The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

WM [68] Reprimand

Tanisha woke up early in the morning long before the sun could crest the mountains. She wanted to continue the journey the sooner they could cross the Chaos Lands the sooner they would hopefully find Joha. She wouldn’t let her training slip either so she performed her breathing and stretching exercises. During one of her standing leg stretches, Aurelius descended from the near vertical mountain side next to her.

“Woah, sorry didn’t know anyone else was awake.” Aurelius said. “That is impressive flexibility and balance.”

Tanisha lowered her leg. “Thanks I would hope so by this point. My teacher had me doing this every morning for the past few months now.”

“Your teacher? I am assuming it was your combat instructor and not a dance team.” Aurelius said.

Tanisha snorted a laugh and then remembered that during the farewell party with the Jackrabbits Joha did look graceful with the woman he was dancing with.

“You know what, maybe when we find him we can form a dance group.” Tanisha chuckled to herself. “It might attract some customers, but yes it is a part of a combat technique.”

“Ah, when we find him. The person we are out here looking for is the one that taught you.” Aurelius said. “Well hopefully you got some rest. I know the storm was a setback so we can make up for lost ground.”

“I slept well, but did you sleep at all? We didn’t go over guard shifts or anything and Fuyumi.” She looked over to the Ghostborn woman still in the same spot she drunkenly fell asleep in. “I don’t think she was fit to help out with that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I can go weeks without sleep in the Chaos Lands.” Aurelius said with a wave of his hand. “And the Ghostborn can control that drunkenness. If something happened she would sober herself up pretty much instantly. I am confused why you wanted a bodyguard when you have someone like that here. Honestly, while I appreciate the work I feel kind of redundant.”

Tanisha didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t her choice and that she probably wouldn’t have hired him because of his monstrous aura. It still left her feeling unsettled even though he seemed to be nice. She had always been taught that she would be able to tell a lot about a person by their aura. Of course until recently she had Bjorn she only had the most basic ability to sense aura. Now with her magic under her control she could pick up the finer details of a person by their aura alone.

Aurelius had an aura unlike anything she had ever felt. It was almost as if she were in the presence of the Jeweled Winged Monarch again. A chaotic recreation of the power of a mage through the body of a being that was alien in all aspects. No, it wasn’t fair to compare him to that thing. His magic while similar to that of monsters was categorically different. It had form, and even those parts that seemed chaotic had an ebb and flow.

“Well,” she said, keeping her tone light, “it’s safer to travel with more people, right? Besides, you both seem to know your way around. How do you even navigate this place? If the terrain changes overnight, maps must be useless.”

“True enough,” Aurelius replied. “The Ghostborn have an innate sense for it, from what I’ve seen. Me? I stick to the sun and stars. Even the Chaos Lands can’t blot those out entirely.”

Tanisha nodded thoughtfully. She heard about people using the stars to travel. Mat mentioned that many people from the Force Isles had navigation tools like that because the different floating isles didn’t have landmarks between them. She filed that information away to ask about later but it made her head hurt just thinking of trying to figure out stars for navigation when paper maps were already her bane.

“Makes sense.” She said her focus shifted back to her exercise. “We’ll get started soon. Just let me finish up first.”

She leaned back with her belly in the air until she could finally reach to grab her own ankles. Aurelius watched her for a few more moments utterly bewildered at the level of flexibility she had. His eyes flicked down briefly, his gaze catching on her tail as it flicked idly in the cool morning air. His expression was unreadable, but Tanisha didn’t miss the way his focus lingered. 

After a beat, he cleared his throat and stepped back. “Right. I’ll get back to keeping watch,” he said, his voice steady but a little more formal than before. “Just call if you need anything, Tanisha, I will be over there.”

***

Once everyone was up they continued their journey with Fuyumi at the lead. Tanisha looked out over the landscape that the day before had been forests interspersed with rock outcropping and blackened blotches. Now that same landscape was a lush jungle with a deep ravine that cut through the land like a scar. As they descended down a path that luckily hadn't been altered by the storm the temperature steadily dropped.

“It feels good out today.” Fuyumi said in her soft whisper.

“It’s near freezing now.” Tanisha responded, her hands tucked firmly under her robe and cloak.

