White Flower, Black Feather

Somber Crash

Miriam moved for as long she could while trying to track the food thief, barely getting its smell on the air, and no audible or visual clues of its location. To the point where she tried to keep moving at night, but the cold cloudy weather, nearly slammed her against the ground before she gave up on that

Waking up early to an even more cloudy and cold morning

‘Bleh…’ struggling to start moving, even while her body complained at every little movement she did ‘Good… morning…’

The tree that made her daily fruit, just dropped it near her, aware that she wasn't at her peak that morning

‘Thanks…’ after swallowing the fruit she looked at the clouds ‘What… now…?’ aware of how heavy with water all of them looked ‘Ugh…’ not liking the cold she was feeling at all… ‘Oh…’

Just then she remembered her Heating Stones…

‘Make some… of those…’ she started to look around for rocks of a good size for her engravings

Skraaaa!

When she heard the wyvern on the distance…

‘Kill…’ and her anger nearly made her go Berserk right there… ‘Ugh…’ but she shook her head trying to remain calm enough and moved in the direction of the roar

Leaving behind the Terror Stones she had been using…

At first she moved slowly in that direction, but her anger forced her to speed up, because she was just trying to be in control, not trying to stop herself from feeling

So, as the morning advanced and she got warm enough to function, she started to dash between the trees, in an abnormal silence for her size. Slowly noticing that the cliff started to decline and become slightly smaller, while getting closer to her prey

Just as she started to hear the sounds of something splashing in the river next to her

Squeak!

A loud squeaking sound coming from a mouse that noticed her was heard by both her and the prey, making the wyvern lift its head from its crouching position and notice Miriam as she was also standing up, annoyed by the lucky creature

The rough looking creature started to make clicking sounds-

HIIISSS!!!

That immediately enraged her to the point where she released her aura while taking hold of her sword. The wyvern also took flight immediately at her reaction, but this time it couldn’t fly too far away, because a pair of water tendrils were grabbing its legs, holding it in the air

[Sword Wave]

But not quite leaving it immobile

The creature used all its strength to dodge the upcoming attack, only losing its right wing. The attack also sent it backwards, breaking the tendrils tying it-

And making it land on top of the cliff, crossing the Line…

Something that Miriam didn’t paid attention to, as she dashed closer and used her magic to Launch herself to get up there, almost landing on top of the darkening creature with a swing of her sword

‘AH?!’ unaware of how close Brenna was to her

Miriam’s attack got blocked by the remaining wing, breaking most of its bones, that quickly darkened and snapped back together as a new right wing started to grow back out of the Falling creature. Making her hiss and start to rain a continuous series of blows, while trying to crush its legs

While she was able to cut the membrane between the bones, said bones now were far more tougher than what their appearance suggested, managing to both, keep blocking her attacks and even grip the sword to stop stabs

Earning enough time for the wyvern to completely Fall, turning its whole body into a somber color, leaving its scales even rougher than they were, and with the addition of spikes to the bulb of its tail, it turned into a club that swung at her back

SMACK!!!

Its attack was intercepted by blast made of wind coming from Brenna, it wasn't enough to stop it, but the unknown sound was enough for Miriam to react and use her skill to get out of the way, releasing the maddened creature that quickly used the momentum of its tail to stand up, and charge at her with a roar

SMASH!!!

But Miriam used her skill again to grab its neck with her jaws, right below the head, while coiling around its legs again and pinning its tail under it, only leaving the still growing wing as the only thing that the creature could use to hurt her, because she was using her sword to pin the other one

‘DIE!!!’ but no matter how much strength she used, she couldn't break the tough scales of the neck, or the bones of its legs. She was also painfully aware of how her fangs couldn't pierce them either, because she had seen half of one flying away from her mouth after contact, so she was limiting herself to try to crush it instead of injecting venom, trying to ignore the wounds the wing and rough scales were causing to her…

She knew that, no matter how similar both felt, the winged beast was different from Porkus: it lacked his regeneration, but its scales were tougher than his hide in exchange… she wasn't entirely sure where that comparison came from

