The word “Kalden” had three distinct meanings.

First and foremost, it referred to the capital of the central continent, the majestic forest-city Kalden. Outsiders such as the arriving faeries obviously had no way of knowing, but the etymology of the name was exceedingly simple: kal meant “big” and den meant “tree”.

The second Kalden was the name bestowed to the royal family in control of Kalden. Whenever a new Ruler took the throne, they discarded the name of their progenitor. It symbolized them dedicating their very life and soul to their land. There were very few Rulers actually born to a line that ruled Kalden anyway.

The third Kalden was perhaps the most important but the least referred to; rather than signifying the actual Capital or its Ruler, it was actually the name of the tree. That is, the most ancient and largest tree in the entire continent: Kalden the Magnificent. Among the twenty-odd Trees comprising the forest-city, it alone bore the pedigree of an Evergreen Solar, over ten thousand years old. Only two such trees were confirmed to have still been active in present times, and the Capital was proud to be located around one of them.

Whether it was the Capital, the Ruler or the central Tree, all of them were now engulfed in a tense atmosphere. Receiving the news that actual faeries had arrived to a nearby outer base, the upper echelons were shocked. Shocked and intrigued. This opportunity would invite both danger and potential… the question was which of those was dominant. For now, at least, it was decided that the faeries would be brought to them.

“Are they not here yet, Aisbroom?”

Sitting on their wooden, garnished throne, Ruler Acrus Kalden crossed their legs with a hint of boredom in their eyes. In spite of Acrus’s rank they wore casual, almost slovenly clothing, with the only royal thing about them being their quality and making. Not even the traditional wreath decorated their head. There were a few guards and other attendants scattered nearby, but Acrus was addressing another figure standing on the carpet in front of them.

“Not yet,” answered Aisbroom. “If all goes well, they should arrive this very night.”

If Acrus’s clothing was bland and uninspired, then Aisbroom’s was anything but. On the one hand they wore pure white—even the cape fluttering at their back that symbolized their rank as a general—but that purity was also covered in multitudes of colors in the form of flowers of all shapes and forms, like a canvas covered in vivid drawings.

Acrus hummed impatiently. “Will those faeries truly be worth our time?” they asked Aisbroom. If Aisbroom was bothered by the Ruler’s haughty tone and mannerisms, they showed no sign of it. Or rather they were already used to it. “Foolish as it may seem to ask at this stage, after I had already ordered them brought to us.”

“I do not know,” said Aisbroom. “There are, of course, the many legends about them. There are already hushed whispers amongst our people, and many seem excited. However, we will need to examine them closely to confirm whether they are the seeds of blessing or of disaster. As I fully intend on doing.”

“Well said.” Acrus snorted. “Bring them to me.” They spoke as if Aisbroom was in charge of the expedition and not simply waiting for it, but the general made no direct reply.

As their response, Aisbroom bowed. “I shall,” they promised.

Mere hours after this exchange, the group leading the four young faeries was attacked not far from Kalden.

Niu had never seen—or been through—anything so chaotic.

It was even worse than expected due to the darkness. There was shouting, grunting, cries of pain and the swinging of weapons, but how could she even tell what was going on? All of them—probably their enemies included—wore small sources of light, but that wasn’t enough. She couldn't even differentiate between friend and foe, and where would she run away to?

Luckily, she didn’t have to act alone. A huge figure immediately swooped in front of her, and while she was at first startled, she realized it was TriX. Just like during their first meeting, TriX grabbed her and started running.

“Hold on,” TriX said and Niu grasped its arm even harder.

“N-Niu, is that you?” she heard Gen’s voice from nearby. He seemed to be dangling from TriX’s other arm. She nodded desperately, but he obviously couldn’t see her.

“Yes, it’s him,” TriX replied instead. She found herself bothered by the incorrect grammar in spite of her current predicament.

“What about the others, they—”

“DuA should have them.”

Right—moments before, Seele had also shouted out this name. Perhaps that was the one other laborer in their group; Niu never inquired about its identity, but it made sense. She couldn’t really look around her, and couldn’t see well in the darkness anyway, but she hoped with all of her heart that Roah and Shaya were indeed safe right now.

