Chapter 21: Chapter 16: Sadness and Gloom

Sadness and Gloom

I’m following her, there is an endless void around us, except for the concrete floor

And the small can they call vehicle

“I don’t want to cut my hair” I stop not too far from the passenger door of the coupe, my tail coiling below me

“Shut up!” she opens the passenger door and it whines due to its age “I’m tired of you always complaining about the same damn thing!” she is glaring at me

“Everyone knows I am the _____” the rest of my words are gone in the void

But she just glares at me, her eyes have always been like that, indifferent or hateful. Nothing else

“You are a man” I can feel my mouth clenching in anger “You. Will. Stop. Complaining.” she is going to enter the car-

“Considering how much you two hate spending money, aren’t my haircuts a drain in the bank?” but my taunt works and she gets out, standing in front of me

Glaring up to me

“Keep making this kind of mistakes and you’ll be sorry” she pokes my chest with one of her long nails

“Mistakes?” I laugh “Like what…?” it’s a shame that the venom in my mouth doesn’t seem able to pierce their thick skin…

“Like that waste of money” she points behind me

I bare my fangs… I really want to hurt her…

“Giving a creative outlet, to my sister, that was born deaf and mute” I lean forwards “Isn’t a waste…”

Is the best way of keeping Jess and Max away from them…

“That kind of pointless things are a waste…!” she turns back to the car “You will regret this mistake sooner or later-”

“You know what would be a mistake?!” I can’ stop myself. I will not stop!

She turns, angry

“If a girl that I barely know! Were to tell me that I got her pregnant!” I lower my voice “And I were to believe her… even if I never had sex before…”

Loathing… that is how her eyes look at me… and-

“Get in the car…!” she is seething, but I can still see some fear on her eyes…

She sits in the passenger side and moves to the driver side, because that door is uselessly broken…

‘Thanks for confirming my fears… don't worry… I won’t be telling him… yet…’ I pull the lever in the seat to make it move forwards…

And… wait…? Why do I wait…? There is no one else here…

She moves the seat to its seating position

“Get. In.”

I pull the lever again to get in the back seats

‘I hate this can…’

Is cramped… more so when she pulls the seat upright again

After closing the door, she tries to start the car… keyword: tries… the overheating signal turned on

“What heat?!” she hits the wheel… like usual…

…?

Why…? The reflection of my prison in the glass… looks more sad than I actually feel…

“What is wrong B-?!”

-----

‘Ah! You fucking…!’ that damn thing roared… at dawn, again… ‘One… ugh… two…’

I’m on top of a tree again…?

‘Ten… right… the spider might not be able to… climb trees… or the trees might not let it climb them…?’

-…-

‘Good morning…?’ It’s so much colder today… cloudy… ‘I wonder if-!’

Plic!

‘Ah!’ a drop of water hit my nose… ‘Come on! I haven't eaten today…!’ it starts to rain… ‘Great… at least it may not last for long…?’

I have the feeling that these clouds mean is going to be a short one… I coil… and place part of my tail above my head… like this the water doesn’t hits my eyes…

Whoooooom

‘…? What is that sound?’ I… look around… from under my… tail… ‘Cold… so… cold’ I’m soaked…

Cold… cold… hungry… cold…?

…?

Whoooooom

‘The… leaves…’ that noise… is the water… going through the… leaves… ‘Are… fake…?!’

-----

‘Ugh…’ heating up… ‘That rain lasted long enough to be annoying…’ I need to make… sure…

I move along the biggest branch at this height… I’m… going to touch this leaf with my tongue

‘Blep-!’ it went through?! ‘What the…?!’ I move my hand to it…

It’s like the Status screen… my claw doesn’t harms it… is… like a hologram…?

‘What…?’ is this forest going to become weirder…? ‘Is this more efficient that a normal leaf?’ can it become weirder…?

-No idea…-

I move my claws along many leaves at the same time… that, makes a low hum…

‘Is that why I hear a rustling sound when they move with the wind-? Ow…’ headache… ‘Ugh… calm down… deep breaths…’ I need to eat… going down… ‘Down… not muddy…’

I move up along the river on the wet earth for a bit… it doesn’t affect my movement… rather, it doesn’t affect my movement enough for me to worry about changing how I move…

‘If it rains more it might… but being honest I think I have moved enough like this, to not have to worry about that…?’

