The one good thing about all the trees that were covering, judging from my experience, the whole country, was that the canopy was so thick, the rain barely even reached the ground, getting stopped by various branches and leaves above our heads. It did not help the cold though, and I started to regret that our glow crystal is not a bonfire. After what felt like hours, and was probably a few minutes, I stood up and started gathering some branches to start an actual fire. Thanks to the rainproof canopy above us, most of the firewood I found was dry. I did not bother with looking for some kindling and after building a small ring of stones I dumped most of my findings inside and ignited with a spell.

I didn’t really notice before, maybe because I got used to it, but there was a big difference between the light given by the real fire, and that from the crystal. The simple fire was infinitely better, not even including the warmth that it was giving. While before I was able to see enough of the woods that surrounded me, now I could see at least twice as far, maybe even more.

And that is thanks to that I noticed some movement at the edge of my view.

I tried to not reveal with my behavior that I noticed anything, but I did sit a bit differently, to have a better view on the direction I saw the movement at.

Whatever that was, it got startled by the fire. That was a good thing. That meant there was a good chance that it was just some wild animal, even though they were supposed to be basically non-existent in those parts. If push came to shove, even if it was not the case, since it got scared by fire, I had the clear advantage.

I sat there, trying to see if I could distinguish any silhouette, but no luck. It was careful enough to not show itself again. I kind of wanted to think that it ran away as soon as I lit the fire and I worried for nothing, but my experience was telling me that was not the case.

Nevertheless, the rest of the night went by smoothly and there were no further incidents. In the meantime, I did a few walks around the area, to gather more firewood, and “accidentally” went towards the place I saw movement at, but to no avail.

In the morning, I did think of telling what I saw during the night, to see how Eicam would react, but decided not to do so. After all I was not sure if I actually saw something, it might have been just my imagination. Before he woke up, I was already clearing up the campfire and scattering the ashes away from the place he was sleeping.

-Morning. We have a bit of shitty weather today, I thought you’re gonna sleep a bit longer.

-Good morning… Well… you’re right. I would, most likely but I don’t know why, I slept better than usual today.

-Good on you.

-Kinda weird that it's raining, I swear I felt it was warmer during the night…

-I wonder why… - I looked at my, now dirty in some soot and ash, hand and the sleeve.

-What?

-Eh, nothing - I shook off the rest of the ash and started wiping my clothes with some wet leaves from a nearby tree. - By the way, what animals are usually in those parts? You said that there are some monstrous types.

-I told you there is nothing to worry about.

-Yes, yes, I heard that already. I am still curious.

-Well - he tossed me a mana fruit from his supplies - besides some of the regular forest fauna, the weird ones are the main reason that the woods are so quiet. Or rather the weird one - he started, biting into his own fruit. - We are in werefera’s territory.

-Now that sounds interesting. The hell is that?

-It is a wild beast, that's what it is. A monster that can take numerous shapes and sizes, all of them of a wild animal. It is said that there are only a few of them, but one is quite enough to keep the forest predators in check.

-No wonder. It sounds like it’s basically a whole half of an ecosystem in one. But why, please tell, you are saying that it is not dangerous?

-Oh, it is. Very dangerous.

-So why in the hell you still don’t want to keep a night watch then?! We were lucky so far, but..

-Because it’s not interested in attacking people. You see, it’s a very smart creature. Most people who saw it survived without much of a problem. Sometimes even it came as close as we are now, and it did nothing, just sat there, watching.

-”Most people”? So it attacked some then.

-I mean, sure. But those were straight up idiots. From what I know they attacked it as soon as they saw it. Can you blame it for self defense?

-And wouldn’t you attack as soon as you saw, let’s say, a massive bear lumbering towards you?

-Well, you have a point…

-And why did you not tell me that sooner? What if that thing appeared, for example last night, and I attacked it? I am not familiar with this place, you know that.

-Oh come on, what’s the chances for us to run into it randomly, that close to the human settlements?

