Chương 15: New Dawn

As she watched the morning sun rise above the sea from the top of a cliff, Alexandra wondered how far she would go to keep her streak alive. So far, she'd done everything the journal asked of her. Would she jump off a cliff like a good little sheep if it told her to? Turns out, the answer to that question was yes.

Quest Journal Daily Reset: 06: 00 | Streak: 3 Days | 0% All Stats Next Milestone: 10 Days Daily Quests: Dive from a height of at least 20 meters (0/1) She looked down at the waves crashing below, and shook her head. She'd do it, but not here. It was too high, and she needed a way to climb back up. With that in mind, she started making her way back west. While she hadn't spotted a good diving spot yesterday, she hadn't been looking for one. This time, it only took her an hour to reach something worth a deeper look.

The cliff was low. Lower than everywhere else, at least. It was still above twenty meters high, she thought, though she couldn't be sure. Down below, the waves were hitting the shore a bit too strongly for her taste. Alexandra knew how to swim, so she knew how dangerous it could get. No place would be completely safe, but this was as good as she'd find. Here, there was a beach she could reach after her dive, the cliff looked climbable. Might as well give it a go.

Methodically, she took off her clothes, wincing as she noticed that in some places the fabric was glued to her skin by blood and remnants of the plant monster's secretions. She looked down again. The water seemed cold. Her parched throat tightened, reminding her that she hadn't drunk since the day before. At least, her stomach had handled the raw Aetherveil fine enough. It wasn't enough to feel well fed, but it helped.

Dancing on her feet as they struck the hard, painful rocks of the clifftop, Alexandra was building up the courage to jump. She threw a rock from her selected diving point. It fell neatly in the water. She should go now. Just get this over with. Alexandra closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stopped listening to her preservation instincts. She just needed to jump, gravity would do the rest. So she did. She didn't have time to regret it.

One moment she was flying in the air, the next her feet touched water, her body soon engulfed by the waves. She swam to the surface, wiped her eyes. The water was indeed cold. It took longer than expected to reach the beach. When she dragged herself ashore, she was shivering. The wind blew on her back, whipping sand and salt on her skin. At least, she would be dry soon. From below, the cliffs looked even taller.

Dive from a height of at least 20 meters (1/1) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 DEX, Skill Quest Unlocked: Diving. Daily Quest Streak: 3 -> 4 She didn't bother checking the skill quest for Diving, dispelling her journal as soon as she confirmed her quest was complete. She smiled. Done and dusted. A good start to the day. When she was dry enough, Alexandra walked toward the section of the cliff she'd identified as the easiest to climb.

At the very end of the beach, it was less steep than the rest, and made up of a heap of collapsed boulders. In a few minutes, she was back at the top. She put her clothes back on, ignoring the itching sensation from the salt. It was time to return to Lanterne, and hopefully find something to eat and drink on the way. She briefly considered running there, to get started on the skill quest for Running, but decided otherwise. She wasn't ready to run a hundred kilometers today. Especially not on an empty stomach.

The journey was uneventful, if longer than the time it took her to come out there. Having to make sure she was going in the right direction delayed her more than she'd like. Furthermore, she had to avoid several groups of goblins, and two clusters of the sweet orange flowers she now knew hid plant monsters underneath. It was a blessing in disguise, as the detour allowed her to find a small stream that she used to fill her gourd. Combined with the regular wild Aetherveil, it was enough not to starve.

The sun had long gotten in front of her when she spotted Lanterne in the distance. She was already salivating from the bowl of soup that was no doubt waiting for her. She moved faster. The smoke rising from the chimneys called to her. With the sun already low, they were probably already winding down for the day. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The pain in her feet, legs, and everywhere almost subsided. She wanted to run, but her body protested.

A few minutes later, she reached Therion and Lara's house. She knocked on the door, waited. No answer. Her hosts were not in their field. She knocked again. Still nothing. Shrugging, she tried pushing the door open. It worked. She stepped inside.

"Lara?" A steaming bowl of soup was placed on the table.

"Therion?" She moved closer.

"Hello?" Alexandra sat, and brought the bowl to her lips. She froze. Bitter. So bitter. Her hand wanted to drift to her sickle. But it couldn't move. The illusion fell apart. The house morphed into a mass of green and brown moss, the chair into roots coiled tight around her body, blocking any movement. She tried to wriggle herself out, the roots pressed harder, to the point breathing was painful.

