-- Styrtan Village Southern Gate --

There were currently two groups of figures that could be seen just outside the Styrtan Village. Each group also has a caravan which is attached to a hofel. The caravans were cylindrical in shape and has openings in the back and the front. The front opening is for the driver so he could sit.

"What are the two of you doing here?" Cyziel asked Volus and Ortix who was right in front of him.

"We told you we will be seeing you today didn't we?" Ortix smirked. "But we are not troubling you! We also have our own task!"

Cyziel momentarily raised his eyebrows and breathed in some air. "Are you shitting me? Really, at the same time?"

"Its because Ortix got into trouble for quite a few days with our other classmates so he and our other classmates are given an assignment." Volus sighed. "Since the three of us are a group with him then we also need to accompany him."

"We are actually given a week to catch some kind of creature but I decided to start today." Ortix moved closer to Cyziel and raised is hand towards his mouth so others would not hear what he was about to say. *Since you are a native here maybe you could help us find it!*

"Alright! I'll help you if you are not able to find it." Cyziel did not have really have some problem helping his friends but he knew that his friends are quite capable themselves so they might not really need it. "But try to find it with your own first."

"Of course! Okay! We would go first! See you in the forest!" Ortix said his goodbye as he left with Volus, Talas and one other girl. The girl was named Ayri and she is a cousin of Talas. They rode their caravan and slowly disappeared from sight.

Cyziel returned to his group who were just watching him converse with his friends.

"You have other friends?" Jorak jested.

"Hey! What do you think of me?" Cyziel laughed as Jorak was not that far off. He really didn't have a lot of friends. "We all arrived here together and we are close with each other's age so we became friends."

"Wait! So was that red haired guy the one with the same race as you? I heard that your race has another survivor." Ru pondered for a bit. "You two really don't look a like at all."

"Well! People from the same race doesn't mean that they would look similar. Look at those from Teeny!"

Cyziel thought that it was great that he tried to really learn the difference of each race. It was also great that the special feature of Ortix' race was not really visible without him activating it.

"If everyone is ready, we could leave!" Vera spoke seeing that they have already been delayed for quite some time.

The group have officially started their journey. Cyziel volunteered to drive the caravan which actually surprised the other that he knew how to do it. Truthfully, he only tried it once before even though his family had a lot of caravans. He knew though that hofels can be commanded using certain whistles.

The path towards the valley was not really that great but at least there is still a road that they could follow. Cyziel has been observing the surroundings as their caravan continued to advance towards their destination. He was not able to observe it before when he flew with Volare because of their flying speed but looking at it closely, is still hasn't changed that much.

The land was still filled with green grass and a few wild animals can be seen wandering. For one, Gribbits are scattered everywhere munching on the grass. Gribbits are similar to rabbits but has a crystal on their forehead. It was quite surprising to Cyziel that they haven't gone extinct because those crystals do contain aether energy so people might try to poach them.

After a few more minutes, the number of wild hofels that could be seen started to increase. This also means that they finally arrived at the valley of beginning. The two hills that conceals this valley is quite apparent. Yellow colored flowers fill the two hills which would make finding the flower of beginning a bit of a challenge.

Jorak got down from the caravan. "We finally arrived! Should we start looking for it?"

"Didn't you listen about our plan?" Rika also got down from the caravan. "It will be easier to wait until night time!"

The reason for this is because the flower of beginning only glows during the night.

"What do you think Cyziel?" Vera looked at Cyziel who was still sitting at the driver's sit of the caravan.

"Ah! I got an idea... Why don't we use a dark cover to imitate the night?" Cyziel thought that it would be a great way for them to not wait for night time and he doesn't think that this is a good place to camp.

"That's impossible! Dark cover could only covers little area and we don't have people here who have an affinity with the dark element." Vera answered. After she spoke, she also got down from the caravan to try to observe the hills.

"Don't tell me you have an affinity with darkness too?" Ru asked.

"Well! I do have an affinity with both dark and light." Cyziel casually answered as hopped down from the caravan.

Cyziel thought that there was no point in hiding his abilities since they already know that he was quite capable. It would be better if they could finish this task fast so they could proceed to the harder tasks.

Ru got down and run beside Cyziel. "Are you really gonna try if that would work?"

"Don't worry. I'll try to make a large dark cover!" Cyziel tried to reassure them. After all, he was not using magic words so the limit of the essence he could gather is much larger. His aether affinity and capacity was also topnotch that the only time that he was spent empty was when he opened the rift to escape Daraksta.

A large amount of dark essence and aether energy started to converge towards Cyziel's hand at a very fast rate that it only took a few seconds before Cyziel closed his hand. After he opened it again, a small black sphere appeared and it flew up in the middle of the two hills. Suddenly, it expanded at an instant and the surroundings was covered with pitch black space. Nothing can be seen except for a few twinkling flowers in the hills.

