Zalia stared at the wind torn ritual site.

“This looks… entirely the same."

Ember came up beside her, eyes scanning.

“Yeah, doesn’t seem any different to me."

It was exactly as Zalia remembered it, blood stains flaking away in the alcove set into the mountainside.

“Does it seem… older than some of the other ones we have come across to you?"

“What?” Ember asked.

Zalia kicked some of the flaking substance and watched it scrape away and shatter to dust.

“Well, the blood seems older."

Ember knelt down and scraped some away with her hand.

“It could have been one of the first ones that were performed, plus it is in quite a hostile environment."

“Hmm, that could explain it,” Zalia murmured.

She had a feeling that this ritual was different to many of the others she had come across. All of the other rituals had some effect, even the one that Zalia had disturbed in the first place. Well, she didn’t know that for sure as she didn’t know where every ritual had been placed but there were quite a lot of demons roaming the lands and many dead spots that she had to heal.

Despite all that Ember said though, Zalia felt like she knew this ritual hadn’t been activated. Whether it was an instinct or a subliminal power given by her magic, she just knew it.

“What if… what if this is a ritual from a time before?” Zalia suggested.

Ember turned to her, frowning.

“What do you mean by that?”

Zalia watched Boreal walk around the site, sniffing at the ground occasionally. Aylie was keeping close to her, one hand holding onto the hem of her shirt.

“Well, remember we theorised that this might not be the first time this has happened? What if this is a ritual site from another time,” Zalia explained.

Ember turned back to the ritual and walked to the middle of the room, frown still present.

“I guess it could be but why haven’t any other sites like this one been found? Remember the map of them that was being made by the Morning’s Shade? This one fit perfectly into the huge circle that was being made by the rituals."

“Hmm,” Zalia hummed.

She noticed Aylie shiver a little bit.

“Let’s get down from here, nothing more for us to see really."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Ember came over for another lift and before they left, Zalia looked at the site, closed her eyes and carefully stored the image of the site into the vault, a light mist leaving her eyes and twisting down her body to enter her hand.

She met Ember’s eyes, receiving a teasing smile that caused her heart to skip a beat before she scooped the woman up and began the flight back down the mountain.

Aylie was already in love with the flight, twisting this way and that as she performed aerial manoeuvres that shouldn’t have been possible for someone so new to the task.

“She’s a natural,” Zalia sent to Ember.

“Definitely a lot better than me,” Ember thought back.

“I feel like you’re better than you let on,” Zalia accused.

“Maybe,” Ember replied innocently.

This woman.

She could see her smiling up through the bottom of her vision and Zalia held on just a little tighter.

They landed and she put Ember down gently.

“Let’s say goodbye to Zen and make our way towards Ostoss then shall we?” Zalia suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Ember agreed.

Aylie floated up beside her.

“Ostoss?”

Zalia pointed in the general direction of the town.

“It’s a town to the west and further south a little, back in Endaria."

She let the wing ritual fade as Boreal landed, dropping Aylie into the snow. She could see that even just that short flight up and then back down for four people had pretty much emptied her mana. not enough to be in danger of passing out due to mana drain but it was still alarming to see how quickly that particular ritual drained it.

They walked over to the big house that belonged to Zen and his family and entered, knocking the snow off of their boots as they did.

None of them had boots made for the snow, though they were all thick and sturdy. For Ember and Zalia this wasn’t really a problem, their increased strength and dexterity more than enough to make up the difference. Aylie wasn’t so lucky and did slip about quite a bit.

“Hey!” Zen greeted as they pushed into the room, feeling a blast of heat pass over them.

A lot of his family weren’t there, probably out performing various tasks. Zalia had noticed that his parents were quite high rank and she assumed they were trying to find a way to farm up here on the mountain. That was what they had spent their lives doing after all.

“Hey Zen, we’re about to be off,” Ember said as Zalia got lost in thought again.

Zen looked up from where he sat.

“Time to say goodbye then."

She could hear a hint of sadness in his voice.

“We’ll see each other again,” Zalia promised.

“I know, just keep safe out there alright? Boreal, I trust you to make sure they don’t do anything stupid,” Zen said.

Boreal bowed her head and managed to pull off a smug expression.

“You really have faith in the wrong people,” Zalia explained.

“Zalia silly,” Boreal sent.

It came with an image of Zalia and Ember running toward the cave entrance as Boreal launched her surprise attack and buried them both in snow.

“Boreal sillier,” Zalia retorted.

She didn’t say anything back but Zalia noticed her tail flick aggressively. She’d have to watch out for more surprise attacks in future.

Zen came up to them, arms wide open.

“Well, see you later Zen,” Zalia said, stepping up to hug the large guy.

Ember also received a hug, Boreal got some scratches and Aylie received a pat on the head that she looked mildly affronted by.

They left, Zalia’s mana recharged enough to allow for her to activate flight for the short distance to the bottom of the mountain. As they landed, Zalia put Ember down and they began their journey out of the snow.