Chapter Eight: Unexpected, Fantasy and Fact

Hundreds of questions ran through Waynev’s head as she was talking to Siward and his broth- son.

‘Why did he look so young?’

‘What language are we speaking?’

‘Where’s Dockern?’

‘What’s Dockern’

‘Where Aestern?

‘It's a part of Dockern but is it a village?’

‘What are [Contracted] / [Uncontracted]?’.

Her monologue continued as she remembered the most recent quest as well.

Quest:

Find Aestern.

Reach the city before nightfall. Discover two races other than human. (0/2)

Consequence:

Elise will not live to see you succeed.

Time Limit:

Zero days, 7 hours, 34 minutes remaining.

Why was this consequence so much worse than the last?

Had Vein set up the quest system to react to feedback?

Regardless Shadow had apologised already, to Elise in spirit rather than to Waynev.

Thankfully Shadow was preparing to form the questions into subtle comparisons or claim that living in the mountains such information was uncommon in her village.

It seemed that few villages were located in the mountains due to the numerous dangers close by.

It also seemed the ranking system Vein was talking about was finally going to get revealed!

Waynev couldn’t stop the smirk of excitement showing on her face, Wulfrun telling Waynev about how Aestern was much bigger than any village she’s been to before and took the smile as an encouragement to continue.

“We just had the god’s Cathedral rebuilt! My da and I provided the wood for the rafters ourselves! It was a tough job but we were paid well.” Wulfrun’s chest puffed up with pride, trying to impress Waynev with the feat.

“Hmm. Find the opportune moment to ask about the different Gods. Rulers. The highest rank.” Shadow dropped in, out of whatever thoughts she had immersed herself in.

Siward turned his head from the front of the carriage at Wulfrun running his mouth at their recent achievement. “Aye we did pull our weight in lumber for the church, hopefully, their blessings will help us pull ahead of Crank.”

Fwhip Clash

Siward turned back and forcefully encouraged the lazy donkey to continue it's descent, obviously not happy with a competitor when it comes to selling hard wood.

A giggle could be heard in her ear as Shadow picked up on the innuendo.

Which, coincidently made Waynev forget the question that was on the tip of her tongue… something about cathedrals.

“Had to go extra deep in the forest to get quality Krine wood, it’s the stuff that’s between you and Wulf.” Siward went on describing the quality and in his opinion the most important part of it, it’s price.

“Ones like these could be sold for…” The lumberjack's animated face expressed his pride in his work.

Listening to Siward explain the currency he would get in exchange for his hard work, Shadow mentally nudged Waynev, encouraging her to cut in.

“Siward I don’t want to be disrespectful but what is the money in Dockern and Aestern like? Out in the mountains, we just traded and remembered favours like such.” Waynev opened her eyes more, leaning forward making it seem like she was uneducated but eager to learn.

A smile forming he spoke sarcastically “I’m pretty sure Wulfrun would be more than happy to explain something that simple, eh?” Getting a kick out of teasing his son he chuckled as Wulfrun avoided Waynev’s inquiring look.

“The currency of Aestern is 10 Coppers to a Silver and 100 Silver to a Gold… apparently there’s even more like diamond minted coins and some magic coins but I’ve never seen even a gold coin in Aestern.”

“Don’t let this chance go to waste, ask about Magic and see if you can get a rough map from the two in case they have to split.” Shadow incited, generally absorbing information and adding in bits and pieces that would connect the two subjects.

“Wow, Wulfrun you know a lot.” She smiled cheerfully at him, and stretched her arms and lower back causing more than a few looks from Wulfrun.

She had him hook, line and sinker.

“Can you tell me about magic and ranks?” Thinking fast at Wulfrun’s slightly confused look and Siward beginning to turn Waynev continued.

“My parents and some of my neighbours were [Hollowed] as you guessed but… forgot some of the ranks and to be honest I forgot the names of them myself” A clumsy smile and a scratch behind her ear followed… along with a twig she found behind said ear.

“Ohh. Hahahaha,” Wulfrun nearly bellowed like his father.

