A week passed, and the expedition made its way deeper into the Endless Forest. Adion and his team had to fight beasts more and more frequently as the days went on. Fortunately, Alan never showed up to join their group as he said he would when Adion spied on his conversation with his brother. Adion didn’t know the reason, but he hoped it was because of him.

“I can’t believe there is an outpost this deep,” Rufus said as the small outpost came into view after a long day of walking.

“If you can even call it an outpost,” Sahra said.

“Well, perhaps long-term camp is a more apt description,” Benji said.

“Should be slightly better than camping out in the wild,” Rufus said.

The small outpost had a small wooden wall, only one tree stem thick, and it looked more like a village than a small town like Lermen.

“Do you think we’ll stay here for the day?” Adion asked.

“It’s not that late yet,” Benji said, “But it is a good place to stop. I heard we are getting close to our destination, so this might be a good place for everyone to get some rest before we take on the final part of the journey.”

“Do you want to train then?” Adion turned to Sell and asked.

“Yeah!” Sell agreed immediately.

“Maniacs,” Rufus said, “We are spending the whole day walking and fighting beasts, and as soon as we get a chance to rest, you want to go train.”

“Well, it’s still early,” Adion said, “We can rest when it gets dark.”

Adion was also quite tired, but the thought of continuing his practice with Sell’s fire was giving him new energy. They had taken turns giving each other training over the past week like they had agreed on. It was lucky Sell knew about Adion’s ability to control fire, as he couldn’t imagine how frustrating it would be to pretend to lose control after a few seconds each time.

Sell had still become extremely shocked by his abilities, though. Even if he had told her he could control fire for a long time, he hadn’t really specified how long. After 15 minutes had passed, Sell had bombarded him with so many questions that Adion decided to take a break. He didn’t trust himself to not reveal anything else. And he had a seven-day streak of not revealing any of his secrets. Something he intended to keep going.

Adion had made some good progress in his understanding of concepts, though. Nothing noticeable in his fire yet, but he felt he was on the verge of grasping something. Hence the excitement to begin their next session as soon as possible.

Adion had also tried to see if he could hone Sell’s spatial awareness by applying his grandfather’s training methods. It had caused some confusion when Adion insisted on the need of using plums, but Sell had no choice but to agree.

Adion didn’t really know if it was possible to train someone’s spatial awareness unless they had an affinity to space. He had realized that the reason for the Remori clan’s younger generation’s spatial awareness was probably due to the teleportation formation leaking so much space mana. Perhaps he had been lucky to be born sparkless and hence got the greatest affinity to space. He didn’t know if that was the reason, though.

Maybe it would be impossible for Sell to improve, but Adion didn’t think so. He held the belief that anything was possible with magic and hard work. Some people just had to work a little harder.

Adion and his teammates soon reached the place where they would make camp for the night. There weren’t any rooms for the Outskirters to hire, as there was only one small inn in the outpost. But there was plenty of space behind the thin wooden walls. When they had entered, they had gotten the happy news that they would be staying there until the following day.

“Let’s go then,” Sell said as soon as they finished helping set up the camp.

“Have fun, you two,” Sahra said with a smile that Adion didn’t quite like.

“Mm,” Adion nodded, and the two headed off.

It didn’t take them long to reach a spot outside the outpost away from prying eyes.

“I’ll go first today,” Sell said as she tied a piece of cloth over her eyes like a blindfold.

“Sure,” Adion nodded, taking off his backpack.

“You remembered to bring the plums, right?” Sell asked.

“It seems you are coming to understand the importance of plums. A wise student, I see,” Adion said, taking out a bag of plums he had managed to get his hands on from an Outskirter for a price well above market value.

“Mm, I have seen the true path. And it is the path of plums,” Sell said in a mock-scholarly voice.

“Just make sure you’re always-” Adion didn’t finish and chucked a plum at Sell. It hit her shoulder, as Adion didn’t want to aim at her face. “Ready,” Adion finished.

“Hey! I wasn’t ready,” Sell complained, trying to wipe away the plum juice from her shirt.

“‘Tis the path of the plum,” Adion said in a mock-scholarly voice himself. He then threw another one, aimed at her stomach. This time, she managed to dodge. She often did if she was prepared. Just because Adion had a spatial awareness that was out of the ordinary, even as a sparkless, didn’t mean that everyone else lacked it.

