PurpleMonarch

Extra chapter today to celebrate hitting 5k views in such a short time. I'd like to thank you all for your amazing support, I never imagined APB would be this well received.

“Oof, my back.” The sound of a man complaining woke me. I was a bit confused, definitely still half asleep, because it took a moment for me to remember where I was, or who all these huge people were.

I was nestled in a warm cocoon, wooly fluff pressed up all against me as I snuggled into it and I felt really content. That is, until I felt the distinct twinge of my wings being caught under me as I shifted to try and block out the noise of the men packing up camp right next to me. How rude of them. “Oowww.” I gently moaned, nursing my wing, and I rolled over onto my stomach to try and fall asleep again.

Then it all came back to me in a rush as I sat up, and–grinning madly ready to start the day with my new friends, I got out of my SUPER COMFORTABLE bedroll, and proceeded to start the day with a proper breakfast of flower nectar combined with some oatmeal from Arduin.

From there, I tried to pack up all of my stuff, I.E. my single woolen bedroll, but struggled a bit. On Earth I had been camping a few times, but I always hated packing away my sleeping bag because of how hard it was to stuff away for some reason. 

I could just never understand how to fit everything together, even if this wasn’t technically the same thing.

***

After watching me struggle for a little while, Sam walked up to me, chuckling slightly, and asked me if I needed any help.

“Uh, no. Thanks. Should. Be fine!” I replied, gasping in between words at the effort.

I had trouble hearing his reply over the sound of laughter in my head as Psyche seemed to take great pleasure in watching me struggle. I think I heard the beep of a camera, which was worrying to say the least. I didn’t even know where she might have pulled that from.

My face red with exertion and embarrassment, I gave in and handed the bedroll to Sam and watched in awe as he effortlessly folded the bedroll into an actual roll and not a lumpy mess like it had been before, and then stuffed it in a bag along with a small dagger and a set of rations before handing it back.

It took me a moment to understand that he was giving it all to me, and I graciously accepted his gift, still amazed at the selflessness he’d shown me even in the short time I had been here. I had no idea if it was because I was an Avatar, or if he was really just that kind. Either way, I was determined to return his kindness in some way one day.

It was so unlike Earth, where people would do anything for power, even go to war with each other over the most pointless things like borders and status. But in Caladias, from what I had heard, the intentional exploitation of land and people for money and power was far more scarce here, if my meeting with Sam and his adventuring company was anything to go by.

Logically, I knew that this probably wasn’t true, but this time I knew I might be able to make a difference. Afterall, I had promised myself before coming to this world that I was to never be a bystander again and watch as people were exploited.

As I ruminated on the good of mortals, I failed to notice the company having finished packing up, and I was roused from my thoughts by Sam standing over me.

“Cynthia, we’re ready to go,” he rumbled in his deep baritone voice, which somehow made me feel like he would go to any length to protect the people he cared about. After seeing him beg for his friend’s lives at the expense of his own, I absolutely believed it.

I perked up, ready to start a new day with my new friends, and together, we brought my new bag to the caravan before gently tossing it in with the rest of the equipment that couldn't be stored on our backs.

One unfortunate aspect of having giant wings, it seemed, was the fact that I couldn’t really wear a backpack anymore, so while Sam and the adventurers all carried rucksacks apparently made from monster hide, I had to leave all my stuff in the caravan.

I wasn’t really bothered much by this though, because it let me walk around freely, talking a bunch to everyone and just getting an even better idea of what was happening here. The light of a new morning freshening everyone’s perspectives and opening them to chat.

I found out the name of the town we were going to was Irondale, aptly named after its main export, iron. It was said to be a lovely little town with rolling greenery. There I could apparently find a room to stay in, as well as the Adventurer’s hall, which was where all the adventurers had to go to register as well as get paid for quests like this one.

Also, I found out that the cargo that Arduin was transporting was sand, for whatever reason. I found this out when I decided to take a break from marching, and sat in one of the trailers there, where I found boxes upon boxes all piled up full of it. I stared at this for a while, confused, but then I saw the man from yesterday, Jameson. He was thinking deeply, eyes over the horizon that could just be seen from behind the trees.

“Hi Jameson! what’s the sand for?” I asked, questioning its purpose.

He started, I’d clearly startled him from his thoughts. “Oh Hi Cynthia. This isn’t sand, it's lime, and it's used to remove impurities from ores.” He smiled. I barely knew what smelting was, so it’s no surprise that I looked at him blankly.

He stared at me for a while, the awkwardness in the air so thick it could be cut by a knife, and I stared back.

[Go on, ask him about magic,] Psyche said, impatient for some reason.

[Wait, aren't you like the goddess of magic?] I asked, confused.

Psyche groaned a bit. Clearly I’d hit a nerve by accident. [Unfortunately no, while I can mete out magic capacity to people, I’m not actually the deity of magic. That would be Merlin.] She said venomously, laying down the emphasis on the words that and Merlin so thickly I could tell that there was some bad blood there.

[What did they do to you?] I asked, unsure if this was a hot topic or not, so I was relieved a bit when she answered, before my eyes narrowed in anger at her response.

[That two-faced bastard stole my magic influence,] she cried in anger. [He took it from me in some cursed ritual and ascended himself to godhood!]

