Isel and Siphos entered the inn for the last time. By the time they had returned to the room Charine had already finished organizing her and Isel’s belongings. She was sitting on the bedframe inspecting the quality of a handcrafted bag made from cloth. Looking up as the door opened, she stood while attached the new bag to her side and stored her weapons under her clothes. Siphos looked around the room hesitantly before she spoke up as if nothing had happened in the past day.

  “Let’s go.”

  After thanking the desk attendant, the small group left the inn and started to walk towards the other end of Eutil. They passed through the less developed area of the settlement that Isel had been to just a few hours earlier, eventually reaching the opposite entrance. There was a man standing near the entrance scribbling on a clipboard, but he didn’t stop them while they exited; only giving each of them a simple nod.

  Soon they were once again surrounded by natural forest, although they had a dirt trail to follow for the entire journey this time. Isel felt cramped now in the dense forest, he had gotten too used to the open canopy of Eutil. Now the sky was barely visible, only very scarcely could he see any blue if he looked up. Then, he was thinking of his next destination.

  “Is Loite similar to Eutil?”

  Charine scratched the back of her head.

  “Not really. It’s very close to Manichae, so it’s far more developed. Eutil is more of a temporary base for people in the exploration department, like me. It’s a headache though, I prefer staying in Manichae.”

  “What’s it like, Manichae?”

  Charine deliberated for a short moment.

  “It’s grander than you can imagine. Even though it’s the smallest land, every single inch of it is developed and inhabited. It would take about three days of constant walking to reach one end from another.”

  The measurement had surprised Isel. It had only taken ten hours of walking at a slow pace to reach the entrance of Aeshval, and hardly three hours to reach Eutil. He soon understood that he had no idea what the actual sizes of every land was.

  “How many people even live there?”

  “I believe it’s around twenty million.”

  It was no wonder she considered Eutil small. Relative to manichae it was miniscule, extremely so. In fact, knowing the population now made him feel smaller as well, more insignificant. Something else bothered him about the land as well.

  “Is something like that even sustainable? How can they all fit?”

  “I remember thinking the same thing. After seeing all of the lands from Lesvin to Aeshval, I couldn’t understand it.”

  Siphos spoke up for the first time since leaving Eutil during her pause.

  “It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen! Really. Buildings, waterways, roads for hundreds of kilometers all on these different levels, and most people live like that their whole lives! It's wild.”

  Isel looked at Charine. She nodded in agreement with Siphos.

  “Yes, it’s far more advanced than any other land. It’s quite disorienting.”

  “Then why aren't the others like that?”

  “They aren’t suitable for it. Aeshval doesn’t have the necessary materials—it's all just wood, clay, and basic minerals underneath the surface. We also can’t bring any advanced technology because it’s larger than anyone could carry on their person. On top of that, every land is too dangerous. For the general populus, Manichae is the only land that can guarantee safety for them.”

  The path the group walked on thinned as they continued further away from Eutil. Soon it was too small for the group to all walk at each other's side, so Siphos fell back behind Isel and Charine. A thought dawned on Isel. He hadn’t fully considered what Charine had told him just seconds ago. It would take a person three days—seventy-two hours—to walk across Manichae. Manichae was the largest of the lands, and Aeshval was larger than Manichae. He looked at the passing greenery as he frowned.

  “How long will it take to reach Loite?”

  Charine replied as if she knew he was going to ask.

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  “About a week, including breaks.”

  Of course, he would be stuck running around the forest for half a month. So far a majority of his life had been walking, he would have to recover all of that lost time eventually. He wondered how she had managed to travel from Lesvin to Manichae back to Comeidlan in the span of two months.

  He muttered under a breath.

  “Unbeleiveable…”

  Then, Charine stopped in her tracks spontaneously, hunching down and catching her companions by surprise. Isel had to stop himself from bumping into her while he started to speak, but was interrupted by her pushing the back of her hand up against his torso. In that hand was the weapon she took from him when they were first entering Eutil. He took it from her with slight hesitation as he remained silent while Charine unwrapped her second firearm and held it steady, pointing it towards the ground. Siphos turned as he scanned the dense forest for any signs of what gave her such surprise.

  Many quiet seconds passed, interrupted by the occasional chirp of a bird or distant wail of prey. Charine remained still while her finger stood on the trigger of the warped metal. If she was breathing, it was not audible. She remained focused while continuously parsing through the thick flora before grimacing and stepping back slowly.

  Isel had never seen her make a mistake. Ever since meeting Charine, she exhibited a mechanical and practiced excellency when it came to survival. Knowing how to shoot, understanding how to travel and eat. She was truly exceptional; however, everyone was human. Mistakes were not something that could be avoided by everyone, and nobody can ever be perfect.

  This is what he realized as Charine let her guard down, ever so slightly. As she stepped back a blurred figure sprang out of a dense thicket to her right. She swung her weapon to her side and pulled the trigger, causing a deafening bang to ring out, but she had already erred when she took that single step back. It caused her to lose her balance, lose her precision, and as a consequence the bullet only grazed the assailant.

