“Umm, sorry, Mother…”

  I found my mouth moving.

  The endless scratch and scrawl of chalk came to an end harshly, almost giving me a jolt.

  I blinked.

  Huh, that was strange.

  I felt like I was supposed to be somewhere else right now.

  Wasn’t there something happening?

  “Something wrong, Estelle?”

  Mother put down the chalkstick and turned around, quickly peering at my notes to check my progress.

  “The ultimate goal of Samsara is to transmute elemental energy into Null energy, right? Isn’t that supposed to be dangerous? You know, since the point of all of this is to stop Null energy from trying to get to me, right?”

  Mother just frowned.

  “You’ve been listening to the rumours again, haven’t you?”

  I held back a flinch, scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

  “S-sorry. I-I try my best to not pay any attention to them, b-but sometimes…”

  She sighed.

  “No, it’s fine. Well, it’s understandable at least, and that line of thinking doesn’t have no basis. I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to tackle Null energy research… well, sure, this is about as good a time as any to explain that. I was gonna start you on the third step of Samsara tomorrow anyways, might as well get this out of the way now.”

  She scrubbed the blackboard clean before starting a new set of scribbles.

  Well, I seemed to be learning something, because I recognised them as formulas describing the movement of mana across two dimensions, transforming it into each of the Four Elements.

  “Alright, so, first off, you know what raw mana is, you know how it moves, you know how to refine and transmute it, you’ve even had a look at Samsara in perfect form… from this set of equations, can you tell me where to find Null energy?”

  “U-um, well…” I frowned, flicking through my notebook.

  Well, mana technically didn’t only transform through two axes. Strictly speaking, it did need three, but the third was only really relevant to define the origin and orientation of the plane; that step was usually automatically handled by our souls being anchored to the realm of Manusyara, which provided those coordinates for us.

  Maybe if I stopped assuming Manusyara was our anchor and tried to calculate it as if we were drifting through a dimensional void?

  No, that… didn’t really seem to help.

  “Sorry, I don’t think I can,” I sighed.

  Mother shook her head, waving my disappointment away.

  “No, that’s fine. That just puts you on par with literally every single other witch and wizard on the planet. You’re still making the same fundamental misunderstanding that they make.”

  She continued to scribble away on the board.

  I was able to keep up at first. Manual ways to set an anchor along the third axis, how to triangulate the coordinates of each of the other Realms, how to arbitrarily define origins and set orientations and then transform and rotate them in real time, so on, so forth.

  But from there, it quickly devolved into alien nonsense.

  “The problem is that for as long as this world has existed, it has existed with mana as its foundation. Everything within our understanding of our universe must be filtered through that framework. As a society, we are simply unable to conceive of anything existing beyond that framework, and anything that potentially does must be deconstructed to fit back into it. That’s where the problem of Null energy arises. The only way it has ever made sense to anyone is as a mysterious ‘Fifth Element’, existing as a manifestation of mana along a third, or perhaps even fourth axis. But that’s a hopeless train of thought. If you cannot conceive of a world that exists without mana, you will never understand any more than that.”

  I blinked.

  A world without mana.

  Concrete jungles that stretched into the sky.

  Metal birds that carried hundreds of people across continents in hours.

  A people that witnessed themselves break past the sky and touch the moon.

  A sea of stars, alone, adrift in a universe that slowly grew further and further apart.

  I knew of such a world.

  Was that why the Sixth Spell was searching for someone like me?

  “Null energy is not a form of magic. It is not an element. It is not born from mana. It is an entirely parallel existence from an alien dimension beyond our understanding, which has somehow invaded our realm through means unknown. Think of it as an equivalent system of mana that exists in a world of infinite dimensions and imaginary numbers.”

  Her endless scrawling came to an end.

  She circled the nonsensical equation taking up more than half of the chalkboard by itself, pointing to it matter-of-factly as if it was a simple additional sum.

  “And as such, if you take this, the raw mathematical form of Null energy, you can use it as a starting point and guide to explore an entirely different system of ‘magic’. All Null energy happens to be in its base form is pure, overwhelming energy, so potent that trying to process its information directly through one’s brain results in the mind’s immediate disintegration, as seen with those who are exposed to it and don’t undergo Nirvana, and even with those who do when they attempt to cast the other Spells.”

  Mother looked back on her work and just frowned.

  “Just like how mana has several different schools of formation, like spontaneous casting and ritual casting, that form what we call magic, Null energy does too. The ‘Void’ and its ‘Spells’ can be understood to be one way to create ‘magic’ from it… and that is where the corrupting influence comes from.”

  I blinked.

  The rest of the world seemed to fade away into darkness.

  But Mother’s lecture continued, even as her form disappeared.

  “Null energy isn’t alive. It isn’t inherently dangerous or corrupting. Proof of that can be seen with my spells. But the Void is. It is a machination of the Sixth Realm, created by some higher-dimensional thing as a way to manifest through us puny three-dimensional beings, and eventually descend into our world. And to invite it…”

  In the darkness, five lights slowly materialised.

  I recognised the formation.

  ‘Candles’.

  Mother warned me about this, the ritual of Nirvana.

  The way to access the all-consuming power of the Void.

  It would all be so easy, wouldn’t it?

  The way to bring an end to this world.

  Finally.

  An end to madness.

  An end to starvation.

  An end to the cold, to the endless suffering.

  I couldn’t see the wax of the candles, but I knew that to be irrelevant.

  Mother had taught me that the exact form of the ‘candle’ was irrelevant, and history proved her right. Their existence was more abstract and metaphysical than a stick of wax and a lit wick.

  What mattered more was the formation and alignment – what each candle symbolised – and the process and intent of blowing them out.

