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By noon, I had lost track of how many times I had to glare at you today. But this time, I was putting my foot down.
"You're really looking at those the way a starving mutt would a slab of meat," I sighed, catching you staring at the large cyan berries dotting the bushes once more. "Have you any common sense? Brightly coloured species exist as such in the wild for a reason."
"They're so plump though," you insisted, your eyes darting back and forth between the bushes longingly. "Why would poisonous fruits look so ripe and tantalising like that? It makes no sense."
"I can assure you that fruits don't make a conscious decision to appear one way or another." I stopped in my tracks to look back at you, who was meandering off the road again. As you brushed your fingers against the fleshy surface of a berry, as if considering your options, I loudly cleared my throat. You immediately straightened yourself and smiled at me sheepishly in response, to which I rolled my eyes.
"If you're so willing to poison yourself, I won't carry your unconscious body back to civilisation. And no, that's not permission to go and try," I said, wringing my hands. "We're almost at the village. You can stop to eat there."
"Can I take just one, at least?" you pouted. "I won't eat it, I promise. I just wanted to show Dmitri when we deliver his gaatei blood later. Just to confirm it's not edible. I gotta make sure."
"I don't know what further confirmation you could possibly need. If a brightly coloured fruit in a land filled to the brim with other brightly coloured poisonous specimens is not apparent enough to deter you, I just..." I shook my head. "Fine, take it. But you're walking in front now, and if I catch you trying to eat one, we're turning around and heading back empty handed. I can't stand this anymore."
My strategy to make you walk within my line of sight seemed to deter you from any further idiotic ideas, and thankfully, we made it to the village of Dunylnyur shortly past noon without being interrupted.
There were no guards at the entrance to the settlement, I noted as we passed the wooden gates, and the villagers in our vicinity were staring at us intently, though not in an unfriendly manner. Unlike many others, this village seemed to be quite peaceful in atmosphere, with a pervading sense of drowsiness mixed alongside the hum of insects in the distance.
We were looking in particular for the gaatei, a giant, multi-headed omnivorous leech native to the region. The Apothecary's Guild back at Rehjolvnatys needed more of its poisonous blood for their reagent stocks, and you, wanting to help your friend and member of said guild, Dmitri, had wholeheartedly volunteered to help. But it was almost hard to believe that just a few sanaf away from this tiny sleepy settlement, there were deadly fauna wandering the depths of the swamplands, on the prowl for their next meal that likely consisted of limbs from hapless travellers. If they were lucky to only lose their limbs, that is.
Speaking of meals, however, it seemed that you indeed were hungry, the notion reinforced by your stomach's constant growling. I could tell from your strange silence that you were trying to ignore it, which was slightly amusing, though it did not bode well. That was always the first step for you: the second step would inevitably be a continuous stream of complaints and whining.
"If you need to eat so badly, then just go," I said finally.
You stopped dead in your tracks and turned to look at me with barely contained joy in your glassy eyes. "Really?"
"What, you think I'm your caretaker?" I muttered, throwing up my hands in frustration. "I would heavily prefer it if you didn't get yourself killed doing something utterly stupid, like eating obviously poisonous berries. But no, I don't care if you're hungry. Go eat. We'll split up and gather intel on the beast individually, and then we'll rendezvous at the southern gates in two hours."
You looked at me dumbfoundedly, but you seemed pleased nonetheless, as you were grinning from ear to ear. "A-alright! I'll go get lunch then!"
When you saw my exasperated expression, though, you hastily added, "I'll make sure to talk to lots of people for intel while I'm getting lunch too, don't worry. You can count on me!"
I watched as you dashed off, causing several villagers to stare at you with wide eyes as you did so. Evidently, the reason for Dunylnyur's quiet serenity was that it didn't have people like you gallivanting around at all times, leaving confusion and chaos in your wake as you went about your day.
Precisely, that was also the reason why my life was anything but quiet and serene.
After considering my options, I decided heading to the markets would be the best plan of action. There were likely to be other apothecaries there, or those who dealt in exotic creatures such as gaatei, and with any luck, perhaps I could even procure vials of its blood from the locals instead of having to make the time-consuming trip out into the wilds.
Thus, I found myself perusing the stalls, both disgusted but morbidly curious about the strange wares they had on sale. It was much louder here, an ill reflection of the rest of the village's tranquility, much to my disappointment. But I suppose all that energy and noise had to go somewhere.
