by H. C. Mills
“Well,” I say, “problem is that I already picked a bunch of Stardrops. When I picked my third, I got attacked by these weird snake-headed monsters that spit acid. I doubt they’ve already forgotten me, so I need Jacob to pick his own, ’cause I don’t want to get attacked again.”
“Wait, you were attacked when you picked the third?” Jacob asks in confusion. “But didn’t you pick four of them?”
I smirk at him. “Yes. Yes I did.”
My thunder is ruined a little when Kaitlynn punches me in the shoulder, clearly not pleased with my risk-taking. She follows this up by giving me the cold shoulder, forcing me to spend some time placating her.
I don’t mind, really. Finally getting a hug after being denied physical contact for a while kind of makes it even sweeter.
More importantly, I’m just glad to have her safe in my arms again.
CHAPTER 47
May the odds be ever in your favour
“YOU READY FOR THIS?” I ask Jacob one last time.
He looks a little pale—well, he looks a lot pale really, ’cause he’s not exactly tan in the first place—but nods determinedly. “Ehm, are you?”
Heh. “Don’t worry about me,” I reply. “My Toxic Energy Tolerance grew quite a bit when I levelled up, so the Aether here won’t harm me.”
Other things still might, of course.
I rappel down the vine, spear pressed against my side beneath my elbow. Upon touching down, I head into the Moonshade Glade with big strides and Jacob in tow.
Earlier I found the stream entering the Moonshade Glade—it wasn’t on the map, or I may have done this earlier—and decided to follow it on our excursion, since it should lead me straight to Stardrop Pond. Well, it meanders a little, so not straight, but you get the idea.
Jacob’s holding his breath as we walk, while I keep breathing, slowly. Just enough that my Lavi doesn’t drop.
When his Lavi gets low, he signals me as planned. Time to try out my idea.
I stand still, take an extra-deep breath, and turn my view inwards.
Breath Control is all about coercing the energy within the Aether to do your thing. Specifically the Lavi. If I were able to control the Toxic Energy in the Aether, things would be very different.
This time, when the Aether enters my lungs, I try not to absorb the present Lavi. I’ve practised a little on the way over, but it’s still pretty hard. I keep the breath in my lungs, waiting for the Toxic Energy to slowly be absorbed while I maintain its Lavi content.
After a couple of seconds, I turn to Jacob and nod. He exhales as far as he can before nodding back.
I lean in close enough that it’s awkward, despite the tense situation. He flinches back a little but controls himself.
Did he just glance at my lips? Yeah, I’m not doing this mouth-to-mouth, buddy.
I exhale slowly, directing my breath towards his face and gently pushing it into his nostrils.
His eyes go wide and he backs up while waving his hand in front of his face, wildly hacking and coughing.
When he’s finished, he glares at me. Whoops. Guess I don’t quite have the control yet to pull off ‘gently.’ I smile apologetically at him and lean in to try again. This time I let the Aether linger in front of him. He inhales, looks thoughtful for a second, and nods in relief.
Seems like it might be working. Though he does look a little grossed out rebreathing my stale Aether. I feel ya, buddy.
We continue like this, walking a bit, stopping so I can filter some Aether and have Jacob breathe it.
I slowly get a little more skilled with it, to the point where I no longer have to lean in quite so close and manage to pull off the filtering part as I walk. Soon, I even start experimenting with trying to add some of my own Lavi into the mix.
Then we reach a Dreamcloud Flower.
Man, it’s pretty, but I’m not falling for one of these suckers again. Jacob, despite my earlier warnings, walks right past me with wide eyes and a look of vacant rapture on his face.
I roll my eyes and grab onto his shoulder.
“Jacob, stop looking at it. Jacob!” I move in front of him and slap him in the face.
“Wha—?”
“That’s Dreamcloud.”
He looks at it in shock. “Jesus...” Then he looks at what litters the ground beneath the flower and takes a step back.
“Relax; it can’t do much except draw you in and suck you dry.”
“Why would that make me relax?!”
I chuckle. “I mean it’s harmless as long as you can break out of its spell. And you’d have to be pretty stupid to fall for it twice.”
“Hmmph. Did you really need to slap me?” Jacob grumbles, rubbing his cheek.
“No,” I admit with a slight smirk. “It was just more fun that way. Now stay here while I harvest it.”
I pull out a rock-knife and walk up to it. Its vines sway as I move closer, but they let me pass unhindered. I cautiously reach out for the flower, cut off the cloud-like stamen in its centre, and proceed to carefully wrap them in the remnants of a torn shirt. Finally, I walk back and put the package I just made in my backpack.
It turns out the powder Lego-ass had in his pouch was actually ground Dreamcloud pollen. In low doses, it makes people more open to suggestion. In high doses, it apparently straight-up knocks people out. That was how they kidnapped Kaitlynn in the first place.
The skeletons around this flower appear to be solely animal, so there’s no loot to be found. I nod at Jacob, and we keep moving. It’s still best to keep our speech to a minimum. Along the way, I harvest another Dreamcloud Flower, even bigger than the last one. Unfortunately, there’s once again no loot to be found.
