Mion was covered in cuts and bruises from head to toe. Blood, both blackened and not, ran down his arms, face and legs and his pelt had been shredded down the middle; yet he couldn’t have been more excited. Finally, he found something worthy of making him go all out and push himself to his limit. He had exhausted all of Spiritual Tera and couldn’t utilize his Earth Aspect, but it had been worth it; the strange creature that fought like a Greater Iron had fallen before him. Its’ head had been smashed into the dirt and its battered body oozed a neon blue liquid.

“You were a fine opponent,” Mion said as he loomed over the fallen beast, “ take solace in the fact that your hide will adorn the body of the man that killed you.” He knelt down to rip the skin off, but stopped when he saw the ground sizzling where the creature’s blood had spilled. It looked like a corrosive liquid, but it wasn’t burning the ground or surrounding area. Mion took a step back and fell onto his backside; his body had reached its limit and he’d need some time to recover. It was only when the rush of battle wore off that Mion remembered he was supposed to bring Noki back to the village; he had a nasty habit of getting caught up in battle and ignoring everything else.

Mion knew his uncle well. Jahn would be upset that Noki wasn’t captured, but if Mion brought this creature back to him, a beast unlike anything else in the Red Forest, he was positive that it would more than make up for his error. Plus; if he’s satisfied with that, he wouldn’t need to bring Noki back and could kill him without fear of repercussions. Satisfied with his decision, Mion looked at the upheaved landscape and back to the beast. “Come morning, I’ll get you cleaned and prepped for travel. Don’t worry about any scourbeasts either, I won’t let them lay a filthy claw on you, so rest easy.”

Mion was thankful for the encounter with the strange beast; not only did it allow him to fight to his limit, it also reaffirmed something in his mind: that he was the strongest Divine Artist in all of Blue Mountain Serpent Academy. With his mind at ease, Mion used the last of his strength to rip up a chunk of land and laid on it like a makeshift bed.

Jahn spent the majority of the night in the Abstraction, going over all of his plans and contingencies for each. He could tell that in the Tactile, it was just after sunrise which meant he only had another hour or so before he’d need to return. The clouds swirled around him and took the form of events that transpired over the last few days. The first image was that of Jahn injecting his brother Bain with a poison distilled from scourbeast blood during the attack on the Divination Ceremony.

“I’ll need to find a way to get more of that, my supply is running low.” Jahn made a note of that and moved past the other scenes until he stood in front of the image of Noki moments before escaping execution. “You are a fascinating anomaly. A Null with no kuldas to speak and you suddenly breakthrough restraints that were made to hold a Lesser Iron. If it weren’t for Amani..”

The clouds swirled once again, taking on a much darker hue. Jahn constructed space began shaking as if the entire space were being ripped at the seams. Jahn gathered himself and the shaking ceased; how long had it been since someone made him truly upset? He had spent years working on this, making deals and alliances with the denizens of Blackhide City–and other less savory individuals–and was close to a breakthrough. Normally, a setback like this would have been expected and dealt with in time, but time was not something Jahn was sure he had a lot left of.

A small disturbance in the space brought Jahn’s attention to the dome above his space. A Divine Artist of sufficient Mental Tera could take a portion of the Abstraction and section it off; essentially creating their own private space called a Sanctuary. Jahn’s Sanctuary was covered in a venomous green dome that dissolved any unwanted intrusion, though this disturbance was expected. He created a small hole in the dome and a ball the size of a pebble landed on the palm of his hand. Jahn threw it to the floor and the clouds engulfed it, forming into the image of Mion.

“Well?” Jahn summoned a throne from the clouds and sat, “where is he?”

“He’s gone for now, Uncle Jahn, but-”

“What do you mean gone?” If Jahn had been in the Tactile at this moment, he would have leveled the entire village. He might still if Mion decides to continue to tell him bad news. “You lost him?”

“There were intruders in the forest,” Mion said. “Thanks to your tutelage, I was able to use my Earth Aspect to sense the Tera Waves of two unknown combatants.

Jahn was aware of the intruders, after all he was the one who put the contract out. It was one of his contingencies; hire a plethora of mercenaries and a Silverblood to ensure at least the death of one of the Monsari’s. They were to kill everyone so that if anyone from either the village or the Embrace were to investigate, it would look like a push to claim Watercliff Village. It wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary, especially after the brazen attacks on strongholds done by the Ten Shadows.

Mion continued. “I let Kila engage with them while I fought a strange creature; a scourbeast unlike any I’ve encountered before.”

That piqued Jahn’s interest. Bain had taken Mion into the Red Forest since he was an Earthen Soul, there isn’t a beast in there that Mion hadn’t seen before. Jahn made him describe the creature and when Mion did, the acting Head Chief sensed an opportunity.

