Zi'da 1-2, 718
Continued From Here
“Hey dummy, wake up.” Aetu shook the man to see if he was still conscious. She had applied the rune of numbing to his torso so there was a good chance that he couldn’t feel much of his wound. The man’s eyes opened by just a crack. He pointed out into the distance with a trembling hand and mouthed the word “Go.” Aetu tried to follow what he was trying to communicate and it soon clicked. He was pointing to a bag laying against a tree, so Aetu fetched it for him.
“I’m no doctor,” Aetu admitted as she dumped the contents of the bag out, “I think your fate was sealed long before I got here.” She wanted to be able to help the man and pitied his circumstances. He was the one who decided to duel the rhino to the death so he kind of deserved what happened to him. Her spark, on the other hand, enjoyed the suffering. Any actions Aetu took that caused suffering to worsen displeased the spark and vice versa. It was fortunate for the man that the spark enjoyed spending ether more than it displeased relieving people.
“The medicine,” the man choked, “and the clothes.” His head laid back down and he closed his eyes. Aetu found the only bundle that she could identify as medicine and emptied it out. She took the clothes and tried tying them around his hips to apply pressure to the massive wound. Now that she got an up-close look she was fairly certain that this man wouldn’t be walking again without some kind of magical intervention. If only she were a Lucis runewright, then it would probably be within her powers to heal the man.
“I don’t know what kind of medicine you need, and I don’t know how to apply it. Now it’s getting dark so you’re going to have to do what you can on your own. I’ve got to get my horse or it’s free meat for the beasts. I’ll set up camp here even though this looks like one of the least safe spots.”
Aetu walked back to her horse and wagon instead of running. She’d spent much of her physical energy running back and forth and she didn’t need to waste any more ether on endurance runes. Especially if she was going to haul a rhino into her wagon. About an hour was left before the sunset when she finally got her wagon over to the rhino. Now that it was time to haul it away, she had no idea how she was supposed to do that. She’d only killed a gazelle in the past and that was easy to lift into the wagon. A rhino though? That was some serious poundage. “I’m pretty sure that thing would crush my wagon to bits anyway.”
Aetu sighed and pulled out her katanas. She started hacking away at the rhino’s limbs and did her best to alternate her strikes. Even with the dual wielding action and hacking off limbs, the rhino’s carcass was still too heavy to lift. So she spent even more time hacking away the rhino into chunks, probably ruining the meat quality along the way. Only then were the pieces manageable and even then she had to use strength runes to help her do it. “Alright. Now if that man is still alive, I’ll set up camp and we can head back in the morning.”
The sun finally dropped below the horizon and now all Aetu had to go off of was the moonlight. Her whole body was aching and every step the horse took seemed to make her aches worsen. She’d arrive at the rhino fighter’s side and see him just shivering there in the cold, covered with his blankets. “Well at least you’re still alive,” shed say as she inspected him closer, “how are you feeling?”
“Do that thing again,” he coughed painfully, “make the pain go away.” He turned his head and saw that she’d brought a horse and a wagon. “Wait, did you… did you bring the rhino? Do you have a death wish?”
“I’m not the one with a death wish, taking a rhino on one on one with some shitty arrows and a knife,” Aetu snapped back, “now do you have enough energy to help set up camp or are you just going to lay there and complain all night?” She was too tired to be helping this guy out with his pain if it wasn’t a life or death situation. This guy was just a few steps away from having the rune of touch applied to his wound to amplify his suffering. Just the thought made the runewright’s spark buzz with excitement.
“I’m not joking,” the man said worriedly, “you have raw, bloody meat in that wagon. Even I can smell it! How are you expecting to survive the night predators?”
Aetu’s heart sank. She didn’t have an answer. “Don’t give me that look! I wasn’t exactly planning on killing a rhino today alright? If you don’t want to stay here then we can just go back to Yaralon.” The white haired woman checked and saw that the man was indeed a citizen and not someone trying to make the run.
“I think that would be best,” the man said as he did his best to get up without complaining about the plugged up hole in his hips. “I can’t move my legs, just put me in the wagon. And grab my bow and quiver. I think I’m going to need it.”
Soon enough they were on their way back to yaralon in the dim moonlight. The rhino dueler sat at the back of the wagon and held his bow and an arrow. Aetu rode her horse and did her best to guide it back to the city using the most trafficked path she knew of. She’d much rather have fought against another human than something like, say, a lion. Normally she’d not even worry about animals, but the man had been right about the meat. It smelled.
