Aestivus

8. slimes

EDWARD dug through his backpack. With a soft hiss, an orange corn snake poked her head out of a notebook. "hey... was stuffy here. Bad Eddie."

Ed froze. Animals weren't supposed to talk. Then faint memories began to return. Snekspeare, gifted as an egg on his 8th birthday. "Yeah... sorry. I forgot you were in here..." he decided to spare her the details of his amnesia. "It was soooo cold just now... warm now."

Jeremiel looked over. "Your snake talks? Anyway... the bed frame is ready. But we'll have to find ways to get the mattress made. What does your snake eat? We might have issues finding pet food around here."

"I'll find a way," Snekspeare flicked her tongue. "You smell funny... who are you?" Remiel blinked. "Just call me Rem... what did you mean?"

"Your aura doesn't look anything like the others." Ed jumped in before Snekspeare could respond. "Even compared with that other guy on the bridge. He uses one of those... runes, am I right? Your eyes look the same. But your aura looks... silvery?"

Snekspeare rolled her eyes. "Rem, you don't give me mortal vibes." the three of them stared at each other in awkwardness, until Rem decided he was too tired to continue. "Just take the spare bed for now, I'll make the hammock later... night duty is the absolute worst. There's spare change on the table, take it if you want." Remiel yawned, sliding into a room and shut the door.

***

Ed shoved the coins into his pockets, and they seem to vanish the moment they hit the bottom. Snekspeare flicked her tongue at the pocket. "They gone. So much magic here. How do you get them out?"

Ed just shrugged, trying to recall the word from video games. Open inventory, he thought. Inventory. Another glowing panel not unlike the medical history pad appeared in front of him, neatly listing the things he had in his bag and pockets. "We're officially in a video game now. What's this, Stargate but on earth?"

Snekspeare nudged at a bowl of berries. "Assy's Creed. But with weird houses. These berries look funny." she noted, attempting to bite one, pinkish juice dripping. "Raspberries?" Ed plucked the one out of Snekspeare's mouth and popped it in his own. "You can't eat fruit, remember?" She hissed back angrily.

"How about I bring you out to see stuff? In warm places, of course." Ed suggested, but Snekspeare already slithered out of hearing range. "Meep, guess I'm on my own."

He threw the door open, and a wave of cold wind smacked him in the face, but the aroma of freshly baked bread was unmistakable. He dug into his pockets and fished out one of the smaller shells. The number 5 was marked on the flat side. Would this be enough? Can I even eat the food they have? But then, food is food. Ed jogged towards the source of the scent.

There was a crowd gathering in a two-storey building. Just at the entrance, there's fresh bread and what seems to be roasted meat. Ed flattened himself against the glass at the bread counter. There were loaves of bread in various shapes and shades. Not knowing the differences, Ed simply settled for a brownish loaf, for five dollars.

Tucking the bread in his bag, he felt a pat on his back. "Hey," Aneirin popped out of the crowd, "need a... tour?" Ed nodded, and followed his lead through the food market.

"These shops are only open in the morning. After noon, they close and start selling byproducts. Wine, raw pelt, bone products, herbs and even these." Aneirin produced a tiny leather satchel and opened it for Ed to see. There was a blob of liquidity substance, shimmering with energy and seems to be moving on its own. "Slimes. Condensation of the power flowing from the earth. Great for enchanting and protecting tools."

"Like the runes?" Aneirin nodded. "More like the shards, but yes. Broken runes. They explode after the original owner dies. But most people stick to slimes alone because runes have a reputation of being... quite manipulative.

Ed shivered. "What do you think of Rem then? You know... he has one too." Aneirin stopped and looked back at him. "You're living with him for now, right? He's good. Not some of the others. I heard from Vlad... don't go out alone. Rem has good control over his rune, but some others... just stay away from those whose eyes are like, one solid colour and you should be fine. "

"I mean like, who is he? And... that wasn't reassuring." Ed picked up a palm-sized slime blob from a nearby stall as it squirmed around in his hands. "Engineer. He helped make the windmills powering the city. As well as the self-moving wheeled chairs, gliders... don't worry. He's a nice person."

"Aneirin, why is this slime purple? Yours wasn't coloured." Ed gently poked the slime in his hand, trying to ease it back into the container. Aneirin laughed. "Sticky situation, ain't it? They attune to elemental energy from the last thing they ate. In this place, we have five to eight elements, depending on how you sort them. I call it the five medicine elements and wind. Purple means the earth. It's really glued to you..."

Ed tried to peel the slime off. "Yikes... is it trying to eat me?" Aneirin smiled. "It's fine... just feed it something. For example, your energy. They don't need much. Watch this." Aneirin cupped his hands and blew into them, and a faint silver glow began to emanate from within. He poured the glowing energy into the slime, and it began to release its grip as its colour slowly faded. "Do you like... want this one?" He asked, slowly peeling the slime off Ed's hands.

"It's kind of cute, I guess." Ed looked up, already bringing out the coins. "Nope," Aneirin pushed his hand back, "You're a kid. I'm paying for this."

"I'm literally fourteen!" Ed protested. Aneirin just stared back, reaching out to sweep back the hair near Ed's ears. "You're barely ten. I hope you're kidding."

Ed slapped the coins on the counter, grabbed the glass container and sprinted off with the tiny slime in it, catching Aneirin by surprise.

Just a few meters away, a woman with solid purple irises turned away from Aneirin, making her way out of the market.