Damsels of Jormia 2: A Light Novel (An Isekai Fantasy Series)

by Marcus Sloss

  We headed off wanting to use every bit of the daylight we had. We moved quickly at first, feeling refreshed and wanting to exercise our muscles, but after about three hours, our pace slowed, the monotony of the wide plain wearing on our enthusiasm.

  As we walked, another forest appeared in the distance.

  “That’s not another nightmare forest, right?” I looked at it skeptically, considering if we should try to avoid it on our journey.

  “It shouldn’t be... but I also don’t remember the name of it.” Aquina answered honestly, not making me feel any better about heading toward it.

  Still, we needed a place to rest for a bit, hopefully finding a water source within it or small creatures we could hunt. The wolf clan provided us with a bit of dry meat and water, but it certainly wouldn’t be enough for the four-day trip.

  With this in mind, we decided to stay the course, heading straight into the forest. Nothing seemed particularly special about the forest, but then again, we didn’t notice anything about the nightmare forest either.

  I became increasingly aware of the flora that grew on the forest floor, keeping a watch on any strange spores they may release. We needed to be prepared for anything.

  Another two hours in and we came across a creek, the small water source barely enough for tadpoles to survive in, but it would have to do. I filled the one canteen we’d emptied so far and we sat down to rest and eat some of the jerky we carried.

  I felt Illia’s gaze on me occasionally and finally I asked her if something was wrong.

  “No. I just wanted to see if you wanted to start your training today? After all we only have four days to turn you into a master,” she joked, bringing up the earth mana gift.

  “Of course, I am ready when you are.”

  I stood up, dusting the dirt from my trousers.

  “I trust you understand the flow of mana and how to control it to the point of manifestation.”

  “I believe so,” I answered, demonstrating my fire mana gift, which I believed required that type of control.

  “Good. How does that feel? How do you invoke your gift?”

  “Visualization for fire. A sense of flow and concentration for lightning.”

  “Yes, the same basic instinct and use of mana is required for earth, but the feeling will be different. With earth, it's not a cut and dry sensation because earth can be many different things. It can be hard…” She lifted her hand, a rock forming where she gestured.

  “Sharp -” The rock sharpened into a point.

  “Even soft…” She dropped her hand abruptly, the sharp piece of stone crumbling in a mound of soft dirt.

  “Earth is versatile.” She lifted her hands again, waving them in a new formation.

  “Forget what you think you know about earth mana gifts. That’s the first step.”

  A mounded earth creature stood in front of us, a golem. She pushed it forward, controlling its movements with a single stroke of her hand.

  I imagined the damage such a creature could cause if it were made on a larger scale. The thought excited me, motivating my desire to learn from her.

  “Feel the earth.” She demonstrated her intention, sinking her arms into the ground to feel the weight of the earth around them.

  I put my palms on the solid ground, the task much more difficult than she made it seem. Rubbing my hands over the ground, I felt the grains of dirt between my fingers, trying to engrave the feeling into my memory. Still, it seemed impossible to sink my hands further into the earth without digging a hole first.

  “You are feeling the earth, but you should be connecting with it. Let it sense you as much as you are sensing it.”

  “Meaning?” I questioned, continuing to rub my palms along the ground.

  Illia rolled her eyes. “Your mana.”

  “Right. I completely forgot.”

  I reached for my mana, feeling it flow to the tips of my fingers as I continued to ‘connect’ with the dirt.

  “Good. Now try to emerge your hands in the soil.”

  Again, she demonstrated her instruction, the palms of her hands moving easily below the surface of the ground.

  I nodded, watching in awe, the movement so concise and effortless. I followed her example, my hands clapping with the solid floor. Illia laughed loudly at my failure.

  I felt my face flush a bit, but I was determined not to give up. For the time being, I chose to meditate, feeling the earth in my fingers as I built my mana stores.

  After an hour of meditation, Aquina patted my shoulder lightly, letting me know we should continue. I sighed, having gotten no closer to invoking my gift, but I knew she was right.

  Brushing the drift from my hands, I grabbed our travel bag, slinging it on my shoulder, then we restarted our trek to the Dwarven village. We walked, the girls chatting about the experiences we lived through.

  They filled Illia in on all the little details of our kingdom adventure and she told us about the different devices she had built for the Lezric over the years she had been their prisoner.

  The walking continued for another three hours, the suns low in the sky. We decided it would be best to find somewhere to camp for the night, not wanting to get turned around in the dark forest and make more work for ourselves the following day. Luckily, we found a clearing, and with Illia’s mana gift, she was able to quickly turn it into an ideal camping space.

  First, she softened the ground, the solid surface feeling like plowed earth under our feet. Then she built a ‘V’ shaped structure above us, shielding us from the elements. When she was satisfied with the work, she crawled inside, gesturing for us to come in as well.

  Aquina drew our protective barrier before we all three entered the structure. The walls were sturdy and the ground soft - a perfect place to get a good night’s rest. Not to mention it was quite spacious for a last-minute design.

  We shared some of the food given to us by the Silverwolves as we discussed our remaining journey. We figured with the pace we walked it would only take three days until we reached Illia’s village...maybe less. It was hard to know for sure without GPS. Even a map would have been helpful at that point.

