The carriage landed on a port of a small village. From here, they have to brave the wilderness leading to the front lines, traveling on wyverns for no less than ten days.
In this area, traveling on a flying carriage is extremely perilous. Bandits lurk in the dead forests, each capable of killing several, trained mages. Monsters hide in the mist, waiting for their unwilling prey to lead themselves to their anticipating maws. By traversing the skies, they will be making themselves into an easy target, so it is unwise to continue beyond this point.
Since Sanjiv's group is here to deliver supplies and human resources to the front lines, they pretty much don't have a choice to avoid danger. They could die along the way, but who's to say that they would stay alive as they fought in the battlefield?
There's no escaping their fate either way, so they might as well increase their chances of survival.
"I've already told you this many times. Anton, the battlefield is no place for a delicate woman like you. You've been sheltered your whole life. Trust me, you wouldn't survive a day in there. There is no comfort in that place."
His voice was full of warning, concern and sincerity.
Despite his honest intentions, Selene didn't like how it sounded.
"I'm giving you a chance to go back to Zanbury now. There's nothing more important than your life. Even if you don't reach your full potential, we have enough wealth to support you and whatever you want to do."
He avoided her eyes and sighed.
"You don't have to worry about marriage. Countless bachelors are willing to marry you despite your lack of talent. You don't have to achieve great things and risk your life in exchange when you can live in peace, away from the cruelty of this world. Anton, it's enough that you can use magic now. You don't have to prove yourself anymore. You are beautiful, that is enough."
The image of Sanjiv in Selene's mind fractured and broke into tiny pieces. There is nothing more insulting to a woman than telling her to stay in her rightful place, to be underestimated and seen as a lesser creature.
As if... as if she is incapable of achieving great things. As if a woman could only be beautiful and that is her one and only role.
Her eyes grew cold, looking intensely at Sanjiv. His intentions are genuine and he only wanted the best for her. That is nice.
"I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine."
It took a lot of effort to flash a smile at him. She turned away immediately to hide her discontent. Her hand trembled when she was about to accept the footman's assistance. She stopped mid-air and ignored him.
As Selene stepped out, the smell of ash hit her in the nose. The skies were eternally grey as if sunlight had never been here. There were no live plants and trees in sight, leaving only leafless branches and thorny bushes lining the sides of the road.
'Sanjiv takes pride on making the lives of people better and more comfortable. Perhaps, he takes so much pride in it. I could understand that.'
Footsteps resounded behind her.
"Hey, I didn't mean to say that. I just... want you to be safe, Anton. I'm sorry..."
"I'm the safest if I'm the strongest, right?"
She turned around and cast him a glance. This time, her smile wasn't forced. Sanjiv responded back with a pleasant grin.
It was then. A knight approached the two of them and said, "My Lords, the supplies have been loaded to the carriages. We are about to depart."
Selene caught the knight's mistake in the way he addressed them. She shrugged it off and followed them to the carriages.
---
A line of wooden carriages left the walls of the small village, disappearing into the mist.
A group of old men sitting on a round table looked through the window and shook their heads.
Inside the carriage, Selene was on the verge of vomiting. The uneven road made the carriage shake too much.
'This ride will kill me first before the monsters and bandits do.'
Sanjiv knocked on the wooden wall with a scowl on his face. "Make the carriage fly a few inches from the ground!"
In an instant, the shaking completely stopped. Selene breathed heavily as she leaned against the wall.
"Thanks."
After that, the ride became uneventful and eerily quiet. The clip clop of the wyvern's footsteps guiding the carriages' advance has become muted as a result of Sanjiv's order.
A sense of wrongness nagged at the back of Selene's mind. Her mana surged inside her veins as if they were anxious.
Trying to shove the weird feeling into the back of her mind, she sighed and massaged her forehead. However, in the next second, a loud thud shook the carriage and it completely stopped.
Sanjiv pounded on the wall again, barking orders to the coachman.
Selene didn't miss the coachman's quivering voice.
"My lord... something fell in front of the ca-carriage."
Sanjiv disappeared out of thin air, leaving tiny, green leaves behind. Selene's heart jumped from his unexpected action. And just a few moments after he went outside, a ghastly wail echoed across the dead forest.
A shiver ran down her spine.
As if on cue, vines started slithering out of Selene's fingertips and rose into the air, its edges ending in sharp spears as if prepared to attack. If not for the occassional leaves on its stems, the vines would have looked like cobras about to strike.
'I must remain calm.'
Hours ticked by and there was only silence.
'What?'
Selene knew that going out was a bad idea.
Sighing, she waited some more.
Sometime later, the carriage's door bursted open, revealing a bloodied Sanjiv.
She stared at him, unable to say anything.
"It's not my blood."
Blinking, Selene nodded and leaned against the wall.
"Are these your vines?"
"Yes."
"It's impressive. Were you... training by yourself?"
