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A Burned Heart - Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2024-07-28 18:36:52 +0000 UTCA/N: Sorry it's late, I went out of town and when I got back I was soooo sleepy. But here we go!!
Chapter Five
Off The Path
Rise of Winter, Week 1, Day 3
It was a short visit, where the boys each gave Freddie something different. Hue gave her a handkerchief with the symbol of Nemo, a star emblazoned in silver on a black fabric. Les gave her a nice pair of leather running shoes. Gene gave her a locket that, when opened, displayed an image of the four siblings in a three-dimensional picture. They had to of talked to their parents for such things, and Freddie’s heart was full as she sent the boys off to bed.
She slept with the locket around her neck, a firm resolve filling her.
Freddie wouldn’t be strong enough to just protect herself. She’d have enough power to protect the boys, too.
When she awoke in the morning, her determination was still there, but some of her edge was dulled —in the way sleep smoothed the harsh tone of her voice and made her mind hazy.
Rolling out of bed, Freddie prepared for the day —brushing her hair and pulling it back into a simple ponytail and changing into the shoes Les had given her, paired with a set of pastel green overall shorts and a flowing white shirt. She was careful with the locket as she got ready and even tucked the handkerchief into her pocket before she headed out.
It was time to go see Tiltham.
It was an easy search —because Tiltham was outside Freddie’s door preparing to knock when Freddie swung it open.
“My Lady, you’re up,” Tiltham recovered smoothly, dropping her hand, “Wonderful. We’ll eat and sleep at the training hall for the foreseeable future. Breakfast should be there for us shortly.”
Freddie, however, had reeled back in shock, not expecting the woman to be at her door.
“Okay,” she said slowly, finding her bearings, “Why not? Let’s go.”
Tiltham’s face was smooth, but Freddie could almost hear her say, ‘It’s not really like you have a choice.’
That wasn’t true, of course. Freddie knew she always had a choice —she could simply choose to suffer the consequences instead. This wasn’t one of those moments where the illusion of choice made her feel that same suffocating feeling as when her mother sent her to the pits for the first time. Instead, it was a feeling of preparation. It was Freddie’s first step into Maeve, into this new world that was set up for her success. A Rare Class and specialized Skills were all she needed.
“Lady Fredericka, it’ll be three weeks of grueling Skill grinding. Are you sure you’re ready?” Tiltham didn’t seem to mean it negatively, but Freddie still bristled.
“I’ll be fine,” Freddie said, a sharp grin on her face, “I’ll be better than fine. I’ll be the best pupil you ever had.”
At that, Tiltham snorted, “We’ll see, my Lady.”
Freddie reminded herself to grin and bear it.
I’m a child. Freshly turned eight. I have plenty of time to show them the truth. To show them just how capable I can be.
It didn’t help ease her frustration.
-
The training room Tiltham was taking her to wasn’t even, technically, on the estate.
They’d had to leave the winding hallways of the glorified castle that the family referred to colloquially as the manor, with its dark walls and old portraits. After descending a side stairwell reserved for household staff, the pair had snuck out of the manor —dodging the prying eyes of other family members. Of course, all they had to do was look out at the rolling hills surrounding the manor and they would be able to see the both of them trekking out to the wall that surrounded the estate.
“Why couldn’t we take a carriage again?” Freddie complained as they climbed a ladder up the wall.
“Because a carriage requires someone to drive said carriage, and horses, and horse feed, and it’s barely an hour walk. Consider it part of your training.” As they crested the top of the wall, Tiltham grabbed Freddie and jumped the ten feet to the ground, landing with a light thump.
Freddie perked up as Tiltham released her back to the ground. “Do you think we could run there?”
Tiltham looked around at the vast and, more importantly, empty hills past the wall and nodded. “I’ll pace you. Are you going to use a Skill?”
With a flash of a smile, Freddie nodded.
“[Running]”
A shock of electricity filled her as Freddie took off, her muscles tightening and then rapidly loosening as she left Tiltham behind. The older woman only took a breath to catch up and take the lead, guiding the pair where they needed to go.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, my Lady, be mindful of your stamina exertion,” Tiltham said, her breathing steady.
Freddie didn’t slow, instead she attempted to catch up and pass the knight. Tiltham didn’t speed up as Freddie burst past her, her pink ponytail jumping as she moved. She let out a short puff of air and took a short breath in, her sinuses clearing as they ran. It was minutes before Tiltham took back her place in front and guided Freddie to veer to the side.
After a few more minutes of running full speed, Freddie was starting to flag. She never slowed, though. Instead, she grit her teeth and pushed harder. Tiltham thought she’d give up, and Freddie wasn’t about to prove the woman right.
As Freddie was in her head, hyping herself up to crush Tiltham’s expectations, TIltham suddenly grabbed Freddie’s arm and pulled her close, positioning Freddie behind the woman’s back.
“Stay still,” Tiltham hissed, gripping Freddie’s arm with more force than the girl thought necessary—but she stilled just as the woman told her.
As Tiltham scanned their surroundings, she withdrew her sword. It was a beautiful thing that shined silver in the morning light, but the sight of it made Freddie’s heart beat fast in her chest. Looking around, Freddie searched for what was putting Tiltham on edge.
Too late, she saw it.
It lurched for Freddie so fast she barely had time to consider what it could be. Its green scales were all she could see as Tiltham twitched and lunged between Freddie and the monster —a serpent that had sprouted out of the ground. Its body was adorned with vine-like appendages and on its head sat several leaves that protruded like antennae. Tiltham was growling at the thing like a rabid dog and slamming the hilt of her sword against her metal chest piece to make a loud clanking noise. It was grating on Freddie’s ears —but it was also clearly affecting the serpent as well.
