Cursed Explorer of the Arcana

Man, they’re persistent. Why are they even trying to win so hard, they won’t even get anything? I worked my ass off to make all those diversions, fake tracks and avoid any beasts I came across. They would’ve been great practice for my Skill for sure but slowing down and leaving clear signs of my passing when I try to shake off my sloppy hunters is just straight-up stupid.

Not anymore though, because I can clearly hear someone hot on my trail. Just moments ago Kayla cried for help and I actually hope it’s her rushing after me instead of the speedy August or Victor with his bow. Or something hungry… Not that the others can hurt me. I must be returned unscathed, my biggest ace in the hole.

My hunch is soon confirmed along with the sad reality that I might actually be the slowest of us all as Kayla is closing in steadily.

“Just let yourself be caught so we can do something fun together!” She shouts after me, her voice all giggly and showing no signs of tiring.

That’s just elves in a forest for you, agile and born for this type of environment. Although from what I heard Kayla literally spent most of her life living amongst animals in the wilderness. She’s a real jungle girl.

To shake her off or at least make following me more difficult I take to the tree tops, using generous gusts of air to help me climb and jump between branches.

She’s not the only elf around, even if I’m just a half. I’m a pro at climbing and let’s not even mention all the obstacles we race across in the back alleys of Meliorport with the gang… I won't be outdone that easy.

Having the wind give you a gentle push with each jump can mean a lot, especially with foliage this thick.

“Catch her, she’s up in the trees!” I hear the sweet greenhead yell again a bit closer now.

I really hope this isn’t August catching up.

Soon I learn why she keeps yelling around in the forest besides talking to me. Animals, birds to be more accurate. The small feathery fuckers jump right as I’m literally leaping over to another branch. They’re more irritating than dangerous since the three… I don’t know bird species, anyway, they’re just simple animals but even that is more than enough when you’re in midair and need to land perfectly on a branch as thick as your wrist. In short, they mess things up.

I catch myself after slipping, just barely. Falling off from a branch at least twice as high up as I’m tall sounds like a painful end to this fun little challenge. Except if Martha is around to catch me but even then that’d mean my loss.

“Screw you.” I mutter to the birds as well as Kayla and whistle.

Oh yeah, I can whistle, it’s much cooler than humming a tune even if I sound tone-deaf.

Not just the simple blowing air through my lips type of whistling, oh no… it’s more of vibrating the air just like I did when I screamed in the shadow’s clutches ear-piercing type of whistle. I don’t really care about beasts or being found any longer with Kayla not far behind. By the sound of things, she’s actually climbing after me right now…

Anyway, the birds. They fall out of the air like some lifeless feathery balls and whether they die or not… honestly, I couldn’t care less. They went after me so this is only fair.

I’m quickly back on my feet, just in time to see a head covered with hair just as green as the leaves pop out through the lower branches a few trees away.

“That was mean.” Those yellow eyes, always jolly and curious carry something sinister in them as she says that, something that makes goosebumps run laps all over my back.

“Right back at you, sending your werebirds after me.” I huff before taking off.

I really don’t want this grumpy Kayla to catch me.

A few more jumps, a few more branches, a few more birds, and plenty of curses later something special comes into sight. A cliff, a small one, more like a steep slope stretching in both directions, making the treetops look like green steps for the giants. It’s quite the fall and an even more impressive jump.

Glancing behind me at the green demon with a sinister smile and gleaming eyes is all it takes to gather my courage. That and my desire to win. And maybe a sprinkle of curiosity about what that special gift might be. All in all, I jump.

With a mighty gust to make sure I make it my small body sails over the vast swathes of woodland. A bit faster than I first imagined.

My forward momentum does its job however I think I underestimated a bit just how massive the height difference was between me and hopefully not the ground. I panic, just a little but the excitement and the amount of fun I’m having are too strong to give room for fear.

I spread my legs and arms, creating a larger surface and push with another generous application of wind magic

“This will suck,” I mutter as the first small branch smacks me in the face.

Throwing every other instinct aside I focus on trying to grab onto something, anything really. It’s not that simple. My limbs get stuck on branches left and right turning my controlled fall into a… I don’t know what to call this… messy, spinning bouncing?

After about the fifth roll, not that I’m counting, I finally grab onto a thicker bough, coming to a sudden halt with a strained grunt.

That was a dumb idea.

A few scratches, some smaller bruises maybe… but it worked. I’m pretty sure Martha is around though so it was a calculated risk. Yeah, exactly that.

Climbing back to the treetops I scout the area, mainly checking the spot I jumped from, finding Kayla after a few seconds. Her face seems worried, eyes searching for me before I straighten up cracking a victorious smile. Then her creepy smile returns…

“Come!” Her voice echoes once more over the trees as she turns around and sprints back to where we came from.