"This is no dark cover! This is a dark curtain! *Brit Ciraculus!*" Vera created a small ball of light so she and the others could see a little. "This is a high level dark spell! Without light affinity, this has almost no counter!"

"Oh that's a good name for a spell! Anyway, I think it worked." Cyziel looked at Ru who was clinging onto his clothes. "We could now get those flowers."

"Jorak! Go take the flowers!" Rika shouted as she also walked closer to Cyziel.

"Why me?" Jorak protested.

"You are a man and Cyziel already is tired from casting his spell!"

Jorak looked at Cyziel and it was clear that Cyziel was not really having trouble but he thought that he at least need to do something. "Alright! Vera help me with the light."

Jorak activated reinforce body and explosive feet while Vera created another light to guide him to the flowers. Jorak took 5 flowers for each of them although they only needed one. He gave them all to Rika for safe keeping. Cyziel has also removed the dark curtain after Jorak got the flowers

"That one was easy! Let's go to the next one!" Ru seemed really excited as she lightly tapped Cyziel's back. "We will rely on you again for the next flower!"

With still a long road ahead, the group immediately rode to their next destination. Ironically, in just a few minutes they actually already arrived at the plains of hope but the plains was a vast land that extends to hundreds of miles and the aether storm happened close to the southern forest. This means that they would need to travel until the end of the plains. Luckily, Cyziel was discreetly reinforcing the hofel so that it could run faster. Otherwise, it would take them the next day to reach the their target destination.

Soon enough, the surroundings changed. The scenery that could be seen in the plains of hope was quite irregular. Even the vast grasslands have differences. The colors of the blades of the grass were either pink, purple or the usual green. There were also puddles and lakes of water that are scattered around the field.

The group also needed to take a break from time to time. They ate some of their packed lunch which was a kind of meat from an animal called corana. Technically, it was like a hybrid animal and a plant. It's body is shaped like a bulb and it usually just embed its bird like feet in the soil. It only uproots itself when it tries to reproduce by scattering its own seeds.

As they arrived near the border of the plains, they passed by multiple groups of people. There are even encampments that are constructed in the area. These are most likely military or militia posts. The others might be treasure hunters who look for things that drop near the aether storms. Finally, they could see some of their classmates which are also doing their assignments.

"Are we just going to leave the caravan here?" Cyziel asked as he tried to look for a place to stop by.

"I think there should be an outpost here that is owned by the school." Ru stood up as she placed her hand on Cyziel's left shoulder as support.  She leaned out and pointed to some camp. "There! If they knew that we are students, they will probably help us."

Hearing Ru and seeing the people from a far, Cyziel exactly did drove the caravan towards the camp. The military were amiable and greeted them and allowed them to leave their caravan in the camp. In reality, most camps are actually co-owned by the military and the institution. It even helps that most scouts from the military are actually graduates of the Styrtan Institute.

Cyziel now proceeded to guide the rest to the location where the aether storm was previously located. Unfortunately, it seems that some groups are already there and they might have already taken the flowers. Moreover, one of the groups was the group of Aqola.

"If it isn't the group of Vera. You should have come earlier because these flowers are pretty rare." Aqola was smelling a bunch of similar flowers and they were all the flowers of hope. "Mmm! Smells refreshing."

Aqola was looking at Vera and waiting for her to get furious but he was unsuccessful. For some reason, Vera didn't get angry and she just looked at Cyziel. When she saw that Cyziel was calmly smiling, she got confidence that there would be no issues.

"Boring!" Aqola passed the flowers to the guy beside him. The guy was just as pale as Vera but the color of his hair was maroon. "Zaga, should we start looking for the flower of destiny?"

"Yeah! It already took us a day to collect all these flowers. The flower of destiny is even rarer." Zaga answered as he then smirked at Vera. "You should be careful of the forest my cousin. You do not know what danger lurks in it."

"You are no cousin of mine." Vera casually said.

"You seem to have really changed Vera! Was it because of your new teammate? Did you get so captivated with him that you act like a lady?" Aqola started laughing loudly and the rest followed.

Aqola suddenly stopped laughing and he raised his palm which signaled the others to also stop laughing. He then looked at Cyziel. "It seems you didn't heed my warning before. I guess you had no choice. Really unfortunate for you. I'll give you one last warning and as Zaga said, the forest are really dangerous."

"Thank you for your warning but I think you should look out for yourselves first." Cyziel continued showing his friendly smile but his tone was obviously sarcastic. He was no Ortix that would look for trouble but if it tries to find him then he would not mind to show them some force.

As the rest of Cyziel's group heard what he said, they unconsciously smiled. They know that Cyziel would definitely take action against them and seeing the miracles that he had shown them before, all the fear that they had for Aqola vanished. Aqola was not only feared for being talented otherwise Vera herself would be able to suppress him. What is scary is that he is someone calculating that would look for others' weakness.