-That is not a good way to think - shook my head - Every time, when you bet on something, the universe will always make sure that it’s gonna be different, just to spite you.

-Universe? You mean Gods, right? I didn’t think you were a believer…

-Don’t mix religion with… wait Gods as in plural? Oh for… I never thought about that one.

-Excuse me?

-What “Gods” do you refer to? As you well know I am not very aware of your culture, and apparently also religion…

-What God do you follow then? It’s gonna be easier for me to explain if I know from which side I should start…

-None. So start with yours.

-We, as Blue Mages, are forbidden to be of one or the other religion. I don’t know how it works for Red Mages though...

I shrugged.

-I am my own person and I decide for myself, what others think is not my problem. Although I agree that mixing your job and religion is not a healthy combination. But that is beside the point.

-I see… Well then. We have two main religions here. The first is the Lost Church.

-Can’t say I’ve heard about it.

-It’s been on a decline lately, although they still have a strong presence all through the country, and even beyond.

-Sounds big. What are they about?

-From what I remember, their main point of belief is centered around the “Lost”, which are supposed Gods that descend to the mortal world once every 20 years or so. They don’t really have tenets, besides what the particular Lost declares as one.

-What, then it’s like religion… without religion? Just whatever they think it's popular they believe in or what?

-Something like that.

-I mean, you can always be progressive, but man that's a bit much. And how do they decide who’s their God or not?

-There is apparently some council involved, but I don’t really know much about it.

-This sounds fishy as fuck. Self-proclaimed Gods, approved by some mysterious council. I bet they just use their members as a quick way to gather power.

-I don’t think so. I said I don’t know much about them only because it is forbidden for me to get involved. If you wish to learn more, you’d have to ask one of their priests, I am sure they will gladly clear up all your doubts.

-Are you trying to evangelize me? - I laughed. - I thought you are forbidden to get involved in either of those.

-As a Blue Mage, yes. Doesn’t mean I can’t personally tell you what I think is better. “I am my own person and I decide for myself” - you said so yourself.

-Fair. What’s the other option then?

-The Absolute Insight.

-They sound fancy.

-They are more, let’s say, traditional.

-How so?

-For one, they believe in one, singular God, who dictates all the rules through their priests.

-Sounds familiar…

He looked at me, puzzled.

-Don’t mind me. I’m listening.

-Uh… Their main principle is that they refuse to approve any type of technology.

-Excuse me?

-Metallurgy, architecture, nothing. They believe we should live as one with nature, not within brick buildings and such… thanks to which we can be in unity with magic and the planet itself.

-Ah, so that’s what those treehouses are all about! So they can still live in the city, while being “in one with nature” and all that.

-Yes and no. What is funny, those buildings were the idea of one of the Lost, the first one that appeared. He was the one that created spells needed for creation of those, and was one of the cofounders of the capital.

-Huh.

-Right? Later, there were some theories that he was actually just another priest of the Insight, who had enough living in caves and decided to take matters into his own hands, but I don’t know if that’s true or not. It’s been a long time since then.

-Interesting. The houses are made using only magic then, right? Should be fine for them.

-They mostly are. There are always some extremists, but most of the Insight believes that it was indeed their priest that created those and they can live in the city. Now more than ever, actually, since the Lost Church... well, lost, a bunch of the followers…

-You mentioned that earlier. What happened?

-Nothing really. That is the problem. You see, back in the day, Lost appeared pretty often, to the point where we had whole groups of them wandering the lands.

-You had “Gods” walking around people en masse? Kinda defies the point of being one if there are so many of you, doesn’t it?

He just shrugged.

-Not for me to comment on. But as the time went by, there were less and less of them, to the point where their appearances stabilized at one or two at once every 20 years or so. It was like that for a long while. Until now.

-Ah, I get it. People got scared that their “Gods” abandoned them and now look for another one to fill the place.

-Pretty much. That's why Insight started being more popular lately. They’ve never been as strong as they are now, which is impressive, since they have been around as long as Lost Church..