Also: hands and magic…

‘Yeah, I’ll be fine…’ I look to the river… it did raise a bit… just a bit… ‘Do I risk it…?’ I move to the water… not too close… I see no shadows… ‘Ia Imbue Eyes…’ this might be a waste… but I’m not in the mood for that again ‘Vessel!’ I make the ball of water come to me and-

Splash!

…

‘Ia Stop…’

I move to the water… now I drink… ok, no ambush this time, I move to the forest

‘Note to self, breaking visual contact while using Vessel, means that the liquid falls…?’ there is a sound in the air… ‘Launcher…?’

I don’t see anything moving around… nor any patch of moss in the trees…

‘Not in the mood… and those things stink…’ I can’t tell where is it coming from either… no vibrations in the ground…

Moving back to the river… I don’t see it on the other side either…

‘Everything is cold…’ the sky is still cloudy, some spots are open, but not enough… ‘Heat…’ the idea of taking heat comes back to my mind… ‘It’s colder now… and a lot wetter…’ I look to the water…

Limit is a must… if only to make sure I don’t cook myself… I want to Take Heat… or its Energy in the form of Heat for me… to do that… it needs to Slow…? Or do I Slow it as I take…? How much do I take…? Do I Contain it from a specific-!

‘OW! Ow…!’ my head… ‘Ia… Imbue Arms… ow…’ I look up ‘Please First Mother… I beg for your guidance in this spell of mine… so it doesn’t ends in a disaster… please help me…’

/////

Once Miriam’s prayer was done she moved close to the water and sunk her arms into it, she took a few moments more to look at the river, but didn’t saw anything besides the water and some “leaves” in the branches move

‘Ia’ she focused in the space between her hands and only that, losing some of her awareness about her surroundings ‘Limit, Contain Energy, Slow, Drain” Miriam prepared herself for pain “Heat Thief!’

In the span of a moment, the space between her hands froze

HISS!!!

And her whole body burned

Miriam lifted her arms from the water, the chunk of ice melting were it touched her arms. In her pain she slammed it against the river splashing some water on her burning body

At that moment she heard a voice in her mind, feeling something like a finger touch her head

‘Disperse’

Heat was released from her body, turning part of the water around her into steam, warping and darkening some of her scales as she continued to thrash in pain by the burns on the shore of the water

‘AAAHHH!!!’

HISS!!!

She managed to get away from the water and recover her mind for a moment, when she saw the ice floating downstream get swallowed by a Trap Fish

The creature started to thrash like she did before due to the coldness of what it thought was a prey, meanwhile Miriam-

‘Current!’ fished

She moved closer to the fish and prepared to hit it, it was smaller than the one before, but she was hoping that it was colder than her, and that would help in making her feel better

‘Magic Slash!’ she hit the gills of the creature ‘Ugh!’ beheading it

Ding

/////

It hurts… everything hurts… and that sound…

‘Ow… Status…?’

‘Crap… crap… crap… crap… ow… crap… crap… ow-’ the windows close!

Ding

‘…?’ what is happening…? ‘No Nail…? Status?’

‘Uh…’

Hiss…

‘Fuck… you… ow…’ pray and swallow…

-Roger-

‘What?’ the message ends there, nothing else ‘What?! Hey-!’

-The only way you can win this discussion, is surviving. Miriam, don’t waste time on this-

…

‘No… if this pain, ow… if I can get a compensation due to the pain, then… a counteroffer…’ I look up ‘I’ll learn on my own… teach Singer about magic instead… please’

-Are you insane?-

‘Just in pain…’ I look at the messages in front of me… ‘Did… she mention her priests because that is a perk they get…?’

-Who?-

‘Ah, sorry… ow…’ a couple of my claws fell at some point, I lost two in my right hand and one in my left, the tip of those fingers are black… and some of my scales are twisted or blackened, mostly on my arms and in my underside… ‘What do you think about Regrow?’ food in

-Your claws? Sure. Since you are masochist, you can wait to molt for the rest-

‘I’m not… how does Pain Resistance work with an M?’

-…-

-…-

‘…’ I lie on the ground ‘Time to rest… you said that this can heal with time?’

-It wasn't enough time for the heat to damage your inner organs. If something else happens because of this I’ll tell you. Specialization for fish hidden Miriam-

‘Thanks you…’ the sound of that Launcher is going to be annoying, but…?

