The next morning, as the wet breeze began to blow the flames of their camp away, their nostrils were greeted with the pungent scent of something brewing that made not much of an appetite.
Ardine was the first to notice. He arose from using a bushel of leaves as a makeshift pillow, which did not serve its purpose very well. After he arose from his position, he wiped the drool off of the borders of her lips and groggily stood up. The shift in gravity instantly awakened his brain, gaining sufficient energy to now open himself to whatever was brewing in the midst of the morning.
Lyn awoke as well, along with Alfaic who rested beside her. He entered Lyn's combat suit and yawned loudly, greeting the other trio. "Morning. Decent sleep." He said.
"Rise and shine, desert dwellers," Claire's voice was much more energetic than the combined energies of the three. She was seen using a ladle to stir a clean pot with an unknown combination of water, fresh herbs, and recently caught meat under a fire, ensuring that its contents did not burn. The heat provided from the fire to cook the stew served as a settling warmth to the rest of the group who had just awoken. "It isn't much, but it's breakfast."
"It smells absolutely rev-" Ardine began until Alfaic summoned himself back again, presumedly looking into Ardine's eyes with his sudden appearance. "Rev... riv... riveting. It smells absolutely riveting," He corrected, remembering that a child was trying her best to cook for them. "What are you making?"
"Slug Stew with Yellow Root," Claire said, inhaling the aroma of the strangely textured concoction. "This breakfast should lift up your spirits and your energy for the droids, today. We should make it by twilight, if we eat this. Now, who would like to sample?"
"I don't have a mouth, but if I did, I'd really love to give it a try." Alfaic said.
"Shut up, Alfaic." Ardine muttered quietly as he stood beside Lyn.
"Claire," Lyn called her by her official name. "You making this is greatly appreciated."
"See, someone values my creation," Claire droned on, looking at both Ardine and Alfaic with glowing innocent puppy eyes to appear cute and endearing. "Unlike you boys. You don't have any taste. Lyn, have a taste."
Lyn kneeled by the stew and held up a copious amount of liquid and slug meat from the pot. The texture and color of the soup was a silver goop, almost reminiscent of melted ore that blacksmiths would use to craft weapons and armor. Her eyes tinged by the acidity of the slug stew, but she chose to eat it anyway. Claire's white eyes looked into Lyn's as her face was strangely blank, without a single reaction.
"It's good." Lyn said.
"Well, this is Lyn we're talking about." Ardine said, crossing his arms.
"Would you have faith, old man?" Claire continued. "See, Lyn actually understands the Qliphosian taste. I may not have been with my parents for long, but I do distinctly remember their recipes. We Qliphosians have powerful stomachs, we do."
"Yeah, I can tell." Alfaic muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"I suddenly feel invigorated," Lyn continued, supporting Claire's dubious and monstrous creation. "Blade, if you had a mouth, perhaps you could try it. But Ardine, you can definitely eat it."
"I think I'd rather-" Ardine began, before watching Claire's innocent sweet white eyes again. "Rather... eat it... fine. I'll try it."
Ardine kneeled beside Lyn and Claire, holding up the ladle and scooping up more vegetables than the slug's meat. The two of them passionately watched as Ardine took slow, shallow breaths as he held it up to his lips to sample it. After sipping through each of the ingredients mixed together, Ardine clenched his teeth and lips together, desperately trying to not make a drastic shift in his facial expression to express his absolute disgust. He rotated his tongue around his mouth to clear the specks of sediment from the water, and the rid himself of the slug's bitter taste.
"Mmm-hmm," He muttered without opening his mouth. "It's nice."
Claire smiled as she stood up with Lyn, turning around to find the green sack containing her dress. As she did, Ardine's face surrendered itself to the pungent aftertaste, drooling out the rest of the stew from his lips and spilling some of the ladle's stew on the ground as soon as Claire turned back. Alfaic chuckled in secrecy.
"This dress that I retrieved from the house was one of my favorites," Claire said, admiring and blushing at the green sack while she untied it. She unveiled a light blue blouse with a snowflake-themed embroidered black skirt. The seams were intact, and its fabric was still in pristine condition ever since its original creation years ago. "Every now and then I'd think about wearing this dress if I was ever lonely."
"It's beautiful," Alfaic complimented. "Who made it?"
"She was an elderly woman with a very big heart who raised me for a while, years ago," Claire identified, gazing off into the distance with the trees. "She would always tailor beautiful dresses and bring me bouquets of flowers every week from the forest, just to see a smile on my face. And then she made me this dress, and I remember wearing it almost every day, even though it got dirty often when we traveled together. But now, she's gone."
