Aetheria

By the time Mira returned to the road, she had checked her reflection three more times.

The result had remained stubbornly consistent.

A skeleton wearing round glasses looked back at her every time.

She walked with her sleeves pulled as far over her hands as they would go. It accomplished very little. The novice tunic had been made for a body with flesh on it, and whenever her arms swung, pale fingers appeared beyond the cuffs. Her glasses sat securely enough on her skull, although Mira had already discovered that pushing them up her nose no longer worked properly because she did not have one.

That realization had upset her more than it deserved to.

She adjusted them from the bridge instead.

The road curved east through the forest.

A faint symbol near the edge of her vision had appeared after she left the stream. Focusing on it opened a small map showing the road, the portion of forest she had crossed, and a settlement marked farther ahead.

Eastmere

There was no distance listed.

Mira closed the map and continued walking.

Her damaged arm hurt whenever she swung it too quickly. The mark left by the goblin's knife was narrow, but it had cut deeply enough into the bone that she could feel a slight vibration through the forearm whenever her hand struck something.

She kept touching it, mostly because she still found it difficult to accept that the injury was there at all.

Minor Heal had done nothing.

That problem followed her along the road.

The skill description said it repaired damaged living tissue. Her status identified her Species as Human, yet her body was skeletal and apparently excluded from whatever the spell considered alive.

She could imagine several explanations. The character record might be incorrect, the spell might classify its target independently of the status screen, or her body could be functioning through some temporary state caused by the broken character creation.

There were other possibilities, but every useful conclusion required information she did not have.

Mira eventually stopped trying to solve it.

For now, the important part was simpler.

If she broke something important, she could not assume her healing skill would fix it.

That made the forest feel different.

Before the goblin, Mira had wandered away from the road because a spiderweb interested her. Now she stayed near the centre and carried the goblin's knife in her right hand.

It was not a good weapon.

The handle shifted slightly when she squeezed it, and the edge had several small chips. Mira had cleaned most of the blood away in the stream, but dark staining remained around the base of the blade.

She disliked looking at it.

She disliked the idea of travelling without it more.

The forest gradually thinned.

Late sunlight filtered between the trunks, laying long golden patches across the road. Mira heard birds, insects and occasionally something moving through the undergrowth. Most sounds faded without becoming anything she could identify.

One did not.

A dull impact came from somewhere ahead.

Mira stopped.

Another followed, accompanied by shouting.

She could not understand the words at first.

The road descended gently, curving around a cluster of old trees.

Mira moved toward the edge of the path and crouched behind a thick trunk.

A wagon had overturned farther down the road.

One wheel still turned slowly.

Crates had spilled across the dirt, some broken open. Grain covered part of the roadside in a pale scatter.

Three goblins moved around the wreckage.

Mira's grip tightened around the knife.

A fourth stood beside the wagon.

That one held a spear.

Something moved underneath it.

A man was trying to crawl.

The goblin struck him across the back with the shaft.

Mira flinched as he collapsed onto his elbows.

His clothes were torn and dark with blood around one thigh. A short sword lay several metres away.

She looked at the four goblins again.

Her first fight had nearly killed her.

Four was an extremely bad number.

One of the goblins climbed into the tilted wagon bed and began pulling through a bundle of cloth. Another had a crude axe. The third carried a knife much like Mira's.

The spearman remained beside the injured man.

Mira lowered herself farther behind the tree.

Her heart should have been hammering. There was no heart, although her body still produced something that felt remarkably similar to panic, a tightening through her awareness that made everything seem too close.

She could leave.

Eastmere was ahead. There might be guards closer to town. She could run there and bring help.

Mira looked at the injured man.

He had stopped crawling.

She could not tell whether he was conscious.

She opened her map.

The lack of any useful scale made the idea of fetching help considerably less appealing.

Mira closed it.

The goblin with the axe dragged a small chest from beneath the wagon. The spearman said something to it in a harsh, quick language Mira did not understand, and the axe-wielder answered.

Another problem for later.

She examined the roadside instead.

