Bloody Dawn Chapter Eleven: Wind

Bloody Dawn Chapter Eleven: Wind

The group forwent lunch, Darius citing it as being too risky to stop so near the site of an attack. There was always a high potential for other predators to be drawn in. So it was that the group, though they were a little bemused at how easy their encounter with the grass sprites had been, carried on riding, wary and alert.

Except for Tom.

Tom was marvelling at the increased sensitivity he had been granted by the uplift to Hunter-Gatherer. He could feel life and mana in smaller, more diffuse quantities, and with much greater detail and definition.

The sensory range of the skill extended further, and he could detect life and mana from both much further away, and in a much wider scope, before the feedback of the general environment muddied the data he was receiving and everything became blurry and indistinct.

He had never before been so absolutely certain that he had made the right choice with an uplift. Of course, Rosa, once she had finished with her own uplift, had noticed his elation, even in her melancholy state.

Any nearby monsters in the Grounds would have thought another attack was occurring.

Once she had congratulated Tom in her usual expressive way, they had a brief discussion about her own uplift.

Ember Soul was the cornerstone of Rosas entire skillset. It allowed her to shoot lances of fire, and applied a burn over time effect to any targets struck by it. It was crucial for her damage dealing capabilities. But the most important aspect of the skill was the simplest: it allowed her to create fire.

The skill had a scaling, escalating mana cost, something quite rare except in elemental Ideals. Rosa could put a drop of mana into it to create a spark, a dribble into it to coat a limb, or a deluge to create a conflagration.

Her first option had been increased damage. Always a solid option, but Rosa, unlike Tom, already had damage in spades.

Her second option had been decreased mana cost and increased range. Rosa had enough active skills that mana management was always a concern for her, and this option was attractive.

Option number three was simply increased burn over time damage and duration.

Tom felt a little spoiled after hearing Rosas choices. Most of his uplifts seemed to give him two options for new effects for his skills. For Ember Souls latest uplift, Rosa had a choice between three different mechanical upgrades. It felt a little plain, after what he was used to, though he was wise enough not to say so.

She ended up going with the second option. Ember Soul having decreased mana cost was welcome, but the benefit was subtly larger than the mundane description would imply.

Rosa used Ember Soul as a starter in most of her fights, and its ability to create fire, which she could then manipulate with her control skill, was invaluable. It was by far and away her most used skill. Any decrease in mana cost for it represented huge savings in mana for her, which accordingly made juggling her many active skills that much easier.

Rosa did admit to being a little disappointed with the options shed been offered. She was begrudgingly inspired by Toms synergy between Hush and Survival of the Fittest, and wanted to try and create more synergies in her own skillset. She already had several, but Tom agreed that trying to set herself up for more was a good idea. There would be no more synergy created by Ember Soul, for the time being, anyhow.

They passed the rest of the day without incident. It became apparent, over the next several days, that Toms new sensitivity through Hunter-Gatherer, was extremely good at detecting beasts lying in wait for them.

After just over a week on the road, a little over halfway into the Grounds, they received another unexpected boon. Meri got uplifts for two of her familiar skills, and the resulting increase in ability from both combined, allowed her to pick up on creatures lying in wait for them with great precision too.

Between Toms life and mana sense, and the supernaturally good senses of Meris familiars, they could now reliably uncover any danger in advance. Not far enough so for the group to become comfortable, but enough so that they could at least relax a little.

It was a huge blessing. The constant tension of the first several days in the Grounds had been wearing on them.

The only person who didnt seem to relax at all was Rosa. In fact, she became more and more tense the closer they drew to Horizon. They were roughly five days away now, and every morning when they woke Rosa seemed to have added another layer of worry, like a stone building up sediment.

Tom did his best to help take her mind off things, but ultimately, he knew that the only thing that would solve the issue was getting to Horizon as fast as possible. To that end, he turned all his skills to uncovering any potential beasts waiting to slow them, and to culling them as quickly as possible when he did. He never said anything about it explicitly to Rosa, nor did she acknowledge it, but he knew she appreciated it anyway.

Five days after Meri had gotten her uplifts, with five more days until Horizon, they ran into their first real problem in the grounds.

Tom cast Agony again, and another of the sprites discorporated. This time, a grey wind essence dropped from the sky and plinked off Darius shield. Eli began throwing skills from his Blades at the sprites, and they damaged them, but couldnt kill them outright.

The situation was still dire. All it had taken was one solid strike to completely separate Tom from the rest of the group. Two decent strikes had incapacitated Eli. And there were still at least seven wind sprites left.

They were already figuring out the shield, spreading out in the air to try and swoop in below it. Darius could adjust it, but tilting it one way would just expose them the other. The shield looked like it wouldnt hold for much longer, anyway.

Tom had to do something. He was the only one of them that had proper typeless damage. He cast Agony as quickly as he could, but at the rate he was going, they would be exposed to the elements before hed killed even a single more sprite.

Sus and Sol threw themselves into the fray again. They could not harm the sprites, but they could at least run interference. Tom sent pride surging down the bond with them as they risked themselves to buy the group more time.

In a moment of inspiration, he cast Hush on another sprite. Typically, the skill would just restrict a creature from using any mana-based abilities, even sprites, but wind sprites were almost pure mana given sentience.

Sure enough, the second the skill hit the sprite, it simply vanished. Toms spirits lifted, and he began alternating between the two skills, trading them off to minimise the time between their cooldowns.

It wasnt long until there were only three sprites left. They swirled about in the air, now making some kind of odd barking noises, but not attacking. They simply danced about, twisting and twining through each other. Sus and Sol were hanging around, low above the ground, ready to intercept any move they made.

Eventually, Darius dropped his shield to let it recover. The sprites made no move to attack.

Fuck Eli said, echoing what they were all thinking. Sign off! Everyone signalled off as injury free.

What do we do now? Tanya asked. Should we just carry on? The sprites should leave sooner or later, right?

Darius was frowning up at them as they danced. These are not behaving right. They are knowing the odds. They should have left.

Rosa mounted up. Well, theres nothing we can do about it. We must be going.

Everyone began to remount their respective familiars, keeping a wary eye on the wind sprites. Meri resummoned her hawk, now fully healed once more. It joined Sus and Sol circling above them, warding off the remaining sprites.

Wait, Meri called, just as she got onto her wolf. Everyone stopped, some looking up. Meri had her head cocked, and her eyes looked far away.

What is it? Markus asked nervously, but Eli shushed him. Meri was concentrating through her familiars, and wouldnt thank them for the distractions.

Darius, she said, at length. Whats that sound? She gestured to the sprites, still repeating the odd barking sound. It was like nothing Tom had ever heard, high, harsh and sharp.

This is the wind sprites, he explained. They steal sounds and bring them with them. They use them to confuse their prey. The ghost foxes learned this from them, it is thought. He listened to the barking for a few more moments, then nodded to himself.

This sound, it is grass sharks. The sprites must be trying to scare us, perhaps. Granny turned at a command from Darius, and everyone else stirred themselves to leave. They stopped, after barely a moment, when Meri spoke up again.

I think they caught that sound recently. I can hear it on the wind. The sprites arent trying to scare us. Theyre using it to trick sharks into helping.

No one said anything. Darius had impressed on them more than once which creature was at the top of the food chain in the Proving Grounds.

Grass sharks.

And there was blood in the water.