The fire was gone, its remains having been just discarded into the tranquil pool of water, leaving only a charcoal cloud cleanly dispersing through its surface.
The clear water of the laminar stream cut through the black film, pushing it away and diluting the ash into obscurity, soon returning to its crystal clarity.
"Hm, so what's it for then?"
I turned around and glanced at Rena before walking in the opposite direction, around the shallow cliff face where I had found a path before.
She took a few moments to respond.
"The lake?"
She asked, uncertain as to what I had meant exactly.
"Well, that and the path I s'pose."
I replied nonchalantly, but I could feel her looking at me somewhat oddly; regardless, I didn't pay it much mind, instead focusing on rounding the corner and planning my route. There was still a sheer vertical face to climb, so it wasn't exactly a path, but it was still traversable.
"I've seen plenty of groups come and go from above; they all seem to rush it whenever it fills... I- think I remember the ink being used in some kind of process for creating a type of rune, but I'm not sure."
She looked a little aggrieved at her inability to remember, but the information was still useful... To think it would be used in runes; so far I've only seen engravings, but if thin ink could be used, then I guess the structure of the object it's being applied to won't matter as much...
"Whenever it fills?"
_That part was a little confusing._
"Oh, right, the fore..."
Grasping the hard stone, I lifted myself off the ground and clung to the wall.
"...est, uh, becomes saturated over time, but all at once it will overflow and flood the lake. That's what the book said, anyway; I'm not really sure why it flows inwards though."
She seemed confused at first, seeing me suddenly start climbing, but quickly continued all the same; I found it rather amusing.
_Though, I didn't expect this lake to be so special, nor the forest; maybe everywhere is like this... I can't be sure._
_If... if I could create a place like this in my inner-world..._
I grinned at the thought, but then my eyes narrowed.
_I can't help but feel stunted. My levelling is fast, but I want the freedom to do it on my own, in my own direction, and on my own time._
_Most of my fights now have been forced on me, and they're all with the end goal of getting my body back... I just want this damn class so I can focus more on my inner-world as well as my abilities._
_It's too much of a loss to pick one of the others—they don't even have a grade; the pride title is a special skill, not even special-black, which appears to imply distinctions of 'specialness'._
_If I want to reach as far as I want, I have to at least stand on the same footing as those at the top—I have to assume they have everything I have, maybe even more._
_I can start uncovering where I came from—perhaps I should go back to that egg at some point._
My thoughts raced; it had only been a short time, and I easily pulled myself up atop the cliffline.
Rena wasn't too far behind; she seemed to be quite the climber herself actually.
Kneeling down, I held out my hand.
At the change, her distant but focused expression zoned back into reality, and she paused, an obscure emotion now colouring her face. It was a shallow, sorrowful confusion, one she didn't like, yet she reached out anyway and took my hand, and I quickly pulled her up.
_I'll let her be for the moment._
_The forest seemed to actually drop quite far after this point; fortunately, it's somewhat gradual, but it might need a few 'short' jumps..._
Walking up to the highest point, I surveyed over the trees that had previously reached our eyeline up here.
Rena wasn't lying. It was a huge swath of color, still visible because of this dimmer purple sun, its light stretching off into the distance.
But that wasn't all; there was a huge...
"Oo, oh, we can use that."
Rena had snuck in beside me and was staring in the same direction.
_It's a huge... root? But I'm not sure what's quite that exciting about it._
"How so?"
_The root is thicker than a dozen trees and easily cuts through a massive swath of the forest in our view._
_Where did it even come from?_
"We can travel through it."
"Through it?"
I replied.
"It's been hollowed out; the others use it to pass through the forest quickly, but only those with permission can use it."
_Huh, so a shortcut then, but..._
"But how are we going to use it?"
I asked quizzically.
"You killed the only guard."
_Ahh._
She said it so nonchalantly that I almost looked at her in concern.
