I return to my seat beside Sira at the campsite. Kaikai has left in search for Holly, and he will probably take some time. His dragon pace is anything but swift.

The evening is on its dying breaths, the warmth of the last sunbeams is barely enough to make me forget about the cold air.

Sira is lost again in her thoughts. That habit of hers has come and go along the years. When we first met, she would do it for hours. After a while and a lot of effort from my part she opened up.

I can't reprimand her for doing it now, understand what is worrying her. I expect her to stand there until she falls asleep again. Instead and defying my expectations, Sira talks to me almost as soon as I sit.

"Do you find Kyroz behavior weird?"

"More than normal? Yes. But a good weird."

He did surprise me when he talked about his grandmother. All the time we chatted while cooking, he looked to me a little homesick, like nostalgic for something. He must have been thinking about her.

"Yes, it's a good weird. But I can't stop feeling uneasy. What is he hiding?"

"He says he does not remember our adventures. That's a lie."

"You noticed."

I assert nodding my head. Kaikai was never a good liar, but this time he wasn't even trying. He gave us an explanation to work with for the time being.

"He said Holly recommended him to. What is that fox planning?"

"She is probably afraid of your response. You don't react quietly to painful situations."

"I don't? What about you?"

"I know, and that's why Holly said that."

I admit that sometimes I do lose control. Most of the time can be justified, and it even got us out of trouble more than once.

"Well, I suppose. We do have used Holly to discharge ourselves."

"Talk for yourself."

Sira has bullied Holly for the better part of the three years we've traveled together. Not soon after she joined us, they started arguing, and that hasn't stopped since. I never understood why though.

"Why do you?"

"Why do what?"

"I mean, why do you two fight."

Almost all topics related to Holly provoke disgust in Sira's face, my question is no exception. Most of the time I leave her to deal with it on her own. It may be because of Kaikai showing concern for Holly's that I am growing curious about their relationship. Even if Sira and I have shared everything for thirty years, she refuses to answer with a meek but undoubtedly angry tone.

"It's none of your business."

She took her time to think of an answer. It's clearly not the one she gave me. Maybe she needs a little push.

"You looked like you were getting along when we returned from the lake."

"You saw wrong."

She can be so stubborn sometimes. I don't want her to close up again. Kaikai is right; we are in trouble, we shouldn't create more problems. Sira needs to be a little more amiable with Holly, at least for the following days. Plus, Holly seems to know what Kyroz is hiding. I wonder what happened to Kaikai to show so much attention to her.

"He changed."

I unconsciously uttered the words and realized it too late. I accidentally gave Sira an opportunity to escape from an uncomfortable topic.

"Yes, he changed. Are you ok with that?"

I am not sure. In a way, he behaves like never before, in others he looks like the way he cared when we were young. Even if the Kyroz right now acts very different to the one Sira and Holly knew, to me he is very familiar.

"I guess? I feel that Kyroz is not really different, somehow it is like my Kaikai is back."

Sira and I have been friends for a long time now. We have gone throw everything together. Right now we can even say we have gone through the end of the world. I feel I have told her about everything. It's sad that she doesn't trust me back.

"Anyway, about you and Ho..."

"Mia," she interrupts me. "I have been wondering about this for a while. 'Sent to another world, turned into a dragon.' Wasn't Ky talking about himself?"

Right, he did say that.

"That's the reason he changed?"

"No, but I am worried. He reminds me of what happened in my town."

"You think he will break?"

"If he were like always, never. I am not sure about him now."

I doubt he will suffer any problem. Until now he has remained calm and focused. If anything he appears more active than ever, at least when it comes to things about the camp. He would never stay at the back during a hunt.

"He will be alright. He will shake things off like always."

"I hope so."

I failed my opportunity to talk about Holly. Maybe Kaikai will help me later. He sure is taking his time. We have been talking for a while. We were so concentrated talking that we didn't notice the arrival of the night.

Kaikai and Sira's words swim in my mind, and I am compelled to ask my vampire friend about what I am most curious.

"I wonder what is that he wants to tell us about."

"It will be nothing good."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because he is afraid we will hurt him when we know."

We are suddenly awoken from our meditation when a strenuous dragon roar fills the air followed by an intense purple pulse of magic that runs through us. It feels cold like winter. Immediately after, we hear the rustling of leaves getting far away into the distance.

When the surprise is gone, my mind manages to process the events. I need to act now.

