Emily lets out a relieved sigh as she spots Blue running towards her, his feathery form almost twice as tall as it was when he first hatched and growing more and more by the day.

  She doesn’t see the little fluff ball as often these days while they’re walking around. He’s often out hunting on his own, only really joining the group again when they hunt for food, eat the food that they hunted, or go to sleep for the night. She notices that he’s gotten just that little bit bigger since she last saw him. A sense of pride and satisfaction brews deep in her stomach, as she sees her little baby boy growing up so nicely.

  As he continues to sprint up towards her, for a moment, an irrational worry runs down her spine that Blue won’t slow down and walk next to her, and that this time, he’ll keep running, diving towards her with his razor-sharp talons flared out much like how he does with his prey. For a moment, she can picture it: His talons sliding through her flesh, gouging out her entrails and leaving her gasping her last breaths on the forest floor.

  Then he slows down next to her, his keen eyes looking at her with an expectant expression. He lets out a chirrup, clacking his beak in excited anticipation for the hunt to come. Emily lets out a relieved sigh, chuckling as she watches the baby ostrich hop from leg to leg in excitement.

  “Hey, Blue,” she says cheerfully, reaching out a hand to scratch the top of his head, barely snatching it back in time to avoid getting it chopped off as he snaps his beak at her. “Someone’s in a bad mood today.”

  She waves an admonishing finger at Blue. “You know the deal. No snapping that beak at us.” Seeing the hungry look that Blue gives her finger, she hurriedly tucks it away once again. “Alright, alright. I’ll let it slide just this once.”

  She looks around the forest, trying to spot any large movements in the foliage that could give away the location of some bigger monsters. Seeing nothing, she nods to herself, looking back at the ostrich with a smile on her face.

  “No messing around this time. Let’s get some food in you before you get really hangry.”

  At that, Blue lets out an excited squawk, running circles around Emily. She giggles at his antics, standing with her hands on her hips.

  “Okay!” she says, pointing her finger at Blue. Blue stops in place, standing still, all of his concentration on Emily. “Blue…”

  Blue crouches down, staring intently at Emily as he hops from foot to foot in excitement and anticipation.

  “Hunt!”, she excitedly exclaims, lifting her finger into the air dramatically.

  Blue squawks twice in confirmation, hopping and twisting at the same time in order to face the forest. He sniffs deeply, turning his head from side to side in order to better spot the unnatural movements in the tide of the forest. With a lack of foliage comes better visibility, and from what Emily has been able to deduce, Blue can see for miles with those namesakes of his.

  She gives him some time, letting him circle around slowly for a second time. Watching his movements, she has to really marvel at how quick he can move. And with the speed at which he’s growing…

  She can’t wait to see how big he’ll get when he’s all grown up.

  Blue stops his circling, his body going still as his eyes spot movement in the distance. He leans his neck forwards, staring intently at a spot in the distance.

  “What did you find, boy?” Emily asks, as she steps next to Blue and pats him on his soft, downy side. It’s getting harder and harder to pet him without him either trying to bite her hand off, or play with her.

  And he does not play nice.

  One of the rare times that he doesn’t seem to mind the physical touch is when he's distracted by spotting prey, so Emily refuses to miss out on the opportunity to run her hand over his angelic, soft feathers. “Is it something good?”

  Blue’s beak begins to chatter in excitement, his head turning to look at Emily. They lock eyes for a moment, until Emily holds up her finger once again.

  “Alright, then. If you're sure. Ready?”

  Blue taps from foot to foot.

  Emily raises her finger higher, cocking a questioning eyebrow at Blue. “Reeady?”

  He fluffs his coat, letting out an impatient chatter.

  With a smile stretching across her face, Emily points towards the spot he was just staring at. “Go!”

  With an excited chirrup, Blue sprints towards the spot in a straight line, quickly reaching his top speed. Emily chuckles to herself as she watches him disappear into the distance, shaking her head at his antics. “Boy, he really likes hunting.”

  Letting out a sigh, she starts gathering mana in her hands, feeling a lingering tinge of pain from her mana reserves as she follows the trail her murderous ostrich left behind. Taking a deep breath, she cycles her mana over the spot where she felt the pain, feeling that tinge ramp up until it’s practically searing.

  “Ow… No wonder uncle told me to watch out for mana burnout.” She hisses to herself, as the pain slowly winds down into something more bearable. “It’s like trying to soak a dry sponge… With magma.”

  She looks down at the glow in her hands, trying to determine if the glow got slightly brighter or not. “At least I can channel this much again…”

  Following the trail for another minute, she hears the telltale sounds of battle. Walking around a particularly thick tree, she spots her ostrich jumping away from the snapping jaws of what looks like a massive, four-armed silverback gorilla, if a silverback gorilla had razor-sharp claws and the telltale cracks of mana running through it that all monsters share. The thing is massive, easily twice the size of Emily, and at least three times as thick.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  It roars in frustration as Blue continues to back away from it, small, bleeding wounds dripping from three of its forearms that were clearly caused by the little guy.

  Blue dodges from the gorilla’s grasp, turning around and running straight for Emily. “Did you really have to choose something this big?!” she admonishes him, as she brings her arm up and takes careful aim.

  The monster chases after Blue, not even noticing Emily as it hones in on the pesky little bird that was pecking at it. Emily releases a blade of wind, slicing across its chest but just barely missing its throat.

  The monster roars once again in pain and anger, its eyes locking onto the tiny mage in its path. It grabs onto a boulder, pulling it out of the earth and throwing it as hard as it can at Emily. Emily lets out a yelp, diving to the side and narrowly avoiding getting squashed as it crashes through the forest and disappears into the distance.

