Ket led them through the forest, Tana close at his heels. He followed a path that Ike would have never found on his own. It carved through the forest, twisting and turning. Sometimes, the ground beneath their feet was bare, well-trod by people or beasts. Sometimes, Ket wound his way through a knot of trees with seemingly no guidance, surefooted as ever.

Loup walked at the back of the pack, in no rush. She loped along, yawning from time to time. Mud stained her paws. From time to time, she’d vanish off into the woods, but she’d always return to trot along at the rear of the line.

Ike drew up alongside Tana as they walked. She gave him a glance, then nodded a hello. Ike nodded back. “You’ve always lived down here?”

“Since I was born,” Tana said, smiling.

“You were born down here? Wow,” Ike muttered. He looked around them at the wildlife. “Must have been rough.”

“It isn’t much different from your city. We’re much smaller, not a true sect, just a small clan. Still, we have walls and barriers, like any larger sect would. The only difference is that the monsters truly outnumber us down here, given there’s so few of us, so rather than ranging out to hunt, we’re often backed in, barely maintaining our defenses.” Tana patted Ket on the shoulder. “That’s what makes hunters like Ket so valuable.”

“You’re too kind, Tana,” Ket said. He glanced over his shoulder, shooting Ike one of his trademark easy smiles. “I used to be a mage, a few hundred years ago. In the overcity and everything. Made a little mistake, kissed the wrong girl, and got sent straight to the Abyss.”

“You did a little more than kiss that girl, the way I recall the story,” Tana replied, looking at Ket.

Ket sighed wistfully. He spread his hands to the sky. “We would have made beautiful children.”

“You were a mage? In the overcity?” Ike asked, startled. Ket’s relaxed attitude and laid-back personality were nothing like what he expected from an overcity mage. I thought they were all haughty twats.

“A lifetime ago,” Ket said. He laughed, a derisive note in his voice, directed at himself. “I was someone else.”

“He had a lot to come to terms with, banished to the Abyss,” Tana said simply.

Ket snorted. He shook his head.

“Wait, hundreds of years ago…what Rank are you?” Ike asked.

“Three. On the verge of four, if you’d believe it,” Ket said.

Taken aback, Ike stared at him. “Then…couldn’t you have taken out that entire party, and the Salamander too…?”

“I wish. You can’t process lunam, right?” Ket asked.

“No,” Ike confirmed. And I’m not going to confess that I have a secret lunam-mana conversion engine, either.

Ket nodded. “I’ve been in the Abyss too long. I can no longer process mana. We ran into…difficulties passing our message along, and my lunam stores were running dry long before we encountered those bastards. Tana and I were separated for a brief moment, but that was too much. Once that shithead put the curse on Tana, my fate was sealed. I no longer had the lunam to break the curse outright, nor to kill him before he could activate the curse and kill her. All I could do was play along and wait for a moment to strike.”

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He looked over his shoulder, casting an approving gaze at Ike. “If you hadn’t attacked him first in the aftermath of the Salamander fight, I would have done the same.”

“And risked my life,” Tana grumbled.

“I never would have done that. Only if the circumstances were right,” Ket said seriously, smile vanishing for a moment.

Tana nodded. She grinned a little, showing that she was joking.

Ike glanced between Tana and Ket. Tana’s aura was about the same strength as Ike’s, maybe a little weaker. Between the two of them, Ket clearly had the stronger aura, but he treated Tana with great respect. I wonder who Tana is in the Abyss? She’s clearly not some ordinary commoner. Maybe she’s a noble, or something like that.

After all, she was sent with a message for the city lord. It makes sense if she’s someone with a name in the Abyss.

“So you use lunam in the Abyss, instead of mana?” Ike asked.

Ket nodded. “It’s what we have. We don’t have a choice. Not everyone can handle the conversion, or survive it. Plenty of mages come down here and find themselves powerless. Only a few—lucky mages, like me, or those born in the Abyss, like Tana—can process lunam. Another reason why these forests are so well-stocked with beasts. Our mages, our hunters, are few and far between. We don’t need as many skill orbs as they do outside the Abyss, nor do our people have the power to obtain them.”

“If you learn to process lunam, do you lose the ability to process mana? I—I mean, you did, clearly, but I mean…as a rule,” Ike clarified quickly.

Ket’s lips quirked up. He chuckled. “No, no. I understood. Almost always, yes. Our bodies aren’t built to handle more than one flow of magic. Some would even argue they aren’t built to handle magic at all. There are a few who master both, but…there are downsides to everything.” He shrugged.

Ike waited, but Ket offered no more. He pressed his lips together. I am interested in handling lunam directly, since I’m stuck down here for the foreseeable future, but…not if there’s a serious cost or downside. Remembering the book, he looked up. “Do you mean the insanity?”

“Insanity?” Ket and Tana exchanged a glance, lost.

“It…it was in a book I read. Something about lunam causing madness…” Ike grimaced, embarrassed. Faint red spread over his cheeks. And now I’m asking the people who use lunam every day if the stuff makes you crazy? I must be the one who’s crazy, directly insulting them like that. “S-sorry. Ignore me.”

Ket snorted. “No, no. I know those myths. I feared the same, when I first entered the Abyss. As far as I can tell, lunam doesn’t cause madness. But then, doesn’t the madman always claim he’s sane?”

He shook his head and continued. “I can’t say for sure, but I think there’s no more truth to those stories than there is truth to the boogeyman.”

“Right. Sorry,” Ike said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Lunam does have a few unique properties, though. Things I find fascinating. If you’re interested in a discussion on the intricacies of the mana system versus the lunam system, I’d be happy to engage you in conversation,” Tana piped up.

Ket broke out into a grin. He scuffed the top of Tana’s head. “She used to hound me nonstop to hear more about how mana works. I remember her toddling after me, no more than knee-high, asking more questions about theoretical magic than most grown mages cared to discuss.”

Tana blushed. She pushed her hand away. “Well, I have limited opportunities to study mana, after all. Of course I’d be interested.”

“I’d be happy to discuss with you, but…I don’t have much formal training. I mostly picked things up on my own,” Ike confessed.

“Oh, that’s fine, that’s fine!” Tana assured him. “All insight is valuable. The practitioner often knows more than the theoretician.”

Ket leaned toward Ike. “She uses big words when she gets excited.”

Tana thwacked him on the side. “Hush!”

Grabbing his side, Ket staggered away, mock-injured. “Ow, ow, ow…”

Ike grinned, a warmth welling up in his heart. This, here, walking this trail, felt more like home than his uncle’s villa ever had. Someone else’s home, maybe, but home nonetheless.

Abruptly, Ket stood tall. His expression turned somber, and he lifted a finger to his lips. “Quietly. We’re close.”

Tana nodded. She fell in directly behind him, copying his steps. Ike did the same. Loup melted into the woods, vanishing entirely. The three of them approached a cliff. Ket pushed a branch down, and gestured for Tana and Ike to look.

Ike stepped forward. Instantly, he jerked back. No way. But that’s—