“Though… I’ve never heard of people forgetting their ranks but maybe your village hasn’t been to Aestern in a while…?” Wulfrun’s silence and look incited a nod.

“Alright well I’ll be brief it ain’t complicated… Hmm, alright there are more ranks than I can remember but I can say the first few off of memory, oi Siward tell me if I’m mispronouncing em or forget something.”

“The first rank is [UnContracted], I guess it's not really a rank but people call it one?”

“It’s an unofficial rank, like the [Contracted] rank too.” Siward explained, having trouble pronouncing the long word.

“Oh yeah, [Uncontracted] means they aren’t contracted to any city and are free to claim until they're [Contracted]. From your band, I guess you already knew that…”

“Uh anyway [Contracted] means you’ve signed yourself to the cities laws and gain it's protection if ya try and break any of the laws your band will teleport you to a holding cell. We haven’t had crime for years in Aestern, except the [UnContracted] brutes ahahaha,” Wulfrun’s voice sung, a few chuckles coming from Siward as well.

“The brutes aside, the next rank or first rank if you wanna look like an ass to the [Contracted] by the way.”

“Mmm. Paying attention to the social rules, words left unsaid, unspoken yet implied will be important. I’ll keep observing, tread lightly in the meantime.” Shadow’s voice covered the brief silence as Wulfrun drank from his waterskin.

‘Shadow’s taking this seriously… I won’t hold back either!’ Waynev thought to herself as she tuned back in to Wulfrun.

“-ever ignore the [Contracted] rank.” At Waynev’s nod, he continued.

“The first rank is [Hollowed] like your parents, meaning you get to use your inner magic a bit, I think it gets stronger the higher rank you are?”

Siward continued the explanation.

“Correct, [Hollowed] Rank 1 can use their ability once a day, Rank 2 a few times and Rank 3 I think 3 or 4 times but.” He cut off suddenly.

“Compared to the [Forlorn] rank, the [Hollowed] can only use their abilities at half potency, [Forlorn] Manipulators the first rank of [Forlorn] can use them to its full… power.” The words hard to find, Siward stumbled a few times.

“So like my parents you two are [Hollowed]?” At two nods of their heads, Waynev felt a lot less safe.

“Yah only rank one so we can use ours once a day, I think Siwards close to Rank two right?” Another nod followed.

“Anyway, where were we… Oh, yeh where in the mountains was your village? There are a few known villages up there. But rockslides and dryads left the forest looking weirder than your first skeleton. Hahahaha”

Siward and Wulfrun laughed, their humour accentuated by Waynev’s failed poker face.

That was until Siward pulled the reins suddenly, thankfully the speed was less than 10 miles per hour so the inertia was nearly not-existent.

What wasn’t non-existent however was the 3 legged creature coming towards them.

“What the hell is that thing…”

“Wulf, it’s a Chirage!”

Leaping off the carriage Siward swung around the horse, hovering protectively in front of it as the mutant halted it's malicious run, taking a proper look at the monster Waynev noticed it was more human than anything else.

Except instead of a pe- instead of it’s genitals it had a large leg with ten long toes, the skin color was a dark brown and it’s skin was plagued with bumps and bites.

Pulling his axe out he swung his arms out protectively as Wulf circled it.

Noticing she was still sitting on the carriage, Waynev was about to jump off before Wulfrun shouted back “Waynev, no need. It’s just a Chirage.”

Getting closer to the human abomination it's face was set in a growl while it's posture was defensive as both men had their axes at the ready.

Crouching low it’s head turned towards the son and dad contemplating which to attack.

As it turned back to the sun however Siward visibly tensed as his entire arm grew to double the size.

“Even without mana he can use magic, people’s innate abilities are powerful.” Shadow remarked her attention rapt as she watched the fight.

Now holding the axe with one hand he sprinted forwards not waiting for the Chirage’s reaction.

It tensed it's limbs and tried to duck below the towering swing but to no avail.

“Jesus how is he-”

It screeched as an arm was cleaved through.

Retreating towards the forgotten threat as Wulf too grew in size.

