A Nice Moment of Rest

Teri had accepted the offer, but before they could leave, she explained that she and her people had to gather something from their fallen comrades, and so the four humans and the avenfae waited in the eerily silent forest. Vivian and Aeolia slipped into a light rest as the exertions of the battle finally caught up to them; the pair braced against an intact and still alive tree, leaving a space between them. Before John could join them in blissful rest, however, Mason waved him over, the serious look on his face cluing John in on what the large man wanted.

“Let me guess,” John said, “this is about what Senka did back during the fight, right?”

Mason nodded. “I was a little distracted, but did sense her manifest for a second. I thought you may have established a true connection, but I can see that isn’t the case. Care to give a little play-by-play on what happened?”

“I was out of mana and was trying to reach you to let you know the tree wasn’t regenerating,” John explained. “Figured we had to hit it hard before it tried to start healing again. I got snagged by its tentacles and then, Senka just sort of popped up and gave me enough mana to use Fiery Pursuit. I think it took a lot out of her to do that. Had a weird sense of exhaustion for a second after.”

“That makes some sense,” Cammie interjected as she joined them.

“Done surveying the remains?” Mason asked, before he leaned down to capture her lips in a brief kiss.

“Yeah,” Cammie answered after the kiss. “Nothing useful. We really torched that thing.”

“What exactly did you mean about that feeling of exhaustion making sense?” John asked.

“Your knife may possess abilities far outside the norm for spirits,” Cammie explained, “but it’s still a spirit and abides by the rules. And spirits can’t just throw around mana without diminishing themselves. And since you haven’t formed a proper bond, moving that mana cost her.”

At seeing a flash of worry cross John’s face, Cammie shot a reassuring smile at him. “Don’t panic, she’s fine. Could sense that much. Honestly, it’s a good sign that she pushed to help. Means we don’t have to worry about her being antagonistic towards you.”

Cammie’s words soothed away John’s nerves and he called the knife to his hand.

“Should I go and bond with her now, then?” he asked. “She told me she didn’t want to wait to properly meet me.”

“She actually spoke to you?” Mason asked, his tone a mix of surprise and excitement. “Fascinating. I figured she could, but to do so soon and without a proper bond is something. However, I’d hold off on initiating the bond. We still have to escort our green friends to safety, both the ones here and their dependents from wherever they are. It would be prudent to keep your mana ready in case something goes sideways. Wait until later, once all the things we need to take care of are done. Hopefully Senka can understand that.”

John focused on the knife, stretching his senses in the hope to pick up something from Senka. A heaviness washed over him and, for a second, a hard desire to just lay down and sleep, and John shook his head to banish the sensation.

“Think sending me that mana really knocked her out,” John remarked.

“Would be rude to wake her,” Mason said sagely.

“Yeah,” John responded, willing the weapon away. “Guess since we’ve got to wait for Teri and company to finish, I can sort out my level up.”

John gave his current Stats a once over and thought back over the last few fights.

‘Mana keeps being an issue,’ he mused as both him running out here and back against the golems earlier replayed in his mind’s eye. ‘I can dish out ok damage, but I run dry too quickly and have to rely on backup reserves like Senka or go in with melee. Since I’ll need mana and regen to use spirits, I think going for two each into my mana stats would be the best option. But what to do with the last point?’

His mind drifted back to the jog he and Mason did to reach the Barrier and his eyes honed in on his Endurance stat. ‘I can run, but got tired pretty quickly. The same would happen if I had to fight with one of my weapons for a while. Even one point would help me either keep fighting or run away while my mana regens. Plus I’ll get a bit more HP.’

Boosting Endurance sounded like it’d be the best play, though his still single digit Charisma score irked him from both an aesthetic angle and that it was so low.

‘Next level up, put some points there,’ John promised himself as he made his choices.

‘Man, my Intelligence being so much higher than everything is a bit of an eyesore,’ John thought as he closed his sheet. ‘But since most of my damage is rooted in how much mana I can throw around, getting that up is the priority. Maybe I should just put one point in it and Wisdom next time and put the other three points to my other stats.’

His level up sorted, John walked back to where his girls were resting and settled down between them. The slight noise of his seating caused both girls to stir and turn towards him, Aeolia cuddling up against his thigh and Vivian slumping onto his shoulder. John got as comfortable as he could and closed his eyes, taking a brief rest until the goblin troop returned.

---

Teri walked a little bit aways from her men as they moved through the wood, a heavy weight on her heart. Kitai cooed, reading her owner’s mood and giving her best attempt at soothing her. Teri patted the dark scaled pet and cast her eyes downward, sweeping the ground for where her comrades had fallen. Her ears quivered as she heard one of her men, Grekol if she wasn’t mistaken, let out a snarled curse. She twisted back to see him knelt over a body, his frame shaking as he pawed at the armor, undoing it until he pulled free a necklace.

