Avaryx: Dawn [Book 1]

Chapter 8: Burnout

I woke up to the sound of swinging. The air was getting warmer and a bright light shone through my eyelids. I looked around and saw all of the forest creatures huddled near me, watching something. I looked over at the source of their attention and saw Jenny swinging her axe around. It was engulfed in flames.

I- wait, it was engulfed in flames?

I jumped up and saw her swinging around her axe with perfect efficiency, linking her attacks with Psyix and other swings. Very impressive for someone who's never used an axe before. She swung upwards, spun, and fire leapt from her source book, which was lying open on the ground near her, and consumed her. Suddenly, the fire exploded around her and it spun around her. As it spun, she consecutively brought her axe back down to split the fire and simultaneously threw out another attack. She pushed sweat and hair out of her face and leaned on her axe. She noticed me watching and waved. I got up, put on my backpack, and walked over.

"Hey, what'd you think?" She asked.

"Impressive," I said, "... when'd you learn all that stuff? You must've gotten up pretty early."

Her eyes widened.

"Uhm... Yeah, it would be pretty early considering I... never went to sleep." she said meekly.

I placed my hands over my face.

"Jenny..." I started.

"I know you said not to, but I couldn't sleep last night, and- and I wanted to practice right? So... I ate a Vulpra and trained. Turns out the Source book has weapons training in the back too," she explained, "Pretty cool, right? Plus! There weren't any weird effects like you said."

I blinked twice. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Jenny, it's great that you learned some new moves, self-taught even! But, that Vulpra is gonna knock you out."

"What? What do you mean?"

"The reason you can't eat two Vulpra flowers two nights in a row is because the Vulpra will overload your body with Psyix and by the next morning, it'll put you to sleep until the next day. They call it Vulpra's Bite. If you ate two at once- it would instantly knock you out."

She blinked twice.

"Ohhhhh... But I feel fine," she explained.

As I was beginning to open my mouth to explain that it could happen at any moment, she fell backwards. She was promptly unconscious.

"Okay... here we go." I groaned.

I grabbed her Source Book and hooked it to her belt. I lifted her into my arms and cautiously checked my compass watch to see the right direction. I walked past the forest creatures and smiled at them as I walked into the second half of the forest. Leaving the Hollow and reaching an area with normal size trees and normal size leaves. The leaves were older than the Hollow leaves, they were dry and crunchy and the sound was crisp when I stepped on them. The forest was much easier to navigate with the Solight. Or at least it would have been, if I wasn't carrying a hard-headed girl and her axe. I looked down at Jenny and pouted, she was resting peacefully while I did all of the walking. To be fair, I was asleep while she was working her butt off, learning Psyix and Axe Wielding. And I... guess I didn't really explain the consequences... So, I guess she deserved a break, and I had to get moving again.

I looked at her Source book, hooked around her waist and thought. I wished I had my own Source book. Then I could've learned more techniques. But, Gale Source books weren't as common as Pyro ones. Importing and exporting wasn't easy for the Gales because they lived so high in the sky but that made the techniques more specialized, so I guess that's a plus. Meanwhile, the Pyros were basically everywhere, and they teamed up with Ignis to transport their things interdistrict. It didn't matter though, I had my three moves, four if I counted Starlight Dash, and that had gotten me through my adventures so far.

This one, hopefully, won't be any different, I thought.

Jenny was beginning to snore, so I readjusted my arm and straightened her back. She stopped and I sighed. I saw a sign, posted against a Vulpra tree. "Caution - solless." I glanced at it and thought about the solless we had met earlier. I wondered what happened to it. I looked around and saw creatures running, swinging, crawling through and in between the trees. Vulpur forest was diverse, that was for sure.

I really wasn't sure what to expect on this journey. I might've been in over my head. I mean, a Null? That's practically suicide. It was a bit too late to back down now though. We were already halfway there. Besides, the girl in my arms probably really wanted her sister back. I guess this benefitted me though, if people found out that I encountered a Null, and survived, I'd rank up easily. I could learn better moves, and become a prominent adventurer-for-hire, like my dad. Only problem is I gotta survive first. I took a deep breath.

"No problem!" I thought to myself. "I'm unstoppable, like a whirlwind!"

I was trying to convince myself that I could handle this, but the truth is I was nervous. Statistically, I should be dead already considering that Ecraz encounter... and Jenny... I looked down at her, peacefully resting as I walked.

What if she got hurt? Or worse.

That's on me... I brought her along. I quietly walked through the trees as I contemplated. My eyes locked on to my daggers, resting casually in their scabbards.

You are pretty good with your daggers, I thought.

Yes! Positive thinking! I graduated top of combat class for dual wielding.

I got this! I reminded myself, over and over, all the way through the journey to Haven.