She

He moved so slowly that Miriam, once she heard the notification, had time to dash close-

Crunch!

“AAAHHHH!!!” and bite his leg off. Making him fall, screaming in pain

“NO!” seeing his lord fall, made the bodyguard unsheathe his sword and charge to the scary snake-

‘Venom Dart!’ but Miriam swallowed the blood, and just fired her second venom, making his head burst

Making the headless corpse fall down spraying blood everywhere

HISS!!!

‘AAAHHH!!!’ Miriam screamed in her mind and looked down to-

/////

HISS!!!

‘MAX!!!’

…!

…?

‘A… nightmare…?’ I’m… on the branches of the tree… I climbed last night… ‘Why…?’ I rest my head on the branch again…

I’m shaking…

‘Look around… deep breaths…’ the sun is starting to rise… there is a cold breeze this morning, that slowly moves the branches… ‘Deep breaths… Max is-!’

SCREEEEECH!!!

‘You! Fucker…! One…’ the second scream of that idiot… was what stopped me from being berserk yesterday… I still remember what I did to the chickens… ‘Ten…? Ele-?!’ the prick screams again…?!

…

‘I didn’t heard the boom…’ I look south… ‘You arbitrary asshole… why are you changing the rules now…?’

…

‘Fuck…’ I look down… the only thing around is… the headless boar… I ate the birds as a late lunch and dinner… ‘Fuck… I forgot to… Status…’

‘I DON’T HAVE A LAST NAME! I DON’T HAVE A LAST NAME…!’

‘…’ better, but… Absorb is glowing… ‘Absorb?’

‘Ah… Buy Thumbs… ow… ow!’

Crack!

‘Aaahhh!!! Ow…! Ow…’ I have them now… they look like the rest of my fingers, but in a lower position, and I can use the claw in my thumbs to touch the tip of my other claws… ‘Good…’

‘The problem… is the how I obtained them…’ I start to move down from the tree ‘Killing bandits… how stupid of me…’ ground… ‘Almost five hundred points… now… I forgot to upgrade a Trait before going to sleep… I… need the Magic Stone… after I buy it, I can upgrade… five Traits… but the Cloaking sounds so good too…’

There is nothing around… but… I feel a… breeze…? Coming from… me…? It’s different from the blood smell… but I can feel them moving together…

‘This feeling is… the Aura…? Helper?’

-Traits…-

‘…’ I don’t get a real smell, other than the… boar and some blood from yesterday… ‘Traits… oh?’

‘Wait… what happened to the colors…? And the glowing…?’

-Not needed…-

‘What…? Because now I know the language…?’ window closes… ‘Where did “Levels” came from…?’

The screen with my name moves, to be side by side with this one…

‘What I’m supposed…?’ my “Level” and my Traits “Levels” are written… with different characters… ‘Come on… really…? Is that why it looked weird before…?’

…

‘Focusing…’

‘Bloom…? Like with the Deeds…?’ I focus on Strength Boost… ‘This one doesn’t says Seed…’

-Hidden…-

‘So… Terrifying Presence was Root…?’ the window closes… ‘Deactivate Aura of Terror…’ it still says Active… ‘I can’t turn it off?’

-Can’t be done by command…-

I close everything… deep breaths… feel the breeze that comes from me… deep breaths… can I pull it…? Pull… pull…

‘Wow… that actually worked… it feels as if, I have a… glove that covers my body…’ I look at my hands… I know it’s there, but I can’t see it ‘Thanks…’ I look at my thumbs… ‘Tools… I need to make Eye Stones…’ the river is to the west ‘Fish for food, get the Magic Stone, make tools’ I start to move… ‘Now that I’m not scaring things-’

Rustling

‘Ia Imbue Arms…’ I look around ‘Yes…? What-?!’

Splorg!

‘Aaahhh!’ a tree just… disassembled… the boar… with its roots…

Rustling

‘Ah… thanks you…’ I nod to the tree… I wait until its roots are back in the ground before getting close ‘That is a big help… Imbue… Ia Stop…’ I wave at the tree and start to eat ‘Status, Absorb… Buy Magic Stone… ugh… ow…’ something… is-?! ‘Hungry…! Hungry…! Eat! Eat! Eat!’

