NEVRAS
Bloody Hell! We spent six months on that mountain, I told her all about my family. How I was born near the town of Phoenix, as crown prince of Phoenix Castle, and about my parents being King Charis and Queen Victoria (or as everyone called her, Vicky) Phoenix. How I was trained by the legendary swordsman Kurasawa, and learned all of my techniques from him, even though so of them I still have yet to use. How I learned strategy and tactics from the werewolf Blackfang, a dedicated soldier who had run into a nasty bit of luck, being attacked by valdrserkers, the 'wolf-shirts'. How could that little... heartless misbegotten bit of tainted pond scum just forget everything like that, like our ti didn't even matter? God's blood! Okay, maybe I didn't an so of that... sorry, God, don't strike
down! But I'm still pissed at her.
I told her more about life in Phoenix and my past than I had to any living soul. And yet... here she was, completely treating what I said as if it weren't worth rembering. And earlier, when I was trying to talk to her, she refused to open up. Was it all a lie? Maybe I was wrong to open up to her, I thought as I walked around the streets of Ghobli, such as they were. “Hey.” I didn't notice anyone talking to , until this ti they poked my back and repeated, “Hey.” I turned around, and was startled by the face of Ambrosia an inch from mine, and fell backward. Geez, didn't she know about personal space?
After picking
up from the ground, Ambrosia asked, “Hey, Nevras, are you okay? You've been quiet most of today, and started glaring at
for so reason. Especially right then, where you seed to be muttering curses aloud.” So I told her, “There's nothing wrong, I'm fine.” Ambrosia stared hard at , and asked, “Are you sure?” But I couldn't tell her why I was upset. She looked at , and then walked off. I had to say sothing, so I just blurted out, “You didn't even bother to rember that my parents were the king and queen of Phoenix! All our ti together, and you just treated it like it didn't matter!” Ambrosia's confused face told the whole story. Ambrosia asked, “I'm sorry, I don't rember you telling
this at all. When did this happen?” I had an idea. I asked, “Hey, Ambrosia, how long have we been together?” I was frustrated, but sohow less angry, after she told , “About three days, I think.” I calmly asked her, “Tell
everything that happened in those three days, as you rember it.” Ambrosia explained, “We t in the Opening town, went to Shoten, then climbed up Tsukuyomi Mountain where we fought that awful cat, then we walked down, and we fought those goblins. Then we got to town, and I was a dumbass and got us all killed, and God respawned us. Then we took a boat ride on that fake-looking ship, and wound up in this town. Why?”
I told her the truth, “Ambrosia, we were on that mountain six months.” This ti, it was her turn to jump back in surprise. She gasped, “Six months?!?” I responded, “It looks like sohow you forgot the entire ti of your training. No wonder I was worried you forgot what I said, not that I bla you now. I guess I can't fault you for what got wiped from your mind,” I noted that she also seed to be upset about sothing else. I put my hand over her shoulder, “Hey, are you okay?” Her head bowed, and she took a long sigh, “...I'm sorry. It's like you said. Why ? Why did I spend ti on the streets, while other people prospered? Why did I have to fight rats and bugs for scraps while so people ruled? Mostly though, I'm jealous. I'm jealous of you... You got a normal life.”
It was my turn to sigh, “I've not been able to tell anyone this. Even my parents don't know. How would it look if the crown prince was...” Ambrosia patiently waited, until at last I spoke, “I was born with a sort of genetic issue. One of my fellow soldiers nad Komogu had it, but it was far more pronounced with him. I have small junk, small body, and I can't really form large muscles or facial hair. I'll probably never be bald either, but I should be able to have children. He, on the other hand, had breasts and hips, and I believed he might actually be female. Until in the military they had people bathe together... As a child, kids dressed
up like a girl to make fun of , only... as ti went by, I started to like it. I had my royal uniforms and such for anyone to see, but I also began to collect a secret stash of other clothing, makeup, and even accessories.” I told her all of this, looking away in embarrassnt. She was bound to hate
for being a freak. For toying with her feelings, and getting her hopes up that I was a regular guy. Soone like
couldn't be loved after all. I looked up at her tearful eyes. Of course! She was crying because she would tell
it would never work out. Only Koren had accepted this part of , and our relationship had been a train wreck. I braced for those words of rejection. Instead, out ca both arms of hers, and they encircled my shoulders to my waist, as I felt the weight of her breasts on . She cried, “You poor thing! I could never hate you for sothing like that! Let's go shopping.” We went back to our rooms to find our bags and our coin-purses, but Elias and Aqorm were nowhere to be found. I wonder what happened to them? Ambrosia started stripping off my clothes. “Wait... what are you...?!?” She smirked as she continued, “If we are going out shopping, then I want you to look the part. After all, we might buy clothes for you too. If you like that. Also, I kinda want to see what Aqorm saw.” And so she did.
AMBROSIA
God, he looked hot. But I couldn't possibly doing anything with him, as he was in his unclothed state. We had just t (as far as I was concerned, those six months didn't exist), and I was saving myself for marriage, and ummm, sohow as much as I wanted to, I couldn't help but feel I shouldn't. It just wasn't my nature to act on such feelings. Nope, nope, I was just taking him on a shopping date, and that's that.
