Drip-Fed Pt. 05

"Oh..." Aclysia made an understanding sound the moment she saw that hole in the tree. "I see now," her tone was downtrodden, her long ears hanging in shame. "I am sorry I wasn't able to observe this logical conclusion, Apexus."

The slime, his annoyance washed away at the much more important issue of his beloved fairy looking sad, wrapped himself around her in a tight hug. It remained the only gesture of affection he had access too, well that and tenderly loving her (but this was hardly the place or time for that). Although, perhaps instead of just hugging, patting would also work? Now that the tentacles had some more functionality and movability to them, best he could do is try.

In a calm and slow rhythm, a tentacle glided over her silky hair. Apexus was careful not to move against the combed back state of it, he couldn't imagine that feeling too great. After a few moments of this, Aclysia did seem to be more upbeat.

"You are not angry?" she asked.

He shook his front to that, although that was an odd denial, with her still sitting atop and partly inside him. They all missed some details sometimes. Reysha was incredible at improvising but bad at any strategy that went over a longer timeframe. Aclysia was a good planner but not particularly flexible. Himself, Apexus was great at observing and solving practical problems, be it long or short term, but wasn't good at theoretic things.

All of that combined into a cohesive unit. Just because Aclysia did most of the planning didn't mean that she had to do flawless work or that him and Reysha could just sit on their butts and help with nothing. There was no such thing as a solidary obligation in a functioning party.

Returning to Reysha, Aclysia then explained their findings to her. "Okay, so you two can enter through the air and then fucking what?" the tiger girl asked. "Do you just want me to stumble around on my own? I am not in for getting lost and hunted on my own again."

"You can find us just like last time," Aclysia answered, now thinking in terms of the new plan. "Apexus will activate his pheromones for a bit," the slime did for a second upon that mention, simply to give Reysha a refreshment on the memory what he smelled like, "should that not work?"

"No... no that will absolutely work!" Reysha was now grinning ear to ear again. "Yes, GREAT!" she said that as loud was possible allowed. Her fingers began to wiggle as if she was already sinking her claws into whatever she found. Blue-in-grey eyes opened wide, she let out a hungry growl. "Just gotta eat something again..."

"I recommend you only start feasting once you've found us," Aclysia said, when that got no reaction from the salivating tiger girl, the metal fairy moved her entire, forearm sized body off Apexus, flew over to Reysha's left ear and repeated, louder, right into it. "I RECOMMEND YOU ONLY START FEASTING ONCE YOU'VE FOUND US!"

Reysha, who had been lost in some sort of fantastical world where she was already feeling as great again as she had in the Clearwater dungeon, instinctively retreated away from the loud noise in a hurry. In her hurry, she took a wrong step and got stuck on some root. She caught herself on a nearby tree, her gloves preventing any chafing from occurring, but still hissed at the metal fairy.

Aclysia didn't care. "You shall not ignore my warning again," the metal fairy insisted. "I fear that you will go on a binge the moment you sink your fangs into anything. If you forget about us because of that, I will make sure you won't hear the end of it!"

"Okay, fucking hells and dark-roots, I understand," the redhead rubbed her mishandled ear with an unappreciative glare. "I will sneak to you once I am inside. Don't you worry."

Reysha went up to the entrance of the dungeon on her lonesome. The smell of Apexus stuck somewhat freshly in her nose, a different smell of grey in a world the colour of lead. Being in this downphase was really depressing and she couldn't wait to finally snap out of it and feel that burning inside her again.

Pulling her hood deeper over her face, she simple walked onwards. The outpost was a building with two halves, a walkable space between them. In the walls left and right of her were numerous windows. Behind them, illuminated by magical lamps, sat a couple of the Guild's Scribes. They watched people enter or exit to give tips. What they forgot to bring, how they should treat injuries that they sustained and so on.

"Hey!" one of them called out to her, which was exactly what she didn't want, so she just walked on. "Hey! Listen!" what an annoying tone of voice. "You don't want to go in there alone! Take this!" The Scribe pressed a standardized Guild card against the glass. It wasn't much, just a sheet of metal that held the person's name, level and classes. The kind of metal used gave away the standing a person had with the Guild.

