Meager Power

I barely kept pace with Kelessta as she surged forward. I couldn't swing my arms to run properly, but travel and magic made it so I was able to at least move quickly enough that I didn't fall behind. Thenishale had his ribs to worry about. Though it'd been a couple days, that wasn't nearly enough to heal up his core. He'd be the least useful of us here, but it was what it was. The two people being harried by the muckstrider weren't making great progress against it. Its long, limber limbs gave it range they couldn't quite match, and I hadn't seen either of them do any magic, so it seemed like they were both martial users. I was curious, though, as to why one of them didn't seem to be attacking it at all.

We hadn't made it halfway there before the reason was revealed - two more muckstriders broke through the treeline and zipped toward them. The reserve figure engaged them a small distance away from the first, but as we got close enough to hear the noises of the fight over the movement of the river, it was easy to tell that desperation tinged their grunts of exertion. We were here to help, though! I flew past Kelessta as she slowed, manifesting one of her ice spears over her shoulder. "Get one clear," she said to me, concentrating on her magic. I idly wondered just how much it needed that. My spells and skills were pretty much instantaneous, and allowed me to simply invoke them while doing just about anything else. Whenever she cast, though, she slowed down and seemed to have to focus on it. I'd have to pick her brain about it later.

Once in range, I Dashed to arrive next to the person fighting two of the creatures. He looked human to me. Short black hair atop his head, rosy skin, green eyes, and a bushy black beard adorned his face. Everything else was covered by clothing and armor. I shouted out to him. "Friendly assistance! Magic user behind!" Still holding my injured hand close to me, I reached out my right to fire off a Mana Bolt at the closer muckstrider. I didn't dare risk a full-on Shock Strike when I could hit the the guy, so I just went for attention. It being a simple beast, it turned to start harrying me, and I was shown just why these two had been having such trouble against what had appeared to be simple, docile creatures. The absolute range their legs gave them, and how sharp they were. I ducked out of the way of one of its legs only to be harassed by two more. Too many of the fucking things! Where did it get off, being a... mammal? Non-insect while having that many legs. I Dashed to keep my own distance, but not so far that it lost interest. It skittered toward me, legs spearing the ground beneath and tearing up the dirt behind them. Definitely not its preferred terrain, or we'd see that everywhere around here.

Apparently I'd pulled it far enough. Those flailing limbs seized for a moment and went limp when a great rod of ice was shoved through the eye on its side, killing it instantly. No time to waste, though. I Dashed over to the first person who had been fighting, who was of a race I had not yet met. A piren man stood against this one. Piren were humanoid, much like most of the other sapients of Avare, and featured greenish-blue skin all over. Structurally, they had no neck at all, and three arms. The side that had the extra arm varied, and the one in front of me had two on his right, which were brandishing a pair of swords, while his left held a sturdy shield. A mane of lavender hair grew on his upper body, ranging from the top of his head to halfway down his back. He wore little in the way of armor and most of his clothing was shredded, his tunic being little more than scraps. He basically wore a pair of pants that weren't quite long enough for his bi-jointed legs and nothing else.

The extra arm meant some of the range was lost, so he was fighting a losing battle against the muckstrider here. His eyes, same color as his hair, caught mine briefly and widened. "Friendly!" I said again as I rounded on his foe, bringing my hand up again. This time, with it distracted and the height difference more extreme, I felt comfortable using my most powerful magic. It felt odd, using my right hand to do it, but I shoved that feeling aside with prejudice. "Shock Strike!" A boatload of mana left me, making me feel that the spell actually cost more than a third of my total, but the power it brought about was worth it. The cylinder of magic extended at the speed of thought, and a moment later, flashing electricity rifled through the conduit, frying any part of the muckstrider it touched. It fell much like the other one had, and wasting no time, I turned to help the other guy with the last one. Thankfully, it wasn't needed. Kelessta had managed to harry it with her smaller icicles and the guy had been able to take advantage of that, swinging his axe and chunking into it when it was vulnerable.

