Solo Strategy

I lay on my back, looking up at the night sky—surprisingly clear tonight, transparent like a mountain stream. The stars, like millions of tiny sparks, were scattered across the black velvet, forming intricate patterns, whose interpretation depended only on the imagination of the beholder.

Scully was resting on my chest. Pressing her cheek against me, she lazily traced her fingers over my stomach as if exploring the contours of an unknown map. I could feel her breathing—even and calm—mixing with the aroma of herbs and the faint smell of ash left from the fire.

Did I regret losing control and giving in? No. Not a bit. Any other answer would be a lie, and lying to myself was the last thing I wanted.

Now, looking at her relaxed and so peaceful smile, I realized how tense she had been before. It was as if her entire inner world had been bound by invisible chains. Now, having let go, Scully had become somewhat different—more alive and, it seemed to me, calmer. Her face had smoothed out, the tension at the corners of her eyes had vanished, and now she seemed even more beautiful than before.

I understood that comparing women was a thankless task, but Scully and Arien were both Shards, and I couldn't help but compare. They were alike in many ways: determined, intelligent, aware of their worth. But their differences were no less significant. Unlike my ex, Scully was more straightforward and, frankly, downright cheeky. In intimacy, the difference was even more pronounced. Yes, they were both passionate, perfectly understanding what they wanted from a partner. But while Arien always tried to control everything and preferred the leading role... To my considerable surprise, Scully turned out to be quite different.

She, on the contrary, chose the role of the follower, skillfully adapting to her partner. This was a surprise for me. And when she started using her rope, not on me but on herself—that was... Let me be frank: I liked it. No, there wasn't a hint of masochism or a desire for pain; rather, her willingness to fully trust at that moment of intimacy was strikingly attractive. And the rope, honestly, allowed us to try positions I hadn't even imagined. If Arien in bed was the same as out of it, then Scully transformed completely. I didn't know what the reason was, but for me, it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Especially since it seemed Scully didn't even know the meaning of the word "shyness."

I'd compare Arien to fire, and Scully—to water. Maybe the comparison was a bit forced, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

Without taking my eyes off the future goddess of the Hunt, I thought it was a mistake to consider her a shard of Artemis. As far as I remembered, the Greek goddess was a conceptual virgin, so to speak, and what Scully did last night was anything but pure.

The huntress's delicate fingers froze on my stomach, and she lifted her head, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Are you comparing?" she said softly, as if reading my thoughts.

"Just enjoying the moment." Sometimes, you just have to lie, and this was one of those times.

I had a feeling Scully caught my lie perfectly, but didn't show it, just smiled.

"Yeah..." she drawled, stretching like a cat, raising her arms so that her fingers dug into my hair. "Tonight, you broke my habit of being disappointed."

I didn't even know what to say in response. Was that a compliment or something else? I had no desire to analyze her every word and look for hidden meanings. No, I still understood perfectly well that the girl embracing me was very dangerous, so much so that she could easily kill me. But at the same time, I felt no threat from her at all.

"Don't you want to say how good I was?" Scully smirked, resting her chin on my chest.

"What do you mean 'was'?" I smiled and ran my fingers down her bare back.

"Yes!" the future goddess of the Hunt agreed unexpectedly cheerfully. "You're right, I'm always good!" Then her gaze drifted lower over my body, and she froze for a second before rolling off me onto the grass, laughing. "No, Crow, enough. As the French say, 'One should leave the table with a slight feeling of hunger.'"

Not at all shy under my gaze, Scully slowly got to her feet, walked to the river, and squatted down to touch the water with her hand. It was a pleasure to watch her. The physical excitement had subsided, but it was still hard to take my eyes off the future goddess of the Hunt. It was like watching a living ancient statue. Admittedly, the busts of those statues were usually much smaller than Scully's, but to say this detail spoiled her would be against any sense of beauty.

Winking playfully at me, Scully suddenly pushed off from the shore, soared about ten feet into the air, performed a front flip, and then, like an arrow shot from a celestial bow, dove into the water with hardly a splash.

