Act I
"I think that's all the meat we can carry, we should go find someplace to camp and turn them into smoked jerky and stew." Eclipsa said as she hefted a bledout chunk of meat inside her basket bag.
"You're right. . . we should keep moving south, hopefully we will find the river Chara saw before nightfall." Seraphina spoke as I saw her tie a hunk of meat holding it with rope.
Chara had two chunks with him, even if he was shorter than me he was still well muscled. But I think he's just trying to compensate, he must have felt useless when we were fighting. . . Come to think of it, I barely did anything during that fight. . . I should make more arrows.
"Here you can have mine, Dani." Eclipsa said as she handed me her soul core, I looked at her confused. By right of killing the Horror, the soul core should be hers, why is she giving it to me?
"Thank you?" I said, as I tried absorbing it just like how I did during my first dream challenge. But after a moment, nothing happened. Both Eclipsa and Seraphina were looking at me confused.
"Huh? I don't think I can use it. . . Can I instead have the rest of the meat?" I said giving back the soul core, I have a suspicion why I can't absorb soul cores anymore and I wanted to check. She nodded, before moving towards Chara and Seraphin who for some reason took a step back.
I shrugged at their actions, before I looked at the two mostly intact butchered corpses, we only took the meat from their loins, and thighs after all. I tried clearing my head, Breath* I took a deep breath, as flames blazed on my hands.
But then I paused as a thought appeared, who should I dedicate this sacrifice to? It was a simple question, but a hard one to answer. I knew a few patrons, mostly the three patrons I heard and sacrificed to during my first dream challenge, but would they answer me here?
I should have asked my history professor if he knew any of the local patrons here in the Dawn valley? Damn it! Why did I just think about this now? I spent months with the man, learning about how to read runic writings and how to look for temples. . .
After a few moments of just standing I shook my head, and then touched the corpses of Heavy tusked boars, watching as their thick fur caught on pale fire as I thought of the words I should say.
"I dedicate this sacrifice to the patrons of these lands. I only ask for a small boon." I spoke out as I closed my eyes, hoping just like the first time I did this that a random patron would be kind enough to answer.
[The Lady of the open sky, smiles as she notices you, the Merciful sun. She accepts your sacrifice.]
As I heard the familiar whispering, I opened my eyes to see the two corpses were gone, turned into white ash. What was left was a pale smoke rolling infront of me, slowly the white smoke was seeping into my outstretched flaming hands.
[You have purified two souls. The Lady of the open sky has given you a dream Essence.]
I can sense the new dream essence inside my soul, as I felt the tiredness in my legs lessen as the white smoke fully seeped into me. I turned around as I tried summoning it, and then felt a new weight on my shoulders, I looked at it to see a cape?
[Hunter's Cloak: Iron rank - A warm cloak that would keep the elements away.]
I heard the whisper as I felt that it was made of a single furry pelt and I can feel something around my neck. . . It had a hood with animal ears, I was smiling at my new piece of clothing then I saw the others looking at me, their expressions were complicated.
"We can go now, I did what I needed." I told them simply, Seraphina was the first to react as she nodded and led the way.
Act II
Eclipsa and Seraphina was infront as I and Chara walked a few paces at their back, our pace was slower but unlike before we weren't actively avoiding all the Horrors only those in large herds or of high rank that we recognize, so we were mostly walking in a straight line.
I looked at the tattoo on my bare chest, [5/100 Souls Purified] we haven't been able to kill anything as most of the horrors would flee the moment they noticed they were outnumbered or when I wounded them with my [Hunter's arrow].
"Dani, I think the girls are worried about something." Chara spoke, as we took a break sitting on boulders. I was crushing a bundle of moss, in my hand drinking the dirty water straight without even boiling it. I'm glad I'm a ranker now and that I don't need to worry about things like an upset stomach just because of water parasites or bacteria.
"I think they didn't like me doing my sacrifice thing." I told him honestly but somehow my answer made him frown.
"I thought. . . you were joking about that Dani." He said, his voice grave.
