The Trip to to the edge of the city, and the end of the Marble steps was fast and slick. With my head down and my Guai around me, we took the fair down, without paying as I was now a trainer, and this was just another benefit for those out on a quest. They had Guild Gondolas.
We stepped from stone to dirt and, Marble spire turned into Eucalyptus, with a dusty green shade of leaf and a red bark. We took to the road with vigor and a fast walk, nearing a jog, my Guai did not protest. Mara did not speak a word of ‘I told you saw.’ She would have been in the right to do so, and I wouldn’t be able to say anything back.
Once the scenery had changed, I took the time to breath properly and clam myself. I’d spent thousands of bucks in introspective work with tens of different Psychologists, and I was not going to let that waste away.
I took in the smell and feel of the forest around me. The trees looked proud and their canopy like a crown of green on red and orange fleshy barks. The birds were chirping and the grass hoppers, hopping. Or whatever they did. I calmed down enough to feel the ring call out to me, urging me. “Use me! Float away!” It was a childish voice, and it was not real. I did not ponder over if I’d gone crazy, hearing voices that weren’t there, I pushed my Aether into it, I felt it gather around the ring on my finger, as if it was already there, just aimless before my intent pulled it together into a visible mass.
I felt a wind push me forward, and a formless boat took shape, its sails at full mast, bloated with wind. They pushed us forward, and with me at the helm we sprinted down the road without any bumps. Yet it was a joyride still for the udder pushed us the way I wasn’t turning the helm, as ships tended to do, and as the road twisted and turned, we took off into the hills, and then into the forests, and as we roamed above rock formations trying to get back on track, we found ourselves having cut our trip shorter, only to have to climb up a cliff and rocket up into the sky, just to drop back down after bounding over the obstacle.
My bladder rose to my stomach and I felt about ready to piss myself as the wind made sure to soften our landing, and the ring took a moment to get its bearings, before it took off once more. Thus we spent an hour or two, spinning around ourselves, with me unable to control the speed or path of this boat of wind.
Eventually. I got the hang of it. After backtracking a bit to make sure the map was correct we found that we’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and bolted back to the proper path, out here it was dangerous, Mara warned, and it would be better to make haste to the Village, the Village had a Warding Stone at least, not these roads though.
The spell soon run out and I felt the ground approach us, the feeling of lightness in the wind disappeared and as we slowed to a stand still, I walked for a rolling start, and thankfully I did not eat dirt.
We were at the crest of a hill, the clouds circling around but not above Pristine City were no more, and the two suns of this Solar System graced us with their glorious warmth. Around us, redwood pine grew a twisted and gnarled form, tens of meters tall, with thick branches. Layers of pine needle caked the earth and ate into the dirt path our boots scrunched on, to become new dirt after their decay.
There were flocks of birds flying about within my vision, and I thought I saw a raccoon, or a squirrel at some point, maybe both, maybe neither. A few crows looked at us with their eyes like black hole, cocking their heads from one side to another. There were frogs croaking in a wayside puddle, and butterflies who sat on grass, unmoving with their bright and multicolored wings folded into one another.
Then from the top of the hill came into view the village. It had a wooden palisade running round and round for tens of miles. Inside it all, were the farms, a hundred acres maybe, with homes erected at random locations throughout clearing, there was a village center of sort were a few wells were situated, the ground there was paved with cobble and there was a tree of Navy blue leaves standing tall, casting a shadow over it all.
As we approached, I noticed that at the very center of that trees bark, at the height of my waist most likely, a stone was stabbed deep, and the bark had grown almost around it to heal the wound. It was the Warding stone it seemed, and its power held back the chaotic Mana, as well as monsters, most of the time.
“So that Fox Guai is attacking the Chicken farm despite the warding of the stone, and whatever effect that has on her.”
“Yes, and our goal is stop her, kill her most likely, but if we can capture her, optimally, depending on how far you’re willing to go, if you can, and if she’ll give up before her death.” Ingrid said, as the possibility of battle dawned, she seemed the perkiest out of the bunch.
Mara made it look as if she was disinterested, but something about her antenna twitching, her eyes piercing into the distance, made me rethink that idea.
Frey seemed the least concerned, she’d probably seen and done worse.
As we arrived to the eastern gate of the palisade wall, a hopeful wall more than anything, it was well maintained, and there were even two guards with helmets and spears standing atop it, they had padded cotton shirts, painted blue, and they were young.
