Oliver was finding within himself a growing suspiciousness of Camilla. It started nine days ago, when she shared the wonderful news of another group found occupying the fallen spire with them. That was of course a purely joyous occasion, as more people meant bigger projects such as actual settlements, and more time for experimentation so long as there was cooperation. No, the slightly dubious part of the last period of their fellowship was more due to the fact that he had yet to meet the soon-to-be friends on the spire. The first time it was more than simply understandable, as he was asleep at the time of contact. It would appear that he was unable to disregard sleep for entire nights without the aid of blue light.

Then the reasoning began to become less plausible. He was sure it wasn’t anything bad, they were friends after all, and the first ones did seem logical enough. During the second trip, she had asked him to collect a greater stock of the mushrooms we had been informed of to not only be edible, but also non-poisonous. And to be utterly and completely honest, he too was prepared to leave behind the poisonous mushrooms in favour of greener pastures, quite literally, as the new mushroom was green. Because while he could acknowledge and appreciate the good times they offered, such as the bartender-bit, he was also ready to move on.

Then she had returned with socks, so many wonderful socks, which she had received in exchange for one of our six steel spheres. She had then insisted that he should practice with the extend-o-ball for an undisclosed amount of time until she deemed him capable of assisting in the case of an emergency. He had argued that nothing would happen, so it would be fine if he came with her. She had responded with the very eloquent counterpoint that his leg was still broken and that she would run away to the others so he could not follow her even if he tried. He had eventually acquiesced to her request because even if nothing had happened, it was not exactly necessary for him to come either.

Now, finally, he had become very, very good at using it over the last six days, and there were no more reasons for her to exclude him from her visits.

But now, he was prepared to confront her, with a devious setup perfect for giving her an offer which she could not refuse. That I to say, he was sitting in the centre of their little trench home, in a chair with a skeleton of controlled socks and padding made of large mushroom caps, stroking a dead lynx he had hunted. He looked down at the lynx, coming to a rather sudden realisation, namely that he was stroking the corpse of a cat-ish animal whose skull he had bashed in from behind with the closest approximation to a drone strike he could find in this new world. That was perhaps not the best indicator of sanity when he was attempting to convince someone to assist him with making contact with other sentient beings. He heard Camilla’s footsteps draw near, and in a wise split-second decision chose to throw the corpse into the corner by the entrance.

“Ahh, miss...” he really should at least attempt to improve at either remembering the last names of people or asking them in the first place, although he was unsure which “Miss Camilla, good to see you took the time to visit me in our humble abode”

“My last name is Lund, Oliver” Camilla rolled her eyes “and why is there a dead animal in the corner?”

“Ahh, you see, it refused an offer which could not be refused, and I had to make the consequences of such choices clear,” Oliver said, improvising something other than the slightly alarming truth.

“Are you telling me that you killed a cat for a bit?” Camilla looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not judging, more so... considering, which was strange, as he had expected something more akin to horror at what she assumed him to have done.

“No! No, no!” Oliver said, hurrying to defend his sanity as he stood up and waved his hands around. “I was simply graced with the luck to stumble upon it during my hunt, and I initially considered using it as a prop to enhance my mafia bit. I then later came to the conclusion that it would be counterproductive to my goals of this conversation, and attempted to dispose of it without disposing of it”

“I suppose that’s better, and at least you didn’t throw it into our bed,” she said, gesturing to the pile filled with leaves Oliver had gathered before looking back to him with one eyebrow still raised “but what is this offer I apparently cannot refuse?”

Oliver’s eyes widened a bit as he realized that he had broken his commitment to the bit, and he quickly settled back into his chair. He at least attempted to, but as it was solely held together by magic, and he lost all concentration when he defended himself, he instead fell backwards, and landed in a pile of socks and mushrooms.

