Another week came and went, and the two lovers were inside their room getting ready to say goodbye. Laura was dressed in her normal travel clothes, ready to explore the Black Forest. Zenesha was of course fussing over the wolf like a mother hen.
"You have rations?"
"Yep."
"Extra clothes."
"Check."
"Plenty of Essence?"
"Absolutely."
"What about-"
Zenesha made Laura double check. Triple check. Quadruple checks her supplies. The wolf didn't mind and happily and carefully did what was asked. It warmed her insides to know her princess cared for their wellbeing to such a degree.
Once Zenesha was sure Laura was as prepared as she could be she grabbed the shorter woman by the shoulders gently. She looked Laura in the eyes and gave her a small smile, but like always it didn't show on her face. Laura however could tell.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"I'll be as careful as one can be." Laura said. "I'm chasing a legend, and if I can't find what I'm looking for in a week I'll come back."
"Promise?"
"I promise from the depths of my core."
The two of them leaned in and kissed, and after several moments they parted. With one last smile from Laura, she disappeared from view leaving Zenesha alone in the room. The fox stood there for a while, looking at the empty space where Laura once stood.
*Smack*
"I can't mope around all day; I need to get back to work." Zenesha said, slapping herself to snap out of her wont listlessness.
She then turned towards the door and left the room.
=======
Laura ended up teleporting to the outskirts of the city. She would have teleported further, if she remembered any landmarks. She had a very wide, but limited range to how far she could teleport. She could also only teleport to places she's been and picture.
Her next goal is Gold Base, but that was currently out of range for her. So instead, she looked at the furthest point she could see in the distance and teleported. Appearing on top of a grassy hill on the side of the highway. She then did it again, Looked and teleported.
Since she couldn't just teleport directly there, she'll just use this method instead. Once she sees another town or city they passed through last time she'll do long distance teleportation. Until then it was only short distances.
"I should be past the border before noon." She muttered. "If I keep up a constant pace I should make it to the forest by the end of the day."
Her method of travel was fast in open areas, and long stretches of road made this easier. Sure, it was weird she could teleport at all, but it wasn't unheard of. This world didn't have magic, it had superpowers.
Sure, essence was needed to use them, but the people of this world couldn't manipulate it directly. It acted more as energy to fuel whatever power a person had. Typically, a person only had the one power.
However, Laura didn't work that way. She had multiple abilities. Which again wasn't rare, but people didn't normally have more than one or two extras. It's why Zenesha wanted her to keep what she could do a secret. The less she showcased what she could do, the easier it was to hide the oddities.
"If I get caught using this ability it'll be easy to explain as my power." She reasoned. "No one knows what I can do after all."
The wolf sighed. She hadn't had many opportunities to show off. Which was fine since she didn't care to stand out, but it was a little disappointing she couldn't show off to Zenesha. If only she could show the fox how cool, she was.
She continued to travel in silence, only half paying attention to her surroundings. She was bored, and the constant teleportation messed with her phone's connection, making it hard to use it. She chose to leave her physical books from other worlds she's collected at home.
Laura thought she could use her phone and figured they would be safer there instead of with her.
After a few hours of travel, she passed the border and was now in the red zone. She concentrated and attempted to teleport to Gold Base. When she opened her eyes, she was back in the room she and Zenesha used before. A satisfied grin appeared on her face.
Sniffing the air a few times, she tried to locate the fox's smell in the room. She clicked her tongue in irritation at realizing the place was thoroughly cleaned since then. She was hoping to sniff the covers for comfort.
With mild disappointment she teleported once again, this time outside the military base and continued her journey proper. After only another minute the base was already out of view. However, this also meant she was in more danger than ever.
She was proven right almost immediately. The next time she stopped to observe her surroundings a bullet flew past her head, nearly hitting her. The air pressure and heat from the deadly projectile stinging her cheek.
Laura quickly got down, jumping into a ditch nearby. She no longer had a visual of her surroundings and could escape. The downside of the wastelands being flat and easy to traverse with teleportation was the fact it all looked the same. Aside from abandoned towns and cities.
Peaking over the ditches ledge she tried to pinpoint where the enemy would have shot from. She was far too close to the ground to properly teleport, and anywhere she went would expose her. She didn't know how many there were, and they would quickly suspect she could teleport if there were more than one.
Instead grabbed her bag and took out her bolt action rifle and loaded in her specialized caliber round. She then took off her jacket and used a discarded stick she found by her feet to slowly lift it up from the ditch. As expected, it was shot at.
Laura quickly got down, but she now knew which direction the person was in. She carefully peaked over the ledge again, looking at the direction the attack came from. Her weapon at the ready.
Silence settled over the empty muddy field. The only sound that could be heard was from Laura's own steady breathing. She didn't dare move, and neither did her opponent apparently.
After thirty minutes, the wolf wondered if the person had somehow left. Perhaps there was a trench that way, and after shooting at her they moved on. While she was distracted with her thoughts, she didn't notice the earth beneath her feet start to rise slightly.
Faster than she could properly react two hands shot out from the ground grabbing her legs and trying to pull her under the earth. Surprised, Laura pointed her gun downwards and shot point blank into the ground. The hands released her legs and slithered into the mud.
"Nuh uh. You're not going anywhere you snake." Laura said mildly amused.
She dropped down into the muddy ground and drove her hand inside. She managed to grasp the person before they could run away and yanked them upwards. A man in his thirties, looking understandably surprised, came out of the ground.
Laura then created an ice platform and scammed the man into it. With a joyful smile on her face, which made the surprisingly mud free soldier shiver in fear, the wolf quickly bound the man's limbs with ice.
"Hello there." She spoke.
"Release me!" The man shouted back with anger.
"Not until you answer my question, are you alone?"
The man spat at her.
"I see, you chose the fun way huh?" She said with an increasingly unnerving grin. She held her palm over the man's chest and gently pushed.
He immediately spit up blood as his chest caved in on itself. It was the same move she used on the muscle lion before, but this time on a weak human pressed against the ground. Before he could pass out or die from Laura healed him.
"Wha… what did you do?" He asked in a fearful voice.
"Just tell me what I need to know."
"I can't betra- Ack!"
Laura stuck her hand into the man's chest and squeezed his heart before releasing it and healing him again. The soldier coughed as he took in deep panicked breaths. Laura watched the man's eyes, their wild look painting a picture.
'God stop it Laura, this is just the void.' She scolded herself.
Well, it wasn't the voids influence directly. It did however make her species enjoy the suffering of others. It was a trait built into them. Laura disliked the void and its influence and tried to keep herself in check, but she's been doing a bad job of that lately.
"Just answer my question and all of this stops." She said, making herself annoyed.
"It's just me. So please let me go." The man begged.
Laura hummed and lifted the man to his feet. She then dragged the soldier out of the pit and stood out in the open, using him as a human shield. When no one shot at them, or asked for his release, she smiled in satisfaction.
"Good boy." She said happily before shoving her clawed paw into his back and out of his chest.
The soldier choked on his blood, and when Laura pulled her arm back, he turned around to stare at her. A look of shock was plastered on his face and Laura just rolled her eyes as she shook the blood and meat off her hands.
"I never said I would release you." She muttered as she continued her journey.