Yviss must've told his door guards we were coming, because they didn't even try to stop us as we exited. Or maybe that was just because of Jerric. His countless extra privileges were extraordinarily useful and unbalanced, but I wouldn't argue with it if it benefited me. Out the door and into the open, I checked the map and the blazing sun to get a heading, then began walking that way without a word to my partner in this mission. It was a clear day, unfortunately, and the air smelled fresh. As little time as I spent outside, I still far preferred clouds and grey skies. I kept one hand on the hilt of my sword, which was attached to my side in a rough leather sheath. The quality of that weapon deserved a far better holder, but I gave it what little I could offer. It was technically sheathed on the wrong side of my body, but that was intentional. It bothered the Emperor and gave an element of surprise when fighting. Nobody expects a right- handed fighter to draw their blade from the right side, even if it was a bit impractical at times. Noticing that I was holding my weapon, Jerric stepped closer to me.
"Why are you so paranoid?" he asked, "It's completely open here. You'd see anyone coming."
"Have you forgotten that the Crystalborn do not follow normal standards? For all we know, some can become invisible." I answered tersely, not willing to drop my guard out here. Even the long grass brushing along the clothing of my legs and waist was mildly triggering my natural reaction to flee from contact. Anything that touched me without my noticing did that. So far, it had only helped preserve my life, but a few of the Arena staff got bothered when I threw them to the floor on instinct after they simply touched my shoulder. It was unfortunate for them, but I didn't really care. Jerric returned to pestering me about my supposed
66
paranoia as we walked towards the area known as the Ridgelands, making reasonably good time. We had to begin there, as the party with the target was coming up in the next few days. If we missed it, our job would become twice as hard and Yviss would be outraged.
All day, we kept travelling without any difficulty. I even managed to get the weird metal glove granted by Yviss off my hand by pressing on the palm. I'd try not to use that often. Not many provisions were brought with us, but I was used to going long periods of time without eating. Another obscure part of my training that I was sure Jerric didn't have to deal with. The terrain gradually became rougher and more sloped, due to the Ridgelands being aptly named and full of mountains, ridges, and large rocks. Night fell, and I would have been perfectly fine to continue, but of course Jerric insisted that we rest. There wasn't a lot of firewood around all the rocks and crags, but that wouldn't be a problem when someone like Jerric was there. He simply lit himself on fire. The warm glow did what he intended, lighting the area and bringing warmth against the cold air that came with the setting of the sun. Still, I turned my back to the light so that I could see better into the darkness and keep watch. We didn't have much of a camp, but that could be fixed easily. Several large and detached stones were nearby, and I was able to move them through the air into a sort of rocky shelter with my Gift while Jerric watched with wide eyes.
"Whoa...since when could you do that?" he sounded both curious and in awe, "I thought you just controlled sand and such."
That provoked a faint laugh from me. Sometimes the lack of intelligence some people show is amusing.
67
"Nature manipulation. Sand, stones, trees. Much of the earth." Ironically, I dropped a large rock right next to Jerric as I said that, having not trained this ability enough to consistently hold it up. He did manage to get himself out of the way, but only just. I was not nearly as powerful as I sounded, or as I could be. A smirk from Jerric confirmed that he knew that.
"You need a whole lot more practice. Don't you listen to Yviss?" His smile stayed strong as ever, although I could tell he still had the whip from earlier on his mind. Good to know that both of us recognized the differences in our treatment.
"The Emperor has not given any instruction on that matter."
"Oh. He trains my Gift all the time. I'll talk to him about helping you if you want."
"Do not bother with such things." With a shake of my head, I took a seat leaning against one of the external walls of the small shelter I'd created. Pain sparked in my back again, but I pushed it aside.
"Hey, you shouldn't sit like that with your back injured. Speaking of, are you okay? Yviss hit you kinda hard..." Jerric expressed his concern at my wound in a quick spoken manner. I chose to just stare at him in response. At some point, I planned to interrogate Jerric as to how his Gift could be used within the Crystalglass laced areas, but now was not the time. Getting dragged into a conversation would take my attention off our surroundings, and that would be problematic. We were very much exposed and in unfamiliar territory, not to mention that Jerric was practically a beacon
68
of light telling anyone who wished to know where we were. Or anything.
Hours passed, and at some time Jerric had fallen asleep within the cover of rock, the burning flames fading from his body. Now that his glow didn't intrude, my vision could adjust to the darkness of the night. Scanning the landscape slowly under the countless stars, I didn't spot anything out of place. My mistake was that I'd not checked behind or above the shelter, as it had been constructed against a wall. What saved me was Yviss, as much as I despised him.
