“Have you ever traveled before? Do you have any kind of compass with you?”

“Yeah. My mom put a spell on my wooden bracelet so it gets really cold when I get too far from the track.”

"That's great. I also have a handmade compass. You know, I made it using the Earth's magnetic pull."

Meyara just nodded. Her mind was too preoccupied with excitement because she finally took the first step of her long journey. She could barely stop her body from shaking with enthusiasm, even though they were still in the Deterville area.

They even woke up much earlier than the sun which had not shown its light at all. With the help of the torch Adriel enchanted, they walked step by step. The sound of leather shoes hitting the ground was so clear, competing with the sound of Meyara's heartbeat which was so fast that she was afraid to go deaf.

However, maybe she would rather go deaf than have to keep hearing Adriel's ramblings.

"We should have left a bit late, you know." The young man snorted in annoyance. “The air at dawn is too cold, it can even make your lungs hurt. If it wasn't for me forcing you to wear thick cloth, you would probably freeze right now."

“Yeah, thanks for that,” she answered half-heartedly.

"Don't mention it. You can always count on me. I'm here for you after all."

Those words should have warmed Meyara's heart, but the warmth evaporated instantly when Adriel opened his mouth again.

“But what did Warren give you? This bag is hefty, if it weren't for the power potion I took I might—"

"Can't you stop talking for a second?" Meyara snapped. She set her own bag on her back in a huff, then turned to face Adriel. "Ten minutes haven't even passed, yet you're already talking my ear off!"

"Well, I thought ...," the young man stammered, "I thought you'd appreciate some small talk so we don't ... fear of silence?"

"Who's afraid of silence?"

Meyara only asked that out of desperation, but when she realized Adriel was really quiet, she gasped in disbelief. "Wait! You do?”

The brown haired man grinned shyly. If only the lighting between them was much better, maybe Meyara could see how the blush spread across the young man's face. "Well, I'm not really afraid of silence, but maybe … of things that might be hiding behind it? I feel like whenever my surroundings get too quiet, it lets my ears pick up little noises I shouldn't hear."

This made Meyara stop her steps completely. Her arms were crossed, both to dispel the chill and to show how annoyed she was by Adriel's current attitude. “Did you hear yourself? What kind of reason is that?”

"My … honest confession?"

"You don't sound like a young mage who received hands-on training from the Chief." Meyara's voice sounded louder as time went by. For a moment, Adriel saw the figure of Meyara who used to act as a teacher for him. “You never fail to remind me how dangerous it is out there, how we must be extra careful every step of the way. Now you don't even want your ears ready for any sound that might signal us of any possible danger?”

"Okay … okay. I got it." In contrast to the frustration Adriel might have felt at having to hear Meyara's scolding, the young man's voice didn't sound too loud. With a worried look, he grabbed Meyara's arm, patting the girl gently. "I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me. I feel uneasy about this."

“You can always back off. There's nothing stopping you."

"But I can't go on with my life knowing that you're endangering yourself on this long and arduous journey."

The girl sighed at this. She had thought that after the two of them finally agreed to set off on the trip, Adriel would stop being agitated like this. However, she should have known that she barely knew the young man. She couldn't even say that they were friends.

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She felt her mind growing dizzy realizing that they had never talked about things like what exactly was the relationship between the two of them. Did Adriel do all of this because he still thinks of Meyara as a teacher so he's afraid of losing her? Or did he actually have his own goals that made him agree to go see Queen Hera with her?

Meyara could feel her conscience screaming at her. The reason why they never talked about it was none other than her own avoidance behavior. Not a day went by that Adriel didn't try to talk to Meyara, but the girl kept brushing off the boy's attempts. Everything in her mind was only about herself.

For some reason Meyara was reminded of Glory. Among everyone who knew her, only Glory dared to criticize her bad attitude.

Meyara looked around for a moment. They were just approaching Deterville's outer limits, it shouldn't be too dangerous for them to talk a bit.

“Okay. I guess we can have a little chat as we go along,” she muttered under her breath, already regretting her decision when she heard Adriel cheering in triumph.

As Meyara expected, her traveling companion started talking about all trivial things like how he had planned to use the clothes he was wearing since a few days ago, how he practiced folding his clothes as thin as possible so it wouldn't take up much space in his bag, also how he only brought the most essential liquids so he could make any potions they might need without having to carry too many vials.

A smile appeared on Meyara's lips when the chatty young man almost tripped over his own feet. She had to admit, she was starting to think that this trip wouldn't be too hard if her mind was constantly being distracted by the silliness of Adriel like this.

However, she was not Meyara if her five senses were not always alert in any situation. Even though she laughed at Adriel's carelessness, her ears still picked up a rustling sound not far from them. She raised her head, the lingering moonlight that hadn't completely dissipated helped her to see that there was a black shadow constantly moving in the bushes.

"We've almost crossed the frontier," Meyara said suddenly. "We should stop talking for a moment. You see that figure?"

In contrast to his previously cowardly appearance, Adriel raised the torch in his hand. He picked up a nearby dry branch to ignite and then threw it in the direction Meyara pointed at.

The blazing fire burned dry bushes that had not been exposed to rain for a long time. It clearly showed the figure of a small, dark-skinned child with bright green eyes. In an instant, the boy avoided the fire by climbing a big tree. Adriel and Meyara gaped at his speed at climbing a tree that was twice the width of his body.

"Who could leave their child in the middle of the forest like this?" A hint of anger filled Adriel's voice. “Or did he go alone without his parents knowing? As far as I know, no one has ventured this far.”

"Are we sure it's a child?"

“Huh? What do you mean? It’s obvious that he’s a boy. Around 7 years old maybe?”

"And what are our village rules for children under twelve?"

"They couldn't be far from the village. Warren made sure that every child was bound by a magic that alerted their parents if they went out alone. Because there were creatures running around there … oh!"

"Yes. There it is. Abiku."

Adriel's heavy breathing could be heard clearly, especially now that he was very close to Meyara. He stepped slightly ahead, as if he was ready to jump in case something bad happened. Meyara was offended that the young man felt the need to protect her, but she tried to ignore it and focus on the task at hand.

"We don't need to worry since we’re already past the age of twelve," she said confidently. "But still, this would be troublesome."

Slowly, they began to approach the figure of a small child who started to cry because the fire grew to touch its feet. Or at least, it looks like it hit its leg. Because the fire could not touch it at all and only burned the trunk of the poor tree.

Seeing the fire could frighten Abiku, Adriel immediately increased the fire by throwing some dry twigs and leaves. The screams of the child-like creature grew louder and louder, breaking the silence of the night until Meyara was worried that the villagers could hear it. She even began to feel his ears ringing loudly.

"Wait!" Meyara restrained Adriel who looked very determined to expel Abiku with fire. "It didn't even try to attack us. We must spare its soul."

"You don't even refer to it as a human or a living being in general," Adriel replied confusedly. "Now you want to leave it just like that? We don’t even know if it’s really the soul of a child who died or just a fragment of an evil demon who wants to stalk the village. If we let it go, it could just follow us and attack us from behind.”

“It's just a ghost of ancient cruelty. There must be some other way to get rid of it.”

"I don't want to be too cruel." Meyara stopped herself from saying that because she knew how Adriel saw her as the meanest girl he had ever known.

Something clicked inside her brain. Wasting no time, she grabbed the bag on Adriel's back. Messily searched through the inside of the bag until she found what she was looking for.

"We're not even halfway there, but one of Warren's items has come in handy," she said with a sigh of relief.

***