It was yet another beautiful and sunny morning. The only thing that got on Niu’s nerves as she made her way to school as usual was realizing—only when she nearly already reached Hayden—that she’d forgotten all about the flower again. Despite her curiosity, it still managed to completely slip her mind.

She gazed longingly at the fields stretching behind her, but it was already too late to turn back. She just hoped the flower would stay put and wait for her—well, not like it could do anything else.

This time, though, she arrived with quite a bit of time to spare. She saw that Gen and Shaya were engaged in conversation just as she entered the classroom.

“So let’s wait for—”

“Oh, there she is! Good morning.” Shaya waved at her when she saw Niu enter. Hearing that, Gen turned around to her as well.

“Good morning, and nice timing,” he also greeted her.

She nodded back with a smile, and then tilted her head as if to say, what were you talking about?

“Oh, it’s just that, umm,” for some reason he stumbled with the words, “since we don’t have our special lesson today, I thought it’d be a good chance to go hang out around town. I even asked my parents for a little spending money. Whaddya say?”

Originally Niu would have probably used the spare time to look for the flower again, but that sounded better. She nodded enthusiastically. It had been a while since their last outing.

“Then maybe I should leave you two alone, then?” wondered Shaya. It wasn’t clear from her tone whether or not she was making a joke.

“What are you talking about? Of course not,” Gen said with a raised brow. “And I’ve already invited you.”

“Right.”

“Well, I guess I’ll come too, then.” Only then did they notice Roah also standing nearby; he probably arrived just after Niu, arriving early for a change.

“Uh, no one invited you,” said Gen.

“Don’t be like that. We need to get along,” Roah said with a sly smile. “Mr. Saburn said so, too. So don’t exclude me like that.”

“But why do I even have to…” Gen’s mumble was cut off by a small tap on his shoulder. Niu merely smiled at him, but that said enough. “Fine. Whatever. If you want to tag along, I can’t really stop you, even if I don’t like this at all. Just don’t expect anything from me.”

“Don’t worry, I never expected anything out of you—related to this or otherwise.”

“You s…” Gen got angry again, but bit off the rest of his words, probably for Niu’s sake.

Yes, these two never got along, but Niu knew Roah wasn’t as bad as he seemed, all things considered; he was just a bit rough on the edges. She smiled at him now, but not only did he not return that smile, he even looked away from her. Well, there were still plenty of things she didn’t understand about him, so this was nothing new.

“It’s settled then, I guess.” Gen finally sat down.

“Yeah,” Shaya said with a smile.

Although the day started well enough, the first period was yet another History lesson, so it was long and painful.

Finally late noon arrived and school was over. Students began dispersing and heading back home, and normally Shaya would be among them, but today she went along with the other three just like they planned.

“Alright, it’s only 6 o’clock so we have plenty of time to spare,” Gen pumped his fist. “Man, I wonder if we somehow end up seeing Molton today.”

“You’re still thinking about that?” mumbled Roah.

“Molton?” Shaya asked.

“Oh right, I didn’t tell you. I heard from my parents that Stard Molton’s in town right now. Mr. Saburn also practically confirmed it. If I could just see him, even once… no, but I’d really like to talk to him, or—”

“Stard Molton, umm, he’s that soldier guy, right?” asked Shaya.

“Yeah, the best there is,” Gen started getting excited.

“He’ll talk about him until the sun sinks if you don’t stop him,” warned Roah.

Gen was about to respond to that, but Niu tugged on his shirt. She looked at all of them and pointed to a certain street corner. A small crowd was standing around a man who seemed to be a street performer.

“Ooh,” sounded Shaya, “he’s probably practicing for the fair.”

The man held a few balls made of cloth, alternating between throwing and catching them. At times he even spun around or threw a ball behind his back, yet not a single one of them fell to the ground.

“Yeah, there’re plenty of those guys every year,” said Gen. “Wait till you see the fireworks though! My parents told me they brought some real amazing ones this year.”

Niu smiled in satisfaction; everyone was enraptured enough by the performance they completely forgot the small fight that nearly happened just now.

Soon the performance was over. The man grabbed all his balls and bowed deeply to the crowd’s cheers. Niu and the rest also joined the clapping, except for Roah who seemed unimpressed through this whole ordeal.

After his many bows, the performer placed a tattered hat at his feet. Many such people used the annual fair as leverage to make some money, since everyone was allowed to open stalls or shows as they pleased. Gen, too, stepped ahead to insert a small coin, ignoring the fact that some people distanced themselves from him as he did so.

When he came back to the other three a voice suddenly called to him.

