Less than two days on the road as he headed to meet his teammates. Aero ran into a problem, literally; while his beast trotted down a road, it ran face-first into another creature. Aero was going to move to fight it. If the creature hadn't raised its front hooves/claws, kicking the creature. 'oh, that's right,' he picked something that could fight. Knowing he wasn't at his best, Aero unhooked the creature from the cart and let it fight.
As he watched the bloody battle with teeth and claws, he wondered if letting the creature fight more would be a good idea. 'I mean, I doubt it would be a problem,' besides taking a closer look at it, they looked like they'd put on some weight,' unless they got pregnant when I wasn't looking.'
The battle only lasted a few petals before Aero's creature managed to land a big blow that forced the wild one to retreat into the woods. Aero's creature watched it retreat before turning to face Aero, who started them down." if you're going to run you. I warn you that I won't be kind when I catch you,"
The creature huffed as if insulted before starting back over. "smarter than I originally believed," he could work with that." in fact, he opened his gaze to the creature's pride; there wasn't much a little more than the average creature, which he looked at in curiosity a few times. The level varied a lot. Enough for him to know that there was room for improvement.
'I wonder how much of a good idea that is?' he wondered before reattaching the line before the creature started walking again. Travel was dull, as nothing else tried to attack him. so that left his listing to some stories the helper found for him.
Which was fully entertaining, but he couldn't help but grow restless. His daily exercising and stretching weren't helping as much. 'I don't even remember being this restless,' it baffled him until he remembered that his injured spirit could affect his mind.
'Man, I hope it's something else,' because he could really do much about the injured spirits or the systems. The worry stayed with him as he continued moving forward. Soon, he arrived at the point where he would have to take a bird to the edge of the continent.
"These prices," Aero groaned, seeing the amount it would take to bring his cart and creature. He knew about them beforehand and brought enough coin, but it still hurt to see. 'let's see, the bird won't be leaving for the next few days. The trip would take about 12 days.' it sounded long, but it was months on a cart and maybe a year walking.
'All alright, let's pay for my seat and then go look around town.' he wanted to know if any of his team was already here. He started with the inn in the town, where there were four of them. None of his teammates were inside, and the workers wouldn't answer his question about who was staying there.
So he headed throughout the town, seeing the market and the houses and the mail building and the hunter building as well. There was even a small training center that he looked through. It wasn't as impressive as the one in the capital. But he liked it and was definitely visiting again in the next few days.
The person who ran the training halls was a bit more helpful in locating his teams, telling him that one person who matched the descriptions of his teammates had been through there. This gave him some hope, but she couldn't tell him who it had been. Also, her memory seemed pretty spotty.
"Ugh, let's hope that she didn't get something mixed up."
Walking through the rest of the town, he didn't find them, followed by checking out the space around the town, where thankfully he found Golan Lior sparring with Graezt Inna. 'oh, thank the zalts, people I can talk to without getting mad.' yes he was aware that was a problem of a kind. But he didn't see the need to solve it right now.
Instead, he settled down to watch them fight; it was clear that both had put in practice for their weapons. They were both skilled, so Aero couldn't declare a clear winner; they didn't reveal one either as, at some unseen signal, they both stopped putting their weapons in their sheaths.
"are you going to keep watching?" Inna asked, looking at the tree that Aero was leaning against." I think I will?" the male responded before lowering himself to sit on the ground. The girls looked at each other and shrugged before going back to their sparing.
About a flower later, they headed back into town, talking about the fun they had over their breaks. then the danger Aero had been in, "We're going to get attacked, aren't we." Loir stated. Aero nodded in response, and she sighed. " great, I thought this was going to be boring on the trip." you could have hit someone with that sarcasm.
Inna was more intrigued by the spiritual injury he incurred." does it hurt?" Aero paused; it hurt constantly, but he wasn't telling her that. There wasn't a point in making her worried; he was fine. He was dealing with the pain.
When they arrived at the inn the girls were staying at, Aero got himself a room. When the innkeeper asked if he wanted to be near the girls for his safety, he gave them an angry and tired look, which was enough to convince them to change their question.
"would you like a room near your teammates so you can split the bill?" at the question, Aero turned to the girls. Lior gave a thumbs up, not looking up from the drink she was chugging. "all right, we're slipping the bill. Also, we have three more teammates arriving. Can we reserve rooms for them in advance?"
"oh, that is more than doable," she smiled and started writing something down before giving him the keys to the room they just rented out. Aero left the other keys with the girls before getting his stuff from his cart and dragging it up to his room for the next few days, where he meditated.
Wrapping more bandages of pride energy around the still leaking wound. Honestly, he thinks it was getting worse, like the bleeding out was getting worse. He was noticing small changes in his physical state, like the fact he was more tired than usual. Sleep didn't help him recover as much. And mentally, his thoughts might be getting slower.
A small bud of fear was in his chest; it probably would grow more than it already was.
"helper, have you detected anything from the beast?" he asked, stretching out, trying to stay active despite the growing effects of the wound. 'no, it's been more than a week since you fought it, but it's possible it's acting in a way I can't detect.'
Aero ran a hand over his face before moving into a new stretch. 'well, I guess the only real option is to be on guard; Aero sure as hell would let an attack slide, so he doubted that the beat would. There was no way it was any less prideful than he was; another thing he was sure he needed a new way to contain this beast.