"I wasn't. I already told you about my First dream challenge, just like how you told me about yours. Honestly I'm jealous you lived as a fortune teller for only a couple of weeks while I was stuck as a barbarian for almost a year." I looked towards the girls as they approached us with sticks and bundled grass.
"We should start smoking our meat. . . Also, we need to talk Daniel." Seraphina said as Eclipsa went to the other side of the boulders, and started building a fire, Chara excused himself and joined her.
They were terrible actors as I could see through their act of busily preparing camp but were actually listening in, as they silently worked with ears perked in our direction.
"Of course, have a seat Sera." I said with a gentle smile, I wondered if she wanted to ask about my ritual. Hopefully she wouldn't ask for too many details, I barely started studying my abilities and I don't think I can answer her if she asks.
"Daniel, I've talked to Sunshine. . ." She paused mid word, as she looked towards Eclipsa and Chara, as they were building a simple campfire and smoking rack.
"She'll be giving me all of the Soul cores she earns in exchange for combat lessons, and I'll be sharing what I get with Chara. . ." I nodded, it was a good plan, but why wouldn't Eclipsa consume. . .
"Wait, is she like me? Does Eclipsa not. . ." I tried to whisper but stopped as I felt Seraphina's hand on my arm, she was squeezing it and unsurprisingly her grip was pretty strong.
"It's not our business to know, focus." She whispered back a sharpness in her eyes appeared.
"Everyone gets something in our party, so tell me Daniel. Do you want the corpses of all the Horrors we kill?" I like how direct she was. . . Also now that I think about it, Eclipsa was like this too.
"That would be lovely Sera, here. Do you want my cloak? Atleast if you were the one wearing it I wouldn't be distracted every time you're this close~" I teased her a little as she looked me in the eyes for a few seconds before I felt her hand release me.
"Chuckle* Is it really a good time to make jokes, Daniel?" She said as I saw her eyes soften, the sharpness from a moment ago gone.
"It's always a good time to lighten the mood." I smiled as I looked towards the two as they started smoking meat.
"So, I get corpses, Sunshine gets lessons, while Chara and you get the Soul cores, a good trade!" I said loudly this time making sure everyone can hear me, I saw Chara was smiling at my antics. I looked up at the sky, clearing my head. I pray we find that village soon.
I should prepare myself, I was never good with alcohol and from how accurate Chara's visions were, I might get drunk with strangers. I can still remember the time I got drunk and started doing taichi while my even more drunk friends took videos and followed along.
Act III
"Haaa. Haa. . ha. . ." I was catching my breath, my arms were tired, a shattered bone club was clutched in my hand. Three lizards the size of mastiff dogs laid broken in front of me, their limbs twisted and tails crushed, they were wiggling on the grass covered dirt uselessly. They were wheezing nearing death, but still they were alive.
I looked around for my group. The first one I saw was Eclipsa. She was breathing hard as around her laid two lizards with a bloody broken grey blood covered horn in her hand, she was next to Chara who was laying on the ground breathing roughly as he was hugging a lizard with a broken neck.
I turned and saw Seraphina was walking towards me. I can see five sliced open lizards behind her, it was already night, with the only light being the campfire. . . We were lucky Eclipsa had her shadow on watch or else we wouldn't have been ready when these horrors attacked us.
She didn't talk as she walked over to the crippled Horrors infront of me and quickly with three swift jabs ended their lives. She paused for a moment, placed a hand on my shoulder and motioned to the campfire.
"Is anyone hurt?" I asked, after breaking out of my daze, I'm not sure but I think I can heal others if I use the purified souls.
"I'm fine Dani." Chara said as he patted himself clear of dust and grass as he smiled happily, I mirrored his smile. I was proud of him, I didn't see him but I think he actually wrestled a horror to death. . . Not something people see every day.
Eclipsa shook her head, I saw blood on her but they were all grey the same was with Seraphina, none of the blood on her was her own. I was relieved they weren't hurt, so I started collecting the corpses and lining them near the fire.
