Traditionally, the bride and groom are to become one and the same on the night of their wedding, but Wu fell asleep the moment his head touches the pillow, and Lera sensed Tia’s peeking presence just outside the tent before she invited her in.

As Wu was completely knocked out, Lera held his head over her soft elastic thighs, aka the best pillows in the world according to Wu's ratings, as Tia sat opposite from her and nagged her to tell the stories of all of their adventures.

And so Lera did, detailing all of the crazy things that happened during their time at the Infinite Academy, from the times of Wu getting knocked down again and again by Charlie, to how she got him expelled during the Ring of Fire, to the Winter Wars and Fatera’s victory, to the introduction of Augen and the crazy heist, to their training at the island, to the cultural festival…

“That sounded so sweet!” Tia seemed especially excited when Lera talked about their love stories, and she massaged Wu’s head and hair before recounting with a smile.

“Yeah…he was never one to think that far ahead…he was just so straightforward with what he wanted at that time, yet so scared to make a mistake…” Lera looked at Wu before kissing him on the forehead as he mumbled something and spun to the side on her thigh before grabbing and hugging onto one of her feet, “In fact, we were both scared to make mistakes with one another, but perhaps that’s all love is. Despite how much it might scare us at times, we still chase after it like idiots.”

“Tell me what happens next!” Tia said, sneaking into the sheets next to Lera before resting her head against her shoulders, “What happened after you made love for three days straight!”

“I never say that!”

The next day came swiftly, and both Lera and Wu were completely knocked out and snoring away even as the sun reached its peak overhead. Joseph and Jolyne rocked their tent until Wu finally opened his eyes, and then they helped them pack up before stuffing some local bread made from that freshwater into their mouth.

“Come back again! Be careful!” Tia waved her hands as Joseph and Jolyne ushered Wu and Lera away, “Tell me more of your stories!”

“Will do!” Lera waved before yawning. Joseph and Jolyne shared a dirty look before Lera glared at them.

“Alright. Let’s get going.” Joseph said, injecting a surge of the Wave into the chariot as they darted forward through the forest landscape. Far out in the distance, the outlines of the Titan’s Spine loomed over the horizon.

“This is as far as we could accompany you.”

After reaching the bottom of the mountains, Joseph and Jolyne officially left Wu and Lera to their own devices. Jolyne handed Lera a tiny doll before Joseph gave Wu a big manly hug.

“Use this to communicate us during times of emergencies.” Jolyne said, “This exists outside of any ordinary communications Cast, and will not be detected by anyone but me. However, this was only one-time use. If you need our backup during the worst of times, just let us know.”

“Will do.” Lera nodded before the groups huddled up and shared a big hug.

“Once again…thanks for doing this.” Joseph said, “Beyond my selfish desires…I also wanted Talonia to be a safe place for…its people.”

“What’s the point of a savior if he can’t even save a kingdom, right?” Wu smiled, and Joseph nodded before waving them goodbye.

Now with just the two of them left behind, Lera quickly conjured up her Car before they hopped on and connected one of the Fuel rocks with the Cast to keep it powered. Then, they followed the detailed directions of the Dwellers as they started their ascent.

Though officially, no one had reached the apex of the Titan’s Spine and returned unscathed, plenty had traversed through the mountain range over its lower regions. That was what Wu and Lera intended to do.

The mountains treks soon became too steep and narrow for Lera’s normal chariot Cast to move overground, and she had instead increased the output of the chariot and flew instead. That strategy became obsolete soon after as well as the gusts of air in between the rocks started knocking the chariots back and forth.

“Guess this is where it all starts…” Lera said, glancing towards Wu who fastened the luggage in his backpack before giving her a thumbs up. Then, the outlines of the chariots slowly started to fade away as Wu and Lera’s boots touched the rocks as the crunch of pebbles joined the spectrum of sounds around them.

“It’s getting a little chilly already.” Wu noted looking back down the mountain as the individual trees from the Endless Woods started melting into a single patch of green. Then, the mists far out in the distance obscured the views back towards Varous.

“It should warm up as we start hiking.” Lera said, overlaying the maps with the recycling Cast array around her before taking them forward, “Here we go. Strengthening.”

As much as Lera would habitually lighten their bodies when trying to move quickly, doing so might actually increase their risks of being blown away. Therefore, only Strengthening was cast and they hiked away with few words exchanged in between.

