The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 251: Reaching the desert

Micky felt his hunger return with a vengeance.

Rapidly consuming his stamina, he kept both instances of his boosting art active at all times. Most prominent was a set of glowing amber lines branching out of his heart, reaching every corner of his body. A second set spread from his abdomen, swirling like green gales of wind, lighting his feathers up.

‘I wish I’d finished tempering the new channels…’

Had he done that, he could have relied more on his second core, lifting some pressure off his beast mana. Alas, the Holy Child had found him a few weeks too soon… As things stood, Micky had to expel the excess water mana from his body, leaving an azure trail in his wake.

Glancing back, Micky saw the boy was still chasing after him, showing no signs of giving up. Asshole or not, he had to admit the kid was persistent. That said, he’d no intention of falling into the Green-born’s clutches.

Just as he contemplated whether it was worth accelerating, a sudden influx of teal mana flooded his body.

‘We’ve got everything under control here. How’s it going on your end?’ Percy asked.

‘He’s right behind me. Should I try losing him ahead of time? I’m not sure I can make it to the desert like this.’

But Percy metaphorically shook his head.

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‘All the more reason to pace yourself. Don’t burn through your stamina any faster than this. Use my mana to slow down the exhaustion.’

Micky did as he was told, knowing his friend was right. As uneasy as he felt flying in the boy’s sight, he understood his priority was to reach his next meal, otherwise he was screwed. Even if he managed to escape from the Holy Child, he’d starve long before anybody could help him.

Gathering the fused mana to his beak and talons, he took advantage of the raging flow of beast mana in his bloodstream to feed his first core. Of course, it still wasn’t enough to offset his expenditure – Percy’s two Orange cores falling a little short of his Yellow one. Not to mention that his conversion efficiency had yet to surpass 25%.

Still, that should buy him a little more time.

***

A few more days passed, Micky’s condition continuing to deteriorate. His body was already shrivelled and weak, many of his feathers falling off or losing their lustre. If his rampant hunger wasn’t enough, sleep deprivation was also starting to gnaw at him. Though it wasn’t all bad.

Percy was still pumping teal mana through the cord, taking very few breaks if any. He was doing an even better job supporting him than when they were in the Camelot province, probably realizing he needed every last mote to survive.

Even better, the Holy Child had actually fallen behind! Not because of anything Micky had done – he was still flying no faster than before. Rather, it was the boy himself that had stopped at some point, probably not used to exerting himself for days on end.

‘Should I take a break too?’ Micky wondered.

Though he shook his head the very next moment. Tempting as it was, it wouldn’t help with his starvation. He was better off reaching the desert sooner rather than later. Plus, it might be easier to ditch the kid if he didn’t waste the head start.

Having made his mind up, Micky pressed on, determined to get through this.

***

It wasn’t until the following day that the grassland gave way to a sandy terrain. The shift was gradual at first, but Micky was surrounded by tall dunes soon enough. The ground beneath him looked like a light brown sheet stretching as far as his vision did, its folds and creases glistening under the scorching sunlight.

Micky ignored all that – not in the mood for sightseeing. Instead, he scanned the scenery in search of his targets. It didn’t take him long to spot a few scorpions, though they were all at Orange. The Yellow variants were supposedly farther in, according to the information Elaine had shared.

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‘If I don’t find them in the next hour, I’ll eat a few of the smaller ones to build my strength up.’ he decided.

Swooping down for a quick snack wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, but he’d rather not waste a second more than necessary. After all, he had no idea how close his pursuer was.

Luckily, he ran into the first of the human-sized variants soon enough. It was actually in the middle of cannibalizing one of its smaller brethren. Not that strange, given the relative scarcity of food in the area. Micky understood well enough the pressure beasts his grade were under on a daily basis.

Strong prey probably didn’t pass through here often, so the scorpions had to eat each other regularly to survive. It meant the survivors were the strongest among their kin. Still…

Micky descended at a ridiculous speed, pumping all his air mana into his feathers. Rending Tornado took effect as he spun through the last stretch. The scorpion tried to stab at him, but its stinger shattered harmlessly against his beak as its venom got scattered by the violent gusts of wind.