I need to eat or I die…! I need to eat or I die…! I need to eat or I die…!

HISS!!!

CRACK!!!

‘AAAHHH!!!’ Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!

-----

My… everything, hurts…

‘Ow…’ the pain is… focusing in a spot above of the space between my arms… my breathing feels… off, for some reason… ‘Status…?’

‘Oh… is this why I… ate the whole boar…?’ I lift my head… ‘Good thing I didn’t buy this… before…?’

…

‘What…?’ I… have an opaque green hexagonal crystal… on the spot that hurts… ‘Ah…?’ I like how the scales around it look… they fit perfectly with… the crystal…

‘Those questions marks don’t make me happy!’ crap, crap, crap, crap, crap ‘Aaahhh!!! Traits! Is there…?’ both it and Energy Eater have question marks on level… ‘Can you explain the question marks…?’

-Eater, monster. Crystal, Unique…-

‘Does… that means… that you don’t know if they can evolve…?’ the message goes away… ‘Gah… this is…’ deep breaths… ‘My breathing feels weird… need water…’ I start to move…

Why everything that I do… makes me a more tempting target…?

-----

The water is very good today too…

‘The river is bigger…’ I didn’t noticed yesterday… likely for the… threat… ‘Rains more often on these months…?’ I don’t see a shadow close… I feel full, so I’m just making sure I don’t get jumped by a fish

I grab a small, almost flat stone and move away from the river

‘I still remember how to draw it…’ do I Imbue my arms…? Or wait until it’s done…? ‘Focus… the Crystal has enough magic… I think… where did this magic came from…?’ no answer… ‘Did it happen while I was eating…?’

-Yes…-

‘Thanks… for this one, I’ll do it without Imbue, the next one I might use it… it depends on the cost’ scratching now…

-----

‘Ia! Imbue!’ the speed in which this takes my magic…! Is alarming…! ‘Gah…!’ it stopped…? It stopped! ‘There! I did it!’ I raise my hands! ‘Yes!’

It took most of my magic, but didn’t touch the void…!

‘Happy it…! It… worked… right…? Or I just… “Filled” a stone with magic-?’

Ding

‘…’ deep breaths… ‘Status…?’

‘What…?’ I shiver… ‘Irreplaceable? As in… finite amount…? Ah… my prank… was an evil thing to do…’ good thing… that flasher, didn’t hit the stone with his sword… ‘Well… if I make a shop I’ll… keep prices low… and give those guys one for free… just, not this one…’

…

…

‘How do I carry this…? I don’t have a…’ I turn and look at my body… ‘Ia Imbue Eyes…’ I can make a backpack to carry this… ‘Earth Shape… and to take it out, I can just open it with… magic…’ the flat box on my back, has two rings of dirt to hold my body… but… ‘This isn't going to work… as I move, the rings are going to break against the ground…’ time to change this…

When I move, I try to keep my head, neck, and part of my torso, up… it makes more sense to have a ring under my arms and the other above the ground… and if I have them close to my arms, I can break the rings easier if I need to run…

‘Earth Shape… better…’ I can move my neck to see the box, and reach it with my arms without problem… ‘Good thing I’m flexible…’ I look to the other side of the river…

…

‘There is something… bothering me…’ it started to happen… with the Title Update… ‘Why do I feel something on the other side…?’

…

‘It’s… the first Eye Stone that I made…? Do I have a tracker now…?’ no answers ‘If this is a tracker, then I hope it has a range limit… or I that can figure out how to turn it off…’

I try to remember what is on that side… my first stone… the resting place of the hunter… the grave of the mouse…

‘Ah! That stone that almost crushed me…!’ that was a bad night… ‘Wait… if I destroy it… do I get a Deed…? But it’s close to the… spider… maybe I should just figure out how to make a stone, that… absorbs heat from the sun, while one side is up. Then, it slowly releases it, while the other side is up…’

…

I really like that idea…

…

‘Well… I have an Eye Stone now… I can just throw it to its face and run… you said that I crossed the river many times before, right…?’