“Who are you, travelers. Why do you come to our Blue-leaf village?” They both said in unison, then scowled at each other. “We agreed that I’d say it.” Said the one on the right. His nose was crooked.
“I thought of it. Why should you?” Said the one on the left, his nose was long and fat.
‘A comedic duo, delightful. If I had a childhood to speak of, I’d be drowning in Nostalgia.”
“Because I’m the older brother.” Crooked nose said.
“But I’m taller!” Fat nose boasted.
“And? I’m smarter.” Crooked nose looked smarter, he had cunning black eyes.
“Aren’t they marvelous?” I said to my Guai and clapped my hands. They were certainly funny. Though my Guai could only role their eyes at the two stooges
“Guards of Blue-Leaf Village, hello and good morning to you. If you ask our purpose, It is a Quest for the Guild, I must answer. A Fox Guai has been terrorizing your farms, and we are here to solve that problem for you. If I may offer you a question as well, Have others not come for the same exact task?”
“Nay, you are the First, Trainer. Come, enter the village. The Farmer in question shall explain everything, and add all the little details.” The older brother said having locked his younger in a head lock. The younger brother then managed to escape, red faced. “Old Man Crocket knows how to bore you with the details, if you let him, that guy will be detailing your funeral procession, as you’ll have died of boredom from all the talk.”
“Good one! What’s your names, friends?” I asked as we walked under them, through the wooden wall and into the village. The double gates closed behind us. “Bob is his name, I’m the older one, Hob. Good to meet you. I pray for you fortune.”
I nodded to him. If I had a hat I’d tip it, but I didn’t. I figured it would be a good purchase to put on the list of things to buy when I have money, a cowboy hat preferably, the only other option would be a long and hard black hat, like one from a Victorian era, but then I’d need a monocle as well. ‘Nah~’
After a pleasant walk from one side of the village to the other. A Greeting here, a curious child there. We arrived to the Farm. It was a big estate and the cluck of chicken would scare away most predators, it had to be an army them past his fence. The moment I stepped through the picket fence, and onto hard stone slabs poured into the dirt, Old Man Crocket busted through the neon red, intense to a cartoonish degree, double barn doors, and the smell of chicken feed, chicken corpse, oat, hay, and chicken shit slammed into my face and made me tier up.
“Welcome one and all to this rich old man’s Humble Chicken Farm, The Number one Chicken produce provider in the province of the Pristine County. I am O~ld Man Crocket, and you must be a Trainer here to take me up on my Quest. Well, pal little ol’ pal. What Shall your name be.”
“I am Andras, Mister Crocket, nice to meet you, your barn is very nice.” A little flattery wouldn’t hurt. Not that I was lying. It looked like the quintessential stereotype for a barn. His farm stead as a whole, safe for the natural occurring smell, was clean to a fault. That, and I wanted to hear him talking more. ‘Where the Rumors true?’
“A Fresh coat of paint that is, did it to try and scare the fox away, maybe she’ll think I turned into a mad giant waiting on her to pray on my little chickens, you know how stupid those Guai can be. Especially them wild ones. They need a master to teach them how it is. Don’t you agree?”
‘I wish he’d stop talking already, I take back what I said.’ I simply continued to smile. I couldnt even nod as the deathly pressure of the Reaper’s scythe pressed upon my nape. All three of my Guai ready to go to war.
“Now, now. Come inside do not dally out here in the sun, we’d cook and cook, as if an a pan, Sunny side up is how I like my eggs not my head. I’d become a laughing stock for all Chicken farmers then. Why I’d ought to sell myself! Fahaha~” He chortled and took his red faced, blue eyes, and blond haired (Cropped military style.), troll like body back around.
We entered, he got us some beverage, it didn’t smell like coffee but it had a similar enough aura and look to coffee. He served it up with two big all ice cubes. It was sweet inside its bitter shell with a hint of caramel, or maybe even coconut. A Well selected roast.
Of course, the coffee was for after the meal, which was two eggs, actually done sunny side up in a big skillet, and a whole pack of chicken bacon strips each, with a side of bread and white, salty, cheese we were in for a treat.
I took a sit on a sack of oats, and he on a couch with a checkered yellow and blue cover, which had turned into brown and black, but that was a topic for another day. He was one for hearty meals, not a day’s cleaning.
“How about we get down to business, pal ol’ pal. I think you know, I have a problem. It’s been a month now and the attacks have gotten more frequent and devastating. Ya see, I own a chicken farm.” ‘No. A chicken farm?’ I couldn’t believe my ears.
