Cold night air stung Sirius's lungs like daggers, but he couldn't afford to stop running through the forest.

Like a fire, morning sun was spreading behind him, his green robe flapping on the wind. Like a wild animal leaving its home behind, Sirius sprinted away, dodging tree after tree, jumping over roots, loud heartbeat drowning the sounds of his steps. Once again boy turned back, his golden eyes catching a glint of the World Tree. Uncle Gregor said he needs to run west to reach druids. He was now a mage, so it shouldn't take too long.

Sirius stopped. He was tired from running and decided to made a stop, since it was already noon. After finding a small stream he quenched his thirst and sat on a stone, leaning on his staff. The wood bore marks of the fight, small dents scattered across the shaft. The caps fared much better, thick metal not bent under the stress of all the hitting from earlier. Sirius sighed. Everything was happening way too quickly, and he hoped that uncle Gregor would not be blamed for his escape.

After calming down from the constant running, Sirius managed to concentrate on his new Astral Body. Condensing everything at once was unheard of, but for Sirius it was a blessing. He never knew where to begin, and Master always told that it is an extremely important choice that will determine his future. Now, the first step was taken.

He thought a bit faster, perceived better without the need to see, and each breath filled him with energy. He could not believe that it was a common feeling for all the mages. Now all the past years felt like being underwater, slowly rising to the surface to reach this heightened state.

After refilling the vials with water from the stream, Sirius began walking forward. He hoped to reach druids by the evening, or he would need to find a place to sleep in the forest. Sirius used the World Tree as a landmark, always walking away from it, stirring from time to time to correct his path.

He was sure that he was far from the Kingdom's territory and the Order would not be able to find him so far. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Literally the next morning, Sirius woke up on the branch of the tree, as he sensed someone approaching. He opened his eyes, and without any movement began casting the cloaking spell. It didn't hide him from sight, but to the mana senses he was almost invisible.

Emissary, when she was still an Observer, would often use it, even though Sirius could often sense her. As she became better at it, Sirius concluded that she was using him as a bar to surpass. And, to be fair, he didn't mint it, since he learned the spell that helped him escape. The general idea was to limit the amount of mana that he emitted into the world around him. And now he also noticed, his Mind's Eye was of no use. After some thinking, Sirius concluded that it relied on mana with his signature, which he just eliminated. While he was pondering this discovery, he finally heard people below.

"How did he cross so much land?" A man asked from behind the trees.

"The scouts said he was running for several hours, only stopping to drink and catch a breath." A woman in front said impartially, as she was looking at a blinking light hovering over small amulet. "We are getting close to him, get ready."

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This news got Sirius worried. If they could track him, they would eventually find him up on a tree. As they moved past his hiding spot, Sirius saw them below. They wore white and black robes, but with not much decor, meaning they are lower rank than the Inquisitor. The man seemed to be primarily a warrior, while the woman had no weapons visible on her, making her a mage of the group. When they walked away, Sirius began siting up and taking his staff. He moved extremely slowly, so as not to rustle the tree, and got ready for action.

"Stop." The woman said to her partner after some time. "We are getting further. Go back and search for any signature."

"Will do."

Sirius felt a little pulse of mana pass through him. There were no voices, as people of the Order fell silent. Now he needed to act. He dispelled his cloaking to reduce mental strain, and began observing. Now his Mind's Eye was working again, and the thin veil of his mana spread around, like a spider's net. It felt just like the first time, as the information about the density of matter appeared in his mind, outlining the world around. The range was still short, a couple of meters at best, but it was enough to feel a man's presence at the edge of his senses. Sirius prepared to jump down, readying his staff.

When the man passed his tree again, Sirius jumped down. His staff hit man's shoulder, but it seemed to be of no use, since under the robe was a set of light armour. Using the rebound momentum Sirius made a couple of steps back. Now he had no surprise factor on his side.

"Found him!" Shouted the warrior and struck with his sword, which Sirius deflected to the side by the end of his staff.

"Why are you here?" In desperation yelled Sirius.

"Well, because you ran away, aren't ya?" Said the man with a grin, and began undoing his cloak.

"Cause I would be killed." Sirius was circling a man, while maintaining a defensive stance. "What would you do?"

"Not sin." He shrugged in response. "How simple, isn't it?"

An ice lance rushed towards Sirius from the side, as the woman hoped to kill her distracted target in one blow. Sirius felt the spell approach and dodged, making it graze his robe. In this move he lost his balance, opening up to a man's attack. As Sirius was falling, he grasped some mana in the earth beneath man's foot, and pushed it away with a force. The ground dipped and shifted to the side, making the swordsman stumble as well.

Sirius allowed himself to fall on his back, while constructing a mana to control forest soil. He wanted to avoid manipulating water in it, so the mana had to be as hot as he could make it, and without any irregularities in the flow. As Sirius pointed a staff in front of himself and injected this energy into the ground, the earth got compressed into stone under Sirius' control. With a flick of his staff, Sirius made a stone chunk shoot up, striking the man's abdomen like a cannonball. The sudden hit to the stomach knocked the wind out of him, making him fall on his fours, wheezing and coughing.

In his fall Sirius had no time to carefully separate cold mana from hot one, so now he had nothing prepared to defend himself from the woman's spells. Sirius rolled towards incapacitated man, hiding behind a tree and making it hard to hit him from afar. In this moment of safety he had time to stand up, and assess his chances.

He already knew that a mage up-close is even more dangerous. The Inquisitor nearly scorched him with all the residual mana around him. In close quarters he only had his staff and whatever he could improvise on the go. From afar Sirius had nothing, since he never had a chance to cast projectiles. Now he had enough power to materialise ice, but no experience in flinging it. He had to resolve the situation different, so he embraced his image of a monster, the Order painted him as.