“Hey, watcha doing here?” This cheerful voice belonged to a young man who was apparently part of the crowd. He was tall and lean, sporting a clean-shaven face and light brown hair. He looked like an older version of Gen—and for a reason. Niu remembered having seen Gen’s older brother a couple of times before; if memory served, his name was Karson.

“Huh, that's what I ought to be asking you,” Gen retorted, “don’t you have work, Kar?”

“Sure, I’m working. Just running some errands when I suddenly see you with your girlfriend,” said Kar, smiling at Niu. She averted her gaze.

“Wha—will you stop saying that?” Gen protested.

“Yeah, I see you’re actually just hanging out with your friends so I guess it’s not a date,” his brother said, shrugging. “Too bad.”

“Shut up already.” Hearing a snicker from behind him, Gen then turned and added, “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” replied Roah. “Isn’t it nice seeing you siblings get along so well?”

“S-stop that,” Shaya mumbled weakly. Niu also nodded next to her.

Gen gritted his teeth. “Yeah, we’re going,” and was the first to rush away.

“See you later!” Kar called after him, waving his arm. Niu only looked at him for a moment and then hurried to join the others.

“Moving on,” Gen huffed, “I found something I think you’ll like, Niu.”

With eyebrows raised in curiosity, she followed him along with the others.

After a few minutes’ walk, they all came to the front of a small antique shop. They didn’t even have to go inside and Gen didn’t need to explain anything, as it was soon obvious why he took her there.

Niu’s mouth hung open in the shape of a wow. Standing in the display window was a wooden statue nearly as large as a toddler. It depicted the figure of a fairy. With large eyes, a small frame, delicate wings and curly hair it was somewhat of a cliché, but that was exactly what Niu liked about it. Even when obviously made of wood it looked so lifelike that Niu felt almost as if the fairy was actually smiling at her.

“That’s amazing,” said Shaya.

“Hehe, I saw it the other day and knew immediately she’d like it.”

Niu took a step closer, almost bumping into the window. It was somewhat embarrassing, but she really did like stories about fairies and her friends knew that. Oh, what she would give to add that to her very small collection of treasures…

“Too bad it’s pretty pricy,” said Gen, “otherwise maybe I coulda…”

But Niu shook her head with vigor. She couldn’t let Gen of all people waste money on her for such a silly thing.

“Maybe I’ll just steal it for you then.” Roah’s words were so nonchalant that he caused everyone to stare at him. He scowled and mumbled, “It was just a joke, Gods.”

Yet another example of the mysterious ways of Roah. Was this his attempt at being nice to her or something? She honestly couldn’t tell. Instead she turned to look at the fairy statue again. Now she noticed there was another wooden statue next to it. At first it seemed bland and plain, but now she realized that it was actually a God.

In art, the Gods were commonly depicted as vague humanoid figures surrounded in light, possibly with long hair. Since it was a statue, however, it looked like a simple puppet. It was way less of an impressive work than the fairy, but the Gods weren’t as popular in the Western Kingdom of Rumdon as elsewhere.

“Hey, Roah!”

A new voice caught Niu’s attention. When she turned, she saw the named boy clicking his tongue. The one speaking to him wasn't Gen or Shaya, but one of two boys in dirty clothing standing in the street.

“What do you want? I’m busy,” he spat.

“What about the money you owe us, eh?” asked one of the boys.

“I told you I’ll get it next week. Now get lost,” Roah tried speaking quietly but everyone could obviously hear him. Niu couldn’t see his face, but whatever expression he made seemed to have made the two boys just leave without adding anything.

“…Huh, what was that?” asked Gen with a raised eyebrow.

“Personal business.”

“I’m pretty sure I know one of them, actually.” Gen directed a suspicious look at the other boy. “That boy with the hat. Didn’t he steal some school equipment once?”

“Yeah, just forget about it,” Roah mumbled, averting his gaze.

“Why do you have business with them?” Without Niu even noticing Gen drew closer to the other boy. Even the sharp look in Roah’s lone eye didn’t deter him.

“I told you to forget it,” he hissed.

“Look,” Gen said, “I don’t give a crap what you involve yourself in, but if your friends do anything to—”

Roah’s eye widened. “They’re not my friends—”

“And we’re not either, so why are you here anyway? You haven’t even… even…”

“Even what?” Roah snorted. “Invited you all on a stroll around town? Showed Niu something she likes? Wow, that’s so impressive.”

Gen’s response was to clench his fist while Roah’s collar was suddenly rising, no, was being pulled by an invisible arm. Gen looked ready to hit Roah right in the face and so the other boy’s hand reached for his pocket—

“S-stop it!”

