Several hours of cleaning later, Velvet stopped for a snack. Since there was no food in the hut, and she didn’t want to travel all the way back, she ended up looking around the forest.

There were some trees and plants she didn’t know anything about, especially mushrooms, but she found a pine tree with pinecones, with its seeds up for grabs.

Together with a hare she hunted with magic, and a few eggs she stole from a nest, she had enough for eating.

But she wanted to see the barrier, just out of curiosity. It wasn’t that far away.

After walking for a few minutes, she felt the barrier before seeing it, her hair starting to float, and the ambience getting progressively ‘thicker’. She was ten meters away from the barrier, but she felt too threatened to get closer, not to say touching it.

She was confident that touching the barrier would disintegrate her body, so she satisfied her curiosity from a distance.

The barrier was translucent, reflecting a myriad of colors with the light, which moved slowly as if it consisted of a liquid.

Velvet looked behind the barrier, towards the Unnamed Forest. The trees there were bigger, taller and thicker, making clear as water the difference between the forests. Something moved behind them.

Velvet didn’t notice it at first, thinking it was the wind, until a whole tree moved. Not a tree, a leg.

Looking up, an immense figure waited. It was covered in plants that hung as if it was a weeping willow, and even its horns were covered in branches. It, like Velvet, looked up, taking a whole branch from a tree, tearing it off and starting to munch on it.

It was a deer, an enormous deer; Velvet barely reached a third of its hooves. It looked at her while it ate, but, seeing she was harmless and bug sized, it paid no attention, eventually walking away.

Velvet noticed its horns had remains of blood and skin, and the deer lacked an eye, making it clear that it was not on top of the food chain.

She left after that, going back to the hut. She also picked some strange mushrooms on the way back. Not for eating, but for alchemy.

Well, she would love to feed them to Ethra or Alrai, but the predictable lack of cooperation from their part put her off.

Oh, I should totally call him Count Graham the next time he bothers me, I’m sure that’ll piss him off. Or maybe he enjoys it, mages are kinda messed up in the head.

Once back, she played with her bracelet, watching the Fire Salamander’s container. Since the animal was pretty chill, Velvet had taken some liberties with its territory, planting stuff. The stuff in question being Sinoe’s Baslard, who was buried in a corner.

Fumbling with the formation, she pulled the knife out, cleaning it.

She had previously ‘threatened’ it by using it to clean fish. Well, now its function was butchering a hare.

And it worked amazingly, it even made clean bone cuts, not a single shard on sight.

“See? Isn’t this better than murder? You were supposed to be a chef utensil all this time, not a murder weapon.”

After the butchering, she pulled out the pine cone seeds, and cleaned an old bowl to boil eggs. There was also some firewood from the previous tenant, so she turned on the chimney.

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She had been eating well these past few weeks, but she was more than used to eating unseasoned food.

While the food was cooking, she dismantled one of the broken chairs to fix another, tossing the unsalvageable pieces to the fireplace. Every now and then, she turned the hare skewers a bit, to make them evenly cooked.

Like that, between repairs, reforms and undust, the day passed. She had fully sanitized the bed, and Hyde was probably well fed for several days after this.

She had also taken a shower, even when she was probably a few hours away from another. But, after spending the whole day moving, hygiene was a must! She didn’t want to go to sleep being stinky!

Velvet also made sure to get stuff ready. Paper sheets, empty bottles, a glass of water, and a filled bathtub.

She went to sleep. Lothrigern hadn’t tried anything these few days, but she still was wary, telling Hyde that, if she didn’t wake up in fifteen minutes after falling asleep, he needed to use the charms.

She didn’t know if the charms would work under Lothrigern influence, but it didn’t hurt to try.

Getting on the bed, she closed her eyes.

…

The dream was dark and silent, like always, with the chained man deep down. Velvet looked around, trying to see if she felt Lothrigern’s presence.

Nothing.

“Hm. Surely you’re not watching?” She asked the void. “Because I’m about to scream the Father of Hell’s name if you have nothing to say!”

Nothing again. A part of her was disappointed; Lothrigern’s other-worldly, supernatural beauty was truly a sight to behold. Like a moth to a flame, Velvet was attracted to it, even when it would kill her.

Maybe that’s why so many mages had perished calling for Him.

“Did you perhaps find another mage to visit? My heart is broken!”

Her heart was certainly not broken, she was just doing it to be dramatic. If she was truly heartbroken, she would just call for Him, which she absolutely didn’t dare to do.

What she was doing by acting like that was losing time. She wanted to hit the ten minute mark of sleep before trying anything, that way, she wouldn’t need to wait much time in case things went awry.

Looking to both sides, she opened her mouth. “And-”

A gloveless hand reached from behind her, pushing her jaw closed softly. Velvet made a ‘Fufu’ noise, both terrified and happy.

“Even the Eternal Griever would stop his mourning and look down if you keep calling for him in such depth.”

Lothrigern’s hands are so pretty… They look and feel like butterfly wings. Velvet felt herself becoming a bit ticklish, but stopped once Lothrigern pressed his nails, probably so that she paid attention.

“What name can I use?” She didn’t know who the Eternal Griever was, but, since she was going to call Andras, it probably referred to Him.

He didn’t answer, just kept silent. Velvet turned her head to look at Him, but all she saw was darkness.

“Mine.”

Aren’t you already here? Your name didn’t do-

Velvet then realized that whoever was touching her face wasn’t Lothrigern. She jumped back, trying to get away.

“My name. Say my name.” Hands started appearing, grabbing and dragging Velvet down. She fought against them, kicking and turning her body to escape their grasp. The hand’s claws reacted by tearing and ripping her skin, becoming tainted red.

It’s a dream, my body is fine. She repeated in her mind, even when the tearing sensation and pain felt terribly real.

“What name?!” She asked, crawling back, hoping for that question to give her a few seconds to breathe.

“My name, my name. I don’t know my name. They took it from me. They took my name.” The hands gripped at Velvet legs, almost desperately, almost begging.

“They took everything from me.”

“Are you the Chained Man?” She asked, clenching her teeth under the pain. At least, the hands had stopped trying to ‘bury’ her.

“The chained, the chained, no, no.”

Her dreamland twisted and turned, the darkness spinning and moving. A nauseating feeling covered Velvet.

“I am the chains.”

The ‘dream’ opened its ‘eyes’, and ‘looked’ at her.