'Screw this, I can't fall asleep again… I guess I'll go for a short walk.'
Rein had been suffering from insomnia ever since arriving at Lumos two days ago.
She was transported into a small house of her own. There was one room, a bathroom and a small kitchen.
It was enough for her to settle down.
But still, she couldn't just get over what happened on Earth so easily and quickly.
Would the same outcome of Earth happen here as well? Would she even care if it did?
She couldn't stop asking these types of questions to herself. She had no idea how Ciel could adapt to this situation so quickly.
She left her house, looking at the stars in the sky.
The memories of Earth entered her mind. It had only been 2 days, but she already felt slightly homesick.
'At least there's someone I can trust over here. Without Ciel, I don't know if I would be able to move forward.'
She walked through the village for a few minutes, taking in the scenery of this new world.
It was quite different from Earth, but at the same time, it was comfortable.
There was no high level technology, but it was advanced enough such that the place didn't feel primitive.
'I wonder what the kingdom would look like.' She thought curiosly
At that moment, she overheard someone talking about something interesting in the distance.
"It's true, they're really coming!" an unknown voice said
"But why would they come here so suddenly?" Another voice spoke
"Apparently something happened in this village two days ago."
"Why should I believe you?"
"I know because my friend – who is close friends with a Soul Sorcerer – sent me a letter. He told me to watch out for the Royal Guards."
"Well, we'll see by morning… if he wasn't lying, the Royal Guards will be here by then. Apparently they're being led by Captain Ryker."
'What's he talking about? Two days ago… that's when we were transported here… there was an anomaly? I need to warn Ciel quickly..." Rein thought to herself
The range of their mental communication was quite vast, so she sent him a message.
[ Ciel! Are you awake? It's urgent. ]
She waited for a few moments before hearing a slightly irritated voice.
[ What happened? ]
She explained the situation to him.
It was still midnight, so they had a few options.
[ If we run away so suddenly, my name will definitely find its way to the Royal Guards. Quite a few people know my name or face in this village. ]
[ If we stay, they'll find out that we're Soul Sorcerers, or an even bigger secret. ]
[ That way, we'll be captured and interrogated. ] Ciel said
[ So I guess we'll run away? ] Rein asked
[ Yes. Before we go, theres a few things we should do. ]
[ First, you should find a way to make yourself look missing. Your identity is not known around here. ]
[ Write a diary note saying a boy that you recently met has been harassing you. Then write that you're running away from the village for a few months and visiting your family. Make sure it sounds believable. ]
[ This way, you won't have any major suspicion. ]
It was common for people to write about things like this in their personal diary.
Of course, the boy he was referring to was himself. They had been seen together after all.
Rein nodded, understanding what needed to be done.
[ Second, I will make some fake distractions to get all the attention on me. That will make sure that they target me instead of you. ]
[ After you're done, we'll meet at the alleyway we parted in earlier. You can enter my shadow from there and we'll leave. ]
[ Make sure you don't leave anything valuable behind. ] Ciel concluded
'Is this what it feels like to have a reliable teammate? I can get used to this.' Rein thought
She entered her house and started writing the diary contents Ciel told her about. She also added a few extra pages of nonsense at an earlier date, so it looked believable.
After writing the diary, she left her house and went to the secluded alley.
She waited for a while, but Ciel didn't show up.
'Where is he? Did something happen?' She thought worriedly
'Even though we just met, he's the closest friend I've ever had… that's kinda sad to be honest.'
At that moment, Ciel gave her a mental message.
[ The Royal Guards have already arrived here. We underestimated their speed. ]
[ Shit. What should we do? ] Rein cursed their luck
Still, she was lucky to be aware of the situation beforehand. If she didn't overhear that conversation, she and Ciel would have been too late to realize what was happening, and could have been caught.
[ Same plan, just make sure they don't find you. I'll reach you in a few minutes. They're already on my tail. ] Ciel said
'Great. I guess we can't always hope for the best and get lucky.' Rein sighed inwardly
After a few minutes, she saw Ciel running towards her. He didn't stop, but the moment she was in contact with his shadow, she entered it.
As soon as she entered, she could feel a few presences chasing after him.
[ There's two behind us and and to our right. A total of 3. ] Rein said
[ To our right huh. I didn't notice them, thanks. ] Ciel replied hurriedly
He ran through the alley until he reached the village wall, before jumping over it.
The moment he touched the ground on the other side, Rein felt that something was wrong.
[ There's another ahead of us! A total of 4! ] She quickly warned him
Thanks to the early warning, Ciel was able to dodge an incoming arrow.
A moment later, a figure emerged from behind a tree.
He was wearing a green robe that had the symbol of a large tree with a background of mountains. This was the symbol of the Floren Royal family.
[That's probably the guy called Captain Ryker. ]
[ We don't have time to fight. The others are closing in quickly. ] Rein said after analysing the situation
[ The guy in front of us is at least Soul Tier 3, a Radiant Sorcerer. It's not going to be easy running away or fighting. ] Ciel said solemnly
As Soul Tier 2 Soul Sorcerers were called Awakened Sorcerers, a Soul Tier 3 was called a Radiant Sorcerer while Soul Tier 4 was known as a Blessed Sorcerer.
