New World, Old Problems 4 – Being There

There were a large number of things they had to find out. The very first thing was to acquire more information about the land itself. Apexus and Aclysia did most on that front. Now that Apexus had morphed into a humanoid shape, he didn’t look much different than any other species with wings. From a long distance, anyway.

He did have to train how to fly properly in that shape, however. Take-off was the biggest problem, starting from a standing position took several attempts the first few times, but he eventually got it. They made themselves an image of the area, nearby and up to a medium distance.

The weather, at least where they were, was consistent. Aclysia spotted signs that this was another Leaf with permanent seasons, primarily in the trees having individual sprout cycles. In worlds that had a seasonal cycle, which was most of them but not the majority, trees and plants in general started sprouting after winter was over, she explained to a curious Apexus.

On Leaves where autumn and winter weren’t a thing, trees never had to lose their leaves as part of their life cycle. Instead, they could go on to grow whenever they wanted. This disrupted the natural synchronicity of the forest, with each tree having its own timing for when it grew new branches or initiated the reproductive cycle.

What all of this meant was that it had to be either an eternal spring or summer. Given the dominance of trees and flowers in bloom and the relatively young appearances of everything, not to mention the milder climate, the former seemed more likely. In a world where the plants reproduced every other month, there was no need for any trees or plants to grow especially old. Because of that, most trees died relatively young, but new ones quickly grew in their place.

This was what Aclysia surmised at least. Most of what she actually knew beyond the basics of Ctania were things she had to learn or deduce herself. Her father had wiped the angelic intuition about the Omniverse and its functions from her mind when she had decided to stay with her beloved, after all.

Apexus found all of that logical and there were several other signs of it in the landscape. Flowers shared the same desynchronized lifecycle as the trees did. Most of the animals moved around in permanent pairs and lived in boroughs, mating season being desynchronized in much the same fashion. Eventually, as the final piece of evidence, Apexus came across several insects that were incredibly voracious eaters. They all had commonalities with a fly, in their adult stage, but they had larvae that specialized in cleaning up the wastes of the forest. Dead wood, rotting meat, dried grass, the individual larvae made short work of all of it.

As unpleasant as the grubs looked (and tasted, as Apexus found) they were the reason why new life continuously had room to grow. A single fly laying a cluster of eggs on a dead tree could initiate a cycle of larvae and new flies that had the entire tree devoured in less than three months. The roots were devoured by worms and moles, making sure nothing but new, healthy soil remained.

Most importantly for the trio, there was a surprising amount of magical game running around. Deer with limited air walking capacity, the bears with their lightning, boars that used earth magic to help with their digging, to name a few. The apex predators around were packs of wolves, who utilized magic in a fashion similar to Reysha and other melee adventurers, strengthening their muscles rather than creating any flashy spells.

The trio didn’t have much of an issue with any of them. So little of an issue, in fact, that Apexus didn’t even get a permanent Growth out of it. It did mean, however, that they had a permanent food source. All they had to do was remain on the move and not leave too much of a mess anywhere. They didn’t want the attention and eating everything in one corner of the woods certainly would have done it.

There was ample room to march. The Leaf was much larger than Ctania. The group was still only on the first island and it already proved to be as large as the summer world they had met on.

Something there was also an ample amount of were humanoid settlements. To be specific, the main population of this Leaf, or at least this segment of it, seemed to be elves. They were usually tanned, tall and somewhat Amazonian in appearance, with lean muscles and dark eyes. Wood elves, albeit of the lighter skinned variety. They were quick and had keen senses, particularly sight and hearing. They were inferior to humans, the most well-rounded race of the Omniverse, in terms of raw strength and endurance, however. Their racial traits limited them a bit in their choice of occupation, they made much better archers and were among the races better suited to pick up druidism, while not performing all that well in the front lines, particularly those roles that had to bear the brunt of enemy aggressions.

They got together in villages of fifty to a thousand people, with very few cities with even higher population counts than that scattered throughout the forest. After about two weeks of skulking around in the wilderness and the edge of civilization, the trio felt comfortable enough in this new environment to try a few new things.

At that moment, the trio had a very basic problem, being that they needed to earn money to buy clothes and enter the villages for contact but needed to enter the villages to find ways to earn money. There was the stealing option, but Aclysia was vehemently against utilizing that unless absolutely necessary. Apexus agreed for moral and pragmatic reasons. They didn’t want to risk anything. Reysha didn’t have anything to add to the discussion, only mumbling something about her track record being awful in moral decisions. It was decided, then, that they would try to make contact with civilization.

Aclysia, having clothes that still looked just barely acceptable and being the member of the group least likely to say or do something that would garner unwanted attention, entered one of the villages with a high population and looked around for some task they could fulfil.

She brought back good news; many parts of the wildlife were in steady demand. Teeth, horns, furs, and the like found their usage in crafts or rituals around here. While they lacked the equipment or technical know-how to skin things, it was very much possible for Apexus to spare the bones of what he was eating. It would take a great bit of holding back, marrow was tasty, but possible regardless.

They killed another bear, basically bleached the skeleton, and Aclysia was able to sell horns, teeth and other select bones in prime condition for a good price. It did garner her some questioning looks about how they had gotten it so clean, but no questions were asked. Mostly because the metal fairy only stayed for as long as it took to get business done.

First thing she bought were new clothes for herself. Against her protest, it had to be said, Apexus and Reysha were just able to convince her that it would be best for them if she was the one who looked representable. She was the one who sold things. That aside, their clothes would just get bloody in the melee.