…

‘I know you did! I didn’t forget…! Well… maybe it went away…?’ I really don’t want to see it again…

-----

The wind comes from the east, that means that I can’t smell what is in front of me…

‘Why I’m doing this…?’ I checked and the brook is to the north, it’s a bit bigger now too, going above a big rock ‘Oh, Incessant Smell… that is the name of the yellow flower-! Ah?! Yellow Flower!’

To the north! I need water to get rid of the smell stuck on-!

HISS!!!

“AAAHHH!!!”

Clank!

/////

The Incessant Smell affects violently the olfactory organ from most species that get close, only a few species of insects are immune. And in the city, there was a request for the pollen from the flower that Miriam accidentally touched…

That is why, Dan tried to behead a snake that suddenly charged at him after he crossed the brook trying to find the flower

Clank!

Only for a spike of dirt to delay his swing, letting the snake move backwards with its head still attached

‘SHIT!!!’ with that swing, Miriam figured out enough of the man to be scared, and while trying to move away, Dan stomped the ground and taunted her

“Oh no! You aren’t getting away!” he changed his stance ready for a thrust “That, looks valuable!” he grinned

Hiss…

‘Ia Imbue Arms’ and Miriam covered the crystal on her chest with a trembling hand ‘Ia! Shape, Harden, Mimic Temper, Mimic Flexibility, Sharpen!

“Thumbs…? That’s weird-?!” he took a step back as the snake lowered to the ground-

‘Earth Sword!’ only for Miriam to touch the ground, and turn it into a mimic of the two handed sword that he was using, but scaled down to her size

“What the fuck…?” he was sure that the others heard his ‘Call’ but now, he wanted to kill the snake himself “You are weird, dude…”

HISS!!!

‘I’m a Girl!’ part of her knew that escaping was the best option ‘You dick!’ but she also was about to go berserk again, now with her focus split, between keeping her aura controlled, and staying calm

Clank! Clank!

Dan tried to stab the terrifying snake as it trembled, but was surprised by the strength of the counters for it, and the follow-up he did. He was also angry that a sword made of dirt could resist so much…

‘Crap!’ and Miriam figured out what Combat Gauge did ‘Strength and speed, about the same! More stamina! And more skilled than me!’

Crack!

“Tsk!” as another spike tried to hit him, Dan destroyed it with a swing and disengaged from the clash, seeing how the nicks and cracks on the weapon of the snake, went away “Not good enough, little guy!”

HISS!!!

‘Aaahhh!!!’ his taunting was particularly effective on her… ‘Earth Spear!’

Clank!

‘Crap…!’ She knew, she was in trouble… ‘The only advantage that I have is magic-’

“Well… if they aren’t fast enough, more levels for me. Time to end this…” he lowered his stance…

Miriam felt dread, and her Instinct screamed as she made multiple spears to her left

‘MAGIC SLASH!!!’ and prepared to block-

Crackle!!!

HISS!!!

In an instant, he had crossed the distance between the two, cut through all the defenses she had made, and almost cut off her sword. Making it release a burst of energy, that he avoided by jumping back…

‘Aaahhh!!!’ while Miriam recoiled in pain, at having so many of her spells being broken so fast. Before detecting movement to the north, and her Instinct making her move again ‘AH-!’

Crackle!!!

HISS!!!

