January 16, 2019, 11:33am.

I hadn't given it much thought while following the river, but the rain makes finding decent footing challenging in the forest. I tentatively place one foot after another, trying to avoid slipping. Again. The bank of the river had been dark, but at least I could see where I was putting my feet.

It's getting to the point of absurdity. I've already had to pick myself up out of the mud twice. It's only been five minutes.

My goto method of using fire to illuminate my path is out. I'd rather not give the dragon a nice bright homing beacon to zoom in on, thank you.

Time to make some adjustments.

First, since I keep slipping, I reshape my boots. Since I'm a little short on metal, I spend a solid forty mana to add spiked treads. Testing them, the difference is clear, my feet finding secure holds with every step. Worth it.

For vision, the obvious route is twilight. If I'm going to remain undetected, none of my other magic will serve me as well. If only I didn't have a massive negative association with it. It's like eating broccoli. Sure, it's good for me but the idea leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Being an adult, I overcome my reluctance, eating my metaphorical veggies. I begin by gathering twilight mana behind my eyes. In a way I haven't done since I was locked in the time-freeze, I infuse them with mana. The result is immediate. The darkness absolute. Panicking, I dismiss the magic before recovering my sense of self. At least I didn't throw Smoulder this time.

I'm honestly surprised she's put up with me for so long. It's got to be the head scritches. "Isn't that right you little floofball, you just love head scritches?" I giggle as she pushes her head up into my hand.

Right. Business. Serious magic over here.

Let's see, twilight encompasses everything from the early morning sun, to the darkest night, so I just need to imbue a different aspect of twilight. Trying again, this time I infuse my eyes with mana that reminds me of an early morning. Specifically, that moment just before the sun crests over the horizon, much like it was back home on a clear winter day.

In response, the darkness changes, becoming less occluded. Everything is tinged with a soft, dusty, yellow tint. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. It's much better than the empty dark, that's for certain.

My boots squelch as I make my way forward, through the clearly defined woods. Watching my surroundings, memories of hide and seek spring to mind. If I had magic back then, shouldn't I have been better at those games? Cause I'll be honest, I was pretty awful. My papa never had trouble finding me.

Weaving the essence of twilight over my fingers I admit I've missed it. I guess it was more like ice cream than broccoli. It just happened to be green ice cream. Or something. Analogies are hard. The point is, I was looking at it wrong. Twilight was shielding me from what I didn't want to see. I can't blame the magic for what lay beneath.

Since I've started using twilight for my vision, it's time to experiment. Just like I have with most of my other magic.

The first step is to take it through all my standard spell forms. But preparation is required. Twilight is more nuanced than the other elemental mana types. A dark shadowy arrow. A brilliant beam of light. Even a sparkly, rainbow … arrow. Each one of these can be formed of twilight, all by shifting the spectrum of my mana.

At the moment though, to keep a low profile, the only version I'll be casting is the dark one.

With a flick of my wrist, I send an arrow of midnight into the forest, striking a branch. The branch doesn't seem to be bothered by my attack. It doesn't even sway.

Moving closer I see light being drawn in, darkness clinging to the branch, preventing me from seeing the actual limb. Hmm. Seems like I might be able to use this for blinding effects. Nice to have at least one non-lethal option.

Splaying my hand I call forth darkness through the swept triangle rune. The darkness clings to everything before me, completely blocking my path. With a wry smile, I sweep my arm forward gathering the darkness, leaving me with a clear trail forwards.

Using twilight with the circle rune, the magic blocks my sight, but this time I'm prepared for it, so I only panic a little before I reshape the barrier. With a small adjustment, I'm able to leave a gap for my eyes. It shrouds me in a cloak of darkness but lacks the subtlety of a proper shadow. It's also not even slightly mobile. Should be useful for hiding in place, but I'm already conceptualizing ways to improve the implementation.

As I'm tinkering with combining my new self-modulation adjustments from my Umbrella spell with my shadow cloak, I come across some tracks. Dissipating my spellwork, I kneel to inspect them. There's a large number of clawed prints, clearly outlined in the sodden earth. It appears they're headed north, towards the river.

I'm about to leave when I hear rustling from the nearby bushes, bushes which I can't help but notice happen to host those delicious berries I found yesterday.

