Chương 23: Time To Run

The pastel hue of the plains filled Alexandra's eyes as she stared at the hole in the ground. She'd spotted it from a hundred paces away, a goblin burrow much like the one she'd found on her second day on Laika. Her eyes peered through the blur of color, noticing the earthen mound behind the wall of flowers and grass that covered the plains. She flipped the pages of her journal.

Quest Journal Daily Reset: 06: 00 | Streak: 5 Days | 0% All Stats Next Milestone: 10 Days Daily Quests: Slay two goblins (0/2) She'd asked Lara; goblins were typically between level one and five. At least in this area. It wasn't much, and individually, they posed little threat to the villagers. But the plains were vast, and their breeding speed high, so wiping them out wasn't an option. Not that there was much drive to do so. Low level monsters were the perfect training partners for teenagers. Or Alexandra.

She ran her gloved hand over her scars. This time she wasn't going to let them hurt her. Alexandra moved closer to the burrow, careful not to make noise. She crouched beside the entrance and waited. The first goblin came out alone, blinking in the light. She cast Inflict Weakness before it could react. Its legs went soft, its body tilting forward. She was already moving, stepping inside its fall, hooking its wrist at the extension of her arm and pulling it past her hip. It hit the ground face first.

She brought the blade down once and stepped back to her position. She wiped the blade on the grass. Listened. Movement below. More than one set of feet. She shifted left, putting the mound at her back, out of the sightline of anything coming up through the entrance. She gripped the sickle loosely, blade down, and waited. Two came out together, shoulders bumping in the narrow opening. The first cleared the entrance and turned right. The second followed, turned the same way. Neither of them looked left.

She stepped out of her hiding spot and cast Inflict Weakness on one. It staggered. She left it and moved to the second before it had registered her, hooking its leading arm at the elbow, pulling it off its feet. It went down into the flowers. She put a knee on it, finished it, came back upright. The weakened one had turned. It was listing to one side, its right arm hanging. When it saw her, it chirped. It's calling for reinforcements. She smiled. Good.

She took the outside, let it swing wide, stepped in behind the motion and hooked the back of its knee. It folded. Two hits on the ground. She returned to the mound. Three down. Her quest was already complete, but she needed to push herself. Silence from the burrow. She gave it a full minute. The bell flowers moved in the wind to her left. A pink-legged bird picked through the grass thirty meters off, indifferent. Nothing came up from the entrance.

Then a head appeared, then shoulders, then the whole goblin pulling itself up with both hands on the lip of the entrance. She waited until it was fully clear. It straightened up. She let it. Taking the first three goblins by surprise had worked well. Too well. She wanted a challenge. Hook to the collar, pull forward, step through. It went past her and into the grass. She finished it before it rolled over. She straightened up and looked at the entrance. The grass around her was still.

A splinter of morning light caught the blade of her sickle. She cleaned it properly this time, drawing the blade slowly through the grass twice on each side. She stood up, checked her footing, and looked out across the plains. Goblins wouldn't give her what she was looking for. She summoned her journal. Slay two goblins (2/2) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 STR Daily Quest Streak: 5 -> 6 Not even a skill level. Unwilling to spend more time dealing with pests, she stepped back from the burrow.

Journal still open, she flipped the pages to her skill quest list. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. It was still early morning, she had a whole day ahead of her. The first item on her agenda was to run. Her reasoning was simple. Running might not be the most impressive skill, but it was always going to be useful. Furthermore, it would apply directly in combat. That said, her quest was asking for 100 kilometers in a day. She wasn't ready.

She dispelled her journal, and started with a light jog. Even on earth, she hadn't been a runner. However, she remembered the tortuous physical education classes of her teenage self. Going too fast meant risking burning out early. So she went slow. The ground was uneven, filled with flowers, tall grass, and rocks. The plains were relatively flat, though it didn't feel that way when she was going up an incline. She was breathing. In, and out. Controlled. Alexandra ran until her lungs started burning.

She slowed to a walk, hands on her knees, breathing through her mouth. It had felt long. Longer than it probably was. The sun hadn't moved much. She straightened up and summoned her journal. Running: Run 100 kilometers without stopping. (3/100) She stared at her progress as it erased itself. Running: Run 100 kilometers without stopping. (0/100) Three kilometers. Out of a hundred. She flipped to her status. Constitution nine. She wasn't unfit. She'd walked fifty kilometers two days ago and survived, albeit barely.

