A few minutes earlier…

…

As the light of the formation enveloped Red, he lost track of his surroundings. He could only faintly hear the sounds of chaos from the town, as well as the muffled roar of a creature. He didn’t know if that was Hector’s doing, but at that moment, he couldn’t afford to check.

“This kind of teleportation isn’t meant to be used in mortals.” The Baron’s voice reached his ears. “Someone who has all their veins opened might be able to sustain the side-effects, but I can’t guarantee how you will feel on the other side.”

Red could barely muster the strength to respond. The forces gathering around him already made his stomach twist and turn in protest, and the images in his vision felt distorted.

“Where are you… sending me?” he asked.

“Northwards.” the Baron said. “Some hundreds of kilometers away from here in the direction of the capital. I can’t tell you where exactly you will end up, but the imperials will be more hesitant to search in that direction if they do go after you.”

The youth never explored much of the forest up north. It was foreign territory for him, but he knew the Baron was right in his choice.

The man focused on his totem as he looked over at Red. “Now, hold your breath and close your eyes. I was instructed that one should keep track of their senses while teleporting, so-”

Before he could finish speaking, there was an enormous explosion outside. The ground beneath their feet rumbled, and the walls of the already destroyed room started to collapse even further. It felt as if the whole world was crumbling beneath their feet.

Red almost stumbled to his knees at this sudden shockwave.

The Baron looked up with a frown. “Damn it, we are out of time! I’m sending you now!”

The youth felt the light surrounding him intensify until he could see nothing but this bright glow. He heard the Baron’s voice reach him through this haze.

“Remember your promise, Red!” the man said. “Good luc-!”

A static noise suddenly attacked his ears, and the youth found himself unable to hear anything else. He felt himself losing the ground beneath his feet, and yet it didn’t seem as if he was floating. His entire body was invaded by impossibility, as sensations the youth couldn’t understand assaulted his senses.

Colors, noises, smells. It was almost too much, and yet it didn’t last for more than an instant.

The next thing Red felt was complete darkness.

Then, like the rising tide, everything returned all at once.

The youth felt himself hit solid ground, a distorted vision of the world returning to him. The damp smells of the forest reached his nostrils, and he hear the crackling sounds of leaves and twigs beneath his feet.

After that, he felt himself lose his balance, falling onto the ground on both hands as he vomited out the contents of his stomach. This sense of sickness and confusion kept him down for the next minute, but Red tried his best to regain his composure. He couldn’t afford to waste time here.

Just as Red recovered his balance, he felt a strange feeling come to him. It was an odd sensation he had never felt before, with no discernable origin, yet it was foreign enough for him to take immediate note of.

“What is the problem?” Aurelia asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Red hesitated. “There’s something strange happening.”

“Strange how?”

The youth couldn’t find the words to describe this sensation, yet just as suddenly as it appeared, it was soon gone again. It felt as if it was suppressed by something before it could grow enough to become a bother in his mind.

Red was left bewildered by the strange occurrence.

“It’s gone.” he said.

“Gone?” Aurelia sounded confused. “I can’t sense anything strange in your body, but you should be careful. I don’t know what kinds of techniques those imperials are able to conjure, so they could try to track you through all kinds of ways.”

As she said that, a possibility came to the youth’s mind. Yet, he couldn’t afford himself any time to theorize about this.

Now that he managed to recover his composure, Red was able to examine his surroundings. He was in the middle of the forest, however, and it was impossible to discern his exact location without some kind of landmark.

He used the stars above as a guide, and upon discerning where north was, started to move in that direction. The youth was completely exhausted, his body begging him for a rest, but he couldn’t squander this earlier lead that had been afforded him.

It took him the best part of an hour, but Red finally found a hill to climb upon that gave him a good view of the surrounding region. Unfortunately for him, what he saw was a mostly unfamiliar environment without any landmarks to speak of, only an endless sea of trees.

“Do you know where we are?” Aurelia asked, her form appearing by his side.

The woman’s lithe body seemed far more substantial than it ever did in the past, and Red was somewhat taken aback by that. Yet, he didn’t show his surprise in his expression.

He shook his head. “I don’t. The vegetation and terrain are familiar, so we are still in the forest, but I can’t tell you where exactly.”

“So the teleportation worked?”

“… It does seem like it.”

Aurelia smirked. “Great. So what are your plans now? You don’t sincerely intend on searching for that friend of yours in the Crystal Sky Sect, right?”

Red hesitated. “I will go to the capital first. I need to prepare myself to breakthrough.”

The capital of the Kingdom was towards the north, and it was probably one of the safest places to hide himself into.