When a hand emerges I do the first thing that springs to mind, I activate my shroud of darkness. I draw my hand up, watching the creature emerge, prepared to conjure forth a lightning torrent.

Stepping into the small clearing is what you'd get if you took a K'tharn, sent them to a barber, left them out in the sun for two weeks too long, then hit them with a large stick for good measure. Repeatedly. The couple random clumps of fur don’t hide its nakedness. It’s far too easy to see just how stunted, twisted, and remarkably ugly the little creature is.

It doesn't seem to notice my puddle of darkness, as it shuffles its way through the clearing, licking berry juice off its fingers. It doesn't look around as it moves, ambling along without a care in the world. I just about gag when it gets closer. It smells worse than the portable toilet at the end of the jazz music festival Sab dragged me to this summer.

Somehow, through its stench, it seems to catch a whiff of something. It moves closer, stopping for a sniff here, then a sniff there. It's only half a meter away when it stops, sniffing the air while digging a finger in its ear.

Dismissing my lightning torrent, I ready a flame arrow. If this thing attacks, I'd rather not alert the rest of its friends. Maybe I should just blind it?

My decision is made for me when a massive force pushes off my chest, knocking me to my butt. Smoulder smashes through the creature's right torso, spraying me with viscera.

"Ew, Ew, Ew, it's in my mouth." At this point, I don't just gag, I throw up.

When I recover, I see Smoulder once again peeing on a corpse. Once she's done I approach, kneeling next to her.

While still a little shocked at the sudden violence, I reach to pick her up. For some reason, she backs away for a second while staring up at me with her little eyes. It takes me a moment to realize she wants me to clean myself up first. Somehow she's still immaculate. Magic? It's what I would do. In fact, it's what I will do.

Laughing nervously, I quickly scrub myself off, while glancing down at the body. I wonder if I can analyze dead things?

Focusing on the twisted little creature, I feel my focus tick down as a new result appears.

“Creature analyzed: Lesser Pothlin. Mana seed 11.

A twisted version of the K'tharn pu'shaha, these little terrors spawn in packs of twenty to thirty, tearing apart any creature they come upon. While individually non-threatening, when in a group they can shrug off injuries that would otherwise kill them. They can pose a significant danger for the unprepared.

These creatures were a regular part of K'tharn folklore. Stealing away children and leaving deformed Pothlin in their place. Sabotaging bridges. Switching good meat for rotten. All these acts were attributed to the Pothlin. This was before the arrival of the mana swarm. Now they're just seen as pests.

Name: ZF43G21

Attributes: Physical; Low, Mobility; Low, Magic; Low, Awareness; Low.

Attacks: Diseased claws and bites. Swarm advantage, when in a group of ten or more their physical and magical resistance go up one category.

Defences: Low physical resistance, no magic resistance, low earth resistance."

"Important survival tip, once a user has a class, they can loot mana swarm creatures."

"Would you like to loot Lesser Pothlin for 3.7 facet?"

Huh, contradictory messages there Wyonna.

"Sure," I whisper as I wonder what I can even loot from a naked corpse. I'm still kneeling where it fell when it dissolves into blue dust. The dust is especially cloying, causing me to choke on the too sweet air.

"Item looted: 1 mortal grade earth essence."

Recovering from my coughing fit, I look around, but don't see anything. It didn't give me the notification to return to a Nexus, so where's my loot?

After spending a minute searching the grass around me, I'm unable to find anything. I even check in my bag, thinking that it might have been put there directly. Nope.

"Uhm Wyonna. Not to complain or anything, but I didn't get my loot," I whisper as I finally stand up. As I'm standing I see a glimmering shard fall from one of the folds of my onesie. "Oh. Nevermind."

It must have gotten caught while I was choking on the Pothlin's death fumes. Smelled better in death than in life at least. Not many can say that.

Picking up the little brown crystal, I inspect it carefully. It's barely large enough to grasp between my fingers, about a third the width of my pinky and about as long. And my pinky is pretty small. Slipping it into my backpack, I'm suddenly very glad the pack is magical. It makes it easy to store and retrieve the minuscule object. It's the ultimate sorting tool. I'd still like a jacket though.

Gathering up Smoulder, I hear chittering, from the north. Suddenly, I realize I've spent far too much time poking around the clearing. It's been nearly two minutes since Smoulder destroyed the solitary straggler. I should probably leave.