  First was the candle of ‘breath’, Nirvana. Blow out the flame of life, extinguish all being. Untangle yourself from the world, let go of your meaningless existence.

  Let go of all attachments to this pathetic realm, and invite madness.

  The world grew a bit dimmer.

  Four candles remained.

  And when breath was silenced, when your world grew cold and feeling ceased, no more air would reach your lungs, no more would your heart beat.

  And in the place of breath, the Void would grip your heart.

  The candle of the ‘heart’ would be smothered, and Anitya pulsed in its place.

  Without life, without being, without attachment and without existence.

  There was only the endless darkness. Form was meaningless, all is impermanent.

  Three candles remained.

  There was no place for light.

  Let go of the flame, let go of hope.

  Sol’s right hand, which birthed the stars, which gave the sun to Manusyara and lit the land of Calybcor would be of no more use here.

  The candle of starlight, of Genesis, housed in the ‘right hand’ flickered out of existence.

  And the nothing travelled west.

  After the Beginning, came the End. When light unravelled, when the last of the dying embers of the sun died beneath the horizon to the west, the rest of the world would unwind.

  The ‘left hand’ would be blown out, completing the axis of East to West, of Genesis and Revelation, just as Nirvana and Anitya had completed North to South.

  All that was left was the anchor.

  Your eye, through which you understood the world, through which you tethered yourself to your realm…

  They do not belong to you. They do not belong to this world.

  You are not meant to be here. You are alone. You are adrift in empty space.

  You can only see nothing with that eye.

  Ein Sof.

  Let the last candle’s flame fade away, and the cycle will be complete.

  You will have accepted Nirvana.

  That’s all it would take.

  Five candles.

  Blow them out, and blow everything away.

  The faceless man.

  All your worries. All your fear.

  The power to keep your promises, right there, at your fingertips.

  In the darkness, something still remained.

  Even as I was left with nothing, without an eye to see the world, without breath to draw, without a beating heart, without hands to touch and hold everything I held dear close to me, there was still something.

  A remnant, a memory.

  My other eye saw the sparkle of an impossible star.

  A river of starlight. Happy cheers and laughter.

  A family of three, far out away from the city.

  A man and a woman in traditional, ceremonial garb, carrying around a young boy.

  A lost memory of a little girl who never was.

  A life that never was, a life that could have been.

  An impossible reunion over a pot of broth that reignited the flame of life in my mouth, its overwhelming spice and heat pumping my heart and bringing feeling back to my fingers.

  With the remaining eye, I looked beyond the nothing.

  A sixth candle remained.

  Recall your oath.

  Everything you hold dear.

  All of it will crumble into dust.

  Its form is meaningless. It is all impermanent.

  There is only one way to preserve it.

  I stared into ‘infinity’.

  A hand that no longer existed crept upwards, tracing the remaining eye.

  I reached for my right eye.

  Sunlight peered through a tiny gap, breaking through the treeline, through my tent, and touching my eyelid, gently waking me up.

  I blinked.

  I yawned as I got up and crawled out of the small tent.

  A dead campfire in the middle of a small clearing in a lush, picturesque forest.

  I looked around.

  Setsuna’s robe was hung near the fire.

  I sighed.

  I guess that meant she was already up, probably at the river.

  Well, I guess I should get started for the day too.

  I should probably get the fire going again. It was getting close to autumn and the mountains always made the cold worse.

  I might have been used to it, but Setsuna still complained sometimes.

  I blew and brushed away the ash and inspected the remaining kindling.

  If I shuffled some of it around, it would probably be good for another day, but we’d probably either have to go to get more firewood by tomorrow. Or, well, maybe we would just decide that we had enough of this part of Yrd and continue climbing up to a new campsite.

  I gently poked at the wood with my index finger, small wisps of mana drifting out of it and sparking into a small flame.

  I felt it latch onto the logs and twigs, biting back at my finger.

  Before long, I heard footsteps trailing from the treeline.

  Setsuna walked out from the bushes, her hair still dripping from her trip to the river, dressed rather… precariously in a loosely-wrapped towel that barely clung onto her body.

  She tossed a hefty hand-woven basket towards me, before planting her rusty blade firmly into the ground and taking a seat next to the fire.

  I looked inside and fingered around its contents, finding a batch of limp, freshly caught fish.

  Well, it was as good a time as any to start on breakfast. If there was one thing that had remained true over the years, despite her temper and lofty arrogance cooling down, her appetite was as insatiable as ever and her impatience for filling her stomach seemed to be here to stay.

  A quick trip to discard fish guts and a couple dozen minutes later, Setsuna impatiently reached straight into the campfire and picked out a couple charred leaf wrappings, unfurling them to reveal fresh roasted fish, the aroma of wild herbs and spices drifting off of them, filling the quiet, peaceful forest with an inviting smell.

  She messily tore apart the tender meat with her bare hands, shoving it directly into her mouth without a care in the world, barely taking more than a few minutes to move from one fish to the next.

  I just smiled at the familiar sight, taking my time to gingerly pick at my own meal.

  Setsuna’s shoulders visibly relaxed as breakfast wore on.

  With the mood softened, and with both of us properly woken up for the day, I had a small chuckle.

  “Thanks, Setsuna,” I found myself suddenly blurting out.

  My shoulders just felt… lighter. Like a huge weight was lifted off of them. My back wasn’t constantly sore anymore, I didn’t find myself dozing off and my thoughts stopped drifting randomly.

  I stopped waking up in a frenzied, panicked state, trying to cling onto vague nightmares as mysterious terrors whispered in my ears.

  “You know… for everything,” I smiled softly, “for taking me out to Yrd and looking out for me and all that stuff… and, uh… for standing up to Mother as well. Sorry, she was a bit rough on you, wasn’t she?”

