The sounds of a river and the smell of a fire greet me as I wake up. Partial memories are reminding me of the night in the chasm as I rub my eyes. The image of the golden light streaking down just in time to save them and then the retreat out made me queasy thinking about it.
When I finally opened my eyes, Stell sat across from me, holding a stick. He had some types of brown geometric shapes speared onto it and was roasting them. My stomach growled, and Stell noticed me.
'Finally awake, thought you might sleep till lunch, hehe!' -Stell.
'I still feel tired, that thing was terrifying. Speaking about that thing, where are our savior and Kade?'
I began to look around our campsite.
"I'm back in the pass a bit, I am collecting more Pristems. They taste well roasted on the fire, and the insides are juicy. As for Diagon, I think he is off thinking near the river. Giving up his spot as a god isn't easy.' -Kade.
I couldn't see where she was speaking from when I looked down at the cliff face trail, so she must have been quite a bit back, pretty brave, all things considered. As for Diagon, it was understandable for him to want some time alone. Choosing to fall from grace to save us mortals would leave anyone with a questionable feeling. I will have to thank him, but I think I'll leave him be for now.
Turning to the sounds of rushing water, I look out at the river. The river is flowing fast, but that wasn't the peculiar thing. There was a bridge. This said bridge ran so low to the water that exceptionally high waves washed over. This crossing could be a huge problem. I sent my thoughts out to Kade.
"What's with the bridge? It hardly looks safe to cross.'
'We will have to wait two days for the river to lower when Lypis gets farther away.' -Kade.
'Lypis? Like a moon?'
'Yes, It is very far from us and affects any large water source and some small ones. Some places will stay dry for a week and then fill with twenty feet of water. Our world has many dangers.' -Kade.
'So, in two days, the water will go down?'
'Yes, This spot will fall about fifty feet. This is the main reason it is built flat. The people that built it only had limited resources and limited time to work between the rise and fall. The water must have just risen, so maybe less than two days until it falls back down.' -Kade.
I didn't plan on waiting for another day. Everything we had seen, and the things we had been told about the city. Minus the fall in the cave, that was all my fault. We can't wait to get to Medora. I began to get a feeling that things were about to start happening faster.
With resolution, I turned back to The Shellmakadoor River. My first thought was to use walls to direct the water while we crossed. That idea was too risky since now I knew no way to see the bottom to make a wall. If I made the wall on the bridge, the rushing water might put extra stress on this "Limited Resource" bridge. Maybe a bridge over the bridge?
Just then, the smell of the mushrooms and something sweet reached me. The lingering smell made my mouth salivate, and I turned back to the camp. As I got back to our fire, I could see the mushrooms on a flat thin prismatic board. The smell was intoxicating, and I could barely control myself as I began to mindlessly walk toward them.
As I got closer, something looked different, and they gave off almost a greenish glow. At this point, unless the sprouted legs and ran away, I was going to devour them. I picked one up, and it put it to my mouth, and the smell as it neared was of the sweetest honey. As my teeth closed around the first gem-like mushroom, I was greeted with a warm gush of earthy juices. This was followed by the sweet glowing sauce, then left a slightly bitter aftertaste. I let out a rapturous moan and then heard laughing from behind me.
"Enjoying the Pristems and Critek Jelly?" Kade said, wiping her hands on her pants. She seems to have some of the glowing jellies on her hands.
"Oh, by my mother, this is some good stuff. I can't get enough of these," I said as I grabbed another two from the crystal-like board.
"Oh, I bet you can't. I also bet you can't guess what a Critek is," Stell said as he pulled some more Pristems off of the stick, he was cooking them on.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked slowly, also stopping my hand in front of my mouth.
I had just been about to eat another one when they look in Stell's eyes made me stop. Kade spoke up from behind again closer as she walked up to our fire.
"Critek's are a type of larva found in the pass and other dark places. They secrete a jelly that tastes sweet, and we use it on many foods. We consider it to be a delicacy," she said to me with a mischievous smile.
My eyes began to screw up, and I had to fight down the urge to vomit. These two were trying to get at me, and I wasn't going to let them. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and dove towards the Pristems.
