Cassandra noticed Lyria suddenly grabbing Alex, she was shocked that the quiet and shy Lyria would ever do something like that. But she understood why when she started to cast cleanse. Lyria was very serious about her healing and helping people. It was the only time that she came out of her shell even with complete strangers.

Alex reaction was very peculiar he actually bent over and coughed out a clump of black substance, she had never seen such a reaction to cleanse before.

“What happened Lyria?”

She couldn’t help but ask bewildered by the situation.

“When I saw his eyes he had some red lines on them. That usually means that he has poisonous substance in his system unless he didn’t sleep at night. I checked his nails for discoloration, and they had a few white spots on them that is also another tell. The weird part was how pervasive it was. It was extremely weak almost negligible, but it was spread throughout his whole body. It was as if he constantly was eating, drinking and breathing minute amounts of very weak poison for a very long time. I have never seen anything like it.”

While Lyria was explaining Alex was doing his patented maneuver of bowing his head and saying.

“Thank you.”

They guessed it was a show of gratitude, which was both weird coming from a guy and a pleasantly novel experience for them.

Lyria couldn’t help but blush when she saw him staring intently into her eyes the look of pure gratitude and admiration. That wasn’t something she ever felt from a guy and she couldn’t help but fidget while shyly turning her gaze away back to her food.

“Wait, so he has been continuously poisoned? Plus he has unique clothes and he doesn't speak any language we ever heard. Who do you think he is?”

Inara posed the question everyone here were thinking since they found him.

“We don’t know, but he could be a noble from a place beyond the infinite forest. He probably had enemies close to him that tried to slowly kill him off before he ran away. But this is a pointless discussion for now. Everything is purely conjecture anyway, we can’t find out until he tells us or we get more information.”

Cassandra answered with her theory. She was uncertain about it, and was just saying what was on her mind.

While they were eating and talking Alex was subtly listening to them, trying to learn the language as fast as possible.

His condition visibly improved after that, even his skin looked slightly smoother. On the next day he manged to keep pace with them almost twice as far as the first day.

Nyla was itching to pick him up the entire trip, and she actually urged them to pick up the pace a few times. While he was walking Inara was his teacher, but when he couldn’t continue Inara would take the rear while Nyla took over. Cassandra was content with leading the party, as she didn’t want any mistakes or accidents while they trekked through the forest. Lyria still hadn't built up her courage to give lessons and spend time with him. And Alex was just going along with whatever the team decided, grateful for their help and company while oblivious to most of their thoughts.

***

On the third day of walking I was really amazed by this party, they were extremely strong and could use freaking magic. Yesterday after they set camp I saw Inara shimmer into existence while carrying a wild boar on her shoulder that was the size of a small cow. It was insane how much power they actually held in their bodies.

Lyria had preformed biblical levels of miracles on me twice now. And Cassandra always lit the bonfire by flicking flames at it with a small gesture and a phrase.

Everything looked so easy and casual to them, and I was really starting to hope I could learn to cast spells as well. Who hadn’t dreams of being a mage that could bend reality to their own whims, or lift stuff that weighed tons while jumping up a building with a simple leap.

While the day continued I was thinking of how to ask about magic, my conditioning had visibly improved everyday. And it showed that they had been considered towards me as the pace also slightly increased with time.

While intently listening to Inara I heard the insane roar again. Its magnitude vibrated down to my bones and I could feel a certain feeling of helplessness and despair I hadn’t felt since the first day in this world.

The party quickly grouped up in front of me. Lyria was standing to my left while Inara had disappeared before I even noticed. Nyla stood ahead of us towards the roar, and Cassandra was slightly ahead to my right.

They were battle ready in seconds, but I was truly not prepared for what came out. The giant bear from the first day looked like a cute animal compared to this monstrosity.

It was a mixture of a komodo dragon and a feline, but the size was what made it insane. It was over three meters tall on its four, and at least ten meters long from the tail to its head. It had bristle spikes along the top of its head and all the way to the tip of its tail. Its scales glistened like metal, and there was a shimmering heat coming out of its mouth while it growled towards them.

I was frozen in shock while the party got ready for the confrontation.

Lyria quickly chanted a spell that gave a golden glow to Nyla and Cassandra, who charged towards the monster. Meanwhile Lyria grabbed my shoulder and pointed me backwards away from the battlefield. While I was turning around I could see Nylas shield get engulfed in darkness seconds before the creature spewed out a torrent of fire towards her.

I could see Inara appearing on the lizards side and slashing towards his jugular with her short sword that had a faint glow around its edge. While I was running behind a tree I could hear the scraping sound of metal on metal.

The monster stopped spewing flames and tried to claw Inara who quickly jumped away. Cassandra at this point had finished her incantation and hurled a giant fire lance towards their foe. I could feel the billowing heat all the way here. Nyla had to jump in front of Cassandra after her shot as the monster launched its quills everywhere. I fell on my ass when several arm sized quills ricocheted of a shield that sprang up in front of me.

I really underestimated the destructive power of that monster, being over a hundred meters away from the fight wasn’t safe at all. The entire clearing was turned into a pincushion and everything that was hit was melting as if they were dunked in corrosive acid.

Inara appeared next to Lyria with a gash on her stomach. There was smoke coming from the wound and she grimacing. Unable to dodge the barrage she was grazed by one of the quills.

While Lyria was chanting Nyla charged straight for the monster to get its attention, she was visibly growing in size as shadows and darkness was radiating from her body. The clash between them sent a shock wave that I could feel even from here, but it seemed like she was getting the short end of the stick as she was constantly pushed back, there were deep groves in the ground where her feet were planted.

Cassandra yelled out to her party and the next second I couldn’t see anything. The bright beam that blasted from her was like looking directly at the sun. When the sun spots had cleared from my eyes I could see Inara had plunged her blades into the nape of the monsters neck that was clear of its quills after its earlier attack. It had a gaping hole on the side of its face and had blood seeping from various cracks in its scale.

Nyla was on her knees while her whole body was shimmering in darkness.

They had won, my heart was beating so hard I thought it would jump out of my chest. The sheer destruction that I just witnessed was beyond anything I thought was possible.

Lyria quickly ran up to Nyla and healed her before helping her up, her body was still slightly flickering before it settled.

Cassandra cast a spell that picked up all the quills, pulling them from the ground and gathering them into a bunch.

While I was standing behind a tree frozen solid from shock Inara suddenly appeared besides me. She indicated for me to come, I didn’t have words for what I saw and just mutely followed her back into the clearing while she went over to the giant monster and started to skin it.