8

I watched in horror as Nira plunged her arm deep into the body of the slain beast. Using the dagger wound as an entrance, she seemed to be feeling around in the beast's chest… searching for something.

A few seconds later, she stopped moving her arm and placed her feet against the beast as leverage. Gritting her teeth, she heaved… hard. Her small muscles flexed as she seemed to be battling to remove something from within.

I heard a pop, or a snap perhaps, and she crashed to the ground a couple feet behind her. The metallic sheen of the beast's fur instantly dimmed slightly.

Looking at her bloody hand with wonder I asked, "What is that?"

She was grinning at what looked like a heart in her outstretched hand above her, but it shouldn't be that. It was much too small, and blue.

Looking over at me, she gave me a suspicious look for a moment before replying, "It's the Manart."

She got to her feet and held it out for me to get a closer look.

It really did look like a small heart, perhaps the size of a golf ball. Looking closely at it, I could see faint blue light swirling within a thick blood-covered membrane.

Noticing the amazement in my eyes, she smiled haughtily and continued, "All creatures of Mana possess one, myself included of course. The only way to increase your Mana is to eat them."

I looked at her chest suspiciously as I thought to myself, 'But I gain mana when I level up?'

Noticing my eyes, she yanked back the beast's Manart and backed away.

"Don't get any ideas. I will die if I lose mine."

I shook my head, "I wasn't thinking of that…"

She didn't seem completely convinced.

I looked over at the Captain's body. Specifically his torso.

"Humans don't have a Manart. They aren't creatures of Mana." Nira explained while she looked between me and the Captain's body, then paused and looked at my chest. "Well, most humans." She added.

Walking over to the Captain's body, she gave it a hateful kick.

"They sent quite a few guards after you." I commented.

She scoffed, "Of course they did. Anything to protect their precious reputation."

Putting the Manart to her mouth, she opened her lips and popped the whole thing inside. I could see a burst of blue light glowing through her cheeks as she chewed.

'Wait, isn't this theft?' I had been the one to kill the beast after all.

My eyebrows unconsciously furrowed as I watched her chew. She stared at me the whole time before swallowing and explained, "I don't know if you can benefit from eating it, but I know I can. If what you said earlier was true, and you really didn't kill the Night Crawler, then I'm going to need all the strength I can get."

"Besides," she looked at my spear, "I should already be stronger than you, and I know where to find another of those."

She crossed her arms and raised her chin, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

I looked back at her with a deadpan expression. I wasn't sure whether to be angry or grateful, but her words carried some logic. I did feel her strength when she struck me. She didn't seem to be faring well against the Captain, but that could have been due to his strength, rather than her weakness.

"Thanks…" I sighed and gave her a small smile.

Seemingly satisfied, she turned to look towards the middle of the stone bridge.

"Those two idiots got plucked right off the bridge by those Terror Wings. One of them dropped his spear in the water, but the other should still be up there." She glanced back at me.

I nodded, "Alright, let's go get it."

***

A few minutes later, we were almost at the halfway point of the bridge. We walked next to the right parapet as I took some time to take a closer look at my new armor.

[Darkheart Family Armguard - Lightly plated armguard - Increases local defense.]

'Local defense? Hmm, that makes sense.'

Inspecting the rest of my gear, I noted similar descriptions.

As the green text faded, I caught sight of a spear resting in the middle of the roadway. Nearby bloodstains were all that was left of its former owner.

Nira ran ahead to pick it up. Once she had it in hand, she gave it a few quick thrusts and nodded in satisfaction. Planting the butt of the spear on the roadway, she turned on her heel to look back at me.

She actually painted quite the heroic figure, despite her dilapidated wardrobe. The spear was a good two feet taller than her, though that wasn't saying much. She was probably an inch or two under five feet on her best day. The way she held it out to her side though, combined with her unique skin and menacing red horns, all connected in perfect harmony. Her eyes even seemed to glow in the setting Sun.

I stared in appreciation, at least until I saw her expression change. Her eyes weren't on me anymore.

'What's that?' I heard a strange sound echoing from somewhere behind me. It was getting louder too, and fast.

"Duck!" Nira screamed.

I dove to the side just in time to see the shaft of… an arrow? No, this was much larger. It was the shape of an arrow, but I reckoned I could even use it as a proper spear.

The arrow-spear soared past me, hit the roadway, and… completely disappeared into the stone.

'What the fuck was that?!' I looked back to the north as my heart thumped in my chest.

There, standing near the corpse of the Captain, was a group of three humans. One of them, the closest, was holding a giant bow.

He was reaching for another oversized arrow.

I gritted my teeth and ran towards Nira, who was still… just standing there.

"Run!" I shouted.

She didn't move.

That same strange sound echoed out from behind me again, and I barely dodged it.

"Nira! Let's GO!" I was upon her now, and I grabbed her arm.

