Poisoned Rationality

The start of our journey was pretty boring.

Not much happened, and there wasn’t really anything to look at or watch outside. The five wagons slowly rolled along the road that cut through the wide grassy plains that stretched for miles.

We stopped once, when two dark wolves came running toward the caravan. However, Seth quickly killed them before they got anywhere close.

It was interesting watching him fight.

For the first wolf, he grabbed the shield on his back and slammed it onto the beast’s neck, killing it with a single blow.

The second, he blocked with the shield, which rang with a loud sound, before stabbing with a long, thin blade of some kind, skewering it.

After that, there weren’t any other distractions.

I wasn’t expecting the journey to be quite this boring. At one point, Ariana rested her head on my shoulder. I gently stroked her hair, but nudged her awake once she started to drift asleep.

“We need to stay alert,” I whispered gently. She nodded and rubbed her eyes.

“You’re comfy,” She whispered back, stretching.

“This is really boring, too,” Ria complained. “How come nothing’s happening?”

<Ria, you two are in the middle of the plains,> Stella pointed out. <It’s literally in the name. They’re plain.>

“How much longer do we have in the plains, then?” Ria asked.

About a day and a half, I answered, making her groan.

“That’s so long,” She moaned. “I don’t wanna wait that long.”

<Ria, babe,> Stella said. <You have to be patient.> My headmate grumbled, but quieted down.

The rest of the morning passed by fairly quickly. At around noon, all the wagons slowed down slightly, and they made sure everyone had food for lunch.

We spent about thirty minutes eating, with all the adventurers and fighters staggering themselves, so some were eating while others were staying vigilant.

After that, though, the wagons sped up, and the day became boring again.

Closer to evening, as the sun was starting to set, Seth came around to talk to us fighters.

“Once it's nighttime, I want you to swap out who’s sleeping and who’s watching,” He instructed us. “We need adventurers from each wagon ready to start fighting.”

“Got it,” I said. He nodded and moved on to the next wagon, and I turned to our group.

“I would like first rest,” Ariana told us, raising her hand.

“That’s fine,” Sarya said. “I’m good with waking up, so I’ll go second as well.”

“Ria and I can take turns,” I added. “I’ll take the first rest, Ria will sleep during the second.”

“I’m fine with that,” Tyler said. “Nat?”

“Me too,” Our fifth member said.

Sarya and Ariana put their weapons and gear with the rest of their stuff before lying down as best they could to sleep. Ariana, of course, curled on top of me.

Goodnight, I said to Ria.

“Night night,” My headmate replied. “I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.”

I smiled and let Ria slip into the front before setting her viewpoint aside and sleeping.

…

-Ria-

The night was just as boring as the day.

Thankfully, Nyx and I had decent night vision, so it wasn’t too hard to keep watch.

“How’ve you been, Ria?” Natalya asked after it had turned truly dark and the other passengers were asleep. “I haven’t really talked with you all that much.”

“I’m fine,” I replied. “I usually let Nyx take control of our body.” I hummed, flicking my tails back and forth. “I think I’ve been around for a lot longer, though.”

After a little while longer of silence, Tyler spoke up.

“What’s it like?” He asked. “Being two people sharing a body.”

“It’s kind of odd,” I started, thinking. “When I’m not in control, it’s like I’m watching someone else do everything from the side. I can still feel everything, though, unless I specifically don’t pay attention, or I’m asleep.”

“Can you talk like that?” Nat wondered.

“Yes, but only with Nyx and Stella,” I answered. “It’s like a mental voice.”

“Huh,” Tyler murmured.

We sat there in silence for another few minutes.

“What’s that?” Nat asked suddenly, pointing out the back, into the sky. I followed her finger and noticed two bright, colorful lights spiraling around each other in the air.

One was pink and the other was lime green. They slowly got closer, before shooting over our wagon and disappearing.

“I’m going to go check what that was with Calliope,” I said. Nat nodded her agreement, and I stood up. I carefully moved through the wagon’s interior to the front.

“What’s up?” The tall dryad asked as I stepped onto the front platform.

“We saw two glowing things flying above the wagons, heading toward the front,” I answered. “I wanted to check with you about it.”

“Ah, those are the pixies,” Calliope explained. “They live with Geric.” She made a soft whistling sound with her mouth, toward the slow-walking ent.

Three glowing lights appeared around the branch-like top of the tall being, one lime green, one pink, and one purple. They zipped up and out of the twisting branches and over to Calliope.

They stopped in front of her, hovering in the air. I could now see that they weren’t just glowing lights; they were tiny people with thin, insect-like wings.

Their entire bodies emitted a soft glow that matched the color of their hair, and they wore tiny tunics made of some thin fabric. The purple one had a tiny sword pinned at its hip.

“These are Flora, Iris, and Greyroot,” Calliope informed me. “They live in a cavity at the top of Geric’s body. Don’t worry, they’re harmless.”

“Nice to meet you, miss,” the green one greeted me. “I’m Flora.” She waved her hand at the pink one to her left. “This is my little sister, Iris.”

“And I’m Greyroot,” The last one added. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“You as well,” I said, smiling.

“She saw the sisters flying above the caravan and wondered what they were,” Calliope explained to Greyroot.

“If that is all, then we shall retire back to our room,” The purple-haired pixie said. “Good night.”

I waved as the three flew back toward the lumbering ent.

“I didn’t know pixies could be so polite,” I said. Calliope barked a soft laugh.

“Greyroot grew up hearing about human knights in stories,” She told me. “They really attached themself to those ideals and ran with it.”

I hummed and looked up at the stars.

“While we’re out here all alone,” Calliope murmured. “Where did Nyx go?”

I froze.

“I can tell you’re not her, and I’m wondering what you did to one of my passengers,” The dryad continued. “I don’t want to hurt anyone if I don’t have to.”

“We’re two people in one body,” I rushed out. “She’s sleeping right now.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Calliope said. “Split of heart. Sorry for the scare.”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled, turning to look up at her. “How could you tell?”

“The two of you might look the same, but you act differently,” She explained. “You seem a lot less serious than her.”

“Oh,” I said.

“It’s not a bad thing, don’t worry,” She assured me. “It’s just part of what tipped me off. The other part is, well…” She paused, debating something internally. “The two of you have different divine auras.”

I froze again, my eyes locked to hers.

“What?” I asked, trying to feign confusion.

“I know you know what I mean,” She said. “You’re divine. I can’t tell what kind, but I can feel it.” She paused again before asking, “Can you not feel mine?”

I looked at her, confused, before realizing what that meant.

“Are you a god?” I asked, eyes wide.

Callipe laughed softly and shook her head.

“Not yet,” She replied. “I’m on my path to ascension.”

After a moment of thought, I told her, “So am I.”

“Ah, that explains it,” She grinned. “The authority I’m gaining is over the forest. What’s yours?”

“It’s… complicated,” I said. “I have three, I think. One is Neurodivergence. The second, I’m not allowed to say, and I don’t know the third.”

“How do you know you have the third, then?” Calliope asked.

“I… also can’t talk about that,” I answered regretfully.

“It’s fine, I don’t need to know,” The tall woman said. “I was just curious.”

We sat there in silence for a good bit more before I stood up.

“I’m going to head back,” I told our driver.

“Sleep well,” She said, waving.

I carefully walked through the middle of the wagon to where our party was sitting and dropped back into my spot.

“What took so long?” Nat asked.

“We talked for a bit,” I explained. “The lights were just some pixies that live in the ent.”

“Huh,” Tyler said. “Well, I guess that’s good. Nothing bad to worry about.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Nothing at all.”