Come on, Emma, you shouldn’t be unhappy not to find human remains.
I can tell we're getting closer to the pond when craters start showing up in the glade, from where Momma Plessie’s huge globs of acid spit landed.
Jacob frowns at a particularly large one—easily ten feet in diameter—as we pass it by. “What happened here?”
“Ehm, nothing. Don’t worry about it. And stop wasting your breath.”
Jacob shoots me a suspicious look, but follows my instruction and shuts up.
As I expected, the stream leads us to the pond quite soon after. At a respectable distance from the shore, I signal at Jacob to stop.
Please just stay asleep, Momma Plessie!
I provide Jacob with one final breath, point out a nearby lily pad, and gesture at him to go ahead. Following the instructions I gave him on our way over to the glade, he plucks a long rod of bamboo at the shore, then hops onto the pad.
Of course, I didn’t just provide instructions, I also thoroughly grilled him. He was a little suspicious at first, but I eventually managed to convince him that confiding at least his Strength and Agility in me would be favourable to his survival. Turns out he has a Strength of 12 and an Agility of 9. I was a little worried about that second bit, but he seems to hop from pad to pad quite nimbly.
I hold my breath when he reaches for an unplucked Stardrop, but nothing happens even as it snaps free and he stores it away.
I was worried my presence might screw things up, considering my last visit, but it looks like we’re in the clear.
Of course, since I was able to safely pick two, we’re not leaving with just one. I mean, hey, it’s free real estate. If I don’t find a use for it myself, we can always trade it.
As instructed, Jacob picks another Stardrop from a flower close to the shore and surrounded by a large number of lily pads.
This time, however, when he plucks the Stardrop, the plessies unexpectedly wake up.
“Shit! JACOB, BOOK IT!” I yell as at least three heads surface practically right next to him. What the hell?! This doesn’t make any sense!
Thankfully, Jacob reacts quickly, hopping from pad to pad as the ones behind him get destroyed in a deluge of bubble-gum-pink acid.
I run forward as well, inhaling as I do. Jacob is close to the sh
ore now, to my right, but there’s no clear path for him to get there.
Seeing his conundrum, I launch a jet of Aether at the frontrunner of the plessies chasing him. It’s the farthest shot I ever attempted, but I still manage to hit it in the side of the head, and it turns to me angrily. In fact, they all turn to me.
“Guess what? I’m back, bitches!” I yell at them. An ominous ripple moves through the Hydrum. Hoh boy.
Jacob dives into the Hydrum and starts swimming for his life, now a mere twenty feet from shore.
Despite my wild waving and yelling, one of the plessies takes note of his desperate attempt to get away and chases after him. The others start moving towards me, hissing and baring their teeth.
Frig, he’s not swimming fast enough, that plessie is going to get him!
Unfortunately, all this yelling has me out of Aether. Good thing I brought a spear.
Though its shaft isn’t all that straight, seeing as how Dave made it from a scavenged branch, it’s at least balanced nicely. It’ll have to do.
I bring my spear-arm back, my other arm forward, and position the spear parallel to the ground. Man, I’m getting PE flashbacks.
Unfortunately, back then, I was a lot better at gymnastics than at track and field events like the javelin throw. Good thing I’ve been known to perform well under pressure.
As the plessie rears back its long neck to strike, I activate Boost Physical and swing my arm forward.
The spear sails through the Aether, crests its apex right at the halfway point, and beautifully sinks into the base of the beast’s neck with a very satisfying ‘schlunk.’
The beast wails, and I hear a rumble coming from deep beneath the surface. The plessies coming toward me halt, then dive down.
Knowing what’s coming, I run towards Jacob and pull him into the underbrush by the scruff of his neck, then quickly change directions.
A strip of land behind us is devastated by a jet of bubble-gum-pink acid.
“Oh god, we’re gonna die!” Jacob whispers frantically.
I wheel around and shush him. “Don’t worry,” I whisper back. “I’ve got a lot of experience with this. Now, I need you to calm down and do as I say. Can you do that?”
I stare him down until he swallows and nods.
“Good. Now, as you may have noticed, Momma Plessie hasn’t attempted to hit us a second time.”
“Momma?”
“Stay focused,” I reprimand him. “Last time, I figured something out. Allow me to demonstrate.” I grab a small rock, and toss it into some distant bushes, disturbing them.
Seconds later, another jet of bubble-gum-pink blasts them away.
Jacob blanches.
“Y’see? Momma Plessie’s eyes have probably evolved for under-Hydrum sight,” I whisper. “In Aether, her vision is terrible, so she simply shoots anything that moves.”
Like giant flesh-eating flowers.
“All we have to do is move very slowly,” I continue, “and stand still whenever she looks our way.”
“What if she does spot us?” Jacob whispers.
I grin. “Then we run.”
Jacob watches with wide eyes as I slowly make my way out of our cover, keeping my gaze trained on Momma Plessie. Her head swivels my way and I freeze. For a long moment, it seems like she’s looking right at me, then her head turns back and she roars at the spot we entered the underbrush.
