My pain and hunger ebbed away as I finally got my fill. I made sure to eat as much as I possibly could, which turned out to be about the entire animal. Cellestra patiently waited, even after cooling the meat down as much as she could. She then placed it in the bag on my lower head. It became clear that I wouldn’t be able to pick up a skill or more evolution points from this beast, which was unfortunate, but it couldn’t be helped.

I wasn’t sure what it could offer me anyway. My devour ability would grant me skills that had aspects of the creatures I ate, that much I knew, but other than that, it was just wild guesses.

Perhaps I could get horns?

The horns wouldn't be that interesting, but if this bison charged like that, it was bound to have a strong skill. If I could get something like that, I’d take that any time.

“I’m glad you like it,” Cellestra said. “Even if the sight is somewhat gruesome.”

“Yeah. There’s little I can do about it. I’m also trying to not get my hair all dirty again.”

“That…” She paused. “A giant spider with blood around its mouth area… I can see why you’re eating the way you are instead of just diving on it.”

“Exactly.”

A few minutes later, I was completely sated to the point where I couldn’t take another bite. I drank some water and backed off from the remains of the bison.

I sighed deeply. “Damn, I needed that.”

“Glad to see you satisfied. Let’s go back home, shall we?”

I nodded. “I’m looking forward to seeing my parents’ reaction to a steak that size.”

“Those ear twitches of yours are just adorable, you know that?” Cellestra said, smiling widely.

“I really suck at hiding my excitement, don’t I?”

Cellestra giggled softly before climbing back on my back.

“How is your eye doing, by the way?” She asked as we walked back towards the entrance.

“Getting better. The pain is gone. It’s slightly malformed, but my regeneration is taking care of it.”

“Happy to see you’re doing alright. I still can’t believe how unstable that spell was… to hurt you through all your defenses. I didn’t even know I could do that.”

“Cellestra…” I said quietly. “No need to feel bad about hurting me. By the goddess, you came through that much worse than me.”

She nodded in silence.

“Want to practice my healing spell for a bit while we walk home?”

The brunette nodded again as the hint of sadness was wiped off her face. “I’d love to.”

And so we practiced again, trying and trying to tackle the challenge that this spell presented. We only paused for a moment when we exited the dungeon and had people in the area. Once we were alone in the forest, we continued.

Slowly but surely we made progress. It would probably take several more days to completely convey the spell, which had me slightly worried as I didn’t know when and if I’d fall victim to that same darkness again, but there was little I could do about it. I just had to pray that it wouldn’t happen again, and if it did, that Cellestra knew the spell by then… and that it worked…

All that made me realize that it was a long shot, but it was the best I had.

We kept going at it until we reached the farm. There seemed to be quite some activity in and around the barn I’d slept in and I decided to see what was going on. Seeing all the people and carts outside the barn had me feeling uneasy at first, but it quickly became clear nothing was out of the ordinary as I saw my father talk to none other than Soranir.

The jute bags that I’d taken notice of the night before were being loaded on a cart, and the two of them exchanged words and papers.

Keelarin was the first to notice me and waved, causing the mayor to turn his attention to me as well.

“Welcome back,” My father said. “How did things go?”

“Smoothly as ever… well, you know…”

“I heard about your little accident,” Soranir said. “I’m glad to see both of you are doing okay. Selleron informed me that you didn’t seem to have any problems whatsoever. What happened, if I may ask?”

“My magic,” Cellestra said from my back. “I cast a spell and it misfired horribly, injuring us both. We are working on that.”

“Which is why we’d appreciate it if we could get some time before completing the trial,” I added.

“Already taken care of,” The mayor said before I could continue. “Selleron was certain you would be able to advance much further. It would be inefficient of us to grant you a rank lower than your actual ability.”

“Thanks,” I said softly. “And what’s all this?” I looked at the men loading the cart.

It had a horse in front of it which seemed unfazed by my presence. The same could be said for the loaders. There was the usual wariness but nothing more than that.

“Some of it is taxes, some of it is trade goods for the city,” My father explained. “You saw us work on it earlier today. We were given the privilege of doing this by the owner, at least for this part of the farm. Sad to say you just missed him. He was here a moment ago to oversee the agreement.

I nodded. “I see. Maybe we’ll meet him sometime soon.”

The last bag was loaded onto the cart and one of the men stepped up to Soranir to notify them they were ready to move on.

“It was great talking to you, Kealyna, but we need to continue. There’s a lot more transporting to be done.”

The horse was led forward with the men following. Soranir was about to fall in line when I spoke up.

“Thank you for your hospitality. We really appreciate it.”

Thanks to him, we managed to go into the city in relative normalcy.

“Not a problem,” He said with a bit of a nod before leaving us behind.

A strange mayor, but he’d been great to us so far. I couldn’t complain.

“And with that out of the way,” My father said. “Can I invite you two for a cup of tea?”

“Sure,” Cellestra said as I nodded.

A few minutes later, we were joined at the table, talking. I decided to ask my parents if they were good friends with Soranir.

“The better question,” My mother said. “Would be to ask who isn’t. Perhaps we are a bit more privileged than others. He does visit us from time to time.”

I nodded. “I was just curious as there have been some things that happened along our journey here that seem to be of importance.” I referred to the event at the obelisks. “And now that we are starting to get to know things around here, I think it’s about time we inform him… and you.”

“What’s wrong?” My mother immediately asked as she noticed my demeanor change.

“In all honesty? I don’t know, but it’s bad news.” I paused for a moment as I took a deep breath and sighed. They were my parents, they deserved to know.

“I’ll try to keep this as short as I can. To the south, there are three large stone pillars, obelisks they are called. Nobody truly knew what they were for, but I was unfortunate to find that out not too long ago. I touched one of them and magic was emitted from its peak. Not long after that, I had a ritual where I talked to Elysa. She informed me that the magic was akin to something she called banishment magic, but that the specifics of the structures are a mystery to her. We spoke with an archivist at the wall, and he said he would send out scouts to towns, in an attempt to gather information on the obelisks. We’re looking for books that may hold answers. The problem is, they’d have to be really, really old. Apparently, the pillars are even more ancient than the goddess herself.”

I sighed again. “I didn’t want to tell you immediately, but I knew I’d have to sooner or later anyway.”

I left out the part where I had this darkness clawing at the back of my mind. I figured this was more than enough for them to worry about for the time being.

“Also, please promise me not to talk to anyone about this. If we can arrange a talk with Soranir, I want to be there as certain details cannot be allowed to spread. In fact, it’s probably for the better that none of this gets out. We don’t know what we are facing or its possible implications. It would be great to see what knowledge Thymhil has regarding the subject.”

“By the goddess, Kealyna…” My mother let out in a soft voice. “That sounds frightening. Are you holding up okay with all this?”

“I’m… managing,” I said. “It’s hard, but it’s even harder to know that there isn’t much I can do for the time being.”

“Kealyna…” My mother said again as she shook her head and stood up. She then took me in for a hug. “You’ve grown far beyond what I could have hoped for…”

I hugged her back. “Sorry for making you worry.”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

I felt a lot better after the hug. My father remained quiet during it, but he wasn’t sitting idly. He was obviously lost in thought.

“Thymhil has a library,” He said after a while. “With some sections of very old books, but I don't know if it’s what you’re looking for. I’ll try to set up a meeting with Soranir if you think that’s a good idea.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”