“... I assume that the bit is no more?” he received a slow nod of confirmation. Camilla was clearly either disappointed by his inability to commit to the bit, or the situation in general. Oliver quickly shrugged off his failure, sure in his belief that he could transform his failure into a far greater success than if the bit had worked.

“I would very much appreciate it if you would begin to accept my ability to survive harsher conditions than a cracked eggshell, and finally cease your steadfast prevention of my travelling and adventuring goals,” he said, smiling at her.

“Alright, I suppose I should at least tell you why I can’t let you come, but you need to promise not to do anything rash, alright?” Camilla said with a sigh.

“I promise,” Oliver said, smiling at her.

Camilla observed him with the utmost of care from where she stood above, as if weighing some unknown probability calculation in her mind as her amber eyes roving across his thin, delicate limbs. She then calmly sat down across from him, looking into his eyes.

“As you know, the camp of the other people are not too far away from our current location, only half an hour or so when I jog. What you are not aware of, however, is that I have had some alarming suspicions about them for some time” She started to explain, her eyes narrowing as if waiting to see what he would do after what she would then tell him “You see, people from their group have been disappearing, and-”

“Have they been accounted for yet? Who disappeared? Are they safe? Why did you not tell me this earlier?” Oliver asked with an imploring voice, quickly rising from his prone position, and missing the triumphant glint in Camilla’s eyes.

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“We know nothing about them yet, and at the moment, though we do know that there were three of them, and I didn’t tell you before because there was a chance that individuals from the other camp were behind it. I needed the assurance of an unknown powerful wizard in my corner, in an undisclosed location. It gave me a certain level of protection from any attacks, since they couldn’t be sure if you would seek vengeance, or of how powerful you were. That was also why I made sure to display as much of the magic you thought me, while saying you were far more powerful, and more importantly, with greater range” Camilla said with a hint of satisfaction at her own ploy, even if Oliver was far to engrossed in thinking to hear it.

“That is all fine, but if you simply needed them to think I was real, why could you not divulge to me where they disappeared at some far, far earlier point so I could search for them before now?” Oliver asked, hurriedly waving her along to ask the questions which truly mattered.

“Because there is no reason to go. Yes, their disappearance was a tragedy, but the chances of them still being alive are minimal, at best, and your talent in the area of magic is far too valuable to risk you dying needlessly. For the greater good, I needed to ensure that we could at least be sure of the other camp’s intentions before we could, maybe, organize a search party, if enough people are in agreement on the issue” Camilla said.

Oliver only spared her an askance glance as he hurriedly began to wrap his extend-o-ball around his arm from where he leaned against the wall. He then swiftly seized his crutch and began to stuff his pockets with the edible mushrooms they had found.

“And where are you going in such a hurry after you promised not to do anything rash?” She asked.

“I do not know I am going until you share with me the location of the others, and I am absolutely willing to break a promise if it means helping people who are in need” Oliver said, standing at the entrance as he waited for her to explain where he would need to search.

“Oliver, I appreciate your willingness to help people, but they’re dead. There is almost no possibility of anything else, and you will find nothing but their bones and the strips of flesh which whatever animal killed them could not eat” Camilla said, standing in front of him with a face of resigned certainty.

“Camilla” Oliver said, smiling softly at her as his eyes somehow caught the dim blue light of their little home, and for a moment, Camilla finally knew what they reminded her of. It was as though they were a clear summer day reflected off the sea outside of Greece. The image of a perfect day, a day where nothing could go wrong.

“They are alive. I am aware that it is impossible to be certain of that fact, however, that does not actually matter.” Oliver shrugged his shoulders helplessly as if he was explaining how to see “Hope is what allows the world to improve, to become a better place to inhabit. We cannot move forwards without it. And I know what you are thinking, that if hope is all it would take for good things to happen, then the world would already be perfect, right?”

“That does seem to be the obvious flaw in your ideology,” Camilla said.

