Chapter 12: Impossible Deer and Colossal Trees

Addie woke up to some rustling near her head but quickly realized it was just Squishy adding more wood onto the crackling fire. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she watched the small black creature nudge the branches forward with his snout. He had offered to wake up periodically to keep watch during the night, and apparently, that meant he would also make sure they stayed warm.

Though she appreciated him doing that for her, Addie eagerly waited for him to curl back up and settle next to her. Turning onto her back, she looked up at the twinkling sky above. Night had long since fallen, and Addie looked up in awe as she imagined herself drifting amongst the dark spaces between stars. She had never seen this level of beauty from the night sky in her village. When Addie fell back asleep, she dreamed of spiraling galaxies and colorful nebulas.

***

Then, like a sudden lightning bolt of anxiety and urgency, Addie snapped awake. Something was close, something was sniffing her. She immediately knew it was not Squishy, since he was curled up near her feet, still asleep. She had not expected to wake up twice in the same night.

Gathering as much courage as she had, she eventually mustered the willpower to take a peak. Towering over her appeared to be a common deer, though its beauty and size were incomparable to the common game she often ate from hunters in the village.

Easily towering over the bushes near her, Addie suspected even her father would be tiny in comparison to this deer. From her perspective on the ground, its chest towered at least five meters above her, but its head angled into Addie, uncomfortably close, with a single ginormous eye staring straight into her. The rest of its body matched its massive proportions, with hooves next to her neck larger than her chest, and a long body that easily went back ten or more meters.

Even in the fire’s orange flickering light, Addie could easily tell that the deer’s coat was the finest white. The deer’s entire head dwarfed Addie’s body, with antlers towering so thick and long above its head that she wondered how its neck could support the massive weight. The giant pitch-black orb of an eye easily reflected Addie’s entire body back at her.

The deer exhaled, its nostrils flaring, practically causing a warm, miniature wind to envelope Addie. In stark contrast to typical prey animals, this one didn't shy away from locking eyes with her. Even amid her trembling fear, Addie saw an unexpected gentleness in the creature’s body language, as it took deliberate care to ensure its sharp antlers didn’t poke into her. The deer’s curious eyes felt supremely eerie to Addie, the slitted eyeball looking so inhuman as it examined her.

After a moment, Addie realized the deer was peaceful, it didn’t make any move to attack. With that thought, her fear slowly but surely dissipated, replaced with an overwhelming appreciation of its beauty. All other thoughts left her mind, as she became totally captivated by its eyes.

Finally, the deer began to gently walk away. Despite its massive size, it walked with careful precision, never a step out of place. In some impossible way, each step seemed to defy the laws of gravity, leaving hoofprints behind. Not a rustle of leaves, not a snap of twigs – it was as if the forest itself held its breath. As the deer faded from sight, Addie recognized that it had even remained invisible to her new spatial sense. If there were still creatures out there that could evade even Squishy’s magic senses, Addie knew the two of them still had a long path of mastery ahead of them. Had Addie not woken up, she never would have even known the deer had even appeared, as it left absolutely no trace behind, elegantly stepping as if lighter than air and gentler than snow.

It was still dark out, and Addie was still exhausted. The terror that had jolted her awake was now a distant memory. Perhaps that Impossible Deer had granted her one final gift, a tranquil goodnight that lulled her into peaceful, dreamless sleep.

***

With morning came the binary-rise. However, that had long passed, and now it was nearing noon based on its position in the sky. The Binary painted the sky in an awe-inspiring swirl, a blue star gradually being absorbed by a small black point. The pinpoint itself was only visible due to the large aurora surrounding it— a bright accretion disk that actually lit up the sky more than its partner blue star. Addie’s eyes followed the Star’s dance with its black hole partner. It reminded her of a flowing spring, blue starlight eddied and bobbed in a long trail slowly but inevitably flowing into a giant swirling whirlpool sucking the starlight into a tiny black speck. Following the whirlpool was strange as the motion and colors of the light changed the closer things got to the black hole.

