Alary’s mind went through all the possible reasons she could think of.

Why was that happening? How?

As soon as they stepped into the cave at the end of the stairs, the mountains were flooded by high-pitched squeals that ran all the way down as a river breaking through a dam, and were echoed by others, far into the forest below. Half a day later, Alary’s nape hair bristled, then she stood bolt upright and ordered her team to run.

They only had time to gather their water skins and weapons before a stampede of demon boars stormed the cave, shaking everything from ground to hearts. Luckily, the tunnel took turns left and right, otherwise Alary doubted they could have outran them as their speed in straight lines was something to be reckoned with.

She was probably the only one who could actually achieve such a feat, given her refinement level and skills.

However, despite their advantage of terrain, they ran for an entire day without rest, as the hollow seemed to worm its way deep into the mountain range. Harold, Garry and Gallathorn all managed to do so to a varying degree, but Alice was nowhere near prepared for such physical exertion despite her high refinement level, as her discipline focused more in training her mind rather than her body. Half a day of running forced Alary to carry her on her back, much to the spellcaster's embarrassment.

There, inside the slowly descending deep and narrow cave, they could only rely on their seventh sense, intuition, and the flickering light of a torch to guide themselves and prevent any missteps on the brown, uneven rock. Luckily, the path also lacked any crossroads or deviations, so their only concern was the army following them.

Yet their hopes for a safe place waned when they arrived at their destination.

“The temple of Astraea…” Alice muttered, disturbing some of Alary’s disheveled locks.

Unlike the way they followed, the temple laid inside a wide opening in the rock. It was tall, of a color that had probably been white, once. A statue stood in the middle, with a silvery table made of marble right in front, and something that resembled a red rug rounding a full circle. Alary perceived a certain eerie, yellow light with no apparent source layering the temple, and through her seventh sense, quickly surmised it sheltered no life.

But what mattered to her the most was that there were no doors to barricade themselves behind, and the walls had crumbled decades ago.

The team’s disappointment wasted two breaths of time.

“What are you waiting for?! Get inside!” Shouted Alice.

“But Miss Dothein... How can we even begin to defend this place?” Was Harold’s retort, a degree of hopelessness evident in his tone.

“Oh, for the teachings of Circe… There is a barrier, you idiot!” She replied, exasperated, her chest bumping into Alary’s head. Then, she muttered, “Disciples of War and their nut-sized brains...”

Upon hearing this, Alary dropped her on the ground with a dull, soft sound.

“All of you, inside! Alice, get your ass off the ground!” She ordered, as she rushed in without looking back.

The spellcaster facepalmed in her mind, as her gaze landed on the sword hanging from her friend’s hip.

The whole group felt a certain disturbance as they crossed what should have been the doors of the temple, a robbed figure the last to enter. For her, such disturbance was quite natural, but for the others it was an uncomfortable sensation, akin to being watched.

“There they come!” Gallathorn screamed, his voice failing.

Soon, the thundering of hundreds of hooves approached and charged towards them, Alice the first to be tackled and thrown like a ragdoll against one of the crumbled walls… or so should have happened. As the first demon boar tried to cross the entrance, a yellow, transparent curtain appeared out of thin air covering the entire temple’s front, striking the beast with a fulminating lightning, the scent of burnt flesh spreading throughout the cave.

Only the spellcaster wore a knowing expression as the corpse fell sideways. The other demon boars stopped on their tracks, some of them even tripping in their attempt of halting their momentum, and soon more lightning followed, painful squeals drowned by its thunder.

“That’s... a powerful barrier. How come we aren’t a bunch of well done meat?” Asked Garry, restoring his stoic expression somewhat.

Silence lasted a few breaths, with no one voicing an answer.

“Alice?” Prompted Alary. She had her own suspicions, but she preferred the words of an expert.