Concurrently with Shaya’s shout, Gen’s shirt was pulled from behind. Niu bit her lips; she’d been frozen for far too long, just watching them, before she moved toward Gen. This was actually much worse than the usual. They started drawing the attention of passersby.

Even the door of the shop they were standing in front of opened and a man came out with furrowed eyebrows. “Is something the matter? Don’t cause a ruckus right in front of my shop.” The owner’s expression seemed to be a mix of surprise, worry and perhaps even some disgust.

“Everything’s in order, sir,” Roah spoke calmly and stepped away; the other boy had already separated from him. Gen himself was far from being calm, though.

“Umm, we’ll… we’ll just be going,” mumbled Shaya. Niu also lowered her head apologetically in front of the shop owner and made a strained smile. The man merely stood in place, arms folded, and watched them leave.

“Crap,” Gen cursed under his breath.

It’s fine. Nothing happened, Niu wrote hurriedly.

“Yeah, sorry.”

Roah was curiously silent. Perhaps even he was surprised at Gen’s reaction and didn’t want to set it off again with one of his usual quips. Gen still sent venomous looks at him from time to time, though.

“So, where should we go next?” asked Shaya, trying to remain cheerful.

“I don’t know about you,” said Gen somewhat dryly, “but I’m getting hungry. Let’s go get something.”

Several minutes later, each of them held a sweet bun in hand. It wasn’t much more than a piece of bread with plenty of sugar and other minor ingredients but it was a popular snack in their town. It was cheap, tasty and easy to make.

Despite the girls’ initial refusal Gen treated them both. Niu nibbled guiltily as she couldn’t spare the money to get one herself, or rather she owned no money in the first place. Roah, meanwhile, bought one on his own despite his apparent debt from before, but Gen seemed intent on ignoring his existence for now.

“…so I’m really looking forward to it,” concluded Shaya. While finishing off her sweet bun she told them about some dance show set to appear in the fair. There was apparently some wandering troupe of performers who’d never been in Hayden before.

“Oh, I think I heard about them,” Gen snapped his fingers in recognition. “Their name was, uh… Green Gale?”

“Yes, that!” Shaya sounded excited. “I heard their main stars are this married couple, and they're supposed to be incredibly well-coordinated.”

“I heard they’re channelers, too,” Roah unexpectedly joined the conversation. “I don’t know how educational it could be, but maybe we’ll learn something.”

Niu raised her brows in wonder. She didn’t like dance shows as much as Shaya, but this somewhat increased her interest in the event. She was the weakest in channeling among their group, after all.

“Yeah, they’re channelers…” mumbled Shaya in a sort of raspy voice. There was some emotion that was possibly a tinge of jealousy mixed in with her voice. Perhaps she felt left out of the group when such topics arose. “Oh, and they’ll probably be wearing something like this.”

She stopped in front of a clothing shop. As Niu wore pretty much barely-functional clothes she’d never been to such shops, nor did she really have any sense of fashion. What Shaya seemed to be focusing on was a turquoise, close-fitting short dress. It actually looked much fancier than the rest of the shop, and its price tag indicated that, too.

Shaya sighed softly. It was obvious this was something she wanted to try wearing, too.

“Well, not like it’ll even fit you,” came Roah’s curt reply. Shaya just lowered her gaze dejectedly, but Niu frowned; Roah could be really rude at times.

And, as expected her reaction was mild when compared to Gen’s.

“Alright, go the fuck away.” Gen was somewhat hot-headed and brash, but it was rare hearing him swear like this. Even Roah looked a bit disturbed.

“Stop being so—”

“No, shut up,” Gen interjected. “This entire day—or maybe ever since we’ve known—you’ve been nothing but a jerk. Never mind that fire back then, but I can’t stand you speaking like… like that.”

Roah rolled his eyes with a small groan. This made Gen even angrier, though he seemed to be resisting a more violent gesture like before.

“Fine, I apologize for my words,” Roah spat in exasperation between clenched teeth, “just let it go.”

“…No. I’ve had enough of it.”

“G-Gen…” mumbled Shaya weakly, biting her lips. Niu herself also went to tap on his shoulder. She couldn’t let it all break apart like this. She needed to put a stop to this. She slightly tilted her head with downturned brows as if to say, Won’t you let it go?

“No…” said Gen, glancing at the girls, “not anymore. I just can’t stand this guy.”

“Not like I can stand you, either.”

Niu had to physically stop Gen in place. For a moment he looked angry even at her, which caused her to flinch in horror.

