It took Lenore and me a little longer than expected to make our way back towards Ladrin, as Lenore wasn’t quite willing to push as hard as possible again. Apparently, the feeling of soreness wasn’t too pleasant. Instead, I took over some of the time, practising my ninja-run skills as I leapt through the trees near the road, while she supported me with her magic. It was an interesting experience and there was a slightly immature part of me that wanted to extend my arms out backwards as I ran. Ultimately, I decided against it, but the sentiment was there.

At least until we noticed a group of travellers coming up on the road ahead, which prompted a shift from gleefully jumping through the trees to doing our best impression of a tree-branch, hiding within the forest. The combination of Darkness-Magic, Wind-Magic for concealment and a wide tree-trunk to hide behind came up trumps, allowing Lenore and me to let the people pass by. Maybe it also had to do with the fact that humanoids somehow neglected to look up, making a hiding space some fifteen meters above ground a good one, outside of their habitual area of perception.

And it was good that we managed to hide, as I realised while they were passing by. Boldly emblazoned on their gear was a symbol I had seen before, a golden sun-disc with streamers of flame, or light, radiating outwards. It was the symbol used by the Arms of Helios, the local chapter of the Crusade of Light, as Howardlight’s organisation called itself. It was the prime example of an organisation of Travellers, for Travellers, a grouping that couldn’t form naturally on Mundus.

Why? Simple, the group had, to my knowledge, two major chapters, the Arms of Helios, based on Daiea, and Tyr’s Hands, who were based in Valkar. Tyr’s Hands, under the leadership of Howardlight, was supposedly making their way across the Inner Sea, trying to hunt down a certain heretic. Namely, Me.

I wasn’t quite sure what I had done to deserve that particular Title, unless they knew about my possession of a certain Soul Prison, but I rather doubted that. Yet, I hardly cared about their branding of me, or about the feud they had created. At the end of the day, I could see the use of drama that generated content, as long as the drama was somewhat distant from me and didn’t involve Sigmir and the others.

Now that I noticed people close enough to potentially harm me, I would have to think about my stance again, possibly make sure that they stayed on their side of the yard and spouted off, while I kept on my side. That way, we could sling all the rhetoric we wanted on the forum, while keeping things civil on Mundus.

For a few moments, while they were passing by, I considered trying something, as my Mind-Magic was incredibly useful for sneak-attacks from hiding, but I ultimately decided against it. Not without some sort of safety-net, something to fall back on, other than retreating into a bird and flying away. Lenore’s body was wonderfully agile, especially once she got some speed and her magic going, but the first few moments after switching places were risky. Luckily, the five people I was observing were moving quickly, travelling in the same direction we would travel, once we had reunited with the others.

“Do you think you could sneak in an Observe?” Lenore asked, as I felt her manifest on my shoulder.

“Maybe.” I allowed, trying to get an idea which of them would be the least perceptive. It was a risky proposition, but given that I had used my Darkness-Magic to conceal the use of Observe before, I thought it was a manageable risk.

Quickly forming a rune-triangle of concealment, I used it to filter my use of Observe, targeting the second guy in line, a dwarf wearing some sort of heavy plate-armour, with a shield strapped to his pack and a warhammer on his side. The one in front of him was only wearing chain-armour and looked quite similar to Sigmir, only that her skin was more slate-grey than her grey-blue skin tone. The two directly behind him were wearing clothing similar to mine, obviously made for comfort and maneuverability, one of them a female dwarf, the other was taller, human-sized. It was the garb of spellcasters or nobles.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The last in line was similarly armoured to the one I had targeted but given that he brought up the rear, I assumed he was the most dangerous, positioned in a way to provide cover for his allies. While I was curious about his level, I wasn’t about to start with him.

My first target didn’t react at all to my Observation, making me confident that the reading of level 74 was accurate. While I was able to block Observation, I hadn’t been able to create a false reading. It was possible, likely even, that there were natives that could accomplish such a feat, I doubted that a random Traveller, if that was what they were, travelling down the road would employ such means, purely by chance.

After taking a moment, considering my options, I decided to risk a little more and used another concealed Observe to probe the guy in the back of their formation. He obviously noticed something, calling an alarm while the blue box in front of me told me I was dealing with a level 82 Mountain Dwarf. The other had been a Shield Dwarf, whatever the difference was. It didn’t really matter to me, not at that moment.

Not wanting to stick around, I made sure that Lenore was comfortably sitting on one of the tree-branches, and pushed myself into my Hallow. Now, there was only a raven, sitting in a random tree, behind the cover of the trunk. Unless the Travellers were about to start shooting at random, I was likely safe.

Sadly, shooting at random was exactly what they did. While I couldn’t see who did it, I could feel a momentary build-up of power, causing Lenore to frantically take flight, while I did my best to cover her in a shell of Magic-Devouring Darkness. I had no idea if it would work in a similar fashion as the Blood-Magic had, I wasn’t about to risk anything.

A few seconds after we had taken flight, Lenore’s body shook for a moment, as the booming sound of Thunder rolled over the land. For a moment I could feel the magic batter against the barrier I had created, before it dissipated as quickly as it had started.

“Madness!” Lenore muttered, mostly unharmed but just as surprised as I had been. The magic had been reasonably powerful and without the barrier, it might have managed to cause some damage to Lenore’s hearing. Even I, within the Hallow, had taken a negligible amount of damage, but that might have had something to do with the way I had shielded Lenore.

“We shouldn’t have taken a second look.” I admitted, as we quickly flew away. It had been a foolish risk, but luckily, nothing bad had happened.

We kept flying at a casual speed, guided by the sensation of attraction I felt for Sigmir, until we got sight of the others, during the early afternoon. Just knowing that she was nearby made my heart beat faster, anticipation causing a fluttering in my stomach.

I could feel Lenore’s amusement but ignored it, mentally pushing her to hurry, until we were only a few meters above them. At that point, I wasn’t willing to wait any longer and pushed myself out of my Hallow, letting gravity carry me the last few meters into Sigmir’s comfortable embrace. And Sigmir didn’t disappoint, easily making the catch and cradling me in her arms, while I heard a few amused snickers around us. But I didn’t care at all.

I was back where I belonged, ensconced in her comfortable embrace, able to smell that distinct odour of leather, metal and sweat, all with a hint of spice. Tension left my body, as I clung to her neck, taking a deep breath, before looking into her face and claiming those sweet, sweet lips for myself.

“Are you trying to devour each other?” Adra’s amused voice interrupted our reunion far too soon, but sadly, she was right. There were better places than the middle of the road to show each other just how much we had missed the other. Places like our sleeping furs, later during the night. Maybe out of earshot from the others, where neither of us needed to hold back. Yes, that was a good plan.

“I missed you.” I whispered to Sigmir, before burying my face in the nape of her neck, gently nibbling at her skin.

“And I, you.” she replied after a moment, before taking a deep breath. “I dreamed of you.” she added a moment later, bringing a smile to my face.

“Oh? I hope it was a pleasant dream, just like the dreams I had of you. Dreams I want to revisit as soon as night falls.” I told her, looking into her face. Objectively, she wasn’t beautiful, but at that moment, I couldn’t think of anything better looking than her blushing face.

I would manage to remain together with her, as we walked the Road to Purgatory. By any means necessary.