The sounds of Kade and Stell's surprise were drowned out in my ears. The only sound to me was Pristems cramming into my mouth. The sounds of the two came back as I turned around. They both gawked at me as I tried to chew and swallow all the presently cooked diamond looking mushrooms. Kade was the first to unfreeze and launched herself at me.
"You didn't have to eat them all!" She screamed both out loud and in my mind as she dove for me.
The connection knocked me over and almost caused me to vomit again. Kade hopped up and kicked my butt for good measure as I lay groaning. I could hear Stell laughing uproariously. After complaining for a bit, I stood back up and joined our group around the fire and noticed that Diagon had still not joined.
"Do you think Diagon is ok?" I asked, sitting down on the ground beside Stell.
Kade gave me a dirty look that slowly melted into a grin.
"I think he will be fine. He's not mortal, so he should be above moping around or something like that," Kade said as she reached to grab a Pristem of the board.
"How did you get that board or whatever you call it?" I asked, pointing at the thin crystal surface that Stell was putting the cooked Pristems on.
"I can use Vibration magic to make a normal knife cut through almost anything, but it drains a lot of energy. Depending on the thickness, density, and material, some things take too much magic to be practical," Kade explained to me as she ate.
"Can you teach me, I mean us?" Stell asked with interest. "I can see many uses for a spell like that."
"I can try, but I don't shape and speak the magic as you two do," She said a bit hesitantly.
"Only one way to find out," I say encouragingly with a smile.
Still hesitating, Kade looks between the two of us and stands up. She motions for us to follow her back to the opening of the pass. Reaching down to her boot Kade pulls out a small knife as we follow. When we approach an outcropping of gems in the wall, she stops.
Stell frowned at the object in her hand because it was a small knife, and it was about the length of my finger. Stell was almost three times taller than Kade. The blade to him must look like a short, Fancy sandwich sword we would get when we went to eat in a nice restaurant back home. Stell reached behind his head and scratched it frowning. Kade notices this, and the tension in her seemed to melt away as she giggles at him.
"I know what your thinking, what are you gonna do with that tiny little knife," she says to Stell in a mocking impression of a manly tone.
It was not manly, at all. As I laughed at her high-pitched imitation of Stell, Kade continued on.
"It's not about how big the blade is. Just the blade is important. Having a long thin blade can help, but you can extend the cutting vibrations past the physical blade with the control. Once you have achieved the vibrating blade extension, the cut is easier and smoother. You no longer need to remove the blade width of the material. Instead, now you only take a hair's width."
As she finished speaking, I began to hear a humming sound that started to get louder. Then I noticed the small blade she held began to distort in visible ovals, forming a point at the tip. Soon the oval waves began to stretch past the end and flattened out. The humming and distorted blade became smooth with the thickness of paper, a silver color, and extreme vibrating waves that were held in place.
Kade seemed to be breathing a bit harder as she raised the now twelve-inch silver blade toward a large gem spike. She slowly moved the edge forward and began to cut through the gem-like a hot iron through the snow. I heard Stell let out an audible awe sound beside me, and I made the same sound, but with my mouth hung open it was more of a ha sound.
Suddenly, Meso pops out of Nowhere with a loud thunderclap. I saw him appear beside me in front of Stell, and before I could do anything, the voice of the thundering book came into our heads.
'Copy the spell!' -Meso.
I turned and rushed to catch Kade, but she had let go of the spell. She was also able to catch herself on the gem she had been trying to cut. As I got to her, I heard another thunderclap from behind me. That was the tell-tale sign Meso had left again. The damn book won't even say goodbye. Looking at Kade now, she was panting and sweating.
"Are you ok?"
"Yes, I'll be ok. I used my magic to cut the piece earlier, and with this try, and that da..." But, before she could finish that sentence, I covered her mouth.
"Don't finish that sentence. Somehow I don't think you are as resistant to getting struck magically by an angry god as I am," I whisper fiercely, bending over.
Her eyes went wide in understanding, and she began to calm down, still panting from the magical exertion and pressure. I turn around and look at Stell, but he is just staring at his hand.
I was about to ask him what was up, but then he extended his index finger. The humming noise and the crisp sound of magic came back. Stell's finger became covered in the same silvery distortion, and the blade was nearly three feet long. He casually began to swing his silver humming finger-blade toward the ground and the chasm edge—That's when I heard Kade yell to stop.