We walked outside the door and wandered around food sellers, offering everything from pork on a stick with what slled like a peanut sauce, to candied apples on a stick, to fried noodles. I refused to let him eat anything. “We mustn't ruin your pretty dress, Nevrasia~” I said, choosing the closest approximation of a feminine form of his na. He looked at
in shock, yet walked on silence.
We saw so creepy dude in a thick hood, mixing potions over a cauldron. He cackled as he pulled out so jewelry from the boiling liquid. Looking up, he told us as he spread out his inventory, “I am an alchemist. My practice may be dark, but the items that I make are superb!” I saw a solar alarm clock, a death ray, a small clockwork gerbil, a potentiality crystal, and several bits of jewelry made from strange processes. I couldn't afford any of this stuff, even after having sold all of the animal parts from our trip up and down the mountains. Nevras looked over the goods, and saw the anklet. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he adopted a cutesy feminine voice, “May I ask about that anklet you just made?” The alchemist explained, “This is a Gorgon Anklet. Certain processes, including creature effects like a dusa's glare can cause the organic materials in the body to calcify and undergo mineral replacent, what you might call petrification. The proper word is petrifaction. There are so cures to this, such as the extract of the mandrake which causes the body to tabolize these mineral compounds and form antibodies, breaking them down into essential minerals for nutrition and regrowing organic tissue. Or there's priestly cures, which... well, I'm an alchemist. I don't actually know how that magic works. This anklet reads the genetic code of the subject, halts any cellular breakdown, then proceeds with replacent of organic material on the genetic level using a spring-loaded syringe. Wearing this, you shall never worry if a dusa glances your way! And it's yours today! Only 599.99 Gold!” We only had about 9000 Gold between the four of us, and Elias had taken so of our money. I wanted to buy a special present for Nevras after this. I tried my best sex appeal, which apparently boiled down to puppy dog eyes... but it was not to be. He refused to budge on the price. Then Nevras leaned towards the hooded man, wrapping one arm around his waist and using index finger of the other hand to massage his chest, “Please~~~ Won't you lower the price? Just for ~?” The hooded man told Nevras, “Well, I happen to have overstock on these anklets. It's not like anyone buys sothing trendously useful in battle, or anything. I'll give you five Poison Armlets, five Gorgon Anklets, and three Echo Rings for that price. Co by later tonight and we'll settle... the second part of your price.” Nevras continued with the super cutesy voice, “Oh thank you Mister! I'll be sure to drop by~~!” As we left, I asked Nevras, “Are you, by any chance, into guys?” Nevras shook his head, “I saw my sisters using charm to get what they wanted from foreign diplomats at a much higher rank. I asked them to teach
how to act like this.” His cute facial expressions turned to that of disgust, “Mark my words, if we can avoid eting him, we will. I do not want... what he's offering. Let's maybe do so clothes shopping and then head back to the inn and get changed.” We headed past rows of stands again. There were people boiling water for baozi buns nearby.
“Oh all right!” I said, “but only if you order in that high voice you've been using.” I found it incredibly sexy for what was really a boy to be talking like a girl. He did, and we managed to get two buns. The first had sesa seeds on top. We tore it in half, and the inside was a deep reddish-brownish paste that slled vaguely of beans, only it was sweet. It was... sorta good, but not really my thing. The second was topped with pieces of green onions, and once broken, it revealed a mix of pulled pork with so nice onions in a tangy savory sauce. This, on the other hand, I couldn't get enough of. But the rest of the 9000 was held by the others, and I had spent 600G of the 4000 I held. The buns I would have to hand over another 300G just now. Nevras stopped , “Wait,” and he showed sothing I couldn't see to the rchant. She was a woman with a long apron and long brown hair in a tight bun, who had obviously taste-tested plenty of her own bao. She kneeled to him, “Prince Nevras! I... didn't recognize you.” He said, “Will this do? We will have five more of the pork-onion buns... and one more of the sweet bean buns.” We walked on as we ate, although I must admit, I kinda... ate four of the five pork buns. We found a dress rchant, eventually. “I'm selling dresses imbued with runes! Look here, this blue Lilac Dress repels ice, and this one, this Peach Dress does the sa to fire,” the rchant said. She was a spunky looking girl with short curly hair. The back of her head was more than slightly tangled, and she kept running her fingers through and getting it stuck. I asked, “How much for each of them?” The rchant said, “Ow- that will be- grrr, 1400 Gold, but let's price it to sell, so... 1100 Gold.” I thought about getting Nevras a present, but I would need a distraction... “Hey Nevras, why don't you change there? I'll go after you.” I pointed to the makeshift changing room to north, constructed a couple of plastic poles, cloth dividers, and a door with a simple padlock. I saw his clothes sliding off, and as much as I wanted to stay and watch, I had to rush if I wanted to get him his gift. I rushed to the other side of the town, ignoring most of the stalls along the path, until finally I caught sight of a weapon and armor shop. “Excuse ,” I said, “but I'd like a shield. Sothing for... under 1200 Gold, I guess.” He got
a Durasteel Tower Shield with my remaining money, leaving
with just 10 Gold. “Shunpo Step!” I heard Nevras call out, as he sohow skipped the distance from point A to point B, and appeared just ahead of . “Wow, teach
to do that soti!” I said. But Nevras explained, “I can't, I can only do it once.” So I asked, “You an once per short rest, or once per day?”
