Lenore and I continued to move around the forest randomly, trying to create multiple false trails, if the elves could even find those. To disrupt things further, we kept switching in and out of each other's Hallow, at times I stepped through the shadows to interrupt the trail I had been on and even logged out, just in case there was some sort of magic that followed my essence. In addition, I thoroughly inundated both of us with Dark Magic, trying to cleanse and burn away anything that might be tracked, magical or mundane.

The only thing we couldn’t remove from this realm was Lenore’s Soul, but given that she had only passively given me Astral Power, we had a bit of confidence that there was no way for anyone to track her presence. She didn’t even touch the ground or any of the trees, sitting on my shoulder whenever possible, or within her Hallow.

Finally, once we had done anything in our power to ensure we didn’t create a track back to the others, we returned, still hidden by concealment and repeatedly stepping through the shadows. I even considered trying to step through the Astral itself but at this point, I wasn’t confident enough that such an action wouldn’t leave more trails than I wanted. Experimenting was good, experimenting when hunted by a hostile civilisation, not so much.

When I entered the clearing, I was greeted by an alarmed Adra, her spear at the ready, showing that I hadn’t managed to conceal myself from her wards.

“Can you check if there’s anything giving away my presence? I’d rather avoid getting detected by the forest,” I asked her, knowing that her senses and abilities worked on a different level than those of Lenore and I.

“Certainly,” she nodded, starting to slowly move her spear in a circular fashion, casting a spell of her own. I wasn’t sure what it did, but after a minute of slow chanting and creating magical formations, she finally shook her head.

“There are parts of your aura that are noticeable, even if you cover them up very well, but those have been there for a while, nothing new,” she assured me and from the look on her face, I was relatively certain she meant things like my Ruthless- and Mortal Hubris-Trait, both of which she had always described as a stain on my aura. Whatever that meant.

“But they can’t easily be detected from a distance, right? That’s all I’m concerned about,” I reminded her, not really bothered if troublesome elements could be detected by close examination. In a situation where I could be examined that closely, I had different problems anyway.

“Not by me, but you know that I’m a youngster of my people. What an elder Dryad, long bonded with her tree and rich in experience, can do is vastly different,” she reminded me, her words making me frown. It was an annoyance, but there was little I could do about it.

“Go back to sleep, I’ll keep watch,” I told her, intent on trying to commune with the Soul Prison again, now that I was within the relative safety of our combined wards.

“Sure,” she nodded, letting out a yawn,” If you like, Sigmir’s watch comes up in an hour, up to you if you want to wake her,” she added, before plodding over to her bedroll and laying down.

There was some temptation to wake Sigmir instantly, but instead, I conjured up my throne.. There was no real need for it but the comfortable seat and the runic decorations gave me just a little extra confidence, something I really wanted when dealing with what might very well be a deity. Or at least something the gods had wanted to get rid of.

Closing my eyes, I drew out the Soul Prison, holding it in front of me, feeling the mind reach through my hands. There was still the sensation of hunger, but the burning need had abated a little. Letting out a sigh, I leaned forward, putting my forehead against the smooth, slightly cold, surface of the crystal.

Instantly, the sensations I felt became stronger, almost overwhelmingly so and I felt my own stomach clench, letting out a low rumble as if I was starving. Controlling my breath, I tried to reach out with my Mind Magic, trying to make contact and project my own thoughts back to the entity, hopefully forming a connection so we could communicate in words, not just vague feelings and the odd nightmare.

Suddenly, I could see without opening my eyes. Only there was nothing to see around me, only endless, gloomy darkness, something even my elven eyes, enhanced by my Darkness-affinity, couldn’t pierce and yet, I could feel something out there, around me. I could feel the shadows themselves, stretching out endlessly, unobstructed and never hindered by light. This was, quite frankly, the darkest place I had ever been to.

“Hello?” I tried calling out, only to realise that I had no mouth, vocal cords or anything normally used to speak. I was, quite literally, a nobody in this place.

But that wouldn’t stop me, Lenore didn’t speak using her beak, after all, she used magic for it. And while I was unable to use Wind-Magic as she did, I was quite certain that we were in a realm of consciousness, a purely mental place. Following that logic, I projected my thoughts out as if I was talking to Lenore, only using my Mind Magic and directing it into the area around me.

Moments later, I heard sounds, a soft, rustling sound that I couldn’t place and what made it even odder was that it came from all around me. Trying to shift my perception, as if I was controlling a scrying construct, I tried looking around, only to see more darkness. There weren’t even shadows moving around, nothing to give this place any of the depth I knew was there.

The rustling stopped and I heard a sound, a deep, raspy hiss, something that shook me to my very soul, animalistic and filled with power. And yet, I could hear meaning in the sound, could understand that it was a greeting. Before I could consider a response, a pair of massive, slitted eyes stared at me, eyes that I had seen before, after we had destroyed the ancient sapling. I couldn’t see the being those eyes belonged to, only make out a vague, serpentine head the size of a house.

Stunned, I just stared, unable to tear my gaze from those eyes, literally the mouse before the snake. It wasn’t just the difference in size and physical might, but I could feel something at the edge of my perception, something beyond my sight, something me. The being in front of me was more than I was, maybe more than I could ever be, superior in ways I couldn’t even comprehend.

Before my mind could even begin to digest what I was seeing, the slitted tongue flickered out from the serpent's maw. Almost reflexively, I did the same, taking in the Astral Power of this place, a rich taste of Darkness-Power spreading through my system, accompanied by a smattering of other flavours, Blood and Death I could readily identify, but there was so much more. More than I could identify at first taste, maybe more than I could ever understand. The very air was thick with power if there even was air in this space and not just congealed darkness.

Another hissing rasp echoed through the endless space around me and again, I could understand the meaning of the sound. It was a mix of command and plea, telling me to feed it, to sate its burning hunger.

Before I could gather my mind and reply, I felt a stinging pain in my head and realised that I had drained the entirety of my Astral Power. The effort had been strenuous enough to drain some of my stamina, leaving me completely exhausted. The space around me vanished, leaving me sitting on my throne, panting for air and a stinging headache pounding in my skull, as if someone was trying to drive a nail into my brain. There was an odd wetness on my face, the stickiness making me realise I was crying tears of blood, but that all didn’t matter.

Success!

I had managed to exchange words with the being inside the prison and even managed to see its form, that of a giant serpent.

Leaning back on my throne, I had to fight not to burst out laughing, partially due to it being the middle of the night and partially due to my splitting headache. Slowly, I managed to control my breathing, while I let my mind drift into the Astral River, letting its streams soothe away the pain of my tortured head, as fresh Astral Power washed into my body, replenishing my depleted reserves.

“I did it,” I told Lenore, letting her inspect my memories of those few, infinite seconds, my mind still reeling from the sheer magnificence and awe-inspiring aura of that being.

For once, there was no Mortal Hubris within me, only overwhelmed awe.