January 14, 2019, morning.

I walk over to head out with Josh and Beth, discouraged by my inability to create a shield spell. Everything else has come so easily. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

At least I have my health.

As I approach, I find Josh casually standing at the edge of the clearing, his Rose armor menacing and beautiful in the morning sun. As Beth joins us after thanking the doctor again, I notice she's now clad in a new dark bodysuit, the pattern slowly shifting to match the foliage. She has her Umbral rifle slung across her back and a dark dagger sheathed in her boot.

You know, I felt like I was figuring this magic thing out fast. I think we've been awake in this world for less than two real time hours yet I'm already capable of slinging around flame arrows like nobody's business.

Which I thought was super impressive.

But how useful is it going to be compared to Josh's armor or Beth's umbral everything. Plus, my proficiency came from hours practicing in a time freeze.

Then again, when I check their equipment, they're both relying on their matrix resources. My first (and only) use of my facet was also incredibly easy for what it did. Maybe I'm doing okay. If I hadn't broken my time shield, staying to study longer, maybe I'd be more badass than either of them.

Nope. They're both awesome to start with. Can't catch up to that with just a little magic. I guess I need a lot of magic. Mwahahaha.

Stepping up beside them, Beth turns her eviscerating eyes in my direction but softens the effect with a smile. Seriously, every time she looks at me, I feel a quiver down my spine. Maybe it's her umbra or something.

"All ready to go then, kid?" she asks before ruffling my hair again. I want to object to her calling me a kid, but then I remember I'm wearing a kitty onesie.

Okay. An obscene amount of magic.

I nod since my tongue still isn’t cooperating. I'm lucky spell casting doesn't require a verbal component, or I'd be in trouble. Come to think of it, do I need to use my hands to cast my spells? The first time I used pierce, I was completely frozen. I just directed the spell to release from my eyes.

Can I shoot Flaming arrows from my eyes? Stitch would be so jealous.

While I'm revelling in the idea of destroying toy cities with nothing but the power of my eyes, we start into the forest. The moment I step past the outer edge of the clearing, I feel an intense pressure pushing down on me. I'm not sure if Josh or Beth notice, since they don't even pause when they pass out of the clearing.

Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I'm greeted by the familiar tang of salty air. There hadn't been anything notable about the smell of the clearing, but now I'm certain we're near the ocean. When I look up, I see both Beth and Josh have turned back to stare at me. Blushing, I wave them forward while I adjust to this new pressure.

Despite Josh's armor and survival knowledge, Beth takes the lead.

Her movements are smooth and efficient as she leads us forward, her eyes scanning the surroundings. She's not nearly as loud as I am, despite the fact that she's more focused on our surroundings than watching her step.

With his armour cushioning every step, Josh is quieter than either of us, a veritable ghost moving through the forest. Other than the pink of course. But as we move, even that improves, his armour slowly getting darker, until the rose petals are such a deep burgundy that they may as well be black.

All of this I note in passing, as I'm still struggling with the strange pressure.

Checking my conditions, there are no new ones listed. Maybe it's related to my temporal dissonance? It takes me several minutes before I'm finally able to get a handle on whatever's causing the pressure. It's still there, but I feel better able to function under it.

Even while I was busy adjusting, we continued travelling deeper into the forest. If I’m judging correctly, we're headed towards the ocean, but I'm not totally sure. As I take in my surroundings it becomes clear that I'm not sure which way leads back to the clearing either. Only five minutes yet I'm already lost.

Nature 1. Alexis 0.

As I keep following them through the forest, I start thinking about the source of the roar from earlier. Anything with a roar that loud? From far enough away we can't see it? Best to avoid. I haven't heard it roar again, but that just means we don't know where it is.

I try to follow Beth's lead, attempting to keep an eye on our surroundings while we travel, but I'm having enough trouble just watching my step.

We travel for another fifteen minutes before I realize I'm not getting worn out by our trek. Normally speed walking home from the mill after work is enough to leave me huffing and puffing. We've been moving quickly, across rugged terrain yet I still feel fresh. Checking my stamina I see I've only used a single point. I feel like I could keep going all day at this rate. When I check Josh and Beth's resources in the party screen, they're doing even better. Neither of them has used a single point of stamina.

Huh, this is almost enjoyable. Nature 1. Alexis 1.

As the hike continues, I consider practicing with my magic. I'm really tempted but I'd rather not draw the attention of whatever's out there. I'm kind of wishing I had stayed in the circle to experiment.

Another half an hour later, I'm finally getting used to staying semi-aware while not tripping over everything. The key is to alternate. After I'm sure of my next few steps, I take time to observe. As I look around, I start admiring the wildlife. I'm not very familiar with the flora near my home, but most of the plants and trees we've been passing through are especially unfamiliar. They still have bark and branches and leaves, but that's all I can identify. When I think about it, that's about all I could identify at home too.

