Chapter 49: Why Do We Roam?

  TASTKA POV

  At dawn, we continued. The marsh cover was still too thick to know the exact time of day, but between the seven of us, we had a pretty good idea of when the sky should start to brighten. We all agreed to get out of this place as soon as possible.

  That creature had looked dangerous, but nothing we couldn’t handle. What worried us was how careful it had been not to disturb any other growths or let its feeding be noticed. That told us something else was here… something far more dangerous.

  None of us had any group-capable spells that could hide us, but Eyssa and I spent much of our time focusing on what we could see. I did manage to spot one or two of those creatures, now that I knew what to look for, slumbering deep in the muck. But it was difficult, even with my strange new sense; their abilities were very good at hiding them entirely. I had a feeling there were more of them than what I saw, and I only managed to catch the ones that were injured or otherwise unable to form a full camouflage.

  We still had to be careful picking our way through, but we moved faster than the previous day. It felt slightly more risky, but I had confidence in Eyssa to mitigate that. We had prepared to fight on this journey if needed… but that didn’t mean we wanted to.

  I was worried that we would spend many days in the marsh, but finally the coverage above us began to thin. That was a relief – it meant the marsh wasn’t very large after all. Normally, even moving at a faster pace, it would take us days to travel from one end of a forest to the other. But soon, the ground grew more firm, and snatches of daylight shone through the foliage above.

  It wasn’t long after that we encountered a sharp incline, nearly vertical. I knew that water always tried to flow downhill, so now the marsh made sense. This whole area was a deep dip in the land where the water collected—though not enough to form a true lake. Perhaps there was one nearby, though we hadn’t seen one from the mountainside.

  The incline wasn’t especially tall for an elf, and we all scaled it easily, bringing us up into what looked like a more familiar forest. I didn’t recognize the kind of tree, but they looked similar to what we knew, and the canopy above didn’t block nearly as much light.

  Eyssa climbed one of the taller trees to take a better look, and when she came back down, she reported what we’d already suspected: it had taken most of the day to get out. The sun was about to shrink away, and we likely had little time before the brief twilight of dusk was upon us.

  This still left us plenty of time to find a good site to make camp, and we pressed on for a while to put some distance between us and the unsettling marsh. I used the opportunity to practice with my new vision – or sense, or whatever it was.

  This land was far more alive with mana than the lands we usually stayed within. It surprised me that such a difference in mana could exist so close to home. True, the slopes we had come from were at the very edge of our clan’s normal migration range, but to think that only a few days’ journey away was a land so rich in energy.

  All of us could feel it, even if the others couldn’t tell exactly what kind of mana dominated the area. Fisk cautioned us to refrain from practicing any of our skills for now, to avoid drawing attention to us. He was being careful, and I didn’t blame him after what we had seen. Areas like this often had more dangerous creatures, and we were dealing with the unknown.

  Even so, it was far more comfortable than before. Soon after we escaped the marsh, the noises and scents returned to normal. Birds twittered, leaves rustled with the movement of small animals, and the stench of rot was replaced by pleasant earthen scents and the tickling of leaves, and bark.

  Before night fell, we also smelled and heard a body of water – likely a river, from the noise. Eyssa altered her path to head toward it so we could refill the water bags we used.

  We found no easy clearings, but once we reached the river, we managed to find a small inlet that should be fine for a single night, since none of us could sense any incoming storms that might threaten to flood it. We made camp there beside the swiftly-flowing river, and Vedas, who had the best fishing skill among us, managed to tickle up two large river fish to go with the fruits and berries we had foraged for dinner.

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  I heated several rocks we’d gathered from the river to cook our meal, and as usual, I was the one who prepared it. If I hadn’t already used my primary class for the much more impressive [Flux Speaker] class, I likely would have had [Meal Preparer] as a primary instead of a secondary.

  As we gathered around to eat and discuss what we had seen, the topic shifted to how we would cross the river, and then to the direction of our journey. It was hardly the first time this had come up, and although I hadn’t been completely truthful about where I got my information, it was common knowledge that I had chosen the direction for Eyssa’s advancement in her strange new class.