  Setsuna just frowned politely as she tossed away an empty charred leaf wrapper for a full one.

  “‘Twas nothing. ‘Tis not some great valor or mythic bravery to care for one’s friends, it is simply mine obligation, the least, most meagre of challenges one should be willing to endure for thy companions.”

  I giggled.

  “Well, that might be so, but just about everyone else in Arden would have just keeled over and died if they had to face Mother in single combat.”

  Of course, given the tense atmosphere in Arden, Mother wasn’t just going to let the two of us just walk out unsupervised with nothing to guarantee my safety.

  Setsuna kept her word though, and proved with her sword that she was capable of keeping me safe…

  Well, sort of.

  She did end up with a lot of severe burn wounds that I spent far too long panicking over, trying to heal.

  It all worked out in the end, so there was that I guess.

  Setsuna frowned, scowling.

  I got the impression she wasn’t thinking about Mother though.

  “‘Twere merely flesh wounds. Thy mother, despite thy harsh voice and stare, is one of kindness and a gentle heart, in the end. Unlike that wretched bag of miserable skin, a blight upon all elven society, who prances around stroking his silly, brittle beard with a fake jolly smile plastered on his face, hiding the truth of his inane cruelt-”

  I snorted, holding back my laughter.

  Setsuna huffed.

  I dug my way through the rest of the fish in my lap, enjoying the cool morning and letting the worries slowly fade.

  “So, any special plans for the day? Or are we just going to continue on the rest of the usual pilgrimage?”

  The swordswoman just looked to the side and tugged at her blade, unlodging it from the dirt as she flicked it clean.

  “Nay, unless thou hadst thy own designs. If thou wilt, then we shall take the winding, offbeat path, if not, then through the caverns we delve, and to the next tier of Yrd we ascend.”

  “Hmm,” I pondered the matter, “you already finished greeting and sparring with Skoll and Hati, right? That’s everyone on this tier, then…”

  She just nodded.

  “Indeed. Unto them, my respects have been paid, and in kind, I was blessed with the opportunity to test myself against them once more.”

  She blinked, frowning.

  “Hmm, I had nigh forgotten, whilst I was facing them, thou travelled off on thy own to scavenge and forage, no?”

  “Mm, yeah.”

  We still weren’t that high up Yrd yet, the wildlife around this height weren’t that dangerous yet. They were Calamity-tier at best, with maybe the two wolves that Setsuna fought yesterday being equal to Archfiend-tier when they fought together.

  I wasn’t really that worried about how she handled herself on this part of the mountain. I was sure she could take them on without injury, she didn’t really need to me watch over her battles and fix her up after she was done just yet.

  That would be for when we climbed further up.

  “Whilst thou wert gone, I relayed unto them thy plight. They offered their blessings not only to me, but to thee as well, and were even kind enough to leave behind a gift for thee.”

  She stood up, her now-dried towel hanging onto her body by the tiniest of threads, and shuffled through her tattered robe hung off to the side, throwing a small gift wrapped in leaves towards me.

  This was a surprise.

  The creatures on Yrd were much less friendly towards Mother and I – they weren’t hostile or anything, but they usually preferred to stay out of the way and mind their own business when I climbed Yrd with her in my younger years – compared to Setsuna, who they would loudly greet and almost childishly beckon and goad into fighting with them.

  I curiously unfurled the gift in my lap.

  “T-this!” I gasped.

  Rainbow coloured herbs, leaves with stem of gold, wobbly globules of prismatic dew that mystically held their shape.

  “They just gave this to you?”

  Setsuna blinked.

  “Is it valuable? I did not look at what was gifted to thee.”

  “Very,” I gaped.

  They were some of the rarest objects on this mountain, so rare that most encyclopedias did not even document their existence. The only reason I knew of them was because Mother’s personal records contained notes hinting at their existence, but even in all the years I spent exploring Yrd, I had never managed to find these fabled ingredients myself.

  “I’ll give the two my thanks if we come across them again,” I chuckled, quickly wrapping the herbs back and stashing them away in a secure satchel.

  “It’ll be a lot of help to the people back in Arden if I could get these back to a workshop and brew something with them.”

  For a moment, there was an imperceptible frown on Setsuna’s face as she took in my words, but it was gone before I could question why she looked like that.

  I smiled, rolling the satchel around in my hand briefly as I thought about everyone back home.

  If I stepped out beyond the treeline and looked down the mountain, I would surely see Arden’s iconic walls from here.

  Are they okay?

  I paused.

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  I put the satchel away.

  “Alright, we should probably get a move on. Still have a lot higher to climb.”

  Setsuna just nodded as she tossed away the last of the burnt leaf wrappings.

  She stood up and casually swung her robe over herself, before flicking her blade towards the fire.

  The moisture in the air gathered on its edge and coalesced, magically swelling into a small tide that was flung towards the campfire, putting it out.

  It didn’t take much longer for me to pack up all of our belongings and supplies.

  I gave one last look at the empty campsite behind us before we started the day off.

  What if they’re attacking Arden right now?

  “Estelle.”

  I blinked.

  “Yeah, I’m coming! Just making sure I didn’t forget anything!”

  I spun around, jogging to catch up to Setsuna.

  You could be there.

  You could be helping.

  I left the forest behind, and we climbed higher.

  Arden was just a bit more distant after that.

  What if he’s there?

  What if it’s your fault?

  What if nothing’s left by the time you get back?

  I blinked as we made our way up the main river, spotting a strange silhouette in the distance sitting in front of the cave that would take us higher.

  “Huh, is that him, Setsuna?”