From her vantage point, she couldn’t make out what was on the end of the cord, but she knew it would identify the fallen. No member of their tribe would forget to wear or lose their age totem. Teri’s hand drifted from Kitai to her neck, where the cord of her own age totem lay hidden. She pulled it free from her armor, a small rounded rectangle of jade stone. Her fingers traced over the smooth stone, a lump growing in her throat as she found herself back at her coming of age ceremony, her mother presenting the stone to her after she proved herself ready to be the clan’s shaman after her mother stepped down.

Each totem meant the wearer was a true member of the clan, a mark that they were considered fit for their role and now had to be recovered so they could be returned to their families, or at least, entrusted to her as shaman for remembrance. She shoved her totem back into her armor and resumed her search. As the de facto leader of this much reduced party, she had to maintain a level head and the image of being able to handle the situation.

Before long, she reached one of her fallen men, his helmet knocked off by the **** of the blow that had killed him.

“Klmen,” Teri whispered, her eyes locked to the dead orbs of the warrior that had led the party in. With as much reverence as she could, Teri knelt down and undid his armor until she could reach his totem. Unlike her jade rectangle reminiscent of the talismans used in shaminisic rituals, his was stark white and shaped like a sword.

Teri gently lifted his head and slid the totem free, then began to chant. It was an old prayer, one to entice the soul of the fallen to pass from this life into the embrace of their ancestors along with a promise to look after the ones he was leaving behind. It wasn’t a long chant, and when done, Teri gracefully set Klmen’s head down for his final rest. She swallowed her sadness and gingerly tucked his totem into a satchel fixed to her belt.

She continued her task, repeating her chant as she went. It never became easier to retrieve their totems, and her voice grew hoarse as she kept up her mantra. She had finished retrieving Bgodt’s totem, the fifth she had recovered, when the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted her chant.

“If you’ve got five, then that should be everyone’s,” a husky voice said. Teri turned to see Gryit, the sole female warrior of the party. She was thin and lanky, her armor not quite long enough to cover the wrists and ankles. Her hair had been fully shaved before, but the long trip **** some cosmetic decisions to fall to the wayside and she had a good inch of black growth covering her scalp.

“Right,” Teri replied, her voice cracking.

“You holding up alright?” Gryit asked, her brow creased with concern.

Teri opened her mouth to answer, then shook her head.

“I thought after giving the Sending for everyone we lost in the attack it’d get easier,” she confessed. “But it hasn’t. I hate that we keep losing people.”

Gryit drew close and pulled her into a sideways hug, jostling Kitai and eliciting a small growl from the little dragon.

“I reckon that’s a good thing,” Gryit said in a serious tone. “If it got easier, that means your heart’s getting all rocky. Pain’s good. Let’s you know you’re still alive.”

“Stick to fighting,” Teri shot back with a weak smile. “Philosophy isn’t your strong suit.”

Gryit grinned and ruffled Teri’s hair playfully, a smirk on her face. “That’s more like it. Our friends wouldn’t want us to get all mopey. We’ve got to keep living for them.”

“Ok, that was good advice,” Teri admitted.

“Huh, it was, wasn’t it?” Gryit mused. “Maybe I should write some of this down. Get you to translate it into human. Think it’d sell as well as those books of yours?”

“I’ll let you know when I actually buy a book,” Teri shot back at her taller companion. “I saved all mine.”

She scratched Kitai’s head. “Mind flying about and rounding up the troops? Guide them over here.”

The dragon let out a small whine, then stretched and flew off her shoulders.

“So,” Gryit said after watching Kitai fly off, “mind filling me in on what exactly the plan is?”

“‘Plan?’” Teri echoed.

“Ya know. What you talked to the humans about,” Gryit elaborated. “There’s got to be more to it than them just letting us set up in some Barrier they got.”

“That’s all there is to it,” Teri countered, her voice shifting into a somber tone. “The flying one, Aeolia, offered to host us. From what little they told me, her situation isn’t too far from our own.”

“How’d ya mean?” Gryit asked, crossing her arms under her chest as she leaned against a tree.

“Her clan was killed,” Teri explained. “They didn’t go into detail, but I figure it wasn’t too long ago. The place they’re going to take us was their old base. They said it’s a little run down, ransacked, but us beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Don’t go letting the elders hear you call us beggars,” Gryit cut in. “Vrexty would have your head, clan shaman or not. How are you going to sell it to them anyway?”

“Still working that part out,” Teri admitted. “I think the best way would be to present some of the humans as blood kin. They did step up and fight with us. Without their literal fire power, we’d all be dead and tree food.”

“Gonna be hard without a ranking warrior,” Gryit pointed out. “Vrexty might have K’mels challenge that.”

Teri let out a groan. “That old bastard would. First, he retains the best fighter as a personal bodyguard when we have to go out and find resources. Then he’ll complain about us needing help from outsiders.”

“What’ll you do if he does issue a challenge?” Gryit asked.

