6) The slow (K)night

When she said she was slow, she wasn't kidding. Each step required her to take the weight of everything and shift it from one leg to another, traveling up and down like a slinky. Each step took two seconds compared to the five meters someone could cover in the same amount of time.

Skye was starting to really consider if he made the right choice. They could have made camp there, or he could have never woken her up. Either way he was starting to get visibly nervous as the sun got lower in the sky. Claire could obviously see this as the rate of her apologising continued to increase. 

It was twilight and they still had a good amount of distance to go, if they continued the same pace, it would take them another hour or so. Neither of them knew what happened in the forest at night but it was bound to be worse than it was the night before.

They marched on, through the brush and openings alike, Skye suggesting to leave gear and come back for it but the idea was turned down.

"This sword was one of the first things I got when I arrived. I had to find the shield among the corpses. I'd like to keep both. When I swing the sword, I use the shield to store the weight and keep me in place. I'm sorry but I need both for now."

She was clearly apologetic but Skye understood, this wasn't a place where you wanted to feel unprotected.

Skye held tight to Thorn, going forward and placing his hands on the roots of trees listening to the forest as he waited for Claire to catch up. The forest was coming alive, and it was coming alive around them.

Small vibrations were bouncing around their location being scared off by their movement, most likely small creatures that feast on carcasses rather than kill things themselves, but there were larger thumps coming from just behind them. Either they were just keeping ahead of it or it was stalking them.

As time passed and the 3 moons of the world became the only light, the first predator took their chance with them. It was a lethal looking sleek body covered in dark fur with legs coming out of its side like a spider, pushing off the ground and trees around it to turn its body drastically at a moments notice. 

It tried to get the drop on them from above, lunging after quickly scurrying up a tree. Claire, or her soul orb, saw it first as she cried out to Skye who was the obvious target. He wasn't covered in iron armour or carrying a big sword. But he was the quicker member of the team.

He didn't have to do much, he had Thorn in his hand, and rather than trying to dodge the pounce and getting sliced by the protruding arms, he placed the butt of Thorn on the ground and allowed the beast to fall onto it. The force of the fall drove the spear through its body, changing the trajectory of the beast and falling right into the path of Claire. Thorn was even more sturdy with the roots now and didn't budge under the weight.

She raised her giant sword like it was a stick itself, and brought it down on the monster with a solid thud. Cleaved in two, it had no chance of getting back up. Skye pulled his spear out of the beast with much effort as Claire dug out a sliver of gem out of its chest.

"This one's yours, next one will be mine, deal?"

She said while handing it over to him. Skye took it, unsure of whatever it was, but was happy to have it either way. He'll ask her about it when they have time, but first they have to get to safety. He put it in his pouch and kept moving.

Eyes began to light up the forest behind them as they continued forward, their numbers growing, and so was their confidence. There was an equilibrium of fear and hunger, and eventually it broke. One lunged and the rest followed.

Skye was ahead feeling for vibration when he felt it, the predators stalking them suddenly deciding to charge. He called out to Claire as he grabbed Thorn and rushed to her

"They're coming! Behind you"

He couldn't tell how many were coming just from the vibration, but there were enough to be worried about. 

She was already turning around, taking a wide stance with a slight bend in the knee, and facing the approaching monsters head on. Her stance left the tower shield resting on the ground and raised the great sword like a baseball bat. The first three were upon her. They tucked back their legs as they pounced, making their bodies more aerodynamic, and their weirdly flat heads caused them to look like flying hammers as they lunged. Their bodies were no bigger than a mid size dog but their claws were sharp enough to tear flesh easily. 

As they flew at Claire she shifted her weight and put her back into the swing. As soon as the sword took motion the shield suddenly lifted off the ground as if it was as light as a cape. Matter in motion stays in motion, and it was moving like a sledgehammer with an edge. Tearing through the beasts in front of her it threw them to the side, and would have taken Claire with them if she didn't transfer that weight to her shield right after it left the last one. 

The swing still caused her body to continue spinning with the force of it, but the tower shield she was strapped to kept her in place, allowing her to get back into the next swing. 

Skye was right behind her now, taking out the seeds he was carrying in his pouch and throwing them in a wide arch in front of them. He didn't have time to be stingy and didn't have the ability to be accurate. He could sense movement on top of a few of the seeds and channelled his energy into releasing them.

The results were much different from his first try, dramatically so. The vines shot up and wrapped around multiple beasts pulling them flat into the ground like they were being sucked into the soil themselves. The sound of crunching could be heard from a few and the vines continued to hold tight. Four more ran past them, one more getting caught in the next trap, and the remaining three pouncing forward. 

Claire couldn't get all three in a single swing of her great sword, so she decided to go for the sure hit. Even in the middle of the fight she kept a cool head, ignoring the fact that one of the monsters was going to bite her neck in a moment's time.

Skye put himself directly in the path of one of the creatures with his spear butt on the ground just like he did before, but right as it was meant to get past Claire its flat face seemed to hit an invisible wall. The one aiming for her neck met the same fate. 

If its face wasn't already flat, that would have done it. 

Claire's sword arched down and cleaved the first beast in half, and before it reached the ground she angled it slightly, and it shot up with an unimaginable level of force cleaving the second one by the neck.. 

No matter how good a person is with a sword, there was no one who could instantly change direction of a swing in full force like this, unless she had some level of strength she was hiding. If that was the case, why was she walking so slow to begin with? Skye watched and continued to ponder how she was doing it.

