In The Mountain by the Forest
It was finally time! Or well, it would be more appropriate to say it was past the time. You see, I’m currently riding in a wagon on a trip across a third of the country. A third of the country! Yeah, the Yozei forest is really far alright. Though I guess it would make sense for it to be so far removed from major cities since it’s practically flooded with spirits, relatively speaking that is. And since it’s so far away, here I am, again, on another bumpy ride.
The last time I was on a wagon, I was unconscious so I didn’t really experience the jolting. But damn, can I just say that I never expected wagons to be THIS bumpy. I can’t tell which one is worse, carriages or wagons. We’re about two-thirds of the way there at the moment and we’re starting to enter the countryside. It only makes sense that the roads here aren’t paved. Yes, it only makes sense but ARGH! I’m not whining okay! I’m just expressing my feelings!
Though, as much as I’m complaining in my head, the atmosphere around me is actually quite awkward. To save on costs and make us less conspicuous, we didn’t really employ multiple wagons befitting of nobility. As such, I was in a wagon alongside some other people. Fredereck aside, the biggest problem is... well, the little slave boy sitting across from me. Technically they terminated his status as a slave, but since he’s undocumented, it was practically the same thing.
We had two wagons. One of them was for Fredereck, the slave (temporary name), the boy and girl who chased me, and me. In other words, everyone involved who knew what I was. The other wagon housed other personnel, documents, and other materials that were to be brought along.
This was a logical way to do things; however, it didn’t mean I had to like the accommodations. I honestly felt bad for not being able to do anything for the boy. And even now, I want to make some sort of conversation, but seeing as I’m affiliated with the people who enslaved him, I guess not. During the whole ride, his eyes would dawdle listlessly and despondently.
At the start of the trip, I tried to make conversation with him, but the lack of response made the atmosphere quite leaden. It also didn’t help that the children were acting kind of depressed as well. I would assume that they were being sent to the forest to work there so that they wouldn’t accidentally spill information. I guess this is Fredereck’s way of future-proofing the situation.
Speaking of Fredereck though, what is he so abstinent about!? I can see a slight eagerness in his demeanor that he was interested in what I was, yet it was masked by a slight fear. Excuse me!? You’re the one who dragged me into this! Don’t go acting like a scaredy-cat now!
*sigh* At any rate, the uncomfortable wagon ride would continue on without much happening. Time and time again we’d stop by a town to stock up on provisions or to rest our horses. I was forbidden from leaving the wagon of course, so I just stayed inside. From the temperature, I can assume that we’re nearing the forest. I heard that it was somewhere in the southern regions, so the weather’s a bit warmer. I’m glad that we stocked up on clothes more suited to the climate. From what I heard, we should be around a three-day journey from our destination, so I guess I’ll just wait in the meantime. Not like there’s anything else to do.
At long last, we reached our destination. I was sleeping at the time; the bumping of the wagon really makes you tired. The sudden stop, as well as Fredereck’s nudging of me, rose me from my sleep. Wearily, I opened my eyes.
A quick glance outside of the door revealed some pretty rocky terrain and a dusty atmosphere. Wafting in was the smell of the dirt and soil; a clear contrast to where we boarded the wagon. I had my hair tied the entire way here since it’d be annoying for it to float around me constantly, so I didn’t need to re-tie it when I went outside. Thankfully, it was pretty dusty outside so I didn’t look too conspicuous wearing a hood and face mask, per Fredereck’s orders of course. Fredereck exited first, followed by me, the children, and finally the slave boy.
We arrived around evening, and taking a look around, I could see the sun streaking over the mountains. The view was obstructed by the little garage-type building we were in, but I could see a sprawling town. The floor was dirt-paved, and several buildings were erected around this section of the mountain. I could assume that that rock jutting out in the distance was the start of the quarry given how many buildings surrounded it. Since the wooden walls surrounding the establishment especially kind of resembled the ones at Aeolian’s Post, it kind of scared me a little.
I was led into a pretty nice-looking stone building, and after a couple of twists and turns, arrived in front of a door. The other children were sent to other places, though I didn’t really pay attention to where.
“This is where you’ll be staying. It’s not much, but I hope you won’t have too many complaints” Fredereck said, gesturing to the door.
Opening it revealed a moderately sized room with a simple yet charming deep red carpet on the floor. There was a single bed in the middle, a workplace desk on the far edge, and a window with curtains. On the closer side, a full-length mirror leaned against the wall, as well as a dresser, some cabinets, and a bookshelf. Pretty well accommodations for an outpost-type town like this to be honest. It definitely wasn’t as fancy as what was there back in Reishan, but in all honesty, I don’t need many fancy things anyway. Just as I was about to add my word of thanks, Fredereck responded with another note of information.
