I was warming my hands in front of the magical fire burning in front of me. Pillars of smoke climbed to the sky even though the fire wasn't consuming anything due to my failed firewood duty with Seline. It's a good thing Cavya was preoccupied with some details from the mission he learned on the afternoon hunt to mind it. Now, he and Heather had disappeared into one of the tents, their shadows embossed against the drawn tent flaps indicating both to be engaged in a deep conversation.

The rest of us were left to our own devices, with the strict instruction of never wandering out of Mirani's barrier. Before I turn in for the night, I should warm my hands, even for a little while. It's getting cold out here and the barrier kept every danger out but the harsh bite of the wind.

"Someone's looking sullen," Mirani's shadow and voice loomed over me. I raised my head up to find her staring down at me with her hands on her hips. "May I?"

She jerked her chin at the empty spot on the lichen-covered log I sat on. The poor tree probably fell on its own accord some time ago and stayed there. "Yeah," I scooted over, bringing my knee closer to the first tongues of the magical fire. It wouldn't ever burn through skin but it's warm enough. "Can't sleep?"

Mirani rolled her shoulders, her armor clinking as she moved to sit down. Despite the arduous trek and the far-from-pristine condition of the forest, her clothes, hair, and boots remained spotless. "With me manning the barrier, I can't," she said matter-of-factly. She craned her eyes at the near-invisible dome caging us in at the same time driving everything away.

"When are you sleeping then?" I tilted my head to one side, trying to come up with a time when Mirani claimed she would be resting. "You're out here helping out and traveling in the morning."

A light chuckle. "I can go for days without sleeping," she said. "Adventurers got to toughen up, you know? You would be having those rough patches throughout your career, so better start practicing now."

Most of her words drove a stick of fear deep into my gut. Back when this was a game, I never did stop and think about how killing monsters or trekking through forests would play out in real life. I couldn't imagine them to be so...tiring. And if this wasn't even Mirani's pinky finger, then I didn't want to picture how worse things could get from here.

"You need your rest, though," I reasoned. "Cavya mustn't be so cruel to let you go on for days keeping up this barrier and not sleeping."

She hummed. "You're right in that regard," she said with a heavy sigh. "Cavya actually has been begging me to conserve my magic."

Her blond locks swayed behind her head when she shook her head. "But I can't risk it. Not at this time. Cavya's not showing it but I can tell he's sensing something not good in this forest," she sniffed. "I don't want us to be caught off-guard when that threat finally makes itself known."

"Triggers some bad memories?" I asked when I glimpsed a dark cloud drowning the blue in her eyes.

Mirani chuckled. "I could say the same about you," she said. "What's going on between you and Seline?"

I froze. Were we that obvious? I clenched my jaw and prepared an answer, one that's enough to get me out of this situation without raising more questions.

"The truth this time, Kora," came Mirani's addition.

My gaze flicked towards her. She had a face saying she would flay me alive if I ever thought of lying to her. Again. "I've seen you act around us and her," she continued. "It's like looking at two different people, albeit wearing a single face."

Maybe because that had been the case since the beginning. Mirani couldn't have been more accurate. Kora and Rin were two people torn apart by life and love, never to be stitched together, never to be considered whole.

"How do I act around you?" I said. It didn't matter if I was stalling for time or avoiding the question. Either way, it's not the time to talk about it. I didn't think there would ever be one. It's the past. It has eaten most of my life already. I wasn't going to let it eat my future too.

If Mirani sensed my motives, she didn't show it. Instead, she rested her elbows on her thighs, spreading her feet with a skid against the forest floor. "You laugh, smile, and open yourself up," she said.

"And with her?"

Mirani looked straight into my eyes this time. Blades of ice dug into my entire being. "Like a caged animal bound for the slaughterhouse."

Everything slowed around us. The cacophony of the forest—from the clicks of nocturnal critters to the occasional rustling of leaves with the blowing breeze—faded into a dull thrum in my ears. The fire's warmth was forgotten, the smell of dying embers upturned earth losing their presence.

