Chapter 6:
The Ranger from Reythe
*Tick Tick Tk Tick … Tick … Tick Tick Tk … Tick … Tick Tk Tick … Tick … Tick Tk Tk Tk Tick … Tick Tick… Tick*
“Mary! Please! get up!” A muffled voice shouted.
Mary burst awake. She lifted the respirator above her mouth and checked her device. The radiation levels were below what would be considered normal for background radiation and barely any ticking could be heard. That is another difference between Earth and this world. She looked over at Fiivon who was out cold despite sleeping on nothing more than a bed of leaves. Magic would be a useful thing to learn. Darkness surrounded them, as did the stench. Each tree’s branches were stiff as though they had been preserved and put on display. No leaves or bushes rustled. No crickets chirped. There had been no bumps in the night. Not even the wind dared to move. Everything Mary had become accustomed to from camping back in her forest, back on Earth, was nowhere to be seen. It had all been replaced by an eerie silence. Mary put her goggles on then pressed one of the buttons on their side. The world’s colors faded into a greenish-grey as the darkness receded. She scanned her surroundings again but found nothing. I do not like the state of this world. She bunched up and wrapped her arms around her legs as she stared off into the night.
“‘Ow’s eh new ‘orld treatin’ ya, lass.” Something spoke from behind failing to mimic whatever accent it was attempting.
“How is Lena?” Mary tilted her head back to find the fox-like creature towering over her. Its fur billowed aggressively as if to spite the lack of wind.
“Not even a single ‘eeeek’ huh?” The creature stared into Mary’s unchanging face and the increasingly aggravated face of her soul. “She’s not handling your death very well but she is eating.”
“I never thought she would take my death well.” Mary plopped over onto her bed of leaves.
“It would be more accurate to say she doesn’t believe you actually died.”
“She knows how death works.” Mary glared at the creature.
“Your body died, but your soul still lives on.” The creature poked Mary’s soul with its paw. “You never actually died completely, because I, your ever so gracious uhhhhhh… employer, no that’s not right, coworker, ally, associate… associate yeah that works. Because I, your ever so gracious and benevolent associate, created another body for your soul to inhabit and went through the painstaking work to put your body in that soul, I mean your soul in that body, the one you’re in right now.”
“But Lena does not know souls exist. She also does not know other worlds exist.”
“I told her about souls… aaaaaannnnnnnnnd I told her about some of the worlds I’d seen as well. Gotta always think however many steps ahead I happen to be.” The creature’s limbs, tails, and head twisted and rearranged themselves in an unnatural and cartoonish way until it was facing the other direction. “Anyways I’ve got to go, bye.” The creature’s form spiraled into an ever shrinking circle until it disappeared with a pop.
Mary stared at a tree in the distance. I need to get more sleep.
———————————————————————————————————————
Fiivon yawned as he stretched. The morning sun filtered through branches and leaves overhead. Mary stood over a pot, her respirator over her mouth and goggles on as she stirred. A strange, multi-layered cloth and stick contraption absorbed the steam emanating from the pot. Every so often, Mary would reach over one of the layers with a needle which she then inserted into the device on her hip. Fiivon walked toward Mary. “What’s that Miss Mary?”
Mary looked over and held out her palm as she shook her head. “Stay back. The steam is unsafe to breathe in.”
Fiivon stopped moving. “Galorex wouldn’t have warned me, You are a much better master… err sorry teacher than he was miss.” Fiivon stepped back.
Mary checked her device. “Birch is an amazing caretaker. I do not know of anyone or anything capable of keeping a forest this contaminated alive. This fruit does appear to be naturally poisonous.” She dipped the needle into a fruity slop. “Boiling the fruit gets rid of all the natural toxins it has.” She jotted her findings down in a notebook then set another of the same rotund, white fruit into a pile of various foreign fruits on the forest floor.
“I never knew you could boil poison out of chalkfruit, but how do you know it's gone miss?”
Mary lifted up her device. “This device can analyze anything I put into it. It gives me a list of all the compounds in the substance and how dangerous those compounds are.”
“I’ve never seen a magical device able to do such a thing.”
“It is not magical. Electricity gathered from the sun powers most of its functions.”
“Elec-tri-city.” Fiivon looked confused. “What’s that?”
I would need to start there when explaining how the device works?! “Electricity is what happens when opposite charges try to balance each other out.”
“That sounds complicated miss. I need to keep my mind focused on magic.” Fiivon denied the lecture he thought was coming.
“You called this one chalkfruit.” Mary picked up the rotund, white fruit. “What are the names of the others?”
He pointed at a long, bumpy, orange, almost cylindrical fruit. “Well, that one’s called an orjun.”
Mary flipped to the appropriate page in her notebook and wrote down the name.
“That purple one with the spikes is Magifruit. It’s supposed to improve the flow of magic through your body. The round, green one is just an unripe orjun. I don’t know why but they change a lot when they ripen. And that last one is a picoberry, people use it as a drug but it got banned by the Brass Armada.” He pointed at a small, grey, otherwise apple-like fruit. “The poison in it supposedly makes people feel like time is really slow… or something.” Fiivon rubbed the back of his head and looked away.
Mary finished writing in her notes. “Thank you Fiivon. I will need as much information about this world as I can get if I am going to help it.” She walked over to pat him on the head. Fiivon flinched. “It is okay.” She patted him on the head. “My little sister always liked it when I did this. If you do not, I will not do it again.”
“I don’t hate it, but it’s kind of embarrassing so I’d rather you didn’t miss.”
Mary removed her hand and returned to the pot. The fire sizzled as she poured water over it until it had completely died out. She removed a vial from one of her pockets and squeezed each cloth until most of the captured liquid was contained within it.
“Why are you doing that?”
“I am collecting it for later testing.
“Why not finish testing now?”
“Getting to Jesperville takes priority and now that you are awake, we need to get moving.” She cleaned out the pot and returned it to Fiivon’s pack.
Fiivon flinched. “I… forgot to put my pack back in storage again.” He slumped forward.
“Do not feel bad, I was able to learn more about this world because you did.”
“We are taught to always keep any supplies we won’t be using soon in storage. I always struggled with that.” Fiivon waved the wand he carried around his pack. Then he closed his eyes and did it again. He kept his eyes closed and did it a third time. “Place my pack in storage.” The pack disappeared. “It normally doesn’t take this long to do.”
“I am sure you will get better with practice.” Mary slung her rifle over her shoulder.
“Jesperville’s not far from here and the gates should be open by the time we get there.” Fiivon walked west and Mary followed.
Please log in to leave a comment.