Proving

Karabell got up lazily, stifling a yawn. He couldn't remember when he'd fallen asleep. The night before, he'd meant to have a chat with Shono. Apparently, though, the fatigue had gotten the best of him. Even worse yet, he'd managed to doze off dangerously close to the rooftop's edge. The others were still asleep. The sun hadn't even fully risen, so he wasn't in a hurry to wake them up.

"You're up early," he suddenly heard a soft whisper. Shono didn't seem to have moved at all, and, judging by the dark bags under his eyes, he hadn't been able to sleep.

"What's wrong?" Karabell replied, inching closer to him. "You didn't have to keep watch. No Aberration could ever climb that staircase. Pointlessly tiring yourself like that isn't like you, Shono."

"My apologies, but I don't know about that. We didn't think it was possible for Aberrations to speak either. Yet here we are."

So he was still thinking about that encounter. Well, Karabell couldn't do anything about that. He despised seeing one of his friends in that state, but he should've expected that kind of reaction. Shono told him that they'd have to walk for two more days, give or take, to reach the base, even if they didn't run into any Aberrations along the way. They didn't have many safe spots in that direction, but they only needed one. Shono had spent the whole night thinking about the best possible route. They'd leave around 7 a.m., then head straight for the lake. After quenching their thirst, they'd move directly towards the next safe spot. The building was more or less identical to the one they were at. It also had a spiral staircase, though it was a bit smaller. Provided that they weren't forced to engage more than one or two Aberrations, they'd arrive there by sunset.

"In theory, that would be our best chance. If all goes according to my plan, we'd arrive at the Agency tomorrow evening. I'm terribly sorry for not consulting you earlier, but I figured a good night's sleep would do you better." Shono offered him an apologetic smile.

"Relax, I'm not mad at you. If anything, I'm grateful. You've saved me a lot of trouble. We'll need to get ourselves something for dinner, though. Maybe we'll find some animals at the lake."

Getting to the lake proved a lot easier than they'd expected. They'd even been able to leave a few minutes earlier than planned, too. Aside from Een's interminable whining, they hadn't encountered any problems. His shoulder was all better, but that also meant that he had no excuse not to carry the girl on his back. It'd been a while since Karabell had last seen the lake. Much to their delight, the water was pretty clear. Then again, they wouldn't have complained either way.

"It's a shame we don't have some sort of container on us," Karabell remarked. There were no animals around, but at least they'd found water. The fact that they hadn't seen any Aberrations was satisfying as it was disturbing. Sure, they'd gotten to that point a little faster than anticipated. It all seemed way too convenient. He couldn't shake that feeling off. Well, it probably didn't matter. If they did run into enemies, they'd just have to kill them. The next safe place was still a ways off. They'd had to make a slight detour to get to that lake. Karabell gulped down the water before washing his face.

*

"Finally, some action!" Alice exclaimed, jumping up and down after hearing the Gargling's annoying noises. Drops of cold sweat appeared on Karabell's forehead as he unconsciously recalled the last time he'd heard a Gargling. After a few moments, the creature came into view. It was a feathered Aberration, seemingly all by itself.

"Please, can I take care of this one?" the girl pleaded.

"Sure. It's blocking our path anyway." the Captain responded, although that wasn't exactly the case. He also knew that Alice needed to let off some steam. "Een, you can leave the girl with us and help..."

But Alice had already left, rushing head first towards the Aberration. Seeing her run off on her own like that, Karabell began to question his decision. Letting out a short cry, Alice circled around the creature, her red hair tracing a path of fire through the air. Karabell came to the sudden realization that he hadn't watched her fight before. Not from the sidelines, anyway. Compared to him, she moved slower, but a lot more elegantly. It almost looked like she wanted to show off. Suddenly, she picked up the pace, running in circles around the Gargling. Startled by the abrupt change, it lost its balance. Hitting it with her sword was all it took to make the Aberration fall. Even if Alice's weapon hadn't pierced through the creature's feathers, she'd managed to incapacitate it in the blink of an eye. After another two or three seconds, the fight was over. Once knocked to the ground, the Aberrations always lost their composure. No one knew why they acted like that, but it probably had something to do with their survival instincts. If they even had such a thing. That position made them vulnerable to attacks. Naturally, they'd focus on getting up, disregarding anything else. An incapacitated creature was an easy kill. That, however, didn't take away from the fact that Alice had just defeated a Gargling all by herself.

"So, how was that for a fight?" She smiled proudly, looking at the others.

"It could have been better..." Een answered immediately, struggling not to laugh. Karabell congratulated her, a bit baffled.

The rest of their trip was mostly uninteresting. Fortunately. Karabell had managed to keep Alice from slaughtering every Aberration they'd come across. And it'd been quite a hassle. They arrived at the building way before sunset, meaning that they still had more than enough time to go hunting. Een was already making a fuss about his back hurting. Alice wasn't a huge fan of chasing animals around, so she also preferred to sit that one out.

"You know, this kind of reminds me of the first time we killed an Aberration together. Everything was so scary back then. Though I guess things haven't really changed that much, have they?"

"Captain, don't take this the wrong way, but you're awfully pensive these days," Shono said, a faint smile plastered on his lips. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, it's not something to worry about. It's just... A lot of crazy things happened. Maybe I'm trying to seek comfort in pleasant memories? Something along those lines. Anyway, when I think about having to spend another night like that... Honestly, I can't wait to lie down in a decent bed again."