Nature 2. Alexis 1.

We're moving along a ridge line when Beth holds her hand up, signaling us to stop.

Wondering what's caused her to break our pattern, I glance around. I don't see anything then it occurs to me that maybe it wasn't what she saw. She could have heard something. So, I close my eyes to listen. I can just barely hear the rolling rhythm of waves in the distance. It sounds like it's coming from over the next rise. We must be getting close to the ocean. But I doubt that's enough for Beth to call a stop.

Opening my eyes, I see Beth is in motion.

For the first time since we left the clearing, I see Beth swing her rifle around to move it into a firing position.

Clearly, she's seen something worse than the ocean. As she raises the scope to her eye, I wonder what she sees on the other end. Is it a terrifying monster ready to tear us apart? Does it know that death has it locked within her steely gaze? I'm not sure if I'm more worried about us or whatever she's about to shoot.

Beth’s entire body goes still. In fact, she's so still that if I didn't see Josh shifting slightly beside me, I'd be worried I was frozen again. A moment later there's a quiet whispering sound from Beth's direction. The next second Beth is reholstering her rifle, swinging it onto her back while beckoning us to follow. We continue for another 500 meters before we come across a creature missing its throat. The head lies to one side, the body to the other.

I can't hold it in, losing last night’s dinner at the sight.

Neither Josh nor Beth comment on my digestive pyrotechnics, both moving to inspect the body instead. I've played survival games before. I knew we'd probably be killing things for food, but I'm still not prepared for the ... mess. Or the smell.

In this moment, I doubt I would have survived if I'd been dropped in that clearing on my own.

That thought makes me force down my gag reflex to watch Josh and Beth.

"You've done this before friend," I hear Beth state as she and Josh start their work.

"Yeah," he replies as he continues to cut with a steady hand. After watching Beth working beside him for a moment, Josh comments, "so have you."

"Yeah, dad used to take me hunting. You?"

"Survival training," Josh answers while tugging on something soft and squishy. The sound makes my guts clench.

"Hmm." Beth mumbles, nodding as she continues to cut.

"Why the gun?" Josh questions her a minute later.

"What do you mean, friend?" Beth replies as I edge slightly further away from the smell, continuing to fight my stomach.

"It's fancy. Too fancy," Josh states as they pull the meat apart. "Why?"

"I'd rather not say," Beth replies, shifting uncomfortably.

"Okay," Josh shrugs as he secures the ankles with thin saplings.

I almost throw up several times but am able to fight it down as they work. The effort is almost worth it. They take the dead animal, a distant relative of a deer, I think, then finish preparing it for transport. It's not much but apparently, the system thinks watching them is enough to say I've improved.

"Skill gained: Survival Temperate Forest (1)"

Curious, I focus on the skill, hoping for useful insights, such as I received from my mana manipulation. Amongst other things, it gives me very vivid flashes of how I could skin and prepare the creature that Beth and Josh have slung up on a stick between them. This overcomes my recent success at suppressing my gag reflex, resulting in me emptying what little remains within my stomach.

Once I'm finished recovering, I follow them up the hill. I thought we might turn back now that we had secured a meal, but once Josh convinces Beth that he can easily carry the deer on his own, Beth decides we'll continue on to the ocean.

Holy crap he's strong. I observe as Josh makes his way up the hill, maintaining the same pace we've set all day while carrying what must be a hundred kilo animal.

Beth is waiting at the rise when Josh and I reach the top, surveying the beach beyond. I imagine it's the vista that really grabbed her attention.

If I hadn't already been convinced we were on another world, the two spheres I see hanging low in the eastern sky confirm my suspicions. The lesser sphere, a pale pink, is smaller than the tip of my pinky. It hangs just above the horizon, where it partially eclipses its larger partner. The second sphere, which is larger than my hand, has striking blue and green masses, which I imagine are oceans and continents.

As we gaze out, I can see entire weather patterns moving across its surface. Below the twin spheres, the ocean stretches out, as far as the eye can see, massive waves crashing on the shore below us. The only break I see, is a rocky peninsula north of us that extends out from the beach.

The three of us just stand, staring at the amazing sight for a while. The moment lasts until Josh shifts in place to keep his burden from slipping.

The silence broken; Beth turns to me with a smile. "Do you think you could start a fire with one of those flame spells of yours, Alexis? This seems like a nice place for breakfast, don't you think?"

Other than the view I don’t know what’s so great about this spot, it feels kind of exposed. I don't bother voicing the thought, just nodding instead.