The trees were dense enough to provide cover. The ground sloped downward toward the wagon. There were rocks along the ditch and several fallen branches beneath the trees.

She had Radiant Spark.

Four Essence per use.

Mira opened her status long enough to check her reserves.

Essence: 25 / 45

The number had barely changed since the stream, if it had changed at all.

That meant six casts at most, and using all six would leave nothing for Minor Heal if the man survived.

Four goblins.

Radiant Spark had not killed the first one even after being used twice.

Mira looked at the man again.

The spearman raised its weapon.

She moved.

Mira ran downhill.

The goblin heard her before she was halfway there.

It turned.

Mira reached for Radiant Spark.

Warmth gathered through her arm more quickly than before.

She aimed at the spearman.

Light crossed the distance.

The burst struck its chest.

The goblin stumbled backward.

The other three turned toward her.

Mira immediately understood that running straight at them had been a poor decision.

The axe-wielder screamed.

All three came toward her.

Mira veered off the road.

The knife-wielding goblin reached her first.

She tried to move around its weapon arm.

Her foot caught in loose soil.

The goblin slashed.

Mira jerked backward, and the blade skimmed the front of her tunic.

She swung her own knife.

Too wide.

The goblin ducked beneath it.

Something struck Mira in the side.

The axe blade caught one of her lower ribs.

Pain tore through her torso.

Mira stumbled sideways and looked down. A shallow notch had been cut into the bone beneath the torn cloth.

The axe-wielder raised its weapon again.

Mira threw herself behind a tree.

The axe struck bark.

Wood chips scattered across her sleeve.

Mira ran around the trunk.

The goblin followed.

That gave her enough time to cast Radiant Spark through the gap.

Light struck its face.

It screamed and dropped the axe.

Mira kicked the weapon into the ditch.

The knife goblin rushed around the opposite side of the tree.

Mira saw it coming.

She still reacted too slowly.

The blade struck her shoulder.

The impact spun her around.

Her upper arm hurt badly, although it still moved when she tried it.

She backed away.

The third goblin had reached them.

It carried a short wooden club.

Mira's attention kept shifting between the different weapons and positions. The knife was closest. The club wielder was trying to move around her. The axe goblin was recovering, and the spearman was already standing again near the wagon.

There were too many.

Mira ran.

The goblins followed.

She went between the trees rather than along the road.

Branches struck her face and shoulders. One caught her glasses and nearly pulled them away.

Mira ducked beneath another.

Behind her came the heavy footfalls of at least two goblins.

She looked back.

The knife-wielder was closest.

The club goblin followed several metres behind.

The axe-wielder had stopped to retrieve its weapon.

Mira turned around a narrow tree.

The knife goblin followed.

She kept going.

Another tree forced another change of direction.

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It was faster than she was across open ground, but its long arms and broad feet made tight turns awkward.

Mira noticed that after the third turn.

The observation cut through several other things she had been trying to track at once.

The goblin was faster.

The trees made that speed less useful.

She did not need to solve everything happening behind her yet.

She only needed to keep the nearest goblin from reaching her cleanly.

Mira changed direction again.

The goblin lunged.

She moved behind a trunk.

Its shoulder struck the bark.

Mira stepped around and drove the knife into its back.

The blade entered beneath the shoulder.

The goblin shrieked.

Mira tried to pull the knife free.

It stuck.

The club hit her across the spine.

Everything jumped.

Mira hit the ground.

Her knife remained in the first goblin.

She rolled as the club came down again.

It struck dirt beside her skull.

Mira kicked upward.

Her foot caught the goblin's wrist.

The club dropped.

She grabbed it.

The goblin grabbed the other end.

They pulled against each other.

Mira had expected the goblin to be stronger.

It was.

Her arms straightened as her grip began to slip.

She released the club without warning.

The goblin staggered backward.

Mira reached toward its chest.

Radiant Spark struck at arm's length.

The flash filled her vision.

The goblin fell.

Mira crawled away before she could see what condition it was in.

The knife goblin was still upright.

Her knife protruded from its back.

Mira grabbed the fallen club instead.

