Ciel stiffened as the freefall's current scraped against her skin, her palm's injury flaring as their bodies plunged from twenty-six stories high.
The forest's expanse unblurred and approached their eyes with a rapid momentum. Not even three seconds passed, and their figures reached the thick blankets of leaves.
Yet a controlled gust, distinct from the surging updrift, arose and caressed their bodies, killing their fall in the process.
Ciel frowned as a brief, yet undeniably relieving magic circle flashed below them, the trees barely inches away from them.
And when it disappeared, she sank into Quia's welcoming embrace. The breeze surged again as their bodies dove through the leaves, albeit in a much slower, safer speed.
Leaves rustled, branches snapped, and pain shot through Ciel's soft skin with the grazes, before their figures plopped back down onto the hard soil, as Ciel winced and pressed more onto Quia's chest.
Her small fingers swept through Quia's skin, bumping onto a few, protruding cuts on the surface. It was not only she that suffered from the rough fall.
That thought hit Ciel. She froze with her head hung, eyes suddenly drawn to anywhere but the elf's face, hoping to not meet the latter's lifeless eyes.
It was but a momentary thought. Then she shook as the embrace on her grew firmer, the arms trembling with a small yet stubborn vigor.
"Argh…" The elf groaned. "I really thought I was going to die…"
A sigh released itself in Ciel, the expected rainbow spire failing to arise.
Not that she was worried, of course. She didn't know what got into her.
"Is that wind magic just now?" She lifted herself off, only to tumble and fall by Quia's side, her lungs heaving to retrieve any air she lost from the wind pressure.
"Yep. My first time!"
"Your… first?"
"My first time doing this free-fall trick with another person."
She made a v-sign with her fingers, her grin twitching yet wide with confidence. "Impressed now?"
Ciel had a poker face, yet her tone was, unknowingly, soft.
"You could have killed me, then do the trick yourself." She breathed out, despite her burning lungs. "Makes your survival chance higher."
"Oh, don't survival this and that." The elf gave a hushed chuckle before pushing herself up. "People who live for survival alone were boring cowards. Come on."
She offered a hand to Ciel. "Let's go before they chase us again."
The elf's hand, scathed and battered, wore more thin cuts than even Ciel's, blood glinting against the serene moonlight.
Ciel's heart clenched. Perhaps the pain that crossed her muddled her resolve to distance herself-
As this time, she took the elf's hand without a second thought, noodle-legs stumbling awake as the firm grasp propped her straight.
A lone firefly, flickering a safe green, latched onto Ciel's cheek, a sight that the elf chuckled at.
"You've got someone really loyal to you, huh?"
Ciel's eyes grew distant. Her cheek tickled as the firefly's wings flapped, a sensation mingling with the warmth of Quia's grasp on her hand.
She let go of that warmth with pursed lips. "I passed by somewhere for us to wash our wounds on my way to the cliffside. Let's head there now."
The elf nodded. A regret flashed across her face as Ciel's hand left hers, but their steps began to wander through the forest.
Their figures soon crossed into the forest's shades, weaving through the pillars of barks and the veil of grasses.
"By the way, Ciel, do you really have to kill all the people back there?"
"Miss Quia. Do you want to risk everyone jumping on you, should you refuse to join the group?"
"Right… by the way, guess if I'm going to join if you do not act! Come on, the answer should be easy."
"Then I shall leave that easy answer to yourself."
"Meanie…"
"...you also just insulted me as boring…"
"Ha? Did I?"
"...you did…"
Only traces of their banters were left, humming in the night's wake.
—--------------
A river, wide and accommodating, stretched between the forest, cutting through the paths of thick barks and bushes, a safe area after Quia's brief scouting.
Two long shores lined the rushing stream of water. Ciel's boot settled comfortably onto the wet land with space to spare, a testament to the scene's large scale.
But one might ask: where was Quia during this scene?
"Woohoo!"
A loud splash echoed. Ciel frowned as she threw a tired glance at the elf, throwing herself into the running river without a care.
With her clothes and lantern settled aside, Ciel's eyes perfectly outlined Quia's exposed, perfect figure, the bountiful chest bouncing with her fall.
Ciel's attention, despite lingering on Quia's body with a pause, instead moved to the stream.
It was faint, but she could barely make out something that separated Quia's body and the water by an inch, as if the air thickened and shielded the elf's body from harm.
