Chapter 38.

"How long has it been ? A month ?", wondered Rose while walking. Her leg still hurt as a reminder of the Grey Devil's gift. She also kept the arrow, hoping to always remember how easy it was to die if one was not careful. It definitely had been a month, and the trio had been travelling in the tunnels ever since. Well, not immediately after taking the mine down, as the blond girl could barely move at that point, but a week after. Yet, even after so much time and distance travelled, still no exit in sight.

Everybody had been quite gloomy for some time, but also focused, always on guard during the day and cultivating during the night. Out of respect, and mainly for decency, the other two rarely spent the night together, a fact that Rose had a hard time understanding. "I mean, it's just sex … I can just turn around and fake sleeping if they're really that prude.", she thought mockingly. She had told them something of the sort multiple times, but they looked too embarrassed to talk about it. "Maybe they are only embarrassed because it is me, who looks like a fifteen years old little girl … that's fucking annoying."

Apart from that detail, they quickly discovered that, contrary to their expectations, there was not much new after the mine. The disappointment was immense, and so was the boredom. "If we ever get out of here, we need to redact those moments : it's too awkward.". The same grey paths, the same big caves with the river somewhere and that was it. The only exception was that they had not encountered any monsters since then. It was equally welcomed and suspicious. Why ?

- Don't lag behind Rose., gently asked Enora.

- Yeah yeah, don't worry mom., she sneered.

From behind the tall warrior, Rose could see Nick holding himself from giggling as he took the lead. Of course, Enora saw it, and a light bickering ensued between the two. "It's so weird how things have gotten well since the coal mine. Are we getting to the end of this ?", thought the little blond.

Of course, one might wonder how the trio managed to eat without encountering any monster to kill. Well, the answer is quite simple : fishing. When looking for a new way to feed themselves the group discovered that the river they had been following for so long was in fact only a part of a larger one. And, contrary to the small one, said large river was full of aquatic life : mostly little fishes, no big predator, which was a blessing to them. Fishing was not that hard with wild magic, and fire magic cooked things way faster than a traditional campfire.

That way, the three humans had been surviving and relaxing a bit, taking longer breaks and cultivating all the available elements they possessed. By that point, all of them had a good understanding of each book's content, even to that last part :

' Dear apprentice, we are approaching the last few paragraphs of this small Grimoire. I hope you won't fail miserably in your endeavours. Let me talk a bit about diverse matters that did not quite fit into the previous pages. Firstly, why do I call certain people 'mortals' ? That is very simple. You see, most people do not practice Cultivation as it is challenging, time-consuming and expensive. It is, in fact, a privilege to be able to study magic comfortably. But some mortals do use magic, as I already said before. But they only use the very fundamentals of wild magic, and even those mortals are uncommon. They are either soldiers or have tough manual jobs. Sometimes a mage will try and teach his servants and bodyguards some wild magic just to make it easier for himself. Now, there are 'mages', and 'mortals'. The mages study magic and cultivate, obviously, while the mortals do not, and they are 'mortals' because they do not get to live longer like us. Everybody is mortal though, that designation is very much a show of arrogance from the first mages, and it stayed. Secondly, considering the power of magic, is immortality possible ? No. All things die one way or another, and just because we are superior to many do not mean we are gods. Even if such a thing were remotely possible, it would mean mastering every single existing School of magic, which is impossible considering we don't know them all. All mages should settle with living so long they can lay with their servant's sixth generation descendant. Thirdly, how did you get where you are ? Well, that is a fine question. In writing that I make you realise that not only am I conscious of the situation in which you currently are, but I may also know more about it. The place you are exploring is fascinating, and the sole thing I will tell you is that another mage, a good friend of mine, asked me to give a bit of my knowledge to sentient beings 'invited' into this series of challenges. That is all. I did not ask more as a mage's business is private, and I received plenty from my colleague thanks to that book you are holding. Do not worry though, as I may not be your friend, but I am definitely your ally. Lastly, how can you go home ? Easy : get out. When you do, you will probably be told of a way nearby to do such a thing. Nothing complicated, right ? '

At that point, Rose completely forgot to read the rest, eyes wide and mind blank from the shock. Those few details, insignificant in appearance, were so important to the amnesiacs of this hell that it made her heart skip a beat. She hurriedly called for the two others, keeping the booklet open as they began reading over her shoulders. And they also froze in the glow of the campfire, not able to process those few lines. After a good ten minutes of complete silence, Nick finally asked :

- Someone did this to us ? They even purposefully gave us all those powers to make sure we could try and survive ? What the fuck ?

By the end of his sentence, he was almost screaming in anger. Rose was still incapable of thinking straight, and Enora wore a mysterious expression without saying a word. This new information was not a simple ripple in their lives, but a great tsunami, and it swept away all their new-found positive feelings, leaving behind only doubt and their old friend fear.