13

"Tra'ma" I said quietly to myself.

[Trace activated.]

The world became tinted blue, and hundreds of criss-crossing rivers of mana became visible to me.

I sighed - if there was a flaw in the Spell, this was it. In places where there was too much activity, it was almost impossible to follow a trail.

In some places, it was so overwhelming I had to deactivate the Spell just to see properly.

Nira was crouching nearby, inspecting the tracks of some unknown herd we had been tracking for hours. Although her eyes were extremely serious, the trail of drool falling from the corner of her mouth still betrayed her true feelings.

Despite Nira's confidence, I was feeling somewhat apprehensive. It was once again some unknown beast to me - something she called a Horlir. The only description she offered at first was that they lived in groups and looked delicious. When I pressed for more details, she told me they had four legs.

I could only shake my head at the time.

"They're close." Nira suddenly stood up.

"Okay, so let's go over your plan again… We'll sneak up on them, and you'll shoot the big one? That's it?" I asked in a flat tone.

She nodded.

Admittedly I wasn't much of a hunter, but this...

"So, we're only going to kill one of them?"

She nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because they'll kill us if they see us." She replied.

'Great.' I shook my head.

I was painfully aware that I was a severely underwhelming existence in this world at the moment, but her nonchalant attitude about, well, everything… was beginning to bother me.

Part of me wanted to trust her confidence, but I had just met her. I knew better. I still needed to look out for myself.

Thinking about my own exploits thus far, I honestly felt a little ashamed. I had hunted weak and powerless crabs, killed an almost dead cat, and ran away… a lot. The only noteworthy things I had accomplished were saving Nira's life and surviving the onslaught of the Shade Guardians. But even those were handicapped. I was practically gifted the Spell to save Nira and she had been the one to find a location for us to fight a one-sided battle against the Guardians.

In short, I was feeling pressure. I needed to learn some actual skills to be able to survive on my own. I wasn't sure Nira was always going to be around to hold my hand. Even if she was, I saw her as a woefully reckless individual.

I felt some reassurance that we were traveling with the objective of hopefully increasing my firepower, but I still felt I needed something more.

I looked at my spear, then at my dagger.

If I was being honest, I didn't favor either of them. They got the job done against mindless beasts and monsters, but against intelligent adversaries, I didn't have the skills to put them to proper use.

Even if I could learn the skills, they still weren't my first choice. After all, those weapons required me to get close. In a world that had monsters like the Arkos, that didn't sit well with me.

I looked over at Nira's bow.

'Now that's something I can work with.' I thought.

In fact, I had been considering crafting a makeshift bow for some time. I had experience shooting them in the fragmented memories of my previous life after all. I just doubted an arrow could do any damage to the massive bodies of the monsters in this world.

But then I had witnessed Ahlthazar punch a hole in the stone bridge.

I had seen the hunter's deadly display against the Darkheart soldiers.

And most importantly, I saw Nira shoot that arrow.

The bow was a weapon I not only fancied, but there was potentially a teacher right next to me!

'I just need to convince her…' I sighed.

"So, what exactly is my role in this plan?" I asked Nira, who was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I guess I had been spacing out.

She shrugged, "Just be ready in case anything unexpected happens."

Nira started walking along the flattened earth left behind by the heavy steps of the beasts. The forest floor was mostly dirt, so it was easy to follow their tracks.

Looking around I couldn't help but wonder, "What do the Horlir even eat?" There was vegetation, but it was sparse; and from Nira's description, the Horlir didn't seem to be underfed.

"They eat dying Ek." She replied.

"So they travel around the forest searching for them? Do the Ek really even die that often?"

Nira nodded, "Of course. There are millions of Ek in Paruven Forest after all. A couple hundred die every day."

"Enough to feed tens of thousands of Horlir." She added.

"Is that so…" I mumbled.

Suddenly, Nira stopped.

I could hear something up ahead.

'A river?' I recognized the sound of flowing water.