Blocking an arrow with the crack on her weapon, making it blow up, and sending her crashing onto her back, with all the magic on her crystal, and a good part of the magic in her “Void” expended…

She didn’t noticed that the arrow was barely deflected, nor how it shaved part of a scale on her neck, before entering the ground

Rustling

“You ok Dan?” Veronica asked, as she moved to get a better angle for a new shot, hitting a tree would be a problem none of them wanted

“What took you so long?!” he was stuck in place, with steam forming on his skin, due to the exertion he had placed his body with that attack

“Second time in months, you scream for an actual reason” she whistled loudly and took position, watching the trembling snake raised its head. Not killing it until everyone got close…

Not knowing why the trees were rustling, was another motive for not doing anything yet…

Miriam had trouble understanding what was happening, she confused what he had done with her Empower, but both of her Instincts were screaming that it wasn't magic

Two more people appeared from the north, a young, black haired man holding a hammer, and wearing light armor

“Stop!” and a young, blond haired woman holding a glowing staff, and wearing robes “What are…?! Eh…?” that looked as confused by Miriam…

‘Eh…?’ as she was confused by the unknown girl… ‘Why do I feel like I can trust her…?’

Laura was the only one, that wasn't scared by the… snake…?

‘A follower of Aufiea…? How…?’ she also saw that the trees were upset, but wasn't told why

‘…!!!’ John to her side was too scared by the snake to move

Since the priest and her apprentice bodyguard, that were assigned to their group, stopped talking. Once Dan recovered and stopped making steam, he prepared to kill the creature

Hiss…

“Don't!” but both Laura and Miriam recovered from their Title induced connection “Don't attack!”

“Yeah! The others aren’t here yet!” Veronica pointed out

“Don't attack at all! Can’t you see the trees?!” the priest screamed at them

“You think I’m letting this thing alive?!” Dan sounded outraged by the priest “It’s as strong as me!”

He admitting that, was a surprise for the others, but before the priest could say anything, getting close and loudly stomping on the water was Rol carrying Tania on his back. Both flinched upon seeing Miriam

“What is that…?!” the alchemist asked once she was lowered near priest, and Rol moved a bit closer to Dan “It’s so big…!”

“Now it’s not the time to appreciate his length!” Dan’s joke-

HISS!!!

‘DON’T CALL ME LIKE THAT!!!’ was ill received by Miriam

To stop herself from losing her mind, she released her aura and it hit all of them like a hammer, John fell to his butt and nearly fainted, as everyone else was struggling against the true strength of the fear that Miriam could inflict

But all of them had some measure of Fear Resistance, and as they got ready while Miriam stabbed the ground with her broken weapon

“SHE” that word came to her from the trees “SHE IS A PRIEST!” Laura managed to scream, finally understanding what was happening “She is a priest of Aufiea like me!” stopping everyone on their tracks

‘Priest of… Aufiea…?’ and calming Miriam enough, for her to start pulling back her aura

“Are you insane?!” but Dan couldn't believe that, even after Miriam’s aura stopped covering him

“There is a Deed that lets us know that!”

“It’s a snake!”

As an answer, Miriam took out her broken weapon from the ground and pointed to the blond girl. All the adventurers looked at the snake as she drew a line on the ground

‘This is the brook’ she pointed at the line, then to the water, following its movement to the east ‘This is the river’ she made another line that moved north to south and pointed to the east ‘Here, is a grave’ Miriam inserted her sword on the place she had previously stabbed, before pointing at it

“You… want me to follow the river?” Laura asked…

‘No’ and Miriam shook her head, scaring the others ‘There is a big gap between them…’ she held both of her hands in front of her, and moved them away from each other

“Ah… far…? Too far from the river…?” hearing what Laura was saying, the others, except Dan and John relaxed and even the archer girl lowered her bow

‘Yeah, that works…’ Miriam nodded, somewhat happy that her directions to the resting place of the hunter got across ‘Wait, I can just write-!’

But Dan got furious

“What is this bullshit?!” Miriam flinched and moved back at his outburst “You really expect me to believe this?!” he was glaring at both the priest behind him, and the snake in front

“You know that creatures can become humanoids!” Laura argued back

“I don’t care about those freaks!” but he turned fully towards Laura with pure wrath on his eyes

‘I need to write! Ia Imbue Eyes-!’

Just as Miriam did her spell, the ring on Tania’s hand glowed and by reflex called out

“Magic!”

Everyone reacted to her call:

Dan moved away from Miriam, as Rol dashed between them with his shield prepared to block something

Veronica raised her bow and let loose an arrow forwards

Miriam forced a thick wall to separate her from the humans-

Crack!

