Every time Noelle met Iska, she couldn't help but think that she behaved like a human child. Not as a gifted one trained from an early age to function as the bulk of the ungifted society expects.

While they maintain their curiosity and playfulness, innocence quickly disappears as they notice what they can achieve with their gift.

Noelle still remembers the children's sight in their first school year, when they were made to watch scenes in AR, from the archives of the "dark" age of the gifted. They went to the extreme of using the synchronization with the characters in VR to make them feel what the victims felt. That's how history classes were.

They only brought it to the point where they could install certain "correct" ideas and values that the gifted should follow. These were things that no normal child would ever see at that age.

Unless they had lived in a war zone, as she did, but they still took it to an extreme that was harmful to a child's mind.

And in Iska's eyes, she could see that innocence that had disappeared in gifted children.

So she was not surprised as Tom when he noticed that her child was in the "room.

***

Iska did not cease to be surprised during the whole trip. He discovered a wild side of himself that he did not know he had and did not dislike. Unlike Vyndra in this world, he could move around more freely; he didn't have to be glued to Tom all the time. He was having too much fun.

Except for the isolated combat with that creature that left a bitter taste in his mouth as he realized that he let himself be carried away too much. There was no other moment that made him change his mind about how wonderful this trip was.

When they found the strange circular room inside the cave, he started going around to see if there was any way to get in. He had a strange need to see what was inside. He touched the walls, and it seemed that if he wanted to break them, he would need a lot of energy, and most likely, if he somehow did so, he could not move for some time. Probably if they did something together with their partners, they could break it down.

Without giving up that idea, I still wanted to see if I could find away. When he heard Sarah say that it wasn't necessary to know what was inside, he became desperate.

For some reason, he became desperate. He began to think of ways to get inside, one more ridiculous than the other. He didn't know why, but he wanted to go inside. No, it's not that he didn't know. He could not calm his curiosity burning in his unconscious; he looked at the ceiling of the cave. The light was not cold enough to cover everything, but he noticed a space between the room and himself.

Perhaps there could be a gap in that part. Betting on that possibility, he jumped up with his ability to control the air to cover more distance. When he reached the edge, he nailed his claws and held on tightly. Slowly he settled and moved until he reached that space.

Without realizing it, he fell into the room, somewhat dizzy from the blow and still lying on the floor. He looked up and knew his bet was right. There was no "ceiling." Outside the concave space, in the distance, one could see the stalactites and the cave's ceiling.

The room turned out to be deeper than he thought, and not only was it deep, but space inside was quite extensive.

In the center, on top of a pile of rocks, an object shone intensely; moreover, I could see that roots were coming out of the ground and others making their way through the rocks toward the light source.

Besides, some figures surrounded the object along with a larger one behind that I could not distinguish what it was.

He looked for the entrance he had seen outside and found it at the top. Fortunately, the path didn't seem complicated, and he could climb it peacefully. He didn't know whether to take the object, he thought about it a bit, and there was a possibility that something would happen that he couldn't control.

Even so, he wanted to know what that thing was that shone; without hesitation, he climbed up and saw what it was.

He was finally getting to the object's location. The light was quite intense at this distance, and he couldn't tell if it had any shape.

Being only a few meters away, he put his forearms to cover the incoming light. The heat radiated by the spotlight made him feel an itch on the scales of his body.

A sense of danger suddenly seized him. Something big enough to cover his forearms sent him flying towards the wall behind.

The impact was quite strong, and the fall was short; he opened his eyes after enduring the pain and could see other figures approaching him.

He felt totally threatened; he was sure he would not get out of this alive, not if he were alone. 

So he decided to escape. He ran and jumped to the "entrance," when he arrived, he started to hit the wall with the idea that maybe the people outside would understand that he was in a hurry.

The attackers arrived a few moments later. He caught himself, dodging some blows coming from his back. The impacts echoed off the wall.

He responded by attacking with glue; he could feel that the blade adorning it cut something. He then pointed his hands to the ground and propelled himself upward to dodge the next chain of attacks.

He could feel his opponents' eyes following his path. Not knowing what to do next, he noticed that the blows he had dodged damaged the wall.

If they had that power, they could destroy it. Perhaps he should redirect his attacks to that area?

He thought it was a good idea; the problem was that he had to endure enough to achieve his goal.

He wasn't sure about that.

On the other side of the wall. Tom and the others thought about what to do. Iska was fighting.

A few moments later, Aiden climbed to the room's roof after noticing a space where they might climb. He reported that they could get in through there, but it was a pretty steep drop. He could see Iska trying to fight some people.

- What do we do," Adolf asked.

- You will decide what to do. If it gets too dangerous, I'll give you a hand - sentence Noelle, after seeing that I was addressing the question to him.

If it headed the situation for a danger they could not handle, he would intervene; Her job was to supervise them.

Tom could not believe that Iska had moved alone again. As he thought about how to overcome this situation, the blows continued to echo off the wall.

- Aiden, inspect the space inside the room," Sarah ordered as she touched her head.

- Okay.

- Adolf, how long do you think it will take you to get back to camp?

- Mmm... I'm not sure about ten minutes at full speed, maybe..." Adolf answered thoughtfully as he looked in the direction from which they came. 

Aiden was looking at the area inside what he now thought was a dome. It was a drop of about 40 meters. Something was shining not on the ground in the center but at the height of the door that they could see from outside. The creatures that attacked Iska were of the plant type and somewhat anthropomorphic like Batze, but instead of plates made with leaves, they had their "roots" entangled with some rocks, distributed on their body.

I did not remember seeing these creatures in the catalog and noticed that Iska was doing her best to make the attacks hit the wall. Just as he was about to return to his companions, he realized another creature near the orb that lit up the place.

It was huge, and it was approaching the combat zone; it prepared its great arm to make a blow. The roots coming out of his back were moving like snakes, Iska was being cornered, and Aiden despaired. He didn't know if his friend's creature could withstand attacks from the thing. 

 He didn't know without intervening. But if Iska was aiming for his enemies to knock down the wall, he needed that thing to attack. The problem was whether it would hold out long enough.

While debating internally how to act, the creature attacked Iska. He swallowed saliva as he watched Iska dodge two blows just in time, thinking that maybe he would make it, and he did. The third attack took Iska to the other side of the wall.

 One debris hit Sarah on the head as she watched Adolf head towards the camp. He didn't knock her out, but he hurt her. The rest didn't come out unscathed either. They had some shorts on their clothes and skin.

She screamed at Adolf not to stop while Tom picked her up and carried her away. This time they wanted to fight.