  I tried squinting at the vague shape, hovering my palm above my brow to give me focus, but to my regret, my eyes had still yet to fully recover from the strain I had put them under over the last month.

  “Indeed, Garmr awaits,” she nodded, confirming my suspicion.

  I sighed in aggrievance.

  “I swear… why do all of the animals on Yrd act so strangely around you, specifically? I could hardly find a single one of them when I went out by myself when I was younger, but they’re all just begging for your attention?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “It would be nice if I could be friends with some of them.”

  Setsuna just smiled wryly.

  “Perhaps ‘tis a blessing. Rarely, but more than once, I haft heard sparse tales of wayward travellers who embark to Yrd’s peak, seeking its mystic waters or otherworldly medicines. Oft does that tale end with a perilous encounter of a mystical beast. Thou should consider thyself lucky this mountain’s natives do not consider thee an intruder.”

  “Hm, is that so?” I raised an eyebrow, “Wasn’t aware there were many other elven wanderers.”

  “Nay,” she shook her head, “of course, not elven travellers. ‘Tis a sore truth that does me pain to confess, but my people are most solitary, most reclusive. ‘Twas not elves I had heard it from, but humans.”

  “Right…”

  I was suddenly reminded of something.

  “Actually, that might explain it, now that I think about it.”

  “Hm?”

  “Do you happen to know anything about the history of this mountain? Or maybe anything about ancient elven history?”

  “Nay, but I assume now they are tied closer than one might assume upon first glance?”

  “Yup, apparently, Yrd might not have been a fictitious goddess. There was apparently a real trio of elven sisters who left the Hinanhoro’s refuge in search of land untouched by the calamity of the Lightless Century, and it’s probable they found this mountain. ‘Yrd’ might have just been the name that the ancient people gave to the elf who watched over this place.”

  “Hm, so, perhaps the creatures of this mountain see me as a descendant of their previous caretaker? How does one uncover this knowledge, anyways?”

  I smiled.

  “It was something Luna discovered the other week, all those years holed up in the library finally paid off. I’m proud of her, really… she’ll be a great witch when she gets just a bit older.”

  “Hm, I see.”

  Setsuna just trailed off and frowned.

  I chuckled.

  Well, I couldn’t expect too much from her. Not everyone was like Hayate, so quick and eager to forge connections with strangers.

  It wasn’t like Luna was a friend of her own. She just happened to be the sister of one of her friends, who she maybe encountered once in a while in Nindo’s halls or saw a fleeting glimpse of when she stayed over during vacation.

  There wasn’t much time for small talk, as we made it to the cave’s entrance not long after.

  The ferocious beast standing guard in front of it rose up on its great, furry legs, its colossal shadow towering over us.

  A gargantuan hound stared us down, eerie sanguine mist pouring from its sharp maw as it breathed.

  Its snout was painted red, the deep, unsettling colour stretching back across its fur, dirtying its body and giving its front claws an appearance of being soaked with blood.

  The bloody ashen creature, despite its menacing appearance, simply bowed its head in respect as we approached.

  “Harken, O ancient guardian,” Setsuna reciprocated in kind, forming one hand into a fist and covering it with her other hand, bowing slightly alongside the salute, “to thee I pay my respects.”

  To the side, I just quietly nodded and smiled, bowing as well before stepping off to the side to make space for what was about to happen.

  Wolves and hounds were fairly common sights on Yrd. According to myth… or, uh, well, maybe that was history now, the goddess Yrd had packs of them she used to watch over her wellspring, and even now, thousands of years after her passing, they remained vigilant in their duty, attacking all outsiders who dared to covet Yrd’s sacred waters.

  Well, outsiders other than Setsuna, Mother and myself, apparently.

  Anyways, the increased presence of canines, such as Skoll and Hati that Setsuna greeted yesterday and Garmr in front of us, indicated we were truly approaching the upper tier of Yrd.

  Tension slowly thickened the air, rendering the surroundings quiet.

  The silence was only broken by the calm trickle of the river flowing from the cave’s dark depths.

  “Estelle,” Setsuna calmly called out as she drew her sword and widened her stance, “Wilt thou do the honours?”

  I sighed, walking up to touch the river with my fingertips before plucking out a smooth stone.

  “Alright then, you two,” I smiled, tossing the rock around in my hand, “when the stone hits the river, that’s the signal okay? Three, two, one… and… up it goes.”

  The rock hurtled upwards through the air, and the two combatants readied themselves.

  Garmr’s claws dug into the ground as it growled.

  Setsuna narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip.

  The two did not pay attention to the forest, river or even the rock flying through the air, only looking at each other’s eyes.

  A splash of water was the only cue they needed.

  The hound recklessly letting out an earsplitting howl that by itself would have easily disoriented any ill-prepared fighter.

  Setsuna just grit her teeth and fought through the feeling of her bones rattling, regaining control of her body as she dived to the side, rolling into the stony riverbank and wetting her feet.

  She flicked her blade upwards, splitting the river and spraying misty water up into the air.

  She exhaled, her breath freezing as she calmed herself and steeled her heart, rendering her soul as cold as ice.

  Her body burst through the mist as she leapt upwards, dragging the moisture behind her on her sword as it slowly froze into a rain of icy needles tracing the arc of her blade.

  A mighty yell left her mouth as she spun and swung the sword downwards, sending the icicles downwards.

  Despite its massive size, Garmr was surprisingly agile, as it leapt from side to side, avoiding most of the damage letting most of the icicles pass to the ground harmlessly.

  Still, the projectiles did their job, and frost slowly crept from the icicles as they landed, freezing the land beneath.

  Setsuna swung back down towards the ground, impaling her blade through the now frosty ground as Garmr resumed its advance, its jaws slowly creeping closer.