  With a quick sweep she was brought to the ground and given a swift kick to the arm as her weapon was dislodged from her grip. In another brief motion she was delivered a blow to her neck, and to the right of Isel was no longer Charine, but a man at about his height with black hair tied into a bun. He ignored the other details of the man as he raised his weapon to shoot, but the attacker was already upon him. He was disarmed quickly as his wrist rang out in pain. Attempting to kick the man, his foot became lodged in a grapple as he was brought to the ground. With the man now holding Isel’s leg above him a deep instinct urged him to writhe and struggle to escape the grasp; before he had the chance Siphos rushed and delivered a fierce backhand blow to the assailant, knocking him off Isel and into the dirt.

  “Get up!”

  The shout of the armored man brought Isel back to his senses. His heart beating hard, he clambered onto his knees while searching for his weapon. It lay on the ground next to the unconscious Charine. He scrambled towards it while Siphos restrained the attacker. By the time he had stood back on his legs and pointed the weapons towards their assailant, he was already taken care of by Siphos. The tall man had pinned him to the ground with his armored leg, threatening to suffocate him. Isel took a deep breath before Siphos rushed towards Charine to pick her up and hold her to his chest. He shouted to Isel while grabbing her gun, his voice still full of distress.

  “Run! Now!”

  Isel looked back to the unconscious attacker momentarily before he started to run. Siphos quickly cut into the forest with no regard for the branches and roots that may trip him, Isel following suit as quickly as he could. His mind rushed as he sprinted with intent. Who attacked them, was this an Aeshval settlement, was Charine okay?

  Isel tripped on a branch and tumbled to the ground, his arm scraping against the bark of a tree and staining the wood with blood. He got up to his feet as fast as he could as he started his run again. There was no time to think about the ‘why’ or the ‘what.’ He was in danger. Siphos had hauled further ahead of him, and Isel tried to keep the armored man in sight. The branches continued to scrap and brush against him while he did his best to not fall again. His lungs started to burn as he sprinted with all his might. His garments failed to aid him in escaping, the flowing cloth occasionally getting caught on branches.

  Bringing the gun to his mouth and biting hard on the grip, he undid the straps that held the white utility cloth on his torso, letting them freely fall and only leaving the tight black straps secured around him. He couldn’t risk anything, giving up utility for his potential escape. He ran and ran for minutes upon minutes, following Siphos as closely as he could. The pace of the two men slowed multiple times during their sprint as they ran out of breath. Siphos struggled while he carried Charine, yet he kept running.

  The landscape became less level as they continued to run, and soon Isel caught Siphos taking an immediate pivot to the right. The man flew into the dense flora until he came across the formation of a cave. He dove quickly into the small shelter under one of many hills in the now uneven terrain. Isel followed as his running slowed more and more to an exhausted limp. He had to crouch before walking into the small cave as he fell onto his rear, scooting back onto the rough surface. The shelter was no taller than Charine, who Siphos had laid out on the ground. The two men huffed heavily from the intense activity. The adrenaline began to wear off as they ached.

  Although shelter lacked light, Isel could still make out the appearance of Siphos. He didn’t look so bad due to the protection of his armour. Isel, however, did not have armour, and appeared far worse than Siphos. The entire surface of his right arm was covered in smeared blood and dark soil from his fall earlier, though it didn’t sting as badly as it would have if the injury was dangerously deep.

  He crawled over to the unconscious Charine and picked out a larger cut of white cloth from her garments. Sitting with his legs crossed he did his best to wrap his arm up before securing it with a thinner cloth taken from her again, wincing as he pulled a tight knot. Siphos coughed as he took deep breaths, and Isel took the opportunity to confirm that Charine was still breathing. Her neck was bruised from where the attacker had kicked, though she seemed to be in the best condition out of the three of them.

  The sky had begun to darken once more, losing its brilliance as time passed. Isel remained seated in front of Charine, monitoring her shallow breathing. Siphos had taken off his chestplate to breathe and laid back on the rough floor, staring silently at the roof while he stayed alert.

  “Who do you think it was?”

  Siphos slowly turned to the man who asked the question.

  “Obviously a settler, but I don’t know where they’re from.”

  “Aren’t you a settler here as well?”

  Siphos sighed.

  “Yes, but where I used to live was only a few minutes from Loite. We were attacked hardly even an hour away from Eutil. Plus, they were dressed nothing like how my birthplace would.”

  Isel nodded while he suddenly caught a tinge of an indescript fragrance. It bothered him, the scent was so familiar yet it was covered by the thick accents of metal and dirt that danced around the cave. Isel looked out of the cave, and the sky had almost fully turned to its signature midnight blue. Siphos caught the odd smell as well, turning to face the exit of the cave. Beyond many thick layers of lush and sprawling life and greenery, there was a small opening that allowed one to view further into the forest. From that opening, an unexpected blue was visible, and when the blue flickered as light bounced off of it the men realized what the fragrance was. Siphos complained.

  “Damn it, did we really go so far?”

  Isel sighed before taking a deep breath before leaving the cave. Siphos remained seated while taking occasional glances at Charine. Pushing through the plants that littered the beautiful forest, Isel found his way to the opening to get the full view of where it led. As he stepped deeper the ground began to have more give until he finally stepped on to wet soil. The smell of salt assaulted his senses as he stared out to the endless mass of water, finally recognizable after exiting the cave. The two men had run all the way to the border of Aeshval, where the sea stretched indefinitely into the horizon.