The last monster hit the ground after running into the invisible wall, dazed and confused, which Skye took full advantage of. He was also confused, but he didn't just run face first into a wall so his recovery was faster. 

With all his might and weight he drove the spear into the eye of the beast, piercing the skull and nailing it into the ground. The last remaining beasts were still struggling against the restraints of the vines and were easy for the group of two to finish off.

All together there were 10 monsters finished off between the two of them, monsters which they decided to call Flat Spider Cats due to their feline-like bodies and legs coming from the side. Also the very flat faces they all seemed to have. 

Skye didn't feel any vibration other than that group charging them, so they decided to harvest the slivers from their body and get the hell out of there. Skye harvested the most due to his ability to move faster, but they were going to pool them and share them anyway. 

—-

The walk back was still slow after their fight, more so due to the level of alertness they had after being attacked, but they finally made it back to the shelter. The first thing that came into sight in the dead of night were the two flowers swaying back and forth with a slight golden glow to them. They were facing their direction and seemed excited to see them causing Claire to pause.

Oh my god, they are so CUTE!

She picked up her pace a little even though she was dead tired. This would be the end of her second day with no sleep, food, or water and her body must be feeling it. 

Getting closer to the camp and the clearing they noticed that there was a body laying in the opening with its head caved in and a chunk missing from its body. The two Flower Boys seemed to almost be proud of what they did, showing off their handy work. And you know what? Skye did feel pretty proud about it. 

"Who are these two?? Where did you get them??"

Claire asked, not even trying to hide the recklessness she had forbidden last time they were sharing information about themselves, let alone her eagerness. She placed her hand out to the flower and it brushed against it, causing her to almost yelp with glee. 

She quickly unbuckled herself from the tower shield and let the great sword fall where it may, dropping to her knees to be face to face with Flower Boy One. 

"Is this your ability?"

Skye was a bit caught off guard, it almost felt rude not to answer someone who was asking a question from the depths of their heart. He didn't want to ruin the only moment of joy he's seen in the last few days.

"They're the minions of my mark I guess, that's at least what my soul orb called them. I didn't know anything about them until right before I left. Dubs is a bit of a let down"

"Who the hell are you calling a let down? I didn't have to tell you shit yet I still did? Wow no gratitude you gassy dud."

Dubs' rant was cut short by Claire speaking up, apparently she couldn't see Dubs and he couldn't see hers, so it must be a very personal thing.

"Dubs, who is that?"

Embarrassed, Skye looked away and put his hands on his hips.

"That's just the name I called my soul orb thing, the thing you called your Guide… It just felt easier to give them a name. I think we all have one."

Her eyes opened widely with excitement, the yellow glow of the flower reflected in her eyes and lighting up the expression of her face.

"You have one too?? Mine's been talking to me nonstop but I didn't want to answer to look crazy. So these must be your Mark Minions? That's what my Guide called them but I thought it was silly until I saw it written down, so if you have a better name please tell me. I guess I should call her something other than Guide then, huh?"

Skye could sense Dubs about to burst from his bubble the second she said that Mark Minions was a silly name, or maybe he was just upset that it wasn't a very original idea and it was known by everyone it seemed. Either way he cut in before Dubs could scream in frustration.

"Do you have them as well then, the minions I mean"

Claire suddenly looked a little embarrassed, she pried into him without thinking, even though she was the one who said it wasn't smart to share information. 

"Oh, yeah, but I don't think anyone else can see them. It's only fair that I tell you about mine since you shared yours. I have my Guide who looks like a floating bubble, and she produces two smaller bubbles. They will sometimes block attacks and I can expel that force from either myself or things I'm touching"

So that's how she was able to change the direction of that swing, it wasn't through pure strength, but expelling the force of those two hits absorbed by her minions out of her weapon. 

The more Skye thought about it the more he was impressed. No wonder she had a cool head in battle, she has space to think and minions to pick up the slack. 

She continued on.

"They're not invincible though, and can only take one hit every so often, so with two I have to really choose when and how to use them."

Two seems to be the magic number with minions here, Skye thought, placing his hand down to his Flower Boy. When they pressed against Skye's hand, he felt a rush of energy transfer from the petals to his gut, like he was plugging himself into a battery. The flower's brightness dimmed a little as he did it, but it didn't seem to mind, almost happy to be of service.

Skye took his hand back and looked at it, tracing the path the energy travelled from his hand to his core, causing Claire to look up at him as well.

"How did your mana just increase so quickly?"

Skye took his eyes away from his hand and looked down at her, still kneeling next to the flower.

"What did a man do?"

The question seemed to confuse everyone involved, but that's fair, because Skye was confused from the get go.

"No… mana. I can see it under your name and health now that we're teammates, it just suddenly jumped up."

He glanced at the corner of his vision as well and by god there it was, her name with a red bar and blue bar. If you weren't looking for it they were hard to see so he didn't really pay much mind when it first happened, he was more worried about the long walk back.

"Did your guide, I mean Dubs, not explain that to you?"

Skye turned his head slowly towards Dubs who was floating to his left, hand still hanging in front of his face like an idiot. He spoke out loud.

"Hey Dubs. Buddy. Is that feeling I have in my gut something called mana, and was it something you were meant to tell me about?"

Dubs almost looked like he turned his head, if a bubble could turn its head, and said

"You didn't ask if the gas had a name, or if it could be anything else. Honestly you never ask me anything, it's like you don't want to know."