When I pulled her further down the bridge, she finally reacted. Gnashing her teeth, she yanked her arm free and sprinted for the south riverbank alongside me.

Three more oversized arrows and three more near death experiences later, we finally reached the south riverbank - and kept running. Straight into the forest. With the titanic trees as cover, we finally slowed down to catch our breath.

Resting against a tree, I questioned Nira, "Why were you just standing there? You could have died!"

She bit her lip, drawing blood. Her eyes glossed over as tears threatened to fall.

"You don't understand. That bow, I could feel her."

"..."

'Huh? Her?' I digested her words for a moment, but quickly realized there was only one 'her' who could make Nira react like this.

"What do you mean…?"

"My… M-mother…" Tears fell down her face and she glared hatefully towards the bridge.

"She's… a part of it now… That bow. I could feel her." Her tears fell.

I remembered her words from earlier: "We were trophies. Being kept alive only to let our Mana mature so it could be harvested later…"

'So the Darkhearts used her… Mother, to create a weapon?' It was a disturbing discovery.

'To have actually taken her life for something so…' I felt burning righteous indignation in my chest.

"We'll get her back." I declared.

Ding!

[Quest received. Retrieve the Mana Tool: Shal'Iri Sacrificial Longbow. Reward: 10,000 EXP.]

Cold sweat formed on my back as I noted the reward. If Orion was fair, then this was not going to be easy.

Nira looked at me. She stared into my eyes for a few seconds, then nodded and wiped her tears… Only to shake her head a moment later.

"Thanks Abel. But we can't… That man is Ahlthazar Darkheart. The son of the patriarch." She said his name with burning hatred.

"He's the worst kind of vile creature imaginable." She even shuddered a little bit in fear, as if remembering some horrible memory.

"We need to go, and fast."

I nodded and pressed off the tree, "Okay, let's go then."

She scanned the forest for a few seconds, then suddenly looked to the east.

"Follow me."

***

An hour later, we stopped near a small pond a few miles east of the stone bridge. Nira fell to her knees and plunged her face into the water, greedily accepting the water into her belly. I wasn't quite as eager, looking at the murky water. Still, I figured I would need to get used to things like this, and kneeled down beside her.

Looking at the water, I thought for a moment I might get to see my reflection - but the lack of sunlight left me disappointed.

Taking in a few mouthfuls of water for myself, I grimaced at the taste. It wasn't like the filtered water I was used to.

Nira finished drinking her fill and sat back against a nearby exposed tree root. She was busying herself with using a wet cloth from some unknown source to clean her arms.

"You look like you swallowed a Juju." She chuckled.

I wiped the water from my lips, "My rock had very clean water."

It was getting very dark now.

I looked around nervously and asked, "So what's the plan for the night? Will we go up?"

She looked up at the canopy and nodded, "Definitely. You know, there's a saying around here - A thousand men, a thousand spears, a thousand deaths." She paused, "The Darkhearts once tried to hunt an Arkos. Something about it eating one of their daughters, I think. Anyway, they sent a thousand men to try and take revenge on the beast."

I gulped, "And they all died?"

She nodded, "I was serving in the Keep back then. I overheard the Patriarch hollering savagely at his son. I guess Ahlthazar was blamed for that incident."

"Okay, so up the… Ek then. How do we climb it?" I stood up and walked over to a particularly large tree.

Nira pulled herself up and walked over to me.

She pointed her spear at a random crevice and said, "Like this."

She stabbed the tree… and the ground shook.

Before I even knew what was going on, something wrapped around my leg and violently pulled me off my feet.

I dropped my spear.

Somehow, Nira had managed to keep hold of her spear even as we were pulled upward with blistering speed. When we passed the lower threshold of the crown, she twisted her body and swept her spear in a wide arc. The force pulling me upwards disappeared like a lie.

Panicking, I reached out and caught a branch - which I proceeded to hug like a koala, back to the ground.

Nira on the other hand, cut herself free and gracefully twisted her body once again to land perfectly nearby.

"You could have warned me!" I yelled in betrayal.

She laughed, hard - then pointed below me.

I looked down and saw… well, the ground. Except it wasn't the ground. The branch, which was only two feet below me, was at least two meters thick.

Embarrassed, I let go of the smaller branch and stood up warily on the enormous branch.

Looking around, I asked, "What was that anyway? Will it come back?"

She shook her head, "Nope, the Ek aren't intelligent. Their vines react on instinct, pulling aggressors into the crown to be eaten by the… locals."

'She seems awfully calm considering her words just now.' I frowned.

Nira held out her arms and smiled at me, declaring, "Welcome to the Shade!"

I stared back at her with a deadpan expression.

Her smile weakened and she rubbed the back of her head.

"Don't look at me like that… It'll be fine." She perked up again, "Besides, this is an opportunity!"

"For?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Manarts!" She exclaimed, her eyes burning with anticipation.

"...Demon."