  Something crackled as she twisted her blade deep into the dirt.

  First, the ground rumbled and tremored, then the ice suddenly spread, enveloping the entire riverbank in frost, leading the massive hound to slip and tumble.

  I raised an eyebrow curiously from the side where I sat.

  ‘Tranquil Waters’ to freeze the water, ‘Swallow Flock’ to guide them, and then an alteration of her Western Blade’s ‘Stone Plate’s Resonance’ – her main art for altering the battlefield – to freeze the arena, hm?

  It seemed like she was learning from her previous battles at least, and was actually trying to minimise Garmr’s ability to move instead of just trying to clash on equal terms.

  But that by itself wouldn't be enough now, would it?

  Even if you robbed Garmr of its physical abilities, those were far from the reason few Adventurers had ever made it past this cave.

  A sharp claw slammed into the icy dirt, breaking it apart and sending sharp cracks through it steeped with red miasma.

  Wisps of sanguine mist gathered into threads and thrashed around, looking like tentacles of blood.

  Garmr wasn't about to let go of control of the battlefield’s condition, not when that was its speciality.

  It let off a derisive snort and flicked away at some of the frost encroaching on its paw and slowing it down, as if offended by the prospect of being challenged on its own strengths.

  Red whips flickered towards Setsuna, snapping as they lashed out.

  Despite the dozen or so appendages striking her all at once, Setsuna kept her calm, taking on a defensive stance and parrying away the blows, still keeping her eyes focused on the massive hound.

  More miasma poured out of Garmr’s maw as it bent down, preparing to lunge towards her.

  The ice surrounding Setsuna fractured more and more, pillars of red mist seeping through the cracks.

  Garmr’s claws dug into the ground.

  The swordswoman’s keen eye snapped it, and she acted at once.

  Her grip on her blade slackened, and she spun around, swinging it in a wide arc around her as she let out a massive yell.

  Wind weaved on her blade, tracking her spin and spiralling into a massive tornado slowly marching towards her foe.

  It was too late for the hound to change its course, nevertheless, it fully committed itself to its attack.

  The miasma pouring out of its mouth coated the creature in a terrifying crimson shroud as it leapt, covering it in a misty armor that once terrified wayward travellers.

  What would have ordinarily been an instantaneous charge that tore through any defence was slowed to a manageable speed, as Garmr struggled to pounce through both the field of frost beneath its feet as well as the tornado facing it head-on.

  By the time it managed to break through, Setsuna had just enough time to cleanly dodge to the side, leaving the hound to smash into nothing as its charge came to an end.

  But the exchange was far from over, that was just the opening gauntlet that she needed to clear to not instantly be taken out of the fight.

  The beast shrouded in red ferociously swiped at the swordswoman, caging her in as the tendrils of blood independently struck at her, messing up her guard and almost tripping her several times, only to be barely fended off by feats of superhuman agility.

  It was a losing battle though; Setsuna had to maintain her concentration, Garmr did not.

  An emerald eye flickered to the ground beneath.

  Setsuna frowned, slowly shifting her stance and redirecting their frenzied dance towards the riverbank, whose mystical waters mysteriously pushed back against the encroaching frost and continued to flow freely.

  The rusted blade dragged itself along the stones of the riverbank, kicking up sparks.

  “Nichibotsu!”

  Cold calm was replaced by a sharp ferocity, igniting the sparks into a pillar of fire that cleaved through the beast’s shadowy armour.

  Yellow flames swelled and burst into explosive hues of orange and purple, beating back the darkness to reveal the dirty red fur.

  The hound howled in pain, reeling back from the blow as it tried to recover its defences, buying its time with its bloody tendrils.

  Still, Setsuna had found her opportunity, and she wasn’t going to let it go so easily.

  She gripped her sword tightly with both hands, collecting the swelling sunset on her blade, condensing its flames onto the edge as she spun around, fending off the never-ending onslaught of crimson spears.

  The bright orange light of Setsuna’s technique disappeared, leaving behind only the faint smell of something singing, a tense heat that dried my tongue, and a glimmer of bright silver light concentrated along her blade’s edge, giving the illusion a sharp, pristine blade.

  She narrowed her eyes.

  After sunset, followed moonrise. A sequence I was now familiar with after nearly seven years by her side.

  “Tsukinode.”

  She swung her sword downwards.

  Moonlight parted the crimson mist, dispelling all the tentacles and the beast’s shadowy armour in one fell strike.

  I gave off an impressed hum as she struck true with her blade.

  Okay, maybe I wasn’t familiar with that specific variation. When I last saw her, she was still bound by the restriction of needing to descend with ‘Sunset’ and swing upwards with ‘Moonrise’, but it seemed like she was capable of using that technique in either direction now.

  Well, either way, the damage was done, and blood – real blood – spurted out of the massive gash in Garmr’s side, sending it tumbling backwards as the frost beneath evaporated from the intense heat of Setsuna’s strike.

  The hound limped back into an upright position as the viscous liquid continued pouring out of its side, staining the ground beneath.

  It narrowed its eyes dangerously at Setsuna, growling to shrug off the pain of its wound.

  The beasts of Yrd were not so weak as to be forced into cowardice from a single wound, that was not why this mountain had remained untouched by civilisation to this day, thousands of years since they came to guard this wellspring.

  And of them all, even the legendary, demigod-like creatures that ruled near the peak of Yrd, Garmr was the least likely to be disheartened by the sight of its own blood.

  If anything, its presence only made it stronger.

  The blood oozing out of its wound began to twist, distorting and swelling as it bubbled uncomfortably, before slowly evaporating into a form similar to the crimson mist it weaponised before.

  Only this time, the stench of blood was unmistakably strong, overpowering all of our other senses.

