«Lift it! To the right! Ouch, damnit, the other side!» The voice from behind the tree trunk. Sarah’s tail curled together in embarrassment, and she gently moved the trunk in the other direction. A man, who was called Dorian, came into view. He was holding his aching head and looked at the trunk in anger.

“I’m sorry?” Sarah said with an apologetic smile.

The man waved his hand and cracked his neck. “It’s fine, it’s my mistake. I realized too late, that the directions for me and you are the exact opposite. Let’s fix this thing in place and be done with it.”

Sarah looked at him with a deadpan expression, and now it was his turn to smile apologetically. She rolled her eyes and shifted the massive trunk into position.

“All done! You can let go now!” Dorian told her and they both took a few steps back.

“Uhhh…” Sarah started to speak with a doubting look on her face. “So uhh… now we have a tree trunk above our cave entrance. How exactly should this help in the winter?”

Dorian looked excited when she asked this question. “That’s only the beginning Sarah! The trunk is one of the key elements I envisioned for our entrance structure. Like this, other parts won’t have to carry any weight and I can optimize them for cold protection and…”

Sarah’s mind quickly shut down and she turned around and walked away. Dorian hadn’t noticed, as he was still happily talking about his project.

Dorian was one of the three tied-up people, Detlef had left behind. Surprisingly, they were still sane and had resisted Denise’s influence somewhat. They were also very grateful for freeing them, so no drastic measures had to be taken.

Loretta and Bob, the other two people, didn’t have any outstanding qualities and had only been doing odd jobs around the camp. Bob continued to help where he could, and Loretta started cataloging poisonous substances with Neil’s unhappy help. It was certainly not funny to always eat poisonous stuff.

Melissa had urged them to try and find their passion or what they were good at. Sarah also thought that this was an excellent idea. Dorian was the prime example.

Denise had let him make furniture for her and spears for the hunters. While doing this, he had developed not only some serious skills in wood crafting but had also awoken specializations Sarah had never heard of before.

As he had mind and body slots, he had gained a set of complementing specializations. His first mind specialization was called ‘computation’ and apparently had not only woken up memories about math and physics and stuff but had also implanted new knowledge into his brain. Furthermore, it allowed him to process complex calculations with an amazing speed.

Sarah was firstly amazed by this, but he had told her, that he had been catatonic for a few days afterward, until Denise had decided, that she wanted him to make her more furniture.

His other mind specialization was called ‘fine motor control’. This specialization allowed him, to make insanely precise movements with his arms and hands. Combined with his other skills, he was able to create impressive stuff out of simple wood, stone, and fur. Denise had only let him make furniture, which resulted in a lot of stuff they could enjoy now. Only after they rescued him, did he start to create more complex things, like some kind of drill out of stone, wood, and rope.

His body specialization was ‘adaption’, which was fairly common but undoubtedly useful. He had gained a skill that helped him endure the stress his mind skills put on his body and rest more efficiently.

Sarah had a hunch, that this was only the beginning. It felt unreal to be in a place with actual furniture, rather than just sitting around in the dirt. The pace of progress was astounding.

“Hi, Vanessa,” Sarah said, as a presence on the edge of her perception popped up. She looked up, only to see nothing but an empty cave. Sarah scratched her head in irritation and concentrated again. The reason was quickly clear to her. Her perception area had increased to a much wider distance. It took a few moments before she came into view.

Vanessa’s eyes glowed in excitement, as she walked closer with some sort of bottle in her hands.

“Shit,” Sarah mumbled and looked at Vanessa with dread in her eyes.

“Do you want to do this?” She asked Vanessa with a concerned look, upon which Vanessa nodded sternly.

“This gave you and Neil incredible power. I will not be left behind.” Vanessa said with a fierce determination burning in her eyes.

“You know that you could die, right?” Sarah said, still unwilling to approve of Vanessa's decision. She regretted having told her the secret behind her and Neil's strength.

“I already have the adaption specialization and poison resistance. And I have two free body specialization slots. I want to do this. I will do this.”

Sarah sighed and massaged her temples. “All right. I can’t tell you what to do anyway. But I’ll accompany you.

Vanessa’s face softened somewhat and she looked at her with a weird expression on her face. Vanessa had started looking at her like that since she had saved her. First, she had thought that she had a crush on her. But she quickly realized that this wasn’t the case.

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It seemed more like reverence or admiration, which made Sarah feel very uncomfortable. But for now, she shrugged the feeling off and concentrated on somehow supporting her.

“Do we want to get Melissa to stabilize your soul during the process?” she asked her.

“No, I’ve already asked her,” Vanessa answered with a frustrated expression. “She told me, that if she attempted to influence my soul during the transformation, it would be like swirling around a finger inside an open wound. She said, that it would most likely cause irreparable damage to my soul. But she is already waiting there to heal me afterward in case… it’s traumatizing.”

Sarah sighed in consternation. She hadn’t known that. The thought came after Vanessa had first brought up the subject. It was rather unfortunate, that Melissa couldn’t support such a process. But it also made kind of sense. So much changed inside the body during such a transformation, that every other influence could mess up some processes.

“All right. So where is ‘there’?” Sarah asked while they started walking.

“Neil suggested, that I start with the ritual near the dungeon portal, as the magic power is much denser there and should help with the process. The ambient magic power there is much more stable since you came back.” Vanessa answered. By now, her voice was quivering a little.

But Sarah was irritated by something else. “Did you just say… ritual?”

