Morning light crept through the leaves in thin stripes. Nova was already awake, standing at the edge of the clearing, and watched the light reach the sleepers one face at a time.
She had already cleaned up camp before everyone else. She wanted to move the instant it was dawn. They couldn't afford to waste time.
"Mina, Korin, wake everyone up." The lynx-eared twins perked up at her voice and nodded. They quickly and quietly got to work waking everyone.
The camp slowly started to come alive. A dwarf rubbed his eyes, a fairy twin stretched bruised wings, and Raurk rolled to his feet with a grimace. It was obvious that he did not have a good night's rest.
She had to take a few deep breaths after seeing the look on the beastman's face. They would still be alive if she had come just a day sooner.
Dammit. She cursed in her mind but didn't dwell on it longer. Her priorities are those around her, and she will ensure no one dies under her watch.
Nova moved through them, giving short orders, pairing the steadier walkers with the limping or the dazed.
"Raurk, help the smith with that shoulder. Lynx-ears, you two stay at the end. Ensure no one gets left behind, and inform me if anyone follows us."
Everyone nodded under her orders. They knew that listening to her was their best bet at surviving. Slowly, everyone got to tend to one another, with those still physically well tending to the weaker.
Harun and Lira offered a hand to Cora, but the elder declined. She simply stood and brushed off the dirt from her clothes. "Don't worry about me. Just a night's rest has already healed me quite a bit. Besides, I have little Meyri to assist me."
The couple hesitated but nodded and went on to help the others.
Nova crossed to one of the camp's corners and opened a canvas sack. Inside laid a thumb-sized copper disk. Runes were etched onto its metal, and as she imbued mana into it, the item lit up, creating an arrow that pointed north. Good.
"Dravareth is still so far away," she said to herself, her mind going through the possible hurdles they would face.
She turned to look back at the camp's residents. Accounting for the injured, it would take around two weeks to get to Dravareth, less if these trees thin out.
Putting the disk away, she realized that her hands were shaking. This wasn't good. She couldn't let them see her like this; if they saw her nervous, it would only make them panic.
As she took some steadying breaths, movement flickered in her side vision. A moment ago, Cora, walking with a steady-if-slow step, had stopped in mid-stride. The elder's gaze was fixed on the forest, pupils wide, with her lips slightly parted.
Curious and a little worried, Nova walked closer. "Elder?"
Cora blinked. "I-I'm fine, child. I was just deep in thought."
Nova wasn't entirely convinced, but she nodded anyway. An unsteady elder was still an elder; if she said it was nothing, it was nothing. "We will move out soon," Nova said. "I will check on our path forward first. Meyri should come and assist you soon."
Cora's smile returned, thin but present. "I will keep up."
Nova waited half a heartbeat longer, then stepped away to scout the road ahead. Behind her, Cora flexed her fingers.
She felt bad about hiding things from Nova, but it was better if her attention was focused on everyone else instead of her.
A warm sensation lingered on her palm. It was mana residue from… something. Something that felt so familiar, yet she couldn't place her finger on it.
She tried to search her memories, but nothing came up. The sensation was like losing a word on the tip of the tongue.
Was this presence familiar? Yes. Safe? It's hard to say. Centuries of memories crowded one another, and not even she was safe from the erosion of time.
Later, she promised herself. Sort it later.
…
Feet found the dirt track. The group settled into a quiet shuffling rhythm, taller folk in front, shorter in the middle, scouts at rear.
Nova took the lead. One last glance over her shoulder caught Cora staring past the trees, eyes suspiciously distant.
"Elder," Nova called softly.
Cora turned, lifted a calming hand, and stepped behind the cat-girl carrying her satchel. But her gaze drifted back to the forest edge—a silent question following them out of the clearing.
/ - /
This forest is starting to get really annoying. Raka thought as he walked along the dirt path surrounded by forest.
He knew that there was a possibility that even after finding the bridge, any form of civilization could still be miles away.
While he did hope that that wasn't the case, he knew that luck was never on his side. Heck, for some reason, he didn't even feel tired at all!
He wanted to see how long he could actually walk, so he kept walking and walking. Before he knew it, it had turned to morning.
The thought of his new physical capabilities does excite him, but without anyone here to share it with, he just felt… lonely.
"Freya would be over the moon if she saw how the experiment turned out…" And the worst was that he still had no clue where everyone was.
Even with the embassy in ruins, a part of him hoped that, somehow, they had survived. That they were out there somewhere, trying to get back to him. That there was a chance he could still see them again.
Because if they were gone… then what would he even do?
But before he could drown in his thoughts, a sudden and sharp prickly sensation appeared on his skin. His gaze turned to his right, and he sensed something.
It was the sensation of powerful mana.
He stopped in his tracks and searched his surroundings. His modified body had already done a lot of weird things, so sensing something close wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
After getting nothing but silence, he relaxed slightly. But the prickly feeling still wouldn't go away.
Now, he had two options. One was to ignore the weird sensation and keep following the dirt path, which was pretty straightforward.
The other option was to look for the source of mana. It was risky, but if there was a sudden spike in mana, that would mean someone had cast a spell.
That meant that there were people nearby—hopefully, good people. He didn't exactly have a plan for what he was going to do if it was a criminal.
But walking on the dirt path for another day sounded boring, so off to the weird mana he goes!
/ - /
Ok, where the hell are you, weird mana signature? He really hoped that this was worth it. The ground leading towards the signature was muddy and wet. Dirtying up his previously somewhat clean clothes.
Stepping over another huge root, he felt he was getting closer to the source of the mana.
The prickly feeling was also getting more intense, which was a little unpleasant but bearable. If he had to describe it, it was like feeling constant goosebumps.
