Elevation of Mana Chapter 25 Victory and Mourning

The men had left us some hours ago, heading out in their group to try and destroy the last of the monsters hunting our tribe. I stood near the back of the cave, watching, keeping an eye on everyone. Ninden, was generally watching us boys, but the girls were nearby too, and I was doing what I could to keep an eye on them as well. There shouldn't be any danger, but if something did happen it was likely I would be the last line of defense.

There was something throwing me off though, and that was Isha. Even though we were in the same age group, we hardly interacted, so I'd never noticed it before, but there were little bursts around her of magic. Nothing like mother, Elaya, or I had, but also much stronger than those Ninden and the other boys, or even other adults were making.

I could see a sort of... aura or something, some indication of magic. In those of us who were really capable it was a near constant flow, but in everyone else it was just the briefest little puff every now and then. Almost everyone had these going every minute, and a few questions had indicated that most people who couldn't use magic outside themselves couldn't actually see them at all.

For example the other boys had no answers when I asked them their thoughts. So far as the magic went they were basically blind to it. My auntie had come through though, and explained that while she couldn't see it like I could, it was common for people like me to be able to. Those whose magic left them and went out into the world gained the ability, while those whose magic remained bound to their own bodies oddly lacked it. My working guess was that it was somehow relevant to the casting of magic, but that was only a guess.

"You've noticed huh?" Mother said as she came to settle near where I was.

"What is it?" I asked, continuing to look at Isha.

"She's going to be like us, able to use her light soon. Well, maybe soon, maybe a long time. It's wonderful news for her, though perhaps at a bad time."

"But why? Why is it like that?" I asked.

"Nobody really understands it Elian, even the oldest of us are sometimes surprised."

"Very well, what kind of power will she gain then? Like me, or you, or dad?" I asked.

"That, is sometimes easier to tell. For those like her they tend to gain more of whatever they had before. Your friend Ninden for example, if he were to change the same way then he'd likely become like Larus. I don't know what ability she has, if she's manifested it yet, but if you did you might be able to know."

Mother and I sat in silence for a long time after that. There wasn't a lot of room here, and I was sure that someone had overheard us, but we'd not said anything bad, or even indicated who we were talking about, so it was fine. I got the feeling she just wanted to be close to me while father was out fighting, so I settled down near her for a bit.

"I'm worried about dad," I finally said.

"Your father and the rest of the hunters know what they're doing. These are bad beasts they're after, but by no means the worst, and our hunters are strong, stronger than most villages. Let us instead worry about the things we can change now."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like the fact that the village is wrecked, and we need a plan for what we'll do when we get back. We need to rebuild, and quickly before it gets too cold. We also need to think about how to fix our food issue, or we'll be in real trouble," mother responded.

"I can't do much about food, but I can think of a few quick ways to build. With my light getting stronger I think I can re-dig the cold room, but I'm not sure if that's something we should do right now or not." At her questioning look I continued. "We don't have the meat to fill it, and with little time wasting the effort to put more ice in it is probably a bad idea. I think new huts should go up first, and I can help with building those much faster."

A scream came up from the front of the cave, and both of us leaped up in alarm. Mother tried to run ahead, but I was right on her heels as she bolted, but something was odd. The scream wasn't afraid, or hurt, no... it was cheerful.

We charged into a blooming celebration, as the whole village began pouring out of the cave to meet the hunters. The men were roughed up, covered in cuts and bruises, one even had an arm tied in a makeshift sling, but they were all smiles. To their side were two new skulls, huge and full of teeth. They'd succeeded at killing the monsters, we were safe, we could go home.

The party turned into a parade with little prompting, The hunters were quickly patched up and skulls of the beasts were tied to sticks. Our supplies had been gathered quickly and hardly unpacked, and since everyone wanted to get home, there was no reason to stay where we were. It was chilly, sure, but not cold enough to keep us from sleeping outside, at the clearing we'd called home for generations.

