“Damn,” I let out, smiling. “I can’t believe I can control every part of this body except for my ears.”

I could still hear Cellestra’s giggle through the raindrops that tapped on the ice wall above us.

“How are you doing back there?” I asked.

“Still dry. You’re doing a wonderful job.”

“Not getting cold, either?”

“Nope.”

“Warn me if you do.”

The elf let out a slight chuckle. “Will do.”

The lighthearted conversation with Cellestra did wonders to reduce the anxiety from earlier. It almost made me forget about the unexplainable events at the obelisk. The red light that shot into the sky was impossible to get out of my head, and I wondered if any other people had seen it. As far as I could tell, there was at least one village somewhere close by that could have witnessed the phenomenon.

Everything about what happened after that just felt… wrong. The horses, the rain. While they were ordinary things, I just couldn’t shake off this gut feeling about them being connected. Nevertheless, Cellestra found no change in the mana in my body. I wasn’t sure how much that said, but it had to count for something at least. In addition to that, no harm was done as far as I could tell.

The rain didn’t get any better for the rest of the day, which had me worried it would continue throughout the night. Fortunately, it started to clear up at the end of the afternoon, just as darkness was setting in.

“Well, finally, some good news,” I said as I felt the last raindrops hit the ice wall. “Just in time too.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t reached the border yet,” Cellestra replied. “We’ve covered good ground today.”

“Unless we crossed it without knowing,” I suggested. “However, something tells me we haven’t. One thing bothers me, though.”

“Which is?”

“Weren’t we supposed to cross demon territory? I haven’t seen anything that would imply them being anywhere close.”

“That’s… a fair point.”

“All I saw on the way here was one village, and that was way back at the obelisk. There’s nothing here that resembled the hostile demon territory that that priestess spoke of. It makes me think… will we still have to cross through it? Wouldn’t that mean that Muck was lying when he said the way there would be easy?”

“I have no idea,” Cellestra said. “I doubt either of them were lying. Maybe we’re just lucky when it comes to avoiding hostility?”

“Maybe we are,” I said. “If that’s the case, I won’t complain. Anyway...” I let out after coming to 

halt. I finally canceled the ice wall spells after making sure the rain had stopped. I then started blowing warm air on the grass around me to dry it. “I guess we will find out tomorrow. If nothing happens, then so be it. Can’t say I dislike the idea.”

“You know, I do admire that part of you.”

“Which part?” I asked curiously.

“The part where you’re not looking for conflict, but you won’t hesitate to do things like you did to that troll.”

“I hate conflict,” I said clearly. “I hate it, but I hate suffering more. I hope you’ll believe me when I say I intend to use this strange power I’ve been given to the fullest to do good.”

The elf nodded. “Of course I believe you.”

“That being said,” I continued, “The thrill of battle, I have to admit, is quite something else. It’s hard to explain, but it’s exciting, in a way.”

“I can imagine,” Cellestra said softly.

I took a few steps to the side to dry the grass under me. When I was finished, I sat in the dry patch and unloaded the goods from my back. Cellestra, in the meantime, needed some time for herself, and left me alone for a bit. I used the time to refill her canteen with new water and prepare some hot water for tea as well. She had removed those items from her backpack before walking off. It wasn’t hard to guess what she wanted me to do with them.

“What a day,” The brunette said upon her return.

“You can say that again,” I replied as I helped her wash her hands. “At least we learned that Muck seems to have a different concept of distance than most people.”

Cellestra chuckled. “I think he may have taken your speed into account.”

“You think?” I said, grinning.

The elf smiled as she sat down and took both cups of hot water before putting some tea leaves in them. “Have you never thought about how fast spiders actually are?”

I shook my head. “Not really, no, but they are fast for their size, aren’t they?”

“You should know better than me that they are.”

“I have come to know quite a few things about spiders,” I said with a smile. “And to be honest, for the first time in my life, I’m looking forward to getting to know more about things that I never imagined I’d be interested in. I mean, beyond the things like ‘how do they fight?’ Sure there’s that, and it’s important, especially if we’re heading into dungeons, but there’s so much more. I want to know what you like to do, for example.”

“What I like to do?” Cellestra asked, before facing down to the ground, thinking. “I mean, I like reading. Maybe we can get our hands on some good books.”

“You’re easily satisfied, aren’t you?”

“What can I say? I never had this kind of freedom to think about what I like to do. Maybe I’ll find some more things I like along the way.”

“How about...” I started with a soft voice. “Giving me a hug?”

“That does sound nice,” The elf replied as she put the cups next to her and stood up, walking towards me. She then wrapped her arms around me and put her head on my shoulder.

Happiness filled me as I hugged her back, my eyes closed. A slight chuckle escaped my lips. “That was easy.”

“Hmmm,” Cellestra let out. “I think I like this.”

“I know I do,” I said softly. “I already figured that out a while ago.”

We remained like that for a few more seconds before the elf broke away. She grabbed the tea again, handed me a cup, and sat down pretty close to me. If only I didn’t have this spider head beneath my torso…

I summoned a flame spell as the last light of day disappeared. We then sat in silence for a while as we drank our tea and the elf ate her dinner. The hug from before had cleared my heads, leaving me with a smile as I watched. Then, when she was finished, she stood up without words and sat down at my side, burying the back of her head in my soft hair.

“It’s time to sleep,” She said quietly. “And I can think of no better place than right here.”

“No making plans for tomorrow or anything?” I asked, but I more or less already knew the answer.

“We’ll see what happens. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“True,” I said as I lowered my elven torso on my back. A hand reached out to the side and softly pet Cellestra’s lovely hair. “Whatever awaits us on our way to Len Asari, we’ll get through it.”

A smile formed on her face as she relaxed. I put one of my legs over her frame to ‘hug’ her. “Good night,” I wished her.

“Good night,” She whispered back.

In the meantime, I looked at the numerous stars in the night sky. The dark clouds from before had disappeared and I hoped that everything had merely been a coincidence. I gave myself a mental correction to stop worrying about things. Cellestra had told me on multiple occasions that it was just pointless.

I then wondered if I should try staying awake with my elven half, but decided against it. The benefits of having eight eyes that could see all around without having to move were just too great. Maybe I’d experiment with it one day, just to see if it was possible, but now was not the time.

I gave Cellestra one last look and noticed she’d already dozed off. I then realized I’d forgotten to cast my healing light spell on her, and cast it. I then focused all my attention on my spider head and allowed the connection between my two bodies to fade while I kept watch over our surroundings.

Hours passed without issue, but I did notice one strange thing somewhere in the middle of the night. Something resembling a bat, flew overhead and circled directly above me a few times before flying off again.

I felt uneasy about the ordeal as the creature had been far larger than a normal bat. I could tell it was up high in the air, but it was still obvious to me this was no normal bat. I remained extra vigilant for the rest of the night, but nothing happened and dawn arrived.

Cellestra stirred. It was time to start the next day.