Copper, bronze, iron, silver, gold, platin, titanium, azurust, orichalcum and finally divinium. Ten metals, which lead to the common disbelief that they were also shortcuts to identify adventurer's levels in brackets of ten. That the Guild often elevated people along those lines as well didn't help. Only sometimes, due to bad behaviour (or the opposite) were people held back or promoted before their time.

The card this current Scribe was holding up was a simple copper one. This made sense, lower employees were not allowed to just hand out higher level cards, usually they didn't even have access to the blanks. The lowest level cards were handed out like cotton candy though, since copper was a material that could be found on just about any leaf and in rough amounts as well. That was aside from the fact that it was created as a waste-product by Smiths in many operations. Although that was a thing Reysha had only heard about.

Anyhow, the reason why the Scribe assumed she didn't have a card was because adventurers usually wore theirs quite openly. It was, after all, a profession most romanticised as great and interesting, particularly on a safe leaf. The Scribe just saw another new arrival on this world that couldn't be bothered to sign up with the Guild and went straight to the dungeon, only to get themselves killed. Thus the rather aggressive marketing strategy.

"HEY! LISTEN!" the Scribe screamed like a very obnoxious elf would at a hero she needed to protect. "LISTEN! HEY! HEY! LISTEN! HEY!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Reysha whirled around and actually expended one of her throwing knives. It buried itself in the wood below the window. Although rare, outbursts like this were the exact reason why the translucent barrier was between the Scribes and the adventurers.

"Oh, hey Reysha," the Scribe recognized her as she stomped her way over. "Didn't recognize you under the hood."

"That's what it's there for," the tiger girl grumbled and ripped the knife back out of the wall. "Now give me that card and then leave me the fuck alone," she had actually forgotten to get one back in the city.

More to the point, she had been so hurried to get out of the city when she heard what she had to do to get her senses sharpened that she had only thought about the dungeon run. This was as convenient as it would get, however, as Reysha had basically no intentions to return to Heralry anytime soon.

"Lost your card, eh?" the Scribe shook her head. Now, Reysha had absolutely no idea who this was. Guild Scribes just had a reputation of being massive gossipers and with the tiger girl's conditions... yeah, she was an interesting topic and thus somewhat famous. Sliding a copper card and a needle towards Reysha through a gap between the window and the board below it, the Scribe said, "Alrighty, three drops of blood please."

Reysha obeyed, pricking her thumb with the needle and then letting the three drops fall on the metal surface. Afterwards, her hand was quickly healed by the Scribe, many of them dabbled in weak healing magic for this convenience, and then she went to work. Blood was the easiest medium to use the Analyze spell on and with a surface it could be combined with Engrave to make the cards.

The Scribe grabbed a writing feather and swung it over the surface of the copper plate, her lips moving in a silent chant. Although much to soft to actually write into the hardened metal, the feather somehow succeeded in etching into the surface Reysha's name, class and level into the fields assigned to them, leaving the field for her second class conveniently empty.

"Huh... what is a Rogue -- Noir?" the Scribe asked when she put a leather band through a hole on one of the shorted sides of the rectangle shaped card with well-seasoned movements. "Sounds cool," she added when she slid the thing towards the tiger girl.

Reysha pocketed the card after looking at her level. To her surprise, she was only level seven. Granted, this was only one level off her prediction, but it made her feel like she genuinely had a stronger than average class, given her recent accomplishments. "None of your business," she simply answered.

"Would you like to hire an instructor?" the Scribe asked as Reysha walked away again. "GOING IN ON YOUR OWN IS DANGEROUS YOU KNOW!"

"I DOOOON'T CAAAAAAAAARE!" Reysha singingly shouted back and finally made it up to the dungeon. Although it was night, there was a special bit of difference between the darkness outside, illuminated by the stars and the moon, and the one inside the tree. Pieces of sap oozed from the bare-wood walls, doubling both as sources of soft glowing light and sticky traps. It was quite the task to get off these large drops once one got in contact with them. Generally, it was unadvised to get in contact with the walls, as they easily splintered off and caused minor injuries that were annoying to heal. Wounds were easily closed, but things stuck inside bodies had to be removed first, otherwise they could lead to some nasty infections.

