《The Tale of The Silver Souls》 Unfortunately to understand there must be a prologue Have you ever felt that you don¡¯t fit in or that you were meant for something else in your life other than what you already have? Well sorry to disappoint, but your answer is of no relevance whatsoever for this particular story. No, neither you nor me is the star of this retelling. The Star of the show is a girl. This particular girl have always fit in, lived a perfectly normal life, but have been bored out of her mind. When the opportunity to change comes forth, she jumps at the opportunity. Which happens to be the start of a chain of events that will lead to an ancient battle. A battle between good and evil, light and darkness and all the other opposites that represent two contradicting opinions. And as always in a conflict stands the question of which side is right. However, that question of which side that is right or wrong always depends on which side you are looking from.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Anyhow, let¡¯s once more focus on the girl. This person will have a huge influence on both sides, since she doesn¡¯t particularly care about things that people normally concern themselves about. She can be willful, generous and kind when she wants to, but also ruthless, cruel and filled with greed. She represents both sides of humanity, both the good and bad. I am not telling you that she is some kind of perfect human or malevolent monster, no, flawed as she may be she is only someone that listens to her own heart and doesn¡¯t pretend to be anything or anyone other than herself. For that is one of the greatest weaknesses and strongest assets of humanity, we pretend to be kind and good, that we are selfless, just to satisfy something deep inside our souls. Those who will deny this are either lying to those who are listening or lying to themselves. Anyhow, let us begin this story of the most honest human in the world, a girl of 20 years. "It begins with life, It begins with death. It is the beginning of the end, It is the end of the beginning." - word of an insane prophet 1. The girl who dreamed Let us be unoriginal and hopelessly cliche and start at the beginning. Before the girl met her unforgettable destiny. Before the loneliest soul found happiness. Before the world as we know it became a place for differences, mystic and wonder. Before the end of the beginning. There is not much to tell you about the girl. She was born in an unremakable town in a common hospital, the youngest child in a family of four. She grew up in a house, the same as all the other houses in the unremarkable town. She went to an ordinary school with the standard class of thirty students. She bought ordinary clothes, hade average grades, ordinary neighbors and ordinary friends. You get the gist, right? She was unexceptional in every aspects of her life. However she had a dream, you could perhaps also call this dream average, but how do you even know if something as abstract as a dream is normal? What is a standard dream even? Anyhow, her dream was to become the exact opposite of what she currently were, to not be average. To perhaps become famous, or rich or madly in love with a famous and rich person. She hadn¡¯t really decided yet which option were the best, so she had those three dreams as goals in life. It didn¡¯t matter which one of the dreams came true, she would be pleased either way. In her perspective, three options were in truth better than one, as it would be thrice the possibility of at least one of the dreams coming true. The girl had just celebrated her twentieth birthday a couple days ago. She had just started university and celebrated her coming of age quietly with friends and family. She wished once again for her average life to become extraordinary as she blew out the candles on her birthday cake. Now, now. You mustn¡¯t think too badly of her, she were in no way ungrateful for what she had and she most definitely knew how fortunate she was to be able to grow up in comfort when so many had so much less than her. It was just that she had that particular trait that most, if not all, humans possess, they almost never get satisfied. It is in the human nature to crave for more than what you have, and that was exactly what she wanted.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. More. Something that would make her life more¡­more colorful, more than just average. A person, or a purpose. Something that would change her grey ordinary everyday life. That is namely what happens when you already have everything you could imagine, you start longing for something indescribable, something you can¡¯t really put your finger on, but are in desperate need of. You stand on a crossroad in life. Should you take the safe route and do what everyone else does and go live the ¡°average¡± life that is expected of you, or should you break free from those conceptions? There are not many who have the strength to do that, therefore you wish, dream, of finding something that will break the patterns of your life without even having to take that frightening and grudgingly hard step by yourself. That was all that she wished for, something that could give her that push to take that first step, but to no one¡¯s surprise nothing happened. As usual. It is not normal to get your desires coming true just because you happened to blow out a couple of candles that are stuck in a sweet pastry. A couple of days later did the girl walk her standard afternoon stroll. This particular day would be different than all the other days. For no reason in particular did the girl break her usual pattern and got an impulse to walk in the opposite direction than what she usually walked. She felt that it was truly refreshing to do something that she doesn¡¯t normally do, so she continued strolling in her nonstandard direction. However it wasn¡¯t just the direction of the stroll that broke the usual pattern, the weather had apparently decided that it wasn¡¯t particularly amusing to act normally. A cloud of mist came rushing at the girl, and not in a calm and steady flow, but as a storming tsunami of fog. Actually to be honest it was quite frightening to see something aspeaceful and calm as mist behave so aggressively. For an ordinary human the immediate reflex to protect themself from something that comes right at their face are to close their eyes and cover them with their arms, so that was exactly what the girl did as she became surrounded by white fog. Just as she were completely covered in the mist, a jumble of voices attacked her mind. She felt a strong wind blow and the fog blew away as fast as it had appeared. The difference however was completely obvious. When the girl removed her arm from her face was she hit by a sight that shook her to the core. Instead of seeing the usual pavement lined with identical houses, were tall trees the only thing she saw. But there were no ordinary trees that you usually see when you think of the word ¡°forest¡±, for these trees were so tall that you couldn¡¯t even see the sky, only a foliage of leaves that rustled in the wind. The only light were the few streaks of sunlight that had managed to pierce though the thick roof of leaves. 