To my knowledge, most of the wildlife here resembled an amalgamation of slime, scales, or a mix of both, and the products available reflected that all too well. Fresh fish with exteriors that were dotted with unsightly warts, distilled secretions from the bowels of carapaced snakes, jars of bioluminescent fungi that only grew on the backs of moss-covered crocodiles; the selection felt endless and was sure to please any practitioner of the potion brewing arts.
Unfortunately, my presence in the markets did not seem to go unnoticed by the vendors. I was evidently an outsider, and because of that status, they seemed all the more eager to try and sell me their wares.
"Sir, would you care to look at these amulets?"
"No."
"These fermented drinks are a local specialty. Try a sample!"
"I don't want any."
"Would artisan crystal beads be of any interest?"
"Leave me alone."
"They say if you carry a beast's tail, it'll ward off that specific beast. Perfect for travellers!"
"I'm not interested in your godsdamned wares."
Soon enough, I had a veritable crowd of people calling out to me, some of which were even following me without much discretion. I continued to refuse and ignore them, but it didn't seem to deter the pushy vendors in the slightest.
My hand twitched when I felt someone eventually grab onto my mantle, and it took much self control to not reflexively propel them into the nearest food stall with a blast of kheji, even though setting their dirty robes ablaze would've made for a much more satisfying spectacle at this point. An extreme measure seemed to be the only thing that would deter these vendors. But I simply pulled away, not wanting to attract any more attention.
Pushing at those who tried to shove their wares into my face, I took a deep breath and kept walking with the sellers following close behind, trying to think of what I could do in a situation like this that wouldn't be irreparably disruptive.
Violence couldn't be the only option, I told myself over and over again. Yet the temptation of firing a molten projectile at one of the tarps covering the stalls and setting the entire market ablaze was echoing itself in the back of my head, trying to get me to give in. And the cacophony of people around me was not helping me resist that temptation.
I then thought about you. What would you do in this situation? You were the last person I'd look to for advice, but I was also on the last of my wits. Surely, you would cause a spectacle. But not in the way I would. You would do something strange, socially unacceptable, make up something, I didn't know. But you wouldn't be destructive. And perhaps that was for the best for a situation like this.
As several of the vendors tailing me got a little too close to comfort once more though, I decided that I had had enough. In one fluid motion, I shifted, changing into my crane form and taking off into the hazy afternoon sky.
I could hear the remnants of the vendors calling after me as I ascended, but soon enough, their obnoxious voices became replaced by the whistling of the wind through my feathers, and all was well once more. I felt myself untense a bit now that I was alone. Truly, I was not made to handle people. You weren't either, but at least you could manage a smile or whatever it was you did when you were obligated to. How nice it would've been to be painfully ignorant. I almost envied you.
Not wanting to be here for much longer, I flew towards the southern gate of Dunylnyur, where I had instructed you to meet me once you were finished with what you had gotten up to while I was suffering at the hands of the locals.
Once I was back on the ground, I returned to my original form and sat down on a large rock from where I could see the gate clearly. I waited for around half an hour, during which I siphoned kheji from the surrounding flora to sustain my energy, when you showed your face again.
"So I have good news and bad news," you said as you came up to me with a nervous smile.
I held back a long, heavy sigh. I could almost tell exactly what was coming. "What's the bad news?"
"W-well maybe we should start with the good news," you stammered, seemingly taken aback by my apathy. "The good news is that the locals were really friendly! They said if we weren't successful with our hunt, we could stay the night in the inn for free."
"Let me guess," I said, uncrossing my legs. "The bad news is that we still have no information on the gaatei's hunting grounds."
Seeing you look away apprehensively was the only answer I needed. I frowned. Yet as much as I wanted to, I couldn't fault you for your failures, as I had gleaned little to no information about our quarry during my outing as well. But I knew I would rather go back empty-handed than stay any longer in this foreign place. I thought for a moment about what to do next. Then I stood up.
"We'll have to hunt it down without a lead," I said, turning around and heading towards the deeper swamplands. "If we don't find it by sundown, we're heading back to the portal grounds and going home."
"What? How come?" you called out after me, and I could hear you break into a brisk jog as you attempted to catch up.
"The villagers here annoy me. And I don't want to stay in a rundown inn. If we turn back as the sun starts to set, we could arrive at the portal grounds a few hours after midnight."
"You'd rather stay up for half the night travelling than sleep somewhere that probably isn't even that bad?" you asked, disbelief colouring your voice.