The weapon was crude, little more than a heavy length of wood with one end wrapped in leather.

The goblin came toward her.

Mira raised the club.

She had no idea how to use one.

The goblin swiped at her face.

Mira swung.

The club hit its forearm.

Bone cracked.

The sound made her stomach twist.

The goblin screamed.

Mira swung again.

This strike caught the side of its head.

It dropped.

Mira nearly fell with the follow-through.

Her hands shook around the club.

A notification appeared at the edge of her vision.

She ignored it.

The other goblin was moving.

The one she had struck with Radiant Spark was trying to push itself upright.

Mira approached cautiously.

It looked at her.

For the first time, she saw fear on a goblin's face.

Her steps slowed.

The creature scrambled backward.

Mira stared at it.

It had attacked her. She knew that, and she could still feel the damage along her spine where the club had struck.

But it was frightened.

That complicated something she had not expected to become complicated.

The goblin reached for the club.

Mira reacted first and kicked the weapon away.

The creature lunged toward her leg.

Mira brought the club down.

The movement ended with a sickening impact.

The goblin stopped.

Mira stood over it.

She wished very badly that monsters disappeared when defeated.

The thought made her uncomfortable almost immediately.

The goblin remained on the ground because it had been alive a few seconds earlier.

Mira turned away.

The axe goblin appeared between the trees.

She had forgotten it.

The axe came down.

Mira lifted the club.

Metal struck wood.

The club split.

The impact forced her arms downward.

The axe blade continued through and struck her left forearm.

Pain burst through the bone.

A crack followed.

Mira screamed.

Her left hand stopped responding properly.

She backed away with the damaged arm hanging at her side.

The radius had fractured. Possibly both bones.

The goblin pulled the axe free.

Mira still held half the club in her right hand.

It rushed her.

She threw the broken wood.

It bounced off the goblin's chest.

The creature barely reacted.

Mira reached for Radiant Spark.

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

A weak warmth gathered and vanished.

Pain and panic kept breaking her concentration.

The goblin swung.

Mira jumped backward.

The axe passed in front of her.

She focused again, trying to reduce everything demanding her attention to the one thing that could hurt her immediately.

The goblin.

The axe.

Its weapon arm.

Warmth gathered.

Radiant Spark struck the goblin's arm.

It cried out.

The axe dropped.

Mira kicked it away.

The goblin hit her.

Its fist struck her jaw.

Her glasses flew off.

Mira fell sideways.

The world blurred.

The goblin came toward her as a green shape.

Mira crawled through leaves, searching with her right hand.

Her fingers found a stone.

She threw it.

Missed.

The goblin kicked her.

Her body rolled down the shallow slope.

Mira hit a tree.

Her damaged forearm struck first.

The fractured bone shifted.

For several seconds, pain became everything.

She curled around the arm.

The goblin descended after her.

Mira could barely see it.

She heard leaves moving.

She reached for Radiant Spark.

Warmth formed through her palm.

She aimed toward the approaching blur and released it.

The light missed.

It struck a tree.

Mira's stomach dropped.

The goblin grabbed her tunic.

She struck at its face with her right hand.

Her fingers entered its mouth.

Teeth snapped shut around two finger bones.

Mira screamed and shoved harder.

The goblin recoiled.

One tooth had cracked.

Mira drove her skull forward.

Their heads collided.

Pain spread through her forehead.

The goblin stumbled.

Mira lunged after it.

She grabbed its injured axe arm with her good hand and pulled.

The goblin lost balance on the slope.

Both of them fell.

They rolled through leaves and roots.

Mira's back struck the ground.

The goblin landed partly on top of her.

Its hand closed around her throat.

The creature squeezed.

Mira stared at it.

Pressure surrounded the vertebrae, but there was no airway to close.

The goblin apparently realized something was wrong as well.

Mira drove her knee upward.

It struck the creature's abdomen.

The grip loosened.

She kicked again.

The goblin rolled away.

Mira scrambled toward the axe.

Her fingers closed around the handle.

She lifted it with one hand.

Too heavy.

The goblin rose.

