The days went by slower than I'd like them to. There was nothing for miles on end but the forest. We did pass a hidden lake by, but that's about how interesting this whole excursion was. The civilization the Gleamare outpost boasted about was a mere memory as I swatted protruding branches and made sure my next step wouldn't shatter my ankle into pieces.

Despite the spell Arzo, the psalm spiria, casted to regulate the temperature, I was sweating underneath my armor. When I first asked Cavya if I could at least walk without it, I got a "no" said with the rationale, the implication, and some words of caution involved. If he somehow ended up in a corporate company, he'd be winning over the entire board with his polite emails. Seriously.

Nazran and the other creature spiria, Revery, were up front, talking animatedly about their skills. They're no doubt comparing notes about their creatures and how they could summon them from the netherside. Once, when we were resting around a campfire, I attempted to join in on the conversation.

"Wouldn't you accidentally summon nether beasts if you use your abilities to summon your creatures?" I asked, shoving the last piece of sappuri-on cake into my mouth before the basket could reach the others behind me. "Do tell me how that works."

Nazran sipped from his cup of steaming valerye tea. "That's certainly the danger when spreading our magic into the thin veils of the netherside in crafting our creatures," he said. "That's why we should never manipulate the shadows beyond our capacity. But the danger is nonexistent if the creature you're crafting doesn't require too much of your special attribute."

Somewhere in the unseen distance, a squeal of frustration rang. I was sure my name was included in it, and it came from no other than Seline. I made sure to hide my smile as Revery added to Nazran's sentiment. "Besides, we only craft when it's necessary. Most of the time, our crafted beasts stay that way when they retreat back to the netherside," she said. "A creature spiria's job is not just to craft creatures but to be able to summon them as many times as possible as well."

I opened my mouth to ask something else when Revery leaned to the side in askance. "Why is Seline fuming?" she asked. "She's the most level-headed person I know. It's rare to see her on edge."

I snorted, earning a raised eyebrow from Nazran. "Level-headed? Nah," I waved my hand in front of my face to dispel the growing mockery in my face. The fact that me and Hye-jin came from another world which saw this one was a game still needed to be hidden. Along with that, my previous relationship with her. "She's as level-headed as a piranha. Trust me on that."

Revery blinked. "Pira-what?"

"Oh," I shook my head. "Just a fish from where I grew up. Nothing important."

The spiria hummed, then raised a hand to wave Seline over. "I can't believe someone was petty enough to finish all the sappuri-on cakes before I even get to try one," Seline said, making trenches against the soft forest soil with the tip of her metal boots. "I've always wanted to try them."

I turned away from the conversation as Revery placated Seline and encouraged her to sit on the same log as us, ignoring the pointed glare Seline was giving me. Consider it payback for "accidentally" giving me stale and cold tea the day before. And for "accidentally" stealing one of my knives, forcing me to use my sword to cut up fruits before Cavya and the others got back from their hunt. That still earned me a good laugh from Mirani and Yaora whenever it came up in a conversation.

Of course, "accidentally" devouring the cakes—small, pink blobs made of stuff akin to glutinous rice flour—wasn't my first offense. I might or might not have consumed all of the hot water we use for washing ourselves right before Seline's turn and "accidentally" filled the bucket with the cold kind from the river. The strangled "Gae-sae-ggi!" ringing from the makeshift chambers had never sounded so good in my ears, even if I was the one being alluded to.

I didn't even recall how we started the back and forth. She might have "accidentally" stepped on my foot and I didn't stop myself from "accidentally" hitting her with a bundled up dishrag I was passing to Heather. Honestly, it's a blur now.

Served her right for barging into my life like that. Our first real conversation since we found ourselves in Solarlume still rang in my ears. The things she accused me of—stealing her life from her, ruining her life, and making her miserable—were unfounded. I didn't steal her life from her, I didn't ruin her life like how she ruined mine, and I couldn't imagine making her miserable when all I focused on all these years was to make sure she's happy.

If there was one thing she said that contained a hint of truth, the reason we ended up in this uncleanable mess we were in was because I pressed a button without waiting for her input. Then again, even if I waited for her and clicked it, would we not have entered the game? No. We'd still be here and she would just find another thing to blame me for.

Acknowledge that we're both stuck in this place, Seline had said to me in that dim corridor. Are you going to do anything about that?

Well, I was. The goal was to find enough info on how to get out of this world. Unlike her who had nothing going on in her life other than making sure she's at the top of the game development world, I had to go back to my mother and my brother who's barely past one. If I was going to do anything about that, it's to go home as immediately as possible. She's welcome to join if she wants to. I'd help her go back as well.

