“Did we lose them, Sigmis?” Aliya paused to catch her breath. It was hard to get around in the overgrown forest riddled with massive roots and twisted plants that grew like vines.
“I believe they never entered the forest,” Sigmis sent out a larger burst of mana to try and detect if anyone was nearby, but all he could see on every side was the plantlife and a few animals.
“I wouldn’t think so, Humans avoid this place like the plague,” Erik backtracked to them having realized they had stopped. He didn’t want to get too far apart from them. It was easy to lose sight of anyone in that forest. “Not many Spirits come out here either. It’s easy to get lost.”
“Speaking of, do you know where we are?” Aliya huffed bitterly, looking at Erik. “Are we even close to the sinking ruins you were talking about?”
“I have no idea,” Erik said in an overly cheery tone.
“Are you serious?” Aliya started marching past him. “I thought you were supposed to guide us!”
“Aliya, wait!” Erik grabbed her wrist to stop her from charging ahead without them.
“Don’t touch me!” Aliya snapped, grabbing his arm and throwing him over her shoulder. The impact with the ground knocked the wind out of him.
“Aliya isn’t that a bit harsh?” Sigmis scrunched his eyebrows in disappointment.
Aliya didn’t like seeing Sigmis displeased with her and she could tell Erik was having a hard time getting back up from that one. She rolled her eyes in her frustration and took a deep breath to try and calm down.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” Aliya trailed off as she glanced down at Erik who finally sat up. He didn’t seem entirely bothered by it as he has the same coy smirk he always had which was causing her annoyance to bubble back up. “I just need space. A lot has happened lately and it’s getting to me…”
“It’s fine,” Erik jumped to his feet with a laugh. “I just wanted to say, you shouldn’t charge off on your own here. Even Sigmis’s mana sight has limits, right?” Erik looked to Sigmis for confirmation.
“Indeed,” Sigmis nodded. “Since there are multiple overlapping Celestial Sanctums and the mana rich environment makes it hard for me to see more than the mana pulse I send out. Right now, I can’t even locate our companions.”
“Really? Even with the head start, I can’t imagine they would be that far ahead of us,” Aliya pouted.
“If we get separated it’ll be hard for you to find our little rendezvous,” Erik continued. The whole time he’d been trying to match Sigmis’s pace, Erik realized it was ultimately better for her as well, since she was wearing out pretty quickly. Erik crossed his arms, “I may not know where we are right now, but once we find the river or the coast it’ll be easy from there. Besides, as much as you don’t care for me, if you get too lost and we get too far apart it could break our tether.”
“Fine,” Aliya scrunched her face, disliking that she actually agreed with him. “Lead the way.” She shifted her gaze from Erik to Sigmis, “Sigmis, if you catch sight of water before we notice can you let us know?”
“Of course,” Sigmis nodded a faint smile on his lips. He was glad it worked out for the time being. He didn’t realize just how right Kindle was about those two. He didn’t want them to be at odds given they were bound by a tether.
It was quiet among them for a while as they traversed the forest. Sigmis could only sense trees and plant life for miles. The lack of animals concerned him, he couldn’t sense any natural wildlife in the area. The wind rattled the leaves above them quite fiercely, he found it unsettling as he could tell it was densely filled with wind mana he didn’t recognize. It was as if someone was trying to search the forest with mana much like he was.
“Weird, it’s getting pretty dark already,” Erik stopped, perched on a large root he was climbing over. He squinted in the rapidly darkening forest trying to catch a glimpse of anything that might be familiar to him from when he was last in Evoldo Forest. “I didn’t think we'd been out here long enough for it to be nightfall already.”
“Maybe there’s a storm coming?” Aliya looked up at the dense foliage above them. Hardly any light was making it through before, but now even the slightest glimmer of light was dull. “It feels too sudden to be natural.”
“It very likely could be a Wind Spirit causing it,” Sigmis thought it best to speak up about his concerns. “This wind is very heavy with mana.”
“Could it be Zephyr or Breyze?” Erik looked down at Sigmis.
“Zephyr’s never used an arte that could alter the weather,” Aliya huffed, worried something else might be at play. “As far as I know, Breyze can’t either. She’s a little too green.”
“I would be able to tell if it were their mana,” Sigmis shook his head. “This mana belongs to another Spirit. They are definitely powerful and this mana feels very agitated.”
“Why does this feel familiar then?” Erik placed a hand on his chin and tilted his head as he tried to place who the wind reminded him of.
“If a storm is coming we may want to seek shelter,” Aliya huffed. She wanted to keep going, but with a human tether she had to consider it wouldn’t do her any good if he got sick. She also didn’t know how Sigmis felt about being out in the rain.
“Not quite to the coast, I remember there’s a cliff drop off with a bunch of caves and even a few tunnels, but that’s probably our best bet for staying dry.” Erik couldn’t be certain how much longer it would be before they could get there. For all he knew they could have been going in circles, especially once the gloom started to set in. It was hard enough navigating this dense forest on a sunny day. He was all for finding some place to settle before the night hit.