Vanessa blushed profusely and started stuttering. “Ahh, I… sorry, is it weird? I just started thinking about it as some kind of ritual to… well, leave my old self behind. To create myself anew.”

Vanessa let her head drop in shame and she clutched the bottle tightly.

Sarah patted her head with a smile. “Don’t worry. It’s a nice thought.”

Vanessa looked up and smiled a little. What Sarah hadn’t told her was, that she was idealizing this soul-scarring process, but she didn’t want to demoralize her right before it. If it would help her survive this, she could idealize it all she wanted.

When they came out of the cave, they were greeted by a harsh wind, which found its way through their many layers of fur and clothing.Vanessa immediately started trembling but didn’t complain. Sarah only now noticed, how resilient towards cold she had become. She wore less than Vanessa but didn’t feel cold. Well, she felt a little uncomfortable, but it was more than bearable. It gave her a strange feeling of alienation from the people around her, and for a second, she was happy that Vanessa wanted to become more like her.

She shook her head to get rid of these weird thoughts and concentrated on the hard object that had grown right underneath her throat.

It still hadn’t done much. The only thing Sarah noticed was, that slowly accumulated magic power. The curious thing was, that it not only fed her body with the same amount of magic power afterward, the energy even felt clearer. More potent. This effect grew stronger with each day, and Sarah surmised, that at the end of this process, she would be able to use the promised skills, which hadn’t worked up until now.

It didn’t take long though, until they reached the formerly forbidden cave and reached the stabilized portal. Contrary to the last time, it didn’t look wild and unstable. Rather like the white and smooth portal, they had seen inside the dungeon. Nobody had dared to enter it up until now, in case they had to fight another beast like the dungeon boss again. But someday, she’d go back there.

“Hi there.” She heard a whisper near her ear and felt soft lips kiss her cheek. She involuntarily smiled and turned to look at Melissa. She looked at her with warm eyes, before turning around to Vanessa.

“Are you sure you…” She started asking her, but Vanessa held up her hand.

“Please, just let me do this.” She firmly said, and Melissa said no more.

Vanessa went to the middle of the room, while Melissa and Sarah walked away some distance to give her some room.

“What’s even inside of there?” Sarah asked in a hushed voice, as Vanessa stared at the bottle with a mixture of excitement and fear.

“Everything that had managed to knock Neil out for a moment. This is suicidal. We should stop this.” Melissa answered with dread in her voice and clutched Sarah’s hand tightly.

“Melissa,” Sarah said with a firm voice, and she looked over at her. “This world is cruel, harsh, and brutal. I promise you, someday, we will make ourselves a save haven. But to do this, we have to be even more brutal. Stronger than everything and everyone that wants to threaten us. And this.” She pointed towards Vanessa, who had opened the bottle with shaking hands. “This is our only known method at the moment, with which we can awaken powers, which allow us to fight back. I also worry about her. But it is her wish to become stronger. Please respect that.”Melissa clenched her jaw and looked at her with desperate eyes. But she sighed in defeat and nodded with closed eyes. “I know you are right. I just… I wish it were different. I don’t want to see these scarred souls from people I care about anymore.”

Sarah opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. She had no words to ease the pain Melissa had to endure day after day. So she just pulled her closer and tried to give her as much warmth and stability as she could.

But she had never let Vanessa out of her sight. Her breathing had slowed down somewhat again, and she had lifted the bottle to her mouth.

With a sudden jerk of her arm, she tipped the bottle over and drank everything out of it. Immediately afterwards, the bottle fell to the floor and she held her throat with a face full of agony.

Her screams echoed through the cave and she trembled and spasmed on the ground.

Melissa had grabbed her hand so hard, that it would have broken if she had normal bones.

The screaming died after some time, and only hoarse groans came out of her mouth. Sarah didn’t want to look too closely, but the smell of blood and an acidic substance assaulted her nose.

And as suddenly as it started, it ended again.

“Is she…” Melissa started asking and Sarah interrupted her softly. She is alive. Her mind and nerves seem somewhat ok. Rather messy and strained, but not broken. But I cannot tell more, as I don’t want to poison her mind.”

Before she had even finished speaking, Melissa had run forward and knelt to Vanessa. She gently touched her forehead and chest and closed her eyes. After some time, a long sigh left her mouth.

“She is okay. It was rather stressful for her, but she held herself together. She is strong. Well, not as insanely tough as you, but it would be ludicrous to compare something like this with you.” Melissa said, still with closed eyes and her hands on her.

Sarah scratched her head and didn’t know what to do with this statement. Was it a compliment? Or an insult?

She shook her head decided not to think about it too much and stepped closer.

“Let’s bring her back and lay her in the infirmary. I can imagine, that it wouldn’t be all too comfortable to wake up inside a pool of your blood.” Sarah suggested and gently lifted Vanessa’s body. Melissa protested, but Sarah ignored her for a moment.

She scanned Vanessa and especially looked closely at her sensory organs. They seemed to be fine, apart from all the blood that caked them in. A quick with her mind magic also told her, that they were sending steady signals towards her brain.

“Hello? I wasn’t finished!” Melissa protested and pulled at Sarah's arm.

“Don’t you think it would be better to do this at the infirmary? Where we can clean her? And she can lay in a bed?” Sarah asked with raised eyebrows and Melissa rolled her eyes.

“Fine. But let’s hurry.” She told her and started rushing off. Sarah chuckled because of Melissa’s antics. She didn’t know how she had deserved someone who cared so much about other people.

The smile didn’t leave Sarah, as she followed Melissa out of the cave.