But… Yeah, she was unfit. A few points in constitution wasn't going to be enough to change that. She looked back at the plains ahead of her. She started again. She ran until she couldn't, walked until she could, and ran again. The pattern repeated itself across the day. Short bursts, each one ending with her hands on her knees and the counter resetting to zero. The plains made for poor running ground.

The flowers hid rocks and dips, and more than once she turned an ankle on something buried in the grass, catching herself before it became serious. Around what she guessed was midday, she sat down in a patch of bare earth and ate the bread Lara had packed for her. She hadn't asked for it. It was sitting on the table when she left. The afternoon sessions were harder. Her legs were tired from the morning, and her back was starting to ache. She kept the pace slow, focused on breathing, and tried to find a rhythm.

By the time the sun started dropping she'd lost count of how many times the counter had reset. She summoned her journal one last time. Running: Run 100 kilometers without stopping. (5/100) Five kilometers was her best unbroken run. She knew it without the counter telling her. It wasn't much. In her defense, she'd been running all day. All together, she had to be close to fifty. Maybe a little less. Alexandra knew that this would help her over time.

However, as she walked back home, she decided to dial it back a little next time. Running all day was too extreme, and she had other things to work on. The setting sun painted the ground orange and the sky pink as she entered Lanterne. The first thing she noticed was the silence. Not the absence of sound; the village was alive with it, doors closing, a child being called inside, the scrape of a chair somewhere. But the conversations that had been happening stopped as she passed.

People watched her from doorsteps and windows, and the ones who didn't look away… She would have preferred they did. John was standing outside the third house on the left, arms crossed, watching her come. She kept walking. He stepped into her path. She stopped. He looked her over. Hood, gloves, scars, the slight wrongness of her silhouette where the missing finger pulled the glove flat. His expression didn't change.

"You know what you are?" he said. She waited.

"You're strange," he said.

"Wrong kind of strange. The kind that brings trouble." He tilted his head toward the village around them.

"These are good people. They don't deserve what you're draggin' in with you." She met his eyes and said nothing.

"I talked to Marick," he continued.

"Told him you should go. Sooner rather than later." He smiled.

"Better pack your bags." She stepped around him and kept walking. He didn't follow. She could feel him watching until she turned the corner. The rest of the street was quiet. A woman pulled her child inside as she passed. By the time she reached Lara's house her jaw ached. She hadn't noticed she'd been clenching it. Therion was sitting outside on the step, elbows on his knees, watching the plains. He looked up as she approached. His eyes went to her face, then away.

He moved slightly to the left, making room on the step beside him. She sat down. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"John's an asshole." She flinched.

"You've heard him?" He didn't deny it. Another silence.

"He's an asshole. But you're not helping your case." Alexandra grabbed her knees.

"Why not answer?" Therion picked a strand of grass.

"Why stay silent? Speak. Defend yourself." He paused.

"Gloom isn't going to get you anywhere."

"I know," she said. Therion waited.

"I just." She stopped. Started again.

"I don't know what to say to them. I never have. Not to anyone." She looked at her gloved hand. Therion pulled another strand of grass.

"You can count on us." She didn't answer.

"And Bamir," he added.

"And Marick, more or less."

"Marick wants to use me."

"Yes." He didn't argue the point.

"Plays in your favor." She looked at the plains. The last light was going orange across the flowers.

"What do I say to them?" she asked.

"Anything." He shrugged.

"You don't have to be interesting." He dropped the grass.

"You walk through the village like you're waiting for it to be over. They can tell." She opened her mouth.

"I know," he said, before she could speak.

"It's hard. It doesn't matter." He stood up, brushing dirt from his trousers.

"They're not asking you to be someone else. Just stop being creepy with the silent stares." Alexandra blinked, and laughed.

"You're the one who says that?" Therion smiled.

"My silent stares are not creepy. They're kind and caring. Learn the difference." He went inside. Alexandra stayed on the step. The plains were going dark at the edges. Somewhere in the village behind her, people were eating dinner, closing shutters, settling in for the night. Normal things. She sat there for a while longer. Then she went inside too.