‘She can’t escape’ is what I said but the red trail is still thin after almost a year.

“How big is this continent?!” It didn’t help that as usual, I had to travel by foot as fierce beasts had no problem shooting me out of the sky, plucking me out of the sky, pouncing me out of the sky, and whatnot.

I looked up and saw a group of strange enormous birds fighting each other. That’s what I would have to deal with if I was flying. And those are as intelligent as the red beast that almost traumatized me. I only encounter dangerous beasts here on the ground when I want to, which is whenever I want to rest in a comfortable cave or large hollow tree.

I am staring down one right now. My earlier shout grabbed its attention a bit earlier than I had planned but this hollow tree is mine. This gigantic python seems to disagree. I dislike fighting reptilian beasts. The mammalian and bird beasts can be damaged, the reptilians seem to have a high natural resistance to anything related to magic. I have to slap it till it passes out or gets a concussion or I have to get eaten and attack it from the inside.

Getting swallowed and attacking it from inside is the fastest method but also the most disgusting method. Even though I hate fighting the reptilians they are the easiest to bring down if I intentionally get swallowed. It will go from the hardest to easiest to fight. I sighed.

Do I want to get covered in blood and mucus again? It took forever to get it off me the last time. The snake didn’t give me time to think as it lunged at me. I pulled out my hairpin, jumped aside and smacked the side of its head. No damage as expected. I need to put more force behind it.

My options are: sweaty, exhausted, hair in a mess and full of twigs. Or stinky and covered in thick mucus and blood. There is a possibility of poison but…

I evaded a tail slam. This snake is a python, they don’t have poison, just strong stomach acid. My clothing got dissolved after the last python swallowed me. I inspected my attire. I’m not that attached to it. In the stomach, I go!

Is what my plan was but this python hadn’t made an attempt to eat me yet so I had to fight back. Evading tail slams, smacking its head to the side when it lunged, making sure I don’t get surrounded by its body. It will be game over if he squeezes me to a pulp before he swallows me.

Would charm magic work? Some humans believe that appetite and lust are not far from each other.

“Hey there sweetie, how about it? Want to take a bite?” I turned my charm to the max. It wasn’t as effective as I would hope but the snake came in for a gulp. I pinched my nose and jumped in.

It was warm and damp inside the python. Walls of flesh closed in on me as peristalsis kicked in and tried to push me toward the python’s stomach. I am unable to resist this so this is my time limit. Kill this python from the inside before it pushes me into the stomach and the stomach acid incapacitates me.

I covered myself with a layer of ice and bolstered myself with mana to at least survive the stomach acid for 10 minutes.

The fan got swung. The inside of the python became cold as I kept fanning away, sending icicles into its through and freezing everything around me. The python thrashed. Too bad!

These snakes are so greedy, they only start to spit me out when it’s too late. It can still save itself by spitting me out but I’m still getting pushed toward the stomach.

I got ejected into the stomach and my clothing started to dissolve. I had more room to move around here so I spun and used [Hairpin: Tsunami]. It will dilute the acid a bit and buy more time, time I probably won’t need. Another spin and the [Hairpin: Azure Hairpin] flew out and punctured the inner lining of it’s stomach. The stomach acid flowed into the wound.

Oof that must hurt. Another spin and [Hairpin: Mistflower Field] went out and the mistflowers shredded the inside of the stomach. The flow reversed as the python tried to vomit me out. What was left of the stomach convulsed and pushed me and the stomach acid out. But it was too late. The [Hairpin: Mistflower Field] will keep shredding its insides until it dies.

I got ejected forcefully out of the python covered in mucus, acid, and blood.

“Yuck…”

Water gathered around me as I was using magic to clean myself. The python was thrashing around but it shortly stopped moving as blood streamed out of its mouth.

The humans have some sort of myth about a man that bathed in python blood and got invincible. Or was it dragon blood? I wonder how true it was.

I had minor acid burns so it doesn’t seem to be true.

The washing turned into a full-on shower as all my clothing had dissolved. My shampoo and body lotion were running out. I went on quite a shopping rampage in Gavin before I came to this continent. Thinking I bought way too much. It seems it wasn’t enough. Then again, I have been here for 7 years.

7 years… that’s nothing! Maybe it’s a lot for humans. That is almost 1/10th of their average life expectancy. I won’t die unless I get killed. Getting sealed away is an issue though…

The brush glided through my hair and removed chunks of python flesh.

But my supplies are in danger. I’m sure they don’t have stores here like they have in Kaledon. How am I supposed to survive without body lotion and shampoo?