Hours passed, and we had headed back to our hotel, managing to miss the perverted alchemist from earlier. I had changed Nevras out of his clothes, and packed our other stuff. He had especially been impressed with his new shield. After taking that arrow hit, he had been pretty ssed up. Having removed all traces of our outing, so as to avoid Elias or Aqorm mocking him (I'm not sure they would, but Nevras needed to feel comfortable), we waited outside for them to co back. I looked out at the moon, “Wow! It sure got dark quickly! Thank you, Nevras, I had a nice ti. Let's see if we can find the others.”
ELIAS
After Aqorm and I talked about... whatever topics we wanted to off-screen, and had a generally romantic evening, we returned to see Ambrosia and Nevras in their beds. The large number of paper and bio-plastic (a substance developed in response to waste in the ocean, it was woven from kelp and was edible) bags in the room let
know roughly how long the two had spent buying comrcial goods. As there were only three beds, Aqorm initially said that she would stand guard because elves didn't really need sleep; however, once she was convinced that I was fast asleep, she instead crawled into my bed, and started cuddling.
I woke up to her standing guard as before, and pretending as if nothing had ever happened, so I decided not to confront her. Instead, the other two got dressed, and we left town in a hurry. For so reason, both of them decided to wear cloaks and lower their gaze while the urged us out of town. From these observations, I ford a hypothesis that they perhaps did sothing incredibly sketchy last night. My only hope was that these wronged parties did not call the guard. The guard only had jurisdiction inside their town, but if they were called and failed to find the suspect, they tended to employ bounty hunters. Or ninja assassins. Or both. Unlike ages before, justice wasn't taken into consideration, but instead those sent were supposed to collect what the original client wanted. If they did sothing wrong, we might be running for our lives until whatever it was beca settled.
Permit
to explain. All citizens in this world under the jurisdiction of the Council carry basic identification and/or a passport. Both will suffice, as identification is sufficient to function as a passport, and carved with runes on the back. This detail was largely left out because listing this every ti we enter a town entrance would get repetitive, but each town that is part of the Council has a border guard. Usually, they simply check a person's passport, write their na, last residence, and get a thumbprint. While they can stay as long as they wish, if the town guard catches them doing sothing wrong, they get imdiately deported to face justice from their own town. But more often what happens is people commit a cri, and skip town before they are caught. In this case, soone either hires ninjas or the bounty offices are notified. These people hunt down criminals and in so cases dangerous creatures. In the case of ninjas, I have heard they actually use those fingerprints to track the person, connecting their prints to their physical location. This is but one of the reasons ninjas are so feared as assassins.
We arrived in Zuran before nightfall or even the afternoon, despite it being several miles away. The town seed pleasant enough, but it was (at least on the surface) extrely generic. There was a weapon shop, an inn and pub, and a clinic. Generic, at least, until one noticed that over half of the citizens were non-human and so seed to be a breed of extraterrestrials with green skin and big eyes. Until one found out that the weapons shop dealt in cursed weapons. Until one noticed that the houses were built in German half-timber style for so reason, yet using teak instead of the typical spruce, and using military-grade aluminum roofing. Even so, the town was reasonably quiet, and we had learned to shrug off oddity in our travels. Ambrosia bought a fold-up bed for our tent from a black man in town. It's funny, all the ti spent protesting for equal rights, forming special interest groups, trying to get support from the governnt, and you know what actually created equality? It was when people stopped making a big deal about race or discrimination, and just worked hard. Black, white, or even green, it honestly didn't matter anymore. Although, those grey aliens were scum!
AMBROSIA
We entered the mayor's house as per the advice of the waitress/chef. The hut was the sa strange yurt-like structure that had been mass-produced in my town of Opening, except that this one was made from tal rather than clay. I finally got to see the inside of such a building. It was completely circular, with shelves and pictures obviously having been tried to be hung (make that “hanged” because what was done here obviously resulted in the death of the object) only to be thwarted by the fact that there were actual round walls. The walls instead were lined here and there with furs, to insulate and cover the fact that this was actually a tal house. A table was placed to the edge of the wall to catch most anything that fell. In the center of the room was an incredibly large man. He was about 8'' tall and nearly 300 lb, though it was all muscle. “The mayor is HUGE!” I said, edging for the door. “Run!!!” Nevras grabbed my hand before I could be too rude, though, and turned be around, urging
to talk to this guy anyway. “Ummm... We need to speak to you about sothing....” His voice bood, “What can I help you folks with?”
I would hate to get this guy angry at . I cringed, “He's so big, it's just intimidating.” Nevras nodded, “I know.” Aqorm asked, “Did they pick the largest guy in town to lead?” At this point, Elias had enough of our comnts. He fud, “Aqorm and Ambrosia, you're being rude! Show so manners! And so respect, this is the mayor after all.” Elias addressed him calmly, “We would like to ask you about the key to the shrine.” The man exploded, “YOU DARE?!?” But, it turned out to be a prank because then he said, “Just kidding, sure I'd lend it to you... Only...” My face lit up, “Oh thank you so much! You don't know what this ans to us!” Nevras shushed
with a finger, “Let him finish.” The mayor coughed, “As I was saying, I'd be glad to lend it to you. The trouble is, I...” Aqorm cut him off, “You don't have it anymore, do you? I can usually tell when soone's been robbed. Did you happen to see where they went?” The mayor scowled, “They headed to the forest, over to the east. But you shouldn't go after them. That forest is haunted.” Aqorm scoffed, “Bah. I don't believe in superstition. I only believe in myself.” He explained, “No really, It only appears at nightfall.”
