Niara came to find us, guiding us out of the village. We tried asking her where we were going or what was happening, but she refused to answer. She only said she wouldn't speak "in this place"—that it wasn't safe, as strange as that sounded.
We took the paths leading away from the settlement, pushing further and further until we ventured back into the depths of the jungle.
At one point along the way, Niara stopped and asked us how good we were at running through the rainforest. I assured her I could handle anything; as for Hannah, she had already learned the hard way just how difficult it was to navigate this terrain.
To our surprise, the massive Amazon hoisted Hannah onto her back without asking for permission. Then, she pulled out several objects and potions, signaling for me to put them on just as she was doing. I was curious about what they were exactly, but she only said:
"Physical enhancers."
With a small trick using the [Merchant] skill—sending the items to the Fief, selling them, buying them back, and retrieving them instantly—I verified they were authentic. I equipped the alchemical items and drank the potions, feeling a clear boost to my attributes... though not as much as they should have, likely because my stats were already quite high to begin with.
"Follow me. Don't fall behind," Niara ordered before she took off at an absurd speed.
It didn't take me long to catch up. We ran without stopping, both of us demonstrating our skill at traversing the jungle without breaking branches or being slowed down by obstacles. Hannah, for her part, suffered through the journey as if she were on the world's worst roller coaster, being tossed around on Niara's back.
We pressed on relentlessly, zigzagging in a strange fashion, as if we were making irregular loops through areas we had already passed several times. Niara clearly knew a hidden path... or she was trying to confuse anyone who might attempt to follow us.
After a couple of hours of this endless trek, we reached a small cliff with a waterfall. Below lay a lake where several rivers converged.
Suddenly, Niara grabbed my arm and jumped, taking the three of us into a freefall straight toward the center of the lake. She leaped incredibly far.
The action was so sudden that I was on the verge of using magic to cushion the impact and protect Hannah, who was the most fragile. But then I felt it: magic in the water—a very strong spatial magic.
Trusting that Niara wouldn't kill us, I decided not to intervene and let myself be carried away.
We hit the water... and we kept falling. Far deeper than physically possible. It was as if gravity were dragging us toward an infinite bottom, ignoring buoyancy and water resistance. Then, abruptly, that suction shifted: it began to push us upward, but not toward the place we had entered—rather, in the opposite direction.
The water spat us out toward the surface, and we walked onto the shore. Hannah was being held up by Niara, on the verge of vomiting from the intensity of it all. I stepped out without a problem, drying myself and both of them in the process, though my eyes were busy scanning the area.
We had emerged from a lake... but it was an entirely different one. Smaller, with different vegetation. An environment distinct from the Amazon we knew. I confirmed it on my [Map]: we had covered an incredible distance.
"Come on, there's still a long way ahead," Niara said, this time moving at a humanly possible pace.
The potions and magical items had lost their effect and were now nothing more than trinkets we left behind. If all of this was just the beginning of the journey, then whatever was coming had to be important... and very intense.
Now that we had slowed down and everything seemed calmer, I took the chance to ask again what was going on. Usually, I was the one keeping secrets and pulling strings from the shadows... not the other way around.
"This is still not the place to talk," Niara replied in her signature dry tone.
"Why not?" Hannah asked. It deeply unsettled her to move in absolute silence, ignoring even the sounds of the jungle.
"It isn't safe. Someone might hear us." (Niara)
"Here? In the middle of the jungle?" I said, looking around. We had entered the most untouched and unexplored part I had seen so far.
"Yes," she replied simply.
"And who exactly are we hiding from?" (Red)
"From everyone." (Niara)
"Is there someone else out here?" I frowned.
"Perhaps other Amazons. Maybe some of those who left before... or those coming behind us. Only we know of this place." (Niara)
"And we're on the defensive against your own people?" I asked, even more intrigued.
Niara paused for just a moment before answering:
"This is too important to allow even the slightest mistake. If we must distrust even those closest to us to increase the odds of success... then so be it."
After that, she returned to silence. One could feel the weight she carried for this mission.
Hannah and I fell silent as well, understanding that this was far graver than we had imagined. And I... I could feel it. The destiny that had guided me here was about to close its cycle. Whatever we were looking for, wherever this path led us, it was likely the end of my punishment for altering the destinies of others.
We walked for a good while longer. So long, in fact, that I thought we'd end up sleeping in the jungle. If we tried to return the same way, we wouldn't reach the village before nightfall.
Hunger began to set in after so many hours of continuous exercise, compounded by boredom—especially for Hannah, who was still being carried by Niara, unable to do anything but look around. She barely moved so as not to inconvenience her "transporter."
At one point, Niara pulled out what looked like Amazon military rations: sweet strips, though I couldn't tell if they were meat, plants, or some other mixture. They were easy to eat without stopping. Like a good travel companion, I pulled food from my inventory—much more varied and easier to swallow than those mysterious strips.
