[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi stopped in a front of a narrow, barren stone path. It was the first step towards uncharted regions.

Pavaja stopped next to the girl and asked - “Could you give me one of the leftover fishes?”

“Sure.” - Noemi took the item out of her backpack and handed it to the elf.

Pavaja tossed a fish next to the edge of the pathway and soon a ripple formed on the surface of the water. A green, long, tendril-shaped plant emerged from the water and snatched the meal with its thicker end.

“We called them grapplers.” - Pavaja explained. - “Stick to the middle of the road and we should be fine.”

The party formed a line and crossed the passage safely.

“Uff...” - Hyacinth sighed in relief. - “Praise the solid ground!” - He paused to take a deep breath, then pointed. - “Look, there! These are tripod fishers.”

In front of the party was a muddy island surrounded by waters of medium depth. In these waters lived tree-legged critters with head-cum-torso in the shape of a mushroom – the 'stem' was a siphoning funnel-like mouth of about one-third of caps diameter.

Under the animal's cap, were six evenly located strands of purple, tangled flagella. Their ends were connected to an organic net, which most of the time was beneath the surface, collecting fishes and sea fruits.

“These gentle giants almost never move and aren't aggressive at all, so If you want, you can steal their catch right out of the net!” - Hyacinth explained.

Noemi was fascinated by the giants. - “Can we stop here? I'll take a quick sketch!”

“Sure!” - Hyacinth grinned.

Noemi moved through the pages of her journal and Pavaja looked over her shoulder.

“Whoa, you've got a talent!” - Pavaja was amazed. - “Those all must be the places where you've been!”

“Uh-oh!” - Noemi nodded.

“Will you let me see?” - The elf girl asked.

Noemi hesitated. She wasn't ready yet to answer the questions. - “Only a few pages...”

Pavaja sat down, Noemi showed her sketches of her first camp at the riverside, abandoned village, the fungal sky, the king of the mountain, high tower....

“This is... Aurora.” - Noemi stopped at a picture of a fox, then slowly closed a sketchbook. - “She is in a better place.”

Noemi smiled, but it was a sad smile. - “Do you know how it is to lose someone?”

“No... but I'm sorry for your loss.” - Pavaja responded.

“I feel like I'm coping well, but whenever memories resurface, my will to push forward vanishes...” - Noemi stared at the water, in silence.

“Noemi, do you believe in the afterlife?”

“The topic of the afterlife was taboo in my village.”

“In my faith, it's told that the spirits of fallen travel with living, who carry on their dreams.”

Noemi didn't answer for a long moment. She only looked at the green necklace on her chest. - “I don't know what to believe, but there might be some truth to it... thank you for listening, Pavaja, I will try to think about it while I finish my picture.”

Pavaja smiled and left. Noemi clutched her necklace and sad tears began rolling down her cheeks.

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi joined the party, concealing her feelings, and the journey continued as nothing happened.

The next step was to pass a small island made out of mud. Crossing it was a tedious task, since with each step, travelers' legs were sinking knee-deep into the wet soil.

“Ouch!” - Noemi lifted her foot, it was bleeding. She stepped into a burrowed black urchin. Three long spikes pierced through her shoe, then dug deep into her flesh. - “Stop!” - She warned.

“Noemi, watch out!” - Pavaja shouted while lunging to protect Noemi. Estoc was brought down with immense force onto the skull of lurking enemy, crushing it with a loud crack.

Noemi looked around her, three shark heads emerged from underneath the mud and four more beasts were surfacing.

The beasts were shark-wolves, hybrid creatures with head and skin of a shark, but with the body structure of a wolf, with exception of tail-fin and gills, which allowed the monster to lurk in hiding for hours.

The first shark-wolf jumped at Pavaja, who covered herself with shield, then sliced a throat of approaching foe. Sensing the danger, the second of beasts leaped away, while the third began to circle around the lizard girl, growling and waiting for the rest of its pack, who just made it out of the mud.

For some reason, creatures waited at the edge of the island, but that reason soon became apparent, when the mud started moving inward the isle, gradually pulling both girls to the center, where a large mound began to form.

Chunks of mud started to drip down the mound, revealing what was beneath. It was a gigantic, spiral shell of the land nautilus. Animal resembled its ocean counterpart, with exception of additional claw-legs in front which allowed land movement.

A mighty, deafening groan, like the sound of a tuba, echoed throughout the cave. The wolfs moved aside and encircled their prey, cutting off any escape path.