"Excellent. I'll gather some firewood," Beth decides, putting action to her words as she moves towards a nearby pile of driftwood.

I don't sit idly as she leaves. I find a nearby piece of wood that appears decently dry then try using a flame arrow on it.

The result is incredible but not very useful. My flame arrow should have set the small piece of driftwood on fire easily enough. I can feel the heat it produced even now. However, half my practice wood was obliterated in the initial impact while the rest was thrown clear before the remains had a chance to ignite.

I grab a couple of the nearby fragments then start trying to figure out how to coax my fire mana to ignite them. This time less explosively.

I'm still trying to figure it out, when I see Beth returning, dragging a bundle of driftwood behind her. She appears to have bound it with a dark rope, which after a second, I realize is yet another tool she has made from her umbra.

Cursing at my lack of progress, I start gathering my mana beneath my skin like I did when I first created my fire arrow, but this time I try funneling it into the swept triangle rune. The fire mana snaps into the mana construct eagerly, a wave of flame spreading out before me. The flames just keep going until I realize I'm automatically supplying fire mana to the rune. When I cut the mana flow, all that's left of my pile of fragments are several pieces that have been reduced to small embers.

Moving up beside me, Josh uses a stick to move the embers together. "Banking the coals," he explains, thankfully not commenting on my explosive methods of fire starting.

Beth, however, has no problem commenting, "You're quite the dynamo with that fire magic of yours aren't you, kid?" Her smile softens her words, but I still shrink back into my hood in embarrassment. She's not even looking at me as she and Josh are building wood up over the banked coals.

As I sit watching them build a proper fire to roast her kill, I review the notifications that flashed up when I cast my flame spray.

"Skill increase: Mana manipulation (7)."

"Skill increase: Fire Manipulation (2)."

"Skill increased: Survival Temporal Forest (2)"

"Spell discovered: Flamethrower (1). Would you like to add this spell to your preferred spell list? Y/N?"

Where was this prompt when I learned Pierce? And how come I cast twenty Flaming arrows yet didn't gain any fire manipulation. Meanwhile I gain a point the first time I cast Flamethrower? Hmm. I wonder.

Rejecting the spell, I start trying to manipulate my fire mana, but without a rune. Conjuring a small amount of fire mana, I clamp down on its tendency to draw more mana, preventing it from getting hotter. This time it sits just beneath my palm, keeping my hand warm but not threatening to bust out. Or burn me. As I consider my mana, I try to draw it through my skin without using any of my runes. At first it seems to be working fine but then it dissipates in a puff. Trying again, I decide to augment with my focus like I do to get more from the interface. The mana draws to my skin then dissipates just as it did the first time, but this time I'm able to feel more. When the mana passes through my skin it loses its cohesion because it's bombarded by the free mana in the air around us. I can't see the free mana, but when I'm focusing, I can feel it.

Determined to understand what's happening I keep drawing the fire mana through my palm switching back and forth as each hand grows hot from exposure. I lose track of time as I get closer and closer to sustaining the fire outside my body. Finally, I realize I can use my mana to direct the ambient mana along channels on my body. I have to run my internal mana along the underside of my skin to shape the channels, but it doesn't cost me mana or focus. After some practice using the channels, I'm able to keep the ambient mana from disrupting my fire mana.

Further refining the channels to isolate my fire mana, I can finally draw it forth from my skin where it flickers in the palm of my hand. It almost goes out, but I redirect the channels on my skin, feeding ambient mana into my little flame. It sputters and starts, but finally stabilizes into a small ball. It’s no more than five millimetres across, but it’s still amazing. With my success blazing brightly in my hand the world, then the beach, suddenly come back into being.

Feeling as though I'm coming out of a daze, I raise my head to find Josh and Beth staring at me.

"Uhm. Hu-hi. Suh-sorry about that," I apologize, wondering what has them staring at me now.

They've seen me throw flames all over the place, what's the big deal about zoning out for a while?

"Ahem. Are you aware that your skin is covered in glowing runes kid?" Beth asks, spearing a piece of meat on her black-as-night dagger then bringing it to her mouth, all while keeping her eyes fixed on me.

Inspecting my arms, the channels I've been using are glowing. And it appears they’ve cut through my onesie, leaving the sleeves below my shoulders in tatters.

Amazed by the beauty of the channels, I trace the lines that have appeared on my arms. My finger tingles as I follow the familiar feeling of mana flowing along the channels. It's weaker than my personal mana. Not only is it more diluted, but it's also as if this mana has fewer possibilities contained within. Even as I trace it, the ambient mana continues to flow along my channels feeding my little ball of flame. Watching to see how they react; I shift the mana beneath the skin of my arm. I'm delighted to see the lines shift in response. Of course, this causes my fire to sputter until I shift them back.