“Tunnels, you say?” Sigmis couched and placed his hand on the ground. He had been coating the surface with his mana in order to see but he could just as well force his mana underground. He focused on tracing the knotted tangle of roots where his mana could much easier slip through the earthen cracks he could see there was a gap between the rocky surfaces not far below them. He tried to follow the direction to see if they were close to an opening, but it was still too far for him to see. Regardless he had a direction for them to head.
“Flicker and glow, illuminate the path that is true,” Sigmis stood up and held out his hand as he started casting a magic arte that would help shed some light in the darkness for his companions. “Wisp’s Guidance.” A small floating flame drifted in the air moving the direction he had traced the tunnel. “I’ll use this to direct the path of the tunnel I see below us. I didn’t see where it let out, so we may need to stop for me to trace it again.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Erik shrugged. He jumped down from his perch and started following the floating orb of flame. Sigmis’s caution and tense demeanor when he talked about the mana in the air didn’t sit well with Erik. He was growing uneasy as the ethereal flame almost made it harder to see in the already dim lighting.
Distant thunder began to rattle the trees almost as much as the wind gusts. The deep and low rumble could be felt through every inch of their bodies as it settled in their chests. The time between the low growls coming from the sky was growing shorter making it feel as though a beast was stalking them.
“Sigmis? Can you tell if we are getting any closer?” Aliya asked as the rain began to drip, sputtering on the leaves and dripping down beneath the canopy. Aliya was growing increasingly nervous. She felt as though the source of the storm was growing closer every moment.
“I’ve yet to see the end of the tunnel,” Sigmis sighed. As the wind was growing stronger it was getting more difficult for him to see their surroundings above ground. The wind mana wasn’t just clinging to surfaces it filled everything in between making everything a haze of green. The dense wind mana in the air was slowly becoming all he could see. He had to slow his pace because it was getting difficult for him to detect the surfaces that blocked his way until he was right upon them.
“Sigmis, is everything alright?” Erik had glanced back, noticing he was a bit farther back than he usually was.
“I apologize,” Sigmis took a deep breath. He was growing frustrated at being the reason they would need to slow down. “The mana in the air is making it difficult for me to see what’s above the surface.”
“We can slow down a bit,” Erik backtracked to Sigmis. “I can help you if it gets any worse.” Erik recalled that being too close to Sigmis irritated Aliya’s skin because of the heat. Erik wanted to offer before she could and he could tell she was just about to by the slight pout on her face.
“I didn’t consider that could be such a problem,” Aliya looked around and noticed how the wind mana was concentrated enough to be seen. “The mana is getting extremely dense.” Small glimmers of green flurried with each gust of wind like snowflakes that never settled. Lighting cracked across the sky and a bright light danced across the trees not far ahead of them. “There must be a gap in the canopy ahead, that lighting was pretty bright.”
“Maybe we aren’t too far after all,” Erik smiled hopefully as he watched Aliya take the lead.
“It could be that the tunnel leads elsewhere,” Sigmis mused aloud. “It does seem to turn the opposite direction. If anything, you two might be able to get a better view of our surroundings.”
“I don’t like the idea of being out in the open though,” Erik kept his eyes on Aliya ahead of them. She didn’t stray too far out of sight, pausing to scan the area as she waited for them to catch up. He voiced his concerns rather quietly, only Sigmis could hear, “If it’s a Wind Spirit causing this then I feel safer being hidden by the leaves.”
“I have no doubt we can handle whatever comes our way,” Sigmis said, trying to put his mind at ease.
“I think it’s just a clearing,” Aliya called back. She barely caught a glimpse of it from where she paused to wait for them, but there was no foliage obscuring her view of the pouring rain. Not even grass covered the ground. It was nothing but mud. “It doesn’t look like anything is growing there, though.”
“Really?” Erik felt as though he’d been there before with Zephyr. It was one of the strange places that stood out to him in the forest was a dead clearing with a fallen statue in the center. He thought it was creepy at the time until Zephyr told him the metal it was made from was just poisoning the ground so nothing could grow. “Is there a statue that’s half buried and mostly corroded?”
Aliya moved closer to the clearing once they started catching up. She paused at the edge remaining out of the rain beneath the tree. A flash of lightning illuminated the area just enough for her to catch a glimpse of teal in the center.
“Yeah looks like it,” Aliya raised her voice over the rumble of the thunder.
“We shouldn’t be too far from the cliffs then,” Erik felt some relief in knowing they weren’t completely lost.
As Erik and Sigmis got closer to the clearing, a gust of wind swelled. It was so intense Erik couldn’t keep his balance and he dropped to one knee. He squinted past the whirlwind of mana to try and see if Aliya was alright. As she came into focus a bright flash of light behind her forced his eyes shut and the crashing thunder that followed was deafening. Sigmis covered his sensitive ears, unable to bear the booming sound.
“Aliya!” Erik searched for Aliya again but she was nowhere to be seen. He looked to Sigmis to see how he was fairing but the thunderous noise had him doubled over in pain. “Sigmis?”
“Don’t concern yourself with me. Find her!” Sigmis ordered sharply. He could see from Erik’s mana that he was hesitating as he lingered near him. Before the strike he could still sense where Aliya’s mana was but the density of mana ahead had increased tenfold and made her vanish from his sight as well. He knew they were no longer alone.