Yes! Taking a dip after such a wild time was a great idea. Slowly getting to my feet and stretching, I started to run. At the very edge of the bank, I jumped as high as I could... On Earth, even if I had been in perfect shape, I would never have been able to pull off anything like this: a triple front flip, a one-thousand-eighty-degree twist, and at the top of the arc—a sharp extension from the tuck, an arched "swallow" pose, and a smooth transition into a double somersault. My timing and position were almost flawless, and when my hands hit the water, my body was already perfectly aligned. The cool flowing water was pleasantly refreshing. The river was about three meters deep at this point, so I quickly surfaced after pushing off the bottom...

To find myself face to face with Scully:

"Will you rub my back?" she smiled...

When, fifteen minutes later, I carried Scully to the shore, the girl smoothly but insistently slipped out of my arms. Standing on her feet, the future goddess of the Hunt lightly touched my cheek with her palm:

"There's a certain charm in this kind of back rubbing," she laughed softly.

"Someone mentioned a light feeling of hunger," I replied with a smile.

"Oh!" she exclaimed theatrically. "I just asked you to wash me... But it turned out nice." Pushing me away with her palms, Scully took two steps back and, looking me up and down, said, "It was pleasant and even nice... but no relationships. No hard feelings?"

"What if I get upset?" I asked, tilting my head.

"I don't care. You're not a boy to be sulking," she shrugged.

For a moment, it seemed she genuinely didn't want to hurt me. Though, most likely, it was just my imagination.

"And that's all," she shook her hands, then playfully added, "For today. What happens next—we'll see. Agreed, partner?"

I didn't know what drove her, but this arrangement suited me perfectly. Pretending to think it over, I stayed silent for half a minute, then clarified with a friendly smile:

"Partnership with benefits?"

I extended my hand for a handshake. Grabbing it, she pressed it to her chest and squeezed, then rolled her eyes and said with a look as if she were walking to the gallows:

"With benefits."

Laughing and shaking her head, Scully let go of my hand, but seeing I had no intention of moving it away, she patiently waited until I had my fun. I could clearly see she liked it, and her "suffering" expression was just an easily readable act. And yes, she knew I understood this, but she wasn't embarrassed at all.

"I'm hungry. Do you have any food left?" asked the future goddess of the Hunt, leisurely getting dressed.

"Maybe if you dig to the bottom," I replied, pulling on my underwear.

Dressed up to her waist, Scully approached my backpack and began rummaging through it. I had grown accustomed to her lack of ceremony, so I didn't object. Finding some bread, the last of the cheese, and a pouch of spices, she went to her belongings and pulled a skinned rabbit from her bag. Why did she dig through my supplies if she had meat of her own?

"In Australia, we have loads of these rabbits; you learn to cook them whether you want to or not," she said, crouching by the shore and starting to prepare the carcass. "If we have about thirty minutes, I can make coal-cooked rabbit, miner style..." She paused for a second. "If I find the bacon. I think there's some."

"Half an hour? For meat cooked by you?" A playful spark lit up in my eyes. "Of course, we have time!"

"Then you handle the coals, and I'll take care of the rest," Scully nodded, flicking drops of blood from her knife.

Skillfully butchering the rabbit, the huntress cut the meat into roughly equal pieces, wrapped them in bacon after rubbing them with spices. By the time she finished her preparations, the coals—thanks to household Fire magic—were ready too. Sitting by the fire, Scully skewered the bacon-wrapped pieces on makeshift spits from shrub branches and began roasting them.

"Should I get dressed?" she asked innocently, noticing my gaze fixed on her bare chest.

"Not a chance!" I waved my hands.

"Ha!" chuckled the future goddess of the Hunt. "That's what I like about you, Crow—your straightforwardness. Though you're also quite the cunning chauvinist bastard." Her tone suddenly shifted. "But... it actually suits you." She waved a skewer. "There's a special charm in that contradiction."

"There are plenty of contradictions in you too," I spread my hands, not finding a more original response.

"Indeed," Scully agreed easily. "Now, while I'm preparing dinner, entertain the girl with some talk. But keep it light—tell something amusing."

Recalling a couple of stories from my athletic past and embellishing them for effect, I began my narration. It seemed the girl wasn't lying about her professional experience—her precise and relevant comments clearly testified to that. Finishing yet another tale, I took the cooked meat from her hands and changed the subject:

"So, you're an excellent archer…"

"Magnificent and exceptional!" Scully corrected me, biting into the meat.