“Fine, I get it,” Roah hissed. “I’d hate to cause you to become so violent.”

”Good!” Gen called after him, but just as the other boy turned around Niu suddenly rushed to him. All parties were surprised at this, possibly even Niu herself.

Niu shook her head and pulled the hem of his shirt. His single eye cast a confused glance at her actions.

“…You’re taking his side?” Gen asked in shock.

I’m not taking anyone’s side, Niu thought desperately. She frantically shook her head. But how could she explain it? This was a situation where her gestures alone wouldn’t suffice. She needed to use her notebook for that.

“You’re really kind,” Roah said softly, some subtle emotion sneaking into his voice. Judging from his eye it was either scorn or sadness or some strange mix thereof, but she couldn’t really tell.

“Umm… I-I think that Niu’s just trying to…” Shaya started talking, but she probably couldn’t actually tell what Niu was trying to do at all.

Niu didn’t want to see everything fall apart like this. True, most of the fault lay with Roah; but she still couldn’t bear to see them fighting like this. More importantly, she couldn’t bear being unable to do anything about it.

This was the worst.

Niu started running away before she even realized she was doing it. She thought she could hear her friends calling after her, but their voices became as blurred as her vision that was warped by tears.

The realization she was so pathetic and that her first instinct was to run away from it all only made her feel worse. She was completely powerless. All three of her friends went through harsher lives, yet they could keep going. They were worth something.

Niu was pathetic.

Her eyes red and swollen, Niu found herself outside town. Her route there was almost automatic. Seeing her clearly agitated demeanor, a few people tried to speak with her, but she simply ignored them; well, she wasn’t calm enough to communicate with anyone right now anyway.

She also wondered about her friends. Have they even tried chasing her and simply lost her? Or what if they didn’t care at all and let her go away in relief?

She tried shaking these dark thoughts from her head. And what now? After everything that happened, she didn’t feel like going back there. Also, it wasn’t like Gen and Roah were going to make up even if she returned.

She should simply go back home and calm down. Maybe she’d even go to sleep early. Come tomorrow, she would have to apologize to all of them, of course. She couldn’t ruin everything like that.

She gritted her teeth and wiped her face. At the very least she didn’t want her parents to see she had been crying, even if they didn’t care anyway. Not everything was lost. She could just fix it tomorrow. She would seize it all back. She just had to believe in it.

Despite all this self-encouragement, however, the black emotions still weighed deeply on her heart. She felt as if her entire body was plunged into darkness, as if a shadow had swallowed her whole—

No, wait. Niu stopped when she realized that she wasn't imagining anything: she was inside a shadow.

Although she was out of town and near the forest, it was still a clear plain. Certainly no tree around cast such a large shadow. Perhaps a cloud covered the sky as if to mock her? But the sky was clear not too long ago.

Finally, she raised her face. And then felt a chill.

How could she even begin to describe it? What looked like a wriggling, serpentine mass of darkness flew way, way above her. But despite it being dark, it also shone in an ominous light. That contradictory makeup almost made her miss the fact that there was not only one such thing, but a multitude of them. There weren’t quite enough to literally cover the skies, but apparently she’d ended up right beneath one such shadow.

If the eerie phenomenon itself wasn't enough, there was still more. She could see other masses starting to fall from the sky like black hail, or perhaps an avalanche of shadows.

Niu simply stood in complete shock at this otherworldly scene. What else could she do? Her mind barely even registered the faint screams carried on the wind from the direction of Hayden. The beating of her own heart seemed to be much louder.

Her vision momentarily darkened, her knees shook and her face blanched. All in time to face the greatest disaster. A nearby thud startled Niu so much that she fell on her rear.

She saw a monster.

That seemed like the only accurate word. The thing looked like a cross between a scorpion and a lizard, with perhaps some other things in the mix. Not even in her worst nightmares had she seen anything like it. It had multiple legs, sharp claws and pincers and compound eyes. And it was all colored in what seemed to be a deep color of black—yet it was also very blurry. Whether it was due to Niu’s extreme fear or some other reason, the creature almost looked like some sort of mirage, faintly fading in and out of view. Even its steps on the ground were seemingly soundless despite the earlier crash.

A scream of terror wanted to escape from her mouth, but the only thing that came out was a stupid-sounding leakage of air from her throat, not even a sigh or a squeak.

The creature itself emitted no sound, but Niu then heard a high-pitched scream coming from afar, probably from town. It woke her as if from a trance. There was a monster in front of her. There was only one course of action available to her: she had to run!

