Chapter 27: First night

After my fight, it took me a few minutes to calm down and regain a normal breathing.

I wanted to rest a little more, but I didn’t want to stay in the same place for too long. I was a little worried that other animals might have been attracted by the commotion.

It was time to leave this place before another creature spotted me.

I looked around me to be cautious, but I was alone in this rough valley. As I was observing my surroundings, I noticed the slope from where I was coming from. I involuntarily gulped down when I saw that I rolled down on more than a hundred feet.

Even with the protection of my earth magic, covering my arms during my fall, I knew that it wasn't the reason for my lack of serious injury.

These clothes that Hirillë gave me were probably responsible for this and proved their toughness brilliantly.

The canyon was at most twenty feet wide, but it was fairly long as I couldn’t see its end. The soil was covered with small gray rocks, but except for that, it was totally empty without any vegetation.

While I was wondering if it was a river before, I quickly headed to the other side of the canyon. The slope was as harsh as the other side. I carefully put my right feet on the ground and made the first step to climb.

It took me some time to reach the top, as I was careful not to glide. When I finally reached the top, I looked at my surroundings for any possible animal ready to ambush me.

I also looked at the ring on my thumb, but the elegant white ring of calamity wasn’t emitting any light signaling me that there wasn't any deviant around me. If I had bought this ring, I probably would have been a lot more careful, not knowing if it would really work, but it was different because it came directly from Hirillë.

Even if I didn’t know her for long, I still trusted the mysterious Queen. Therefore, after a quick glance to the ring, I relaxed a little.

I looked around only to see that I was close to a forest. This forest didn’t seem too large, but it would take me quite a large amount of time to make a detour.

Should I enter inside?

Even if I lose some time, I chose to get around it as forests were just bad news for someone like me who easily got lost.

Moreover, the idea of entering a dark forest where different types of animals I did not know lived was not very pleasing. Even more so given the risk of meeting vicious deviants.

I walked for ten minutes between the forest and the canyon at my right side. I turned my head to look where I came from and noticed that I could still clearly see the Great Forest on the hill where I bid farewell with Hiraliel.

It was enough to notice that I didn’t travel a very long distance despite running for a while.

I walked for a couple of hours to reach the end of the forest while avoiding animals and suspicious places. Everything was going smoothly when I stopped in my tracks.

The reason for that was simple. I was so focused on looking at my surroundings, fearing that an animal would attack me, that I didn’t notice that the sun was quickly going down.

The fierce yellow light was slowly turning redder as the sun began to set. I became frantic as I realized my mistake.

I needed to find a shelter quickly.

I began to run. I was only jogging at first, but as the sky became darker, I ran faster and faster.

Sleeping alone was dangerous, but without any shelter, it was no different to ask the animals to eat me.

After half an hour of frantic running, I discovered several huge boulders in a triangle shape, leaving a space of a dozen feet between them. I nearly missed them. Therefore, I had good chances that those huge rocks, at least thirty feet wide each, could hide me a little from the sight of outsiders. It would also help protect me from the cold wind of the night.

I gathered enough wood to light a fire to keep me warm for several hours. The nights weren’t especially cold in the Great Forest, but they weren’t warm either. Moreover, the cover of the dense trees protected me from the cold wind, which wouldn't be the case here.

After putting the wood in a corner of my provisory shelter and using earth magic to delimit a circle around, I used fire magic to light it.

I quickly felt the warmth spreading through my limbs. I feared that the fire would attract some animals, but the coldness I felt over my limbs won my internal struggle. I didn’t notice, but after the fight with the giant birds, I was drenched in sweat. The cold wind along with the humidity of my clothes made my entire body cold.

I intended to keep it a couple of hours before putting out the fire.

I opened the backpack Hirillë gave me and pulled out two triangle-shape ‘Ovel’ that I particularly liked and ate them greedily.

I looked inside the backpack and, after a few seconds, I noticed that if I wasn’t too greedy by eating with some precautions, then I would be able to make my food last for around five or six days.

After that, I would have to hunt for my food.

Water wouldn’t be a problem as I was a water mage, but I still hoped to find another water source along the way because the water I made wasn’t particularly refreshing and had a really bad aftertaste.

I gave a last glance at my backpack and saw something under the fruits and other provisions. I pulled it and almost cheered out loud.

It was a long dark blanket carefully folded. Its width and thickness would be enough to protect me from the coldness of the night.

Thanking Hirillë in my heart, I quickly wrapped myself in the blanket and lied down.

I was comfortably installed on the grassy soil under a thick blanket near a small fire. The sky was almost totally dark, only illuminated by brilliant stars which seemed to come out one after another.

I remembered that I had to put out the fire before sleeping.

I let out a long sigh and prepared to stand up, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that the fire had enough wood inside to probably last around one or two hours at most.

Thinking that I didn't need to intervene and that it would die down on its own in a short while, I lazily turned around to allow my back to be warm up by the fire.