Brenna had been in shock the moment the violence started, freezing the moment the aura covered her while seeing the winged creature change in front of her eyes. She had been unable to move, until she saw the motion the spiked tail was making

Her survival instinct made her use her spell, becoming aware that if something happened to Miriam, she was next. She also realized that the aura didn’t felt “Aimed” at her… but…

‘I can’t use magic like this!’ even if she was glad that Miriam was able (To her senses) of teleportation, the fact that she was thrashing on top of her enemy, didn’t let her gather the confidence to attack… ‘Ah…’

Just as Miriam was about to use her electricity, both of them made eye contact…

‘No!’ making Miriam pull back her aura and use her skill to drag the struggling wyvern back to the other side of the Line, leaving her sword behind, just to make sure she was directing all her strength into pulling the beast-

That roared as both of them crossed the Line again and started to feel the effects of gravity

The wyvern couldn't Fall again, but that didn’t meant that crossing wasn't painful. The moment it started to feel the effects of the Terror Stones again, its mind went into overdrive, and it gathered magic, fueled by its pain, on its scales

Just about the wyvern and Miriam were about to fall on top of all the spikes she made under them-

BOOM!!!

All that magic was released as a black wind, both destroying the spikes and dislodging her from its body, to fall to its side

‘AH?!’ making Brenna confirm, that Miriam needed her help after that explosion. Pressuring her to fly to the edge of the cliff, seeing how Miriam ignored her wounds, creating two new swords, a blunt one made of dirt, and a serrated one of ice

‘YOU PIECE OF-!!!’ the two weapons got destroyed while deflecting the spiked club of the wyvern…

Causing a loud sound that Brenna felt reverberating inside of her torso, stunning her by how strong the two giants were…

Miriam screamed internally making one more sword, this time as big as Titan’s and before it had the chance to move the tail again, the ground turned into an arm that held it in place-

SLAM!!!

But her Imbued slab of ground wasn't enough to cut the tail off… perhaps if it was steel she could have done it, but at the time she just caused a lot of pain with that weapon breaking attack

‘AH!’ making Brenna react once she felt the reverb of that shockwave, flying towards the sword behind her and using her magic to pull it towards the fight

“Miriam!!!” using her communication spell before she threw it towards them, getting her attention as she was attacking the wings of the beast, just in time to grab the handle of her weapon

CRASH!!!

At the same time, the creature released its tail from the ground and destroyed the blade of the weapon

‘Eh…?!’ with Brenna meeting the red eyes of the maddened wyvern

A moment before Miriam got the attention of the beast back on her after releasing her aura again…

Neither of the girls had the time to think about the voice Brenna used with her spell: her singing voice

Miriam was too busy making another blade while dodging a tackle from the beast, to get too distracted by how cute she sounded, and Brenna didn’t noticed it at all, because she was in panic while thinking of what she could do to help

When she heard a distant thunder…

‘Ah!’ which gave her an idea of what to try, before glancing at the clouds above and then back to her Grimoire as she flew above the fight, close enough so the forest didn’t hid them from her sight

The other girl was unaware of her position, or plans, she was focused on breaking more swords against the ridiculously tough enemy, trying to distract it for long enough so she could use Water’s Wrath on it, but as she used her spells to take hold of its legs and tail, just before she started to sink it into the ground

The wyvern released another explosion of black wind, releasing it from her hold on the ground and the river, getting smacked in the head with a spell coming from above

‘Ah!!!’ roaring at Brenna as she started to ascend, and flapping its ruptured wings

‘DIE!!!’ while Miriam knew that it shouldn’t be able to fly with those, the girl couldn't help but get even more angry at the beast, once she noticed that its hostility was aimed at her Singer

Making her forget of her attempts to immobilize the enemy, and resume breaking weapons against its wings and head in anger, with the occasional attack to deflect the tail

