Journey onto the Storm (BOOK 2)

Chapter 34

YUVEN

Humidity glued his feathers closer together and caused the last remnants of his down to fluff out to catch what little cold there was in the air. A singing breeze hushed through the golden-speckled leaves above his head — the Goldwood. He sat at the bank of the creek cupping water to his lips to drain out the constant stale taste layering his tongue. On the other side, a pair of otters slipped inside to tangle into the reeds with a playful splash. He twisted open his food container, marked by the dietary band at each section, and he turned to check on Fenrer and Adara Sazaka. Once again, the Anima found herself stuck on simple manifesting of a magelight — which gave him no confidence that she'd manifest a map for him. Fenrer spun a circle with his hands, a vine-wrapped glyph following the motion. Out of the focal center, a light formed with the rays of the sun piercing through the gold canopy. Yuven shook his head when Adara's brow scrunched and she held out her hand to match Fenrer's, where silver flames danced across her fingertips in an attempt to copy the most basic level of magick learning.

"I'm assuming since you're showing her glyphs that she has primordial shifting mastered?" Yuven called before fiddling around for something to chew on — which he never had a lot of options when it came to things he could eat comfortably. He wrapped a bundle of chickpeas into a portion of flatbread, sending his own white flames through the interior to warm it. "You can't teach someone glyphs if they can't even manifest their magick," he pointed out as he straightened himself out to turn to them, where both met his stare. "Forget a magickae's signature — she needs to learn the basis of writing it first."

"I don't see you helping," Adara bit.

Yuven shoved the wrapped flatbread between his teeth to drive his fangs into it. "We can always use the creek for me to kick you around some more." He tried not to spit out the stale taste over his tongue, his medication failing once more at its base concept. "I still say you need to work on your footing. The flow will just smash into you whenever you try to manifest your magick in any meaningful way." He pointed with his two-pronged fork. "Or you'll get what happened in the marsh. Glyphs are a step above where you're currently at, Sazaka."

"I was demonstrating," Fenrer said.

Yuven ground his teeth against his fork at Fenrer's stilted behaviour. Deeper into the Goldwood, Fenrer's brow crunched and his steps left deep imprints in the dirt trail. Adara, on the other hand, never lost her exhausting sense of wonder, asking inane questions with each little log or bush they passed. Fenrer never failed to answer each and every one — time spent keeping the pace on the road through the Goldwood. "Demonstrating," Yuven echoed and put his fork in the small compartment on the side of his container when they stood side by side. "We'll be doing a lot of that on Euros. Just focus on getting her able to shift the primordial flow before we get there." He adjusted the frog of his crescent blade on his hip. "Let's go, Fenrer, you're the one guiding us, you clearly have somewhere in mind."

Fenrer nodded and stepped onto the trail. "Wolford," he said. "That's where I'm heading for the time being. We'll know we're close when we come across some lumber mills — the wood from the goldtrees are very magically robust building materials," he said to Adara, who beamed. "There should be a tavern and a map of the area. If anything, it'd be a good opportunity to rest and gauge the weather ahead." Fenrer came closer to him. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yes." Yuven glared at Adara, who rolled her shoulders and sat down on a stump. Golden-speckled rings denoted the age it lasted, though some burned crimson tangled to form bumpy burrs on the imperfect wood. "What is it?" he asked when Fenrer nudged him out of earshot, and Adara took out her book of lies. "Is there something you failed to mention when we took this route, Fenrer? Your brow's been furrowed since we entered it."