Yuri rushed into the group of Wanderers standing still, paralysed, and defenceless, bringing them the whispers of Death. Would her fool have chosen to end their battle in a different way? Maybe. He was still a little naive. But when needed, he could the most ruthless of them all. Especially to himself. So, she had to wrap up her battle as quickly as possible, and go to his aid before he could do something stupid.

  And just like that, a few moments later, all the Wanderers of the Lotus clan’s alliance that had come besiege her and Aren, were lying dead. Though, in return, she also had to pay a heavy price. Of her more than five thousand units of Spirit Power, only a little over a thousand units were left. And Aren was already incapacitated. Carrying him was going to slow her down. Should she just—

  No, he was still their teammate. Not to mention the Oath Alnea had taken. She could not abandon him out in the open. That fool. Always making things more complicated for her. Grumbling to herself, Yuri took out a vial from her storage pouch, and sprinkled its contents over Aren’s wounds, before putting away the vial, and taking out a rope. Not one made from her Aspects, but a real rope, which she then tied around Aren’s waist, before dragging him through the forest.

  The soft ground should not hurt him much. Probably. And even if it did, it would only be good for him, as it would be wearing away the breath of Decay still lingering on his wounds. Besides, she did not have time to worry about him. There was a strange voice in the back of her head, asking her to hurry up. To go to her fool’s side as soon as possible, lest she regret. And as someone with Special Roots of the lineage of Fate, she did not think it was just a coincidence.

  Fatebreaker. That was the name Yuri thought would suit her Roots the best, symbolising her conviction to change Fate. To break the Fate that she could not agree with. It was only natural then, for her Roots to warn her every time the Fate of someone close to her would turn against her wishes. Just like how it had warned her when that fool had decided to sacrifice himself. And though the warning it was giving at the moment was a little difference, she could not help—

  “Yuri!”

  Yuri paused in her steps, shifting into a defensive stance, while trying to find signs of people around her. Except for Aren, of course. The voice did not come from him. But it did not come from some far away place either. Otherwise, it would have echoed through the forest, instead of coming to her as a surprised whisper. And it came from the direction she was running in. Whoever who had caller out her name, he was definitely within the range of her Spirit. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she could not find signs anyone else beside her and Aren. It was as if—

  “…Zain?”

  Yuri felt the tension in her Heart melt a little when she noticed Zain’s figure stepping out of a shimmering curtain of yellowish white light. But how did he manage to evade her senses? That shimmering curtain of light? When did he get such an Arcana? No, it was not his Arcana. The way that the curtain of light shimmered, coupled with the ability to deceive her senses…

  “…Shelter of Light?”

  “Ilea’s mercy!” Zain said, not bothering to hide the desperation in his voice, as he hurried towards Yuri. Or at least tried to. Although he was not as wounded as Aren, he seemed to be even more exhausted, and was barely dragging himself forward with the support of the trees in the way. Yet, no matter how his legs trembled, he did not dare to stop. Neither did he let his feet fall too heavily on the ground. Almost as if he was afraid of the enemies following behind to catch his trail.

  There was just one problem with that narrative. There were no enemies around them. Not even as far as hundreds of metres away. Just as there were no signs of Alnea. Except for the shimmering curtain of light that faded away just as Yuri dragged Aren all the way to Zain, covering a distance of over a hundred metres before the latter could even move a couple of steps.

  “I finally found you,” Zain said, as he noticed Yuri arriving in front of him, almost falling over from the sudden release of relief flooding his veins. Thankfully for him, Yuri stretched out her hand in time, and stopped him from falling down.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “That was the Shelter of Light?”

  “…Captain… He… Those bastards could not hurt him, so they began targeting me… I… I was dragging him down… If he did not have to take care of me…”

  “Where is Alnea?” Yuri said, ignoring Zain’s sob story. She could tell that something was wrong with his Heart, but she did not have the time to care about his emotions. The nagging voice at the back of her head was getting stronger. She had to hurry up. “Is he still fighting?”

  “…Yes. And…”

  “And?”

  “…I…”

  “…Forget it. Help me take care of Aren,” Yuri said, handing the end of the rope in her hand to Zain, before rushing into the forest once again, right in the direction where she had last sensed that fool’s position through the Path of Stars. In shorter distances, its accuracy was much stronger than the vague direction given by Fae. Though that did not mean that her ring was useless. As a Divine Treasure, it would be a priceless treasure even to Supreme Wanderers. She just did not know how to use it yet.

  Still, there were some abilities of the ring that she could control without any restrictions. Like the Turn of Fate. Or the Mirror World. In addition, there was also its most basic ability, the Thread of Fate, connecting its two ends together, always reminding them of where their other half was. Be it in different Domains, or even different worlds altogether. It did not matter what the distance between them was. Not even the boundaries of the Origin Sea could keep them apart.

  That was what the rings had told them. And they had confirmed it in person. Their bond was infallible. The Thread tying their Fate could not be broken. Why then, could she feel that thread shaking? Why could she feel its fragility? Why could she hear it crackling? What exactly was going on? What was ha—

  There, in the distance, in a part of the forest completely decimated by a battle of the kind that the forest had never seen, with no intact trees for about hundreds of metres, and blood and grime splattered all over the ground, about fifty Wanderers stood in a circle, surrounding a black robed boy lying helpless on the ground, with a maniacal grin on their faces. Especially the man in the centre, squatting next to the boy, with a hand on his chest, mumbling some incomprehensible words, while smiling hysterically.

  Meanwhile, the boy himself had a twisted expression on his face, as if he was experiencing some unbearable pain. And that was despite him already being used to the pain of Forging his Spirit with Mysteries. So great was his suffering, that he could not even speak properly. And from the change in his expressions, his suffering seemed to be only increasing with each passing moment.

  Yet, the man squatting next to the boy was still not satisfied. So, he pushed something out of his hands, and into the boy’s chest, igniting a fire within him. Literally. A small fire, that could barely be called as a spark, but a fire, nonetheless. Everyone could see it. Even those thousands of metres of away. It did not matter whether or not they were observing him. Even if they had their eyes closed, and their Spirits restricted, they still saw the spark clear as a day. Almost as if someone or something was forcing them to see the spark.

  Or maybe it was just an instinctive reaction from all those in the forest. The fire did have something special about it. It did not have any origin. And it burned without any fuel, except for the boy himself. And it grew at a rate that no one could have ever expected, turning from a spark into a flame, taking only a fraction of a moment to spread to his entire chest.

  Still, that could have been explained as just a special nature of the flame, or the effect of some Mystery hastening its progress. What happened next though, went beyond all common sense. Then again, common sense never worked in the Origin Sea. Especially when the phenomenon in question was beyond the Rank of those observing it. Just like fire on the boy’s chest, which soon spread to his arms and legs, and then his face.

  In just a moment, the boy’s entire body was covered in flames. Yet the flames were still not done with him. After all, they had only covered the boy’s body. That was nowhere enough to express their greatness. So, they went a step ahead, and began transforming the boy, turning the parts they were burning into wisps of flames. From his arms and legs to his face, and then to his chest. They turned the boy himself into flames. Then, and only then, did they reign in their powers, withdrawing into the mass of flames that they had created, returning everyone’s vision back to its normal self. Everyone, except the boy.

  Or maybe, they returned his vision too. It was a little difficult to know, given that the boy had been transformed into flames. Besides, did he even need a vision anymore? Was he even alive? No one could tell. Not even Yuri. Because the moment that the boy turned into flames, the other end of her Thread of Fate simply vanished from her senses. Almost as if it never existed in the first place. But that was impossible. Unless…

  “Alnea!”