“Come on, lets go let Joe know that you’re okay and then we’ll look for your… body.” Emma said.

Zoe nodded, and the two teleported outside their home and then walked through town towards Joe’s inn. It was still quite late at night, so he was probably in his inn. Maybe in his room getting some work done or sleeping.

The front door to the inn was locked, so the two teleported past it and into the dining area.

“I feel like a burglar.” Zoe said.

Emma chuckled quietly. “He doesn’t mind. He doesn’t get much sleep these days so he’s probably at his desk upstairs. Come on.”

Emma led Zoe up the stairs and down the dim hallway to the furthest room where she knocked on the door. Zoe tried to avoid peering into the nearby rooms as she walked by, but couldn’t help but notice Joe leaning on his desk, his head pressed into his elbow atop a small pile of papers.

He got up and stretched before he stumbled over to the door to open it.

“Zoe!" Joe said, his face lightening as soon as he opened the door. ”You’re okay!"

Zoe nodded.

“Can we come in?" Emma asked.

“Everything okay?” Joe asked.

“She’s okay, she’s safe. A bit worked up though.” Emma said.

Joe nodded and stepped back, gesturing the two of them into his room. Zoe and Emma followed in and sat down at some spare chairs he summoned from his storage item. Zoe felt a tinge of pain tickling the back of her mind when she saw it.

“What happened?" Joe asked. ”I was so worried you were gone.“

“She went down into the valley again and ran into a wanderer. It didn’t go well, and she had to…” Emma made a slashing motion across her neck with her finger. “Tossed everything down into the valley, along with her storage items, apparently.”

Joe’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at Zoe’s neck. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Zoe nodded. “I’m okay. Mostly. Scared. It wasn’t fun, Joe.”

Joe shook his head. “No, I can’t imagine it was. I’m sorry you went through that. I can lend you one of my storage items if you need?”

“No, she’s insistent on trying to get it back. So I’m going to go with her, and we’ll see if we can find where she was up on the peak again. Could I get you to watch the boys while we’re gone? We won’t be more than a day, if we can’t find it then that’s that.” Emma asked.

Joe nodded. “Of course, yes. They’ll be fine. I might send Kenzie and Sue over later to spend some time with them if that’s alright?”

Emma nodded. “Thanks, Joe.”

“It’s no problem. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Joe asked, looking at Zoe.

Zoe shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s been a very unpleasant few days.”

Joe nodded. “You should take a break from it all for a bit. You’re immortal, you could spend a few decades here or checking out some of the safer towns nearby. You don’t have to jump into the deep end right away. Don’t push yourself too much.”

Zoe nodded. “I think I will. Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know what I want to do right now. I want to sleep, for like two years. Forget about it all.”

“We’re going to go for a trip. Thanks, Joe. We’ll be back soon.” Emma said.

“Anytime. You two stay safe and don’t push yourselves too much.” Joe said.

Zoe nodded and then held her hand out for Emma who grabbed it. She Cosmic Stepped the two of them back out towards where she thought she’d been and in a few minutes they were at the edge of the cliffs. The forest extended below them, reaching up to the edge and even climbing down the cliff with their roots and several branches that extended out over the valley.

“So.” Emma said. “Where do you think you were?"

“I don’t know. I think around here, but I think it was in a clearing.” Zoe said.

“Okay, then lets leave a mark here and then fly along and see if we can find a clearing. There’s only one cliff, we’re bound to find it eventually.” Emma said.

Zoe nodded and built up a small tower of earth before she started pushing them along to the east along the cliff face, teleporting a few hundred meters every couple seconds to get a look around for a spot where the trees opened up.

“It’ll be alright, Zoe.” Emma said. “Even if we don’t find it, it’s not the end of the world. It’ll be okay.”

“I know. I know that, logically.” Zoe said between Cosmic Steps. “It just feels bad, losing it all. To a stupid mistake. I wasn’t even in danger when I lost it, not really. I could have just taken it off of myself and kept it, and I threw it over the edge. How did I not notice that?” Zoe asked.