“You sure? I was giving you the chance to prove me wrong, you know.” She replied with her mischievous smile, to which Alary seemed to want to say something, but was stopped by her gesture. “Alright, alright. Believe me, I got your point. My butt still hurts.”

She repressed a chuckle, then slapped the dust off her behind and walked towards the white table in front of the statue, her tight robe brushing against her pretty figure. “Have you already forgotten whose temple this is? Well, not really hers, per se, but more like built in her name.”

She pointed at the statue, where a woman with long hair, a sword in her left hand and a scale in the other, sat on a humble throne. Her body seemed to be covered by a long dress, yet her features had fallen under the weight of time, and so had half of the scale in her right hand.

“Astraea…” Muttered Harold, nodding in its direction, too proud to bow, yet too superstitious not to acknowledge it.

“Ding ding! Exactly. The barrier around the temple comes from her very spellbook, or so I’ve been told, and it rejects any being with demonic essence. I could go into details about how her scale was said to give her the power to judge... but I think you’ve all gotten the gist of why we are unharmed.” As she talked, her hands moved across the table, with her fingers skillfully drawing different symbols Alary recognized as part of her spellcasting discipline, not because she knew them, but because she had seen her friend draw them many times before.

“B-but… will it hold?” Wondered Gallathorn, still staring at the army of boars blocking the entrance.

Alary shook her head. “That’s not the important question.”

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Why? How? She pondered. Demon boars were said to think as species rather than individuals, but the behaviour in front of her wasn’t just blind instinct...

Alice nodded. “Exactly. The barrier will hold, the question is… how are we going to get out?”

Harold’s expression grimaced, as did Garry’s, while Gallathorn’s paled and Alary furrowed her brow. “We’ve got other things to worry about for now, like the reason we are here to begin with.” She cast a glance towards the spellcaster, who nodded in return.

“This table is an artefact in charge of both, the barrier protecting us, and the barrier that covers the entire Demon Boar Mountain range.” She explained, as her fingers drew symbol after symbol on the white surface, and others appeared in response. Alary guessed she was communicating with the artefact somehow. ”Right now I’m trying to find the reason behind the weakening of the barrier. If I know the cause, I may be able to fix it.”

“May?” Catched Harold.

Alice shrugged. “Barriers are not precisely my area of expertise, but since the ones who placed it in the first place were members of my coven, the casting language being used is the same as mine. So, unless the damage is too complex, I should be able to at least patch it until The Tower sends someone more proficient.”

Harold squinted his eyes. The Tower was the guild Alice was a member of, and they specialized in different disciplines within the Domain of Magic.

Alary repressed a smile. Normally, a joint quest between Alice’s guild and Greenleaf would require quite the paperwork, and more than anything, time, which she quickly realized she lacked when Gale’s quest found its way into her hands. The barrier inside had been originally laid by spellcasters from The Tower, and left to Greenleaf to manage, so when she found out Alice had come to the city to seek opportunity in an approaching event, Alary asked if she knew anything about barriers…

“The one from the Temple of Astraea?” Her eyes shone with curiosity. “It was precisely my coven that wrote the spell long ago. I can help you if you want!”

Alary didn’t dare refuse, and could not express how grateful she was, to which Alice shrugged just like now and said, “What are friends for?”

Of course, she knew her friend’s motives were beyond mere altruism, as manipulating old, powerful spells was one of her most pursued desires besides reaching the Manifested Essence realm, yet her lack of hesitation spoke volumes.

“This is very interesting…” She heard Alice muttering.

“What?” Inquired Harold, and Alary already knew what was going to happen next.

“Oh, shut up! Go run in circles or something else you Disciples of War do.” She answered, her hands without rest, her gaze almost unblinking.

Harold became flabbergasted at her attitude, and seemed to be asking for an apology when he sought Alary with a look. In response, she shrugged, then began to wander while probing with her seventh sense the outside of the temple, forty steps away. There didn’t seem to be any new developments, as the demon boars were there still, staring at the entrance or roaming about, looking for a way in.