Indeed, when we left town, we saw no forests there. But like clockwork, at slightly past dusk, the area began to waver, and suddenly a forest was there when before there was nothing. Elias comnted, “A manifestation from the Realm of Void... is it on both sides?” I had no idea what he was talking about. Slowly, we entered the forest, wary that the forest might disappear with us in it. As we entered we saw an elf with dark brown hair, a blue bandanna wrapped around his neck, and green tunic. He looked kinda badass. He warned, “This forest is a twisted ss. People have been known to get lost in here for years.” Bah. He was obviously just exaggerating.
AQORM
The forest grew in thick clumps, with trees and brambles forming an actual wall against going off the path, the grove opening only in small spaces to the north, south, east, and west. It was if it was allowed to grow freely, yet planned at the sa ti. Ambrosia walked blindly through the forest, fighting snakes and spiders and centipedes along the way. Whatever powers she had gotten along the way, a sense of direction was not one of them. She headed straight then straight then straight for roughly three hours... umm straight, even though the landscape was clearly swapping back and forth. I decided to test out a theory. I whispered, “Hey, Elias. Stay here with . Let those two go ahead.” Elias responded back in low tones, “This is too great a risk. We could be left behind forever if this is dinsional or ti-space distortion.” I whispered back, “Then, let's test it, leave a mark on the ground. If it's a ti-space or dinsional distortion, it won't show up again.” Elias made a mark on the ground, and as we followed Ambrosia, we noticed it a second ti. Elias told Ambrosia and Nevras, “You guys go ahead, we need to check on sothing.” As they walked ahead, after a few minutes, we appeared ahead of them. Ambrosia gasped, “Have we been going around in circles?” I explained, “Not quite. It's... how do I put this … ummm, looped space. When we walk through this forest, we get warped to different areas because the physical area is skewed. Elias, would you do the honors?” Elias made a simple mark “1” for this area on a rock, then “2”, and so on. Sotis, it skipped all the way back to the start, sotis we managed to find a new area, and sotis we went backwards. Each area had minor differences in the flora and fauna, in the other landscape such as rocks, stumps, or fallen trees. The path ahead was fairly simple, but because there were four openings, the walk beca annoyingly long, until I noticed sothing.
While in the earlier regions of the forest, we faced any old direction, but now whenever we were warped to an area, our bodies initially faced the direction of the next path, so if I found I was facing left, we should go left. For so reason, the forest seed to have a fixed perspective, it would not rotate as I turned. This was very unnerving, but as I beca used to it, it made maneuvering through the forest simple. The path headed south, and I followed, sohow ending up in the north end of the forest, in a section I had never seen before.
At the end of the forest, stood a woman cheering us on. “You're almost at the end of the forest, keep going.” I felt pleased by her praise, until I moved around her and noticed that her eyes had the cloudy appearance of one who was blind. As we walked on, I felt sad for her, so I cooked up so snake at from before and gave it to her, and ate so of it ourselves. There was still enough for another al for us, but I knew what it was like being low on resources. At the very edge of this final grove, a thin white mist covered the top of the trees.
The forest gave way to a frozen region. It wasn't a mountain so much as a low plateau scooped out to the side to form a mouth, yet the ice was so slick, even with my special ability to roll with things, all I could do was minimize damage as I crashed into random trees, and was still sliding all over the place. The top of the plateau looked easier to walk upon, but it was blocked by rocks. It was steadily becoming colder by the minute...
GOD
I, the God of Heaven and Earth, who makes all things, made this plateau which was much colder than the land around it, which requires fur coats in an area where most people do not expect. Why? Because human beings need to be tested? Because of a larger plan? No, because woolly mammoths needed to make a coback. The mouth had high rock walls and boulders to give them plenty of protection from hunters who might sohow wander through the forest while it happened to be visible and make it through the endless maze of spatial warps, and manage to avoid skidding enough to make it anywhere near. My cute lil’ mammoths needed a secure place to grow up and nurse their young. So much for that idea.
A group of bounty hunters had just stolen so key and had the raw determination to boost themselves up the wall. The man was tall with deep brownish-black hair, a blue breastplate and gray pants, and a long curved sword. The other one was a dwarf, dressed in brown work clothes, with a green Phrygian cap. Like all dwarves, his body was built like a barrel, and he moved slowly, for dwarves cannot run. He moved without sliding at all on the icy ground, and functioned as an anchor for his ally. Once the reached a point where neither could proceed, the dwarf grabbed the man and swung about, tossing him onto the ledge above. The man, anwhile, tossed a rope around the dwarf, using the montum to pull him up. A human, having lesser mass, might have been torn in two through the force of motion, but with the dwarf's firm body he was simply pulled up. And then those two slaughtered my poor babies!
This is why, when Ambrosia and the others ca, I had to do sothing, if only to protect my creation. “讓那裡有梯子,”I said. And there was a ladder, right behind the boulders. I asked Thor for help. All early religions had “gods” that they worshiped but the truth was, all those who humans venerate are simply immortals.
