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Salt and Blood - Chapter 20
🕑 Added 2024-09-24 01:46:34 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 19 | Table of Contents | Chapter 21 >>
1.20 - Dangerous Ground
A convergence is a discrete world of its own. It doesn’t follow the same laws as ours. Anything is possible with the power of the tide, and there’s no place that’s more true than in the heart of a convergence.
-Excerpt from ‘Charting the Tide: Esoteric Phenomenon and More’ by various contributors
Trent coughed violently. Only twice this time. A small improvement to the frequent and intense fits he’d been having before and this time he didn’t even spray blood across the mossy forest floor with every convulsion.
“I do trust you Trent,” she said while wrapping his arm around her shoulders and helping him to stand up. “I don’t think we can deal with another monster though. Where did the antlers disappear to by the way? It said I obtained them, but they just vanished into thin air.”
Trent stared at her the way her father had stared at her when she first told him she wanted to be a pirate. A big smile with wistful eyes. “My goodness. You really don’t know anything, do you? Maybe that’s why you’ve managed to earn so many traits already. There’s no pre-conditioned expectations or strategy rattling around in that pretty little noggin,” he said, rapping his knuckles on her scalp.
Rose didn’t mind his playful smack. The backhanded compliment felt weird. She had known for a while now that her rate of growth was rather unusual for someone of her age. Most folk back on the Emerlan Isle wouldn’t even have a single trait at her age, save for perhaps the children of the wealthiest merchants in Greengate.
And she had four.
One was for cleaning, which would be a fabulous asset if she needed to make whatever hovel she found herself in feel a little more like home. Her drawing and fishing traits were a little more useful, with the former offering the potential to help out beyond just illustration. Her latest trait was the real gem.
“It’s in your inventory. You should have one slot unlocked for every trait you have. That’s why I asked before if you had a trait. Without one, the harvest would’ve failed,” he said.
“What’s an inventory?”
Trent laughed. “Sorry, I forgot you’re a complete rookie. Let me explain. It’s like a sort of storage for things. Mostly treasure. It’s tied to your soul, so no one except you can access the things stored inside, which is why it’s so great for storing treasure you’ve looted. Just imagine accessing the inventory and the tide should guide you.”
They continued to walk, each step taking them further into the blue sea of trees. Rose glanced back in the direction of their campsite occasionally. Trent had told her that the rules had changed, but she couldn’t help but long for the comfort of the white sands.
While they travelled she stared at the glittering crystal branches that were now stored in her inventory. They had been miniaturised and a little information displayed underneath the icon.
Crystal Antlers 33
Light Aspect
A pair of antlers from a monstrous stag. They bend and refract light in a fantastic shimmer, while also being sharp and sturdy.
Rose didn’t quite understand what she was being told. Some of the description was obvious. The number was likely a level– the same way her skills were levelled. The failed harvests had dropped the antlers’ level a few times.
Aspect. That was another novel term, one she could guess at the meaning of. “Trent, I can’t just whip these antlers out and use them like a cutlass. What’s the purpose of harvesting these treasures?” she asked.
“It depends on the treasure. Some have immediate utility, others need the handiwork of a skilled artisan before they can be put to use. Those antlers would make a fine weapon, in the hands of the right smith.”
The answer was much more straightforward than she had been expecting. Rose had thought there might be another esoteric feature of the tide to grapple with, but in the end it came down to good old manual labour.
Not much of a surprise– most things in life came down to hard work.
She startled at a pained screech. It came from within the trees, not right beside them but close enough to worry her. There were more monsters lurking and it seemed they were on the hunt.
“This is bad,” Trent said. He was staring at one of the trees. Before, the bark had been a typical shade of off-brown for a tree. Now though, vibrant blue was creeping across the trunk the same way it had when she touched one of them.
Nothing was touching the trees now.
***
WARNING!
This convergence has exceeded critical capacity, breaching is imminent
“Should I be worried about that?” asked Rose. They had stumbled through the forest for almost half an hour since escaping death at the horns of the stag and she was shocked that they hadn’t been attacked by anything else.
Yet.
“That depends on your perspective, Rose. Every cloud has a silver lining and a breach might just mean we get to see the real world sooner than we thought,” said Trent, poking at the moss. It had started to glow now and there wasn’t a single patch of green left in sight. “On the flipside, the local wildlife is going to grow increasingly violent and unpredictable. We’d have to survive the carnage in order to feel the heat of the sun on our faces once more. The real sun.”
He no longer needed her support to walk. The bandage on his shoulder was stained dark wine red, but it seemed to be on a slow mend. The hole in his chest was faring much better and he wasn’t coughing every few minutes any more.
It was a rather inhuman rate of regeneration, but the man had more secrets than Rose had years of life under her belt. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was a skill at work, or one of his traits.
“Trent…” she began, but stuttered out when she realised she didn’t want to know the answer to the question she had been about to ask.
The man in question turned a curious stare on her for a brief moment but returned to the moss even faster. He poked at it a few times and pulled out a small clump, which continued to glow even after it had been separated from its roots.
Rose heard a dull rhythmic thrum. Faint, but constant. It wasn’t the tinny whine that had accompanied her ever since the explosion on the ship. No, this was new. Alarming.
“Do you hear that?” she asked.
After rummaging in his jacket for a moment, Trent pulled out a dagger and tossed it to her. “Take this, you’ll need to be vigilant from now on. More than you have been,” he said.
She fumbled the catch once, but then her fingers closed around the leather-bound handle of the blade. A drop of blood beaded on her finger where the edge had nicked it.
You have learned a new skill!
Endurance 0 > 1
Curious. There were a few reasons she might’ve earned that particular skill. Or perhaps it was more of an all-rounder. No matter. It was just one of many that would join her repertoire before they made it out. If they made it out.
No, Rose was confident in their skills. They would return to the real world and make their way to the nearest safe shore. They had to.
A cold hand grabbed her own and pulled her forward with a jerk. “Hurry, we’re close,” said Trent.
What it was they were close to she wasn’t sure, but the man knew more than her about their situation and so she trusted him, picking up the pace to match his hurried stride.
As they rushed through the trees, she noticed they grew sparser. Yet the overwhelming blue that was a constant glare grew ever brighter. It got so intense that she had to squint her eyes to keep sight of the path through the winding roots.
Then there were no more trees.
A gasp escaped her lips and she pulled back her hand from Trent’s. They had entered a large clearing in the forest and in the centre, with glowing blue roots that pulsed with arcane power that tingled in the air around, was a glittering crystal. Or perhaps an egg? It could even have been a flower bud, but what it was wasn’t really important.
What was important was that Trent was eyeing it like a starving peasant would a rotten loaf of bread. He craved it, that much she could tell.
Not enough to rush for it right away, however. And she could guess why. Rose had little experience with the magic of the tide, but the object in the clearing radiated power even to an uneducated child like her.
He reached out a tentative hand towards the crystal. A chorus of growls rumbled from the treeline and her heart leapt from her chest.
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