You better be careful, Yukina. Don't get killed.
Shen..? Is she in here…?
I'm so tired… My remaining vision was blurry, my back was on fire.
I found your parents, stay alive.
Shen's voice resounded in my head, then disappeared. I rubbed my good eye, and finally looked around. Right.. that happened…
The events from yesterday transpired in my head; we're in this cave still. Verd's kids were huddled up next to me.
Once.. once again, I hope everyone is alive.
After staying on the rock, hard ground for a bit I got to my feet. Still colder than shit… haah… I have to warm them up somehow…
I turned towards the decently large jacket I frequently wore. Then, I grabbed it and wrapped these two kids up. They need it more than me…
Despite being able to see my breath, I went towards the mouth of the cave. It was so much colder than inside, yet I needed to get this done. This is taking ages..
The snow needed to be cleared out, heat won't melt the snow; if it did we were going to drown. Conversely, I could use a wall of fire to clear out a path. All I need to do is control its heat to melt the snow and the water at the same time.
"Let's just get to this…" I muttered, cupping my mouth with my hands then rubbed them. My skin was already red from sleeping in this frigid environment.
My foot crunched the initial snow, then I turned to the left. That's where we need to go… Haah…. Let's go..
But fuck this cold! I conjured a fireball next to me. I raised my hands, and let out a gigantic wall of flames. Instead of a circle, I crafted it into separate walls. One on each side of me, and it spanned a few feet towards the left.
"Slowly, keep it steady…"
"If I want to keep my mana effective, I need to make it last. C'mon Yukina… do it… for yourself and them…"
The snow instantly turned to steam when I increased the heat. "One down…" I let out, alongside the snow, the ground underneath was scorched.
On my second rotation, I noticed a furry white hide to my right. A bear?
It was rather large, bruised and bloodied. To double check, I focused my hearing on it, it was breathing… but heavily.
Rattling, and blood was filling its lungs. Just from sound, that was obvious. However, when I neared it, the bear made an uproar with vigor.
Snow shot out, and it let out a final roar and glared at me with anger. However, that did not last long as it crumpled to the ground.
One of its front legs was pouring blood— it was missing, the other front leg was barely dangling with a small fleshy connection.
"More practice for me…" I muttered as I raised my right hand. And so, I prepared an earth dart and spun it to an insane degree. Increasing the speed for those was easy, spinning it around itself then letting it build up for a minute or so usually made it sound-speed breaking.
After the first bear fell to my hands, I continued with my task. Now that there were monsters resting in this aftermath, I need to be careful.
Should I just clear out all this snow…? I turned my head and stared at the white blanket around. I might have to.
It's only me and those two, with my spells I can only take care of these monsters. I gave the corpse of the bear a slight kick. After that, I did as my instincts told me to.
Over the course of the next ten or so minutes, I found even more monsters— mainly bears— this apparently was their domain it seemed.
I only struggled with one, it managed to swipe at me, but that was easily dodgeable.
Whilst some were wolves, they allowed me to end their suffering without fighting. They only stared at me pleadingly.
In fact… I think they were wanting me to save them. Whimpering, staring, bowing… they were acting abnormally. Ugh…
I still need to do my job, I'll worry about that later.
Alas, I focused on this task for another ten to twenty minutes— there were sparse monsters now.
"Oh, well…"
I incinerated the corpses, I couldn't drag them. The rotting corpses would make us sick, and possibly kill us.
Once all the ashes were scattered, I went searching again— and the range was vastly bigger, my job was pretty effective.
If the cave was our home, I made us an acre of lawn; if we had a white picket fence, this would be a home from back then.
This does make us open to travelers, creatures, or where everyone is. I'm still trying to remain calm throughout this… I need to be the adult around these two kids.
"Wait. Why the hell did I do that?!" I smacked my forehead. "Damn it…"
Although they are worrying, I could've skinned them. As crazy as it sounds, I have an idea.
When I was back at the mouth of the cave, I knelt down and felt the ground. It was smooth, albeit a little pokey. However, that was irrelevant.
Essentially… What if I try to manipulate the earth beneath my feet? I mean… let's not think of this too much.
At first, it was immensely difficult; the ground wasn't letting me push through— it was as if I was pushing a knife through thick steel.
"Big- big sister…? C-can we come out…?"
"FUCK!" Without thinking I yelled out. I WAS SO CLOSE!!
"S-sorry…"
"Yes, yes you can come out! Just be quiet, okay?"
"Mm…"
If I can do this, I can try to skin these damn beasts.
"W-what are you doing…?"
"Trying to see if I can make a knife…" I explained, smiling at the two kids. "Just be quiet and I'll show you."
Once these two nodded, I did my practice. My mana was able to pierce the ground, and I could feel the minerals listening. With my will moving it, I pulled my hand up
"Yes!!" I hissed under my breath when I felt something rocky in my palms. Grey, dull looking, the handle was misshapen all over— it was a knife though, albeit poorly made.
"Woah-!"
"Don't touch!" I lightly tapped Verd's son's hand. Even if it looked duller than some of my old classmates, I made sure it was sharp. "This is meant for the monsters, okay?"
"O-okay…"
Geez… these kids need to be taught not to put their little hands on things.
Over the course of some time, for god knows how long— don't ask me, I had to focus on these kids and clearing out this damn snow.
I found at most one bear who was slightly lively. Once its neck was torn through by earth darts, I tested the knife on its claws.