  Setsuna couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose in disgust, almost breaking her composure and gagging as the half-rotten, iron-like smell filled the air.

  The air slowly became thick and moist, tinged with red.

  I looked down at my sleeves, wincing in disgust at the red hue slowly creeping up my sleeves.

  After casting a quick bit of rudimentary cleaning magic, I picked up all my belongings and scooted back a bit further, just enough out of range to not be affected by the fog that shrouded the river.

  I narrowed my eyes, trying to make out what was happening within the thick depths of the red shroud.

  Ugh, well, it wasn’t much.

  Sometimes I’d see a flash of steel or a spark there, or a massive shadow and a swipe of a tail, or a thick almost solid trail of red almost tracing out the shape of a claw, but for the most part, the second half of the battle was left only to my imagination, with only the sounds of the two combatants to guide it.

  Well, whatever was going on in there, I hope Setsuna was holding up okay.

  “Ame-no-Nuboko!”

  I felt the ground grumble and rupture, followed by a massive burst of pressure that seemingly uncovered a new spring on the mountain, sending up a geyser of purified water up through the sky, momentarily dispelling the fog.

  I blinked.

  Both combatants looked considerably worse for wear, with Setsuna’s arms being littered with claw and bite marks with blisters on her feet that slowly started to leech blood.

  Garmr was no better, with fresh scars littering all four of its legs, its blood bubbling and boiling to refuel the concealing mist. In a way, it was only really getting stronger as it grew more injured, having more and more blood at its disposal to use.

  The two disappeared from view again as a bloodthirsty howl shook the nearby trees, condensing the fog and almost making it completely opaque.

  Curiously, I leaned forward and swiped at the edge of the fog.

  Ew. Yuck. Yeah, I’m not doing that again.

  Good on Setsuna for being able to stand inside there, I guess.

  Is it really worse than the hellish fire and ice you faced that day?

  I grimaced as I shook my hand, flicking off the grimy blood residue that gathered on my nails, retreating a bit further back.

  Well, anyways, I hoped Setsuna would be able to wrap this up soon.

  Even though technically, Garmr was far from the strongest beast on Yrd, with the likes of Eikthyrnir or Fenrir able to force it to submit with a single glare – the former of whom Setsuna was sometimes able to match on a lucky day – its unique attributes made it a terrible opponent in practice.

  Unlike those two creatures, Garmr was a hunter, easily aroused by the scent of blood – no matter whose it was that was spilled – and revelling in the heat of battle.

  By far, its most dangerous technique, as recorded by a few unlucky adventurers who sought to steal some of Yrd’s treasure, was what I saw before me, this thick red blinding mist of blood.

  Not only did blood empower all of its physical abilities, more importantly, it robbed its prey of all their senses while slowly wearing down their mobility, fueling its own strongest attribute in the process – its sense of smell.

  For an elf, being robbed of their senses – their connection to land, to nature – was one of the most terrifying things they could be put through, but for Setsuna specifically, it was even more of a death sentence, as she required them to anchor herself and find her balance in the world to drift her soul into any of the Cardinal Directions to utilise her Four Blades.

  I heard her guttural roar break through the fog.

  A flash of light.

  I caught a small whiff of something burnt.

  The flame quickly spread through the fog, lighting the mist itself aflame and filling the forest with a putrid smell.

  Garmr howled in pain as it tried to reclaim control of its territory, but the small moment of hesitation finally gave Setsuna the space she needed.

  “Azumaken.”

  Her voice was crystal clear, piercing through the veil of blood.

  Somehow, I was even able to make out her exact location as she exhaled, puffing out a small, pure breath of mist that almost shone amongst the blurred crimson shroud.

  “Hachikata.”

  A small, gentle gust of wind blew past my cheek, making me look at my flying braids.

  “Kumowari-Ao.”

  ‘Blue That Parts the Clouds.'

  A blinding bright blue, the fresh smell of falling leaves.

  A gentle truth-revealing wind caressed my cheek, decisively splitting the fog in two and dispersing it into nothing, revealing the damaged riverbed that laid underneath.

  Water resumed trickling down the river. Leaves rustled in the wind.

  In the distance, I could hear the gushing of waterfalls.

  I blinked.

  Setsuna knelt at the centre of the battlefield, one hand positioned underneath her lips, flexing her fingers as if releasing a pinch to guide her breath, her other arm fully extended out to the side at ear level, slicing through that very same exhalation.

  My eyes drifted across.

  All the way on the other side, slammed into the rocks on the cave’s wall and splattering blood all over them, Garmr fell, unsticking itself from the fresh crater on the cliff face.

  Still, even as it shivered and limped, the fight in its eyes did not die.

  If things continued, it would go on and fight until its last breath.

  I guess this was my sign to jump in.

  I sighed, hopping up from where I sat, clapping my hands together.

  “Alright, that’s enough of that, you two. I think you’ve roughed each other up enough, yeah? Let’s just call this one a win for Setsuna, shall we? Given that she got past your big signature move and all, Garmr.”

  Despite the immense pain it was suffering, the hound still somehow managed to give me an offended look, arrogantly scoffing at me.

  It growled threateningly, as if promising pain if I continued to stand in its way.

  “Aw, come on, don’t be like that!” I smiled, picking up my staff and approaching the massive creature, “look, if you really want to, you can count it as a victory for yourself, since you managed to force out one of Setsuna’s elusive Eighth Forms, that’s one for you, one for her!”

  Garmr reeled in disgust at the notion of a ‘draw’, almost collapsing onto its back as it did so.

  It seemed like that idea was sufficient to kill whatever fighting or hunting spirit it had left, as it sat down obediently quickly after that.

