Althea found herself on a beach full of sand. A beach having sand went without saying, but it was important to mention when said sand was in her hair. And eyes. And inside her dress. There didn't seem to be any part of her body that the sand hadn't entered.

Standing up wobbly, she looked around as she shook the sand out of her. Mana was spinning around her, the world spinning as she tried to right herself. And then she promptly fell down. As much as she tried, she had difficulty keeping her mind- no, eyes, open. Mind was the one trying to escape her skull.

Althea fell back down onto the beach, clutching her head as she fainted again.

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The sun was shining on her when she opened her eyes again. Had it gotten brighter? The sun seemed to be harsher on her as she turned, trying to get up and finding herself plagued by a sudden imbalance.

Yawning, she used magic to lift herself up. Why was it so hard to even sit up? Althea looked down at her clothes, staring at the green-jewel gown for a few seconds. Then she looked up, staring at the sea, glittering against the noon sky.

The memories of the last fight rushed back to her. The rush, the helplessness, the anger at Feng pulling out one attack after another. What the heck was that? Was he even human? And at the end…did she get eaten by a fish? And then teleported?

The purple color had seemed like just the beast's flesh to her then, but now she thought it had to be mana. Did the fish teleport her? Why? What was going on? Where was she?

Althea turned around, wondering if she had found herself on an island or something. Were fishes participating in the slave business? Why would a fish swallow her if it didn't want to eat her?

Turning around, she stared at the scene in front of her in shock. A forest stood in front of her. A wood really, the trees were far too apart to be a proper forest. There was just one problem. The woods were on fire. The fire ended where the sand started, as if it was forbidden from passing on to the beach.

The trees were well and truly burnt. The fire shouldn't be stretching onto every part of every tree, or so uniformly spread across the ground, but it was. A magical fire, that was for sure. The question remained, why. And where. Where was this? Why had the fish teleported her here?

Althea looked around, wondering if she had missed any clues. There was one. A staff lay in the sand, just a few meters from her. The Diery staff, she was sure of it. Althea looked at the staff, staring at it as her expression morphed to one of irritation.

A fish had eaten her. And the staff. Then transported both her and the staff to an unknown beach somewhere, dropping them both near each other. A fool could tell that this was planned. And she was no fool. The entire situation was suspicious now that she thought about it. Why had Feng challenged her to duel? Why had Steward Ven not rescued her? Why were the trees burning?

Althea picked up the staff, continuing to look around. The wood stretched forwards along the beach as far as she could see. There were no cliffs, no islands, no other physical features as far as she could see.

There was more Fire and Wood mana here than Water or Air. An abnormality for sure. There should be more water mana so near to the sea. But there wasn't. The burning wood was clearly affecting the mana around.

Althea thought about just staying put, trying to wait for rescue. But she had no idea where she was, it could be one of the Elven continents for all she knew. Even if she had food for a few days, waiting for rescue seemed idiotic. The only way out seemed to be the burning wood.

That was a problem.

Even though she had fire resistance, there was a difference between resisting fire attacks and walking in a burning wood. The fire rose up to knee-length in the wood, stopping in a straight line.

A literal sea of fire.

Althea couldn't sense an end to this wood, or anything else about it, really. There was too much Fire and Wood mana to tell what was going on with her mana senses. Not to mention, one of the elements wasn't one she had affinity with.

Shaking her body, she began walking towards the wood, sand trailing after her as she took a step into the burning wood. The fire rushed her, climbing up her leg as the dress began sparkling, warding the fire off.

The overly long dress of jewels had once again proven itself useful. Even her foot wasn't getting burnt. There were still branches to be careful of, but she could handle those. A spark flew from a nearby tree, transforming into a ray of fire as it shot towards another tree. Althea stopped, observing the phenomenon.

Perhaps she had spoken too soon. This wood was too strange to ignore. Mana churned as she called on it, not stopping at all as she called as much as she could and deposited it into her dress. The jewels were enhanced to hold much more magic than normal, and she had been foolish to not charge it before.

A soft yellowish glow took to the dress as she walked, still absorbing mana. How large was this forest? Althea was sensing out as far as she could, sensing for hundreds of kilometers, and she still couldn't spot an end to it. This would take a week to walk through if she continued at this pace. And even then, only if the wood somehow ended at the edge of her senses.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

For some reason, she doubted it was that simple. Althea had been sent here for a reason, and that reason was sure to be hidden around here somewhere. Running faster was an option, but it was already risky to walk this fast.

There was still a sea of fire that extended to her knees, and rays of fire were still shooting around. The environment might not be a threat to her, but it would be deadly to anyone below Journeyman. And give a lot of trouble even to an average Master.

Althea was just lucky to have her dress and a high affinity for fire that made the element less likely to harm her. The walk continued onwards as she traversed the forest, avoiding injury without much effort. As she walked, her thoughts drifted back to the battle.

The humiliating, terrifying and frustrating battle. How was Feng able to counter her abilities so easily? Was he just that powerful? But how? The Steward had warned her about it, but the fact remained, the difference in power was too large. Feng might be at the top of a Continent, but so was she.

