By the time I got back to the others, the Sun was already high in the sky. Without my conjured parasol, I’d be in for a bad time, though my various traits were helping with that particular vulnerability. Direct Sunlight would still make me suffer, especially as the clouds I had used the previous day had vanished, leaving what others would call a beautiful day. To me, it was plain annoying, but there was nothing I could do about it, at least for now.

Sure, I could gather enough power to conjure a cloud of mist to surround myself with but ultimately, it would be just like the parasol, only on a far larger scale. But not on a really large scale, where I could begin to alter the weather permanently. So, I kept my parasol, especially as I could make the air beneath it extra cold with just a bit of Astral Power.

The big reason for the delay I had suffered was that I had taken shelter for a bit and made sure that all traces from the central area were gone. Not only had I washed myself with conjured water, I had used different runic formations to conjure a variety of effects that should remove all magic from an area, before washing myself again. Additionally, I had discarded the clothes I had been wearing, leaving me in a fairly interesting state. My cloak remained, as did the enchanted ritual knife I had been given by Alex, rings on both hands, a necklace and an enchanted needle sitting in my hair but no actual clothes. A part of me imagined Sigmir seeing me just like this and what fun things me could get up to, only for a sharp burst of grief and uncertainty to disrupt the vision. While I had a few ideas on how I might get Sigmir back, I was far from able to act on them, at least for now. Someday, I would get her back, no matter who tried to bar my path or what unspeakable horrors I had to perpetuate to accomplish my goal.

Worryingly, the decontamination wasn’t limited to the surface of my body. When I used Blood Magic to scan deeper into myself, I noticed that there was some strange, magical intrusion going on, not something I had seen before. The amount of power seeping into my body hadn’t been very large but it was there and I wasn’t sure what it did. It was almost as if a small part of my body wasn’t part of myself any longer, at least magically. Not a large part, just a few tiny spots not too far beneath my skin, but that the spots were there, and seemingly sustained by leaching my own Astral Power, was worrying.

Still, I managed to cleanse them, even if I had to take drastic measures to do so. Cutting out the affected area physically before flooding the area with Darkness Magic was enough to get rid of the infestation. Not pleasant but compared to some unknown magical effect growing within me it was much prepared.

Shaking off those thoughts with a shiver, I returned my focus to the present and my state of dress, or rather undress. I hadn’t taken anything with me into the Charland, so I had no additional clothes and even if I had, I’d have to discard them as possibly contaminated. But I could conjure Ice and while creating actual armour was fairly difficult, I either had to create solid pieces with complicated joints to they didn’t hinder my movement or compromise protection or keep things fairly fluid, taking up incredible amounts of focus, creating clothes was relatively easy. Simple clothes, at least, in this case, that meant something modelled after a chain shirt, multiple interlocking pieces of Ice, hanging off my shoulders before tightening around my waist and turning into something resembling a skirt. My feet were protected by simple sandals, the solid soles fairly uncomfortable but it was better than nothing.

Not something I’d want to wear into combat, even with it being created from my own Astral Power, there’d be some chafing and any blunt impact would cause the individual pieces to painfully dig into my skin, but it was enough to keep me from feeling exposed. Even if I doubted there was anyone other than my family in the area, it didn’t feel right. Maybe a part of me was simply leery of exposing more of me to the Sun, I wasn’t sure and not about to experiment to find out.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Either way, I looked vastly different from the look I had when leaving the others last night and they immediately noticed the change and asked about it. That, in turn, led to me explaining what I had run into deeper in the Charland, especially focusing on the central crater and its content. Amusingly, neither Lia nor Luna reacted in a way I had anticipated, which is that they’d react in a way somewhat similar to me. With shock, maybe a little fear, but also some interest.

As it was, Lia simply accepted that the area was troublesome and not something we could actually do anything about right now, though she expressed some interest in the mishappen creatures I had discovered around the crater. Those, she sounded intrigued by, likely due to their strange combination of being a normal, animal-like monster and some sort of crystalline abomination. Magically modified, in a way we couldn’t understand, just like Lia herself was magically modified in a way we didn’t fully understand. Maybe she thought that studying these creatures would give us a better idea of how to create more Vampires, which was a deep desire within Lia. Sadly, we only had very limited success with that project but I had a feeling we’d get there eventually. Maybe not in the fully controlled tests we had performed so far, but we’d be able to get Lia some ‘children’ of her own.

Would that make me a Grandmother? An amusing thought if there ever was one.

Luna, on the other hand, was initially confused by my report regarding the central crater. Normally, she always had at least some idea of what was going on with magical phenomena, likely a result of her connection to Hecate, but with this, she was lost. It was quite interesting to watch her reactions shift from mild comprehension when I was speaking about the strange creatures I had seen, to complete unfamiliarity afterwards. Especially when that unfamiliarity coupled with a look of annoyance that turned her still immature face even more childish, making her look her age, even with the last months of rapid maturation. Normally, she looked like somebody just starting her teenage years, almost twice her age, but with that expression on her face, she regained some of the innocence and childishness she should have.

However, as I explained what I had seen, the look of incomprehension quickly morphed into one of eager curiosity, making me wonder if she’d try to get to the centre herself or if she would be content with my reports. I hoped she would be able to be content, as I had every intention of keeping her away from the central area, simply due to the dangers involved. I could get there, sure, but with the strange Astral Power in the air, I was not certain how safe I actually had been. Keeping me safe out there could be hit or miss and in an unknown area where even the air wanted to kill me, I wasn’t about to add any additional uncertainties.

When my report on the night’s events was finished, I leaned back and let Lia and Luna talk, with Alex and Silva adding their thoughts in their own fashion. Alex, amusingly, was the most invested in exploring the central area. The crystalline material I had described seemed to be incredibly fascinating to them, even with the incredible, and unknown, risks involved. They wanted to know more and I had a feeling the risks were the very reason for their interest. They wanted to learn how to harness it, to create more of it, or something similar, if I had to guess. Maybe it was for the best of everyone, not only those involved, if Alex never got their paws on the crystals or the secrets of their generation.

Silva, on the other hand, looked torn between wanting to facilitate our interest and being cautious, her usual mode of operation. More often than not, she acted as our guard, ever-vigilant and making sure we didn’t get into situations where we couldn’t get ourselves back out.

I would have to make sure to help her with that, in this case, the danger was something beyond us.

After my parts of the discussion were finished, I soon started to flag. It had been a long night and I wanted nothing but to get some rest. Thus, I told the others that they could brainstorm but any further exploration would be performed with utmost caution. That much, they luckily all readily agreed with.

Moments after my head hit my pillow, I was out like a light. And found myself in a familiar endless, grey expanse.