The creature didn’t even suffer much, Micky drilling through its tough carapace with ease, as if it was made of paper. Strong or not, there was no Yellow beast on Remior half as powerful as him. And he wasn’t in the mood to play around with his food right now.

Searching through the scorpion’s remains, Micky swallowed its core whole before pecking the other pieces in a rush. Whether it was the hard shards of chitin from the beast’s exoskeleton, or the soft chunks of meat contained within, it all tasted heavenly to the starving bird. His only regret was that he couldn’t slow down to savour it. In fact, he even kept Circulation up with his second core, to replenish the air mana he’d just consumed by the time he finished his lunch.

‘It’s done. I’ve managed to grab a bite. The kid is nowhere to be seen. What now?’

A wave of relief gushed through the cord. Suffice to say, Percy had been worried sick about him over the past week.

‘Eat another if you’ve got the time. As many as you need to fully charge up. Then, head north-west, but don’t use Circulation with your first core if you can avoid it. We don’t know how long it’ll be until your next proper meal.’

Micky nodded.

‘You said there should be a small lake there?’ he asked.

‘Yes. Right where the sand ends. Elaine says it should be hard to miss. You need to wash yourself there, before changing course to the north-east. Hopefully, that should be enough to cut the trail short.’

‘Alright.’

Technically, they still didn’t know how the Holy Child was tracking him. The most likely culprit was a bloodline, though they had no idea how it worked. That said, escaping from the boy’s sight and erasing his scent ought to be enough. If not, there wasn’t much else he could do.

‘Where are we meeting?’ Micky asked again.

‘We’re heading to the Thirsty Valley. We couldn’t stay in Goldenfield town after killing those Greens. I think we’ve done a decent job covering up the mess, but we figured it was better to distance ourselves from that. Just follow the cord to me whenever you can.’ Percy said, though he failed to mask the worry in his tone.

Micky knew his friend didn’t like him travelling alone. Even though he’d proven strong and fast enough to take care of himself, Percy was a bit overprotective. It could be annoying at times, though Micky still felt some warmth in his chest, happy to have somebody looking out for him.

‘Don’t worry about me. I’ll catch up before you get there.’

The next few hours went by quite smoothly. Micky ate two more Yellow scorpions until he felt as stuffed as he’d been after Jason and Rambert. Making his way to the lake, he bathed there for a couple of minutes before taking off towards the others.

The Holy Child was nowhere to be seen.

Micky flew slower than before, conserving his beast mana while relying exclusively on his second core to boost his speed. Percy never stopped providing him with mana, which helped a lot more now that he wasn’t eating through his stamina in a rush.

‘I guess it’s over…’ Micky exhaled in relief.

Still, he didn’t relax until well past nightfall, to ensure he put some more distance from the lake – so that the kid didn’t stumble into him by accident. Only when he was certain he was safe did he allow himself to land at a relatively concealed spot behind a hill, to finally get some proper rest.

‘Tomorrow, I should look for another body of water. Maybe vary the route I take a bit too, just in case.’

Sleeping alone in the wilderness without anybody to watch over him was inherently risky, of course, but he didn’t have a choice. He’d have to do it sooner or later, and it was already long overdue. In any case, Micky had done everything he could to eliminate the danger. The rest would be up to his luck…

***

A rumbling sound woke him up, as the very ground beneath him shook.

Jumping to his talons, he saw tall walls of stone erect all around him. He tried to fly away, but he was a moment too late, as a ceiling of the same material formed above him, blotting out the sky.

Everything instantly went dark, save for a rectangular hole allowing some light to enter from one side. It was as tall as a person. A doorway. Micky tried to waddle over to the only exit, though a figure soon stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

He was shorter than Percy or Nesha. A kid. Micky struggled to make out the features of the dark silhouette, though there was no question in his mind as to his captor’s identity. Any lingering doubts evaporated soon enough, as he saw the Blue core thrumming in the boy’s chest, a suffocating domain sapping his will to resist.

Micky could do nothing but watch, as the figure grinned, an ominous glint forming in his eyes…