Not enough, though, because Freddie was being pushed back by Tiltham as the woman began her offense against the oversized snake. However, if Tiltham struck its side, the serpent bolted away just in time. If Tiltham struck out for its face, the serpent opened its mouth and used its fangs to deflect. It wasn’t until Freddie felt something change in the air that she sensed the heat of mana coming off of Tiltham –and then the serpent’s body was pierced by Tiltham’s sword.
A deep white goo began to ooze out of the cut, but Tiltham didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate; she simply continued her onslaught of blows. Slowly, dozens of small cuts were decorating the serpent's scales. They oozed white blood and smeared the gunk across the monster’s body.
Another wave of heat came from Tiltham, and this time, her sword began to radiate a black miasma. The woman braced herself and then lunged, aiming for one of the already open wounds. Hitting her mark, she dug her sword into the body of the serpent and it released a hiss so viscous Freddie was surprised that it hadn’t spit venom at Tiltham.
Right as Tiltham pulled her sword free, the serpent shifted. It angled itself to lunge over the woman’s shoulder, but Tiltham was too fast—too ready for it. She blocked the lunge, but her block met empty air as the serpent feinted to the other side.
The creature wasn’t aiming for Tiltham at all.
No.
It was going for Freddie, who had been watching from just a few feet back. Her fists clenched.
Before the beast had lunged toward her, she’d whispered, “[Inspect].”
[Clematis Serpent, Tier 2, Level 12]
[A serpent forged in nature mana, it has integrated with a nature elemental and forged its own mana core.]
She was regretting knowing, but instead of panicking Freddie took a centering breath. Then the thing was headed straight for her.
She didn’t even have time to swear, just threw her hands up and hissed, “[Fire Conjur—”
It took too long. It. Took. Too. Long.
She was cut off by the sight of fangs aimed right for her face.
And then Freddie brought her hands up to her face, blocking the bite with the flesh of her arm. Whether that was better, she hadn’t decided.
Speaking frankly, it hurt.
The clematis serpent’s fangs had breached her skin, drawing blood. It was clinging to her arm, its leaf antennae brushing against Freddie’s mouth as she dragged the thing down.
Freddie couldn’t explain it if someone asked, couldn’t say why she was possessed to do it, but it didn’t change the fact that she did it anyway.
She bit down on the closest antenna and ripped. The fibrous appendage tasted grainy in her mouth, and as she pulled, she thought of all the things she hated. Losing was tantamount among all else.
This thing had wounded her, taken its own piece of flesh. Freddie would do the same.
The antenna came off with a sickening sound, and the clematis serpent whirled away from Freddie, releasing her arm. And it wailed. It wailed so loud that a nearby bush shook. Freddie spat out the antenna. It had bought her the time she needed.
“[Fire Conjuration+Fire Manipulation]”
Magma coursed through her vein, and a bright orange fireball encased the body of the serpent, consuming it like fuel. And then Tiltham turned and swiped her sword across the clematis serpent’s head, severing the beast’s skull from its body.
Freddie cut off the Skill almost immediately and stared at the body of the beast.
“Oh my god,” she sighed, then, slowly, a manic grin began to form, “Oh my god.”
“My Lady—” Tiltham rushed to her, pulling out something from the bag at her hip, but Freddie wasn’t paying attention.
She was too busy laughing.
“That was awesome.”
And then the notifications came in.
[System Notice: For defeating a hostile with 50% contribution you have unlocked the command [Combat Report]. This will give you details regarding your actions, experience, and achievements. This report condenses all notifications from combat into a single notification. Once the command is utilized the [Combat Report] will become the default notification for combat encounters.]
Before even glancing at the other notifications, Freddie commanded the System to use [Combat Report].
[Combat Report]
[Skills Used in Combat:
Inspect Lv. 1
Fire Manipulation Lv. 1
Fire Conjuration Lv. 1]
[Hostiles Defeated:
1 Level 32 Adult Clematis Serpent - Killed]
[Contribution: 50%]
[Level Discrepancy: 22 Levels]
[Overall Experience Modifier Adjusted for:
50% Contribution against Hostile
20+ Level below Hostile]
[Achievements:
Utilized Inspect to Identify a Monster for the first time. Extra experience applied.
Sustained Fire Conjuration in combat for the first time. Extra experience applied.
Sustained Fire Manipulation in combat for the first time. Extra experience applied.
Survived first Team Combat against a higher-tier monster. Extra experience applied.]
[Post-Combat Results:
Skill Level Up! Inspect is now Level 2!
Skill Level Up! Fire Manipulation is now Level 2!
Skill Level Up! Fire Conjuration is now Level 2!
Class Experience Applied.
Class Level is now Level 11]
Freddie felt the world grow bright, her body changing once again. This time, instead of collapsing, Freddie took the leveling in stride. Flexing her body and taking a deep breath, she had a wide grin on her face, even as Tiltham was trying to forcibly hold her arm still.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Freddie said casually, “[Regenerate].”
As the puncture wound on her arm began swirling closed, Freddie felt the heat of mana in her well up once again.
The only thought the rest of the way to the training all repeated in Freddie’s head.
This is gonna be fun.
Comments
Allora Lee
This specific snake does not have venom, no!
Allora Lee
Fixed!!! 🍪🍪🍪 thank you loads!!!
merknem
Haha Freddie's awesome, I feel like a pov from Tiltham realising just how much a battle junkie she is would be wicked😂 noticed that during the fight scene a bit before the serpent makes its feint there's a brief change to the first person perspective. Also towards the beginning strong is missing an r. Thanks 😊
Irakli Jishkariani
Woow, already? 😀😀😀 Freddie got a chance to fight. But i guess servant will be scolded for that. Is shenot poisoned? It was a snake, does regenerate help that?
