"Alright, I'm getting tired of not being tired." Hrurim complains, throwing himself up onto his feet. I look up from my hastily assembled rock collection and leave the pebble-sized bits. Their magic density is too much and I don't have the strength. So, this little flake will have to do and even that is borderline painful to hold.
"Where we going now?" I ask, although these two haven't been anywhere since we first stopped here.
"Heiya, stay close, ok?" Hrurim asks of her, completely ignoring me as I gather my things. The heftier looking supplies are no issue at all, but this flake of mountain rock is something else.
"Maybe this isn't exactly the best of ideas?" I ask myself, already tempted to leave behind all the bits of rock. I was hoping I could maybe get some magic out of these things, but it's not really working out. A growl escapes me and I dump the flake, watching it embed itself into a fairly thick stick with no trouble at all.
Actually, I wasn't quite paying attention earlier when we went through the mountain crack. But, I've a good feeling that any rock that fell from the mountain tore its way through everything in this here forest. Even the rest of the underground was likely torn up even more by the affair. Lack of magic aside, too...
What happened on the surface? I understand I'm lacking power right now, yet, even if I did have my full strength... I'd have never managed to do anything to this rock. At least that's what my gut is telling me.
"YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE, BUG!" Hrurim shouts beyond a good few dozen trees. I turn away from the mountain edge and hurry along, grass crunching underfoot as I do so. He finally comes to my side like he should be and I just can't help but cling to it. I have a good few of our supplies and the pair already headed off so quickly!
"I take it we're headed for a road or something?" I hazard to guess just for the sake of breaking up the monotony of the birds and ground life.
"A better view will do for the moment," the cautious criminal mutters, one of his hands forcing down a branch. The bark pales up, threatening to snap. It whips back up, released just in time. Narrowly avoiding me.
"Watch it now." I warn, going into a state of near-total silence as I keep a good eye out. We've still yet to run into any of this resort's security. So, unless things are like they were back in that hwardgon town, then we really should be running into someone. Guns, swords, knives, magic, whatever.
Though, I do hope it's the latter of all the possible dangers. It at least gives me an opportunity to 'feed' and grow. A younger me would've loved to feel like his old self again. But I'm firmly in the camp of I Like Magic Now.
So long with it the way it was, it just seems strange to have it anything like it is now. Five years' worth of days and nights slinging through Thrurstradtur's skyline. The valleys around it and more. Now I can't even fathom the idea of jumping high enough to pick an acorn off a tree.
It's not the first time in my life that I'm lacking magic, far from it. Uncountably so, really. But it's still so strange to me, to not even be able to leap a great distance. What happened when I first got magic is still fairly clear to me.
The fear, the terror and more. That uncertainty as I couldn't even walk properly without going off for a flight. I needed armour to weigh me down. I needed to be weighed down as if I was pumped full of squeaky air like a balloon.
That desperate desire from a decade or so ago is now my reality. And, ironically, I don't want that right now. I want that certainty of knowing I can fight back well. The assurance that comes with the simple law of strength and power, unfair as it is.
I want that feeling to come back to me and I'm leaving behind what might be my best chance for it...?
I shake my head clear of the thoughts I try to keep myself occupied on the animals. I'm not much of a birdwatcher, so it's hard to say. But what's on the ground I most certainly know a thing or two about. The general idea is there, rodent and the lot. Though none of them are actually familiar.
The noble patron to this place can certainly afford to import exotic animals. To this extent, though? It's certainly something. Makes one wonder who this unnamed paycheck is.
One little creature in particular runs away, squealing with a snorting snout. I track the animal as best as I can, it's orange-pink and black spotted fur not doing it many favours. Whatever these animals all are, they're certainly not truly wild ones. They all lack the looks one finds in wild animals.
The only colourful animals I know of in the wild are wyverns and they're a special case. Even the osibindah, proper osibindah, even they have dark shells to mask them beneath thick shadow. Everything matches the world they're in. Pink fur is just... Not one of them.
At least the plants are all familiar. Oaks, willows, beeches, limes, ferns, grass, and the whole lot. The crops might be different and closer views will tell us more. Though, who knows where we'll end up?
I don't think we're even headed towards the palace in the distance. It seems like we're still rimming the edges of this mountain resort. A certain uncertainty about each step as we come ever closer and further from just walking into a wall. I guess the birds are a good indicator of where we can go?
I move ahead and tap Hrurim's shoulder, pointing up to the sky.
"What?" he goes, following my arm.