Father and Larus took turns leading the group. Each wove the story of where they'd fit into the hunt, and where the others had played their part. Tracking the beasts had been long and hard, but one of the men I didn't know, a tall, chocolate maned man, Onai, had shown skill in following their tracks, leading the group to the den. He had some form of super-smell or sight or something, not incredibly potent in the long term, but enough to give a potent edge to any decent tracker. Father had woven spells for the wind to silence their approach, the dirt to hide their smell, and at the moment of attack, the light to brighten their way. Larus of course had been the point of the spear, and if things were to be believed had grabbed one of the beasts, snapping its spine with his hands.

Once the story was told, father led several songs. The march was in no hurry, and a number of us took to dancing as we walked. I... tried to join in on that, but it was a skill I sorely lacked, and other than a few laughs from my friends and family, little came of it. My eyes fell to Isha though as she did, if only because of the sparks of magic she was sending off invisibly, I worried for a moment that something might happen, but it never did.

As we entered the village though, the mood sobered. I'd not noticed, but all of us came together to the center of the village, where there were several small piles of dirt. It was almost silent as one person for each approached.

"What's going on?" I asked, slinking up beside my aunt, mother was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh... that's right you passed out. We didn't have time to bury them properly, so Elaya just sank the bodies into the dirt, it's time for the dead to be taken care of. At least we have the bodies."

One by one Elaya went to each of the mourners and raised their loved one from the ground.

"This was his favorite fire-making stick, would you let him burn with it?" The woman asked, laying the tool upon the dead man, his body sadly quite far into decomposure.

Elaya moved forward and with her hands extended fire licked forwards, consuming the body in moments, along with the tool.

The next body was requested to simply be buried deep in the earth, which was done. The third relative requested his lost love's song. Father stepped forward and sang, using some sort of magic I didn't know to break the body into something like dust. The final one was odd as well, a boy requesting his mother be turned into the tree that bore her favorite fruit. He had one, and mother dropped it onto the body, roots quickly spilling out from the point of impact to consume the corpse and leave a small tree in its place.

It was an odd funeral, but very personal. There was little crying from those outside of the direct family, and even they seemed restrained. You'd think that the death of an elf would be jarring, but there was something I'd forgotten. We started to become like Elaya after only a couple of hundred years, and while biologically immortal, we were still very tillable. The lives of most of us therefore had to be... cut short, violence killed my kind and little else, and there was no good chance for most of us to properly mourn.

I wanted to be sad, sure, I knew the dead only in the briefest sense, but with everyone else so reserved it didn't seem appropriate, so I let it pass. When the ceremony was done we spread back out, it was evening and things needed taking care of before we could rest.

By some universal decision it was decided that the huts of those who'd gone after the monsters would be the first things remade. Mother was regrowing our own hut with my father helping one of the other hunters construct a shelter. Larus needed no help at all, able to fell trees and stack them with ease. Elaya had moved off to another who needed aid, which left me, I approached the tracker, Onai. His own hut on the edge of the village.

"Want some help?" I offered.

"Of course, come. I think enough of the branches of our home survived that we can make a temporary shelter with it, but help would be nice," he said with a smile.

He was right, with what was left of his home and those nearby a temporary place should be easy enough to build. I began moving the larger bits into place and holding them tight with magic while he and others tied branches and the like together. I noticed that Isha was here with us, this wasn't her home, but near it, and I supposed that she'd be likely staying with Onai and his group until her place was rebuilt.

"So you can track beasts I hear?" I asked conversationally as the sun finally fell below the tree line.

"Ha! Yes, it's not much, and on Twilight Beasts it's hard, as they have little smell, but one breath in..." he sucked in air through his nose, and I saw a little spark of magic. I expected him to say something funny, but instead he froze like a statue for the briefest second, then hid head snapped to the tree line. "LIGHT!" He yelled.

I didn't hesitate, tossing up a bright ball of illumination just in time to see it. They'd missed one, and the horse sized wolf now tore out of the field, using the setting sun and long shadows to hide its approach until I disturbed it. It charged, and before I could cast another spell was leaping in the air, mouth open and teeth shining as drool dripped from them.