The potion shimmered a faint golden color in Ayah’s hand. She eyed it with apprehension, her brows furrowing when it glinted under the faint reddish light that managed to escape the dense forest’s canopy. The sun was setting. And soon, the restless night would have clocked their surrounding in its suffocating darkness. Ayah would have liked to wait till tomorrow morning to try the potion, but time was running out. Neither the curse nor the advancing army allowed them a moment of respite.

Could this be enough to heal Harith’s curse when healers couldn’t?

She glanced at the crafting window. The blessed valley drop was still highlighted in green, indicating the ingredient was still available in her inventory. Though there was no way to know the exact amount, the liquid inside the bottle appeared to have barely been used. The other two ingredients were dull gray. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to meet that woman again—once was more than enough.

Harith sat in front of her, leaning heavily on the tree bark, his unreadable eyes staring at her. She wordlessly handed it to him, her fingers briefly stiffening around the transparent glass.

Please. Let it work.

He uncorked the bottle and downed the content in one gulp. Ayah’s fingers twitched. While she didn’t doubt the system’s efficiency– she couldn’t really– she didn’t expect Harith’s unwavering trust in her. He didn’t hesitate to drink the weird and mysterious concoction she handed him after seeing it materialize in her hand from thin air. Even Loaye took a step back and watched her with wide eyes.

It was flattering. But also frightening.

At first, nothing happened. Harith stared at his hand, unblinking. Ayah didn’t know whether he was searching for changes in his state or avoiding her eyes. Ayah frowned. Was the antidote ineffective? She could feel dread seizing up her chest. What would she do if the antidote wasn’t working?

Suddenly, Harith’s body glowed briefly, unnoticeable if not for Ayah’s staring. He clenched and unclenched his fingers as if trying them for the first time. He looked up at her. Ayah opened her mouth to ask him. Did it work? Could he use his mana? But before she could utter a word, darkness engulfed the whole area. Ayah could hear Loaye’s startled shriek and heavy steps on the leaves-covered ground as he shuffled back, followed by a loud thud. But none of it registered inside her head. Only one thought replayed in circles as if it were a broken record.

It worked!

She glanced at his health bar in the team party’s status. He was back to total health, and so was his mana bar.

She didn’t even register the careful look Harith was throwing her way. She launched forward, grasping his shoulders in her hands, and started shaking him, joyful laughter escaping her lips, easing the tense knots that had begun taking root in her chest.

“It worked!” She grinned. “Oh my god, it worked!”

“Did you give it to me without knowing it would?” He said disapprovingly, one eyebrow raised, though the smile pulling at his lips betrayed his words.

She laughed.

The darkness receded, and Ayah blinked to readjust her eyes to the dim light– which now appeared much brighter than it probably was. Loaye was still on the ground, his mouth gaping open. Ayah rolled her eyes. He was too dramatic for someone born into this world.

Harith closed his eyes as darkness spread beneath their feet in all directions.

“What are you doing?” Ayah tilted her head, confusion marring her face. Did he just check his powers’ state?

“Trying to find a way out of here.”

“Can’t you– I don’t know– use your shadows to emerge out of here? I mean, aren’t there shadows all over the place? Can’t you simply use one to teleport or something?”

Harith shot her a weird look. He paused, his brows furrowing, before he answered. “That’s not how they work.”

Ayah shrugged. It was worth a try.

“The link had been severed once we were transported to that demon’s lair.” His fingers clenched over the hilt of his sword before unclenching.

Demon’s lair? Ayah was glad they had left the temple’s grounds. She didn’t want to know how the ancient would react to being called as such. Better not anger her further. They might have escaped unscathed from her clutches, but that didn’t mean they had her favor.

“So you could before?” she asked instead.

He shook his head. “No. but I knew where he was.” His shoulders sagged slightly.

There was no need to ask who Harith was referring to. There was only one person he would be so concerned about.

She put her hand over his shoulder and squeezed. “It will be fine. We’ll get there in time.”

He nodded.

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Ayah turned to Loaye, who had been silent all this time. “Can’t you use your teleportation powers to get us out of the forest?”

Harith’s sharp eyes locked onto Loaye.

Loaye shot her a betrayed look. “I don’t think that’s–”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Isn’t that how you got into the forest?”

Loaye hesitated. He glanced at Harith, then back at her. “Ah… well…”

“Can you? Or can you not?” Harith asked.

Loaye gnawed at his lips, hunching over himself, trying to hide from Harith’s harsh stare. Ayah sighed. She knew the two kingdoms were long enemies, but Loaye was trying to help. It wouldn’t hurt to be a bit nicer to him.

“I can't teleport the both of you at the same time. I can only take one person at a time. If you want, I can…” He trailed off.

Harith narrowed his eyes at him. “No,” he said firmly.

Loaye shrugged as if he was expecting his answer.

“If you can teleport back to them, then you must know their location.”