Niara rejected it immediately and warned us:
"We will not stop for bathroom breaks or any other needs. We won't risk the journey for food that might make you sick."
I was more than certain my food wouldn't cause problems, so Hannah and I ate anyway, though the Amazon looked at us with clear disapproval. Of course, Hannah, fearing that nature might call, reduced the amount she ate just as a precaution.
We kept moving, but with every step, the path felt heavier, as if the jungle itself didn't want anyone to advance... and yet, it seemed to cooperate with us. Animals cleared the way, and over time, I began to notice magical creatures becoming increasingly abundant. It was as if the forest were alive and vigilant.
This trek continued until we finally saw other people: more Amazons from the same village as before, standing guard and setting traps. We couldn't stop to observe too closely; our pace couldn't slacken.
Hannah was mentally exhausted. All this tension and the constant travel, with nothing to do but cling to Niara, had her at her limit. I could only comfort her by talking and telling jokes to make her laugh. But even so... I hoped this would end soon. I feared it was too much for the girl. Perhaps not bringing her would have been for the best; if I were alone, I could move faster and endure this better if it dragged on.
The path continued, and every so often, we encountered more Amazons at specific points, forming what looked like a protective perimeter. The further we went, the clearer the distribution became: the younger ones patrolled the outer zones, while the elders were in the deepest parts, where we were headed.
We reached an area where the vegetation thinned out, and then we saw it: a small mountain or rock formation covered in plants. It seemed to be our destination.
As we moved forward, more stones jutted out from the ground. Finally, we crossed a checkpoint: a perimeter formed by Elder Amazons. Few were truly elderly, but wrinkles were visible around the eyes of more than one of them.
Niara stopped upon reaching them, panting slightly. She looked exhausted from the journey. Even with her excellent physical condition, enduring it hadn't been easy. I, on the other hand, was fresh as a daisy, which earned me a certain level of admiration from her... as well as further solidifying my title as a "bloodthirsty demon."
Niara and a woman who seemed to be a commander or leader exchanged greetings in that strange language we had heard before. They understood each other with just a few words and immediately made way for us.
Niara set Hannah down, who was numb and could barely move at first. I held her and helped her, using my power to ease her discomfort.
The three of us crossed the perimeter and walked toward that strange mountain. The closer we got, the more evident it was that it wasn't very high or sprawling... perhaps about the size of Hogwarts. But the peculiar thing was the stone that formed it: dark, not like ebony or ink, but a deep, opaque grey.
We reached the entrance: a natural cave formed in the rock. Inside, the dark color of the stone turned almost pitch black in the total absence of light.
"We're here..." Niara whispered, letting out a sigh of relief, but without dropping her serious demeanor. Then, as if preparing to fulfill the next part of the mission, she looked at us and said, "Let's go."
She walked inside with slow steps, as if she didn't want to disturb the sacred silence of the place, and pulled out her wand to cast the Portuguese equivalent of Lumos.
Hannah and I followed her, half a step behind, one on each side, admiring the strange place to which we had been brought.
"Now you'll tell me what we're doing and what this place is, right?" I asked, as a certain weight upon me began to fade.
I felt the power of the destiny that had brought me here vanishing. I was no longer bound to anything. I had fulfilled my part, and if I wanted to, I could simply leave without consequences... as long as I didn't get into trouble again. But after all this travel and mystery, curiosity kept me there, waiting to see what this was all about.
"Yes, now we can talk," Niara replied as she moved through the tunnel, illuminating the walls.
"Is this place sacred?" Hannah asked, unable to contain herself, curious and somewhat nervous.
Under the light of Niara's wand, the cave walls revealed a lattice of tribal drawings and various colored symbols. At a glance, it was clear that some were more recent than others. With a basic knowledge of magic, one could discern that they formed a sort of protective matrix: a complex enchantment designed to safeguard this place. I could partially understand them thanks to my time in Avalon, as the principles were similar.
"No, this place is fairly normal. What is sacred here isn't the cave itself, but what it guards—something we Amazons swore to protect," Niara stated, her eyes fixed forward.
"A treasure? A person? A...?" I asked, noticing how Niara was leaving us in mystery, whether intentionally or not.
"A treasure of the Old Era, a being we must protect until it fulfills its destiny," she said, looking at me with a sudden flash of intensity, "until they fulfill your destiny."
"But what is it exactly?!" I was losing my patience.
But before I could insist further, I noticed light ahead—a light that didn't come from the wand. It seemed we were reaching the end of the tunnel, which wasn't as long or as convoluted as I had expected.
🎁—/——/🎁/———/🎄🎁🎄/———/🎁/——/—🎁
✨🎄✨ Merry Christmas to all my readers! ✨🎄✨