Now, the bond stretched both ways, from Kabi's aura to mine and back again. I touched it and Kabi jumped like he'd touched the edge of an electric wire.

Interesting.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You accepted the bond, like one of my people would," he whispered, smiling for the first time. Suddenly, his spine drew straighter and his head came up high. "It will bring me much honor to follow you north. Though, we will need food and water stored away before we start that trek. Enough to skirt by the Rustlands and not need to hunt."

I ignored pretty much all of what he said, focused instead on examining the bond between us. It stretched out, connecting our auras and humming, almost like the presences within the crystals.

Were those auras inside the stones? I didn't need to be distracted by that, but I'd have to remember to test it later. For now, I had to focus.

"What does it do?" I asked, touching the bond again lightly with my finger.

Kabi jerked again. "What was that?"

I touched it again, and he had to force himself to not twitch.

"I touched the bond between our auras." I resisted the urge to touch it again, to see if he'd jump again. I officially was a horrible person.

"You can see Auras?" he asked in a shaky breath.

"Yeah, I have some skill with them." A skill that I hadn't practiced since it had merged into my class, but between that and the whispering trap skill, I had all sorts of things I wanted to try. "How does this bond go away?"

"It doesn't, unless you release me."

"Oh, that sounds easy enough," I said, with a nod. This could get cleared up quickly and I'd have one less thing to stress over. "How do I do that?"

"I need to accept that my debt has been paid, and that it's the honorable thing to do."

"Which you're not going to do…"

He smirked, but didn't respond.

I let out a sigh and sat down on the rocky beach facing the strange purple water. "Alright, I can handle that for now, but once we leave this planet, you better let me break this bond."

Again, he didn't say anything. Instead, he studied our surroundings. "We should get back to the village before the sun comes up."

"That blue light wasn't the sun?"

"No, that was the blue morning. It comes every other day, before the sun comes up."

I nodded and knelt down with one knee to get up, slowly.

That's when it struck.

Ready for it, I leaped up, and it missed. I triggered my aura, the same way I had triggered the dread aura before. The creature froze.

[Lake Drakelet, Fast Swimmer, Level 68, Prey, Unknown.]

My spear pierced through its head and hit the rocky beach under it. It flailed twice, then stilled.

[You have gained bonus experience from combat for surviving against a level 68, Lake Drakelet.]

Kabi eyed me with blades in all four of his hands. His skin appeared pale, and sweat dripped down his face.

"It's dead," I said with a smile. "Dinner found us."

It was only about half the size of me, and I yanked my spear out. I tried to put it into my inventory whole, and it slid in with ease.

"Perfect, I'll butcher it inside where the smell won't attract other things."

He nodded, but his lips were pressed tightly together as he swallowed.

"You need to speak your mind around me. I can't guess what's going through your head, and if we are going to stay bound, I need to know your mind."

Kabi stammered for a moment, before he was able to articulate his thoughts. "That aura… then you just killed that with one shot? Four levels above you… How?"

"Everything I've fought has been above me. At some point, you get really good at it." I paused with a frown. "Now, let's get back to the others before something else comes up."

Kabi nodded, still looking unsure as he stepped into the tall grasses.

I flashed another look at the lake and the eyes watching from under the water. They stayed out of reach of my radar and didn't attack, but something out there knew where we were, and it didn't feel as weak as the Drakelet had been.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

#

It didn't take long for Kabi to lead me back toward the stone entrance to the flooded city. Lenna hid somewhere above, though I couldn't see her. As we approached, she crept down and met us at the door.

"There you are," she said with a smile, eyes flickering between the two of us. "There is some disagreement between those wanting to stay, and those believing that we shouldn't be here."

Kabi frowned. "Here we go."

He led the way inside, where Cekta waited in the hallway. After the three of us passed by, he drew a few runes behind us to secure the entrance. Hushed arguments were going on beyond the archway.

Everything cut off when Kabi entered the area, all eyes shifting to him. The survivors all stuck close to the archway, with only a few people sitting on the ground. Allo, the only remaining elder, stood tall near the archway, clearly prepared to argue some point.

Before anyone could say anything, I spoke up. "The forests are filled with Harvesters, led by a Forger. This is the safest place any of you can be right now."

Multiple eyes stared at me.

For the first time, I saw what else rested in the giant cavern. The entire front half was wide open, and beyond that stood a broken wall. True darkness took over there, 0but water sparkled between broken pieces of stone.

"Does anyone have any questions?" I asked.

"What happened to Jabba?" asked Allo.

"He made lots of noise by whacking a staff into a tree, and some Harvesters showed up. There wasn't much left of him when they were done."

"And the forest is filled with them?" asked Lisdco with a shaky breath.