"Of course, magnificent and exceptional," I nodded. "And here in Ain, you surely have accompanying talents. For example, an inclination toward Air magic?"

"Crow, speak directly," the huntress looked at me sternly.

"Are you familiar with the Wind Sense aura?" I asked without preamble.

"I am," Scully confirmed, nodding her head.

"Will you teach me?"

Wiping her lips, the girl stared at me with an evaluating gaze, then asked:

"And what's in it for me, partner?"

"I can teach you a modified Stoneskin spell."

"Modified by whom?" Scully clarified, but reading something in my eyes, continued without waiting for an answer. "Alright, I could have guessed. Deal."

Initially, I planned to master this aura in Deytran by finding a retired ship mage. It allowed one to better sense air currents, detect updrafts and downdrafts, and redirect them within certain limits. Moreover, it enhanced Air school spells. After the long journey through the swamps, I conceived an unconventional use for this aura. I hoped my idea, based on the earthlings' developments from the Last Cycle, would prove workable. At Sapphire, it could only be used with difficulty, but at Diamond...

"Crow, what are you daydreaming about?" Scully snorted, realizing my thoughts had drifted far away.

"I want to fly," I admitted honestly.

"I once saw a Heroic Coil mage—he was flying on some disgusting dragon-like thing with a crocodile's snout and a long neck."

"Probably a wyvern," I nodded. "I've heard an experienced mentalist can tame such a monster after years of persistent training. Or a Summoning mage might replace the creature's soul with a submissive one. But that's, of course, just rumors," I quickly added, avoiding unnecessary questions about my knowledge.

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"Judging by your face, you don't plan to tame such a beast for flying, do you?" the future goddess of the Hunt squinted slyly.

After a couple seconds' thought, I decided not to deflect with a joke:

"You're right. I'm considering something like a glider or a hang glider."

"Oh!" Scully perked up, then immediately frowned. "Big target, not very maneuverable. Easy to shoot down."

"It's not for combat," I waved off. "There are just places where flying is easier than walking... Like the Patanga swamps."

"I've heard of them," the huntress nodded. "They say they're full of monsters."

"True," I agreed. "I was there recently."

"Will you tell me about it?" Scully's eyes lit up with hunting excitement.

"Spell exchange first," I said firmly, tossing an empty skewer into the coals.

"Just so you know, the Wind Sense aura requires three Talent Stars in Air magic," the huntress smirked.

"I've got plenty of talents," I said, spreading my hands with feigned modesty.

"Crow-Crow..." my charming companion shook her head and winked playfully. "Some of your talents I really liked."

"They pale in comparison to yours," I countered, not taking my eyes off her chest.

"I'm not even going to argue," Scully laughed, reaching for her things and slipping on her shirt—though she conveniently "forgot" to button it. "Alright, let's start the training... Hands off! And don't make that face, like someone's taking your favorite toy away. Sit opposite me. Further away! Close your eyes. Not squinting, but fully close them!.."

Her approach to teaching was strikingly different from Arien's method. First, Scully explained the theory in simple, understandable terms—not like the local masters. Then, using her own sensations as an example, she showed me what I was supposed to feel. Apparently, we thought alike because her explanations were incredibly clear. Within an hour, I grasped the basics of the new aura. Of course, I was far from perfecting it, but the future goddess of the Hunt laid the foundation for me. In turn, I almost verbatim repeated the method my ex had taught me. And once again, I was convinced that Scully was a true Shard: she grasped the essence of the Metal Scale spell twice as fast as I did back then.

While we were exchanging spells, I noticed changes in the huntress. After the night we spent together, she remained the same straightforward, sarcastic, and blunt person, but a certain calmness appeared in her. If before her movements sometimes broke into sharp jerks, now they acquired even more predatory grace. And her gaze lost that strange gleam—as if before she had been constantly restraining an inner rage.

"Where are you heading next?" Scully asked as she began donning her armor, having managed to confidently repeat the Metal Scale spell.

"As I said, I'll check the ruins of the old castle," I replied, pulling on my gambeson.

"No, I meant where you're going after that, partner," she clarified, adjusting the straps of her armor.

