Chapter 11: Chapter 11 Adventurers and Adventurers

They didn’t move on the next morning, instead staying in place and caring for the worst-off of the ex-captives. Nathan was sent to collect deadwood for fires and help dig holes for makeshift latrines. He didn’t mind, it was a way to help out that didn’t demand much of him. And these people needed help. Nathan wasn’t sure how he’d feel to be kidnapped from his home and escape being enslaved by mental magic by the skin of his teeth.

Well. That’s… exactly what happened to me. But these people are pretty helpless to prevent it happening again.

But there was another critical difference between Nathan and these refugees. His terror and horror had been tempered by wonder. Wonder at a world with Magic, Talents and an entire world above your head. Nathan looked up from his digging, to the clear sky. If you looked past the blue sky, you could still see the surface opposite. It was hard to notice unless you looked closely, appearing like faint, wispy clouds until you saw the spiral of a storm the size of a small moon, or the faint deeper blue glint of the ocean.

Nathan finished digging the new latrine. It wasn’t all that bad to use - one of the refugees had a Talent or skill that could somehow turn normal leaves into a passable imitation of toilet paper. It required careful hand placement, but Nathan had been on camping trips with worse accommodations.

Nathan went to go find Wiam again. He wanted to practice feeling out magic again. It was so cool to be able to feel magic, tugging it apart. The ex-captives were treating the Giantraiders with a sort of hands-off awe that struck Nathan like a cross between hero worship and keeping your distance from a snarling dog. The only villagers he’d talked with this morning were Sora and Dwoh, who seemed to be liaisons with the adventurers.

He found Vhala first, sitting on a stump and stitching up hole in her armor with a huge needle. Nathan asked her directly. “The people we rescued seem pretty wary of us. What’s up with that?”

Vhala looked around. “Yeh, pretty normal with Adventurers. We live violence and they hope it stays far away from them. Sure, we save them from stuff, but they pay for it and we’re still associated with whatever the problem was. And for every story of adventurers saving a town, there’s one where some idiots piss off a local monster or open up an old ruin and unleash some horror.”

She paused for a moment and pointed at him with her needle. “That reminds me. Got a few rules. If you enroll as an adventurer you’ll learn these in more detail, but I should tell you now. One; run from fights you can’t win. Two; don’t touch things you don’t understand. That means ruins, like the ones you’ll find all over the countryside. There’s scary shit in a lot of them that’ll kill more than just you. Three; don’t chase levels or loot. Your job is to stay alive and keep other people alive. That’s it, just didn’t want you wandering into any crypts of Quaz because you don’t know any better.”

Nathan swallowed. He… wasn’t sure how to take that advice. But Vhala didn’t expect a response from him, and turned back to her mending. So Nathan went on to find Wiam, who was lying down and picking at his blackened feathers. “Hey Wiam, hope you’re feeling good.”

“Ya, I’ll be good. Want more magic practice? Ha, closer ta practice for me, ain’t it. It’s great, I can toss som’ real murder your way an’ it just…” He made a gesture like jazz hands, indicating something poofing away to nothing.

Nathan grinned. “Yup, way for us to both get something out of it. Go ahead, give me your best shot.”

Wiam’s best shot turned out to be pretty good, turning the soft dirt under Nathan’s feet to slimy, sucking mud that tried to pull him under. He was only able to break the spell by really diving into the mud, leaving him covered in dry dirt after the spell fell apart. During the more relaxed session that followed, Nathan felt like he was getting the hang of feeling Wiam's different kinds of mana and how they wove together. He still needed physical contact with spells to break them apart, which was pretty limiting. They closed up with a round of Nathan trying to guess what spell was cast on him with his eyes closed and ears covered.

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