Then again, she's not really my responsibility. She stopped being one the moment I scrawled my signature on the bottom of The Page. As far as I was concerned, she could do whatever she wanted in her life. That's what she wanted in the first place, right?

Now, our silent tirades against each other might have stopped, it's still an unbearable cloud hanging both our heads. As both of our parties traversed the dense forest five prinks from the outpost, I had to force myself to stare ahead and avoid looking back to check if Seline was still plotting her ill-timed revenge on me.

Cavya's gloved hand snapped up. We all halted in our steps, watching as his whiskers twitched and his ears turned this way and that. He's sensing for danger. Not even a minute later, he brought his hand down and turned to us, keeping his back to Nazran and Revery who made up the front.

"I sense a strong trace of nether from the other side of the clearing," Cavya said, his other gloved hand resting over the pommel of his rapier. "We'll camp here tonight and proceed in the morning. I'm not going to risk us by going through the forest in the dark. Mirani, cast a barrier spell."

Mirani gave him a rigid salute. "On it, Cav."

Cavya didn't need to turn to us to say his line, "The rest of you, set up camp". At this point of the journey, we knew what to do the moment he declared we're going to rest at a specific place. I closed my eyes and summoned everything we needed. Yaora was doing the same beside me. As the only ones (minus Seline who insisted on keeping quiet about her ability) who could conjure space, we were tasked to store all of the camping equipment.

The others scampered off to their duties, such as setting up the tents, preparing the spaces for food preparation, and priming their weapons for the hunt for dinner. Sometimes, if I wasn't spent drawing that many items from my inventory list (since even that requires an amount of HP), I'd help out in slicing fruits and other produce others have foraged. Of course, that's only when Seline didn't beat me to it first. She seemed inclined to make me feel insignificant at every moment she could.

"We need to send two teams for foraging and firewood duty," Heather said. "Revery will be taking over the chopping duty so I don't want to see fighting over that."

Arzo scratched the back of his teal-colored head. "I'll handle the foraging," he said. "Who wants to come with?"

"I do," Trink's long ears flapped in intrigue as he picked his way towards his teammate. "I might go insane if I have to put up with the tension in this camp any longer."

Together, they stalked out Mirani's barrier and disappeared into the folds of the dark green and blue undergrowth. Heather looked around as everyone fell silent. "Firewood duty, anyone?"

Cavya and his usual team of hunters consisting of Nazran, Revery, Ahrian, and Yaora edged closer to the edge of the barrier. Mirani needed to be inside to control her spell. Heather and Valren were tasked with protecting the camp and Mirani in case of an attack. That left...

"Kora and Seline," Heather's grin didn't hold back from flashing her set of shiny fangs at me. "Firewood duty. Go."

I opened my mouth but Seline beat me to it. "No," she said. "I'm not going with him."

Cavya hummed. When I whirled towards him, an intrigued and calculating expression hung on his features. "You've been at each other's throats since we arrived in the outpost," he said. "Is there something we need to know?"

"No," I said at the same time Seline said, "Yes."

I glared at her. "Don't mind her," I seethed just as she blurted, "Don't mind him."

"Stop copying me," we said to each other.

Our glares turned sharper. "No, you copied me first."

"Shut up," came our next jab.

"Just get married, you two," Heather waved her hand in dismissal. Been there, done that. Didn't end well. The dragonkin pointed to the uncertain forest outside Mirani's barrier. "Firewood duty. Don't make me repeat it."

Seline apparently knew how to push Heather because she rolled her eyes and stalked off. Mirani had to step out of the way to avoid getting bulldozed. I flashed her an apologetic look as I strode after Seline even when I didn't really have to.

My skin prickled when the barrier touched it. Then, as quickly as it came, it was replaced by the smooth kiss of the afternoon forest breeze. Above us, the canopies rustled and swayed, giving me a brief view of the darkening sky. I've yet to glimpse a star in Solarlume's night skies, but apart from the sun providing light every morning, there wasn't any.

Such a shame, but not a loss. Saved me a lot of effort pushing away unwanted memories.

"Hurry up, you moron," Seline's impatient tone bled through my ears, renewing that strict coil of annoyance in my gut. "The firewood isn't going to pick itself up."

I crossed my arms and retracted my armor back to my inventory. "Says the person who refused to help around with the load with her own conjured space," I said. "Don't tell me what to do. I ain't telling you yours."

Seline whipped to me, resuming her walk backwards. "Ha, you're calling it that now? Why? Are you already one of them?" she shook her head with an exasperated sigh. "It's called 'inventory'. Don't you dare forget where we are and why we're here."