“They’re–” Loaye hesitated. He paused, eyes darting through the trees, then back to Harith. It looked deliberate, as if he knew what was on the other side of that path. “Halfway through the pass,” he finished, eyes downcast, avoiding Harith’s hard stare.

Harith cursed under his breath, his scowl deepening.

The pass? Was that the way they had traveled to the Nur kingdom?

“I can guide you there if you want.” He motioned in the direction he had glanced at earlier. “This is the shortest path out of the forest.”

“Why would I trust you? How am I not sure you’ll lead us to a trap?” Harith said.

Loaye opened his mouth to defend himself, indignation showing under the fear etched on his face.

Ayah opened the system’s map. He was telling the truth. If they followed Loaye's described path, they would emerge straight through the pass.

“He’s not lying,” she said. “The pass is through that way.” She motioned in the same direction Loaye did.

Harith paused for a moment, then he sighed. “If you say so.”

“So, we’re leaving now?” Ayah asked, her eyes tracing over the path on the system’s map. If only it came with more details. There was no knowing what kind of monsters they’d encounter on their way. And she still hadn’t leveled up, so her stats were lower than she would have liked. She glanced up, her eyes squinting, trying to see through the sea of trees.

“No. We’ll rest for tonight.”

Harith’s words brought her out of her musing. She looked at him, her brows furrowed quizzically at his strange look.

“Are you sure?”

Just a couple of hours ago, nothing but a blow to the head could stop him from leaving. And now he wanted to wait?

“I’m not cruel. I wouldn’t ask anyone to go beyond their limits.”

Only yourself, she thought but didn’t say. She glanced down at herself. She had long changed into one of the dresses Jamila had given her, so the blood and gore from the fight were nowhere to be seen. While she felt a bit sluggish, she was fine. There was no need to stop for her sake. She could still walk.

As if reading her thoughts, he turned and sat on the ground, his back leaning on the giant tree, his eyes closed. He wouldn’t move till the night had passed or a monster attacked; whichever came first.

“We’ll move at first light,” he announced, his tone booking no argument.

Ayah shrugged, then flopped down next to him. Might as well regain some of her mana and stamina before trying to level up.

Loaye sat a couple of feet away, far enough to evade Harith’s gaze but close in case a monster attacked. Typical.

She summoned some food from her inventory and divvied it up between the three of them.

“That’s… quite helpful,” Harith noted, eyebrow raised.

“Right!” She grinned.

It was one of the only comforts in that damned deal. Too bad it could only store objects.

They ate in silence. Harith kept throwing her glances now and then as if wanting to tell her something. But Loaye’s presence delayed whatever that was– something Ayah was grateful for. She could barely keep her eyes open, let alone argue about something or another. Better keep it till after the war. Or better yet, till never.

She summoned the dragon egg. It didn’t look any different from when she had gotten it, even though she had been feeding it her mana as much as she could. Was it really working? Or was she merely wasting her time and precious mana on something that wouldn’t benefit her now? Especially with the looming war…

She could feel Harith’s heavy gaze on her. Still, he said nothing. She fed the egg some of her mana– not too much to incapacitate her if they faced any monsters tomorrow morning, but apparently, it was enough to trigger the system’s announcement.

[Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!]

[The last dragon of Morr had awakened!]

Ayah stared at the announcement, dumbfounded.

“Isn’t that the emperor’s heirloom?” Loaye asked, horror and awe battling over his face.

“Wasn’t that the sword?” Ayah asked.

Loaye glanced at her. An expression flitted over his face too fast for her to decipher. “No. The sword is… something else. But the dragon egg…” His eyes widened as something shifted inside, knocking against the hard shell. “How did you revive it?”

Revive it? Ayah frowned. “It was never dead.”

Loaye shook his head. “You don’t understand. Many have tried to hatch it for centuries, but no one succeeded. It became a relic of a long time gone.” He looked at her, his gaze intense, trying to look beyond what his eyes were seeing. “How did you do it?”

Ayah hesitated. It clearly had to do with the system. If only the blasted thing weren’t keen on secrecy.

Hayna, her mind supplied. She would get to the bottom of this. No matter what, she would find out what Hayna wanted from her.

“Mana?” She settled on. “I just imbued it with mana.”

Loaye frowned, his brows furrowed in thought as he regarded her. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.

A soft thump reverberated from the egg. A crack sounded, then hair-thin cracks appeared over the hard shell. Ayah watched, her hands still, afraid that any movement would hinder the egg’s hatching. Flames emerged from the cracks and soon engulfed the whole egg. It felt warm but strange enough; it didn’t hurt. Her mind registered Harith’s alarmed shout. Still, she couldn’t get her eyes away from the hatching egg. She couldn’t stop the giddiness building inside her chest.

She was getting a dragon!

A dragon!

Now, she only needed to convince the little creature to make a pact with her. No pressure.