She got up on her shaky legs, turned away and began running. The monster had been facing her just now but she dared not to check if it really was coming after her. All of her instincts were focused on survival. Perhaps too much, as she didn’t look at the ground, stumbled on something hard, and fell.

Thankfully she didn’t seem to have hurt anything, but the impact caused her to momentarily roll and see the large, black mass of the approaching monster. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw it moving. Rather than walking, it almost appeared to be gliding on the soft grass. But such details didn’t really interest Niu for now; she just had to keep running away.

Where to? She hadn’t thought about that either. Maybe back home, but it wasn’t like it would be especially safe, either, and she was too disoriented to understand her exact location right now anyway. Niu couldn’t settle her panicked thoughts, and while she tried rousing her body she slipped and fell again. There was still almost no sound but she could imagine the monster closing in on her, which made it even harder to recover.

Why was this happening to her? Or at all? She couldn’t understand it. Would she wake up in her bed, frightened and shaken but secure, in just a few moments? Yet it all seemed awfully real, the monster’s strange nature notwithstanding. Was it some sort of punishment?

Niu couldn’t handle this situation at all. It was like terror somehow made her forget how her body worked. She lamely rose to her feet then fell again. She had to get help. She had to. But how? She couldn’t see anyone around. She was a bit far from the farmlands. Besides, no one would probably come help her anyway. Not against this kind of monster.

Gen…

The first name that came to mind was his. If nothing else, she could count on him.

Gen, help me!

Even if she wasn’t worthy, he was the only one she could depend on.

She wanted to shout for help, and shout his name. But she couldn’t. She never could have, from the very moment she was born and up to her upcoming certain death. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t.

This was the second time in her life that she truly and desperately cursed her destiny of lacking a voice. Even if it was in vain, even if no one could hear her anyway, the possibility alone would ease her heart, however slightly.

But she was missing that basic function, so no one was coming to save her.

However, even in the midst of darkness there could be light. A lone thought claimed that she couldn’t let herself drown in this negativity. Was she really going to let herself die just like this? Hadn’t she sworn not long ago that she would get everything under control with her own powers? She was still alive. And while she couldn’t speak, it didn’t mean her options were that limited.

For example, if she calmed down a bit, she could still try and run away. The monster didn’t appear to be extraordinarily fast; otherwise she would’ve been dead by now. For example, she could even try to use her channeling on it, somehow. Although she hadn’t been present for the incident that brought this thought, what if she set fire to it, for example?

However, for all that and more she needed to stand up. How curious that a moment ago she sank to the depths of despair but that very thought of losing everything allowed her to somehow recover. She had to make use of that renewed energy as soon as she could.

Finally rising to her feet—although still shaking—Niu took a glance behind her. As scared as she was, she had to know where she stood right now. The monster was still heading toward her, but it almost seemed to move at a leisurely pace. Its figure was still flickering and ephemeral, but the way it soundlessly crushed the grass underneath its legs was horribly real. After sparing this glance, Niu gritted her teeth and resumed running.

Only now she realized with a start that she must have dropped her bag at some point in her mad escape without noticing, since it wasn’t on her anymore. But that wasn’t the time to worry about that; she first had to survive. Though actually, now that she thought about it, her notebook and supplies would’ve been a huge source for inscribing icons. Biting her lips, Niu scanned the monster’s immediate surroundings, but saw nothing. She had to give up on that.

Instead she moved toward a small grove of trees. They weren’t tightly packed together, but perhaps these would be enough to delay the monster, or in the best-case scenario stop it in its tracks. She also knew she needed at least a short breather; she was quite physically (but mostly mentally) tired.

Niu rushed into the grove, passing by several trees before she finally turned back to look at her pursuer. And then paled.

Not only did the monster seem unfazed by the change in scenery, it didn’t even seem to be affected by the presence of trees. It wasn’t quite weaving its way between the thick trunks but brushing by and them almost seemed to be sliding through them.

This overturned her entire reason for coming here. She was supposed to have been more maneuverable than the large monster in such an area, but now she was more enclosed by the grove than it was. Should she try setting up the icons anyway? Where? Doing so on the tree trunks or the grassy ground would probably be too difficult and time-consuming. She started losing confidence in the whole idea. If the monster ignored the trees, would it even be affected by channeling?

Her newfound confidence was starting to crumble. Perhaps that was why when, as she decided to continue fleeing, her foot bumped against a tree root and caused her to fall down.

That wasn’t the end of her misfortune, either. She was a few steps away from a small hill and that misstep caused her to roll down it, landing on yet another root. Painfully. Her ankle was flooded with pain. She didn’t think it was broken, but when she tried rising again the sharp sensation just caused her to fall again. Even trying to drag her leg produced similar results.