  It continues its rampage towards her, Blue breaking off from the chase entirely and watching comfortably from the sidelines, having been completely forgotten by the monster as it prioritizes the biggest threat. Still lying on the ground, Emily unleashes a bolt of wind that hits the gorilla square in the middle of its forehead. The force of the bolt smacks into it hard, knocking its head back and causing its legs to slide out from under it. It lands heavily on its back on the ground, dazed for a moment, before Blue pounces on it once again, tearing at the thing’s throat with his claws.

  The monster lets out a frustrated groan, snatching towards the ferocious baby with two of its arms and managing to snag it with one.

  It pulls Blue off of it, flinging the ostrich far away in anger. Small rivulets of blood drip down its neck, Blue’s claws barely making it past the thick skin that covers it from head to toe. Blue flaps his little wings, adjusting his angle mid-toss and landing on his feet. He skids across the ground, coming to a stop a few feet later. He lifts his head and squawks at the monster in frustration.

  The monster in question stands to its feet, turning around just in time to see Emily standing up as well, swinging her glowing hand out with a cry.

  It has a split second to realize what’s happening, before the blade of wind connects with its windpipe, severing it deeply. The monster gasps for air for a moment, one of its arms grasping at its throat. Realizing that it’s doomed, it sets its sights on Emily once again, a fury unlike any Emily's seen before on its face. It takes a lunge towards her and manages to grab her in two of its hands.

  Emily lets out a cry, as the monster starts to squeeze her to death. It glares at her furiously, its lifeblood swiftly leaking from its throat, as it flings her hard against the ground.

  Emily hits the earth painfully, the wind knocked out of her and her back spasming from the pain of the impact. She watches as the monster lifts up three of its fists high into the air, clenched and ready to smash down on her.

  The light seems to slowly dim in its eyes, as it brings them down weakly against her. It collapses to its side, breathing its last breath, as Emily coughs and tries to sit up again.

  “That… Was too close.” She groans, as she rubs against her tailbone. She looks over the monster once again, wondering just how they’re going to bring any of this back to camp.

  Blue walks up to her, looking between her and the monkey. Reaching a hand up, she scratches his side. “I really need to train you to go for smaller prey…”

  Blue looks to the monkey, then back to Emily, then back to the monkey. It lifts its feathered arm up and swipes towards the dead monster in a poor mimicry of Emily's wind blade, watching it carefully as nothing happens.

  Emily chuckles as she pats his side. “Very cute, Blue. But animals can’t do magic.”

  Blue turns towards her, screeching angrily at her before walking towards the kill in a huff.

  Emily watches him go, her eyebrow cocked and an amused smile on her face. “Rude. No reason to be mad at me about it. I didn’t make the rules.”

  Blue tears into the kill, piercing his sharp beak into its body and tearing strips of flesh off of it before swallowing them. With a sigh, Emily gets out her knife, determined to figure out how to best butcher this thing. “At least your dinner is sorted for today…”

  After many grueling hours of bloody, frustrating work, Emily and Blue make their way back to the campsite, finding the two still-functional tents up and a campfire lit and ready. Nora and Alastair are sitting around it, chatting solemnly to each other and not, to Emily’s relief, making out. Yet.

  She’s seen how Nora glances at Alastair while they walk together, when she thinks nobody’s looking. It's only a matter of time before the two dumbasses realize that they like each other.

  Emily holds up her chunks of meat into the air victoriously. “We killed a monster gorilla!” she shouts excitedly, breaking Nora and Alastair out of their funk.

  Nora rolls her eyes at Emily, as Alastair stands up and takes the meat from Emily’s hands. “Please don’t tell me you butchered it. There's no way that it's safe.”

  Emily shakes her head, sitting down with a sigh. She points to Alastair and the meat that he's holding with trepidation. “No, that’s from a deer we found while walking back. It just jumped out at us!” She spreads her arms wide, gesturing for emphasis. “It was a good thing I had my spell prepared! I almost had a heart attack! One swipe and bam, it was down!”

  Nora glances at Blue, as Blue clusters around Alastair, watching intently as he skewers and salts the meat. “And how much of it did he eat?”

  Emily shakes her head. “None. Monster gorilla, remember?”

  Nora taps her head. “Right, right. I’m just surprised he eats so much. I'm just trying to gauge just how much.”

  Emily shrugs, unconcerned. “He’s a growing boy. Of course he eats a lot.”

  Nora lets out a sigh, watching as the growing boy in question tries to snatch the meat right from Alastair’s hands. Alastair places a hand against Blue’s forehead, holding the feathery fiend back. “At least one of us is having fun.”

  Emily looks at Nora with concern. “Do you still think we’re moving the wrong way?”

  Nora shakes her head. “We’re trying to go the right way, but every time we do…”

  “Something keeps veering us off-track.” Emily replies, with a nod of understanding. Bringing her hands up, she starts counting on her fingers. “There was that giant spider yesterday…The pack of wolf hydras the day before...”

  “And that goblin town we saw has expanded its net, ever since we poked the hornets nest.” Nora supplies, smiling briefly as she sees Blue headbutt Alastair in the side, causing him to curse as he almost drops the meat in his hands. He glares at the ostrich, rubbing at his ribs in pain.

  “So... What do we do? How do we get around them?” Emily asks seriously.

  Nora turns back to look at her, seeing the concern in her face. She reaches out and takes Emily’s hand.

  “We do what we do best.” She replies, as she gives Emily’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Just keep surviving. Something’s got to change.”

  Emily nods her head, turning to watch as Blue pounces at Alastair, almost knocking the swordsman to the ground. Alastair wraps his arms around the ostrich’s neck, twisting this way and that in an attempt to get it off of him. “Yeah. Something’s got to.”