If Devi’lynn was dreaming, she never wanted to wake up.

This foreign world – Nerilia, according to the device around her neck – was simply wonderful. She was constantly amazed by the cloudless blue sky and the pleasant-warm sun and the clean-and-crisp air. Oh, and the greenery! On the previous day, the grass-covered lands alone were enough to fascinate her. Little had she known that she would see an even greater wonder today; an entire forest!

Devi’lynn had never seen so many trees at one place—the plants of House Lynn’s famous garden could not even compare. This looming-but-calming mass of trees was something straight out of the legends from before the cataclysm. Teva’ryn thought of this as an ill omen, of course, but he probably hadn’t even seen a single tree in all his life. His fear was understandable.

The five Humans weren’t so impressed by the forest, or perhaps they were just hiding it too well. Devi’lynn supposed it was the former. It was always a possibility that she was mistaken, considering that Humans were an alien race, but Devi’lynn didn’t think it likely. Surprisingly, many of the Human characteristics were very similar to that of Sylven. They nodded with their hornless head when they agreed, and shook it otherwise. The expressions on their faces were mostly identifiable. All things considered, they weren’t too different.

That didn’t mean they weren’t strange, though—in fact, the way they behaved would have baffled any Sylven. Most interesting for Devi’lynn was how shameless-but-free their women were. Oh, to think that people back home had called her rebellious! She would have liked to see her father’s reaction if he ever met these Human women … or if he ever heard that not only did the men allow them to hold weapons, but they were actually encouraged to use them! Devi’lynn was envious, and she did not bother to hide it from Teva’ryn.

Just around midday, the bubbly-and-talky woman named Imaya managed to shoot down a bird, and all the others congratulated her. Divided between seven people the animal was barely more than a morsel, but the group decided to cook it for lunch anyway. The Human women argued over eating some kind of blue fruit that they had found on the way – they even tried to ask Devi’lynn’s opinion about it – while the men debated how to prepare the bird. In the end, nobody risked eating the blue fruit and Teva’ryn got down to removing the bird’s feathers. Simon sat next to him with Randel’s magical dagger in hand, eager to start roasting the meat.

With Teva’ryn’s attention turned elsewhere, Devi’lynn was free to explore the area. Not that she couldn’t have done so otherwise, but she tried not to anger Teva’ryn too much. It was only the second day and she already hated how uptight-dutiful the man was. It could have been worse – he respected her boundaries even when they were far-removed from society – and Devi’lynn was thankful for that, but even so she couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

Devi’lynn walked among the trees slowly, resting her hand against their trunk as she passed, enjoying the rugged-hard-uneven feel of the bark. Some of the trunks were so enormous that she couldn’t have clasped her hands together if she hugged them. Eventually she made her way down a short slope, down to the riverbed and its clear-to-drink water. She was just about to inspect a bush on the riverbank that had a beautiful set of orange flowers, when she heard splashing-water. Using the bush as an impromptu cover, she peeked out cautiously from behind it.

As it turned out, she wasn’t the only one who had wandered away from the group; Randel stood in the ankle-deep water, his boots resting on a large stone behind him. He had taken off his torn-and-bloody shirt and was currently submerging it in the water. Devi’lynn watched him curiously as he rubbed the ruined fabric in a vain attempt to get the blood out. Creator, his skin was so pale! Such an odd contrast with his dark-black hair—he looked almost like a reverse-colored Sylven. He definitely hadn’t been in many fights, though; his torso had no muscle definition, his limbs looked thin, and aside from the fresh scar on his chest, his skin was smooth like a woman’s … or was it? His arms and legs were covered with fine body-hair, protecting his soft skin. Devi’lynn knew that some alien races could grow hair from places other than their head, but she hadn’t seen such thing before. Humans fascinated her. They had such variety of colors and shapes among their kind! Their unique skin colors and curious hair made them look captivating-exotic to Devi’lynn’s eyes.