  When the meal concluded, I laid down, my arms folded under my head, and stared up at the rocky ceiling. Aquina and Cera snuggled in close, nuzzling their heads on my chest. Illia made her own space, a bit farther from our group, propping herself up on her elbow so she could still talk to us.

  The exhaustion of walking most of the day set in, and I felt my eyelids becoming heavy.

  “Hey Nolan...” Illia began in a whisper.

  “Yea?”

  “Never mind.”

  I didn’t press her to continue. Not because I wasn’t curious, I just found it hard to focus in the moment. I told myself she would ask again when she felt ready, letting myself drift to sleep.

  ∞∞∞

  The night passed peacefully, and we spent the next three days repeating the same routine. We woke, ate, walked, practiced magic, ate, walked some more, ate and slept. The scenery remained the same, more forested areas and long flat plains with the occasional hilly area.

  By the afternoon of what we assumed would be our final day, we ran out of food and entered the next patch of forest with our eyes peeled, searching for something that could become our lunch. Walking through the forest we tried to keep our steps quiet, not wanting to alert any of the creatures that may be around.

  The journey so far had been carefree with no threats trying to steal our lives. In fact, we hadn’t seen much of the wildlife in the forests, something I attributed to our combined strength and the fact that we weren’t trying to conceal our presence.

  With our food stores empty, our goals changed, so we spread out, hoping to find the prey we needed to fill our stomachs. With the instructions to not wander too far, we each were designated a direction in the forest, heading off on our own. I figured an hour would be enough time, so we agreed to meet in a clearing marked by Illia with a stone fire pit—already set up to
cook whatever we killed.

  “Good luck!” Cera shouted, purposely trying to scare anything in the area, excited by the competition.

  Instead of looking at it as a ‘who can hunt more’ challenge, I just wanted to eat. Regardless of the sentiment, the goal was the same, and with Cera’s unofficial start, we all headed off to hunt on our own.

  About five minutes after separating from the group, I found my first prey. I figured I must have been right that the animals were avoiding us, having not spotted so much as a squirrel—or whatever the equivalent would be here—before we split up.

  I heard the scampering from the other side of a bush, and I slowly crept toward the sound to get a better look. When I pushed the foliage aside, I froze, staring at a spiderling building a web in the hollowed-out portion of a tree. Some must not have returned to the nightmare forest, I thought to myself assuming the creatures would eventually make their way back after the danger had passed.

  I suppose that was a naive thing to think as I began to wonder just how far the creatures would appear from their original home. Emerging from behind my hiding place, I quickly sliced the spider with my fire blade, giving it no time to react.

  The beast died instantly, and I questioned if the spiderling would be edible. About ready to take it back to the camp just in case, I remembered the precautions we needed to take in order not to contaminate the land near the Silverwolf clan. Surely something that dangerous wouldn’t be edible, I reasoned, setting the whole thing ablaze.

  As the creature sizzled into nothingness, I began searching the area again, not wanting to return empty handed. As I looked for edible creatures, I remained alert for anything familiar from the nightmare forest. The next animal I found resembled a deer, the size and shape almost the same.

  The stark difference was in the horns. They resembled tree branches sprouting from the sides of the creature's head, splintering off in different directions. When motionless, it blended in so perfectly with the surrounding trees that I almost missed it standing in plain sight.

  That one catch would be enough to feed all of us for the night. I remained still, trying not to alert it to my presence, but as a creature built for stealth, it was already sniffing the air, sensing me.

  There was no time to be stealthy if I didn’t want to lose sight of the beast. Instead, I ran forward, three fire arrows flying in front of me as I aimed at the deer. The creature turned to run, realizing its camouflage had failed, but it reacted too late.

  The arrows hit, and the creature fell to the ground. I approached the deer, making sure the arrows had killed it, not wanting it to suffer needlessly. Lifting the creature onto my shoulders, I prepared to head back to where we had designated our camp site, figuring I didn’t need to bring back anything else.

  As I turned, I noticed a slight movement in the corner of my eye, and I stopped, not sure what I was dealing with. All at once, a herd of the branchy antlered deer emerged from their hiding spots.

  Looking at them now, their defense mechanism seemed to be a bit more intense than simple camouflage, almost as if they could disappear into the trees.

  In mere moments, I found myself surrounded by the creatures who were much more intimidating when their numbers increased. Like a bull in a ring, the deer dug their hooves in the dirt preparing to charge at the threat in the middle of the circle. Shit.

  I slowly moved to put down the carcass of the deer that I had resting on my shoulders, trying not to make any sudden movements that would tempt them to attack. I slowly stood, but seeing the downed deer was enough to incite the fury of the group.

  All at once, they charged, their horns out in front and suddenly looking extremely sharp. I lifted my hands into the air, erecting a fire wall around me. Beyond the wall, the deer hesitated, rearing backward and forward, still wanting to pursue despite the heated obstruction.

  Thrusting my hands forward, the wall spread out, pushing the beasts back. Some chose to run, while others turned back toward me, still enraged that I had killed one of their own. Five remained when the fire dispersed their glares locked onto my position.

