The test: part 1

We walked for what felt like hours before we finally heard water. At this point anything to drink seemed like a blessing. Natsuki started to speed up her pace. First a walk, then a speed walk, then a jog, then a run, until she was full blown sprinting to the river. When the water was completely in view she jumped, immediately being submerged by the water. On the other side of the river was an open field. I stood there for a moment to take in the scenery before jumping in and swimming to the other side. Natsuki hadn't surfaced the entire time and was nowhere to be seen. The water was almost crystal clear yet she was gone. Jumping in again, I looked around and saw her foot stuck around some weeds. However, before I could get to her, she burned the seaweed till it snapped. Quickly, she swam to the surface gasping for air. Before resurfacing I took one final look around. Once I had seen enough clear water I made my way back to the shore.

"I think I just gave a shining example as to why you never dive alone in an area that hasn't been scouted." she said, wringing her shirt out.

"That rule may apply to other people but you never really have to worry about it." I replied, laying back.

"You know? I know why you decided to save me but what made you truly decide me? Afterall, I could have been a psychotic killer for all you knew." Natsuki asked, staring at the clouds.

"Why did I choose you? I tell myself the same thing as to why but at that moment I didn't even have a reason. In other words, it was on a whim. I figured out why I still fight but I never did get a chance that night to make a proper decision. I knew neither side or the situation y'all two were in." I replied, as the clouds slowly got darker.

"A whim? If we were to somehow turn back the clock, do you think you would make the same decision? Do you really think in all honesty that you made the right decision?" Natsuki asked, turning to face me.

"In a world as crazy as this one, a man would really start to question his decisions that led him to this point. I have done so a long time ago and more than once. I have decided that in the decision I was faced with I made the right call and I'd make it again if I had to." I replied, facing her.

Immediately, she jerked her focus back to the sky and did her best as to not show her emotions. I could tell she was holding back tears as her face turned red. Slowly, drops started to fall from the sky. First a few drops, then a slight sprinkle, then with a crack of lightning rain came flooding out from the sky.

"Well, there goes drying off." Natsuki said, standing up. Her voice had turned raspy from holding back her tears but nevertheless she stayed confident. In the trees, we could see prying eyes beating back at us.

"Alce and Rosel are stalking us again." Natsuki said, now being annoyed.

"So what, if they want to stalk us then we just stop trying to lose them and settle in. This is a pretty good location." I said, peaking her interest. We made our way over to the tree line of the field before Natsuki changed into a blade to cut down some trees.

"Hey Nat, do you remember that thing we did way back? You know, before we were captured by Alce?" I asked, thinking about the devastation it caused.

"That? I don't even know how I did that." She replied, remembering it.

"Well, now's as good a time as any to try to figure it out." I responded while checking the surroundings. Natsuki started to zone out while she reflected back to the day.

"We can give it a couple of shots." She replied. I stood there, blade in hand for what felt like an hour while Natsuki thought about how to even start.

After three hours we stopped trying to recreate what had happened and just started to chop at the wood. The trees were thick; at least a foot in diameter, yet they still fell after only three swings. The sun had finally apexed in the sky before I stopped chopping. Both Natsuki and I were famished from the time and effort, so we headed down to the river to catch some fish for lunch. By the end of the first ten minutes I had caught four fish on my sword before Natsuki cooked them. The ability to control fire to an unrealistic extreme really helps in survival situations. She had the fish fully cooked in a few minutes. Once she said they were ready to eat we both devoured the fish. While we were waiting for our food to digest, Nat was messing around with a fireball. In one hand she would create it, then she'd roll it, then she'd try to engulf her arm in it. Her attempts were of no avail as the flame wouldn't even get past the hand, let alone her arm. After seeing her fifteenth attempt an idea finally came to me.

"It might be a bit of a stretch but there might be a way of easily figuring out the technique." I said, grabbing her attention.

"Anything but mindlessly trying the same thing. So what's your grand idea?" She asked while climbing to her feet.

"If you can create a fireball in your hands then maybe you can make a fireball at the tip of an arrow and by extension use your power in an attack. By this logic, if we can control your flames enough we can imbue a blade with it and use it like that day." I explained, grabbing her hand.

"I guess it's worth a shot. The only problem is, I can only turn into a sword, not a bow." Natsuki said disappointedly.

"Why not give it a shot?" I suggested.

At first, she was hesitant but quickly agreed. She turned into a sword first before finally attempting to turn into a bow. After about three minutes she finally figured out how to reshape herself to a slight degree. Right above my hand, she made a fireball for me to pull back like an arrow. Slowly, I drew the string back, stretching the fire. Around half way, the fire became unstable and exploded, scorching the grass around us. Thankfully, Natsuki's soul protected me from the intense flames.

"I had a feeling that would happen. It's a lot harder to control the flames when I'm constantly increasing its intensity." Natsuki said.

