🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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The days went by slower than I'd like them to. There was nothing for miles on end but the forest. We did pass a hidden lake by, but that's about how interesting this whole excursion was. The civilization the Gleamare outpost boasted about was a mere memory as I swatted protruding branches and made sure my next step wouldn't shatter my ankle into pieces.
Despite the spell Arzo, the psalm spiria, casted to regulate the temperature, I was sweating underneath my armor. When I first asked Cavya if I could at least walk without it, I got a "no" said with the rationale, the implication, and some words of caution involved. If he somehow ended up in a corporate company, he'd be winning over the entire board with his polite emails. Seriously.
Nazran and the other creature spiria, Revery, were up front, talking animatedly about their skills. They're no doubt comparing notes about their creatures and how they could summon them from the netherside. Once, when we were resting around a campfire, I attempted to join in on the conversation.
"Wouldn't you accidentally summon nether beasts if you use your abilities to summon your creatures?" I asked, shoving the last piece of sappuri-on cake into my mouth before the basket could reach the others behind me. "Do tell me how that works."
Nazran sipped from his cup of steaming valerye tea. "That's certainly the danger when spreading our magic into the thin veils of the netherside in crafting our creatures," he said. "That's why we should never manipulate the shadows beyond our capacity. But the danger is nonexistent if the creature you're crafting doesn't require too much of your special attribute."
Somewhere in the unseen distance, a squeal of frustration rang. I was sure my name was included in it, and it came from no other than Seline. I made sure to hide my smile as Revery added to Nazran's sentiment. "Besides, we only craft when it's necessary. Most of the time, our crafted beasts stay that way when they retreat back to the netherside," she said. "A creature spiria's job is not just to craft creatures but to be able to summon them as many times as possible as well."
I opened my mouth to ask something else when Revery leaned to the side in askance. "Why is Seline fuming?" she asked. "She's the most level-headed person I know. It's rare to see her on edge."
I snorted, earning a raised eyebrow from Nazran. "Level-headed? Nah," I waved my hand in front of my face to dispel the growing mockery in my face. The fact that me and Hye-jin came from another world which saw this one was a game still needed to be hidden. Along with that, my previous relationship with her. "She's as level-headed as a piranha. Trust me on that."
Revery blinked. "Pira-what?"
"Oh," I shook my head. "Just a fish from where I grew up. Nothing important."
The spiria hummed, then raised a hand to wave Seline over. "I can't believe someone was petty enough to finish all the sappuri-on cakes before I even get to try one," Seline said, making trenches against the soft forest soil with the tip of her metal boots. "I've always wanted to try them."