The chains were a nuisance, and he wasn't stopping that. The petty and annoying actions were the best he could do at the moment. But if the beast stepped up its game, he could only return the favor and step up his own game.
He had been thinking about what he should do, and as much as he didn't like it. He couldn't do anything that would anger the beast too much. But he fixed those thoughts by seeing it as a challenge.
It would be a careful balancing act on how he treated his prisoner before they increased their attempts to kill him. "I wonder how manipulative this will turn out to be?" because he was aware he was playing with the beast's emotions and feelings; he knew it was going to hate him. But he didn't care, and he wasn't sure the creature felt anything not related to pride.
Second of all, it wouldn't care right back, nor did he think it would take any of his actions lying down. Never mind what it would do when it realized what he was doing. Why did he think it was going to realize what he planned? Because right next to it's old age, it was still going to live for a very long time.
If Aero lived long enough, the beast would have been stupid not to realize what he was doing. which he doubted the most about the beast, as it clearly showed planning by the creatures it sent after him.
Not of them were doing anything that would draw attention to the battle but also scalable of somehow bypassing the barrier around Augustine. But all cable of killing a being of Aero's power levels, it also might be underestimating him.
"I'm thinking about this too hard," he would have to come back to this. After some rest and coming up with something more completive, he trained his energy manipulation. Because he was going to need that for his plans, whatever they ended up being.
He started by trying to form weapons, something he could imagine hitting the beast through the gate without risking his own health. The chain worked without his having to cross to the other dimension, so it would be strange for him to attack the same way. Hell, the beast found a way to do it.
"I think I like this one best," he looked at the weapons before him. It was simply a small spear/torch. He wasn't sure how he got to fire or why he felt the heat. But he was going with it; his imagination might have run away from him for a few ideas, but he liked the flaming weapon.
It tests it, Aero through it into the beast's prison. Not even a moment later, the gate itself shook, which was rapidly closed as the beast lunged at him. Giving the teen a clear view of its many sharp teeth. "that seemed to hurt it a lot," he was pleased by that, but he was also now on guard of the retaliation.
The retaliation didn't come for a few days; in that time, he warned Lior, and Inna got ready. But even they were prepared for the swarm that came at them." by the zalts!" swearing right next to her, Inna swung her daggers, trying to kill the head-sized incest flying around them.
"This was a lot worse than you've said," Lior shouted as she kicked off the wall to gain the air needed to smack down three of the insects. inna immediately swooping around to finish them off. "this many hadn't come before!" Aero shouted as they danced like a leaf in the storm winds, trying to avoid all the stingers and fangs aiming for him. Especially his face.
As one came too close, lior whipped out with her weapon, sending a tremor through the earth before spikes of stone rose from the earth. And the walls. As the insects scattered from the attack, Aero moved to the center of the room, where his teammate met him. As they did, Aero took a look at Lior's weapon.
'it's nice to see that she took the time to replace her sword, compared to her last one. Which had definitely seen a lot over the years; this one had indents on the metal edge. So that when swung, air would pass through the holes.
'she worked hard over the break,' Aero acknowledged; they had missed the chance to go with her due to the rush to the capitol. But Aero was glad she took the time herself, 'how do we kill all these insects!' he loosened his grip on the staff. He started willing it like a rapier stabbing through the exoskeleton of the insects that came close to him.
It didn't even slow the swarm. Of what he wasn't sure. They had wings that reminded him of stained glass, their bodies were long, and their heads normal-sized with a dozen eyes. Numerous legs down their form that ended in a long stinger. It was dark, and he knew there was poison in it; from a close call, they left something dripping out of the wall.
'damn it what can we do without destroying the inn, because breaking someone's lively hood was bad.' there was also the following matter about the fine they would have to pay, but Aero could care less about that he had money.
Dancing under another insect, Inna swung hard with her axes, cutting the wings off of one insect and the tail of the other before placing both blades down on the first. A buzzing behind her told her to jump, and luckily, she did, or there would be a stinger in her back.
As she flipped over the attackers, she swung her blade through its wings, landing softly, she threw out both axes. one forward into the head of the insect that tried to sneak up on Lior and the other to the side into the side of the bug that Aero had kicked in the face.
The loss of her weapons didn't slow her momentum as she still had her fists and feet, which was more than enough to last the moments it took for her teammates to throw her weapons back at her. for her to continue to return to cutting and slicing.
'we need something better than this," Aero thought as he slid his staff under the body of a bug before sending it flying into the ceiling, twisting the heel of his foot. He struck the insect that tried to sneak up on him. Blocking the stinger from the right.
As the first one came caught, he spun again, catching it with his staff so he could violently slam it into the other and then the wall. The three dining screams attracted attention, and several more insects started rushing at him.
Scoffing, Aero jumped back, using the wall as a springboard so he could air; flipping forward, he thrust his staff through the body. Then, the floor boards, using it as a fulcrum, spun and kicked out the insects that came.
'we' still had a plan,' he thought. Under the buzzing, fighting, and melodies, his teammates heard a new sound joining them, but Aero didn't hear it. It was just another part of the noise that surrounded him until he felt his instincts tell him to stop just as a lot of air was parted.
Snapped towards the source of it, as a fourth of the insects went down. 'she works...!