“But what if everyone hoped? Hoped for a better world, a world where you could trust in those around you to help no matter what, where if you needed it, anyone would drop everything and step forwards to help you with everything they could? I know that it is hard for some to find such hope within themselves, so I made an oath to myself, that I would always hope, and always be the kind of person who did what anyone else needed him to do, no matter the cost, so that one day I might be able to help light the spark within another. I would burn brightly until the world is lit with the flames of hope, even if only for a moment” Oliver almost laughed out, the brightest grin Camilla had ever seen adorning his lips like the sun of a clear sky, and for a moment, she would follow him into the darkest dungeon the world had ever seen, because she knew he would do the same for her.

“Besides, it's more fun. Living like me, that is” Oliver shook his head slightly, a bittersweet smile upon his face as he looked at Camilla with sympathy “you cannot possibly Pathum how it feels to live in a world where good happens simply because it is good.”

Camilla sighed, and for a moment there was naught but silence in the air as Oliver waited with bated breath for her answer, for the fate of his expedition. Or rather, how easy his expedition would be. It wouldn't matter, either way, he would surely find the missing people so long as he searched long enough for them. It had worked with Emma’s cat before the system, after all, so it would simply assist him in finding them more swiftly if he was granted a starting point.

“Fine, I'll take you to the camp, then I will show you where we think the last person to disappear left. The tracks should still be visible, since there is no wind in this place, so I expect you to be able to follow them at least for some time until an animal muddies the waters, so to speak” Camilla said, resigned to letting him leave on his quest.

Oliver smiled brilliantly.

Many Hours later he was still smiling. After all, the mere fact that he was currently on a mission to rescue unknown people from an unknown kidnapper after they were abducted through unknown methods with unknown dangers presumably thriving on the path ahead was no reason to be concerned. He knew they would be if not safe then at least alive when he arrived, and while he was proceeding at the most rapid pace he could reliably manage on his crutches, he could still enjoy the journey.

The mushroom forest was, as everything in the ever-fall forest appeared to be, layered. It was, however, also layered in a substantially different manner than the Above, although the difference mainly manifested in one sense. As opposed to the Above, it was not what happened when you gave a concussed civil engineer the ability to construct roads without the need to account for structural integrity. Because this was more akin to when you gave a concussed architect the ability to construct buildings without the need to account for structural integrity.

As it turned out, the tree dying was not cause for the heartwood to lose its remarkable durability, which was a phenomenon he would have to study when the time was available. What that meant was that the Mushrooms of the spire had a wide and very sturdy skeleton to build upon, with the branches originating from the sides of the fallen spire being harvested by the great beasts of the fallen sea. This all allowed the many-coloured and intriguing breeds of fungi to construct what essentially amounted to a cave system. Except, of course, much more intricate. There were atriums with rows of balconies, spiralling staircases made of layers of fungi overlapping each other endlessly as they spun around an upwards branch, and countless other interesting formations, each only having the soft blue glow of their underside in common, even if the caps were many-coloured.

But even as he walked through the fantastically fascinating fungi forest, a name Camilla had harshly rejected, which he could accept as it led to the fallen sea compromise of twenty-seven D.A.S. or days after system, he still closely followed the trail. The trail was very easy to follow due to the complete and utter lack of a pressure system in the bellow leading, which led to Oliver concluding that the ever-fall forest grew in a very large hole, where the canopy acted as a lid.

Then it was suddenly no longer easy to follow, as it disappeared. Oliver quickly looked before him in alarm, as he before had been observing the gigantic beast which had sprung from the dead sea to consume the mushrooms of a horizontal branch as though it was a Shish kebab.

Oliver sighed at what met him some two-hundred meters ahead. He had been so proud of his now debunked theory of the size-colony ratio. Oh well, at the very least he could appease himself with the fact that they were not mosquitoes. Besides, it was not as though he actually knew anything about the spiders. While the webbing appeared very thick, enough to indicate very large spiders, it could simply be a quirk of the species to have unnaturally thick webs.