"Let's just give it another try." I demanded, grabbing the draw string.

Natsuki was very hesitant to continue due to the inherent danger of the tests. Eventually she gave in and tried again. Test 2 : fail, Test 3 : fail, test 4 : fail. We kept trying all the way till Test 25, when a full arrow was finally achieved. It wasn't nearly as devastating as the fire slash was but it was complete. I turned towards a tree and released, sending the arrow flying at the tree. Once it made contact, an explosion blew several trees out of the ground. Upon closer inspection, the tree's bark was completely disintegrated.

"See, I told you we'd achieve something if we just kept at it." I said, as I fell to the ground out of exhaustion.

"That you did, but look at how it affected you." She pointed out, changing back into her human form. Slowly, she carried me to a log that we chopped down earlier and set me down to rest.

"Do me and yourself a favor and just try not to move so much so you don't kill yourself." She said, before sitting down next to the log.

I ended up falling asleep on top of the log from the lack of movement. Natsuki also fell asleep next to the log. I ended up waking up once the sun was starting to set and the light started to recede. I sat up and looked across the river to see if Alce and the other woman were still there but they were no longer there. They were probably setting up camp for the night. I left Natsuki asleep and started to break off some branches from the downed trees for firewood. The tree's wood was thick and sturdy but almost as sappy as pine. After gathering a considerably large pile of wood, Natsuki finally woke up. While there was still light, we went to catch a few more fish for dinner. There was no telling what was in the forest, let alone what might come out later at night. All that was around was red vines and those were far and few between. With what remaining light we had after catching some fish, we chopped the wood up into pillars to put in the ground. Slowly, the sun receded into the tree lines and the fana came to life. The moon eventually peered through the clouds offering soft light to the land beneath allowing for us to see once again. Surprisingly, the night stayed pretty warm leaving no reason for a fire. Under the light of the moon we moved the logs to their locations to form a frame for the house. Once they were in place, we went to debark some of the trees so we could use their wood to make floors. The night felt like an eternity as we chopped, placed, and secured the wood to the many pillars. First was the supporting boards, then the first layer of wood, then the second layer for the actual flooring. It took till the sun came out to finish the floor but there were no delays. We were both worn out from working through the night but with the sun rising came new problems and tasks. One of the main problems was food as we still didn't have anything saved from the previous day. Most of the trees we had cut down the other day were also used up so more wood would be necessary. As the soft white rays turned gold and rigid we made our way to the river to address the food situation for the day. As we approached, we noticed a creature drinking at the river. It wasn't much bigger than a dog, but it still had long claws on the end of its paws and seemed quite dangerous. However, what we didn't realize was that its scales were much thicker than it originally appeared. As we slowly approached, Natsuki changed into a blade to get ready for the fight. Slowly we snuck up, but when we got to the creature, it had disappeared. Rushing over the river to find the potential threat, I looked into the water. The moment I came into view, the creature pounced out from below the surface of the water, pinning me to the ground. One of its claws had pierced my shoulder upon impact, sending a jolt of pain through my body. I had to use Natsuki to stop its jaw from clamping onto my head, further limiting my options of attack. I quickly put my foot on its stomach and pushed with everything I had, forcing it to jump off of me causing the claw to be ripped out of my shoulder. Without a second to react, the creature was already sprinting back at us. I forced myself to my feet and attempted to dodge it when it tried to pin me again. For the most part I avoided the lunge but it skimmed me with its back, ripping my arm open in several places. It pounced several more times and with each pass by, I swung at its body. However, my blade only bounced off its thick scales leaving nothing, not even a scratch. I could tell Natsuki was in complete distress, trying to think of a way through its armored scales. Slowly the blade started to glow from the frustrated heat. I had to continue to try and dodge the creature while Nat thought of something. Finally, I was tired out to a point where I couldn't dodge it anymore. I raised my blade with the intent of a final strike out of desperation. When it finally turned back around and pounced again, I thrusted my blade at its chest. The creature moved its arms in the way of the blade but it didn't stop the blade and pierced its chest causing it to jump back. The creature seemed disoriented giving me a slight opening. Quickly, I rushed to it and swung upwards at its head. Just before the blade could connect to its head it fell over backwards. Its arms were now severed from its body leaving it exposed. Without hesitation, I thrusted downwards at its head. The creature quickly shoved its claws from its hind legs into my gut. Through the pain, I finished the creature off. I stabbed its head and body several times until the body was completely limp before Natsuki transformed back. Slowly, I took a few steps backwards to get its claws out of me. My lower body was soaked in blood making my body feel heavy. Natsuki quickly got behind me before I could fall over.

"That could've gone a lot better, don't you think?" I asked as she helped me to the ground. "Yeah, it could've went so much better. Next time, watch the legs." Natsuki said while heating up her hand. Natsuki cauterized all my wounds before we worked on getting some more food.