"Sun City," I shrugged, seeing no reason to hide my route. "I'm meeting with a representative of the Paladin Corps."

Hearing this, Scully paused, gave me an assessing look, then smirked and bent down for her quiver of javelins.

"I've heard of that organization," she said, her voice neutral, revealing nothing about her feelings towards the warriors of Light. "I guess I'm also heading to Pentapolis, but not to Sun City."

"Want to see the Inverted Towers?" I guessed.

"What?" She stared in confusion, then laughed. "No. I have other business."

"Care to share your plans with your partner?" I masked my question with a light tease.

"I've picked up a hobby," she replied, a bloodthirsty smile flickering on her lips that made me flinch. "And its trail, I believe, leads to Atreia."

"Need any help?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Crow," Scully said sternly, crossing her arms. "I'm not a little girl; I can handle it myself. Besides, it wouldn't be as fun with someone else's help."

"Poor Rahu..." I whispered silently, turning away and guessing what "hobby" she meant.

"What?" She perked up, sensing something familiar in my words.

"Nothing, don't mind it," I waved off, lifting Striking Whisper.

After extinguishing the last embers, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and tightened the straps securely. I scanned the campsite carefully—had I forgotten anything?

"Not taking your stones?" Scully smirked.

Picking up the stones that resembled miniature boars, I tossed them into the river near the shore.

"Their home is here," I smirked back at the huntress.

And really, why keep these pointless trinkets around, just taking up space?

"Well, let's go check out your ruins then," Scully nodded, finishing up erasing all traces of our presence—all but the fire pit.

"Actually, I planned to do this alone," I objected, staying put.

"Crow," her smile softened so much it felt like a schoolteacher addressing a favorite student, "I'll just watch. If you do find something," she shrugged, "which I doubt, I won't claim your trophies."

"Then why do you want to come?" I asked, trying to keep a neutral tone.

"Honestly?" A hidden laugh flickered in her eyes. "I just want to test your luck."

"What do you mean?" I didn't expect that answer.

"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of tales, legends, and ballads about the past," Scully said, stepping closer and looking into my eyes. "Most are complete nonsense... But you chose to verify this particular story."

I absolutely didn't want to take her with me. But what options did I have? She wouldn't give up. Noticing her tailing me in the forest thicket—considering who I thought she would become—would be a miracle. If she wanted to, she'd follow unnoticed, no matter how carefully I covered my tracks.

"What do I get out of this, partner?" I deliberately stretched the words to hide my irritation.

"So, the company of a beautiful girl is no longer enough for you?" she laughed and, stepping back, confidently walked toward the forest.

After standing alone for half a minute, I sighed heavily and followed. It wasn't that her company was unpleasant to me—quite the opposite. But I knew Scully's character too well and doubted she would refrain from claiming any finds.

Upon entering the forest, I realized I had lost the huntress. She was definitely nearby and couldn't have gone far in such a short time, but no matter how much I strained my Perception aura or peered into the night shadows, I didn't notice a trace of her presence. Deciding not to worry about it, with the most independent and indifferent demeanor, I headed directly west, where I remembered the ruins I needed were located. I tried to move silently, though I understood that compared to Scully, my movement probably resembled a moose making its way through the forest thicket.

I couldn't shake the thought of whether I'd made a big mistake by letting my desires take over. Who could tell now how Scully's attitude towards me would change after our intimacy? Yes, we had a fantastic time. Better than fantastic... But what would be the consequences? I didn't know about her, but I definitely couldn't see Scully the same way as before. Having seen a completely different side of her, her carefully concealed desire to trust someone behind her cheekiness, deliberate spontaneity, and straightforwardness, I couldn't look at her the same way anymore. Would this change stop my hand if the huntress followed her instincts and started killing people? Could I strike, or would my hand falter? I had no answer to this question...

"Two." Scully appeared before me, seemingly out of nowhere. "Two hundred meters to the north. Wootz and Steel. Heading our way." Despite standing just a step away from her, I could barely hear her whisper. "Judging by the look—gamekeepers."

The huntress's hand rested on one of her javelins. Shaking my head, I gestured negatively in the air.

"They're just foresters, most likely. It's their job to check this forest. No need to attack," I whispered back. "Let's just let them pass or walk by."

