They retired for the night after a modest meal of dried meat, hard bread, a few crumbling pieces of cheese.
The barrier glowed softly around them. Outside, in the darkness of the forest, they could hear the sounds of animals passing by—growls, scuttling, the occasional crash of something large moving through the underbrush.
But nothing approached as the barrier held.
Before dawn of the next day, Ayumu was already awake.
She sat cross-legged directly in front of the barrier, her hands resting on her knees, her eyes fixed on the darkness beyond. The first hints of light were bleeding over the horizon and as the sun's rays touched the barrier, it began to fade.
Ayumu was about to wake the others. But then she caught a glimpse of something that made her stop.
From afar—at the edge of the forest, a figure was staring at her.
It was still dark in that area, and the figure looked like shadow given form. It was tall and unmoving. The only thing visible were its eyes that was fixed directly on her.
Ayumu did not look away. She held its gaze.
Then, as the sun peeped through the trees, the figure vanished.
The whole time, Kaiser had woken at some point and had been watching the same being from behind Ayumu. Ayumu noticed Kaiser's presence and said, "We are being watched, Lord Kaiser," while still facing the empty spot where the figure had stood.
"Yeah." Kaiser stepped up beside her, his red eyes scanning the treeline. "We should probably get moving, then."
That thing. It only watched. Never did anything. It could have—but it didn't.
Why?
-------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the group woke and prepared to depart.
As usual, Kaiser's voice cut through the morning air. "Be on alert. Prepare yourselves. Do not let your guard down."
Drobar groaned, rolling his shoulders. "I think this reminder needs to be said to Sir Fifi here." He jabbed a thumb toward the Charoite Magis. "He has been squealing like a little girl since yesterday. My ears cannot take it anymore."
"I do not squeal!" Fifi crossed his arms indignantly. "I cannot help it if bugs come near me!"
"Yeah?" Drobar grinned. "Then I think you should be bait. Walk in front, you fairy."
They were about to come to blows—Rhea already had her hand raised to intervene—when they noticed.
Ayumu was standing apart from the group.
The farthest back as she was facing west.
Her robes fluttered. Her hair—usually so carefully arranged—blew loose across her face.
"Ayumu?" Rhea called, frowning.
Ayumu did not answer immediately.
She stood there, perfectly still, as the wind grew stronger. As she felt something shifted in the atmosphere—the hairs on the back of her necks stand up.
Ayumu finally spoke, her voice was quiet.
"It is about to rain." A pause. "No. A storm."
They all looked up at the sky.
It was sunny and cloudless. Not a glimpse of heavy clouds in the air.
Levain, the water magi, stepped forward. He closed his eyes, reaching out with his senses—feeling the moisture in the air.
He opened his eyes again, baffled. "Lady Ayumu. That is impossible. I do not detect any high levels of moisture in the air."
Ayumu remained quiet for another long moment.
But then she said with a soft tone, "Higher ground." Soon her voice was even firmer. "We need to get to higher ground."
Fifi threw his hands up. "What? Why would we? Is this your gut feeling again?"
Ayumu did not answer him.
Instead, she shifted her gaze to Kaiser. Her golden eyes met his red ones.
Kaiser looked at Ayumu and soon saw her her golden eyes gleamed. It was just for an instant, but that made Kaiser understood.
A vision. Ayumu has seen something. It can be dangerous.
"Get to higher ground," Kaiser said—not loudly, but with a force that cut through the morning air like a blade. "NOW."
He was already running toward the mountain cliff in the distance—the nearest high ground, but still a long way on foot.
The others didn't question anymore after seeing Kaiser run. They also ran in the same direction as fast as they could.
Fifi, still protesting and confused, stumbled after them. "Are we seriously running? What is there to run for? Why are we following the white magis's gut feeling?"
At the end of his question, the sky changed drastically.
The sunny, cloudless sky became overcast—so fast it was like watching a curtain fall. Thick nimbus stratus clouds boiled across the heavens, swallowing the sun, plunging the forest into darkness.
Lightning followed.
Not distant flashes—but strikes, jagged and violent, slamming into the trees around them. Fire erupted. Smoke billowed. The air crackled with electricity.
And then—from deep within the forest—a sound like thunder.
