Soul of the Warrior

Switching up the lineup for who was responsible for combat didn’t immediately change anything. For the most part, there weren’t large concentrations of monsters roaming around or even high level monsters that required cooperation to take them down just hanging out in the Wilderness. The Wilderness was huge. It was a ring completely separating the Upper Regions from the Lower Regions. While there were objectively a lot of monsters and beasts in the Wilderness, there wasn’t a dense population.

Switching the responsibility around was more about assessing the situation when possible. Instead of letting the honor guards make the decision to engage and handle the monsters themselves, Refix had the final word. It was more about making judgment calls on encounters rather than handling all of the combat.

Most of the time, monster encounters happened too quickly for any necessary analysis. The honor guards were able to overpower monsters and beasts that popped up out of nowhere. The actual issue was that this dynamic could change rapidly on the far side of the Wilderness.

After assuming responsibility from the honor guard squad leaders, the expedition traveled another three days before Reivyn’s Party needed to step in.

There was no warning the first time. The Party was walking along a peaceful forest, keeping their eyes and ears open for any threats. Reivyn didn’t detect anything unusual within his sphere of Divine Sense, and his visual concentration was focused beyond what he could sense nearby.

A sharp whistle was all the warning anyone had. Reivyn hadn’t been in any fights, other than the fight against the Dragon which he couldn’t remember, since he had consolidated all of his Skills. His Prodigy Skills activated in an interesting way.

He could feel his Danger Sense activate at the same time the whistle sound rang out, but he wasn’t the intended target of the surprise attack. His Danger Sense Skill, before being consolidated in a Prodigy Skill, had never warned him of impending Danger to those near him. It had exclusively been a personal Skill.

That wasn’t the only interesting thing that happened, though. As far as Reivyn could recall, his Perfect Domain Skill only ever activated when he was unconscious. It tapped into his Divine Sense to detect the world around him and act accordingly. This time, though, Reivyn almost felt like a puppet with his strings pulled as his body moved all on its own.

That wasn’t the best analogy either, though. It was like his body was moving on reflex but he never felt like he wasn’t in full control. As his body darted toward the danger, he knew that he could alter the actions his body was making on reflex alone, but without actively intervening, he kept going.

Reivyn’s body flashed forward before anyone else had time to make any reactions. Not even Refix had so much glanced toward the whistling sound before Reivyn intercepted the shadow screaming toward them from the forest canopy.

Reivyn’s sword whipped out of his scabbard, his wrist twisted, and he batted the shadow out of the air with the flat of his blade. Even the action of twisting the blade so as not to bisect whatever attacked them had been controlled by a combination of his Danger Sense and Perfect Domain Skills working together.

Everyone came to a halt and focused their attention on the ground where the shadow had been swatted away. A palm-sized bird lay briefly stunned on the ground. It’s beak was lodged in the dirt, it’s two feet comically sticking up in the air.

Reivyn stood completely still as presences previously hidden to his Divine Sense suddenly came perfectly into view in his mind’s eye. He snapped his head to the side where one of the honor guard took a step toward the small bird.

“STOP!” He shouted. “Everyone stay perfectly still.”

The guards froze in place, acting on the command with practiced instant obedience to orders. The other Party members remained where they were and looked toward Reivyn with curiosity.

Reivyn slowly raised his head and looked to the canopy. All around, completely surrounding them for dozens of yards in every direction, hundreds of similar-sized black birds were hopping back and forth on their two feet, nudging each other, and gazing down at the humans trespassing on their territory.

High above a group of much larger birds about the size of a human child were calmly watching Reivyn and the others. Above them, a humongous bird easily as large as Reivyn himself locked eyes with Reivyn.

Reivyn could see the spark of intelligence in the beast’s gaze. It looked away from Reivyn to inspect the little bird that had ambushed them. The palm sized bird kicked its feet and wriggled its wings until it was able to dislodge its beak from the dirt. It sat up, looked at Reivyn, and squawked.

Reivyn had to stifle a chuckle. The display of fierce determination from the baby bird came out more of a squeak than anything intimidating.

Reivyn assessed the little beast. Its talons were razor sharp. The feathers were sturdy and equally sharp. Each one was like a little dagger. The beak had a wicked hook, and it was clear at a glance the bird was built for predation. Every part of its body was designed to rip and tear into prey.