The stream ran along the elf's skin, yet it also didn't.
"Are you really enjoying yourself?" Ciel asked with the curiosity of a scholar, yet her childish tone didn't bother to disguise her intent to tease.
"Oh, please." Lying flat on the river, the elf's arms swayed in the water. "Like you didn't know how fast the river was. My wounds are going to be opened up if I don't use wind magic to protect myself."
Wind magic. This was the second time Ciel witnessed Quia's application of it.
Or, maybe the third time? Her memory drew back to when Quia's summons, the paw and wing, whose attacks were so fast that it was borderline physically impossible.
Alas, she shrugged off the thought. Ciel was sure of her guess, but there was no need to confirm it by asking Quia.
Although-
'Don't wanna. If you beg so sincerely, I can't help but reject you.'
The elf's words rang mischievously in her head. Ciel's cheeks almost bloated, before consciously deflating to avoid another pout.
"By the way," Ciel asked, taking off the pair of boots. "I plan to hide a little before we head out to hunt. You good with it?"
The elf's eyes, shamelessly plastered on Ciel's feet, began to haze. It seemed this cute creature's true 'strength' lay right between the toes.
"Now that you score a point, though, I agree." Her palm cupped some water. After opening a small gap in her wind barrier, she poured the cool liquid over her cuts.
"But is there anywhere for us to hide here?"
"There should be a cave somewhere over to the North. Moonlight invades enough to cover the shadow, then we can do the rest with your lantern and some fire."
Ciel, hiking up her skirt, sat down and dipped her toes in the river, healing her sore feet.
The waves caressed her toes in a frantic rhythm. A noisier peace, unlike that of the Black Sea, but much more welcome.
"You passed by there again?" Recalling how the cliff was in the South, the opposite direction of the cliffside, Quia let slip a loose question.
Ciel didn't have an answer. Should she confess how she invaded this land merely a couple of years ago?
"But… hm…"
Ciel's unease flickered, yet the elf merely swatted her arms and legs in dismissal. "It's been almost fifty years since I bathed with someone. How nice."
A bath, huh? Ciel smiled. "For me, it feels like forever."
"Oh? That makes me the special one then."
Taking this as a flirt from Ciel, Quia boasted. "You should have seen how many girls I turned down to see me naked. That makes you special, too."
"Adventures…" Ciel's leg swayed with gentle ripples. "Were you an adventurer, Miss Quia?"
"Well… not a registered one." The elf's chuckle was brisk, yet bitter. "I did many things that may or may not piss off some people. Well, not that I can help."
"Given your personality, I must claim I'm not surprised." Ciel raised her chin, eyes admonishing.
"That wouldn't make me, 'me' otherwise." The elf's head turned with an arrogant grin. "Do you like my personality, Ciel?"
"No. Not really."
"Hm….?"
Quia's waist shot up, facing Ciel with a smooth curve of her lips.
"I seem to recall someone worrying earlier though?" Her finger pointed and circled at that 'someone'. "And who's my shortie that chose to stay instead of escape even when out of mana?"
Ciel's eyes blinked dazedly. "I'm impressed you know. Do you perhaps have an ability to 'see' mana? Like the Fae Tribe?"
"It's just easy to guess." The elf's hands shrugged with her shoulders. "Too amateur. Too amateur. Tch tch, youngsters these days really need to think more before they act rashly, let alone exposing themselves so thoroughly."
Then, she sent a cheerful grin. "But I don't dislike such a risky act from you, little Ciel."
Little. Ciel.
First was a scowl. Then, the air she deflated magically returned, her gratitude for the elf reduced to a mere pout.
"I change my mind. You've the most troublesome personality I've met yet, Miss Quia."
"...eh?"
The elf's confused hum echoed through the silent forest. Unknown to the elf, Ciel hadn't met enough people to fairly judge anyone.
As their chatters passed the time, Ciel's eyes caught a flicker of flame in the air before squinting.
She lifted her gaze from the boasting Quia, the fiery leaderboard now occupied by a new name.
When a person died, and a spire arose, so were their names erased from the leaderboard.
This time, the original names of the top two, Orion Christania and Calvessa Loriana, were nowhere to be found.
Instead, the leaderboard began to scroll up a new name that was decorated with a cat spellbind, partnered with a number that appeared for the first time.
'Selvara Stormveill - 3'