My delight is somewhat diminished when I realize I'm now stuck wandering around a forest without sleeves. It may not have been ideal forest gear, but my onesie still protected me from several branches and other potential minor injuries on our way here. Plus, unlike everyone else, I’m not clad in magical armour to protect me from these minor inconveniences.

I'm wondering if I have any way to create my own armour when a whiff of cooked meat reaches my nose. My stomach rumbles loudly in response, reminding me of just how hungry I am.

Glancing up, I see Josh has moved over with a plate woven of stems intertwined with rose petals. Just like his armour, it's a work of art. Though the majority is made of petals, it's clearly rigid enough to support the slabs of roast meat. The delicious morsels are lying there, neatly stacked, just waiting for me to devour them. He's even provided a two-pronged skewer grown from a thorn.

Oh my gawd. Josh is using magic to make cutlery. That is so cool.

Dispersing my ball of flame, I smile up at Josh as I accept the plate, careful not to stab myself with the skewer. "Thu-thank you. This suh-smells so good."

"You're welcome," Josh says, smiling at me before returning to his place near the fire.

I hadn't noticed while I was playing with my fire mana, but a cold wind is blowing in from the northeast. At least I'm pretty sure it's northeast, based on my memories of the map and the idea that the ocean was to the east. I consider trying to use fire mana to warm myself but instead I opt for moving over to sit next to Josh and Beth by the fire. I nearly drop my plate when the large piece of driftwood they've requisitioned as a bench shifts, but luckily, it's only a momentary stumble.

Not delaying any longer, I dig into the meat with gusto. It's had time to cool, which implies I was distracted for a while. It's kind of plain, and a little chewy, but it still tastes pretty good. Before I know it, I've finished the whole plate. Normally I'm a more reserved eater, but I'm feeling especially ravenous today. Looking over at the deer, which is still roasting on a spit, I consider asking for more but decide I can wait a few minutes. I wonder if we're planning to haul it back with us or if we'll just leave it here. It'd be a waste to leave it as there's still a large amount of meat left but I'm not sure how we’d preserve it if we want to bring it with.

Josh stands up, taking another portion of deer from the roast then sitting down beside me, talking to Beth about how they can turn the deer into jerky. Realizing that the food situation will be handled by the capable people who are quietly chatting beside me, I decide to check my notification log. Hopefully they’ll be okay with me taking some time to fix my migraine inducing temporal dissonance condition after breakfast. Well, taking some time to try.

"Skill increased: Mana Manipulation (8 to 10)."

"Skill increased: Fire Manipulation (3 to 5)."

"Skill gained: Runic Channeling (1)."

Hmmm, that little bit of experimenting increased my mana manipulation more than hours of mindlessly practicing my runes did. I'll need to keep that in mind in the future.

"Suh-so, before we huh-head back I'd luh-like to fu-fix my stu-stutter," I'm not certain but I think my stutter is getting worse. Does that mean my temporal dissonance is getting worse? Maybe it's because of this non-stop pressure that I feel bearing down on me.

Beth and Josh glance at each other before Beth speaks, "We were talking about it while you were playing with your fire magic. We were thinking of making a forward camp near the river, just a little way north of here. Based on his experiments with his cutlery, Josh thinks that with some time he can grow serviceable walls, and there's a freshwater spring nearby, so we'd have water as well."

"If you want to stay here with Josh, I'm certain I can make my way back to Dr Roberts safely on my own. Probably faster without the two of you, if I'm honest." Beth is smiling as she looks at me, but I'm still embarrassed again. She probably included Josh just to reduce the sting, but I'll take it.

"Yuh-yeah. Okay." I want to say more but the stutter is frustrating. I've never thought about how much extra effort people who have a speech problem need to exert when speaking. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've never been patient with people with a stutter. I've always been in a hurry to get on with the conversation. But I feel I can empathize with them better now. Meanwhile, Josh and Beth are practically saints in comparison, they haven't even been irritated.

"We'll be there," Josh states, pointing to a nearby hill with a small copse of trees over the beach.

"Sounds good. Before I go, I want you to have this. Just in case." Beth offers as she hands me a button. It's just a small green piece of metal with an unfamiliar logo on it, but there's a small catch in her voice. That, plus the way she presses it firmly into my hands, implies it's important to her.

"Thu-thanks," I reply. I feel like I should say more but she speaks before I can think of anything.

"I'll see you soon kid," Beth replies ruffling my hair then giving me a quick pat on the head. "For luck" she adds, before turning around, disappearing into the trees.

I inspect the medal but it's just a picture of a person running on a green background. I pin the button to my chest then turn towards the copse of trees.

Wait, how are we getting a roast deer up there?