It’s gone…? When did it stopped…? Some trees are shaking to the south east-

Slam!

‘Go…!’ moving hurts! Especially in my chest, but I’m not going to stop… ‘Ia Imbue Eyes!’

/////

Not far from Miriam, as she was preparing to try her spell, a bunny was eating an herb found near rivers. This horned bunny had detected the direction of the Launcher making noise in that particular area, and was nervously checking that direction constantly as it ate

And in one of those moments as it checked-

HISS!!!

It jumped due to the sheer terror it felt, it didn’t matter that it was a pained sound, the bunny knew it had to flee

The jump made the creature reach the branches above it, looking wildly around the place trying to find the source as it fell. Its heart beating so fast it was like a buzz

Once in the ground it spend a moment zooming from one side to the other-

HISS!!!

Until another pain filled sound, send it away from the terrifying thing, to the east

The bunny would have keep fleeing in that direction for hours, if it wasn't because the Launcher saw it as it passed

Buzzing

And chased it, flying over the bunny, trying to bite into it

The smaller creature, with a powerful kick to the side managed to avoid the dripping mandibles, that scored deep marks in the ground

The bunny squeaked and changed direction, having to kick to the side again as the Launcher flied over it again, this repeated three more times and as the brown furred creature grew tired, it decided to fight back

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Once it stopped the mostly black arthropod landed too, not far away from the mammal. Aiming at it as it buried its back legs in the dirt, closing its mossy protective shell. Before launching its whole body towards the creature

Fear made the furry creature to jump up, reaching the height of the branches again and barely avoiding the charge under it

After missing the Launcher opened its shell, using it as a brake to slow down and fly around a tree, making a shallow cut on it with its shell as it went, aiming at the bunny once both landed again

That, annoyed the trees

After its hop, the bunny had lost track of the arthropod, only noticing it when its shell closed again

Not having time, the bunny jumped to the side with the hope of avoiding it, but the arthropod opened its shell again, scoring a deep cut and breaking some bones on the left leg of the mammal

Slam!

The Launcher struck a tree and stunned itself for a few moments, but the pained bunny was unable to escape, even with the healing herb the creature had eaten before, it was bleeding on the ground as the arthropod recovered and moved closer to it-

HISS!!!

But not before a burned white snake appeared, terrifying the bunny and making the Launcher go back to the air

‘Give me a moment and I’ll heal the bunny, stop rustling!’ she screamed mentally at the trees that were moving their branches around the creatures ‘Land! You, smelly bug!’ she stopped moving while looking at the flier

While she waited, due to the poor sight of the arthropod, it landed and instead of launching towards were it had seen her a moment before, the creature raised its rear legs

Two things happened at the same time:

‘Earth Spear!’ Miriam finished her spell-

SCREECH-!!!

And the Launcher rubbed its legs together, in a way that created an extremely painful, high pitched noise, that hurt both the girl and the bunny

HISS!!!

‘AAAHHH!!! OW!!!’ thankfully it was short, thanks to the spell of the girl beheading the bug ‘I KNEW-! OW! IT ISN’T WORTH TO DEAL WITH YOU-! OW!’ she released another frustrated noise before looking at the objective of her mission

Ding

The sonic attack left the bunny twitching in the ground, making soft pained noises. Also recognizing the enlarged, terrifying snake, that had made it jump to its current side of the river

‘Load four, Ia! Imbue Fangs!’ Miriam prepared her volatile weapon and aimed next to the bunny’s head ‘Venom Dart!’ her spell detonated into a pink cloud, that was inhaled by the scared, wounded creature ‘Earth Shape’

She remembered of leaving the ground as it was, before moving closer as the bunny unwillingly relaxed and faded into sleep

‘Yeah, with an Imbued body part is more efficient… Ia! Flesh, bone, tissue, and skin damaged by your enemy, heal and grow back to normality! Regrow!’ her eyes shined while looking at the wound

The bunny twitched some more, but didn’t woke up as the venom was still affecting it, once its wound was closed Miriam stopped her spell, happy about the outcome…

‘Forgot about the fur…’ mostly happy

/////

‘Great…’ the brown fur of the bunny, now has a bald spot on its leg, where the wound was… its breathing is relaxing now… ‘I remembered to say “skin” instead of “scale”, but forget the fur…’ I facepalm ‘Well… at least is safe, and fur grows back… sorry’ I nod to the bunny and move to pet…

I move back, away from it… I don’t want to hurt it…

‘Will… will I be able to touch…’ right now my claws and fingers are… ‘How do-!’