But instead of thunder, it was a mass wave of water came pouring through the trees, sweeping everything before it. It tore up roots, shattered branches, swallowed the path behind them in an instant.
Fifi's eyes went wide. "RUUUUUNNNNNN!"
Suddenly, he was ahead of everyone.
They ran with everything they had—packs bouncing, weapons clanking, boots slipping on the muddy ground. But they were weighed down. Their personal loads—supplies, gear, provisions—slowed them.
The water was gaining but because of Ayumus' prediction, they had a head start.
The cliff loomed ahead—a sheer wall of stone, slick with moisture, rising high above the forest floor. They reached its base as the roar of the flood grew louder behind them.
"Climb!" Kaiser shouted.
They climbed with their hands scrabbling for holds.
Ayumu, however, moved like light.
Springing from ledge to ledge, her body barely touching the rock before she was already higher—a flicker of white against the gray stone, graceful and weightless. She reached the top in moments, pulling herself over the edge and turning back immediately.
But when she looked down, her heart clenched.
The others were still far below.
And among them all, Rhea was struggling the most. Her movements were sluggish and her face was pale, slick with rain and effort.
"Come on, Rhea!" Ayumu called down, her voice carrying across the storm. Worry gnawed at her chest.
Then Ayumu saw it—a long vine, thick and sturdy, dangling from the cliff face directly above Rhea. It was just within reach.
"Rhea! The vine above you! Grab it!"
Rhea looked up. Saw it. Stretched out her hand.
Her fingers brushed the vine, and she channeled a pulse of her power into it. The vine responded instantly, slithering toward her palm like a living thing, coiling around her wrist. It pulled—firm and steady—and Rhea began to rise, ascending faster than she could have climbed alone.
She soon surpassed the others, moving hand over hand up the cliff face.
After a short while, Osmond reached the top. Levain followed. Kaiser pulled himself up next, then Drobar, his massive frame barely fitting over the ledge.
But Fifi was still below.
Not far down—but slipping. His fingers scraped against the wet rock, losing grip. His legs kicked uselessly against the cliff face. His energy was gone, drained by fear and exhaustion.
Below him, the water rose. Climbing inch by inch, fast towards his dangling feet.
Ayumu could not stand it.
She did not think. She simply moved—a burst of light, a beam of radiance that carried her down the cliff in the span of a heartbeat. She materialized beside Fifi, her feet finding a narrow foothold, her hands pressing against his back.
"Push!" she urged. "Climb!"
She shoved him upward—toward a better grip, toward a ledge where his fingers could latch. Fifi scrambled, gasping, finding the grip and energy he needed. He began to climb again, faster now.
Kaiser's voice roared from above. "LADY AYUMU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET BACK UP HERE!"
She ignored him.
She was focused on Fifi—on pushing him higher, on making sure he reached the top.
And then—A dart of lightning.
It struck the cliff face not far from where Ayumu was gripping, close enough that the air crackled and her vision bleached white for an instant. The thunder came a heartbeat later—a deafening CRACK that seemed to split the world in two.
The rocks where she was holding crumbled.
The stone beneath her fingers shattered into dust and fragments. Her foothold vanished. Her hands found nothing but air.
She fell backward.
Time slowed.
The storm seemed to pause. The rain hung in the air like suspended tears. The lightning's afterglow faded.
Ayumu's golden eyes widened. Her arms stretched toward the others.
Toward Rhea, who was screaming her name from the cliff top, her voice raw and broken. Toward Kaiser, whose hand was reaching for her despite the impossible distance.
Her golden eyes met his red ones.
For one eternal moment, there was nothing else.
Then the water swallowed her.
"NOOOOO, LADY AYUMU!!" Levain's scream tore through the storm—raw, desperate, echoing off the stone.
"AYUMUUUUU!"
Rhea's voice broke. Shattered. Became something animal and raw. She lunged toward the edge, toward the churning water below, and had to be caught by Drobar's massive arm.
Kaiser stood at the cliff's edge, his hand was still outstretched.
His red eyes were fixed on the churning water below—on the spot where she had disappeared, where her white robes had been swallowed by the dark flood.
No.
The word echoed in his mind.
No. Ayumu. No.
She had tried to save her friends. She had used her vision to warn them. She had climbed back down for Fifi. They all would not have survived without her.
And now she was gone...
The rain fell harder.