A wall that cracked completely once it blocked the arrow-

“Ia! Avgiceq!” and was blown away by the fire bolt that Tania fired

‘AAAHHH!!!’ Miriam was pushed away by the force of the impact too, but she ignored her wounds and fled

“Stop!” Dan ignored the priest’s scream and charged after Miriam-

Thump!

“What?!” but was stopped by a blue barrier appearing between two trees, nearly falling to the ground “Tsk!” but recovered and tried to stab at where the barrier stopped him

Clink!

Ineffectually

“I told you to stop!” Laura at gotten closer, following the rest of his group “Can’t you see what the trees-?!”

“I’m not letting that animal escape!” he hollered back at her

“She must be getting close to become-!” and she tried to reason with him

“I DON’T CARE!!!” in his eyes shone a glint of madness “I can kill it now!”

It was Veronica who spoke next, angry at how he was acting

“What the hell is your problem?!”

But he just ignored her and swung his sword with all his strength down on the space between the trees

Crack!

Only for his weapon to pass uninterrupted and get stuck on the ground. After a few seconds of pulling he managed to pull it out and chased after the snake, but not as fast as he could in case the trees got in his way again

The rest of the group also followed him, except for Laura, because Rol pointed at her that John was still on the ground, too scared to move. So, she remained to help him, and to go where she was directed, hoping for the trees to keep protecting the other priest

But the forest, once it became obvious that there wasn't going to be a peaceful outcome, as a whole decided: that stopping the humans for five seconds, was enough compensation for the pain she had suffered, due to the last mission the gods told them to give her

And while the invisible barrier that stopped Dan, only lasted for five seconds. They were happy that the humans didn’t noticed immediately

…

‘Swim on earth! Swim on earth!’ mostly because Miriam needed the extra time… ‘How do I swim on the ground!?’

Crack!

‘Hey!’ after moving south as fast as she could for a while, the weakened harness of the box on her back broke, the box broke too letting her cargo spill ‘I… what do…?’ after grabbing the Terror Stone she had made, her tiredness caught up to her ‘Need… to hide…’

Miriam had no idea of why she was so short of breath, but ignored that and stared at the tip of her tail

‘Ia… Gap, Displace… Rearrange, Conceal… Swim…’ she struggled to think, still fighting her own Trait ‘Secret Tunnel…? Ah!’

She pushed the tip of her tail down to the ground, amazed that it and the moss above it, let her body go below them, and rearranged itself not letting her, see a trace of her presence

‘Ia Stop’ Miriam stopped the spell ‘Looks good… tight, it’s going to be uncomfortable…’ but didn’t hurt her, and that was the thing she was testing

Before casting it again, she grabbed the biggest piece of her box and threw it above a nearby bush. She also got an idea from seeing it, and proceed to use the spell to hide the rest of her body in the direction of the bush

Inhaling and holding her breath, as she moved her head in the ground under the bush, and using Earth Shape, to create an opening with a small tube upwards, so she could breath

‘Ia Stop…’ having her whole wounded body, slightly compressed like that was painful, but it was too late to change it… ‘This is it… no more magic…’ she had come close to getting another Magic Drain, and the vibrations were getting close ‘If this fails… then I’m going to die…’

Underground the first of the vibrations reached and passed over her, before they stopped suddenly and returned to the place where her box broke

“Dan!” she could still hear what they were saying thanks to the hole under the bush, it was a male voice that was far away

“Not now!” the voice of the swordsman she had fought was right on top of her “Veronica! Tell me where did that damn snake went!”

“Fuck you!” the other three vibrations got close “You think I know?! We were chasing you! Not her!”

Miriam felt relieve that she wasn't immediately spotted, but she remembered her magic teacher using a spell that found her before…

‘Or she was tracking the stones…?’

“Look at this…! That thing had it on its back! It was here! Find it!”