  “Well, that’s a no, I think, so… hm, that’s… four-eight Setsuna-Garmr? Come on, cheer up, you still got a winning record on your hands!”

  The hound gave off a small whine of superiority, lifting its head proudly at the reminder and sending a smug look at my companion.

  As it did so, the wounds on its body disappeared as I ran my staff across its body, restoring it into pristine condition.

  Behind me, Setsuna rolled her eyes and groaned.

  “Estelle, do not encourage the mutt’s behaviour.”

  I just giggled as I finished up, giving the wolf-like creature a healthy smack with my staff.

  “Oh, come on, Setsuna,” I spun around, facing her with a cheesy grin and approaching her, “you’re just mad that you have a worse record against the Archfiend-tier gatekeeper than the actual Cataclysm-tier threats on the tier of the mountain its actually protecting.”

  Setsuna narrowed her eyes at me and huffed, but made no verbal disagreement.

  She looked away and crossed her arms, displeased, as I waved my staff over her.

  “Well, that’s everyone on this part of the mountain, right? Nothing left but to go through the cave and go up, right? Come on, let’s go and get a move on.”

  I nodded towards the cave behind Garmr as I walked off to the side to pick up all of our supplies again.

  Setsuna just sighed, holstering her blade back on the sash on her hips as she slowly approached the massive hound.

  “O ancient guardian, I thank thee for blessing this lowly traveller once again on thy eternal pilgrimage. Mayst we have thy permission to pass by thy caverns?”

  She bowed lowly in gratitude for their spar.

  Garmr just growled, rolling its eyes and head before trudging off, leaving the two of us alone.

  I let out a small groan as I hiked all of our supplies higher up onto my back.

  “Alright then, let’s go! Up next, your ol’ meditation waterfall, yeah?”

  We disappeared into the depths of the cave’s murky, wet darkness, once again growing a little more distant from the world beneath us.

  You are alone.

  It was nice to be spending time with a friend again after a stressful few months.

  A couple days had passed since we came to the next tier of the mountain.

  This part was always the slowest for us to climb in our trips, and this occasion was no different.

  It wasn’t so much the wildlife or terrain, as much as it was that it was simply a scenic place, perfect for relaxing and taking a break.

  The waterfalls on this part of the mountain were especially gorgeous, and Setsuna had picked several of them out many years ago as her personal favourite training spots, often meditating for hours or sometimes entire days during our pilgrimages.

  At other times, she used the various natural landmarks to practice her higher numbered sword forms, letting the incredibly dense natural mana flowing through the landscape refine her craft and guide her blade.

  “Hey, Setsuna, you there?”

  I called out as I approached the campsite.

  I heard the sound of rustling leaves and shaking branches as I approached.

  It seems I arrived just in time to witness the end of one of Setsuna’s many training routines.

  I leaned against a nearby tree, looking on as Setsuna’s blade blurred out of existence, cutting through individual leaves while leaving behind no windflow or slipstream, barely disrupting the gentle sway of the other leaves as they traced their path to the ground, only to seamlessly, almost naturally split in half as they glided down.

  She gave me a quick glance before withdrawing her blade.

  “I assume that thou hast concluded with thy private affairs?”

  “Yup,” I smiled, idly fingering the brim of my hat.

  It wasn’t just the fact that Setsuna liked this part of the mountain that made us linger a bit longer.

  I had graves that I had to maintain around this layer as well, troublesome as they were to reach.

  “Let’s go get cleaned off before we find something to eat before the evening.”

  Setsuna just nodded, spinning on her heel to walk to a nearby lake.

  I quickly followed behind her, grabbing one of our bags before we left.

  It didn’t take long for us to arrive.

  Hm, that was odd.

  I blinked at the sight of what should have been a beautiful waterfall flowing into a solitary lake.

  Well, it still did look pretty, but something felt… off?

  I don’t know, the water seemed a little less… shiny than usual?

  Ah, whatever, I’d figure it out later. It looked clean enough for now.

  I was kind of sweating like crazy because of how intense it was to reach that remote location so early in the morning. I’d prefer to bathe sooner rather than later.

  I started humming idly as I started to disrobe, inching closer to the water’s edge.

  “Halt.”

  I froze at the sudden flash of rusty steel that blocked my path.

  I looked down at my feet, finding Setsuna’s sword stopping me from getting any closer to the lake.

  “Something is amiss.”

  I frowned, slowly putting my clothes back on and grabbing my staff.

  Well, far be it from me to say that an elf’s sense of nature was wrong.

  And well, at least I wasn’t crazy and Setsuna also felt it.

  We walked off to the side, where the lake slowly flowed back into a river before rushing off beyond a cliff face.

  Setsuna lowered her blade into the running water and waited.

  She frowned, not enjoying the way in which the blade cut through the water.

  Something unnatural… I think.

  I blinked in confusion, but said nothing, giving her the time she needed to reach her conclusion.

  The elf bent down and closed her eyes, relying on her sharpened senses as she ran her hand through the water and lifted a small puddle of it to her mouth.

  She gagged in repulsion, spitting the liquid out of her mouth.

  She snarled as she flicked the remaining droplets of water away from her lips.

  “Something wicked has poisoned the streams of Yrd.”

  “W-what?” I blanched.

  “I know not of what it is. This… darkness, whatever it is, is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It is most unnatural, most disconcerting… so alien and foreign… even if my logical mind says otherwise, my elven ancestry is screaming at me that such an energy cannot be from Manusyara.”

  I froze, slowly drifting from confusion to panic.

  You know what it is.

  “What do we do?”

  Before Setsuna could answer me, we heard a high-pitched yell from deeper and higher in the forest.

  Nothing needed to be said.

