White hair tied into a ponytail, a straight face, black eyes like the abyss staring back at him, is this what he always looked like.

No wonder everyone behaved uncomfortable around him, sure it was mostly due to his history but still…

Except Axel wasn't uncomfortable, he was quite curious actually.

A sad smile appeared on Serif's face, a rare hint of exhaustion flashing across.

His hand dipped into the pond, distorting the reflection as he splashed water on his face.

Serif looked heavenward, the dark branches of the dark forest tangled above him, preventing anything from passing through, it formed its own ceiling, like a cage.

And he was trapped here, willingly of course, not much could trap him in this world, maybe a bit more in the Netherveil, but still he could leave anytime.

But still his face betrayed a hint of doubt, as he raised his hand, the chains dangling on his wrist, his power and bondage, how fitting.

Anyways, he stood up, putting back his gloves. It's high time we discussed the way forward, he had been putting it off for way too long.

After all, it's been three days since that incident.

But still, his face scrunched, why did it suddenly attack the tower? I can't claim to know all about it, but it seemed satisfied staying in its dojo, so why all of a sudden did it attack the tower.

The presence of humans, but they had been there for three days, it did nothing, even when they ventured into its region, could it have kept a grudge.

Serif sighed as he trudged through the forest, something was seriously bugging him.

As he came close to the cave, he paused as a twig snapped behind him.

Serif slowly turned around, he had scouted around so he was almost hundred percent it wasn't a monster, but just in case, his chains started swelling.

"It's just me," a voice sounded from behind him, Zhadra passing by his side the next second, the chain retracting.

"Did you discover anything?" He asked, looking back to where she was coming from, the tower's direction.

"Yes, the cyborg left," She answered, heading towards the cave.

Contrary to their expectations, the dragon didn't follow them, it had disappeared after the second day, flying back to its dojo, which made him more suspicious.

As he stepped into the cave, Tavena 's eyes darted to him instantly, widening.

But it narrowed, relaxed as she saw who it was.

She had been that way since she woke up, her mental state fragile, neither he nor Zhadra knew what to do.

Orivin was the one who succeeded in calming her, but she was still paranoid, scared and restless, sitting at the far edge of the cave, curled into herself, mumbling something.

Speaking of Orivin, he sat in front of a crackling fire, the scent of tomato soup filling the cave from the pan on fire.

Somehow Orivin had remembered to pack pots, even with his already massive shield.

"The shield can defend me from external threats, but the pot defends me from the worst threat of all…hunger ," he had said with a grin when Zhadra asked.

Upon noticing Serif a smile appeared on his face, Jake looked eagerly at the pan.

Orivin was also the one who calmed him down.

Apparently he was the only one with any people skill, it was either him or Zhadra.

In any case, Jake had responded quite well, to the extent he now considered Orivin his mentor.

He looked up, eyes locking with Serif, his eyes widened as he quickly looked down, counting his fingers.

"C'mon kid, don't be a wimp, he won't bite," Orivin patted his back.

He grinned and locked eyes with Serif, "He's just really bad at expressing his feelings, beneath that cold exterior is a fun guy, I'm sure of it."

Jake simply nodded in agreement, but he still couldn't look up, although he seemed to be trying, an effect of Orivin no doubt.

I'm glad he's here.

"How is she doing?" He looked at Tavena.

"She's fine," Orivin grinned and put his hand over Jake's shoulder, "she just needs company, good one." He winked, a blush creeping up Jake's cheek.

Zhadra scoffed, "she's weak." She dropped her hammer and sat on it like usual.

"Oh," Orivin's eyes narrowed, "if I remember correctly…" he looked at Serif, grinned then back at Zhadra who was staring daggers at him.

"One more word and you'd regret it." Her voice came, calm, yet chilling.

Orivin chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, "did it get hotter in here."

A faint smile flickered on Serif's face, they needed the humor, to distract them for a while, but now.

He had to ruin it, the false sense of safety was not real, not in the Netherveil, and most certainly not in this dark forest.

He unfurled the map, spreading it on the ground, a grim expression appeared on Jake's face, Zhadra moved closer, Tavena wasn't even bothered, still mumbling to herself, but Orivin, he continued stirring the soup.

Upon noticing Serif's gaze, he asked;

"What? you need energy to plan, I don't know about you kids but I can't comprehend much if I'm hungry."

Honestly, Serif shook his head, he was right though.

Serif took a deep breath, the scent of the soup wafting into his nose, he looked at Zhadra.

"What did you observe?"

"Within the past two days, the cyborg has not made a move, since returning back to the dojo, it seems it just wanted to destroy the tower." She explained.

"B…ut why?" Jake asked.

"Perhaps it was hungry." Orivin muttered.

Zhadra gave him a sharp look, he simply lifted his hands in surrender.

"It's a cyborg, remember," Jake whispered to him.

"Ah right," He rubbed the back of his head, grinning.

"Perhaps something called it?" Zhadra shrugged.

"I doubt that, why would someone call something like that." Orivin said, his eyes narrowing.

"I…I felt…energy surge," Tavena managed to say with a quivering voice, drawing their attention.

"Wha…" Zhadra was stopped by Orivin as Tavena curled up more.

Orivin slowly approached her, he took her hand, she tried to pull away but relaxed as he stroked her head, "Energy surge, you felt an energy surge." he mumbled.

Tavena nodded her head, causing everyone to frown.

"From the tower?" He asked, rubbing her hand.

She nodded again.

Energy surge, why? someone called it, is that why she's so affected, Serif wondered.

She knew someone was trying to trap us, no they succeeded if that's the case, but who and why, His brows slanted further, Veymir's face coming to mind.

"That's not possible right, I m..ean, why would someone want to sabotage the mission." Jake mumbled, seemingly unaware he was louder than intended.

"Veymir." Zhadra muttered.

"But why?" She continued.

"Why else," Orivin said, patting Tavena 's head, as if rewarding her.

"To stop the recovery of Gishiki, but we shouldn't be worrying about that, we don't have the luxury to."

And Serif agreed, "Let's not jump to conclusions."

"I knew something was off about that little rat." Zhadra scoffed, ignoring him.

"I said let's not jump to conclusions," he gave her a stern look.

"Anyways," Serif continued, "tomorrow, we'll leave this forest, head to the tower, see what we can salvage, afterwards we'll go to one of the other transport towers, see if they're functional."

"That'll be a waste of time," Zhadra interjected, "we all know that was the last functional tower."

"Well, we do have a lot of time to spare and enough resources to last a while, so why not." Orivin shrugged.

Then he turned to Serif, his expression hardened, "can we wait for at least two days?" he asked with a serious tone.

"I know this forest isn't the most safe place, but," he turned to Tavena, "we can't leave with her in that condition, I doubt she'll even move."

"A..and," Jake hesitated, then his face hardened, "we would need h…er ene..rgy sense." His voice faltered.

Serif frowned, he wanted to leave this forest as soon as possible, but they were right.

He turned to Zhadra, she shrugged.

"I agree, plus we have time right."

"Alright then, we rest up, then we try to find a way to leave this place."

"Or we could just live here." Zhadra added.

"No, we'll find a way," Orivin protested, his tone serious.

"What about the Gishiki." Jake asked after much deliberation.

"That'll be secondary mission," Serif answered.

"Well then," Orivin grinned as he took out plates from his bag pack.

"Time to eat."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.