Chapter 6: Onwards!

Hale Mountain.

Was it the tallest mountain of its kind in the Northern Ridge, those towering peaks that separated the lands of Aeternitus so severely from their neighbors on land?

Hardly.

It was just the tallest peak within a few weeks' travel from Nix City.

Despite the warmth of an early spring having allowed the buds in the city to bloom, Hale Mountain was still tipped with white. Its height was great.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be necessary for Aureum to scale all of it.

It was probable that the mountain would have more wind than inside the city. The wind at such heights wouldn’t break against any trees or land for one. Still, nothing was certain. Nature doesn’t heed convenience.

In truth, Aureum couldn’t be bothered to wait, and there was more of a chance. All she needed was half an excuse.

So Aureum didn’t bother to double-check her sister’s choice. They left the same day they decided, allowing the other no room for second thoughts.

The letter sent to their parents was penned and planned entirely by Felixia. Who could only manage a few lines with Aureum interrupting her.

“Dear Father, and Mother,

I found Aureum, and she is in good spirits and health. But she is set to continue chasing after reforming her pearl. I’ve decided to accompany her in concern for her health. We’ll return within the week?”

Aureum turned the last sentence into a question. Felixia shrugged.

Certainly, the distance wouldn’t take that long for her. Felixia was quite skilled at reinforcing her body with mana.

Hopefully, that cloak works. And works well.

“Perfect then, fold it up and send it out, and let’s go.”

“Give it back! I still have to give my love!”

“They’ll be mad either way.”

Saying that Aureum offered the letter back with a languid hand. Felixia snatched it back and quickly scribbled out a few more words with an excessive motion for the signature. Aureum tapped her foot impatiently.

“Do you…

Felixia’s voice dropped off, the arm that held the letter out dropping at the same time.

“What. Do I look like I can send it off without mana? You want a miracle worker, not me.”

It had been convenient for Aureum to send nearby letters for the household.

Felixia held onto it instead. As they left, she gave it to a messenger outside the hotel.

Not everyone was a wind sorceress. And even wind sorcerers had different specialties from one another. Felixia had a wind pearl, but her training and skills focused on the physical. She could send it, but delivery wasn’t guaranteed. In fact, making it fly farther than a yard wasn't guaranteed.

The uses of mana were as varied as forms of art. Specific disciplines had different benefits. Felixia had no desire to control the wind outside her body, just the mana inside it.

The messenger nodded and started off as soon as the coins hit his hand. He and his compatriots were the daily runners of the city, as convenience demanded them. Mostly their lot was quick verbal messages, but they also got letters quicker than the postmen if it was within the city.

“Shall we be off?”

“Shouldn’t we get extra food?”

“Can’t we get it at the first stop?”

Aureum glared at her sister. Felixia smiled.

All right. What exactly is this pedantic twerp planning?

So they went to the North Gate instead. It was still open, and Felixia stopped. Aureum glanced at her out of the corner of her eye.

Felixia stretched.

“If we’re going to get back within the week, shouldn’t we hurry?”

Saying this, Felixia dashed forward. Aureum watched her sister with a deepening frown. Felixia was fast, dodging around the few passersby like a blur. It looked cool, but.

Sometimes those who trained their bodies forgot to consider those who hadn’t. Aureum wouldn’t have been able to keep up even if she still had her pearl.

Is she trying to get me to quit…?

As if this would change Aureum's mind.

Aureum shook her head and placed her luggage on the ground, rummaging through it in the middle of the gate.

The bag and items had been acquired yesterday with the money from the ring. Pulling out the burgundy cloak, she put it on.

Calling it a “cloak” might be a misnomer even if it was its proper name. It was a cloak firmly stitched to the vest underneath it. This helped would-be flyers from strangling themselves. The cloak also had large sleeves that connected with the majority of the cloak, and a thinner inner sleeve covering bits of the hand. Again, to distribute the weight a bit, and also help with control.

This was not the only intricacies the cloak had to deal with weight. The gift of flight was not mechanically made. The entire thing was embroidered with spells. This was why all Butterfly Cloaks had some sort of embroidery. Though it was not a requirement that embroidery be in the design of wings, it was the most common.

The entire garment still covered the full body, with the vest and sleeves being small deviations from the appearance of a normal cloak.

Aureum took her time tightening everything and checked the sky. It was sunny and clear.

“I hope this keeps up with her.”

She held onto her bag and took a running start in the direction of her sister. Felixia was long gone.

What is the point of your game if you don’t even look back?

There was nothing to do about it but leap. As the pawnbroker had directed. Her jump was normal.

Is this high enough?

For a moment, nothing. Then lift.

Aureum felt a little like a boat with full sails.