I was taken aback by her ferocity. This wasn’t the same Psyche I thought I knew. But then I realized that this Merlin might be the reason for Psyche being stuck in the Soul Realm in the first place. I asked her this, and she angrily responded.

[I was going to be the goddess of magic, due to my immense discoveries involving the soul and magic while I was still mortal,] She said, giving me the whole story, anger and grief laden in her voice.

[But then at the last moment, the one point in the ritual when I apotheosized, he stole the knowledge of magics from me, almost like what happened when Thanatos took your non-essential memories.] 

She went on. [After he took my memories, he used my own knowledge to become the god of magic. Because I started as a soul mage, that’s all I was when I apotheosized, leading to me becoming infinitely weaker than I should've been as the Goddess of souls.] 

I could almost hear the frustration in her mind as she must’ve tried to remember something, anything at all that wasn’t soul magic, always coming up negative.

[As a result, I used to live alone, just myself and the occasional lost soul drifting past, whom’s last moments and memories I got to view. This was really my only form of entertainment for gods know how long. Then I found you, just a mere barely corporal butterfly. I saw your last moments, felt your compassion even in your last moments, and decided enough was enough and that I was going to try to change both of our fates.]

Her voice warmed at the last part, but I was taken aback by the realization that if I hadn’t somehow found my way to the Soul realm, Psyche would never have found me, and neither of us would be where we were right now.

This was scary, to say the least. At this point I couldn’t fathom being dead like I was when I first met Psyche, so the thought of being taken by Thanatos and stripped bare like I had slowly been before I met Psyche terrified me.

[Hey,] I interjected before Psyche could return to her former anger that was so unlike her. [I’ll get more powerful as the years go by. I’ll never age, so I can just get stronger and stronger! Surely at some point I could grow enough to beat Merlin, then we can figure out a way to make you the goddess of magic again!]

[You’ll really do that?] She asked, desperate hope in her voice. [He could kill you with the snap of his fingers!] 

[Of course I will,] I said. [Even if he disintegrates me, or however else he could kill me with magic, I’ll not stop coming back. I’ll keep trying and leveling until we can defeat him!]

Beyond words, Psyche sent me a burst of warmth again, no doubt a way of her saying thanks. I smiled. If it helped free her, I would do anything, even dying countless times. I owed her at least that much.

Still angry at Merlin the douchebag, and head filled with revenge plots, I remembered that Jameson was still in the room. He was still looking at me, puzzled no doubt by the way my expression kept changing as I conversed silently with Psyche.

Feeling almost sorry for the poor man as he had to just stand in silence and watch the sand, I broke the awkward tension from earlier and asked him why he was sitting in here, to which he gratefully responded with an excited smile.

“As a [Barrier Mage],” he explained. “I not only have to keep the caravans safe at night, but I also have to stop the lime from spilling everywhere in case of a large bump in the road.”

As if to emphasize this, the caravan (which lacked suspension for some reason) suddenly rolled over a rock or something, causing it to jolt suddenly. We both stumbled, but when I looked at the sand, I noticed a thin blue sheen covering the boxes.

“The blue is the shield I have around the boxes, to prevent them from breaking open.” Jameson said, as he noticed me looking at the sheen.

“Huh” I said, interested. I spent the next while asking Jameson questions about magic, to which the goat man was quick to answer.

It turns out that magic has a cooldown depending on how much of your total [Soul] you put into a skill or a spell. The more [Soul] used, the longer it’s cooldown.  

Of course, this didn't really apply to me. Given that I had an infinite soul, my cooldowns would apparently be nonexistent which was why I didn't know about them before.  I thought this made my unlimited [Soul] stat even better, but I was still limited to very underpowered skills as my [Mind] was still too small to harness any real power yet. To put it into Earth perspective, it would be like comparing a water pistol that never stops to an RPG.

Jameson readily agreed with my thoughts about my unlimited [Soul] when I talked to him about it, muttering something about how Avatars “always get the coolest powers.” I couldn’t really argue with him there.

The sun had just about reached its peak in the sky when some of the adventurers outside yelled something before I heard a rumbling noise in the distance.

Suddenly, the crack of a falling tree permeated the air and I started to hear Sam ordering the adventurers to form up again like they had last night when they saw me last night. A fighting formation.

Concerned, I looked out the open entrance to the caravan, and my eyes widened as I saw about a half-dozen slimes of multiple shapes and sizes charging towards the caravans from about three hundred meters up the hill.

I remembered the warning that Sam had given me earlier about how there was a new, silver ranking dungeon nearby, and given how many slimes there were, I could only assume it was very close now.

Squinting past the glare of the midday sun, I used Identify on the lot of them.

[Mud Slime, lvl 17]

[Mud Slime, lvl 15]

[Fire Slime, lvl 11]

[Air Slime, lvl 16]

[Air Slime, lvl 18]

[Water Slime, lvl 15]

Uh oh, I thought, now we’re really in trouble.

PurpleMonarch

Thanks again for reading, your support means so much to me. :D

On a bit of a darker note, the next few chapters after this one won't have the same kind of vibe we've had so far. There will be content warnings but I honestly feel like what's about to happen to Cyn, while awful, has to happen at some point. I'll explain my reasonings when tomorrow's chapter drops.