Outside, the night remained pitch-black, devoid of any mist, with only a grand, luminous moon hanging in the sky, casting a silvery light through the window onto the floor. The night breeze whispered softly, rustling the trees outside the cabin.
As Freya furrowed her brows, pondering the connections between recent events, Lanny, who lay beside her, suddenly began to breathe heavily, abruptly sitting up with eyes wide in terror, pupils constricting rapidly. Freya, still unsettled from the Lena incident, was startled by Lanny’s abrupt awakening.
“What’s wrong?” Freya asked, eyeing Lanny’s unusual expression with concern.
Hearing Freya’s voice, Lanny jolted, gradually calming down as she rubbed her temples before turning to Freya with a faint smile, “...It’s nothing, just a nightmare.”
“Oh,” Freya responded, her face impassive, before lying back down, feigning sleep. The soft touch of the thick blanket grounded her in reality. She noticed the lingering fear in Lanny’s eyes and the faint aura of negative energy emanating from her, an energy Freya often encountered in the necromancy lab.
She wondered if Lanny had also experienced the unsettling visions she had seen. ‘What could this signify?’ Freya mused, her mind a tangle of thoughts, abandoning the idea of sleep and slipping into meditation instead.
As time passed, the moon vanished from the night sky, and the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon. Birds chirped their morning songs among the trees.
“Ugh...” Lanny stirred, rubbing her eyes as she sat up from the blanket. The sounds of her movements roused the others, who awoke groggily.
Having not slept all night, Freya stood, stretching and patting her face to wake herself up. With her near-knight strength, she could go three days and nights without sleep, though her alertness would suffer.
Five minutes later, everyone was awake. Rand looked at Lanny with raised eyebrows. “Did you not sleep last night?”
“What?” Lanny, puzzled, paused from packing her things and looked at Rand, “How did you know?”
“Look at your face.”
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Everyone turned to Lanny, noticing the prominent dark circles under her eyes, stark against her pale skin. “Uh...” Lanny sighed, seeing her own weary reflection in a mirror.
The group refrained from questioning Lanny’s condition further. Freya, however, kept a close eye, particularly on Eichborn and Lena, who remained as affectionate and oblivious to the world as usual, which troubled Freya.
After a simple breakfast, they set out for the Heartlake as planned. The journey was uneventful.
Half an hour later, the density of the forest decreased, and strange brown rocks began to appear. White vapors rose from the cracks in some of the rocks, and the air was thick with the smell of sulfur.
Leading the group, Freya picked up a brown rock, feeling its rough texture and the heat emanating from it. With a slight squeeze, it crumbled into pieces. “About twenty degrees,” she noted, observing the loose density of the rocks.
Ahead, amidst the brown rocks, lay an irregularly shaped lake. The water was so clear that Freya could see the bottom even from a distance, with white steam rising from it. “Is this the Heartlake?” Freya thought, feeling the intense fire particles dancing within the water.
Scanning the lake’s surroundings, she saw no plants, only countless brown rocks. The area was eerily quiet, save for the faint hiss of steam escaping the rocks. “This silence is unsettling,” Freya mused, uncertain, as she wandered around the lake.
Despite finding some shallow pits of various sizes, presumably formed naturally, she found nothing else of note and sat on a large rock by the lake, checking her belongings in her pouch.
Given the strange events of the previous night, Freya was wary. Although not a necromancy expert, she knew the significance of Lena’s final message. She kept a cautious eye on Lanny and the curious auras of Eichborn and Lena, determined to be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.
Five minutes later, the rest of the group arrived. Rand greeted Freya with a nod and scanned the area, frowning at the rocks. “Has the terrain changed? It looks different from when I was last here.”
“Does it?” Nikola stomped on a rock, puzzled. “It seems the same to me, just rocks and water.”
“Maybe I’m overthinking it. It’s been three months since I was last here.” Rand shrugged and addressed the group, “Flame scorpions live in underground burrows. You all know their danger. Here’s the scorpion grass. Just sweep it over any meter-wide holes. If you hear anything, restrain it and alert the others immediately. Understood?”
“Yes,” everyone nodded. Flame scorpions, while low-level magical creatures, were dangerous when aided by the Red Snow Bats. Their force fields made them impervious to most attacks, necessitating coordinated efforts to weaken the bats first.
Rand turned to Freya, “Freya, since you lack long-range spells, don’t attack if you find a flame scorpion. Just alert us.”
“Understood,” Freya smiled, acknowledging her role. Though confident in her close combat skills, she knew the scorpions’ unique threat. Complying with Rand, she prepared herself for her role, mindful of her dual status as a skilled combatant and a low-level apprentice in their eyes.