Mountains In The Distance

Feeling his body stop as he struggled to breathe while Xeflia's voice entered his ears he stopped and turned around to face her. "I knew this was coming." Facing Xelfia he looked into her eyes while Relia watched silently from the side. Locking eyes with Xilo she felt her blood rising as he looked at her calmly without a care in the world like usual. "Dammit, Calm down, what is wrong with me today." She felt like she was a lot more emotional than normal yet she couldn't quite pin it down as to why or if she really was.

"I'll say it again, are you an idiot? Why would you want to go there, you heard what that lady said, it's dangerous."

"I did, but that's where all the Astral Beasts are so I don't have another choice."

"Why not go somewhere else that's a lot of safer."

"The nearest place to us that I know of is..Belturn and I'd rather avoid going back there anytime soon. Besides its more than a couple weeks time away from here."

"...Then why not just hunt wandering Astral Beasts like you did yesterday?"

"I can't, there aren't enough of them and not all of them are hostile. We would only get so much money from them and it wouldn't last us long enough to do anything."

"....."

"Don't worry I only plan to stay on the outskirts of the forest without going too deep."

"But what if something happens..."

"Be there for me then."

Falling silent she waited a moment before letting go of his neck as she felt a stab run through her heart before quickly disappearing. "Why?" She didn't know what else to say hearing that.

"Are you feeling alright today Xelfia?"

Looking up at Xilo as he approached her she panicked slightly but couldn't move nor answer his question. Looking at Xelfia, Xilo tried to see if she was sick or something but he saw nothing wrong with her. "Weird, Xelfia is usually an aggressive person so to see her acting like this is...weird." That's the only word he could think of to explain Xelfia's current state. "Well everyone has off days.." Trying to explain that away he heard no reply from her as he spoke again.

"I know you're worried about me but remember you're also fighting alongside me. Try to remember that."

Saying that he didn't wait for her reply as he turned around and left down a flight of steps leaving Xelfia and Relia alone together in a vacant hallway. "He's right...seriously." Mentally slapping herself she tried to get her head on straight as she felt a small tug on the back of her shirt. Turning around she saw Relia holding her shirt looking up at her. "Even Relia is worried about me." Grabbing Relia's hand Xelfia smiled as she tried to appear okay but Relia's soft voice broke that smile in an instant.

"You....okay?"

"I am, just a rough few days that's all."

"..."

Feeling her let go Xelfia guessed she accepted her words as she began walking forward with Relia behind her. "Something's not quite right about her." "Why do you think that?" Talking to the woman's voice in her head that knew more information about things than herself, Relia followed behind Xelfia to meet up with XIlo. "She isn't mentally stable it seems and it doesn't seem like a natural thing. Something is influencing her. I just don't know what." "Is it something harmful?" "Honestly, I have absolutely no idea whether it's harmful or not." "Can you keep an eye on her then for me?" "I'll do my best. for now though you should leave her alone." "Will do." In silence the two of them walked outside of the inn to see Xilo sitting by himself on a bench waiting for them as a few people walked by him avoiding him.

However once he spotted the two of them he smiled dropping the slightly pained look he had on before as he walked up to them. "He's faking it." "Shhh...." They both knew that but it didn't mean Relia was going to point it out. Sometimes it was best to just let people deal with their own problems instead of just trying to always butt in and she wanted Xilo to like her not hate her. so staying quiet was the best choice.

"So are we ready to get going?"

""Yep.""

"Alrighty, Let's get some supplies while we still can and start walking. We'll be sleeping under the stars for a couple nights."

With that Xilo started walking to the shop he visited yesterday to buy a couple things like a bag to carry things along with food and water if need be. After that the three of them headed to the gate of the city while Xilo continued to contemplate what to do with Relia but the more time he spent with her the less he wanted her to leave. "But it's dangerous for her to come along..." Exiting the gate they walked for a little longer before he stopped and stared at Relia.

"Look, Relia..The place we are going to is dangerous."

"....."

"So I think you should stay here and find somewhere else to go."

Saying that through clenched teeth he had to push that out once and for all. Stalling for more time to spend with her was no longer an option. She was certainly a nice girl but he didn't want to see her get hurt. He had already trusted her and while it would have been nice to have a friend it just wasn't the time, or so he had thought at least. Saying that he watched as Relia stayed silent and just switched between looking at him and Xelfia before she slowly shook her head no.

"No?"

"....."

She didn't want to leave them if possible.

"I don't....want to leave."

"But...It's dangerous."

"I..can fight."

Hearing that slight shock went through Xilo's mind as looked at her and felt no Astral strength radiating from her. "She's lying right?" Turning to Xelfia for confirmation he watched as her eyes went slightly wide as they switched to her lizard's eyes then back to her normal ones before looking at Xilo again.

"Ummm, she's not lying. In fact you could say she's even stronger than you by a bit."

"What.....?"

"For what I can see she's at least at the Fourth Stage, Xilo."

Hearing that he fell silent for a short second as he lost his only excuse to run away from Relia and keep him and her safe. Truthfully he was a bit scared to be with someone besides Xelfia right now after Tearia. But that didn't mean he hated Relia either. "It's just...complicated." Letting out a deep sigh he didn't know what to do as he gave up.

"Fine, you can come with us, just be careful alright?"

"...ok..."

Beginning to walk again, Xilo watched as the mountains in the distance slowly became bigger in his vision as he finally remembered something he kept in his bag that might help them out in this little adventure. "Maybe we should play around with those crystals and use them?" Thinking that he stared at the small icicles on his hand as he fought back and forth in his head with what to do with all of them as the three of them quietly made their way towards the mountains. Thankfully the journey there was quite peaceful and after a couple hours they eventually made it there.

"A lot faster then the first go around."