"Help me!" a dull, deep and comically distorted voice echoed from somewhere and Reysha rolled her eyes. Like anyone would fall for Archwood Maggots. "Very good!" a voice exactly like that seemed to compliment her as she went deeper in. Her eyes were extremely useful in a place like this, working even with the little light she was given. Her ears turned atop her head in constant search of scraping sounds that would give away an enemies location, while she searched for ways upward. With her dulled senses, it was hard to keep both that and her nose fully operating. She would be able to hear an assault beforehand, but by far not as well as usual.

Eventually, she picked up on Apexus' scent and thus her path was set.

He wasn't terribly far away, surely she could make it there without any difficulties. She gathered the mana inside her to use the most basic spell Rogue spell, Sneak. It did little more than mask her presence, making her steps harder to hear and causing people to more easily overlook her in a hurry or when she was only in their periphery. Of course, that effect extended to monsters as well.

She could keep this up for a little while. Regenerating internal mana while using spells or physical techniques, like martial arts or stealth skills, was impossible. Well, it was possible, but it would cause some major self-harm, so it was not advised. Mages and other magical inclined Classes quickly learned their way around absorbing mana from the surroundings to get around this phenomenon, but that took a long time to learn and so most physical fighters didn't bother with it.

Cloaked as she was (although her actual cloak had been relocated into her bag), the wolf-sized monster sitting in the narrow tunnel didn't notice her. It was an odd creature, some sort of flightless bird that walked close to the ground and was dominated by its head and the extremely long and straight beak on it. It was just long enough that the bird could still turn around even in these passages. Unaware, it picked at the walls. Not to eat, just to sharpen the splinters sticking out of the walls. Fittingly, these dark-feathered birds were called Woodsharpers. Many other people preferred 'preparing assholes'.

Reysha was inclined to agree, since her nose told her this was the quickest route to Apexus. 'Welp, death to you then,' Reysha thought, approaching in perfect quiet, drawing her stiletto as she did. The bird continued its work. Went on and on until she was in reach. Her thighs tensed as she lowered her posture that little bit more. Her tail was perfectly still.

Then she jumped. The sudden quick movement finally tipped the bird off, who got a single, crow-like tone out before a pointy piece of steel entered its skull through its eyesocket. Not with quite enough force, though, as the blade stopped at the bone behind the ocular. The bird began to struggle, tried to hit Reysha with its beak. The wall was too close and so the monster uselessly slammed it against the wood.

"Just die already," the tiger girl growled, grabbing the thrashing bird at the opposite side of the head. The combined pull and shove succeeded in breaking through the skull and the stiletto buried itself within the Woodsharpers grey matter. Blood splattered on the redhead's hands, a mess that only got worse when she pulled back. Hot and sticky, it covered her palms. The first unsullied feelings in weeks, only this blood on her hands. Everything else was as grey as she had grown accustomed too.

'I recommend you only start feasting once you found us!' the voice of Aclysia entered Reysha subconscious as she stood there, breathing much heavier than she would have needed for the little amount of energy she just expanded. It wasn't the upheaval of the panicked or stressed, but that of a parched person that finally stood before an oasis, only to be told the water was poisoned.

One lick, she convinced herself, one lick wouldn't hurt. The thought was formulated long after her tongue already extended towards her palm. The blood spilled on her tongue like the most delicate wine in existence. Nothing could compare, nothing she had ever eaten prior to today. The time that had passed since her last proper meal only made the sweet and salty taste of magic enriched meat that much more delightful.

Suddenly she was on all fours over the cadaver. Feathers were flying left and right as she tore the pesky annoyances out. Then her fangs buried in the raw meat and the sinewy flesh stretched as she moved her head back. The heart that had nurtured it had barely stopped pumping. It was a fight to rip it off the bones. A fight Reysha won to the sound of tearing and the snapping of bones.

More and more she ripped off, with nothing but fangs and claws. Each bite was heaven. The image of the finest steak presented on a silver platter now seemed ridiculous to her, what could taste better than this? The feeling, the rush of having killed this monster herself, the life still stuck inside its meat. The savoury richness only mana could provide. What dull preparation and spicing could ever compare to this?!