-Makes sense. Sort of a strange move from their council or whatever they call themselves. Gods or no, why wouldn’t they crown someone to be the new leader? Not like anyone would notice, since they are the only ones who make a decision.

-That is preposterous! - he seemed offended. - They would not dare to deceive people like that!

-If you say so - I raised my hands, I mean hand, gesturing that I surrender - I’m just saying what would I do if I was a part of some hidden society.

-They are not a hidden society! - he still sounded angry, but almost instantly calmed down. - But you might be right… At least people would be put at ease…

-By the way, how long has it been since their last Lost?

-A century, more or less.

-Oh. No wonder people started leaving.

He looked at me, annoyed.

-As much as I value the opinion of a Red Mage, please don’t…

-Okay, okay, I’m just saying - I interrupted him before he started some religious debate.

Whether he admitted to it or not, he was clearly on one side of that fence, and definitely not “forbidden to get involved”. For now I decided to avoid that topic as much as possible, since dealing with churches and their followers always felt for me like a death wish.

-In any case - I broke the silence that suddenly fell upon our campsite - we should get a move on. Too bad it’s still raining…

-Yeah… - he sighed. - Why won’t you create some fire field, so you can vaporize the droplets before they hit you?

-And why won’t you make a freezing field that will deflect them away? Because it’s too much of an effort for a little gain. And I don’t feel like burning down the forest - I added quietly. - We are protected by the canopy anyway. What was that question even? I mean you are welcome to ask but...

-Sorry… just an idea, that’s all - he mumbled and started packing up the camp.

-Pretty weird one…

He did not answer and instead just started moving quicker.

The next part of our walk went pretty smoothly, considering that the rain was constantly falling and making it a lot more difficult. No strange figures in the distance, no sounds besides the rain. The only thing that was weird were the questions that he started asking me all of the sudden - all about my fire magic. “How many fire spells do you know?”, “How often do you feel like using them?”, “Are they exhausting?”, that sort of crap.

I get it, curiosity, and all, but it was a bit overwhelming.

We spent the whole day on the road, without any stops even. I did ask if he wanted to take a break but he instead wanted to push as much as we are able to because “He already ate too much of the mana fruit and wanted to bleed out some energy. I asked him what was that even supposed to mean, although I had a vague idea.

-I am not used to eating so much of those any more - he gestured towards his back. - Back in the day I could go on like this for months and didn’t feel much of a difference, but since I’ve joined Blue Mages I have been a bit complacent…

-I can see that… - I muttered to myself. - Don’t have to push yourself that much, we have time.

-No, no. I need to. I am fine, don’t worry.

Well, he definitely did not look fine. I did pretend to not notice, but he was shaking. Rapid and snappy movements, faster and faster speech, sometimes even devolving to blurb too hard to understand.

Mana overdose. Usually, this can go two ways, and it depends on the amount of mana absorbed by the person. If you somehow have too much mana in your system, the first stage is basically something that looks like caffeine overdose - like in this case. Sometimes, it’s even helpful and it can be easily gotten rid of by just using some mana, or just plain regular exercise.

The second stage is worse though. And also pretty familiar to most people. At first, the first stage’s symptoms start reversing and you feel better - which is a trap in itself, because it quickly leads to getting drunk on mana.

And I am not talking about some metaphorical weird state of mind, no. You straight up are just smashed, like you’d expect after a cheap booze and a night of drinking, hangover included.

I guess I should’ve expected that, since the only thing we were running on were just mana fruit. I just had to hope that he wouldn't go overboard.

I was completely fine, most likely because I was eating half of what he did. And my crystal most likely helped me in that matter as well. I did not have an opportunity to check on it during this outing but judging by my earlier experiment it most likely absorbed most of the mana from them for me.

At first I thought that, since he was not the thinnest person in the world, his body mass would help him dissipate energy and it would be fine, as it would take a lot more from him to get through the woods and now wet and muddy terrain, but that was wishful thinking.