Emma shrugged through the earthen suit, pressing against Zoe’s magic. “It was scary. Don’t blame yourself so much. What’s important is that you’re safe.”

“I know that. I do. I’m just so annoyed? I think annoyed. At myself. I should have kept going up to the sun, maybe the sunlight would have helped fight back the crystals. I should have saved my storage items before I dumped my body. I shouldn’t have even tried communicating with the wanderer. And especially after I did, I shouldn’t have stayed after it showed it was clearly hostile. It was all so stupid. So stupid. Why was I so stupid?" Zoe asked.

Emma nodded. “It was stupid, Zoe. But you lived, and you’ve learned from it, and you’ll be better off for it. You won’t make a mistake like that again. You know, now.”

“I guess.” Zoe said.

The two continued teleporting along the cliff for several hours, a shockingly straight cliff with only a very slight curve to it bending around towards the south. They ran into a few clearings, but none that had any tracks left behind by Zoe. No signs of the devastation that was wrought on her, no chunk of ground missing from when she dumped everything over the edge, no indent left from her sitting at the edge for several days.

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“Maybe we go check the other way instead?” Emma suggested.

Zoe nodded and rushed them back to the earthen pillar she carved out, and then continued their much slower pace towards the west. It didn’t take long before they found the clearing Zoe had sat at, with the massive slab of earth shunted off the cliff and a smattering of blood left behind where Zoe had lain, struggling against the dark crystals.

Stupid, Zoe told herself. So stupid. She’d gotten arrogant, after trying so hard to not be.

Emma looked around the clearing with a sombre face and then walked up to the edge to peer over it. “So its down there, huh?"

Zoe nodded.

“Well, I guess we wait until noon and make our way down?” Emma asked.

“That’s probably safest.” Zoe said.

Emma plopped down on the ground next to the edge, her head hanging off and shifting as she looked around the dark valley. “It’s kinda cool.”

“It was.” Zoe said.

“Nothing can get us up here though, right?" Emma asked.

“I don’t think so. It’s too bright.” Zoe responded.

Emma nodded.

The morning sun rose several hours later, and the two watched it crawl along the sky until it was high above them.

“Alright, lets go see what we can find then.” Emma said as she hopped up to her feet and held out her hand.

Zoe nodded, grabbed her hand and covered the two of them in an earthen suit, then floated them down the cliff face, Cosmic Stepping them several kilometers every few seconds with a surge of anxiety rushing through her.

They landed near the ground, with the abomination she’d tossed over the edge left in a small crater. Little more than a crumpled, shattered mess after the long fall. Her flesh wasn’t visible through the dense covering of crystals, let alone her bracelets and ring. Deep grooves surrounded her body that sent fear coursing through her as her Vampyric Senses showed her a clear image of the wanderer that did this to her. It followed her all the way here, but left her body?

She looked around, but the tracks didn’t seem to lead anywhere. Maybe it jumped, or flew somewhere? It didn’t want to eat her, maybe it was trying to help her, somehow? Bring her into the darkness with it? Or maybe it was still here, lurking beneath the shadows, waiting for its opportunity to jump out at them.

“You want me to do it?" Emma asked.

Zoe shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe touching it will be bad.”

“Anything around us right now?” Emma asked.

Zoe shook her head. “I can’t see anything.”

Emma nodded. “Okay, then pick this up with your Earth and lets take it back up. Maybe we can get it to the sun and burn these away, or at least if we’re in the light we’ll be safer if anything does happen.”

“Maybe. But what if it’s inside there, and we take it up to the sun?” Zoe asked.

“Then it dies?” Emma shrugged.

“Before it kills us?” Zoe asked.

“It didn’t kill you before, I don’t think it’ll be able to do it this time when it’s in full view of the sun.” Emma said.

