A golden light, with a hint of black, along with red, yellow, white, blue, green, and all others sorts of colours, surged out from the Star Seekers, pushing against the tendrils of destruction reaching out to them. Not for long, of course. It did not matter how many shields they summoned. Just like the shields that Zain and Ralph had conjured earlier, the moment those shields collided with the black thunder, they shattered like glasses. Only the blood red shield of the Blood Spirit Tears lasted for a while longer, but they too could not stand against the ominous cracks spreading through the air.

  Fragile as the shields seemed though, they fulfilled their purpose, pushing the tendrils of destruction away from the Star Seekers, forcing them make their way around the Star Seekers. Still, just as a precaution, the Star Seekers maintained at least ten layers of shield at all times, while waiting for the disaster to pass. Fortunately, the black thunders did not last for long, vanishing back to where they had come from, allowing the Star Seekers to heave a sigh of relief.

  “…What was that?” Ralph said, slumping down to the ground, as his legs gave up on him. Not just in fear of what they had faced, but also because of the severe depletion of his Spirit Power. And not just him. Most of the Star Seekers had been forced down to the ground, either on their knees, or on their buttocks. And all of them were suffering from palpitations, taking deep breaths to calm themselves.

  “…That,” Yuri said, “was a Spatial Anomaly.”

  “…Spatial Anomaly?”

  “…You can think of it as a Spatial Storm. It happens when space becomes too fragile to remain stable.”

  “…A fragile space?” Norren mumbled, glancing around them. “The forest—

  “It is not the forest, but the Final World.”

  “…The Final World has a fragile space?”

  “…The Final World is just a small independent world. Forcibly dragging it across the barriers between our world and the Origin Sea was bound to cause its space to experience some wear and tear. That is why there is such a discrepancy between the information that the city gave us, and what we are experiencing in this forest. Knowing that the space around us is fragile should not come as a surprise.”

  “…Fragile space, huh?” Zain mumbled, as glanced around himself, stretching his hands out into the air, as if trying to grasp the cracks in the void.

  “…Stop wasting your efforts. Humans are not capable of comprehending Space with naked eyes, let alone grab it with their unaided hands.”

  “…I was not trying to grab space,” Zain said, trying not to show his embarrassment. “By the way, what were those black thunders?”

  “Cracks in the folds of space.”

  “…Just out of curiosity, what would have happened if we would have let those cracks touch us?”

  “What happens when you poke a hole in a sheet of paper?”

  “…I would never waste paper like that.”

  “…But the Final World would have no qualms about tearing you into pieces,” Vestia said, rolling her eyes at Zain, before turning towards Yuri. “There should not any chances of Spatial Anomalies recurring in the same place twice, right?”

  “I suppose not,” Yuri said. “Since the Final World has healed itself, its space should not break down again anytime soon. At least not before we leave the Final World.”

  “…But that does not mean that we can let out guard down,” Alnea said, noticing the visible relaxation of the faces of his teammates at Yuri’s words. “We may have survived the Spatial Anomaly, but we have yet to deal with its aftermath.”

  “…Aftermath?”

  “You do not think this matter would be over so simply, do you?” Alnea said, as he glanced towards the depths of the forest. The sudden cold he had felt earlier may be gone, but in its place, he could feel something more sinister from within the forest. Something dark and creepy. As if there was something crawling on his skin…

  “What happens when you feel an itch on your skin?”

  “…What does that have to do with the aftermath of the Spatial Anomaly?”

  “…We will talk about this later,” Alnea said, tearing his eyes away from the forest, and turning back to his teammates. “Our priority right now is to recover our Spirit Power. Everything else will have to wait until we are ready to deal with those things.”

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  “…Are we going to clear out this area then?”

  “No need,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “Those cracks… they must have killed most of the Oren Beasts hiding around us. And those who survived should be too scared to come out in a short while.”

  “…What about the watch?”

  “Of course, keeping a watch is still necessary,” Alnea said. “Though I am sure that no Oren Beasts should come trouble us for a while, it would not hurt to be a little cautious… I will take the first watch, Yuri will take the second, Lia…”

  After assigning everyone their watch duty, Alnea urged them to quickly meditate, and recover their Spirit Power, before glancing towards the depths of the forest once again. This time, not out of curiosity, or in contemplation, but in vigilance. He did not know what they would have to face next. Whatever it was though, his intuition was telling him that he would not like the challenge…

  “Are you still worried about the forest—

  “I can feel it. The danger… I can feel it on my skin.”

