Ch 46 goals and ideas

The sun's light began to rise on the keep of Kear Morhen once again. Those inside it's walls awaited the return of Geralt and his companions. Others within the city awoke and began their day as normal citizens. Builders set off to resume their work on different projects. Farmers tended to their fields. The citizens who held administrative positions woke to join their colleagues in the running of their businesses. All who called the valley home could be seen in an uplifted mood.

Those few who were not at home in the valley, well they had a much more serious mood. Yang was still not talking to Vyr. Blake was still trying to calm the anger of the yellow haired woman. And the elves who fell from the sky. Well they had their own goals too.

"Commander, surely you can agree. We must not let this continue. We cannot simply stand by and watch as those…things wander freely." Llarm did not bother to hide his disgust.

Fëthi Dröttning stared at her second in command as he voiced his opinions. Llarm was many things, but a thinker was not among them. What worried her even more than his seemingly reckless words was the readily given agreement of the soldiers under her command. Did they not understand the situation around them? Had they been blind to the things she'd witnessed? Heard what she had during their 'stay' here?

They had been dropped in foreign lands without any clear sign of a way to return outside of the people who had housed and fed them. The so called 'elves' here, if they could even be considered elves, held no empathy for them. The 'Witchers' seemed to be content with allowing this 'Lady Wolf' girl to do as she pleased with them.

Lady Wolf seemed to be the only one who could get them home. Fethi was trying to form a peaceful relationship with her. While her men seemed to want to ruin her frustratingly little progress by confronting Lady wolf's friends. Whatever they may be.

It was not like she didn't understand why they were wanting to. She too could feel them. The only way she could describe them was as if she was suffocating in the dark. Slowly losing breath as the dark closed in on her. Being near them made her never want to close her eyes, just so she would always know light was near. Like she needed a torch just standing near them.

"I will say it again as it seems you have forgotten what i said already. We. Will. NOT. Anger. the ONLY known person who can get us home." I said making sure to properly get the point across. "Lady wolf is kind enough to help us and even spare our lives. Let's not dig ourselves a shallow grave, who knows where, when we are needed to protect our home."

"That same person left us here without warning just days ago, instead of finding a way for us to return as you insist she is doing," Llarm said in disapproval.

"Yes, and they have already returned. It is unfair to expect them to drop everything they are doing and have planned to help us. They are not our citizens nor do they owe us anything, especially with you being hostile to their … people." Fethi was determined to make them see reason.

"Are we condemned to simply sit and watch them?" A soldier asked, looking torn. They weren't foolish, they knew it was not a good idea to anger those who could help them home. Their uneasiness only increased when they thought about what would happen in Du Weldenvarden if anyone found out about their actions here.

Not only was it beyond dishonorable to attack those who had healed them, after sparing their lives, but to even be considering it was blasphemy in and of itself. These were the people who fed and housed them, they would be lucky to be let off with exile. Even Fethi, an honorable princess of their lands, would be shunned in the streets.

"Yes. That's all we can do." Fethi answered.

"I still don't like it. This "Lady wolf', hah! What lady? She is still but a girl," Llarm could not refute his commander so he started venting his dissatisfaction in a different way.

"A girl who bested me in single combat," Fethi said with mixed feelings. She wanted to deny it, but there was no point. It is much harder to spare someone than it is to kill them.

"You were hurt beforehand," one of the soldiers defended her.

"Thank you, but it doesnt change the facts. Not only is she knowledgeable about magic, but she also beat me in swordplay while trying to not kill me. Even if she is young we must still honor her achievements lest we dishonor ourselves," Fethi said thinking about how her mother and sister would feel.

As they were thinking over Fethi's words, a great rumble came from outside. It was quickly followed by another, then another. The elves quickly went to the courtyard overlooking the interior of the valley. The elf named Aelos had once said this is where Lady wolf used to sleep. In the little shed built against the keep, but Fethi found that hard to believe.

Looking out over the valley they found the origin of the rumbling. It was one of the restricted areas, the glowing forest. The forest sentinels had tried going in before but they were stopped by a female elf from the valley. While she only warned them that they were not permitted entry, Fethi was sure that if looks could kill, they would all be dead.

They watched as the tall trees bent and groaned while the ground shook. Without their weapons, they could only hope that whatever was happening would end soon.

*\Scene change/*

Meanwhile in said forest, Vyr was playing with and teaching the animals. Stuff like fetch, tug of war, full contact wrestling, teaching them how to shake hands, play dead, how to go for the throat. You know, simple things any good pet would know.

Right now she was playing tag with Fridge, and both were going all out to win. Every time one would "tag" the other the forest around them would suffer a mysterious earthquake. It had nothing to do with the amount of force the two were using, that would never be the case.

