“No matter how hard I try, I can't climb any of these trees.” Its white and flawless crust made it impossible to reach the top and to be able to orient with the sun.

"Even though it's getting dark I can't say for sure which way the sun sets." Lyaria looks up as Ezer rests after his failed attempts to climb.

They both know they have to get out of that forest as fast as they can, but that was easier said than done.

"I'll start with the fire. Tonight we have no choice but to sleep on the floor.” She knew that this was extremely dangerous especially in an unknown place like this. However, she has no choice but to resign herself and prepare for a long night.

Ezer was about to get up when something popped out of his mind.

“Wait… I think… I think I have an idea.” Ezer tries to remember deep in his mind knowledges of the past that are now extremely blurred and dissolved. "I need... I need... What do I need?" He puts a hand to his head, which, without noticing it, is trembling.

“Ezer! Calm down. I don't know what you want to do, but it's hurting you.” She takes his trembling hand and tries to calm him down.

He perceives her gaze and focuses on her deep eyes that mirrored his own, as well as the sensation her fingers felt as they touched Lyaria's delicate hand. At that moment, what he was trying to force slips from his memories and he can remember every detail.

“Huh? Yeah, don't worry, I was able to remember it already.” He takes a deep breath and breaks away from her searching through the things he was carrying, though can't find what needs.

“What are you looking for? If you tell me, I could help you.” She asks intrigued.

"A piece of iron, a bit of wire, something..." He speaks as he continues to search through his things.

“Something like this?” She shows a needle between her fingers.

“If it's perfect, from where?” He asks at the same time that thinks what to do next.

"Clothes break very often, especially on long trips like this and-" She explains, but stops slightly annoyed when sees that Ezer wasn't even listening to her while he was deep in his task. “-And what are you doing?” She watches as he rubs the needle through his hair after pouring water into a wooden cup.

"Something that will tell us which direction to go." Ezer keeps rubbing the needle until his arm gets tired and places it on a leaf, then puts it on top of the water in the cup.

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"And this will tell us the direction?" It was clear in her voice that she had less and less confidence in the idea.

“Give it a little more time.” He says it for her and also for himself.

Slowly the needle moves in the way Ezer expected. However, it continues to rotate without stopping and without marking a fixed point.

“How strange... I thought I did everything right. Unless this place forbids all sense of direction.” Ezer resigns, disappointed by his failure.

"How long do we have to keep waiting?" She knew from his reaction that he had failed. Regardless, she wanted him to admit it himself as payback for ignoring her earlier.

“It does not work. I may have done something wrong or this place is truly cursed.” He gets up and starts to help Lyaria.

Night comes quickly once the light begins to wane, with only a few minutes passing before darkness takes its place. The leaves of the trees not only blocked the light of the sun, but also that of the moon, creating a darkness that was only penetrated by the fire they had lit in the middle of their makeshift camp.

"What was that powder you threw that time? And that was what confused the monkeys?” Ezer asks having finished eating his beef jerky.

They did not risk cooking anything more elaborate for fear that the aroma would attract unwanted things. Until they are sure, they will have to settle for salty food.

“Mirror powder that works as the name suggests. This serves to amplify the range of my magic, illusion.” She had already finished eating before him and answers his question after putting away the leftovers.

“Illusion? Can you play with the minds of others?” Ezer is surprised to discover that magic like hers exists, once again his lack of knowledge is evident to him.

“I'm not so skilled at playing with my enemies. I can only confuse them by making their eyes look different from reality for a while and the window is smaller the more there are.”

"That's useful. Can't you do anything else?" He tries to broaden his knowledge and perhaps find similarities between her and himself.

“Emm… if I have time, I can get to manipulate a person deeper. For example, a few moments ago when you were too anxious and I managed to calm you down.”

"I hadn't noticed…" Now that Lyaria mentioned it, Ezer understands why her eyes at that moment were so deep and matched all his attention.

Ezer leaves his thoughts noticing Lyaria's teary eyes indicating her exhaustion.

"Sleep, I'll do the first round."

“Well, just a couple of hours and if something catches your attention, don't hesitate to wake me up.” She doesn't fight his suggestion and falls asleep seconds after lying down.

"It's going to be another long night." Ezer partially forgets about his sight focusing on his hearing as he can't see anything more than a few meters from the campfire.

The flames were only a few centimeters due to the scarcity of wood for fuel, he had almost used up his supply and Ezer was rationing it to last overnight so he wouldn't have to risk looking for more.

It was always difficult to make the first round without even having slept a few minutes, but this time it was completely the opposite. Several times he thinks he sees red eyes within the darkness meters from him, as well as strange sounds that seemed to be produced by something crawling. Apparently, whatever was stalking them didn't come close for fear of the fire.

Ezer began to hear the sounds closest to him and to see eyes that seemed to float in the sky. His mind finds the explanation for this almost immediately by telling him that something was actually hanging from the trees near them.