2. A goal and a surprise The girl looked around in stunned silence and wondered to herself how in the world she managed to go from a house district in the suburbs to a forest in less than a minute. Then it hit her, this was actually exactly what she had wished for a few days ago. To be able to experience something out of the ordinary in her plain and boring life. It was just that she hadn¡¯t expected the wish to come true in such an unusual way. To actually be transported to a random forest was not something she had imagined, instead she had thought, or rather hoped, that the wish would be fulfilled by acquiring a stormy romance with a celebrity. But to be able to experience a wild fog and to end up in a place completely unfamiliar were not that bad as far as wishes goes. She wondered for a moment if she would be able to go home and how she would be able to do so, however she almost immediately discarded the notion of being capable to return to where she came from. Of course there would be no chance whatsoever of her being able to gohome. To be able to have one wish come true is already in itself a oncein a million miracle, and to wish it away for the one reason to be able to go home? Not even a complete idiot would even remotely consider it a possibility to reverse a wish such as this. So the girl did what any other person who just had their innermost wish come true would do. She started to walk away from her spot to see if her tiny less average life could become completely extraordinary. In other words, she took advantage of the situation and decided to use her granted wish as much as possible. After all, who knew if the wish would be reversed or if it was only temporary? It would be an utter waste to not explore when given an opportunity of a lifetime. After having walked for quite some time, a whole hour according to her wristwatch, did the girl stumble upon a road. Well, perhaps the word ¡°road¡± would be a bit of an overstatement, it was more like a dirt path cleared of weeds and other plants. She started to follow the path in one of the directions since she reasoned that it would be a shame to not walk on a path that was so obviously made for that specific reason. She didn¡¯t have a destination in mind, so since she didn¡¯t have anything better to do, she decided that her temporary goal would be to see the end of this path. She walked with a slow pace, as there was a chance that she would have to walk quite the distance asit were impossible for her to estimate how long it was left of the path until she reached her goal. She assumed that there must be an end to this path, because that was what roads were, two starting points with an end at each start point. Yet the length of the path was something you never knew with new roads, well the path wasn¡¯t new as in ¡°newly made¡±, only new as in it was her first time walking down this particular path. The girl started to let her thoughts wander as they usually do when you preform something monotonous, and nothing is so monotonous as strolling down a path lined with nothing but trees and the occasional bush as far as the eye can see. After about twenty minutes down the road, did it strike her that she might have to camp in the forest if she didn¡¯t find something else other than trees and dirt. The thought of being made to do something so different than she was used to, made her so exalted that she was practically skipping down the path. Oh, and food, she thought. I have to have something to eat for dinner and if I am unable to acquire that, then at least something to eat for breakfast tomorrow.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Suddenly she heard something rustle and how braches snapped to her left a little further down the road. It sounded like something was desperately struggling to get through and stumbled on the vegetation in its path. The girl stopped, unsure if it was wise to continue towards the sounds. She considered her options, stay where she was, to turn around and walk away or to continue to walk forward. In the end she decided to wait and see what kind of creature it could be, to be that loud in the otherwise very silent forest. She mused that if worst comes to worst and it is a big animal like a bear or a female moose with a calf, was her plan to throw herself off the path and in into the forest to hide behind some bushes. She remembered to have read somewhere that it would sometimes help to play dead, so that was also an option. It never crossed her mind that she wasn¡¯t the only human being in this seemingly endless forest. So imagine her surprise when a person fell out a bit further down onto the path. It was a man, which was fairly obvious since he lacked clothing on the upper part of his body. He was on all fours dry heaving and coughing as if he was a chain smoker or an extremely untrained and overweight person that had been forced to run until their stamina was depleted. Recovering from her brief shock that there happened to be another person in the middle of what she believed to be nowhere, happiness overcame her. She could barely believe her luck! What a relief it would be to actually have the knowledge of what it was that existed at the end of the path and if she should go the other way to get to an end faster! The girl started to walk with careful steps up to the still coughing man when another person suddenly jumped out of the thick bushes that the man had fallen through mere moments ago. The new addition was the most beautiful human being the girl had ever seen. Forget all the celebrities and models from her hometown, they all paled in comparison with this new person. It was a woman with long flowing hair the color of liquid silver, which looked as light as spider web and glistened in the sunlight. The woman¡¯s skin had an almost ethereal gleam to it, as if she had liquid light in her veins instead of blood. The woman did not notice the girl that stared at her, instead she slowly walked up to the man and looked down on the sweating mess before her. The man looked up and started to whimper and began to try to crawl backwards in a feeble attempt to get away from the woman before him. The woman laughed and said with a voice that chimed like bells ¡°There is no use in regretting it now, little man. You should not have offered if you were not willing to pay the price.¡± The man continued to whimper and crawl away, but the woman quickly caught up to him with a few long steps. She reached out with one arm and lifted the man up by his neck. The man started screaming something incomprehensible and began to swing his arms around in a futile attempt to get released. The woman answered the man''s jumble of nonsense syllables with a couple of similar syllables of her own, which the girl now realized must be another language. In the end the man stopped squirming and fighting the woman, he opened his mouth in defeat and a stream of light came out of his mouth. The light was so gentle that the girl only managed to think warm and happy thoughts as she watched the light leave the man¡¯s mouth. However then she saw what was actuallyhappening. The woman had in return also opened her mouth at the same time as the man, and the light that flowed out of the man went inside of the woman¡¯s mouth. As soon as the light stopped coming out of his mouth did the woman release her hold on the man¡¯s neck and he fell down in an unmoving heap on the ground. The woman looked down on the man and said in a disdainful tone of voice ¡°Thank you for the meal¡± As she turned around to leave she was met by the sight of the girl standing frozen on the path with her mouth wide open in shock. 3. A troublesome discovery ¡°The Silver Souls have been on this earth for as long as man can remember. It is a creature of might and magic in the shape of man. However, do not be fooled by the stunningly beautiful exterior of these creatures, Silver Souls are dangerous and cruel beings who feed of off the energies of life, most commonly called ¡®soul¡¯....The only way to tell a Silver Soul apart from other human beings is to look at their eyes. The expression ¡®the eyes are the windows to the soul¡¯ originated from the eyes of the Silver Souls, as the frequent consumption of souls have made the color of their eyes a mixture of mercury and silver. This is the reason that these immensely beautiful but deadly creatures have the name ¡®Silver Soul¡¯, as the windows to their soul are a swirling mass of liquid silver....¡± - The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 14, page 634. As the woman turned around to leave was she met by the sight of the girl standing frozen on the path with her mouth wide open in shock. A surprised expression came to the woman¡¯s face and her mouth formed a small ¡®o¡¯ in surprise. She recovered almost immediately and gave the girl a smile that lit up her face and made her even more beautiful then she already was, and stared to walk towards the girl with determined steps. The girl had recovered so much so that she could come to the conclusion that the woman had taken that light from the man and that the man had been unwilling to give it to the woman. The woman stopped right in front of the girl and looked down on her quite shorter frame. Now that the woman was closer to the girl, did she realise that the woman was much taller than herself, as the woman towered with a height that was more than one and half a head taller than herself. The woman opened her mouth and was just about to start to say something when the girl exclaimed ¡°How did you just do that?! That thing with the light I mean. That was awesome! Was that magic? Are you a magician? Where did you learn to do that? Do you usually take light from other people?