Raine was still in her metamorphosized form, flying high over the foggy, spore-ridden forest that they were just in. She was getting very weak, the spores that were on her friends getting into her lungs and somehow draining her energy. Not only that, but her friends were all over her, getting the spores on her clothes and such. Tina was on her arm, Carlos was grabbing her leg, Hanna was nearly on top of her, somehow on her back, Lucy was on her other arm, grabbing onto her shoulder, and Joana was on her other leg, holding on for dear life. Raine, now in a dreadfully tired state, was looking around desperately for a place to stay. Lightheaded, she drifts out of consciousness and starts falling through the sky. Luckily, it seemed that it wasn't her time yet, since she crashed right into a clear dome that seemed quite inconspicuous. This impact shook Raine back into consciousness and she stuck the landing, transforming back into her normal demon form. With her friends still somehow grabbing onto her, now unconscious, she stood up and looked around. She saw a few soldiers with glowing spears and masks rushing at her, and she knew that they weren't very friendly. She stood in front of her friends, putting her hands up to fight because she knew that she couldn't materialize her mana sword from how empty her mana stores were.
"Stay back!" Raine said, glaring at the soldiers. They stopped, forming a circle around her and her friends. She put her hands up, guarding her friends as she glared at all the soldiers. "I said, stay back!!!" Raine said, screaming at the soldiers. She was scared. Terrified, in fact, of what these soldiers were going to do to her and her friends, especially considering the amount of scorn that their gazes were filled with. With this weighing on her mind, and fatigue weighing on her body, she shook like a leaf as she tried to assert herself against these strangers. Just then, a lady with long, gray hair in a ponytail came out, scowling. She had on a long, black coat with black boots, a black shirt and pants, and a black utility belt. To match, she had on black earrings and her hair, which was black, had a white streak running through it, as well as a black mask and amber eyes. "Hold your positions. I'll go talk to it." The lady said, glaring at Raine as she walked up to her. "Madam, it's dangerous!" A man, with all-black clothes on and some glasses sitting neatly on his nose, said as he ran after the lady. "Halt, Jeffery. Can't you see it's weakened? Even if it does lash out at me, I'm more than capable of defending myself." The woman said, putting a hand up to signal them to stop.
He obeyed, joining the knights in the circle instead. The woman's cool exposure turned ice cold as she approached Raine, her hands in her pockets. Raine, who was quite sure that this was their leader, put her arms down, looking the woman in the face. "Aw, how distastefully impudent. What are they, your prey?" The woman said, dropping her voice low. "They're not prey! They're my friends." Raine said, fighting the urge to divert her eyes from the woman's. The woman smirked, putting her hand on Raine's shoulder. "You seem to be more intelligent than an ogre, so I assume you know what kind of situation you're in?" The woman said, glaring once again at Raine. Raine flinched, stepping back a bit. She nodded, glancing at the soldiers around her. "Considering that you have the equipment of an adventurer, I think I'd like to keep you with me for a bit. We'll treat your friends and get those spores out of them. You, on the other hand, will have to have a little chat with me and my associates." She said, motioning at Jeffery. Raine nodded again, looking at the ground.
"Carry them to the infirmary! They are not a threat. I'll take this one with me." The woman commanded, sending the soldiers off and grabbing Raine's hand, and dragging her along. Raine, still worried, complied and followed the woman, wondering where they were going. It looked like it was just a normal forest, but then an opening appeared in front of them, making Raine jump back in surprise. "Calm down, it's just reflective magic we made to protect us from the spores. The woman said, walking through the door and dragging Raine along. Raine, who was still racked with fatigue, stumbled behind the woman. They got to an isolated room and they got sat down on opposite sides of a table. "Hold on, let me make sure you don't get any funny ideas." The woman said, handcuffing Raine to her side of the table. The woman then sat down and relaxed a bit. "Those are programmed to restrict your mana enough to-" The woman said, taken aback by Raine passing out and faceplanting onto the table.
