She was now certain that something out there in the dark was speaking to her.
"Hey, Bethryl," Maereth said. "Don't go out there by yourself. It's not safe."
Bethryl could not hear her.
The voice was so familiar, as if she had known it all her life. And yet, how could that be possible?
"Come back here, Bethryl," the voice called.
Bethryl started to follow it, away from the fire.
"Bethryl!" Maereth shouted.
"It's all nonsense, Bethryl," said the voice. "You know you should go back home."
"Are you listening to me?" Maereth cried. "I said get back here! Now!"
And now, as she took her first steps towards the voice, she slowly understood who it was.
It was a Faceless Mentor, it seemed. It was the one who had taught her in her childhood. Bethryl always remembered the warm voice that the Mentor spoke with in her earlist classes.
"It's time to go home, Bethryl. You're wasting your time here."
"Yes… yes, I see."
Bethryl reached out to the familiar presence, ready to go back to what came before. This would be a story of forgetting and acceptance, one among countless others, and she was willing to let it be so.
She extended her hand.
The Mentor reached back.
The fingers that met hers were cold.
In an instant, the figure shattered into a heavy grey cloud, and from within it a silver, featureless mass emerged and seized her.
It dragged her into the forest, and only then did Bethryl understand what was happening, and only then did she start to scream.
"Damn it!" Maereth yelled and turned to the others who slept. "Wake up! Wake up now!"
Before they could gather themselves, the mass was already moving through the trees, and so Maereth pursued from behind.
"Use your blade!" she shouted ahead. "Bethryl, use an Axiom blade! If you don't, you're going to die!"
Bethryl struggled, but when she looked up, she saw her former Mentor's face again.
"It doesn't exist, does it, Bethryl? You're a smart girl. This Axiom nonsense, you know it isn't real."
Maereth's voice echoed faintly behind her, and then faded. All the while, a distant thought told her that she was in danger. But what could that change? She could not use Axiom, as she did not believe.
"You know it doesn't exist," said her mother's voice. "You were always asking too many questions. Look at the mess you're in now."
Bethryl's eyes rolled back, caught in a waking dream.
"You should have stayed home, Bethryl. You were far too curious for your own good."
Her vision snapped into focus.
No. This was a lie. Her father would never say such things.
She had to wake up from this dream.
Something exploded between her and the creature holding her. She did not understand what it was, only that both of them were thrown to the ground. She had seconds.
Was that her own energy?
That was impossible. The Mentor had told her in childhood that such things were impossible.
The silver creature grabbed her again.
By now, Issen had caught up. He raised an Axiom arrow, steady and precise. At this distance, the shot would be simple.
He stopped.
"What the hell, Issen?" Maereth shouted. "Kill it! Do it now!"
"What…?"
Issen lowered his bow. His face drained of colour.
"What are you doing here, you bastard?"
Before him stood an old man with a short, clean beard and half-silver hair.
"A worthless drifter," the man said.
"No… you're wrong…"
"What a disappointment you've been, my son."
The old man stepped closer.
Maereth cursed and lunged forward, frustration burning through her.
"Bethryl, wait for me!"
But she, too, stopped short.
"Agh!" she wheezed. "What is it now?"
Before her knelt a young, short man, his body covered in wounds. He trembled as he struggled to breathe.
"It can't be you," she whispered.
"I have to get out of this place!" he screamed. "I can't take it anymore! I have to get out!"
"I'm sorry," Maereth said, her voice breaking.
"Why did you leave me, Maereth?"
"I'm so, so sorry."
"Why did you leave me? When I needed you most?"
The young man crawled closer to her.
The old man drew nearer to Issen.
Each was trapped in a battle long carried within them.
And then—
"Pendulum Blade!"
In a single flash, both apparitions were cut down and split into fragments. As they fell, their forms dissolved, reverting to silver, featureless bodies.
Ashar landed lightly, but the moment he did, he coughed blood onto the grass and collapsed.
Maereth and Issen caught him.
"Crazy bastard," Issen muttered. "Who asked you to do that?"
"You need treatment." Maereth told him, "You'll die before we reach the Shadow Clan at this rate."
"Get to Bethryl first," Ashar said weakly. "Then worry about me."
"What are those things?" Issen asked.
"Forest creatures," Ashar replied. "Low-level. Weak. But they create illusions, reflections of our own energy. That's how they win, through deception."
"What do they want?"
"They're animals. They're hungry. If they drag her somewhere secluded, we won't reach her in time. You have to catch them now."
"It sounds like you're worried about her," Maereth said. "That's not like you."
"She has something of value," Ashar said. "She just needs to break the barrier placed on her."
Bethryl tried again, but it failed.
The illusion was too strong. All she saw was her Mentor carrying her away, as if escorting her toward punishment.
But she had to believe now. There was no other way. She had to believe!
Yes, maybe there could be such a thing as otherwordly energy.
Her Mentors had taught that all reality was cause and effect. But from the beginning, she had asked: where did cause and effect begin? What was the first step? If reality were purely material, could there even be a first material cause?
But no… that alone did not prove Axiom.
Even if endless material causation was impossible, it only suggested something beyond understanding.
The creature slammed her against a tree.
No! Bethryl did believe!
She had always questioned the reality presented to her in the Academies. How could everything be random when patterns filled the world? How could existence be purely material when so much of her life defied material explanation?
She had seen the battles, and the techniques, and the miracles. And yet she refused to accept them. Why?
Because she had been taught that truth must rest on sound premises. If the laws of nature rejected something, it must be dismissed, no matter what her eyes witnessed.
The creature lifted her, preparing to kill her.
And yet—
What were these visions?
There was something that had brought her here, something far beyond nature, and beyond premises. She had faith in reason, but her journey taught her that rationality was not everything. There was something more that had lead her to this place.
So it was a wager. All of this came down to a gamble.
Bethryl turned inward, searching for energy. She reached for faith and tried to silence the doubts that clawed at her mind. She searched for something deeper.
"I can't do it!" she cried. "I just can't see it!"