With their original plan being forced to change due to an unforeseen crystia steal it has them all wondering the same thing.
"Why would someone even do something like this?" Dante questions. "I mean all this would do is rattle the already strained relationship between the empire and adventurers." He continues.
Rika shrugs. "I can see how I would try to steal one too, they go for a LOT of Blastie i'm talking billions!" Rika's mouth drools thinking about frolicking through her mountain of Blastie. "But it comes with the very small side effect of dooming a city of people." Rika adds.
Dante flicks her head. "That's nowhere near a small side effect!" He shouts at her. Rika isn't sold. "I'm willing to make that sacrifice."
"How will those people be now, that ball gave them lights and stuff right?" Kaito asks.
Dante agreeing thinks too. "They'll probably have trouble coping without any power, having to deal with harshness of life without a barrier, but I'm pretty sure the empire will catch the their for all of this sooner or later." He says.
Tips: The crystia barriers are very precious since humans without magic can only realistically survive within them. The world seems forgiving but the world of shea is actually a nightmare for a none mage. Beasts that can turn your entire city to rubble if it just wants to. The barriers are a necessity.
"So how do we get to this forest?" Kaito asks.
"We can take the western entrance to the forest, so we can avoid that empire checkpoint." Dante explains. "But make sure we're all careful, we don't know what kind of stuff is in there." Dante makes sure to stress the danger of the forest.
Rika stretches her back. "We should've stolen a cart or something, i'm getting sick of carrying this darn bag around!" She shouts.
Kaito giggles. "We'll get a cart eventually Rika I promise, but hey at least carrying your bag is good exercise." He says trying to make her feel better.
Rika slouches. "A delicate woman like myself shouldn't be carrying any bags!" She shouts. Dante looks around confused. "Where's this delicate woman?" He mockingly asks irritating Rika.
During the conversation they reach the entrance to the forest. Rika and Dante bravely hide behind Kaito. "This just seems like a regular old forest." Kaito says.
Dante peeks from around Kaito's back. "That's how curses lure you in."
They stepped into the dreary forest, swallowed by overgrown foliage and an unsettling hush broken only by the frantic scurrying of unseen critters. The canopy above let in only slivers of gray light. Every branch seemed to reach for them. Dante and Rika shivered under the oppressive weight of the place, but Kaito walked on ahead—calm, almost detached.
Hours passed. Or maybe it was minutes. Time bent strangely in this place. The trio wandered endlessly, the forest folding in on itself.
"I swear we've passed that same tree four times now!" Dante snapped, frustration sharpening every syllable.
Rika turned and pointed. "And that rock… we have walked in circles!?" Her voice rose with panic.
Kaito glanced back at them, but his expression didn't change. So this is how outsiders feel in my village, he mused silently, half amused, half detached.
Then Rika froze. A tremor ran through her spine. "Guys… I think there's something crawling on me," she whimpered, voice tight.
"You're imagining things, Rika. Just turn around," Dante muttered, brushing her off.
But when Rika turned, both boys reeled back. A spider, bloated and the size of a housecat, was perched on her back, its many eyes glinting. Kaito moved quickly—no panic, no sound—swatting it off before Rika saw. It vanished into the underbrush.
Dante shuddered. "That… wasn't normal."
They pressed on, but something was wrong. Breathing became a chore. The air thickened, heavy like syrup. Dante gasped, wiping sweat from his brow. "Is it just me, or is the air… thicker here?"
Kaito inhaled deeply. To him, it felt light. "Is it?" he asked, puzzled. The forest around him looked... off. The beasts they passed—rabbits, birds, even deer—were grotesquely oversized. The fruits hung swollen from branches, impossibly large and vibrant.
And then he noticed it: a shimmer in the air. Glowing particles drifting lazily, like pollen, but unnaturally colorful.
"Do you guys see all this… color?" he asked, slowing.
No response. Rika and Dante stared ahead, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
"Dude, Kaito," Dante slurred, blinking rapidly, "have you always had like… thirty eyes?" He looked down at his hands. "Why do I have so many hands?" He flexed them. More sprouted.
Rika giggled and collapsed to the ground, arms wide. "The earth loves me," she whispered. "Carry thy queen, my dirt underlings." In her mind, she was being lifted on a throne of soil, carried to a grand temple.
Kaito stopped walking, watching them with growing concern. "Are you two… okay?"