Adion didn’t only throw plums, though. He also conjured some fire to attack with. From time to time, he also threw a rock into the mix. He thought that a metal plum would have the best effect, but he had no such thing at hand. And even if he had, Adion didn’t think he would have it in him to throw those at Sell.

After almost an hour had passed, Sell was breathing heavily, and Adion was getting tired as well. It wasn’t like they had started the training fully rested, either.

“I think I’m done for now,” Sell said, taking off her blindfold and squinting at the bright light.

“Yeah, that was a long session. Do you feel that you’re getting any better?” Adion asked.

“I do!” Sell looked up at Adion with a bright smile, “It’s only a little, but it definitely has an effect. You can tell that I’m better at dodging, right?”

“Mm,” Adion nodded with a smile. He was glad the training worked for Sell, too.

“Alright, your turn,” Sell said and conjured a flame that she let catch on a nearby bush.

Adion took control over the volume of flames that he could and started tinkering with it, trying to feel how the fire acted and get a sense of what concepts hid within.

“How exactly did you manage to get a fire this good?” Adion asked, “Was it all simply within your spark? Was there really some fire mage so powerful in your family? Or did you have some kind of inspiration?”

“My family is a family of water mages,” Sell said, standing beside him, “That is the most common element among elves by far. No one remembers the last time a fire mage was born in our family. So no, I didn’t have them in my spark. It was something I had to figure out myself. Though, I guess I got a little lucky, too.”

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“How was it growing up as a fire mage in your family then? Do elves not look kindly to it?” Adion asked, still manipulating the fire above his hands.

“Well, it’s not looked upon as something good, but not something bad either. But compared to my sister, who was born with the rare ice spark, it was pretty obvious what everyone preferred,” Sell said.

“Mm, I’ve heard ice mages are very powerful,” Adion said.

“They are. Being able to conjure almost as much of their element as water mages and still have something so deadly. It’s almost cheating. It wasn’t a tough choice for my parents to decide on the future queen,” Sell said.

“Didn’t take you for the type of person to wish to become a queen,” Adion said with a small smirk.

“As if,” Sell snorted, “It seems awful. But it does have its advantages,” Sell said.

“Like what?” Adion asked.

Sell turned to look at Adion for a few seconds. She then sighed, “Just silly things.”

“Hmm. I didn’t fit in very well as a sparkless either,” Adion said.

“Wait, what?” Sell asked.

“I didn’t have a spark,” Adion shrugged, his eyes still on the fire before him, “Had to train a lot, then I got lucky and managed to form a core anyway.”

“How is that possible?” Sell asked. Adion was glad she wasn’t accusing him of lying. It was a hard thing to believe, after all. After giving it some thought, he didn’t really feel the need to keep it secret. It was probably getting out eventually, as it was well-known to many that Adion Remori was a sparkless in a 2nd-tier family. When he got to Cyalis, everyone would eventually know.

“If you gather all the mana needed to form a core and bend it to your Will all at once, then gather it where a spark usually is inside the chest, compress it until it reaches the required density, you will have yourself a core. I’m actually surprised that no one has thought of it.” Adion said.

“People have thought about it,” Sell slowly said, “But to actually manage to do it would require incredible mana control, and insane amounts of mana of a particular element.”

“That’s the part where I got lucky,” Adion said.

“Were you encased in fire or what?” Sell asked.

“Not quite,” Was all Adion said in response.

“Right…” Sell said and then turned silent. She then turned to stare at Adion in the face. Adion was looking at the fire in his hand but was having a hard time focusing.

“You trained as a fire mage your whole childhood,” Sell said, “Then you find this strange treasure, giving you the ability to control fire for a long period of time. It really does seem like you are a fire mage…even without having a fire core, no?”

What? How does she keep doing that? I thought she had dropped the suspicion of my element being something other than fire.

“That’s…one theory, I guess,” Adion said.

“It’s the right one,” Sell said, “No way someone like you would be this bad at fire magic if you actually had a fire core.”

I guess that’s true. Is it that obvious from just knowing me for a little over a week?

“And no way you wouldn’t get angry or sad hearing that if you actually had a fire core,” Sell said with a glorious smile.