Nodding briefly, Scully waved her hand, suggesting I follow her, and practically vanished into the forest thicket. She slipped behind a tree trunk just three steps away from me and disappeared from sight.

For about ten minutes, I moved as quietly as possible in the direction the huntress had indicated. I even considered wrapping myself in the Shadow Cloak, but ultimately decided against revealing my Shadow magic skills to Scully. Occasionally, she deliberately appeared within sight and gestured to guide me in the right direction. This continued for another quarter of an hour until Scully reappeared and mouthed silently:

"Clear. They've gone to the river. Will pass half a kilometer from our camp. Moving as if on their usual route." Her face took on a slightly disdainful expression. "Lazybones. They were even chatting with each other instead of doing their job properly. Although… They know their way around the forest. Better than you do." She couldn't resist a light jab at me.

"I'm more used to dungeons," I retorted, trying not to show that her words had stung. A little, but they had.

"Where to next?"

"West, and judging by what I heard, the ruins aren't far."

"I'll go look," the future goddess of the Hunt smirked and disappeared into the forest again.

For some reason, I had a feeling she already found the ruins and was just checking if I could find them myself.

Straining my memory of the future, I realized I didn't remember any additional landmarks except for the river bend. I had to mentally reconstruct the entire route we had taken since leaving the camp, then veered slightly to the left.

The ruins were indeed found quite quickly, about a kilometer from where I last saw Scully. However, even calling the remnants of the old castle "ruins" was a stretch. Only the foundation remained, and it was completely overgrown with shrubs and moss.

"Do you really hope to find anything here?" Scully inquired sarcastically, emerging like a ghost from a small ravine to my left.

"Let's see how my luck holds." I shrugged, giving the huntress a slightly crooked smile.

Although I knew exactly where to look, I pretended to search for about an hour. During this time, Scully neither helped nor hindered me, pretending to watch the surroundings but, I suspected, keeping an eye on me. I, too, didn't lose sight of her. And it didn't escape my notice that, in addition to Shadow Cloak, the huntress was quite adept at Illusion magic. What's more, her skill was above mine, allowing her to change the color and shades of her armor so that she seemed to vanish into the forest.

"You found something!" The huntress leaped from a tree branch and landed beside me as soon as I froze longer than usual.

"Background emanations of an old sacred barrier," I lied, hoping it sounded convincing.

"That could just be a coincidence," Scully shrugged. "According to your story, the castle belonged to a noble family, and surely all its walls were enchanted with protective magic. This could be residual traces from those spells."

"You won't know until you check." I shrugged and began clearing the ancient pile of massive stones.

The large boulders, which even three strong men couldn't move, were covered in slippery moss. Nevertheless, I managed to clear them in fifteen minutes without using magic. The memory of the future didn't fail me. Among the bleached bones lay two fragments of valirium swords. No traces of magic—if they had ever been enchanted, any magic had long since dissipated over the centuries.

In reality, these blades weren't particularly valuable. They couldn't be restored, only melted down. But these shards contained one and a half kilograms of pure valirium without the slightest impurity. By Deytran standards, their value was about three thousand gold coins. However, I wasn't intending to sell them—I had other plans for this metal. Of course, I'd need about as much more, but that was a detail for later.

"Doesn't look much like artifacts," Scully frowned, examining the find. "Just fragments of old swords. And this is your 'treasure'?"

In response, I lightly tapped the blades against each other.

"Strange sound," the huntress grimaced.

Asking for one of the fragments, she examined it closely, then sharply ran it across her chainmail, tapped it on the shoulder piece, and, handing it back to me, looked as if her pet kitten had suddenly started talking.

"Valirium?"

"You guessed it," I nodded.

I took the dark cloth from my backpack and began wrapping up the find.

"Listen..." Settling on a boulder and crossing her legs, Scully looked at me intently. "Crow... Don't get twitchy. I promised not to claim the find, so I won't. But... I have a question."

"I can't promise I'll answer."

"And this is after everything that has happened between us?" she frowned playfully.

"And what exactly has happened between us?" I asked, finishing the wrapping and looking up at her.

"Partnership... with benefits," she answered evasively, and I thought the tips of her ears turned slightly pink.

"Partnership implies mutually beneficial cooperation," I smirked with an air of independence.

