Chapter IV - A Night Encounter
It hadn't even been a day since the events at the deserter camp, Anna already having responsibilities like defending the camp from potential dangers, and keeping the fire lit. She found it slightly irritating that she had just happened to be on the night shift when it was just about the coldest it could possibly be. She could even see her breath rushing out like flame from a dragon's snout. She found it amusing for some reason. Needing something to entertain herself, she stood up, trying to impersonate a very scary dragon. Her reasoning being that she needed something to intimidate anyone that dares fight her! In reality, she looked like a disappointing mix between a bear cub and a slightly overgrown lizard. She couldn't be intimidating if she wanted to. She seemed to be enjoying herself, even if it was as superficial as just acting like a dragon. That's what was important right?
Just as she was about to attempt another try at her Bear cub dragon dance, she heard a shuffling sound from behind her. She quickly picked up her rifle pulling it up towards the general direction of the sound, only to get it grabbed by a very shadowy person. This shadowy person was soon revealed to be Alberto, who had woken up when she started to make a lot of noise with her Bear Cub Dragon Dance.
"It's me. What kind of paganic ritual have you been performing just now?" he questioned, releasing the firearm as to not cause Anna to feel like she was being held prisoner by her comrade. He had some niceness in him for some things. That, or it was just because he didn't want her to accidentally shoot him.
"H-How long have you been here for?" she asked, sounding extremely timid. If he had seen everything, she feels that her reputation with the group has plummeted to such a low point that she might as well would have been better off staying in that town.
"Long enough to watch your performance. It was very amusing, thank you for the treat," he remarked, seeming to study her reaction. Her reaction suited what he said. She covered her face in embarrassment, feeling like he had found a new thing to bully her with. Even if he did seem to not mind her company, she felt that she wouldn't hear the end of his jokes targetted at her self esteem. It wasn't even high, to begin with. She didn't have any good physical attributes, other than her surprising cuteness, to speak of, nor did she have any unique personality traits that make her worth being around. She was overall, average. "Don't worry. I don't care about that," he said, not giving Anna even a sliver of confidence with the line.
He sat down, leaving Anna to continue having a crisis about her reputation, warming himself up at the fire. It seemed that he had down dressed from when he was sleeping, no longer dressed in the dark brown clothing he was wearing in the afternoon. In his hands was a leather-bound book, having the same design as Anna's one. Calming down, she had decided that she would sit down as well, wanting to savour the warmth of the fire again. She had noticed the book in his hand, feeling slightly confused about how and where he got it. It was too big to fit in his pockets and she would have definitely noticed it from under his shirt. Ruling those two out, she checked her book carrier, finding the answer. He had sneakily taken out the book from her book carrier!
"H-Hey! Why'd you take my book?" she questioned, somewhat half expecting him to give her his signature glare and ignore attitude he usually gives her when she asks questions like this. To her amazement, he had not.
"Saw you carrying this book. Haven't seen you own anything like this before so I got curious. Do you even know how to use it?" he questioned, looking up at her, as if wanting her answer before he excavated through her personal book and belongings. As if her not answering would deter him from sifting through her belongings. It didn't stop him from taking her book directly from her.
"I just have to follow the instructions and say the lines out loud right?" she answered, feeling that it was the most logical answer due to what was inside of the book. He shook his head in disappointment, Anna looking like she had just made a big mistake.
"I don't know if you've come from some unsophisticated country, lived as a sheltered child, or was raised as an idiot, but that's not how you use it. Sometimes I doubt your ability to survive outside of a city where you are protected by the Garda," he groaned, grabbing her hand, pulling her towards him. Staggering, the girl nearly fell over face-first into the fire, the man catching her by the collar. "My father is fond of you for some unknown reason so I'll take it upon myself to educate you so you don't die," he said, still holding onto her by the collar.
He opened the book to the first page, taking out his dagger, handing it to the girl after he let her go. She took it, looking somewhat confused about what he wanted her to do. He sighed, seeming to forget that she was naïve to how she was supposed to do this. "Draw blood with the dagger. I don't care where. Your thumb, your palm, anywhere," he commanded, Anna shaking slightly as she moved the dagger towards her thumb. She gave him a look of "you sure about this," Alberto rolling his eyes to her, signalling that he was probably pretty sure about this. Taking a deep breath, she cut a clean wound onto her thumb, drawing up a bead of blood. She had winced at the sudden pain, even if she knew about what was about to happen. She wasn't exactly that good with pain.
