Hadrian blocked the sword of the short brown haired man with his short daggers.
The warm early morning sun shone on them painting the clouds a stroke of orange gold.
Leaning back to dodge another swing, he got a kick in the head from the tall broad foreheaded woman.
Dust flew up as he fell with a thud. His chest rose and fell, his eyes glued to the painterly sky.
Sigh, it really is hard to train oneself.
If he could command his vessels, it would have been better. Sadly his control was either direct or mechanical.
In direct control, it was like your hand trying to surprise you with a punch. In mechanical control, it was like grabbing a sleeping person's hand and trying to surprise yourself with a punch to the cheek.
If it was only possible to dissociate without switching to mechanical control.
He threw himself up with a grunt.
"Tired already?" The short brown haired man vessel asked with a smile.
"Just sticking to the plan. We need to move." Hadrian said, dusting himself off.
Having multiple "sentient" lifeforms, had started having an effect on him. Moreso his mind and identity.
Thinking about it, the basic lifeform vessels also had an effect on me. I sliced a man's gut without batting an eye.
Of course back then, his primary consciousness was himself and fragments of Alia Hadrian.
"Without your vermin vessels, your spatial intuition is disappointing." The broad foreheaded woman said.
I truly am going crazy.
Now, with all these vessels' fragments, acting them out was his best attempt at a solution. This also meant no longer ignoring their memories as they were vital to the vessels' personas.
"Well. I was born a few days ago." Hadrian said as they made their way back to the Baron's road.
Injured knee, who wasn't really injured anymore, ran his hand through his short black hair as he looked back. "Do you think they made it?" he asked.
"The leader, perhaps." The woman answered. "He ran before the beast appeared."
This was also something Hadrian had managed to piece from these hunters' fragmented memories.
The first creature they'd fought, that had one core, was a spawn. The corrupted monkey Hadrian had encountered twice, that had two cores, was a beast.
He'd also obtained some knowledge he didn't know, like the different paths of mages, gangs in the city, their methods and members.
This will be really helpful when finding the two Mages.
These hunters weren't exactly low, but weren't high enough to directly interact with mage circles.
The forest got less dense the more north they moved.
As the cohort member, who'd surely died had mentioned, their cohort had gone further south west than most would.
Most others would stay closer along the Baron's road. So, some dozens of steps in front of him, he was not surprised to see one such cohort.
Hadrian's eyes narrowed. He still only had the five vessels.
He'd come to learn that the number and rank of vessels he had affected his effect on his targets.
While an animal would be confrontational with one or two-vessel Hadrian, they would rather run when they felt the presence of a five-vessel Hadrian.
Of course, they could not actually feel the absolute numerical number and potential of Hadrian's vessels, it was more of a guided intuition.
This meant creatures didn't hesitate to run away, and well, the instinct of survival is a rather strong one.
They noticed him, them, earlier than he'd expected. Hadrian walked with his arms up and spread.
"We simply wish to pass." The broad foreheaded woman spoke, her eyes darting to their bags of gains.
No essence fragment.
This new cohort's members' faces took on puzzled expressions.
"Is this all that's left of you?" One of them asked. The broad foreheaded woman nodded, her eyes going from member to member.
"So, you finally paid your due." Another of the new cohort's members said.
Hadrian's eyes went down. Alia stayed mostly covered.
"If you wish to pass." Someone sighed, "we will not stop you."
"You cannot join us if that is what you seek." Another said.
One of their horses snorted, taking steps back.
Hadrian's eyes rose and he nodded to them, gesturing a thank you with his hands and chest.
These people were more than likely strangers, but Hadrian found himself scared of being found out if he acted in the manner not suited to his vessels. It was better not to speak much.
The horse, tied down with the rest to the tree, got more chaotic in its struggles.
Some of the cohort members ran and surrounded their horses, trying to calm them down. Immediately after the first seemed to calm down another started.
If only I could take two vessels at the same time.
In their chaotic movement, he sharpened their claws from the covered up Alia, and cut through their ropes.
Cursing, the cohort's members tried getting on some of the other horses to chase the runaway two, but Hadrian interfered with them too as he made his way through.
He circled the two horses in opposite directions already south of where he was headed to distract them when they finally managed to follow.
A quarter of an hour later, Hadrian galloped along the Baron's road, the forest clearing up to a vast grassland.
He distributed most of his essence and muscle state to the horses that carried his other vessels.
On one horse was Hadrian and the Alia vessel, on the other was the three cohort members' vessels.
As the wind blew his hair strands back, the city walls grew taller in the distant horizon.
I've become a mage and obtained three new experienced hunter vessels. Perhaps, this short journey of mine wasn't as much of a waste as I had thought.
Thinking this, a smile formed on Hadrian's vessels. I'm closer to my goal.
…
"Fuck!" One of the cohort's members cursed, nearly pulling his hair out.
When the horses had calmed down, they had tried following the runaway horses trail. The two horses had broken off into opposite directions. Finding out the horses had simply circled around them, they had to return to the rest of the cohort.
After a pregnant moment of silence, a cohort member spoke up. "The horses were only triggered after they passed by."
"I didn't see them cast a spell." Another member said.
"I've never seen those two children in their party, perhaps they're mages?"
"I've never heard of such magic. If it exists in higher ranked mages then they would be too powerful to be with that cohort."
"In any case, the trigger was them. Even if we did go for the horses first, they could not have made it that far on foot, that quickly."
They were already moving, the four who lost their horses walked. Of course, they would exchange when they got tired.
Intuitions flaring, they turned to one side where they heard a crunch.
Huffing, a broad shouldered and wide armed man emerged from behind the trees.
Breathing seemed of great effort to the man as sweat ran down from his temples to his beard.
The man raised his arm forward, "wait." He said in between sharp breaths.
The cohort's members brows furrowed. Naturally, they recognized the man. In the hunting parties allowed by the guild, though some new faces would appear and disappear with each expedition, some have stayed long enough.
"Your party left you behind?" One of the cohort's members asked.
The bearded man swallowed, bringing himself to stand straight, "No." He said, but it was the headshake they noticed more.
The cohort's members gave each other puzzled glances.
"Five of them passed us by." Mounted on a horse a man with brown robes spoke.
The bearded man gained control of his breathing, "who? Where were they headed?"
"Three I recognised, with two children, a boy and a covered up girl. They were heading back to the city, by the looks of it."
The bearded man's brows pinched not knowing which three they spoke of but he asked what he thought was more important.
"Did something strange happen when you met them?"
The cohort's members' fixed concentrations on the man.
"As a matter of fact. Yes." One of them said, "my four friends here lost their horses." The mounted man gestured to the four standing on the ground.
The bearded man took a deep breath. "I'm all that's left of my party." He said, "whatever you met weren't humans."
The mounted man's lips parted, "what happened?" He asked, seeing the seriousness on the bearded man's face and his state, it was better to hear out the mad man outside the city.
The bearded man recounted what happened to them.
"And you somehow…. Survived." The mounted man asked after the bearded man finished his recount.
The cohort's members' hands went to their swords.
Seeing this, the bearded man took a step back, raising his arm, "I know who I am. You want to tie me down, fine." His fists tightened, "but you must bring me with you. That thing, whatever it is, killed my comrades."