"Hmm, exquisite fabric, neatly embroidered, and still in stainless condition," Ardine said, examining the fine details of the dress. "But... why a snowflake pattern?"
"I always wanted to experience snow for the first time, but I never did," Claire said. "Just another one of those dreams that stayed as dreams. But the old woman always cared about what I wanted, and she made it come true, like this."
"That's sweet," Alfaic said. "Wonder how a dress like that would look like Lyn. Sadly, that's a dream too."
Claire giggled and looked up at a floating Alfaic. "Well, that should be no problem. I can just make one for her when I get the chance."
"Wait, you can make that?" Alfaic's voice boomed loudly.
"Surprised?"
"Yeah, well, it's just that... you're so young."
"Well, did you think I would just pass up the opportunity to make such beautifully rare dresses without learning how to?" Claire asked, folding the dress away and tying it together in the green sack to keep it safe. "Age doesn't always quantify talent. That's what I've learned from her, at the very least."
Ardine approached the stew's flame and extinguished it by kicking tuffs of grass and dirt underneath it. He scanned the distant surroundings to gauge the time of day. "How much further until we reach our destination?" He asked Claire.
Claire stood up from her kneeling position and carried the green sack over her shoulders like a backpack. "Still a while to go, I'm afraid," She admitted. "We need to cross the beach west over to the Gapwood again, and take the trail for several miles."
"No time to lose, then," Ardine said. "I'd consider myself adventurous, but I never would imagine-"
An alarming rustling sound came from several bushes behind their camp. Lyn was the first to notice. She pointed the noise out, prompting Ardine and Claire to retreat down several inclines down to shelter behind some rocks. Alfaic re-entered Lyn's armor and waited in secrecy, in case there was Rot danger.
However, the person who emerged from the brushes was Dorothy.
"D?" Ardine's voice emerged questionable. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trailing us this whole time."
"You weren't difficult to track," Dorothy said, approaching the camp with a blank, yet concerned expression. "I've got some skill in that, of course."
"What are you doing here?" Lyn asked.
"Well..." Dorothy's voice trailed off as her eyes loosened up. She looked at Lyn directly, about to say something directly to her, but she hesitated, believing that her next words would be a vital mistake. Yet she didn't hold back, believing it was in her best interest to admit the truth. "I came to deliver a message, bearing a request. It's from the high overseer."
"The overseer?" Ardine said. "Rare he'd want something from us at this time. Then again, he did pull you aside for a conversation earlier."
"What does he want?" Lyn asked.
"He wants... Alfaic," Dorothy said. "Orders are that I retrieve him and return him to Gietha."
Lyn, Ardine, and Claire all exchanged perturbed glances at each other. The request didn't bear any resemblance of common sense. It didn't cross their minds as to why he would have requested such a thing, considering how they only had met several weeks ago without any other reason to pursue.
All beyond their thoughts, Alfaic conjured himself out of Lyn's combat suit and floated beside them.
"Now, hold on, there has to be some kind of mistake," Ardine began. "Why would he want him? He's always been beside Lyn."
Dorothy shrugged. "He didn't say why," She said, to no avail. "But orders are orders."
"That doesn't make any sense," Ardine continued. "And if he were to go, Lyn would be unarmed. How is she supposed to defend herself if the Rots come?"
Lyn stepped forward, defending Alfaic from Dorothy's unknown request. "Blade doesn't leave my side." She affirmed, in a serious tone.
"Alfaic's coming with me," Dorothy's voice became stricter with each additional request. "The law in the Bountiful Sands demands so."
"Since when have you followed the law?" Ardine asked. "You're a mercenary. Why are you listening to-"
"And since when is listening to the new order of our law considered a crime?" Dorothy intervened, approaching Alfaic who began to hover slowly backward without a single word being uttered; Lyn had noticed it as well, how he had remained silent ever since she had arrived. "It comes from the high overseer. He expressed great concern over safety."
"Blade is safe right where he is," Lyn continued to defend him. "Stop this."
"D, what are you doing?" Ardine asked.
"Step aside, both of you!" Dorothy yelled, pressing her way forward. She stepped forward to seize control of Alfaic by the handle, but Claire stepped in, despite her short stature appearing nothing but unthreatening. She extended her left palm forward, holding it against Dorothy's face as she stopped moving.
"The sword stays, right here," Claire's voice emboldened itself, despite her knowing Alfaic only for a few short days. "Now back off."
