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Chapter 112: Climb the Mountain

  Addie played around with her new ability a lot as they travelled back to the abandoned city. She tested how far away she could see Nettal’s soul-outline, and she checked to see if she could look at her own. After consulting a bit with Book, Addie decided to call the new ability aura-sight, which was apparently ‘standard’ for this ability. Book sure knew a lot of useless stuff.

  And wasn’t that a surprise! The silly book had finally decided to show itself again after ignoring Addie for so long. She wanted to be angry at it, but she was too busy being glad that its map was working again to help them travel all about. It’d also given her some ideas about how to train her new aura-sight. Addie tried to look at Book’s aura, but she couldn’t find one around it. Maybe it really wasn’t alive.

  Anyway, they made it back to the city after less than a week, checked on the east crystal to make sure it had changed colors, and then they all immediately headed down south to the last ruin site. They’d already explored the interesting parts of the city, and there was no reason for them to hang around there any longer.

  While on the way to the southern ruin site, Addie wondered what the next trial would be. Maybe she’d have to fight another big enemy, or maybe Nettal would have to solve another puzzle. She couldn’t help but be a bit excited, thinking about what kind of adventure would happen next.

  On the other hand, she really did want to go home. Her thoughts drifted from Christena and Dad to Auntie and Mom. Were they worried about her? Would she get scolded for running off on another adventure? She thought back to the time Auntie had chastised her for meeting with Sen in the middle of the night.

  The scenery to the southern ruin site looked exactly the same as all the others. Fields of green grass in all directions, each stalk doing its best to irritate Addie in whatever way possible. Squishy liked it, though.

  “It allows me to prowl on the hunt, giving me easy ambush spots for prey.”

  Addie just hoped nothing out there would use the head high grass to try ambush her. She needed to be ready to protect Nettal at a moment’s notice. And yet, as the days continued on their journey with nothing extraordinary happening, boredom set in.

  It was by the fire one night that Nettal brought up an interesting conversation. “Since you’ve found all these ways to expand on your magic with Ember, don’t you think there’s tons of things you could try to do with Squishy?”

  Addie thought about that for a moment, no reply coming to her easily.

  “I mean, you’ve got a fire shield and a fire lance, now. Plus, those other things you’ve figured out. What about your magic with Squishy?”

  To Addie, shaping her fire into a shield or spear sort of just made sense at this point; she hadn’t thought about it that hard. But with Squishy, the way she could teleport around, in and out of Realmspace, well, she didn’t see an easy way to improve that. She’d already been working on improving the range of her spatial sense, which got a little bit better every day.

  “What about you? Don’t you think there’s more stuff to do with healing?” Addie asked in return.

  “Actually, yeah!!!” Nettal shouted in great excitement, her entire face lighting up in a beaming grin. “I’ve figured out more and more parts of our bodies— did you know your eyes actually see everything upside down?! Our brains just trick us into seeing right-side-up somehow!” She quickly continued after taking a fast bite of her piece of roast, “Also, I can see your bones growing; some of them aren’t even fused together yet. Isn’t that just interesting? My favorite, though, is that I think with a bit of practice, I could even regenerate someone’s missing arms or legs!”

  “Regenerate?” Addie hadn’t heard that word before.

  “Like, heal someone to grow back a missing arm or something,” Nettal clarified.

  Addie opened her eyes wide in surprise. “That would be cool!” she easily agreed.

  After all that, she felt more at ease at night. Knowing her cousin could fix her up even if she lost a leg or something made Addie feel brave. She’d protect Nettal for sure.

  That night came quickly, with everyone yawning as they prepared for bed. She enjoyed having Squishy so close, oftentimes even snuggling right up against or on top of her chest. Having Squishy and Nettal here, with Ember also curled up in her soul, made Addie feel so safe at bedtime.

  The next morning, after only a bit of walking, Book’s location marker for everyone was right next to the southern ruin site. Just like last time, they couldn’t see any obvious buildings, which made Addie think they needed to go ethereal again.

  “Perhaps we ought to wait until nightfall this time, my lady. Avoid the binary-burns.” Squishy’s triangular ears flicked as he spoke.

  They had been sleeping through the nights without issue so far; maybe that would be the smart choice? When she passed the information along to Nettal, though, she seemed skeptical.

  “What if something attacks us at night? Squishy’s been watching for us all this time while we’ve been sleeping, hasn’t he?”

  “Nettal does make a solid argument. Though, in all my time hunting through the grass, I’ve never once encountered something that could possibly harm us. Then again, perhaps it is prudent to be vigilant.”

  Nettal thought about what Squishy said for a bit before replying, “How about the two of you scout things out first, just like before? Lotty and I will watch over your bodies.”

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  That sounded good to Addie, and Squishy quickly agreed. So, without waiting for night, Addie immediately pushed her soul out of her body before doing the same to Squishy.

