ULTRAMagic Prelude

Chapter 9

The feast that Sigmund had planned had to be delayed on account of Blood-Wraith still recovering from the battle with the Lich. Some of the cooks were also having trouble with some of the food that they were preparing. This was fine for the group as it gave them an excuse to stay in the village a little longer. Dragoslava spoke to more of the Tree People while Desislav talked with Sigmund about relocating his people to the forest. As for Blood-Wraith, he was being looked after by Tusk and Auda.

The next day Auda seemed to be doing a little dance around the bed Blood-Wraith was laying in. "Ooh Ooh Ooh, Ah Ah Ah! Get better fire, get better fire, GET BETTER, MR. FIRE!" Auda chanted as she danced around. "Feel better yet?"

Blood-Wraith groaned in discomfort. "No..." It was noon and he was still in bed.

"I think the problem is that you did too much after receiving my fragment," Tusk deduced.

"You don't think this will happen again, do you?"

"It's hard to say. You are incredibly young... which in hindsight I should've accounted for, but your body may also adjust to future fragments."

Blood-Wraith rolled over to face the two. "Tusk? Are we friends now? The thought crossed my mind last night."

"Well I don't see why not..." he then noticed his new friend's face, or rather lack thereof. "Uh, Blood!? Where's your face?!"

"What?" Blood-Wraith lacked the black faceplate he usually had. What was there instead was a six-eyed face made of fire. "Oh, that... It's just the mask I was born with." He then reached over to the night stand.

Auda was utterly amazed, having never truly seen anything like him before. "Whoa... What about the rest of you, Mr. Fire?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's just the mask."

Tusk watched Blood-Wraith put the mask back on, then spoke. "Do you want to try and walk around? See if you end up feeling better?"

"Sure..."

"Come on, Mr. Fire, let's go get some air!" Auda meant to say 'fresh air.'

Assuming his memory was correct, Tusk took Blood-Wraith on a tour around the village. This time the other villagers were not giving the mage displeased looks, thankfully. Sigmund had been spreading the word that Tusk would be setting out on a great journey soon. Blood-Wraith was still out of it for a bit, but Tusk had an idea. His old doctor had treated him in the past, even during his mage training. He most likely had a remedy for Blood-Wraith's issue. Naturally the doctor immediately recognized the problem and whipped up a treatment in the form of potion. This caused Blood-Wraith to perk up and made him more eager to explore the village.

Things were busy with the Tree People, as usual. In particular, another tribe of The Unending Forest was visiting. These were the Sunset Wolves, who had heard word of what had recently transpired. They were naturally concerned for their allies and it was also trading time. Given the upright posture of the wolves, it was not unreasonable to assume they were werewolves. In reality, they were no more than wolf-people of the nomadic variety. Some were also more human looking than others.

The leader of the Sunset Wolves, Chief Magnus Scully, was thrilled to meet the group. His son, Razor, was also intrigued. Of note was that Magnus had been trying to convince Tusk to train Razor for the longest time. Given Tusk's attitude in the past, these requests were declined. To his chagrin, Sigmund promised that his son would train Razor. Considering recent circumstances and the situation with Blood-Wraith, it was only fair. This would have to wait until Tusk was done with his current student, however. Razor also still had some maturing to do, as he was quite a rambunctious late-teenager.