¡± The girl asked as many questions as she could without even taking a breath in between sentences. She continued to rapidly fire of a series of questions about everything that came to her mind, such as how come the womans hair was so silvery or how come she was in this forest and so on. The woman looked astonished at the girl in front of her and then began to laugh. Not the kind of laugh that she had before, at the man, no it was not a laugh of cruelty or mockery. It was the kind of laugh that lightened the hearts of those who were listening, full of pure uncontaminated joy.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°This is the first time that I am spoken to like this. Most people get unexplainable speech difficulties in close proximity of myself.¡± She laughed a bit more but stopped as sudden as she had begun and gave the girl a thoughtful look. ¡°How come you speak in this language with me?¡± She looked at the girl once more with a suspicious glance. ¡°Every mortal I have happened to come across have never spoken my tongue so clean and without accent.¡± Surprised, the girl looked at the woman and answered ¡°Really? So all the people in this area does not speak English? *sigh* How troublesome¡± The girl muttered to herself and thought that it would be very hard to communicate with other people if everyone in the surroundings spoke the same language she had heard before. It was completely incomprehensible and sounded just like a couple of children pretending to speak another language. She heard the syllables but the combination of them was completely foreign to her. Actually if she thought about it, it didn¡¯t even sound like that, she had not heard a language that was comparable to that one. What was she to do now? It would be so much harder If she was unable to communicate with the native inhabitants. Even something as simple as trying to go shopping for groceries would be an extremely bothersome task if not an impossible task. The girl was so busy trying to come up with a solution that she did not notice the strange expression on the womans face as the girl mentioned the word English. ¡°English..?¡± The woman said to herself and looked a bit surprised and suspicious at the girl who was deep inside her own thoughts. A look of greed flashed though the womans eyes. ¡°How interesting..¡± The girl turned towards the woman ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my mind was somewhere else so I didn¡¯t get that. What was it you said?¡± ¡°Oh, nothing of great importance. I was just wondering what a girl like you are doing in a place like this. This part of the woods are not for the faint of heart.¡± The woman waved her hand and looked apologetic at the girl. ¡°Oh, I see. Well, to answer your question the thing that brought me here was a wish of some kind¡± The girl answered. She did not want to tell the woman the specifics of where she came from. Who knows what someone with the capabilities to preform magic would do with such information. ¡°A wish brought you here? That must have been one powerful wish, to take you this far in to the depths of the Forest of Redemption.¡± The woman said with a smile. She actually believed me?! The girl thought. Is she an idiot? The girl looked at the woman with pity in her eyes. She felt bad for tricking the woman but it is common sense to not reveal that much about yourself to someone who is a complete stranger. As if the woman read the girl''s mind she exclaimed ¡°Oh, my. How rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is¡­ 4. A decision is made //However dangerous and cruel these lovely creatures may be, do not fear. As long as you do not give your explicit permission for the consumption of your personal life energy, there¡¯s nothing the Silver Souls can do to you. As one of the ancient laws of magic and order states; ¡°No creature may it be mortal or not can never take what was not freely given. May it be affection, worship or life energy, as long as the transmitter is unaware or unwilling those gifts can never be granted. As long as magic rule over fate, this law shall remain¡±. So do not worry of being caught unprepared or forced. This can at least never be the reason you die in your sleep. The only real concern on this subject is the little detail of the devastating beauty these Silver Souls possess. It is almost irresistible, which might make refusal a complicated and hard thing to do without proper training of your mind strength. A suggestion to accomplish this is to train while your physical shell is young as the mind is more perceptive to changes in the early stages of the lifecycle. We recommend to read at least one of the following volumes; ¡°Mindmagic and how to avoid being eaten¡±, ¡°Mental training for the less gifted¡± or ¡°No mind, no life¡±.// - The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 14, page 637 ¡°Oh, my! How impolite of me. I completely forgot to introduce myself. My name is Cal. Nice to meet you. What shall I call you, little girl?¡± The girl felt a bit of surprise by Cals¡¯ behavior, she had after all introduced herself with a mans name. But the girl shrugged and stopped caring about it almost immediately. She assumed that it was a nickname of some sort or the result of Cal having horrible parents who gave their daughter a male name. She reflected instead of how to answer Cals question in the best way possible. What should I say? It would be stupid not to take advantage of this opportunity to create a new identity for myself. This is the moment I have been waiting for, the moment that will change my life. So come on now, a name¡­a name that sounds good but not boringly average as my present name¡­hm¡­come on, come on. Cal will get suspicious if I take too long to answer. Who doesn¡¯t even know their own name? Now I got it! ¡°You can call me Cealine.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.¡°Cealine? That is a pretty name.¡± ¡°¡­ehm¡­ Cal is it alright with you if I ask you a question?¡± Cal froze for a moment and gave her a forced smile. ¡°Of course you can. Ask away!¡± ¡°Well, here¡¯s the deal. I want to reach the end of the path and I was wondering if this direction is the most efficient way to reach it, or is it better if I turn around and walk the other way?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Cal looked at her dumbfounded. ¡°Eh? What¡¯s the matter?¡± She answered Cal when she saw her reaction. ¡°Could you please repeat the question?¡± ¡°¡­which direction should I go to get to the nearest city?¡± ¡°Oh, I see! This way is the nearest to get to city T, it¡¯s only a two day walk from here.¡± Cal smiled and pointed behind the girl. ¡°If you walk that way you will reach a small settlement, village V, in five days. But I wouldn¡¯t recommend walking that way. The deeper parts of the Forest of Redemption are quite dangerous at night.¡± ¡°Oh my, I see. What do you think I should do then, Cal? We are in the middle of the forest, after all.¡± ¡°If you do not mind, little girl, may I suggest that I accompany you towards city T? I am on my way there myself, and it is safer to travel in numbers." The girl was both relieved and happy about that suggestion. It would make the whole experience easier if she had a guide that knew the local language. She was also very pleased that she had asked Cal about which direction would lead to an end faster. As it was now clear that she had walked in the wrong direction and would¡¯ve wasted precious time of her wish otherwise. ¡°Would you really do that? Thank you! That¡¯s so nice of you, Cal. I would love to travel with you.¡± ¡°Great! I hope we will have a pleasant and peaceful journey together.