As Vyr flew through the air, now having become "it", she thought over how she could win this game. Fridge was a serious opponent, and she had to take advantage of whatever she could. Both were strong, but fridge won in pure strength even after vyr had upped her STR in Oolacile. Both were fast, but again, Fridge had the advantage.

Fridge was larger than an average Thanator coming in at around 10ft tall and 24 foot long. While Vyr was only a bit over 6 and a half feet tall. Whether that was from the witcher trails or her "natural" genetics, one could only guess. Point is, Fridge had her solidly beat in the size department as well.

One could be fooled into thinking that with Fridge's size it would hinder her movements in the forest. And if Fridge could talk she'd call those people easy food. Not only was the glowing forest her home and territory. Fridge possessed the acute senses of a cat, with an extra pair of arms to boot.

Vyr on the other hand had to rely on her ropes to accelerate her movements, and tried to kite Fridge through the trees. Since she was lighter than Fridge, she could stop or turn faster as well. But as time went on Fridge was learning how to even the playing field.

But the worst disadvantage was that time was NOT on Vyr's side. The game would end when Geralt and company returned or one of the two got tired.

In a normal battle of attrition Vyr would be queen. Fatal blow, tired, or hungry? Just eat something! Prototypes were cheat-like existences who could survive off tree bark and dirt. Much less actual food. And if Vry had a supply of people to eat? You could only hope your burst DPS was enough, or if she got bored and left! And humans just to happen to be an extremely common blight upon a multitude of worlds.

But here she couldn't do that. Everything around her she spent system points for, or were her pets.(who she also spent system points for) It just wasn't worth it! Not for a friendly game with Fridge. And while Vyr was a super-witcher on or just above Geralt's level, she still had a limit. A limit that was getting closer and closer.

Flipping through the air, Vyr landed on her feet in a sprinter's crouch. She took a deep breath, before launching off after the fleeing thanator. Seeing that she would eventually lose, and as she didnt want to waste any system points for something this meaningless. Vyr chose to take a gamble.

She turned her focus away from the game, and looked inward. She let the unique sensation of her prototype powers cover her body, prepping it to reconstruct in whatever way she desired. Normally Vyr would make sure her body was a balance of all aspects. But now she was trying to see if her new project would work.

The idea was to create a new form that's sole goal was speed. With a combination of a royal Griffin's strength and a thanator's flexibility, she created special muscles built for short bursts of extreme power. Theoretically it should work … if they didn't tear themselves apart immediately. The downside of these muscles, besides being untested, were the lack of endurance, making them a liability in prolonged fights. But since she was losing anyway, might as well try. Right?

The change was quick and painless, hard to feel pain when your nerves and nerve clusters were currently magic-like smoke. As she finished reforming she could feel the change immediately. The problems were evident and widespread. Some parts of the muscles were too long or too short. Small twitches would have too much force. But the worst part was breathing.

The body uses muscles to expand the lungs and take in air. When she made those muscles too strong, her lungs not only over-filled, cracking her ribcage, they also stretched to the point that they tore open, allowing blood to fill.

Vyr quickly stopped and once more became smoke, fixing these issues. She took her time micromanaging, before reforming once more. She repeated this process until she had everything adjusted properly. She would still need to fine tune it but for now it would at least be usable, if ill advised.

Once Vyr felt that she had done enough to test, she began following Fridge's trail. First taking slow steps, before speeding up. Every few steps she would speed up a little, until she had reached an easy jog. This was already slightly faster than her normal muscles, but Vyr could tell she was tiring out quicker than she predicted.

Soon she tracked the thanator to where it was trying to rest and regain its stamina. Upon seeing her Fridge took off once more, bounding through the forest. But that's what vyr was expecting, She tensed her new muscles like a rubber band, and as Fridge found a good rhythm, Vyr pushed off the ground.

The trees blurred and the grass under her feet was crushed, as Vyr barreled through the underbrush. Speed was what she wanted and she got all that and more. Seeing herself gaining ground only served to enhance the adrenaline she was feeling. Soon she began pushing further and further to reach her goal so closely in reach.

All at once she surpassed her estimations, and her hand reached out to grasp the startled thanator. But as if to mimic her new speed. Pain flooded her senses. The stress on the new muscles exceeded their unrefined limits. Some ripped, and others snapped, but the vast majority just plain shredded. And like the body does, it drowned Vyr's brains in signals of "somethings wrong".

Her body no longer able to function properly, forced vyr to fall mid-stride. Which only enhanced the agony she was feeling. Soon it was just too much, and she succumbed to the relief that the darkness encroaching her vision would bring. Covered in dirt and bits of foliage, Vyr passed out from the pain she was feeling.

*\POV Change/*

Ruby had arrived back at Kaer Morhen a few hours ago. She took her time wandering the keep in search of Vyr. Her mind, a storm of doubts and concern. One moment she would be worried about Vyr's future as a witcher. The lack of support a witcher had was staggering, along with the hate one accumulated by becoming a witcher it was just outrageous. Her thoughts would then spin and she would be debating her feelings. She wanted to trust Vyr and see the best in her. But the more she learned, the more doubt continued to build.

