With a heavy sigh, I arise before looking around. My eyes land on Merle, and a tiny, glowing creature floating in front of him.

I squint my eyes slightly, wincing as the burning sensation increases noticeably. It seems like Merle is talking with the spirit.

However, he seems nervous instead of scared. He's not harmed either... Now that I think about it, the vengeful spirits are gone. I'm glad that it's over.

I stumble a bit, my legs feeling slightly weak after what happened earlier. I walk, and an old, dry twig snaps under my feet, the sound catching Merle's attention.

"Alaire?" He calls out, and I give him a small nod of confirmation. He rushes over and supports me after seeing that I'm stumbling.

For a while, he doesn't do anything and simply stares at me. I turn to look at him, now almost fully awake. I raise an eyebrow slightly, but the burning sensation refrains me from raising it much, hence why I tilt my head instead.

"Is everything alright?" I ask him, sounding confused at his own puzzled expression. My words seem to snap him out of his thoughts. 'I wonder what he was thinking about so deeply...'

"Ah, yes! Are you okay?" He asks and checks my condition while supporting me. 'Weird... Was that his power awakening? Judging by his markings, it seems so, but I've never such a powerful awakening.' He thinks and looks at me with worry in his eyes.

"Mhm, I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy. It also feels like my face is burning slightly, mostly around my eyes." I reply with a nod and touch my cheeks lightly, trying not to trigger the burning sensation any further.

It's rather uncomfortable. But I want to know why it feels like it's burning. 'I don't have a fever. That much is clear. It burns the most under my eyes... But I can't feel anything out of the ordinary.' I think and touch my face carefully. 

Merle just looks at me with a somewhat knowing look before realising something. 'Is it just me, or did the aura surrounding him before less suffocating?' He thinks and examines me to see what might be the cause.

"Do you know what that was, Alaire? And do you feel anything different?" He asks, as if he's trying to confirm something, but I just ignore him.

I'm more concerned about Hewie since she's awfully quiet and doesn't look too well. It's almost like she became a bit see-through... transparent, even. 

"We should continue the search first." I cut Merle off, enduring the pain. 'At least it's bearable.' I wobble subtly while we walk through the now clear, yet still depressing Haunted Glade. 

It takes us time to get to the parts where Haunted Glade borders with Silvailia. I can see the protective barrier, which surrounds the elven village... We're almost there. I need to recover a bit after we arrive, and then we can search again.

I don't think that Ellirith will be too happy about this, but what can I do? Risks are all part of life, and with us trying to find her lost sister, they're even bigger.

It's also not my fault that I got tangled up in all of this. I never asked for this at all! I groan in frustration and glance at Hewie, who's resting on my shoulder, looking slightly drained of energy.

I can't help but wonder what's going on with her. She's usually so cheerful and a bit crazy that it's worrying to see her like this. 

I really want to ask her what's wrong, but I'll look like a madman to Merle if he sees me talking to a god damn bird. The only thing that I can do is hope that she'll be fine after some time...

While my thoughts drift off to Hewie and her words, Merle supports me during the way back to Silvailia. He eyes my markings the whole time, but he doesn't say anything.

Meanwhile, Hewie rests on my shoulder whilst keeping her eyes closed. Now that I take a closer look at her, there is an Elaris letter on top of her head. The differently coloured feathers seem to form the letter... H? It probably stands for Hewie. What a cute little detail.

Throughout the whole way, we don't run into any trouble. Thank god... Once we arrive back at Silvailia, some elves and even a spirit immediately go to me and take me away from Merle. 

'Why are they so immediate to help me? I'm not even that hurt...' I look at them confused, wondering why they're so quick to take action.

They take me over to a house built inside a tree and lie me down on a bed carefully. Merle simply stays by my side as he helps the healers to put me on the leaf bed. 

I just try to cooperate with them to make it easier to put me on the bed. A small sigh escapes my mouth, although Merle mutters something to himself very quietly. 

"What sort of marking is that? Life? Looks like it." He mutters to himself while eyeing most likely my face. 'Marking? As in the one he has?' I think and raise an eyebrow slightly.

Hewie sits on the edge of the leaf bed and looks at Merle before returning her gaze on me. "He's talking about your markings. That's why your face is burning." She explains, and I look at her with interest. 