¡± Said Cal, but the girl missed the triumphant spark that flashed through Cals¡¯ eyes. They both decided to go towards city T and started to walk side by side on the pathway made out of dirt. Now, now. Do not think less of the girl, which we for now can call Cealine. She may be the type to focus on other things than the obvious sometimes¡­most of the time¡­ but that doesn¡¯t mean that she¡¯s an idiot. She understood perfectly that Cal had, mere moments before they started talking, injured if not killed another human being. However, she weighed her three most obvious options; 1. Ignore Cal and the man only to find the end of the path by herself and waste precious time of her (maybe temporary) wish. 2. To panic at the sight of Cal, scream her head of and run for her life in the opposite direction. That would most likely get her killed or exhausted and lost, as she wouldn¡¯t have had stayed on the path for fear of being visible to Cal. 3. Pretend like nothing strange happened and ask for the fastest way to an end by the only other human in the vicinity (that coincidently speak the same language as her). We don¡¯t have to mention which action seems like the best in this situation. So her decision to spend time with Cal had nothing to do with the fact that Cal had preformed real magic and that Cealine hoped to be able to learn a magic spell or two. No, of course not. No one would be insane enough to ignore possible murder for the prospect of learning magic¡­right? 5. A dilemma and some embarrassment //The strange thing about life energy is that each and every individual have different amount of it. Some have enough of it to be able to live until they¡¯re in their eighties. Others may only have enough energy to last them half a life, and some should¡¯ve had enough with life energy to last them their entire lifespan but get infected with a disease that drain them of their energy until they die, before their time. There¡¯re also some individuals that have an excess of life energy. These individuals have the opportunity to become magicians by using their excess energy to preform miracles and powerful actions. Finally, there are some extremely rare cases of individuals that have access to an almost infinite amount energy. They¡¯re practically invulnerable to attacks or situations that would drain an ordinary individual dry. These few that have this condition are the only ones that would survive a confrontation with a Silver Soul. It wouldn''t matter how much life energy the Silver Souls would feed off of them, they wouldn¡¯t die. These individuals are called by another name, the Unbound, as they¡¯re not chained by the laws of ordinary men.// - The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 15, page 650 She was waiting. Waiting was something she was used to and excelled at if she said so herself. She had been waiting all her life. Waiting for her dream to come true, waiting for something extrodinary, waiting to reach town and now she waited for her companion to be done with her bath. The silver haired beauty had for some reason vehemently refused Cealines¡¯ suggestion of bathing together. Perhaps she¡¯s shy? Cealine thought. Cealine could perhaps see the reason of ¡°if we bathe together, no one will guard the camp against animals and thieves?¡± It barely counted as a reason to refuse in her opinion. Cealine looked around the campsite from her position of sitting by the fire. The only thing worth stealing would either be the burning campfire or the animal carcass next to it. And who would be foolish enough to wander into a forest at night and risking their life for som measly fire and an incomplete meal? Her thought process was interrupted by the rustling of leaves. Cal stepped out of the bushes, looking gorgeous with her hair damp after the wash. ¡°Welcome back. Did you have a nice bath?¡± Cal looked surprised at the warm welcome. ¡°¡­I¡¯m back. The water¡¯s a bit cold but it was nonetheless refreshing to wash after a day of walking.¡± She sat down next to Cealine and reached for the dead rabbit. ¡°I¡¯ll start preparing the rabbit so it¡¯ll be done by the time you come back.¡± ¡°Thank you, that would be wonderful. I¡¯ll be back shortly.¡± "No, no. Take your time, we¡¯re in no hurry.¡± Cealine stood up and started to walk in the same direction that Cal had come from. After a minute or two did she reach a quiet river. It was then she realized that she had neither a towel nor a change of clothing. For who would consider to take something like that with them when going on an afternoon stroll? Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.What should she do now? Cal didn¡¯t look like she would have something in her size and it would be weird and awkward to ask a near stranger if they could share a towel. That was something she hadn¡¯t even done with her family back home. She considered her alternatives; to take a bath and not being able to dry properly or to not wash and smell like sweat. She chose the first option and took of her clothing and walked out into the river. The water reached her mid-thigh, so she had to bend her knees and sit down to wash herself easier. She grabbed a handful of the grainy sand that covered the bottom of the stream as she thought to have read somewhere that sand could replace body scrub when you need a rinsing. Cealine sat down in the sun on a patch of grass after washing, in an attempt to air-dry before putting on her clothes again. She didn¡¯t find the idea of putting on clothes while wet a pleasant one. The fabric would stick to her skin and it would require more effort, time and be more of a bother than it was worth to try to put on pants on damp legs. She would not attempt that as as she didn¡¯t want to keep Cal waiting for too long. When she deemed herself dry enough, did she put on her clothes and walked back towards the camp. When she arrived Cal was tending to the meat with her back turned to Cealine Cealine said that she was back and sat down next to the fire only to stare absentmindedly into the flames. ¡°What are you thinking so hard about?¡± She looked up and met Cals¡¯ lovely eyes. ¡°Nothing special.¡± Her stomach growled. ¡°¡­When do you think the meat is done? I have to admit that I¡¯m quite hungry.¡± Cal chuckled. ¡°Haha, yes, it¡¯s done right about now.¡± Cal grabbed the meat and handed it to her. ¡°Here you go. Rabbit on a stick, enjoy.¡± Cealine was very hungry at this point and greedily bit into the meat and tore of a big chunk. She swallowed quickly and repeated the process several times. It was only after quite some time that she realized that Cal had not gotten anything to eat. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Cal. I was so hungry that I didn¡¯t notice that we were supposed to share. Here you go.¡± Cal made no attempt at taking the meat in front of her. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to apologize for. I must confess that I was so hungry that I ate some of my dried rations while waiting for the meat to be ready. I am already full so you can have all of the meat.¡± Cealine looked with skepticism and pity at the beauty, who flinched under her look. She felt sorry for Cal and at the same time felt that she was a bit of an idiot. Who would eat themselves full with dry rations when they could feast on freshly grilled meat? She sighed lightly and reasoned that as long as Cal was fine with it, then it was alright. After all, the less meat Cal ate, the more was left for herself. After the meal came the discussion about what to do about the fire as it was important that it continued to burn the whole night. They decided that they would sleep in shifts and Cealine had to awkwardly tell Cal that she had next to no knowledge of how to keep a fire burning. She felt a bit stupid when Cal explained that she only had to put on more fuel and see to that the new tinder burned. Cal offered to take the first shift and Cealine didn¡¯t oppose. She felt very tired after everything that had happened that day. She truly hoped, as she lay down and closed her eyes, that she wouldn¡¯t wake up to find out that she had returned to where she came from, since she hadn¡¯t even used her wish to the fullest. Cal looked at the sleeping girl and approached her with an expression mixed between contempt and morbid curiosity. She bent over the unsuspecting girl and froze just