To the one who was truly looking, my past hurts bled out of my skin and stained whatever clothes I wore. I couldn't hide them, and with a sullen reminder hovering around me at every step, I wouldn't be able to. Maybe Hye-jin could—she's far stronger than me and the world combined—and that's what made us different.

"I'm asking you again, Kora," Mirani said. Her features were shrouded by something I only knew as concern. Or pity. It's something I've grown tired of seeing on everyone I met after everything I lived through. Was it that obvious? Was I still not whole even though I convinced myself I've already managed to put myself back together?

Mirani faced me then. "What happened between you and Seline?"

I looked away, not being able to bear the weight of the question she's throwing my way. "Nothing," I said, shooting daggers at the space between my boots. "Everything."

"Which is it?"

I blew a breath, closing my eyes to ease the growing headache in my temples. "Let's just say we've known each other for a long time that when everything ended, it's crap," I said. "She's someone who ruined my life, who's nothing more than a nuisance to me now."

When I raised my head to glance at Mirani, I found her gaze to not have wavered from my face. At all. It meant she was able to read every little thing passing through my fragile facade—one I spent years making sure never to break again. "If it's causing the team so much tension, my apologies," I said, recalling what Arzo and Trink talked about earlier before they went out to forage. "I will try to work with her the best I can."

I was done with the conversation even if Mirani wasn't. It's late. We've got an early day tomorrow as we're already moving towards the edge of the twenty prinks Heather had estimated. We have to be prepared for anything that might come our way, have our magic and body primed and ready.

"Goodnight, Mirani," I said, flashing her one last smile. I didn't wait for her to greet me back and instead focused on making it back to the tent I shared with Valren. The dragonkin didn't look up from the book he was reading while propped in his cot. I preferred it that way. Sometimes, concern and care broke a person more than built them.

I curled up on my cot, resting my head against my arm. My dreams that night were nothing but memories.

The sun was in my eyes, forcing me to shield my face with my hand like a makeshift visor on my way to follow Yaora and Valren. Seline was somewhere ahead of me along with the rest of the scouting party. Now that I realized it, even if we're a few feet apart, with the tall and thick trunks dappling our view of each other, the ones from Dragnasand formed a loose circle around them.

Yaora and Valren took the lead, trekking closely after Cavya who was in the lead along with Heather. Behind me were Nazran and Mirani. Ahrian was somewhere in the farther right, meeting up with Cavya.

Nothing was different from the way the forest moved and stayed still around us. The same smells, feel, and sights zipped by with every step we took. My boots crunched against the same layer of dried leaves and overgrown grass blades. The sun, despite being blocked by thick, multicolored canopies, shone like it's not allowed to the next day.

Cavya's gloved hand went up, fist clenched. We stopped as one, each of us whipping around to attempt to spot the danger. My hand crept to the sword Mirani made me strap to my belt while we were packing up earlier. It was the one she gave me for my match against Cavya. My eyes flitted from the trees to the stooping branches. I forced my limbs to stay still, straining my ears for any sound indicating there's trouble nearby. Nothing.

"From here, we split up," Cavya said, his voice in the range of conversational and shouting. "Valren, take two scouts with you. Mirani, you too. Yaora and Heather, come with me. The rest of you, go with any team you wish."

I saw Mirani nodding to Seline and peeling off the group along with Arzo. It's not her team, then. I turned to Valren who took Revery and Trink. Those looked like a friendlier bunch. I picked my way towards them, with the veteran dragonkin giving me a brief acknowledgement before taking the western route. Cavya and his team forged north. Ahrian and Nazran would probably take to higher ground, the former providing support from the trees and the latter scouting the skies.

Within seconds, any traces of the existence of other teams were eaten by the thickness of the forest. Ahead of us, Valren dropped to his knees and began feeling the ground with his hand. "What are we looking for?" I asked aloud, keeping my voice neutral and flat. They could hear me just fine.

