Sounds incomparable to the night before. If before, she had to listen to battles far and between. Growls, cries, swirling into a single mass with death rattles. Everything mixing together to make sounds she couldn’t recognize.

Nightless grounds was like a city during the day. Activity was at a peak, just the noise pollution was enough to make sleeping difficult. Now, imagining this in a place without other people. Unknown creatures in the dark, savage or benevolent. Neither mattered.

In the dark, all that mattered was that sleep was fleeting.

Tonight, she didn’t have this issue. Exhaustion contaminated her body like a sickness. Her over reactive nerves caused her to stir once or twice because of unknown noises.

Some were truly unfathomable. Distance rumbling, booming, and even some faint thumping. These were the better ones. Stirring awake with no idea as to why, that was the worst. Having been disturbed, the first thing to do was to gauge your surroundings.

Previous night was cloudy. Today was better, crystal rays of light shone from the moon. If yesterday was a night without light, today was day compared to night. Even if sight wasn’t unconstrained, some light made a far larger difference.

Light filtered through open sky and thin transparent clouds. Therefore, she was able to take a look around. Rarity as it was, shadows in the distance could be seen. Some easier than others. Even an abnormal shadow raining down from the sky was seen once. Mostly a blur, thus it was impossible to know what was just her imagination or reality.

Enjoying a much-needed night of sleep. Jessica ate this time with relish. Doing her most while she woke, she would promptly fall back asleep when she calmed her nerves by looking around.

As the moon was the highest in the sky, there was a shadow being cast down by the foliage she hid in. Opening her eyes lightly. Jessica wasn’t completely awake. As consciousness stirred in her eyes, it could be seen with her focusing pupils.

Even seeing the shadow being cast down below. With both sticks gripped tightly, she brought her thumbs up to lightly run her finger over the wire connected. Feeling the tension was enough to release any tension in her heart.

A slight wind blew, causing her sides to feel a gentle warmth, as if tucking her in for another round of sleep. Leaning her head back, she rested it on the trunk of the tree. Neither too hot nor cold. The weather was just perfect for her.

Shifting back and forth, she couldn’t find a comfortable position to rest her head. This irritation caused her to rouse from her sleepy, empty-headedness. With a bit of frustration, she herself didn’t know the problem. No matter how she rested her head, there was an itchiness that caused discomfort.

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Because of mana, her sensitivity was enough to know there was nothing there. Even so, bringing her arm up after shifting the stick to under her leg, she rubbed the back of her neck. With a few rubs and a scratch, she was able to settle back down before returning to a better position to go back to sleep.

Her eyes were slowly closing as she looked up at the parting leaves. Moonlight shone through in tiny patches. This gave the imagery of lightly shifting waves. Pleasantly easy on the eyes, allowing her to slowly close her eyes as if hypnotized. With each fraction closed, an equal portion of drowsiness was injected into her.

By the time she closed her eyes, she could feel her consciousness fade. As the last bit of it was able to fade completely, a rush of ice water ran through her body. A feeling akin to pins and needles assaulted her skin. Without opening her eyes, her body stiffened.

Jessica’s mind whirled into an alert state as all drowsiness was absent. Unable to pinpoint the problem, her eyes remained closed. This was instinctual. A light sense of danger kept her from doing anything rash.

Using all the senses in her body, she couldn’t figure out the issue. There was no unnatural smell in the air. Her skin was still a bit numb, without any other abnormalities. Hearing nothing, she couldn’t pinpoint the problem. That was until she went over her senses for a fourth time.

Not hearing anything, with the lack of abnormalities reported on her skin. Two good signs that caused her back to go cold and damp. Using the tiniest of energy to slowly open her eyes. So slow that it was heard to even notice.

By the time sight finally returned, she could only see through two tiny blurry lines. The combination of nearly closed eyes and locking of her eyelashes caused the scene to be very difficult to make out. Strands of hair were loosely hanging from her bangs, however the proximity aided in hiding her movements while not obstructing her view.

Finally able to see what she wanted, she was able to confirm the sinking feeling. The swirling waves produced by the leaves had been a pleasant sight, until the realization this swirling was created by very slight movement of the branches.

Having felt a light breeze, hiding the underlining problem. With a better look, Jessica saw movement that only made sense, if the branches were lightly twitching. This slight sway that produced this was so minute she couldn’t feel it herself.

Having been seated on a healthily thick branch. The required movement to really register movement would require an abnormal amount of force. This would produce sound, these branches were smaller than a finger, requiring very little force to move. It would be possible to cause a shift by blowing on them.

As everything connected in her mind, she had finally opened her eyes completely. Her hands had shifted very gradually to not cause any obvious signs of tension. With only a slight second of hesitation, she released the sticks, allowing them to sit, ever shifting on her legs.

Soon some stability was returned to her body as she gripped her dagger hilts. Without knowing the danger, she was content with this sense of security as she lightly turned her head. Moving in a manner that, in her head, was a natural course of action should she have shifted her weight in her sleep.

The scene in front of her face subtly shifted. From a peaceful tree top, lightly covered in darkness by the tree top. A darkness below that was slowly illuminated by a dim light given out from the sky. With some difficulty it became clear to anyone seeing the scene there was a large shadow attached to the tree below her.

Jessica didn’t notice this, instead, from tiny bits of light that gave any illumination after breaking the barrage of blockade from above. One feline eye was ever so lightly reflected, giving off the tiniest of faint shine, staring straight into her eyes.