A week later, they were walking through another forest, Aylie trudging along slowly and the others keeping pace. She was valiantly continuing on but after upwards of a week of constant walking, Zalia could see that she was getting exhausted. Every now and then, she would get so tired that Zalia had to lift her onto Boreal for a rest.

They were in a part of Endaria that Zalia recognised from the first time she had met the rebellion. They were soon approaching where the old war camp had been and she was a little surprised to find that there was no sign of their passing. Shouldn’t an entire army moving across the land leave more of a mark?

She remembered when they had first met General Ballast, how his army had mages to move the terrain out of the way and then place it back untouched. Perhaps that is what they had done here.

“How much longer,” Aylie asked.

“Another week or so,” Zalia said.

Aylie let out a long pitiful groan, looking for all the world like she was about to collapse.

“Let’s take a rest,” Zalia suggested.

Aylie obviously agreed as she immediately dropped. Zalia hopped forwards and caught her, forming a stone seat for her to sit in. It wouldn’t be super comfortable but better than the ground.

There was still another three days of walking before they would hit the snow, though Zalia thought it might be soon approaching winter as she noticed ice forming across the landscape during the nights, their breath puffing into little clouds in front of them. Zalia herself didn’t notice the cold, still wearing the outfit Ember had bought for her but Aylie wore her warmer clothes, a giant puffy coat with a hood, the whole thing made out of extremely soft wool.

Zalia did what she could to help as well, using the heat manipulation given by Heat resistance to stop Aylie from cooling down too much.

“How you doing?” she asked Ember.

“Yeah, fine. It’s a bit of a journey, hey?” Ember said.

“Yeah, for sure. I wish we could fly but I don’t want to risk attracting any of the Silver demons. They seem to watch the sky. Maybe when we are closer to the mountain, if there appear to be less demons around.”

“That would be magnificent,” Ember said, smiling.

While she could definitely cast the flight ritual on all of them, she probably couldn’t keep it up for long before running out of mana. That was something she definitely didn’t want to risk. If it came to fighting a Silver ranked demon, which it might with Aylie as slow as she was, she would need every drop she could get. She wasn’t certain, but she felt like herself, Boreal and Ember would be able to take one. They were a pretty strong trio.

They had come across a few demons on their way so far, each of them swiftly put down by the three of them. Aylie was terrified of the demons but Zalia always stayed by her side during the fights, using the distraction of Ember and Boreal to release arrow after arrow.

“How old are you Aylie?” Zalia asked.

It wasn’t something that had occurred to her to ask, yet it popped into her mind as she started thinking of what class opportunities the starlight wolf’s blessing would provide.

Aylie looked at Zalia, then held up her hands with fingers splayed.

“Ten?”

Aylie shook her head, holding up two more fingers.

"Twelve?"

From what she remembered talking with Zen and the others previously, people usually were able to take classes from around fourteen onwards yet could take one as early as when in Ember's case. She might have to wait a while to find out what classes Aylie would be able to take, then.

Zalia summoned the little chunk of wood into her hands from the vault, looking it over again. It had occurred to her that she might not need whittling tools to shape it, that perhaps she could do so with her Healing presence.

She pushed her aura into the wood but tried to focus it on one side in particular and found that she was indeed able to promote growth in a specific area. It wasn’t perfect but perhaps would be enough to make some rudimentary shapes.

She tried using Preparation on it and, to her pleasure, found that she was able to carve it down. With this she would basically be able to change a singular piece of wood into any shape she desired. Interesting.

Unfortunately, as she tried to carve something a little more deliberate out of it, she found herself failing entirely. It felt like she should be able to change it to whichever shape she wanted yet she lacked… control. A skill to learn, then.

She sat down, forming a chair under herself as she did so, right next to Aylie. Boreal walked off to investigate the immediate area and Ember stayed standing, looking towards the north.

“Do you think we will be able to convince Glemp and his people to join the fight?” she asked.

“I don’t know, to be honest. They don’t really like to leave their cave. Maybe they wouldn’t be opposed to taking in some refugees though, that would provide another escape for some of the people further north here,” Zalia suggested.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Hmm, that would help I guess. What about this other ‘start to your goals’ the starlight wolf mentioned?”

Zalia had, of course, told Ember about why she wanted to travel north. The reasons were twofold, she hadn’t explained in detail the conversation she’d had with the wolf though.

“Well, I told the wolf I wanted to walk the path that led to my friends being safe, or avenged, Endaria being preserved and nature being kept… well, nature. Apparently the first step to that large range of goals lies in the north where heat meets stone meets ice. Or, something like that,” she explained.

“Right. I hope it isn’t the avenged part of that. I hope Glemp and his people are ok,” Ember said, frowning a bit in worry.

“So do I,” Zalia agreed quietly.

Just then, she felt something strange.