"Something is attacking him!"

"Wait! Mia, don't go!"

"He needs me!"

"He does not. The magic pulse, that was Holly's. They are leading whatever is pursuing them away."

"You want me to wait and do nothing?"

"Yes. They will arrive. He is a dragon, what is dumb enough to attack him?"

I hope she is right.

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It's been a few minutes, to me they have been an eternity. I fly over our campsite to get a better look at what happened.

A row of trees had been tumbled down. From there I barely saw the flying silhouette of Kyroz jumping from the forest. He kept moving further away in a straight line until he landed out of sight.

"He is coming back!"

I inform Sira who is on the ground and looks at me worried. I commit a mistake by seeing the bright side of the bonfire. My eyes lose their sharpness as they need to accommodate again to the dim brilliance of the night illuminated forest.

"Is Holly with him?"

"I don't know."

The dark shadow that is supposed to be Kyroz quickly closes in. I can't picture Holly either in his arms or his back. He flies near the forest top and is not as stable as in our travel to the lake town, he keeps tilting to a side and correcting his trajectory. Almost like trying to repeat his first landing attempt, his speed does not diminish as he comes close to us.

Doing a roll, he crashes with his back facing the ground. He stops right next to our camp.

"Kaikai, Holly! What happened?!"

On his arms, there is a big ball of honey-colored fur. Holly stands up and calls to me.

Sweat fills the rough surface of his face, and his golden eyes are losing their shine becoming cloudy. He endured just enough to get to me, before losing consciousness.

"What? How did this happen?!"

A basilisk? Here? Wasn't this supposed to be a lower level zone? We had no problems with the big boar. No, Kaikai is right. I should stop thinking in terms of the Rift.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I came close to his wound. Latched on his flesh is a tooth of the creature. I will remove it. With a normal sword, I would leave it there, but I need to make sure no more poison enters his body.

He is still bleeding, that's a good sign.

A dark purple substance covers the fur-like feathers of his tight and flows down to his scaly feet.

Is his blood purple?

The worried voice of Holly moves me away from my trance.

"Yes, I think. I need to check my pouch. Most of my tools were in my inventory."

Why does this have to happen now? I planned to buy an alchemist set in town once we get there. Right now I am very unprepared. I lack reagents. Maybe I could take a risk and run to town and get an alchemist set. No, I am not sure if there is an alchemist shop there and even if there is, its night already.

What I carry in my pouch are the bare essentials. I have a cure for the paralyzing poison I use to coat my daggers. Maybe I can use it as a base?

While I wonder how to proceed, Holly turns to the dumbfounded Sira.

Sira's eyes are focused on the spilling blood. Giving no signs of listening to Holly's words.

That was enough to wake up Sira.

"What? You let them see you?!"

Sira's threshold broke as her anger powered her telekinesis.

"AAAAAAH!!!!!!!"

Together with a scream like that of a banshee, a wave of psychic energy blasted the camp. The dust from Kyroz failed landings rose, and leaves from the nearby trees fled from her rage.

With her eyes shining in purple color and losing all her control, she used her skills to grab the surrounding trees and toss them into the dark forest.

The frightened Holly threw herself onto the ground and covered her head with her paws like a scared dog.

With her lack of reason, Sira turned to the fearful fox and spoke.

"You realize how much effort it took to plan?! You two have put us in a terrible risk!"

"Sira, calm yourself! You are not helping!" I try to stop the rampaging psychic.

"This has to be set clear now!"

"There is a more important matter!"

I come closer an make her turn to the fallen dragon. She seems to snap out of her rage.

"Kyroz needs her. She has to heal him while I prepare an antidote."

Her eyes return to normal, and her expression relaxes lightly.

I release her and walk over to Holly. She is still scared of Sira's violent actions. I gently caress the fur on her head. She makes me remember a puppy.

"Holly, calm yourself. I am not blaming you, you two made the right choice. Leading the basilisk away from the camp, wasn't it Sira?"

Sira notices her own words betraying her, and seems to settle. Holly is still restless, but I think she will compose soon. I know she is strong.

"I need your help. Use earth magic to make one mortar and crucible. Sira may know how to do it. Okay?"

I come close to the vampire and in a quiet voice, and leaving no place for arguments, speak to her.

"You will help her. You will not bully her or hurt her. Fail me, and I'll show you how scary I can get."