Is she looking for a less crazy way down? That should be enough time to shake her off and implement the second step of my-

I let go of that line of thought as my eyes prove me wrong and Kayla lounges off the same branch I used whooping like it’s all just a game. She has no magic to guide her, no Endurance to survive this or…

“Martha do something!” I yell as she starts plummeting.

She’s no flying mage or burly tank to survive the fall… but she does have something else. A flock of birds big and small swarms out of the treeline, shooting after Kayla like a massive shadow. They grab onto her clothes, hair, libs, and even ear, flapping their wings and… becoming her wings.

With an almost mad cackle, she slowly descends right towards me which is just what I need to wake up from the wacky dream right in front of my eyes.

I shouldn’t be surprised by anything today.

Seeing her up her game I don’t hold back either, throwing a few weaker lightning sparks in her direction before disappearing in the foliage. The few chirps, similar to that when you almost crush a baby chick underfoot, with a distinctly girlish yelp and grunt tell me I hit the birds and made them successfully drop Kayla.

This will slow her down a little, time for a trap.

Nothing fancy really, just the typical ‘I surprised you in a corner and kicked out your leg’ stuff. It works and that’s all I need and somehow it feels wrong to try and hurt Kayla… she’s like a clueless puppy.

As I take up position on a chunky tree and sharpen my ears to pick up even the slightest of movements the sound of her movement becomes more crisp, more pronounced. That, along with another, much faster rhythmic drum of footfalls.

“Shit!” Without looking around or thinking really I abandon my hiding spot just for a few pebbles to bounce off the bark a moment later. “Unscathed you idiot!” I yell and continue running.

I’m really thankful Mom and Dad made me do all those laps when they trained me because right now both agility and stamina are crucial and I’m not doing too fine on either of those. I’ve been running for half an hour now, hopefully, and there’s not much more left in me.

I need to stall for time a little longer if possible and hope they won't be able to drag me back fast enough. I can’t win a one versus three and in case I catch one of them alone they can just retreat and regroup.

With August around it’s only a matter of time before this chase turns into a full-on fight. I need to take down at least one of them.

After about a minute a small pack of three wolves joins us, chasing mostly August while following Kayla and me up on the branches. August can easily outrun them… so I do a nasty on Kayla. Giving up my momentum and lead I stop after doing a cheeky swing around a thinner trunk with plenty of branches. The moment Kayla catches up I throw a vibrant and well-aimed blade of wind at her, albeit missing her quite a bit. Not the target though.

The blade of air strikes the branch just before the green-haired beast tamer’s foot can land on it, weakening it enough to snap under her weight and throw the girl to the wolves. Quite literally.

Now either August abandons the chase to help her or… yup, he leaves her behind. What did I expect really?

I don’t throw myself at him yet, instead, I try widening the distance a bit in hopes of knocking him out before… I don’t know what but at this point I wouldn’t be surprised by anything. After another set of aggressively thrown rocks, I finally retaliate, aiming my hand at the last of my pursuers before unleashing lightning. To his credit, August reacts fast, throwing himself aside at the sight of the first spark dancing between my fingers. Did our last brawl hurt your little ego? Hehe.

A few more bolts, weaker ones to conserve mana, force him to take cover behind a tree before reinforcements arrive. With giggles and howls Kayla rushes towards us riding on wolfback.

This isn’t even funny anymore. I get that I can weasel my way out of most situations with one element or another but does this mean that as long as there’s a forest at hand Kayla can do the same just better?

A flock of birds to harass me and make her fly and now this…

Just as I’m about to back away and continue fleeing while dumping all my mana on these two the third chaser arrives. Victor throws a rope around me from behind, trying to bind my arms to my body.

“I know you won't give up obediently but we have no time to be gentle.” And the rope tightens around me after a violent pull. “Don’t-”

Before he can finish the useless bargaining I unleash an arc of electricity. Despite him keeping his distance and staying cautious even after ambushing me he’s no August to react even at the slightest of clues. The zap makes him lose balance and fall backward off the branch I’m standing on but the end of the rope around me is still firmly around his shoulder.

That’s bad, really bad. Yeah, Victor could seriously hurt himself but what’s even worse is that I’d be dragged after him in about a second.

So a snap decision is made. Before the rope is pulled taut… I jump. In the opposite direction obviously. Since he dropped first I can only kick him in the chest as we swing towards each other before burning a piece of the binding and dropping to the ground, free as a bird.

A bird surrounded by an elf, a human, three wolves, and another human groaning on the ground. He fell on his head, tough luck. So in the best case, it’s three versus one, realistically it’s a six versus one and then there’s the chance that Kayla can call more friends.

It’s so bullshit.