"Shit." Another plant monster. It wasn't the same as the previous one. This time, the lure was so real. She'd fallen right into it. And now… She cast Inflict Weakness giving her some breathing room as it ever so slightly weakened the power behind the roots. The main body of that thing was enormous. About as large as a house. It moved. Slowly. The earth shook. What little wiggle room she had earned was enough to sneak her hand to her sickle. Her stance was awkward, but she managed to hook a small root.

It wasn't the one constraining her, but it was a start. She pulled. The root barely bulged, her sickle not penetrating deeper than an inch. Okay, there was no beating this one. Yesterday, she'd been capable of cutting the vines, which gave her a fighting chance. She kept chopping at the roots desperate to free herself. The first root finally snapped after seven hits, leaving her with enough room to get to work on the one trapping her. The second root took fifteen hits.

She tore her arm free and immediately a new one coiled around her ankle, yanking her off balance. She caught herself on one hand, cut the ankle root before it could tighten, rolled clear. Another came from the left. She deflected, cut, moved right. The main body hadn't stopped moving. Slow, but steady, the earth rolling ahead of it in waves. She was still inside its range. She tried casting Inflict Weakness again, but felt a strong resistance from the beast.

The roots slowed for a moment, their grip loosening fractionally. She used it to put five meters between herself and the nearest tendril. It wasn't enough. Three roots broke the surface simultaneously, spreading wide to cut off her retreat. She took the leftmost one, hooked and pulled, but the angle was wrong and her blade skipped off without cutting clean. The root caught her wrist. She wrenched free, skin burning, and cut it on the backswing. The other two had already flanked her. One caught her ankle again.

The other went for her waist. She got the waist one before it tightened, but the ankle root pulled and she went down hard on her shoulder. The impact knocked the air out of her. Ten meters. She needed ten meters and she couldn't get them. Every time she cleared enough space to breathe, the ground ahead of her erupted again. The creature wasn't fast, but it didn't need to be. It had range, patience and apparently an inexhaustible supply of roots. Her arm was screaming. She'd lost count of how many cuts she'd made.

Another root. She deflected it, retreated two steps, cut a second one crossing behind her. A third caught her shirt and ripped a piece off, leaving it tangled in the roots. She didn't have time to be annoyed about losing it. The main body was closer now. She could smell it, the same damp earth and chlorophyll as the last one, but without the sweet scent. Though if it could spring another illusion… That was worse. A root caught her from behind, thin and fast, wrapping around her calf. She stumbled.

Another root, larger, coiled around her waist, pressing her to the ground. Then another one, and another, until her world was all roots, and she couldn't move a muscle. The main body had stopped moving. The earth had stopped shaking. Her fingers weakly tapped the handle of her sickle. It was the most she could move. Everything was dark, the light snuffed out by the mountain of roots on her back. She breathed. A short one, as the pressure made it so she could barely fill her lungs. Inflict Weakness. She pushed.

Nothing. She couldn't even tell if her spell had no effect or if the mass of roots was such that it didn't make a difference. The roots weren't tightening anymore. They just held, patient and indifferent, the weight of them pressing her flat against the ground. Her cheek was in the dirt. She could smell it. Cold, dark, faintly sweet. She tried to pull her arm free. It moved a centimeter, maybe less, before the roots adjusted. She stopped. Tried the other arm. Same result. Her sickle was still in her hand.

For all the good it did her. She thought about the angle. If she could get the blade turned inward, get purchase on the root nearest her wrist, she might be able to work at it. She tried. The roots were too dense, her wrist pinned too flat. The blade barely moved. The pressure on her chest was making each breath shallower than the last. Not painful exactly. Just increasingly insufficient, like trying to fill a container that was getting smaller. She closed her eyes. The dirt was cold against her skin.

Somewhere above the roots the sun was still up, she could feel the faint warmth of it on the back of her hand, the only part of her that wasn't completely buried. She thought about Lara's soup. She thought about the walk back from the coast, the stream she'd found, the taste of raw Aetherveil. The roots shifted slightly, settling deeper. Her next breath was shorter than the one before. Would someone find her? Unlikely. The warmth on the back of her hand was fading. The sun was moving. She closed her eyes.

She couldn't see, anyway. The main body of the beast still hadn't moved. Perhaps it wouldn't, not until she would grow hungry, tired, thirsty, and eventually die, her body returning to the earth. A wry smile pulled on her lips, pushing some dirt into her mouth. She spat, but there was no space between her and the ground. She moved her head by a sliver, and opened her eyes. The darkness between the roots was total. She couldn't see her sickle. She couldn't see anything. Tomorrow, she was supposed to reach level two.

So close. It looked like her life was at stake. Worse, her streak was about to end. In that case, was there still a good reason to be conservative? Her smile widened. Dark Bolt.