Free Web NovelChapter 195: What was I doing here again?
They appeared before a mist-covered landscape. The mist blanketed the trees and rose to envelop the mountain peaks, while the surroundings were eerily silent, with no sign of life except for the occasional gust of cold wind.
Eva blinked, disoriented, trying to adjust to the sudden change in her surroundings.
When her mind settled, she frowned at the thick mist enveloping the area and at the rocky mountain paths leading to it.
"Erm, are you sure we aren’t going to fall to our deaths in such thick mist? Maybe we should go back and use the cave instead," Eva murmured, her expression one of firm rejection.
She stepped backward, ready to bolt as soon as they changed their minds.
Ethan’s hand fell on her shoulder, stopping her subtle movement.
"There’s nothing to fear. With me leading the way, we can make it through without incident. Don’t be scared; I’m here." Ethan’s tone carried unquestionable confidence, which eased Eva’s unease slightly.
"Worst case, I can teleport us away before we fall to our deaths. Eva dear, are you trying to run away?" Julian asked with a teasing smile as he pinched her cheeks.
Eva swatted his hand away, her pride ruffled by his annoying tone.
"Ahem. Who is scared?! I was just worried it wasn’t safe enough. I’m not running." She refuted fiercely. If she wasn’t gripping Ethan’s hands tightly, her words might be believable.
"I know. I’m here. Nothing’s going to happen," Julian promised in a teasing tone, but his gaze held the seriousness of his words.
Eva hummed, then inhaled and exhaled deeply to calm her mind.
"Let’s go," she announced, her voice calm, as if she had gathered her remaining bravery.
She stepped forward, only to be stopped by Ethan. Eva turned to him, her brows raised in question.
"Hold on," he muttered, then let go of her hand and began creating a long chain with his ice powers.
He condensed the chain, making it durable and strong. A wisp of icy smoke rose from the blue chain.
"We all have to be connected to this so we won’t get lost in the mist," Ethan explained as he wrapped the chain around her waist, tossing the other end to Julian to tie around his own.
He sealed the ends with ice, leaving no openings, then tied the remaining length around his waist and sealed those ends as well.
"No, we can go," he announced, leading the way.
Eva was left in the middle, and she couldn’t help but feel safe with Julian and Ethan protecting her from the front and back.
As they stepped onto the mountain path, she made three big energy balls to light the way.
Ethan’s eyes shifted to golden slits, and the road ahead became clearer. Then he thought of something and stopped in his tracks.
"Why did you stop? Is there an obstacle ahead or a beast?" Eva called out in concern, her voice trembling slightly from the cold as her fingers moved toward her weapon.
"Nothing! I need to try something for a moment. Wait, I’ll be back in a minute!" Ethan responded in a raised voice so they could hear him clearly.
"Okay!" Julian yelled back from the back and moved closer to Eva as they waited for Ethan to return.
She leaned against the rocky wall and controlled one of the green balls as it rolled down.
"I want to see how far the ground floor is." She explained as they kept track of the green light descending.
"I want to see how far down the ground floor is," she explained as they watched the green light descend. Minutes passed, and it eventually disappeared from sight. Eva felt her control over the energy ball slip until it vanished completely.
"I couldn’t reach the end, and I sensed there’s still a long way to go before it reaches the ground floor," Eva muttered as she tightened the fur jacket around herself.
Julian stared out into the mist without responding. He was estimating whether, if he teleported from this height, he would reach the ground without materializing halfway in the air.
Ethan, on the other hand, was transforming into Aaron’s crow.
His limbs cracked and rearranged themselves as he gradually took on the crow’s form.
He jumped down without hesitation, beating his wings as he took to the sky. He stumbled in the air, unused to having wings, but gradually got the hang of it and flew more steadily, albeit still a little clumsily.
Ethan flew for some time before returning to where Julian and Eva were waiting.
Eva was startled by the crow’s sudden appearance, while Julian reacted quickly, drawing his weapon to strike when Ethan spoke.
"Hop on! It’s me!" Hearing Ethan’s familiar voice, Eva’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"Ethan...?" she asked. Seeing him beat his wings in response, she had no choice but to believe it was really him.
She had thought he could only turn into a cat or partially transform parts of his body into animal features—she hadn’t expected he could become an enormous crow.
Julian grabbed her by the waist and jumped onto Ethan’s back without hesitation. He had seen Ethan shapeshift into something far worse before, but this was the first time he had changed into a bird.
Eva gazed at his feathers, then her eyes lit up in amazement. "So cool!" she yelled, her hand brushing over his feather-covered body in awe.
Ethan soared into the sky, flying just above the mist. He couldn’t fly any higher, but it was enough for them to cross this mist-filled area.
Eva relaxed, lying on her back and staring at the sky.
"Can Ethan turn into any beast he comes across? How do his shapeshifting powers work?" Eva asked curiously, still in disbelief that Ethan could become her brother’s beast.
"Not everything. Some beasts that are stronger than him are difficult for him to transform into. Just as I can’t freely teleport to places I haven’t seen, he can’t transform into beasts far stronger than he is," Julian explained, outlining the rules of their powers.
Every power is restricted by some rules, like how her energy ball couldn’t function when it was far out of her reach.
Eva nodded, keeping his words in mind. "So Aaron’s shadow power can’t function without a shadow. Hmm. That’s reasonable." She murmured to herself, using her brother as an example.
"Umm, not quite like that. If it were, those with fire powers would need fire nearby to use them, or water users would need water as well. Our powers themselves are clouded in mystery. We don’t know how they began, but some have rules that restrict them, while others don’t. Some need to reach a certain level of power before they can use their abilities freely," Julian explained as much as he could, then closed his eyes to rest.
Unnoticed by them, the wind blew the mist upward, causing them to inhale it.
Ethan flew for an hour before they noticed a field of red sunflowers—what made them cautious was the mist emanating from them.
"Are they the source of the mist?" Eva asked aloud, staring down. Her vision blurred, and a yawn escaped her lips as she shook her head to stay awake.
"Why... I’m so sleepy..." Eva slurred, her head nodding forward slightly before her eyes closed.
Ethan tumbled through the air, his eyes sliding shut, but he forced himself to land safely before succumbing to sleep.
Ethan landed on a boulder in front of a field of sunflowers.
He changed into his human form and lay beside Eva and Julian.
The wind blew against the filled, the sunflowers swayed, releasing more mist that enveloped the area.
Eva woke up and found herself in a rundown car. Its windshield was shattered, with a few shards scattered across the driver’s seat.
She looked at the book in her hand with a confused frown.
’What was I doing here again? Oh, I might have read and lost track of time,’ she thought to herself, bringing the book closer with her pale, dry fingers.
"Huh... my hand... supposed to be... smooth," she croaked in a dry tone. She reached for her neck, sensing something was wrong with her body.
She felt she should be here and not here at the same time, making everything around her feel unreal and strange.
"Roar!"
The sound of zombies snapped her out of her daze. She looked out the broken window and noticed a horde of zombies coming from the plaza, heading in her direction.
Seeing their grotesquely decayed bodies, a wave of disgust hit her.
Why can’t they leave her alone for a full day!
She grumbled and tried to open the door and hide before they noticed her, or else they would gather around her and expect her to lead them into human territory to feed.
Eva held her head as she jogged into a rundown restaurant on the left. If she didn’t hold it, her precious hair might fall off and she’d become a bald zombie.
She looked comical running like that, but no one was there to witness a petite female zombie trying to escape her own kind.
The zombie horde reached the car and roared in confusion before continuing on their way.
