It was a bit past midday as I finally exited the woods. Sen had taken residency in my pocket for the rest of the walk. Her cute little grumbles and exclamations as she looked at the creatures in the area that came close to us kept my heart more at ease than it would have otherwise.
I was excited to see that the road that Inza mentioned was close enough to be within eyeshot now that I had cleared the trees. A quick few paces and I had made it to the road. With a grin spread across my face, I placed my first step on the road. This was the next leg of my new journey. I had made it this far already, and without incident at that.
I was happy that at least I could do this much on my own. I had never walked so much in one day before, and yet I had managed it without much hassle at all. It was a little strange that I wasn’t tired. I should be a little sore at least, but I still had plenty of energy left. I could probably make some good distance before I had to stop for the night.
All I had to do was head north from here to make my way towards the city Inza had said I should aim for. I wonder if there will be any rest spots on the way. It would be a good idea to find one of them at least if the city is too far away to make it before nightfall.
Alright, now Inza said to just head north to find the city. Right. North… north. Which… way was north?
I had never been taught much of any traveling skills, nor had I ever had the need for them. I spent most of my youth learning housework and how to tend to plants and animals, and never did leave the village until I was forcibly taken during the demon war. After that, I only traveled by carriage and ended up back in Hefka Village.
My heart started to race now. I didn’t know which way to go from here. I could just take a coin flip and start walking until I found someone to ask, but who knows how far away I could get if I went in the wrong direction. I didn’t know how frequently traveled this road was. It could be weeks until someone used it for all I know with nothing in one direction for ages. Time was of the essence according to Inza, so I couldn’t waste time going the wrong way for days on end.
Before I started to more seriously panic, my ears were met with the sound of hooves clopping on dirt. I felt some relief that I could just ask someone before I made a costly mistake. I turned toward the source of the noise and could only tilt my head to the side at what I saw.
It was a normal enough wagon of some merchant type that I saw, but what surprised me was how far away they were. The wagon was easily hundreds or maybe even thousands of paces away. There should be no way I can hear it from this distance. Now that I was focusing on it as well, I could plainly see the man on the drivers bench. A portly older fellow with a wide brimmed hat and neatly made yet simple set of brown clothes sat calmly, holding the reins for the horses firmly in his hands. I could even clearly make out the waterskin and dagger on his belt.
While I couldn’t really make sense of how it was possible for me to see and hear such things, I concluded that it wasn’t going to help me much for now. It was best for me at this moment to just wait where I was and ask directions of the man as he passed by me.
Several minutes passed before he even acknowledged me. I patiently stood on one side of the road nearest the forest, and his eyes fell on me from still a ways away. He didn’t make much motion besides looking at my form in the distance until he came close enough to be within what normal people would consider earshot, where he slowed his horses to a stop and addressed me.
“Missy, what are you doing standin’ all alone on the edge of some road in the middle o’ nowhere?” The man took off his hat as he spoke and looked me up and down. I hope that I wasn’t dressed weirdly for his sensibilities.
“I was actually a little lost just now. I was intending to head north to a city, but realized I didn’t know which way to go.” I glanced away at the distance, embarrassed by my lack of knowledge.
“What’re you talkin’ ‘bout? The road only goes one way for three days of travel until you reach Lixum. You mean to tell me that ya got lost halfway there? How did ya even get this far?” He sat forward in his seat, leering at me like I was some great fool. Well, I did come this far without even knowing which way was north.
I couldn’t very well meet his gaze, though he stared at me so intently. I thought it best to just be honest in this situation. “Well, I walked. I didn’t take the road, so I don’t know which way leads where from here.”
The man leaned back and laughed so hard that his whole body jiggled along with his wagon. “Hahahaha! What, so did’ya just walk outta the forest? You musta hit your head when you fell out of your wagon!”
My cheeks flushed as the man laughed at me. I suppose my situation would definitely sound crazy to a passerby. This was fine though, I could endure it so long as he would just tell me which direction I needed to go.
His laughter settled down after a moment and he wiped a tear from his eye. “Missy, I’ve not had a laugh like that in ages. Now, I don’t know what happened to ya, but I think I can help.” He dismounted the seat of his wagon, causing a puff of dust when his feet met the packed dirt road. “But I ain’t in the business of helping people for free. If you want directions, you’s gonna have to pay up.” He walked up to stand just in front of me and came to a stop.
“I have some money I can pay you with. How much would the information be worth?” I started reaching over to my bag in order to pull out my coin purse.
He reached out and grabbed my hand before I could open the clasp of my bag. “Oh, a little girl like you prob’ly don’t have enough to pay for the services of a man like me. I think we can work something out though.” He reached his other hand up and stroked my cheek with it. I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened on my wrist painfully.