But instead of his arm his legs grew as he propelled his body forward into a tackle.

He shoved the mutant face-down into the dirt road.

It struggled for footholds or handholds frantically.

But the creature's efforts were in vain as the roots were too soft and the pebbles too light to support it's frantic struggles.

Not that it had long to struggle.

Finally finding a support in the ground it pulled itself up only to find Siward above it and with a swing.

Siward decapitated the monster easily.

“That was very… anti-climatic. It was practiced, almost easy to the two.”

“Yeah…” Waynev whispered, a bit shell shocked.

“Just a common monster thankfully, eh Wulf?” Offering a hand that was taken easily the two already had the knives at their belt out and began gutting the beast as it lay, not bothering to even clean themselves off.

“Wow. You guys destroyed it.” Waynev hopped off for a closer look, only to be met with the stink of blood hitting her.

Gripping her hand involuntarily at the recent memory she watched as they nimbly cut out two large… orange-slice shaped organs.

It's lungs.

“These,” Siward grabbed the other from Wulfrun to weigh them.

“These are worth a fair price, care to guess their use?” Siward half-grinned at Waynev then laughed as she flinched at the sight of the bloodied lungs from the human-looking monster.

“Pillows!” Her head turned with her mouth open to retaliate before hearing the humourous roar from the pair.

“Hahahaha” The duo laughed as Waynev blushed further.

“Ah, out of all the things it could be.” Siward marched back to the carriage as Wulf cleaned himself at the stream briefly.

“Thank god it wasn’t a flier,” Wulfrun gladly interjected, only now did she notice his legs deflating in size.

“Aye. Worst thing for us, no way to hit ‘em, no way to run. Just have to hide and hope for the best.” Strapping the lungs into a woven basket, Siward walked to Wulf to begin cleaning himself, his arm already back to normal.

“Shame our transformation power only lasts a few moments, but you know how it is with low-ranks.” Siward ended with a gruff puff, saying the words ‘low-rank’ as if they were an insult.

“Yeah... Shame.” Waynev hopped back onto the carriage, slightly disconnected after the sudden battle.

“Battles are constant in this world, it seems we were luckier than we thought.” Shadow whispered.

“Was it luck?”

“If we had more fights we could’ve been more prepared… maybe even [Hollowed] by now if all it takes is to defeat monsters.”

Silence came before Shadow interrupted it grip on Waynev.

“Wayne. Can you feel a pull?” Shadow’s question pulled Waynev from her staring contest with the forest.

‘A pull? As in physical or can you feel a pull from magic?’ she asked curiously.

Closing her eyes she felt at the world around her.

Normally she could feel the magic of the world, although faint just sitting still.

But now it was moving!

But she was on a carriage that had started it's journey again.

‘Shadow. Did you forget we’re mov-’ Waynev’s question was blocked as she too felt a pull to her right, slightly behind her.

The back of the carriage.

‘I felt like there was something but it stopped.’

“Open your eyes. I’ll keep sensing the mana, and I’ll tell you when you're near the thing pulling the strings.”

Opening her eyes, Waynev looked around, forest surrounded the cart and the path was steadily becoming rockier while Siward and Wulf were still distracted.

Perfect.

Moving backwards she looked at the inside of the carriage, logs surrounded her along with tools and Wulfrun on the other side.

She slowly shifted while crouching backwards, searching for the pull.

“There! Your left hand went over it.” Shadow’s excited tone had her almost diving at the small box under her left hand, it was attached to the carriage and was buzzing softly.

‘What is thi-’ Waynev’s voice was interrupted by a gruff voice.

“Waynev, don’t grab the artefact. Poor Sheila won’t pull the carriage if it’s too heavy.” Siward’s voice came out suddenly, Wulfrun also looked her way.

“What’s an artefact? And why is there one at the back of the carriage? Why does it pull in mana?” Waynev noticing her rapid questions, was about to correct herself but Siward answered first.