Dorothy smirked at Claire. "What do you plan to do to me, Qliphosian?" She asked as Ardine approached the two of them. "Kill me for following orders?"
"Oh, but I'm just a refugee," Claire stated. "I couldn't give a fuck about your orders."
Ardine pinned both Dorothy and Claire's shoulders with his hands, tucking them tightly to break them apart. Alfaic flew beside Lyn, hiding behind her head. She didn't know how to react; Dorothy had been her ally ever since she had met her months ago, making her unable to determine the best course of action. She glanced up at Alfaic once more, realizing he continued his pattern of silence.
"That's enough, both of you," Ardine commanded with his voice connected to the threat. "D, let's talk about this. Surely the overseer's words doesn't overwrite ours."
"I'm done talking, Ardine," Dorothy said, shoving him back while staring into Claire's eyes. She then glanced over at Claire's left hand, continuously pointing it toward Dorothy's face as some kind of deadly weapon. "Go ahead then. Touch me."
Claire's eyes widened.
"Let the world around you know what kind of monster you are." Dorothy's voice darkened.
"W-What...?" Claire whispered to herself, backing away from Dorothy while clutching her left arm with her right.
"Finally." Dorothy said, ascending the incline to reach Alfaic's handle, but he vanished inside Lyn's combat suit.
"NO!" Claire screamed.
Lyn reached out against where Alfaic's previous position was with her right hand, attempting to seize control of him but she did not know he would enter within her suit. Claire, however, did the same with her left hand, and before the two knew it, they touched hands with one another, causing an extreme distortion in time and space. Claire desperately attempted to pull her left hand back, but it was too late. Rocks and sand from below their heels began to rise up with an unknown gravity magic, seizing control of the environment around them.
And less than a blink of an eye, Lyn and Claire both mystically vanished into thin air, entering an unknown dimension that transcended the boundaries between reality.
The change in gravity ceased, leaving both Ardine and Dorothy alone with each other. Ardine scurried forward, looking for the three of them, significantly toward Claire, as she had been his only passage to Qliphos.
"LYN?" He called at the top of his lungs. "CLAIRE?!"
Dorothy's eyes widened as she appeared nauseous, covering up her mouth with her right hand before holding her lower abdomen close with her palm. Ardine spun back around and drew his firearm, pointing it directly at her weakened head.
"Explain yourself, NOW!" Ardine shouted. "Where the hell did they go? Why did you do this?!"
"I'm sorry, I..." Dorothy muttered. "There was something influencing me... and it came directly from Alfaic."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think... I... I felt trapped," Dorothy clarified, appearing pained as if she had been shot with a gun. "I could see... red ashes rising up. I heard voices from inside him. It fell like... as if something was calling to me. I... I am sorry."
Ardine grit his teeth before scoffing. He pulled his firearm back toward his back holster and slicked his hair back. He then touched the top of his forehead with his sweaty fingertips, stressed and unaware of what had happened to Lyn and Claire. Debunking what Dorothy had gone through with Alfaic had also had him stunned as well. There was too much happening at once, and Ardine didn't know how to process it all.
"Alfaic is dangerous," Dorothy said to Ardine as he turned his back against her. "I could see it for some reason."
"Then why couldn't I?" Ardine shouted, kicking Claire's slug stew off the ground in disgusted spite. It spilled over the rocks where they set up their extinguished bonfire. "Fuck!"
"Listen, I know it's been your goal to find the truth about Qliphos, but you won't get far like this," Dorothy continued. "The overseer suspected that there was something wrong with him from the start, and what I saw was ALL real."
"Bullshit." Ardine spat.
"No," Dorothy denied. "No, I'm serious."
"What the hell do you want me to say, D?" Ardine asked, approaching her at top speed with his bitter wrathful anger on his tongue. He shoved his finger on her shoulder. "Say 'yes' and accept all this nonsense you're saying? Ignore everything that happened to Lyn and Claire? Our group was doing fine on our way to Qliphos, until you arrived. You want to help out? Then go back home, and tell the overseer to fuck himself. I'm going to find those droids, with or without you."
Ardine departed away from Dorothy's face, clenched onto his leather pouch and back holster. Each of his footsteps seemed to stomp the ground in aggression as he headed in the direction where Claire previously stated; west from the Gapwood.
Dorothy, whose conscious was frozen after experience a trance from Alfaic's unknown power, pushed herself up from the ground and began following Ardine from behind. She kept her lips sealed, believing that an utterance of a word would have set Ardine off.
Despite this, she still pressed on.