By the time Laura arrived at the forest edge within the White Ash territories, the sun was already disappearing behind the horizon. She downed a few essence compounds and started setting up for the night. She would sleep here and start exploring the Black Forest first thing tomorrow morning.
After clearing the space with her powers by manipulating the wind and flattening the ground by manipulating the earth, she managed to finish setting up her tent just as the last rays of sunlight disappeared. Next was creating a fire but that was easy.
Creating a simple stone fire pit, she added dry leaves and wood shavings as kindling along with some sticks in a tent-like formation. She then created fire above her hand and tossed it into the stacked wood. In only a few moments the campfire was roaring to go, greedily consuming the wood.
For a while Laura simply watched the fire in silence. She knew she needed to start making herself some food, but being away from Zenesha made her feel melancholic. This would be the first night in two months where she would sleep alone.
"I've done it hundreds of times before… Why do I feel so bitter?" She wondered aloud.
The only answer she received was the crackling of the fire in front of her. Never has she felt this lonely before. Her family didn't care about her, and she never really grew close with any of her siblings, so she was accustomed to being alone.
Sure, she's helped many people in the past, even spent a longer time with some of them than she's spent with Zenesha so far, but they never made her feel. For some reason, this one random woman without anything special about her grabbed her heart and took it hostage. Laura didn't realize being apart like this would make her yearn for the fox so much.
"Is this normal?" Laura wondered to herself.
While she wasn't familiar with emotions, especially love, she has seen plenty of media on it. Love was described as yearning for someone and just being around them making you happy. There were also depictions of obsession.
Where the only thought that person has is of the person, they 'love.' What if she didn't love Zenesha and was only obsessive over her? Was there a distinct difference? Could they be the same? Or are they different but are capable of coinciding with each other?
With a heavy sigh the wolf leaned back into the grass and looked up at the stars above. The cosmos, so close yet so far. There were countless worlds in this universe alone full of life and wonder. She knew this to be true since she's visited a few herself.
Yet the idea of exploring them alone held no more appeal to her.
"Perhaps I'll take Zenesha away from here one day and we can explore the cosmos." Laura muttered with a faint smile on her face.
Standing up Laura doused the fire with water, making sure it was truly extinguished and entered her tent. She didn't really feel like eating tonight and wished to get up early so she can finish this mission as fast as possible. She had an adorable fox waiting for her after all.
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Traversing through the dense foliage of the Black Forest was mildly annoying. There was a plant called 'snake vine' that likes to lay on the forest floor and wrap itself around the legs of those passing. The worst part is that it would drag them into the canopy of the tree where it'll slowly drain you of blood.
If you paid attention, you could tell which trees held the snake vines, but they can grow ridiculously long and could grow to be several meters away from the tree it's attached to. The dark red, almost black vines also blended into the dark earth underfoot making it hard to spot.
If one was quick, they could sever the vine before it could drag them anywhere. The best way was to notice when it started snaking around your leg. It will slowly intertwine itself around their victim, so if you notice in time, you can prevent being ensnared entirely.
This was only one of the many dangers within the Black Forest.
*Bang*
Laura shot at seemingly empty ground, but a trap door made to look like the forest floor swung open and a massive spider came crawling out. It was a massive version of a trapdoor spider, its glossy black chitin exoskeleton reflecting the little sunlight that reached through the trees. Laura grimaced as she saw the large fangs on the creature.
Laura raised her bolt action and fired at the enlarged spider before it could charge at her. The bullet went through its eye and exited out from the other side of its body. Laura quickly moved, changing her position before the spider could retaliate.
*Shrieeeeeeeek*
The spider cried out in pain. The ground where Laura once stood bulged and several earthen spikes shot out of the ground. Laura was of course safe from the onslaught and watched the half blind spider seethe in fury. Its large body turned back and forth as it tried searching for the one that hurt it.
Safely hidden in the foliage Laura, who had already reloaded, raised her weapon once again. This time she took proper aim at its head and fired. When the bullet entered the spider's body, instead of just blasting through it like last time, it instead exploded on impact.