Wu had been on a few hikes back on his world before, but nothing compared to the overwhelming nature here. Everything was well-organized, established, and protected back on his world, but on the Titan’s Spine, the only hints of other people being here were the rough trails that seemed to be as much an outcome of previous hikers as a natural formation thanks to the harsh winds.

However, they had full trust in the skills of the Dwellers and made good progress. Their first stopping point was half-way up towards the peak where a trio of boulders stood in their way. That’s what some referred to as the Titanic stones, as the majority of the rocks and pebbles were no bigger than one’s fist.

These three, however, stood about five meters in diameter, and it looked like they were going to snowball down the mountain at any time. When Wu and Lera approached, crawling bugs scattered from the rock’s surface, exposing the tiny cracks and cervices all over.

“This…might contain some Wave within.” Lera said, hovering her hands over the surface before drawing back, “In fact, the local field of Wave is exceptionally strong all around. Far more than usual”

“Oh…” Wu tried to feel what Lera’s feeling, but the only signal feeding back into his nervous system was the chill of the mountains. Perhaps he should have worn thicker covers, but he had elected to pack the heavy winter jackets into the highly-compressed backpack, “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah. After living at the Academy for months, the intensity of the local Wave fields shouldn’t affect me anymore.” Lera smiled, “When people from regions that had low naturally occurring Wave arrived at the Academy, they often needed some time to get used to it. I was no exception.”

“What does it feel like?”

“As if you are drunk, all the time.” Lera rubbed a tiny bump over her forehead, “I ran my head into the doorway too many times.”

Wu let a big laugh, and Lera dragged him onward, leaving the massive stones behind.

They continued making progress, though even as Wu worked hard to stay on pace, the chill started becoming more and more severe, as the gusts of wind became harsher and harsher with every meter they gained in height.

Lera made sure to cross-check the local geography with the map and her Cast array as to not veer away from their destination, but soon, she had to maintain full focus on not being blown away by the winds.

“IS…THIS…SUPPOSED…TO…BE…THE…WEATHER?!” Wu yelled, the sounds of wind rushing by his ears obscuring Lera’s voices.

“I…DON’T…KNOW!” Lera shouted back, “WE…SHOULD…WAIT!”

“I…THINK…SO!” Wu nodded, squatting down near the ground when a massive gust suddenly swept by them, picking him up by the backpack and launching him up in the air, “OH SHIT!”

“WU!” Lera screamed, pinning her down on the ground with thick vines around her feet before she reached her hands out, massive vines shooting out from the ground and extending towards Wu as he also powered up the jets of Wave under his feet.

“Damn it.” Wu grunted, increasing the output of the Wave from his boots and arms as he reached towards the vines that’s wobbling in the wind. He flew sideways, now facing the gusts head-on as the vines were forcibly blown in the direction of the wind, and he held onto the vines that wrapped around his wrist tightly.

“I got you!” Lera said, grabbing onto the other side of the vines as she started pulling Wu back. Then, another massive gust picked her up as she flew towards Wu, her lighter body crashing into his before both of them started flying around in circles.

“What the fuck is going on…” Wu cursed, hugging Lera tight before activating a shield Cast around them. The sounds of the wind became silenced within the boundaries of the shield, though that only made it easier for them to be carried by the current like a buoy in a raging river.

“Nobody mentioned a storm this bad…” Lera said, trying to pierce her Wave sensing abilities beyond the shield, but it was a mess of wind and Wave out there.

They were literally stuck in the middle of a storm.

“I knew this isn’t going to be easy…” Wu cursed, blasting themselves straight up, “If we get blown back down the mountain, we may be set back too far.”

“But we shouldn’t just head blindly up…Where is up even?” Lera said, when the shield Cast squeaked before nearly cracking. She immediately refilled it with her bubble before pointing a finger in the Northwest direction, “There, the intensity of the Wave from the storm is less there.”

Wu nodded, propelling the two of them forward. With him acting as the engine, and Lera acting as the compass, they made slow and steady progress even in the storm, when suddenly, the spherical shield Cast suddenly popped out from the storm into a place of peace and quiet.

Wu, still with Lera attached to his body, looked around carefully before slowly reducing the intensity of his shields. In any other place within the storm, the dirt and gravel made visibility practically non-existent, but here, he could see meters away. He could see the details of the rocks on the ground, he could see a small pool of water, and he could see…

A woman floating in the air with her legs crossed, seemingly meditating in the middle of a storm with lines of Wave glowing around her body.

She sensed Lera’s approach, and she opened her glowing golden eyes and stared at them.

Wu opened his mouth, and he pointed to her pointy ears, “An…elf?”