'But what kind? What powers do I have?' I question myself in my mind and lie still on the bed, whereas the healers work on my injuries.

"Where's the water healer?" One of the elves shouts and looks around before another elf steps out and listens to the elven lady, who seems to be the head medic. "Cool down the burns!" The head healer commands the water healer sternly.

'Burns? What burns?' I'm confused by what she means before I suddenly feel water touch my skin. I flinch subtly at the unexpected sensation, and I look at my arm. I have burns all over my arms... How did I not notice?! Well, probably because I can't feel them at all...

"Cool down his whole body in case he's burned elsewhere!" The head healer barks orders at the others as I feel cool water surrounding me. It actually feels kind of refreshing... I close my eyes and relax as I take in the sensation of the water hitting my skin.

The burns are oddly shaped, but it doesn't seem like they'll leave scars based on what I can hear from the medics. I bask in the cool water contently while the medics treat my burns.

After they're done with everything, I lie in bed, some bandages wrapped somewhat loosely around my stomach and arms. 

"Thank you. I appreciate the treatment." I say with a small smile to the healers, and most of them return the smile with a subtle nod of acknowledgement.

I sigh and watch as they leave before my eyes land on Merle, still standing nearby. For a while, he only observes me without a single word. After a minute, he just leaves, looking slightly bothered by something. 'Now that's weird.'

Once I'm all alone, I reach into my pouch that's lying nearby, and I freeze when I feel something sharp prick my finger. 'No... I must be imagining things. It might be the pain from the wounds!'

I panic slightly while taking out the mirror. "No..." The mirror is shattered into shards. "How the hell am I supposed to return back home? What about grandma?!" I panic and collect all shards, holding them in my hands as I stare at them in panic and fear of might happen, and what might not.

Suddenly, Hewie speaks up, her voice gentle and soothing. "Alaire, calm down. It's still possible to repair the mirror." She says in a calming tone and flies down to me, settling down on my chest before folding her wings.

Her shiny black eyes stare into my own bright green ones. There's something about her eyes... Something that I can't quite explain.

Actually, she also feels light. It's almost like nothing is sitting on top of me. Since she's a smaller bird, it might be that the pain is greater than her weight.

I reach out to her, and I carefully pet her, trying to calm myself down. My hands are trembling slightly. The small trickle of blood is running down my finger from the cut, which I've gotten thanks to the glass shards when I was taking them out. 

Is it the pain that dulls the sensation of her feathers? I can feel something very subtly, although the pain running through my whole body over prevails over the sensation of her feathers that look very fluffy.

The mirror shards alongside the mirror itself are safely in my other hand as Hewie then starts speaking again, seemingly not bothered by my gentle caressing.

"It broke due to the impact of the overwhelming amount of magic which you released back in the Haunted Glade." She explains, and I stare at her, my hand stopping as I retreat it.

'How does she know so much? It's now kinda unsettling. She always has an answer or explanation to basically everything.' That's when I start to get suspicious of her.

"Hewie... Who are you really?" I ask her with a serious tone. Now that I think about it, I don't know anything about her. She just appeared the day that I arrived here.

At that time, she sounded like she knew exactly who I was, but... I only know her name and looks. Now, I can't even be sure that this is her real identity and appearance.

She only gives me a silent stare, making me nervous. My heart beats fast whilst my injuries sting a bit when my body tenses up.

I can't seem to read her. Despite that, she can always read me perfectly. Like I'm an open book to her, while she's a sealed book to me.

The silence between us stretches for what feels like hours, yet are merely just a few seconds. This deafening silence is making me even more nervous. 

The hairs on my skin stand as I feel a chill run down my spine once that gentle and calm voice rings through the room once more.

"Just calm down and recover first, Alaire. That's our main priority right now." Her voice breaks the silence after some time, giving me goosebumps.

Now, I'm feeling disturbed. Cold sweat runs down my face as my expression darkens a bit in slight terror. 'She used to call me by all sorts of nicknames, but not my name...'

I stare at her. All pain forgotten in this very moment, overtaken by agitation and doubt once her shiny black eyes lock onto my own. They pierce right through my soul.

I never realised this before, but everything about her is enigmatic. I can't find any good excuses for her actions. She just knows everything. Literally. And yet, something about her screams 'familiar'....

And just like that, I let my guard down from the very start without noticing. I fell for her trap...