Well, it had its upsides. Next night he willingly took the night watch and did not fall asleep. I did check on him a few times, but his eyes were wide open.

About half way into the night, the rain was still upon us. I decided to stop “sleeping” and take over his watch, to which he just responded with a nod, but didn’t move from the spot.

Not caring much about his “overdose” I again started gathering some firewood. It was a bit warmer that day, but to stave off the boredom I decided to light a fire anyway.

As I was doing rounds around the area, he followed me with his eyes, looking weirdly fascinated.

-Sleep. I will take it from here. - I said, dropping the dry wood next to the glowing crystal lying in the middle of the camp and started making a ring from the stones I found nearby.

-What are you doing? - he asked, ignoring what I just said.

-Making a fireplace. It’s been cold lately. And then I at least have something to do during my watch.

He did not reply, just watched me intently. I was a bit unsettling, really.

One quick spell later, the bonfire lit up, and so did his eyes. I did not notice before, but now in the bright light of the campfire I noticed that his pupils were absolutely enormous.

-Are you sure you are all right? - I asked, but did not get any answer.

As soon as the fire was lit, it was the only point he was focused on.

-Hello? You there?

Still nothing.

I waved my hand in front of his eyes, breaking his line of sight from the fire and that finally caught his attention.

-You were saying?

-OK, what is going on?

-Sorry?

-For a while you’ve been sort of… out. Something happened? Or what?

-Ah. No, no, I'm fine. It’s just I am not used to this… conditions any more. Told you.

-Yeah, it looks like it’s something more than that.

-I assure you, everything is fine. I just need to stop running solely on mana fruit, that’s all.

-Uh-uh. Speaking of, how far are we from some kind of landmark or something like that? Feels like we’ve been traveling for ages with nothing but trees around.

-Tomorrow we will reach the village you said you stopped during your trip. Honestly, we probably could reach it today but… I needed a break.

-Sure… I guess we wouldn’t be able to sleep in the village anyway, I don’t think there was any inn there…

-Yeah… That too.

He turned his gaze back to the fire.

-In any case, don’t push yourself too much. You are already jittery, just go and rest.

He did not say anything, just nodded, still staring at the flames.

-I am serious, if this is gonna continue and I will have to drag your unconscious body back to civilization, you will have to pay for that.

He no longer was listening, focused on the bonfire, with his eyes half shut.

I sighed and stopped observing my companion. Whatever was going on in his head, there was nothing I could do now, so instead I decided I should focus on more pressing matters.

While we were talking, the rain was slowly getting weaker and weaker, to the point where the weather was almost completely clear and the moon slowly showed up in the sky. I waited maybe another half an hour or so and the sky was again completely clear, the forest silent.

For the whole time, since I’ve seen that shadow in the rain, I couldn’t help but feel that I was being constantly watched.

I took another walk around the perimeter, to “gather more firewood”, but instead I paid a lot more attention to the wet ground, looking for any signs of people. Just to be sure, I pretended that I did not find enough and started doing circles around the campsite, at first maybe a few meters in radius, but slowly doing wider and wider sweeps through the forest, to the point when I was barely able to see the fire. I have not found any signs besides our own until my last one. As I was about to give up and just dismiss my worries as imagination, I finally found something.

It was a set of footprints. In the muddy ground it was hard to tell but it definitely was not some animal, and definitely was not any of us. Faking my sudden interest in some particular piece of wood on the ground, I inspected the patch of bushes nearby. Yeah, sure enough, more footprints, close together, along with some broken branches. Even without some amazing tracking ability you could easily tell that someone was hiding here not too long ago, and then creeped out away from the camp.

I gathered some of the branches, and slowly stretched out my back, trying to look where our tail might have gone, but saw nothing more. As I walked back to the fire I looked towards where the footsteps led, but they almost immediately vanished in some thicker patch of grass.