Immortals are humans, demons, angels, or otherwise have cultivated affinity or favored connections. I'm oversimplifying, but basically, if soone becos strongly connected with a certain concept, they can sotis achieve immortality, and their power tends to revolve around this concept. This is called their Divine Domain, and immortals have senses relating to these. For example, an immortal of drink like Dionysus imdiately knows when soone needs a drink or is having one. And there's two types of immortals, free immortals who independently achieved immortality through their own effort, and those who serve
and govern the natural phenona.
I could not directly intervene in this event, or risk a deus ex machina. Deus ex machina (literally, “god from the machine”) was a specific event, if I were to break my commandnts, and act openly without restraint, it would risk robbing humans of free will, or possibly cause reality as we know it to crumble. It didn't matter that humans knew of my existence, in fact, it was all the more important. To put it bluntly, my direct interference could cause things to beco artificial. I could co to humans in visions, I could act when nobody was watching (this is how new species were “suddenly” found in remote regions), I could perform miracles but only under very specific conditions, I could send prophets and heroes, and I could answer prayers. But if I did too much, it would cause a ss. Therefore, many of my prayers and miracles were usually subcontracted using angels, immortals, or the Reapers. Any more than this would breed dependence.
“Thor,” I said, “will you aid these humans? They need a hamr. Not just any hamr either...” Thor shook his head, “I will not give them Mj??lnir. Not after last ti.” I nodded. I could see his point. Mj??lnir was a powerful hamr, with the power to break stones and cause thunder and lightning. But it could also cause Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse. We had enough of those for the ti being. That wasn't even what he was talking about though. He ant the War of the Seven Fish... no, it's better not to talk about that! “Sindri and Brokkr!” I called, “make us a hamr. One worthy of humans but with the power to put even gods in their place. But rember, you must make it imdiately.” Sindri and Brokkr shook their heads, “We can indeed make such a hamr, but it will not be our best work. At the amount of ti that you give us, it will last barely a mont of yours. One mortal hour.” The dwarven immortals set to work. I saw them construct together a hamr out of pure will, temper it in fire, and pound it into shape, all within the blink of an eye. These were my experts of the forge, after all. Then they went away, leaving behind only the hamr. Thor picked up the hamr. Unlike his own, this hamr was more like a sledgehamr. His trendous muscles rippled, and then he launched the hamr in the air, falling like a teor into a block of ice below.
NEVRAS
“Look out!” I said, pushing the others out of the way. I slid backwards on the ice, while the others skidded straight into a rock wall. I had saved them from a hamr possibly falling sowhat close to them. I could see the gratitude in their eyes. “Thanks a lot, Nevras,” Aqorm called out to . We slowly crawled to the hamr and read the inscription. ??Whosoever holds this hamr, if she be worthy, shall possess the power of Ambrosia.?? I blinked, then looked at her, “I guess it's for you, then,” and tossed it to her. She obviously wasn't going to catch it, but it stopped in midair before it smashed her in the face, glowed slightly, then lost its light and clattered to the ground. She picked it up, grunted and groaned. I had no idea what the inscription was talking about. The hamr eventually noticed that she wasn't all that strong, and adjusted its size and weight. “Hey guys, watch this,” said Ambrosia, uttering the most common famous last words ever. Thankfully, nobody and nothing was hard, except for so poor innocent boulders and rock formations. As the path cleared, we noticed there was a ladder behind one of the boulders. Had this been here the whole ti?
At the top, our look of triumph turned to horror. There were so many mammoths dead... This was a terrible waste. Whoever hurt these animals would rue the day. Thankfully, it appeared whoever killed them was rely heading in a straight line and only attacked those who got in their way or who charged, not hunting or salvaging their at or fur. Yet you could tell exactly where the walking path was by the corpses that lay in their path. I knelt to the ground and studied the bodies. I see wounds from a sword and an axe, spaced on either side from each other, and there are a pair of footprints of different sizes. These were two different people, I thought. I looked at the remaining mammoths, standing off to the fringes, cringing in fear while grinding their teeth on the tough mountain grasses. These footprints suddenly scattered. I had no ti to consider the reason for this before I understood, for up ahead was the largest wolf I had ever seen.
AMBROSIA
Growing up, I had heard old legends. A giant wolf nad Fenrir, who threatened the Earth during final days and stuff that were to co... so ti. This was part of one possible scenario of the end of the world, but a bunch of different ones had already happened, so I guessed this was a different one. This didn't look much like him, but neither was this Mjol - Myol - ummm... Thor's hamr. Keeping my knife and fishing pole sheathed, so to speak, I swung this hamr awkwardly around. It appeared that the hamr's power besides brute strength was simply punching a protective hole in all matter, giving us a bubble of protection from his scratches, bites, his roar which threatened to deafen us, his Steel Sand ability which kicked up deadly sharp sand from the minerals extracted out of the earth below us, and his cold wind aura. Elias decided to reserve his magic, preparing prayers ahead of ti for if he needed to use them. He was able to cast prayers in rapid succession, but it needed advance preparation. Aqorm used her geomancy to pin the wolf in place with pillars of ice, although the strength of the wolf was so great that even these were showing cracks after only a few monts of struggle. Aqorm was remarkably brave taking on a semi-legendary wolf using newly bought blades made from elven (a silvery tal known for its effectiveness against the supernatural), behind a barrier, and having pinned the wolf. Okay, to be fair, all of us were scared out of our minds. We couldn't exactly tell how strong the wolf was because the barrier was still up, but I noticed the words on the hamr were starting to erase at both ends. It now read, ??olds this hamr, if she be worthy, shall possess the power of Ambr.??