Reivyn slowly reached into his storage bag, moving slowly and deliberately with the knowledge that the giant birds above had zeroed their focus upon him as soon as he moved. He grabbed a piece of raw meat and tossed it to the little predator.

The small bird squealed again, this time sounding more like triumph than indignation. It snagged the piece of meat in its beak and hopped several awkward steps before gaining wind with its wings to fly back up to one of the middle branches. ŖÂΝΟ𝔟Ε𝐬

Reivyn once more glanced up at the patriarch - or matriarch, Reivyn thought with a mental shrug - and nodded his head. The giant bird nodded back and turned its gaze away to watch the little ones again. The small birds looked at them with more curiosity than anything else, and none of them attempted a similar attack as the first one.

“Slowly, and calmly, let’s continue our walk,” Reivyn said.

Everyone turned in the direction they had been moving and continued walking. Everyone kept an eye out on the branches above in addition to watching their surroundings. The flock of birds wasn’t actually as large as it seemed at first. They had just simply been in the dead center of the collection of beasts, or at least close enough to be basically the same thing.

Reivyn continued to monitor the larger birds with his Divine Sense. After the group moved on, they lost interest in them and were perfectly happy with just watching the young ones’ antics.

Long before reaching the edge of his Divine Sense, they suddenly winked out of Reivyn’s perception. He could still see and hear them with his eyes and ears, but it was like they didn’t exist to his Divine Sense. If he didn’t look directly at the birds for several seconds, their forms grew fuzzy to his mundane perception, as well.

After several minutes, the group was clear of the flock of birds, and a collective sigh of relief escaped everyone. Even Reivyn relaxed tension in his shoulders he hadn’t noticed had been there.

“What was that?!” Teilon gasped. “I felt like a mountain was pressing down on me every time I tried to move before you tossed that little brat a piece of meat.”

“I never read anything about a species of birds like that from any of the memoirs or journals,” Kefira said, “and I haven’t heard anyone talk about anything like them, either.”

“Why didn’t you warn us there was a nest of dangerous, giant birds just hanging out over our heads?” Teilon turned to Reivyn.

“I had no idea they were there,” he admitted. Everyone turned and looked at him with surprise. “I’m no expert on beasts, so I don’t know how Skills work for them, but that giant bird at the top, I’m assuming, had some sort of powerful concealing Skill.

“I don’t know if any of you noticed, but if you looked away long enough, they seemed to grow fuzzy and were hard to focus on again. That concealment Skill seemed more toward defending against Perception Skills rather than direct line of sight, but it still has some effect in that regard as well.

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“It completely bypassed my Divine Sense Skill. There was zero indication they were there. It was so thorough, it even wiped away any tangential evidence of their presence from being spied upon. Looking at the little birds hopping around, you can see that the branches bend and sway, but in my Divine Sense, it looks like the natural movements caused by the wind.”

“Wow,” Refix said with a thoughtful expression. “That just tells me my intuition was right. That’s not a creature we want to mess with.”

“I agree,” Reivyn nodded his head. “Luckily, my Danger Sense and other Skills understood that subconsciously. That’s why I hit the small bird with the flat of my blade instead of cutting it in half.”

“What do you mean? You didn’t make that decision?” Kefira raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“Nope. My body reacted all on its own, and I just went with it.”

“Yeah, we don’t have to go looking for ferocious beasts to contend with. We have a monster right here in our midst,” Teilon smirked as he playfully shoved Reivyn in the shoulder. “Though, I wonder why that bird didn’t attack us after you slapped the little one around?”

Ameliyn snorted.

“You’ll learn one day,” she said with a sidelong glance at Kimberly. “It was teaching the baby bird.”

“Teaching?” Teilon queried.

“With how everything went down, it taught the bird it couldn’t rely on him to fight his fights for him, though he would be there to protect him if necessary. It launched an ambush at us, and when it failed, it had to suffer the consequences of its own actions. Thus, he allowed it to be hit out of the air.

“Then it taught it that he’s still the apex predator in that situation. It remained calm the whole time and basically extorted a reward for the kid.”

“Reward?” Teilon was confused. “You just said it was letting the baby bird suffer the consequences for failing in its ambush.”