Niu was grounded, surrounded by greenery and with nowhere to go. No one was there to save her. Just when she thought she’d overcome despair, she sank even deeper into it.

Was it fine to give up already? She smiled bitterly while thinking of this; she couldn’t even cry anymore. She could barely move and she couldn’t call for help. Would she be able to draw an icon on the ground with her fingers in time? And if she did, would it even help her or just hurt her as well?

Then again, what if she was scared for no reason and the monster would simply pass through her as it did to the trees? She had the feeling reality wasn’t as kind as that, though.

Niu decided to give up. There was nothing she could do except stare at the grass around her. Thinking about it, she never did see that peculiar flower again, nor find out what it was. Too bad she hadn’t ended up in front of it now by chance—it would have made for a lovely final view, like something out of a fairytale.

Niu closed her eyes and said her farewells to the world.

“NIU!!!”

This sudden shout instantly pulled her away from the void. She opened her eyes and turned her head just in time to see the monster receiving a heavy blow. There was an audible crack as its skin fissured, and its large body was thrown to the side.

She stared in disbelief at her savior—Gen. She wasn’t able to see it, but he’d obviously used his ethereal arm to slam the monster with surprising success. He stopped only for another second, panting and sweating, and then rushed for her.

“Niu! Are you alright?”

She was too shocked to do anything but stare at him as he leaned toward her, grabbing her. He tried to help her getting up, but she winced in pain.

“Her leg’s probably hurt,” surmised another familiar voice, Roah’s.

“N-Niu… I’m so…” That teary voice obviously belonged to Shaya.

Why are you all here? was obviously the question that popped into Niu’s head, but she was unable to express it in any other way than staring at them wide-eyed.

“…We couldn’t leave you alone,” Gen responded, whether he knew what she wanted to ask or not. He looked somewhat apologetic. “We, we tried finding you, but—"

“We have bigger problems right now," Roah cut him off. “We got out of town just as this… thing started, but we need to do something about that.” He stared directly at the monster.

Niu almost forgot about its existence due to her miraculous save, but the horrible beast was still there, hurt but still very much alive. One side of its carapace was caved in and shattered, but looking at it, it seemed to be changing, and quite rapidly. The cracks and missing parts seemingly started melding together.

“It’s fine, Niu, you did good. We’ll handle that thing now.” Roah didn’t even look at her direction as he said this.

Niu’s eyes teared and her heart started pounding. Why would he say that? She was pathetic and powerless; she hadn’t done anything at all, much less “doing good”. But perhaps he was right after all. Perhaps even surviving so far was a sort of an achievement… as lame as it sounded.

“What’re you trying to…” mumbled Gen, breathing heavily. The earlier attack of his seemed to have somewhat drained him.

“You come as well,” said Roah. “Can you crush that thing’s head? Or at least immobilize it.” While speaking he drew a sharp object from his pocket.

“Why do you—" Gen asked in shock after seeing the knife. Roah was full of surprises today.

“For situations like this! Now enough with the questions, help me here!”

Roah fearlessly leapt ahead. Niu wanted to close her eyes but instead stared in fear. Now that she thought of it, however—and perhaps Roah himself realized this as well—the creature itself was not actually very agile, a fact that she perhaps owed her life to. Roah managed to clumsily danced around the monster, slashing his knife with every move.

“Niu, can you walk?” Shaya crouched near her, lending a hand. Niu shook her head and pointed at her leg. Their attention was pulled back to the battle when they heard another loud crack; Gen had once again pummeled the insect-reptile-like being with his invisible fist.

“Shit,” huffed Roah. Despite him scoring plenty of direct hits, he was only able to inflict a few scratches that already started vanishing.

Also, while Gen had indeed crushed what appeared to be the monster’s head (although it had nothing that resembled eyes), this did nothing to stop its movements. It definitely wasn’t a normal animal.

Skittering around in fury, the dark monster lashed with its pincers, scoring the first hit on its opponent.

“Roah!” Gen cried as there was a small spurt of blood.

Roah collapsed to the ground, clutching his side as his hand was covered in warm crimson. Even grimacing he still managed to roll away, evading the monster’s next attack. He then quickly rose to his feet, gritting his teeth and panting.

“I-I’m fine,” he spat, despite his face contorted in pain indicating otherwise. “Shit, we need to… can you keep destroying it? My knife’s not doing much.” He eyed the metallic object he had dropped near the monster.