"Yes," I said, walking faster. "Now hurry up, or we'll have to do just that."
The dirt path we were following ended not far into our excursion, and we found ourselves continuing to tread through the swamp on a ramshackle bridge. The bridge was too low for my liking: I constantly felt on edge, as if some unpleasant creature would surge out of the waters to assault me, or even worse, soak my garments in that putrid swamp water.
As the afternoon wore on, my patience began to wear thin. We came across many strange creatures, most of of them being quite harmless, albeit grotesque in appearance. Only once did something slink out from behind a tree to attack us, and it made a hasty retreat as soon as I seared its scaly hide with my flames. The wildlife here was much more pathetic than I had expected.
The gaatei, on the other hand, remained shockingly elusive, and I could not detect so much as a whisper of an extra leech head anywhere in our surroundings.
Within one or two hours, a light fog began to settle over the swamp. At first, I had paid it no mind. But when it began to obscure my ability to see into the distance, I felt frustration well up in my chest. If we couldn't discern the details of our surroundings, it seemed that this hunt would be as good as over. A creature that eluded us for this long would only leave small signs of its presence, ones that this fog would likely hide from view.
Thinking heavily on whether we should just turn back now, I abruptly stopped walking for a moment and looked far into the distance, trying to figure out how far I could see if I focused. It seemed I could almost make out the shapes of the trees' canopies...
I was nearly knocked over when you walked into me, and I bit back a curse as I steadied myself from stumbling. From behind me, I heard you falling onto the planks of the bridge with a surprised yelp.
"Sometimes, I wonder how you've survived this long," I started, turning around to admonish you for your ineptitude and clumsiness. But then I saw the sack you had been carrying laying strewn beside you as you tried to scoop up its contents, the frustration I had been feeling this entire afternoon came to a head.
"Why do you have so many of those stupid berries?" I demanded, my hands tightening into fists. I could feel a migraine beginning to settle in. "I thought you said you'd take just one."
"I know, I know, but what if they were actually edible? And delicious? Then I'd have to come back for more, so I figured I'd just take a bunch home with us," you said meekly, looking at me with that expression you made whenever you wanted me to comply with whatever nonsense you had thought up.
You quickly tried to shove the large berries back into the bag, but I kicked at a cluster of stray ones, sending them into the water unceremoniously. I heard a panicked gasp from you as I did so.
"We're taking one. One," I said through gritted teeth. "What did you even do with the rations that were in the bag beforehand? Did you eat them all?"
You looked down with a sad expression. "As a snack..."
I rubbed at my temples. "If you go hungry tonight when we don't find the gaatei, then you have nobody to blame but yourself."
As those words came out of my mouth, I felt the planks in the bridge shift ever so slightly. Something was near. Summoning Imileing into my hands, I had scarcely gripped onto its charred wood when I saw a sizeable head erupt from the water. It appeared for only an instant, ducking back beneath the surface as quickly as it came, and the fiery bolt I had fired reflexively at it sizzled upon making contact with the swamp water and dissipated. But I was sure of what I saw.
"What was that?" you asked, getting to your feet.
"A gaatei," I said flatly, berating myself for not having somehow acted faster. "It's gone now, though. And who knows when it'll come back."
"I'm sure it won't go too far," you said, drawing your rifle. "And it could come back, if this is where it usually dwells. We could just wait here until it shows up again."
Shrugging, I temporarily unsummoned Imileing, but kept my hands at the ready. I had no better ideas at this point, and it seemed that if we were to find the gaatei, this would be our best chance.
We stayed there for quite some time. You eventually made your way up onto a nearby tree, hoping to see something I could not with your new vantage point. That, too, proved fruitless, as the waters were disappointingly still. The minutes melted away into dozens of minutes, and then into an hour, and I began to grow weary of remaining still, listening for the slightest of sounds.
I began to look to other things to pass the time. I started analysing the grooves of the wooden planks at my feet, I started counting leaves on the tree you were perched on, and then I noticed that there were still some berries left on the bridge that you hadn't reclaimed. Without a second thought, I nudged at them with my foot, sending a couple more into the water.
To my surprise, the planks of the bridge started rumbling once more. The connection began to form in my mind. But as that happened, I saw out of the corner of my eye as the gaatei emerged once more, opening one of its voracious mouths to consume what had to have been the berries, before darting back into the waters with speed unbefitting of a large, writhing mass such as itself.