“Hah!”

Flying is great. Even like this. As expected.

She felt the wind, rushing against her face. Out of habit from last week, she tried to gather mana.

It still wasn’t enough.

She opened her eyes.

Maybe.

Maybe making a new pearl came with new challenges she couldn’t anticipate.

The doctor had said her condition was good. Aureum didn’t believe he lied. Then if the assumption was that he was correct... Hadn’t he also mentioned that all the excess mana in her body had been drained?

“The flow of mana didn’t go backwards, it just evaporated.”

Wasn’t that what he had said?

Just by living, all things accrue mana. Mana was a part of nature, perhaps the unseen essence of nature itself. Even a newborn baby has it, based on the mother and her environment.

Was she lacking even the amount that children had?

No wonder why her father had tried to pressure her into quitting.

Aureum shook her head.

If I lack mana, then I’ll just have to get more!

And if she failed?

Let's not think of that.

She could only try.

At least the wing cloak offered the option of jumping off the tip of Hale Mountain.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Beneath her, Aureum saw Felicia in the distance. Leaning forward, she felt on the edge of flipping over. It was annoying having to try and control her speed just by moving her arms. The entire process was awkward.

Despite its owner’s challenges, a shadow fell over Felixia. She looked up with a smile and waved.

“Don’t wave at me! Remember that I don’t have any mana to use to keep up with you! Be ashamed! Ashamed, I say!”

Felixia shook her head. Either she couldn’t hear her, or she couldn’t be bothered to reply. Aureum lowered herself. A wobbly, utterly inelegant procedure.

“Aren’t you here because you’re supposed to be looking out for me? How come you didn’t even look back?”

Aureum shouted down at her sister.

“What, were you unprepared? You’re fine!”

Felixia shouted up in return.

“I bought this, but I didn’t know if it would work!”

“Why did you buy it without figuring that out?!”

They were both shocked by the other’s attitude. But the distance meant they were incapable of fully expressing that displeasure.

They focused on the trip ahead, only shouting at each other out of boredom or necessity.

Even with a body that overflowed with mana and a cloak that allowed flight, they couldn’t make it to Hale Mountain in one half a day. That night the two sisters rested up in an inn. The beds were comfortable, though the room was tiny. Aureum sorted through her luggage on her bed.

Nothing was missing. There was hardly anything.

She had only two sets of clothes.

There was the simple and loose blue dress for the next day she got after she couldn’t face the manor at home, plus the frilled green dress she had first left with. Her dainty shoes weren’t impractical for walking in the city, they were flats. But for a mountain hike, it would be better to have some boots.

Aureum wiped down her eyes in a long-drawn gesture.

Preparing with the half-assed idea of maybe “I’ll buy more clothes tomorrow when I go~” is nonsense! I should have bought what I needed then and there, so I could comfortably go with the flow later!

Why did I inflict this upon myself?!

What could be done now? Buy clothes from the innkeeper’s family?

It took physical restraint for her not to turn her head at her sister.

“Did we really have to run out of the city?”

Aureum grumbled.

“Says the woman who rushed first? Did you forget something?”

“Forget it.”

Felixia looked over Aureum’s bed. It took a few moments, but then she laughed.

“I can share an extra set of clothes with you.”

Felixia stood out of bed to join Aureum in staring down her belongings.

“They won’t fit!”

Felixia was the taller of the two sisters.

“They’ll just be a bit baggy. Do you have better shoes?”

“A bit,” she says. I’ll look like a child!

She smiled as she turned her head away to hide her expression. Suddenly the green dress on the right was very intriguing.

It was nice to be cared for, if a bit embarrassing.

This was her younger sister, after all. Realistically, a sister that was almost two decades younger than her if the past was counted.

Maybe I’ve grown in only very specific ways.

It’s not like being locked up in a tower offered ample life experience. Mostly cold, discomfort, hunger, thirst, and pain on repeat. She shook her head. No need to keep dwelling on that.

“I don’t have another pair here.”

“Then maybe we can find a pair on the way. You can’t be the only one who came without thought to a mountain.”

“Hmm, maybe the cloak will carry the day if it doesn’t.”

“Tch!”

Felixia didn’t bother hiding her disapproval.

Aureum gasped theatrically.

“Don’t ‘Tch’ me!”

“There’s a limit to insanity. How could you think of going up the mountain without good shoes?”

Aureum just laughed at that. It tickled her to the point that Felixia found herself laughing too.

Felixia’s help with her wardrobe problem made everything light and gleeful. The two sisters had an enjoyable time, reminiscing a bit. Everything recent was quietly avoided, but old fogged memories of childhood were pulled out like treasures.

“Remember that time you were spooked by that dog? You ran straight into that wall!”