“Please, I have enough to pay for directions at least. Just let go of me.” I started tugging away more frantically.
“No, your coin isn’t any good. The road gets awful lonely for a merchant like me, so I can take you along. I’ve got business in Lixum anyways. If you entertain me on the way there, I could just bring you along.” His eyes slowly scanned downwards from my face to the rest of my body. My heart shuddered that this man might try to force himself upon me. He wasn’t much taller than me, but his frame was huge. He was easily twice my size. I couldn’t hope to stop him if he tried.
I pleaded with him, tears forming in my eyes. “Please, I- I can make my way on my own. I just need to know which way is north.”
His eyes met mine again and I was filled with fear. My attempts to pull away ground to a halt. The look in his eye was all too familiar. It was almost the same as the way that Lorn would look at me. “It’s too dangerous for a girl like you to be traveling these roads alone. I’ll take responsibility for you, just let me take a down payment first.” My body froze as the hand not crushing my wrist reached toward my chest.
A whisper escaped my lips as a final protest to the violation that was about to take me. “Please, stop…”
Time nearly sat still as I waited for the impending fate ahead of me. His hand didn’t touch me though. His face, which my gaze was fixed to, contorted in confusion. He looked down at his hand, and I turned my eyes downward as well. A ring of grass bound his wrist in place. “What in the five realms?” His eyes grew wide as more grass branching off went for his other wrist and had it bound. He tried to pull away, but could not overpower the grassy shackles that held him in place. “It’s- no it can’t be. You- you must be some kinda demon! Get away from me!”
The blades of grass branched off once again, this time aiming for his neck. As the frantic and now screaming man went from pleading to outright incoherent terror, a determined voice came from the pocket at my hip. “Mama said stop.”
The hand that had since released my arm let loose a sickening snap as it was crushed by the grass. The man let loose a pained wail. “Please! I didn’t mean it! I’ll do anything, just please let me live! I won’t- GAH!!” His words were cut off by the sudden pressure closing around his windpipe.
His face quickly turned red as he flailed vainly in an attempt to free himself. I shook myself from my previous daze. Sen was about to kill this man if I didn’t stop her. He was about to do something awful, but I didn’t want to be responsible for his death. “Sen! Don’t kill him!”
The grass that was digging into his flesh froze for a moment. “Sen needs to protect mama.”
I looked down to the pocket where Sen’s main body was still hiding away. “You can’t kill people Sen. Let him go!”
The air was painfully silent as several seconds seemed to pass. Then, the grass retreated from his body and he lurched backwards. His large body fell harshly on the road. Violent coughing and gagging noises came from the man now that he was able to fill his lungs again. At the same time, he weakly dragged himself toward his wagon. “Demon - *HACK* heading for Lixum. Have to *cough* *cough* warn them.
“Wait, she isn’t a de-” My attempt to make our case to the man was cut off as he screamed back at me while climbing onto his wagon bench.
“You stay away from me! And don’t come anywhere near Lixum! The soldiers there will strike you down!” He quickly gripped the reins with his one good hand and directed the horses to pull. The wagon lurched forward, urged on by its frantic driver. It made it past me and down the road before I had the chance to say anything more.
I stood there awestruck. This was sure to cause trouble if that man started telling everyone I was a demon. Who knows how many would believe him, but if any did it was sure to be a problem.
“Sen, thank you for what you did. This might be difficult later, but you protected me from something really bad just now.” I reached down to my pocket and rubbed the little head that was now sticking out of it.
“Mama is safe. Sen is happy.” She hugged the finger that was rubbing against her head while cooing happily.
“So you really can speak. I didn’t know that treants could talk.” I was truly more impressed that she could talk after having only been born yesterday more so than the fact that she was a treant though.
“Sen learned from the plants in the forest. Sen wanted to talk with mama so she learned as quickly as she could!” Her voice was small and cute. It was rather misleading that she was only a little doll sized grass treant curled up in my pocket.
“Well, since you can talk, we are going to have to lay some ground rules for how to treat other people. Especially since they are likely to assume the worst if they don’t expect you.” I could only really lightly scold her since she did save me from that nasty man’s advances, but she still did go too far.
“Sen will learn! Sen would love to learn from mama!” Her cheery tone was amplified by the nuzzling that she did against my hand.
While it may be difficult to keep her from being taken for a demon from those who don’t know any better, she is my cute daughter and I have to do whatever I can to make sure she is happy. That is about all that I can do for now. Whatever comes next, we will face it as it comes.
until I was taken forcibly during the demon war. -> was forcibly taken
Now, I don't know what happened to ya but I think I can help. -> ya,
"With a grin spread across my face, I placed my first step on the road."
