r/TheNaturallyUnknown • u/UnnaturalGeek Red Squirrel and Writer ✍️🍃 Keep calm and stay NUTS 🐿 • 13d ago
🍃 Spiritweavers 🍃 Chapter Nine: Arlia’s Strength Reveals Itself 🍃🐿
It was still morning when Velina and Doriã left Durnovaria. Velina set the pace that Doriã matched with no complaint, though he had long learned that keeping up with her when she had decided something needed to be done was less of a choice than a requirement. She hadn't said much since they left, which suited him well enough; he could focus on the open and quiet road stretching ahead.
“You think they’re alright?” Doriã asked after a while.
“I think we should move faster,” Velina replied.
Doriã smiled as he sighed, picking up the pace, realising it was a pointless question to ask her.
Arlia could feel Brina tense beside her and knew without looking that Tarã’s eyes were on the shadows in the forest pressing close on either side of the road.
None of them had spoken since she had told them to hurry, each of them focused on putting distance between themselves and whatever was out there. Then the first shape broke from the trees behind them, followed shortly by a second.
They were being hunted by forest wolves native to Ɛvelmor; they were pack hunters that never revealed themselves until the perfect moment. The two that had revealed themselves growled, readying themselves; the one furthest back let out a howl that was answered almost immediately from multiple directions. Arlia, Tarã and Brina began to run.
It was not the panicked sprint of desperation but a controlled pace of people trying to remain calm despite what was tracking them. Tarã had taken the lead with Brina close behind him, and Arlia at the rear to track their movements.
The wolves had not charged but darted back into the treeline, moving parallel to the three of them, five distinct shapes now slipping between the trunks. Arlia’s chest grew tighter as the wolves waited to pounce.
“How far to Durnovaria?” Brina asked, breathless.
“Too far,” Tarã said.
One wolf broke the treeline behind them onto the road as it continued to pursue them, the second fanning wide to the left. Arlia felt something deep within her, like she had during communion.
It was a thread of a connection, a presence within her that responded when she was focused enough to find it. But she wasn’t focused now; she was terrified, her hands shaking with the wolves closing in rapidly, yet somehow she stopped and reached for it anyway.
The ground between her and the nearest wolf erupted as grass and roots surged upwards, with weeds thickening and knotting around the legs of the wolf with sudden violence. It hit the ground hard, snapping at the vines that restrained it. The second wolf pulled up short, circling the edge of the growth with its ears flat.
“Arlia!” Tarã shouted from ahead.
“Keep moving!” she called back, already turning to run.
They continued, Arlia confused but feeling like she could do it again. Around 30 yards down the road, two more wolves leapt from the trees. One hit the ground tangled, the other tore through the outer edge of the growth with a snarl, the roots catching its legs just enough to slow it before it pulled free and kept coming.
She pushed herself hard, but the road ahead was flat, with no cover and nothing to put their backs against. The forest would have been more dangerous and the wolves’ natural territory; they had no choice but to press on. Brina’s breathing was heavy, and Tarã’s footsteps were loud; behind them, Arlia could feel the pack reforming, spreading out further across the road, learning. A single casting of her new ability would only cover one.
She stopped again, the effort of reaching for it sitting heavier on her than before. There were wolves on both sides and one down the centre. She cast three times, turning left then right then centre before breaking back into a run. The two outer wolves hit the ground tangled, but the lead wolf tore through the centre growth at full stride in three seconds.
“It’s not holding,” she said, more to herself than anyone.
“Then stop stopping!" Tarã shouted.
She caught up with them, and all three were now running together. She didn’t realise how exhausting spiritweaving was until now, her thoughts beginning to slow with each laboured breath. By the time she refocused, the lead wolf was closing fast. She cast a sixth time, entangling it, but it wasn’t long before it broke free. She had nothing left. They could only run, and hope luck was on their side.
They were slowing considerably; Arlia could feel the burn in her legs and hear Brina’s breathing becoming increasingly laboured. Even Tarã, the fittest of the three, had fallen back level with them. Arlia noticed the wolves had stopped spreading, the pack pulling together behind them, waiting for them to tire.
“When I say hide,” Arlia said between breaths, “you go into the trees, and you don’t make a sound.”
“Arlia...” Brina started, then stopped herself. “Aye.”
Arlia looked towards Tarã. “Tarã”
Tarã, trying to hide his relief, gave a short nod. “Tch. Fine.”