  We rushed off at once to the source of the sound, quickly climbing up the rocky waterfall as fast as we could and running through the forest.

  The smell of blood slowly drifted into my nostrils, something about it much more repulsive than what was spilled from Garmr.

  We came to a still as we approached something.

  The source of the earlier scream was still much further up, possibly even on the next layer of the mountain, but the sight in front of us was more than alarming enough to bring us to a stop.

  The unconscious body of a large fox, its tails flickering with a ghostly blue flame that barely managed to stay lit as it drifted in and out of the realm of death, bled out as it laid itself against a tree.

  “What… what could have done this?”

  I paled, rushing to its side and examining its condition and looking over the exact nature of its wounds.

  Why do this?

  To this creature, to this place?

  Why did it have to be Yrd-

  Something flashed in my mind.

  A story I had just recently heard.

  Three sisters from a time long ago.

  A serpent devouring the roots of a tree.

  You know who did this.

  You don’t know his face, or the colour of his eyes.

  But you know it’s him.

  I bit my lip.

  It was still alive, I could still save it.

  I quickly held my staff over it, grunting as I pushed as much mana as I could into it to bring it back from the brink of death, bringing small beads of sweat to my forehead.

  I wasn’t exactly an expert on healing half-spirits, so it cost me way more energy than I would have liked.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as its condition stabilised.

  However, that relief was short-lived.

  A second, much greater, much more familiar howl definitively echoed from the highest layer of the mountain.

  “There is no time to waste,” Setsuna narrowed her eyes, drawing her blade immediately.

  “No, just a second,” I hurriedly shook my head, quickly running my hands through my pouch and taking out a few emergency catalysts and a stick of chalk.

  I didn’t want to bring these originally, but Mother refused to let me leave until I packed them.

  I hated to admit it, but it seemed like her paranoia paid off this time.

  Why couldn’t it just be a peaceful trip?

  Shit, no… the design I was thinking of wouldn’t work. Not at this altitude.

  I had to make it bigger.

  I took a large step back and drew a massive circle in the ground, hastily filling it in with a series of runes while filling its centre with a variety of miscellaneous catalysts.

  “Estelle, what art thou doing?”

  “I-I need to send a signal back home to everyone, this might be dangerous.”

  There, that would do.

  I put the chalk back inside the pouch at my hip and slammed my hand onto the magic circle, infusing it with mana as it lit up bright red.

  I felt my hands start to singe.

  I held back a groan of pain as the circle lit aflame and exploded, igniting the catalysts and sending them high up into the sky and temporarily breaking apart the clouds in a massive bright red explosion.

  That would be visible even all the way down where Arden was.

  “T-that’ll do,” I winced, cradling my burnt hands.

  The usual emergency flare spell that was standard practice and issue wouldn’t have been enough. I needed to bungle a few of the functions to get the required brightness at this altitude, even if it came at some temporary pain.

  “Everyone in Arden should be able to see that. They know that’s the emergency flare. Mother will be sending up everyone she can, she’ll know that I’m the only one who could have lit it.”

  My hands could be healed, but the signal had to be sent.

  I hurriedly healed my hands, biting back the wince of the fresh burns as I reached for my staff.

  I looked up towards Yrd’s peak.

  “Come on, there’s no more time to waste!”

  We got up and started sprinting.

  Yrd, Fate’s Wellspring

  Recommended Equipment LVL: 80 65*

  Labyrinth Tier: 2 4*

  Unique Drops: Lifelight Dew, Seven-Coloured Sage, Holy-Crowned Basil… (see all)**

  [*Story Mode applied. Please clear Story Mode to access the full Labyrinth freely.]

  [**A mysterious poison has befouled the waters of Yrd, rendering its treasures unobtainable. Purge the impurity corrupting the sacred mountain to gain access to these materials.]

  Harken, O wanderer, to first weft of Manusyara

  Where river was threaded, and fate flowed like snowmelt

  Where roots drank light, and where the trees sang,

  Here at Yrd, three sisters once watched.

  Do not forget their sacrifice.

  Do not forget to them what thou owes.

  Do not lose sight of what was precious.

  Do not lose sight of what thou holds.

  Do not lose sight of what thou yearns.

  The time has come, child. The flow of fate cannot be halted forever.

  Assemble Your Seekers*

  [S-Rank] Setsuna 'Truth-Piercing Eye' [Apotheosis] (LVL55)

  [?-Rank] Estelle '???' [Burden] (LVL45)

  [LOCKED]

  [LOCKED]

  [*Special team has been applied for Story Mode. Please clear Story Mode to access the full Labyrinth freely.]

  Are you prepared to enter this Labyrinth?

  [YES] [NO]

  loading…

  Was a bit busy.

  Small calm before the storm.

  I’ll play around with adding some small glossary stuff in these notes if I don’t have much else to say and depending on how important it is and whether or not it might be relevant later.

  Lifelight Dew, Seven-Coloured Sage, Holy-Crowned Basil

  Rare remedies that have only been seen a few times in human history, rumoured to have miraculous properties that defy all logic. You could make a fortune selling these off to an Alchemist or Priests of Sol, or commissioning them for something using these. Can be utilised as an ingredient in Alchemy or Anointment.

  Alchemy

  A branch of magecraft focusing on transmuting or transforming physical catalysts and ingredients into a magical product. Hire an Alchemist with the proper specialties to either create special items to alter specific affixes on your Equipment or to create powerful potions.

  Anointment

  A traditional ceremony that one undergoes when swearing their Oath at a Creed. Priests will bless the oathtaker with oils, gracing them with the light of Sol on their journey. You may hire Priests to create Anointing Oils with the given ingredients, which may be used to apply unique bonuses onto Oaths.