The others from the Northern continent would have been defeated within the first few seconds of that battle. Isa was the only one that even had a chance at surviving at that speed, and even she would have a hard time fighting against such a monster. The difference just seemed unbelievable to her.

How would she fight him? Was there a way? The lightning bolt could, theoretically, be blocked by an Earth shield. Althea hadn't thought of that then, but it was certainly possible. What if there was something in there that could circumvent Earth's counter to lightning. And there was still the toxin to deal with.

The paralysis wasn't lightning's natural ability. Even if she wasn't particularly knowledgeable about how lighting acted, this much she could say with confidence. But she didn't know how to deal with toxins. The only thing she knew that could deal with them was pure mana. And even then, just.

The other attacks were still dealable. The super attack that had taken the shoe, which had somehow healed on her 'journey', could be dealt with now that she knew how. More magic could easily be used to deal with his ability to hide.

The problem was with Feng's speed, and strength. Should she find a way to train those? That seemed like a good idea. There were still months till the Human Cup. That might be enough time to train her body at least a little, reduce the gap.

But how? Althea didn't know the first thing about physical training. Walk a lot? Would that work? That just sounded like a cheat to her.

"Do you know-" a voice said as Althea spun around, calling on her mana to her from whoever it was that was near her.

Fire blossomed around her, burning brighter and surrounding whoever it was. Mana from her core followed, expanding the explosion. Althea wasn’t going to make the mistake of holding back twice.

The bright light blinded her for minutes until she calmed it down, revealing a tree with an unamused expression on its…face? That looked like a face in the bark, but Althea wasn't too sure.

"Do you know how much of a fool you are?" the tree asked.

Althea froze, looking at the tree. Was it an enemy? Should she continue attacking? Was attacking first even wise?

"I take it as a no." the tree said. "I shouldn't have expected any better from a Daughter of Mana. A bit too much mana and too little brain, I swear."

"What do you mean?" Althea finally asked, concluding that she should be polite. The tree did not even seem bothered by her show of force, the most powerful she could conjure, and she did not wish to die.

"Why would that bloody tree send you here?" The tree continued circling her as Althea continued thinking. This tree seemed to know who sent her here, someone that was apparently also a tree. Was there some secret group of super powerful trees that she did not know of?

"Did she think that I would help you somehow?" the tree asked. Althea opened her mouth to reply, but as usual, the tree continued talking like she wasn't there at all. Did it have anything against her?

"I can help you, yes. But why should I?" the tree asked.

"I…can pay you?" Althea half-asked, half-answered. The situation was putting her at a loss.

The tree stopped circling her.

"Pay me?" A presence far beyond anything that she had sensed before flared. The fire burnt brighter, mana appearing faster than anything she had seen before. Where was it coming from? The trees core? How much mana did she have? Althea had seen the Steward use his 'Grandmaster mana' skill. This was hundreds, no, thousands of times more mana.

Calling on as much mana as she could, she struggled to just stand against it.

This wasn't the ridiculous ass pulls of one power after another by Feng. This was utterly crushing power. The power of someone so much more powerful than her that just her presence made her feel suffocated, as if the air itself was refusing to enter her lungs. If the tree wanted to kill her, it could.

A second later, she realized that was exactly what was happening. The tree's ire was changing the environment…a bit. The mana was clearly reacting to the tree, but both the surrounding trees and the fire remained untouched. Was it due to something the tree did? Was the tree perhaps only targeting her?

"Tell me, Descendant of Vader, what exactly will you pay me with? Not even the Foundation you carry with you could have me ignore what your beloved ancestor has done to me."

Althea grunted, mana buffeting her as she struggled to respond. For the first time in her life, the surrounding mana was lost to her. And even her core was barely able to keep her alive. If the tree didn't pull back her mana every time she faltered, she would already be dead.

"What did he do?" she asked. "Please, I do not know what I have done to offend you, but I apologize!"

The mana stilled.

The world calmed, like the sea before a storm, enormous amounts of mana hovered around her as the tree peered at her.

"Do not know." the tree looked into her eyes, making her feel uncomfortable as she looked at the tree. Not particularly massive, a burning tree that would have been one of the smaller trees in this wood. The only real difference was the face etched into its bark.

"Do not know." the tree began laughing, fire flickered around its bark as its branches flicked back and forth.

"Does she know? No, no she wouldn't." the tree continued laughing. "Or does she? Yes, she should. The Great Mother is too powerful to not have sensed this."

The tree's branches started moving faster, making Althea step back, despite them being a few feet above her head.

"Oh, I cannot believe this. I do not know what that rickety old piece of wood is planning, but the gambit has failed, you cannot hear the voice."

"What voice?" Althea didn't like the sound of gambits.

"The voice of the trees around you, my dear. The birthright of any Druid. I do not know what happened to you, but whatever the reason, you cannot hear the voice of nature. That is why you do not know what happened here. That can only mean that you, Althea Diery, are no Druid."

The laughter of the tree filled the forest as Althea tried to figure out what the tree meant by that. The fact that it had replied surprised her.

"And I…find that very entertaining."