“The imperials probably have agents there, too. Aren’t you worried?” Aurelia asked.

“Of course I am. However, it’s the safest environment for me to disguise myself and they won’t be so brazen as to assault me in daylight in there.”

That was his hope, at least.

Aurelia frowned. “The imperials won’t be your only worry. There’s no guarantee that news of what happened in town won’t make its way there.”

Red sighed. “If that does happen, I can only tackle that problem when it arrives.”

There was little point in considering all the possible repercussions of their confrontation in town, and neither did Red want to do it. He put almost all of his secrets out in public for the sole purpose of defeating his sect’s opponents, and he would have done it again without hesitation.

His only regret was that he couldn’t save his companion’s lives.

Aurelia stared at him. “You should go to sleep.”

Red shook his head. “I can’t. They might be searching for me.”

“You’re going to collapse if you keep trying to run. I can keep watch for you while you’re asleep.”

The youth was skeptical. “How would you do that?”

“I absorbed enough energy from that ghost.” she said. “Just trust me and go to sleep. I will be able to spot them from kilometers away.”

Red was still somewhat hesitant, but he knew she spoke the truth. He hadn’t relaxed for a second since that battle started, and both his mind and body were exhausted after that confrontation. He would find himself hard pressed to outrun those imperials while at full strength, much less in this condition.

“Fine.” He nodded and made his way down the hill.

Even though he agreed on resting, he wasn’t going to do it just anywhere. It took almost another hour before he found an appropriate hideout to sleep in - an abandoned den by the foot of a hill. Red made sure to block the entrance before preparing himself to sleep.

He thought the conditions surrounding him would make it hard for him to rest, but as soon as he set his head down against his bag, it was like a dam of exhaustion broke through. The pressure of the last day, the confrontation against that ghost, the death of his companions.

Everything took a toll on him, bigger than he could have imagined, and as soon as he afforded himself time to relax, sleep came to him in an instant.

…

“You’re finally here.”

A voice woke him up. Red looked around in a daze, his vision adapting to the surrounding environment.

It was dark, too dark to see clearly, and not even his special vision seemed capable of breaking through this darkness. The youth squinted his eyes, trying to spot a wall or even the ground beneath his feet, but he saw nothing but an endless dark abyss.

“Are you alright?”

The same voice called to him again, and Red turned around to look at its source. In front of him was the only thing of substance he could see: a small wooden table, and a lit candle set up at its center. Across the table from him sat an old man with long, grey hair and a trimmed beard, wearing scholarly robes and dignified in appearance.

Whenever wise old sages were referred to in books, this was what most people must think of. The air the man invoked was one of absolute calm and dignity, and he looked at Red with concern.

“Is everything alright, Azure?” the old man asked again.

‘Azure?’

It was only now that a wave of understanding came to Red. He looked down at himself, noticing unfamiliar hands in the place where his own should be. He seemed to be wearing similar clothes to the old man across from him, and above all that, something strange stood out about his person.

His skin was entirely blue.

“Ah, I see. You’re not Azure.”

The sage spoke in realization while Red was examining himself.

The youth trembled, and he looked up at the elder as if preparing to defend himself, but the old man only stared at him with an interested gaze.

“I confess that this entire situation confuses me, but I assume things must not be any clearer to you.” The elder looked at his surroundings. “Do you suppose we are in your dream?”

‘A dream?’

Of course, it was a dream. The first one of this kind Red had in almost seven years.

He nodded to the old man.

The sage smiled. “I see. May I ask your name?”

Red hesitated.

“Oh, there’s no real reason to be concerned.” the sage shook his head. “Since this is your dream, I won’t be able to remember what you tell me in real life, if I’m even still alive out there in the first place, I mean.”

“That may be so,” Red said in a voice unfamiliar to him. “But I would rather not take the chances.”

“Hm, that’s wise.” the old man nodded, unbothered by his refusal. “In that case, I suppose we can use the color of your soul for reference… What if I call you Red?”

The youth trembled, the surprise in his face evident.

“What’s the problem?” the sage seemed confused at this reaction. “Wait, don’t tell me… that is your name?”

Red frowned, immediately raising his guard.

The old man smiled at him. “That is certainly a big coincidence… If I were to tell you I didn’t know about it before, would you believe me?”

The youth didn’t say anything, staring at this elder with a guarded expression.

The sage sighed. “I suppose it seems too strange for you, but knowing that this is your name now, I assume our meeting at least must not be mere coincidence. In which case, what if I told you my name instead?”

The elder extended his hand to Red.

“Most people call me the Supreme Elder, but those close to me refer to me as Master Grey. It is a pleasure to meet you, Red.”