The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [112] Tottering Across The Room

After so long with just the voices in his head Bjorn nearly forgot what it was like to travel with someone. The fact that his companion went from a wendigo turned cernunnos to a small Devil pup was just how life went. For him anyway. There was a short debate between Bjorn and Failsafe if she was a Devil. Given the fact that Devils are just Trues from the Infernal Planes Bjorn won the debate.

The Chaos Lands were exactly what they always were, dangerous, fluid, and deceivingly beautiful at times. The air shimmered like glass, heavy with mana and distortion, the landscape constantly shifting like it couldn't decide what shape it wanted to be. With everything Bjorn had learned over his journey he and the níðhöggr made it through with relative ease.

He didn't know what to name her or if it would be appropriate. He wasn't really her father, and she was intelligent. So, he settled on "Little One," half-expecting her to one day announce her name with the casual authority only children and gods possessed. She hadn't. So the name stuck.

They moved under moonlight that flickered like flame, past trees with bleeding leaves and rivers that flowed with solid ice instead of liquid water. Bjorn carried her most of the way. Her limbs were too small to keep pace and flight would make her an easier target. While her body was durable, being level 100 at birth, her spirit was still that of a child.

Each passing day, she asked more questions. About the world. About him. About the strange places they passed through. He told her what he knew about the Chaos Lands. He didn't shy about the danger or the monsters, death was very real here and there were monsters that were stronger than both of them out there and the last thing he needed was for her to wander off and attract something he couldn't kill or escape from.

"Will I get to meet Auntie Tanisha?" she asked one day, currently climbing one of his necks like a living scarf.

"We're headed to her now," Bjorn said.

"How much longer?"

Bjorn shook his head, gently dislodging her. She yelped and flopped down onto his back, limbs splayed out like a lazy starfish.

"A few days," he said. "Want me to tell you about Lavi? That's a wendigo city. Do you know what a city is?"

"Yes!" Her tail thumped against his spine, wagging furiously. "I mean, I think I know. It's where people live together, like, a big den!"

Bjorn was again surprised at her knowledge. She understood basic concepts to a degree and some advance concepts like they were second nature. Magic was something she understood at a fundamental level. She couldn't control her magic which was maya to any degree of mastery but that was because she was a hatchling. Her control of the maya she had rivaled Tanisha's control but without the techniques and months of training. The difference between a True and a mortal was becoming more and more obvious.

"Close," Bjorn said. "A city's like... a whole bunch of dens, packed together. But they're separate, kind of. People live, trade, fight, and eat in cities. There are buildings for everything, homes, shops, places of worship..."

***

Nights, if they could be called that, were strange. The sky refused to dim entirely, a bleeding aurora casting bruised light on everything.

Bjorn roasted monster flesh over flickering flames. It was from some monster that looked kind of like a bird. If he was squinting really hard in a dark room, no he could see in the dark. If he was squinting in a dark room, filled with black smoke. Realistically, it was more nightmare than poultry, but telling himself it was a bird helped him forget the twitching mandibles and human-like eyes.

Beside him, Little One gnawed quietly on shimmering roots torn from the mana trees. As it turned out she was a herbivore, she could eat meat but not much. Her sharp teeth didn't make sense to him; herbivores usually had flatter jaws. Then again, maybe the flora in the Infernal Planes fought back.