Lucid ran just behind Mary, keeping an eye on their backs as they moved through the strange blue forest. He slowed for a second. A tremor. Faint, but the ground shook a little under his feet. He didn't think much of it and kept going.
Mary stopped dead. She turned to look at him, and her voice was completely different. Gone was her usual confident, analytical tone. Now she sounded shaky. Unsure. Scared.
"What… what is it, Lucid?" She grabbed her staff with both hands, clutching it like a lifeline.
Brian was speed-walking ahead, not even looking back. Garfield, surprisingly agile for his size, was weaving through the trees like he'd done it a hundred times.
Lucid looked Mary over. She was scared. Really scared.
"She's scared," Alice noted in his head.
"Yeah," Lucid thought back.
"Nothing. Keep moving," he said out loud.
"What's the stone count?" he asked.
Mary looked down at her pouch, her hands trembling. "Fi… five hundred and twenty-four."
Lucid nodded. "Great work. Looks like we're halfway there."
That seemed to calm her down a little. Lucid didn't pay her any more attention and kept moving.
So far, they'd mostly run into F-rank unfaithfuls weak, corrupted creatures that Brian or Garfield handled easily. Lucid hung back to watch for flanks. When an E-rank beast showed up, Lucid joined the fight while Mary cast weak healing spells from the back. Her magic was barely enough to stop bleeding, but it was something.
"There, Lucid!"
Lucid jumped forward, spear thrusting out in a long, clean strike. He stabbed straight through a corrupted bear they'd had trouble with earlier.
"Great work!" Brian clapped.
"Don't let the praise go to your head, Lucid," Garfield said, his voice calm and flat.
Mary stayed quiet.
"Alright, let's take a quick break."
They set up in a small clearing, laying out their stuff. Brian poured tea into wooden cups. Lucid's favorite.
Garfield spoke first. "Goodness, there's no quota, yet I feel like we've already met it." He turned to Brian. "Oi, assistant! Got any inspiration for our next art piece?"
Brian jumped like he'd been shocked. Garfield shot him a mischievous look.
Lucid drank his tea slowly, watching everything.
Brian's tone changed. "But seriously, what's our next move, folks?" He looked at Mary, waiting for an answer.
She was sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them.
"I… I don't know. Lucid is the leader."
Garfield shot her a sharp glare. Brian looked disappointed, like he'd expected better.
Garfield kept pushing. "Hey, you said you were a master at fate essence conjuring and resonance, whatever that is. But you're unawakened. How can you use healing spells?"
Mary looked at him, then pulled out a sigil—a relic that looked like a red ruby stone.
"Oh. Figured," Garfield said, his voice dripping with disdain.
Lucid watched it all and felt something was off. Mary was usually observant and never hesitated to share her thoughts. Brian was hardworking and honest, but now he seemed lazy, almost detached. And Garfield had changed the most—from a cheerful, ignorant boaster to someone calm, sharp, and aggressive.
'Something is not right.'
"By the way," Garfield went on, a sneer in his voice, "how can a silver badge afford that? I heard relics cost at least eight gold coins."
Lucid felt Mary's discomfort and wanted to say something, but who was he to tell them what to do? They were all the same age, all beginners.
"Could you be some runaway noble's daughter?" Garfield added, hiding a snobby laugh.
That was too far. Lucid opened his mouth to stop him. "Garfield, tha—"
Before he could finish, Mary stood up. Her lips were shaking. Her hands were clenched into fists.
"What do you know!" she yelled, spilling her tea on the ground.
Garfield looked up, insulted. "Geez, miss. If you can't handle criticism, you have no right to be an artist."
"Drop dead!" Mary screamed, throwing her cup at his face.
It hit his nose. His head jerked back.
Brian laughed, actually enjoying it instead of sympathizing like he usually would. Lucid stood up, reaching for Mary before she could run. "Wait, Mary, don't—"
A burst of golden light swallowed her, and she vanished. The light faded, leaving nothing behind.
'What the...' Lucid thought, stunned.
She'd teleported. Using that relic. Lucid turned back to the other two.
"Hey, let's go look for her," he said, trying to keep his voice calm but urgent.
"Tch, why should I?" Garfield said, wiping tea off his face and looking away angrily. "She's the one who acted like a brat."
Brian just sat on a log, leaning back. "I'm too tired. Why don't we take a nap?"
"What?" Lucid muttered, completely confused.
"That's an excellent idea!" Garfield agreed suddenly, his mood switching again. "We're pretty far ahead. Eureka! Sorry, Lucid. We're tapping out for now."
Alice's voice was sharp in his mind. "It's a hex."
'Hex...' Lucid repeated the word. It felt familiar in a bad way.
