Night rolled around in what seed like an instant, yet sleep hadn’t found Astra. Instead, an insatiable curiosity kept her awake.
[What are you doing?]
"I was just curious about sothing," she said, making portals appear and reappear over and over, as if expecting sothing to change.
[Curious about?]
"These portals co in two types, right? One that sucks stuff in and one that does the opposite," she demonstrated with two opposite portals, one pulling her right hand eagerly while the other pushed it away.
"I wonder if I can use this to move around... It would save us tons of ti, don’t ya think? We could even reach places we never could’ve! Or..." She paused, her eyes downcast as a new thought rushed through her mind, "Void gear..."
[Void what?]
"That won’t be for a while yet though—one thing at a ti, Astra, co on!" She scolded herself, crossing her arms like a chastised child.
"I also kinda wanna know what that adaptability skill is, I accepted it not too long ago but i never saw it work,"
[I’ve been aning to ask sothing as well,] Celi said as they continued the uphill journey through thick trees, their path disturbing nearby animals that darted away at the sound of Astra’s heavy footsteps.
"What’s that?" she asked absentmindedly, her focus fixed on what she would do once they arrived.
[You said you wanted to see the stars. Why is that? To my research, people are most comfortable in their natural environnt. This contradicts my studies.]
"Curiosity," she replied bluntly, pushing vines out of the way as the volcano finally ca into view. It was still far off, their path nothing short of a ravine and a day’s walk away.
[That’s it?]
"Yeah," she answered, confused as to why anyone would need another reason.
[You’re willing to risk death because of curiosity...]
"Pretty much."
[Danger!]
"Huh? What now..." Astra muttered, keeping her voice low as she scanned for whatever threat lurked in the shadows.
[They’re following us... two of them,]
Astra nodded, continuing her hike like she’s none the wiser to their presence, both Vagnis and Belk sitting within the trees listening and watching her intently.
"Woah, it’s really a human...they really do exist!" Belk exclaid from excitent, crouching down to ready his body to hop onto the next branch, only to be stopped by a hand that blocked his path.
"Rember what the chief said, don’t engage it!" Vagnis hissed softly, his hand slapped away dismissively by Belk’s hand.
"Yeah I get it alright! Jeez—" Without missing another beat he was off, tailing Astra closely behind.
"That kid!" Vagnis groaned, following him to make sure he didn’t go too far.
"Sothing big goes through here..." Astra muttered, watching as a rotting animal corpse lodge halfway within the ground, its spine sprouting out the carcass like a sick flower budding.
"It seems to be quite a while before too... anyway that should give us our potassium nitrate right?" Astra asked almost as chippy as she ca, pointing to the ground that held the carcass so snuggly.
[affirmative!]
Astra grinned at the confirmation, her hand pulling up a semi transparent screen like it was muscle mory and activating her [Master Gatherer] Skill, pulling out potassium nitrate in its purest form, white and colorless.
[Potassium Nitrate acquired!]
Astra grinned, excited by the thought of actual progress "Right! Now we just need—"
[Danger!]
It was almost in the blink of an eye, a giant paw swiping at the young technician, who barely managed to avoid it, staggering backwards, she fell on the ground below, her eyes widening in fear once she ca to see what struck her.
A beast far beyond what you’d call a wolf, it’s damp wet sll, it’s towering stature that lood over her, showing off its sharp teeth to its prey. Astra tried to get back as far as she could, quickly reaching for sothing, anything she could use to protect herself against the creature.
Her breath was short and all rational thinking was thrown away, she’s left with nothing.
"Celi what is this thing!?" She cried out with the little breath she held.
[Notice: this is called a Neo wolf, an invasive species left behind long ago by human adventurers! it appears to be bigger than normal.]
"Oh great! Just great!" She shouted, standing up the best she could before sprinting off, the beast not too far behind her. Every step she takes feels like it takes four more, her demise was imminent and in the midst of all the chaos, she didn’t feel the back of her neck getting pricked, until it was too late.
And she collapsed...
"I told you not to engage it!" Voices started to shout over her, her eyes shut and oblivious to their faces.
"Did you want to just let it die?!" The shouted voice was hoarse yet filled with life. "No way, not a specin like this!"
Slowly her eyes open, the sll of dampness flooding the air as she rested her head on a cave floor, a soft fire crackling off in a distance where Vagnis and Belk were bickering amongst themselves.
"Don’t you see?! It’s a founder! A human from another world! If they really exist that ans there is really a world above our own! That could only an that—" Belk announced, but he was cut off, the other’s response filled with anger.
"There is no world above this one!"
"This is all there is! So just shut up with your dumb stories already! I, the village and the chief are tired of all of it!" A mont of silence befell the group, the sound of the flas the only thing that could’ve possibly filled the silence, though that didn’t even feel like enough.
"Why can’t you be normal..." Vagnis’s voice dropped, almost as if fitting the atmosphere his outburst created, "The chief’s at the end of his days...without a new heir we won’t have a future...we—"
"When I was young, my mom would always take on expeditions in the forest," Belk said, his voice soft almost as though he was speaking to himself at that exact mont. His red gaze staring into Vagnis’ "We’d find a lot of stuff, and just mix them together, see what works, crush them, heat them up till it lts, it was so much fun, so i kept collecting even after she passed... i find this fun,"
"Just say what you an..." Vagnis urged, his voice filled with annoyance.
"I’m sorry..."
"But I can’t,"
"Right...well whatever, when morning arrives lets just—" Vagnis’s voice trails off as his head turns to where Astra lies, only for the young technician to no longer be there, a feeling of unease starting to fester within him.
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