"Suddenly the road disappears and you fall down a hole. You died, try again?"
"He was easily twice my size. I couldn't hope to stop him if he tried."
You probably could. You've already noticed you've got absurdly superhuman senses and magic power, superhuman strength isn't out of the realm of possibility for you now. Not to mention just using magic to make plants grab him and pull him off you.
But it's understandable for Keris to panic and freeze up, she's been abused for so long and has little self confidence. Lucky she has a pocket Sen to save her.
"What in the five realms?"
"There's five realms?"
"It's- no it can't be. You- you must be some kinda demon! Get away from me!"
Hah, funny how he went from would be rapist and abuser to panicking and pleading for his life the second things went out of his control. B*stard
"Mama said stop."
Sen is such a good daughter.
"You can't kill people Sen. Let him go!"
That's a painfully naive mindset Keris, and you really should know that by now. Still, I do hope she manages to keep her kindness and merciful attitude even as she goes on and deals with more hardship the world throws at her. I just hope she'll also be able to learn to balance it with defending herself with lethal force if needed
"The wagon lurched forward, urged on by its frantic driver. It made it past me and down the road before I had the chance to say anything more."
"….Well he did end up giving me directions in the end, just not how I'd have rather he done it."
Hmm…with Keris having made Sen spare the b*stard and him running away to tell people she's a demon, I wonder if this will derail Inza's plan to have her become the city lord's servant? The old b*stard never actually got Keris's name, and only heard her say the name "Sen", so it's possible he'll say she's a demon named Sen
It would be amusingly appropriate and ironic for Keris to unintentionally derail Inza's plans before they even start because she's a "failure" as a living weapon (read-she's too kind and merciful) despite Inza knowing about Keris's merciful and kind nature and exploiting it to turn her into a weapon. If Keris was a "proper" living weapon she would have let Sen kill the b*stard or done it herself and she'd be right on the path that Inza wanted her to be on since she'd have no issues getting to the city lord and becoming a servant there
It's kind of amusing that Sen ended up being an adorable plant daughter instead of a plant mother like Inza was supposed to be. If Evil Inza was the cost of getting adorable Sen, then I think it was worth it
I hope you're able to sleep better and get past your breathing issues soon
"You have died of dysentery. Try again?"
She will need to build up a lot more than raw power. Magic, no matter how powerful or finely honed, will fail in the face of one who is not ready to wield it. For now, this may be exactly what Inza intended. Otherwise, why would she have sent a guardian with her? Or perhaps this is an unforeseen outcome. For now it is up to question.
More on the world map later. I didn't end up putting the world map into the prologue because Keris doesn't know it too well and it didn't make much sense in any context as of yet.
Oh, to be mistaken for exactly the thing that she is trying to prepare to fight. What an unfortunate circumstance. And by a man that may as well be called as such himself.
Sen is a very good girl
She has experienced a great deal of death, but only to those who were undeserving. Her mindset isn't geared for facing enemies like that yet. She has a lot of learning to do on a great many fronts.
Directions are directions, but at what cost
I think that the price of Sen was worth it. I frankly don't know if Sen would have even existed if Inza didn't go down the route that she did. Sen just kinda came up at some point while planning other things. I ended up loving the concept and how it fit parts of the story together, and so came Sen
I am getting by alright. I have to focus on steady breaths, but otherwise I am fine. It is just rather tough at work since I have to move around a lot. Sleeping is getting easier I think though, so that's a win.
Thank you for reading Leaf, and I hope you have a great day!
@MegaSuperKami The five realms question is basically just a gag, but actually is somewhat interesting to learn if it's actually a real thing and not just an expressive curse
From what I can tell Inza basically wants a mindless, disposable living weapon that will follow her orders and kill without hesitation or question (even if the order is to kill her son or herself/allow herself to be killed). So for now she still wants Keris weak and unrefined, possibly like a mana cannon where Inza pushes a "button"/gives a command to "guide" Keris to be able to use her magic power in some extreme fashion (like nuking an army), but otherwise be unable to actually use her new power for herself without explicit commands/orders and permission. Inza basically wants a killing machine that will follow her every order and not defy her "programming" and go against Inza in any way
Keris has *seen* a lot of death, but (as far as I know) so far hasn't actually *caused* any death. Definitely not directly killing someone herself or ordering their deaths. For the record-I'm not mad, sad, disappointed, or even surprised Keris didn't let Sen kill the b*stard- it's very understandable given how she is and how her life has been up to now, as well as her generally merciful, kind, and self-sacrificing personality. I'd actually be more concerned if she ordered the guy's death without hesitation or reaction since it would be out of character for her and possibly a sign of Inza's influence on her. I do think (and hope) Keris will eventually get a bit "tougher" mentally and be willing to use lethal force in self defense if she needs to, or for the sake of protecting those dear to her, but still keep her merciful and forgiving nature. Just...not stupidly and suicidally forgiving and pacifistic (like, say, forgiving Inza and Lorn after everything they've put Keris through and how much they've abused and manipulated her (assuming Lorn and Inza stay as they are currently and don't have a genuine and convincing heel-face turn and seek atonement and to earn their redemption))
Good to hear you're doing somewhat better, and I hope your health continues to improve. Have a great day :D
@FallingLeaf Yeah, it is a form of swear in the setting. It has basis in the world at large. It also slightly is meant to reveal the lack of extreme reverence to a god on high like we are used to seeing a phrase like that. So yeah, I plan to expand on that later. For now, it is a throwaway line that means nothing until I go further into detail about the world.
