Elevation of Mana Chapter 212 Rumors

We skipped Rolan's people intentionally, skirting their boarders as we made our way home. Frankly with the number of elders lost and the fact that Chien and I were both pretty skilled keeping away from them wasn't that hard at all. It wasn't anything much, just not lighting fires, not going into areas where people clearly were, and generally keeping to ourselves. Someone would have to tell them about the death of their leader eventually, but it wasn't going to be me.

As we hugged the mountains though I didn't like what we found one bit. It seemed that we'd missed one or two of the monsters as we passed by, with trails of destruction, now long cold, showing where they'd been. Areas that had been burned were not sprouting new growth, as the monsters must have heeded whatever call took them back to gather up and die.

If we hadn't made those initial attacks would things have changed? Would we have potentially had more people in that last fight and instead of losing so many rather come out on top? I didn't know, and knew that while worries about it would bother me for some time there was nothing I could do. We'd not had enough information, not known what we were really dealing with, their behaviors and methods.

“We should start a bestiary,” I mused to Chien.

“A what?”

“A book where we can keep a list of all the monsters we find and what they do.”

“There are too many, it would be huge.”

“It'll be huge then, people should be able to know about the things they're going to fight.” I was quite resolute about this.

“You're probably right,” he admitted. “Not sure how useful such a thing would be, being that even the Ancients didn't know much about those monsters, but for lesser ones I can see the use. If you're going somewhere new looking up what you might find would certainly be worthwhile.”

“Yes, we can begin classification of the things we know about already, putting as much detail as we can and then continue from there. Something for everyone to have.”

“There's a problem though,” he said with a sigh.

“What's that?”

“There's a lot of monsters that are super rare. Heck, I still see new ones from time to time even near the city.”

“Fair point, still though it'll be something.”

“Be a nice change of pace too. I don't know about you, but something a bit more calm and relaxed would be quite welcome.”

“When do we ever get that kind of thing?” I asked him.

“Fair point,” he replied, mimicking me.

The two of us slowly continued on, even taking short jaunts in the air here and there. That was mana expensive, using a lot of juice for even small ones, the reason why we didn't do it just all the time, but in places it made more sense. There were plenty of areas where the terrain was unpleasant, and being able to hop over large sections of it without issue was a true boon.

Progress was quicker than I would have expected, but still painfully slow. I missed my balloon, just letting us glide over the surface like the wind, ignoring the up and down, the sharp rocks, the roiling rivers, and winding creeks. We'd been spoiled with it, though a bit of spoiling now and then was good. More would need to be made, I'm sure Jina...

Jina was dead, and I'd already forgotten it. Would that persist? Every now and then I thought about one of the others who'd died, wondering what they'd think or do, but the answer was they couldn't anymore. It shook me deeply. I'd lost people, sure, plenty of them, but many had been separated from me for some time when they'd died. Having been away from my parents for so long made me not think of them as much, I still loved them, but I'd acclimated. Jina on the other hand had been a fixture in this nation for so long, not to mention the other elders and few Ancients. I got the sad feeling that their deaths would take a long time for me to process fully, with the memories of them so very clear all the time it would be like they were still there.

Once we were back in Atal's area of influence things sped up significantly. Neither of us were totally familiar with the paths and ways, but not needing to avoid them made things almost fly by. There were even a few places where we ended up taking small rafts or canoes down streams, a happy reprieve for us both and the long trip home.

What we heard began to disturb me though. Rumors passed on the trails as much as directions about where one was and offers for trade, and what I heard didn't make me happy at all. The first trader to give us his accounting met us as the sun reached its highest point, resting on a rock along the makeshift road.

“No, can't say I saw it, but I know several villages were destroyed, heard that from an old friend. He passes that way on his route now and again, but when seeing all of what happened fled north as fast as he could,” the man assured.

“Did you happen to hear about what did it?” Chien asked.

“I asked, but he didn't know. Said whatever it was was big and used fire, but beyond that.” He shrugged, willing but unable to answer like we'd hoped.

“Thank you for the information, and you're sure it was to the south of the city?” I asked.

“South and west from what I hear, my friend fled as far as he felt safe. You think I should go further north for the time being?”

“No, sounds like the monsters the elders went to hunt. From what I know the beasts are gone,” I assured him.

We were quiet about my status, in the city it would be a boon, and when dealing with other settlements too, but out here on the road it would just attract undo attention. His information worried me though, as I didn't like hearing about villages to the south being burned. Perhaps there'd been another leak between the mountains somewhere. Even if the beast had returned to its homeland it still could have done a lot of damage.

My fears were all but confirmed a few days later when we crested a hill and got our first look at the area around Atal. The city stood, but there were bare patches of trees and clear destruction outside of the walls. I could see people moving about, milling around like ants, but not what had happened.

I leapt into the air, taking flight and pushing my speed, eager to get home and assuage my worries. There was little I could do right now, but I needed to know. Chien was right behind me, eyes mapping everything in our path.