“I want you to think about the creature right now. Don’t forget a single detail,” Jahn ordered. Mion did as he was commanded and a moment later, a copy of the strange beast formed next to the image of Mion. Even though its details were lost, Jahn knew that it was a Wildling, which meant it was time for him to accelerate his plans. “Make your way to the cove and wait for me there.”

Before Mion could protest, Jahn dismissed him and his image, along with the Wildling, vanished. Jahn looked through all his contingency plans once more and they all melted away save for one. “I’ll have to modify it, but plan one-hundred and twelve seems to be the best fit.” In an instant he was back in the Tactile, seated on the edge of his bed and already dressed in his Instructor’s robe. Without wasting a moment, Jahn left his room and headed to the infirmary to visit his brother.

When Noki had regained consciousness, his first instinct was to attack Kila but he resisted the urge; not only was she much stronger than he, but that instinct felt like it belonged to someone else. Instead, Noki politely asked her why she’d done it. After first filling him into the events of the previous night, Kila told him he would have slowed them down and didn’t want to risk him drawing any undue attention. He then asked why they were in a dark cave and that seemed to have annoyed Kila.

“After I carried you all the way here, I was caught in between three tigerbulls and five lionapes fighting over food. Why didn’t I just kill them? Great question.That’s because I’m not some brawler nor am I dumb enough to drain my Physical Tera fighting them when Mion is after both of us,” Kila had said.

Noki didn’t get a chance to ask more questions as Kila put a strange mask on and went silent. She looked like she was in some kind of meditative state, so he tried to piece together what happened last night. The exact details were still fuzzy, but he did remember his attack on Mion, getting hit, talking to Kila and the scourbeasts falling on him.

“There was something else too, a weird creature that was targeting me.” That felt weird to think, how did he know what that thing wanted? Then again, there’s been an unease in Noki that had been steadily growing ever since he ascended. At first he thought it was just a side-effect of becoming an Earthen Soul; he had seen the other Divine Artist in the village always pursuing fights in order to get stronger, so he imagined it was normal. “But fighting a tigerbull, and then challenging Mion? That was stupid…wasn’t it?”

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A large section of tree fell in front of the cave with an echoing thud, knocking Noki off his feet and stirring Kila awake.

“Well, I guess that’s the most sleep I can expect to get out here,” Kila said as she removed the white mask. “At least my Mental Tera has recovered, can’t say the same for my Physical Tera though.” Her clothes were in worse condition now than they were last night and though her wounds were mostly gone, she was in desperate need of a rejuvenating bath; courtesy of the bath located at the camp. “Why are you on the ground?”

“Something heavy fell,” Noki said as he got to his feet, “shook the ground and I lost my balance.”

Kila placed her hands on her hips and inclined her head sideways. “Lost your balance? From a tree falling?”

Her tone told Noki that it probably wasn’t normal for that to happen. “I mean, I-” Kila raised a hand and wore a tired expression.

“I don’t understand you; one moment you’re able to take hits from Mion and fight against a Lesser Iron, the next, a falling tree throws you off.” Kila brushed past Noki and walked up to the fallen tree. It was a Stonebark Tree, a common type of tree found in the Southern Red Forest, and both emitted and absorbed Earth Aspect. “Of course this would happen,” Kila said as she ran her hand across the rock, gray bark, “those idiots chimeras would knock over one of the densest tree types.”

Noki had taken a few moments to reactivate his Divine Sight after the fall; he still wasn’t used to using his Tera in that. He saw Kila placing a hand on the Stonebark and moved to assist. “Oh, so we’re gonna push our way through? Let me then, it’s the least I can do.”

“Are you an idiot? That’s a Stonebark; even a section of it can weigh anywhere from half a ton to-” Kila’s words died as she saw Noki place two hands on the tree, dig his feet into the dirt floor, and push with all his might.

Noki’s muscles burned and the edge of his vision started to blacken, but little by little, the Stonebark groaned and slid across the floor.

“I think…I can…almost…”

Noki dropped to the floor, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. “Sorry, I thought I could get it all the way open,” he said as he rolled onto his back. “That’s…really heavy.”

“Yeah, it’s like I said,” Kila wanted to say, but she was too stunned to speak. Noki was an Earthen Soul, she had checked while he was knocked out, and definitely wasn’t using a shroud. “He didn’t use that strange Tera from last night either, so how the hell did he just do that?” She looked back at the tree, which had moved enough to allow rays of light to fill the cave, and then to Noki. A thought occurred to Kila, “Hey, when’s the last time you ate?”

“What?” Noki sat up and pondered the question. “I don’t know, maybe the day before the Ceremony? Actually, now that you mention it, I could use something to eat.”

“No way. That was three days ago. Earthen Souls need to eat almost five times more than a Null due to the excess energy they burn. He should be dead already.”

“Well,” Kila said aloud, “if we can make it to the camp, they’ll be some rations for you to enjoy.”

“That’s good and all,” Noki said while still on the floor, “but I don’t think I can move that thing.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll have the beasts do it.”