“I think there’s trouble.” They’d made it more than half way back to Yaralon by now without a single word. But only now the man spoke of trouble?”
“What do you mean,” Aetu said with a tired yawn, “I’m barely awake here and the horse isn’t doing much better. Other than that, I think we’ve been doing pretty fine so far.”
“No, seriously. We have company.” The man let loose an arrow that didn’t go very far. He didn’t have much strength or space to be pulling back arrows but he was going to do his best. The arrow flew through the air behind the wagon and thudded into a something that let out a roar. Just after the arrow landed, Aetu heard a rustling sound in a nearby bush and the horse started to pick up the pace. If the horse was spooked, things were probably about to go down.
“What do you think it is?” Aetu said as she twisted her neck to try seeing what it was. There was so little light passing through the clouds that she was only navigating based on large landmarks. Just to be safe though, she scribbled a rune of strength on to each of her limbs and prepared for a fight.
“LIONS!” The man let loose arrow after arrow until he finally let out a blood curdling yell. Aetu turned around just in time to see him get literally pulled out of the wagon by a massive set of shiny, pointy teeth. Only a few seconds passed before Aetu hopped off of the horse and pulled out a katana but she could no longer see the man. His screams were getting more intense but he was also being pulled away. Without warning, a second lion hopped right into the cart and snatched away a chunk of rhino carcass and dragged that away as well. To top off the shitty situation, Aetu saw the glow of a pair of eyes slowly approaching through a brush.
Aetu gulped and stood there in a moment of indecision. She couldn’t quite explain it but she wasn’t scared. Not in the slightest. She knew the risks she was taking and not a single one of them was affecting her judgement. This was the second time she’d consciously realized that something like this was happening to her, and she was starting to think it had something to do with Audrae’s mark. But she didn’t have time to think about any of that. She had to act. So she did.
Aetu placed her hand on her forehead and channeled ether through her fingernails as she forcefully drew out the rune of sight. She’d learned its pattern earlier that day and she knew that she wasn’t supposed to use it. But this was life or death. If she couldn’t see, she wasn’t going to survive the night. More ether than she even knew she had poured into the rune as she drew, until there was a point where no more ether was willingly going in. It was as if her spark felt it was dangerous to keep going and uncharacteristically didn’t want to use any more ether than it already had. Aetu shrugged off all inhibitions and commanded her spark to comply.
The rune upon Aetu’s head burned painfully for the briefest of moments before transferring 100% of the pain was transferred to her eyes. Ether that her body simply was not ready to handle was forcing itself through her eyes and letting her see… everything. She could see nearly as bright as day in this dim moonlight. Her adrenaline let her ignore the pain for the sake of survival and she was going to make good use of what little time she had left.
One fluid motion was all it took to activate the strength runes in her limbs and now she was officially ready to fight. The lion in front of her jumped at her with open jaws but Aetu had seen it coming. She saw its muscles tense up before it even knew it was about to leap. The lion leapt and ended up being slashed by a katana. Aetu didn’t even turn to look at the lion as she was already running off to find the man. She saw him a couple dozen yards away with one of his legs being ripped off by a lion with two arrows embedded in its chest.
“Damn!” Aetu turned back to run to her wagon but she was already being circled by the three lions. She urged her eyes to focus harder, to help her see which would attack first. It was getting harder and harder to do as she could feel the pain intensifying. She could feel her facial tissue literally being torn apart while specs fell to the ground. She probably had a couple minutes before her whole face would be just cease to exist. The lions circled ever closer, almost as if they knew they’d already won. Even though two of them were injured, Aetu knew that she probably didn’t stand a chance.
WHINEY
WHAM
ROAR
Those were the sounds that came in quick succession as the horse joined the fray. Aetu was utterly dumbstruck that her stupid horse had the balls to do anything but run away. The horse had reared onto its hind legs and landed its front legs right onto a lion’s back. In the confusion Aetu slashed away at the lions and even saw a few arrows being sent to help out from where the man had just been laying. As Aetu saw the last lion drop to the ground, she fell as well. She didn’t feel any pain anymore, just a tingly sensation as her spark desperately tried to repair the damage to the skin around her eyes. This would be the mutation that would clearly distinguish her as a mage.
Somehow, the archer managed to get them back to the city by sunrise. Aetu woke up early the next morning, laying in a bed foreign to her. And she couldn’t see. Not yet.