Unfortunately, they had other worries at the moment, as several figures appeared around them. Judging from how they leapt toward TriX they were unlikely to be friendly. Within moments Niu felt her body being pulled; a fairy nearly wrenched her from TriX’s grasp. The next moment, though, the large laborer sent a kick at the attacker and the grip on Niu was released.

Niu was trembling so hard in fear she thought she would fall by herself. In a way, being pursued in near total darkness by shadowy figures was even worse than being attacked by a nightmarish monster in the open. At least in the latter case she knew what she was going against; here there were only darkness, shouts, and the lone anchor of TriX’s body which symbolized imperfect safety.

However, even that small safety was soon taken away. She could feel something hit TriX, and she was thrown ahead. Landing on the hard, cold ground, leaves and small rocks scratched her skin. A nearby grunt of pain also informed her that Gen probably went through the same thing.

She hurriedly got up and looked behind. She couldn’t see TriX, however, for a figure about her own size appeared and took hold of her. Fear and the loud beating of her heart shocked her into paralysis. She couldn’t even resist. She couldn’t even scream regardless.

Luckily, the next moment the fairy was swept away by a large hand, collapsing to the ground. Niu flinched yet again before realizing it was TriX.

“N-Niu,” mumbled Gen, also appearing near him. “Are you fine?”

She tried nodding, but she honestly wasn’t sure if she was alright and if Gen could even see her doing it. Regardless, TriX spoke again.

“Grab… me,” it ordered. Around them were still sounds of fighting. Some of those had to be on their side, right? Also, it was hard to tell in the darkness, but she didn’t seem to see or hear Seele anywhere. She hoped they were fine, too.

Right now it was better to worry about herself, though. Just as she reached toward TriX a new figure appeared to flank them.

“Crap!” Gen yelled and leapt. An invisible arm pounded into the body of their new attacker, throwing them back. TriX took advantage of the opening given to it by the boy and managed to grab him and Niu. TriX resumed its dash.

Obviously this wasn’t the end. There were only so many fairies TriX could repel by itself. Gen used his invisible arm a few more times, but he was clearly getting more and more tired. Their pursuers were still stubbornly tailing them as they ran into the night.

How close were they to Kalden? Did they have any hope of reaching it? What was happening to their friends and allies? Niu’s head was swimming with unanswerable questions and worries. There was no doubt that the situation was bad. Bad enough to make her want to cry and give up.

But she couldn’t. She couldn't allow herself to be so helpless. Not after everything that happened. After her inability to defeat the monster, being confined underground with almost no way to communicate… she couldn’t keep living like that.

What could she do? While she didn’t have a useful power like Gen, she was mostly better than him at pure channeling. The main problem was that she was obviously unable to use icons in her present state, hanging on for dear life.

However, this didn’t make her idea impossible.

“In a way,” Mr. Saburn had said during one of their lessons, “icons actually limit the usage of channeling, rather than enhancing it like it seems to. Can any of you tell me why?” He shot a smile at Niu, Gen and Roah while waiting their answer.

Niu thought about it for a while, but Roah was the one to raise his hand first.

“You associate the channeling with the icon and vice-versa,” he said, “which means you lose true, free channeling in favor of more focused channeling. You become dependent on the use of icons.”

Saburn nodded. “Exactly so. Look at this.”

He picked up a sheet of paper, held it aloft, and after a moment of silence it was blown into the air. The windows were open but there was no wind, so the cause had been obviously his channeling. The channel of air.

“The concept of iconless channeling is by no means new to you. For example, Gen, you can use your ethereal arm just by willing it, right?”

Gen arched his eyebrows and looked down at this stump, thoughtful. “Well, yeah, but does that really count?”

Meanwhile, Niu scribbled a question and then held it up. Since doing iconless channeling is much harder, is it really necessary?

However, she realized the folly of her own words near instantly after presenting her note. Luckily, Saburn wasn’t the sort of teacher who would berate her even for a stupid question like that.