Nevras used so new techniques that he apparently had worked on during the six months I rember absolutely nothing of. There was the Pierce technique, which consisted of a charge attack ending in a crouch resulting in an armor piercing attack that caused the target to bleed profusely. This was damaging enough, but then he had also learned the Wave Thrust, a technique that generated a shockwave along the ground in a circle around him. Yet unlike the Jump Thrust, this could not affect anything which did not touch the ground. Of the two, it looked like he spent more ti on it. Sohow he had fine-tuned this effect to send out energy only where he wished it, managing to not cut us all into ribbons. To be clear, this wasn't an earthquake, but a pulse of so sort of energy which traveled along the ground. Because of this, it was able to pass harmlessly through us, and avoid shattering the ground it passed along, yet when he gripped harder on the sword, the vibration moved faster, causing the vibrations to burst blood vessels where the wolf stood. A bunch of wounds suddenly ford on its legs and its underside. The wolf was still standing because of its endurance, but getting badly beat up.
I decided to help out, whacking it in the head and body, and managing to just barely dodge its attacks, forgetting for a mont about the barrier. With each hit, its massive body beca a touch more wounded, yet the hamr's lettering faded a bit more. It now read, ??if she be worthy, shall possess?? and even as I spoke was fading. I continued to whack at it, Aqorm kept stabbing, and Nevras kept using techniques, while Elias stood back and conserved his prayers. Slacker. The hamr now read ??BE Worthy?? and would no longer fade by letter, but it was beginning to beco immaterial. The barrier faded, and the the attacks were suddenly felt at full force. The cold aura would have been enough to freeze most of us solid, if not for Elias suddenly quick-casting Protection From Elents from preparation. The claws caused deep wounds to our previously undamaged group, and his teeth threatened to bite us in half if we did not move out of the way. The Steel Sand was like getting hit by broken glass, and his roar caused our ears to bleed. Elias quick-cast Recover, a prayer he had just learned and followed it up with a third quick-cast, adding Fast Healing to Nevras. That was probably his limit for now. We were all heavily wounded but patched up enough to continue. I knew though the we had only a few minutes before my hamr disappeared, and not much ti for Elias to keep healing us with any effectiveness either.
I had to get on top of the wolf, and attack it from there. I looked at Nevras. He was busy fighting the wolf, and truth be told, not much stronger than . It was all technique, so he wasn't the person to ask to boost
up. Elias was busy healing. “Aqorm! Would you do
a favor?” She cringed as I whispered my plan.
AQORM
It is a literary tradition that plans ntioned in advance tend to fail, but thankfully all of these happened in rapid succession so I will describe it now. I jumped in the air, and did a front-flip followed by kicking Ambrosia hard to propel her forward, then landed on my feet, sothing which I'm told is quite impossible for humans to do since they cannot fine-tune their motion in midair. Ambrosia, on the other hand, did not land quite as smoothly. She slamd into the wolf's body, barely managing to grasp on to the top of the wolf. She began to slide down, but quickly hooked it with her fishing pole, wrapping it around the neck. She was now right near its mouth, so she swung hard to wrap more tightly and not be chomped, and managed to boost herself up again. Grabbing its massive shoulders, she held on tightly as it squird. The good news is that Elias got a break in healing everyone. The not-so-good news was now Ambrosia had a wild ride.
The wolf turned and bucked, tried to raise and lower its shoulder, rushed forward, and anything else it could think of. Ambrosia anticipated the wolf's motion sohow. She was tossed, she was knocked about, nevertheless she persisted. The wolf even tried to freeze her, yet her Lilac Dress protected her from the ice even when it was too close for her Protection From Elents aura to work. Ambrosia pulled out her hamr to bash its head in, only to have it turn into motes of light in her hand. She quickly grabbed her knife instead, and stabbed the crap out of it. Nevras was using Pierce attacks to wear it down, but despite the serious damage he was dealing, it wasn't even paying attention. I used the opportunity to climb it, then joined her. The wolf finally collapsed. Nearby was a save circle, so we used this, and set up a tent. I kinda... salvaged a lot of these mammoth bodies for at and fur. The bones were also valuable, but we had to let so of this stuff go. There was simply too much. I sat by the fire with Elias, and talked all night. Right now, things were not exactly romantic, but he was good to
and I enjoyed talking to him, sitting around a fire surrounded by bones and angry mammoths.