“This is most improper, Lady Devi’lynn,” Teva’ryn spoke up directly behind her, making her jump in fright.

“Hush,” Devi’lynn whispered quickly. “Hush, or he’ll hear us!”

“No matter how puny he is, he is still a male,” Teva’ryn said. “You shouldn’t stare at him so openly.”

“There was nothing open about it until you arrived,” Devi’lynn said sourly, fixing her gaze below Teva’ryn’s chin. “Teva’ryn, I order you to go back to the camp.”

“I apologize Lady Devi’lynn, but I can’t do that,” the man replied. “You don’t know what dangers may lay in this tree-infested place, and you don’t know what that Human is capable of either. Please don’t repeat our earlier argument—you need my protection.”

Protection; the great irony of her situation. Women weren’t allowed to hold dangerous tools with which they might hurt themselves—but women also weren’t supposed to leave their household to be in the wild with monsters lurking about. The fact that with a weapon Devi’lynn would at least have a chance to protect herself didn’t seem to penetrate Teva’ryn’s thick skull. He was holding himself to the letter of the Divine Codex’s law, instead of its spirit.

“Teva’ryn, Devi’lynn?” Randel spoke, having noticed them. He was still half-naked, having laid out his soaked shirt next to his boots. Devi’lynn shot an annoyed look at an entirely unapologetic Teva’ryn, who moved slightly forward to stand between her and the Human man. Randel talked to them as he approached, not bothered by their lack of comprehension in the slightest. Just as he reached them, Randel slapped his hornless forehead – a very odd expression – and gestured with one hand toward Devi’lynn, saying something. He then pointed behind him, at his bare chest, and finally at Devi’lynn again.

“I think he wants something from you, Lady Devi’lynn.”

“You’re a genius, Teva’ryn,” Devi’lynn replied drily. She was racking her brain, trying to figure out what Randel’s objective could be. Something about his shirt, perhaps?

Randel snapped his fingers suddenly, then held out his hand in front of him. His black dagger appeared in his hand a moment later, popping out of thin air. Teva’ryn visibly tensed at the same time, though Randel didn’t hold the weapon as if he wanted to use it. With the tip of the blade pointing upwards, he gestured once again at Devi’lynn, then at the dagger. At the same time the heartbeat-pulsing orange lines on the weapon began to spread, and the blade split itself vertically in two. Finally, Randel pointed at Devi’lynn once again.

“Is he threatening us?” Teva’ryn asked, his hand twitching for the hilt of the sword he no longer carried.

Instead of answering, Devi’lynn closed her eyes to cast her magic. Not the kind of magic that the legends of the Age of Prosperity described, but magic nevertheless. A supernatural ability, bestowed to her by those white-clothed beings that brought them to this beautiful world.

Devi’lynn thought about using her Simulacrum Ability, and she immediately lost control of her body—but only for a moment. Her vision blurred as her body took a step to the right, while at the same time a distortion – an optical illusion, of sorts – stepped to the left. It was over just as quick as it had begun. With a small mental nudge, Devi’lynn told the vacant-eyed copy of herself to wade into the water, and the copy obeyed.

“Awesome,” Randel said the word that Devi’lynn had heard so many times from Imaya’s mouth. He dropped his dagger carelessly and moved closer to the copy, observing it left and right.

In spite of what the Ability’s name suggested, the simulacrums actually had solid bodies and were able to exert a small amount of force on their surroundings. It restricted ten percent of Devi’lynn’s mana whenever she created a copy, but if left unharmed the simulacrums lasted indefinitely—or until Devi’lynn willed them to disappear. Although they were perfect imitations of her image, the copies were easy enough to tell apart from Devi’lynn; they held themselves utterly still, moved like stringed-puppets, and had empty-vacant look on their faces. Even so, it was impressive magic—and judging by Randel’s expression, he thought so too. He said something to them again, taking a brief glance at Devi’lynn before stepping right in front of her copy and grabbing it firmly by the hips. Before Devi’lynn could have time to be surprised by his actions, Teva’ryn was already bearing down on Randel, grabbing at his offending hand—

—only for the Human man to twist his body swiftly out of the way, taking hold of Teva’ryn’s extended arm and using the man’s momentum to pull him off-balance. He pivoted with the same motion and kicked out, hitting the back of Teva’ryn’s knee and making it buckle. Teva’ryn fell into the shallow water and an eyeblink later Randel was behind him, the dagger in his hand poised to strike—but then he stopped himself abruptly, staggering backward. His eyes widened and he dropped his weapon, as if he was surprised by what he had just done.