Taking her hand, Alberto dragged her thumb down the centre of the page, the Anna finding this somewhat painful, but decided that she wanted to hide this from him. He had seemed to be extremely irritated or disappointed at her for some reason. She suspects it is because she knows quite literally nothing about the world and the two had to teach her literally everything she needed to survive. Jokes on them, she knows things that they don't know. Like physics and chemistry! But, she had started to feel somewhat unsure if the laws of physics and chemistry even applied here. She'll be sure to test these later on, but from what she can tell, physics works like how it should.
The book glowed a dark purple, seeming to surprise Alberto, who gave her an inquisitive look. "Purple, that's something I've never seen before. Maybe you have something redeeming about yourself for once," he said, speaking in his generic semi-rude tone. She sighed, wanting to pull her hand away from him, Alberto releasing it, allowing her to suck on her wound and try to stop the bleeding. She better not get a scar from this. "Now that you have marked the book, you are able to use its contents. Give it a try, unless you don't know how to cast it," he said, walking up behind her, resting his hand on her back. "Go on Ms Adventurer. Show me what you've got," he said, half sounding like he was serious and half sounding like he was making fun of her. Ms Adventurer her ass. She was Anna. Just Anna.
Not wanting to fight back, she looked at one of the many pictures and drawings embellishing the edges and pages, mimicking the pose that many had. She had her right hand in front of her while her left hand held the book. "Sve agat Ceile, mór mhé árganna scein," she recited, her body glowing a menacing dark purple hue, an equally dark and menacing purple ball of energy forming on her hand. It felt light, the girl being reminded of a shaved tennis ball. She thought it would be bouncy and tennis ball-like. Feeling like she needed to test this, she threw it at a tree, the tree immediately shrivelling up, being reduced into a dried-up hulk of what it was before.
She felt the pressure from her back release, Alberto having backed away from her. He had the look of fear in his eyes, as if she had done something taboo in this world. She turned around, tilting her head at Alberto, feeling somewhat confused at this reaction. He had asked her to try it out, so she did try it out. "What's up, you look like you've just seen a ghost," she asked, approaching him. What had she done to make him fear her so much? Upon closer inspection, she saw that his hand, which had supported her back, looked red and sore.
Shaking himself out of it, he stood up, clearing his throat. This sudden change in attitude reminded her of the debuffs she would sometimes cause in video games like Diablo. "Would I be wrong to assume that you're not some run of the mill person from the city. Few people can summon a fire powerful enough to burn down a house, much more suck the life forces out of a tree. That, and your aura had just gotten rather intense," he mumbled, seeming to not want an answer as he paced around her, Anna getting dizzy trying to follow him. "You have the potential to be powerful, but shame it was wasted on such a disappointing person. You didn't even know how to fire a rifle before we had to teach you," he groaned, looking her in the eye. He had stopped pacing around her, placing his hand on her shoulder, which had given her the chills. It was a deja vu moment for her. He always did this if he was dragging her out of danger or something.
"H-Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, feeling slightly nervous. He looked absolutely terrified when she discharged the spell. He placed his other hand on her shoulder, effectively pinning her right where she stood. He moved closer to her, staring deep into her eyes, as if studying them. Even if she didn't like him, she couldn't help but blush at their proximity, trying to avert her gaze. He replied with placing his hand on her chin, raising it. What's with her eyes? Why did he need to look at it?
"Mhmm, yes. I see how it is Ms Adventurer. You're a bad liar. You know exactly what you and I want, but refuse to believe it. But, I'll leave you to deal with it yourself. It's my shift now. Go sleep. I- We don't need you collapsing and taking up one of our arms carrying you," he commanded her, walking over the tent to grab a blanket, throwing it at her. She pouted, searching for a nice place near the fire to sleep. After their moment of physical closeness, he hadn't looked at her again for the whole night, allowing her to peacefully sleep.
What did he mean, "what you and I want?" She couldn't think of anything that he could possibly want that she wanted. They had nothing in common. He was strong, knowledgeable, while she was weak and just a massive idiot. Her thoughts went on for a while before she could suppress them to get some good night sleep.
Alberto was left tending to the fire, watching out for potential dangers, and staring at Anna. Something had sparked in him. A curiosity about the girl that slept in front of her. Maybe it was her power, or maybe it was something else. He knew something she didn't know. His shift would bring him to the early morning, Alberto eventually passing out. By the time Alex woke up and saw them, he chuckled, finding the two sleeping near each other somewhat refreshing. He probably found them a good pair. Even if they had their quarrels, they did work together quite well. Alberto had protected and soothed her multiple times while Anna had saved his life once. A good trade.