Before I get a chance, several more of the ugly things step into the clearing. This time I don't give them time to notice me, I conjure forth a lightning torrent, then run the opposite direction.

As I run, I hear their cries of shock get cut short by the crack of lightning and the roll of thunder. I don't look back as I dodge through the trees. I'm an idiot.

I shouldn't have gotten distracted by a single shiny bauble. I also shouldn't have responded by throwing lightning. Good job being quiet Alexis.

I keep running through the trees, using earth magic to improve my footing. The trees fly by at a rapid pace. Before I know it, I reach a small clearing. The rain is still hammering down, but what I see leaves me grinding to a halt.

There’s a pristine log cabin sitting in the middle of the clearing. The cabin is surrounded by a small flowing creek, that sparkles even in the rain, lumination shining from beneath the water. The entire clearing appears carefully tended as if I’ve stepped out of a wild forest directly into the suburbs.

My distraction costs me.

Though, not as much as it should have. I feel a dull impact against my forehead, but no pain. A grey rock lands in the grass in front of me.

Realizing that stone just bounced off my head, I whip around. Behind me are four of the little monsters, picking up more stones from the forest floor. Only one of them hit me, even though I was standing still. Pretty sure there’s poetry about the whole don’t throw stones at monsters thing in here somewhere.

I don’t stop to think about it.

The little monsters are following me. That’s not surprising, but there's only four of them. Only four I can see, I remind myself. One of the four is scorched, both its arms on the right side hanging useless, likely caught by my lightning. It doesn’t let that stop it though as it hefts another stone, preparing to throw in my direction.

Before they’re able to fire again, I swing my water shield between us, hoping it works on rocks as well as it does on water. Why did I think it was a good idea to get rid of my all-purpose shield?

I scramble back into the shallow stream surrounding the cabin, their rocks hitting my Umbrella with negligible effects. Okay, I take it back. Thank you mighty Umbrella.

In response, I start channelling a Tidal Wave from the stream at my feet, which I create originating from my Umbrella.

The wave of water leaves my umbrella mostly intact but does rip some of the water away. When it strikes, three of the little creatures are smashed into the surrounding trees so hard they don't get back up. Except for the last one. The one with two useless arms. It just stares at me for a brief moment, before scampering away into the trees. I guess it gets to live.

There's no way I'm chasing a creature like that into the woods where all its little friends can ambush me. No thanks.

Looking down at Smoulder, I'm surprised at how natural it felt to keep her crooked in one arm even as I was raising the other for spell casting. Is my fighting style going to be dual-wielding a bunny in one hand, a spell in the other?

Given how dangerous she is, that's not as silly as it sounds. Definitely not earning cool points though.

Scanning around for more, I give my status a quick check, confirming what I thought.

RESOURCE CURRENT/MAX [EDGE] (REGEN) Health 22/45 [-3.2] (21)/day (15)/day Stamina 42/61 [1.9] (31)/day Mana 238/301 [27.7] (233)/day Focus 160/220 [16] (145)/day Matrix Facet 42/73 [6.4] (55)/hour

My health took that blow instead of me. I’m down eighteen points from the last time I checked, but that seems like an amazing trade for not suffering any after-effects of taking a rock to the head.

Next, I quickly read my notification log, which leaves me cursing my bad aim.

“Quest received: Gotta slay em all - Lesser Pothlin. Description: Kill the remaining Pothlin from the swarm that you nearly slaughtered. Requirements: 21/22 Pothlins slain. Reward: iron rank integration points based on your contribution; variable. Time: 3/3 days."

That little bugger with two non-functional arms was the last one? My Lightning Torrent must have decimated the rest. Wow.

I start moving my Umbrella spell back into place overhead while looking back up the path.

“Wish I’d known he was the last… Oof,” my muttering is interrupted by Smoulder launching herself from my arms. I watch as she takes off in the direction of the last fleeing Pothlin.

“Damnit,” I curse, as I leave the clearing behind, running after Smoulder. I guess I am chasing the damn thing into the woods.

Twenty meters up the trail, I find Smoulder sniffing the body of the last Pothlin. Instead of the impact hole I’m expecting, there’s a black arrow sticking out of the body. I don't approach, looking around for the source.

It doesn’t take me long to find it.