Aqola was able to see the reactions of Vera and the rest of her friends. It was something that was quite different from the usual. He knew that Cyziel was the key but he does not yet know why. It started to scare him but he cannot show weakness.

"You think you are some hot shit?" Zaga furiously looked at Cyziel. He was enraged on how Cyziel acted. He had always been looked down by Vera but he knew since he was a kid that Vera was more talented than him but this time, some nobody tried to threaten them.

"Stop it Zaga! Let's go!" Aqola interjected.

"But-"

"I said let's go!" Aqola shouted as he walked away. The other 3 beside him also followed so Zaga had no choice but to also follow him.

-- Aqola's Camp (Purple Woods) --

A few minutes after Aqola's group entered the forest, they immediately convened for a discussion.

"Aqola. Why did you stop me from teaching that kid a lesson?" Zaga asked as he leaned on a tree.

"Do you not even know your own cousin? Do you think she would follow a man because he looks good?" Aqola irked as if looking at Zaga as he was an idiot.

"Do you mean that he is-"

"Yes! He is strong." Another man in their group answered. His name was Watako and he has a pale bluish skin that signifies that he is an Ocarian. In addition, he also has a long sword on his back. "He is at least as strong as Vera."

"Impossible! Do you know how strong Vera is?" Zaga cannot believe what the other 2 was saying because he personally knew that Vera was the most talented of all his relatives.

"It doesn't matter how strong they are. The question is." The only woman in their group looked at Aqola. "Do you have plans against him?"

"You are right Myla! I will first plan to test the guy. After all, I do not know how strong he really is."

The last man in the group with Aqola jumped down from a tree. "Everyone hide! Some people are coming!"

The group stayed hidden for quite a few minutes before they came out.

"Who are those?" Myla fearfully asked.

"Aren't those marks on their cloaks of the vile brigands ?" Watako added. "Why are they here? Should we abandon looking for the flower?"

"It seems we just got our answer on how we should handle Cyziel." Aqola started to laugh. "I did not know why they are here but it is perfect. We just need a plan on our own so we can safely escape."

-- Cyziel's Group (Outside the Purple Woods)--

"That went well!" Cyziel remarked as he didn't thought that it would actually end peacefully. It was good for him nonetheless.

"Do not think that he will let us get away. He was probably just cautious of you." Vera then walked beside Cyziel. "Anyway, where are we going to get the flowers of hope? They seemed to have cleared the area."

"They are really despicable!" Ru pouted.

"Follow me inside the forest. I know a place where they grow." 

"Huh? How did you know that?" Rika asked inquisitively.

"*Ehem!* The place I arrived was actually somewhere inside the forest and coincidentally, I saw those flowers." Cyziel started walking fast to dodge other questions. I really should be careful of whatever I said.

The group finally entered the forest. They used a different path from Aqola since they really don't want to associate with him. Just as before, the forest was still a wonderful place. The only difference this time is that howls and roars of animals can now be heard. They now followed their original plan for positions except Cyziel was now also a main combatant.

Cyziel actually thought that they could directly rush at the place but it would also be good for his team to get some experience so he let them do their jobs. Cyziel would point at the location where they would go. Rika would climb some trees and activate the combat art eagle eye to see from a far. Vera would be the vanguard and she also activated the combat art enhanced hearing and reinforce body. Jorak also did the same but he was situated at the back. Lastly, Ru was in the middle and she was using an identifier add-on on her watch which she points to nearby flowers.

The group encountered some beasts but it was nothing that they couldn't handle. They finally arrived on some open area with a lake that seem to emit some aether.

"This is it! The flower is here." Cyziel uttered.

"Huh? I don't see any flower!" Ru said while observing her surroundings.

"It is growing under the lake. It looks a bit deep though."

"Don't tell me you tried to swim here before thats why you learned of this?" Rika asked as she tried to look at how deep the lake is.

"Uhh yeah. That's actually what happened." Cyziel lied. He actually took a bath in a different lake but he knows this flower usually grows in aether abundant areas with no light.

This is why it grows during aether storms. Just the few hours of the storm would stimulate its growth due to the amount of aether and the sudden loss of light.

"So who is going to get it?" Cyziel asked as he tried to divert the attention away.

The three girls looked at Jorak.

"Fine. I'll do it." Jorak knew he had no choice and personally he does not have any qualms regarding it because he was an ocarian. He could even sleep underwater if he wanted to.

It only took Jorak a few minutes to get it from the bottom and he got 5 flowers again and gave it to Rika.

"Alright! Two down! One last left!" Ru was seemingly tired but it was apparent that she was in a good mood after they successful got the two flowers in a day. "It is getting late though. I guess we could camp here."

Suddenly, sounds of running people and rustling bushes could be heard.

"Who's there?" Cyziel shouted.