Rika shot into the air—or so she thought. She floated above them on an invisible planet, spinning it on her finger like a basketball. "The stars! I am the stars!" she proclaimed, her limbs drifting weightlessly.
Dante drew his sword, eyes wild. "Begone, beast!" he shouted at a squirrel. In his vision, he was aboard a pirate ship, battling sea monsters. "Hoist the sails! Raise the anchor!" He swung from vines like rigging, laughing maniacally.
Kaito blinked, then laughed. "What the heck is wrong with you two?"
But his smile faded when Rika collapsed, crashing into the earth with a sharp grunt. Dante followed, slumping to the ground in a heap. Kaito rushed over, panic flooding in.
"Rika?" he whispered, checking her pulse. Her breath was ragged and shallow. Dante, too, burned with fever. Their skin felt like it was boiling.
"Oh no," Kaito muttered, slinging Dante over his back and lifting Rika in his arms. "Don't worry. I've got you."
He took off through the forest, dodging twisted roots and low-hanging branches. Rika giggled deliriously. "Fair prince… you came for me…"
Dante chewed on Kaito's ear. "This meat's weird… gross."
"Then stop eating it!" Kaito snapped, trying not to trip.
Then—a growl. Low. Hungry. It came from the shadows ahead. Kaito froze.
Another growl behind him.
Eyes blinked open in the darkness.
"Nope!" he spun on his heel and ran.
The forest blurred around him as he sprinted, weaving between trees. Shadows snapped at his heels. A claw slashed through the air, just missing Dante's back—Kaito twisted, letting the claw rake across his shoulder instead. He grunted but didn't slow down.
He reached a ravine and didn't hesitate. Tightening his grip, he leapt across. Midair, Rika stirred and almost hit a trunk. He twisted again, shielding her head.
Landing hard, he staggered. The monster didn't give up. It leapt too—closer now.
Kaito turned, tried to summon wind magic. Nothing.
"Crap," he hissed.
Ahead, a figure stood—vague, watching.
"Hey!" Kaito shouted.
The figure turned and bolted.
"Seriously?!"
Bleeding, burning, and carrying two unconscious hallucinators, Kaito pushed himself harder. Finally, when the forest thinned just enough, he found a patch of safety beneath a leaning tree. He collapsed there, setting them down gently.
For a moment, everything was silent except for the heaving of his chest and the wheezing breaths of his friends.
Then he whispered, "What the heck is this place?"
The two of them have now lost consciousness and have fevers.
A crunch of the leaves draws his attention. Kaito draws his dagger.
He lowers his dagger when he sees a person approaching him in a plague doctor mask. "I didn't mean to startle you, I can help your friends." The stranger says.
Kaito is skeptical but he stands up. "Follow me." The stranger instructed.
"Why're you helping me?" Kaito asks.
"I noticed you struggling to protect your companions. I felt remorseful." The stranger responded.
They arrive at a hut carved into the thick trees. "This is my base." The stranger says.
"Do you know why my friends got all funny?" Kaito asks.
The stranger nods as they open the door. "Their hallucinations are due to elara exposure, and they should've been more careful." The stranger explains. They look back at Kaito curiously. Why does this one remain uneffected this much concentrated elara should infect any living thing.
"Elara?" Kaito asks.
The stranger coughs. "Right I suppose those who don't study it, would only know it as magic in the air, Elara is magic in it's rawest from it's what makes our magical world so- magical." The stranger explains.
Tips: Elara is this world's word for magic. Though some refer to it as a different name. Elara is what crystia bulbs are mostly comprised of, they are just a dense ball of it which gives it as much energy as it has. It's the reason the world has such strange properties as you will come to see later.
Kaito looks confused. "How come you're wearing a mask?" Kaito asks. "Privacy reasons." The stranger responds after a brief silence.
"The forest has an Elara well as do all places, this one however has been releasing excess amounts of Elara and it's positing it's inhabitants." The doctor explains. "We can use this formula I've written to quell it." They explain.
They summon a magical screen in front of them and Kaito is amazed by it. The doctor coughs. "Quite innovative i'm aware, I created this form of magic all on my own." The doctor explains.
"I don't understand but if it helps my friends i'll do it!" Kaito shouts determination filling his words. The stranger is put off by him but nods. "Right, let us be off then." They instruct.