“I didn’t post any guards outside your room since it’d be quite suspicious, but I would have you refrain from going outside, looking out that window, or any other such actions. We wouldn’t want anyone accidentally finding out any confidential information”
I nodded. As much as I wanted to scream that this was unfair treatment, it made sense; though it was a bit sad that I wouldn’t be able to do much. It was kind of akin to being locked up as a prisoner, but this is just how it is.
“Additionally, I put you a decent distance away from the mine. I wouldn’t want anything accidentally exploding after all. I’ll personally come to you when I need you, otherwise, if you need anything, tell me now”
“Umm” I asked meekly, “what will I do if I need to use the restroom?” He told me that I couldn’t leave the room, but you know, I still have to use the restroom! I hope he wasn’t going to make me go in my own room or anything… Then that would be actual prison!
“Actually, one of your walls can fold in to reveal a hidden room where you can hide in case someone of malice comes by. Conveniently, it also houses a restroom”
Hey! It is a prison! Though, I guess it’s not. It certainly did seem really fancy to have a hidden compartment though, but in the event of an emergency where someone came in, having a place to hide would be amazing.
He led me to a rather inconspicuous wall, and by triggering some sort of mechanism, the wall completely gave way and actually revealed a new room! The seamlessness of it all honestly made me genuinely impressed. I wasn’t very well acquainted with hidden contraptions mind you, but I’d have at least half a mind to say that this was pretty impressive.
Well aside from that… the inside was kind of bland, but the mechanism made up for it. A two-compartment room looked good enough for me. Closing the hidden compartment, I thanked Fredereck for the accommodations and he bade himself out. All there is to do now is… wait I guess.
A week passed before Fredereck got back to me. A week! That may not seem like a long time, never mind, IT IS MOST DEFINITELY A LONG TIME! A week all by myself, locked in this room, is more akin to solitary confinement than it is accommodations! I was soooo going to demand better treatment. Being in this room by myself has made me so lethargic and despondent; it sucks. I swear though, if he simply comes in here to say something and not actually get me to do something productive, I’m going to flip.
And so, after checking the peephole to make sure it really was him, I opened the door.
“Hey, sorry for the wait. A couple of things popped up so it took a while. Are you doing fine?”
And here I thought he forgot I existed! Though looking at his face, he did look a bit worse for wear.
“I’m doing fine I guess. Just slightly lethargic from what I presume being locked in a room for a week is like, but what about you? You don’t look so hot either”
“Just some reports I got from the defense force stationed around the town. Some spirits doing trouble I presume. It should be the usual but it sure is annoying” He said with his hand furrowed over his brow.
Yeah, that would be troubling. I wasn’t particularly the one dealing with it, so call me conceited but it didn’t really concern me. Don’t get me wrong, I was worried, but it just felt like a distant problem. So instead, I pepped up and inquired as to where we were heading off to.
“Follow me. I don’t want us blowing up anything so there’s a safer location a distance away. Put on your hood”
And so, he led me outside the building and we hiked up the mountainside. Being my first time out in a while, the sun’s rays weren’t too friendly. There was a window in my room, yes, but that was a different feel than to when the sun was actually in your face. However, I didn’t hate it since it was actually quite enjoyable as a change of pace to my monotonous room.
Actually, what I DID hate, was the uphill climb! Not even 5 minutes in, my breath grew ragged and heavy.
“Hey” I wheezed, “can we take a little break?”
Bewildered, Fredereck turned around, “What? Didn’t we just start?”
Begging around for an excuse to cover up my weak constitution, because you know, no one likes admitting that they’re weak, I replied to him. “Well… I was locked up in my room for a week without much exercise so…” I trailed off tactically.
Yes, I very well could have exercised inside that room, but no thank you. And I wasn’t going to tell him that I could’ve done so either. Suddenly, with a hup, he picked me up and started carrying me up the mountain.
“Woah, what are you doing!?”
“Carrying you. It’d be faster this way. Plus, I can’t have you being worn out before we get there. Though I’ll have to say, you are surprisingly lightweight”
“Well, I have an affinity for wind after all”
Though, did he just say surprisingly lightweight? Excuse me? What was that supposed to mean? No wonder why Christine doesn’t like him that much. You don’t just say that to a lady!
While I was puffing out my cheeks, we arrived at our destination. A flat circular expanse, devoid of trees, sprawled out in front of me. There were a couple of wooden structures erected around the perimeter, but they were worn down and looked out of use.
“This used to be an old training ground. We don’t use it anymore so I thought it’d be a suitable location to use for testing”
One of the buildings on the far end housed some boxes for what I presumed were for storing the calamite metal that we’d be testing. Fredereck walked over there and grabbed a batch of the metal and brought it to the center of the testing grounds.
“We tested the reactions of wisps and general spirits, but I’d like to see the range of efficacy for you. Could you walk towards the start of the treeline over there?”
It would be interesting to know how it’d react, but at the same time, a part of me couldn’t understand it. What were the chances of there being other people similar to me?
