Aira's bold declaration to bypass Wentouk's politics had seemed simple within the safety of their discussions. Now, as unfamiliar terrain stretched before them like an uncharted map, that confidence wavered against the reality of their task. Ainorrh's directions—whispered warnings about twisted valleys and ancient markers—suddenly felt insufficient against the alien wilderness. Even Lila's keen ranger expertise faltered here; these shadowed paths lay beyond the borders of any Mountain View expedition. No human footprints had pressed in the vicinity of Wentouk in living memory—at least none who'd returned to tell of it.

  Among the people who traveled a lot, the most prominent was her grandfather. His stories of deep exploration and long reconnaissance missions were one of the reasons Lila wanted to become a ranger since she could remember herself. But even these stories rarely ventured further than the approaches to the nearest enlightened city they now knew as Wentouk.

  Alliot's abrupt departure had left a vacuum in their plans—his knowledge of enlightened territories suddenly unavailable. While Lila had suggested pursuing him, Aira's determination to forge their own path had prevailed. "If he chose Ainorrh's cryptic orders over honesty with us," she'd argued, "then we're better served trusting our own instincts." Lila had reluctantly agreed, though the absence of their guide weighed on both their minds as unfamiliar lands stretched before them.

  Still, they took a brisk pace and started moving toward their next destination. The land shifted around them. Mountains turned to hills, and hills transferred into valleys. They had to cross rivers, and they enjoyed sunsets and sunrises. For Lila, it was not only an experience of exploration during unfamiliar times of day, but also a significant mental shift, as she had to rebuild her daily routines to a schedule where sleep wasn't a necessity.

  The two women decided not to push it and made many more stops compared to the run Aira had with Alliot during their search for Lila. Still, by charging from the ambient energy and utilizing nights for at least traversing the simpler terrains, they were able to move at a pace that surpassed the capabilities of an average human.

  Aira and Lila quickly returned to their habitual training routine. For Aira, not much had changed. Even before, she could easily switch off her magical abilities by removing the gadgets that focused her powers. On the other hand, Lila was in the early steps of her journey as an enlightened. Her stats weren't influenced that much by the level modifiers, which allowed her to have some gains even from her standard training.

  The numbers and metrics on Lila's status screen offered clinical comfort but little explanation for the profound alienation of inhabiting her transformed body. Each movement felt like navigating a familiar room suddenly plunged into darkness—everything where it should be, yet fundamentally wrong.

  "By the fox's tail, I feel like I'm moving through mud," she growled, her fist slamming against a tree trunk that should have splintered under her newfound strength but instead barely registered the impact. "My body's stronger but slower, like trading wings for roots. Where's logic in that?"

  Frustration carved lines across her face as dawn painted the sky. Yet each morning found her pushing harder—sprinting through dewy meadows, muscles burning with exertion, sweat beading on skin. In the evenings, she'd find a quiet clearing, cross-legged among whispering leaves, forcing her racing thoughts into meditative stillness while the world's energies swirled around her in patterns she was only beginning to comprehend.

  "The numbers don't tell the whole tale," Aira would say, watching her struggle. "Your body knows what your mind is still learning."

  As they trudged along the unfamiliar paths, Aira didn't even have to concentrate anymore to send waves of energy toward Lila while boosting her own stats as well. Without that constant support, both of them would probably need twice as much time to reach their destination. But constant magical support propelled them forward.

  When Aira felt they were approaching Wentouk, she followed a wide arc to go around the ancient city and not even step through its farthest outskirts. They didn't aim to completely hide themselves from the local enlightened. But Aira made it clear earlier that she didn't want to run into one of their patrols. If they wanted something from her, they should come to her. Not the other way around.

  Their wide berth around Wentouk's territory extracted a brutal price in both time and effort. The ancient pathways that might have eased their journey lay tantalizingly beyond reach, forcing them into wilderness no enlightened or human had tamed in centuries. Here, the forest didn't merely grow—it hunted. Trees older than civilization itself crowded together in malevolent congress, their bark scarred with patterns resembling twisted faces. Branches reached down like grasping claws, snagging hair and clothing with deliberate malice.

