"Luna, what's wrong? What happened?"
Fatheema rose from her seat and walked toward the little girl, who was holding the strange weapon staff belonging to the monster she had killed earlier. Luna looked deeply curious about the weapon.
"T-this weapon extracts the vitality and souls of living creatures. It collects them and uses them as an energy source that can be converted into different forms depending on the need. It can even be turned into a weapon. Like the laser it used to attack you earlier." Luna fell silent for a moment.
"So it's an evil weapon. That explains why King Leomorth has been capturing so many creatures. He uses them as an energy source. He even came to Earth and captured people—including my father. What a bastard!"
Fatheema clenched her fists until they trembled. The two girls remained silent for several moments.
"Hmm... Luna, warrior girl. We should leave this place as soon as possible. I'm worried that the forces commanded by this creature may be able to track us here and cause trouble," Selena said, breaking the silence.
Fatheema nodded at Selena, and the group left the area. They continued along the road, moving farther away from the village of Asterion.
After walking for some time, they reached a small, crystal-clear river. They decided to rest there for a while.
Luna looked happy. Until recently, she had believed that her entire people had been wiped out and that she was the only one left. The three women shared stories about everything that had happened to them after their kingdom was taken over by Leomorth.
Fatheema, meanwhile, mostly remained silent, listening to their stories and occasionally nodding with a faint smile.
Suddenly, Luna stood up while holding the strange staff belonging to the bat-like monster. She took a cube about the size of a trash bin out of her storage bracelet. Then she placed the weapon inside it.
After a while, the cube began to sparkle with countless colors. Soft, silvery-white smoke emerged from its top, forming small, glowing spheres with tails.
But there was not just one.
Dozens—perhaps hundreds—of those tiny white-tailed spheres emerged from inside the cube. They circled above it for a moment before shooting upward into the sky.
"Those white-tailed spheres are the souls of the creatures imprisoned by Leomorth. He used to take their souls himself, stealing them from innocent beings. Now he has created weapons capable of extracting souls and converting them into weapon energy."
Luna raised both hands and prayed as the souls drifted through the air before her.
"May your souls finally find peace, all of you who suffered under his cruelty. May you find the best place in the world beyond this one."
"Princess Eos, Princess Selena... what are your plans now? What are you going to do next?"
Luna's question suddenly became more serious.
"We don't know yet. Just surviving the pursuit of the ifrit is already extremely difficult. We have no hope left for us in Saroya. We are trying to get as far away from them as possible—even if that means leaving this world and finding another one where we can live in peace."
Eos explained her plan to leave Saroya. But the biggest obstacle was that they had no way to do it. Traveling between worlds required a portal with tremendous power.
"For now, we still need to stay ahead of Leomorth's forces. Oh, Luna, what about you? What are you planning to do? And how did you end up here?" Selena interrupted.
"I'm going to accompany my friend to the royal capital," Luna answered briefly.
"What? To the royal capital?" Eos was shocked by Luna's plan. "You should reconsider. They'll arrest anyone who isn't one of their own people."
"Then why are you heading toward the mountains?" Selena interrupted again. "Shouldn't you be going in the opposite direction?"
Luna fell silent. Her gaze shifted toward Fatheema, who was sitting quietly nearby.
"It's okay, Luna. You can tell them what I'm here for. Maybe they have some information about my father and my friends."
Fatheema gave Luna a small gesture with her hand. She sensed that these people were not a threat, so there was no reason to hide her objective from them.
"I'm accompanying my friend Fatheema to rescue her father and friends from Leomorth. That's why we're here. But we need several materials to make a weapon for Fatheema. That's why we're heading toward Mount Kalavajra."
"Luna, just remember this: Mount Kalavajra is a mysterious mountain. There's no reliable information about what lies there. You need to be careful," Selena warned them.
"Selena, do you think we should go to that mountain too?" Eos began to consider the idea. "We don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe we could hide there and stay safe from Leomorth's forces."
The mountain was shrouded in so much mystery that most people would probably think twice before attempting to visit it. That made it an ideal place to hide.
"You're right, Eos!" Selena turned toward Fatheema.
"Warrior girl, please let us come with you. We have nowhere left to live. Maybe we can find safety on that mountain. We're tired of being hunted like fugitives."
Selena pleaded with her, looking directly at Fatheema.
"Princess Selena, there's no need to beg. Besides, I've never been there myself, and I have no idea what's waiting for us on that mountain. If you want to come with us, then come. I'll be glad if I can help you."
Fatheema smiled faintly, "Oh, and just call me Fatheema. Being called 'warrior girl' feels a little strange to me."
After resting sufficiently, the five of them continued their journey toward Mount Kalavajra. From their current location, they still had roughly another day of travel ahead of them.
As darkness began to fall, they decided to stop for the night. They found an open area beneath a large, shady tree and set up the Dimension Shelter. While the others rested, Fatheema lay down and closed her eyes.
She tried to calm her mind, relax her body, and cast away every negative emotion within her. Slowly, her consciousness began to drift into a subtler realm—the realm of dreams. Within the dream consciousness, the girl once again found herself in a vast, boundless place.
The floor beneath her was as clear and still as a gigantic, perfectly calm pool. Above her stretched an endless sky, merging with the transparent floor at the distant horizon.
She raised both hands, palms facing upward. She could feel the flow of inner force within that realm. Ever since entering the world of Saroya, she had sensed an extremely dense and powerful vitality surrounding her.
The inner force within her body had increased several times over. She could clearly feel the difference between this world and Earth.
Although the water, stones, and plants of Saroya had many similarities to those on Earth, the air felt much fresher. Even the sun seemed different. The sunlight that poured down from the sky was a pale bluish-white, seemingly brighter than the sun on Earth. Could that bluish sun be the reason her body felt stronger here?
And there was something else. The spiritual energy in this world was far denser. She could feel it every time she used a mantra. Through the palms of her hands, Fatheema drew in the surrounding vitality and guided it into her body, refining it into inner force.
After some time, her body began to feel increasingly powerful. Within her consciousness, her body gradually started to glow.
Her fatigue and pain disappeared completely. What remained was a body overflowing with life energy. She slowly lowered both hands. Then she began to recite a mantra. Her conscious body immediately seemed to become lighter, floating gently through the realm like a piece of cotton.
The Nirvanic Wind technique she used whenever possible allowed her body to become as light as cotton and move as swiftly as the wind.
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