A few hours later, Raine snapped awake and sat up, looking around hurriedly. She saw her friends huddled around her and she smiled wide, hugging them. She got up and ran over to them only to hit her head on the glass that was separating her from the outside world. She fell back, looking around, and flinched when she saw the woman that brought her here standing behind her. "I see you're awake." The woman said, sitting down next to Raine as she waved Raine's friends away. Raine nodded, scooting away. "You seem to think you're in danger. That's nice and all, but if I was going to kill you I would have done so already." The woman said, her calculating voice stinging Raine's ears. She hung her head low, looking at the ground. "...Do you want to interrogate me?" Raine said, remembering what happened before she passed out. "Not yet, we need to let you rest some more. I really won't kill you, y'know. I've never seen a hybrid carry someone all the way from ground zero to here when they were already weak, so you're definitely… different." The woman said, her tone a bit lighter.
"...Thank you," Raine said, looking at the woman. "Hm? For what?" The woman asked, turning to Raine. "For saving my friends. They were the ones who let me become an adventurer, so if there's anything I could do to thank you, please let me know." Raine said quietly, looking back at the ground. "Yet another surprise. Well, if you really want to do something for your friends, I'd suggest you comply with everything I ask of you. You don't get affected by the spores, but we do, so naturally, we'll have you do some errands for us." The woman said, still smiling. "Thank you, I'll try my best," Raine said, smiling. "Hm… your friends seem a bit troubled by this barrier, so do you want me to take it down?" The woman said, pointing at the clear box surrounding them. Raine nodded, and the woman snapped her fingers, making the whole thing come down. Just then, Raine's friends rushed to her aid, Tina pouncing on her and hugging her whilst the rest of them made a line in front of Raine to block the woman from her. The woman chuckled, standing up.
"I won't hurt any of you, you seem like good people. Just follow our rules." The woman said. "Who are you?!" Carlos roared, standing in front of the group of adventurers with Joana. "The name's Jada, just so you know, and as you should have gathered I'm the leader of this place. You lot are…" Jada said, flaring at them coldly. "I'm Joana, this is Carlos, Hanna, Tina, and Lucy. Why are you keeping us here, and why are you so close to her?" Joana said, glaring back at Jada and gesturing sharply at Raine. "H-Hey guys, let's calm down. We don't need to cause any trouble. I'll be staying with Jada for a bit, and you guys can rest up to complete our journey back!" Raine said, smiling. "Our journey back? We still need to complete our quest with the village. I'm still not sure how we got here, which is even more suspicious. We should just head back and leave these guys, I'm not getting a good feeling about them already, keeping us inside this place like this." Joana said, frowning. "Still, can we comply for now and when we're stronger then go?" Raine said, still trying to stay positive.
"...Fine, you win this time. Do you have a place we can stay at?" Joana said, shifting her focus back onto Jada. "I'm so glad you asked! We actually have a few rooms we've prepared for you four." Jada said a smile on her face. "... Then please guide us there," Joana said, glaring harder at Jada. "Alright, I'll have a few guards escort you," Jada said, waving a group of soldiers over and having four of them guide the adventurers away. She then sent the rest of the soldiers back to work. "Alright, I'll leave you be, but we have a condition here. You have to stay in your demon form. If you don't, we'll see that as trickery and interrogate you harshly, if we don't kill you. Second, as you know, don't disobey orders. We'll send you on errands because the spores don't affect your mind, correct? Else you wouldn't have made it here." Jada said, her attention fixed on Raine. "Yeah, that's correct. It does drain my mana a lot, though." Raine said, walking to the bed. "Tired? Well, I'll get out of here then. Sweet dreams, and be ready to work tomorrow." the woman said, snapping her fingers and creating a steel barrier around Raine. Raine, now shrouded in darkness, closed her eyes and managed to coax herself to sleep.