“I don’t know… It’s my first time using this so many times in succession like this. I don’t think I can do it much longer, and it doesn’t seem to do much anyway," Gen admitted. Just like he said, even the very first blow was by now nearly completely healed.

Niu could feel Shaya shaking while the girl supported her. In contrast with the other three, Shaya was completely powerless, so it was natural for her to be scared. Niu bit her lips wondering what was going to happen. Niu herself was also a burden, so they couldn’t run away while supporting her. She doubted even the athletic Gen could carry her for a long time.

If so, were they going to give up fighting? And if so, were they going to leave her behind, prioritizing their own lives? She started shaking as well.

At the very least, Roah wasn’t going to give up yet. “Fine. Then can you at least try and hold it in place for a while? We might have only one chance.”

For just an instant Roah looked back, and for some reason his lone eye seemed to be full of anger. Niu shuddered, but that gaze soon returned to the beast instead.

“But what will you—ah, whatever!” As the wounded Roah rushed at the monster yet again Gen had no choice but to act. Another powerful blow pressed the monster against the ground. Its pincers clacked but it wasn’t in the right angle to attack either Gen or Roah.

Roah himself snatched the knife from the ground where it’d fallen and then brandished it yet again. Niu was confused; that had already been proven to be ineffective, so what was he trying to do? But after a few strokes she realized. Roah wasn’t attacking the monster, but scribing on it.

He was etching an icon.

“I can’t hold it for much longer!” spoke Gen from between clenched teeth. He was pale and sweaty, his invisible arm slightly shimmering. Then he groaned and took a step back, nearly stumbling, before the monster could retaliate.

“That’s good enough!” called Roah. “Now we just need to channel! All of you work together with me!”

Niu immediately recognized the kind of icon it was, of course—one meant for the channel of heat. She didn’t know if that would be enough to bring that monster down, but it was perhaps the most logical choice, one that she considered herself before.

“But Mr. Saburn said—"

“Fuck what he said! We have to do this! If we make it go out of control it’s even better! Do it, ALL OF YOU!”

The icon was imprecise but was still recognizable, so it could probably work. However, it would be unstable and would probably sizzle down immediately—unless several people channeled it at the same time.

Saburn had called it the multiple observers/readers method... or something like that. He’d explained to them that, if the same icon was used concurrently by multiple people, it could augment its channeling, on the other hand becoming even more unstable, and much more liable to let loose an excess of power. That was apparently what Roah was counting on; since localized blows didn’t finish the job, he hoped that swallowing the monster in flames would finish it off for good.

There were quite a lot of reasons why that was extremely dangerous, but perhaps they really had no other choice. Niu gulped and focused on the icon as well. The icon for the channel of heat, in its most basic form, was made of simple lines. For that reason it was one of the easiest to channel, but also one of the most dangerous.

The icon started emitting an orange glow, and then a pillar of flames burst forth. Roah widened his eye and glanced behind for a moment, but the fire kept growing even after losing a single observer/reader. Niu heard Shaya raise a small shriek; it was probably her first time to see such powerful channeling, but that was true for Niu and company as well.

The monster didn’t writhe or try to put off the flames like any living being; it simply started melting into air, almost literally. As if it was nothing more than an illusion, it melted along with the blaze, leaving behind only a mass of smoldering ashes.

It almost felt like it ended too quickly and easily. In fact, Niu even expected the whole grove to catch fire after such intense flames.

Taking a few moments to catch their breath, they saw that the monster was finally and truly gone; none of its remains appeared to be regenerating. On the contrary, they were slowly vanishing. Gen slumped to the ground and Roah also nearly collapsed, clutching at his bleeding wound again.

“W-we did it?” Shaya mumbled weakly. Niu could still feel her slightly shuddering, so she patted her shoulder. When Shaya turned to her she smiled and nodded.

The monster had been vanquished. Some of them were hurt and spent, but they managed to somehow clutch victory. Yet even that was just one step. That small comfort did almost nothing to lift the sense of dread hiding beneath the surface—they finished one battle inside a small, secluded part of the world, but what awaited them outside?

The answer was hell.

At the very least, it was a ghastly sight. Glowing masses wriggled in the skies like dark tentacles, with other dark shapes still dropping from above. They appeared all the more unsettling since the sun was already setting down. Luckily, these seemed to be concentrated in the area of town rather than the fields and villages around it, but was that actually lucky? It only meant that their most obvious shelter was not safe at all.

“What… what are we…” Gen was almost speechless. He took one step forward but then stopped. “We have to…”

“Go help them?” spat Roah. “We’ll just die there.”

“Then you’re telling us to just let everyone else die?” Gen said angrily.