My perfume was doing fine but that’s because using it will attract a lot of bugs. My bug repellent seemed to be in danger the first few years here but I don’t need it now. The bugs don’t like cold air as I have an area of moist and cold air around me at all time. It’s to combat bugs but also to detect those Blurs.

The last chunk of bloodied python got removed from my hair and I went for another round of cleaning myself.

I sat down in my new home for now. I had spent 3 hours making sure I didn’t smell funny. The hollow tree was spacious and some water even had collected to the side. I had completely turned into a jungle chick. Jumping into the mouth of a large python would have been unthinkable for me 7 years ago.

Now anything goes as long as it allows me to survive. Is this why the humans here are so strong? I can’t say that my physical strength has improved a lot but if I would live here for a century or more it would start to greatly affect my physical capabilities. Stretch that for millennia over multiple generations and even a human would become a monster in this environment and it seems that’s exactly what happened.

Humans on Kaledon are weak and unimpressive creatures. Humans on Nesher are a menace. They are a bit simple and sometimes even stupid though. A human from Nesher would beat a human from Kaledon 9/10 times. It’s not 10/10 because a Kaledonian human that has mastered magic and is highly intelligent might outsmart and beat these but it’s not looking good for the humans on Kaledon. There should be more continents besides Kaledon and Nesher, what strange abilities will the humans have there? Is this why they’re the most successful race on the planet?

I can’t imagine Misha living on Nesher as most Misha would most likely die before they can adapt to this continent. It takes a monster like the Imposter or me to make it past the first few years. I made myself cozy and went to sleep.

A cold chill woke me up the next morning. I’m in a jungle, it’s not supposed to be chilly. I got up but the chill was gone.

“What was that?” I used [Search: Imposter] and the red rail was quite noticeable. I was getting close. It was tempting to go for it but I know better now. I only set out when I’m properly rested. The Imposter has an arsenal of unlimited bullshit, rushing this will only wear me out.

I fried some python meat and had that as breakfast.

“I miss my cake…”

This python was surprisingly tasty. The problem is that I would have to go inside the python again to get more python meat. I decided that its not worth it. It was time to explore the area. My plan is to rest for 3 more days and continue the chase.

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The first investigation was always downwind. I don’t want any animals getting attracted to me based on smell so I make sure to scare off or eradicate any animals or beasts with good noses that might see me as a snack.

The jungle was thick as usual. It was a struggle as it was easy to trip here. Too many roots, vines and plants packed close together. I used my fan to mow them down but there was still a danger to trip, which I did and I tumbled down the slope.

It wasn’t as a long tumble as a tree was so kind to end my descent. It shattered into many pieces.

“Hey! I’m not that heavy!” I said as I got offended at how easily the tree shattered. It took a moment to process what I was looking at.

“Huh when did I turn colorblind?” I rubbed my eyes. The color had disappeared from the forest. It was still colorless. I turned around and there was some colorless jungle but it was lush and green further up the hill.

I realized that it wasn’t colorless but petrified. The tree that I crashed into had shattered into stone splinters.

“Is this one of the Imposter’s stupid skills again?” [Search: Imposter] didn’t reveal any of her BS clones nearby. So what? She might have done this and moved away.

I kept walking and the petrified jungle continued. It was easier to walk through this as everything shattered in front of me at every swing of the fan. The petrified jungle continued and continued. The area was quite large. The animals didn’t seem petrified but there were very few as nothing edible could be found here. I didn’t spot any petrified animals… that’s a problem.

That and the absence of lingering mana. Nothing of a magical nature was responsible for this. I started to run. More petrified jungle as far as the eyes could see. I hopped on my fan and flew up. Petrified jungle for as far as I could see. It looked as a blemish or disease. There was some green jungle from where I come from but there was no green in the direction I was heading. This is too wide scaled for some of the BS clone’s bullshit, moreover, this isn’t caused by anything magical.

But… there are no petrified animals. If some energy wave was responsible for this petrification, then the animals must have been caught in it too. I have yet to find a petrified animal. What could cause this?

I rummaged and took out some potions and vials. Mixed them and added a petrified twig in it. A negative reaction. This is indeed not caused by magic. More tests went out.

Nothing revealed what caused this petrification, moreover, the tests revealed that this part of the jungle was never plant-based and has always been stone. That can’t be right…

Why would stone formations form like a jungle with leaves, flowers, twigs and all, in the middle of an actual jungle, this doesn’t make any sense…

I wanted to accuse the Imposter but I have no clues nor evidence on how she could have done this without magic. A curse? But a curse is magic…barely. But my test should have picked up if it was a curse. Did her skills go even beyond that? Only one way to find out. I have to hunt down this BS clone and talk to her… I don’t want to talk to her…

The closest BS clone is quite far… I should rest. Rest or curiosity? Ugh. I will rest for 1 day instead of 3 and then slap the answer out of the Imposter.

