In the night after Crassus departed, both Arran and Snowcloud were kept awake by their worries about the journey ahead.
For several months, they had enjoyed something close to safety. While the mountains held their own dangers, none of those was the kind that would actively come searching for them, and within the vast mountain range, there had been little risk of their enemies finding them.
In many ways, their hunt for a dragon had ended up being the most peaceful part of their journey across the border. While they had faced a single terrifying foe, it had been a fight where they held the initiative, and where they knew their opponent.
But now, that brief period of relative safety was at an end. Their goal was to reach the Sixth Valley, and to get there, they would have to travel through a region that was filled with hidden dangers.
After a night filled with worry, they got up before dawn. While they hadn't slept more than a wink, they were both anxious to leave — the sooner they were gone, the sooner they would be able to get to safety.
They ate a quick breakfast before they departed, with Arran hungrily devouring a large chunk of dragon meat. While the taste was nothing special, the surge of power it caused in his body filled him with excitement.
Now that he had the Dragon's Ruin, he no longer needed to spend time absorbing Natural Essence. Instead, his body absorbed it naturally, and far more efficiently than normal Body Refinement techniques would have allowed.
Yet as he ate, Snowcloud looked at him with a troubled expression. Finally, she couldn't hold back anymore, and asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?"
He gave her a puzzled glance. "Do what?"
"Eat the dragon meat," she said. "I know it makes your body stronger, but it will make it much more difficult for you to control your magic."
Arran frowned. "I thought Essence Crystals were supposed to help with that?"
"They will help," Snowcloud replied. "But with the amount of Natural Essence you're taking in, the imbalance you're creating will be hard to overcome even with their help. If you keep this up, you're going to struggle as you practice magic, and becoming a truly powerful mage will be even more difficult than it already is."
Arran pondered what she said, staring at the piece of dragon meat in his hands. He had no reason to doubt her words — he could almost feel his body growing stronger with each bite, as the Dragon's Ruin inside him hungrily devoured every drop of Natural Essence in the meat.
That such power would come at a price was only logical, but after a moment, he decided it was a price he would gladly pay.
"The future only matters if we have one," he said. "And to make it back, we need every advantage we can get." He paused, then added, "But once we reach the Sixth Valley, I'll focus on studying magic."
Snowcloud nodded, albeit reluctantly. "I suppose you have a point. But after we return, you must make a serious effort to learn magic properly. If you don't, you might never get past the novice stage."
"I will," Arran replied, having every intention to keep his word. He had neglected magic from the day he learned about Body Refinement, but once he reached the Sixth Valley, he intended to focus on magic until he mastered it — if only because he wanted to discover what his Destruction Realm could do.
Still, her words caused him to frown in wonder. With his physical strength and his resistance to magic, he could already easily defeat novices, and he was confident that even adepts would struggle to best him.
If he continued on his current path, just what would the limit be? Would he eventually be able to match Masters in combat, or even Grandmasters? Or would he find himself at a disadvantage against mages?
Arran gave the matter some thought while he finished his breakfast, but he had little idea of what the limits of Body Refinement and the Dragon's Ruin were, or how long it would take him to reach those limits.
After they finished their breakfast, they packed up, then quickly departed. The journey ahead was both long and dangerous, and it would grow more dangerous with every moment of delay.
For the first few days, they avoided the large roads that ran through the ruins of the Eidaran Empire. While the roads offered direct routes through the empire, they lacked any sort of cover. And worse, they would be among the first places where their enemies would search for them once they discovered that Arran and Snowcloud had escaped the mountains alive.
Yet within the week, they found that staying off the roads would be impossible — if they wanted to reach their destination, at least.
Snowcloud's maps were inaccurate at the best of times, and only by following the roads could they be sure that they were even heading in the right direction. Without that, it could easily be years instead of months before they found their way back — while smaller than the real Empire, the Eidaran Empire's wilds were just too large for them to navigate.
When they took to the roads, they found them empty and dilapidated, often overgrown with grass and weeds. And although they encountered the occasional merchant or wanderer on the road, making his way through the ruins of the former empire, on most days they didn't meet a single soul.
None of this made Arran more comfortable about traveling so openly, however, and he constantly swept the area around them with his Shadowsight, anxious and wary of all other travelers.
Despite his misgivings, he had to admit that staying on the roads increased their speed greatly, and that mattered for more than just convenience — the sooner they passed through the region, the sooner they would reach safety.
Moreover, because of Crassus's help, their enemies would not know immediately that they had safely left the mountains, much less that they had covered weeks of travel in a single night. None of that meant they were safe, but it did mean that they had at least a chance of escape.
With the roads empty and their hearts filled with worry, they traveled rapidly, covering dozens of miles every day. And while that did little to allay their fears, they knew that with each mile, they were getting closer to safety.
Several weeks passed peacefully, and they were soon approaching the southern part of the Eidaran Empire. Still, Arran's worries lingered — he would only relax when they had safely entered the Sixth Valley, and not a moment sooner.
Then, as they were passing through the ruins of a small village, Arran detected a large group of people with his Shadowsight, heading toward them at a rapid pace.
"There are people ahead," he said. "At least several dozen, and they're rapidly coming this way."
"Do we run?" Snowcloud's expression instantly turned anxious.
"Not enough time," Arran replied. "They'll spot us any moment now, and there's not enough cover to hide."
"Then be prepared to fight."
As she spoke, Snowcloud already began to gather Essence in her hand, and Arran's hand shot toward his sword.
If the people approaching were enemies, they would not be taken without a fight.