“At first, I noticed one of my little coo’s went missing. Yellow puffy things, they go missing all the time. Then more went missing. I thought, I should feed their mother’s more, cause some times they do feed on their young, they do indeed. There was one time I almost went bankrupt because one very mighty chicken of mine, she was a big ol’ beatrice that one, she hungered and hungered, and every rooster that impregnated her, his eggs she ate. I thought she was hungry, but she was instead proud, and all the roosters in my farm were not good enough for Beatrice. That is when I bought my First Guai, he’s not bonded of course. I want nothing to do with all that. I had him mate with the chicken, and the rest is history. Oh were was I?”
At that point I could feel the absolute horror crashing into my telepathic link from all three of my Guai. I could imagine. Even I felt disgusted. Forced into bestiality. What a tragic fate. It’s a wonder if he still clings to life.
I hurried to get him back on track. “ You were talking about the Chicken’s going missing.”
“Yes, yes. Indeed. Pal ol’ Pal, From fluffy chick, the mysterious disappearings upgraded, to full breasted, egg laying, good for eating, Farmer fearing chickens, as they should. Then It moved onto Beast Chickens, you know, Sharp Talon Chickens, Stalemate Chickens, Dueling Chickens. Then I knew I was in trouble when my Monster Chickens started disappearing. Flaming Chickens, Piercing Beak Chickens, Hunting Chickens, Scholar Chickens, Wind Chickens, Earth Chickens. The works. I have a whole lot of variety in my farm you see. The Best in the whole confederation. The Last straw was when she attacked my Guai. I saw her silhouette then, that how I could tell she was a Fox, and input that information in the Quest. Fox’s come with a taller price tag, they are more rare and well known in myth, than Dogs or Cats.”
“Why do you think this Guai suddenly started attacking you? Not to diminish the attractiveness of your farm and its valuable merchandise, to a Fox no less. But do you think there could be something… Why not before this month, I mean.”
“Do you think there is logic to wild beasts? A good Guai is a farm bread Guai, those born in the wild are monsters like the rest of them and serve no purpose.” That was getting us nowhere, but making me an outlaw because I couldn’t control my Guai, seeing as how Mara was sending such hateful waves over at the bulldozer of a man, was not part of my plans.
‘I need to change the Subject.’ I snapped my fingers. “Wait, you said something about a Rooster Guai… A Male? I don’t think I’ve seen one. I’d almost taken them for legend.”
‘I deserve an Nobel Piece prize, honestly.’
“Yes, he was expensive, a real bet. But I’m a gambler it seems, and the goddess of the Dice is on my side to boot, never lost a bet. For now forty percent of the Chicken Supplements in Pristine County use my farm for their base materials. Stability Feed, Roar tablets, Moomery’s new Fire Aspcet formula uses the Seed of my crown jewel, the mighty protector and money maker of my farm. The Son of that Male Guai that started it all. Wonderful creatures, the Guai.” He managed to bring the subject back to touting his own horn, somehow.
Then I noticed the look he sent, over behind me, to the three wonderful Guai I’m bonded to. It was so depraved of a stare. As if he stripped them bare, and had grabbed their hair. He could have taken it out and beaten it right then and there. For to him they were mere objects. Objects with a beating heart and skin warm to the touch. Things he could fuck and fill with his seed with no consequences and only benefit. I had to stand up at that point. Literally.
“Mister Crocket. I’ve suddenly found myself unable to sit down.” I said with a smile. He frowned up at me. “This is all so exciting, and an experience I couldn’t have had before. Here I can witness how the world works, without people like you cities Like Pristine could not exist. You must tell me the rest as we walk. My Girls, can take a look around the perimeter, they won’t do you any harm. Maybe they can find something, being Guai and all, that we two can’t.” His scowl went clear and he stood, he was wide like a ball and tall like a tree, his legs were as wide as my torso and his torso I couldn’t wrap my hands around. His beard was white and his hair blond, how he died it I don’t know, and the beard itself was mighty like his stature, long enough to be a table sheet, for any table I have ever owned and eaten on.
He nodded to me and we were off, the Girls also departed. I savored the thankful, sweet like honey, waves that crossed over our bonded link. Especially Mara’s who had her dignity in higher esteem than the other two. I’d only then realized how horrible they must feel to be treated and gazed at in such a vile way. As I let the Old Farmer speak, and the words flowed out like a never ending fountain, I almost came to regret my acts of valiance, almost.