“Do you have any other suggestions? You saw how well we fared against a single one of these monsters. Also, I guess you’re fine with leaving Niu behind?”

Gen clicked his tongue, casting a glance toward the hurt girl still supported by Shaya, but made no further objection.

“The village might be a bit safer,” said Roah just in time to hear a scream riding on the wind from that very direction. However, they were too far away to even see any houses. “Well, my point still stands.”

“Maybe staying here would be safer…?” suggested Shaya. “Oh, but Niu’s parents…”

Niu felt a sudden sense of dread. Her mom should be home, and her dad was probably out working… they were both in danger. No matter what problems she had with them, she definitely didn’t want them to die.

“Staying here’s not good, either. There might be other monsters right around the corner. Also, in order to survive this, we need as many people as possible,” Roah explained. While on the surface he seemed calm, Niu could clearly see that his sweaty hands were shaking. He was also still bleeding, a thought that made her nudge Shaya and point at him.

“What? Oh, Roah, you’re bleeding!”

“…Ah, right,” he said as if it was nothing more than a small nuisance. He pulled up his knife again, stuck it inside his sleeve and started ripping it, making the others gasp.

“Well, that’s better than nothing, I guess," mumbled Gen in understanding as the other boy made a makeshift bandage.

“We need to keep moving, though. Let’s circle around this grove and try to see the village. Then we’ll decide whether to try heading there.”

They all nodded and began following Roah, albeit slowly. Niu bit her lips; there was a significant chance that being forced to carry her would cause their deaths. But now that they’d saved her at the last second, risking their lives, they probably wouldn’t leave her behind. She was still awfully slow because of her hurt leg, though.

Roah hastily wrapped the cut sleeve around his wound so it was now completely drenched in his blood. He still looked pale and tired but made no complaint as they slowly moved around the woods, wary of any small sound. From time to time they were frightened by the sound of birds flying around or small animals scampering about, but for now there were no monsters.

However, after a short while they noticed something different in the sky.

“What is that?” Gen was the first to notice and pointed up. The shimmering tentacles still floated there like wicked clouds, but now another form was flying between them. It didn’t look like another monster, but it was hard to see from that distance.

“No way,” mumbled Roah in shock, his eye opened wide. Just like Gen’s compensation was an invisible arm in place of his lost one, Roah had a visual compensation. “Is that… Molton?”

“Molton?” echoed Gen, looking at Roah and then at the sky again.

Stard Molton, the legendary warrior. It was said that despite the lack of his legs—or perhaps because of it—he was able to soar in the skies like a bird. Even from afar one could just barely see the flashes of his weapon as it tore through the writhing masses around.

“Then we’re saved?” Shaya mumbled in disbelief.

Even Niu couldn’t help but feel that way. Apparently what Gen told them was true and the strongest soldier had indeed come to Hayden. However, even he was only a single person. It was better than nothing, but even while he was flying and slashing there were probably other monsters on the loose.

“No, we have to keep going,” Roah said finally, tearing his eye away from the fantastical scene unfolding above. “Even if we—"

But a tremor shook the ground and cut his words short. An earthquake? No, that was unlikely. However, they had seen the severed tentacles falling down. Depending on their size and proximity, it wouldn’t be strange for them to cause the earth to shake.

“…Or maybe we should try to take some shelter,” said Gen gloomily.

They were still inside the grove, minutes away from the village in Niu’s estimation. She wasn’t sure—would it be safer taking cover there and risk the trees around collapse from an attack, or move to an open spot where they might be targeted by other wandering monsters?

The situation only grew worse and worse while they couldn’t decide. Another tremor came and with it alarmingly close sounds of crunching and breaking. They all saw dust rising from nearby, along with some startled birds flying away.

“A-another monster?” asked Shaya, shaking again.

“No… they weren’t quite so violent, I think,” pointed Roah. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

A dark flash came from the woods and the world seemed to explode. For a few seconds Niu didn’t even realize she fell down. Something—perhaps torn tentacle—started whipping at the trees around, ripping them in half and throwing them around.

“Shit, what’s—" she barely heard Roah before another loud crack filled the air.

The next moments felt like they were in slow motion. Niu saw Gen barely rising up, panting, and holding his hand aloft as if to shield them. But the glowing, dark thing lashed at them mercilessly and instantaneously. There was no pain, really; just a sudden feeling of pulling, of movement, that caught her breath. Her body felt like it was being squeezed from all directions. Sound and colors twisted around her.

Niu fell inside the darkness, saying her farewell to Plainland.

The skies were filled with shadow blight

Hurled them all through endless night