The next morning, we headed out, searching for the thief of the keys and the source of the massive elephant slaughter. We didn't have to go far before we saw them. They leaped out of the trees in an ambush. Luckily, we had plenty of rest, and they had been sitting all night in a tree. They were weaker right now, and off their ga, and this is why they were much weaker than they would later be, and not because it is still early in the story. It was a human male with long black hair with bangs neatly parted to the side holding a sword, and an older dwarf wielding an axe. Their weapons looked homade though. The dwarf's axe had a front end like a typical woodsman's axe but the other end was more like a pickaxe for mining, it was build sturdy and from one piece of solid tal which did not appear to be steel; the man's sword was more like a naginata but for its relatively blunt tip, it was a broad sword with an extra long handle yet which wasn't long enough to be a reach weapon. “You took our prey! We were going to have that for dinner!” said a tall man with dark hair. The dwarf commanded, “Give it back!” I blurted out, “That wolf? The one that nearly killed all of us? We don't even want it, it just attacked us! We were out here looking for a key!” The dwarf and man looked at each other, then the man spoke, “Phim, didn't we steal that key to draw out the Oracle?” Phim said, “That's right, Sera, it was all part of my master plan. We were going to lead the Oracle out to this secluded forest to kill her, then use the key to raid the Aiken temple, and then after that find the young woman that scamd our client out of thousands of Gold in alchemic jewelry. He said he isn't so much concerned with the money as he is with finding her again.” Nevras blushed slightly, but said nothing. The one known as Phim continued, “I bet the mayor sent you, didn't he?” making it obvious that they had no clue who we were. “So you thought you'd stop us from raiding the temple, huh?” Sera shook his head, “They seem kind of inexperienced for the mayor's posse, right? Well, they're no good to him dead.”
These two were skilled opponents. They had similar abilities to Nevras, so after getting a bad wound from Sera's Speed Slash and Phim using Pierce on Ambrosia, Elias warned us to sit this one out. We weren't warriors after all. Nevras told them, “Fight
instead! If I lose, you can hurt us as much as you want. If I win, you give us the key.” After a quick nod from them, Elias moved us to the outskirts of the area, moving our bodies with a makeshift stretcher. He wouldn't be able to help in the battle, but since we had both managed to get serious wounds in a matter of seconds, perhaps it was better to sit this one out. After setting up several paper amulets, Elias set of a ritual of Greater Protection. We would not be able to move from this spot if we wanted protection, but the barrier would all prevent all stray attacks from hitting. Despite warnings, I sat up in the stretcher to watch while Elias healed my wounds. Thankfully, unlike the earlier arrows, there was no shrapnel to heal. Unfortunately, we were bleeding out openly, and Elias was healing two of us.
Nevras drew his sword and carefully watched the two of them for any opening. Sera called his attack, “Standing Jump Thrust!” and swung. It had all of the power of a regular Jump Thrust, with gale force slicing wind and shockwave enough to rip a tree from its root, but he apparently could use it from a stationary position. Nevras stared at the attack, and dived to the ground. The Jump Thrust was normally angled in such a way that it couldn't be ducked, yet this appeared to be an upward wave of wind force. The attack continued on until it hit the barrier. Sera scoffed, “Coward.” Nevras responded, “I didn't know it was possible to do that. Standing Jump Thrust!” Sera responded with a Standing Jump Thrust of his own, and it seed as though they were evenly matched. But although Nevras seed to be faster at using techniques, enough so that he could counter the moves of the other, the truth was that his arm strength wasn't nearly as strong. The two attacks did cancel, yet Sera's attack nearly drove Nevras's back to him before finally it dissipated. While Nevras was occupied with Sera, Phim decided to attack, “Wave Thrust!”
As I watched from my stretcher, I enjoyed Elias placing his soft hands on my chest. By this point, he had finished healing Ambrosia, but he anticipated that she might try to jump back into the fray while he was actively healing , so he sat on her stomach and pushed her down whenever she tried to sit up. She groaned with annoyance. With his other hand he poured a large amount of energy into closing my wounds. I had been injured by an axe, so I had a long open gash that extended from my abdon to just missing my lungs. Had Elias not beco stronger over the last few months, I would be dead between blood loss, internal bleeding, and leakage from internal organs. Elias had used a continuing prayer called Delay to free up his hands while he worked on both of us at once. As a result, I barely even noticed as he rubbed my stomach, moving upward until he... “Hey, don't get fresh! I wasn't wounded up there. No matter how perky they may be.” He continued his healing but rembered to behave. Honestly, just because he looks nerdy, a girl can't even let her guard down anymore.
I used to think battle was a matter of strength, speed, and timing. As I watched them, it was all of that, but I was struck by how much it resembled a simple ga of rock-paper-scissors. A rock-paper-scissors ga of doom... Phim had used Wave Thrust, as I ntioned, before I started getting felt up by my healer... creating a wave of energy in a current along the earth. Fortunately for Nevras, he decided to use Jump Thrust to rise above the attack, cutting both Sera and Phim with a sharp wind. As he landed, Phim tried to use the Pierce technique while Sera tried to prepare the Vacuum Slice. It was so nad not only because it created a sound like a vacuum cleaner (yes, seriously), but also because it was a technique which temporarily created sothing like the Void, allowing the user to sever nearly anything. Nevras saw the Pierce attack coming, and dodged to the right, just as both of them tried to attack, and finished by using a Speed Slash from the side. As a result, Phim got knocked into path of Sera's attack. The Vacuum Slice ripped through the upper part of the axe handle, and the sudden change of speed caused the two of them to collapse in a heap. They were injured, but their armor was tough enough that they were left with mainly bruises.
Sera pretended continuing the fight was beneath them. Sera said, “We'll spare you for now. I an, it's not our problem they got suckered into fighting.” Phim wasn't quite the actor his friend was, so he scowled and said, “Keep your stinking key, you governnt dogs!” We had yet to inform them that, in fact, Ambrosia had been the person they were trying to assassinate, and seeing as how it was probably dangerous to tell them this, it was probably for the best that they didn't know. Sera walked at a swift pace, while Phim was still nearby several minutes later. We picked up the key.