Back in the camp, Eicam was still facing towards the fire, but this time with his eyes closed. I don't think he was asleep, because he was still trembling a little bit and not snoring, but I decided to not bother him anyway. Instead I just sat nearby, summoned my fire orb and started playing with it, mindlessly, but still keeping a close watch towards the direction where I saw the footprints. In the worst case scenario I would be able to pretty much instantly set the forest on fire to hopefully get rid of our tail.

That moment never came though. Night went quietly and smoothly, even without a certain person snoring. I am not sure if he slept at all, because as soon as the sun rays started piercing the canopy and it got a bit brighter, he just stood up and asked if I was ready to move out.

-The bonfire pretty much just went out, so I have to clean up, but besides that, sure.

He nodded and started rummaging in the bag with our provisions, looking for more mana fruit.

-No thanks - I said, before he even managed to pull out one. - Say, are you sure you should eat any more of those? Maybe just wait till we get to the village, maybe there we can get some normal food.

-I am fine. And we are not stopping there, just passing nearby - he answered while munching on one.

-Ok then…

The village was even closer than expected. It did not even take us an hour to get to the edge of a familiar set of buildings. From there, we quickly moved through the edge of the village and went on our way, without getting bothered by anyone. To be honest, it had to be a very early hour of the day, there was not even a single person around, so it was not that surprising.

From there it was me who was leading. It was not hard to find the right direction and find our old path. It took a bit of a walk, but we finally managed to locate one of the marked trees, and then soon enough the hollow one.

-Finally - I sighed and pointed towards the hiding spot - that should be it.

Without a word Eicam approached the tree and started rummaging inside the hollowed trunk. Indeed, inside he found the armor, which was in surprisingly good shape. It was still half melted and battered, but besides some dirt, there was no signs of rust or anything like that.

-Looks fancy - he said, inspecting it closer - and it is absolutely wrecked. Why do they want this thing so bad we had to walk so far?

-That’s one of the reasons we are here, not them. Not like I care that much.

-Right. Do you want to start or should I?

-Go ahead - I said, remembering that we were supposed to check this thing for enchantments.

He placed all the pieces in front of him on the ground, like some kind of merchant presenting his goods and started focusing on every single one.

I did not interrupt, watching him closely. He was indeed using his magic sense to get a read at the items in front of him, I could tell that much. So he was not a fraud at least.

-I don’t get it - he said after a while.

-What? What stupid enchantment did he get this time?

-I… I need to check again, give me…

Once again, he tried focusing on the armor, but every time he changed his focus from one part to another, he started looking more and more shaky, to the point he was looking like he was panicking.

-No, no, no… Maybe it was those mana fruit… It can’t…

-What’s going on?

-Nothing, I’m just distracted, give me a minute.

-Uh-uh…

Obvious lie, but why? Was the enchantment that powerful? He tried maybe three or four more times, every time looking more and more distressed, which was astounding really, since even from the start he was looking half insane from all those mana fruit, shaking like crazy.

-Ok, if you wont tell me, I will check myself, what the hell is wrong with you…

He did not answer. I grabbed him by the arm and shook him but still, he was like in a trance, constantly focusing on the armor.

I just shrugged and without much of a thought shoved him unceremoniously away from the armor. That finally caught his attention, but he was still in shock, not answering, instead looking at me.

-Give me a break… - I sat in his place and started checking myself.

And… nothing.

I had to check again, just to make sure I am not going crazy.

Yep, still nothing. The armor that was in front of me, and what was supposedly such an important piece of gear was just plain old mundane piece of metal. No magic, no enchantments, no nothing.

-Oh for fuck sake! What am I, some kind of trash collector? Are they making fun of me or what? - I said, trying to stop myself from kicking the pieces away in frustration. I turned my attention back to my companion

-Hey, snap out of it. Give me the bag so we can gather this scrap and get this over with.

He finally answered.

-But… What…

-Yes, this is the thing we came for. No, it is not enchanted. Yes, I am disappointed.

-Are you sure? - It looked like he managed to come back to his senses.

-Yes, I am sure. What are you so freaked out about?