This time, you fired a bolt at it. Unlike my spell, your shot pierced through the murky waters, but it didn't seem to have made contact with anything, as the waters were still once more afterwards, with no sign of a struggle.
"That thing is so fast," you complained, and I could see you ready your rifle to fire several more shots into the waters, as if you could hit it by sheer chance.
"Don't. I have an idea," I motioned for you to stop. "It seems the gaatei enjoys those berries you've brought along."
"Ooh, so maybe we could just keep chucking them into the water," you said excitedly, and I heard you fumbling for your bag. "It'll keep coming for them, mess up eventually, and we'll nab it then!"
"I'm sure there's a more strategic approach to this," I replied.
"A strategic approach?"
"Ideally, we would bring it down with a carefully laid out plan instead of firing blindly and leaving it to chance," I explained, tapping my foot. It was as if I was trying to convey a concept to a toddler.
"So like a trap of some sort?" you asked.
"Perhaps."
You began fumbling with the bag of berries once more, a smile splitting across your face. "I think I have an idea."
Tilting my gaze upwards, I watched as you grabbed two of the cyan berries out of the bag and held it near the tip of your rifle. You formed an orb of water around the fruits, suspending them in the center of the sphere. Then, I watched as you began to channel kheji out of the rifle, forming a long stream of water from its tip, which you merged with the watery orb.
I gave you a strange look, but you paid it no mind, and you played with your rifle a bit, extending and retracting the stream of water that was now conjoined with the orb you had made. Then you looked at me with a cheeky grin. I raised an eyebrow, but motioned for you to continue and resummoned Imileing.
"It's just like fishing," you said proudly before pulling the trigger on your rifle. With a loud noise that must've scared away all the birds in our vicinity, the stream of water gushed forth and elongated, effectively becoming a string tied to your bait, which was floating in your orb. It dropped into the swamp, creating a splash that nearly sent droplets of the green water flying into my face.
I ducked away from the spray and glared at you, which you conveniently ignored, completely fixated on your little plan. Sighing, I stretched my arms a little and held Imileing back at the ready, preparing myself for what was to come.
It took half a minute of waiting, but I was fully prepared this time. As soon as the bridge began to shake, I kept my eyes trained on your watery orb, waiting for a chance to take my shot.
Just like before, one of the gaatei's many heads snapped out from the water to engulf the bait. But this time, the bait was rigged against it. As soon as its maws closed around the orb, tendrils of water burst forth, wrapping itself like ropes around its fleshy body.
"I'm gonna reel it in," you yelled, and I could see thestream of water began to contract back towards your rifle, slowly pulling the gaatei's sizeable body out of the swampy depths. "Make this shot count!"
I didn't fire immediately. I gave it a few seconds, allowing you to struggle and lift all of its heads out of the waters so I could make a clean kill. Then, thrusting my staff forwards, I unleashed a torrent of fiery spikes at the heads and watched in satisfaction as they pierced through their mark, leaving charred, large holes where they entered the gaatei's flesh.
With a highly unpleasant squirming, squishing noise, the gaatei flailed about weakly, swinging its melting heads a few times before going limp in the makeshift net you had formed around it.
But upon its death, you began to cheer: and, forgetting the task at hand, you let the line of water loosen again, and the gaatei's huge body went plummeting towards the swamp, hitting the surface with a giant splash. I saw it coming before it happened and attempted to dodge out of the way, but the large wave of swamp water still hit me, drenching me with algae and other various swamp sediments.
"Oops!"
I began mumbling out all the curses I knew as I grabbed at my cloak to wring it out, not wanting to look at you. If I did, I know I wouldn't be able to control my irritation for long.
"Hurry up and extract its blood," I said as I ran my hands through my long hair, trying to get the wet plant matter out of it as much as I could. I scowled as I flung a piece of algae into the water. "I'm sick and tired of this forsaken place."
"Sick, tired, and wet," you added cheerfully, not seeming to care for my displeasure.
Ignoring you as best as I could, I turned my back to you and conjured up a small molten fireball in my hands. With a deep breath, I threw it as far as I could into the distant waters, putting all my anger behind that one motion alongside a frustrated, furious growl. Breathing heavily, I paused, then threw one more fireball into the water for good measure, watching as its glowing core hit the water with a somewhat satisfying sound before crackling and fizzling out of existence.
With that out of the way, I turned back to look at you, who was staring at me apprehensively, but not unkindly.
"It could be far worse," I deadpanned. "And if you don't hurry up, it will be. For you."
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