“I knew it,” Teva’ryn spat as he sprang to his feet, whirling around and spraying water everywhere. Randel held his empty hands up in a placating manner, speaking rapidly. Although he was apologizing by the sounds of it, it did little to quell Teva’ryn’s heated-hot-fury. Seeing this, Devi’lynn jumped into the water and created two more clones in quick succession, forming a line between the two men.

“What are you doing?!” Teva’ryn growled, tossing a lock of wet hair out of his face. He began to circle Devi’lynn to keep Randel in sight.

“Stand down, Teva’ryn,” Devi’lynn said, doing her best to sound stern-commanding. “Can’t you see that this is a misunderstanding? He doesn’t wish to fight, and neither should you.”

“Hah! As if you knew—”

“Enough!” Devi’lynn snapped, raising her chin to glare straight into Teva’ryn’s anger-filled eyes. The broken taboo was enough to break his fury too, and he averted his eyes quickly, awkward-uncomfortable.

“As for you,” Devi’lynn said, taking this opportunity to turn toward Randel. “You were trying to undress my simulacrum, weren’t you? How daring of you. Too bad it wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

She stepped to the fake-Devi’lynn on her right, and tugged at the material that made up its shirt. It didn’t have the texture of a fabric, feeling somewhat rigid-but-malleable to the touch. No matter how much Devi’lynn tugged at it, the fake-shirt wouldn’t budge. When she pinched the material hard enough, the entire simulacrum burst into a puff of smoke.

“See? You won’t get a new shirt like this.”

Randel watched the quickly-dissipating smoke for a moment, before focusing on Devi’lynn. He stared at her in a lost-in-thought manner, his green eyes reflecting the colors of the forest. Now it was Devi’lynn’s turn to avert her gaze—it took her some effort, but she did it just in time before a sullen Teva’ryn arrived to her side.

Randel bent down, picked up a small-smooth rock from the water, and – ignoring Teva’ryn’s disgruntled noises – handed it to Devi’lynn. The green-eyed man then pointed at her with two fingers before moving them apart.

“I think he wants you to do your magic again,” Teva’ryn grumbled.

“Really?” Devi’lynn asked sharply. “And here I thought he wanted me to club you in the head.”

“Now that I think about it, a rock can be used as a weapon,” Teva’ryn said. “I’m going to confiscate—”

“A-ah! I’m doing my magic now!”

Devi’lynn held out her hand with the rock resting on her palm. She created a simulacrum once again, but this time she spiced it up by stepping backward to leave the copy in front of herself. As expected, even the rock had been copied. Randel tried to pluck it out of the simulacrum’s hand, but it was stuck to the palm. When he pulled too hard, the entire simulacrum burst into smoke. Seeing this, Randel nodded to himself. He then pointed with one hand from Devi’lynn to himself, and extended his other hand to her.

“By the Abyss, no,” Teva’ryn said. “Lady Devi’lynn, I see no reason why we should entertain this Human any further.”

“It’s an experiment with my magic,” Devi’lynn said, getting excited. “It can come useful if we learn more about it. Do you think he wants me to lift him up, or is it enough if I just hold his hand?”

