Elevation of Mana Chapter 38 Field Trip

I checked my gear once again while mother gave dad a few last rules.  He let her, even if he didn't need to, it wasn't like he didn't know what to do.  She was still mad, still quite mad that I'd remade my knife into a hammer, so I was getting few words.

“Elian, stay safe, I love you,” she finally said to me, coming over to give me a hug.

“Love you too mom.”  I hugged her back, fully intending to not take unnecessary risks.

The hammer was now in the hut now, it was small and nice.  Casting it into shape had been almost comically easy, and when it was done Elaya almost instantly approved it, and our trip.  It was clearly useful, if a bit small, and a good example of what could be done.  The only real issue was that it was a bit soft, as copper tended to be.

In total there were only five of us going.  Anyone else would just slow down the mission more than was needed, and we only needed so much metal for now.  Larus and father were leading it the former the group while the latter in charge of me.  I was going to be doing the smelting when we got there, and the other two men were backup, for carrying extra metal and helping with any creatures we might find, though we were hoping for none.

When all was ready we left, though only a few came to see us off.  Most people were out on their daily work, gathering food, or processing materials, all the things that needed doing.  That suited me fine, as more would have just slowed things down further.

Just before we would stop for the night dad called out to me.  “Come here Elian, it's a good view.”

So I did, moving over to a larger rock on the path and looking back at out village.

“Woah,” I said in near shock.

“I know, it's a beautiful valley isn't it?”

I wasn't shocked at the beauty, though it was beautiful.  No, far more shocking was what it was.  It wasn't a valley at all, it was a crater, a massive, enormous crater.  Something had blown up here with a power normally reserved for extinction level impacts.

Oddly, our village wasn't at the true middle.  From here I could see that much clearly.  No, it was off to the side, a few hours walk at least from the true center.  I tried to compare the angles, the shape of the land, and the like, trying to figure out where it was.

Quickly I concluded where it must be.

“The cave we stayed in was the very center?” I asked.

“Hmm?  Oh, the one for the winter, yes, it's the middle of the valley Elian.”

Well, that settled it, when I was able I was definitely going back there.  It was too far to just pop off on my own, yet, but I needed to know what it was that was making all of that magic.  Was it some meteorite that had landed, blowing things to bits?  Was it an ancient civilization that had instead destroyed itself?  Or maybe some magical phenomenon.  I just had to know, I was almost salivating.

“Come on down now Elian.  We need to get camp set up before it gets too late,” dad finally said, helping me down from the vantage point I'd taken.

“Okay, how are we doing the camp?” I asked.

“It's easy, I'll show you.”

The sleeping area was little more than a lean to with branches piled up over it.  It wasn't much at all, but would serve to keep the rain off of us should any fall.  We didn't need much else, as the weather right now was roughly perfect for our bodies.  We spent most of the time outside and with little clothing, so there was no real problem there.

The only other big addition was a fire.

“We could just use light from father or me?” I suggested as we piled the wood nearby.

“Two reasons for using fire,” Larus explained.  “One, smoke keeps the bugs away.  I don't want to be bothered by them, so it'll be better.  It also repels most beasts, even the strong ones don't normally like fire.  There are exceptions, but the majority of them, particularly the smaller ones will stay away from fire.  Putting up lights like you two have will even attract some.”

After everything was  set up one of the other men asked a question.

“What is the watch going to be like?'

“Larus and I will each take one, as will you two,” dad answered.

“What about me?” I asked.

“You don't need to stay up Elian.  You need sleep, but if you really want to sit up late you can with me.  You okay with that Larus?” he asked the bigger man.

“Sure,” the other leader answered lightly.

I didn't stay up too late, but late enough to enjoy the stars.  The stars on this world were so vibrant, so alive.  I knew that on Earth they'd been prettier in far off and dark places, but I'd never been to one.  Here though it was almost enough to see by with how beautiful they were.  The clouds of gas stretched and arced across the sky in blazes of color.  I stared at them until sleep took me.

The sun was barely starting to light up the sky when I awoke in the three elf pile under the shelter.  It sill weirded me out sometimes about how we always seemed to sleep on top of each other.  Not just families either, but whole groups, all together and close as we snoozed.  There was something comforting about it though, and almost bond building.

“You're up early,” Larus said as I rose, his eyes snapping to me for a moment before he went back to observing the forest.

“Yeah,”

“Good, we've lots of ground to cover today.”

He wasn't lying either, and by the end of the day I was using magic to help myself along.  I couldn't fly yet, and the first attempts had shown that it would be really difficult if I wanted to learn.  It required a sort of control and quick reaction I didn't have as it was very disorienting.  However I could sort of lift myself, giving myself short boosts.  It was rather like walking on the moon, just a slight lightening to take the stress off my feet a bit.

We traveled three days in total, mostly keeping to rivers and streams, but every now and then cutting through thinner parts of the jungle to get to clear landmarks.  As we got closer and closer I started to see changes.  In the water here and there were little bits of the copper ore we were after, and there were a few cut trails that were decidedly not game trails, too wide and well worn.

“Are there other elves here?” I asked my dad.

“There's a village about half a day from where we're going.  We might even see a few of their hunters when we get closer,” he answered calmly.

“Will they care what we're doing?  We are taking their rocks.”

“Elian they have more than enough of them, and traders take them for trinkets all the time.  Anyway, we're on good terms with all of our neighbors.  Meeting them will be nice, and once they see your metal they might trade us something for it.  Don't let them know how to make it though.”

“It will spread as it spreads,” I said cryptically.

Before we got to the location we'd be gathering in we did indeed meet some other elves.  There was a small group of mixed men and women, and they waved as we approached.

“Eduan, is that you?” the lead man asked.  By his small shock of white hair I assumed he was the elder here.

“It is, it's been too long old friend.”  Dad went over and embraced him.  “And this is my son Elian, come here son.”  He beckoned me over.

“Greetings elder,” I said politely as he smiled down at me.

“And to you little man, what a light you have for one so young.”  Then he leaned in conspiratorially.  “Any good stories to tell?”

“I think I can come up with one or two,” I said, smiling.

Several of the women came to look me over as they listened.  Children were valued by our people, mostly because we were pretty rare, and magical children more as well.  It gave me a chance to look them over.

Physically they were a lot like the women of my own village, all looked young and in good health.  There must be a healer of some kind around because they lacked the deformities or scars one associated with living as roughly as we did.  Their style was quite different though.

Other than the standard braids and beats they almost all used the same color body paint if in varying patterns.  The bright green lines covered arms and legs, some complex, some simple.  That kind of thing was done sometimes in our village too, but normally not in all the same color like this, it was perhaps a style here.  One woman who was leaning against the elder had the most complex ones, not surprising.

“Well, when your business is done why don't you all come stay in the village for a night?  I'm sure we can find a comfortable place for you,” the elder offered.

“Thank you, we will, though we'll be a day or two out here,” dad replied.

“See you then Eduan.  It is good to see you again.”

“You know them?”  I asked dad after they'd left.

“When I was still a trader a sickness came through their village.  They didn't have a healer at the time so I stayed and did what I could for a whole wet season.  Before I got there it was pretty bad, but we got them all sorted by the end of it.  I was even offered a place with them when I settled down, but your mother didn't want to move,” he explained.

“He said they were friendly,” Larus laughed from the side, I was sure my face was showing a bit of surprise.  Dad had never told me that story before.

The gathering location was just over the hill, and when we got there I realized why they didn't care too.  It was a canyon, hundreds of meters long and brilliant green along both sides.  This deposit was absolutely massive.