Side Chapter 1 - Alice (Goal 5)

Author's note: Let me know if you like this or want to see another character. Might continue or write some other stuff. This will help me improve as I can build characters pretty much from a clean slate. Also world building :).

Side Chapter 1 - Alice

The snow storm didn’t relent as Alice watched the flakes fall in front of the cave entrance, a breath of visible air vanishing in the cold winter surroundings. A sigh, one of many to leave the girl that day. Her life had turned into horror, the small hopes she had for the future dashed first by a band of bandits and now by her noble family. A reoccurring though entered her mind, one she had learned to repress in the past weeks but nonetheless one that called on her day after day.

‘Just go, just walk into the snow. It will be quick and easy...’ a slap resounded into the cave, blocked quickly by the masses of snow falling in front of the entrance. Alice’s cheek was red, the color standing out in the dull environment. It helped she thought, the physical pain a distraction from the one rooted deep within. ‘And the only one who helped me...’ she thought but another slap made her focus, tears in her eyes as she returned into the cave below.

Jaime wasn’t there as usual. Hunting for something to eat. The man had refused her help time and time again but she knew it wasn’t too dangerous. She would simply be in the way, a burden to the veteran. Even more useless than her previous self. Her eyes opened to the pain in her hand, she had cracked the wall a little again and Jaime would scold her. The tremors could attract something from either below or above but like every time before, Alice hoped a little for its arrival.

“Now that he isn’t here… don’t you want me?” she called into the dark tunnel going further into the mountain Karth. An unending darkness answered in turn but its response was silence alone. She sat down and went over the notes again that Ilea had left behind with Jaime. The change in her class the only thing that kept her going. Through the escape from Dawntree and the hiding from the elves. None had come for them but it must have been close.

She had seen the creatures circling above the natural high city walls, the dome of light pulsing with fire and ice raining down from the skies. It had struck her with fear and there was nothing she had wanted more than to return inside the walls. Jaime hadn’t let her, had told her this was the only way and the elven attack would be the best time for them to sneak out.

Alice sighed, looking at her injured hand again as Reconstruction activated and healed the bruises she had received. It felt different, compared to her previous healing spells. More aggressive and invasive. She liked the feeling. A sudden noise resounded through the cave, coming from above. Alice immediately put a hand over her mouth and crept backwards and deeper into the dark, her eyes focusing on the way up.

“It’s me!” Jaime’s voice came to her ears, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, ashamed of her fear and relieved to hear the man’s voice.

“Jaime!” she exclaimed and ran upwards only to find a scene that made her heart stop. “Www… what is… what are you?!” the girl stammered out, the sound of blood dripping on the stone floor the only noise next to the snow storm outside.

“I still have a third left, don’t worry about it. Come, you need to get used to it more. The seconds you’ve wasted could’ve cost me my life. Heal Me.” he said, his eyes locking with hers. Alice nodded as more tears formed in her eyes. She blinked next to the man and touched him, her mana going into him to heal his injuries.

Jaime sighed, relieved from the pain that had riddled him. “I caught food.” he said, smiling weakly at her and motioning outside. “Would you get it for us? Twenty meters out.”

Alice hesitated, looking out into the snow, her fists clenched as her mouth slightly opened and closed. “You can do it. You’re Alice Forkspear and I believe in you.” the man said in a quiet tone, the last words striking her as goosebumps rushed down her back and up her arms. The power of her new skills flowed through her and she lightly nodded, her right leg taking the first step. Another followed and then another.

The snow was cold but much less so than she had expected. Alice carefully took in her surroundings, preparing herself for an ambush. Only the flakes of snow came to hit her as she trudged through it. Finally she came upon a corpse, their promised meal. She gulped as the cold dead eyes of the ice wolf stared back at her. A beast she’d only read about in books. Level one hundred at least, something only for seasoned adventurers to deal with. Compared to most other wolves, these hunted alone.

She shook her head, getting out the useless knowledge that made her unaware of her surroundings, focusing again on the task at hand.

Jaime watched on as the girl walked back into the cave, the massive dead animal strapped around her shoulders, her breathing heavy as fresh blood flowed from the monster’s wounds and onto her clothes, a beautiful set of light blue winter traveling clothes, joining the dirt and blood already on it.

“Can we eat it?” she asked, looking down on the cracked ice, covering parts of the wolf.