as she had her hand on the shirt collar. You see, after Cealine had bathed she decided to also wash her underwear, as she figured that she could rinse them so that they were fresher to be put on in the morning. So what''d happened was that when Cal bent over her, Cal got a full view of what was underneath her shirt. Which was nothing. As the sun set over the forest a man laid unmoving, forgotten on a road. A dark mist floated out from the undergrowth and flowed towards the body. Suddenly the fingers on the body started to twitch and it rose unsteadily. If someone at that moment would¡¯ve looked closely at its face, one would¡¯ve noticed that the eyes were completely black. The body that once was a man let out a groan and started with a limp to move towards village V. 6. Fire maintenance and naivety //There are other types of creatures in our environment, for example spirits and demons. They are beings that possess an excess amount of lifeessence that, if you are an magician, can form a contract with. That means that the more lifeessence an individual possess, the more contracts are that individual able to form. Spirits and demons have no physical vessel, they are a form of life force that have gained a consciousness by the combined force of excess amount of lifeessence and a strong desire of another being. Take a water spirit as an example; they can be created by an individual''s strong desire to quench their thirst. Even if this desire sound inconsequential in the aspect of other desires, so does this desire grant the water spirit with mastery of water in a certain amount of radius from the contractor. Take note that though spirits may be equal in power before a contract, it is dependent on the individual contractor on the spirit''s power after a contract. Spirits take the excess lifeessence that the contracting magician have, to power their powers. This applies to all types of spirits and demons.// - The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 13, page 600 Cealine woke up from the sun¡¯s rays warming her face and the light making her see red behind her eyelids. She stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. That¡¯s strange? I have no recollection of guarding the fire yesterday. She thought tiredly. Could it be that I was so tired I did it while sleepwalking? She rose from her chosen sleeping spot and brushed of some errant leaves that had stuck to her clothing. She looked around the camp, but there was nothing of interest there except a barely alive cooled fire. She reflected on the events of the past 24 hours and felt a sense of wonder. So much had happened! And everything was new and exciting. The thought of sleeping outdoors was a novel and exciting thing, however the stiffness in the back and neck area, not so much. Not to mention all the insects that had crawled all over her. Nowhere had that been mentioned when she had read about camping under the stars. Cealine assumed now that there had been a reason for that, if it was mentioned, other people¡¯s interest in secret missions and explorations would¡¯ve probably drastically decreased. This would¡¯ve led to fewer explorations of new places, which would have resulted in no new groundbreaking discoveries. Yes, it was probably for the best that the less pleasant side of sleeping under the stars wasn¡¯t mentioned in the easy accessible litterature. Where could Cal be? She wondered. Cealine was completely alone at the campsite. She walked closer to the fire and put a hand out over it. Oh, well it¡¯s still warm s? Cal shouldn¡¯t be far away. She¡¯s probably taking a morning bath and didn¡¯t want to wake me up. She¡¯s so thoughtful. Cealine thought. Cealine realized that it would probably be a good idea to get the fire going, to increase the chances of getting a warm breakfast. Besides, it would be nice to surprise Cal with a warm meal when she returns, Cealine mused. However, how do you go about getting a dying fire back to life? She had only a vague memory of Cal explaining the fire maintenance last night. Something about fuel and proper air supply? Cealine sighed. Why couldn¡¯t she have a bit better memory? Oh, well, it¡¯s better to try her best. The worst thing that could happen would be that the fire goes out and it¡¯s that process that it¡¯s undergoing right now anyway. So in conclusion, she can¡¯t make it worse than it already is, so it¡¯s worth a try. Cealine started to walk around the camp to examine her options in the way of fuel for the fire. She collected an assortment of things and went back to spread everything out in front of the fire. Alright, let¡¯s see what I found. Five leaves that I plucked from that bush over there because of the lovely purple color they have, a handful of dried grass, three pinecone-looking things, the small stones and a handful of sticks that I found on the ground. Hm. After inspecting her collection could Cealine state that out of everything it was the stones that would be the least effective things to put on the fire. She knew that, since stones wasn¡¯t normally flammable and she thought that wouldn''t happen even though she was in a forest due to a wish. However the stones were a lovely shade of black and smooth and soft to the touch so she decided to keep them instead. She would¡¯ve use of them sometime...Surely? Oh, well. Cealine chose to put the stones in her pocket and looked over what she had left to choose from. The drier something is, the easier it will catch on fire, so I should start with that. Cealine picked up the dried grass and threw it onto the coal. Nothing happened. Cealine sat there and just stared at the fire in the hope that it was only a delayed effect, but there was still no reaction after waiting for quite a while. This is harder than I thought. What am I doing wrong? Cealine pondered for a while. Dried and fragile grass plus heat should in theory equal fire. Cealine inspected the fire a little more closely and realised her mistake. She hadn¡¯t put the grass on the glowy parts of the coals. She corrected her mistake quickly and the grass started to immediately catch on fire. Then it was only to put on her collected items and voila! She had a fire. Now that that was out of the way, the only thing left was to procure something to cook for breakfast. As she contemplated on how to find something to cook, while also not get lost or leave the fire for to long, did she hear a couple of twigs breaking and footsteps that was coming closer. Cal stepped out of the foliage and her hair shimmered in the sunlight as a waterfall made out of liquid silver. Their eyes met and Cal stiffend momentarily before looking away. She walked toward Cealine and sat down next to her and smiled a slightly strained smile, still not looking directly at Cealine.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Oh, good, you are awake. I have been around to collect some breakfast, so let us cook it and be on our way, if you do not mind?¡± Cal said while looking down at the ground and dumped a small package in Cealines lap. Cealine had been so distracted by the shininess of Cals hair and wondering how to get her own so well maintained that she had completely missed that Cal had been carrying something. ¡°Wonderful! This was so nice of you, Cal. I hadn¡¯t gotten that far in my preparations, I just started the fire.¡± Cealine picked up the package and opened it. It was found to contain a couple of mushrooms and a small pile of berries. This will make a great breakfast. The mushrooms can be grilled over the fire and the berries will be a lovely side dish. So incredibly nice of Cal to pick them for us. I have no experience with collecting mushrooms and would¡¯ve probably gotten us food poisoning if it would¡¯ve been up to me to go foraging in the forest. Cealine thought happily and started to prepare the food. Cealine was so focused on what she was doing that she completely missed the strange silence between them that hadn¡¯t been there yesterday. When she deemed the mushrooms to be finished did she reach to hand over half of them to Cal. ¡°Here you go. I believe they are done now. Thank you again for collecting them.¡± Cal shook her head and meade no attempt to take the food from Cealine. ¡°No, thank you. I do not consume mushrooms.