“Have I lost my senses as well?” Before his mind could activate, his instincts took over, and he turned towards the voice to see a beautiful young lady. Her green eyes were looking at his with doubt. Her hand hesitantly edged towards the sword sheathed on her hips. Right before her hands were about to contact the handle of the sword, she pulled her hand back.

The look of doubt erased from her face, her cold eyes replaced with a sudden worry. She immediately rushed towards him and hugged his body. Despite all the blood covering his clothes, she didn’t pull back.

Alcan could feel her ample breasts pressed against his chest. He accepted the hug, and not only did he accept it but he hugged her back from her waist. His hands were now only inches away from her sheath, ready to pull it against her at any sudden movement she made.

"I'm so glad you are safe." She tried to pull away after a while but Alcan acted weak. He didn’t want her to pull and cause his hand to gain distance from her sheath.

“Can you help me back?” He asked, not even knowing where “back” was. His body moved even closer to hers, not allowing her out of his reach.

His words were met with a soft hum and a nod. She lifted his arm and got under it to carry his body, letting him keep his arms on her waist, close to her sword’s hilt.

Alcan’s eyes were on her as they walked together through the forest, “This woman..” He knew that something was wrong with her. Her emotional change was too sudden and artificial, but he didn’t know what it was yet, “Is she simply guarded, or is there something more?”

Lyra hugged his body from his side as they walked together, after a while Alcan stopped doing his weakened state act and started walking properly. He still kept his hand on her waist, this time more in line with how a lover would hold.

She looked up at his face, her gem-like green eyes were washed in worry, “What happened to you, Honey?” Concern dripped from each word that left her lips.

From the outside, she was no different from an angel attending to a wounded mortal.

A sudden smile crept up on Alcan’s face and his gaze sharpened, confusing Lyra.

“You should know well why I’m in such a state.” Lyra’s eyes widened momentarily in response to such accusatory words, the tone in which they were uttered didn't help either.

Her grip on his arm tightened and her free hand twitched towards her waist but didn't move any further. Instead, a confused smile bloomed on her face and her eyes went back to their docile state, “What do you mean by that, Honey?” She cutely furrowed her brows.

Alcan chuckled, “What can I mean? I mean look at me. Someone clearly tried to assassinate me.” He let the tension die with those words, the mood swung back to normal.

A heavenly melody left Lyra’s lips, and her chuckle entered Alcan’s ears, “You are right. I couldn’t think about that due to my worry.” She pushed her head to his chest as they walked arm to arm.

The sun was setting on the horizon, and the moon had already peeked her head. They were two lovers in a forest, walking back towards the place they called home. The tensions in the air were ignored by both.

The salty smell of ocean mixed with the earthy smell of the forest entered their nostrils. Both were heavy scents but their combination appeared rather mellow.

A grand mountain peeked its head behind the tall trees. Despite having been walking towards this mountain the whole journey, due to the dense flora, this was Alcan's first clear look at it.

Countless pavilions hugged the mountain's grand body, their collective looked akin to a serpent curling around its prey with the largest pavilion at the very peak as its head. The black pavilion high up had two white columns which looked like the serpent's fangs.

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There were numberless carved paths leading up to numerous pavilions. They looked like intricate designs carved onto the mountain from this afar as opposed to mountain paths.

Alcan's eyes widened, however, it wasn't due to the beautiful architecture but the floating pavilions accessible only by chained steps.

Lyra lifted her gaze to check Alcan's expression but all she saw was a slight smile, which seemed to be due to her presence. The look of his face made Lyra's hand go to play with the engagement ring on her left hand, the jade version of the silver one he wore.

A paved path appeared in front of them, it led up to the foot of the mountain. The moment they stepped foot on it, they felt their bodies getting hugged by a liquid-like embrace. The feeling lasted for a moment and fleeted just as fast.

This caught Alcan by surprise but he didn't let any shock show. The road led them to an opening filled with pavilions in the skirt of the mountain. All Alcan did was follow Lyra since he didn’t know the road.

She led him to a small pavilion made of dark wood, its light was on despite the sunny sky. “I have work in the division, I will come to check on you later tonight.” She hugged his neck and planted a kiss on his lips.

Alcan’s gaze was on her till she exited his vision, his thought about her were unknown.

His gaze shifted to the pavilion, “Seems like I left at night.” He deduced from the lights still being on, “I wonder why I went away at night?” Forest wasn’t a place to visit at night, no matter which world.

It also gave him a new perspective on the fight that killed the previous Alcan, since he now knew it happened at night. Someone's daggers were on his back, they knew him but he didn’t know them. His position was a highly disadvantaged one.

Before he could get used to his new environment and take in the room, a loud knock came from his door. “Examinee Alcan, I'm Edina, Elder Su is looking for you.”

Alcan opened the door to see a young woman, her face was impassive with hints of boredom. A smile flashed on Alcan’s face. His observation of the woman not going away after knocking told him she was there to take him personally.

He exited his pavilion and closed the door behind him, there was no lock present. The woman’s eyes were on the broken necklace on his chest, she sighed. “You won’t have a good time, so wipe that smile off your face.”

Alcan’s smile only got wider. He knew exactly what kind of person she was from this short interaction. An unintentional smile crept up on her face in response to his, which she immediately wiped away. A woman bored during a job was who she was.

There was long as the mountain’s parameter was long, but Alcan slowly succumbed her into making small talk with him. While at first she showed resistance, after a while she was the one talking while he listened.

She mostly talked about her troubles working at the Medical Division and about being used as a messenger despite her healing abilities. “Can you believe that? Sigh, I should have never said yes in the first place. Now all I’m doing is guiding people to Elder Su’s pavilion.” She turned her head to Alcan in search of some understanding.

Alcan nodded and flashed a smile to her. “Let me give you some advice.” He whispered the next part, not to hide it but to increase the effectiveness of the delivery, “Try to fail at it.” He winked right after.

Rather than agreeing immediately, she turned silent, complementing why she had never thought of this before.

It was already approaching nighttime when they first set off, and now the sky was fully dark. The Elder Su’s pavilion floating above in the sky with the only way up being chain steps made it look like a celestial object with its slight blue glow in the night sky.

She turned towards him with a smile, her hand gesturing towards the pavilion. “I won’t be going up, but thanks for your advice. Let’s hang out again if you..” her expression turned weird, “pass the trials.”

She left Alcan on his own, who had already grabbed the chains and started to climb up toward the pavilion. This wasn’t how you usually climbed them, but he wasn't risking falling down to his death due to a wind current.

A gentle voice arrived in his ears as halfway through his climb, and an energy surrounded his body and carried him atop the steps in air, “I’m glad to see you alive, Alcan.” The voice belonged to a woman. It was serene with each word uttered being akin to ripples on a smooth water surface.

He collected his self, fixed his clothes and entered inside to see a woman lying on a mattress with loose robes leaving little to the imagination. Her ocean eyes gazing at his figure, and coupled with her pale light blue hair, she looked like a frozen sculpture atoned to beauty. Her rosy lips were the only color other than blue on her paper white body.

“Seems like the necklace I gave you have been broken.” She sipped from the steaming teacup in her hand. “Deathly Trials are approaching and I’m not allowed to give you another one.” There was some melancholy in her tone. Her thoughts on his odds of surviving the trials were apparent.