Starting from the blue sun, the wide, bright blue trail of light led to green, all of which spun in a whirling circle obvious even to Addie’s naked eye. The next arm of the spiral bled yellow and it swirled much slower though still obvious. The inner-most ring of the accretion disk transitioned into a sinister red, completely motionless as if frozen in time. The ‘drain’ of the whirlpool culminated into a distorted tiny black point. According to her father, the black hole was named Servus and the star Aggan, but to Addie, they both remained simply the Binary.

Her father always tried to impress the beauty and awe of the Binary onto Addie, but to someone who grew up seeing it every day, it seemed like nothing special. Sure, it lit up the sky, but how could something so mundane be beautiful? To Addie, it was as ordinary as a tree or a rock— a part of nature she saw every single day.

Squishy’s thought pulled Addie away from staring up at the sky, “Why did Christena not bind you?”

Addie scrunched her face in confusion, “People can’t become bonded to one another, silly.”

“That was not the intent of my question.” He turned his long snouted face back to look at Addie. “When Christena had you trapped, why did she not tie you up? And why would she allow you the comfort of your own bed? This thought has been bothering me for a while now.”

Humming in thought, Addie replied with the first thing that came to mind, “Well she locked the door, that’s enough, right?”

Squishy still felt skeptical, which Addie could also feel through their bond. “Even if that is the case, why would she want to use you for her ritual? You had no magic before you met me, no?”

“Huh.” Addie didn’t know what to say to that.

Squishy gave off the mental equivalent of a shrug before they kept moving.

Focusing back on the trail ahead, all thoughts of Christena banished from her mind, Addie asked, “Are we there yet?”

“I am unsure why you persist inquiring this of me. The answer is no different than the last time you last asked,” Squishy responded neutrally as they continued through the underbrush. “I have no clue how far away we are.”

“I’m bo~red.” Addie dragged out the word as she grumbled.

Squishy chose not to dignify her with a response.

There was only so much magical practice Addie could do before she grew bored. Exploring her newfound magic was interesting, but one can only perform a task so many times in a row until it becomes dull. Addie compared it to reading: even avid readers don’t spend all day each day reading.

Addie knew she would go back to practicing, and soon too; but for now, she wanted something else to distract herself. Walking step by step through this forest had easily become just as boring as staring at a wall, as far as Addie was concerned. Thus, she bothered her Squishy, hoping he had some ideas for entertainment. Unfortunately, the small creature was impossible to tease, since he always replied to Addie’s questions with sincerity, regardless of how silly of a question she directed at him.

Every now and again, Squishy and Addie would come upon a truly ginormous tree. So wide around that she couldn’t tell the tree was round until she started walking around it. Addie thought the giants may even brush up to the Binary, as crazy as it sounded. Even if it was the same size as the surrounding trees, it would still stand out due to its strange silver color. The bark didn’t have any cracks or grooves, and when Addie placed her hand on one directly, it felt smooth to the touch. Staring at it like this, Addie had an idea.

“Hey, Squishy?” she called out.

“Hm?” Squishy turned his long head to face her, his ears perking up.

“Do you think you could climb up this tree?”

Squishy paused for a moment to consider the idea, “I do not believe so. Despite how soft it seems, the outer bark of those trees is impossible for my claws to penetrate. It’s simply too smooth.”

That sounded like a challenge— a problem worth solving! “Do you think you could get up there if you traveled through Realmspace first?”

Addie could feel Squishy’s best impression of a raised eyebrow pushing toward her from their bond. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but there would be nothing for me to climb in Realmspace, either. The ground there is relatively the same height as out here, so jumping here or jumping from Realmspace would make little difference, I am afraid.”

“What if I threw you up the tree?” Addie suggested with a half-smile.

“Are you asking because it would be helpful or amusing?” He rolled his starry eyes.

“Why not both!” Addie exclaimed, “Maybe from the vantage of up in the tree we can get a better idea of where the village is, too!”

Squishy seemed to deflate in acceptance, “Though your logic is sound I can’t help but be skeptical due to your attitude.” Then he puffed up again while psyching himself up. “Very well. Toss me to your heart’s desire, and I shall report what I see.”

Addie bounced over to Squishy with a sneaky grin and reached out under his forelegs to hold him up, making him seem like a very long cat. Then, she unceremoniously turned around and with a great heave tossed him up and as high toward the top of the tree as she could.

