//The strange thing about life energy is that each and every individual have different amount of it. Some have enough of it to be able to live until they’re in their eighties. Others may only have enough energy to last them half a life, and some should’ve had enough with life energy to last them their entire lifespan but get infected with a disease that drain them of their energy until they die, before their time.

There’re also some individuals that have an excess of life energy. These individuals have the opportunity to become magicians by using their excess energy to preform miracles and powerful actions.

Finally, there are some extremely rare cases of individuals that have access to an almost infinite amount energy. They’re practically invulnerable to attacks or situations that would drain an ordinary individual dry.

These few that have this condition are the only ones that would survive a confrontation with a Silver Soul. It wouldn't matter how much life energy the Silver Souls would feed off of them, they wouldn’t die.

These individuals are called by another name, the Unbound, as they’re not chained by the laws of ordinary men.//

- The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 15, page 650

She was waiting. Waiting was something she was used to and excelled at if she said so herself. She had been waiting all her life. Waiting for her dream to come true, waiting for something extrodinary, waiting to reach town and now she waited for her companion to be done with her bath.

The silver haired beauty had for some reason vehemently refused Cealines’ suggestion of bathing together.

Perhaps she’s shy? Cealine thought.

Cealine could perhaps see the reason of “if we bathe together, no one will guard the camp against animals and thieves?” It barely counted as a reason to refuse in her opinion. Cealine looked around the campsite from her position of sitting by the fire. The only thing worth stealing would either be the burning campfire or the animal carcass next to it. And who would be foolish enough to wander into a forest at night and risking their life for som measly fire and an incomplete meal?

Her thought process was interrupted by the rustling of leaves. Cal stepped out of the bushes, looking gorgeous with her hair damp after the wash.

“Welcome back. Did you have a nice bath?”

Cal looked surprised at the warm welcome.

“…I’m back. The water’s a bit cold but it was nonetheless refreshing to wash after a day of walking.”

She sat down next to Cealine and reached for the dead rabbit.

“I’ll start preparing the rabbit so it’ll be done by the time you come back.”

“Thank you, that would be wonderful. I’ll be back shortly.”

"No, no. Take your time, we’re in no hurry.”

Cealine stood up and started to walk in the same direction that Cal had come from.

After a minute or two did she reach a quiet river. It was then she realized that she had neither a towel nor a change of clothing.

For who would consider to take something like that with them when going on an afternoon stroll?

What should she do now? Cal didn’t look like she would have something in her size and it would be weird and awkward to ask a near stranger if they could share a towel. That was something she hadn’t even done with her family back home.

She considered her alternatives; to take a bath and not being able to dry properly or to not wash and smell like sweat. She chose the first option and took of her clothing and walked out into the river. The water reached her mid-thigh, so she had to bend her knees and sit down to wash herself easier.

She grabbed a handful of the grainy sand that covered the bottom of the stream as she thought to have read somewhere that sand could replace body scrub when you need a rinsing.

Cealine sat down in the sun on a patch of grass after washing, in an attempt to air-dry before putting on her clothes again. She didn’t find the idea of putting on clothes while wet a pleasant one. The fabric would stick to her skin and it would require more effort, time and be more of a bother than it was worth to try to put on pants on damp legs. She would not attempt that as as she didn’t want to keep Cal waiting for too long.

When she deemed herself dry enough, did she put on her clothes and walked back towards the camp. When she arrived Cal was tending to the meat with her back turned to Cealine

Cealine said that she was back and sat down next to the fire only to stare absentmindedly into the flames.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

She looked up and met Cals’ lovely eyes.

“Nothing special.”

Her stomach growled.

“…When do you think the meat is done? I have to admit that I’m quite hungry.”

Cal chuckled.

“Haha, yes, it’s done right about now.”

Cal grabbed the meat and handed it to her.

“Here you go. Rabbit on a stick, enjoy.”

Cealine was very hungry at this point and greedily bit into the meat and tore of a big chunk. She swallowed quickly and repeated the process several times. It was only after quite some time that she realized that Cal had not gotten anything to eat.

“I’m sorry, Cal. I was so hungry that I didn’t notice that we were supposed to share. Here you go.”

Cal made no attempt at taking the meat in front of her.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. I must confess that I was so hungry that I ate some of my dried rations while waiting for the meat to be ready. I am already full so you can have all of the meat.”

Cealine looked with skepticism and pity at the beauty, who flinched under her look.

She felt sorry for Cal and at the same time felt that she was a bit of an idiot. Who would eat themselves full with dry rations when they could feast on freshly grilled meat? She sighed lightly and reasoned that as long as Cal was fine with it, then it was alright. After all, the less meat Cal ate, the more was left for herself.

After the meal came the discussion about what to do about the fire as it was important that it continued to burn the whole night.

They decided that they would sleep in shifts and Cealine had to awkwardly tell Cal that she had next to no knowledge of how to keep a fire burning. She felt a bit stupid when Cal explained that she only had to put on more fuel and see to that the new tinder burned.

Cal offered to take the first shift and Cealine didn’t oppose. She felt very tired after everything that had happened that day.

She truly hoped, as she lay down and closed her eyes, that she wouldn’t wake up to find out that she had returned to where she came from, since she hadn’t even used her wish to the fullest.

Cal looked at the sleeping girl and approached her with an expression mixed between contempt and morbid curiosity.

She bent over the unsuspecting girl and froze just as she had her hand on the shirt collar.

You see, after Cealine had bathed she decided to also wash her underwear, as she figured that she could rinse them so that they were fresher to be put on in the morning. So what'd happened was that when Cal bent over her, Cal got a full view of what was underneath her shirt.

Which was nothing.

As the sun set over the forest a man laid unmoving, forgotten on a road.

A dark mist floated out from the undergrowth and flowed towards the body.

Suddenly the fingers on the body started to twitch and it rose unsteadily.

If someone at that moment would’ve looked closely at its face, one would’ve noticed that the eyes were completely black.

The body that once was a man let out a groan and started with a limp to move towards village V.