So she did the only thing she could think of doing. Asking for advice. But that quickly failed her as well. There was just no one she could ask.

Her sister was in no mood to talk and seemed to want no one around her. Her symblace gave the surrounding snow a yellow glow, leaving the training field without shadow. Blake was with Yang and taking the brunt of the blonde's anger onto herself. Neither would tell her what had happened to make Yang so furious.

Weiss wanted to be alone as well. She and Trey had shared a long conversation on the way back about nobility, and it had her deep in thought. Not wanting to share with others, whatever it was she was thinking about.

Ruby thought of asking the witchers but decided the bias would only hinder her more than help. The elves would be even worse as they had almost deified Vyr in their minds. The knight Artorias didn't seem like the kind of person to be of help with such a task either. That left Artorias's wife Ciaran but to be honest. Ruby was scared of the woman a little bit. She seemed so serious and cold, compared to her silly and Cheerful husband.

So here she was walking to the source of her problem, berating herself for not doing so from the start. Vyr had never lied to her, of that she was sure. Even if vyr didn't want to tell the truth, she never lied to ruby.

She found out from one of the elves working in the keep that Vyr was in the glowing forest, so that's where she went. As she got closer to the woods Ruby couldn't help her rising excitement to see Vyr again. They hadn't known each other for very long but Vyr had become such a large part of her life. It was weird to think about.

As she wandered through the thick foliage, Ruby couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the forest. Bits of bark were torn off the trees, and the underbrush was trampled. Some trees were even leaning, as parts of their roots were uprooted. There were clear signs of a chase everywhere.

As she was looking at a set of deep claw marks a hiss sounded out behind her. Spinning on the spot, Ruby found a viperwolf had snuck up on her. It made a few hissing noises at her as it approached. Ruby remembered that the viperwolves had names but she had only seen them once, and couldn't tell which was the one in front of her.

She tried to pet it but the animal quickly backed away, making it clear it did not like that. It stood there waiting and watching her curiously. A little awkward at the situation, Ruby explained why she was there. More just talking to break the weird tension at having unsuccessfully tried to pet the snakedog.

Surprisingly when she finished talking, the animal nodded and walked off into the foliage. It stopped for a moment to look at her before doing a shoulder shrug kind of motion. Telling her to follow it.

They walked further into the trees, until they reached a particularly large tree with a lot of claw marks on the base. Its roots were oddly shaped and seemed to be supporting the tree high into the air. Allowing a sort of cave to form under it.

The pair walked into the formation to find one large room. The walls were made of roots, and the floor was made of dirt soft enough for one to sink a bit when walking. Flowers grew on vines between the root walls, and along the edges of the room. The air was warm and damp, yet sweet like honey. In the middle under the main body of the tree above, Vyr was lying asleep.

The viperwolf who led Ruby here turned and lay by the arc acting as a doorway, watching over Ruby's actions. Seeing the "guard", Ruby chuckled a little at how loyal the animals around Vyr were. She walked over to Vyr and looked down at the sleeping girl. Vyr was sleeping peacefully with a small frown on her face. There were leaves in her hair and grass stains on her clothes, reminding Ruby of when she and Yang would play in the forest around the patch.

Ruby sat down next to Vyr and started trying to wake her up, so they could talk. She started by lightly poking Vyr's face. When that failed she ended up shaking her body, eliciting some groans from the sleeping girl. With a bit more force Vyr's eyes fluttered open, and without taking the time to wake-up she said "Fridge I already told you. I'm fine, now let me sleep." Having said her piece, Vyr's eyes closed once again.

Ruby couldn't help laughing at the words, and asked "are you sure, you can't spare some time? Even for me?"

Vyr's eyes snapped open, "you're back? YOU'RE BACK!"

Vyr tried to stand up but immediately face planted back onto the ground. Ruby didn't even try to hold her laughs as they all came spewing out at once. Vyr could only groan at her, remembering her muscles were still healing from her experiment.

"It's not that funny." Vyr mumbled with her face still in the dirt.

Ruby hearing this only laughed louder, to the point her head almost seemed to grow as she laughed. It got to the point she was having trouble breathing and had to lay down.

Vyr sensed where Ruby lay and rolled over so they would be next to each other, careful to not upset her injuries too badly. As they lay shoulder to shoulder Ruby looked over at Vyr and started laughing again seeing the dirt on her face. This time Vyr joined her. All worries seemed to disappear when they were together. The doubts plaguing Ruby just drifted away, no longer weighing her down.

But just because they were not consuming her attention didn't mean Ruby liked having them at all. So once she calmed down, she focused on Vyr and said "I want to talk."