In the moments after, we all huffed and puffed, and Thenishale finally caught up with his fast walk. They don't really talk about it in stories and such, but fights move so damn quickly sometimes. I bet there were huge things out there that would take a lot time to deal with, but with these little fuckers, we couldn't have been in combat for more than half a minute. Despite that, the exertion was significant. I imagined adrenaline and such would contribute, but the sheer focus that it needed, along with the precise movements, meant that everything took just a little bit more to do.

The two people we'd assisted grouped up together loosely and stared at us, unsure of where to go next. Both of them looked pretty well-equipped, with their gear being in good shape and them being mostly clean. They certainly didn't look like they'd been on the road for a while. Who were they?

"Who are you?" The human asked warily. You know what, fair.

"Unfortunate travelers, with our trip changed drastically due to... the thing," Kelessta said a bit hesitantly. "We're separated from our larger group."

"Larger group? How many? Where were you going?"

"Hold on, who are you to ask?" Thenishale cut in. Despite his injury, he managed to pull himself up to seem more intimidating. "What are you doing here?"

The two looked at each other, and the human shrugged. He looked at our elf. "Militia, out of Akh-Bhor. We're ranging out toward the marsh to find out what's causing the attacks." He kicked the corpse next to him. "Never seen a hostile legfisher and it's definitely got me a little bit shaken."

Legfisher? Ugh. It fit, at least, but muckstrider had way better mouth feel.

"I'm Han. This is Patrel." He stuck his hand out, and Thenishale took it, stepping in front of Kelessta. She didn't seem to mind him stepping in, so I didn't say anything. I guess he was the more diplomatic of the two?

"Thenishale. My companions here are Kelessta and Allison," he responded, pointing at each of us in turn. "These creatures are normally non-hostile?"

"I suspect," Patrel cut in, his voice low and almost bass-y, "that whatever this 'thing' you mentioned might have something to do with it. What in the name of Esch is going on out there?"

"Well..." Thenishale trailed off, looking at us for help.

I cleared my throat and stepped up. "A rift in the world opened up and exploded in the marsh. It feels angry, like it's hurt." I shook my head. "Honestly, until you see it, you can't really understand it."

The two militiamen looked at each other, nodded, and put away their weapons. "You mind showing us? Can you see it from afar?" Han asked.

"Sure can, unfortunately." I swept my arms out. "To be honest, I'd like to get to the town. We've been on the move for weeks and it's been months since I've slept in a fucking bed."

"Tell you what. City's a bit nervous, and we're keeping people at arm's reach. We'll vouch for your little troupe here if you show us what you mean."

Sighing, I looked at my companions. Thenishale shrugged and Kelessta nodded, so I guess we were in for it. "Alright," I said.

And so it was, we returned upriver. At least we had the comfort of its passage at this point, and didn't have to worry about rationing our water. I mentioned that it's weird that it would be so clear when it was fed from the marsh, but we were told that a small dam had been installed to filter the water coming through. It didn't stop anything, just slowed it enough to purify the flow. Honestly, I kinda wanted to see what it was like, but figured there was no way we'd be allowed near something so sensitive as outsiders they'd just met. We described more of the event as we went, telling them how it had seemed hostile, and now it was just this huge dome marring the marsh.

We made good time, and actually made it just far enough into the forest to the point where it could be seen peeking through the trees. I shuddered when it finally came into view, but pointed it out to our new acquaintances. Upon seeing it, even just the tip of the dome, Han recoiled. Patrel wasn't much better, his eyes growing wide with fear and trepidation. Both of them shook their heads, though it was more of a full-body motion for Patrel. I could commiserate, honestly. I didn't want to look at this thing again. Upon experiencing it, though, they insisted on going the whole way to get a better look outside the forest.

We stopped for the evening, sharing a bit of food around. The militiamen had more than they needed, so were glad to share a little bit to supplement our meager supplies with some salted meats and hardtack. The nearby river was definitely nice to make sure the crackers were edible and we wouldn't die of thirst with the dry items. We had one more night with the magical sleep thing, so we took advantage of being able to be fully rested once more. The other guys were definitely glad to have it around, though were sad to hear it was almost dead. I was just glad it had given us this much, and allowed me a couple nights against a warm snake lady.