To my right, a particularly athletic K’tharn has an arrow knocked in a powerful, short bow. She’s close enough I can see the golden hue of her eyes which remain locked on me. I notice that her tawny fur grants her amazing natural camouflage. She almost blends in with the tree trunk she's standing next to. Despite her athletic figure, I can tell she's young, roughly my age.

“You’re the strangest looking cub I’ve seen in a long time. Some sort of mana deformity I’m guessing. What is an elemental-less aquamancer doing all the way out here I wonder?” she asks as I process her accent. It's Vausian but it feels rougher, almost rural. Is that being judgey? Wait, does she think I’m a K’tharn? Oh, the hoodie. It’s not that cat-like, is it? I guess she did say I'm deformed.

“Well, something wrong with your tongue? Speak up, cub,” she prods, poking me in the cheek with her arrow. It’s weird, but even though she doesn’t pierce my flesh, I can still feel the sharp sensation on my cheek.

"Ow, stop poking me," I respond, reflexively turning from her arrow, causing it to catch, flipping my hood down.

"Well, I'll be. What are you? I ain't never seen a manaborne who could talk before," she comments stepping back while eyeing me warily.

"I'm not a manaborne. Or at least, I don't think so. I'm Alexis. Who're you?" I ask, eyeing her bow warily. The prudent thing to do would be to bring my Umbrella down between us, but I don't think I could manage to swing it around before she got at least one shot off. And she reduced my health by five points just poking me. I do not want to get shot by an arrow that does that much damage with a gentle nudge.

"Huh," she grunts taking another step back, "ain't never heard of a manaborne having a name either."

"You some kinda elemental?" she asks, waving with one of her upper hands at the floating water above me. Her arrow never wavers. If she wasn't threatening to skewer me, I'd be super impressed.

Okay, I'll admit it. I am super impressed.

"Uhm nope. Just a regular old human." I reply while wondering where Smoulder is. I'm guessing this person isn't a real threat or Smoulder would have put a hole through her. Or they're dangerous enough Smoulder doesn't feel up to trying. Given her reaction around the enormous water elemental, I'm inclined to believe it's the former.

"Hew-mun, huh. Ain't never heard that one before. Well, I can't just let you go now that you gone stumbling into our home. You'll just have to stay," she declares while gesturing back towards the clearing with one hand.

How am I going to find the others if I let myself get captured? I move to follow her lead, thinking of ways I might escape.

The best option I can think of is a distraction, but what? Twilight? I don't think I could form it fast enough. Besides I'm not that fast and I don't know how well my Umbrella will stop her arrows. It worked pretty well against the stones, but those were just thrown by twisted midgets. I don't want to risk serious injury by testing my barrier against her arrows.

As we step into the clearing, I continue to think. I could blast her with a lightning torrent but that just seems wrong. Unlike the Pothlin and Wolfadillos, she's clearly not a monster.

I realize I'm out of time when we reach the front door of the cabin and I haven't thought of anything.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Vaus to descend and open it for you? Drop your water then get inside," my escort commands, pointing to the stream.

Doing as she says, I deposit my water in the stream. Then, taking the last couple steps, I push open the heavy wooden door, the dark brown handle, solid in my hand. It's only as I'm opening the door that I realize I missed the perfect opportunity. Sighing, I step inside.

As the door swings open, I'm surprised to find a cramped but cozy home. The first thing I notice is a small table with two chairs against the far wall. Unlike the stool I saw in the vision, these are proper chairs. They have sturdy backs and fur draped across them for padding.

Next to the table, there are handmade wood carvings, stacked with care in a pile that reaches to the ceiling. The rest of the cabin is similarly packed, with a pair of bunk beds at the back, and all sorts of miscellaneous knick-knacks stacked in neat but very full piles throughout.

"Sit," she commands, gesturing at the chair. I'm kind of surprised she brought me into her home. Wouldn't it have made more sense to keep a watch on me outside?

As I'm wondering about this, I hear the door close behind me, a solid thunk filling the room when she drops a heavy wooden bar into place. It's at this point I realize the windows are incredibly tiny and the door is the only entrance.

As I look back I see she's still pointing her bow directly at my head.

Over her shoulder, there's a small round window that looks out into the clearing. Even trapped in this cabin with an arrow pointing at my head, I can't help noticing.

The rain has finally stopped.