¡± ¡°Oh? You¡¯re allergic? You should¡¯ve said something. Here take all the berries. Luckily I haven¡¯t eaten any of them yet.¡± Cealine tried to give Cal the berries instead and admired Cal for her selflessness, for picking something she couldn¡¯t eat so that her companion wouldn¡¯t go hungry. Cal shook her head and yet again made no attempt to take the food that was offered. ¡°No, I don¡¯t eat berries either. Thank you, anyway.¡± ¡°Well then, what¡¯re you going to eat for breakfast in that case?¡± Cal smiled a smile that Cealine couldn¡¯t really tell what it meant. It didn¡¯t look very happy. ¡°Do you really want to give me what I need for sustenance?¡± Cal asked formally while still smiling that weird smile. Cealine felt a bit speechless. Why would Cal ask something like that so suddenly? Of course I want her to eat breakfast. If she doesn¡¯t and have no energy later in the day, then how will I get a guide to that village we¡¯re going to? ¡°Of course I want to do that. What do you want me to do? Should I try to catch some fish by the river?¡± Cal smiled a extremely happy smile and shuffled closer towards Cealine and whispered something under her breath. ¡°Permission granted.¡± Cealine was just about to ask Cal to speak a little louder when her eyes widened in shock. Every thought in her head ceased to exist and her only focus were the smooth, cool lips on hers. She blinked when she felt something wet on her lips and took a surprised breath. The wet thing turned out to be Cals tongue, as it now had been granted entrance to mer mouth. Cealine felt how warmth started to spread inside her body. The warmth started in her chest and it almost felt as it flowed towards her mouth and out of her. almost as if drinking something warm and exhaling a warm breath of air. Cealine figured that she liked this warmth and could imagine herself getting lost in its comforting embrace. She abruptly came back to herself when she realised what was going on. Cal is kissing me! This is completely unexpected. Cealine felt a bit unsure it she should break the kiss or not. On one hand had she never been interested in girls before, but on the other hand was this a very comfortable kiss. She realised that kisses probably shouldn¡¯t feel just comfortable, so she should break the kiss as not to hurt Cals feelings too much by giving her false hope. Just as she was going to gently push Cal away from her, did Cal break the kiss and took a step back. Her cheeks were flushed and a bit out of breath. Her eyes glowed as if they were made out of silver fire and she looked surprised at Cealine, as if wondering what she was doing standing in front of her. ¡°What? How come you have not fainted yet?¡± She exclaimed with shock. Cealine felt confused. Faint? That¡¯s not an usual reaction for a kiss, right? She gave Cal a look filled with sympathy. Oh, poor Cal. It¡¯s not enough that she¡¯s so inexperienced that she believes that fainting happens after kissing, but she can¡¯t just kiss people like that. We¡¯re practically strangers. How has she not been exploited before? How can someone that look this good be so naive? ¡°I¡¯m sorry Cal. You¡¯re a very beautiful person but unfortunately you¡¯re not my type. It could never work between us.¡± 7. All about kisses //While spirits are created from the pretty harmless desires, are demons created by the more complicated and hazardous desires. Everything¡¯s relative, but if you compare the desire to quench your thirst with the desire to be loved, you have created two vast different beings. The first one is a spirit with the ability to control water in a certain area around the caster and the second one is something with the ability to affect the heart''s desire and the feelings of people in close proximity to the caster. That being is something that we call a Demon and they¡¯re something you have to be careful while dealing with. The love might not be real, however that doesn¡¯t make it any less potent or destructive as if it were real. There¡¯s few things as horrible in this world as forced love. That¡¯s something that could destroy a person from the inside out. So even though demons are created in the same way as spirits there¡¯s the distinction between the dangerous desires and the milder ones that sets them apart from each other. But don¡¯t go on believing that this makes spirits harmless creatures, they¡¯re just as dangerous in careless or malicious hands. No, there¡¯s a reason for calling Atlantis the lost city, a perfect example of what an individual with surplus of lifeessence and a water spirit can achieve.// - The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 16, page 689 ¡°I¡¯m sorry Cal. You¡¯re a very beautiful person but unfortunately you¡¯re not my type. It could never work between us.¡± First of all, we¡¯re both girls and I¡¯ve only liked guys so far, even though Cal is the most beautiful person I¡¯ve ever seen. Then it¡¯s just too big of a difference between our experiences. I mean come on, how innocent do you have to be, to believe that you can faint by a kiss. I¡¯m a bit worried about what else she¡¯s been taught wrong. I guess I have to keep an eye out so that she¡¯s not getting taken advantage of. I also truly hope that I¡¯ve not hurt her feelings too much by rejecting her, but it would be cruel of me to give her false hope. Cal gaped and ner flushed cheeks turned a deeper red and spread all over her face. ¡°W-what? Eh? No, no Cealine. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not interested in you in that way either. I¡¯m just wondering why you didn¡¯t faint just now, everyone else does.¡± Cealine sighed to herself over Cals weak denial. ¡°Cal, I don¡¯t mean to sound curt, but no one faints over what we just did.¡± Cal calmed down and looked at bit confused. ¡°No, Cealine. Everyone faint, at least. Some can even die when exposed, this¡¯s nothing you should deny.¡± Cealine felt like covering her eyes with her hand. My goodness! This is even worse than I thought. By the gods, to believe you can die from a kiss. That was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. The person that told that to Cal would really deserve a kick in the behind. ¡°Cal, I promise you. No one can die from that. I¡¯ve seen it a bunch of times and no one have ever died.¡± Cal looked shocked at what Cealine had just said. ¡°A bunch of times?! You must be messing with me.¡± ¡°I promise that I¡¯m speaking the truth, Cal. I¡¯ve seen it at least a thousand times and never anyone has ever died.¡± A thousand times if you count all the romance movies over the years anyway. ¡°Thousand?!¡± Exclaimed Cal horrified. She looked thoughtfully at Cealine and her eyes widened in realization. ¡°Is it possible..?¡± She muttered to herself. She raised her voice and spoke to Cealine. ¡°So you said yesterday that you came here with the help of a wish? Could it be that no one is affected where you come from?¡± Cealine realized where Cal was going with her thoughts. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve never heard of someone dying by doing that. Everyone does it all the time, it¡¯s nothing unusual. Do you mean to imply that it¡¯s fatal to be doing it in this place?¡± Cal looked longingly into the distance. ¡°Your place must be a paradise. Yes, here can it become lethal very quickly. There are few who survive the experience, even fewer who are able to handle repeated performances. It¡¯s almost unheard of to remain completely unaffected. With that note, are you feeling alright? Do you feel tired or haggard?¡± Cal suddenly looked a little worried when she asked the last questions. Paradise? What is this strange place I¡¯ve landed in? For kisses to be deadly is ridiculous, but Cal appears truthful. Cealine felt a little guilty that she had believed Cal to be so naive to the point of stupidity. It was now obvious that the laws of this place were completely different from her own. Cealine considered the possibility that she hadn¡¯t only wished herself to a forest, but a forest in a different world. That would be something really special and exciting in that case. Hopefully I won¡¯t be transported back home until I¡¯ve been able to explore more. I just have to remember not to initiate kisses with someone without confirming their ability to survive. Seems like my wish won¡¯t contain any romance in the near future in any case.