The next morning, we woke up to a warm and pleasant camp, though it was due to the barrier we were in. Everyone woke up and looked a little bit more rested than they did yesterday.
I sat cooking breakfast, as I was the first to wake up. However, I was bugged by the floating red orb that wisped around me. It was a little fire spirit that I could see thanks to my new skill.
The little blighter got excited when I used fire magic to light the fire. It made sense that a fire spirit liked fire, it may even use it for food. But when I lit a small bit of wood for it, it seemed to lose interest. So, I covered my hand in a thin film of fire magic and let it sit in the palm of my hand, as I waited for leftovers from last night's meal to cook.
I sat listening to the sound of bubbling liquid as I watched the small red orb dance around in my hand. And before I knew it, I could hear the sound of my party members stirring. They looked at me, with my hand aflame, but they were too hungry to care about my strange behaviour.
It didn't take long for breakfast to be eaten and for us to press on. The plan was to head to Tillmore, then head out from there. Thankfully, the young man with us, Luka, was from Tillmore and knew the way.
As we walked down the forest path, I found it a little overwhelming to adjust to the new world I was seeing. As it seemed that my new skill, spirit eyes combined with mana hypersensitivity and allowed me to constantly see the two worlds that overlap with each other.
All the colours that I could see, were even more vibrant, as if someone cranked the saturation of the colours way up. If I were to focus, I could almost seem a smoke emanating from it, which was the residual mana that all things living gives off. It was almost overwhelming and would take some time to adjust to.
For whatever reason, since this morning, the small red orb had been following me. I wasn't sure if it was the reason why lots of different coloured orbs had been trailing behind us. All I knew was it was a strange thing to witness and one that would have made me nervous if I didn't know any better.
"Luka, how much longer until we reach the village?" Zale asked. Unlike the other elves, who aren't willing to talk to anyone other than an elf. Zale didn't seem to mind, though she seemed to remain reserved.
"Hmm, I'd say that we should reach Tillmore by lunch time tomorrow." He replied as he looked up at the darkening skies.
I wasn't paying much attention to their conversation. I was much more interested with the dancing spirits. Ever since this morning, I hadn't seen any other orbs floating around, other than those that had followed me, so I wasn't sure if they were rare, and I was just lucky. Either way, it was fun interacting with them and watching them play around with each other.
At times, the red orb would rush over to a new coloured orb and then that orb would fly over to me, as if the red orb told them to. I fed them the element they belong to, and by the time we made camp for the night, I had five different orbs sitting on a fallen branch next to me. They seemed to be happy and content.
I didn't really care that my party members had been looking at me like a crazy person. It wasn't every day that you get to interact with spirits, and it's certainly not common to have them follow and play with you.
Having gone to sleep, shortly after making camp. I was awoken sometime during the night, by a little tickling sensation on my cheek. At first, I thought it was my imagination, so I ignored it. However, it continued and increased in frequency and even turned into a very faint prickly feeling.
As I opened my eyes, I saw several coloured orbs circling over my head, somehow, they looked panicked.
"Cainy, Cain. Trouble!" A small voice spoke to me; however, it sounded like it was in my head.
My instincts told me that it was the little red orb that was speaking to me. And even knowing that, it didn't worry me, if anything, I felt comfortable and familiar with it.
"What trouble?" I asked in a whisper, careful not to wake up any of my sleeping companions.
"Big beasty is nearby. It likes to gobble humans up!" They spoke in a panic and span around in erratic shapes.
I thought for a moment, 'I don't remember there being any monsters of the strength level of an ogre, so I think the barrier would be safe. But it's still nice to know that there is a monster lurking about.'
"Thanks for the warning. But anything weaker than an ogre and they won't be able to break my barrier." I said in a reassuring voice.
"Don't be silly. There is no big meanie here. It's a minotaur that's lurking." The red orb spoke in a jovial voice.
However, my body froze, and my throat ran dry. 'What is a minotaur doing here?'
"Are you sure? Their usual hunting grounds are to the north." I hoped that they had made a mistake, but I already knew that they weren't. This is my luck, after all.
"Nope, definitely a minotaur. It has big horns and everything." They said, as if they were proud of their perceptive skills.
'Crap.' A minotaur isn't exactly a difficult opponent, if you had a decent party to help. But right now, all we had was Zale and me, not to mention that we had people to protect, which was always a handicap.
"Do you know how far away it is?" I asked, as it difficult to come up with a plan if I didn't have any details. Plus, we might not even have to fight.
"Don't know. Many trees that way. And is coming this way." I should have known that they wouldn't know the specific distance. But the fact that it was coming this way was enough.
"Alright, I need to wake everyone up. I'm sure my barrier would survive for some time but will break under the strength of a minotaur." I said, mainly to myself, as I rose from my bedroll.
However, I didn't need to wake Zale up, because as soon as I got near, she woke up and turned to face me, a serious look in her eyes.
"We have trouble. My magic has picked up a minotaur heading straight for us." I spoke in hushed voice, as things would only get more complicated if everyone started to panic.
"…How far?" She asked, her brief surprise quickly passed over her.
"I'm not sure. My search magic isn't that developed. All I know is that it's in that direction." I lied and pointed in the direction that the little orb told me.
"I see. Well, I think that we should stay and defend here. As we have your barrier, and we have a pretty wide space." She said, and I couldn't help but agree.
"Agreed. However, we have the disadvantage of being on the defensive with noncombatants." I added, as I knelt beside her, so we made less sound.
She remained quiet as she side-eyed the sleeping elves next to her. She was a warrior herself, so she knew what I said was true but didn't want to admit that her companions would be a hinderance.
"And with only having the two of us who can fight, already being a strain. I was thinking of changing the dynamics a little." I said with a little smile.
"What do you mean?" Zale asked, looking a little confused.
"My barrier can survive a few strikes from something like a minotaur, but I was thinking of asking for you to stay and defend the camp. While I go and run a little interference with our guest." I said, as I watched her face change into concern as she listened to my, frankly, crazy idea.
"I don't think it's wise. You can't face it on your own. I think it'll be for the best if we combined our strength." It wasn't surprising that she was against my idea. And it was also not a bad play to be defensive. But that way, it would be a very close fight, and I don't like to fight a battle were the odds are not completely in my favour.
"I wasn't going to fight it on my own, I'm not that delusional. I was going to confuse it, lay some traps and draw it away from camp. With my magic, I have a high chance of escaping, so there is little danger involved."
Zale listened to me without saying a word. She knew that if one of us were to go play interception, then the chance of the rest surviving would increase. As a soldier, she knew that to sacrifice the life of the one to save the many was sometimes the only way.
"…." I took her silence to mean that she agreed with me.
"Then, I'll leave straight away. I'll leave it to if you want to wake everyone up." I stood up from my place in front of her and began to walk in the direction of my foe.
"Can you guide me to the minotaur, little one?" I asked the floating red orb, dancing just over my shoulder. I had just entered the treeline, so I didn't need to worry about Zale hearing me.
"Okay!" The orb sang, as it circled my head once before dashing forward to act as my personal GPS.
However, I only needed to follow the orb for a few minutes before I started to hear wood snapping in the distance. The speed at which it was getting closer was incredible. 'Around two minutes.' I calculated, as I surveyed the environment.