“Hey dummy, wake up.” Aetu shook the man to see if he was still conscious. She had applied the rune of numbing to his torso so there was a good chance that he couldn’t feel much of his wound. The man’s eyes opened by just a crack. He pointed out into the distance with a trembling hand and mouthed the word “Go.” Aetu tried to follow what he was trying to communicate and it soon clicked. He was pointing to a bag laying against a tree, so Aetu fetched it for him.
“I’m no doctor,” Aetu admitted as she dumped the contents of the bag out, “I think your fate was sealed long before I got here.” She wanted to be able to help the man and pitied his circumstances. He was the one who decided to duel the rhino to the death so he kind of deserved what happened to him. Her spark, on the other hand, enjoyed the suffering. Any actions Aetu took that caused suffering to worsen displeased the spark and vice versa. It was fortunate for the man that the spark enjoyed spending ether more than it displeased relieving people.
“The medicine,” the man choked, “and the clothes.” His head laid back down and he closed his eyes. Aetu found the only bundle that she could identify as medicine and emptied it out. She took the clothes and tried tying them around his hips to apply pressure to the massive wound. Now that she got an up-close look she was fairly certain that this man wouldn’t be walking again without some kind of magical intervention. If only she were a Lucis runewright, then it would probably be within her powers to heal the man.
“I don’t know what kind of medicine you need, and I don’t know how to apply it. Now it’s getting dark so you’re going to have to do what you can on your own. I’ve got to get my horse or it’s free meat for the beasts. I’ll set up camp here even though this looks like one of the least safe spots.”
Aetu walked back to her horse and wagon instead of running. She’d spent much of her physical energy running back and forth and she didn’t need to waste any more ether on endurance runes. Especially if she was going to haul a rhino into her wagon. About an hour was left before the sunset when she finally got her wagon over to the rhino. Now that it was time to haul it away, she had no idea how she was supposed to do that. She’d only killed a gazelle in the past and that was easy to lift into the wagon. A rhino though? That was some serious poundage. “I’m pretty sure that thing would crush my wagon to bits anyway.”
Aetu sighed and pulled out her katanas. She started hacking away at the rhino’s limbs and did her best to alternate her strikes. Even with the dual wielding action and hacking off limbs, the rhino’s carcass was still too heavy to lift. So she spent even more time hacking away the rhino into chunks, probably ruining the meat quality along the way. Only then were the pieces manageable and even then she had to use strength runes to help her do it. “Alright. Now if that man is still alive, I’ll set up camp and we can head back in the morning.”
The sun finally dropped below the horizon and now all Aetu had to go off of was the moonlight. Her whole body was aching and every step the horse took seemed to make her aches worsen. She’d arrive at the rhino fighter’s side and see him just shivering there in the cold, covered with his blankets. “Well at least you’re still alive,” shed say as she inspected him closer, “how are you feeling?”
“Do that thing again,” he coughed painfully, “make the pain go away.” He turned his head and saw that she’d brought a horse and a wagon. “Wait, did you… did you bring the rhino? Do you have a death wish?”
“I’m not the one with a death wish, taking a rhino on one on one with some shitty arrows and a knife,” Aetu snapped back, “now do you have enough energy to help set up camp or are you just going to lay there and complain all night?” She was too tired to be helping this guy out with his pain if it wasn’t a life or death situation. This guy was just a few steps away from having the rune of touch applied to his wound to amplify his suffering. Just the thought made the runewright’s spark buzz with excitement.
“I’m not joking,” the man said worriedly, “you have raw, bloody meat in that wagon. Even I can smell it! How are you expecting to survive the night predators?”
Aetu’s heart sank. She didn’t have an answer. “Don’t give me that look! I wasn’t exactly planning on killing a rhino today alright? If you don’t want to stay here then we can just go back to Yaralon.” The white haired woman checked and saw that the man was indeed a citizen and not someone trying to make the run.
“I think that would be best,” the man said as he did his best to get up without complaining about the plugged up hole in his hips. “I can’t move my legs, just put me in the wagon. And grab my bow and quiver. I think I’m going to need it.”
Soon enough they were on their way back to yaralon in the dim moonlight. The rhino dueler sat at the back of the wagon and held his bow and an arrow. Aetu rode her horse and did her best to guide it back to the city using the most trafficked path she knew of. She’d much rather have fought against another human than something like, say, a lion. Normally she’d not even worry about animals, but the man had been right about the meat. It smelled.