It was kind of like the aura she had grown oh so used to in Cormaine but… different. It was hard to explain. Maybe it was just the feeling of power great enough to create a physical feeling.

This one, unlike the one in Cormaine, didn’t feel as… angry. The aura of the horrific creatures Zalia had come to know in this world's hell felt angry and it attacked with a very real power.

This new one felt uncaring. It didn’t seem to give off any emotions or feelings, simply being an enigmatic well of power.

She stood up alert, noticing Ember did just the same as Boreal came running from afar to group up. Aylie didn’t seem to notice, yet looked at the three of them with alarm either way.

“What is that?” Zalia asked in a whisper.

The strange feeling had a direction to it, she could tell it was coming from the treeline some fifty metres away.

“Never felt anything like it. Want to run?” Ember asked.

“No, not yet. I want to know what this is.”

They waited, ever so patiently, as the aura grew stronger. She had started to notice slight auras around people with Aura observation reaching higher levels. It wasn’t anything significant, most people unconsciously kept their aura contained to a high degree, unless they were in a heightened emotional state.

She hadn’t really found a use for the ability as such and had only really noticed it four days ago when Ember had been laughing at Aylie and Boreal.

The auras were very obviously stronger based on the power on the creature it came from. Even some higher-ranked plants emitted auras. This one felt like it came from a creature of Silver or Gold rank.

That should have made Zalia scared, as fighting a creature like that would undoubtedly be a life-or-death fight for them. She wasn't though, for whatever reason, looking towards that treeline with curiosity.

Finally, she saw the owner of the aura. A humanoid creature with a dark blue complexion, floating serenely with toes pointed to the floor. It had runes inscribed across its body, long, black hair flowing down its back slightly further than its feet.

Another left the treeline, looking quite similar to its brethren yet with slightly shorter hair.

What made the creatures otherworldly to her eyes were the lack of mouth or nose they had. They had featureless faces, only two eyes that, even from this distance, looked as if pits into an endless abyss.

“What the hell are they?” Zalia whispered.

“I think… I think those are the Astar,” Ember whispered back.

She had heard of the Astar, Indis had spoken of them some time back. They were a race that lived to the east of Endaria of which very little was known. That was because they didn’t leave their lands and did not take kindly to humans encroaching upon their lands. At least, they weren’t supposed to leave their lands.

“What the hell are they doing here?” Zalia whispered.

She let the little chair she had made for Aylie melt and crouched down to reduce her profile. Ember did the same, with Boreal already being as low to the ground as she could get. Aylie was laying down.

“Why are you asking me?” Ember whispered tensely.

Zalia summoned her armour, Boreal doing the same, not wanting to get caught off guard by the creatures. She swore they must have been quite high rank but as they serenely floated closer, she noticed they were only Bronze.

? - Bronze rank.

How could that be possible?

Their auras were so strong, rivalling that of someone like Hidey had he not kept his aura very well hidden. They weren’t even close to the strength of Ro-ak or the thousand eyed demons, but they were still far above Zalia or Ember’s own auras.

“Should we talk to them?” Zalia whispered, unsure.

They had the power advantage, three Bronze against two, if it came to it. That made the situation a little less worrying. Unfortunately, she was unsure what exactly Bronze meant for this race. It meant something entirely different for Zalia than it did for Ember.

“They aren’t really known for being talkative,” Ember whispered, uncertain.

“Well, it’s not like they would just attack us outright, would they?”

Ember didn’t reply. A possibility then.

“Alright, maybe they will. Still worth a try though? Maybe they sensed the demons and have come to figure out what is happening in Endaria. Maybe we could get their help with the war!” Zalia said urgently.

If that was possible, and with the absolute strength of aura even the Bronze of this race had, they would have a much better chance of winning. Even a single Gold or Emerald ranked Astar would probably outmatch a thousand eyed demon for raw strength of aura.

“Alright, fuck it. Why not? Let’s go,” Ember said, giving in.

“Stay here Boreal, take care of Aylie,” Zalia said to Boreal, before standing up.

Ember stood as well and they walked towards the Astar. It took a surprisingly long time for the two to notice them, turning their endless gaze upon the duo.

Zalia looked at Ember and she gestured for Zalia to go first.

“Um, hello?” Zalia said.

The two stared at them wordlessly. Hmm.

Seeing as they didn’t have mouths, maybe they didn’t communicate verbally?

“Hello,” Zalia greeted mentally.

Still, they stared. A deep thrumming began building within the two creatures chests. It was like nothing she had heard before, not a purr like Boreal or a groan like a human. It was an endlessly reverberating bass.

“Uh, Ember, I don’t like that sound,” Zalia said quietly.

“Neither do I.”

The thrumming grew louder and Zalia was about to summon her weapon when space folded, the two Astar disappearing in a flash, the sound of a water drop hitting a still pond permeating the air.

“Oh what the fuck?” Ember swore.