_But why was there only one guard?_
_I guess it's mostly the threat of death that keeps people back; they only need to be scared enough not to try, though I imagine those rats weren't the only thing he had tamed somehow._
A hand suddenly waved in front of my face.
"Hello?"
Snapping back to reality, I coughed into my fist.
"Ah, right, let's go."
Rena hopped off the log she'd awkwardly stood herself on to match my height and followed from the side.
---
**POV: The Demon Outpost**
---
'Fuck, fuck, fuck'
Ana was digging her nails into her arm, but it only slightly alleviated her rage.
She had completely underestimated this body; even without a mind, it had the instinct to make it up to the third floor and even brutally slaughter those apprentice guards.
This floor is supposed to be a safe location; what kind of idiot would attack it? It is well-defended simply by its nature; the guards are merely for show.
She flicked her scowling expression over to Elech, who was eyeing the charred room with a cold face. It would appear that he felt nothing at all, but Ana was experienced enough to recognise the monstrous intensity thinly veiled within his gaze.
A sigh escaped her lips; at the very least, she had gotten away with it.
She could only count herself lucky that her obtuse master was out flirting with random women—lucky he was too idiotic to recognise that they spoke with a practiced politness in his prescence, or maybe he enjoyed that; what did she care...
But it didn't matter what the reason was, Elech was also in the middle of his soul training, so even if he had heard something, he wouldn't bother himself with it at that time.
Yet he couldn't stick to the background this time; something had slipped under all of their noses and could be anywhere.
Ana barely had enough time to escape to her room, where she traded places with Syrin again, locking her body within the crystal seal, just in case, and leaving only a small channel that she could pierce with her soul, keeping her connected.
Her rage stemmed from the loss of progress such an action would accrue, but also from the fact that she would be under more scrutiny as the eyes of this place...
"What happened here?"
Elech inquired stoically, his gaze fixed on the shattered window.
"I've already told the others that I don't know."
She chose to claim ignorance on the matter.
"You were the first here, yet you saw nothing?"
He questioned her with a hissing tone.
"Something could have flown..."
"A winged creature? In a cave, killing two demons? Your intuition is remarkably stiff. So you were what? Tinkering with your little stones? Chipping away at that bark; chasing a fantasy? 'Something' obviously climbed..."
His words were punches to her face, and her animosity towards him grew with each passing insult.
He didn't even look at her; to him, his words were a mundane truth, and the fact he immediately fell into deep thought spoke volumes of how far below himself he placed her.
Ana had to use her magic to vaporise the blood drawn from her palms, and she forced herself to relax her grip.
"Is my spell working?"
He muttered under his breath.
Ana knew he was referring to the tracking magic he'd placed on Syrin; the same spell she was actively manipulating to throw him off.
"The girl hasn't moved, besides stealing a few plants, that is."
The light of Elech's silver eyes pierced her as his focus suddenly shifted.
"So you spent your time watching some girl instead of my home?"
She wanted to grit her teeth, but there was something deeply calculative in his eyes; he was watching her every movement—every micro-expression—and her thoughts felt naked in his vision.
Ana briefly parted her lips to speak again, but Elech suddenly turned around and began walking away.
The words had died in her throat—not that she was sure what to even say; everything he did threw her off her axis.
Turning her head toward the door, she could see a few deranged slashes of dark magic.
'Just what was it trying to do?'
It was the thought that now dominated her mind. There was a clear purpose—perhaps some kind of attraction—that led her here.
The seed of an idea was forming, one born of her hatred for Elech and the instinctive actions of a mindless true demon...
But before her intuition could take her anywhere, her body froze.
She flicked her eyes to the side, and Elech stared deeply into hers.
His head was turned at a sharp angle, and he watched her with an unblinking expression.
Not even that monster of Indamal had struck so much fear into her heart; for a moment, she was sure a blade had pierced her.
She could only turn away, unable to bear it.
Her jaw shook with adrenaline, but she was still a practiced warrior, and her mind was intensely active.
Something drastic had to change, and she would have to make a decision.
That... she was sure of.