Not using [Boundary Break] as much, to avoid teaching it to another enemy…

As that was happening, Brenna reached the clouds…

‘Did I forgot to add that one to my Grimoire…?!’ slightly panicking as she looked for that spell as she flew in circles…

-Lightning Guide!-

‘Ah! Right! I changed its name!’ with her Grimoire glowing and her magic gathering on her wings, she launched herself back towards the trees, following the pull of the Magic Beacon she it the wyvern with…

Not hearing anything but the loud wind as she descended… briefly wondering why now the trees were hiding the sound of the battle… but she didn’t had the time to think about it

Because she needed to roll to a side nearly immediately to not collide with the creature that got hit with the her detached spell, scrambling to slowdown and warn the girl with sparks coming out of her horns-

CRACKLE!!!

Unlike the first time she used that spell against the worm, the weather was perfect for a lighting strike, which didn’t gave her time to do anything before it shock the area

Ding

The electricity instantly and painlessly, killed the creature they been fighting, but the aftermath affected both of them too

Miriam was too close to the wyvern, and got hit by some of the charge from the lighting that escaped due to her horns. Leaving her almost unconscious with burns all along her body and coughing blood, hissing in pain while struggling to not collapse

‘S-s-sin-singer…!’ she was horrified because Brenna’s body had seized in mid air, crashing against the cliff and falling to the ground near the river making her scream mentally…

Brenna was left twitching on the ground, and Miriam struggled to reach her-

-Dying Host-

‘AAAHHH!!!!’

-Dying Host-

But she couldn't ignore the repeating warning her Helper was giving her, and turned her magic to heal her body first… feeling awful about placing herself first…

-Stable…-

‘Ugh…!’ immediately switching her focus to the other girl the moment she could. Willing all the magic she had to fix any damage that she had, like her broken wing, bruises, some internal bleeding- ‘Eh…?’ with her magic stopping far too soon in her opinion

Miriam tried to heal her again, expecting electric burns like ones she got, but her magic stopped almost immediately, hearing more thunder coming from the clouds, starting to fall into despair at the idea of being too late-

Her Singer didn’t got hit by the electricity…

Hiss…

‘Good…!’ she trembled at the huge relief that she felt thanks to that, and extended a hand to… ‘Ah…’ regret doing that gesture…

Seeing her claws’ size in comparison to her body, made her hesitate and move backwards..

Until another distant thunder made her move

‘I can’t leave her here…’ she used her magic to lift the ground around the smaller girl and once she was above the cliff again, she moved to the closest roof to place her unconscious body near the covered stone

Hesitating again, before shaping the ground around her to make sure that rain didn’t splashed her Singer while she slept…

‘All… right…’ only then she looked back at herself to do some more healing ‘Ah!’ interrupting herself again, once she saw the still steaming body of the wyvern and moved towards it

/////

In the end Miriam needed almost half an hour to find a way of accessing the meat under the scales, and some more minutes until she managed to get a good slab of meat out of the creature. It looked mostly cooked with just a part of it slightly charred, and set aside that piece for the unconscious girl

With some reluctance, she prayed before eating the chunks of meat she got for herself, leaving the inedible parts to whatever found them, her share looked worse than what she was giving to the Singer, but she didn’t care at the time…

Until she was back at her side, and noticed that what she was giving to her, was over three times her size…

So, she ate a bit more of the good smelling meat, but still left the girl with two times her size in food…

But right before rain started falling, Miriam left the place, going back to the south

‘Ugh…’ one minute before Brenna woke up… ‘Smells… good…’ completely dizzy and unsure if what happened was a dream or not… ‘Eh…?’ but the place where she was, and the juicy meat in front of her… ‘T-that happened…?’

-You and Miriam fighting a flying lizard? Yes, it happened. Congratulations on reaching the Level Cap!-

‘What?!’ she cawed at the message standing up on wobbly legs to see the rain pouring around her shelter ‘Where did she go?!’

‘Well…!’ for a moment she thought about relaying the message that she wasn't scared of her… ‘Ah…’ but remembering her physical impacts against the winged beast… ‘She was… eh… awake…? During the fight…?’