Inza could very well want a mindless weapon. She could just as well think that she could manipulate others well enough that they don't have to be mindless for her to overtake their will with her own. For now, Keris certainly does not know. All she knows is to move forward and try to do what she feels is right. Inza will try to bend her hand certainly, but for now it is not clear what form that will take.
Keris saw her parents and many of the people she grew up alongside die during the demon wars while she was captured. She hasn't killed so much as a lamb though. I want to stay faithful to that character as much as I can. I don't think it would be believable to have a huge change immediately without some kind of stimulus. She will have character growth for sure, but I won't spoil it for now. She may be decisive someday soon, or much later. Who's to say?
I really hate woefully passive characters, so be safe in the knowledge that I will avoid a useless and unbelievable struggle against the world at large whenever possible. I have a good idea where Lorn and Inza will end up in the far flung future as things stand, yet I have seen some things change drastically already just one arc in. I won't be certain until I publish it.
My health is on the upswing. Woot
Thank you for your concern!
@MegaSuperKami Ok, my laptop accidentally got unplugged and shut itself off while I was typing the previous version of this comment, so it won't be the same as what it originally was, but I think I've got the main points. @_@
It could actually be believable for a character like Keris to have a sudden dramatic shift in personality to go from being kind and compassionate to being cruel and callous, but it's usually an indicator of outside influence (brainwashing, drugs, blackmail, etc.) or the character having a mental breakdown or something similar. If Keris had a 180 personality turn to become like Lorn and Inza and no one commented on it or reacted to it, then it would be unbelievable. (And also horrible, because how could you do something like that to poor Keris and Sen?)
Keris has already been more driven, forceful, assertive, and decisive when it involves the safety of people she cares about, like she was able to get past her despair, depression, and fear of Lorn to flee with Lormus and keep Lormus safe. So if something/someone threatens Sen (or any other kids she ends up adopting, because Sen is definitely not going to be Keris's last child) I would fully expect and believe it to be in character for Keris to step up and defend Sen against her aggressors, whether that's verbally or physically, even if Keris basically is putting up a strong front and has a mini panic attack after the crisis is over
You mentioning knowing where Lorn and Inza will end up in the far future of the story makes me think they'll end up hate f*cking each other for some reason...possibly either figuratively or literally
@FallingLeaf Yeah, brainwashing and such would make that believable. I don't wish that on the poor dear, and fortunately she has her own faculties to work with currently.
She has pushed her boundaries quite a lot. She saw a 'future' that she knew she needed to avoid and buckled down to do something about it. She hasn't figured out how to properly harness her strength given by Inza, but her strength of will was already put to the test. She did that for herself. Now we will have to watch to see how she is able to push forward further.
Her maternal instincts are there for sure. Now whether or not they will be put to the test is up to question.
I can say that, for right now, no hate f*cking is planned. If it happens, it happens, but I don't have anything planned.
@MegaSuperKami the hate f*cking thing is (mostly) a joke, but could legitimately happen/be mistaken for happening depending on their dialogue/threats to each other like "I will make you submit and beg for mercy!" and being obsessed with each other. Their strongest emotional attachments to someone else will probably be each other, even if hatred, that's still an extremely strong emotional attachment between the two. They're also both sexually predatory and both are fairly attractive in their best forms (Lorn's human form and Inza's young form), so it's possible they'd try/plan/threaten to rape their enemy to humiliate them and force submission, even if they plan on killing them afterwards
Not that I want it to happen, but it would be in character for either of them to try it
@FallingLeaf You certainly are on the money. The both of them have the building blocks to make it happen. So therefore I shall stick to 'if it happens it happens' and see where that particular aspect goes.