XXXVII. The Woman

With the tip of his tongue, he tasted the liquid on his finger.

Despite the tiny amount of fluid ingested, Dag felt strange: a feeling of power filled his body to such an extent that he could feel and see at an even greater distance than his more developed average senses.

His pupils dilated and the blood in his body began to circulate more slowly. His heartbeat slowed down: it was as if, for a few seconds, he had reached a state of absolute calm.

The effect lasted a few moments when Dag recovered. He felt like after waking up from a beautiful dream.

"What the fuck is this?" said him aloud.

Thalos rotated his head, trying to figure out what afflicted his young master.

Without thinking twice, Dag ran to the farm and took a vial he had just seen on the same shelf as medicinal herbs and ointments.

He went out again and filled the vial with magenta fluid.

He didn't know why, but he felt extremely strong power after ingesting a single drop of fluid: he absolutely had to know more.

He returned to the farm, Thalos followed him.

"Maybe I should wipe your snout, my friend," said Dag, turning to the wolf.

Thalos kept staring at him.

After filling a bucket of water, Dag soaked a rag in the bucket and approached his friend.

He had never been able to caress him, but approaching him cautiously, it was easier than expected.

After cleaning Thalos' snout, he pulled the vial out of his pocket and continued to fix that fluid. He probably should talk to Magni the next day.

The matter was getting too complicated and Dag didn't know if he could handle it completely on his own.

First the undead attack, then the Renegades and lastly the mutant crow.

No one in his 18 years of life had ever told him about things like that, not even during his earthly childhood.

But that feeling of power, of invincibility...

Dag kept thinking about it intensely.

He had the ability to greatly increase his strength, combining that power with what came from the skills he was learning.

Poor Dag was exhausted.

He went back to bed and fell asleep like a rock.

After a few hours of sleep, he woke up. The morning light lit up his face as he passed through the window.

He touched his leg and raised his bandage slightly to see what the condition was in.

The leg was definitely better and the wound had almost completely healed, leaving a deep scar. The ointment must have taken effect.

Dag got out of bed and walked to the table, to check if the vial with magenta blood was still where he had left it the night before.

It was still there, in a little leather bag next to the scrolls. He took her, taking it with him.

As his leg was definitely better, although Dag still felt a broken bone feeling on himself, he was determined to continue his training.

After drinking water and eating a loaf of bread to regain his strength, he wore back his clothes and left the farm, walking down the uphill path.

Bloodstains still painted the scenery in front of the entrance. There was nothing left of the bodies: the crows had dusted everything, to the last bone.

The corpse of the undead raven had disappeared into thin air and its magenta blood remained untraceable: perhaps the vacuum of the vial prevented the fluid from coming into contact with the oxygen, which would have evaporated much faster than a normal liquid.

Dag remembered something of the chemistry lessons Lady Ysabel taught on earth.

That liquid did not seem to comply with many chemical laws, but Dag understood that by increasing the pressure of his container, hermetically closing the vial, it could prevent its evaporation.

He kept walking along the path. Thalos followed him, keeping his distance. He was probably hungry and looking for a morning snack.

When he reached the clearing, Dag stared at the training dummies. He wanted to try to exercise "Adamant Mountain", but he didn't know how.

He also read something about "Niva" a few days earlier but had noticed that no new runes appeared on his arm.

The day before he could use Niva against his opponent, thus managing to guess his level of strength, but he was too scared.

He wanted to end the fight as soon as possible.

He continued to climb the mountain, to head for the stone blocks.

The path became narrower and steeper.

Suddenly, when he was almost at the top, he heard sounds coming from the dense forest to his right.

They were sounds of branches moved and trampled, of fast steps. It looked like someone was running through the trees, but in a disorderly way and with an irregular stride.

Dag turned, looking behind him. Thalos wasn't there, he must have gone away to hunt.

The sound in the trees grew more intense. Dag's hearing had improved even more, he could see that sound in the distance even without focusing particularly.

He left the path and headed in the direction of the noises, driven by curiosity.

Among the tall, dense black pine trees of the forest, the light of the sun that had just risen barely passed, leaving in darkness some areas.

Dag could hardly see anything, only followed his incredible hearing.

After walking about half a mile, he finally managed to see something moving between the plants.

She looked like a woman.

Dag continued to approach, crouching slightly: the woman was running away from something. She moved frantically and was out of breath.

Dag thought about the farm and that side of Mount Torden. His master was specific when he told him that the closest village to the farm was about 9 and a half miles away.

That woman seemed to be exhausted. He'd probably been all that way before, if not more.

She kept looking behind her to see if who or what was following her was still behind her.