It was a cold morning on the edge of a forest, with a pleasant view of a grey little town. Under the canopy of trees, three Avarians had made camp and were slowly waking to a modest dawn. The first to wake was a girl with blonde hair. She got to her feet and yawned. She had the privilege of sleeping on a blanket she had laid over the hard ground to keep her bright clothes clean. Her two companions had no such luxury.
She walked over to the first companion, who was sleeping propped against a tree. He slept peacefully, dressed in brand new commoner clothes. "Tim, wake up!" When that failed, she gave him a solid kick and stepped over to the second companion, who was lying in the grass, and whispered to him. "Erik, wake up."
Erik woke up irritated. "What do you want, Ana?" Ana knelt beside him and started tugging at his dark and worn clothes. "I can't wake him up." He offered her only an unoriginal idea. "Kick him if you have to."
Ana continued with mild disappointment. "I already tried." Erik didn't see this as a problem worth solving, until she added: "Could you teach me instead?" Erik sat up and glanced at Tim for a moment, who immediately woke up in a panic. Tim looked at his friend and asked in shock: "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Erik lay back down, facing away, and redirected the conversation. "Ana wants you to continue teaching her. You can start with an explanation of killing intent." Ana's eyes lit up as she sat on her blanket waiting for Tim's first lesson of the day. Tim groaned and sat next to her. "Don't be so intense next time."
Tim and Ana began the first lesson while Erik enjoyed having nothing to explain. Tim tried to start simply: "So, killing intent falls under a type of aura that is easier to sense." He clenched his fist in front of him and a red flame lit around his palm. "A simple visual example of warm Aura."
Ana studied his flame and Tim continued. "Normally, this is something you would avoid in a fight, because it signals to your opponent when you intend to attack. But the Red King was using it for intimidation even outside of combat, which we previously thought was impossible."
Mid-explanation, Erik groaned: "Leave me out of this..." Ana was a bit surprised, but Tim only chuckled and continued. "So, if you intend to hit your friend, they don't need to see you to know about it." Erik was lying still as if nothing happened, but he couldn't rest, as if he had been in combat only moments ago.
Tim offered Ana a small stick, placing it into her palm and saying: "Try using it and ignite this." Ana tried clenching her fist and later hummed to herself angrily with a scowl, even closing her eyes didn't help.
Erik, while still facing away, had already calmed down to his annoying self and was giving unoriginal advice again. "You should try closing your eyes and..." but he was cut off by her shout and her unfriendly aura. "You're not helpful!"
She felt Tim's hand on hers, calming her down. "He is trying to help. On the other hand, this stick has said some very mean things about you." Tim said with a smile. Ana picked up his hint and looked down at the stick. She murmured to herself: "Is that right, huh? Alright then... burn!" Unlike Tim's flames, there were none around her palm, only the stick caught fire and even that barely.
Tim was a bit amazed and Erik on the other hand was already napping. "Huh... that was quick." Tim muttered under his breath, guessing if she understood his hint or actually believed his words.
While Ana was being amazed, Tim stood up and stretched. "You should experiment with more sticks and try being creative with it. I will go into town to buy us breakfast..." he ended up walking away while talking, leaving the rest unheard.
Moments later Erik shifted in his sleep and then slowly opened his eyes. Still lying down, he glanced around and murmured: "I don't sense Tim's presence anymore." He could only notice Ana playing with sticks... and that was good. Erik had to close his eyes to focus past the spiritual noise of Ana's aura practice.
He sensed no one and it could be good, but he sensed nothing either and that was bad. Erik sat up and glared into empty space as he would at an enemy, with only one thought in his mind... they were surrounded.
Ana was playing like a kid with dolls. "I heard that you didn't pay your taxes. The punishment is death by fire!" giggling to herself as another twig burned in her hands. The boy was relieved, because monsters see combat aura and fire as one and the same. "Just in case," he whispered to himself as he restarted a small fire in the circle of stones.
The woman glared at the man burning her future toys, so Erik began distracting her. "Did you know that you can hide your presence when controlling your aura? Some monsters actually use that to hide themselves. They became so good that you can't even see them because you can't focus on them anymore, as if your mind doesn't recognize them as worth seeing..."
She thought of saying something, but it was rare for him to explain anything to her. So, after an appropriate pause, she asked a question that wouldn't show her lingering annoyance: "So, is there no way to notice them?" Erik shook his head. "No... if you weren't watching them before they concealed themselves, then no. But you can notice a group, because they block you from noticing anything."
Ana turned her attention back to her practice and tried concealing herself, but the flames would only extinguish. Erik stood up and before leaving he said: "Stay right there. I will bring you back more sticks." There was doubt in her eyes, but it was nothing new for him to lie. On the other hand, her intuition told her that she could trust him anyway, as if she was being protected... and that was new.
While walking, Erik could only see clearly one step away. He had to release intimidating aura without a clear target to stay somewhat safe... until he was far enough from Ana. The very next moment he was attacked by a small monster.
It was cut in two by a knife... a price it paid for releasing killing intent, rather than hiding its aura. Erik slowly exhaled and took a battle stance, holding two knives. The first attack was somewhat predictable, because he decided to start by dropping his intimidation... but his luck ran out and a swarm of small monsters began attacking.
The battle was chaotic, but for an experienced eye it was simple. The enemy is weak, but many. Then there was the fact that they were noticeable only when attacking. While Erik was attacked by 5 at a time, he could only defeat 2 of them when using knives and dodging up to two more at times. The main restraint for Erik was that he was only using his technique with his knives, because if he tried using aura, then monsters would flee and become a problem for later.
"I could have stayed near the fire... taught her... waited for Tim to come back..." It was hard to tell if he was getting angry from his wandering thoughts or because he didn't know how many monsters were left. They were attacking again and again and again and aghhh again.
His aura began seeping out, only to be suppressed by him, gathering in a thin layer around his skin. For some unknown reason those monsters missed their target more often. Erik's breathing was heavy, but as more monsters jumped past him, he started catching his breath. As more aura gathered in a thicker layer around his skin, even bites and scratches became less effective.
Attacks stopped and Erik fell to his knees, covered in red and black blood, surrounded by bodies the size of a deck of cards or larger. For a few moments he only panted and tried to recover. After a few moments, he unknowingly released his aura and then he noticed his own body, as if it was invisible before.
He was too exhausted for his surprise to be noticed... there were so many wounds, some small and some deep. His dark clothes were torn from the fight and stained with monster's blood and mostly his own.
After a while... Ana was getting bored after draining her supplies of... sticks. Sure, they were all over the place, but she was told to stay near the fire and for some reason she didn't feel safe far from it.
Tim returned from his trip in town, easing her fears and hunger. While they were eating, Erik returned with sluggish steps. There was no reaction in their eyes, as if they were looking past his torn and blood stained clothes and his wounds. After a few exhausting steps, he lay down near the fire.
"Have you brought me sticks?" Ana cautiously asked while eating. Erik could only groan something that sounded like: "I forgot." Another lie... but it's fine... at least he seemed fine.
Tim offered Erik some fruit and bread. For some reason, he couldn't sense Erik's passive release of aura and it was somehow harder to focus on his clothes. After breakfast, Ana spoke up: "We should just rest for today." Tim calmly looked her way and asked, "Why?" She looked up and then to the ground, avoiding his gaze. "No specific reason, just a hunch."
Tim looked at Erik, lying unmoving on the hard floor, and then looked back. "Sure... I trust your intuition."