I looked at Nira and she made a hand sign to follow her. As quietly as we could, we ran from tree to tree, approaching the river. Soon, I caught sight of flowing water through the gaps in the trees. Nira naturally saw the water as well and pointed ahead to the next tree. We made a quick dash to where she pointed and both took up a position on either side, peeking out to scan ahead.

Through Trace, I could see Mana moving about all along the river's edge.

Nira must have seen something too, because she stuffed her Mana Tracer in her pack, rested her spear against the Ek, and retrieved an arrow.

My heart rate quickened as I realized the hunt was on.

I abandoned the left side of the tree and moved to look where she was focusing.

There, a group of strange looking beasts were rubbing their heads against an extremely massive Ek trunk. It was at least double the size of any I had seen thus far. The beasts had a bony axe-like protrusion sprouting from their foreheads, which they were using to slam against the base of the Ek.

Observing the beasts, I noted several things: they had three to four foot long necks, scaly lizard-like skin, long tails, and yes… four legs. They would have looked like proper dinosaurs if not for the giant pointy ears atop their heads.

One of them was separated from the rest, using those pointy ears to listen for threats.

It seemed we were fortunate the river was nearby. It was making the beast's job much more difficult.

Nira had already locked onto the beast that was keeping watch. Indeed, this one did seem a bit bigger than the others. We were still a good three hundred feet away, but I figured it was within Nira's range. Still, she didn't attack, instead just silently watching… waiting. Her face was a mask of focus I hadn't yet seen her wear.

After about a minute, Nira lifted the bow and adjusted her aim. She was about to pull back the bowstring when a velvety smooth voice rang out from behind us:

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, young lady."

"!!!" Nira and I jerked our heads in the direction of the voice.

There, clad in a mixture of tight fitting dark cloth and black leather straps, was the figure of a lone woman. She was leaning against a nearby tree with a nonchalant expression on her face.

The most noteworthy thing about her presence though, was her appearance!

Two six-inch long red twisting horns atop her head, dark ashen skin a couple shades darker than even Nira's. Her eyes, an unmistakable combination of dull yellow and red - She was Shal'Iri! She looked like an older version of Nira, but not too old. I knew I couldn't judge a Shal'Iri by their appearance though.

Nira frowned.

She must have noticed the stranger's race, but that didn't seem grounds to lower her guard.

"Why not?" Nira questioned warily.

"Just watch." The lady replied.

My back was covered in cold sweat. I didn't know how that woman managed to appear so close without either of us realizing it.

I gulped.

'If this woman thinks Nira is my slave…' I began sweating even more.

Nira on the other hand didn't seem as worried. She looked back towards her mark and watched silently with the same frown still frozen on her face.

A minute later, three shadows suddenly dropped from above with a flourish of cold steel.

'Humans…' I realized.

They were wearing similar looking gear to Ahlthazar and his companions, but I could tell there were some differences.

"Dusksworn…" I heard Nira whisper.

She even backed up a little, moving closer to me.

'If Nira had attacked, those men would have…' I shuddered. My impression of the mysterious Shal'Iri increased a few points.

The Dusksworn, as Nira called them, made short work of the beast standing guard. Surprisingly, the others didn't even notice their fallen guardian. I even felt a little sorry for the beasts when I saw the Dusksworn turn their attention on them.

I didn't need to see the result to know what was going to happen. Instead, I reached out to tap Nira's arm.

She looked back at me with a wisp of lingering fear still in her eyes.

I pointed my thumb in the opposite direction and made a signal with my eyes.

She nodded.

I looked over at the Shal'Iri woman and bowed slightly, mouthing the words thank you.

She smiled at me, seemingly amused - but didn't say anything else.

Nira and I retreated quietly for several minutes. When I felt we were no longer in danger, I leaned against an Ek trunk and slid to the ground.

Nira sat beside me.

"That was close…" I whispered.

"Yea…"

"Do you… know that woman?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"I wonder why she helped us." I paused, "Maybe because of you?" I guessed.

Nira had a thoughtful look on her face, but didn't seem to readily agree.