A fair bit of my training had been done while blinded, so my hearing had reached nearly supernatural levels. The faintest of noises behind me sounded almost like a trumpet in the quiet of the late hours. I drew my sword and spun, perfectly timed to decapitate what resembled a small lion leaping towards me, spraying me with dark blood as it died. Blood didn't bother me but having it all over my face and clothes would only draw attention. I'd have to get something else to wear at the next town. That wasn't really on the front of my mind now, though, because several more of the lion creatures were approaching down the mountainside behind where Jerric was asleep. I counted five of them, tan coats glistening, but there was probably more hidden somewhere. For animals, they were relatively smart, surrounding me but keeping enough distance between us that I couldn't quickly break their wall. Walking and growling silently in a circle, five pairs of dangerous eyes were fixed on me. My knuckles turned white as I gripped my weapon firmly and gradually rotated, eyes watching each of the creatures, expecting them to come forth at any time. Yelling would probably wake Jerric and get him involved in turning the odds, but I didn't need him. If I used my Gift, it would be
69
ridiculously easy, but I'd rather only use that if there were no alternatives. My thought process ended there, as the beasts all simultaneously jumped at me with a snarl. I was fast, and my sword swept cleanly through three of the beasts as I turned, but the other two pounced on my widely undefended back. Several claws dug into my flesh, hurting all the worse from my previous scars and cuts. Trying to throw the things off, I spun around and managed to land my blade in the side of one of the lion-like creatures. Which left me open to be smacked aside by the remaining one, sword dropping from my hand as I tumbled across the rocky earth, leaving a trail of dark blood stains. It hurt like hell, and I was pretty sure my arm was just about broken. Groaning slightly from the pain, I forced myself up to my knees as the final creature paced towards me. Size was a strange thing; this one suddenly seemed far larger. Twice my size, even, and I wasn't exactly a small kid. Reaching out to the earth itself, I attempted to draw on my Gift, but was mostly drained from what I'd done before. Nothing happened, and the beast kept coming. My sword was still embedded in a corpse, and nothing on my person was suitable for fighting aside from my fists. Those would have to work. Pushing back up onto unsteady legs, I stared forwards and readied my arms. Boxing with a lion. What could possibly go wrong?
Unsurprisingly, a lot of things went wrong. Primarily the teeth. The creature surged towards me with its mouth gaping at precisely the same moment that I went for a right hook to the side of its head. As expected, the teeth of carnivores are sharp. And my fist collided directly with several of them, knuckles and fingers being torn open a good bit. Nonetheless, the face of the thing was knocked away, and my head was not eaten yet. How fortunate. The massive paws remained a problem. Even as a highly agile person, I struggled to get aside and was nearly tossed to the dust
70
again. Not leaving another chance for it to approach, I smoothly and swiftly got behind the lion thing, wrapping my arms around its neck and beginning to tighten my hold. Rolling around and thrashing, the beast tried to get me off through several methods, one of which involved it putting its full weight onto me while laying on its back. I felt some of my ribs cracking as I was thrown around and crushed, but my arms stayed where they were, slowly choking the life out of the animal that was my opponent. Its breathing and movements slowed, and finally ceased. Shoving the corpse off me, I wearily got to my feet and went back to my sword, cleaning the blood off it with a rag before sheathing it. Footsteps sounded out against the stone again, but this time it was merely Jerric, staring at my new wounds and the corpses in a mixture of awe and disgust. His eyes flicked to the blood on me, to my sliced open arms and back, and then to the lions before he made the mistake of coming to put a hand on my shoulder and trying to lead me into the shelter. Without thinking or hesitating, I turned, grabbed Jerric, and swept his legs from beneath him with one of mine, sending him to the floor within a second. He grunted as he went down, and his hands burst ablaze and aimed up at me. Sword already levelled at his throat; it was clear that we would both die if either of us continued. I stepped away and glared down at him.
"Do not touch me unless you wish for combat," I said grimly, "Or preferably not at all."
"I was just going to help you, Vite. Nothing more."
"If I desired assistance, I'd have asked for it."
"We both know that's not true." Jerric hopped to his feet with a smirk and dusted himself off. Annoyingly, he was
71
right. I wasn't the kind of person who asked for help or needed it. As just shown, even against six lions, I still was almost entirely unscathed if one were to ignore the broken ribs and rivets of blood all over me. Jerric did not ignore those things, and instead gestured at them with a smug look on his face.
"You can't deny that you need treatment. I could help you." Persistent as always, the other teenager wouldn't give up on insisting that I needed his help. Stubbornly as usual, I ignored his arguments and reasons in favor of returning to standing rigidly at my spot by the entryway of our rocky shelter. Wind started to pick up, and my hair and clothing were being pulled sideways. It was a small thing, but I was already in a bad mood, and it became quite obnoxious. Conveniently, my dour expression also put off Jerric, and I could remain where I was with blood running down me as pain shot through my body for the remainder of the night.