Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"Let's rest here for now."

After flying unsteadily for a while, I could no longer bear the pain from the wounds on my wings. Adding to that, my energy was depleting more and more in the night. I ultimately had no choice but to land on the ground again.

"The other Face Flies probably won't come chasing for now."

The moment my feet touched the ground, Selene untied the ropes binding us together, finally separating from me. Upon gaining her freedom, she immediately ran behind me to check on the wounds on my wings.

"You angel reacted so slowly, I already warned you yet you still got hit."

I'm almost used to her scoldings since she rarely had anything nice to say to me whenever we were together.

"Tsk tsk, the wound looks terrible, can even see the bones."

"I...I can't hide my wings anymore."

I exclaimed in shock. Due to the agony, I tried to conceal my wings the moment I landed, but quickly realized it did not work at all. The wing concealment spell I had successfully used countless times before was now completely useless.

Now there's no choice but to endure all the pain with my wings out. I felt beads of sweat seeping out of my forehead. Unable to stand anymore, I plopped butt-first onto the ground.

"It's probably due to the injuries. Let me heal you first then we'll talk. But it'll likely be slow, you'll have to endure for now."

Seeing how much pain I was in, Selene softened and could only chant a spell to start healing me.

A light blue glow slowly emerged from her hand. The moment it touched the wounded area, the pain was immediately alleviated significantly.

"Is this water elemental magic?" I've seen magic with this color before when Vivianne got injured and used it too. Also, I could clearly sense particles like light elements being released from her hand each time, so that should be water elements right?

"Yes, unfortunately I only know low-level recovery spells."

Selene chatted with me while treating me to help distract me from the discomfort.

"If it was high-level water magic, wounds like these would heal quickly."

"It's alright, just takes more time."

Having magic to treat me was already very comforting. Most importantly, it wasn't as unbearable as initially. Hence I finally had the energy to observe the surroundings.

The place we were in seemed to be an empty barren area covered in rubble all around. It was pitch dark with almost no lighting except for the glow from Selene's spell. Visibility was less than 10 meters and there wasn't a single blade of grass growing from the bare ground I was standing on.

"Looks like there's no returning to the capital tonight. We might have to consider sleeping outdoors." I was suddenly reminded of my days back in Elara Woodlands upon mentioning camping outdoors, especially in our current situation. While feelings of confusion and unease lingered as I initially entered this new world, traveling with everyone then was still so much more carefree and happy compared to now.

"Could what happened be related to the battles up North?"

Instead of addressing the issue of camping outdoors, Selene suddenly switched topics and put forth a speculation that took me by surprise.

"You mean Adrian and Brennan heading off to war?"

Her question immediately reminded me of the situation I encountered when looking for Vivianne and the rest recently.

"Huh, they went off to battle too?"

She seemed unaware still so I briefly recounted what happened.

"So you reckon that city we passed might have actually been crafted by demons who infiltrated in?"

I was slightly speechless. Wasn't it her who was just joking with me earlier...

Even still, it didn't make sense to me regarding the scale and numbers involved. For so many demons to sneak deep into our territory undetected while our men at the frontlines noticed nothing unless they had been completely wiped out? That seemed too far-fetched.

"It's possible if magic was involved."

Selene appeared to firmly believe her theory. Not knowing much about applying magic in buildings, I dared not comment further upon recalling Norvale's underwater castle.

"This contamination in the air by dark elements can easily cause illness while boosting the combat strength of creatures of darkness instead. Such attrition of the enemy combined with strengthening of allies would be an incredible advantage."

"So the contamination was deliberately spread by our enemies?"

Listening to her, this seemed similar to biochemical warfare intended not just to weaken foes but empower allies too.

"Possibly." Selene agreed strongly with this view.

"But I find it hard to believe polluting such a wide area could be achieved manually."

"Usually very difficult. But with sufficient preparation and disregarding any costs, it's somewhat feasible." Selene looked as though I was too ignorant and lacked experience, irritating me though I truly didn't comprehend much.

"No worries, the capital's forces will surely notice in no time."

Coming to a realization, Selene suddenly became much more positive.

"But won't we succumb before that happens?"

We had been enduring this environment for hours already so I remained concerned despite expecting angels to be immune. Still, best I confirm than blindly assume.

"No way, not within a day!"

Expectedly, Selene rolled her eyes at me like I was an overanxious toddler being pacified.

"Even ordinary humans would likely take days before falling ill. Furthermore, you're an angel full of light elements. It'll be weird if the dark elements could even contaminate you at all!"

"Then what about you? You're no angel!" My real worry laid with her instead. Despite disliking her recurring mockery, seeing her sick wouldn't be my preferred outcome either.

"Don't worry. I tell you! Those slightly capable won't be affected. To be precise, those above the second rank should have enough immunity. Also, I'm a light magic caster so the light elemental power within me can surely withstand any harm from these meager dark elements."

Selene's relaxed attitude was as though mollifying a distressed child.

The wounds were fully healed after around fifteen to twenty minutes. I flapped my wings testingly and felt completely normal without any discomfort or pain.

"So powerful. If only I knew recovery magic to self-heal, no need to be scared of being injured!"

I praised approvingly. The agony from my damaged wings left immense psychological trauma that I hoped to never experience again.

I then tried concealing my wings once more and was relieved they could successfully vanish like normal.

Having reached a general consensus about the peculiar situation based on our earlier discussion, our only recourse was continuing southwards hoping to arrive at the capital as envisioned.

However, things didn't go as wished and after flying aimlessly in darkness for over an hour, Norvale was still nowhere in sight.

"We probably got lost. Let's land and rest first. No use flying blindly in the dark like that to search for the capital."

I was totally spent physically having endured endless upheavals through the night on top of exertion from carrying another. I could only land again reluctantly.

"Could my deduction be wrong?" Selene muttered in disbelief at the capital's disappearance but was unable to come up with any explanation no matter how hard she contemplated.

"Don't you feel something seems off? Does Astralrealm Kingdom have places like this?"

I pointed to the ground, realizing the stretch of rubbled wasteland and lack of any vegetation felt increasingly suspicious as we covered more distance.

"Hard to say. The kingdom's territories are so vast. But this place indeed resembles the Barrens up North."

"Barrens? How did we fly there! Weren't we supposed to be really far from the borders you said?" I took out the mission card and specifically borrowed Selene's spell lighting to verify the simple map again. As indicated, the distance from the Tethys town to the border was even greater than that from Tethys to Norvale.

"That is strange. The border nearest to Tethys lies in the North. No matter how you flew, should be still within the kingdom!"

After glimpsing the map, even Selene was baffled. Alas it provided no aid apart from leaving us more confused.

"Forget it, talk again tomorrow daytime."

I truly couldn't endure any longer. My mind turned groggy once I relaxed and I started yawning repeatedly.

"Remember, no light magic. Don't get spotted!"

After reminding briefly, I couldn't care less about cleanliness anymore. Finding a flat patch of ground, I plopped down using my wings as a mat, falling fast asleep almost instantly.

"Hey! Can't simply sleep just like that..." Just before completely blacking out, I seemed to vaguely hear Selene calling out to me.