Thankfully, it was still summer and despite the slightly chill wind, the embers of the fire were enough to keep us warm. That, and the fact that we slept in a messy pile of bodies and limbs, squished together like were had been starved for each other's touch all our lives.
It really did feel like we were starved for each other. It was such a contrast compared to my old life, that sometimes I struggled to believe it was real. There were certain moments, between sleep and wakefulness, when thoughts, dream, nightmares and the rushing tide of reality all crashed into each other.
I was jolted awake by the sensation of drowning, for a moment wondering if something had set off the little alarm runes I had spread all around. I heard only silence, but my heart was beating like crazy. Beside me, Elyra stirred and then Vespera too woke from her slumber, looking at me with beady eyes that shone in the darkness.
"Sol, are you alright?" she asked me with unusual tenderness.
I nodded. "Just a bad dream."
"I could feel it," she said.
Elyra joined us as well, putting a hand on my chest. "It was more than just a bad dream, Sol. It was terrifying."
I honestly didn't know what it was about. All I could recall were images and flashes. Me, back in my hauler, looking out the window and seeing the very field of distorted stars I had told the girls about. Behind me, the ship was empty save for the hollow beep of its computers and the crushing loneliness of its empty spaces. The cargo bay was empty in the dream, dark, the eerie vast spaces feeling so wrong, on a ship where everything was supposed to be cramped and packed tight. The stars hadn't felt right either, for some reason.
I couldn't recall anything else, though, save for the feeling of sadness and dread. I realized that I was crying, with my precious little angel noticing the tears and wiping them away from my face with so much care it made my heart melt.
"Thank you for being here with me," I said softly. "I'm alright now. We can go back to sleep."
◈◈◈
I spent the night looking at the shiny stars in the sky and listening to the calls of birds and far away animals. I didn't need to sleep anymore even though I could theoretically have tried to force it.
Honestly, I was worried about the nightmares, so I chose to look around and ground myself. The way little rocks and roots dug into my back without hurting—thanks to the magical stats improving my body—made me feel… real.
Real in a way the rest of the world didn't quite manage to feel all the time. Right now it was dangerously peaceful, lulling me into a false sense of safety. The girls were snoring quietly, and it was still early. The first light of day was barely beginning to brighten up the sky, through dark and thick canopies that had yet to shed their leaves. I reached into my shirt and pulled out the guild token, checking the tide meter. The percentage was low, reflecting the idyllic sights all around.
For a moment, the tides and the random monsters felt so far away from us. Then I remembered the broken walls of the city, the damaged lithos block, the wall of monsters rushing in, the deafening sounds of war while we were forced to stay cooped up inside, and finally the eerie sight of nature restored and even improved after the tide had passed. Magic acting in its mysterious ways, erasing all traces of the destruction and, maybe, of empires long crumbled into dust.
What had the sentients built in the past, before they were reduces to living in places like Perseverance's End? Did the tides and the magic that followed them destroy all traces of them?
The girls stirred, and I disentangled myself from them to light the fire back up and cook us some breakfast.
"Mmh," Vespera moaned as she dug into her sweet roll, warmed up on the flames with a stick. "Feels good not to have to hunt for breakfast every day. Being poor sucked."
"We were only poor for a few days," Elyra warned her. Indeed, we only had to hunt a couple of time, and even in the city we only skipped like one meal. Or two. She continued: "we are lucky Sol has a useful skill and we found Ted on our first job."
"I know," the demon replied. "I have eyes. I saw what it was like in the city. Sucks to be them, I guess."
I shook my head at her. I knew she didn't mean what she said and was having difficulty expressing herself about such sensitive topics. That's when, almost like she had been searching for an excuse to get out of the difficult conversation about poverty and the awful living conditions of the poor in Perseverance's End, Vespera perked up.
"You hear that?"
I looked around. "What? Where?"
"Nothing," she said, but then she heard it again.
The third time, she darted off chasing what only she could hear. Elyra got up, for a moment unsure whether to follow her or not. "Where is she going! Wait!" she shouted, but the demon was gone. The angel turned to me. "What do we do?"
"We chase after her, what else can we do?"
We did. Putting out the fire as quickly as we could, we followed the sensations coming from the bond like a compass leading us to the demon. Fortunately, her Vitality was lower than mine, so I was able to catch her before she got too far.
"Wait," I said. Behind me, Elyra was struggling to keep up.
"No!" she cried. She was covered in sweat, darting up the gentle slope of a grassy hill. "This way!"
I cursed and followed, helping Elyra to keep up. "We even left the motion sensor runes behind," she panted as I helped her up. "We…"
"Fuck this. Hang on tight." With a grunt, I picked her up and sprinted towards Vespera.
The demon had managed to get all the way to the bottom of the hill.
"What sort of strange manic energy has gotten over you?" I asked when we reached her, putting Elyra down.