The taste caused pulsations inside her whole body as the world assumed proper smell and colour again. Sound became sharp, her body felt lighter, every pulse ending in her eyes, unbeknownst to her darkening that little bit more with each bit of muscle, blood and bone marrow she shovelled into herself.

A giggle welled up in her throat, then laughter, than downright hysterical screaming as her motions of feasting became downright barbaric, blood splattering onto the walls. "THIS IS WHAT COUNTS FOR LIFE!" she howled at the ceiling as she ripped the heart out of its chest and squashed its warm contents into her red-stained teeth.

Mehily despised Reysha. This was a simple truth. The Priestess had never liked the tiger girl. From the moment they had been paired together by the Adventurers Guild, the two of them had clashed. What kind of strategy should they use, how they were supposed to have their meetings after dungeon runs, even mundane questions such as which bread was better eventually turned into fights, with one party dickishly laughing and the other grinding her teeth in frustration.

It was partly her own fault that they were such a defunct party. Her declaration that her religious beliefs forbade her to work together with anyone who would tame or otherwise work with monsters crossed all of the Hunters and Tamers of the list of candidates.

The decision to force the party to boot the Rogue under the threat of Mehily leaving had not been one of malice, but she was genuinely done dealing with the redhead. Upon hearing that the tiger girl had lost her apartment, the Priest had even played with the thought of helping her out. Letting her back into the group wasn't a thing that would happen, but the Priestess was still charitable enough to not let an... acquaintance starve.

Before she could come to a decision, her intense dislike made her hesitate on doing the saintly thing, Reysha had already fled into the wild. Mehily did feel bad about this, under the conviction that she had accidentally set the Rogue on her path to death.

She was a little relieved, but mostly irritated to a wrathful degree, when Reysha just turned up in the Guild again. In a pose that aimed to intimidate the entire room, no less. She hadn't told the group's Warrior to get all up in the tiger girl's face, but she also had done nothing to prevent it. Yet again, not exactly a saintly thing to do. Something that she realized she had to pray for redemption for.

Her god instructed his followers that the only truly important temple was within. As such, she had taken her prayer at the loudest place imaginable. Inner tranquility had to be achievable even at the most chaotic of places, such was a Priest's conviction. In a party, the healer always had to remain calm. Wasted magic or mistakes could lead to worse wounds down the line.

Her god, Jersoja, seventh of the thirty-three original gods and god of purity and the first priests, didn't let her hear a whisper. Not even one of his angels was gracing her opened mind with a word. As a priest, her prayer was not just a sign of devotion, but an actual seeking of guidance by the divine. None such was given. The winter deity must have been annoyed with her in some way.

At the end of her silent prayer, a Guild employee had approached her with the news of Reysha's condition. Given that they were the last real people to be in contact with the tiger girl, they hoped that Mehily and her party would be able to convince Reysha to go into rehabilitation. To find atonement, the Priestess, to the surprise of the other two members of the party, had accepted. "If I can save one girl from becoming closer to a monster, maybe my Lord will see it fit to answer my prayers," she said.

With no other clue where she went, they had made their way to Birshia. Reysha had let the Guild employee know she was heading to the closest dungeon and the giant birch fit that description. They had arrived there, been informed that the tiger girl hadn't passed and thus decided to wait at least two days.

Ultimately, that had paid off, although Reysha of course had to go in in the middle of the night, so they had to scramble into their equipment to chase after her. The new Rogue of the group had been the quickest on his feet and left the Warrior and herself a trail to follow. They had caught up with Reysha. Something was clearly off about her, as she didn't notice the trio tracking her.

As much as Mehily disliked the Rogue, her keen senses had always been a point of fact. Especially her hearing should have made her able to make out the Warrior and his movements. Nothing of the sort, however, they just slowly caught up with her. The Priestess had been about to call out to the tiger girl, now close enough, when they all had witnessed the fight in the light of the sap.

Still holding a grudge, the Warrior had prevented them from helping in any way. Not that Reysha had needed it, as she pretty easily disposed of the Woodsharper. Stood there for a second, as still as a shard of ice. Licked her hand. Then began the scene of her tearing the thing down in a wild craze. At that point, them keeping back was out of disbelief.