“It is mostly hard because we’re not used to it,” he explained. “Rather than saying that throughout history we’ve ended up requiring the usage of icons, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we forced ourselves to do so. We have turned talent into an art. Today, among those who can channel, iconless channeling is a matter of innate ability more than training. Not to mention it being unreliable even at the best of times. Still, it is perhaps something to think about. Even if you will probably never use it, knowing about it is just as important.”

Niu folded her piece of paper, nodding. The remainder of the lesson was spent on them performing iconless channeling, just to show them how it worked. Niu wasn’t successful at all, but at least the others found it just as difficult.

Iconless channeling would allow Niu to strike back at their pursuers without any need for writing or even any surface; she knew that someone skilled enough could open channels even in empty air.

She wasn’t even close to that level—or any level of truly competent iconless channeling, for that matter—but she also had nothing to lose. It could at least serve as a distraction. Even in the worst-case scenario, she could try to purposely botch her channeling to make it go out of control and use the backlash against their enemies. It was risky but perhaps doable.

With that in mind, Niu tried more or less focusing on the fairies surrounding them despite the darkness and their ever-shifting positions. The channel of heat would be one of most suited offensively, but even its successful usage would incur great danger to them; they were in a forest, after all. Instead Niu opted to use the channel of air. The channel of movement might also work, but it was trickier to employ.

Niu focused on controlling nature—doing this without any icons felt as though she was trying to grasp the wind with her fingers, but even so she attempted it. The channel was opened for a split second, yet nothing happened, or at least nothing that Niu could see. She focused and tried again, but to no avail. Not even a small puff of wind. Nothing.

Well, that was that. Her plan failed so easily and quickly; she simply couldn’t use iconless channeling no matter how much she tried. She couldn’t even cause it to overload.

As if drawn by her despair, another hit shook TriX and the three of them all tumbled to the ground yet again. This time, however, she’d noticed something. There was something stuck inside the large body.

TriX’s arms shook as it tried to rouse itself from the ground. A long shaft jutted out of its back. There wasn’t any visible blood (if laborers even had anything like that), but it was obviously pierced by some sort of weapon.

A moment later, when TriX was barely able to rise to its knees, it was struck by yet another weapon and collapsed.

“I, must…” TriX mumbled in a broken voice.

“TriX!” shouted Gen, but the next moment he was grabbed from behind. It was a fairy holding some sort of pole; probably a weapon of the same sort that hit TriX a moment ago.

No! Niu shouted in her heart.

She saw the boy squirming in the enemy’s arms, wide-eyed, so she desperately attempted to open yet another channel. She couldn’t lose Gen. She couldn’t watch something like this happening right in front of her. She just had to blow their enemies away and show that even she could do something!

Unfortunately, reality wasn’t that kind; her attempt was once again fruitless.

Fortunately, they weren’t alone. Another large figure appeared from behind the fairy and struck them with a mighty blow. It was another laborer, but not just it.

“Are you fine?!” came Shaya’s panicked voice. Roah’s figure also appeared from nearby.

There was no time to stand around talking, however; another lance-like weapon flew toward the laborer. It, however, smacked the weapon away with a flick of its arm, whereupon it landed in the nearby ground.

“Follow DuA…” groaned TriX, still groveling. It then added something else.

While Niu couldn’t understand the language of its second utterance, she was pretty sure she heard the word “Kalden”. Was TriX telling them to run away? She hesitated only for another moment; TriX was clearly badly wounded and if they left it there, it was obvious what would happen. It felt bad to do so, but on the other hand, she also couldn’t offer any help at the moment. She didn’t even know if TriX’s sacrifice would be enough to bring them to safety, but they had to try. So she turned with a grimace toward the others.

“How… how did you even…” huffed Gen. DuA was apparently unable to carry all four of them, or at least that would weigh it down considerably, so the laborer just marched besides them despite being much superior in speed.

“Well, this guy here took us away,” explained Roah, gesturing at DuA, “but I’ve kept my eye on the surrounding. I found you and you seemed to be doing worse than us, so I somehow got him… err it… whatever to come here.”