“I think so. Never done it but I know for sure that it’s not poisonous.” Jaime said, walking downwards and towards their improvised fireplace.

The fire lit up the cave as the wolf meat sizzled, the heat slowly working through the ice forming part of the creature’s muscular body. Neither Jaime nor Alice spoke a word while their meal cooked, a sad excuse compared to the dining they were used to.

“I think we can eat it now…” Jaime said around fifteen minutes later, their surroundings now filled with the smell of cooked meat. Luckily one of his spells allowed for the fire to be magically started, something that would’ve been quite difficult otherwise considering the water constantly dripping from the wolf. “Yea it’s good.” He said after cutting deep into the animal to confirm.

Alice watched as the man cut sizeable chunks off before handing them to her. She gulped and took the first piece, blood and fat dripping onto her hands. Alice didn’t dare letting it fall down, even with the heat burning her hands. Jaime had insisted on her at least trying to level her Pain Tolerance.

It hurt but Alice started eating nonetheless, her hands both burned and healed at the same time. She didn’t want to think about other applications of this technique, especially should her family catch them.

“What if they’re not coming from us? Maybe I was forgotten or written off as a casualty from the elven attack…” she said, a small hope for a normal life trying to blossom inside of her again. She knew it wouldn’t happen, she knew her brother. Jaime knew as well and didn’t answer, they had both seen enough of him to know their disappearance would only aggravate him further. Not that diplomacy was an option at all. As soon as the last of Alice’s resources and influence had been spent, everything was over for her.

“Come then.” Jaime said when he thought Alice had eaten enough. “Today we train outside.”

The girl nodded and then gulped, looking into the snowstorm. ‘Can’t I just go back to my warm bed…’ she thought, trying hard not to cry again. She hated it, hated crying and the cold. She hated fighting and she hated having to eat wild animals. She hated seeing Jaime injured and she hated the trainings.

A blink sent her next to the man waiting for her attack, dodging her fist before his knee hit her stomach. Alice coughed and looked down, seeing her blood coloring the white ground. A kick landed on her head, the pain nearly knocking her out flat. She winced and then screamed before another kick landed in her stomach. This time she blinked away with the last bit of her consciousness, wobbling on her feet as she appeared nearly ten meters away from Jaime.

Her vision was blocked by blood, grime and snow. She lifted a hand to brush at it when she heard Jaime run at her, making the girl blink again. This time she concentrated, breathed in and healed herself while she looked for her adversary. Jaime was running at her again but this time she went into a stance, blocking the first two hits of his fists with her own before a third one hit her head. The pain was too much, Reconstruction the only reason she hadn’t been taken out of the fight completely.

“Are you done already?” Jaime asked, standing above her. She didn’t respond, just looked up towards the man.

“Do you want to die already? Do you want to give up already?” he asked, crouching down next to her head. “You know I can’t let you do that.” He said after waiting for a minute. “Not until you can stand and fight on your own. Stand Alice, we’re not done.” He finished and walked away, stopping after a couple meters. Alice closed her eyes and let the healing mana flow through her, the cracked nose moving back to its intended angle. An activation of blink got her standing up again as she got into a fighting stance.

“Good, now come at me Alice Forkspear.” Jaime said, power flowing around him.

‘ding’ ‘Destruction reaches lvl 11’

‘ding’ ‘Reconstruction reaches lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘State of Azarinth reaches lvl 8’

‘ding’ ‘Blink reaches lvl 6’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Fighting reaches lvl 6’

Alice repeated what she saw in her mind to Jaime while she sat with her back to a rock, the fire warming the sniffling girl. Reconstruction took care of it but whenever she stopped the spell, the cold seeped in again.

“You’re progressing well Alice. That was four hours. I won’t push you more today, rest now. Tomorrow we’ll move on from here if the storm has settled at least a little.” Jaime told her, walking to the other side of the fire and sitting down as well. They were traveling light and only had their clothes and one blanket each. Alice cuddled up to the fabric and lied down, looking into the flame, concentrating on the mesmerizing movements that distracted her from the inevitable thoughts creeping into her mind.

The training had more than one upside as the girl quickly fell asleep, exhausted from the day. Jaime watched her drift off and silently got up, walking up towards the cave exit. Leaving his pack and blanket behind, the man looking more rugged by the day had only his sword and clothes. The leather armor was damaged in parts and would soon have to go to not become a liability in fights.