Thunk

‘Ow! What…?!’ something hit my head! ‘Where is it-?!’

-Down…-

‘Eh?’ down is the ground, some moss…? ‘A red fruit?’ about the size of one of my eyes, I look up… ‘Did a bird-’

-Miriam, PLEASE!-

‘Fine… Status… oh…’

‘Thanks you very much…’ I place the fruit in my mouth and swallow it… ‘Oh… I feel… weird…’ as if smelling a strong mint, but on the whole body… ‘It isn't a smell, sadly… this one smells just as bad as the other Launcher, ugh…’

I look around, but I don’t see anything besides the bug and the bunny…

‘Tell me the fruit wasn't for the bunny!’

-You healed her already. It would have been a waste to give it to her-

‘Oh, good… a shame it was seedless then… load two’ I feel my venom glands rearrange ‘Anything that I need to know before I buy the Magic Organ…?’

-Not going to save the points? The Magic Fangs are just 400 EP…-

‘WHAT…?! Why…?! Oh… it’s because I shed them…? I… no, hide that! I don’t want to be captured for some kind of weird “Unlimited Magic Focus Farm” or something like that… let me guess, I would need a lot more food to maintain those too?’

-Who knows… but you still should wait for the bunny to be away, before buying something that might kill you…-

‘Don't worry, I’ll… try to wait for that item after I evolve…’ the windows closes… ‘All right EP-’

‘What…? The bug? Why would I…? I mean it does has Venom in the name, but-’ The Trickster sent another message, but it’s just a smiley face…

I look at the thing… the camo would be a good thing to have… the venom would help with the Deed… it has wings…

‘But I already ate things with wings and… multiple hunts…?’ a certain deity sent another smiley face… ‘Ugh… I’m kinda full so… just… part of the head I… suppose… ugh…’

I move to the head and place my hands-?!

‘Wha?!’ I look at my body, but it’s healed?! ‘Wow… I didn’t notice… maybe I should add “painlessly” to Regrow…?’

/////

The bunny jolted awake due to a foul smell overpowering the effects of the venom. It wasn't feeling pain, but it remembered the snake getting close to it and nearly jumped to the branches again

A wet sound nearby scared it and turned to see what caused it

Seeing the snake pulling something out, of the head of the Launcher and turning to make eye contact with the bunny, a yellow fluid staining Miriam’s mouth as she swallowed something

The bunny froze, its heartbeat becoming faster and the secondary effect of the healing herb started to affect it

Miriam waved at it

But that innocuous gesture just made the bunny flee north, leaving pellets as it ran

/////

‘Bye… glad to see that it’s fine… and that it didn’t had a broken bone…’ seeing it… her…? Run like that, was a little heartbreaking… ‘Status, Deeds in Progress…’ the venom Deed increased, now is at five ‘Good… ugh…’ that took some trial and error…

I roll the head to a tree… and drag the body to another…

…?

‘What I was going to do…?’

-Really?-

‘Not the Item… I was… uh…?’ I can’t remember…

-You haven't mentioned anything since you wanting to buy the Item-

…

‘Odd… EP Shop… Buy Magic Organ for 150 EP… ah… ah!’ my chest gets hot…

Hiss

I have some trouble breathing… no… I can breath… it just feels, like it isn't… enough…

‘Ah…’

Black…

-----

‘AH!’ Looking around! Where?! I… ‘Ugh… for how long did I… hungry… is midday?’

-More or less, you ok?-

‘Eh… yes…?’ my chest isn't hot… but… ‘It feels like a bigger void appeared…? I barely can tell the difference between them… the new one is filling, the old one is… waiting…?’

…

‘Uh… I don’t think I can make an Eye Stone…’ it feels like my earlier assumption, about the amount of magic that I need for one, was wrong… ‘That Magic Instinct was a good thing to get…’

I would be dead without Absorb…

‘Ugh… hungry’ I move to the river ‘Ok… food, then… I should go north, find the waterfall or somewhere I can recognize… and be around the place to go east, find and kill the Spawner’

…

…?

‘What…?’ I see a half chewed Kind Herb… whatever was eating it didn’t ate it all… ‘This is a laxative…? Why is called Kind…?’