Exhausted after this first day, I quickly fell asleep.

I had a strange dream that night.

I didn’t remember all the details, but it was a mix of my old world and this one.

I saw some scenes where I showed my magic to my old classmates who, upon seeing my performance, clapped their hands loudly and cheered for me. Everybody looked at me with respect. I was in my old body, but the more I used magic the more I changed physically. My body became thinner and shorter while my eyes turned into a clear sky-blue color with red drills appearing in my hair.

As I was turning into the body of Sillath, the scenery around me changed quickly as if it was washed away. My classmates disappeared one by one and after a few minutes, I was left alone with Trisha on the rooftop where I wanted to confess to her.

Her long silky blond hair moved along the wish of the wind and hypnotized me totally. As I was immersed in this mesmerizing view, her soft voice spoke to me with a hint of disdain hidden inside.

“Sorry, but I can’t go out with a kid.”

“But… look, I can do magic.”

I formed a waterball in my hand and showed it proudly to her. However, she only sighed before replying.

“So what? Even if you could create an ocean, I still wouldn’t go out with you. I already have someone I like after all.”

After those words left her mouth, she turned heel and headed toward the door to exit the rooftop.

I still had the small waterball in my hand and, after a few seconds, I released it toward the wall next to me in frustration and anger.

As soon as I did that the scenery changed once again. I was in front of a metal target with my right hand still raised.

“Why are you stopping? Continue Sillath!”

I turned my head and saw long hair as dark as the night with a mysterious glow floating next to me.

“Yes, Amanda.”

I shot as many balls of each element as fast as I could. Each time, the metal target was hit, a clear sound rang in the courtyard in front of the house where I spent four years of my new life.

“Faster Sillath!”

After Amanda’s command, I increased the pace of my shooting.

Water, fire, earth, wind.

Each element flew toward the practice target.

I gathered mana and created a fireball as fast as I could and prepared to launch it like the others, but the ball didn’t fly out of my hand. I tried again, but the fire didn’t move at all.

Surprised, I tried to get rid of it by shaking my hand, but as soon as I did that the fire on my palm spread over my whole hand.

“Ouch.”

I burned my hand, but the burn mark quickly disappeared. The fire finally disappeared as well.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately after that, my thumb took fire.

I screamed a little after the surprising pain and waited for it to disappear like before, but the burning sensation only increased until I couldn’t repress my groans of pain anymore.

“It burns!!!!”

I opened my eyes abruptly only to notice that the burning sensation wasn't gone.

It wasn’t a dream, my thumb was really burning.

It wasn’t to the point of a sharp pain, but it was quite unpleasant.

Still not totally woken up, I looked at my right thumb only to see a radiant white light. It took me a couple of seconds before realizing what I was seeing.

"The ring!!!!"

*Grrrrrr*

I immediately turned my head in the direction of the growling noise. I did it just in time to see two radiant yellow eyes above me shinning in the darkness of the night.

The four-legged creature leaped toward me with its sharp claws out.

I rolled on the ground to the left, barely avoiding the lethal attack. I tried to stand up, but the creature didn’t slow down in its assault not letting me any time to fix my posture.

Still lying on the ground, I desperately aimed with my right hand and shot a waterball in its direction.

With its momentum, the beast wasn’t able to avoid and received the magic directly on its torso. The impact made the creature miss its attack and back away a little.

I took this chance to stand up.

I was still inside the triangle shaped rock formation. My back was against a boulder, but the creature hidden in the darkness of the night was still less than ten feet away from me.

A threatening growl left its mouth once again making me shiver a little.

I realized that had to stay away from this thing. Therefore, I used wind magic to propel me and make a backflip so that I didn’t turn my back on the creature.

I was now standing on the boulder, towering the creature which allowed me to see it more clearly.

The vicious creature that attacked me in my sleep had an orange fur the color of fallen leaves while its four strong legs were as dark as the night giving the impression that the creature just had its body floating in midair. I could also see a long red spike on the end of its back instead of a tail.

I never saw something like that.

The pointy dark ears on the top of its monstrous head were twitching furiously while its sharp claws sank into the soil, readying itself to duck forward. The impressive red teeth protruding from its open mouth, with saliva leaking slowly outside, made my heart quiver.

The mad look in its eyes made me realize that this creature was different from any other I encountered until now. The presence it released was clearly in another league. It was much more ferocious than any wild animal I ever saw.

Even the giant hamster that swallowed me didn’t have the mad look in its eyes and a presence betraying its thirst for blood.

Just a glance at this beast and at the shinning ring on my thumb made me understand what was in front of me.

A deviant.

The mana I felt emanating from the core of this creature told me one thing clearly.

This monster was an aberration from nature.

Something born for slaughter that each race made their common enemy.

This creature was now standing a couple of feet away from me, ready to take my life and my hopes away at the same time.