He breathed out and unsheathed his sword, the straight black steel burst into flame as he concentrated on condensing the heat into the metal.

Snow fell as the girl slept cuddled in two blankets and her guardian danced outside to a deadly tune unheard.

“Wake up.” the sound came to her ears as her eyes slowly drifted open. Her whole body ached but a quick appliance of her healing helped with that immediately. Her previous healing spells would do the same but this one somehow felt more intuitive when she used it on herself. On others it was the complete opposite, almost as if she had to push the mana into the person she was healing.

Alice removed the blanked from her body, shivering at the cold air moving through the cave. The fire was out, only ashes remaining. She quickly rolled up the blanket and fastened it to her pack before she swung that one over her shoulders. Jaime wordlessly handed her another piece of the wolf meat, now cold and tough but she bit into it without complaint. Alice had learned that refusing food out here constituted as quite the opposite of wise.

“We’ll leave now, the storm has settled and I don’t know how much time we lost should there be anyone in pursuit.” Jaime said, glancing at the fireplace. There was no way they could hide it completely in a reasonable time frame but it irked him to leave a trail so obvious behind. Alice followed in silence, her feet sinking deep into the snow as they trailed further up the mountain side, the sun shining onto them, winter soon to end.

“Can we pause?” Alice asked two hours of walking later, the unrelenting pace too much for her.

“Only to train.” the answer was sobering but this time the answer was different than what he had expected. The girl’s pack was thrown to the ground as she prepared to fight. Jaime couldn’t help but let his lips curl up a notch at her resolve. For the first time in over three months the girl had chosen fighting over walking.

She appeared before him and made him dodge to the side before he let his pack fall to the ground as well, running towards her. She managed to block four of his attacks before she blinked away, avoiding the last of his strikes. ‘Truly a versatile ability… I can see how Ilea manged to survive that dungeon…’ he thought as the girl approached again, too slow and sloppy yet but she was improving, that was for sure.

The problem was that he wasn’t standing still either. After their flight Jaime had brought both of his classes over one hundred, giving him an immense boost in strength. The spellsword specialized weapon he borrowed from the Forkspear armory helped improve on even that. Still he chose to not use his sword against the girl, at least not yet.

Her fist was blocked by his arm, the destructive mana of her Destruction skill flowing into him, leaving no way to defend. Jaime grit his teeth at the slight pain and uneasy feeling spreading through him as he kicked the girl away. ‘Too hard...’ he thought, having heard the crack of a bone. He stopped rushing towards her as he saw Alice still standing, her arms moving into the position of her Azarinth Fighting stance, her eyes cold.

‘She’s not moving...’ he thought when he heard the bone snap back into place. ‘Good.’ he ran towards her again, jumping the last bit of the distance only to find her dodging to the side and catching him with her knee, another burst of mana damaging him. He caught himself and moved in, now close to the girl. His punches hit hard on her lifted arms, the last one not a punch but a grab.

Getting the girl closer and moving her arm out of the way his fist hit her head. Three quick jabs and a knee to the stomach and she was on the ground, puking up whatever her stomach hadn’t digested yet. Jaime steeled his heart and went for another kick, his leg moving through thin air as he felt a punch to his head, the mana bursting in his head as if an alchemist detonated a fire bomb inside of it.

Turning around he found the girl standing ten meters away, brushing away the rest of the puke with her hand. “You might not die out here after all. Not yet that is.” Jaime said, unsheathing his sword. They were back to square one afterwards, the girl finding no way to get through his trained defense. He didn’t intend to hurt her lethally with the weapon, his control worlds better than his hand to hand combat.

“Is there no cave nearby?” Alice asked after she leaned on a nearby tree, breathing heavily from the long walk. Snow was lightly falling again but the forest here was thick and would provide them with partial shelter at least. Jaime was at a point where the cold didn’t bother him a lot, mostly because of some class related skills.

“I will go check, you wait and rest. Don’t be too noisy.” he said and placed his pack down, moving away quickly. Alice sighed, sinking down to the ground, her back to the tree. The ground was cold, so was the air and the tree.

‘Why is everything cold...’ she thought, using some of her mana to heal herself, the warmth of the spell not quite the same as the heat of a flame but nonetheless soothing.

