Taking a bite off the meat he'd prepared for himself, Hadrian reached out to Baruch.

It's gotten better.

He thought as he chewed. In the real world, besides following the direction the party of mages had come from, this had been his beacon if he was heading in the right direction.

Of course, right then, he'd only done it as a test.

Carrying rocks to and from that space, he'd formed his rock tent on top of a high branch of a tall tree.

Jasmine is still there. He thought.

In that first small council meeting, Jasmine had made it seem as if he were leaving immediately, but he now looked to be taking his sweet time.

He had to get Haldon for his revenge, the sorcerer lady for the mystical box's engravings, and the mages of the three paths that provided a path to expand his abilities without affecting him like other paths and vessels did.

There was also Bagdona and the knowledge of his specialness, why they wanted him, and the three paths, but with Jasmine there, even his previous goals were bordering on impossible.

With the mystical box and the fog layer wrapping, however, he had slight confidence.

Not only could he drop the box at random in a dire situation, but his control over it had been improving in that space.

He was still stuck on only stimulating its disorientation field and opening and closing it to seal objects inside, but it was still progress.

Of course, the plenty of fog up in that space, and him being able to nullify its effects by coexisting in the first and second layer, made things easier for him.

If he could get the sorcerer lady first, who wasn't always with Jasmine and deal with the box, it would open a lot of paths to solve his issues.

It had been three days since running into the party of mages.

If it wasn't for entering and leaving that space to carry the fog then resting from the essence backlash, he would have moved faster.

He'd first gotten the layer when it was daytime, and it had affected his scheduling, and now he was awake in the middle of the night.

Throwing the bone, the ground opened up and swallowed it.

Scraping his hand across the wall of the tent, rock moved like mud and he molded it to a sharp edge knife.

Augmenting it, he grabbed his locks of hair and shortened them.

Looking down at them, he flicked his wrist and carried them away.

I'm about to enter that space anyway.

He didn't feel like leaving them out here.

Leaning back, he closed his eyes, tugging at his centre.

The dull white space appeared in front of him.

Dismissing the mystical information, Hadrian's consciousness descended to the second layer, and as usual a body formed for him from the mist.

The hall rose too.

He wanted to check in on Baruch in case of anything.

He'd usually do this during the day and not at this hour, but he didn't have anything immediate to do in the real world.

The shimmering portal formed on the round table, and as it did, wrinkles appeared on Hadrian's brow.

Baruch's view was of the sprawling city under the shimmering night sky, standing on a hard, rectangular, concrete balcony.

He was shirtless, only wearing black trousers, but didn't seem to mind the cold.

His hair danced to the wind, his gaze fixed to the distance as he thought profoundly.

There was shuffling behind him, but he did not turn. Even when small pale hands wrapped around him from the back, his gaze remained fixed.

Hadrian's left brow rose.

With slight embarrassment, he was about to retreat, until he heard the feminine voice.

"Did you mold these for yourself?" She asked.

Lys! The sorcerer lady.

Despite knowing Baruch's nature, Hadrian was slightly surprised.

Her hands moved from his abs to chest, as she moved around to stand next to him, resting her head on his arm.

"You've been bothered since the ritual." She spoke with the tenderness of the night breeze.

For the first time, Hadrian truly felt like an intruder, but he still chose to observe for a short while.

Baruch frowned and his eyes went from the city to his hands that were resting on the railing.

He pondered for a moment before saying,

"My life had been passing me by, then I thought I found something, but managed to ruin that too." speaking with a hint of melancholy.

"Now here I am, training and sparring, but everyone feels so secretive about the future…. " he took in a breath and exhaled.

Lys' right cheek shifted on his left arm bicep as she turned to glance at him, remaining silent.

A gust of cool night breeze blew.

"Come," giving Baruch a kiss on the arm, she said as she pulled his hand gently.

With his surprise distilled, Hadrian's index finger tapped his armrest as he watched the portal on the round table fade.

Suddenly feeling alone, he descended out of the space.

Back in the real world, Hadrian gave the matter a short thought.

He was skeptical of why the witch, who was obviously suspicious of Baruch, would choose to sleep with him, but it provided an opportunity for him when he got Baruch back in his range of control.

Turning to Alia, he sighed as the rock tent dismantled, covering the bark of the tree like a concrete floor.

This high up, the wind was strong.

Far off, Hadrian could see the thin line of the outer city wall.

His eyes went from it to the painterly night sky then down the jungle beneath him.

It had evidently gotten less dense, with gigantic trees spreading further apart.

Following his intuition and sense of familiarity, Hadrian had scouted this particular area for an hour, and only after confirmation did he rest to enter that space.

Spreading out his spatial sense, he smiled.

You've come.

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