Sira looks at me and says nothing. She had many opportunities to see me deliver my threats, and knows I am serious.

I go next to Kaikai and fetch my pouch. I already know what I am missing, and I am fortunate to have a single portion of most of the unique materials. I can find the rest in the forest.

I look at my party members one more time for final instructions.

"Sira, use the time to find a way to deal with the knights. Holly, make sure to heal the wound regularly and refresh his fever. Keep the injury cold. It will lessen the spread of poison. I need materials."

I turn back and march into the darkness of the forest at night.

----------------------------------------

I run through the forest as fast as I can, looking around me for any sign of a herb that may work as a reagent for Kaikai's antivenom.

I have both my daggers ready for any creature stupid enough to try to stop me. With my current mood, I don't care to tear to pieces each branch or even burn the whole forest. I definitely carry enough incendiary bombs to start a fire. The only thing that stops me is my need for the hidden resources in this damn place.

Not noticing my disgust, a single wolf stares at me from the shadows.

"Come."

The animal springs forth aiming his fangs directly at my throat. I grab my dagger and firmly push it into his mouth. It's stuck. From my back, another two try to catch me by surprise, but I duck and grab the back leg of one of them with my free hand.

With my second dagger, I stab him in the nape of his neck. The last one has turned and is looking at me with hatred in his eyes.

"I will take those."

Animal eyes are reagents too. I can't use my first dagger as the fallen wolf's mouth is still pierced with it, but these doggies are not even a threat.

Noticing the difference between us, the last coward runs away.

I recover my knife and start butchering the animals, the liver, kidneys or even the blood could be used as alchemy materials. My reagent detection skill used to tell me about the names of the things I found, now I get a hunch, a strong intuition telling me of its uses. It's a long shot, but everything has been odd since we got to this world.

I leave behind the bloody scene. The eyes and a few organs can be of use, at least to alleviate Kaikai's symptoms.

Further inside the forest, I find an exposed root that shines with a whitish-blue light. A fungus is infesting the tree, eating it to create the glowing substance on its crown.

My hunch tells me this is what I need. There's not much I need to create an antivenom. The rest is a basic spell during the brewing process. We were lucky that we arrived in a forest.

"One more and we are done."

I am not sure if it's because of my new eyes, but I can see better at night. It's not as clear as day, but the contours of objects look sharper than before.

The forest is darker and bigger than any I can remember from the Rift, and I am surprised at the lack of encounters. Holly and Kaikai were very unfortunate to meet the basilisk.

The missing reagent is a stabilizing agent. There must be some root, bark or leaf that can help me. A gleam of my necklace shines into my eyes, reflecting the rays of the moon that pass through the forest roof. It makes me remember that I need to search faster.

I cannot fly. If I were to do it, I could pass by the stabilizing agent. Even as I am doing now, running without aim inside the forest, I risk missing it. I can't stand still and think.

Finally, I arrive at a small clearing. There is a single black rose on top of a mound of soil. My reagent detection makes me notice its thorns. It is the missing stabilizing agent.

Such a clear trap was almost laughable in the Rift. Whatever attacks me, I will kill it and return to our camp.

As soon I place a foot on the clearing, the mound rises, and a treant appears, the black rose growing from its head. It has no legs, just a trunk rising from the ground and two root-like appendages as arms.

It fires at me with seeds as fast as bullets. I react by moving to the side, but the barrage continues. I start circling the clearing trying to foresee the monster's actions.

I take some of my throwing knives and aim at the plant's trunk. They remain stuck with no discernible effect. The monster's HP won't decrease. At my sudden attack, the creature changes tactics. Buring part of his body onto the ground makes roots pop from the ground like tentacles trying to hold me in place.

I evade the twirling roots at the best of my abilities. I am lucky they don't move faster than I can perceive. My new body feels different, and my wings are bigger making me sluggish when turning.

I use my knife and cut them, making the treant writhe in pain. Retracting his roots the monster's main body rises again. His arms are now flailing around like whips. I try to backstep as I am used to, but I am too slow, and the root hits me in my chest. As a result, I am sent flying and crash into a tree.

Fortunately, the armor absorbed most of the damage, making straps of leather break off. I can't understand how it is possible. My gear is max-level dungeon raid armor. An overworld treant can't possibly hurt me, even if it could its difficulty is nowhere near the Rift's creatures equivalent.