-Incomplete knowledge. You already know that you are missing the name of a few plants…-

‘Oh… that’s…’

/////

Miriam stopped thinking, her body moved on its own towards the river

And waited…

Once she saw a shadow in the water, her body went through the motions of imbuing, casting, killing and eating it

Without a thought from her part

Her body would have remained resting there, but with blank messages the Helper managed to get her moving, towards the direction she had wanted to go beforehand

The body had tried to bite the screens

And by making them appear farther and farther away, her body was lured

Just when she was again in the forest, moving towards the area of the flowers

‘Eh…?’ is that Miriam woke up ‘What… did I…?’

-Forgot to check the name… Idiot…-

‘Name? Status?’

‘Oh… but I already know them… missing that isn't important…’

-Sure… that is the problem…-

‘What do you-?! Boar…’ at that moment, she got the smell of one and some vibrations on the ground getting closer ‘Load four! Ia Imbue-’ the horned boar and her saw each other at the same time, the boar started charging ‘Arms! Ia, Earth, Square, Rise, Push, Impulse! Launch!’

A square of dirt around her coiled body pushed Miriam upwards, crashing her to a branch above her, the boar tried to hit her with its tusks as it passed below, but missed and tripped with the platform. Despite the pain of the impact Miriam managed to grab it and started to coil around the branch as the creature stood up and glared at her

SQUEAL!!!

The boar moved in a circle and with its head low, dug a chunk of dirt and threw it towards her in an arc

‘Ia, Take, Hold, Contain, Carry! Vessel!’ she extended her hands towards the projectile, feeling her arms being pushed back, as it got closer and then, they straining to keep it floating the moment it stopped

Once she noticed the change in the force that her body was feeling, she dropped it, making her previous platform sink and surprising the boar

OINK?!

‘Venom Dart!’ the boar received the impact on its face and got startled, as it inhaled the pink cloud ‘Good night! Now I only have to-!’

SQUEAL!!!

STOMP!

This boar as it felt drowsy, squealed, raised upright on its rear legs and stomped the ground with its front legs, to shake off the effects of the venom, having partial success with the maneuver

‘Hey!’ Miriam felt outrage at the fact, that her best way of dealing with boars could be dismissed like that ‘Ia! Ground, Mold, Grasp, Hold, Sink! Earth Grip!’ the still groggy creature squealed as it felt the ground holding its legs and pulling down

It started to struggle to get free from the grip, quickly becoming more agitated-

‘Venom Dart!’ but Miriam used the last of her venom to shoot again, making another cloud on its face ‘Go down already!’ she started to feel fear as the creature could kill her, as easily as the previous one…

Snore

But the once the beast was unable to move, it fell asleep even with the uncomfortable position it had

‘Good… but having half in storage is just three darts… and it’s really tiring to get more venom than that…’ she climbed down and started to move away ‘Need food… Spawner tomorrow?’

As she started to resume making more of her special venom, the tree where she was fighting called for her

‘Yes…? The ball of dirt felt apart, please tell me that-’ the tree shook again, ‘Great…’ she moved closer and started to push the dirt towards the hole the boar made, but the tree shook again ‘… then, what is it?’

One of the branches of the tree pointed down towards the boar

An offer to kill it

‘No, sorry’ but Miriam shook her head ‘Can’t kill it, and I don’t know if… I damage the boar and it might wake up…’ she poured some of her magic in the ground of the tree and moved away, after looking at the sky ‘Ia Stop…’

Leaving all the trees confused at what had happened

/////

‘Status, Spells…’

‘Wait…’ I stop… I should be far enough from the boar to check this… ‘What are those pluses?’ I focus on them…

‘Oh… I like it…’ the Spear part of the name keeps changing showing the different variations I have used… ‘Earth Blade too…? Ok… but… what happened to Vessel?’

-Unconventional use…?-

‘Sure… I did use it to stop a- Ow!’ headache… ‘Ugh… now…’ looking up… it’s getting late… I’m going to the river ‘Water… food, rest, more food and then I’ll go and kill the monster’ I can’t believe that I don’t even know where the thing is…

-Are you sure about that…?-

‘Hey, all these distractions came to me… I have no idea as for why… why…’ what was I going to say…?

…

…

I can feel Jess shivering in my arms, she was so small then… why that had to happen…? Why I wasn't paying more attention…?

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”