The arrows shot towards me, Brandon and Landon. While Garret got out of it for now. I ducked as I heard the arrow humming right next to my ear. I grew the Veil's vine out of my hand as I ran forward.
"Who!?" I yelled as I whipped out, aiming the the center of the bush with a rush of koi running through the vine. As soon as the vine hit the bush, I heard a loud Crack as bones were crushed under the vine, but that wasnt all.
I watched in awe as all the bones the vine was in contact with start to melt into it, getting absorbed by it. The vine hit a lost bone soldier holding an old wooden bow. The vine absorbed its hip bones, making it fall but that gave me an idea.
I urged the vine to weave it's way through the skeleton, melting it as it moved. I watched as the skeleton struggled in horror against it's natural enemy and felt the urge to laugh. Soon, all that was left was a skull and surprisingly, it was still alive.
I walked over and grabbed the bow off the ground. It felt sturdy yet old, so I coated it in koi and stored it in my soul space. Then, I pulled out my bone blade from my waist band and stabbed down as hard as I could, cracking the skull.
The system rang out, disappointing me but there was nothing I could do about it. Looking around, I saw the others three finishing up there spark spirits and nodded slowly. I decided to look into my soul space at the bow.
Inside my soul space was kinda a mess, with meat, bones, a soul, a large bundle of thread, and now a bow floating around at random. I slowly sorted it all until there was a pile of each on each section of it.
"You good felix?" Landon called out, pulling me out from my soul space. I nodded slowly and they smiled in understanding. Shit, they think I got a spark from it.
"So, where do you think this path leads? Organized isnt exactly normal" brandon calls out, stunning me. I dont actually know. I just started to follow it because a path doesn't happen naturally.
"Wait" I breathed out but I think we all came to the same conclusion. We stared at each other for a bit before looking down the path.
"This path wasnt made by humans... was it?" Garret breathes out as a chill crawls up my neck.
"All in favor of a change of plans. Abandoning the path and heading back to the stream for water?" I called out and they slowly nodded.
"We will take an adjacent path to the dirt one as I still want to kill spirits to raise my grade" brandon called out and the other 2 nodded like this was a natural fact. Sighing, I nodded as well and we walked off the path for the first time in awhile.
As we walked back, my mind kept wandering through the possibilities of us going all the way down, meeting whatever layed at the end. Time passed quickly as we walked, not meeting anything but silence as we walked back. Hours passed like minutes until the sun finally fell, and the stream was in sight.
We all drank and set up camp getting ready for the night. As the moon rose, I felt a sense of serenity was over me, pulling me under the grasp of sleep.
Hundreds of miles away, a group of three woman were hunting in complete silence. If I saw the three of them, I would only recognise one, tiana with her white feather tattoo.
They ran between the trees, following a weird looking undead. It looked like a praying mantis, but I meters tall and made of Grey bones with some black markings on it's blades arms.
"Jess, slow it down" tiana called out in a rushed voice as she held out her arms, gold light gathering in them. Jess, a tall woman with weird blueish Grey hair nodded and snapped. Suddenly, a blue dome of aura surged around her before attacting itself to the mantis.
The mantis slowed down to an ants pace, letting the girls catch up it. Then, the light in Tiana's hands reached it's peak before shooting off as a light arrow, piercing it's skull.
"Vivian, it dropped an elite blade. You want it?" Tiana called out to the pale white girl who looks like she hasn't seen the sun in years. Straight black fair fell down her back like a waterfall as she stopped moving.
"Yes please. I can finally use my origin" she called out in a quiet voice. Tiana handed over the blade, while Vivian grabbed it, swinging it around a couple times.
Suddenly, a blood red aura enveloped the blade and a ghostly light covered her face.
"Perfect" Vivian whispered to herself while the other girls backed off a bit.
"What was your origin again?" Jess asked in a daze, carefully watching the red aura dance around Vivian and the blade.
