As the ground rapidly approached, Yvette felt an impending sense of dread well up in her gut. It wasn’t the thought of falling, at least not entirely, but more what the ground looked like.

Living in Etra, most people got pretty used to the same kinds of landscapes. Grey earth, cracked stone, the only living things being half-dead shrubs and various magic beasts. Once you got outside of the major settlements, the only difference in the terrain was how much you’d have to climb to get to your destination.

One might assume, then, that seeing an ocean of green below her would be a relief. Anyone outside of The Land of Gods would think that landing somewhere with plenty of vegetation would give the best chances of survival. But Yvette knew better. There were no forests in Etra, at least not any natural ones. The only place you saw this much green was in the Clovin Gardens, and that wasn’t a place anyone wanted to be.

Not that there was anything she could do about it. It probably would have been smarter to wait until she overheard talk about landing at a port before attempting a jailbreak, but it was too late to regret that now. In that moment, Yvette’s more present concern was whether or not they were going to survive the landing.

Using her [Commander] trait to be heard clearly over the rushing wind, she spoke to the child clinging to her back.

“Cast it when we hit the tree-line! Any sooner and the leaves may delay us too much!”

Gigi’s response was far too muffled to hear, her fear preventing her from speaking up too much. It wasn’t a surprise; coming up with this plan was probably easy for her, but the act of casting a spell while rocketing to the ground was bound to be stressful for someone as inexperienced as her.

Fortunately, Yvette hadn’t used too much silt magic during the escape. Her ability to trust in others had merely been muted instead of fully smothered by the weight of a negative element. Controlling herself enough to relax would take minimal effort.

Taking a deep breath, Yvette closed her eyes and loosened her body. She focused on what had happened before, cooling her nerves from the heated combat and carefully recording the faces of those she killed. The day’s violence slid off her shoulders and collected itself in the muck at the bottom of her heart. It was the only way to move forward without consequence, at least for now.

Even as the upper branches of the jungle canopy sharply struck her back, she maintained focus. When their velocity began to stretch and slow, allowing them to safely land without the drawbacks of rapid deceleration, she continued to draw the weight off her back. It was only when Yvette felt the soft pressure of thick moss cushion her landing did she open her eyes and begin addressing the world once more.

She noticed Gigi squirming out from under her back, stunned silent from their surroundings. It wasn’t an unreasonable reaction, as even Yvette struggled to take in what she was seeing.

They had both seen trees before, sure, but it was rare for natural life in Etra to be anything remarkable. Withered trunks and greyish-brown leaves were the norm, with indulgent colors like green being reserved for carefully preserved gardens owned by the wealthy. To them, the sight of the Clovin Gardens was almost impossible to comprehend.

The trees were massive, with even the smallest ones being too wide for Yvette to wrap her arms around fully. Each trunk was an ecosystem in of itself, covered in all forms of flowers, vines, and mosses. Even the ground was covered in brush, with so many bushes and roots that touching the soil would require an active effort.

Of course, one could never forget how dangerous this place could be. Many leaves looked uncomfortably similar to limbs or other body parts, and every once in a while you could see eyes or mouths melded onto the sides of trees. Distorted howls in the distance were a constant reminder of the abominations that dwelled in the Gardens.

Everything here involved aspects of both plant and animal in some form, all in levels of abundance that felt sinful compared to the endless wastes. Yvette reached down to a fruit-bearing shrub on the ground, tearing off one of its bounties. The torn branch oozed a substance with the color, smell, and consistency of hours-old blood.

She surveyed the surrounding area, searching for any signs of civilization or paths that could lead them to safety. Seeing none, she then had to consider how they would manage to find non-toxic food in a place that seemed fully unpredictable. There was no telling how far they would have to travel to escape this place, and that didn’t even consider the-

“Whoa, hey! I leveled up!”

Yvette’s anxious contemplations were halted temporarily at the sound of her companion’s exclamation. Looking towards Gigi, she saw her eyes flicking over the unseen screen of her system. 

She let out a long sigh, reaching for the large sack that contained her armor. There was little point in worrying about so many unknowns, and it would probably be best if she were to simply deal with things as they came. With that in mind, a good distraction seemed warranted.

Yvette called out to Gigi as she began to don the heavy metal plates. “You have reached level 5 now, yes?”

The girl startled, turning to the mercenary excitedly. “Yep!”

“Come here. There are things you must learn.”

“Wadyou mean?” Gigi asked. “I’ve already leveled up on my own a few times, haven’t I?”

“You have. That does not mean you know what you are doing.” Yvette continued, barely facing her companion as she equipped herself. “The system has many facets. If you do not at least understand the basics, you will only harm yourself in the long run. To start, do you even know how leveling works?”

