By the time I closed my Capsule, ready to delve back into Road to Purgatory, I was feeling bone-deep exhaustion. There was something about the presence of other humans that just took a lot out of me. That was especially true when they were like Jenn and looking at me as if they were trying to set me on fire with their mind. She had been perfectly polite, at least as long as Chris had been next to her, but when he had excused himself to use the facilities, the fake smile on her face had faded as quick as snow on a stove. It was disconcerting, especially as I had no idea why she was so hostile, I had never met her before today.

On the other hand, talking, or rather listening to Chris talk, had been… weird. When we had been going to school together and created the guild that ultimately formed the core of Team Amaranthine, he had been the one bringing people together, social and friendly, with a quirky sense of humor I had never quite understood. But that all was gone. Instead, his interest in all things gaming seemed to have entirely faded, to the point that he barely knew I wasn’t part of Amaranthine any longer. He even believed I had quit myself, to focus on my career as an accountant. He even asked if I wanted to have an introduction to the accounting-division of the bank he was working at, something I politely declined.

Luckily, once my tea was drunk and we had exchanged cell phone numbers, I was able to escape returning to my appartement and, ultimately, my capsule-space. There, I took a quick look into the forum which brought a smile to my face. The response I had left earlier had been interpreted as hoped, making people look at the strange, winged being you saw hovering towards the raid and thinking it was a monster. It was fascinating how well a deception without any outright lies could work, I had simply given them a few true tidbits, directing their attention completely away from me. Amusingly they had declined to actually tell where their raid had been and where their home-base was, absolving me from a need to engage further. On the other hand, that reluctance meant that they possibly planned to make another attempt, possibly with better preparation, maybe additional people or something along those lines, something I Would have to keep in mind if I returned to the arachnids to learn their craft.

Once back in Mundus, I realised that the aftereffects of using our Avatar had mostly faded, making it uncomfortable to remain in my Hallow, but not actually painful. Not that it really mattered, as Lenore had already landed by the time I had logged in and I was greeted with the sensation of her, encouraging me to leave my Hallow. After getting a short impression of the surroundings, I accepted her push, gently landing on the ground beneath the tree she had perched on.

“We should reach the others soon. You can walk on your own.” Lenore told me, still using my voice, instead of our connection.

“Good to know. Did anything happen while I was gone?” I asked, getting a feeling that she had been a little impatient to have me back.

“Happen? No, nothing happened.” she denied, before continuing, “But it was as if there was something rubbing against my feathers, almost plucking them. The constant mental irritation, even when you were gone, without an outside sensation to focus on, it was driving me insane.” she complained, pushing the sensation through our connection, making me laugh as I realised that it was almost similar to an itch you couldn’t scratch, or a leaky faucet, constantly irritating you and driving you crazy.

“I apologize.” I told her but the seriousness of my apology was overshadowed by my still escaping giggles, to which Lenore simply turned around, bending over and spreading all feathers away from her. To her annoyance, that only made me laugh harder, until she took flight, leaving me giggling beneath that tree. Still grinning, I shook my head and focused on my connection with Sigmir, using it to get my bearings. Estimating the distance, I realised that it would take me about thirty minutes to get there and set off at a light job.

As I trotted through the forest, I began to consider my approach. Would it be a good idea to see if I would be able to sneak into our camp, or sneak up on the others? I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sneak up on Sigmir, and thus on Ylva, but I was curious if I would be able to get the drop on Adra and especially if I would be able to get to Rai.

Once I was near them, I tried to convey a feeling of contentment, combined with amusement, to Sigmir, hoping that she would remain quiet, letting me get on with my fun. I wasn’t sure if she received the message, but I felt anticipation flowing over our bond and decided to see what would happen.

In the shadows of a tree, still a few hundred meters away from them, I closed my eyes, drawing the shadows around me into a cloak, concealing me within. Again, as I had when observing the other Travellers, I pushed into the shadows, not quite into their realm, but also not quite staying in the physical realm. Instead, I was on the border, the twilight so to speak.

A graceful leap brought me up, onto a low branch of the tree I had been standing beneath, and from there, I began to slowly and carefully move from tree to tree. It was interesting, it felt as if gravity hadn’t quite as much a hold on me as it should have, letting me jump further and balance on branches that shouldn’t be able to support me but, for some reason, it worked.

The closer I got to the others, the slower and more carefully I picked my steps, trying to listen to the wind and only move when a gust moved the leaves and trees around me, letting the sounds of nature mask the sounds I made despite trying my best to keep quiet. The magic helped but sadly, my actual stealth-skill was lacking. What was worse was my lack of information on their camp, meaning I had to slowly pick my path through the trees, trying to gather information, especially on magical or physical alarm-systems they might have said up. Without Lenore, I couldn’t even see magical traps, forcing me to move slowly and taste the air as I went.

I was barely able to catch sight of Adra, when she startled, looking around as she called out a warning that something was approaching. I hadn’t noticed any active magical effects, which I took to mean that she had detected me thanks to her connection with the trees. But still, just because she carefully looked around, spear in hand, while the others, including Sigmir, were similarly alert. For a moment, I considered revealing myself but quickly decided against it, instead pushing myself fully into the shadows, feeling a shiver run down my spine, as I wanted to check if there was something behind me. I felt watched and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Still, I was hidden and reasonably certain that Adra’s connection to the trees couldn’t detect me here and Adra just happened to stand in such a way that her shadow overlapped with another shadow. It was a bit of a strange sensation, but I managed to use my Darkness-Magic to move myself within the shadows, without actually connecting to the physical realm, shifting almost like a two-dimensional object until I reached her shadow.

And stepped out of it, back into the physical realm.

“Hey, I’m back.” I greeted, speaking in a casual manner, right behind Adra. I might have gotten a greater effect by placing an icecube in her neck but the squeak of shock, combined with an impressive hop was quite satisfying. Sadly, as she hopped she also twisted around and tried to skewer me with her spear, forcing me to retreat back into the shadows to avoid it. It was still painful and my health-gauge told me that I had taken a surprising amount of damage but I was quite sure it was less than it would have been if I had taken the spear to the chest.

“So jumpy.” I complained, after having used a combination of Overflow and Darkness-Magic to get back behind her and out of the shadows again. It wasn’t quite the teleportation I had been trying to achieve all this time, but it was as close as I got when using it deliberately.

“Don’t do that!” Adra shrieked, her breathing laboured and still recovering from the shock.

“Just wanted to see how vigilant you all are.” I told her, a sweet smile on my face. “We’ll have to get better, if I had tried to put a knife into your back, it would have been painful for you.” I added, even as I gently drew on my Blood Magic to regenerate the strange feedback-damage I had taken while in the shadows. It was almost as if I had received a blunt impact all throughout the area her spear would have hit, including the inside of my body. Weird, but not dangerous.

“Rai, we’ll have to consider ways to prevent someone else from using the shadows to sneak up on us. If I could figure out a way to use them that way, it is almost certain that other people have done the same. I really wouldn’t want to get assasinated from my shadow, that would just be embarrassing.” I told my disciple, still acting as if nothing had happened.

“It’s good to have you back.” Sigmir threw in, before Rai could respond with more than a nod.

“Don’t think you can sneak off without me again.” she added in a whisper, once I was enfolded in her arms, sounding quite serious about it. That might make returning to the arachnids problematic.