"I don't need anything from you," Scully waved her hand, regaining her composure. "Almost... I just want to test your luck again."

"And how do you plan to do that?" I asked, getting to my feet and slinging the backpack over my shoulder.

"You said you've heard hundreds of different legends," the huntress drawled. "So, maybe, tell me one... The first that comes to your mind?"

Hmm… There was something to that! What from what I knew—thanks to the memory of the future—could strengthen a Shard of the goddess of the Hunt? My gaze slid along her spear and then returned to it again. With a sharp prick, a memory unfolded in my mind, like a rosebud.

"South of the Star Bay. I mean very far to the south, there are impenetrable jungles," the huntress nodded, evidently already quite familiar with the continent's geography. "People haven't lived there for a long time. Hundreds of dungeons in those areas go into Overflow every month because no one defends them."

"I heard of a kingdom that holds back the influx of various creatures from those jungles," Scully nodded.

"There's more than just one of those—kingdoms, duchies, and baronies," I agreed. "But that's not the point right now. The point is that, according to one legend, in those jungles, specifically in their northwestern part, there once existed a rich empire whose name has been lost to time. This empire waged war for many years with the Sidhe Forest at its borders. During the Dark Ages, the empire fell but managed to destroy the Forest as well. In the last battle between humans and the Sidhe, two great warriors faced each other. The champion of Antares represented the humans, and Da'Rrun, the left hand of Da'Nnan and one of the lieutenants of the Wild Hunt, represented the Sidhe. The battle ended in a draw—the two warriors killed each other. This duel took place in the Temple of All Gods, on the ruins of the burning capital of the empire. The fight was so devastating that the Temple collapsed, burying the bodies of the great warriors beneath it. The humans managed to find the body of the champion of Antares, but the remains of Da'Rrun were never found.

Interrupting the story, I pretended to be busy cleaning the dirt off my feet.

"And why are you telling me this particular story, choosing it among the hundreds of legends you know?" Scully's voice had a hint of carefully concealed curiosity.

"Da'Rrun's weapon was a hunting spear. I've seen the frescoes, and it looks exactly like the one you have in your hands now. According to the legend, that spear was created by Dyuryin. In the final battle, the Champion of Light lost his hammer and, grabbing Da'Rrun's spear, purified the weapon of Darkness with a prayer to Antares and killed the Sidhe hero with it, after which he fell exhausted and died himself."

"I've heard so many stories like that," Scully shrugged, but I noticed my tale had caught her interest.

"You asked me to tell the first thing that came to mind, so I did," I said, pretending not to care whether my story intrigued her or not, as I started placing the stones back in their spots. "Now it's your turn to share something interesting."

"Partnership," she nodded with a playful smile. "I think I have something you'll find interesting. But first, answer one question. You want to make a hang glider, but do you know how to build one?"

"I flew once in a past life," I shrugged.

"You do realize that's not enough for building a proper hang glider, right?" the huntress said slyly.

"There are plenty of earthlings in Ain; I'll find a specialist," I smiled as confidently as I could.

"And how long will you search for one? No need to answer. Consider me your luck," the girl said, and with a showy slowness, leaned back. "Yesterday, in a tavern, one of ours tried to hit on me. He was laying it on thick, going on about how he'd been a fighter pilot on Earth, but it turned out he was just an amateur. Not military either, just into paragliding and cross-country... that's the discipline of long-distance flights on hang gliders."

"Name," I asked curtly.

"He introduced himself as Skyros. A mage of air and fire. Boasted that he would soon advance to Wootz."

Skyros… I remembered that name from the Last Cycle. He'd worked with Katashi for a while, which was how we met. Later, he vanished, a month before the Invasion. But was this the same Skyros? I didn't know. The one I remembered had never mentioned an interest in flight. Though the name was distinctive. Sky, after all, was an English word which could be related to flying.

"Where did you meet him?" I asked.

"The city of Trimentir. If you hadn't turned south, you would have reached it in a couple of hours," the future goddess of the Hunt shrugged. "It's at the confluence of three rivers, on the trade route from Rur to Pentapolis. Apparently, this Skyros ordered something from the local craftsmen and planned to stay in Trimentir for at least three more days..."