"It's nothing special. Just a few spells here and there."
She felt something warm touching her vines. Casting a quick glance to Sanjiv, she saw that he was looking at one of them with bright, curious eyes.
In the next moment, Selene dismissed the vines and they disintegrated into sparks, disappearing into the air.
"Anton, are you sure you need me to train you?"
"What kind of question is that?"
Sanjiv shook his head as a response and looked away.
---
Selene didn't know what time it was when she felt herself being jolted awake. The carriage careened to the side and her head hit something hard.
It was dark, too.
Groaning, she held onto the edge of the seat as the carriage rolled once more. Now the roof is under her feet and the floor above her.
"Sanjiv? Sanjiv!"
Met with only silence, she struggled to stand up and orient herself with her surroundings.
Somehow, she managed to find the door and fell into the muddy road.
The outside looked no different from inside the carriage. Everything is obscurred in a fog of darkness. However, one thing is for sure.
She is not dreaming.
Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and she successfully stood up, her vines ready for an unexpected attack.
They say the mist is incomprehensible. It messes up with your senses and who knows what kind of creature is lurking around her right now?
A groan reached her ears. The sound of it was magnified in the silence, making her heart jump in surprise.
'Well, whatever it is. I'm sure I can handle it. I work so hard until now. I am ready to face anything.'
This time, a screeching sound to her left disturbed the seemingly silent veil of darkness and the moment she turned to it, a pair of crimson eyes stared back at her.
Biting her lip, she sent one of her vines shooting towards the mysterious creature. Then, another... and another...
There was no intention in her attacks, only a crazed desire to annihilate whatever enemy is standing on her way.
Wind whistled in her ears and in the next second, something rough and huge collided against her body.
Selene was sent flying and her back hit the ground.
She tasted copper in her mouth.
'Not good.'
Another screeching sound reached her ears. Without any idea where it came from, she sent her vines flying in all directions, feeling them collide with unknown objects.
At this point, Selene found it difficult to breathe. Hot tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Wiping it off with her arm, she murmured:
"T-Third Form: Heal."
A soothing energy seeped into every fiber of her body. It did alleviate some of the pain, but the restorative effects of the spell was not refined enough to heal her wounds completely.
Still, it's better than nothing.
Now, she only had two options to choose from before her mana runs out. It's either she continued blindly fighting her attacker or cast a barrier. A strong one at that.
The problem is, she had never tried the spell before. She also had to consider the danger of destroying her fragile mana veins by casting an unfamiliar spell. It is risky, yes. However, Selene decided to put her faith on the quality of the Rosseficent blood.
Wringing out the last drops of mana in her veins, Selene willed her vines to form a ball, covering her entire body. She imagined the same, thick vines that appeared when she first awakened her powers.
A pained scream came out and echoed through the darkness when another object collided on her vines, interrupting the spell. Although invisible to her, some parts of her vines disintegrated with the impact, leaving a hole on the slowly forming barrier of vines. But, Selene can tell based on the Spell Recoil.
Gritting her teeth, she tried again.
Time became a strange concept. The attacks did not stop and so did Selene's attempts to create a barrier.
In the end, it was her body who gave up first.
---
Sanjiv paced back and forth around the ruined carriage.
Another sigh escaped his lips.
Dried blood covered his forehead and splashes of it painted his black cloak like a haunting design.
He went out to fight off another Hawk — a monstrous creature that resembled a hawk, only it was three meters tall and had taloons as sharp as swords. While he was fighting such an abomination, Selene disappeared and their carriage was reduced to splinters.
"My lord, I think we found Lady Selene."
He stopped, and his movements became urgent as he followed the knight. Soon enough, a strange circular plant stood before them. It resembled roses and grapevines, like a weird mix of the two. He can't tell which is which since he never saw a grapevine in real life. Still, he recognized it immediately.
"Yes, this is her vines."
He heaved a sigh of relief and walked towards the barrier.
Touching it with his palm, he willed his mana to redo the spell. Recognizing the similar mana, the rose vines moved away. He entered the barrier and found Selene passed out and bloody, lying on her vines.
"Healers!"
He carried her out of the barrier and into one of the carriages. A group of mages on black cloaks attended to her wounds immediately as they laid her down the seat of the carriage.
"My lord, it seemed Lady Selene managed to heal some of her wounds before running out of mana. Her body was in shock in releasing too much mana in a short span of time. Aside from that, she is fine. She will recover soon."
"I see. Thank you for your efforts."
As soon as the healer was gone, Sanjiv casted an invisible barrier on the carriage before leaving on to check their losses.
'I know this was a bad idea. I knew it from the start.'
And yet, he can't ignore the fact that this is also good for Selene. After all, no amount of training can make up for a real, battle experience.
'Those vines... there's something very wrong about them. I can't pinpoint what it is. But, they were too obedient for a beginner.'
A strange thought formed on his head.
"Could it be? Haha... that's not possible."