Noki was visibly confused but Kila just stood still and closed her eyes. Footsteps echoed from outside the cave and beasts grunted around the tree. More light poured in as two lionapes grabbed the bottom of the tree and hauled it away.

“There,” Kila said, “let’s get going.”

Noki got off the ground and dusted himself off. “How did-what did you do? Did you do something?”

“I used an Art to get the beasts to carry the tree, which was what I was originally going to do before you started pushing.” She had used a variation of her Ethereal Tether to momentarily take over the minds of the lionapes. It uses more Mental Tera the stronger the target’s mind is, but she didn’t need to tell Noki any of that. “Let’s get a move on, they beasts will make our trip a lot quicker.”

Noki was still confused, but his hunger was growing by the second so he pushed his doubts aside and followed Kila. They emerged from the cavern into a bright, summer morning. The Red Forest looked a lot less red than he was used to; instead of the pale red light that usually filled the air, there was an earthy brown tinged to it, making it more maroon than red. The majority of the trees were Stonebark, save for a small smattering of trees Noki grew to be familiar with, and there were rocky protrusions growing randomly throughout the terrain.

“The lionapes are going to throw the tree, so don’t fall down again,” Kila joked as the beasts followed her command, launching it high into the air. When she had scanned Noki early, she entered his mind and saw his interactions with Baira. It was important that Noki not be so on guard with her, as it would make her mission a lot more complicated, so she strove to emulate Baira as much as possible. “It’s exhausting being so outwardly approachable, I much rather go back to playing the helpless navigator.”

The lionapes then moved from the tree and stood in front of Noki and Kila, offering them their backs. Noki looked to Kila, who gestured for him to climb onto its back, but Noki wasn’t certain it would work. “These lionapes are only five-feet tall, are you sure they can hold me?” It was a stupid question of course, he had just seen them throw the Stonebark hundreds of feet away…but they were smaller than him.

“First thing you’re going to have to learn is to not judge something by its appearance,” Kila said as she mounted the lionape. “These lionapes are suffused with the ambient Earth Aspect; they are smaller than other types but make up for it by having incredible physical strength. Trust me, it’ll be fine.”

Noki looked back at the bodies of the tigerbulls and saw a lionape fist sized hole through their bodies. He then hopped onto the brown beast’s back and gave Kila a nod that showed he was ready. She shot him a smile and then commanded the lionapes to move. In an instant they shot off the ground and bounded through the trees, each leap propelling them five hundred feet forward.

The world around Noki blurred as he was having difficulty maintaining his Divine Sight and his eyes were drying out due to the wind whipping past at frightening speed. He reflexively closed his eyes and felt the lionape bouncing off more trees, until everything went quiet and his stomach felt like it was dropping.

When Noki opened his eyes, he understood why.

He and Kila were in the air, overlooking a patch of green trees that were in the center of a sunken section of the forest; that was rapidly approaching them. Noki started to panic and looked around for a place to jump to, but Kila spoke to him.

“Don’t worry, a fall from this height won’t harm any of us. These lionapes have the physical strength and durability of a Greater Iron, they’ll absorb all of the impact.”

That sounded insane to Noki, they were falling from at least five miles and moving at who knows what speeds. It was also insane that Noki was able to hear Kila as if she were right next to him and not fifty feet to his right, but that would be a question for later…if he survived the journey to the camp.

The wind whistled around Noki as they descended towards a particularly tall tree. It looked strange compared to everything else; its leaves were a neon blue with violet tips and the entire tree looked more like a shadow than a physical object. The lionapes landed on a branch,and like Kila said, absorbed the impact of the fall; but it still struck Noki as odd that the tree itself didn’t move but he wasn’t sure if that had to do with the lionapes or the structure of the tree itself.

“Ok, we’ll have to get off from here,” Kila said as she dismounted her lionape. The branch of the tree was large enough that both she and Noki could walk its length side by side. “It’s just down there and the lionapes won’t be able to take us further.”

“Why’s that?” Noki carefully got off his lionape and gave the creature a bow for its service.

In truth, it was because her Ethereal Tether had a time limit, but Noki didn’t need to know that so instead Kila told him, “Lionapes like these are still young and their parents can track them over a great distance. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not face the wrath of two adult Lionapes full of Earth Aspect.”

“Ok, that’s a fair point,” Noki said, “but what are we going to do about them? Is there a way to send them back?”

“Why do you care so much about them? Where was all this concern when you devoured those scourbeasts?” The thought brought back the memories of last night and the image of that version Noki overlaid the current one. Kila blinked the image away. “ Don’t worry, I’ll send them back once we get down the tree.You good to go down?”

“ Yes,” Noki said, “I have some experience with tree climbing.” He stared awkwardly at Kila for a moment before walking towards the trunk of the tree. “Let’s get to the bottom.” Kila tried to decipher what just happened, thought better of it, and headed down the tree with Noki.