“I think there’s trouble.” They’d made it more than half way back to Yaralon by now without a single word. But only now the man spoke of trouble?”
“What do you mean,” Aetu said with a tired yawn, “I’m barely awake here and the horse isn’t doing much better. Other than that, I think we’ve been doing pretty fine so far.”
“No, seriously. We have company.” The man let loose an arrow that didn’t go very far. He didn’t have much strength or space to be pulling back arrows but he was going to do his best. The arrow flew through the air behind the wagon and thudded into a something that let out a roar. Just after the arrow landed, Aetu heard a rustling sound in a nearby bush and the horse started to pick up the pace. If the horse was spooked, things were probably about to go down.
“What do you think it is?” Aetu said as she twisted her neck to try seeing what it was. There was so little light passing through the clouds that she was only navigating based on large landmarks. Just to be safe though, she scribbled a rune of strength on to each of her limbs and prepared for a fight.
“LIONS!” The man let loose arrow after arrow until he finally let out a blood curdling yell. Aetu turned around just in time to see him get literally pulled out of the wagon by a massive set of shiny, pointy teeth. Only a few seconds passed before Aetu hopped off of the horse and pulled out a katana but she could no longer see the man. His screams were getting more intense but he was also being pulled away. Without warning, a second lion hopped right into the cart and snatched away a chunk of rhino carcass and dragged that away as well. To top off the shitty situation, Aetu saw the glow of a pair of eyes slowly approaching through a brush.
Aetu gulped and stood there in a moment of indecision. She couldn’t quite explain it but she wasn’t scared. Not in the slightest. She knew the risks she was taking and not a single one of them was affecting her judgement. This was the second time she’d consciously realized that something like this was happening to her, and she was starting to think it had something to do with Audrae’s mark. But she didn’t have time to think about any of that. She had to act. So she did.
Aetu placed her hand on her forehead and channeled ether through her fingernails as she forcefully drew out the rune of sight. She’d learned its pattern earlier that day and she knew that she wasn’t supposed to use it. But this was life or death. If she couldn’t see, she wasn’t going to survive the night. More ether than she even knew she had poured into the rune as she drew, until there was a point where no more ether was willingly going in. It was as if her spark felt it was dangerous to keep going and uncharacteristically didn’t want to use any more ether than it already had. Aetu shrugged off all inhibitions and commanded her spark to comply.
The rune upon Aetu’s head burned painfully for the briefest of moments before transferring 100% of the pain was transferred to her eyes. Ether that her body simply was not ready to handle was forcing itself through her eyes and letting her see… everything. She could see nearly as bright as day in this dim moonlight. Her adrenaline let her ignore the pain for the sake of survival and she was going to make good use of what little time she had left.
One fluid motion was all it took to activate the strength runes in her limbs and now she was officially ready to fight. The lion in front of her jumped at her with open jaws but Aetu had seen it coming. She saw its muscles tense up before it even knew it was about to leap. The lion leapt and ended up being slashed by a katana. Aetu didn’t even turn to look at the lion as she was already running off to find the man. She saw him a couple dozen yards away with one of his legs being ripped off by a lion with two arrows embedded in its chest.
“Damn!” Aetu turned back to run to her wagon but she was already being circled by the three lions. She urged her eyes to focus harder, to help her see which would attack first. It was getting harder and harder to do as she could feel the pain intensifying. She could feel her facial tissue literally being torn apart while specs fell to the ground. She probably had a couple minutes before her whole face would be just cease to exist. The lions circled ever closer, almost as if they knew they’d already won. Even though two of them were injured, Aetu knew that she probably didn’t stand a chance.
WHINEY
WHAM
ROAR
Those were the sounds that came in quick succession as the horse joined the fray. Aetu was utterly dumbstruck that her stupid horse had the balls to do anything but run away. The horse had reared onto its hind legs and landed its front legs right onto a lion’s back. In the confusion Aetu slashed away at the lions and even saw a few arrows being sent to help out from where the man had just been laying. As Aetu saw the last lion drop to the ground, she fell as well. She didn’t feel any pain anymore, just a tingly sensation as her spark desperately tried to repair the damage to the skin around her eyes. This would be the mutation that would clearly distinguish her as a mage.
Somehow, the archer managed to get them back to the city by sunrise. Aetu woke up early the next morning, laying in a bed foreign to her. And she couldn’t see. Not yet.
