Petra turned around, walked back to her room, and then also crawled back into bed.
She closed her eyes…
-
Five minutes passed—
Petra's eyes opened!
"…Can't sleep," she muttered in the silent darkness…
Hmph! She jumped up—
Then she slipped out of bed, again, and while being careful not to disturb the others, she trotted towards the door. This time, she didn't stop in the hall or peer out a window, no, she directly went outside and found her way to the porch…
The porch was slick with rain, with water spilling in a steady curtain from the roof's overhang.
Petra kicked off her small socks and, without ceremony, left them in a sad little heap, then stepped down into the mud, barefoot and bold.
The earth gave way beneath her small weight, which was cool and soft as it pressed between her toes, sending a refreshing chill through her body. She smiled faintly and started walking, even skipping from time to time, slashing mud and water all the way up her little legs! Rain soaked through her hair within seconds, plastering green strands of flying grass to her chubby cheeks.
Thunder rolled overhead, deep and restless in the rain, shaking the air and causing the spiritual energy to vibrate with electricity, yet it still felt somehow distant, like the world was heavy beneath the static of the storm.
Petra had grabbed an umbrella on the way out, holding it lazily above her head. She would occasionally spin on the spot, stop, then sporadically start again a second later! She wandered through the mud like a child wearing rain boots, deliberately hopping into puddles, then watched the water ripple and splash as it spilled over, filling her footprints from behind.
As she passed across a stone path—
Her feet met the cold, uneven surface of the rocks, filled with sharp pebbles and flooded with rain. The texture changed under her soles, grounding her, and forcing her to slow down or risk stepping on something unpleasant.
Time passed as she played.
Further ahead was a river formed by the storm.
She stopped at the riverside.
Petra crouched down, set the umbrella aside, and dipped her foot into the rushing water.
The cold bit sharply into her skin, stealing her breath, before settling into a steady, numbing calm like prickling skin. She shivered and pulled back, instantly awakening in full force.
Petra stayed like that for a while, listening to the rain.
Then she moved on…
She stopped at a pavilion that appeared not far ahead, its roof catching the rain and throwing it aside.
Petra stepped into its range, nearly slipping like an idiot as her wet feet met the smooth stone floor. She steadied herself with the help of her trusted umbrella, checked the empty seats, then stretched out her whole body as she sat down. She extended her legs one at a time, straightening them out into the range of the rain, and washing off the mud.
Water drummed on the roof above her head as she leaned back, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the night as it slowly moved around her...
Ka-Ka-Kacha-BOOM! Lightning flashed, filling the sky!
-
After a short break, Petra returned to the rain…
Swoosh!
She disappeared with a step, appearing on top of a nearby rooftop.
She moved across the rooftops like a shadow, barely touching the ground as she climbed higher and higher, not wanting to get dirty, until she eventually spotted someone sitting alone on the edge of a distant building. It was—
Pen! Pen Tibon…
The young boy she helped back at the Solarin Castle. It looked like he was doing well!
Kinda…
Ish…
Mm...
She couldn't really tell from here!
Ha ha ha!
Mm, anyways…
He sat hunched forward, rain drenching his hair. He stared down towards the sea in silence. His expression was unclear, but judging from the large black bags under his eyes, he hadn't gotten much sleep recently!
Petra paused, wondering what had happened.
She re-examined this youth.
He looked… troubled, no-no-no, he looked like he needed help! Indeed, he had changed a lot!
Yes! Mm, so she naturally—
Immediately turned the other way and left!
-
Continuing her nighttime escapade—
Some time later…
Having reached the mountainside, Petra used one of the very few dark element spells she knew to flicker through the shadows and shoot up towards the mountain peak.
She blurred with the light, timing her 'jumps' with the light of the lightning.
Petra vanished upward, racing along the face of the mountain, leaping across ledges, and slipping through small gaps that no normal person could fit through.
She moved like a literal shadow, formless and ascending!
In mere moments, she reached the peak…
Petra stepped out of the shadows, her hair fluttering in the wind.
She looked around.
This was a small plateau…
The storm at this altitude had thinned, allowing the clouds to part just enough for the starry sky above to bleed through the void and reach this place. Petra wandered over to a small stone slab and sat down, hesitating for just a moment before lowering herself onto her back and looking up at the infinite expanse. She lay there, the cool rock pressing into her spine as the wind washed over her face.
She stared upwards, quietly lost in thought…
She had noticed it some time ago…
Ever since leaving Evergreen Town, no, perhaps it was even sooner, she had developed a strange fascination for the sky! It wasn't a feeling she remembered from back on Earth, or maybe it was, once upon a time… but her life never gave her the chance to perceive it.
But here, today, looking up—
Above the sky, the world felt different in her eyes, less 'constrained'.
The clouds, those that had accumulated below, were torn apart by the wind and rain, churning like a violent sea, revealing brief stretches of unending darkness. Above, unbound by the earth, stars flickered in and out of view, forming distant and sharp lights, like pinpricks in an endless curtain, mixing colors, illusions, and creating an impossible canvas of countless creations.
Petra frowned.
"Ah… Mm, it's really impossible, isn't it?" she muttered to herself.
Every time she looked at it—
She felt the same way…
Why did it make her feel as if she was missing something? Why did that hollow, lonely ache only grow stronger instead of fading? The longer she stared, the worse it became…
She rocked back up, returning to a sitting posture.
