Eight 5.10: Seeing the World, the World Also Sees You

The journey to the Glen was uneventful, with the forest becoming less and less weather beaten the farther west we traveled. The one unusual encounter was with a blue-coated bobcat. I came across her in a sheltered hollow between two oak trees where she stood over the remains of an undead fire badger.

The gash along her hind quarters told me that she’d been the one to take it down. And now she stared down at the body. More specifically, at where the badger’s silverlight resided in the chest.

She didn’t notice me, and I didn’t bother her. The decision to grow in power was a deeply personal one.

That said, I did alert Tegen to the bobcat’s presence. The lodge’s patrols would make sure she didn’t stray. Or put her down if she did.

###

Leilu met us at the boundary of his territory. He had the wolf named Mouser with him, and the two of them bowed deeply. Fala came out of her figurine, taking the Stone Otter shape. The secret of her human avatar, of us becoming beloved, would be kept even from the Glen’s closest allies.

“It’s true,” the wind whispered for Leilu, “you’ve both become silvered.”

“We have,” Stone Otter signed. “The exchange with our Heleitia was fruitful as I’d hoped.”

“For all of us,” Leilu said, and Aetheleita came out of the brush to bow beside him.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” Stone Otter signed.

“A silvered winged kalesk came to take her away,” Leilu said. “She seemed… glad to see him.”

Aetheleita nudged Leilu, and he added, “Before our Heleitia left, she released us from our exchanges. She said that our obligations had all been met and that she entrusts the future of her territory to us to do with as we will.”

The two of them looked at Stone Otter then, clearly curious about what had happened to cause such thing. They must’ve wondered at what she planned to do.

Stone Otter didn’t respond outwardly, but the words they’d spoken were like rocks dropped into a pool, the ripples spreading through my beloved as she thought about the incredible amount of history between Heleitia and her that was now at an end.

We stood like that for a good ten minutes, the Stone Otter sculpture becoming still as my beloved got a handle on her emotions. She was now free to go wherever she wanted and to do whatever she wanted.

“Do you…” Leilu began. “Do you plan to take us under you? If so, we will need exchanges.”

Life breathed into the Stone Otter, and she quirk her head, questioning. “Why would I stay here and do that? There is a world to explore.”

A pleased expression came across the egret’s eyes. “You’ll really leave?”

“I will,” Stone Otter replied.

“But what happened?” he asked, seemingly unable to hold the question back. Even Aetheleita nodded, curious as well.

I put a hand on Stone Otter’s shoulder to keep her from answering. “Nope. If we’re going to go through the whole story again, we might as well make ourselves comfortable. Let’s head to the Glen. I’ll start a fire and get some food going.”

###

To celebrate Stone Otter and me becoming silvered, the Glen’s residents threw us a party. The reason Moonlight, Scout, and the other wolves hadn’t been present to greet us was because they were hunting a deer.

They dragged it back to the Glen, where I dressed and grilled it. Aetheleita turned out to be a vegetarian, so I made a corn mash flavored with young pine needles for her. It wasn’t enough to fill her up, yet she made do by browsing the nearby bushes and trees.

The celebrants clamored for a show, so Stone Otter revived an old standard—the first Avengers story she’d ever presented. The plot featured water sculptures of knights Steed and Peel investigating a criminal family scheming to seize a land knight’s fortune. There was plenty of drama, as well as action as the protagonists fought off assassins sent by the show’s villains.

The actors were, of course, amazing and more life-like than ever. And the advantage now compared to when the show was first staged was that Moonlight provided backgrounds while Leilu voiced the actors and performed the sound effects.

Aetheleita had never seen one of these shows before and was duly mesmerized.

Eventually, the party came to an end. It was late afternoon by then, and while Leilu and the wolves were just next door, Aetheleita had a long journey home. We bid them all farewell.

Interestingly, during the goodbyes Mouser wanted to return his extension of the hidden mind, but Yuki told him it was okay to hold onto it for now. ‘A day may come when the wolves might need to coordinate with Voorhei’s hunters.’