  I tried to scare them away again, hoping they would flee out of sight. A carefully placed fireball erupted upon contact with the forest floor, right beside the hooves of one of the deer. It reared back in surprise, then rushed forward, clearly not deterred from attacking.

  Stepping to the side, I avoided the arched antlers that were aimed at my neck. The other remaining deer followed the first’s lead, coming at me all at once. Once again, I invoked a fire wall, but this time one of the deer leapt through the flames coming to stand in front of me, its fur singed in a few places.

  While one made it through, the others didn’t seem so eager to plow through fire. I didn’t really want to kill them all, preferring to let them resume their hidden habits, but they didn’t leave me much of a choice.

  I tried once more to scare off the beast, but when the fireball did little to that effect, its eyes glazed in anger, I had no choice but to go for the kill. I aimed my next arrow at its neck. The deer fell quickly, the blood pooling as it died in front of me.

  Letting the wall drop, I prepared to face the remainder of the deer herd, but upon seeing their second fallen comrade, they fled the scene, leaving me with two kills instead of one. I exhaled deeply from the unexpected overexertion and resumed my initial task—taking the deer back to the campsite. Now I would need to take two trips.

  By the time I unloaded the second deer from my shoulders, Aquina entered the designated spot, her arms full of forest plant life.

  “That's some catch,” she said, noticing the two deer laid beside the empty fire pit.

  “How did you manage to see a veiled fallow, let alone kill not one, but two?”

  “Just lucky, I guess,” I shrugged, preferring not to go into detail about my run in with the fallow herd.

  Aquina laid out the plants on a smooth rock Illia had prepared for us, taking inventory of her collection.

  “I knew you would be able to catch something, so I decided to pick up some plants to eat with the meat. I did kill a spiderling, though...nasty things have infiltrated this forest too.”

  She disappeared for a moment then returned holding a dead spiderling by its leg. She dropped it to the ground then looked at me expectantly. Realizing her intention, I lit the body of the spider on fire, letting it and its venomous blood burn to a crisp.

  Minutes later, Illia joined us, her arms loaded down with sticks she had collected from her hunt.

  “I couldn’t find anything edible,” she said as her face flushed slightly. “But I thought we would need wood for the fire.”

  “That’s perfect!” Aquina chirped, helping Illia place the wood in the fire pit.

  When they finished setting the wood up, I added a spark to the kindling they prepared and sat back, watching the fire spread. Illia used her gift to sharpen some forest rocks into blades sharp enough to slice through the skin of the fallow.

  I went to grab one when Illia said, “You caught them. I can at least help with disassembling them.”

  “I’ll help too!” Cera shouted, sprinting from behind a tree, quickly picking up one of the blades.

  Leaves were strung throughout her hair, and her whole appearance looked a bit more disheveled than when she had started the hunt.

  “Just leave it to me.” She patted her muscle with one hand, the blade in the other, showing off the confidence she had in being able to accomplish the task.

  I chuckled, choosing not to tease her about not killing any prey after she had made the whole thing into a competition. Aquina shrugged and joined me in sitting on the rock bench. We watched the two as they began the process of skinning and gutting the catch. Illia, of course, first made them platforms to work at by raising the earth under the deer and shaping it into a flat surface.

  Aquina slid closer to me as we enjoyed the break, our fingers slowly intertwining. The girls made quick work of the deer, and in fifteen minutes or so, the mea
t was ready to cook. Again, they were eager to volunteer for the job and I didn’t have any reason to object.

  While they focused on cooking the meat and plant life, Aquina and I searched for large leaves to wrap the remaining slabs of meat in. Not far from the camp site stood a tree with large leaves, perfect for the task. After picking a few, we headed back, quickly wrapping up the portions to preserve for later.

  Aquina whispered her time spell, meaning the meat would last for the rest of the journey. As we ate together, we enjoyed each other’s company, making small talk and laughing about trivial things.

  Halfway through dinner, Cera told Illia, “You should just join us in our adventure. You would be a lot of help against the Rexco and as Nolan’s teacher...especially since he hasn’t learned anything yet.” She whispered the last part loud enough for me to hear.

  I didn’t object, agreeing with Cera’s sentiment. At the same time, I didn’t want to make Illia feel as though we were pressuring her to stay, so I remained quiet, trying to gauge her reaction.

  Her eyes lit up a bit when Cera presented the option that I’m sure she hadn’t considered, but then, as if thinking better of it, she folded forward a bit, searching for the right words.

  “Thank you.” Her voice came out quiet.

  “While I can’t give you my decision right now, just knowing that I am welcome in your group means everything. I feel like I could say yes and be happy, but I know a piece of me would always wonder about my home. Even if there is nothing left for me, I gotta see it, ya know?”

  “Of course. We will support whatever decision you make,” Aquina told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in for a side hug.

  “If you decide your place is with the dwarves, we will understand, but I agree, having you as a part of the team feels natural. We’d be happy if you stayed.”

  I gave her a small smile, letting her know my thoughts so she could make her decision when the time came.

  “Thank you,” she said again, putting another piece of meat in her mouth to hide her embarrassment.