Teri shrugged. “We need a place to set up a better camp. Old lady Bryjt can’t make a good enough Barrier to house us for long. If Aeolia’s Barrier is good as a long term base, I’ll fight for it. Having a stable place to rest will make it easier to scout around for resources. Plus having some allies in the area will be useful since we lost a lot of good fighters today. I’ll have to take some of them with me to meet with the elders.”

“If you take the big guy, I’ll come along,” Gryit said with a saucy smirk. “Didn’t get the chance to see him work during the fight but boy can I imagine.”

Teri let out a sigh at her friend’s lusty expression. “I’m pretty sure he’s with the dark haired one with those spirit animals.”

“Well, she’s cute enough,” Gryit replied with a wink.

“You’re hopeless,” Teri sighed exasperated, catching sight of Kitai flying back, the troop following behind her. “Come on. Let’s make sure we got everyone’s totem and head back to our friends. We still have a long day ahead of us.”

---

“Will this work?” Teri inquired as she watched Vivian trace her finger across the malleable surface of her Glyph Sphere, etching in a series of complex symbols. Once the goblins had returned from their foray, and the resting trio had been roused, they began to formulate their plan. First, travel to the Dawnseeker’s base, then escort Teri back to the rest of her people to explain the situation and move them. It was that minor issue, moving a large number at once, that Vivian had decided to work on.

“It should,” the red head replied. “Done a lot of work with invisibility recently. This is only a little more complex than the arrays we worked into Aeolia’s bracelet. Need to work in an area of effect sequence so it can cover a large enough area. I’m a little worried about power though. Maintaining a dome of invisibility might be a little much.”

“You know Kitai can blend shadows, right?” the goblin lass pointed out scratching said pet’s chin. “I’m grateful for the backup, but you don’t need to stress yourself.”

Vivian smiled at her. “It’s no big deal. I wasn’t all that useful in the fight, so I figure I can pull my weight this way.”

“Not all that useful my ass,” Teri scoffed. “You did more damage than any of us.”

“I also pushed it to start eating your people,” Vivian remarked somberly. “And was too tapped out to do much more after. The least I can do is to help keep you from getting seen by mundanes and getting wiped away by Gaia.”

“Well, can’t say the help isn’t appreciated,” Teri reiterated. “But how about a little extra input? Maybe just have it be like a quarter dome in the front? Just enough to veil us from the front and a little on the side. Kitai can help to obscure what the veil doesn’t cover.”

“Yes, that could work,” Vivian exclaimed, smoothing out a portion of her work to adjust the formula. “That’ll take much less mana to run and I don’t have to make the script microscopic to fit it all.”

“Happy to help,” Teri said, a smile blooming on her face.

“How’s it going with the invis-o-stone?” Aeolia interjected as she flew in from above, landing on Vivian’s shoulder gently.

“Had to rework some of it,” Vivian answered. “But Teri pointed out we don’t need a full on super cloak so rewriting’s going to be a piece of cake. Give me five minutes.”

“Great,” Aeolia beamed at her perch, quickly pecking her cheek. “I’ll let John, Cammie and Mason know.”

She quickly flew off, leaving a smiling, blushing Vivian to focus back on her work. Teri watched the winged woman glide over to the others then brought her attention back to the redhead.

“How does that work for you anyway?” the goblin asked, drawing a quirked eyebrow from Vivian. “Your relationship, I mean.”

Vivian’s blush ticked up a notch, and she locked her eyes on the Glyph Sphere.

“We’re just taking things one step at a time,” she muttered out, a small smile gracing her face as she etched in a new part of the array. “It’s all new, but it’s exciting. Two days ago I’m waiting for people who may never answer my call and now I’m helping to fight monsters. I never thought I’d be actually fighting, but they push me to try and find ways to use my talents.”

“Sounds like you lucked out,” Teri remarked, her tone subdued as she began to step away. “I better gather up the troops and get them ready. Five minutes, right?”

“Five minutes,” Vivian echoed, flashing Teri a smile before she got back to work.

Teri paced over to the small encampment her fellows had isolated themselves in.

“All right,” she announced in her native tongue. “Red over there will have the invisibility spell good to go in five. We’ll slip out of here and head for their vehicles and go to their safehouse.”

“Why not just head back to the others?” Grekol asked.

“Because if we did,” Gryit cut in, twisting around to face the group, “the elders would consider us traitors and sic K'mels on us. Plus we need to make sure the place they're letting us take is good enough for the clan.”

Teri nodded at Gryit. “The clan has to be protected. We can’t just return with outsiders, even if they’re aiding us. Once we make sure the place they’re bringing us to is good, I’ll take the big guy and the one in the longcoat to the elders and present them as bloodkin. Hopefully, they’ll accept and we’ll be able to move everyone.”

“What if the elders don’t accept it?” Grekol asked.

“If they don’t, then we’ll do what we always have done,” Teri answered solemnly. “Whatever is best for the clan.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.