“I know, isn't it wonderful?” Fuyumi said with the first smile Tanisha had seen on her face. “I thought it was going to get hotter, it looks like a jungle.”

Tanisha groaned, “I think we have very different definitions of ‘wonderful,’ Fuyumi.”

“Are you going to be okay Tanisha?” Aurelius asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Tanisha said as she watched the air freeze with every breath. She then grumbled, “my mothers blood will be useful for something at least.”

She looked down at Bjorn who seemed genuinely fine with the cold weather. As he exhaled curls of heat escaped his nostrils and every now and then so did wisps of fire. She tried to see if she could sense his magic as it would be bad if he was projecting. It would make them a target for monsters. Tried as she might, there wasn’t any notable difference, he was keeping his magic very well hidden. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Is it natural, then? she wondered. Her own heritage gave her a similar ability to adapt to cold regions, a trait passed down from her mother’s snowfallen heritage. Her mother’s people, the snowfallen, thrived in cold climates, their bodies naturally adapted to endure freezing temperatures. It was likely the same reason Isi had mastered an ice-based chakra technique. Tanisha herself, raised in the colder regions of the Kingdom as a woodentail, had gained her own resistance to the cold, though not nearly to her mother’s degree.

Focusing inward, Tanisha began to cycle her seiðr through the meridians of her body, carefully avoiding any outward projection. The energy flowed smoothly, warming her from the inside out. The biting chill dulled, reduced to a manageable coolness that her cloak and natural constitution could handle. She felt the familiar heat rise within her, and with it came a new, curious phenomenon. As she exhaled, faint tendrils of flame curled around her lips, flickering harmlessly in the cold air.

She paused for a moment, her breath hitching. Am I about to breathe that death fire? She quickly turned her head away from everyone and examined her core, ensuring her seiðr remained contained. After a few moments of scrutiny, she relaxed. The flames weren’t an escape of raw energy—they were merely a byproduct, harmless wisps born from the cycling of power within her.

Tanisha exhaled again, watching the flickering embers dissolve into the air. Another gift from my bond with Bjorn, it seems. She shrugged, satisfied there was no imminent danger, and resumed cycling her seiðr. The steady flow of energy was comforting as they pressed deeper into the ever-shifting Chaos Lands.

***

It didn’t take long to reach the bottom of the winding path into the jungle below. The moment Tanisha stepped onto the forest floor, she was struck by the surreal sight. Despite the biting cold, not a single leaf bore frost, and the ground showed no sign of ice. If she hadn’t known better, she might have believed they were walking through a tropical jungle on a sweltering day. The dense canopy filtered the light in warm, golden hues, and the plants glistened as if coated in morning dew, yet the air felt like a frozen knife against her skin.

The group came to a brief halt, and Tanisha glanced at Fuyumi. It was then that she noticed a striking transformation in the yuki-onna. Fuyumi appeared more ethereal than ever, her edges softly blending into the world around her, like a watercolor painting dissolving into the canvas. Her flowing hair and robe-like dress seemed to sway gently, though the air was deathly still. Even her face, usually so composed and expressionless, held a trace of vitality, and a slight grin tugged at her lips.

“Oh, what wonderful weather,” Fuyumi exclaimed, spreading her arms as if to embrace the cold. Her voice, usually a delicate whisper, now carried a vibrant, almost joyful energy. She turned and pointed deeper into the jungle, her movements fluid and graceful. “We need to go that way,” she declared. “Aurelius, stay behind Tanisha and stay alert. The drop in temperature is a blessing.”

“I see why you would like the drop but will it help with crossing?” Tanisha questioned.

Aurelius was the one that stepped up to answer. “It actually will. We were lucky, most of the monsters in the region were originally here because of the heat. The biome shift will cause them to leave, freeze to death or go into hibernation until the next mana storm.”

“It won’t be monster free,” Fuyumi continued. “Monsters that went dormant in the last storm that made this place hot will start to awaken but it should take a few days. We need to be well clear before that happens. When they get up they will be hungry.”

Tanisha nodded. “Got it. Let’s keep moving. Bjorn and I will follow your lead.” She hesitated for a moment, then added, “Also… are you okay, Fuyumi?”

Fuyumi tilted her head slightly, her translucent edges shimmering faintly. “Hmm? Yes, why?”

