Mid Morning - Late Spring : Ho
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“Uwahhh…” *crackle* I let out a long, refreshing yawn as I woke up and broke apart the ice that crystallized over my body while I slept. -Wow, what a comfortable temperature…-
It had been a few days since I returned from Kaelallan at that point, but a majority of that ti was spent sleeping in the cave alongside Mother since, not long after I showed her my aura, her sleepiness caught up to her. -She looks like she’s sleeping soundly though…-
Slowly standing up, I quietly stretched and glanced at Ilios, who laid next to . “Hey, Ilios.” I made sure to keep my voice as hushed as possible. “Stay here and guard them while I go get so breakfast for us, alright?”
He gave a lethargic nod as he repositioned himself and closed his eyes again.
It was really adorable, but I kept myself from bothering him more and made my way outside.
*clunk-fwooosh* A wave of warm air blasted across my body as I hastily got through the door and closed it once again. “Haah…”
It was the middle of the morning, with clear skies and a steady, warm breeze blowing through the field outside the cave. -What a beautiful day…-
Then, after taking a mont to finally shake off my lingering drowsiness, I spread my wings and took to the skies. -Let's see if I can find a bison for Ilios and I…-
But the next several minutes were simply spent looking.
*fwoosh* *fwoosh* *fwoosh* It was a calm day, with a slow, steady breeze and clear skies, but oddly enough, there was still a low fog covering the ground in the forest.
This sight was nothing too unusual for that ti of the season, but it ant that my job of finding a bison would get a little troubleso. -Hopefully, the fog makes them more confident to co out into so of the clearings…-
Quickly heading to the fields routinely known to have bison or deer grazing in them, I dove toward the ground and flapped my wings just above the top of the fog. *FWOOOSH*
The fog in the clearing got blasted away as if there was an explosion, imdiately revealing a few deer grazing along the treeline and a huge bison in the middle.
My mouth started to water imdiately.
*Thump* Promptly landing next to it, I nudged it with my wing and tipped it over.
*snort* It tried to kick as it went to stand back up and run off, but it was too late. *Shink*
With a quick slash of a claw and a bit of help from earth magic, I went to cut through the bison's spinal cord but instead cut off its entire head. *Thud*
My eyes went wide as its headless body fell limply to the ground. -W..what…-
Taking a closer look at the cut, I noticed it was smooth, even at the cellular level. -T..that was THAT effective against flesh?!-
It was a simple spell I used to shave down things I made, like steel darts, so I could be a bit sloppier when making the objects themselves. It increased the amount of mana I needed to properly make things, but at the sa ti, it gave an insane level of precision without the extra ti or the ntal drain that would normally follow it.
-But for it to cut all the way through like that…- Looking closer at the opposite side of the bison's neck, it was clear the spell lost so of its effectiveness as it passed through.
But without the eyes of a dragon, it would simply look like a flawless cut. -It makes wonder…-
Sticking my other leg forward, I started using the spell and slashed the top of my paw.
*Chink* As if I hit it with a blade, a sizable slash imdiately appeared in my scales, but it looked more like a deep scratch than anything. -I’m.. not sure what I expected…-
Considering how I normally used it in other spells, (like insanely effective sandpaper) the result made sense. -Regardless.. this could make cutting things precisely pretty easy. I just need to be careful controlling its length…-
But even without much to think about, I ended up spending the next couple of minutes fiddling around with it before finally putting my thoughts aside and flying back to the cave with the bison in hand. -It's a sha this bison didn’t have a core…-
Quickly making it back ho, I gently laid down the bison and got to cleaning it.
In the past, Mother would have been the one to remove the stomach, intestines, and a few other organs, since they were considered ‘waste at’, but today, I wanted to prepare everything myself.
But before I knew it, I had cleaned out the necessary organs and even hung it up on a thick tal pole to shave off the fur and top layer of hide since it had a bitter taste. -This magic is really handy…-
*fwoosh* *fwoosh-thump* Hearing soone behind , I glanced behind myself and saw Father staring at with an eyebrow raised.
“What are you up to?”
-Was he sleeping on the mountain?- “I’m just fixing breakfast. You want to try so?”
“Sure! It slls pretty good.”
Quickly cutting him out a decent-sized rib, I created and put a bit of salt on it and handed it to him. “Here, try that.”
He imdiately tossed it into his mouth and shattered the rib with his teeth. *CrAcKle* ”Mmm… That’s pretty good. It's nice and tender… You find this guy in the eastern field?”
“Yeah, I think the fog gave him enough confidence to stand in the middle of the field. I was pretty lucky though, it was the first field I checked.”
“Nice!” He paused for a mont as he eyeballed the bison I was still cleaning before eventually laying down and relaxing. “So I'm guessing Zachari is still asleep?”
“Yeah, she looked like she was sleeping really well when I woke up…” Idly shaving the last bit of the bison, I thought back to the night we got ho. “She was really tired when we got here, so I hope she can get so good sleep.”
Father’s expression slowly turned a bit guilty. “Y..yeah… She’s still.. paranoid after what happened with Fengari… She didn’t let herself sleep much at all while we were gone…”
“...” I could only stare at Father blankly for a mont as I paused what I was doing. -So.. she didn’t actually get over losing him…-
“She’s just scared to lose you or Krystallo as well, and.. well.. my attempt to reassure her sort of backfired…”
-Ah.. that’s why she was upset with him…- Not wanting the conversation to get any darker, I tried to give so advice. “Well, maybe you can treat her to sothing nice and get back on her good side when she wakes up.” -I should probably do the sa…-
“R..right. Sorry for getting all gloomy.” Trying to quickly change the subject, he put on a forced smile and stood up. “Do you mind if I go get a bison myself so we can eat together?”
It was an odd request, but it was nice to hear. “Sure! I can help you clean it when you get back.”
His smile slowly ward up as I spoke. “A..alright! I won't be too long!” Finally mustering so enthusiasm, his smile turned genuine, and he took to the skies.
-I wonder what we’ll talk about…- But as I looked forward to having so Father-Son ti, I looked back at the bison sitting on the tal spike and noticed it looked a bit pale. -Ah hell, did I bleed it too much?-
Quickly making a pan at the bottom of the spike, I tried my best to save what I could before eventually accepting fate. -I guess I'll have to take so of the blood from Father’s bison and just use it like a dipping sauce…-
Finally finishing up the shaving and skinning of the bison, I reached down and cut off a decent-sized chunk and brought it to the cave.
*clunk-fwoosh* As the warm air around rushed into the cave, I poked my head in and set down the chunk of at, motioning to Ilios as I did.
*tap-tap-tap-tap* Seeing him quietly trot over and pick it up, I lightly patted his head and closed the door again to keep the temperature from changing much. *clunk*
“Haah…” I let out a breath of relief as I gently repositioned the 'lock'. -It's good to see Mother is still sleeping well…- Walking back out into the field, I took a mont to enjoy the warmth of the sun.
But that was when I suddenly felt the edge of an unusual aura. -What the…-
Imdiately looking toward it, I t eyes with a small black, panther-like creature no bigger than a large house cat.
But unlike its feeble-looking body, it had a massive aura, easily comparable to an A or B-rank monster. -It’s controlled too…- Sothing about the cat gave an odd feeling, but I simply couldn’t recognize what the feeling was. -Was it.. drawn by the sll?-
But the instant I even questioned it being anything other than a monster, it darted into the forest, and I lost sight of it.
-Why did its eyes feel so.. human…-
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