Mira dragged the axe head across the ground and swung from the hip.

The blade struck the goblin's thigh.

It collapsed.

Mira almost lost the weapon.

The goblin tried to crawl.

She stood over it, gripping the axe with her right hand.

This time she understood the fear on its face.

She still brought the weapon down.

Afterward, Mira sat on the forest floor.

The axe lay beside her.

Notifications accumulated near the edge of her vision.

She left them there while she examined her left forearm.

The bone was visibly bent.

Mira took off the sleeve as carefully as she could.

The radius had cracked diagonally, and one side had shifted enough that the alignment was wrong. A thinner fracture appeared to run through the ulna as well.

She tried Minor Heal.

Golden light spread over the fracture.

Nothing changed.

Mira stopped the skill rather than spending more Essence on a result she had already seen.

"Fine."

Her voice shook.

She took the scarf from around her neck.

For the first time since receiving it, she was grateful that it was narrow.

Using a straight piece of branch and the cloth, Mira bound the damaged arm as tightly as she could tolerate. The result was crude, but the bones moved less afterward.

She retrieved her glasses.

One arm of the frame was bent.

Mira carefully pushed it back into position.

The world became sharp again.

She hated how much easier that made it to see the bodies.

Only then did she open the notifications she had ignored.

Goblin defeated.

Experience gained: 17

Goblin defeated.

Experience gained: 16

Goblin defeated.

Experience gained: 17

A fourth notification waited beneath them.

Individual Ability awakened.

Simplification — Common

Improves the ability to reduce complex problems into their most relevant components using available information.

Mira focused on the description.

That was all the System gave her.

She looked back through the trees, remembering how her thoughts had narrowed during the chase. The nearest goblin, the turns between the trees, the axe arm when too many other things were competing for her attention.

Perhaps Simplification had been helping.

Or perhaps the System had simply given a name to something she had already been doing.

Mira was in too much pain to investigate the distinction properly.

She closed the notification.

Her total experience now sat at sixty-eight.

Still Level 1.

Mira collected her knife from the first goblin before checking what the others had been carrying.

The knife wielder had four copper coins and another badly maintained blade.

Goblin Knife — Common

Durability: 8 / 19

The club wielder carried two copper coins, a narrow leather strap and a sticky lump of amber-coloured material.

Tree Resin — Common Material

The axe wielder had five more copper coins and a small whetstone.

Mira took everything light enough to carry.

The axe was useful, but carrying it with one working arm while dealing with everything else was unrealistic. She dragged it back toward the road for the moment rather than deciding what to do with it immediately.

The journey back took longer than the chase had.

Every injury had become more noticeable.

There were cracks along two ribs.

Her shoulder hurt.

Her spine had taken at least one hard blow.

The fractured forearm pulsed with every step.

She still had to deal with the spearman.

Mira crouched behind a tree and looked toward the overturned wagon.

The goblin was gone.

For one terrible moment she thought it had taken the injured man.

Then she saw blood leading away from the road.

The man was no longer where he had been.

Mira followed the trail.

She found him behind the wagon.

He had apparently dragged himself there while the goblins pursued her.

He was unconscious now.

The spear lay nearby.

Mira approached him cautiously.

Human.

Definitely human.

He was an adult male, perhaps somewhere in his thirties, with dark hair and heavy travelling clothes. One boot was missing.

His thigh was the obvious problem.

A deep cut crossed the outer leg, and blood had soaked through an improvised bandage tied above it.

There were other injuries as well: a cut along the scalp, bruising around the ribs and possible shoulder damage.

Mira crouched beside him.

She touched two fingers to his neck.

A pulse moved beneath them.

Fast.

Weak.

Relief moved through her.

She opened Minor Heal.

Cost: 6 Essence

Mira checked her reserves.

Essence: 5 / 45

That was a problem.

She had spent nearly everything trying not to die.

Mira looked at the man's leg.

The bleeding had slowed, but not enough.

She could improve the bandage, elevate the leg and check for signs of arterial damage.

She could do all of that.

But she also had a healing skill if she could recover one more Essence.