  “Have you had any new flashes of knowledge, Tastka?” Fisk asked. He passed up claiming one of the four eyeballs this time, and I wondered why. Fisk often made assumptions that he was fit for the first choice of meals, but lately he hadn’t been doing that. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t remember him doing so during our brief meal in the morning either, even if it had just been dried provisions.

  I gave a lazy flick of my tail, trying to pass off indifference. “It’s not like that,” I replied, trying to explain. “I get these flashes, but I don’t usually know exactly what they mean. Sometimes I get the meaning behind them too, but usually it just doesn’t make sense. I think something is wrong with that class, because other than the mana resistance ability it gave me, it never seems to do much else – and the thing you’re talking about doesn’t show up on my list as an ability.”

  That was true enough. It didn’t show up as an ability, but it was directly in the class description. I wondered how that worked, because usually, from my understanding, abilities that were part of a class were just given out at the first level.

  “I didn’t mention the more important part, though,” I continued. “I leveled up that class for the first time last night. That’s why I wanted to stay up… I was trying to figure out what I had done to make it level up, but I still can’t figure it out. Maybe it has something to do with seeing that creature… or maybe going on this journey made it happen.”

  I glanced toward Eyssa, who swallowed her bite and then confirmed my unspoken question. “I leveled up my [Horizon Bearer] class as well,” she said. “But that makes sense. The whole point of the class is to go places we’ve never been. We haven’t been here, so it makes sense that I’d level up. I got a new ability that makes it easier to sense things that shouldn’t be here, even if I’m in an unfamiliar area.”

  “That’s useful,” Fisk agreed. He looked at me. “Did you get anything for your level-up?”

  I flicked my ears in affirmation. “I did,” I confirmed. “Aside from some affinity boosts, I got an ability to sense the kinds of mana and how it’s shaped. It’s like my mana sense ability, but much more specific. I’m not sure how useful it is, though. A lot about this class doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “It’s a little scary,” Solen broke in. “Two new classes that nobody’s ever heard of so close together. I’m not sure I like it.”

  Dashe’s tail twitched in wary agreement, but he kept silent as was his tendency. Elves, as a rule, disliked any change in routine… a fact that I had caught flashes of frustration from my other self about.

  I swallowed another bite and then wiggled a finger at the others. “I keep getting a stronger and stronger feeling that we might find some answers if we keep going.” Then my ears drooped. “But I also have a feeling that it won’t be an easy journey. Lately, I’ve also had this sense that we’ll have a chance to increase our class levels a great amount. Maybe into Tier Two even. But…”

  Fisk and Eyssa leaned forward, and the others perked ears up curiously as well when I trailed off like that. My tail swayed nervously, a sign I didn’t bother to hide. It was good that they knew how confusing this was.

  “It’s hard to explain,” I repeated. “But I think we’re about to see another change. I still don’t know what, and I can’t even seem to figure out if it will be a large change or a small change this time. It’s very confusing.”

  Duvad finished his meal and stood up, plucking his spear from beside him. “Some say you knew the change of Tiers was coming,” he said gruffly. It wasn’t exactly an accusation, but it demanded an answer.

  My tail sank lower, but didn’t stop its motion. “Yes… but no. I knew a big change was coming, but I didn’t know what. That’s what this is like. I don’t want any elf to rely on what I can see. It doesn’t give enough detail.”

  The [Hunter] narrowed his eyes, “Then why are we following your feeling on this journey?” This was new information for him, and he very likely felt cheated that he’d volunteered without realizing how unreliable I was.

  Eyssa came to my rescue. “Because we needed to go somewhere new. The elders agreed with that. The direction of her feeling was as good a direction as any.”

  Duvad eased his tension, the sudden rise in his tail relaxing to bring it down again. “Mn.” He thought about that, then his ears flicked assent. “I will take a quick look about and be back for my watch.”

  Vedas began gathering the fish bones for burial, but he paused to think a moment. He turned to me and asked a more pragmatic question. “Do you know how long it will take?”

  I hesitated, but answered truthfully, “No, but I know it will be a long journey.” After a moment I took a deep breath and did give them one glimpse I’d seen, something I knew was important from the repeated visions. I looked up at the sky as the sun rapidly faded, the pinpricks of light that made up the starfield above twinkling into view.

  “We seek another forest, where the trees embrace one another and dance with the stars.”

  Uncaring God

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