//While spirits are created from the pretty harmless desires, are demons created by the more complicated and hazardous desires. Everything’s relative, but if you compare the desire to quench your thirst with the desire to be loved, you have created two vast different beings. The first one is a spirit with the ability to control water in a certain area around the caster and the second one is something with the ability to affect the heart's desire and the feelings of people in close proximity to the caster. That being is something that we call a Demon and they’re something you have to be careful while dealing with. The love might not be real, however that doesn’t make it any less potent or destructive as if it were real. There’s few things as horrible in this world as forced love. That’s something that could destroy a person from the inside out. So even though demons are created in the same way as spirits there’s the distinction between the dangerous desires and the milder ones that sets them apart from each other. But don’t go on believing that this makes spirits harmless creatures, they’re just as dangerous in careless or malicious hands. No, there’s a reason for calling Atlantis the lost city, a perfect example of what an individual with surplus of lifeessence and a water spirit can achieve.//

- The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 16, page 689

“I’m sorry Cal. You’re a very beautiful person but unfortunately you’re not my type. It could never work between us.” First of all, we’re both girls and I’ve only liked guys so far, even though Cal is the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Then it’s just too big of a difference between our experiences. I mean come on, how innocent do you have to be, to believe that you can faint by a kiss. I’m a bit worried about what else she’s been taught wrong. I guess I have to keep an eye out so that she’s not getting taken advantage of. I also truly hope that I’ve not hurt her feelings too much by rejecting her, but it would be cruel of me to give her false hope.

Cal gaped and ner flushed cheeks turned a deeper red and spread all over her face.

“W-what? Eh? No, no Cealine. Don’t worry, I’m not interested in you in that way either. I’m just wondering why you didn’t faint just now, everyone else does.” Cealine sighed to herself over Cals weak denial.

“Cal, I don’t mean to sound curt, but no one faints over what we just did.” Cal calmed down and looked at bit confused.

“No, Cealine. Everyone faint, at least. Some can even die when exposed, this’s nothing you should deny.” Cealine felt like covering her eyes with her hand. My goodness! This is even worse than I thought. By the gods, to believe you can die from a kiss. That was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. The person that told that to Cal would really deserve a kick in the behind.

“Cal, I promise you. No one can die from that. I’ve seen it a bunch of times and no one have ever died.” Cal looked shocked at what Cealine had just said.

“A bunch of times?! You must be messing with me.”

“I promise that I’m speaking the truth, Cal. I’ve seen it at least a thousand times and never anyone has ever died.” A thousand times if you count all the romance movies over the years anyway.

“Thousand?!” Exclaimed Cal horrified. She looked thoughtfully at Cealine and her eyes widened in realization.

“Is it possible..?” She muttered to herself. She raised her voice and spoke to Cealine.

“So you said yesterday that you came here with the help of a wish? Could it be that no one is affected where you come from?”

Cealine realized where Cal was going with her thoughts.

“Yes, I’ve never heard of someone dying by doing that. Everyone does it all the time, it’s nothing unusual. Do you mean to imply that it’s fatal to be doing it in this place?”

Cal looked longingly into the distance.

“Your place must be a paradise. Yes, here can it become lethal very quickly. There are few who survive the experience, even fewer who are able to handle repeated performances. It’s almost unheard of to remain completely unaffected. With that note, are you feeling alright? Do you feel tired or haggard?”

Cal suddenly looked a little worried when she asked the last questions. Paradise? What is this strange place I’ve landed in? For kisses to be deadly is ridiculous, but Cal appears truthful.

Cealine felt a little guilty that she had believed Cal to be so naive to the point of stupidity.

It was now obvious that the laws of this place were completely different from her own.

Cealine considered the possibility that she hadn’t only wished herself to a forest, but a forest in a different world. That would be something really special and exciting in that case. Hopefully I won’t be transported back home until I’ve been able to explore more. I just have to remember not to initiate kisses with someone without confirming their ability to survive. Seems like my wish won’t contain any romance in the near future in any case.

“Oh, no. I feel fine. Truth be told it felt very comfortable, like getting a massage after a long day at work. I don’t feel the least bit affected.” Cealine was quick to reassure Cal. Cal seemed both relieved and a bit astonished.

“Oh, good. I have never heard someone describe the experience that way, but that’s a relief.”

“Yes, it might not be the most flattering description, but that’s how it felt like. Sorry.” Cealine felt a little embarrassed over her tactless answer to Cal’s questions. It didn’t matter that there was a high mortality rate for kisses in this world, to say that someone’s kiss only made them feel ‘comfortable’ was pretty ill-mannered. While Cealine was pondering on how to smooth over her mistake, she suddenly realized something.