She watched her fists open and close around some of the snow she had grabbed, her mind wandering as she waited for Jaime.

“Hey look there she is, god finally.” someone said, making her freeze up, her eyes opening wide as she looked into the forest before her. Three men came into view as they walked closer, one of them she had seen before. A Forkspear guard.

Her mind was racing but she was still sitting on the ground, fistfuls of snow in her hands. “Alice come on, haven’t you run for long enough. We’re here to bring you home.” the man said, smiling at her, Alice’s heartbeat speeding up as her mind’s eye flashed back to her trip to Riverwatch. She scrambled back against the tree, her feet pushing away the dirt before her.

“Man that’s just sad. Charles don’t make this fucking weird.” the man to her left said, looking at Charles with an angry expression. “Girl we’re here to take you home, nothing more and nothing less.”

“You tell her that… hahahaha, you think she doesn’t know her brother. If anybody’s cruel here it’s you.” Charles commented, making the other man even more furious.

“Don’t settle down yet guys, there’s two packs. A couple people vanished but it’ll probably be Jaime. Remember he’s a spellsword at around level ninety.” the last of the group said, his face covered by armor, the only one of them wearing more than leather gear. He got the hammer from his side and looked around as Charles approached Alice and the other man unsheathed two daggers.

“Come on girl.” the man got closer, Alice now in a complete state of panic, hyperventilating as the man grabbed towards her. She watched his hand come closer before a black blade moved through her vision. The armored man approached quickly, his hammer brandished and hitting hard into the tree right above Alice. Charles screamed, grasping at the arm laying on the ground, tears falling down from his face.

Alice put her arms on top of her head and screamed while the two uninjured men fought against Jaime. “It’s all your fault you little cunt! Heal me I know you’re a healer you shit!” Charles screamed and grabbed her, shaking her hard with one hand while the other one kept bleeding. He pushed her against the tree and then punched. Again and again his fist landed on her face, chest and stomach. Alice’s head was rocked back and forth before her hand reached out, catching the last punch as healing mana started flowing through her. Looking up at the man, she jumped and used the tree behind her to land on his chest, her legs folding behind him as her weight and momentum pushed him backwards and onto the ground.

He kept screaming, his bleeding arm landing hard when Alice started punching his face. She didn’t relent as more and more of the skin on her fists came off, trashing into the man’s unprotected face as her mana worked both to heal her and to damage him further. She used jabbing attacks to destroy his eyes before he finally managed to push her off balance with his one working arm, scrambling backwards as he put his hand to his face. “What did...what...” he stammered and bashed into a tree.

Alice stood there frozen, looking down at her hands where instead of snow there was blood covering them, bone showing in places as her eyes welled up. The pain was too much as she went into a meditative state, letting the rest of her mana flow through her to heal the worst bruises. A crazed chuckle left her as she realized the man had nearly killed her with those punches.

“I’ll murder you, you FUCK!” the man yelled and rushed towards her but Alice blinked away, trying to focus as she ran away from the guard. Following the noise of fighting, she swerved right until she came up on the fast moving three people remaining. The dagger wielding man had several wounds and was bleeding heavily but Jaime was injured as well. His left arm was hanging uselessly on his side, the elbow bent in an unnatural way. Blood was flowing from his chest and side, most of his clothes bathed in it as the hammer wielding warrior swung his weapon and walked closer. Alice appeared behind the armored man and kicked at his leg with a scream, breaking her own foot in the process. The force took the man’s balance for a second, Jaime approaching at a high speed, his sword slashing the man’s right arm where his armor was connected before he went around him and grabbed Alice.

Jaime jumped back, the girl on his back while she both healed him and herself. “Grab on.” Jaime said to her and brandished his sword towards the men when the dagger wielder went to one knee, coughing up blood.

“Fucking useless cunts.” the armored man said, holding his arm, the blood dripping out of his armor. “You don’t want this fight old man.” he said as Jaime slowly walked backwards, turning around and changing into a sprint when he thought the distance safe and his wounds healed enough. The girl had saved his life, had saved their lives. He smiled despite the close proximity of their enemy. More and stronger would come but they had fought and survived.

“Good job Alice.” he said, speeding through the forest with the girl on his back, her eyes focused forwards, anger burning in them.

Author's note: Didn't mention this in the chapter but her class is "Azarinth Rogue Healer" because she didn't have the books related to their history.