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Oh, no. I feel fine. Truth be told it felt very comfortable, like getting a massage after a long day at work. I don¡¯t feel the least bit affected.¡± Cealine was quick to reassure Cal. Cal seemed both relieved and a bit astonished. ¡°Oh, good. I have never heard someone describe the experience that way, but that¡¯s a relief.¡± ¡°Yes, it might not be the most flattering description, but that¡¯s how it felt like. Sorry.¡± Cealine felt a little embarrassed over her tactless answer to Cal¡¯s questions. It didn¡¯t matter that there was a high mortality rate for kisses in this world, to say that someone¡¯s kiss only made them feel ¡®comfortable¡¯ was pretty ill-mannered. While Cealine was pondering on how to smooth over her mistake, she suddenly realized something. ¡°By the way, if you knew of the dangers towards you and myself, why did you do it?¡± Cal became speechless. She blushed and whispered lowly. ¡°I..ehm..I was hungry and didn¡¯t think thing through. And I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be affected since I was the one to initiate it. I am so sorry.¡± ¡°Hungry? Oh, right! We talked about breakfast for you before all this. I¡¯d completely forgotten about that. So what do you want to eat for breakfast?¡± Cal looked at her questioningly. ¡°Hungry? I am not hungry anymore, that made me perfectly stuffed.¡± Cealine felt very surprised. ¡°Stuffed? How is that possible? None of us have eaten since yesterday.¡± Cal¡¯s lips formed a small smile that Cealine couldn¡¯t interpret. ¡°Oh! But I¡¯m full as I just ate. You were here after all? Did you not notice?¡± ¡°Eh? You did? I missed it completely. Are you sure you¡¯re not teasing me?¡± Cealine felt confusion. The only thing that had happened was the kiss.. Oh.. Now she got it. ¡°Well, now I understand. Do you feed on kisses in this world?¡± ¡°Kisses? What is that?¡± Cal said a bit perplexed. ¡°We just kissed a moment ago. How could you not know what a kiss is? ¡± ¡°Hm. I feel quite confused. That is not what we call it, but I like your word better. I shall keep calling it that from now on.¡± ¡°Do you not have the word ¡®kiss¡¯ here? What do you call it then?¡± Cealine asked. She had a feeling that there had been some sort of misunderstanding between them, but couldn¡¯t figure out what was the cause of it. It was like talking to someone on another wavelength or with a crappy translation device. The message arrived, but there was enough grammatical errors for misunderstandings to occur. ¡°We call it ¡®Essence taking¡¯, but I like your word better. It is shorter and no one else will know what I am speaking about.¡± Cal answered smugly. It seemed as if the idea of having a secret word was very appealing to her. She¡¯s like a little kid who wants to come up with a secret code with her best friend. Cealine thought that was very adorable. Their word for kiss is also quite funny. It might be a little far-fetched but if I think about it I guess I can understand what they mean. Because you can¡¯t really avoid getting an exchange of saliva, but it feels a little too dramatic for my taste. ¡°Oh, okey. Yes, I guess there¡¯s a pretty big difference between the terms. So back to my original question. Do you just survive on kisses?¡± Cal looked a bit uncomfortable with Cealines questioning. However just before Cealine would say that Cal didn¡¯t have to tell her, Cal answered her while avoiding eye contact. ¡°Yes, unfortunately that¡¯s how I receive my sustenance. I would not last long without it. It is necessary for my health to Esse- eh I mean kiss at least once a day. If I was desperate I might be able to go without for a few days, any longer than that and I get sick.¡± ¡°I see. Does everybody need to do this? Or are you unique in that aspect?¡± Cealine smiled and tried to ease the tension in the air. She hadn¡¯t meant for Cal to feel so uncomfortable. She had really begun to care for the other woman. Cal looked up and met Cealines eyes. Something in her posture eased and Cealine realized that Cal had probably been a lot more uncomfortable than she had first thought. ¡°This is not something only I do, as there are many others as well, but not everybody either. There is always some of us in every city, but I have no exact number.¡± Cealine gave herself a moment to collect herself and to realize the completely unexpected turn her wish had taken. She could accept, in theory at least, that a wish might have moved her to another place, even another world. However to make it so a completely new type of humans exist? Humans who survive on kisses of all things, that was something hard to grasp. And that the other part of the population dies of said kisses? Even more so. She began to feel excited. This is such an interesting place. In this place there are deadly kisses, magic, beautiful people, magic, camping, eating things grilled over fire and did she forget to magic? This was a very good basis for a fantastic and special adventure. Just as she had wished. Cealine concluded that she was really lucky to have the opportunity to fulfill her wish. Sha looked at Cal and realized that she looked a bit worried. What was it we were talking about? Others like Cal? Hm, well I guess it might be good to give her some kind of response? Yes, that¡¯s probably a good idea. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s nice I guess. Well, if you¡¯re full then I assume that all this food is for me then.¡± She held up the grilled mushroom with a triumphant smile. Yay, a lot of great food just for me. ¡°Just let me eat this quickly and we can be on our way.¡± Cal widened her eyes and looked stunned at Cealine. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. She repeated her fish-impression for a couple of moments while Cealine began to eat. Her shoulders sagged a bit and she sighed a long sigh. ¡°That¡¯s fine, Cealine. No need to rush. As long as we leave within the next hour, we will have no trouble reaching City T before nightfall.¡± --- They quickly assembled their stuff after Cealine had finished eating. While Cal made sure the fire was dead, Cealine put on her underwear that he had rinsed the day before. This was really a good idea. it would¡¯ve been terribly uncomfortable to walk around with clothes that smell like sweat. When everything was finished you could hardly see that someone had camped there if you overlooked the extinguished fire. Cal led them back to the pathway and they began to move towards city T. 8. Language troubles //Silversouls are a possessive species and as such will seldom share their prey with others of their kind. As the ancient law states that life energy can never be taken by force, the Silversouls must convince their chosen prey that it¡¯s advantageous to give up their life energy. It would be much more difficult to convince their prey if other individuals in the vicinity have died of depleted life essence. For some reason is it not as appealing to offer up your energy to a lovely creature, when reminded that it would cause instant death. This is why Silversouls are inclined to haunt locations that no other of their kind are. So if you come upon a location with multiple Silversouls it is likely that an Unbound is nearby, since they don¡¯t die in a confrontation with a starving Silversoul. For it is only in the presence of an Unbound that Silversouls can stand the company of their own kind. Who doesn¡¯t want a portable, neverending lunch box available?