“Artefacts are small dev-ices mages make, they manipulate their mana paired with their power to make dev-ices that anyone can use. Slightly expensive but because we helped with their house the couple gave us this as a gift, pretty nifty eh?” Siward was clearly proud of the device… and also protective of it as he motioned Waynev back to her seat.

“Artefacts made with their own power… what can telepathy and spatial magic make… We need to find out what to pursue, I want to make artefacts like these but we need to find Aestern first an-” Shadow’s musing was interrupted by nature.

Going over a particularly rough bump in the root ridden path Waynev noticed her bandages coming apart.

And her slightly large leathers showing a bit too much skin, adjusting both she caught Wulfrun’s gaze.

“How’d you get your shoulder hurt?” Wulfrun’s quick thinking saved him from admitting to his leering.

“I… had a run-in with an old wolf. It was alone, thankfully.” Waynev offhandedly mentioned, more focused on unbinding her bandages to clean both her wound and the cloth.

“Wulf.” Siward’s call interrupted his stares.

He stopped the donkey with a pull on the reins, taking a brief reprieve to grab something from under his seat.

“Pass this to Waynev, infection claiming her before she even steps foot into Aestern would be embarrassing for us.” Shoving the small box to his son Siward took a small trough from the side of the wagon and set up some feed and water for the donkey.

Waynev meanwhile had taken off the bandage, a dark red splotch where the wound was but no pain had been felt for days.

“Medical. Dental. Psychological. Perhaps Civilisation’s comforts are already being missed?” At the grim sight, top-down Waynev looked at the scrunched up cloth, reaped red, detailing her victory and it’s cost.

Passing a small cloth over, feeling rough hands briefly touch her, Waynev thanked Wulf but denied his case for help. His hands hadn’t been washed for days judging by the grime and even touching the bandages could infect her wound.

Wetting it she slowly wiped away the grime surrounding her shoulder, her left arm finding it slightly difficult.

Wiping the crime away, below she found…

A small line still blotted with dark red blood but it was scarring well, too well for a wound that she felt could’ve ripped her entire arm off.

Her skin would be marred but the cost would outweigh the possible consequences, judging by Siwards subtle looks all was well.

“A’ve seen cousins lose limbs over infections that big. Count yourself lucky Waynev, losing an arm to Curl Rot would’ve had you fighting it in the middle of the night.” Widening her eyes she looked for signs of humour or teasing but Siward had already turned away, his dirt coloured eyes clouded with grief.

Wulfrun also began to turn away, whispering “Sidney, my dad’s late wife died from her own hand strangling her, when we found her body was already beginning to fully turn into-”

He looked away, blinking his eyes, Waynev understood that he was done with the grim conversation.

The two men wandered off to the stream, she followed before noticing the stream had once again halved in size.

The three of them began filling their waterskins in silence until Shadow interrupted the serene atmosphere.

“Wayne. I’ve found what ‘[Hollowed] Rank 1’ and ‘[Hollowed] Rank 2’ roughly-” She stopped, whether for dramatic effect or to articulate her thoughts was a mystery.

“Mean, determine, represent.” Talking in three’s Waynev could tell Shadow was excited, she began washing her hands, arms legs and even feet while waiting for Shadow to continue.

“[Hollowed] Rank 1 is roughly - ”

Current Status: ([Hollowed] Rank 1)

Agility:

5>AH

Strength:

5>AH

Vitality:

5>AH

Wisdom:

3>AH

Mana:

(Locked)

“While [Hollowed] Rank 2 is slightly higher in all areas - “

Current Status: ([Hollowed] Rank 2)

Agility:

10>AH

Strength:

10>AH

Vitality:

10>AH

Wisdom:

6>AH

Mana:

(Locked)

“Through their stats, I’ve determined this is the baseline, I could be wrong but considering we're currently at the ‘[Uncontracted]’ rank which is really just unranked. I think we're close to reaching [Hollowed] but we need information.” Shadow probed mentally at Waynev subconsciously looking at the two men drinking water while eating some rations.

‘I’ll ask later. Right now you can tell their grieving. I’ll need to apologise before I do anything.’

Walking towards the two men with her hands slightly gripping each other she opened her mouth.