Chapter 93 - Challenge

In the middle of the night a young boy sat atop a large tree. From time to time a dim light lit up but like sparks from a small flame was quickly extinguished. A small squirrel, it's pelt glowing in silver color underneath the moonlight was quick to eliminate all mosquitoes. Keeping watch it carefully eyed the boy. Although they had only met a few hours ago the had known each other for much longer. Soon it noticed that all had vanished so it climbed a bit higher, although it remained close enough to help should it be needed.

Watching the glittering stars above it wondered. How much was still out there? This was already the second sky it had seen. What was their goal? In the past they had only trained and grown stronger and bonded together but besides that they hadn't done much. That had seemed to be enough, in the past at least. But what now? What were they going to do with their power? Why did they need so much of it? Eventually they would loose interest in gaining more and what would come after that?

Gaia knew that she would be contend just staying at Kaiser's side together with their companions, simply exploring and enjoying whatever might happen to them. But what about her master? She had observed his actions many times ever since their first encounter but still she couldn't shake off her worries. He often seemed unsure, not knowing where to go or what to do. As a result he was rather uncaring about what happened to anything besides the things that effected himself and those he had chosen to be his familiars although his choice in familiars was quite weird. A dog that only wanted to consume food and relax with his owner and a lazy snake that wanted to be serviced forever. What a great choice. To motivated his actions he mostly followed the quests that his information tool gave him to busy himself, leaving no room to question his actions.

Shaking her head Gaia continued to watch the stars. She hoped he would find his purpose soon. His interactions with the female that she had seen I his recent memories had seemed to be a touch more than just simple interaction to pass the time but she had her doubts. However, with the current circ.u.mstances as well as their special situation she knew that he would never allow himself to become attached to something besides a few familiars that would accompany him.

They were the only ones that would be able to accompany him forever without him having to fear the experience of loss, standing by his side forever. Perhaps that had been his only reasoning back then in choosing them. Eternity was scary especially forever alone, wandering without rest, never ending. Despite this Gaia knew that they wouldn't be able to replace everything that he would need and eventually, that much was certain he would find someone and then once her natural lifespan come to an end, Gaia feared that her master might never recover again and that his heart would shatter like glass that might be fixed but then break over and over and over again should he try again.

Lost in thought, she turned back, crawled under the hood and closed her eyes, deep sadness and worry following her into her sleep.

The next day at dawn Gaia was woke up quite abruptly when Kaiser began to stretch, momentarily forgetting about their situation. Startled she jumped out of his hood onto a nearby branch, otherwise she might dig her claws into his neck out of pure reflex. Luckily Kaiser had tied himself to the tree with a vine or he might have fallen down more than 40 meters, shattering all of his bones completely in the process. Once he was awake enough Kaiser untied himself before standing up carefully, climbing up and drinking what was left of the water together with Gaia. Soon he partially untied his tarp to let it dry as they had already decided to move today. The people from the capitol wanted action so staying in one place constantly was just begging for the Gamemakers to intervene and kill him off or lead him towards other tributes.

While they waited for the tarp to dry which wouldn't take long they decided on their future course of action while eating the rest of the nuts.

"I think we should go and see if we can find Orion. Food seems scarce in these parts despite the lush vegetation I've found few things that are edible."

"You are right Master. Non poisonous food is rare as all species in these part prefer them and consume them in massive quantities. Luckily most of the native species here can safely consume most of the poisonous plants otherwise the entire ecosystem would collapse."

"Since when am I your Master Gaia? I've always seen you as companions of rather equal status. You can address me however you like as long as it isn't to degrading of a name."

"Well since I can call you whatever I want can't I call you Master?"

"Are you messing with me?"

"Absolutely Master."

Shaking his head Kaiser looked at the mountains close by.

"If we want to find Orion I think our best course of action would be to search directly across of us in the misty plains. I just can't imagine him being anywhere else. Desert perhaps? But still. I feel like he would most likely be in the plains."

"Well it's not like it matters too much. I think we will visit all areas eventually. So I don't think it matters too much if we don't find him in the plains. But it might be easier to do one region after the next instead of moving in a crisscross pattern."

"Are we in such a hurry? Let's have some fun while we're here."

- Climb the highest mountain in the arena

- Saddle for a creature of Air Origin (completely adjustable)

- Dive to the deepest part of the arena

- Saddle for a creature of Water Origin (completely adjustable)

-Double the amount of familiars from your last world (1/3)

- Saddle for a land dwelling creature (completely adjustable)

[Oh? So you decided to finally show up as well? What happened to you? I remember just a few years ago I always had to deal with never ending babbling from your side but you've been awfully quite. Are you plotting something?]

[Are you starting with that as well now?]

[Do what you want…]

[It seems I like to crush your dreams]

Having enough Kaiser finally decided.

"Enough. The tarp is dry. After storing it we'll continue towards the gap between the mountains as the foothills here are to steep to climb. After we arrive there we'll try to climb on top of the foothills and make our way back to the center. There we'll climb the highest mountain before going down into the misty plains although I hate the visibility there. Perhaps we can get a feel for him even in the mountain ranges which might make it easier. Then the only one left would be our lazy snake."

"Are you going to get more companions? I mean you got the quest."

"Probably. I'm no one to pass on free stuff. And considering your usefulness like during the fight against your own kind I think it would be anything but wasteful not to find more. By the way, system?"

[Why is the last saddle able to be equipped by all 'land dwelling creatures'? Why isn't it also limited to something like the 'Earth Origin' or something.]

"OK. Then let's move out! First stop is the passageway between the foothills."

After they had checked on everything and put everything where it belonged Kaiser began to climb down the tree while Gaia jumped from tree to tree, looking for more food to store and finally consume. Once they arrived on the ground with an almost blind, large and black furred humanoid hanging by his ankles in front of Kaiser's face he remembered remembered.

"Oh shit! I've completely forgotten that we placed traps down here!"

Quickly slitting the throat of the ape before he could punch at him Kaiser retreated before looking around. It was the only one that had gotten trapped, unused traps and broken traps where even the trees they had been affixed to had been so badly damaged that they had fallen to the ground were the only ones he could see. Perhaps he had captured two or so more apes but they had been freed by other members of their race before it had become morning? But then why was this one an exception? Why didn't they free him? Kaiser attempted to speak to him but achieved nothing. Perhaps it was already considered to be a humanoid so his ability wouldn't work?

[Well I'm glad we cleared that up.]

Ultimately deciding to dismember it Kaiser used his knife to skin it before slowly cutting the best pieces of meat from the ape. Thighs, b.r.e.a.s.t, neck, parts of the back, belly and the heart was what he prioritized. Normally he might have also taken the liver but considering their poisonous environment he believed it to be a bad idea since the poison could be gathered there in large amounts. Packing all the pieces into the skin of the creature Kaiser tied it together with a vine while Gaia quickly ripped of large portions of flesh that were still on the ape. Although it was a bit unwise to walk around with a large pile of bloody meat that could attract various dangerous predators Kaiser believed it was better to walk around with food then to walk around without food.

Waiting until she finished her feast both continued along the mountain range to their right. From time to time Gaia climbed up the trees to look if they were still walking in the right direction. Soon they Kaiser saw a light between the trees. Walking towards it he smiled and stopped about two meters away.