«I got to level ten!» Sarah heard an excited shout from outside. She groggily opened her eyes and stretched like a cat. A quick glance outside told her that it was already late in the day. Once again, she had slept for a very long time.

With practiced ease, she went out of her cave and climbed down the steep wall. She was quite curious about who it was that got to level ten.

She walked towards the big clearing and saw a group of people already standing in a big circle around someone. She even saw some of the refugees she had brought with her. After two weeks of lots of healthy food, they looked way better.

Sarah couldn’t help but smile a little. They were all afraid of her, but at least she had managed to save them from their precarious circumstances. She went towards the crowd, and when the people noticed her, they made space for her to take a look. Maybe a little too much space.

In the middle of the group was one of the kitchen crew. She always forget his name somehow. Was it Norman? Or Neil?

The sight of bright red hair ripped her out of her thoughts. There she was, the hateful bitch, acting all nice and friendly with the people. Apparently, she hadn’t noticed Sarah’s arrival for now because she usually ran away whenever she just saw Sarah’s shadow.

The bitch even went as far as hugging the blushing man, which caused him to stutter and flail around helplessly with his arms. While the gathered crowd started to laugh and whistle, Sarah felt her horns vibrate slightly.

She looked around in alarm, focusing her senses to the extreme. With suspicion in her eyes, she walked towards the forest while the crowd was still joking around. The vibration of her horns got weaker the further she went, until it broke off completely.

"What the heck is that?" Sarah cursed and tried to look into the forest with her magic sense. But there was nothing. Uncountable times, she had had this vibrating feeling in her horns, and it gave her the creeps. She somehow knew it meant danger, but she had no idea why. Was it possible that something invisible was stalking their camp? Something that messed with their minds so they wouldn’t notice it?

She worriedly shook her head and went back to the crowd. There was no point in looking for something invisible anyway. She just had to stay alert at all times in case it decided to attack their camp.

As she got back to the crowd, she noticed that the bitch had seemingly seen her by now because Sarah couldn’t spot her anywhere anymore.

"Hey Neil!" She called for the guy who got to level ten.

He looked at her with dejection and frustration in his eyes. "My name is Norman. As it always is. What is it?"

"Sheesh, no need to get that worked up." Sarah said with furrowed brows. "Tell me what your path is. I’m curious." It was funny how different his facial expression towards her was from that towards the beautiful bitch. So superficial.

He clenched his teeth and looked at her with anger in his eyes. A few of his colleagues seemed to notice his anger and stepped forward to calm him down. Sarah looked at him in bewilderment. She knew that she sometimes annoyed people, but to get so angry about something so small? What was up with that guy?

Another of his friends went over to her and smiled forcefully. "He got on the path of craftsmanship. Happy now? We need to get going." With these words, the crowd started to disperse and leave Sarah behind.

She felt very dejected about this situation. She knew that some people were still suspicious of her, but in the last two weeks, people had started accepting her more and more. Sarah was puzzled.

She was still standing there when she noticed an unwelcome presence come closer to her.

"Harassing our people again, I see." She heard the hateful voice of Alex from behind her.

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"I swear, Alex, one day I will rip your tongue out if you keep spouting shit like that." She told him with an irritated look on her face. This wasn’t her best moment, and she really didn’t need another scumbag to annoy her right now.

Alex just looked at her with furrowed brows. "Is this a threat? Are you threatening me right now? I wonder what the folks would think about this."

Sarah clenched her teeth in frustration. She had tried hard to get accepted, but this guy wouldn’t leave her alone. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was responsible for the rejection she experienced before.

Her leg muscles had already flexed, and she was ready to jump at him when she forcefully suppressed her instincts. If she gave in, he would only have more ammunition to rally the people against her. The best way to prove him wrong was to simply not care about his antics.

Alex’s eyes had an expectant glint, which quickly faded when he saw Sarah smile at him. He snorted and walked away again.

Sarah was proud of herself. For a few weeks, she had already endured this crap. And she still hadn’t ripped him apart. "Good girl!" she said, while patting her own head.

After this, she felt somewhat better. But as she didn’t want to encounter anymore people right now, she decided to do something she had wanted to do for a long time. Climbing the cliff.

With excitement bubbling up inside her body, she looked to the top of the cliff. It was far above any treetops, and a fall from so high up would mean nothing else but death.

As long as she wouldn’t look down, she’d be fine. She went over to the wall beneath her cave, as she knew the best path to climb by heart. She stopped by her cave to grab a few slices of dried meat on the way and started climbing higher.

She carefully went up bit by bit, always looking for the best place to go. It took longer than she expected and was also exhausting. After she had to climb down a short distance for the second time now, she decided to make a break on a small outcropping.

With outmost concentration, she turned around and sat down on it. And the view was amazing.

The forest reached as far as the eye could see, with a glittering band of water flowing through the middle of it. Sarah even thought that she was able to see the spatial error she had come out of in the distance. And even farther away than that, she could spot high mountains with white peaks.

"Snow." She whispered in amazement as the memory of this substance came back to her mind. This scene was so uplifting and exciting that she wanted to see what was on top of this cliff.

With newfound vigor, she climbed farther up. After some more time, the wind started to get more and more violent. It ripped at her harshly and threw her tail around, which impacted her sense of balance. But something like this wouldn’t stop her.

With gritted teeth, she started to use her tail as another limb to grab the steep stone wall. It wasn’t that effective, as her tail wasn’t able to support her weight. But it was better than nothing.

The wind got colder the farther she climbed, and her hands started to get stiff. "Not good." She murmured and started to climb a little faster. If she lost feeling in her hands, she’d be done for.

The stone up here was a little bit less stable than at the bottom, and it crumbled underneath her grip more than once.

She was already starting to feel anxious when her outstretched hand didn’t feel like cold stone anymore but nothing but air. With a surprised look, she noticed that she had already managed to reach the top of the cliff. She leaped up the last part and laid down on the ground.

"Why the heck did I even do that?" She asked herself. It had looked so easy from down below. If she had known about the strong and ice-cold wind up here, she would have thought twice about doing this.

"Or maybe not." She mumbled and stood back up on her feet. She massaged her hurting and cold hands and looked at the scenery in front of her.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. She was on the edge of a plateau that was leading down in the distance on a gentle slope. Waist-high grass was dancing in the strong winds, and further down the plateau, Sarah could see woods with a glistening lake in the middle.

At the edge of the horizon, towering white clouds were drifting through the sky and were shone upon by golden sunlight.

Sarah could feel an intense desire inside her to just walk away. Exploring this unknown, beautiful landscape and leaving all the problems with this community behind.

The urge was so strong that she took a few steps forward without even noticing it. The tall grass was tickling her legs, and she could smell fresh and unknown scents coming over from the forest.

"Another day." She mumbled to herself. It wasn’t in her nature to give up. And if she left, she’d be all alone again, and she definitely didn’t want that. She felt like she’d lose her remaining humanity if she wasn’t surrounded by other people.

With a deep sigh, she turned away from the beautiful scenery. She had to concentrate on the good side. Even though she had difficulties bonding with the people here, she at least had two friends. Melissa and Andrew. That was enough for now.

She actually planned to scout out the region on top of the cliff for a few days, but she feared that she would never come back if she did that. So with a heavy heart, she turned around and started climbing down again.

Just before her head disappeared beneath the cliff, she took one last look at the beautiful scenery in front of her.

"Another day." She whispered before she started climbing down again.