The angel was flushed red with embarrassment at having been carried, and due to the effort of the sprint. Vespera withered a little bit under her glare, but soon she turned around and pointed at a grove very similar to the one we slept in.
"In there," she said.
I frowned. Actually, amending my first impressions I realized that the grove was much thicker and darker than where we had slept. A rocky cliff rose behind it, casting it in shadow, blocking the flow of air and plunging the whole place in damp moistness that smelled of rot and autumn. I had to stop for a moment, the myriad of smells making me sway. Never in my life had I smelled such things. So much raw power and nature. So much life.
Then Vespera began to drag me forward, still flush with manic strength and pointing at the trees. "Come, come," she beckoned, dragging Elyra and I each time we tried to slow down.
The angel, who had somewhat recovered her breath, kept glaring at her. "You really are a troublemaker. Do not think I will let you leave the motion detection runes go to waste. You will go back and—"
"Yes, yes! Don't worry, cat-angel, I'll do it!" Vespera replied quickly, speaking almost frantically. "Now come, you're too slow!"
She broke into a run again, but thankfully the thick trees forced her to go slow enough that we could follow without much problem. When she stopped, it was without warning. I had to dodge to the side in order not to hit her, while Elyra ran straight into her. They didn't fall, but it made Vespera yelp.
The angel was about to give her a good scolding, when she noticed that both the demon and I had fallen silent. She followed out gaze, and her eyes widened.
In the middle of the forest, floating a meter or so above the ground, was a ball of energy. Dark, frothing and writing with latent power, crossed by red streaks, it reminded me of the magic of chaos in an oddly familiar way.
"That magic…" Elyra said, sniffing the air. "It tastes like yours?"
Vespera did not reply, transfixed by the sight. She took a step forward, and the ball of magic darted away, floating into the forest and then up the impassable rock face, back down towards us, disappearing behind a huge boulder and the reappearing right in our faces. The demon tried to follow it, getting quite close until suddenly, the sphere popped and vanished into nothingness.
She stared dumbfounded at the space it occupied up to a moment earlier, before turning around without a word and punching the nearest boulder in frustration.
"Ow," she murmured pathetically, staring at her hand.
I rushed forward. "Silly," I said, applying a drop of healing potion to it. It wasn't the proper use, but it was a possible use, and the wound slowly sealed itself.
Vespera was still torn between giving me sad puppy eyes and wanting to lash out against inanimate objects.
"What was that?" I asked.
She punched the rock again, flooding the bond with a riot of emotions.
"Hey," I said, applying another dab of potion. She hissed at me. Right, potion sickness.
"What was that sphere of energy?" I asked her again, repeating my earlier question.
"I don't know," she said, still blinking as if she was having trouble focusing on the present.
Her mind was in disarray.
"It was… it was calling to me, Sol. Why did it run away and vanish? It was demonic magic, you saw that, right? It was demonic. I thought… maybe… I could get some answers…"
She was sniffling, little tears trailing down her face.
I hugged her. "Hey," I said softly. "We'll find it."
"No, it's gone now Sol. I can't feel it anymore."
I shook my head. I wasn't going to let her spiral down. "It appeared once, it will appear again."
"Sol is right," Elyra said. "I can sense that whatever happened, it is not over. Can you not sense it as well?"
Vespera looked at her like she was the only source of light in the forest. Then at me. Then back at her, mouth hanging slightly open. "I… think?" she said weakly.
"I can't feel anything, but I'm no good with magic." I said. "If Elyra says she feels it, I believe in her. You should too."
"You're right," the demon said. "Thank you, both of you. I don't know what came over me."
"It's alright," I said.
Before I could speak more, Elyra interrupted me with a smirk. "It appears that you really are a troublemaker, Vespera. But, I know just the thing you could do to make us forgive you."
The demon looked at her like a puppy. The angel's smile widened, showing her delicate canines. They were nothing like Vespera's fangs, but for a moment they felt longer and sharper than them.
"You said you would gather up the alarm runes we left behind, did you not? Now, since I seem to be the only one in the right state of mind to keep watch should the sphere appear again, not to mention quite tired, I think I will stay here while you and Sol go fetch them."
"Us?" Vespera asked. It clearly wasn't what she had expected, and it had the effect of shaking her out of her strange state. She smiled at Elyra, clearly aware of what she was doing and expressing gratitude in her strange ways. "Really? It doesn't sound quite like a punishment to me. What if Sol and I—"
"Do not overdo it, little troublemaker."
"Who are you calling little?" the demon snapped almost on instinct.
"You, little demon."
Vespera scoffed. "I can't believe it."
"You better get going!" Elyra said.
"She really is a feisty cat, isn't she?" Vespera told me after we were out of the dark patch of woods and back on the fields.
"Takes one to know one," I said simply.
She looked at me in disbelief, and realized that I was having a lot of fun. With two against one, there was no winning. I grinned, happy to see that she was slowly going back to her normal self.