“Yeah, of course,” Ameliyn shrugged. “I can’t say I’m an expert on bird culture, but those particular birds were obviously predators. The baby bird was rewarded for showing courage and initiative. None of the other birds attacked us, and none of the other birds got a hunk of meat.

“The law of the jungle is much more brutal out in the wilderness than in the safety of a city. You’ll have to take all of that with a grain of salt though, because that’s just my interpretation of what happened. As a mother, I could understand it in those terms.”

Kimberly’s face went bright red and she turned her head away. Reivyn shared a look with Kefira, winking at her. She chuckled as she swatted at his arm.

“Behave,” she whispered.

Teilon looked toward Kimberly and saw her blushing while refusing to look at him. He walked over and placed his arm around her shoulder.

“What’s wrong with you?” He asked. “What happened?” He looked about for any indication of something bothering Kimberly.

Kimberly threw Teilon’s arm off her shoulder and rolled her eyes. The blush receded from her skin as she stomped a few feet ahead. Teilon looked up at Reivyn and smirked.

Reivyn chuckled. So he wasn’t oblivious to mom’s not-so-veiled joke.

“Regardless, I’m just happy they were relatively friendly,” Refix said. “I’m the highest Level person here in our group, and my intuition was telling me I stood no chance. The other adult birds not so much, so we could probably take a few of them, but there were a lot of them.”

“Well, leave it up to the Wilderness to subvert expectations so much it even subverts your anticipated subversion, haha,” Reivyn chuckled. “It’s interesting that we managed to stumble across a type of beast not mentioned anywhere else.

“Then again, now that I think about it, it’s very likely the authors of all the journals we read did come across those birds. They just didn’t know it.”

“I can believe it,” Teilon said. “That’s the first time I’m hearing of anything getting past your Divine Sense.”

“That we know of,” Reivyn added. “Now I’m going to second-guess a lot of my interactions in the past. It’s a good reminder that even with such a powerful Skill as Divine Sense, one-”

“-Shouldn’t get complacent,” everyone else chorused with him.

“Hey! It’s a good lesson,” Reivyn sulked.

“We get it, man,” Teilon clapped him on the shoulder, “but you talk about it all the time. If anyone needs to worry about growing complacent, it’s none of us.” Teilon chuckled.

Reivyn quirked an eyebrow at his friend.

“Really? That sounds like something someone… complacent… would say.” Reivyn wiggled his eyebrows at his friend. Teilon shoved him away with a laugh.

—

The rest of the day didn’t have any more surprises for the group. They continued on their intended path, only having lost a few minutes while interacting with the flock of birds. They continued walking through the forests and grasslands interspersed through the Wilderness.

A faint roaring sound could be heard a couple of hours before it was time to find a camping spot. Reivyn strained his hearing to see if he could figure out what it could be. It wasn’t the roar of a wild animal. It was a constant sound reverberating throughout the background noise.

“I was wondering when you’d pick it up,” Refix glanced at Reivyn. Reivyn gave him a quizzical look. “I still have much higher Perception than you do. I’ve been hearing it for the past ten minutes.”

“Care to clue is in, hon?” Ameliyn asked.

“There’s a faint noise in the background. I was just commenting on how it looked like Reivyn was finally picking it up, too.”

“He must have surpassed me with his Perception Stat, because I don’t hear anything yet,” Ameliyn admitted.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, dear. It was bound to happen sooner or later, what with the rapid growth of our boy, here.”

“Yeah, but it feels a bit strange to finally notice him catching up and surpassing me. I’ve been someone he had to look up to his whole life until recently.”

“I still look up to you, mom,” Reivyn said, looking down at his mom. He reddened in slight embarrassment as he noticed his actions. “Well, you know what I mean.”

Ameliyn gave him a quick side-hug.

“Aww, I do. Love you, son,” Ameliyn said with a happy smile. “Anyway, you mentioned a roaring sound, honey?”

The other Party members glanced at Refix. The closest Honor Guard soldiers perked up their ears to listen while they maintained their vigilance toward outside threats.

“I just figured it out, myself,” Refix said. He kept walking, not elaborating any further.

Ameliyn waited patiently for a moment before rolling her eyes and swatting her husband on the arm.