For another two weeks, they continued to move about. They went from one village to the next, sold what was valuable from their meals, learned about a few herbs that also fetched some coin, gathered those as well, and slowly managed to build up their wealth. They got an adventurer’s bag, a basic one, to better transport their wares. Then a second one for Reysha. Then they started acquiring clothes.

They were only basic things, the stuff one could expect to be found in villages. The light cloth, leather reinforced armour Reysha got was decent and served her purposes, but it was inferior to the old bodysuit and the city guard armour. Most importantly for the moment, it was presentable and relatively cheap.

Apexus got a long robe, gloves, shoes and a plain wooden mask. The combination of all those things made him look more than a bit suspicious, but it was better than the alternative. By the end of all of those acquisitions, they were broke again. They couldn’t afford a third bag nor a knife for Reysha. Clothes weren’t cheap, after all.

Once all of those things were in order, Reysha, in a night they all spent huddled together under Apexus’ wings, repeated the question she had presented a month ago. “What now?”

It was less monumental now. They knew their surroundings relatively well, knew that they could feed themselves and that they could visit villages for limited supplies. Regardless, they knew too little and that was exactly what Apexus based his next words on. “We should go into a city and gather information.”

Reysha tensed under his wings. Aside from Aclysia, none of them had entered any form of civilization since Ctania. The clothes they had gotten were in preparation of it though and the slime saw no reason to push it off any further.

“I agree,” the metal fairy nodded hesitantly. “I have prioritized laying low over asking questions so far. I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks and any conversation had is another chance someone remembers us. If I could see another way forward, I would much prefer to take it. However, If we are to make intelligent decisions, we need to know what surrounds us. A map, the lay of the land, an explanation where what is and what we can achieve there.” Aclysia took a pause and lowered her gaze. “And I want to rest. We are safer right now than we have been in months but… I want to stay somewhere safe and sit for a while.”

Apexus didn’t quite share that wish, he was used to changing environments often. His entire being was designed to be migratory and seek out new, challenging biomes to munch through. “If that’s what my melody wants,” he said, regardless and hugged her tighter. Hugged both of them tighter, as Reysha seemed miserable and close to tears again.

“I don’t know if I can,” the tiger girl mumbled.

“Stay somewhere safe?” Apexus asked, perhaps tactlessly. He genuinely didn’t understand.

“Be helpful,” Reysha answered, wrapping her arms around her legs under the cover of the slime’s wings. “I still feel… so slow. It’s been a month, I have been staving of Noir all this time and yet… all about me feels paralyzed. I move in combat, I do what I can but none of it feels like I am close to what I used to be able to do. All I can do is kill some low-level wildlife.” She shook her head. “I can’t even do that on my own anymore.”

She remembered an incident a week back. They had been hunting a boar. Nothing too difficult, it must have been the seventh boar they had gone to kill in two weeks. She had successfully sneaked up close, jumped, and scratched an eye out of the animal’s face. The retaliation should have been obvious. It had been obvious. Regardless, her body had reacted slowly and a tusk had rammed into her stomach and created a giant hole.

By sheer luck, the boar then tried to flee into Apexus’ direction. They had gotten the kill, but Reysha had failed to outmanoeuvre a boar. If it hadn’t been for Aclysia’s healing, she would have bled out right there. That would have been an embarrassing end.

It wasn’t the only incident of that kind, only the most pronounced one. Whenever Reysha tried to do more than be a supportive role in combat, she got hit. Her body moved so slowly, if it moved at all. Sometimes she just froze up in the middle of combat. The merest hint of adrenaline could set off memories. The way her fists had reduced the Inquisitor’s face to a bloody pulp. Her insides getting cooked by devilish magic. The screams of horror.

Even during the very first hunt on that bear, her only real contribution had been getting hit by a lightning bolt and smashing an antler. Not a strong showing for someone that had once taken out three adventurers, each stronger than that bear, on her own.

“It might be better for you if you leave me behind,” Reysha mumbled and blinked away the tears.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Apexus’ tone was sharper than he wanted to be.

“I’m not being ridiculous,” Reysha turned her head and stared back. “I’m the whole reason we’re in this mess. I’m the reason why we’re sitting in some forest in buttfuck nowhere, ill-equipped, mentally damaged and unsure what to do next! I can’t even help you in any way! I’m not even able to satisfy you in any fashion! I’m weak, helpless and should just be left to die.”

“You’re not the sole reason any of this happened,” Apexus answered, feeling oddly aggressive about Reysha talking about herself this way. “You made the wrong call at the end of a chain of events, yes. Nothing more, nothing less! Don’t beat yourself up over everything that happened!” He grabbed her shoulders with his arms and shook her a bit as he pulled the redhead towards his chest. “And just because I can’t non-procreate with you doesn’t mean I stop loving you, alright?”

Reysha would have laughed at that in the past. The non-procreate part just sounded completely out of place. Instead, she only let her head hang. “I’m still weak.”

Aclysia leaned over and rested her forehead against that of the Rogue. “Weak women can still atone.”

“How can a girl that can’t even kill a boar possibly atone for unsealing a semi-immortal warlock and his posse of fucking nightmare monsters?” Reysha wanted to know. “I want to, but seriously, how do you expect me to do that?!”

“One day at a time,” Aclysia whispered, while gently caressing the other woman’s face.

Reysha swallowed hard and just fell silent.

‘We need to arrive somewhere,’ Apexus realized once more and saw that Reysha needed what Aclysia wanted even more than the metal fairy herself did. They needed a better, safer environment. With any luck, they could find one somewhere on this island.