Okay, I need to think. This is getting out of hand. She will definitely realize everything about me, even if I say nothing.

“Let’s…head back for now,” Adion said, letting go of the fire, “I need to think a little.”

“Hmm,” Sell said and followed Adion without speaking the whole way. Adion feared what she was thinking about.

Once they got back, they noticed that their teammates had started a fire and were preparing dinner.

“Oh? You’re back,” Sahra said, “Good timing, we’re just about to eat.”

“Great, I’m starving,” Sell said, sitting down.

Adion also took a seat, his head empty despite his need to think.

I’ll just leave it be and ask the others for advice later.

“Do you have any stories about Quemer, Lomin?” Adion heard Sell asking.

“Well, the Primordial Story presumably takes place there,” Lomin said, “But since you’ve already heard it several times, I guess you're looking for something else?”

“I just want to know what Quemer is like in general. How is it different from Shiora? What it’s like today, not hundred of thousands of years ago,” Sell said.

“I’ve never been outside of Fornia, so I’m afraid I’m not the best to ask about the subject,” Lomin said.

“Fornia is on Quemer,” Sell said, “So surely you have something to tell me about life there. Have you ever been to Tovan? Have you ever been to the Spire? Do you know any Words of Truth?”

Adion reacted to that last part, “You know about Words of Truth?”

“Of course,” Sell said, “Who doesn’t?”

Adion looked at his teammates, and they all smiled awkwardly.

“Sell,” Sahra said, “Very few people on Shiora know about these things. Not even Benji and I knew about it despite going to Cyalis. You have to remember you are a Royal, after all.”

“Oh, right,” Sell said. “I suppose that’s true. I was taught by a faelin for a few years when I was little. She told me not only about Fornia, but all kinds of things about Quemer. I was unfortunately very young and not very curious about Quemer back then. There are a lot of things I wish I’d asked her. Such as Words of Truth. Have you ever been to the Spire and read the Words of Truth there, Lomin?”

“Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity,” Lomin said, “You are not allowed to enter there before you have completed your journey.”

“Oh,” Sell said, hanging her head.

“But I once met a Wise faelin, and I heard his Words of Truth,” Lomin said.

“Oh?” Rufus said, “I’ve never heard about this.”

“It’s something close to my heart. Perhaps I didn’t want to speak about Words of Truth at all until I found my own,” Lomin said.

“Until you…you mean you have grasped your own Words of Truth?” Sell asked, surprised.

Adion was also surprised that Lomin suddenly chose to share something like that.

“It happened a few months ago,” Lomin nodded.

“Do you mind if I ask what the words are?” Sell asked curiously.

“One step, a thousand miles. A thousand steps, one mile,” Lomin stated calmly.

“It’s almost like I can feel the truth behind those words,” Sell said, “Amazing.”

“Thank you,” Lomin smiled, “As for the other Words of Truth I know of, they are…actually, I think they deserve a story around them.”

“Oh! A story about your life, Lomin?” Rufus asked, “That’s rare.”

“Yes, but I believe that will have to wait,” Lomin said.

“What, why?” Rufus asked. The rest of the group also had sad faces, hearing they wouldn’t get to hear the story.

“I have to take my time to build it up in my head first,” Lomin said, “My life on the Stretch was…well, let’s just say I have bits and pieces that don’t belong in this story. I should tell it right.”

“Well, as long as you tell us the story eventually,” Rufus muttered, “And no more teases like this!”

“Haha, sorry,” Lomin chuckled.

“Well, thanks for telling me, Lomin,” Sell said, “I won’t tell anyone else about it.”

“It’s not like it’s a secret,” Lomin said, “I’m actually rather proud of it.”

“You really should be,” Sell said with a determined expression, “I can’t believe you haven’t gone home and basked in the glory someone like you would get back in Fornia.”

“Usually, faelin who discover their Words of Truth head back home and go straight to the Spire,” Lomin nodded, “But I somehow feel my journey is far from over.”

“Well said, Lomin!” Rufus grinned and slapped the faelin on his back.

After that, the night was spent eating, talking, and laughing, before finally everyone turned to their tents for a well-needed rest.

Adion spent the night twisting and turning, his thoughts a mess.

.