Niu felt somewhat jealous of Roah’s compensation at times. It would have been quite useful to be able to see around in the dark.

“I’m so glad you’re all fine,” said Shaya, half-sighing.

“We’re glad too, but we’re not out of the woods yet," mumbled Gen. “Err, pun unintended.”

“Anyway, keep going in this direction—we’re going for the lights," said Roah.

“…Lights? What lights?”

“I’m not sure, but there are lights somewhere ahead. I can’t see the details because of the distance and all those trees, but I assume that’s Kalden."

Squinting ahead, Niu thought she could barely see some sources of light ahead just like he said. Kalden was supposed to be a large capital and they were supposed to reach it that very night, so they had to be close. The only question was how far it actually was—and if they could get there in one piece.

The last question was challenged a mere few moments later when the ground in front of them burst open and something shot at Niu, knocking her down.

With a start she realized that something wound itself around her ankle. It felt like some sort of metallic chain, and it began pulling on her. At a glance it actually looked like a vine, albeit a very sturdy one. She nervously tried pulling out her leg, but it didn’t budge. How did something like this ensnare her anyway? Was this some sort of trap, perhaps?

“From under the ground?! Shit!” she heard Roah swear. A quick glance to the side revealed to her that all of them seemed to have been caught in exactly the same way. Also, other figures were closing in on them from between the surrounding trees.

“Grrraah!” Gen’s roar was accompanied by the sound of bursting as he used his invisible arm to snap the chains holding him. Fortunately, it appeared that DuA was also free, and so could assist fending off the attackers. However, the other three were still ensnared, and as their goal wasn’t to fight but to run away, it was a losing situation overall.

“Dammit!” Roah grunted again, but he stopped trying to free himself and instead reached for his bag. He pulled out some object, planted his foot firmly in the ground to stop getting dragged as much as he could, aimed and threw it at their attackers.

The next instant there was a bright, orange flash and some cries of pain. Niu was momentarily very confused. The next instant DuA reached to her and ripped the chains away from her. Gen seemed to do the same for Shaya.

But what was that attack just now? Niu soon realized that Roah probably threw a familiar rock—namely the one they’d used to heat their water. It was somewhat crude, but he probably overloaded it with the channels of heat or light (or both) to stun and assault their enemies. More astonishingly, he apparently did all this while the rock was hurtling through air; could he have possibly used iconless channeling?

With each passing second she only felt more pitiful. Shaya at least had the excuse that she lacked any sort of power, but Niu… she couldn’t do anything to stop them from killing her…

The next moment she flinched as something—or a few of them—rushed above her head. These were arrows. She momentarily ducked down in fear but then Gen called out to her.

“I think they’re on our side! Let’s go!”

When she listened to him and started running away she could see why; there were definitely two groups of fairies on opposite sides, fighting each other. Thinking about it, some of the fairies that accompanied them had bows as well. Her suspicions were confirmed when several of them nodded and said something she couldn’t understand as Niu and the rest passed by them.

More vines shot from the ground, but either Niu was ready for it this time or the aim itself was off, for she was able to somehow sidestep them and the next ones entirely, thankfully allowing her to keep running.

There was still a problem, though. She was near her limits. After running around here and there while under enormous pressure, surrounded by enemies, Niu approached both mental and physical fatigue. Only the athletic Gen and DuA seemed unfazed; compared to them, Shaya’s ragged breaths were so loud that she seemed likely to collapse at any moment now.

“This is only a suggestion,” huffed Roah, “but maybe we should just surrender.”

“We should just what?” Gen’s reply was as expected.

“They’re obviously not trying to kill us, is what I’m saying,” Roah clarified.

Niu wrinkled her brows. Was that true? They had assaulted them while brandishing weapons. Then again, it was true that they also took actions that made it seem like they were perhaps not trying to actually hurt them but only seize them.

“For example,” Roah continued, “notice how they’re not using any arrows, only spears from short range. And those vines… I think they’re trying to capture us.”

“That does make sense,” admitted Gen.