  "Got more cracks than a cliffside, this path," Lila muttered as her foot plunged into another hidden sinkhole, rotted leaves concealing treacherous ground.

  Roots erupted from the soil in deliberate tangles, forcing them to climb rather than walk. By night, the forest transformed completely—shadows deepening into pools of absolute darkness where unseen things skittered and rustled. What took hours in daylight demanded days in this treacherous maze, each mile earned through sweat and stubborn determination.

  "This isn't just a detour," Aira said, her voice tight with frustration. "It's a bloody obstacle course. I swear if I trip over one more root..."

  "Then what?" Lila called back, her voice light despite the sarcasm that laced it. She was ahead, her green hair catching the dappled light filtering through the canopy above. "You'll turn the whole forest into ash? Or maybe just your boots? I know that you can wield powerful energies. And I've seen you experimenting with focusing them,"

  Aira shot her a look, though it was softened by the small smile tugging at her lips. "Funny. You think you're so witty now that you have a better understanding of magic."

  Lila glanced back, her sharp eyes gleaming with amusement. "Adapting," she said. "That's what I'm doing. And that's sort of what you taught me with your own example, isn't it?"

  For Aira, it became second nature to constantly scan the area around her for energy sources. During the whole time they were passing around Wentouk, the Heart of the Forest was shining brightly in her arcane senses. From time to time, Aira saw the enlightened patrols moving through the ancient city. And, of course, the settlement itself was filled with people.

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  Something else lingered at the edges of Aira's awareness. Each morning, a peculiar pressure would build at the base of her skull—subtle yet persistent, like fingers gently probing her consciousness. It always came from the direction of Wentouk, strongest at dawn when the Heart of the Forest pulsed with renewed vigor. Someone was reaching through the Source, stretching their awareness like tendrils across the distance.

  "Cold as the cliffs today," Lila remarked, noticing Aira's distant expression as she massaged her temples. "You've got that look again. Like you're hearing things I can't."

  Aira's eyes refocused. "Just shadows in the energy flow," she replied, not wanting to worry Lila. "Nothing solid." Yet the sensation persisted—someone in Wentouk, watching, measuring, tracking their progress with patient determination.

  Tapping these sources was out of the question. They were too far away. But it wasn't really needed. The ambient energy of the forest was more than enough both to constantly fill Aira's and Lila's reserves and allow for additional power that was necessary for the constant boosting.

  ***

  On the final day of their detour, Lila stood at the edge of the forest, her feet bare and her toes curling against the cool, damp soil. The world around her felt alive in a way she had never experienced before—every blade of grass, every rustling leaf, every distant call of a bird seemed to hum with a subtle, magical energy.

  Aira explained how she used her Energy Manipulation skill, and Lila's feelings differed. She didn't see the energy flow through humans or trees. But still, she could sense it all, a constant, thrumming presence that she was still learning to navigate. Her new form granted her abilities she was still discovering, and the sheer scope of what she could do was both exhilarating and overwhelming.

  "Come on, Lila," Aira called out. "You've been staring at that tree for ten minutes. Planning on talking it into falling over, or are you actually going to do something?"

  Lila glanced over at Aira, who leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree. The faint glow in Aira's eyes flickered with a mix of green and blue light, a reminder of her own magical nature.

  "What would I give to see through your eyes," whispered Lila. "Nah… I had already given away too much. What I have is plenty."

  She touched the tree trunk, feeling it sharing its power with her, filling Lila's energy reserves in a perpetual cycle.

  "I still can't wrap my head around the idea that we don't need any rest, sleep, or food," she said to Aira. "That's just mental. We can do so much more now! Study, explore!"

  "Well, that's what we are going to do as soon as you are ready to leave this tree alone," Aira teased her. "Are we ready to go? We still have to walk at least as much as we did heading from Mountain View to Wentouk. The distance is around 150 kilometers. And I should start sensing that other city pretty soon. If it works the same way as it was with Wentouk."

