Ember slowly raised his head to look at the girl. Her face displayed the same cold lack of emotion it always did, and her eyes met his with clear disdain for his apology.
Solaris was still staring at the girl with a curious look on his face. He could never get a read on Selen. Everything she said was somehow disconnected from what she was actually saying.
Standing up straight, Ember opened his mouth to speak.
"If you will excuse me, I have to help Sami."
With that, Solaris and Selen were once again alone in the room together.
The awkward atmosphere returned, though only for a split second this time.
"Thank that being for me. If he'd been just a bit slower, I would've died."
"Huh? Oh, I'll see what I can do."
"Oh, and, um... thank you."
"...Of course. What good would I be if I can't protect one girl?"
"You would be useless."
With that last remark, Selen left Solaris in an odd mood. He was glad he'd been helpful, but a little put off by her final comment.
Well, maybe she's just socially awkward.
Soon, he followed in her footsteps and left the room, deciding to see the extent of the damage caused by the fight. He walked out of the building and down into the alleyway.
As he walked, he soon found himself staring at the once-pristine forest landscape, now missing a huge section where they had trained. The small wall that housed the transport portal remained undamaged, yet the rest of the ruins were even more destroyed than before.
The stone was melted and misshapen, more like the aftermath of a volcanic eruption than a fight. The ground was scorched, with no grass left—only patches of ash everywhere. Multiple trees had been incinerated to almost nothing, and the air was thick with dark smoke.
The aftermath was worse than he had expected. Somehow, he had convinced himself that the vegetation had survived or at least a lot of it, yet the field he had trained on for so long was annihilated, and the dirt was all that truly remained.
Staring at the scene, he felt his cheek grow warm. Moving his hand up, he felt a tear rolling down his face; the dreamlike area was now gone.
wiping away his eyes, he began trying to find Sami and Ember, he had overheard them discussing coming here, which was the main reason he even felt it was safe to do so.
Walking around for a while, he eventually saw Ember standing in the forest near the obstacle course.
Opening his mouth to yell for him, Solaris had a thought that shut him up before a sound emerged.
Not wanting to risk having to fight another lust demon, Solaris decided to wait for Sami to appear and then approach them.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait long, as soon after he saw her appear, upon seeing the woman, he sprinted over to the two.
catching both of them by surprise, enough that the bone blade appeared in Ember's hand.
"You scared me, sol! Say something next time."
ember yelled.
"Sorry."
Solaris said sheepishly.
"I was gonna, but I was worried that you could be lust demons, so I didn't."
"Good to see you being careful, but no need to worry, we could kill one of those without breaking a sweat."
Sami replied with a beaming smile.
They won't break a sweat, yet it broke my ribcage. Why did it have to be me fighting it?
"What are you doing here, sol?"
"I came to see the damage for myself. I heard you two talking about it before we met up with Selen."
"I see, well, it's good you're here, could you take a look at something for us, maybe you'll know what it is."
Taking a bit of a walk, Solaris found himself looking at a tree, there was a carving in it with a few words, yet the language was not that of which he spoke.
They could only tell it was a language based on the way it was carved, seemingly with a claw; the strange letters were formed into multiple perfectly shaped clusters similar to sentences.
"We think I may have to do with the lust demon, but we're not certain. What do you think?"
Sami asked while leaning down to look past Ember, her hands behind her back.
"I've never seen anything like this before."
"shame."
Sami frowned slightly.
Suddenly, Solaris felt an urge to touch the carving, possibly to see how deep, or maybe he was just curious; either way, he found himself reaching out for the tree.
touching the marks, Solaris found himself in a strange predicament; the surrounding forest was gone, and the air was much, much worse than it had been. The sky was an orangish red, and the ground was barren. The location he had been standing in was now gone, replaced by somewhere otherworldly.
"What the hell, where am I?"
Looking around Solaris, he saw many rundown, ramshackle buildings, looking up he saw a dark red sky and a single moon, reflecting a dark blue hue.
After a few moments, however, he was no longer standing there alone.
A tall man soon stood next to him.
"What the hell, Sol? Where are we?"
"I have no idea."