Side Story- How Sonya met Falk part two

Annnnd, almost out of mana again. Damn it.

For two days, Sonya did nothing but hide away in the bushes, pushing the weak life magic she had to regenerate as much of the blood she’d lost as she could and killing any smaller creature pulled in by her charm while she waited for her sister to return, feeling her mana plummet again and again as she waited for it to regenerate each time, not feeling any major progress to the skill as she went.

It wasn’t shocking. Both she and her sister preferred to rely on their fists, it was just that Pelenia envisioned a profitable future if they ever got to the point where they’d be able to work in a hospital or clinic with their magics instead so she focused more on that.

Stupid. I should have been working harder on that area too, not just enough to keep me fighting.

The zeroth level of anything was annoyingly weak, but when it came to comparing her combat and her life magic, she’d been devoting too much effort to the first, having the mind that it was better to be able to fight anything off first and worry about the rest after. A mentality that would be changing after everything she’d gone through.

I guess when I’m back I’ll spend a few days at the library. Or should I just get pointers from Pelenia? No, I can’t even imagine how smug she’d act if I asked. Ugh, I’m so bored!

Being trapped deep in the woods, only having the option to eat and slowly heal herself, it felt like the dullness of it all would drive her insane. All she could do to pass it all was quietly observe the forest, watching whatever mysterious creatures were wandering around and keep an eye out for any of the bigger ones moving in the distance.

It was while she was watching a bird fly through the trees that she’d heard a sound from behind her, a gentle snapping of a branch that could have been nothing but made her whip her head, seeing the monsters only a short walk away.

Four legs and a slick, disgustingly fleshy body, the creature at the front lacked anything resembling eyes, only having a strong jaw filled with fangs and three holes above it she took to be nostrils, sniffing the air as it made its way right to her, still far enough to be beyond the range of her charm, but the moment that changed it would have her location in seconds.

It looked beaten and broken, like it had been on the wrong side of a fight and she was sure it was the same thing that she’d been in a blind brawl with, the very reason she was stuck out there to begin with, and worse than anything else, it was a part of a herd.

She couldn’t begin to guess the nature of the beast that would have led it to hunt them by itself when it had others it could rely on, but whatever aspect of its nature had made it decide to do that, it was being ignored now. A dozen other creatures were being pulled in tow, each sniffing at the air, looking for one thing. Her.

She felt herself freeze, not knowing what to do. Her options were run or fight and she didn’t think she was equipped for either at the moment. She was still far from being in top shape, the blood loss she'd dealt with before leaving her too lightheaded to think she’d be able to run for long, but she’d struggled enough going against one, the idea of having to fight all of them was impossible.

If she ran now she wouldn’t have had much of a lead as it was, but it was better than nothing, so shaking herself free of that moment of hesitation she jumped to her feet, pushing herself with all of her might as she used what little mana she’d regained to strengthen her legs to the limits of her lacking ability, not looking back for fear of what she might see. The sounds of feet crashing against the ground behind her was enough to know the danger at her heels.

It didn’t take long for her muscles to start to ache, every cell in her body screaming for air that a lack of blood was keeping it from getting, having to make do with the power of mana instead as she ignored the pain, focusing entirely on her feet hitting the ground, knowing that if she fell they’d be on her and it would mean her end.

As the minutes wore on she kept looking ahead, trying to find a way out. She didn’t think they’d give up. She was easy prey at the moment and with how outnumbered she was she must have looked like a waiting meal to them, but there was nothing. Her eyes didn’t give her a single clue as to how to avoid her fate, it was her ears that gave her a glimmer of hope in the end.

The sounds of water. It was in the distance, but it was there, her faint bit of hope she could rely on. There was no way for her to know if the creatures chasing her could swim, she just had to take the gamble that they wouldn’t be able to and hope that the river she could hear was deep enough to cause them trouble as she raced for it with a renewed vigour, putting everything she had into her final push to make it to safety as it came crashing down again.

By the time she’d reached her destination, she was spent. Enough that trying to swim would have been a dangerous idea anyway, but as she watched the water flow in a torrent until it reached its endpoint, a falls down a cliff's edge, that she was faced with the impossibility of surviving. Her only choice now was deciding how she’d rather die.

It wasn’t a hard one. The prospect of being ripped apart by the creatures that saw her as nothing more than food was worse than any fear of the fall so she rushed into the water, doing her best to cross to the other side and feeling herself fail as she was swept away.

As she was being tossed about with the current, the last thing she saw before going over the edge was the creatures, all looking at her, their mouths drooling in hunger as the meal they’d been working for fell away to whatever awaited below.

---

With camp set up, Falk looked around, feeling content with his choice. It was by the water, giving him easy access to fish to eat as he dedicated himself to getting supplies for his work.

His training under his master done, he needed to set up his own smithy eventually, and while acquiring the metals he needed for his work was easy enough, what was going to cause him the most issues was ensuring his alchemy was properly supplied, both to enhance any weapons he’d make, as well as for potions in general, even if they didn’t always sell well. Just because he was no longer training didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep pushing his skills as he worked towards his goals, but it did mean he’d need to change where he focused his efforts to get the best results.

‘Course, that cranky old goblin could have been decent and given me a parting gift to make my setup a little easier. Would it have been so wrong to give his apprentice a little something so I wouldn’t be stuck out here for weeks to gather? What am I thinkin’, that greedy ass would never.

Even during his apprenticeship he needed to collect most of his own ingredients anyway, at least if he wanted to go beyond whatever he was being put to work on in a given day, so this wasn’t too unusual for him at least, and it was all with a goal in mind. Owning his own shop. At least, that was the first step to the future he wanted, and it would make it damn easier for him to get there.

He’d made decent progress too, having found a variety of plants he could use, as well as a couple rarer creatures about that would give excellent benefits to the items he’d make, with both the bones of it and the plants drying out by the fire as he thought on how he’d put them to use.

Let’s see, any weapon I make with them will be excellent for holding a death enchantment, the question is if I should make it right away when I’m done here or if I should hold off to wait till I get a custom order so I can make something more expensive? I guess let’s see how the rest of the hunt goes and I’ll figure it out then.

He was bound to find a few other beasts fit to put to use as he stayed out there so he was feeling optimistic as he walked to the water with the intention of catching his dinner. It was only when a feeling dragged his eyes to the girl floating through it, more likely than not dead, that he felt his hopes for the trip go out the window.