“I’m just scared.” Zoe said.

“I know.” Emma said. “We can try and get your items out here and then leave if you think that would be better?"

“I don’t know. I don’t know what the best option is. I don’t know where this thing is or what it is.” Zoe said.

Emma nodded and knelt down next to Zoe’s former body then reached out and touched the black crystals with her index finger. “See? Nothing happened. They’re dormant, now. It’ll be okay. And if anything happens, we know we can just cut off my hand or arm and recover it, okay?”

“I really don’t want to cut off your hand, Emma.” Zoe said.

“You’ll have to, if this infects me.” Emma said. “Unless you have a better idea for how to get your items back. We have to get the crystals off somehow.”

Zoe tried to pull her mining tools from her bracelet and cursed under her breath when it failed.

Emma summoned a black knife from her item and started chiselling away at the body’s arm, bits of black crystal shattered off and clattered on the ground around them. Zoe’s anxiety grew with each passing minute as Emma continued working through the dense crystals that covered her old body. Each moment they spent down in the valley another moment they could be ambushed by some creature far beyond her imagination.

After what felt like an eternity but was likely just under ten minutes, Emma cut off Zoe’s old right hand and slid off the first of her bracelets — her less important one with one bag of clothes and 3 empty bags. “Here you go. How many did you have?"

“I had two bracelets and a ring. Should be another bracelet on the other wrist, and a ring on my left index finger.” Zoe said.

Emma nodded and turned her attention to the other wrist. Another eternity passed as Zoe’s heart raced, and the other hand severed from her body, letting the bracelet slide off. Emma handed it to Zoe and she put it back on, feeling all of her supplies that were in it. Food, all of her money, some simple tools for mining and carpentry. And most important, her Frost rock that took up an entire bag on its own.

Zoe felt a wave of relief as she felt it, the familiar presence that had been there with her for so long. She’d get around to doing something with it someday, but the thought that she’d lost it before she ever got to learn more about it wracked her mind with a flurry of emotions. Maybe she’d up the priority on that, now that it was clear how much it meant to her.

“Which finger?” Emma asked.

“Huh?" Zoe responded, a little dazed from the sudden calm that had overtaken her.

“Which finger was your ring on again?” Emma clarified.

“Oh, sorry. Left index finger.” Zoe said.

Emma nodded and started chiselling away at the crystals covering Zoe’s old finger with her knife. In a few minutes, Zoe’s ring was free from beneath the dense layer of terror and she slipped it onto her hand where it belonged. Inside was all of her enchanting supplies she kept on her, some important paperwork she liked to have on her and some general camping supplies to prepare food while she was out travelling.

“That everything?” Emma asked. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to get your clothes off of this.”

Zoe nodded.

“Okay, then lets go home. This place is creepy and I don’t want to stick around until nighttime.” Emma smiled and held out her hand.

Zoe grabbed it and teleported the two of them back up to the cliff edge, and then over the forest on the way back to Foizo. They arrived back home soon after and collapsed on the chairs in the kitchen.

“Well that was terrifying.” Emma took a deep breath and sighed.

“Thank you.” Zoe said. “I’m not sure I could have done that, even if I found my way back there, to be honest. That was me. My old body. I…”

Emma waved her hand and smiled. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s cause I wasn’t there when it happened, but it didn’t really feel like it was yours, anyway. It’s no big deal.”

Zoe nodded.

“So, what’s next for you then? What’s your next grand adventure? Going to stay around here for a while?" Emma asked.

“Probably. I think I really want to check out this Frost thing I have, finally. Maybe I’ll go see if I can find Eliza and get her opinion on it, too.” Zoe said.

“Oo, say hi for me! And if you find them, say hi to my parents. Its been a while since we’ve talked.” Emma said.

“Sure. You can come along if you want, when I go?” Zoe asked.

“No, I’ll go visit Korna someday but I want to stay here for a bit.” Emma smiled.