There was silence for a long moment and Miriam wasn't sure if the answer, was too low for her senses on her hiding spot, or if Veronica was looking for her. The vibrations she was getting from the group weren’t clear enough

“Use a spell!” the only thing she had clear is that Dan wanted to kill her…

“She showed some intelligent behavior” the voice of her teacher reached her, she was a bit closer than the other woman “And I have never heard of a reptile, becoming a humanoid… I don’t want to kill her”

‘Thanks you for everything teacher!’ Miriam cheered

“You just tried to do it!”

‘Oh… right…’ a little prematurely…

“I got confused! The magic that I detected, wasn't for harm! She used it to escape! And the-!”

“IT’S A FUCKING ANIMAL!!!” what the mage was saying got interrupted

“DAN!!!” and the other guy roared

Causing a long silence… that was broken, when the vibrations of the first guy moved away from the others, towards the south

“Dan! Between chasing a snake! And making sure the temples don’t hate us!” the big guy spoke again “What do you think I’m going to do?!”

“You go to the guild!” the archer spoke again “We’ll talk with Laura…”

‘She is… angry…?’ there was an emotion on her voice, that Miriam couldn't identify

The first guy moved for a bit in the same area, then moved to the bush above her…

“Here is the rest! The snake went west…!” more silence… “Come on…!”

More tense minutes went by…

“Bah…” before he and the rest moved north

‘Thanks you three… ow…’ it would take Miriam an hour of meditation, to recover enough magic to dig herself out, but she had survived…

…

Later, by following the rustling of the trees Laura and John managed to reach the spot Miriam mapped

“No way…” he was stunned…

The pile of bones, and the drawing Miriam had done in the past were still there, but now all around the tree…

“Holy Blossoms…!” Laura was overjoyed…

Hundreds of flowers were there, none of them could immediately see, the kind that Miriam had searched before, but both knew enough, to be able to look for one

“The ritual is incomplete…?” the priest noticed something about the drawing, and held the ring of her staff above it, before starting praying

The ring detached from the staff and started to spin and glow, after a few minutes of chanting a drop of liquid light fell on the drawing and all of it turned into a solid slab of stone, just before the roots of the tree buried the bones and all the illusory leafs of the tree vanished…

Before the tree sprouted real leaves and grew in size as its roots moved deeper into the ground

“A Guardian Tree…!” Laura kneel and gave a happy prayer, for the blessing, as her staff became whole again

“This close to a city…?” John was a little more scared than awed, by the appearance of the tree “Aren’t they a bad omen?”

“What?! No!” Laura laughed making his heart go a bit faster “They mean that if there is danger, we will have help, and look at all the flowers! This is fantastic…!”

Just when she was about to suggest to look for Holy Blossoms, the rest of the group, except for the swordsman, saw them and got closer, stunned by the sight

“She must have been a Fae!” Laura stated once she saw them, not noticing how they flinched at that word “The bones here, must have been hers! And she couldn’t reshaped her will, into a humanoid appearance together with all her memories! That is why the ritual wasn't complete!”

The rest wasn't sure of what to think about her hypothesis, since they didn’t saw bones, or an unfinished ritual… but since she said that the snake was a priest, it meant that the forest wasn't going to answer anything, related to the snake…

They would need to ask the snake herself for the truth…

“Where is the pervert…?” her tone turned sour fast

“He… ah… Dan is going to the guild…” Rol answered as the two other girls sat next to the flowers and looked for good ones, Veronica looking genuinely angry

“Really…?” she scoffed “I’ll need to make sure his lies don’t cause damage…” she turned her attention to the flowers as John sat next to her, but Rol kept talking

“His dad was killed by a creature, that became humanoid a week later… then his mom remarried a different humanoid…”

Everyone, except the priest, looked at him… it seemed that he had finally managed to explain something correctly…

“You can’t justify hatred…” Laura spoke after a moment, before gesturing to the flowers “Look at this… look at all the good that can come from this…” she looked at Rol “This, doesn’t deserves hate…”

He didn’t answered her, because he just wanted to explain what had happened before. He knew that his friend’s attitude wasn't healthy, but wasn't sure of how to ask for help… or if Dan would accept it in the first place…