Addie’s initial throw put Squishy at the wrong angle; she was certain the way he barreled sideways would lead to him splatting into the trunk. In reality, Squishy made up for Addie’s poor throw with a dexterous twist of his body. He expertly aligned his four paws perfectly against the tree’s surface and hit the trunk running, using the leftover upward moment from Addie’s throw to continue up the tree. As he said earlier, his claws made little difference, as Addie didn’t see a single mark on the tree as he ran up its trunk.

Four steps became six, and six steps became eight. Just as he started to lose the fight against gravity, he blinked out of existence. Focusing on their bond, Addie could tell he was doing something, but she wasn’t quite sure what. In the next moment, he reappeared higher up in the air than he had vanished from. With his forelegs just hooking over the top, his hind legs still dangling in the air, he managed to grab onto the lowest hanging branch.

“Interesting,” Squishy said, and she could feel his amazement through their bond.

He dangled for a moment, then pulled himself up by his forelegs— his hind legs scrambling to help. Once he was perched on the branch with proper footing, he bundled up his muscles with his tail straight up in the air. He put all his weight on his hind legs, winding up for a jump, with what to Addie was a very familiar jumping pose anyone with a cat would recognize. He even completed the movement by bobbing his head forward and back. Finally, he leaped as powerfully as his small form allowed toward the next branch up.

“What was that!” Addie shouted in excitement. “I thought you said going into Realmspace would be pointless?”

“Well, when I realized I wouldn’t make it to the top branch, I thought about how Realmspace seems to forcefully eject us from its domain. I thought, if I could direct that ejection force, perhaps I could direct my momentum upon re-entering reality.”

He quickly became a blur, leaping from branch to branch without pause. He easily made it so high up that eventually, Addie only saw a small black dot moving up in the tree.

As she marveled at Squishy’s climb and clever application of magic, an odd sensation coursed through her. Her spatial sense, which typically had limited range around her, now extended far enough to track Squishy’s progress. What confused her the most was that she couldn't sense any other objects around him. It was as if her spatial sense had only focused on Squishy, leaving everything else in the tops of the trees unseen. The distance at which her spatial sense detected him was far beyond anything she could have done before, and Addie idly wondered if there would ever be a time her spatial sense couldn’t detect her soul-bonded companion.

“I can’t reach the top,” came Squishy’s voice through their telepathic connection. He seemed to be panting out the words in exhaustion.

Confused by this, Addie shouted up at him, “What do you mean you can’t get to the top? You were jumping perfectly!”

“That is not the issue. I just had to climb back down a few branches. When I start ascending too high, the air becomes frigid, and I lose the ability to breathe.” Squishy clarified.

“You can’t breathe?” Addie felt skeptical at the claim of unbreathable air. Addie couldn’t begin to guess why something as simple as breathing would be difficult up there.

“I know not why, but it appears as though the air loses substance as I climb. I can still inhale and exhale, but nonetheless, I feel almost as though I have breathed nothing at all. I was hoping to get higher to survey more land, but regardless, it matters not. I can still get higher than much of the surrounding forest. I see a break in the trees not too far from where we are now, with what seem like square plots of land. I am still not completely certain, since the ground is so far, but I believe that is where the village lies.”

“Will you be able to guide us over?”

Squishy replied confidently, “That won’t be a problem. I will come back down now to guide us.”

Despite her hope of saving her father, a deep-seated fear gnawed at Addie’s core at the thought of confronting Christena once more. She hoped they could sneak in and free her father without even seeing Christena, let alone confronting her.

How had her loving maid turned into such a monster? Perhaps even worse, how had Christena turned into such a monster without anyone noticing? Addie loved Christena. They treated her well, and she even joined them at the dinner table like a family member rather than a servant. She helped Addie when her parents were busy and taught her all of her lessons. The Christena who killed an old woman in the basement was not the same Christena Addie had grown up loving.

More importantly, Christena didn’t have the kind of magical power necessary to beat an Area Lord. Not even close. Addie sighed. Thinking about it now wouldn’t do her any good.