“By the way, if you knew of the dangers towards you and myself, why did you do it?” Cal became speechless. She blushed and whispered lowly.

“I..ehm..I was hungry and didn’t think thing through. And I knew that I wouldn’t be affected since I was the one to initiate it. I am so sorry.”

“Hungry? Oh, right! We talked about breakfast for you before all this. I’d completely forgotten about that. So what do you want to eat for breakfast?” Cal looked at her questioningly.

“Hungry? I am not hungry anymore, that made me perfectly stuffed.” Cealine felt very surprised.

“Stuffed? How is that possible? None of us have eaten since yesterday.”

Cal’s lips formed a small smile that Cealine couldn’t interpret.

“Oh! But I’m full as I just ate. You were here after all? Did you not notice?”

“Eh? You did? I missed it completely. Are you sure you’re not teasing me?”

Cealine felt confusion. The only thing that had happened was the kiss.. Oh.. Now she got it.

“Well, now I understand. Do you feed on kisses in this world?”

“Kisses? What is that?” Cal said a bit perplexed.

“We just kissed a moment ago. How could you not know what a kiss is? ”

“Hm. I feel quite confused. That is not what we call it, but I like your word better. I shall keep calling it that from now on.”

“Do you not have the word ‘kiss’ here? What do you call it then?” Cealine asked. She had a feeling that there had been some sort of misunderstanding between them, but couldn’t figure out what was the cause of it. It was like talking to someone on another wavelength or with a crappy translation device. The message arrived, but there was enough grammatical errors for misunderstandings to occur.

“We call it ‘Essence taking’, but I like your word better. It is shorter and no one else will know what I am speaking about.” Cal answered smugly. It seemed as if the idea of having a secret word was very appealing to her. She’s like a little kid who wants to come up with a secret code with her best friend. Cealine thought that was very adorable. Their word for kiss is also quite funny. It might be a little far-fetched but if I think about it I guess I can understand what they mean. Because you can’t really avoid getting an exchange of saliva, but it feels a little too dramatic for my taste.

“Oh, okey. Yes, I guess there’s a pretty big difference between the terms. So back to my original question. Do you just survive on kisses?”

Cal looked a bit uncomfortable with Cealines questioning. However just before Cealine would say that Cal didn’t have to tell her, Cal answered her while avoiding eye contact.

“Yes, unfortunately that’s how I receive my sustenance. I would not last long without it. It is necessary for my health to Esse- eh I mean kiss at least once a day. If I was desperate I might be able to go without for a few days, any longer than that and I get sick.”

“I see. Does everybody need to do this? Or are you unique in that aspect?” Cealine smiled and tried to ease the tension in the air. She hadn’t meant for Cal to feel so uncomfortable. She had really begun to care for the other woman.

Cal looked up and met Cealines eyes. Something in her posture eased and Cealine realized that Cal had probably been a lot more uncomfortable than she had first thought.

“This is not something only I do, as there are many others as well, but not everybody either. There is always some of us in every city, but I have no exact number.”

Cealine gave herself a moment to collect herself and to realize the completely unexpected turn her wish had taken. She could accept, in theory at least, that a wish might have moved her to another place, even another world. However to make it so a completely new type of humans exist? Humans who survive on kisses of all things, that was something hard to grasp.

And that the other part of the population dies of said kisses? Even more so.

She began to feel excited. This is such an interesting place. In this place there are deadly kisses, magic, beautiful people, magic, camping, eating things grilled over fire and did she forget to magic? This was a very good basis for a fantastic and special adventure. Just as she had wished. Cealine concluded that she was really lucky to have the opportunity to fulfill her wish. Sha looked at Cal and realized that she looked a bit worried. What was it we were talking about? Others like Cal? Hm, well I guess it might be good to give her some kind of response? Yes, that’s probably a good idea.

“Okay, that’s nice I guess. Well, if you’re full then I assume that all this food is for me then.”

She held up the grilled mushroom with a triumphant smile. Yay, a lot of great food just for me. “Just let me eat this quickly and we can be on our way.”

Cal widened her eyes and looked stunned at Cealine. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. She repeated her fish-impression for a couple of moments while Cealine began to eat. Her shoulders sagged a bit and she sighed a long sigh.

“That’s fine, Cealine. No need to rush. As long as we leave within the next hour, we will have no trouble reaching City T before nightfall.”

---

They quickly assembled their stuff after Cealine had finished eating. While Cal made sure the fire was dead, Cealine put on her underwear that he had rinsed the day before. This was really a good idea. it would’ve been terribly uncomfortable to walk around with clothes that smell like sweat.

When everything was finished you could hardly see that someone had camped there if you overlooked the extinguished fire. Cal led them back to the pathway and they began to move towards city T.