There she was again—unable to let go of the past just to guilt me into losing the conversation. It wouldn't work now. Plus, I was tired of having to deal with her. I have been doing that for seven years. "Just get to work," I bent down and picked up a semi-sturdy branch that might have been snapped off by a passing critter or a breeze that blew a little too hard. "Gathering firewood is easy."

She gave me a mocking clap. "Wow, can't believe you managed to imply I won't be able to do it if it's hard," she said. "Real mature, Kora. Real mature."

I rolled my eyes and snapped another branch a few paces down. I added it to my bunch. That's two sticks. Great. Couldn't I just do a replication spell and be done with it?

The answer was another one of Cavya's stylish no's. "In missions like this, especially such as this, we are to preserve our magic for when we have no choice to use it," his voice played endlessly at the back of my head, discouraging me from ever taking the shortest route to getting the job done. At least he's nothing like Ashley who didn't seem to think I was a person.

Seline cursed a few steps ahead, snatching my attention. I found her stuck on a web of twisty branches and vines. "Stupid hair and stupid forest," she hissed as she picked at the silver strands of her hair tangled with nature.

I dropped my pile of firewood and moved to help free her. It wasn't because of some noble cause of being a bigger person and all. We were taking too much time and we took any longer, Cavya and the others would return from their respective jobs, and I, for one, didn't want to see a pissed-off cat, even if it's just a head.

My fingers worked to brush off Seline's hair off the branches despite her protests to keep away. Leave it to her to always end up with trouble even when she's not looking. Or maybe the reason why she ended up in this state was because she wasn't?

"Get away from me," she shoved me away the moment the last strands of her hair popped free. "I don't need your help."

I blew a breath and plucked a strip from a nearby vine. From its feel, it seemed durable enough. Then, before Seline could take a step further, I gripped her hair and yanked her back. "Hey! What are you—" she was cut-off when I finished tying the knot on the vine, gathering her hair to a low tail, just by her neck.

"I know you hated tying your hair, but if we're to survive in this forest without becoming prey ourselves, I suggest you start doing so," I pushed past her as she murmured something incorrigible underneath her breath.

I picked up my measly pile and moved to complete my task. Seline came up to me and I shoved my pile into her arms. "Carry that if you can't be bothered to take your fill," I said. If anything, if we didn't end up bringing back enough, Cavya's anger would fall on me and not on someone from the guest party. We've caused enough trouble for the Eastern territory's heads just by taking this mission.

Seline had the nerve to gasp in shock or in indignation—I wasn't really sure anymore. "Still treating me like a nanny, are you?" she said. "Wake up. We're not in Whiteridge anymore."

"I never treated you like one," I said. Hearing the name of the city I so wanted to forget sent another wave of fury in my gut. Why was it that whenever Seline reminded me of the past—the one we unfortunately shared—I ended up falling into her verbal traps and spiraling further and further down until I didn't know how to pull myself out. "I don't know who you lived with for you to be accusing me of the things I didn't even do."

She clicked her tongue. "Bold of you to say that," she said. "I should ask you the same question."

I closed my eyes. "For the last time," I said. "We didn't—"

"Save me the excuses, Rin," she raised a hand up and started stalking back to camp. "We both know what you did that night and what I had to go through because of you."

I stalked after her, my footsteps almost not being able to match hers. Unlike the last time we had an altercation, she was the one running now.

"Hye-jin—"

She wasn't having it, so I resorted to the only card I had and knew how to play. "If you're still blaming me for the things you are, I'll tell you that you did what you did because you chose to," I said. She stopped in her tracks, affording me some confidence that I might perhaps have been able to clap back.

I finally caught up to her. "You're too much of a hero and a martyr and that's your problem, not mine," I looked at her face but her features twisted in an inscrutable expression. Then, I drove my point home. "You don't like any of this? Well, neither do I. So suck it up and deal with it. That's what you're good at, right?"

When she wasn't able to produce an answer right away, I took it as a sign of victory and forged ahead. That's one point for me. But against what? About a million for her. She's far too sore of a loser to accept anything less. And if I was at the opposing end, then she'd do her best to make sure she doubles her score at the end of the day.

Well, now that I wasn't scared of losing her since I already did, what's to stop me from doing the same?

Mirani's barrier shimmered against my skin once more as we stepped in its influence. I had my arms crossed and I could feel the gravity pulling the corners of my lips. It had been a while since I felt this scrappy. Then, Heather's head snapped up from sharpening her broadsword and a quizzical look flashed across her face.

"You two are back but..." she pointed a clawed finger at Seline's arms. "Where's the firewood?"