Capture them, but for what? The Stroba’s infamous experiments? Then again, they had no idea what Kalden was planning to do with them, either. Whatever it was, both sides seemed bent on trying to have them, which could have worrying consequences.

“I personally don’t like the idea, but maybe getting caught wouldn’t be so bad? It’s not like I fully trust those guys who took us here in the first place,” said Roah.

“But… Seele was always so nice,” mumbled Shaya from behind.

“Seele’s also a low-ranked soldier whose only use is probably the ability to communicate with us. And we still don’t know why or how she… err, they know our language, by the way.”

“…I’m still not giving up,” said Gen.

Roah shrugged. “Whatever. Just keep what I said in mind.”

The conversation came to a stop as a few figures jumped down from nearby trees, raising their weapons. The quartet stopped but before they could do anything DuA leapt ahead, its mantle fluttering behind it.

“This guy’s useful, huh?” mused Roah, catching his breath while DuA fought.

It really was a large difference from TriX; DuA seemed to be much nimbler and stronger. It parried the spears’ attacks using its bare fists, stepping here and there. At times weaving through each thrust and at times simply knocking the weapons aside, DuA overcame the attackers in a matter of seconds, allowing them to keep going ahead.

“I… can’t…” Shaya could barely even utter these words. She then collapsed to the ground.

“Shaya!” called Gen, rushing to her.

“Let DuA carry her,” suggested Roah. “Although it wouldn’t be able to fight like that…” It was still probably their best option, though. Niu and Gen helped her get up and somehow conveyed their meaning to the laborer. Also, despite being the one to suggest this Roah was glaring at her, as if mad she became such a nuisance.

The surroundings were still. Have they really managed to get away from their attackers? It somehow felt wrong and they could still hear the sounds of battle here and there, but no enemies appeared. Roah scanned the area while running and said nothing, so there probably were no nearby fairies for now.

At this point Niu’s legs felt as if they moved by themselves. She simply advanced by striking the ground and trying to ignore the pain that was starting to build up along with her ragged breath. While her ankle was already healed, she still felt some dull ache from it.

Concurrently another sliver of hope appeared as their surroundings grew less and less dark. Now even Niu could see bright dots of light somewhere ahead. The rows of trees, until now dense and thick, grew both wider and taller but less numerous. Also, she was quite sure that she could spot gigantic samples peeking from here and there. Kalden was surely close.

At the same time there was something worrying—DuA was visibly slowing down. It couldn’t communicate with them like TriX, but was it growing tired? Never mind running and carrying both of them, DuA had also fought valiantly and intensely against their enemies. Laborers probably had their limits as well.

Another attack began. It came from below ground yet again. The familiar chain-vines shot from within a dark patch of grass and grabbed Niu, causing her another painful fall.

At the same time fairies also gathered around them above ground, causing Shaya to shriek as they focused their attacks on DuA. It wasn't Niu’s imagination; DuA’s movements have indeed grown duller, and it showed. Soon it was overwhelmed and fell, also throwing Shaya to the ground.

Gen had avoided a chain aimed for him, but Niu was being dragged away helplessly and just as Roah reached into his bag, perhaps to launch another attack similar to what he’d done before, he was also yanked by his leg. Slowly but surely they were taken toward the holes in the ground…

The relentless attacks on DuA prevented it from rising up again and it had to spend most of its efforts fending off the attackers, so it was a matter of time before Niu and the rest were completely beaten.

“Shaya!” Gen alone seemed to have retained his fighting spirit even in front of this overwhelming despair. With his fist clenched and his other, ethereal arm momentarily shimmering in the darkness, he charged ahead—at the worst possible timing.

Time seemed to slow down. Niu’s mouth opened in a voiceless scream. Desperate to fend off the hostile fairies, DuA punched the weapon aiming to plunge inside its chest, thereby diverting it. However, that happened at exactly the same time as Gen’s charge.

A wet sound followed by an ear-splitting scream echoed as the boy collapsed to the ground.

Niu felt her head swimming, her pulse stopping and her vision darkening. She froze and stopped resisting the chain pulling at her. She couldn’t even feel her body being dragged anymore. She couldn’t even process the scene in front of her.

