(Will Remain Unfinished - New Version Coming) The Legend of Malum (Book One)

Chapter Six Part Two: Impulses

The food turned out delicious, but Daffodil's reactions were even more delicious. She raised each piece to her mouth like it was a struggling bug. By the time I finished my plate, she was only a quarter of the way through. In her defense, I did give her way more of the food. A fact she seemed to notice, judging by the way she glanced between her pile and my nonexistent one.

"Did you give me over half of this dead animal to eat?" she asked like she found out I was a serial killer.

I grinned. "That's one way to describe it. You wouldn't stop talking about how hungry you were, so yeah, I gave you more of the load."

"That's awful! I mean, that's really sweet, but that's awful for you."

I scoffed, which felt weird because I was used to her doing it. "I'm used to going a long time without eating—"

"That doesn't mean you have to! Here, you can have most of my share. I'm finding it hard to keep down anyway."

"What? No, I don't want you hungry."

"Don't worry, I kind of lost my appetite. Here!"

At this point she was actively pushing her pile towards me. If she kept shoving it, it was going to fall off the pile of leaves I put it on. I've eaten meat covered in dirt before, and it's much more disgusting than it sounds.

I couldn't help laughing as I stabilized the pile. "Cut it out, Daffy! Without you we wouldn't even have all this."

"I swear to Salus if you don't eat more of the thing you slashed open then I will pick it up and shove it down your throat! Now open your mouth!"

I continued to resist her attempts to feed me, until I felt something. Over time, I've learned to trust my instincts and my senses on a new level. Right now they were all raising red flags. Something was closing in on us, and it didn't feel friendly.

"Wait! What was that?"

She stopped pushing. "What was what? What's going on?"

I stood up and surveyed the area. Everything seemed normal enough, but something was definitely off. I activated Vision again, which caused an ache in my head.

I wasn't surprised, my Art took a lot out of me. I'd already used up most of my Vitality, and it wasn't even noon. Sunlight rejuvenated us, but it took some time and we were surrounded by trees. There was much more shade than sunlight.

As usual, nothing but green silhouettes appeared before me. Except there was something else leaning against a tree. It was a orange silhouette, which was almost as rare as Daffodil's red silhouette. Whoever was there had a lot of Vitality. Maybe they were even a Tap?

"Daffodil, be on the alert," I whispered.

"I'm not entirely sure what you're implying, but I trust your impulses," she said.

"You mean instincts?"

"Sure."

I inched towards the silhouette, praying that they wouldn't figure out what was happening. They stood so still that it felt like they were impersonating a statue. I prayed that they kept up the impersonation.

In one swift motion, I pointed my blade at the stranger and shot off a fireball. The statue came to life and leaped away at the last second. As Vision ended, the silhouette faded away into nothing. It was like they just vanished into thin air! I soaked up the fire and looked around as Daffodil came running up to me.

"Why did you shoot that tree?" asked Daffodil.

I frantically craned my neck. "There was someone there, but I don't know where they went! I have to reactivate Vision."

"Wait. How much Vitality do you have left?"

"Honestly? Not much."

"Get close to me."

I did as I was commanded. I stood back to back with Daffodil as I surveyed our surroundings. Could they teleport? If so, then not fair. How was I going to fight something that could teleport? Maybe if I burned every tree in the forest . . .

My thoughts of pyromania were interrupted by an explosion of leaves. I yelped, which must have been the signal, because Daffodil put up the force field. A harsh impact rang through the air as something hit the shield.

A shimmer of light washed over a figure who manifested out of nowhere. He was a guy. He looked a little older than me. He had choppy brown hair that practically announced that he gave himself haircuts. Without a mirror. His left eye was yellow, but his right eye was blue, which I was extremely jealous of. His skin was dark like Daffodil's, but looked nowhere near as smooth.

He wore some sort of black and red padded shirt. It looked like casual armor. I think those were products from Marigold. Wrapped around his arm was a red ribbon with some sort of black insignia on it. It was too far away to make out.

Held in each hand was a sword. They were about as long my forearm, but wider than the average blade. Each crossguard had a curved part that looked adept at holding and blocking blades. I think those were called butterfly swords.

He narrowed his eyes. "Impressive protective Art. Had it not been for that, I would won this battle before it began."

"Oh yeah? Well you didn't win, so it looks like it's going to, begin!" I triumphantly pointed at him like I just won, but in reality I just made a fool of myself.

Daffodil sighed. "Ignore her. Who are you and why are you trying to kill us?"

"No, I don't 'kill,'" he said. His voice was deep, but oddly quiet. Much in the same way that Daffodil sounded loud no matter what. "I am here to fight, and win."

He raised both blades like he was about to pounce. I readied my sword and ran at him. I swung but he caught my sword with one of the crossguards. I guess I predicted that one. He twisted his wrist and I felt my sword fly out of my hands. I looked at my open palms in defeat as he kicked out my leg. I fell to one knee. I looked around for my weapon. That was when he shoved the tip of one of his swords under my nose.

"Leave her alone!"

The blue bubble manifested around me. He glared at me from the other side. I turned around and saw Daffodil raising her staff to the sky. Behind her, just outside the shield was my sword.

Great.

He grunted and walked around the perimeter, while never breaking eye contact. "Interesting trick, but a shield this powerful must drain Vitality faster than it can be produced. And we're in a particularly shady part of the forest. So forgive me if I seem rude, but I think I'll wait this out."

He smirked as he continued walking. Between my discarded weapon and Daffodil's strained face, I was now one-hundred percent sure that we were going to lose this one.