Two green streaks of light shot across the morning sky, moving at an unfathomable speed. They slammed into the ground on the edge of a grass-covered cliff, appearing as pillars made of light.

A demon stepped out from the one on the right, and an elf from the left. As soon as they left the light, it dissolved into thin air.

“Where are we?” Aren questioned, scanning his surroundings. Lillia shrugged, also looking around.

The air was especially crisp, and morning dew covered the tall green grass they stood in. The cliff overlooked a sparkling light blue lake surrounded by trees, with expansive plains behind it all. Mountains of insane proportions stood far off on the horizon. The sky was completely clear, the sunrise making it appear gold and purple. 

The sight was beautiful, to say the least, and the pair had never expected to see something like this on Earth. The two decided to get a closer look at this place from the ground, and so they jumped off the cliff, plummeting several hundred feet.

After landing, Lillia had a surprised expression on her face. She used her force barrier to stop her momentum right before hitting the ground, yet it seemed almost completely undisturbed. Normally, falling from this height and stopping herself would cause the ground to be completely destroyed, but there was only a small dent below her feet.

Aren also noticed this and tested something himself. He stomped with as much weight and force as he possibly could, and it only created a tiny dent. The environment of this place seemed to be incomparably stronger than where they had just come from. 

They both also noticed that the mana was extremely dense here, and power surged throughout their bodies, quickly replenishing whatever was lost in the fight against the Emperor.

Drinking from the clear water of the lake, it turned out to also contain mana. Fish could be seen swimming farther out, and Aren managed to catch a few to eat. They had not eaten any food for a little while, as Lillia’s store of food had run out. Even though their bodies did not need food for long periods of time, the feeling of hunger was still there.

While eating, they discussed their next moves.

“Where are we going next?” Aren began.

“We still don’t know where we are, so I think it would be best for us to find that out first. I think I saw a dirt road off in that direction, so we may as well travel there.”

 Lillia pointed off somewhere in the distance where she had seen the road. Her eyesight was far greater than Aren’s likely due to them being her Mana Catalyst, so she could see many times farther than him.

He nodded in agreement, and they fell into silence once again. 

After eating, they decided to sleep even though it was the middle of the afternoon. They were mentally exhausted, even if their bodies were in perfect condition. They laid quite close together, as they had grown much more comfortable with each other through their time together, though Lillia’s cold demeanor hadn’t changed and she still didn’t speak to him much, though the first time they met she had been very talkative.

Soon, they drifted off into sleep.

Waking up the next morning, they packed their few belongings and began the trek towards the dirt road Lillia had seen. They chose to mostly walk at a comfortable pace most of the way, admiring the scenery.

Reaching it, they thought it was slightly strange how it seemed well-traveled and was quite wide, because as far as they knew there wasn’t a place on Earth that would have such a road leading to it.

They chose to go in the direction of the mountains and picked up their pace as it was obvious there would be several hundred or even thousands of miles of traveling ahead of them.

For two days they traveled through the plains, covering an uneventful 500 miles before reaching the foothills, not resting even once. It was at this point that a forest started, consisting of what looked like oversized pine trees.

After another day, they were deep in the mountains. Massive walls of moss-covered rock surrounded them on the left and right. Their pace had been slowed due to the rough terrain, but they were still traveling fast enough to cover almost 150 miles per day.

In this area, the road was extremely faded and became harder to follow, but it was still manageable. Aren and Lillia soon found out the reason why the trail was like this.

Pitch black clouds drifted into the afternoon sky, completely blotting out the sun. It was like it had turned from day to night in a matter of minutes. Green lightning split the sky, and the deafening roar of thunder shook the pair’s eardrums.

And then the worst downpour either of them had ever experienced in their lives began. The droplets of water traveled so fast they actually stung their skin, and the visibility decreased to just a few yards. The amount of water was extreme, and in under a minute, the ground was flooded with a few inches of water, increasing by the second.

The rock walls to their sides basically turned into waterfalls, adding to the flooding even more.

“Shit!”

Aren grabbed Lillias’s hand and blasted forward at full speed, practically dragging her along. He realized that since the road was going at an incline, it wouldn’t be long before the water flooded from in front of them. Despite their power, they still needed air to breathe. It was very possible for them to drown in this situation.