“I thought everyone had forgotten that by now! I was six!”

“You didn’t even cry! Just glared at it like it offended you!”

Their talk lasted deep into the night.

Later, Aureum found herself staring at the unfamiliar ceiling as Felicia softly breathed in her sleep. It was so dark it was difficult to tell when her eyes were open or closed by sight alone.

The words that had at first tickled Aureum so sat up with her when she was alone.

A limit to insanity?

Felixia, I’ve found that the depths just open up into deeper holes than I could ever imagine. And they just keep rolling on even further after that.

She frowned as she fell asleep. Only the exhaustion carried over from the previous day and her aching body allowed her any rest at all. A box once opened up isn’t so easily shut.

———————————————————

The next day they had a late start. Partially due to Aureum sleeping in.

Felixia was merciless. The blanket was torn off, shouting ensued, and bribes of breakfast were issued. Still, Aureumi just curled up and covered the pillow with her head.

It was the younger sister’s defeat.

Felixia instead used the time to grab extra food and another bag to carry it. Aureum woke up when Felixia returned and dropped it on her bed. It seemed as the trip continued, the bags needed multiplied.

Then came shoes.

Asking about shoes led them to the local shoemaker. The wife of the tanner did it as a side job since the locals didn’t need shoes that often.

That meant they had to take a short hike to the tanner’s house. It was more of a hut, but warm.

Of course, out of the few commissioned shoes that didn’t end up being needed, none fit Aureum. The older woman just nodded and pulled out second-hand shoes. These were mostly children’s shoes, left by those who grew out of them.

But luck gave a pair that suited Aureum, although the design was a bit tacky. Childish flowers were stitched into it. It must have been a girl with big feet.

With each new item, Aureum’s wardrobe became more and more of a clash. She cringed a bit as she held them.

“Thank you, what do I owe you?”

The woman shrugged.

“These are just trash. If nobody wants 'em for long enough, I usually just make something new with ‘em.”

Eh, that makes me feel worse.

Her husband gave a sharp turn of the head. Aureum could see his glare over his wife’s broad shoulder. Not everybody in the household agreed with her sentiment.

“I’ve got to pay for them, or I’d feel even worse than this.”

The woman nodded. She wouldn’t refuse money.

They left, with Felixia eying Aureum with amusement as Aureum frowned.

“What?”

Aureum didn’t see the joke.

“I feel like you’ve finally grown up. Our Aureum, having a sense of responsibility!”

“Do you see me as that immature? Also, stop with the ‘our Aureum’ nonsense.”

“You’ve always been greedy.”

“Rude! But I’ve recently learned some lessons on greed, let me tell you, Felixia. Wanna know what those are?”

“What…?”

“I need to be even greedier! It isn’t enough to get shoes for free! I have to pay for them so that nobody will doubt my ownership over them!”

Felixia just grinned.

Aureum shook her head.

If I had accepted these shoes for free, I would have valued them as trash. And I’d feel bad wearing trash.

No amount of coin paid would make them less tacky, however.

All these chores took time. Felixia insisted they pick up a small tent as well since they might be left outside in the dark.

“If we had followed my schedule this wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Oh, shove your schedule! Thirty minutes for breakfast this, four hours for practice that! Live a little!”

Despite this, Felixia ran faster than she had the day before. It was difficult for Aureum to keep up with her. With the rush, they seemed to make a wrong turn in the dark, hoping to reach the next inn. Instead, they made it to the foot of the mountain despite that.

To make about a week's journey in such a quick time was a surprise, even for someone as skilled as Felixia.

Aureum wondered how much Felixia had pushed herself. Or how long through the night they’d continued past their destination. Not that the distance during the night counted for much. They’d had to go at Aureum’s pace without the cloak.

Felicia was not in the mood to discuss it.

“If we’d made the trip in daylight I wouldn’t have gotten turned around! Why can’t you go faster? Get up earlier? Don’t you want to become a sorcerer? Take this seriously!”

“I am serious. Serious in that I don’t have mana. That’s the whole purpose of this trip! Mana! How am I supposed to keep up with you?!”

They bickered as they put the tent up. Felixia kept a close eye on Aureum, but she actually wasn’t a burden on the process. Not that they got it on the first try. Dinner in front of the tent was cold.

Neither sister had the confidence to attempt a fire.

The exhaustion caught up with them as well, making conversation scarce.

“It looks like clouds.”

Scarce but not nonexistent.

“Just shut up with your ominous words! Wait—maybe a storm is for the best.”

“Rain doesn’t always mean wind.”

“Actually, Felixia, you can just go back to shutting up.”

They woke up the next day to the sound of rain pattering against the tent, and the wind howling.