Then the Glen emptied of guests, and it was just the familiar rush of the small waterfall filling the space. Stone Otter and I retired to the shrine to rest for the evening.

Later, the Deer God warned of a predator flying overhead, but the night was otherwise a quiet one.

###

The next morning, we fortified ourselves with bacon, eggs, and coffee, then closed up the shrine behind us. The sun was barely out, peeking over the horizon and starting to dye the world the color of blushing roses. There were just a few patchy clouds, and the air was crisp and full of promise.

We moved through Leilu’s territory with just a quick word in passing. We’d already said our goodbyes, and our focus was on the journey ahead.

A portion of the escarpment northwest of the Glen had recently collapsed, and we climbed the debris for an easy path to a higher elevation. From there, we cut north to avoid the mountains to the west and to intersect with the road to Bashtotwei.

By mid-morning, we’d traveled far enough for Fala and the Deer God to feel comfortable coming out of their elements and to jog alongside. So far, the terrain was familiar, but once we hit the road, it would be all new. I was looking forward to it.

###

By noon, we’d tracked and killed an Earth-Touched kalihchi bear. The fight itself had been short and brutal; there were four of us and she was defenseless against both Fala’s obsidian knife and the newly repaired Bearbane.

The light brought the spear halfway to Level 5, while the carcass went into the Hoarder’s Pocket to be dressed and butchered later.

The day continued to warm up as we traveled, and by about two in the afternoon, we slowed our pace, since things were starting to look unfamiliar. There was sense shared among us, an instinct, that the wilderness here deserved a more cautious approach.

The trees, the bushes, the birds, and the small animals—they were the same species I knew, but the overall feeling was somehow more potent.

“Are we in a spirit of the land’s territory?” I asked, signing the question to my beloved.

“This area belonged to Heleitia,” she replied. “What you’re feeling are the silvered and dark who inhabit it.”

I nodded and kept my spirit eyes roving.

###

At around three in the afternoon, we found signs of a razorclaw bear, a big one with paws the size of bicycle wheels. Looking at the tracks he’d left behind, I was certain the amount of light in him would be worth the detour, so we veered west toward the mountains to see if he was nearby.

###

My spear carved through the razorclaw’s thigh, and the monstrous bear once again tried to lock me down—a force clamping me in place so that he could tear me apart. In our group, I was the only one affected.

The dark bear had strayed into telekinesis, but his power didn’t touch Fala and the Deer God who’d escaped into their respective elements. Then Yuki teleported me out from under his influence, and I was free, too.

Fala harassed the razorclaw with her knife, and the Deer God shifted between us, amplifying our reactions. When he stepped out of the herd to charge the bear, his antlers gored the beast’s hind quarters, causing him to lift up in alarm. Yuki immediately followed with a teleport, so that I could thrust Bearbane through the beast’s other thigh.

The razorclaw’s resilience was off the charts, but we steadily wore him down. Our endurance proved stronger than his. I also noticed the four of us establishing a cacophonic rhythm. Our attacks came from a multitude of unexpected directions, like a storm at sea—with waves and the wind churning around our enemy.

###

Bearbane chimed when the razorclaw’s light was applied. The haft lengthened by two inches and thickened, simultaneously becoming denser. Fala and I grinned at each other—the spear was whole once more.

It was too early to tell the full impact, but comparing the spear to the magic dagger, the spear triggered more of a response in our ability to sense threats. By leveling the individual pieces, we’d created a weapon that was more dangerous than dawn but not as threatening as silvered.

The leftover light went to Fala to continue her journey to Level 14.

The light distributed, I started work on preserving the bear’s claws. They had the potential to be made into fine knives in the right artisan’s hands.

###

The bones of both my forearms broke under the combined influence of a kooska rat swarm. I’d been wrapping the last of the claws in cloth when they’d emerged out of the brush—about thirty terrier-sized rodents. Each one was dusk and also possessed a talent for being Bone-Touched.