Fleshy gooey chunks rained down as part of the spider's body blew up. Laura was not out of range and found herself sputtering in dismay as some of the green blood entered her mouth. It tasted and smelled rancid, and Laura wanted it off her yesterday.
Snapping her fingers, the mess blasted off of her. She was still slightly wet, but the spider parts were no longer clinging to her skin and clothes. It did nothing for the little bit that got into her mouth.
Reaching for the metal canteen at her side she repeatedly rinsed out her mouth till she could no longer taste it as prominently. It unfortunately left a lingering after taste that refused to go away.
'Note to self, thoroughly clean my mouth before kissing Zenesha.' Laura thought, grabbing a new pair of clothes from her bag.
After spending a few moments cleaning herself the wolf woman continued her journey into the Black Forest. The wolf avoided dangers when she could and muscled her way through the ones she couldn't.
Her goal was to reach the high cliff that rose above the Ethereal Sea. The Black Forest ran along the western edge of the continent mostly expanding north and south. Along the abyssal cliffs was supposedly an altar holding a forgotten blade of legend.
Why was it abandoned here? Who knew, all that mattered was the material the blade was made from. If Laura could just get her hands on Angelic Steel, then she'll be one step closer to separating from the void forever.
Her travel time was extended thanks to her having to traverse through the Black Forest by foot. So, despite moving relatively quickly, it still took her a full day to travel from the eastern edge to the western one. By the time she was looking down at the Ethereal Sea hundreds of meters below, the sun was once again setting.
Using her power, Laura created an earthen wall around her with one side just being the cliff. She then started preparing her camp once again. Once finished she made herself dinner and went to bed. Tomorrow she'll be able to start her search in earnest.
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"Another failure." Laura muttered as she kicked a stone from the narrow path she was walking on into the waters below.
Her time was almost up. She promised to go back home at a certain time, and she would be damned if she missed it. She didn't want to end up lying to her princess even if it wasn't on purpose. If she didn't find the blade today, she'll have to call this journey a bust.
She was trying to sense for Ather in the area, but for some reason the ley lines, that acted as another set of roots for the world tree, were prominent in this area. This meant Laura would feel a source of Ather, explore and discover it was nothing more than a false lead. She was frustrated.
However, she couldn't change her method of searching. It was the best way to look for a blade capable of using Celestial Energy. Closing her eyes and sitting down on the narrow path of the cliff, Laura reached out again. And this time she found something interesting.
It felt the same as the other times she searched for Celestial energy, but the way it moved was different. It was much more stationary and organized than the ley lines. The void wolf smiled, she found it and she was sure of it this time.
Getting up, Laura quickly traversed further down the cliff as she headed north. She traced the source to a small, almost invisible crevice in the cliff face. Almost impossible to spot from a distance.
Squeezing her way through the narrow passage, the wolf eventually found herself in an open space. No sunlight reached this far in, but the area wasn't dark. On the ceiling bioluminescent moss glowed, making it feel as if she was standing underneath the night sky.
In the center of the underground chamber was an altar, and placed on top, with not even a speck of dust was her goal. A deep blue sword with a silver edge that glowed with a faint blue.
Standing in this chamber Laura could feel the power of the sword, the little Celestial Energy that still laid within its metal body. Walking towards the weapon, Laura could feel her skin crawl and her instincts telling her to turn tail and run. However, that didn't stop her in the slightest.
Once she was standing next to the altar, she started removing her bag from her back. She needed something to help carry the sword since she couldn't hold it with her bare hands. But before she could do that, the encrypted phone she was given vibrated.
Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the device and checked the message. It was from Zenesha, which caused her to smile. When she read the message, her face quickly morphed into panic.
'SOS'
Laura wasted no time. There was only one reason she would send something like that and it's because someone from the void was there. If it was just a normal threat Zenesha could handle it by herself or with the help of the thousand soldiers that were always nearby.
Without caring about being discovered, Laura raised her hand in a chopping motion and swung down. A tear in reality itself opened before her and she jumped inside. She will protect Zenesha, and nothing will get in her way of doing so.
Nothing.