"Birds don't seem to be heading all that much that way." I point out, gesturing to the extensive array of avians and their curious habit. They're all keeping a fair distance away from what can only be the mountain's interior.
"Interesting." he muses, turning his direction slightly in accordance. He turns back and picks up Heiya, putting her on the right track.
"Now let us hope that the birds are not fake." I remark and the gods hear me, letting a piece of bird poo slide right down a stretch of bark.
"Guess that settles that." Hrurim tacks on, and I nod at the divine gesture.
My chitters pick up slightly and I nod again, hurrying along after the pair. I catch up to them right as the ground breaks apart, revealing an endless net of roots and brambles. The mess staggers my strides and I find myself going up and down way too much for my liking. Thankfully, a road seems to be in sight.
"Wait... There's something else there." I point out, trying to get a better viewing angle in spite of the trees.
"I see it. A wagon?" Hrurim questions as we adjust our travelling. He quickly breaks out onto the open dirt road and we look both ways.
"Is this road heading towards the end of the mountain?" I wonder, following the road as it heads towards where the birds seem to be avoiding.
"Who knows? More importantly, who cares?" Hrurim is quite aggressive about and I give him a short-term stare.
"I do." I answer, whacking him gently over the head to knock his cap down.
"Filthy bug..." he whispers, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Careful now, Criminal." I remind him as I cross my arms and stare down the length of the road. It seems to be heading to farmland, but it's not something I'm certain about. It looks more like a meadow than anything else. Yet, it also has that man-made framing to it. The precise borders and more.
"We should head this way." Heiya interjects, her foreign tongue still as foreign as ever.
"You heard the lady." Hrurim barks, following after her as my eyes roll and my mandibles chitter away.
"Heard her, sure, understand? Nah." I go, scoffing at the end as I mind the wagon one more time. Whoever was here was certainly busy, but the quakes must've spooked them. Was it this so-called Daddy's Girl daughter Hrurim mentioned before or...? Guess we'll find out.
More than enough time left in the day for that. More than enough. Though, maybe some better company would be nice. Promise is a promise, but that's not to say I can't ask for something nicer now...
"I wonder what lasts more. My patience or my willingness to put up with this promise?" I ask myself as I linger at the top of the road, arms crossed. Claws curling around to stress test my muscles and the bits of bug shell on top of them. A heavy sigh blows through my nose and I get walking again. Down the road and after them.
A berry bush comes into view, and I slowly make my way towards the flowering fruit. A familiar thing, at the very least. Speckled Hards, an awkward thing if anything. For every juicy sack there's one that is hard and this is somehow their ripest point.
I pick a few and let them rest on my palm, their spilling juices telling me all I need to know. There's some magic in them, like all food, but it's not enough. Even if I wasted too much time eating all day everyday, then I would still not have enough power in my body again. Still, it's something.
I lift the mask and pop them down my throat, crushing them for all they're worth so I can at least get some magic into my body. I can control my power fine enough, keep its expenditure down. Especially as of late, where my body has naturally taken on so much knowing my situation. Though if only it was worth it more so...
"Mmm, the area is light in magic. But the mountain is absurdly brimming with it." I remark, minding such a vast difference in everything. In fact, the tunnels are thicker with magic residue than this forest, even.
An environment as controlled as this is something strange indeed. One can only imagine just how much is going on. Perhaps there's a machine I can find to draw some of this power out? Would certainly be my best option if there's nothing else. Not unless I'm suddenly turning into a cannibal.
I should avoid that, I suppose. Don't want any blood on my hands when there's probably a private witch company or something guarding this place. Even if there's no one on the inside, there will be if something like a break-in cannibal comes up even as an offhand remark. It's also disgusting.
"And here I thought almost dying again made me such a relaxed individual." I say, going on my way and slipping the mask back on properly. I catch up with the duo and cling to them as my thoughts stop weighing me down.
"Maybe it would've been a good idea to nab that wagon..." Hrurim remarks, as he adjusts his baggage.
"Have fun running up there, then." I tell him, just in case he's aiming it at me.
"Oh, right, we got you," he chuckles, his boredom hardly going away anytime soon.
"Play with some sticks if you're bored." I tell him and he just so happens to luck on the luckiest find of them all.
"Damn... If you actually had some magic, you could reinforce this into an actual one." he huffs, testing his new stick sword as a childlike jealousy builds up in me.
"Eat shit." I tell him, clinging to the fact I know a word because the God of gods told me about it.