Return To The Mountain II

Day two of this excursion begins with Red moving enough to disturb me. I look around to see that we've made it through the night. It's a bit cold but getting that fire going to being with and resealing the top of this dome sealed in the heat and our own. He seems to be a bit panicked for a brief moment. He collects himself with a deep breath. "Good, you've got control again."

I'm still struggling with the idea that I may have to kill him. There's still a little sliver of hope that maybe there's some way to redirect him. Maybe I won't have to kill him but rather the future where he turns into a tyrant.

"Red, before we continue…" I don't know how to approach this. I push through the intrusive thoughts hoping for the best, "Red, the next few days are going to be rough. I want you to remember them well and I want you to think about what you want to do after this. This is your final test."

It seems to have made an impact on him. We break through the encasing that was our shelter for the night. The cold air is startling at first. It's a wake-up call for both of us but a good motivator to get moving early. The entire day is spent moving along the mountain. I follow Red nearly step for step as we move up and down the hills as we try to find our way out. We've made some considerable progress before we take a breather.

The break is over and we move until the sun begins to set. Red sets us up with another snow dome with heat. I wonder how tired he must be. He's still using his magic from within and not from the world around him. He hasn't been using much magic but it pulls from his energy. We've been moving around so much that it has to be taking a toll on him.

I sit with my legs crossed, arms crossed, and my head leaned down. It's not the most comfortable position but it works. It keeps me off the ground. Being out in the wilderness like this already makes it hard to rest. Now we have another problem. One howl breaks through the air and into the dome. I sit up to listen. That was close.

Red wakes up to a paw breaking through the wall near his head. Through that hole, a wolf pushes its head through the wall. I see his mind working before I'm given the order, "Madam Odette, I need you to get flat onto the ground. Quickly."

I do as I am told. I lay down as a bright flash of light hits the area around us. The wolf backs off but I feel Red release a ping into the area around us. It begins to be continuous. He's watching everything around us. I knew there would be more. I keep myself down while Red goes to work.

His training with Badger seems to be coming up. He relaxes his wrist to let his paws go into a whip-like state. I see him move it with one quick action. There is a yelp that is quickly silenced. There's another whimper into nothing. Their growling goes quiet as they retreat into the woods. "Madam Odette, you can get up now."

I pull myself from under the mound of snow. He handled that efficiently. No wasted movement, no wasted mana. "That was… something else. I'm impressed, Red." I see the smile on his face at receiving the praise he so desires. But we don't have time to celebrate. The two of us pack ourselves up and move through the darkness to find another place we can settle down.

He hustled us through the snow to another location. Another fire, another dome, and we were set up for the night. Before we fall asleep, I can see his face illuminated by the fire. He's beginning to struggle. He is so focused on getting us back that he's neglected some basic needs. "Red, you're pushing yourself too hard with nothing to replace it with. I thought you did your research on survival."

He's still green, He's still inexperienced. Knowing me, and knowing what we were going into, I would have brought something with me. I reach into the inside pockets of my coat. There's the transmitter, there's my knife. I'm looking for… There it is.

"I figured we would reach this point right about now so I brought two of these." I use these all the time when I did my survival training. It's a concentrated nutrient block that provides a lot of what you need in one go. It's not very filling. It's horrid to taste. But it's efficient. "These will make sure you're feeling 100% when we start to get going again but they won't last long. Anything your body doesn't use will be expelled. You'll have to find out how to make it last."

He's never had one of these before. I watch his face recoil as he takes the first bite. I know they're bad but they work. "Red, finish it, get some sleep, and tomorrow I'll help you." I work on chewing that last little bit of the one I had myself. That adventure through the wilderness in the middle of the night was less than ideal. That's one of the many things you have to be ready for if you're out here.

I wake up to the feeling of being watched. I look up to see Red across from me. He looks tired. He didn't rest well. Neither did I. It'll be interesting to see how well he handles today. "Good morning, Red. How did you sleep?"

"Terrible." He mutters

"How do you feel though?"

He moves around here and there to feel himself out. "Ah, I can see it in your face. You're feeling much better." I have a decision to make. If we are to survive, he will need to learn alchemic magic. To pull magic from the area around him rather than pulling from his power. He will still be in charge of our actions and direction but I will intervene now and again to try and teach him something. I know he'll pick it up. He did previously and quickly became a master at it.

Throughout the day we traverse through the snow while descending the mountain. We managed to make it past the snow and now into the lower woodlands. I find myself wondering if this is the same person. It's almost as though… It feels like I abandoned him when he needed me the most. I should have seen the changes. I should have stopped him before this became a problem.

What's going to happen at the end of these seven days? Do I go back to my manor and continue living my life or do I go back to the library to the madman who is currently throwing the world into chaos?