Nautilus began suction of mud, what pulled adventurers closer into what functionally was a trap parallel to quicksands.

Pavaja, Hyacinth, and Noemi fought against the current, but it was hopeless, while Arath calmly crouched, pulled out a glowworm grenade, then tossed it in front of a sucking mouth.

Beast devoured the explosive and its jaw burst into a billion pieces, what also caused a rain of blood. The beast's enormous shell fell to the side, making a big splash. The ground became steady again.

Startled wolves remained immobile in their initial confusion and the girl quickly sensed an occasion and started to hack at them, killing two before the rest fled to the waters.

Arath moved to the location where Noemi stepped on an urchin and examined the broken spikes. - “These are coated in venom.”

“Leave it to me.” - Hyacinth answered. - “Let me see your foot, Noemi. My chants can remove toxins.”

“Can they remove the spikes?” - Arath responded while taking out a cutter and pliers.

Hyacinth made the room and waited until the Lynnian is finished, then started a psalm. Over its duration, a blue, translucent liquid left the wound, like on its own.

Arath didn't like what he saw. It contradicted his reality. Miracles and magic didn't exist in Lynn. Noemi, however, was flabbergasted.

“You were speaking the truth!” - She answered. - “Your gods must be gracious ones to bestow their blessings upon a member of the different covenant.”

“Honestly, I wasn't sure If it would work.” - Hyacinth answered. - “I'm glad their choice was to help.”

Arath approached, asking. - “Can you try to cure my sight too?”

Hyacinth looked at Arath's bandages. - “I apologize, but I can't perform such miracles.”

Arath didn't answer, he just moved away.

Noemi was feeling a bit sorry for the boy, and also curious, so she asked. - “Is there anyone who can?”

“Only the greatest arch-prophets, but it was in times before labyrinth existed. Nobody was able to perform such feats ever since.” - Hyacinth answered.

“...so there is hope.” - Noemi responded.

“There is.” - Hyacinth affirmed.

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

The light was getting darker, so our party looked for a suitable place to survive the night. They stopped in front of a massive, hollowed rock. Inside, there was a complex of caverns. Many of them had window-like holes in the walls.

At first, it was decided to scout the central corridor, which was overgrown at sides by tall grass. The tunnel appeared to be empty, so Noemi used that moment to talk to Arath.

“Hyacinth told me that there used to exist people who could restore sight.” - Noemi looked at the boy's bandages.

“Useful information.” - Arath commented without moving his eye from what was in front.

“I'm really jealous. To have god's power bestowed upon you, what kind of remarkable person one must be.” - Noemi looked to check If Arath is listening. He was but didn't care at all. - “In my village, gods only shared their wisdom with shamans through the spirits... what were gods in your city like?”

“There were no gods.”

“None? At all?”

“No. Only false ones.”

“What do you mean by false gods?”

“Gods that didn't exist.”

“Why would anyone worship a god that doesn't exist, that's just silly.”

“It was.”

“I feel like you could tell me more.”

“I could.”

“...so? I am listening...” - Noemi smiled gently, Arath's current manner of speech was funny to her.

“What do you want to hear?”

“What do you get from worshiping a false god?”

“Death.”

“Arath, I'm not going anywhere, you are allowed to speak for longer than two seconds.”

Arath sighed. - “Every form of faith in Lynn was banned and eradicated by matrons. There were sacrificial cults and other inhumane rites, but most of them had a very short lifespan. Some less drastic underground societies existed, but they were means to get power and were all under control. The common belief in Lynn was in the lack of gods, and regardless of dogma, any belief in them was always identified as worshiping someone immensely cruel, who either created Lynn or allowed it to exists, and such injustice was frowned upon by the majority of common-folk.”

“Well, look at you... you can speak.” - Noemi whispered out, stupefied by the length of the statement. - “...without the guidance of a wiser, divine being, it's no wonder your people ended up as they did.”

Arath disagreed, but he didn't comment on that.

“Don't you worry, I'll show you the right path.” - Noemi grinned. - “One day, you'll settle your amends with the spirits and learn how to smile.”

“Noemi.”

“?”

“I don't want any gods or spirit meddling in my life. I don't desire to smile either. I can atone for what I've done as promised, but I won't change who I am.”

“Arath. You may not realize it, but you're crying for help.”

Arath didn't comment again. He wanted to be done talking.

“We've got a contract. If you're ever in need of help, remember, I'm not going to give up on you.”