-Apparently she was. The crystal on her chest this time was green, not red-

‘Oh…’ she shivered, wherever due to the cold weather, or her memories, she wasn't sure… ‘Status…’

‘Really…?’

‘Ah… tell her, I’m grateful…’ she didn’t got an answer, so she turned her attention to the meat ‘This is a lot… no matter how good it smells, I can’t eat all of this…’

-You are forgetting your evolution, and the rest of the day. I think that this place is safe to evolve-

‘Hmm…’ Brenna found herself agreeing with her Helper and tried to eat a corner of the meat- ‘So good!’

Which was perfectly tender and juicy, far too good for something that didn’t even had salt, or was properly cooked…

‘What is this!?’ unable to stop herself from eating more

Even her Helper was left stunned at the shared taste of the meat, because the fact that the bodies of the Fell were useless, was common sense…

Leaving the question of evolving, forgotten for a while…

/////

One of the excuses that Miriam gave herself to leave, was about how she forgot her Terror Stones before chasing after the wyvern… she was partially aware of the direction where she left the stones, but she ignored it after she gathered her things before moving to the south

Deciding to just make more of those before the heavy rain started to freeze her

‘Cold…’ not in the mood to see whatever caused the notification she had been ignoring

Rustling

‘He-heavy…’ she tried to ignore what the tree said, but every tree around her insisted that the rain wasn't going to stop that day ‘…?’ something that she struggled to understand for a moment ‘Thanks…’ until she eventually relented

Climbing on one of the trees, slowly getting all her body above the ground. It wasn't any warmer up in the branches, but the feeling of mud on her body, was one that she didn’t liked

‘Sorry…’ resting her head on a branch, Miriam tried to see her surroundings… ‘Cold…’ even if she wasn't capable of thinking much about what she saw…

‘My… Singer…?’ and getting distraught once she realized how she was thinking about the other girl

…

After hours of embarrassment, she did saw her notifications to try and think about something else…

But she wasn't capable of overcoming her embarrassment yet, not even with the cold weather… until some more hours of rain falling on top of her, finally made her forget

/////

After stuffing herself, Brenna paid more attention to the darkening clouds…

‘A-are you sure it’s safe…?’ and tried to think of anything, that helped her forget about how she… acted… while eating…

-Yes, the trees are saying that this storm will last all day at the very least… humans don’t move too much in this weather and you are right next to a Terror Stone. You’ll be fine-

‘All right… ah! I forgot about Sapphire!’

-Eh… not exactly…-

There was an uncomfortable pause before Brenna opened her Grimoire…

She had to close her eyes and the book to avoid getting a migraine…

‘Status, Species…’ and only opened them after a few seconds of trying to calm down, while really trying to not scream

‘So, it’s your fault that I got that one?’

‘Hmm…’ she wanted to ask more about why it was problematic… but she didn’t wanted to get in a discussion, or just being ignored for asking about a forbidden topic… ‘I know, but can I know why I got the Woia again?’

-It’s a different one (Like how you have remained a Uvply Cidia previously), but behaves similarly to how I described it before. The Ilia Uvply on the other hand, it’s balanced like the Cidia-

‘Hmm… easy choice…?’

Brenna stared at the options for a while, before nodding and closing them to look at the shop

‘How much is everything…? I can’t believe how fast I’m doing this again…’

-The four Items (Counting the Magic Beak) would be 360, that plus the bones and muscles of the head that is 480. And it’s not the fastest something has evolved so far-

She also wanted to ask about that, but assumed that the answer was killing a lot, and shook her head

‘Might as well… I do have a lot of points… eh… you mentioned completing a Deed before…?’

-You’ll see it after you evolve!-

‘All right… ugh, let’s start with the beak…’

The rest of her day was used to buy what she wanted and to evolve again… unaware of how relieved everyone was of her following the Trickster’s instructions…

They wouldn't have stopped her from choosing that evolution, but if she had done that, then Miriam’s Pridebreaker would have started to affect her again…