And it was to be expected… haaah….
The first claw I had to push hard to cut through— then a crack entered my ears, thus my knife had already met its maker.
The fragility was astonishing, these bear claws aren't necessarily difficult to break or cut. After letting my head down in defeat, I crafted more daggers from there.
Yet… I got interrupted again— these cries— I know whose they are.
Allisa…? Is that you?! She survived?!
"Mom…? Where are you…? Hic… please… where are you…"
Follow her voice! Hurry!
"Big sister wait for us!"
"Stay there! I'll be back!" I exclaimed whilst pointing at the two kids. "Don't move from this cave!"
The kids fell to their butts at my response. The safest bet would be in this cave for them, even now my hearing can barely hear Allisa crying. I need to be alone for this, I cannot worry about two others.
They tried again, and again. They were terrified of being left alone, but I had to force them to sit down. Allisa is out there, it's really dangerous.
After I left the mouth of the cave, I manipulated earth dome. I covered the entire mouth, only leaving an earthy door for people to walk through; alongside slight slits for air to go through.
There she is! Crap crap! She doesn't look good! I ran as fast as I could. "Allisa!"
Tears were streaming down her face, plus clutching her right arm. Her clothes… they were mangled, I could see dried blood from closed wounds on her skin.
"Allisa! Hey, hey!"
"Yuki- yukina…? Is-" Allisa stuttered, she had frozen in place with her eyes widened. She started shaking more, and her tears were worsening. "Yukina…!"
Before she could collapse, I rushed towards her, catching her body just before hitting the ground. She wasn't making any sense.
She began shoving her head into my chest. She's alive…. Thank god… I knelt down, I won't be able to hold her wait.
"It's alright… I'm here…" I rested my head on hers. "It's alright…"
As I was reassuring her, I rubbed her back. This worked on my little sister back home, and it works on her too.
"I-I- I thought I was… I was alone…" Allisa said whilst choking on her own tears. "Is-is mom and dad with you…?"
"No… no they aren't. But…" I stopped speaking and recalled Shen's words. "Mom and dad are okay, Master Shen is with them."
"They.. they are?"
"Mhm, everything will be okay. Let's get going, I found a safe spot for us."
"Where are they?" Allisa asked pleadingly, her tears beginning to swell again. "Yukina- please…"
I grabbed her hands, they were freezing… Now that I have a good look at her— she was on the cusp of getting frostbite on multiple limbs.
"They're safe." As I said this, I ignited palm of flames inside my hands. Only increased the temperature, and disallowed harm to come. With a squeeze, I continued, "like I said, Master Shen is with them— but I don't know where they are."
"The- then how do you, you know..? Are- are you lying to- me…?"
"Nuh uh," with a small smile, I spoke to her. "Master Shen has a spell in which I can talk to her."
Or so I think, that's what I can only think. For one, it explains her voice in my head this morning; nor was I hallucinating— well I believe so, her voice was the last thing I wanted to hear if I were going insane.
"Are mom and dad- are they okay?"
"Mhm, they're unscathed. We'll talk somewhere warm, you're freezing."
"O-Okay…"
From the slight wincing on her face, and her right arm falling limply; she must have hurt it or broken it… well no shit myself.
To prevent any further pain, I grabbed her left hand whilst we navigated this rocky, snowy land. Slow it.
Every little trip we made caused her to whimper in agony and her hand squeezed mine.
"We're almost there, endure it, okay?"
"I-I will…" Allisa responded with gritted teeth.
The cave was visible from our standing positions— we were around fifteen meters away, we followed my original footsteps, one that made sure we wouldn't walk on monsters.
Once we were in front of the mouth, I grabbed the earthy handle and opened the door. As a result, the two kids swarmed my legs with tears in their eyes.
After detaching their arms from my legs, I had us all sit in the middle of this cave. Due to the inability to find branches, I made a fireball— a rather large one to keep us warm.
Is there… right my jacket.
"Eh-eh? W-why?" Allisa stuttered just after I draped my jacket over her shoulders. "You're-"
"Your clothes are shredded. You'll get colder than me."
"...Thank you…."
"Mhm, once you heat up, let me see your arm, okay?"
Allisa finally nodded.
And… as I expected an hour later, her arm was badly broken. I was able to visualize it when I put my mana into her arm— it was snapped in two, not just a simple fracture.
… My earth manipulation isn't strong enough to make a cast— I need to work on it…
"What's wrong…?"
"Keep your arm steady the best you can." I ordered, and gave her a serious expression. "Your arm is pretty badly broken. If you don't keep it steady it'll get worse."
"A-Alright…"
"Good.'
I left that there, and took my seat against her. Thankfully she is also alive.
Due to finding her again, everything felt better— my head was still raging, and bouncing around.
I need to make sure she's going to be okay… I thought whilst looking down at the now sleeping Allisa. Her right arm was stretched out.
I made sure her arm was steady by making a small dome over her forearm to just past her hand.
"Might as well practice to be safe…"
As the night went by, I manipulated the ground beneath me. Unfortunately, I made all brittle weapons. Starting from a sword, it looked cruddy; a dagger which looked infinitely better than my first. But its brittleness was the same— shattering on the ground from a weak hit. Pan? Couldn't withstand heat.
Throughout, the durability slowly increased but hit a bottleneck; only when it became ten percent more durable I felt myself get drowsy.