After a long and twisty return trip through the forest, we made it back the town of Zuran. The mayor directed us to the Aiken temple outside of town. Our walk there was filled with encounters with the flying Ghobli hare. Flying Ghobli hares are no picnic, by the way. They fly around randomly, dive bombing anything they see as a threat, and then run for the hills. We were only hunting them for food, and they proved to be a nuisance. We walked for roughly half an hour of tall grass, sand, and rocks. The area that we walked through was a coastal grassland with coarse grasses that kept the beachfront from wearing away. This was an area that was a chore to pass even one mile without good shoes. Ambrosia had clothes given to her apparently by God. But all the sa, I wondered whether her clothes might be First Material, because it seed like they were just incredibly durable. The rest of us between the snow, rain, sand, and everything else on our journey were beginning to get muddy and torn clothes. Out of curiosity, I decided to test my suspicion. If it really was First Material I would not only be so jealous, but I would know right away if it tried to clean and restore itself. Pressing my hands to the ground, I let the current of land mana flow through my body, becoming a conduit to project the power sleeping in the terrain. Since about a day had passed, I could use my geomancy again, and I could think of no more appropriate way to use it. This ti, it created a mudslide that caught Nevras and Ambrosia in his path, bowling them over and coating them in mud. I noticed that the outfit did appear to have a few runes light up in response to what I did, but it wasn't First Material.
Unlike the clothing of the old days, there was no need to size, nor was there any particular need to magically enhance clothing to stretch. You see, fabrics naturally stretch, even tight cotton, because of sothing called Original Intent. Elias is explaining it to , because I asked. Original Intent is so nad because it describes matter as it is originally intended to be. Like, water turns to ice, rocks are hard, certain fabrics are warm. This is also true of living matter, which is why it is easy to shapeshift into animals but shapeshifting into other people typically doesn't work. I'm told elves as part of their Original Intent do not gain weight, which could explain why I always feel hungry, and why I've never seen fat elves. As a result of the New Earth being slightly better than the old, clothing tends to stretch with the person.
That's right. No matter how little exercise Ambrosia did, how much she ate or slept, she could never outgrow her clothes. Along with prayer and thaumaturgy, this was one of the perks of the New Earth. Of course, this didn't stop people from being very insecure about their body weight, since they could still get heavier. I'm so glad I'm an elf.
As runes worked better with things with an Original Intent that had affinity for the runes (that is, it was easier to cast Durability on things that were already sturdy or Endure Weather on fur), the idea of enchanting a normal dress with all these runes... why I could make a fortune if I sold her dress. Not that I'd want to, of course.
She still needed to brush off the dirt, but the mud wasn't staining it. Ambrosia was less than pleased, “Seriously? Nine Realms, Aqorm!” And so it was that rather than arrive at our destination earlier, we spent the next half-hour with her on my back trying to give
a sleeper hold, and
wriggling around while she scread and cursed
forever.
After apologizing profusely, we arrived at the Aiken temple covered in gri. The temple was built less like a place of worship, and more like a stronghold. There were high walls in on all sides of the grounds, made with so sort of tough ceramic composite that seed to ward off not only heat and cold, but when I asked Elias to try to write a rune on it, we quickly found that the material did not allow runes, since it was too coarse a surface for writing to stick, and too sturdy for carving. Was this orichalcum? Inside the walls, I could see four guard-towers, and one pagoda-like structure in the center. I imagine this place would stand up well to a number of military campaigns, including attempting to climb the wall or blast it with magic, and the gate was well planned against a standing army. The gate was a sort of reinforced tal that had a larger door, with a smaller door nested inside it. The outer door could only be opened from the inside and looked heavy enough that at least a hundred people were needed to open it. The inner door was only small enough for a single person to pass, unless we were talking about an army of halflings, and contrary to how most doors worked, the key did not open the door. Instead, this key appeared to ring a bell sowhere inside the wall, as I heard people rushing toward the gate. A woman's voice called out in a no-nonsense manner, “State your business for this visit. How is it you ca by this key?” Ambrosia answered, “The mayor got it for us.” The woman's voice responded, “You lie. This key ca to you by way of that accursed forest to the south. How dare you try to deceive us?” She was remarkably well inford. Elias spoke, “We were not attempting to lie, but simply telling the truth as it was expedient to do so. We seek entrance to this temple, for we bring the Oracle.” After a mont, she said, “That is correct.” The door unlatched, allowing us to pass. Elias inquired, “You are a Seer? Or a Truthteller?” Truthtellers can discover truth or falsehood in others but cannot tell lies, and Seers can see the past and future but cannot see with their own eyes. Now that we saw the woman, she appeared surprisingly young for her age. She was a half-elf with short black hair with a jeweled headdress and long flowing robes of blue with golden trim. The sleeves of her robe had tassels, and her eyes were a dull silver. She blushed, “Oh, ? I'm both. You will et
near the top of the temple.” Bah, any idiot could predict that. We walked around the temple grounds. The area had a farm, complete with goats and sheep, along with so crops in a rather large greenhouse.
In another area, won and n were training in martial arts. At least, I thought it was martial arts. They were waving their hands in so kinda pattern. Though I don't normally see people's hands glow as they do martial arts.
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