“Are we really doing this?” Victor spitting all the dirt from his mouth and cracking his neck.

Two wonky towers of earth grow out of the ground to my sides and lightning crackles between my fingers. Not the most glorious last stand like in the legends but a girl has to start somewhere.

“Come at me, I’ve got Skills to train!” I edge them on with a wicked smile and lash out like the cornered beast I am.

The first snake of lightning goes for August obviously because he’s the biggest threat and I like him the least. Or that’s what I make it seem like. I can make the path of the lightning be whatever I want and I’d like it to curve to the right, straight back to Victor who hasn’t fully recovered yet. It’s mean, it’s like kicking someone already on the ground and I don’t care.

“Spread out!” Kayla organizes her friends. ”And don’t bite!” They better not.

Having already planned this I use the earth pillar facing August to create a barrier, partly to secure my flank but mostly to isolate him from the fight. The other pillar is used as ammunition for a barrage of earth Mana Bolts. They rain down on the wolves, mostly aimed at Kayla, however, the animals use themselves as a shield to protect their… Is she like a master friend or a friendly master? Anyways, she has to go.

Friends or not the beasts also pose a threat so the next round of projectiles isn’t made with the blunt Mana Bolt, it’s a round of small Mana Spears. Two die, the last unlucky one will have to wait for blood loss to breathe its last. The same irritation or rather fury, flashes in Kayla’s eyes, just like when you break someone’s favorite toy.

Meanwhile August arrives at my back so I spew some flames his way mostly as a deterrent. Everyone knows fire is off-limits for obvious reasons.

“Thank you.” I hear Kayla’s soft whisper behind me so I look.

She plunges a knife up the wolf’s chin, likely killing it instantly before licking the warm red liquid off the blade. Then she looks up at me and her eyes change, her pupils, their color and her nails…

What the fuck am I even watching?

A moment later she rushes at me, much faster than before and with a beastly sneer promising no more princess treatment and respecting the rules. She raises a clawed hand so I sort of panic and blast her with a healthy zap only to have August tackle me. I have the earth grab his feet before freeing myself with a blast of wind around me and raising my fists.

No more mana to work with but I’m not out of this yet.

A right hook, a kick to the nuts, another swing and so on. Physical attacks turn out to be very, very futile against August who easily blocks and avoids everything even though he’s trapped. Even so, instead of running away, I circle around him because Kayla is already back on her feet and I’d very much like something between her and me.

Before I could even start bashing August’s back or playing cat and mouse around him Victor arrives. “That’s enough!” He grabs one of my arms and twists it behind my back. “We’re really trying to keep ourselves to the unscathed part but you’re not making it easy.” He kicks the back of my knee and I’m brought down to the ground. “Strawberry.”

August gets down to using his sword to break the earthen hands grabbing his legs, the second time today I locked his movement while Kayla… She’s stopped, but things seem a bit shaky. Her eyes are still locked on me and the angry growls and huffs don’t sound too encouraging. Especially not in my situation.

“Strawberry.” Victor says and a shudder runs through the girl’s body.

A few blinks later her eyes return to their original state and her long nails retract.

“Where? Leave some for me! But we shouldn’t eat much before dinner. Can you hide- Oh, hey Eli.” She smiles at me and this… this scares me even more than her beastly look.

“What witchcraft was that?” I mutter as my hands get tied and the three gather around me.

“A Skill of hers.” Victor shrugs. “Beast Tamers can empower their companions and there are some rare Skills that let you take some of their strength. It costs their life though.”

“What about strawberries?” Because this is the weirdest part.

“She just loves them a bit too much to the point of dreaming of strawberries. It’s so deeply rooted in her that even when her mind is clouded mentioning strawberries just makes her reset.” Victor explains nonchalantly.

I glance at the girl in question who just plays with her thumbs with lowered head and deep red cheeks. I was so wrong, she’s not goofy, she’s completely mental. I’m… scared but also a bit curious at the same time.

“We still have time.” August finally speaks up. I can’t believe I’m the only one surprised by Kayla going beast mode. “Well fought, it was close.” He looks at me and I feel like throwing up at his praise.

He can stick those words up where the sun doesn’t shine. I don’t care if we’re a team or if he’s secretly a good guy with childhood trauma and a victim of his circumstances or any of that bullshit. He’s a jerk, he’s the last person I want to be friends with in Fort Karon, I wish I was able to punch him in the face as strongly as I could while I had the chance. He interrupted me during a meal and in my eyes, that’s a serious sin.

But he’s right, they might really have the time to take me back. Such a shame, I really wanted to know what that special gift is. Martha will probably try to scam me again but I’m mostly just… curious.

“Hey, I have a proposal.” I speak up encircled by my captors.