Alternate

Chapter 4

Rand cursed as he stumbled on a tree root that had laid hidden under dead leaves. The heavy pack on his back didn't help any in maintaining his balance, but the tree he hit shoulder first did. A groan of pain drew a look from Jen who was walking ahead with an even heavier pack strapped to her back.

She did not look strained by it at all.

"You all right?" she asked and stopped to wait for him.

"Fine. Just fine," assured Rand while rubbing his shoulder. He started to wade through the root infested forest floor again. He had to be careful with his steps. One slip could have left him with a strained ankle, and being days away from the nearest town and in the middle of wild woods in which monsters roamed, that could be fatal.

Her plan had turned out to be a simple one. Get enough supplies, leave town, stakeout the lab, break in and find out what was going on. When put like that it sounded easy and quick and gathering the supplies had indeed been easy with the gold Rand had. They had enough rations to last weeks in the wilderness, they both had swords and other weapons to protect themselves with and there was an assortment of other useful items packed in the heavy packs such as rope, pots and pans, and torches.

That was where easy had ended and the hard part had began.

Walking through hilly woods with such a heavy load was something Rand was not used to. When adventuring with his friends he'd never carried more than a few days worth of rations with him and there certainly had not been as many miscellaneous items. The load had been shared by more people too and as the flats surrounding the city of Siver turned into hills, Rand was wishing his friends were along for the ride.

But more than likely his friends were appalled at what he had done and would have nothing more to do with him.

"Come on. We can still go a few miles today," Jen called out and started climbing up the hill once more. She did not look at all tired.

Rand sighed and adjusted the heavy load on his back before starting up the hill once more. He wished the power he'd gained had allowed for making things lighter, but he'd quickly found out that was not the case. While he could make things smaller and even disappear completely, the weight always stayed the same as long as the item remained.

Where the things that disappeared went was a complete mystery.

While there had not been a lot of time to practice the skill, what little he had managed to do had revealed many interesting things. The first being that he could, for a short time, force his will into an item and use it to do what he wanted to the points and lines his ability revealed.

Being a poor archer despite the attempts of his friends to teach him, he'd gotten a set of throwing knives. That way he could put his will into them and throw them some distance. It removed the need to always be right next to the target even if his accuracy was not the best yet.

The second thing of note was the fact every item seemed to have a core to it, a single point to which all else led. So far Rand had been unable touch any such place with his powers. It seemed to always be the last point to disappear and when he tried to touch it the other lines and points got in the way. It was as if even inanimate objects like a table had some sense about them that protected the very core of their being. The big question was what would happen if he was able to touch the core through the other points? Would it lead to the object immediately being destroyed?

It was something Rand planned to study further when ever there was time for it.

"Come on, stop wasting time," Jen yelled at him and stopped once more to look down at him.