"Yes, that's why it took so much longer for me to get back here."

"You don't understand. This city is cursed," muttered another.

"Would those who died here want your deaths?" I asked, but didn't pause for anyone to answer. "Because that's what waits in the forest."

The group wasn't large, only about ten people remained, including the little girl who stayed tucked in her father's arms.

"If that's settled, I have some meat that needs to be prepared and we need to find a source of clean water." I turned away from the crowd and nodded at Kabi and Cekta. Both followed me out into the hallway, while Lenna stayed behind. "Do you want to open the armory for everyone to stay in?"

Cekta grimaced. "I'd prefer if people stayed in the market space. That's the area by the archway. The armory has several traps that I suppressed last time we were here. I don't think I can remove them completely."

"Good to know. Well, I need to cut up the Drakelet I killed, then they can figure out what to do with the rest of it. It will give them something to do. Hopefully, Allo can keep them busy for the moment."

"That doesn't solve their problem long-term," said Cekta. "I can't stay here forever, and Shelli can't get the runes to work on the outside door."

"First, let's stock up on food and water. Then we can start the hike north."

"It will take longer with them in tow," added Kabi, looking unhappy.

"If it takes longer, it takes longer."

By the time I'd wrapped up my chat with the brothers, everyone had been given a task. Items appeared from nowhere, and even Shelli worked on something while sitting on a woven mat.

Allo smiled at me and motioned me her way. "You have a way with people."

"I do my best."

"You have meat?" she asked. "I have a mat you can use so you don't need to set it on the ground."

I didn't even think of that, since nothing bothered my stomach. I took the offered mat and sat away from the others before pulling the Lake Drakelet out of my inventory. Allo followed me, along with a young woman named Cliso.

I ignored them as I got to work, cutting into the dead lake creature's underside and breaking its ribs. Once I found the heart I tossed it into my inventory, even as my stomach growled.

"You need to eat," whispered Allo. "Aso said you eat the heart. There is no shame."

Shrugging my shoulders, I brought it back out and cut it in quarters before popping it into my mouth. It tasted like steak, or at least what the imitation steak tasted like, except this was better. So much better.

Then it was gone. Somehow I ate it all super quickly.

[You have devoured a Lake Drakelet and gained the skill Fast Swimmer. Fast Swimmer: You have improved your speed and efficiency in water.]

The skill wasn't bad at all, and would have been useful when I'd gotten into water in the past. While it used up one of my skill slots, I could always merge it later into one of my skills surrounding movement.

"Something good?" she asked with curiosity in her eyes.

"I've become a better swimmer."

"Ah, that's a good skill. One I wish more of us had. Only the water tribe does very well with the deep waters." She motioned to the rest of the Drakelet. "Do you want me to process the rest of that and get it cooking?"

"If you want to, that'd be great," I said after cutting a hunk off to eat.

Allo quickly cut up the rest of it with Cliso's help, before tossing it into a pot with multiple runes etched into the sides. "We'll get this cooking and make sure everyone gets a bit to eat."

Cliso pushed energy into the runes, which began to glow.

Now that was an interesting use of magic, a cooking pot without fire.

Cekta waved at me when I stood up and I headed over his way.

"Is now a good time to give you a rune?" he asked with a hesitant smile. "I need to create a truth rune for my advancement in my profession, but Kabi already has a skill that does something similar and I want to fulfill my debt to you."

"Sure. What do I need to do?" I asked.

"I'll have you sit down, and then I need you to remove your top. The rune goes here." He pointed to my chest, just beneath my neck. "It's a rune that deals with truth, so it's near the center of your body."

I sat down and noticed Lenna glance my way with a smile. Then I removed my armor. The scratches and holes in it were much more apparent as I took it off, and I frowned at the worn appearance.

"I can take that from you," said Shelli, glancing my way. She had to raise her voice a little, but she glared at the damaged leather. "That needs some real work."

"If you're offering, I'll totally take some repairs."

"Hmp." She got up and grabbed it. "It needs more than repairs."

"I wasn't insulting you. I know nothing about armor."

The heat in her gaze tampered down. "Really? It's just, you know what you're doing while fighting…"

"Yeah, my father trained me to fight, but I don't think he expected me to actually get into any combat." That was an understatement. Though, now I hope he understood this was my life, and it wasn't going to change. Not with me aiming for the top.

"Can you remove your necklace thing?" asked Cekta, staring at the crystal molded to my skin.

I carefully lifted the leather strip that held the crystals off of my neck, which sparkled in the dim light.

One person noticed and slowly everyone went quiet, staring at the crystals.

I hadn't thought about how it'd look to people who were collared with them, to just have one casually wrapped around my neck.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.