As we both sat in the field, a small bowl that Aiden had prepared between us, I felt an unbridled urge to kill the mutt.
We had been tasked with a simple task, Aiden and Selene had been given the remaining quest rewards as part of the bring the two kids to the game quest. I had assumed it was because they had finally recognized their son, but Aiden's crushed expression when he handed us this bowl spoke to something else happening. I had expected Jax to insist on going with Beatrice, but he asked for me instead which struck me as odd.
As such the two of us have been sitting around this bowl for almost two hours now. It was a simple cast iron bowl with a shimmering liquid within and some thin wood shavings.
"It needs to sit in the open moonlight for at least 8 hours to be ready."
Aiden had said before giving everyone else their own shopping materials. We were the only duo sent out, probably because we were going outside the city walls to find a spot with open moonlight. Jax had spent his time sitting silently, his eyes closed, and had it not been for the occasional shivers up my spine I would have assumed he was asleep. It however was NOT helping my concentration.
I had spent a good chunk of my money on purchasing a book that talks about artificing. That combined with some of the small details of magical circles and arrays inside of my notebook had given me some steps to start with, though connecting them together wasn't easy. In many ways it was like trying to get a spot of sunlight to circle a room and end at a point using a bunch of small mirrors, even a small twitch or movement wrong could mess up the design and cause the whole thing to fail.
So when I am trying to carve in the runes to direct the mana just right around the array, it is frustrating to suddenly jolt from Jax doing whatever he is doing and make a mark that makes me need to start all over again. The first time I figured I was just being jumpy after seeing the reply of what he did to the bear guy, but by the 12th I was considering a new wolfpelt coat.
"FUCK, can you not do that while I am trying to do detail work here!"
I barked as that same shiver made my hand twitch and scratch through part of the array, ruining it. Jax seemed startled as he jumped up and looked around before giving me an apologetic look.
"Sorry, been practicing something, and I didn't realize it was gonna cause problems."
I walked over and crossed my arms, sitting down with a huff before Jax.
"Ok spill fido, you have had something going on that your not telling us."
Jax turned to not meet my eyes in a guilty way as he asked.
"Uh, and what makes you say that?"
I scowled at him as I said.
"In case you forgot I am a wind mage, infisus on mage, I can feel whatever that weird energy inside of you is, and it keeps flaring and making me twitch. Its not the insanity you had before, but It's clear there is still a reason to worry."
Jax seemed to wince at this as he seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. Before he sighed and said.
"It's not fixed, I'm working on it, and it's getting better, mostly because Beatrice is helping, but it's still a problem."
I wanted to argue, however I found myself suddenly pressed down, a wave of extreme mana rushed past me as if it was… dancing? I grabbed Jax and pulled him behind me as I stared across the field and towards the treeline where the mana seemed to be swirling as if in a festival. However inside of that spiraling mana seemed to be a heated core almost like a furnace. The amount of mana belonged to someone at least level 60 or more, and yet as I watched I saw a familiar face dragging an unfamiliar face with their arm slung over their shoulder.
For a moment it was difficult to see them as the ambient mana around them caused a trailing light from their eyes and mouth as they were breathing heavy, its color tinted close to his body by a deep orange and red. However below it was Alaster, one of the judges for the games. The person with an arm slung around his shoulders on the other hand was new. She was rather thin, wearing white robes with ashen black skin covered in bone like designs. They seemed to be stumbling along, mostly held by Alaster as a loud gurgling roar seemed to escape from their stomach that could only be a very hungry stomach about to riot against a body that didn't feed it.
Alaster seemed to shift the girl as he tiredly said
"Hn, I did NOT exercise enough for this., Hey you! Can you just UGH stop staring for a moment and come help me?"
There was a start contrast that for a moment made me wonder if this was the Alaster who was judging the games and gave Aiden that strange stone from before. He had been mysterious and aloof, this guy seemed like a kid who was struggling to carry a carry someone and was annoyed that they had to carry them in the first place.
"Yep, I'm coming"
Jax said trotting over as Alaster let the girl drop onto Jax who shifted her and began to walk over, the girl's legs dragging behind Jax as she seemed to grumble something.
"foooooood….water….must keep going….must find more…."
she says before blacking out from exhaustion, the smell of decay seeming to disparate slightly as she fell unconscious, her body tense from exhaustion as Jax carried her before setting her down. I looked up at Alaster who seemed to be watching the girl as if confirming if she was really unconscious.
"Uh, what exactly is going on here?"
Alaster seemed to recognize us as the air around him shifted. He dusted his clothes and wore a dignified expression, the scene a bit ruined by his poorly hidden panting. He spoke in a deeper voice than before, obviously unaware that he was overheard complaining like an irritated teenager:
"I found the girl blacked out by the road. So, like the good souls you are, the two of you will help me get her somewhere safer."
He turned to me when he walked closer, his eyes locked onto the small glyph in my hands with a nick messing with the final effect as he leaned in as he spoke:
"Oh, nice glyph you have there, it seems someone has done quite a bit of work on it. Let's do this: you help me get her to the city and I'll fix that glyph for you."
I turned to Jax who seemed just as stunned as I was before I stammered out.
"Uh, sure, I guess we can do that."
I made my way over to Jax who had crammed a handful of mixed nuts from one of the day rations we had brought as a snack into the woman's mouth. She seemed to begin faintly chewing before she rose with a renewed vigor. She seemed to look at the glyph I had been working on as well, purple runes glowing on her arms as she reached a hand out and made small marks over a part of the finished glyph.
"Those parts, mess with effect."
She said Horsley before she once again passed out.
"Uh, well that was weird"
Alaster said as he scratched the back of his head.
"You don't mind finishing carrying her to the city, do you? It would be only fair since she did just help you out."
Jax and I exchanged a look as Jax said.
"Dude, either be stoic and aloof, or casual, this whiplash is gonna snap someone's neck at this rate."