  Though she couldn’t see them, Nettal waved in Addie’s general direction to send them off. Together, Squishy and Addie floated further south, using the Binary to guide them. The structure they’d been expecting came into view after just a couple of minutes.

  What they came upon would have made Addie gasp if she’d had lungs. Standing proud before them was an ethereal torii gate— a word she only knew from the time the Furrians had given her the book about the fog demon.

  It stood on two mystical red pillars, glowing with an ambient light. The top had two bars, the bottom and the top. The bottom one was just a round, red, horizontal pillar. The top one was flat and completely black. Both of them bowed upward slightly near the edges. The entire thing danced in an unseen wind, exactly like the haunted house from before.

  The torii gate stood at the base of an ethereal mountain, one that stood directly atop the plains of grass. Carved steps of stone/ethereal stuffs made their way in a straight path upward. Unfortunately for Addie, she recognized the entire thing.

  “Let us return and report to Nettal.” Addie agreed with Squishy, of course.

  Just a few minutes later, they’d travelled back to their bodies, Addie waking up with a gasp of fresh air. Nettal was by her side in an instant, first checking her for injuries with a flash of glowing green eyes before doing the same for Squishy.

  “You both seem fine, so that’s good!” She smiled, and then her face turned serious. “What did you find out?”

  “It’s the same as the book we read from the Furrians,” Addie said glumly.

  “What’s the same?” Worry came across Nettal’s tone, like she didn’t quite want to believe it.

  “The mountain with the fog demon. It’s exactly like in the book!”

  Nettal sighed and rubbed her face. “It all comes back to that, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “In the vision you two shared, was the mountain ethereal?” Squishy asked, his starry eyes looking up at Addie.

  “What?” Addie looked down at him.

  “You heard me; I asked if the mountain was ethereal.”

  “No, but why does that matter?”

  “Why does what matter?” Nettal jumped in.

  “He’s asking if the mountain used to be ethereal in the book we read.”

  “Oh!” Nettal’s face lit up before she turned to Squishy and began squishing his cheeks. “You’re a genius!” she praised him, hands on both sides of his face.

  “Hey!” Addie said, only a tiny bit upset, “He’s my Squishy!”

  Nettal just laughed, letting go of him and taking a step back. “He doesn’t mind it, do you?”

  “I would not turn away the lady’s ministrations, I suppose.”

  Addie glared at him with a pout. To soothe her, he walked over and rubbed himself against Addie’s legs. She wouldn’t admit it, but that did make her feel a little bit better.

  “Why does it matter?” Addie finally asked, feeling like she was missing out on something between Squishy and Nettal.

  “Why does the mountain being ethereal matter?” Nettal clarified, to which Addie quickly nodded. “Well, because that means it’s not the same mountain. The mountain we saw in the vision was a real mountain. Besides, if this one is ethereal, can it really have been made by the fog demon? We already know it has two powers: the control of the fog and some way to grant immortality. Something else must have made the ethereal mountain— probably the same thing that made the haunted house from before.” Nettal smiled at her own logic, her confidence rubbing off on Addie, too.

  “Well, that still means it could be dangerous. Plus, why’d it make the mountain look just like the one from our vision if it’s not the fog demon? That doesn’t make sense,” Addie pointed out, still confused by all this.

  “They can still be related,” Nettal pointed out. “This just means we probably aren’t going straight to the fog demon, at least.”

  Addie let out a big breath of air, crossing her arms in thought. She had a strong feeling this trial wouldn’t be as easy as the other three.

  “So, how do we want to do this?” Nettal asked the group.

  “I propose we either go now or as soon as night falls.”

  “I still think we need to have someone stay and watch over our bodies,” Nettal said, looking at Squishy.

  “I shall not leave my lady’s side,” he declared strongly, his intent and emotions bleeding into Addie from their bond.

  After Addie told Nettal what he’d said, she kneeled down next to him to explain. “Squishy, no one else can protect our bodies while we’re gone,” she tried gently, “Addie has to go, since she’s the only one that can take the last ruin site’s book ability. And Lotty and me can’t defend anyone. You should stay and protect us, don’t you think?”

  Addie definitely didn’t want Squishy to stay behind; she’d never been apart from him since they first bonded. But she also understood what Nettal was saying. Addie didn’t want to get stuck without a body, either.

  With a heavy sigh, and a great amount of trepidation, Addie decided to agree with Nettal. “Squishy, can you please stay and protect us while we’re gone?” she asked him sincerely.

  His whole body deflated, all of the air drawn out of his lungs. Angling his eyes up at Addie with his head drooped and his ears flat against his skull, he unhappily agreed.

  “I shall be here and eagerly await your return, my lady. Simply call out to me if you are in danger, and I will always find you.”

  Addie smiled. “Okay.”

  “Alright, Addie, let’s go climb a mountain.”

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