“Uh… Not really? It just makes you stronger when you do cool stuff, right?”

Gigi withered slightly as she met Yvette’s gaze. The look of annoyed disappointment could have slowed the movement of the sun. There were a few very tense seconds before the response arrived.

“That is… a way to understand it. The system knows both who you are and who you could become. It does its best to guide you into becoming the best version of yourself, only granting power when you move forward along the correct path. That is why you are the only one who leveled up from that encounter.”

Gigi moved forward to sit cross-legged in front of her impromptu instructor. “You didn’t?”

“I did not. I have protected assets and escaped from enemy captivity before. The system no longer sees those as valuable.”

“Whoa…” Gigi’s eyes were wide as saucers at what Yvette had assumed to have been commonly known information. “Wait, is that why everyone gets different spells?”

Yvette nodded her head, seeing that the child was at least trying to take this in. “Correct. The system offers spells and traits that it believes will be useful on your path.”

“Traits?”

“Did you not read your benefits for leveling up? You receive one every 5 levels.”

“Oh, yeah…”

Yvette briefly paused tying on her breastplate to gently massage her own temple. “Traits are more rare than spells and cannot be deactivated. They must be chosen carefully.”

Gigi just scratched the back of her head. “Well yeah, but… If the system is trying to help out so much, then is it really that important? It doesn’t seem like that big of a-”

“No.” The intensity of Yvette’s voice caused Gigi to jump. “The system may have your best interest in mind, but it is not to be trusted blindly. So long as you are someone worth seeking out, you must have the skills needed to survive. There will not always be someone to help you.”

“Why do people keep saying things like that?” Gigi responded anxiously. “First the pirates and now you! Why am I so important? Everyone just keeps saying stuff that I don’t get and it’s just…”

Yvette had to think for a while before continuing. “You must have noticed that not everyone has two names in their [Status] like you do. Or have nearly as many attuned elements, for that matter.”

“Yeah, so?”

“The elements are easy to explain. You were born with an attunement to both water and air, which combine to create clouds. This does not make you stronger than anyone else, but you have access to options that most do not. It is rare, as well. Only one in every hundred mages is born with a dual alignment.”

Gigi didn’t respond, instead swirling a wisp of cloud magic in the palm of her hand. 

“The name is a bit more complicated. To put it simply, very few people need multiple names. The second is a symbol, which can mean many things. Yours means you have been chosen by a god to represent their will.”

“But why?”

Yvette sighed, as she wasn’t quite sure herself. “...I do not know. It is possible you were chosen simply for being born a cloud mage. Was your god tied to a cloud alignment?”

“I dunno… No one ever told me anything…” Gigi looked very uncomfortable as some things started to make sense.

“It does not matter. The name will fade if you choose to reject it. Just know that you will always be something of value, and a certain amount of self defense is needed.”

Gigi flicked at her invisible system screen, a slight sickly expression on her face. “I… Ok. Could you pick for me, then?”

“No.”

“Why not!?”

“Making decisions on one’s own is important. I have provided the context you need. So long as you do not choose a [Saint] trait, I believe you will know what is useful.”

“Are those bad?” Gigi asked.

“They are some of the strongest in existence. They also greatly limit your future options. You will have the option to take one again so long as you keep your name.”

Yvette felt a little bad about this. The look on Gigi’s face reminded her of the children of Tyr, made to fear the world from an early age and grow up far too quickly. There was likely another way to teach this lesson, one that would maintain some amount of the child’s innocence. Unfortunately, she did not know any other ways. The young saint would have to learn how to keep herself safe, especially once they inevitably separated. Not everyone had the good luck of being insignificant.

In all honesty, a part of her wanted to just leave Gigi to die. There was nothing to be gained from protecting someone so valuable, especially when there was so much profit to be made from selling her off. But Yvette had a promise to keep, and there was no way her conscience would allow her to just leave an innocent child to die.

Looking at the girl scrolling anxiously through her system options, Yvette decided that she would need to find her some kind of sanctuary. There were some faiths that would protect someone like Gigi without ulterior motives, but the vast majority would likely only want her as leverage. 

She would have to work quickly. Yvette had her own pursuers to contend with, and was hardly equipped to take care of a preteen child anyways. The longer they stayed together, the more risk both of them would face. She could only hope that the next town they stumbled across would be of help in some way or another. Assuming they even made it out of this jungle alive, of course.

By the time her armor was fully strapped on, Yvette saw that Gigi had finished making her choices. For better or worse, it was now time to go traveling through the Gardens.