“She’s talking about how you’re, uh… kind of see-through,” Aurelius interjected, gesturing vaguely around her.

Fuyumi blinked, then chuckled softly. “Oh, that. It’s nothing to worry about. I’m simply relaxing my form. In warmer climates, I have to maintain full corporeality, which takes quite a bit of effort. But here? It’s still warm for me, but much better. I can let go a little.”

With that, Fuyumi turned and led the way, her pace a brisk but steady jog. The others followed, their footsteps muffled by the soft forest floor. The landscape was a paradox that Tanisha still struggled to comprehend. The temperature hovered dangerously low, at least twenty degrees below freezing, yet the plants remained vibrant and lush. Leaves glistened as though perspiring, their surfaces cold to the touch but stubbornly unfrozen.

***

The first day ended as the group arrived at a river shimmering under the fading light. At first glance, Tanisha assumed it was water, but as she approached, her keen eyes picked up the unmistakable gleam of something far more valuable: liquid hydrargyrum. It was odd that the substance was liquid in the freezing temperature but nothing else made sense so she didn’t think too hard about that. The silver stream snaked through the jungle with an almost hypnotic flow, its surface reflecting through the break in the dense canopy.

Fuyumi and Aurelius immediately covered their mouths with cloth and began scanning the riverbank, searching for a safe way to cross. Tanisha, however, stopped dead in her tracks, her expression shifting from curiosity to delight. 

She turned to Bjorn, her tone sharp but excited. “Stay back from that, Big Man.”

As Bjorn obediently moved away, Tanisha’s grin widened. Hydrargyrum, she couldn’t believe their luck. The liquid metal was a death sentence for most creatures—its vapors could poison the lungs, and even skin contact was enough to cause organ failure in some species. Her mind flashed back to a halfling student at Dorsehal Academy who had made that near fatal mistake. The halfling student was using it in a compound for an assignment. A small amount got on her skin and she had to be rushed to a healer before her kidneys shut down.

The thing was, wendigo did not have that problem at all. Hydrargyrum was harmless to her kind. If anything, it was a treasure. Its unique properties made it a crucial component in alchemy and enchantments. The most important of which is a powerful magical conduit for making artificial magical stones. If she found osmium, she would have a real chance at creating her own magic stone which she could infuse with seiðr. She reached her hands into the flowing liquid metal to the absolute shock and dismay of Fuyumi and Aurelius.

Without hesitation, Tanisha knelt by the riverbank, her hands plunging into the liquid metal. It was cool to the touch, flowing like molten silk over her skin. Fuyumi and Aurelius froze, their faces painted with alarm.

“What are you—” Aurelius began, his voice tight with disbelief.

The moment Tanisha withdrew her hands, the liquid metal solidified into gleaming chunks, which she promptly stored in her inventory with a satisfied smirk. She reached for the river again, but before she could touch it, a ghostly hand seized her wrist and yanked her back. Fuyumi stood behind her, spectral energy flickering around her like an icy veil, her expression a mix of shock and reprimand.

“What in the world are you doing?” Fuyumi’s voice was sharp, her usual calm replaced by rare agitation. “Quicksilver is highly toxic! You are going to get yourself killed! Don’t breathe in that vapor, we might have to take you back to a healer before the…”

Tanisha held up a hand, cutting them off. “Relax,” she said, brushing off her cloak. “My people aren’t affected by hydrargyrum. We can bathe in the stuff if we want. In fact I think some people do… that's beside the point, I am fine.” Both Fuyumi and Aurelius stared at her, clearly unconvinced. She sighed, “It’s true. Our biology makes us immune to most toxic metals. Hydrargyrum, lead, arsenic—none of it fazes us.”

“You could’ve mentioned before you started reaching your hand into it.” Fuyumi slowly let go, her ghostly hand fading as she stepped back. “Please remember that we have to stay vigilant out here. There could be monsters beneath the surface of that stuff for all we know.”

Tanisha opened her mouth to retort from the chastisement but they were right. It isn’t like she didn’t know that most people knew the stuff was toxic and she didn’t even consider monsters. Surely there would be some type of monster that would find a home in such a place. She nodded and only went to gather more after they gave her permission and could watch out for threats.