// - The encyclopedia of magical myths and dangers, chapter 14, page 645 Cealine felt like they had walked forever when they finally reached the gates of city T. Cal may have been good company during their walk but she must admit that Cals company wasn¡¯t enough to stave off her exhaustion. She had to admit that she had had enough fresh air and sunny weather to last her a lifetime. It hadn¡¯t taken a long time to get out of the forest itself, maybe around 90 minutes, but once they were out there was only hills as far as the eye could see. It was this part that had frayed on Cealine¡¯s patience. Too strong of a sun with on breeze and their goal nowhere in sight. All this would¡¯ve been all right hadn¡¯t it been for her traveling companion, who looked completely unaffected. The heat did not seem to bother Cal at all. She looked as beautiful as always and not a drop of sweat as far as Cealine could see. Cealine envied Cals composure, but didn¡¯t have the heart to take out her frustrations out on Cal. It wasn¡¯t Cal¡¯s fault that Cealine sweated like a pig while she looked like a goddess. Cal even tried to cheer her up with tales about the world around them. So it came to no one''s surprise that Cealine let out a moan of relief when city T came into view. Her first thought when she saw the city was that it looked like a donut. Well, after being relieved that their journey was almost over. And the thought of a warm bath. So the donut comparison have been her third of fourth thought, but it was nonetheless somewhat true. The city had high walls with a deep moat all around it i a perfect circle. It had four gates out of the city, one in each quarter, similar to compass directions. The houses were built along the wall in a circle with the marketplace in the middle. Cealine thought the city was perfect. A little medieval but absolutely perfect for an adventure in another world. As they began to approach the city gates, Cealine saw that the queue to enter the city was very long, but she didn¡¯t mind all that much as there were a lot of exciting new things to observe. Merchants with their goods, farmers and their vegetables loaded in carts and visitors with exotic looking clothing. However, there was something a lot more interesting than that, that captured her attention. In the midst of all the farmers and merchants were a couple of people that wore robes in different kinds of quality with different crests on their backs. The robes may have looked a little bit funny, but what was so fascinating was that all of them had a companion of some sort. the companions varied in size, species and they seemed to exist in all the colors of the rainbow. But it wasn¡¯t just animals who were the robe-clad peoples companions. There were also a few people who had different color coordinated looks. The reason that Cealine could assume that they were companions was that all creatures and the color coordinated people wore the same type of band, often as a necklace, that had the same kind of crest that the robes had on their backs. It seemed as if the crests were individual to each of the robe-clad people. Cealine had to admit that she felt very entertained just looking at the different kind of creatures. She was sure that at some point she managed to see a stallion that had fur in every conceivable shade of purple. However she noticed something strange after a while. The majority of people who saw Cal paled and looked scared. The others flushed and got a glazed look in their eyes as if entranced by her beauty. This worried Cealine a bit. How will the reception be for entry into the city if everyone reacts so weird towards her friend? She turned to Cal and put her hand on her arm to catch the other woman¡¯s attention. ¡°Cal, Have you noticed anything strange? Most of these people seem afraid of you. Will this affect our entry into the city?¡± Cal turned her eyes towards Cealie and smiled reassuringly.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Yes, many fear my kind, but it should not pose a problem for our entry into the city. We just need to report our names and the reasons for our visit. Then it is just to go inside. I have done this many times before. Do not worry.¡± Cealine felt more secure with the knowledge that Cal had done this before and tried not to think about the looks they got anymore It felt like an eternity had passed before the line thinned out and they began to approach the city gates. Cealine was finally able to see what was going on to create such a long queue. It was a pair of guards. They inspected visitors papers, filled out forms and received payments before letting people in and repeating the procedures on the next one in line. Cealine suddenly realized two disastrous things. Things that could affect the whole adventure. The language and the currency was different that back home. And she had neither of them. Cealine couldn¡¯t understand a word of what was said and how could she have gotten the local currency? Under a tree root? By the moon and stars, I had completely forgotten that I can¡¯t understand the native language since Cal speak my language so well. What am I going to do? Should I ask Cal for help? Can I request more from her than she has already done? Not only did she lead me out of the forest, she also helped me forage for food. Cealine started to feel a bit unsure. It felt wrong to ask any more from Cal but what choice did she have? I have no money and can¡¯t speak even a word of the local language. What am I supposed to do? She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She faced Cal to share her troubles. ¡°Ehm, Cal?¡± Cal turned towards Cealine and smiled gently towards her. Oh, I really don¡¯t want to be a burden. ¡°Yes, Cealine. What is it?¡± ¡°I understand if this is something bothersome and I truly apologise in advance. But I really need your help. You see I¡¯ve realize that I¡¯ve a bit of a problem. Or more like two of them really.¡± Cal started to look a little bit worried. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is it about what we just talked about? I can assure you that that won¡¯t be a problem. I will have no trouble to enter the city.¡± Cealine shook her head from side to side. ¡°No, no. It¡¯s not about that. I trust you about that. No, this is something different¡­¡± She squirmed a bit and felt very uncomfortable. Cal looked relieved but still had a worried crease between her eyebrows. ¡°Well, what is it that bother you? You can tell me anything.¡± Cealine felt how her face heated. Oh, thi is so awkward. I really don¡¯t want seem obtrusive, but I¡¯m desperate. Gather your courage, Cealine. There¡¯s no turning back. Think about your wish. ¡°This is a bit embarrassing but I have just realized that I have no money so I am unsure if I can gain entry without paying.¡± ¡°Oh? Was it just that? That is no trouble, I have no problem paying for the both of us.¡± Cal answered with a warm smile. Cealine felt how her eyes watered and her flush deepen. ¡°No.¡± She said in a small voice. ¡°No, there¡¯s another problem. I..¡± Cal looked patiently at her and waited for her to continue speaking. Cealine squared her shoulders and gathered her fraying courage. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you realized it. But when we first met you noticed that few people spoke with as little accent as I did. The reason for that is that it¡¯s my native language. I didn¡¯t think about why you would say that, but I realize now that it was because it was spoken by few people. I have to confess that I.. That I-I speak no other language than this. So I am unable to speak with the guards, or an innkeeper or anyone else for that matter. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going to do!¡± Cealine¡¯s voice gradually grew louder until the last sentence when her voice broke. She burst into tears in humiliation and the crushed realization that her wish would only take her this far. Cal¡¯s eyes widened at her confession and looked very concerned when Cealine burst into tears. Cal put her hand on Cealines shoulder and murmured soft, comforting words. ¡°Hush, hush. It is alright, Cealine. I am here. I am going nowhere without you. Do not worry, I will translate for you. This is not the end of the world. I will accompany you, do not fear. you will not be left alone.¡± Cal murmured, comforting Cealine. Cealine looked up with tearstained eyes and smiled a trembling smile. ¡°Really? Do you really mean it?¡± Cal reached for her cheek and wiped gently away her tears with her thumb. ¡°Of course I mean it. You are not alone, Cealine. I will stay with you.¡± Cal reassured her. Cealine smiled in gratitude and rubbed away the rest of the tear stains. She reached forward and hugged Cal. ¡°Thank you so much. This truly means a lot for me.¡± What Cealine didn¡¯t notice was the smug light that filled Cal¡¯s eyes as she hugged Cealine back.