Every so often, a new thunder would rang out, startling everyone except for the two women, one because she already expected it, the other because she was too focused on her task.

The temple wasn’t big. In fact, it was composed of just a main hall, and the only hallway that seemed to lead somewhere else was blocked by a collapse. After some examination, Alary determined it wouldn’t be worth the effort to make way, as the entire ten steps of hallway was full of rock, and the other side held nothing but a room with a bed.

Some time later, Alary found water thanks to her hearing. It was a small stream, a finger deep, and landed on a basin big enough for one to wash their hands. She furrowed her brow when she saw the possibility of needing to drink from it in the future, for that would mean they’d have to remain there for quite a while.

And the thunder quickly became nothing more than a reminder.

A question popped in her mind then…

How come the temple had been abandoned to such a state?

If that was the place where the barrier surrounding the entire mountain range originated, how come her father hadn’t taken care of it? Her mind quickly settled on a few reasons, yet it was all pure speculation, so she made a mental note of inquiring about it once they returned to Greenleaf.

And so, she shook the guilt off, turning what was left into responsibility.

Avaln decided to stay in Gale for a while.

There were several reasons for his decision; The first came to him during that night, as he accessed his Tower of Babylon and his gaze fell upon the blue book.

The artefact, in the middle of that eerie and extravagant environment, was emitting a dim light, which was a sign it had enough power for just one more use, by Sgithe’s words. Avaln quickly pondered his options…

Should he draw some more knowledge?

He didn’t need to think too hard to find a few questions he’d love to have an answer to, or further information he’d like to possess. For example, he’d like to know if there was anything like the method of refinement he had used a few days before to absorb the demon boars’ essence. He’d also like to have the second part of his refinement secret art, or another tome of the Dun Scáith spearmanship school…

But he hadn’t even finished the ones he had yet. He also took to heart one of Sgithe’s teachings: to not depend on her passed down knowledge too much.

Besides, he quickly understood that what he could draw from the book was intrinsically limited by his own knowledge, for his questions and intentions were what gave the blue book a sense of what to deliver to him.

A frog cannot ask about the sea, for it has lived all its life inside a pond.

Impatience threatened to form ripples inside his heart, but he quickly calmed down, realizing that some things couldn’t be rushed. More than anything, he needed time. Besides, he couldn’t disregard the possibility of one day finding something he absolutely needed to know.

He nodded, deciding to leave the blue book alone for now.

And so, he dedicated the night to comprehension and practice, yet he met little success. For some reason, his mind had a hard time focusing, as if there was something else that required his attention.

He pondered about it for a while, but it wasn’t until the next morning when he found his answer.

Grandma Mira had allowed him to sleep in one of the rooms of her house, and a few knocks on the door were enough to call his consciousness to light.

“Good, you seem to have your wits about you.” The elderly woman spoke when catching a glimpse of his expression. “We need to talk.”

After just one night, she seemed to be in much more high spirits, which surprised and relieved Avaln.

“But first, you should put these on. We can’t have you wandering about half-naked.” She said, throwing a sack Avaln caught on the fly, identifying them as clothes on a closer look.

He didn’t need to ask who they originally belonged to.

A few breaths later, Avaln came out of the room wearing a grey shirt, black pants and strapped boots. Grandma Mira took a long gander at him before nodding and simply saying, “Good.”

Once at the main room, she invited him to sit by the table with a gesture, where some bread, cheese and cups of herb tea were waiting for them. After a quick breakfast, the elderly woman intertwined her fingers and asked, “What are your plans?”

It took a breath for Avaln to realize why he felt so uncomfortable before.

“I don’t know,” he answered, a bit startled. He knew what he needed to do, but he also had problems he still didn’t know how to solve. “I’d hope to stay in Gale for a while to consider my options.”

The corner of her lips slightly twitched, as if happy for his answer.

“In that case, you should follow me to the forge. There is a little something I’d like to show you.”