“Well don’t keep us in suspense, you big lug!”

Refix recoil his arm and rubbed it like the strike had actually hurt, but the cheeky grin on his face gave away his acting.

“It’s a waterfall,” he answered. “Based on my Perception stat and other factors, I would say two or three miles away we’ll run into a river.”

“A waterfall?” Reivyn said, scratching the back of his head. He peered through the trees and foliage ahead. “Can’t really tell that there’s a big enough hill or cliff ahead to warrant such a thing.”

“Yeah, these things can sneak up on you in the woods,” Refix nodded sagely. “We still have half a mile to go, probably, and that’s plenty of distance for us not to be able to see with the current visibility.”

“Oh yeah, I’m not saying I don’t believe you or anything. I was just making an observation.”

“We don’t run across too many waterfalls all that often,” Kefira spoke up. “We should go check it out. It might also give us a good place where everyone can take a dip in the water and relax.”

“I like the sound of that,” Ameliyn said. “I know we keep ourselves clean with regular hygiene and Magic, but a soak in actual water sounds heavenly right now.” Kimberly and Serilla nodded their heads seriously off to the side.

“Sure, sounds like a plan,” Refix said. “We’re heading in the right direction already, so no need for a course correction.”

Everyone’s mood was visibly lifted at the prospect of getting to have some fun and relaxation in the water. The presence of a waterfall eluded to water deep enough to swim in, at least a waterfall that was loud enough for Refix to hear several miles away. With how fast they were able to move with their Stats, they had covered well over two miles in the past ten minutes.

The group continued forward, the waterfall sounds growing louder and louder until everyone could clearly hear it and identify what it was. A cliff in the distance eventually became visible through the trees. If they had been in one of the open areas of the geography, there was no way they would have missed it.

As they got closer and the sound got louder, Kefira’s steps started to slow. Reivyn noticed immediately and glanced at her out of concern.

“Wait,” she said, coming to a stop. She looked up at everyone as they all came to a stop at her call “On second thought, let’s change course.”

Refix didn’t hesitate. He simply nodded and motioned to the Honor Guards in the lead.

“Change of plans!” He called out. He pointed off to the left. “Let’s head in that direction for a bit and skirt around this area.”

The Honor Guards exchanged looks between themselves, but they didn’t voice any complaint or objection. They simply turned and started leading the Party away.

Reivyn was happy that his father trusted Kefira so much that he would alter their plans for a morale boosting activity with no questions asked. He would have done the same, but now that the decision had been made, he was curious.

“So what made you change your mind?” He asked.

“I can feel a disturbance in the Space Mana around here,” Kefira answered. “There hasn’t been anything remotely like it since we’ve entered the Wilderness, and it faintly reminds me of a Dungeon.”

“You’re saying there’s a Dungeon up ahead?” Teilon asked. “Isn’t that more reason to head over there instead of away?”

Reivyn shook his head.

“I don’t suppose your reading material contained the same journals mine did,” he said. “Let’s just say, there aren’t any Dungeons in the Wilderness.”

“Then what?” Teilon was thoroughly confused.

“I said it reminded me of a Dungeon, not that it is a Dungeon,” Kefira said. “One of the journals I researched talked about an expedition finding a portal they thought was a Dungeon. It wasn’t. It was the nest of some Tier 7 or higher creature that lured others in to eat them.”

Teilon gave out a low whistle. He once again threw his arm over Kimberly’s shoulder.

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a good time,” he said with a serious expression.

Kimberly elbowed him in the gut before maneuvering out of his grasp once more. Teilon grunted and let her step away.

“Yeah, the journal put emphasis on the chewing,” Reivyn added.

Teilon blanched.

“Chewing… Yeah, definitely not a good time.”

“We’ll head up the cliff and make camp along the river away from whatever anomaly Kefira sensed,” Refix said. “We might get lucky and still find a suitable place to enjoy the water. After that maybe we’ll backtrack and see if we can’t spy exactly what it is from a safe distance.

“I read that account, too, and the author mentioned the creature didn’t seem to leave the vicinity of the portal. That being said, safety first. It’s not worth it to risk our lives to sate our curiosity.”

Reivyn nodded. He glanced at Kefira, and she nodded back.

“Alright. We can do that.”

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