With me outside of his melee range, the treant starts firing off his seeds again. I can't keep playing around. As I circle the creature, I take my throwing knives and aim to the rose on its head.

I fail the first few throws, but I manage to cut the rose on my third. The rose falls to the ground, and the creature screeches in pain and rage. It was probably a weak point. His barrage intensifies, but I don't care. I only need to grab the rose from the ground.

The barrage is faster with the creature's anger powering it. It is forcing me to get to the limits of my speed.

I focus on the flower I need to create the antivenom. I am the only one who knows enough about poisons in this world that my friends can trust. As I concentrate on the fallen reagent, I feel the power inside raising up to the task. My limbs are moving faster, and my body is being swifter. My eyes can see the seeds flying around me and the root-like whips trying and failing to grab me.

Before I can process the event, the black rose is in my hand, and I even managed to throw a farewell gift to the treant, a firebomb.

"So ungrateful."

The flames bathe the treant, and the creature screeches in agony by my gift. The noise scratching the cold air of the forest and making its death throes heard for miles.

I save the rose into one of my pouches. I can't carry much, so it's cramped. I don't care about the petals. It's the thorns that are the needed reagent.

I move to the side of the charred remains of the treant. With all my reagents accounted for, I need to return to our camp quickly. I spread my wings and prepare myself to fly.

Before I can do it, I see the leaves of a bush shaking, maybe its another monster, attracted by the treant's screams. Instead what hides behind the leaves is a man in full plate armor.

"A knight."

"Shol am Vun’dun."

The human talks in the strange language of the fishing town, and as soon as he sees me he readies in a stance. Kaikai was right. They are not friendly towards us.

He slowly moves around me, not missing a single movement. But the knight is not the only one who is studying his opponent. The man's actions are trained and carefully considered. His armor looks sturdy and tough, and he carries a sword and shield. His face is hidden behind a helm, but I know he is a man by his voice and figure.

I can't lose more time here. I must return. I slightly duck to take flight, but the knight notices and tries to slash at me with his sword. With my dagger, I receive the blow and parry it. The knight immediately responds with a shield bash.

The blow makes me stagger. I recover and try to put a stand, but the knight doesn't miss the opportunity. He once again tries to cleave against me, aiming at my wings. My black feathers flutter in the air in front of my face. The hit was a close one as I manage to dodge, almost succeeding to hurt me. I hope I won't have any problem flying back.

My new wings are a detriment to my agility. I can't dodge as quickly as before, but now I can't move faster. Knowing my advantage, I try to get up and use my speed, but the knight closes my escape route with his sword.

He is making clear that this can only end with my death.

He swings his sword trying to make me lose my feet once again. I try to parry with my daggers, but it's not very effective. My damaged leather armor is filled with slashes, and the skin of my arms is getting exposed, and I can smell the iron in my blood.

I need an opening, so I throw my left dagger to his face hoping he dodges. He does, and I use my wings to fly and put distance between us.

"Throwing works, huh?"

I have the advantage now that I am in the air. I could fly away now, but I am not in the mood for forgiveness.

I throw a firebomb, and he covers with his shield. He is surprised by the flammable liquid that is now heating his shield and spilling onto his feet. My bombs are made from lava turtle's saliva; they won't take long to make his iron armor red hot. He has no choice but to endure and, as he cleverly does, throw away his shield.

He doesn't seem to know about firebombs, but he is wary. I keep throwing more of them, making sure he is focused on my attacks with a couple of knives in between. He is forced to evade and unknowingly to fall into my trap.

"You are surrounded."

I mock him as he finally notices what I been doing. I threw bombs around the clearing, making an improvised fire barrier. I feel power once again born from my anger. I take my final five throwing knives and aim into his sword hand shoulder.

He still tries to avoid them, but the space he has to move is decreasing, and my aim has become sharper. My last knife pierces his armor, and his sword falls to the ground. In the one second, I approach him with my new power and carve my dagger into his helmet's opening.

His limp body falls, and I stop to catch a breath. The power inside me calms down; it must have been the same Sira showed. I give the fallen knight a last glance. I notice he carries a leather bag and the sword that he dropped on the last minute.

I may find something useful in the bag, at least it will be helpful to carry our shopping. The sword is not exactly the type Sira uses, but it will certainly be beneficial.

I recover my dagger and a couple of my knives then jump to the air, leaving behind the smell of ash and burnt flesh.