Only one thought dominated her mind: she was, once again, useless. She was unable to do anything in either past or present. And it would probably be so in the future, too.

The world around her was rapidly vanishing. Had she possibly been hurt as well? She couldn’t feel anything. Then again, she could feel nothing except soul-crushing despair anyway. There were probably still shouts and fighting around her but she couldn’t even focus on them. Shadows moved in and out of her sight; whether these were friends or foes, she couldn’t tell.

There was something small she did notice even with her diminishing consciousness. With her head on the ground, she found a small plant. An orange flower with white dots.

She sank to the darkness with that image burned into her mind.

It was late at night, yet Aisbroom felt as sharp as ever. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t even gone to sleep. How could they, when the mysterious and possibly dangerous faeries were finally being brought to them? At the very least Aisbroom wanted to see them with their own eyes.

So obviously, when news about a Stroba attack came from the scouts, Aisbroom was among the first both to know of it and to take action.

“Spread out east to west! Do not engage in battle unless threatened, but don’t let them into our territory either! If you see any of them wielding flowers of any kind avoid them! If at all possible, find and secure the faeries!”

There were about two dozen other soldiers with them as well. All cheered in response of Aisbroom’s orders and immediately set out. Aisbroom stepped off the branch they were standing on and into empty air, falling with their cape wildly fluttering behind them.

Moments before they had been standing on top of the tree known as Kordem, or the Eastern Pillar, named so because it was perfectly situated to allow one to scan the immediate area despite the abundance of trees and despite being relatively short. This didn’t mean it was safe, though; falling from such height would still result in instantaneous death for any normal person.

Fortunately, Aisbroom wasn’t normal.

Glancing at their sleeve, Aisbroom focused their eyes on a certain flower attached to it. It was small and pink with unassuming plume-like petals. However, it was connected to a green, somewhat thick vine that was also wrapped around Aisbroom's sleeve. Their eyes passed over the flower only for a split second; the next moment, they completed the channeling and threw their hand aside. The vine shot ahead, wrapping itself against a nearby tree’s branch and thus slowed down Aisbroom’s fall. Repeating the exact same action but with their other arm, Aisbroom shot yet another vine. Three more times of this and they finally landed safely on the ground and kept running without slowing in the least.

Some of the soldiers only jumped from tree to tree and some also spread on the ground, but Aisbroom was on the front as always. They rushed through the dark forest, straining their ears and eyes for any signs of battle. There was no actual indication of Kalden’s borders from the normal forest surrounding it, but Aisbroom soon went past the accepted area.

Within a few moments they finally found a source of disturbance—in the form of a scream. A scream unlike anything Aisbroom had ever heard before. They zoomed ahead, readying their weapon.

Niu found herself waking up with a start.

She felt as if this wasn’t her first time waking up, since she had some foggy memories of being moved around, but perhaps those were only dreams. Now she was truly awake and conscious.

Her body ached, her head hurt and her mind was fuzzy. She could feel that she was lying on some soft material; perhaps another grassy bed. Was it possible that her last memories were also part of a dream? Just a horrible nightmare? Well, she was pretty sure that their presence on Fairland was real, but as for the battle—

Niu blinked and shut her eyes in pain when she turned her head. There was blinding light. She then realized that near her was a window. Also, she was inside some wooden structure. Where was she? This was definitely not the underground base. But this was definitely not her village, either. Then could it possibly be…

“N-Niu!” a voice came from the other side. “You’re awake!”

It was Shaya, sitting next to her and suddenly pulling her into a hug. She seemed unhurt apart from some scratches and bruises but her eyes were red and puffy.

“I almost thought you were also hurt… thank the Gods,” she mumbled weakly. “I tried waking you up a bit, but you slept pretty strongly.”

Niu had a feeling there was something important she needed to know, but first she glanced around and spread her hands. Where are we?

“Oh, we made it, Niu. We’re in Kalden.”

Run, don’t hide; enjoy the flow

The one awaits, don’t think just go