Why was he being watched?
'Why me?'
It was a valid question.
Why, exactly was Quies being watched, or—in a broader sense—being followed. In fact, he didn't even know he was being followed up until that bird showed up the second time on his ship. The first time he saw that… thing… he could barely recognize anything unnatural. Had he not muttered his mantra under his breath, he wouldn't have caught it the second time either.
And if he stayed at his ship, he would've been dead.
'Maybe I'm overthinking it.'
He took another step across the rocky surface of the stone cliff he walked across. The Towerstruck Lands were protected by an outer-ring of cliffs—cliffs which he's walking across the top of. Currently, he was halfway to that garden-like expanse.
But, really, someone had been watching him the whole time up until that moment on the ship. In fact, someone could still be watching him right now…
From what he could conclude, the person watching him was able to create constructs which eerily resembled real, live beings. He didn't know whether this was an extension of their attunement, whether this was a specific mantra they had, or something entirely different which he didn't know about.
He still didn't know much about the application of song. What were resonances? How did oaths work? He'd have to find that out later…
'So, the person I'm being followed by can either create life-like animals, or possess living beings at the cost of its life. The latter scares the depths out of me… If its the former, though, what are the constructs made of? Is it similar to my attunement where I can manifest objects out of blood?
But that makes it even more complicated… All of my manifested objects still have similar properties to blood. For example, everything I make is, well, red…
So, then, if the Raven was black—incredibly dark, at that—-then the user… can manipulate shadows? That's the best 'thing' I can compare it to considering its lightless nature. But, in that case, how could a mere manifestation of a shadow be so real? I can't even do that with my own attunement!'
He revised his thoughts for a quick moment.
'Or maybe I just suck at bloodrending…'
He probably does. Despite the fact that he was, apparently, the only bloodrender most people have met, he somehow wasn't the strongest one. That title would go to that blood-manipulating Diver Valerie mentioned…
All of this was just a theory he made, after all. It was entirely possible that the person who was watching him had a completely different ability in the first place! Though, with the information he gathered and observations he made, he leaned more towards the hypothesis he had made himself.
But no matter how many hypothesis he made, it still didn't solve the underlying issue.
Someone was following him.
He didn't know why. It might be because of his attunement, or something else entirely. Now, he needed a way to figure out how to get his stalker off of his trail.
'It's impossible. With what I know, and what I can do, its impossible.'
As he himself had put it, it was impossible to completely get rid of the stalker with what he had right now. If he had more information, he could track them down and… get rid of them, in a sense. If he had greater control over his attunement—or even greater control over his song, at that—he would probably find a way to eliminate any possible methods of tracking.
Safe to say, Quies had none of the two.
That left him with only one option—run.
'Well, 'run' might be a bit of an exaggeration…'
He didn't necessarily need to 'run', but he had to make sure he was never stagnant; he could never stay in one place for too long. If he did, it would make it much easier for his stalker to find and catch up to him. Considering the potential fact that his follower has an affinity to—or at least the ability to manipulate—shadows, it would make him difficult to look out for.
If he kept moving, it would make it much harder for the stalker to set up an ambush compared to if he were stagnant. That was the reason why he decided to leave the ship after wanting to recuperate for the rest of the day just moments earlier.
'I should be able to hold off my fatigue with blood enhancement—at least long enough for me to confirm the information those adventurers gave me and return to the Isle of Vigil.'
With Quies' current mastery over blood enhancement, he would be able to shorten his sleeping periods by enhancing his mind.
Was it beneficial to his long term health? Probably not.
But it would be detrimental to his wellbeing if he was, say, stabbed through the heart while he slept.
It was at this moment in which Quies noticed his racing heart.
'I shouldn't think too much about it. I can stress about it later, anyway. Right now, I just need to get over to that garden-like place…'
Luckily for him, he didn't need too much climbing anymore. It was only a descent from here on out towards the emerald greenery in the distance.
He gripped his father's gale stone harder. It rested in a nearly hidden pocket integrated into the fabric near his waist. He began to regret not bringing his jacket as the mountaintop winds blew past him.
Someone was still watching him from afar.
He knew, but he didn't necessarily know.