"Its called bloodied aura. The more blood it absorbs the stronger it gets. Also, when it absorbs blood, I get healed" she answered innocently, like her words meant nothing more.
Tiana nodded slowly but anyone could see she was a little unsettling. Then, they started to head in the direction they came from. They weaved through the trees with practice for 10 minutes until the light of a torch lit up a large fence made of logs stacked up against each other.
"Who is it?" A man's voice rang out from somewhere above, hidden in the trees.
"Tiana's group. We killed that undead mantis" she called out coldly and the man sounded a little stunned before a clear bird call rang out and a handful of logs moved, opening up a path through the fence.
As soon as they walked through, a large group of students were waiting.
"Welcome back to base tiana" most of them called out in awe as they walked through the group
***
I woke up to a soft humming. It was frail, slow yet beautiful, like a soft breeze in a bamboo forest.
Looking around, I saw it was still early morning but the humming wasn't coming from outside. A wave of excitement washed over me as i knew where it was coming from.
'Veil! When did you wake up?' I called out into my mind and I heard the human stop and a chuckle erupt from her. Her voice seemed to get a bit more mature yet soothing.
'I sucessfully ascended last night around 3 hours ago. Thank you master for the tasty treats while I was out. Now, check my status for all the information. A lot has changed' she explained and I openned her status and stared at it in awe.
There were new and changed traits but what really caught my attention was her rank and name. She was now a bone serpent vine of the elite rank. How did she 'ascend' to the elite rank? Then, I tapped on the new and changed traits.
'Woooooooooow' I breathe out mentally and I heard a proud humph from Veil. Her traits allow her to attack, heal, store energy. All thats left is defense.
'Damn right master. I am strong now. Though, my race is a little skewed towards snakes' she commented, leaving me a little confused.
'Veil, why is your race skewed in the first place?' I questioned curiously and she sighed, clearly upset.
'A couple years ago, that clove you found me in was the den of 2 snakes. 2 very powerful but old snakes. When they died of old age, I devoured their bones and absorbed their blood through my roots. From then, I got serpentine' she explained, sounding tired just from speaking about it.
'Sounds like you got an opportunity' I comment and she nodded slowly.
'So, how did you ascend to elite? Or how does it work? Actually, just explain everything you know about the system' I questioned repeatedly until i gave up and asked a broader question.
'Master, its going to wait. The three other humans near you are waking up' Veil explained, making me dart my head in their direction. She was right, they were stretching, slowly getting up.
"morning" Garret called out as he walked towards the stream for water. I followed and drank with him. Then stream was really cold in the morning yet it wad oddly refreshing.
"So, ready to head out?" Brandon called out to the group and we all nodded. I destroyed the fires ashes, removing the traces that we were here before.
"Plans for what direction we head?" Landon called out, making us all pause.
"We only have 2 days left so we should move with the stream. Most spirits need water" Brandon spoke with determination and I had no objections. My score better be good because this is is hell.
"Agreed, lets move out" Garret announced as they started to move down the stream. The sound of water was soothing yet refreshing, keeping me awake and aware of my surroundings.
'Back to our conversation, I ascended to elite by devouring a lot of bones for years. Then, after you named me, it was like a door openned and i could do it' she started and I tried my best not to react on the outside, not to alert my group.
'Then, I don't know a lot about the system. I know that I need to absorb a mountain of bones, or absorb origin essence from a superior plant being' she explained and I heard a new term, origin essence. I was about to ask what it was but I got thr feeling she didn't know either.
"Felix, what family are you from?" Brandon asked aloud, stunning me. What does he mean, family? Does he think im from a big family?
"Im not from a big family. Actually, ive been an orphan for 10 years" I whispered yet they all heard me and paused. An uncomfortable silence spread, along with shared glances.
"Well, any great family will like plant based combat origins. What is rare is a comodity" Garret tried to comfort but it didn't really work.
Not like I'd join a family anyway.