Jonas wasn't sure if whoever was controlling Kim's army could access what they knew or if it was limited to controlling their bodies only. It made sense that there would be at least some of the individual's knowledge that the enchanter would have access to, so the enchanter would know what those they were controlling could do.
Yet at the same time, he couldn't say if that really was the case or if the enchanter had access to what everyone they had under their control knew.
Because he couldn't be sure of that, he decided to err on the side of caution and not let the man he'd saved from being controlled know how he planned on getting up the mountain slope. While he couldn't be sure that Aquis was the enchanter or was allied with whoever the enchanter was, he could at least be certain that his shadow merge ability wouldn't be passed on in the event if the man fell under then enchanter's control again at some point.
As Jonas carefully made his way out to the edge of the camp, he realized he should have asked the man for his name, since he felt like it wasn't nice to merely keep thinking of him as 'the man,' even if he had save him from the enchantment.
Shaking the thought from his head, Jonas kept himself away from the fires that were still going, even though they were unattended, so as to decrease the chance of him being noticed by anyone. Not that he worried too much, given how the camp had more of a deserted feel to it at this point. Even the sentries weren't visible.
Even if he thought that those who weren't yet under the enchanter's control hadn't all yet been located, he wouldn't believe that the camp was as empty as it felt. He wouldn't be surprised if there were some waiting for anyone who wasn't yet under the control of the enchanter to merely pass by so they could ambush them.
Which also meant that he couldn't be certain that if he merged with the shadows that it wouldn't be noticed, no matter how little he could see, due to the tents being placed haphazardly and from how winding the paths between some of the tnets got, and hear himself. Especially since he was primarily focused on trying to figure out how close he should get to where Aquis had been before at least sticking his ear out of the shadows so he could hear anything.
Jonas paused as he reached the edge of the camp, While there wasn't much visibility, he couldn't help but worry that his movement alone would attract attention to anyone who was merely looking in his direction.
While he was confident that it wouldn't be a problem either way, it still was rather nerve wracking for him. Especially given how he couldn't be sure that it wouldn't add more problems to getting to his destination. He knew most of that was ust in his head, but it didn't make it any easier to deal with.
Despite his reservations, Jonas took a deep breath and quickly darted out from the camp, hoping that his speed would at least help settle his own nerves. That he'd be able to get out without having to try and stop someone who was under the enchantment that had suddenly plagued the camp.
After getting about ten yards away from the camp, Jonas stopped. He listened for any sounds. Any sign that someone had seen him and was heading in his direction.
After a few minutes, he let out his breath and allowed himself to relax. He felt assured that the coast was clear and he could merge with the shadows without anyone else witnessing it. Or at least no one that couldn't see in the dark like he could. Which he didn't think would happen unless if was someone who had a system, and therefore part of the competition as well, or a monster that would be a more straightforward threat.
When Jonas realized the direction his thoughts were taking him, he closed his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath and slowly released it. He could tell that he was working himself up over things that weren't likely to be actual problems. That he was merely making himself more worried about it by focusing so much on what could happen rather than what he knew was happening and what he needed to do about it, regardless of what could happen.
He wasn't sure how long it took himself to calm down from having worked himself up, but he didn't think it had been more than a couple minutes.
Jonas glanced back at the camp, wondering if his vision in the dark actually was more of a hinderance at the moment, given the fact that he couldn't really tell just how visible he would be from the camp, since he couldn't tell just how dark it really was.
Sighing, he pushed that worry out of his mind, turning to look back up the slope. He couldn't see Aquis, but he couldn't be sure that Aquis was just over the rise either. The only way he could be sure about that now was to head up there himself.
So, after one last deep breath, he merged himself with the shadows and startd moving up the slope.
He was glad that they had the cloud coverage, otherwise he might not be able to make his up up the slope in the shadows. Which would mean that he would have to walk up the slope the old fashioned way, which in turn would raise the chances of him being detected, and if Aquis was the one behind this mess, then he would be less likely to learn what he would need to know in order to deal with him.
Jonas pushed any thoughts about how Kim, Elmo, and Elin were doing at removing the enchanted armor from all the soldiers in Kim's army. He couldn't afford the distraction, no matter how much he worried that they might fail.
While he'd made certain to keep the man who he'd saved from learning about his shadow merging skill, he couldn't say the same about the others in his group. Especially since the cat was out of the bag with them for so long that he wouldn't have even been able to conceive of this possibility at that time even if he'd known about Aquis at that time to begin with.
When Jonas reached the top of the slope, when it started to turn and go down the other side, He spent a few minutes looking around to see if Aquis had move anywhere, given the dragon wasn't where he had been when Jonas had spoken with him earlier.
While he didn't want to jump to conclusions that it meant the dragon was behind this, he couldn't help but feel his mind was going in that direction, no matter what he told himself in his mind.
When he was about to give up on finding Aquis up there, he was about to head back down to the camp, to see if there was anything he could do to help secure the effort to remove the enchanted armor by force. He hadn't been looking for anything other than the dragon, and so was surprised when he suddenly noticed a cave behind some fallen boulders.
Or at least he assumed they were fallen, but givven their placement on the slope on the other side of the mountain, he couldn't help but wonder if they'd actually been placed there. As to hide the cave itself. Not that he found that suspicious to begin with, since if the dragon lived there, of course he'd want his home to be hidden rather than left out in the open for all to see who merely passed by. Although at the same time, Jonas couldn't be sure that's what it was unless he took a look inside it.
For all he knew, it could be nothing more than a regular cave that a pack of wolves or a bear might take an interest in at some point.
Jonas closed his eyes at that point, recognizing his fatigue was starting to get to him again. Either that or it was the stress of this situation. Eitehr of which he knew probably wasn't very good for him to swell on so much.
As he moved to take a look at the cave, just to make sure, he couldn't help but feel like the cery shadows he was moving through was somehow becoming thicker. Almost like the shadows were pulling at him, trying to keep him from continuing forward. Like they didn't want him to even see what was in the cave because of what it might do to him.
Yet as he reached the edge of the cave, he couldn't help but notice Aquis in the cave.
While he wasn't an expert on dragon facial expressions, he still got the distinct feeling that Aquis wasn't happy. Why he wasn't happy, Jonas couldn't be sure right then, but he hoped that it meant the assumption that Aquis was behind this newest problem was correct.
As Jonas carefully moved his left ear out of the sadows, he felt satisfied when he heard Aquis talking to himself.
"…belive this. Stupid restriction on that armor. Maybe I should have found a way to keep it from being removed," Aquis was muttering. "If I could have done that, then I'm sure this wouldn't be happening."
Jonas was confident that was enough evidence to demonstrate that Aquis was behind this whole situation now. So, Jonas' thoughts started to shift to heading back, but what he heard next stopped him cold.
"Huh? It seems I should be expecting company soon," Aquis mused suddenly. "I guess I should go out to greet Jonas when he comes looking for me."