13 – To Run, Or Not to Run

A distant sea breeze brushed her face, washing away the last remnants of the plant monster’s sweet, yet irritating secretions.

“Finally.” Alexandra sighed and blinked to dislodge the last tears from her eyes.

She opened her journal.

Thirty six kilometers out of fifty, meaning she had to walk four to leave the infected area.

Anyway, this wasn’t what she was looking for. Her eyes wandered down the page, to the skill update section.

Inflict Weakness 3 -> 4

Sickle Mastery 1 -> 4

It was nice to progress, but Alexandra expected more. With the size of the monster, and the destruction it brought around it, she hoped for maybe one or two extra levels. Yet, as she walked and thought about it more, there was a key difference between this fight and her goblin hunt.

Sure, the plant monster seemed stronger. But so was she. Not to say she’d come out of it unscathed. No, she felt like shit. Yet, ultimately, she wasn’t injured past a few bruises and superficial cuts.

Furthermore, it made sense to her that higher levels would need more work. That’s how things went, usually.

Then again, nothing about her situation was usual.

The landscape slowly shifted as she got closer to the sea. It wasn’t that different, as she already observed on the day of her summoning. The flower patches grew sparser, mixed with succulents and low growing mats.

The air had a different weight to it. Saltier. Cooler.

At forty one kilometers, a low, constant sound beneath the wind, like the world breathing gradually filled her ears. A few hills later, she stopped.

Cliffs, dropping maybe twenty to fifty meters to the water below. The sea stretched out flat and grey-green to the horizon, catching the late afternoon light.

She checked her journal. Nine kilometers left. That was a lot, especially as her legs were starting to shake from exhaustion. Now that she’d reached the sea, she’d have to pick another direction, too, which may make her total distance longer depending on how the quest counted.

She looked left, then right. Right, which is to say east, seemed the more natural direction, the cliff line curving gently that way, the ground beside it flatter. She turned east and kept walking.

The wind was stronger here, cold enough that she pulled her cape tighter. Below, the waves broke against the base of the cliffs in long, patient intervals.

Forty three kilometers. She uncorked her gourd, got nothing, and remembered she’d finished it an hour ago. She corked it anyway and put it back.

Forty four. She ate the last of her bread without stopping. It wasn’t enough to register.

She spotted a beach down below, though there was no way to access it.

Her feet had stopped hurting and settled into a dull, total heaviness that started at her ankles and went up. She took another step — ah, it still hurt.

At forty six, the sun was sitting low on the horizon, the light going flat and orange across the clifftop.

She kept walking.

The sun went down.

The sky held its light for a while after, pale enough to see by. She kept her distance from the cliff edge and watched her footing. The sound of the waves below was the same as it had been for the last hour.

She was thinking about soup. Specifically Lara’s blue soup, which she hadn’t wanted to drink that morning and would have given a great deal for right now. After that she thought about water. Then about the soup again. She was comforted by the thought that it definitely worked, and that she wouldn’t have made it without.

Her left knee buckled. She caught herself and kept moving.

Forty nine. One kilometer. She stopped checking her journal.

Her resolution broke ten steps in. Journal open in her hands, she barely looked at the moonlit ground and instead stared at the quest counter.

Forty nine.

Forty nine.

Forty nine.

“Will you get to fifty already!” She shouted, her voice drowned by the wind and waves.

The counter didn’t listen. Of course it didn’t. It only knew one language: that of her feet hitting the ground, and pushing her body forward.

So she did. She did just that. Again. And Again. And again, and again, and again.

One more time.

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Fifty.

She stopped.

Travel 50 kilometers away from Lanterne (50/50) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 CON, Skill Quest Unlocked: Running.

Daily Quest Streak: 2 -> 3

Alexandra wanted nothing more than to collapse on the ground and take a break. She knew she couldn’t afford it.

Now, she wasn’t going to walk back to Lanterne tonight. Setting aside the distance, even tracing her way back in full sunlight tomorrow will be a challenge. A night? She’d never find it. At best, she’d find the road, if she didn’t completely miss it by walking north after leaving the coast.

The clifftop stretched out silver and dark in either direction, the sea a flat black beyond the edge.

Snuggling in her cape, she walked inland, trying to get away from the wind. If she was going to spend the night outside, she needed to keep warm.

Her stomach protested, reminding her that it was empty, and that her throat was parched.

She found a shallow depression in the ground a hundred meters from the cliff edge, out of the worst of the wind. Not much, but the grass was longer there, and the ground was flat. She pulled her cape tight and sat down.

The moon was up, nearly full, casting enough light to see by.

Her stomach made sure she remembered it.

She’d been ignoring it for a while now. That was getting harder.