Trink drew a dagger and began tapping it against any surface he could find. "Any traces of the dungeon's entrance," he said. "The one we stumbled upon was suddenly closed up before we could even make the report to the outpost. That's why it took so long for us to contact the right guild."

If I recall correctly, these guys were from the east. Gleamare was in the north. Why couldn't both territories deal with this one? "What's wrong with your guilds in the east?

I asked. "Can't they handle this job?"

"This time, I'll forgive that very Central-minded comment of yours," Trink grouched as he chipped a piece from the face of a sienna trunk. "We needed a stronger and reputable guild to handle this mission because of its unique nature."

"Which is?" I scratched the side of my face, waiting for the langkoor to get to the point.

Revery coughed into her fist as she followed after Valren, crouching and feeling the ground. "This colony of jjangkai isn't like what anyone was used to," she said. "When we scouted their western entrance two prinks from here, they congealed around a certain spot the entrance was known for."

"To put it simply," Valren stood up and dusted his clawed hands. "According to the information I gathered from Cavya, the colony has an instinct to protect something inside their nest. A leader or something just as important, we still have to confirm."

I stuck my bottom lip out. "What does a jjangkai look like?" I asked. "It helps if I knew, along with their weaknesses and familiar attack patterns."

Revery twisted the ends of her blue hair around her finger. "They are between the insect and the arachno class," she said. "Previous sightings indicate a curved stinger and mandibles which would inject poison. They're also the size of a grown spiria and have superior hearing. They're silent—you won't hear one coming for you unless you have trained and enhanced your senses."

Whoa. Sense enhancement—that's possible?

We walked further, tearing farther and farther from the other two teams. It'd be troublesome if one of us got in trouble. Every once in a while, we would stop and tap our weapons, hands, or feet against stuff. Most of the time, we weren't scoring. It's preferable. Good news. I wasn't in the mood to be chopping up vermin this early in the morning. In the afternoon, perhaps.

After a while, something itched at the back of my neck, like my hairs were standing on end. Call it instinct or whatever, but the air somehow felt...wrong. The others could sense it too, with Valren turning more and more somber the deeper we went or Revery and Trink not really wanting to talk even just to banter among themselves.

"Wait," I raised a hand when my boot landed on the soil with my next step. I've been feeling it underneath my soles for quite some time. The earth wasn't as firm as before. "Don't move."

Valren, sensing I might be on to something, followed with a nod to the scouts. Slowly, I crouched again, spreading my legs as they folded to distribute my weight. With my hand, I brushed mounds of dried leaves away, aiming to see the soil itself. A stone dropped into my gut when my fears were confirmed.

The soil was crumbly, almost like powder. I brushed some of it aside like I would sand and a streak of purple appeared. We all took sharp breaths. "Do jjangkai secrete some sort of purple goo?" I asked. "One that could harden into something like clay?"

Revery's throat bobbed when she gulped. "I-I think so," she gritted her teeth. "Yes. Yes, they do. What are you implying?"

I brushed more of the sand-like particles that have once been fertile soil. It revealed more purple streaks, curving and webbing from each other like a convoluted map of roads. "I think we're here," I said. "We're standing on top of the nest."

Valren cursed. "Do you think it's the case for the whole expanse Heather pointed out on the magigraph?" he asked.

There was only one answer and we knew it. "We need to warn Cavya and the others," I said. "They need to walk carefully so as to not break the colony's ceiling. We need to be wary of weak points and proceed slowly. Don't stand in the same space as anyone. Be mindful of our weight."

We whipped around us, but we're alone for miles and miles on end. "If there's just a way to send a message—"

A scream ripped through the entire forest. Even in my sleep, I knew who it belonged to, and as always, she has managed to find trouble. Before Valren or anyone could stop me, I was already tearing through the way we came, heading towards what's going to be the heart of the chaos.