  "Stone-dumb useless, that's what I am," Lila muttered, kicking at a fallen branch that splintered under her newfound strength. "What good are these fancy enlightened powers if I'm about as bright as moss compared to you? Just deadweight on your branches."

  "Power without control is just chaos, Lila. Your skills are seedlings, not fully grown trees," Aira said, smiling, when realization dawned on her that she caught up at least some of Lila's strange phrases.

  "Lost in the lichen, that's me," Lila sighed. "Walkin' like a loaded deer through my own abilities."

  "The gap between our levels exists," Aira acknowledged, "but that's the nature of power-leveling… Of any progression through the levels, truly. The skill points come before the understanding. It's like giving someone a weapon without teaching them how to wield it." Her voice softened. "You need time to learn how this all works—how to function as part of our team, or eventually, on your own."

  Whenever she casually referred to the Elders or echoed her fellow rangers' familiar jargon, Lila's stomach churned with unease. Even as the words left her mouth, Lila winced internally. These ranger catchphrases—fragments of her old life—kept spilling out unbidden. Each time she invoked the Elders' wisdom or fell into Mountain View's familiar jargon, bile rose in her throat. The phrases tasted like ash, reminders of the people who had tortured and betrayed her. Yet these expressions were woven so deeply into her identity that stripping them away felt like losing another piece of herself. It was one more battle in the war between who she had been and who she was becoming—another tightrope walk between her past and her uncertain future.

  "So, what are you suggesting?" asked Lila, pushing past the discomfort.

  "We have to create opportunities for you," said Aira. "Now, you can train at least some things passively. That would also give you some XP to later turn into skill upgrades. But as soon as we are in Ziemrot, we'll see about putting your Peacemaker skill to good use. We should definitely find a way to train with it."

  This imbalance between her skills, powers, knowledge, and understanding of her current state was a staple of the new Lila's reality. The physical changes were obvious, but the mental and emotional adjustments were just as profound. She felt a strange blend of strength and fragility as if she were walking a tightrope between her old self and this new existence.

  "Elder's br… Dammit! I hate those people!" Lila exclaimed. "I hate that I have to use these damned words all the time! But what I meant to say was that I never imagined I'd be able to walk for days without rest. It's like my body is running on some endless reserve of energy, but… it's unsettling too, you know? I don't feel tired, but I don't feel rested either. It's like I'm caught in this weird in-between. I think sleep has some importance in processing all that happened to you during the day, don't you think?"

  Aira nodded, understanding Lila's conflict. "You're not alone in that feeling, Lila," she said. Remember that I also walked that path not so long ago. And I'm still exploring and trying to understand the limits and aspects of this transformation. You are relying on the ambient energy now, not needing any other sustenance. But I'm also boosting you to compensate for your low agility."

  Aira took a moment to contemplate. "This also a strange feeling," she said. "It became a second nature for me to constantly boost all of us. Including Alliot, before he had left so abruptly. I have an advantage, compared to you, as I have a specially tailored skill that allows to draw even more energy from our surroundings. But it's quite strange how much I got used on relying on it."

  The dense forest stretched before them, each step carrying them closer to their destination. The familiar sounds of rustling leaves and distant animal calls were a comforting backdrop to their silent march. Lila found herself appreciating the stillness, the way the world seemed to hold its breath as they moved through it. That was one of the consolations for her, the fact that a wider world opened for her to explore. But was the price she paid fair? She didn't choose this destiny and would probably exchange anything for not experiencing what she had experienced in the previous days.

  As soon as they stepped away from the ancient ruins that cradled Wentouk at their center, the circumvent trail straightened into a more direct course. However, this newfound path did not simplify their journey. Dense, untamed forests loomed around them, their canopies casting shadows that danced with every breeze. At the same time, rivers meandered across their path, cold and swift, with no bridges to offer an easy crossing. All these structures rotted and crumbled centuries ago, soon after the old civilization collapsed.

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  The Dark Lady's Guide to Villainy :)