When I got to the treeline, I turned back and waved at him, signaling that I was ready. There was a brief spark of the lighter, and then the small pile of rocks burst into flames. I know I technically saw it in action before, but seeing it like this really is quite strange. I mean, it’s flammable rocks! It’s just so weird.
I didn’t know what the control factor was, but from my perspective, it seemed like this distance was relatively safe. At his signal, I took a couple of steps forward and the fire grew brighter and larger. I ended up repeating this until he signaled me to stop.
After extinguishing the fire, he came over and told me about the results of the experiment.
“Even from that distance, it reacted pretty strongly. In all honesty, I would’ve expected it to react more, but this is within the range of expectations. You probably shouldn’t get around five yards of it though. Did you see anything on your end?”
Putting my hand on my chin, I tried to recall what I noticed as I got closer. Since I could see the current of magic as they call it, it was important to get information on what I could see. It was kind of like looking at the inner workings of the hidden door. Not that I knew how it worked or anything.
“Hmm, it was quite faint when I was on the treeline, but as expected, the closer I got, the more visible the current was flowing from me to the rocks. I wouldn’t say it was like… getting more opaque. I mean, yes it did get more opaque, but it was sort of like there was more of it. And since there was more of it, it overlapped and thus got more opaque”
“I see… What did it feel like? Did you have any adverse physical or mental effects?”
“No, I don’t think so… But at the same time, I wasn’t really paying much attention to that. We could try one from 3 yards so I could observe it a bit more”
“Hmm, 3 yards would be quite dangerous” Fredereck mulled, “but I suppose it’s alright. Just stay safe okay?”
I nodded. Standing 3 yards away from the pile of explosive rocks was definitely scary, but I proposed it so I can’t back up now. Fredereck by the way, was on the far end of the training circle. He was going to shoot a flaming arrow at the rocks to light it up. Please don’t accidentally hit me…
At my signal, the arrow soared through the air, blazing in all its glory, and landed right in the center of the small pile of rocks. Instantly, it conflagrated into an infernal. I was a tad startled, but perhaps due to my encounter with Anniumpa, I didn’t recoil as much as I would’ve otherwise.
The fire was huge though. So big that it seemed almost comical that such a small pile can produce an inferno of this caliber. Thankfully, the strange properties of the fire made it so it didn’t burn that hot. After giving a signal to Fredereck to indicate that everything was alright, I crouched down and observed the flames.
After some time, I noticed something peculiar. The current from me wasn’t flowing to the flame, but instead to the rock. It was almost as if the rock was absorbing the magic in me, and the fire was simply just burning off the magic that was stored inside the rock. Actually, it wasn’t almost if. That was exactly what was happening! The reason why the flame burned brighter was because a stronger source of magical energy would have more of it absorbed, and therefore release a stronger flame.
Given that the flame actually had heat, I could assume that the fire actually was burning the rock. I guess the byproducts would be the special properties of the fire since I couldn’t notice anything physical.
As a slight experiment, I decided to extend my hand towards the fire, however before I could do that, I noticed something that made me recoil back in shock, knocking me off my feet and onto the ground. My… my hand was wisping away into the rock! It looked like it was melting, or being absorbed! On closer inspection, my hand was still intact, just coated with the magic that was draining out of me. However, the sudden fright of seeing that I was being absorbed put my heart in my mouth.
I saw Fredereck running towards me with a bucket of water out of the corner of my eye, but something in the air sparked. A dark and ominous presence suddenly clutched my heart, making me writhe out in agony. I could hear an evil laughter cackling in the air and in my head. It hurt, it hurt so much. It rattled inside my being as I struggled to keep conscious. The fire beside me vanished, replaced by the cracks in the ground. The trees roared in the wind like a storm with me at its epicenter and before I knew it, I lost consciousness.
I was in the dark void-like substance once again. This feeling of emptyness. This abyssal crevice that I’m in left me exposed, bare, and without the strength to do anything in return.
I tried to recall what had happened, but the presence wafted itself over against my will, leaving me no room to collect myself.
“You do not yet know. She does not yet know”
The ever-so-sweet nectar-like yet disturbing voice rang out. The type to allure you into the depths of hell. The type that one would give anything for… and I almost wanted to give myself to it. There was just something so reasonable to what it said. But I knew better.
‘Wha- what happened? What did you do to me!?’ I screamed mentally.
“Nothing that you haven’t already done to yourself. The world is changing, and you need to change with it” It seethed, circling back once again to face me in the eye.
It shouldn’t have a form, but I imagined an eye staring back at me. One the size of a mountain. One that beneath its lids held the secret to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“You need me. You need me” it echoed. With that, it melted into the darkness. Never leaving, and always there.
What did it mean that I needed it? The world was changing? What was changing? However, before I could answer those questions myself, I too faded into a deep slumber.
I can't wait for your next chappy to come out