  “…That’s just an aftereffect of the Spatial Storm. Although the Final World has closed all of the cracks we saw earlier, it cannot heal its scars so easily. Even as we are talking, it is doing its best to smoothen out all the wrinkles in space. And that is what you are feeling. Of course, not everyone can feel this change. Only those who are particularly sensitive to space have the chance.”

  “…Let’s discuss this later. For now, you should honestly get some rest, and not waste your time talking with me.”

  “…I am not wasting my time.”

  “But you are exhausted.”

  “So are you.”

  “And that is why, this time, we need to rest properly. The sooner everyone recovers, the safer we are going to be.”

  “…You are a fool.”

  “…Always.”

  Swapping places with Yuri roughly a third of an hour later, Alnea quickly sank into meditation, giving his Spirit the calm it needed to recover as soon as possible. His Heart though… that he could do nothing about. The storm raging inside him… warning him of his impending doom… of the Curse of his Fate… He could subdue those thoughts, but he could not Clear them. Not yet. For that, he would first have to—

  Alnea subdued his errant thoughts before they could take hold of him, and pushed them back down to the depths of his Heart. He knew what he had to do, and that was enough. There was no need to constantly think about it, lest he begin to doubt himself. Instead, it would be better if he spent his time on thinking about other things. Like the forest—

  No, not the forest. He had already come to a decision about how to deal with the forest. Though he did have some doubts about his decision, that was before the descent of the Spatial Storm. Since the Final World had just experienced a catastrophe, the chances of something similar happening, especially around the area where the Spatial Storm had descended, was almost negligible. Maybe, if the seal that the forest was guarding was broken…

  Then again, what could he do by worrying about the forest, and the dangers that lay hidden underneath its surface? It was not as if he could restore the forest’s balance, or delay the release of the seal. Not unless he became the guardian of the trees. But that position came with a whole different set of problems. Besides, he did not even know what the trees wanted from him, or how he could become their guardian in the first place. Restore their seal?

  Rather than wasting his time on such stupid thoughts, and marring his Heart by failure, Alnea thought it would be better if he focussed on what his team was about to face next. And how they should face the changes in the forest. Though the greatest change should be in their enemies. And he was not talking about just their numbers.

  The Spatial Storm had come too abruptly for anyone to put up any decent defence, but it had still come with a few forewarnings. Like the tremor in the air, or the cold spreading through the forest. And Alnea was not proud to the foolishness to think that he was the only one who picked up on those warnings. Other Wanderers must have also sensed the danger, and taken appropriate measures.

  Of course, the Spatial Storm was not so weak that anyone could defend against even if they were prepared for it. Quite a few of the Wanderers in the forest should have been injured in the Spatial Storm. Some might have even died in the catastrophe. But there should still be around thousand or so of them who survived. And most, if not all, of them should be the elite of their clan. Both in their strength, and in their adaptability.

  Such Wanderers… after the catastrophe they suffered, would not repeat the same mistake. Just like the Star Seekers, they too should have at least one layer of defence active at all times. And unlike the Star Seekers, who had to roam around the forest to complete their Trial, most of them would probably stick to one place. Especially if their Trial did not involve much travelling in the first place. And even if it did, they could afford to delay their Trial for a couple of days, while preparing for any unforeseen circumstances. Like a group a Wanderers passing through or around their base camp…

  On second thought, it was not only the Wanderers who were affected by the Spatial Storm. Though they should already be used to such catastrophes in the past decade, the storm should still be enough to make them more cautious. Make them more protective of their territories. Coupled with the changes that the storm should have brought to the forest…

  More likely than not, every battle that the Star Seekers would face in the future would begin with them getting ambushed. At least for the next couple of days or so. And even if they somehow managed to avoid getting ambushed, their battles should still be more drawn out than before, and consume more of their Spirit Power and time. Consequently, the progress of their Trial should also slow down…

  Had it been any another time, Alnea would not have been worried about the progress of his Trial. After all a delay of a couple of days was not enough to decide the final outcome of the Trial. At worst, he would just have had to urge his teammates to work a little harder. Yet, no amount of hard work could help him if he did not have Fate on his side. And Inkah’s month was one time of the year when Fate refused to be on his side. The Final Trial… Was it finally time to make his decision?