Fate

A month passes like this before I finally felt something foreign intrude on my mana sense.

I rescinded it immediately after verifying it was a wondering beast.

I stopped my experiments and tinkering with metals and retrieved my leather armor.

"Isla, the beast tide is here" I said to her.

Since so many new beasts will be coming to the glades, I didn't want to train being at the best condition was imperative.

"Let's begin the hunt" I said to her.

I leave the horses and cart in the lake.

I had filled half of it with soil and a layer of grass and left fruit and raw meat for the skiles to graze.

I even made light out the generator, so they are not stuck in the dark along with a heater for the frigid temperature.

As we head out, we go and check all the bunkers we made and the supplies we left.

I even activate mana vision; my paranoia is still ever present.

We hunt in the day and at night we make or way into our hideout or one of our temporary bunkers.

Isla would smoke the meat and I would tinker with different metals experimenting on how mana flows through them.

Isla never lagged behind on her physical training, I could tell by how confident her movements where.

She didn't expunge any impurities, but it seemed as if she was calmer than before.

Her fighting even became more calculated thinking two or three steps ahead of the beasts we were engaging.

We were fighting a large scorpion type monster with the top of a humanoid and the bottom a scorpion, mind you a very ugly human with four eyes two layered on top of the other.

It screeched when it attacked and used mana tendrils to try and wrap around us.

Instead of finishing it off quickly I let Isla take the charge she parried each attack by the scorpion's tail and dodged when she could the whole time throwing rocks at its face,

The beast kept smacking them away with its tail not bothering to dodge.

After it got used to this rhythm Isla tossed her dagger behind the rock and when the beast smacked it away and brought its tail down it was met with a dagger to the face.

Howling in pain it didn't notice Isla locking its tail down with mana and rush it, decapitating it in one smooth motion.

At this time, I also switched weapons to an actual one-handed sword.

Due to the constant exposure to our energy our weapons became rusted and worn, luckily I took the opportunity to make some new ones with silver mixed into the iron.

I used this beast tide as a chance to acquaint myself with the weapon, although it was a difference in range and weight, I was able to accommodate it smoothly after a few nights of combat.

I made it out of iron and silver the hilt garnished with the pelts of hunted beasts.

I keep my mana sense up throughout the day and night only leaving me that small window after hunting to get some sleep, but it is more than enough for me,

Four hours of sleep a day left me refreshed and ready.

On the second week of the beast tide a corner of our living area was filled with pelts that needed tanning and another was filled with leather, the high-quality stuff not the average run of the mill.

Different Organs and bones where stored in stone jars which I used for study material.

Time flows and we get used to the new busy schedule.

Isla and I are at a tall hill around twenty miles west of our hideout chatting and waiting for another wave to come by.

"I still think the whole toilet thing is world changing can you imagine having one at the inn we are staying in" smiling as she stares at me with her big brown eyes.

Out of all my inventions she loved the toilet the best because she wouldn't need to fly almost a mile upwards to get to relieve herself a task, she still finds difficult.

I make her do it to get her used to mana control and flight.

I ask myself how many people on earth would trade a toilet for a chance to fly.

Laughing inwardly, I know I was not one of those people.

Back then if it did not have to do with a new strain of virus or a new vaccine, I didn't even lift my head up from my desk.

Suddenly I felt it a mana armored figure rushing at a swift pace directly south west of our location.

"We have trouble" I said my face becoming stern.

But quickly another and another almost six of these figures where moving and I couldn't tell the shape because of the mana around them making them feel like they were wrapped in an eggshell.

I head directly west to cut them off and to see what we are dealing with.

Masking my mana just in case they had some sort of sensor I start running to where we are supposed to collide.

"Don't use mana" I warned her.

I waited behind a gnarled cliff lying flat on the ground, a figure came into my sight but instead of running past me it started running towards our position.

"Get ready for contact" I said calmly.

The figure sent its mana out trying to surround and crush us.

I retreat, jumping as far back as I could even using mana to create a stepping stone in the air getting out of the entanglement.

Isla following behind but a pressure presses us back to the ground.

I look to see the emerging figure of a Sylph wrapped in mana and a white robe.

This one was male I could tell by his broad shoulders and ugly sneer across his pale face.

'No wonder they saw me' Sylph augment their vision with mana and can see the mana fluctuations even if masked it looks like shimmer to them.

He didn't slow down at all and since he couldn't pin us down due to my energy spreading around and mixing with his he rushed us.

He wielded a bone like spear coated with mana.

He was aiming it at Isla, like any good hunter he aimed at the weak of the herd.

Pivoting my left leg my arm swings forward and my dagger was sent flying with me following close behind.

I push the dagger with mana again messing up his timing and forcing him to stop in his tracks to deal with the immediate threat.

After he dodged I was within melee range.

I was glad to have switched over to a regular sword at this point because when fighting a spear user, distance was everything.

If I wielded a short sword I wouldn't dare get close.

I could blow this man to smithereens right now, but I couldn't reveal my trump until the group showed up wiping them all out in one go, if they scattered I would be done.

It didn't help that this man fish was the fastest opponent I have ever faced.

He slashed and thrusted faster than me and his reach was twice as long, his spear striking my shoulder opened a wound down to my chest my leather armor doing little to protect me.

Barely missing a thrust by a hairsbreadth, I attempt to back flip, but a second thrust made me duck and roll instead.

We disengage from each other's violent onslaught neither of us panting very hard, but a few nicks are present near his vitals.

A streak of blood dripped down from my forehead to my nose then to my chin along with a wide diagonal slash across my chest.

Adding my shoulder wound I was on the losing end of this little scrimmage.

Luckily it didn't impact my vision, he must have caught me when rolling back.

I felt it then all the figures surrounded us and closing in slowly.

I wait for them brandishing my sword to get the blood off of it as I had gotten him good across his thigh.

I begin to snap my fingers and balls of fire wrapped in oxygen are ignited the man looks taken aback and immediately wants to retreat but I won't let him.

Right before I send my balls fiery death dropping on all the targets, I hear something that makes me stop.

"Runt" a melodic voice I recognized reached my ears.

Turning my head, I see Mislin wrapped in mana looking at me with the same shimmering eyes and mischievous grin.

"It seems that we are fated little one".