-I… I was told that it was a powerful magical artifact and if I won’t come back with it intact…

-Well coming back intact was impossible from the get go. It was like this when we left it, although I am surprised that it did not rust or anything, so I guess we are bringing it back as intact as it gets?

-I don’t think that’s what he meant.

-Who cares. Come on, let’s pack our crap and get a move on. I don’t want to waste more time that is needed for that annoying bastard…

Still in shock, he started packing the scrap metal into his bag. Or at least tried to. He was still trembling and barely could even hold the pieces in his hand.

-Oh for fuck sake, get a grip on yourself! I told you it is in the exact same state as we left it here, stop panicking.

Not waiting for the answer I started gathering the junk in his stead and throwing it to the bag that he was holding open. We managed to fit all the pieces inside, just barely though.

I tried lifting the bag and slinging it over my shoulder but it was a lot harder than anticipated.

-Holy crap, that is heavy. What the hell is this thing made of, lead? Come on, help me maybe?

He nodded and tried doing the same himself, but even though he had two arms, he did not even manage to get it off the ground.

-I have never seen such heavy armor… - he moaned. - How are you supposed to wear that?

-Don’t ask me. That poor horse…

-What?

-I said I have an idea.

I quickly took a look around and found the sturdiest looking piece of branch I could.

-Tie this thing to the middle.

-Ah. That should help.

We tied the bag to the center of the branch and put the piece of wood on our shoulders, letting the bag with the scrap hang loose between us both. It was not very comfortable, but at least we could somewhat carry it.

-Let’s go to the village. We have to get some kind of mule or something, else our trip back is gonna take a month.

He nodded, and we slowly started maneuvering between the trees, walking back towards the village.

I don’t know if that was physical exertion, but he finally looked calm. Well, calmer than before. I could still feel him shaking a bit, but I think that might just have been the aftereffects of mana fruit, and not the sheer terror that I saw when he started investigating the armor.

It took us a good chunk of time to finally reach the village. It appears that it is not easy to carry a metric ton of scrap metal through the dense forest, who would have known. But our roadblocks have not ended just yet. As soon as we set foot outside the forest I realized that something was not right.

The village that just a while ago was completely empty, was now crawling with people. And they were definitely not the residents.

Coming and going from house to house were people wearing full plate armor, from head to toe, with either dark red cloaks or scarves on their necks. Some of them had different kinds of weapons either hanging from their belts or on their backs, ranging from small swords to large two handed axes. It appeared that they were looking for something, asking every person they could find, searching the streets nearby.

Before they could see us, to my surprise, my companion pulled us both back to the forest. Startled, he did it a bit too roughly and both of us collapsed under the weight of our baggage into some bushes nearby, outside of the immediate view.

-What gives? - I hissed at him. - Want to kill me with that hunk of junk?

-Shhh! They will hear you! - he whispered back, looking towards the village. - Luckily for us they have not reached this side of the village yet…

-”They”? What are you…? Oh don’t tell me you are wanted or something!

-Well I am not! I think…

-That does not sound convincing! And who are they?

-Don’t you recognize your own people? Red Mages! He told me it was already resolved! Bastard!

-Oh great, the good news keeps on coming! What did you do?

-You are one of them, aren’t you? Go and clear up this mess!

-First things first. What mess?! You are not being helpful right now!

-It’s a long story.

-Well I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s all that about.

-Argh… Fine! I… might have ACCIDENTALLY burned down a large chunk of forest and shifted the blame on them…

-You…

-But I was told that the case was cleared ages ago! And now they are here!

-Freeze!

In our frantic discussion we failed to notice one of the armored people, apparently Red Mages, approaching our bush.

-I found him! - the guy yelled from under his helmet.

-Well too late, I guess they found you. Damn it, I will have to carry this thing all the way back by myself…

-Your name is Mor, right? - asked the guy looking directly at me, ignoring my companion.

-Well, yes, but…

-You are hereby under arrest.

-Excuse me?