it…
That was the last thing I recalled before blacking out.
***
[Rex POV]
Clara had collapsed. It appeared I had strongly underestimated how her Gift worked. I let out a sigh and shooed the herd of gobbleclucks away.
I had simply clapped my hands together loudly after sneaking up on them, and they were sent into a blind panic. I figured the collection of similar thoughts coming from them would act as a sort of beacon for Clara to follow, but it must have been too overwhelming for her.
But it wasn’t all a waste of time. I found a way to communicate with her through her Gift, using Tiara as a go-between, and I now knew the exact range of her mind-reading abilities.
She also made some progress in dealing with a large number of alien thoughts. I knew how it felt, so I could empathise to some extent. The first few times I fused with Tiara, the conflicting thoughts caused a lot of issues, but I learnt to work with them instead of against them.
Clara just needed that same direction to get her going. Hopefully, the value of this experience would serve as the spark that sets her potential alight.
I sincerely hoped this wouldn’t send Clara deeper into her shell. I retrieved her unconscious body and lifted her in my arms. Tiara was sitting next to her and quickly reclaimed her spot on my shoulder.
“Good work, Tia. I wasn’t sure that was going to work at all.”
She purred and nuzzled against my cheek.
The thoughts Clara heard belonged to Tiara, but the intent was my own. I had kept just outside the range of Clara’s telepathy while was active with Tiara, allowing me to hear Clara’s voice even at a distance. While linked, Tiara only feels a general sense of my emotions and will, but she knows me well enough to convey that into a coherent sentence that Clara could then read directly. Through this method, even with my immunity to her Gift, Clara was able to hear my thoughts without ever knowing it was me.
“Ah! I finally found you! Whoa, what’s wrong with Clara?”
Roland emerged, out of breath from all the running around I had made him do to separate Clara from us.
“We got separated. I just found her like this. Don’t worry, she’s ok.”
“Hunt’s over, we need to get her back home.”
Roland’s expression turned grim, and he took Clara from my arms before hurrying back towards Redwater. I could hear him muttering under his breath as he went.
“I knew this was a bad idea…”
A doting father indeed. This wasn’t the way to help your daughter…