He came across a particularly dense group of bushes, but something within them caught his eye.
A transparent… wall? It was an odd thing to look at. Just behind the bushes, he could make out a bluish transparent curved wall.
Stepping closer, he realized that it was some sort of dome. Slowly, he reached out to touch it, but his hand fell right through.
"Whoa-!"
Flinching his hand back, he looked at the dome for a second more before reaching out again. This time, when his hand went through, he just kept it there.
It was a weird feeling-no, it was more like there was no sensation at all. His hand went through the "dome" like it wasn't even there.
"Well, that's weird." After thinking about his options, he decided to fully step through.
And still felt nothing.
Deciding to leave that aside for now, Raka looked at the inside of the dome. There were definitely signs of human activity there.
There were many footsteps ingrained on the muddy ground, some bloody bandages leftover, a couple of tattered bags, and a small satchel that excluded a very intense aura.
Hold on just a minute.
Putting his attention on the satchel, he realized that what he had been sensing the entire time wasn't the dome. But whatever was in that bag!
This created another question: how could he sense that but not the giant dome?
"Wait a second," He realized something, "Tattered bags, a lot of footprints, and bloody bandages?"
Raka knows he can be pretty dumb sometimes, but the evidence here is just too obvious. A group of people were definitely hiding here, and the dome was some kind of spell to hide them.
The bloody bandages and tattered bags might mean that they were being pursued by someone, and they had to leave some items to not slow them down.
Yeah, that sounds about right! Good job, brain! He gave himself a metaphorical pat on the back.
But that brought along new problems. If his deduction was correct, then that meant that the group of people were running from something or someone.
That means that he was at risk of meeting this pursuer. Considering that a group of people were running away from it, he wasn't going to stick around.
Before going, though, he wanted to see what was inside the satchel that he was sensing. As he got closer to it, the prickly feeling intensified.
He slowly picked up the satchel and tugged at the strings, peering inside. Nestled within were several orange crystals, glistening softly with their inner mana.
If I can sense them from so far away, these things must be loaded with mana.
He reached carefully into the bag, lifting one crystal between his fingers. It felt warmer than he expected, with a faint static-like sensation resonating against his skin.
His eyes narrowed slightly. "Why is it getting brighter…?"
The crystal's glow intensified abruptly, pulsing like a heartbeat, hot and painful to look at.
Oh shit—
BOOM!
Smoke engulfed Raka's vision as the explosion hurled him violently backward. His body collided brutally against the rough earth, tumbling through dense underbrush until he finally came to a halt.
COUGH COUGH COUGH
The world seemed to blur into a disoriented swirl of gray and green, his ears ringing painfully as the sound of the blast echoed in his head.
He lay motionless, eyes shut tight, his mind clouded by confusion and shock. What the fuck was that?!
Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear the haze that lingered stubbornly around him.
The first coherent thought that broke through the fog was how strangely cold his chest felt. Looking down, he quickly found out why.
Most of his upper clothing had been incinerated, leaving behind tattered remnants barely hanging onto his frame. His torso was in shambles, flesh charred black in some places and raw, glistening red in others.
The damage was grotesque—chunks of muscle torn clean off his sides, revealing disturbingly white glimpses of exposed bone beneath.
His forearms hadn't fared much better, strips of skin shredded away by the violent explosion.
Raka gasped, his breath hitching sharply as the initial numbness faded, replaced by a searing agony that burned through every nerve.
It hurts!. He clenched his teeth so tightly he thought they might crack, sweat pouring down his forehead as his body writhed involuntarily from the sheer intensity of his injuries.
He panicked inwardly, his thoughts spiraling frantically. What the hell am I supposed to do now?
He tried to push himself up, but his limbs trembled uselessly beneath him, the slightest movement triggering fresh waves of unbearable pain.
But just as his vision began to blur, something extraordinary occurred. All the pain seemingly started to disappear as his vision cleared. His shredded skin began to ripple, knitting itself back together impossibly fast.
Raw wounds closed rapidly, leaving smooth, unblemished skin behind. Muscle and sinew regrew at an alarming rate, filling in the gaps that moments ago had exposed bone and tendons.
The grotesque injuries vanished entirely within seconds, replaced by perfectly healthy flesh.
Raka stared in stunned silence at his fully healed arms, tentatively flexing his fingers. Not even a hint of discomfort lingered. It was as though the horrific damage had never existed.
How is this possible? When he'd fought the basilisk, healing had taken considerably longer.
Was it because these injuries were far worse? Or was there another factor at play entirely? The question gnawed at the edge of his mind, but he was just grateful to be alive right now.
Unfortunately, his relief was short-lived. The familiar, unsettling, prickling sensation from earlier suddenly returned.
His body immediately tensed, adrenaline surging through his veins again. He realized there were multiple presences, his heart hammering rapidly in his chest.
At least a dozen pairs of footsteps echoed ominously through the underbrush, steadily approaching his location.
"You've got to be kidding me,"
/ - /
BOOM!
"?!"
Nova's attention snapped sharply behind her as a deafening boom shattered the quiet murmurs of the refugees.
The group froze, turning their gazes in unison towards the distant rising plume of dark smoke that now marred the peaceful forest skyline.
Nova stared for a moment, eyes narrowed thoughtfully before a satisfied smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. "Looks like our traps worked," she remarked aloud, her voice edging with relief and smug triumph.
A ripple of cautious laughter and relieved murmurs passed through the group, tension visibly easing from their shoulders.
"That should hold them back quite a bit," Nova added confidently, "This gives us the perfect chance to gain some distance. Let's move quickly!"