Soon all of them were looking for flowers, Tania taking a few poisonous ones, but the others knew to not ask…

The only one not really looking for flowers, was John that couldn't help but glance at the priestess all the time… but he managed to see a metallic object between the flowers…

…

When the group was on their third, and last for the day, Holy Blossom. Miriam had already fished two Shore Raiders and was trying to find the only source of the flowers that she knew about. She also was happy to discover that her tracker had stopped, once she moved a few meters away from the river

Ding

‘Status…’ she didn’t wanted to do it, but there were a few things she actually needed to see

‘What…? Why…?’ she got no answer ‘Traits…’ she focused in the Magic Crystal ‘Innate Magic Focus lost the question mark… that is why forcing spells didn’t hurt as much…?’ she looked at the crystal on her chest ‘Ia Imbue Magic Crystal-! Ia Stop!’

She shuddered and stopped herself immediately

‘Ugh… doing that just sucked magic from the “Void” not… maybe useful if I need to fill it…? But for now it’s just a bad idea…’ she prepared herself mentally for something she wanted to see ‘Species…? What do you mean locked?’ but was unable to…

-Reach level cap…-

‘But I could do it before because…! …? What happened to the evolution to a lizard?’ Absorb glowed as an answer ‘Oh… right… it ate the things I hid…’

…

Not too far away, the oldest of the ravens noticed a pair of snakes getting close, and stopped warming the egg that had appeared once the nest was finished, to deal with them

For some reason, they couldn't stop everything from noticing the existence of the nest, just most things

Once the raven jumped to a branch he could see one of them, the green snake, this one had purchased the rear legs-

HISS!!!

Crunch!

But the raven never saw how it used them, because Miriam beheaded it so fast, that the snake couldn't do anything…

Ding

‘SINGER?!’

Caw

‘IA! IMBUE EYES!’ since the bird was still there, she did the only thing she could think of ‘EARTH SHAPE!’

She started to write words like: school, singer, graduation, gun. As many times as she could around the tree that held the nest, before looking up again

Caw

Caw!

‘Eh?!’ the younger of the brothers landed on a branch behind her, and she stared between the two confused ‘Wait… are they crows or ravens…?’

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Miriam started to climb the tree. The youngest was about to peck at her

(Don’t) but his brother stopped him, and using magic he made the egg invisible

Miriam looking into the nest saw nothing, and didn’t noticed the spell either. She just saw the first raven moving away from her

‘Of course… it would have been too easy…’ as she started to go down, Miriam took her tool, and placed it on the lower branches of the tree, hoping that it didn’t affected the two birds

Going down she didn’t noticed that the tree held the stone firmly. She just waited to see if the bird moved to the nest again

Caw

And the oldest brother did, making her feel relief, before moving to the snake, eating the head, and leaving to the birds, the upper half of the snake, before moving away with the rest…

(We really can’t let them meet…?) the youngest asked once she was gone

(I… wonder…) the eldest hesitated (From what I can see… the humans are going to be chasing her soon) he returned to warm the egg (So, Miriam distracting them is a good thing, she will give this one, time to grow… but…)

(She just gave her a Terror Stone…)

(I know…) he waved a wing and the wind it made, erased the words from the ground (But do you think she’ll know how to raise a baby bird…?)

The youngest didn’t answer that, he just looked at the meat they were left, because…

(What do we do with that…?) they didn’t needed to eat…

(Maybe if we cook it, the meat will last long enough for this one…?)

Caw!

(After last time?!) the younger raven laughed earning a glare from his brother

/////

Food in… sunset it’s coming… where did the day go…?

‘Need to… wait, before doing anything. Status’

‘Four twenty-one points… and I have eleven Traits to evolve…’ what I just ate should be good enough until tomorrow… ‘Eight Traits…? In what order…? Do I evolve Berserker…? Do I buy something…?’

…

‘Idiot…’

…

‘I know, I know… need to go to the flowers first…’ I want to give her a few…