Individually, the rats only blipped in my danger sense, but they wielded their powers in unison and overpowered my authority over my own body. My bones turned against me.

Yuki cast the Iron Body spell in response, which I immediately doubled up. The Deer God then layered his influence over mine.

My shins tried to crack, which caused me to stumble briefly, but the bones held.

The rats’ eyes glared orange-blue against the backdrop of the darkening woods. They surrounded me like a net of will-o'-the-wisps.

Fala raised a multitude of stone spikes from the ground, the sound like firecrackers as her Thousand Spears tore through the assembled mass of rodents. The rats scattered in response, their influence tugging at my ribs, my feet, my hands—moving from spot to spot in search of a weakness.

Yuki doubled their Iron Body, so I had three of the spells reinforcing me. Seeing me standing so still, a few of the rats attempted to bite me, but none could get through Fala’s defense.

Eventually, enough of the rats died, causing them to break. They spread out to flee among the trees. Even though it was dark, we hunted them down. The swarm would be deadly to anyone besides us.

###

I was still collecting light from the rats’ bodies, when the Deer God’s warning sent me to the ground prone. A creature shot past, almost flying faster than I could track. A quick Prey of the Hunter hooked into them, but they took off immediately, heading west up into the mountains. They didn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon.

Looking at the ground around me, I saw that five of the rats’ bodies had gone missing. They were the ones I hadn’t gotten to yet, so their light was still inside them.

###

A two-tailed fox leapt down from the high branches of an oak tree to ambush Fala, but we’d known he was hiding up there. She cut his throat before he could even hit the ground. Alas, the fox was just a distraction. The top of his head popped open to show his brain was missing.

A wolf launched himself at Fala, while a brown bear came at me. They appeared to be normal creatures, except neither had a valid spirit vessel. They were already dead, and were instead being manipulated like puppets. The tops of their heads also came loose; the brain cases were empty.

We put down the beasts, but more and more came out of the trees, attempting to overwhelm us with their numbers. They weren’t like the undead, though. Destroying the muscles, nerves, or blood vessels “killed” the creatures’ abilities to attack. They went down in such numbers that their bodies piled up around us.

The Deer God nudged me, drawing my attention to the canopy above. There, hidden along the branches appeared to be the filaments of a spirit different than the oak tree.

Valu Vine (Plant, Dark)

Talents: Puppet Master, Brain Power, Hidden Attackers, Tasty on a Cracker

My first thought was: One of these things is not like the other. And then I wondered at Hidden Attackers, whose power quickly became apparent when what seemed like an ordinary lynx caught me across the belly with claws too fast and too sharp for an ordinary animal.

The multitude of animals was meant to lull the vine’s victims into a sense of complacency, so that the true attackers might sneak through.

I cast Healing Water, while Yuki cleared the area around us with a Thousand Spears. Will arrows work on the vine? I wondered. If not, I’ll have to climb up there to take care of it.

‘I’ll buy you time,’ Fala sent.

So, I unslung my bow and got ready to shoot.

###

Fala and I stood in silence for a good twenty minutes, just waiting to see what else came out of the woods. Slowly, the sound of insects returned. The trees’ spirits calmed, the breeze lightly swaying their limbs.

A good mile or two out, the flyer from earlier circled around us too low against the treetops for me to catch sight of them. I couldn’t be sure, but the brief glimpse I’d gotten… it’d looked somewhat like a rockhead goose.

Occasionally, the goose zigzagged toward and away from us, like a “Z” repeated multiple times. The movement was clearly intentional, but it didn’t resemble any hunting or scavenging behavior I knew.

We’d have to keep an eye out to keep him from stealing more of our kills. That meant extra vigilance toward the sky when we established a camp for the night. It’ll be good to get some cover overhead.

Fala nodded. ‘The stone is thicker to the west. Let’s head there. We might find a cave, or I can create one.’

Okay, okay, I thought.

But first we’d wait a little longer to check if it was safe to move.