"Eleven lesser Basilisks, I wonder did they get attracted by our campfire?" Chara said as he counted the Horrors by touch, I shrugged.
"Maybe, lesser Basilisks much like their older brothers hunt using heat and smell. But the journals say they can distinguish between the heat of a fire and that of prey. . . They probably smelled the meat we were smoking." I felt a prick on my lower stomach, a bleeding bite mark.
It felt like I was being stung by fire ants, but then a small fire appeared over my small wound and then it didn't feel painful anymore. But after the fire disappeared I felt weaker, I probably lost a purified soul.
Tear* I looked back to the corpses, the sound came from Eclipsa, she was using a dagger she didn't have earlier, to reap into a lesser Basilisk fishing out their soul core. Seraphina was doing the same with her sword, but then I noticed something. She has boots now, the leather of her boots matches the green skin of the lesser Basilisks.
I started helping, using a sharpened bone to rip into the soft flesh of the lesser Basilisk. They're leathery skin was tough but after getting through, their white flesh was unusually soft. I tried to bleed out as much of their grey blood before fishing out their soul cores.
It took what felt like an hour before the eleven soul cores were laid infront of Chara and Seraphina. As they started absorbing the soul cores I was busy stacking the corpses, but after I finished, I smelled something good and looked towards Eclipsa, to see she was adding the fatty lesser Basilisk tails on top of the smoking rack.
I wonder what they taste like, the Beasteary described them as tasting like tender chicken, but everything tastes like chicken. So I'm not sure if the description could be trusted or if the tails really were the most nutritious and only edible part of a lesser Basilisk.
The corpses were neatly piled now, at first I thought I should sacrifice to the Lady of the open sky again, but as I thought of that I felt a wrongness with that action. So I thought of doing another blind sacrifice but that also made me feel a wrongness I can only compare to when I tried chili ice cream.
That was when I looked up, and saw the stars of the night sky of the dreaming, a thought came. Do I need to be specific? I didn't feel the wrongness again, without thinking about what I should do I buried my arms into the pile of large lizards.
"I dedicate this sacrifice to the Lady of the open sky, I beseech the kindly patroness. I ask for a weapon to keep myself safe under your open skies." I followed my instincts, as I felt my words were right. That was when I felt the weight between my arms vanish as I saw pale smoke covering my entire body, it was seeping into me.
[The Lady of the open sky turns, to look your way. She accepts your offering. You have purified Eleven souls.]
The sleepiness inside me vanished, the effect of the addition of new souls were even more potent, I could feel great strength in my arms. I felt like I could crush a stone with my bare hands.
[Laughter* The Lady of the open sky tosses the Merciful Sun a gift, and words of advice. "You are not one of my priests young Merciful Sun, this will be the last time I accept your offerings this cycle."]
The whisper changed, for a moment I heard the voice of an older woman and not that of a young girl. I was stunned, this was the first time something like this happened.
[You have received a dream essence.]
A ball of light appeared infront of me, I touched it and felt a new connection in my soul. It felt different to the other dream essences I received, I summoned it and then it appeared in between my hands.
[Ivory Quiver: Bronze rank - A quiver used by a champion of the Lady of the open sky. Summons quality mundane arrows for its wielder.]
I was holding the thing, it was a hollowed out large horn attached to a belt, it was incredibly light, crusted with gold and gems but surprisingly it was empty. But as I placed my fingers inside I felt the familiar feathers of an arrow.
I pulled it out and saw a perfectly made arrow, with a brown long burnished shaft, fine green feathered fletching and it was tipped with a broad bronze arrow head. I tried pulling out another but I felt nothing but air? Huh, does that mean it can only produce one arrow at a time?
With that thought I stood straight, and then took my bow, shot the arrow, and then I reached for the quiver and felt another arrow. This one had an ebony wood shaft, with white feathers and a flint arrow head? I paused, shot it and then pulled out another arrow, this time it was an iron tipped bodkin.