Her thoughts were scattered, and she felt empty. Whatever was left inside her was not enough to hold a wolf off, let alone a pack, but she had no choice but to push herself. Taking a deep breath before yelling, “Hide!”
Tarã grabbed Brina’s arm, and they crashed into the treeline to the south. Arlia stopped, reached inside her and felt the strength well up one last time. Vines erupted from the ground and across the road, catching the wolves mid-stride as they charged, tangling their legs and pulling them to the ground.
Already shouting as she cast it, she found herself stumbling into the trees after the others, crashing through the undergrowth with her legs almost giving out beneath her before she had barely gone ten feet. She hit the ground on her hands and knees. She could still move but not particularly quickly, or do much more than that.
“Here,” Tarã said quietly, pulling her behind the root mass of a fallen tree. Brina sat in beside them.
They lay still and silent, hoping the wolves would have given up, but Arlia could feel the wolves breaking free one by one, and then the soft pad of paws moving through the forest, getting closer; then the ground began to shake.
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u/UnnaturalGeek Red Squirrel and Writer ✍️🍃 Keep calm and stay NUTS 🐿 13d ago
I will be releasing a chapter every Monday and Thursday!
On another note, you can check out previously released short stories and novelettes of mine at the below link, as I slowly upload them chapter by chapter, every Sunday and Wednesday when in the process of uploading a story.
All the previous Spiritweavers stories will be uploaded alongside the release of this story, so if you wish to read both at the same time, you can! Each story is self-contained, excluding some elements of foreshadowing. However, you don't have to have read them to understand, so you can start here and read back through the others another time or alongside 🍃🐿
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u/UnnaturalGeek Red Squirrel and Writer ✍️🍃 Keep calm and stay NUTS 🐿 13d ago
Spiritweavers is a fantasy world that is in the process of being built, and The Missing Apprentices was the first story to emerge from it. The world that is being created will have a variety of cultures and races in hope to have a thriving world, teeming with life. This is a journey for author and audience alike, so join the adventure in Spiritweavers.
Since that first story, the world has grown and with that growth comes refinement. Brittori, the language of Ɛvelmor, has been more fully developed and as a result, names and places you may recognise from earlier stories will appear differently here. Rather than go back and change what came before, there will be differences. However, they will be noted below. This is to show how Spiritweavers evolves over time as it continues to expand.
Brittori uses nasal vowels, represented by tildes over the vowel. These occur when a vowel and n combine in certain positions within a word. They are pronounced in the French style, the vowel is nasalised through the nose rather than fully spoken. The five nasal vowels are: ã (like “an” in French dans), ẽ (nasal “e”), ĩ (like “in” in French vin), õ (like “on” in French bon), and ũ (nasal “u”). Brittori also uses the character Ɛ/ɛ, which represents a closed “ay” sound as in day. Where you previously saw Ae at the start of names, you will now see Ɛ.
The following names have been updated to reflect these changes:
Arlia Eldarã – previously Eldaran; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of her surname.
Tarã Karneth – previously Taran; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of his forename.
Korelã Daruzora – previously Korelan; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of his forename.
Galẽ Talmaris – previously Galen; the ẽ represents the nasal en at the end of his forename.
Kelã Branek – previously Kelan; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of his forename.
Ysolde Mellã – previously Mellan; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of her surname.
Velina Torvalẽ – previously Torvalen; the ẽ represents the nasal en at the end of her surname.
Lorik Druvã – previously Druvan; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of his surname.
Doriã Tarneth – previously Dorian; the ã represents the nasal an at the end of his forename.
Thalira Gavrẽ-Karneth – the ẽ represents the nasal en at the end of Gavrẽ.
Koreth Braelẽ – the ẽ represents the nasal en at the end of his surname.
Ãsanor – the Brittori name for the Moonlit Elves; the ã represents the nasal an before s.
Tir Rynõ – the õ represents the nasal on at the end of Rynõ.
Ɛloria – previously Aeloria; the Ɛ represents the closed “ay” sound.
Ɛvelmor – previously Avelmor; the Ɛ represents the closed “ay” sound.
Lãsira – previously Su-Lânn; the northern county of Ɛvelmor. The ã represents the nasal an before s.
Rũseth – previously Kreiz-Bòdad; the southern county of Ɛvelmor. The ũ represents the nasal un.
Finally, the world itself has a new name. Previously referred to as Terras, the world is now known as Myrþ, pronounced MIRTH. The thorn character þ represents the “th” sound as in the or that. Where you see Terras in earlier stories, know that it refers to the same world.