No known humans were at Soul Tier 5, so there was no title for them yet.
As for Forsakened, a Soul Tier 1 was known as Feral, and Soul Tier 2 as Twisted. Soul Tier 3 was known as Blood, while Soul Tier 4 was known as Wretched.
No one had ever survived an encounter with a Soul Tier 5 Forsakened, but they were known as Abyssal. It was uncertain if monsters stronger than that even existed.
[ I'll create a distraction. Just run ahead and buy some time. ] Rein said
Rein sent Ciel a few mental images so that he could understand her plan.
He then started moving deeper into the Emerald Forest.
Thanks to Rein having night vision as a shadow, they had no problem traversing the darkness.
Still, the Radiant Sorcerer, Ryker, was quickly gaining ground on them, even without any light.
Ciel summoned a throwing dagger and threw it, but the Radiant Sorcerer easily dodged it.
In the next moment, they were in a melee fight
Ciel was physically much weaker, but his swordsmanship was better, closing in the gap a little.
Still, his body was gaining cuts while he was losing blood quickly.
[ Now! ] Rein shouted
Ciel jumped back with all his might using Spirit Essence, going back 15 metres.
Ryker was momentarily stunned, but regained his thoughts a moment later.
But it was too late for him.
In the next moment, there was a huge explosion where they were fighting.
Rein had imbued a few metal scraps Ciel had previously summoned with Void element.
Ciel had than thrown them towards Ryker, and Rein made the metal scraps explode with the help of the Void element.
The Void element was like a supremely dense energy bomb when used in a way like that.
Just because she was in the shadow form didn't mean she couldn't use her powers.
The moment the explosion occurred, Ciel immediately started running away. It was the safer option rather than fighting unknown enemies.
'I hope that worked… we don't have any Spirit Essence left for a move like that again.' Rein thought
After a few minutes of running, Rein confirmed they were safe. At least for the moment.
[ We should catch our breath for a few minutes. ] Ciel advised
He then started climbing one of the nearby trees and found a thick branch that could be used as a platform.
Rein exited his shadow.
"Maybe it would have been easier if we just admitted we were Soul Sorcerers. It's not like they would know any of our secrets." Rein said with an exhausted face
"That wouldn't work out. The reason they came was due to an anomaly. We have no idea what the anomaly was."
"The best case scenario would have been us being slaves for the Royal family." Ciel said with a sigh
He knew humans and their greed all too well. If someone felt threatened, they would do everything they could to eliminate the threat.
Especially those with power.
"Yeah, I know. I was just thinking of an ideal future." Rein replied
"I see. Well, since we've entered deep into the forest, we have to look out for Forsakened from now onwards." He said
After the short break, Rein entered his shadow once again.
[ I can sense their presence in the distance. They'll be here in about 10 minutes. ] Rein said
They had all survived, including Ryker.
Ciel nodded and got down from the tree. He started moving further and further away from the village.
'I need to learn proper combat skills. Archery won't last for long if the fight is a one on one. I should ask Ciel for help.' Rein thought after thinking about their escape
[Hey, can you teach me swordsmanship? ] She asked
[ Sure. I didn't think you would want to learn close combat techniques. Why the change of mind? ] He agreed while asking back
[ It's because I can't always rely on you being there. Not that I don't trust you, just in case we need to fight together. ]
[ Even some Forsakened might require close combat rather than ranged combat. ] She explained.
[ I see. ] He said with a faint smile.
Time flowed as they continued to traverse the forest.
Soon, it was already morning, and the sun was rising.
"Let's rest for a while. They won't be able to find us any time soon." Ciel said
[ Alright. ] Rein agreed
Even though she wasn't the one running, she felt extremely tired after the previous events.
Ciel summoned a 40 metre long rope, and with it's help, climbed up on a nearby tree branch.
Rein exited his shadow when he reached the top.
He then summoned some preserved food and water.
"It's like you were expecting something like this to happen." Rein said with amusement
"It was a contingency plan. It's not like I wanted this to happen." He replied with a soft chuckle
"Also, have you noticed?"
"Noticed what?" Ciel asked, slightly confused
"We gained a fair bit of Spirit. I checked our Soul World a few minutes ago while you were running." She answered
"Oh… I guess you're right, I feel slightly stronger now that you mention at. We've reached at least 2% Spirit Charge..." He said in a strange tone
"Aren't we progressing a bit too slowly? Maybe it's because we are two in one, making us need more Spirit to rank up." Rein said
"Yeah, but I think it's more than that. I feel like whatever the entity behind the Door of Void is, it's affecting our gain of Spirit as well." He added
'If that's really the case, that entity will be even more troublesome than we thought…' She thought inwardly
After eating, they both took turns sleeping and keeping guard. They didn't want to be eaten in their sleep by an indescribable horror.