"Since I inhabit your vessel and I'm an Enlightened, it has no effect on you. It's only at a latent stage. It won't touch you directly," Alice explained. "But for them, I can't say the same."
"What should I do?"
"Search for her and leave this forest."
"But what about the Cleansing? The mission?"
"What does it matter, Lucid? It's better to live another day and try again than risk your life, especially when things are going this bad."
For the first time in what felt like forever, Alice made sense.
He nodded. "Alright."
"Go down that path, where the light looks dim. I can feel her relic there. And... be careful, Lucid. I sense something."
He ran down the path where she'd vanished. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but a relic couldn't have that much power, she couldn't be far. He slid down a steep, muddy hill and looked around. Something in the corner of his eye made him stop.
There were no words for what he saw.
A body. Someone had been destroyed. Their limbs were bent in impossible directions. Their head was smashed in. One dead, glassy eye seemed to stare right at him. Brain and blood were splattered across a mossy rock like some horrible painting.
Lucid gagged, turning away, his stomach heaving. Who could do that? *What* could do that?
He forced it out of his mind. He was good at that. He kept moving.
A wolf stepped out from behind a tree. An unfaithful, E-rank. Its fur was matted and glowed with a sick purple light. It growled, saliva dripping from jagged teeth.
Lucid pulled out his spear.
"Lucid, use your trait," Alice urged.
He ignored her. He took his stance. He could feel it already, the slow trickle of her fate essence. The green glow warming his bones. The feeling of being hugged and made stronger from the inside.
"No, Alice."
"Please. Lucid."
He couldn't turn it off. She was too connected to his core. So he did the only thing he could—he shut her presence out, walled her off in a corner of his mind. He still felt stronger. Faster. But it was his own strength, not hers she still had influence. She still could dominate their shared fate essence.
The wolf leapt.
Instead of a careful stab, Lucid swung the spear in a wide, brutal arc. The blade cut through the air and through the wolf's neck in one clean motion. The head hit the ground with a thud, the body collapsing after it.
That was real strength. Hidden strength. With Alice's trait, he could do so much more. But this was enough.
"Alice, I said stop. I have to do this on my own."
"But why? If you die, then it will all be for nothing!" Her voice was faint, locked away.
"Who said I'm dying? If anything, you're the one who will if you keep controlling me like this."
"Please..."
He sighed. "Okay. Only if I'm in real danger."
He looked a tthe beats he ahad killed, he dint have the stone, so eh did what he ould do not to waste it
***
The Divine Maiden Alice has slain an E-Rank wolf
Fate essence absorbed +81.
Your path shines brighter
***
Lucid pressed on, deeper into the dim part of the forest. The trees here were wrong, dark blue, cracked, lifeless. The moss didn't glow. The air tasted dead.
"Mary!" he called out.
No answer. Just the wind moaning through dead branches.
He moved carefully, spear ready. Every shadow looked like a threat. Every sound could be something stalking him. He had to find her.
It was all ironic and stupid. He had now lost another person after losing another one on his journey. He couldn't bear it. It reminded him of how he was never good in groups and how things would always end the same, but this time he swore it would be different.
He had made a silent resolution then and there, trailing through the thick woods.
That it would be different this time
that he would be more brave this time...
***
Mary ran. She didn't think, she just ran. Her feet pounded through the thick, dark blue woods, stumbling over gnarled roots, her robes snagging and tearing on sharp branches. Each gasping breath hurt. Her glasses, one lens now completely shattered, bounced crookedly on her nose. All she could think about was how everything had gone so bad, so fast.
Her family was in trade, she had told them. A simple, safe lie. The truth was too heavy, too dangerous. The truth was that her family name, a minor noble house from the northern territories, was nothing but ash and debt. Run into the ground by an organization her father had crossed. This academy, this silver badge, was her only chance. The only way to rebuild something from the wreckage. To not be a complete failure.
But even here, as just a silver badge, it wasn't enough. She had made the mistake, that faithful day weeks ago, of standing up to Clarissa, a black-badge girl who was tormenting a first-year for spilling ink. Mary had spoken up. Just a few words. "Leave him alone."
That was all it took. Clarissa's smile had turned icy. From then on, Mary's life became a special kind of hell. Tripped in hallways. Notes stolen and ripped up. Whispered curses that felt like physical blows. Clarissa had friends, and those friends had friends, she would later get to know them as Alaric. They made sure Mary knew her place: at the bottom, alone.
Then Lucid had shown up. Another silver badge, but different. He walked like the mist around his face didn't matter, not a flaw. He didn't cower. He hadn't saved her, not really, but he hadn't looked away either. A selfish, cowardly thought had bloomed in her chest: maybe she could make someone endure the same place as her. Maybe they could share the pain. It was a horrible thought, and she was ashamed of it, but her life was a waking nightmare, and she was so, so tired of being the only one living it.