In the morning, as we packed up, Kelessta gave it a sad look and packed it away in her things. I asked her if it could be recharged, and apparently it could, but it was expensive and a person who could do so was fairly rare. Manipulation of mana on that level, in order to imbue them, was a specialty skill at best. If we were lucky, there might be someone who could do it up in the republic, but the militia guys told us that there were definitely no enchanters in Akh-Bhor, at least as far as they knew.

Late morning, we finally came upon the edge of the treeline, and got a full look at the dome. It was hard to tell at this distance, but it did indeed appear that it had stayed the same. The sight was just as hostile as ever, with the roiling red lightning flashing around in its depths. All of us shuddered at one point when a sheet of the stuff covered our view of it completely. If it was a portal, it was to a place that would not treat us well. I was not in any mood to test it out.

We couldn't be certain that it was the dome that was riling up the wildlife, but if not that, then what could it be? They weren't the only group of people out here in the wild searching, so they'd simply report what they found here and let the smarter people figure it out. I liked that idea, especially because that idea got us to proper civilization as soon as possible. I wanted an inn, a bed, so damn bad. Don't get me wrong, Kelessta was super comfortable, but there's something about just having a mattress for a good, proper rest. Was a spoiled 21st century girl? Yeah. I wouldn't apologize for it.

We were assaulted once on our way to Akh-Bhor. Deerlike creatures, but with vicious forward-pointing horns and spikes on their back hooves, attacked us very suddenly. They were, in fact, just called deer, and they were all over the western continent. It wasn't a mutation - it's just how they were. Normally, they'd only attack if provoked or cornered, so the aggressiveness was definitely an alteration from the norm. It wasn't super difficult to take them, however. Most of their momentum from movement went straight forward, and we were easily able to use things like lateral or vertical movement to avoid them. They must be made of sterner stuff than deer from earth, because I was pretty sure prancing back and forth was a thing they were supposed to be good at. Good to know, though. Fast buggers.

We did have to make one last stop for the night, supposedly only about seven or eight hours of travel left to get back to the city. We finally had to pull watches, and we all did some good ol' Tricall to determine who got what. As upper middle of the pack, I chose last watch, letting me take the time to get up after resting. We unfortunately didn't pile up together again, as Kelessta had one of the middle watches, and that would suck for Thenishale (who got out of watches entirely, I swear that guy was cheating somehow) and me. As far as I could tell, nothing happened throughout the night, and eventually I was awoken for my watch by Patrel, who gave me a wan smile as he returned to his own rest. I yawned, stretched, and set myself up so I could see much of the forest.

Perhaps an hour had passed, and the sun was rising, I scratched my hand, my wounded one, before realizing what I was doing and yanked my good hand away. If it was itching, that meant it was... healing...

With enough light to see by, I could tell something was wrong with my appendage. The pain was gone, and my palm and fingers seemed perfectly fine, as if they hadn't been through what they had. The only thing that stood out was the fact that the back of my hand, from my wrist to my middle finger, looked like it was covered in short, thick white hair, in a pattern not unlike one of those finger loop glove things. Resisting the urge to scratch it, I brought my right hand back up and rubbed across the section of it. It was extremely soft to the touch. At my wrist, I could see the angry red part of my skin extending down a little bit, as if expanding away from the original source of the wound.

My stomach dropped, and realized that I was almost chewing on my upper lip when I felt a bit of blood trickle from it. This wasn't just a bit of hair. I pinched some and pulled, feeling the roots within my left hand. This was fucking fur. And it was spreading. What the hell was this? I hoped there was someone in the city who could help stop this, because damnit, I was NOT going to get isekai'd just to turn into a fucking furry.

Or, you know, die from a weird magical disease. Nollnine, if you're listening: what the fuck?