The separation from Lenore when our Avatar-state ended was working more and more smoothly. One moment, We, together as one, had been flying above the trees, propelled by wind-magic and wings, before dropping through the foliage and splitting, slightly disoriented but far from the utterly incapacitated mess we had been when we first used the ability.

“That went well.” Lenore said, using an imitation of my voice to speak out loud. It took me a moment to focus on the slightly foggy memories, the memory of talking to the strange arachnid construct curiously clearer compared to the memories of the magic we had used against the other Travellers.

“Maybe. Not quite sure why we told that thing we would return. Or why we even tried to talk to them in the first place.” I admitted, frowning at the memories. If we returned, it would have to either be in our Avatar-form, or as individuals, having to explain one of our less well-known abilities to an outsider. Sure, I hadn’t heard of arachnid Travellers so far, but I couldn’t know for sure that there were none.

“Well, you wanted to get in contact with them, right? To study their magical formations and weaving, maybe even get a glimpse at that focus-thing the Travellers used, unless I miss my guess. So it makes sense that you would want to talk to them, and I know that I wouldn’t mind talking to them, even if they are ‘monsters’.” Lenore guessed, causing my frown to lighten when I followed her line of thought. If looked at from that perspective, it made sense that a being composed of the two of us would make contact. Now, we just had to decide if we wanted to keep the appointment or if we simply continued on our journey, leaving the arachnids to themselves, acting as if we had nothing to do with either party. I told Lenore as much, causing her to caw in amusement, especially as I knew that I wouldn’t really do so. The lure of new magic was strong, at least as long as we had a semblance of security.

“Do you want to fly or ride on my shoulder?” I asked, as we started to head back towards the area where we had left the others. Three days was simply too long to wait, especially knowing that Sigmir would worry.

“I’ll fly.” Lenore replied, flapping her wings to go ahead and keep an eye on things from above. She even took a slight de-tour, making sure that the Travellers hadn’t been stupid enough to leave something in their camp, utterly unnecessary thanks to the existance of magical bags.

While she was away, I began to consider how to misdirect attention away from me, to keep people from realising that the winged monster that had ambushed those Travellers had been me. I doubted that anyone would actually recognise things but just the idea might get out there, due to relative physical proximity and the usage of Mind Magic. I wasn’t sure just how the magic we had used had worked, but I could guess that it had been some sort of fear-effect, likely drawing on the feelings of isolation symbolised by the dark moon, maybe in conjunction with the confusion-effects of Darkness-Magic.

A smile crept on my face, as my plans started to form, a two-pronged attack that should get people off my back and looking into a different direction. It meant a little video-editing but I had planned that all along, so it wasn’t too much of a problem. Shaking my head, I picked up my pace, jogging through the shaded forest, following the invisible string that connected me to Sigmir. It would be good to be back with her.

Travelling on foot, without the road, was a lot less comfortable than flying with Lenore. It was made worse by the fact that I’d normally have her within her Hallow, giving me access to more Astral Power, as her regeneration was mostly channelled into my own, allowing me to be inefficient with my Blood Magic, using it to boost my own physical capabilities.

After using our Avatar-Form, the close mental contact required for such operations was simply too much, the connection between us overstimulated to the point that it would be uncomfortable enough that thought would be difficult. It would be difficult if I logged out, leaving my Avatar within my Hallow, but that wasn’t quite what I had in mind.

Curiously, I was reasonably certain that the forest allowed me to move just as fast, maybe even faster, than I would be able to move outside of it, at least without outside assistance like the ancient road with its supportive magic. Being able to push off against a tree and use the vines of my Eisblumen to redirect and control my movement allowed me to direct energy in a way that pushing off from the ground simply did not. It made me wonder how that worked with physically powerful beings, people like Sigmir. She could move faster than I but didn’t need to use such tricks to direct her energy. She simply had a loping stride that seemed to devour space and was able to keep that up for as long as she wanted.

“You were right, they took everything with them. There’s nothing left but some flattened vegetation, broken branches and a few cold fireplaces.” Lenore told me, once she returned from the Travellers’ camp-site.

“As expected then. Still, it was good to check. Did you see anything from the arachnids? We know that they knew about the camp, so they would likely have taken a look as well.” I asked, only to get a negative response, not that it really mattered.

“Can you land for a moment?” I asked, making a decision regarding our travel-arrangements. I had originally planned to run back, using my connection to Sigmir as a guide, but if I wanted to get out in front of the news, I would have to be quick in editing part of my distraction.

“We need to move in that direction, I’ll hopefully be back before you reach the area where the others are waiting, just in case you don’t remember their position.” I explained, the effort to verbally express myself was annoying compared to the direct exchange we normally had, using our mental connection. Words were so insufficient to express complex thoughts, at least if you wanted to do it fast. If an image could convey more than a thousand words, a focused thought could convey more than a hundred images. Alas, not while our connection was rubbed raw from the intense use during our Avatar-state.

“Please be quick about it.” Lenore asked, knowing what I had in mind. She settled on a nearby branch, so that the discomfort wouldn’t cause her to crash, that was the last thing we needed.

Mentally bracing myself, I pushed, flowing into my Hallow. It required intense focus to keep myself contained, to mentally keep away from Lenore. It was almost like putting on clothes over a large, open wound, or maybe sunburned skin, painful and making you cringe away. But sadly, it was necessary for my plans.

Luckily, my Hallow counted as secure, so the log-out timer was a short one, compared to logging out in the wild. It made me once again appreciate Lenore all the more, the connection to a spirit-beast something I could see as an almost mandatory feature for all players. Hopefully, nobody at Pantheon Entertainment would get the bright idea to put SPirit-Beasts in some sort of cash-shop, as that would likely be one of the quickest ways to kill the game.

Shaking my head, I settled on my virtual throne, pulling up footing from earlier in the week, when Lenore and I had been flying over Ladrin. That, along the voice-tracks from Olivia talking about Ladrin, its history and inhabitants would make for good content, especially with the saucy details she had included. While I didn’t really need to hear the thinly veiled allusions to the regenerative powers of male River-Trolls, boosted while they were in the bath, Olivia was a gifted story-teller and I had no problem using the files I had made to my advantage.

Combined with the images taken from above Ladrin, it should sell the idea that we were just getting there, not that we had been there a few days ago, giving me enough time to get to the arachnid-village and attack a party of Travellers there. Not without being even faster than Lenore could fly, which already was incredibly fast.

At the same time, I kept an eye on the forum, curious when the Travellers who had been on the raid would post about their experiences, which was the second part of my misdirection. The best thing about it was that I didn’t even need to lie, at least not if I could frame things right. After all, the best deception was woven from nothing but the truth.