“L-Lady Devi’lynn!” Teva’ryn sputtered. “What are you even suggesting? This is highly improper! You can’t just go about touching other men, especially half-naked men! I don’t care if he’s not Sylven, this is—”

He fell silent abruptly as Randel spoke to him, approaching slowly while he held up his hands. Teva’ryn frowned in confusion, and even Devi’lynn had no idea what Randel was trying to explain. The Human man reached out slowly-cautiously, as if soothing a frightened animal. He clasped Teva’ryn’s shoulder, and held him for a moment—then pressed himself closer and slipped his hand around his shoulders, giving him a one-armed hug. Teva’ryn was so stunned by this sudden move, that he almost missed it when Randel beckoned with his other arm for Devi’lynn to join them.

“T-this is scandalous!” Teva’ryn blurted when Devi’lynn stepped closer, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Not with one man but with two?!”

“I think it’s funny,” Devi’lynn said with a laugh, then snaked one arm around Teva’ryn’s water-soaked waist and rested the other across Randel’s bare back. He indeed had silky-smooth skin, she had to conclude. Both men smelled like unwashed peasants though, which made the experience a bit less pleasant.

“I suggest you both take a proper bath after this,” Devi’lynn murmured. “Dipping into the river apparently didn’t help.”

Teva’ryn apologized immediately and tried to pull away, but Devi’lynn held him firmly in place. She concentrated on creating a simulacrum, imagined it copy all three of them, then imagined it copy only herself, but nothing seemed to happen.

“It seems like I can’t create a copy while someone is holding me,” she said after a while. She didn’t let go of the men, though. Strange as it was, she enjoyed this situation quite much. It had been a while since anyone had hugged her, and she hadn’t even realized before how much she missed this feeling. Both men were about the same height – just a little bit taller than her – so she was able to rest her head over their joined shoulders. It felt cozy-nice.

“Randel!” an annoyed voice rang in the distance. Devi’lynn opened his eyes to see Simon coming down to the river, stopping in his tracks when he saw the scene in front of him. The expression on his face was pure disbelief. The three of them disentangled from each other as Simon started to talk rapidly to Randel, incredulity clear in his voice. The black-haired man seemed to be unfazed by it however, handing over his black dagger with a shrug. Simon then stomped away with his prize while Randel waded over the rock to put his boots back on.

Teva’ryn cleared his throat awkwardly, though it wasn’t until Randel was gone that he spoke.

“About what happened earlier,” he said, turning to face Devi’lynn. “Does this mean that you consider me worthy of your courtship?”

“Of course not,” Devi’lynn replied.

“I thought so,” Teva’ryn said with a sigh. “In that case, Lady Devi’lynn, making eye-contact with other men is highly—”

“Improper, yes, yes,” Devi’lynn finished for him.

There was a pregnant pause before Teva’ryn spoke again.

“We might be the only Sylven on this planet, you know.”

“If that were the case, I fail to see why it matters whether I gave you children or not.”

“It’s not just about descendants. It’s about companionship too—and principle. It is the way of our people.”

“My answer would still be no.”

“…as you say, Lady Devi’lynn.”

They followed Randel back to the group, tense-silence stretching between them. Devi’lynn’s blood was boiling, as it so often did after these conversations. The way of their people! Teva’ryn was damned-good at getting under her skin. There were few things Devi’lynn detested more than the way of her people. The way they treated her as if she was made of fragile-glass, the way they practically spoon-fed her all the time. The way she was going to be used for breeding. The way all the other women thought this was perfectly fine, mind-washed but safe inside the comforts of their chambers, hordes of men seeing to their every physical need.

The way the Divine Codex taught men and women to regard each other.

Blasphemous thoughts—but if her soul would be damned to the Abyss because of them, so be it. Freedom was so close, here in the present, that it might just be worth it. Devi’lynn had broken out of the walls of her home, which was something she hadn’t expected to happen before marriage. She had left her people behind—all except one. She needed Teva’ryn for now – she had no delusions about surviving alone – but it wouldn’t be for long. This was her chance to break free. Here, in this world filled with trees, she would look into whoever’s eyes she wanted to.

“Why are they so green, though?” Devi’lynn mused out loud. “Such an oddly-beautiful color…”