There was a pause, and then, without warning—
- Petra let her facade slip
Like one shedding their clothes, her large black eyes narrowed, the playful brightness that she always displayed drained away in an instant. Her cute, carefree expression vanished, replaced by a bottomless gaze, her eyes rippling to reflect an endless abyss no different than the void above. In that instant, she looked less like a mischievous child, and more like something bitter, 'dangerous', almost emotionless to the point of incomprehensibility! This was the face that was hidden behind Petra's madness, the expression you never wanted to see…
She—Petra, couldn't explain these feelings…
It was really frustrating! She despised not having control of her body, her mind, and her emotions! For her, there was no greater taboo than this!
The only time she felt that she could truly 'breathe' was when she faced the stars, when she could see, clearly, that the world wasn't a 'box', and there were no walls trapping her inside. It was only at times like this, like tonight, that her mind could truly relax—
And yet, even now, that suffocating sensation never truly left…
Petra, no—the 'Poison Sea Sage', had grievances, enemies, curses and promises, all of which remained unfulfilled. Standing at the peak of the mountain, staring up into the sea of stars, Petra quietly hoped that one day she might 'reunite' with her 'old friends', and when she did, she would make sure to teach them exactly what it meant to antagonize the Poison Sea Sage—!!
She sighed…
The brewing emotions concealed within her abyss died down, and she seemed to deflate.
"But even if that's possible… will they still be alive?" she whispered.
Her eyes, already returning to normal, drifted back to the stars.
"And even if they are… how far would I have to go to find them?"
Petra hummed a tune from her previous life, losing herself in thought.
"This world… It's so small, so enclosed. I never thought I'd feel this claustrophobic," she muttered. "It's kind of funny." She shook her head. "If 'those idiots' knew I felt like this, they'd probably laugh." She closed her eyes. "I can only take it one step at a time. I've got a family, friends, power, and a position… but there's still a long way to go, isn't there…?"
Her gaze shifted to the storm rolling in the distance, its black veil of mist and lightning swallowing the horizon. "This world… can it really survive the calamities?" she wondered quietly. "…And if it can't, what happens then?"
Petra pursed her lips.
Her mind turned.
Levy had briefly told her that what she called 'outer space' was actually called the 'Empty Void', the uppermost layer of the 'Void'.
If the world really collapsed, and the calamities won in the end, could she just escape to the Void?
What would happen?
Where should she go?
Was it even inhabitable?
"The sky is so vast…" Petra thought to herself. There would definitely be something to do—
Her voice faded with the wind…
* * *
Eventually, the night passed—
-
The next morning—
The storm that had ravaged the valley throughout the night had finally relented…
Heavy clouds still hung over the mountains, but they were thinner and torn apart by pale bands of amber light. The rain lingered only as the faintest drizzle, soft enough to barely be felt, and the wind had stopped, replaced by a refreshing and soul-cleansing breeze. Water still slipped from the eaves, falling down onto darkened greenery in slow, rhythmic drops that set the scene.
The air was clean, carrying the simple scent of minerals felt after a long night of rain.
Inside the private courtyard—
-
Petra slowly stirred…
She, who was buried beneath a pile of warm bodies, blankets, tails, and long limbs, was wedged somewhere in the middle, a bit like a particularly lazy cat, the obese kind!
She sniffled—
Woosh! From the side—a cat tail swept over and slapped her in the face, swack! This caused Petra to grimace, then wriggle her trapped little body even harder! Swoop! Something fluffy flopped against her back, likely a large leg, which smelled strongly of dog!
She grumbled, then, while retracting her arms towards her body, she trembled!
Tremble…!
Then—
Boom! Petra exploded with a small storm, throwing the 'lily pile' into the air with a—Woosh! Up—down—Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
That seemed to do it…
After landing in an extremely ungraceful pile of people, everyone opened their groggy little eyes.
Immediately after, everybody began to move.
The beast girls woke the way they always did.
Not all at once, no-no-no, that would be too reasonable!
They got up in 'stages', like all beastmen, apparently! This was some weird quirk of their race, and it was usually related to their clan or background!
First, the cat performed a super—long—stretch—! Her little tail appeared somewhere near the back, flicked left and right, then she jumped away on all fours. At the same time, the owl blinked slowly, then proceeded to casually stand up and walk away in one smooth motion.
Next, the dogs' ears twitched, before she rolled over on her belly and fell back asleep...
Then, the small fox yawned loudly, way, way too loudly! Her messy reddish-blonde hair fell over her face and tickled her nose, but this did not stop her, no, she didn't even try to cover her mouth as she sneezed violently, then her naked body fell back onto her fluffy tail! She proceeded to look around in confusion.
Somewhere else, a certain squirrel fell onto the ground with a front-facing flip, did a little roll, then left the mess with a dull thwack, before immediately freezing in terror. Her face transitioned from shock, to confusion, to embarrassment, then she pretended that it hadn't happened at all!
She proceeded to nonchalantly walk away...
Petra pushed herself up, her hair a tangled mess of green.
The blanket slid down her shoulders, and she rubbed her eyes.
She was still tired, because she had stayed up late last night, but that didn't mean she could slack off! "Okay," she said, clapping her hands! Clap! "Let's get going!" The room shifted into motion!