Mira sat beside him and watched her reserve.

The number did not move quickly.

She used the time instead.

She cut fabric from one of the abandoned sacks and replaced the bloody bandage around the man's thigh. She checked the wound carefully and found no obvious arterial spray, although the amount of blood he had already lost worried her.

A few minutes later, her status finally changed.

Essence: 6 / 45

The man's eyelids moved.

He groaned.

Mira leaned closer.

"Can you hear me?"

His eyes opened.

They were unfocused at first.

Then they settled on her.

He screamed.

Mira recoiled.

The man tried to move away and immediately cried out from the pain in his leg.

"It's all right. Please don't move."

His face had gone pale.

He stared at her skull.

Mira remembered what she looked like.

"Yes. I know."

The man's hand moved toward his belt.

Nothing was there.

Probably where the sword had come from.

Mira kept her hands visible.

"I found you by the wagon. Four goblins attacked you."

His gaze shifted toward the road.

Understanding returned gradually.

"Four?"

Mira nodded.

His eyes moved back to her.

"What are you?"

The question hurt more than she expected.

"I'm Mira."

That did not answer what he had asked.

It was the answer she wanted to give.

The man's breathing remained uneven.

Mira reached toward his injured leg.

"I have a healing skill."

He stared at her hand.

"You?"

"I chose Cleric."

The explanation seemed to confuse him further.

Mira concentrated on Minor Heal.

Warm golden light gathered around her fingers.

The man's expression changed.

She placed her hand above the wound.

The light flowed into him.

This time the skill worked.

Mira felt the difference immediately.

Something beneath her hand responded.

The magic moved through the damaged region as though searching, giving her an incomplete awareness of the injury that sight alone had not provided.

Torn skin.

Damaged muscle.

Small ruptured vessels.

Inflammation beginning around foreign material.

Mira leaned closer.

The wound contracted.

Bleeding slowed.

The deepest portion remained open, but new tissue began joining across some of the smaller tears.

As she concentrated, Simplification seemed to make the information easier to separate. There was too much happening within the wound for her to understand all of it, but active bleeding mattered more immediately than bruising or tissue that was already stable.

She focused on that.

The spell's effect gathered more strongly around several of the damaged vessels.

Mira noticed the change.

She did not know whether Simplification had affected the skill itself or merely helped her give it clearer direction.

Either possibility was worth testing later.

Minor Heal faded.

The man exhaled heavily.

Some colour had returned to his face.

Mira looked from his leg to her own fractured arm.

The difference was immediate.

The skill knew what his body was supposed to be.

It had a structure to restore.

When she cast it on herself, it found nothing it could treat.

Mira touched the splint around her forearm.

That discovery should have been fascinating.

At the moment, it mostly made her feel very small.

The man pushed himself partly upright.

"You're a Cleric?"

"I chose one."

He looked at the golden symbol stitched badly into the front of her novice tunic.

Then at her skull.

Mira understood his confusion.

"I've had a difficult day."

The man gave a weak sound that might have been a laugh before pain stopped it.

Mira looked toward the road.

"Where is Eastmere?"

"East."

"How far?"

"Two hours on foot."

Mira looked at his leg.

He would not be walking for two hours.

"Is there anyone closer?"

The man shook his head.

"Old watch post is empty. Road patrol sometimes comes this way."

Sometimes was not useful.

Mira stood and examined the overturned wagon.

Getting him onto it was impossible in its current state. One axle had snapped, and the entire body leaned into the ditch.

The road contained plenty of wood.

Mira walked around the wreck.

Two long support beams beneath the wagon bed appeared mostly intact.

Removing them took nearly half an hour.

Her broken arm made everything harder.

She had to brace wood against rocks, use the goblin axe with one hand, and stop whenever movement caused the fracture to shift inside the splint.

The injured man watched from beside the wagon.

"What are you doing?"

"Making something to move you."

"You need to get to Eastmere."

"So do you."

"You killed the goblins?"

Mira struck the axe into a damaged joint.

"Three of them. The spearman left."

The man became quiet.