"No need to guess, I helped you because I wanted to." The velvety voice rang out from where we had just come.

'She's going to give me a heart attack!' I thought as my heart thumped.

Nira stood up in front of me and crossed her arms. She didn't seem happy to have been followed.

"Who are you?" She asked coldly.

The older Shal'Iri stared at Nira in gleeful amusement. She eventually even laughed a little.

"Quit your attitude young lady. I'm not going to harm your man." She teased.

Nira raised an eyebrow and made a strange face.

"My man?" She looked back at me, her eyes widened slightly. I thought I might have even seen her blush a little, but with her dark skin, I wasn't sure.

"Don't be ridiculous." Nira scoffed and retorted.

'Right?' I agreed. Nira was pretty, but flat where it counted and had a bad attitude. Definitely not wife-material.

The Shal'Iri woman looked between us with a smile, then introduced herself, "Name's Ihka. No family name, just Ihka. Nice to meet you two."

"Abel." I replied.

"...Nira." A disgruntled grumble followed.

"Well Abel, Nira, what brings you two this far from civilization? And what's your relationship?" Ihka's eyes sharpened as she glanced at Nira's tattered clothes.

When I saw the change on her face, I hurriedly explained, "We're companions! We just met yesterday and we've been traveling together."

Nira glanced at me, then looked back and nodded.

Ihka's eyes softened, "So that's the case."

I stared blankly for a moment, then furrowed my eyebrows and asked, "Miss Ihka, what do you want with us?"

She chuckled, "I don't want anything special. Just a casual conversation with two young ones you don't normally see traveling together in such unique… circumstances." Glancing at me, she added, "It's not every day I can speak Shal'Iri either."

Nira, who had been studying her senior for some time, spoke up, "You're Ihka Red Blade."

"My mother told me about you."

Ihka's mouth fell open slightly, surprise in her eyes.

"What's your family name Nira?" She glanced at me, "Your Shal'Iri family name."

Nira calmly replied, "Rava'Hale."

Ihka's eyes widened, "You're Helale's girl?!"

"You knew my mother?"

"..." Ihka's eyes dimmed, she didn't miss the meaning in Nira's reply.

She silently walked towards Nira, staring sadly at her. When she was only a step away, she reached out and pulled Nira into her arms.

Nira stood stiffly like a statue - clearly surprised to be embraced so suddenly.

Ihka ran her hand through Nira's hair, "Of course I knew your mother. We were from the same village."

"Tell me… Nira, what happened to your mother?"

Nira backed away.

"I don't remember you." She frowned with furrowed eyebrows.

Ihka looked a little surprised, but patiently answered, "You don't remember because you were still too young at the time. I volunteered as a spy and was sent to Paruven years before the Eradication."

"..." Nira seemed unconvinced.

"You don't believe me?" Ihka raised an eyebrow.

Nira shook her head, "I don't know…"

"But…" She continued, "If you're from our village, why didn't you help us?"

"My mother knew you were out here, she even told me about you. Doesn't that mean you knew we were…" Nira's tone was frosty.

Ihka sighed, "Nira honey, I don't know how much your mother told you, but there's a very important reason I've been running around these woods all these years. You're right though, I did meet your mother. I even offered to help you two escape."

Nira's eyes widened.

"Then-"

Ihka shook her head and cut her off, "She refused."

"Why?!" Nira asked, a sliver of anguish in her voice.

"If I helped you two escape, my presence could have been revealed, and my mission might have failed." Ihka sighed with sorrow. "Your mother wouldn't allow me to be selfish."

Ihka stared into Nira's eyes, "Do you want to know my mission, Nira?"

A chill ran down my spine. I was starting to feel very out of place.

I stood up.

Ihka glanced at me, as did Nira.

"Where are you going?" Nira asked as I started to back away.

I chuckled wryly, "Did you forget I'm human? Do you think she will let me leave if I hear her next words?" I looked at Ihka.

She smirked, "It makes no difference actually, since you've already seen me."

I paled.

'Fuck.'