Never have I had a rest that was as unrelaxing as this one. My head was generating countless ideas and hypotheses on what could have happened.

My unrelaxing day of rest was over. I packed my belongings and flew up and followed the trail. No flying beasts flying over this part, there is no food here after all. This might be the safest part of the continent. At least until I find out the reason of this petrification. It might petrify me too, which might make it still a dangerous place.

I flew for 2 days and spotted the BS clone. It was fighting a rabbit, wait a person. Oh a rabbit beast kin. The first beast kin I’ve seen on this continent, which is strange as beast kin highly prefer living in places that are common on this continent.

I got ready to sneak attack the Imposter when the rabbit guy kicked the living daylights out of the Imposter. The Imposter died in an explosion of black goop as they like to often do. The rabbit guy expertly evaded the goop. I decided to say hello.

“Hey, I saw that! That was impressive!”

The rabbit dude got ready for battle.

“Oh nono! I wanted to kill her too! My name is Azu!” the rabbit guy cocked his head.

“You can understand Nayala right? Or… is that a human language?”

The rabbit guy spoke. But it wasn’t Nayala. It was old Kaledonian.

“Huh you know old Kaledonian?”

“Huh? I don’t know what that is. How do you know Hourai?” The rabbit guy dropped a name that I didn’t expect to hear.

“Wait Hourai? As in the language they speak in Hourai? I know 4 kids… wait they’re not kids anymore… I know 4 men that also speak that!”

The rabbit dude got very happy. “Oh so you’re from Hourai?! Do you know what happened to it by any chance? We have lost contact with it about 13 years ago.”

“Oh… so you don’t know… the men I was talking about were named Agnis Hourai, Gregory Sheru, Raishin Torai, and Ted Barrington… you might recognize those surnames. It seems that Hourai is gone... they somehow escaped but they are looking for it.”

The rabbit guy dropped to the ground. “Wait the offspring of the Calamity Trio? No… this is worse than we thought!”

“Can you tell me what’s wrong? I owe my life to them as they helped me escape from a sealed prison. I want to help out wherever I can.”

The rabbit guy moved his ears around and got up. “You’re not a human, are you? Your rhythm sounds different. A long-lived race? Hmmm anyway you don’t sound as if you’re lying. I wish you were though… My name is Goyo Huin, I’m a four-tailed forest rabbit.”

I held my hands in front of my mouth as I gasped. “Another tailed beast?”

Goyo nodded. “Yes, and the disappearance of Hourai is a big problem.”

“Oh, sorry where are my manners! I’m Azurra Mist, a Misha or witch how the humans call us. You can call me Azu.”

“Oh, a witch, you are very far from home then. I’ve heard of them. This is not the place to talk. Do you mind if I carry you to our village?”

“Oh! Are you going to carry me with fluffy tails?”

Goyo looked very confused. “No only spirit foxes can carry things as large and heavy as humans or the like around. Hop on my back.”

“Oh…” I was a bit disappointed but the 1 tail he had out didn’t seem as if it could carry me. I climbed on his back and he started running and hoping around, using the petrified trees as a foothold and gaining a lot of speed.

“Woow! So fast!”

“Yeah, but only if we have something to hop around on. Open plains make us quite slow and useless. That’s why this petrified forest is a big problem because this stone crumbles after we hop off it.”

I didn’t understand what he meant but I started to see stumps of petrified trees that had crumbled. And it didn’t take long for us to pass an area that had open spaces as all the trees had crumbled.

More ideas came up as I looked at the petrified scene rushing by. It suddenly became dark as Goyo had jumped into a rabbit hole.

“We’re here. It isn’t much but this is the village of the four tailed Forest Rabbits.”

He showed a cozy underground village.

“Did you guys dig this yourself?” I looked around in awe. None of this seemed to have been dug out with magic.

“Well, our ancestors but yes.” Goyo waved and greeted some of his kin and lead me to another burrow. “Wren! I found someone who knows a bit on what happened with Hourai! She even speaks Hourai!

A tall brunette bunny girl appeared. “What have you picked up this time Goyo?”

“I am Azurra Mist, a witch from the continent of Kaledon. I have met Agnis Hourai, the son of Edea Hourai, I might know a bit about what happened to Hourai.”

“You met the son of the empress? Interesting. I’m all ears. Sit down.” Wren showed me inside.

I sat down. “Hourai… has disappeared.”