I turn back a bit to smirk at Jacob. He swallows, then follows me with somewhat wooden motions.
And so begins our most dangerous game of Peep Behind the Curtain.
“Why’d they attack me?” Jacob asks indignantly as we reach the edge of the glade. “I thought you said I could safely pick the second one?”
I chuckle. “I’m quite sure there was a ‘probably’ in there somewhere. I honestly don’t know why, though. Maybe they’ve gotten more sensitive because more Stardrops have been plucked. Maybe it’s because I was there. Maybe it’s because we didn’t actually need it. Who knows?” I shrug.
He seems unsatisfied, but still hands over the second Stardrop when I hold out my palm.
“All right,” I say. “You go ahead and climb onto a high branch, out of the Toxic Energy; I’ve got a bit more harvesting to do before we head back.”
Jacob nods wordlessly and walks towards a nearby tree trunk. Meanwhile, I head back into the glade, removing a 1.5-litre empty coke bottle from my backpack as well as a pair of clawed, black leather gloves that look like they used to be a part of a Shego costume. Spoils of war.
I grab the first Moonshade Flower I find and make swift work of its stem with a stone blade. I hold it over the upright bottle on the ground and activate Boost Physical to twist the stem. It takes some straining, but soon enough the thick, viscous sap starts leaking out and dripping into the bottle.
Who knows when we’ll see Moonshade again? I’m not leaving until this sucker is full.
When we get back, I am surprised to find myself being jumped by a relieved Kaitlynn.
Though I‘m only surprised because she was supposed to be levelling. I’ve gotten quite used to random hugs.
I raise a brow at Dave over Kaitlynn’s shoulder.
He shakes his head with a fond smile. “She was too wound up to concentrate. I thought it best she wait for your return and attempt the level up together with Jacob.”
I nod. That’s fine—it shouldn’t negatively impact our schedule.
Kaitlynn releases me and starts checking over my body, to see if I’m all right.
“Did you guys have a safe trip?” Alec asks, leaning in the hut’s opening.
“Yup, nothing happened,” I say. “Right, Jacob?”
“Emma told me to say that nothing happened,” Jacob responds dryly, “but we actually poked the hornets’ nest when I grabbed a second Stardrop and got attacked and chased by the... plessies, including the really big one after Emma nailed one with her spear.”
“Yes, well,” I say, glaring at him. “We got away fine, so no worries.” I’ll get you for that one, Emo-kid. Payback’s a bitch.
Kaitlynn shakes her head exasperatedly. “I knew you’d get in trouble... but you do seem fine.” Her gaze lingers on my bust. “Say, Emma,” she starts absently, “is it just me, or did you get a little ‘bigger’?”
That might explain why my armour fits a little tighter than before, but this is clearly not the time or place to examine such things.
I clear my throat. “Anyway! Let’s get you crazy kids levelled up. Oh, if you could Purify them one last time first, Dave, that’d be great.”
Actually, I should probably sit in on that session. Taking in Toxic Energy for two the whole way put even me a little over my limit.
It seem my method worked well; under the combined effects of the still-functioning Blue Angel and Dave’s Purifying Skill, Jacob’s Toxic Energy is quickly back under his Tolerance Limit.
After some final preparation and instruction, the time has come for Jacob and Kaitlynn to level up. Jacob seems to trust me a little more now, as it takes only a little prodding to get him to confide that his Willpower is 11. I tell him with that, he should be fine withstanding the pain. They both should be. They will be.
My nails dig into my palms as I watch Kaitlynn receive and drink her heated, liquified Stardrop. She quickly follows it up with her Yang Qi Pearl and one of Meathead’s Minor Lavi Crystals. My newly sharp nails draw blood.
I force myself to sit down and be quiet, despite the nervous energy jittering through my body. We can only watch now.
Soon, they are both sweating profusely and their bodies glow with heat.
So this is what the Yang level-up procedure looks like. Concentrating on the vision coming through my eye-crystal, I can actually vaguely see orange-tinted energy snakes crawling beneath Kaitlynn’s skin.
After what feels like an hour, the dangerous part—which I know to last only fifteen minutes—is finally over. One after the other, Jacob and Kaitlynn lie down with stiff, puppet-like movemen
ts and sink into a deep sleep.
They made it. Relieved, I let out a deep breath, causing various objects in the room to flutter or rattle. Now it’s just a matter of letting them sleep it off.
Their bodies haven’t changed colour, nor have they grown any form of beginning horns, so I guess that’s going to happen while they sleep. Some form of adaptation to being a higher level?
[You’ve received another pre-recorded audio-message from ‘the council secretary,’ sent to all his contacts. Would you like to hear it?]
“Sure,” I mutter distractedly.
Oof. Compared to the last message, this one’s opening had a very different energy. He sounds exhausted.
Cool story, bro.
What? And those assholes didn’t even bother to tell me! Though I guess I haven’t really kept them up to date either...
Are they trying to monopolise the remaining doors? Actually, that doesn’t make a lot of sense; announcing it like this would be the worst way to do that.
I can imagine.