She eventually freed both beams.

A blanket from the wagon served as the bed. Rope and torn cloth secured it between the supports.

The stretcher was ugly.

Mira tested one end.

The construction held.

Moving a full-grown man with one functioning arm was going to be another matter.

She looked at the road.

Then at the spear the fourth goblin had left behind.

Mira picked it up.

The weapon was almost as tall as she was. Its wooden shaft was straight and surprisingly sturdy.

She planted one end against the ground.

Useful.

The injured man watched her test her weight against it.

"Do you know how to use that?"

Mira looked at the metal spearhead.

"No."

Her increasing collection of weapons she did not know how to use was becoming mildly concerning.

She brought it with her anyway.

Together, they managed to get the man onto the stretcher.

He nearly passed out halfway through.

Mira tied him loosely in place so he would not slide.

Then she stood between the two forward poles and tried to lift.

Her right arm took most of the weight.

The left could barely assist.

The stretcher moved perhaps twenty centimetres.

Mira lowered it.

At that rate, reaching Eastmere would take an unreasonable amount of time.

She rearranged the ropes.

One loop went around her waist.

Another crossed over the stronger shoulder.

She used the spear in her right hand whenever she needed additional balance and let the harness take more of the load.

The stretcher scraped along the road behind her.

It moved.

Mira smiled despite herself.

The man looked less convinced.

"You're going to drag me all the way to Eastmere?"

Mira adjusted the rope.

"I haven't worked out a better option yet."

She started walking.

The first hundred metres were miserable.

The next hundred were worse.

The stretcher caught on stones.

One support beam slid into a rut.

Mira's damaged arm hurt even though she was barely using it.

The spear helped when the road became uneven.

She began leaning on it more heavily.

The man drifted between consciousness and sleep.

Mira stopped whenever she could feel the stretcher pulling unevenly.

After several repetitions, she found herself reducing each problem almost automatically. The stretcher caught because of resistance, balance or direction, and identifying which one was wrong made the next adjustment easier.

Simplification again, perhaps.

Mira was starting to think the ability might be more useful than its brief description suggested.

She checked the man's wound twice.

The bleeding remained controlled.

Her Essence slowly returned.

When she had enough, she intended to heal him again.

The forest shadows lengthened around them.

Mira looked toward Eastmere's marker on her map.

It was closer now.

Still not close enough.

She planted the spear and pulled the stretcher forward another step.

Her tunic was torn.

Her mantle was muddy.

Her tiny scarf was currently holding her broken arm together.

She had spent most of her Essence, been hit with an axe, cracked several ribs, discovered that the healing class she had chosen could heal someone else but apparently not her, and awakened an ability she did not remember selecting at all.

Mira tightened the rope around her waist.

Her first day had become considerably more demanding than she had expected.

She kept walking.

Status

Mira

Species: Human

Class: Cleric

Level: 1

Experience: 68 / 100

Strength: 4

Agility: 5

Endurance: 4

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 10

Spirit: 9

Essence: 8 / 45

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Individual Abilities

Simplification — Common

Improves the ability to reduce complex problems into their most relevant components using available information.

Skills

Minor Heal — Common

Radiant Spark — Common

Blessing of Shelter — Common

Equipment

Beginner Cleric Tunic — Common — Damaged

Beginner Cleric Mantle — Common — Damaged

Beginner Cleric Scarf — Common — In Use as Splint Binding

Beginner Boots — Common

Goblin Knife — Common — 12 / 21 Durability

Goblin Knife — Common — 8 / 19 Durability

Goblin Spear — Common — 20 / 28 Durability

Novice Cleric Token — Common

Inventory

Copper Coins ×26

Dried Fruit Strip ×1

Folded Cloth ×1

Low-Grade Flint ×1

Cord ×2

Bent Iron Buckle ×1

Broken Iron Awl ×1

Tree Resin ×1

Leather Strap ×1

Crude Whetstone ×1

Condition

Left Radius — Fractured, Splinted

Left Ulna — Cracked

Rib Damage — Minor

Back and Shoulder — Impact Damage

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