Kat heard a rustling and instantly opened her eyes instinctively pushing her demonic energy into her eyes to see whatever it is was making the noise. The intention was to be ready for whatever was causing problems and be able to protect herself if necessary.
Of course, intentions regularly fail to come to pass. Instead Grace, the source of the noise, is now face to face with a demon whose instantly taken a fighting pose and has burning purple eyes trained in her direction.
"Eep" Grace let out a short squeal of fright as Kat relaxed herself and leant against the wall again.
"Sorry Grace, just heard a noise and wanted to be ready" said Kat
Grace nodded at this, but Kat could see the elf was uneasy. Dark bags hang under here eyes, perfectly visible even in the low light. "It's fine Kat, I shouldn't be bothering you" said Grace
Kat reached out to try and comfort the scared form but when Grace recoiled Kat pulled her hand back. "Hey, look Grace, I'm really not that scary. I'm really not sure what's got you so wound up. Would you like me to use my calming aura some more?"
Grace bit the edge of her lip and looked uncomfortable at the thought. "Um, look Kat, um, I'd rather you didn't do anything unnecessary"
Kat sighed. *How do I comfort a person who's terrified of me? The calming aura has been a huge help, and hugs as well, but Grace doesn't want me to use it, and she scared of my touching her…*
"Look, Grace, I'm not sure it is unnecessary. Your clearly quite wound up about this and I need you if not at your pick at least function to be of any help as we travel to the centre. I'm really not that scary. See the Timmy's agree" said Kat motioning to the two small Thyme's in the corner out the tent.
When Kat mentioned their name they both saluted with a smile, though one of them looked slightly angry with Grace.
Grace sighed "Look, um, just, give me a little time to get everything together�� said Grace
"Grace, you look like you've used the time you should have been sleeping for worrying about stupid stuff. I don't want to sound overbearing, but you can't change what's already happened" said Kat
"Easy for you to say. You didn't just find out you don't own your soul. Plus, I was always planning to just run. I knew I couldn't fight you, but instead I'm stuck with you" said Grace
"Well, now you don't have to fight me" said Kat trying to be encouraging "We can work together, and it won't be so bad. If I'm really as strong as you think I am, that means we can beat whoever we come across. Though perhaps we should consider adding a few more people"
"No" said Grace on reflex "I mean… no more contracts… please"
"Grace" said Kat waiting for the elf to meet her eyes. "I am going to project my aura at you. Alright?"
"No wait" said Grace but Kat ignored her. *I'm not going to sit her and listen to you moping for hours Grace. Not just because I have to try and win, but also because this is honestly kind of sad. Grace was really cool in the previous rounds, and it kinda hurts to see her so scared and to know that I'm the cause.*
Kat pushed her aura over Grace, careful to manage the amount so as not to completely knock Grace out despite the intention. Kat felt her aura smash into Grace and saw her face instantly softening, and the fear bleeding out.
"Now, Grace, do I need to turn it up further, or are you ok now" said Kat
"I… I don't know. I can feel my fear trying to break back into my mind, and I'm trying to ignore it but it's not working… but every time I…. I… think about asking you to increase it the fear only gets worse" said Grace.
*Ok, I guess I'll slowly ramp it up while she's distracted then.* "I'll leave it at that level for now then. So Grace, now that you are a bit more focused what's our plan? Head straight for the desert together? Split up a little? Or perhaps you want me to carry you while you get some more sleep?"
"Wait desert?" asked Grace
"Ah right, you can't fly of course. So, the next stage after this icy forest is a desert, but, if we find something strange, we might be able to get more useful items like my tent here. I couldn't really see much of the desert before, and it's too windy for me to comfortably fly over the ice so I didn't get a good look." Said Kat
"Can you go back to the items?" asked Grace
"Yeah, well, I found that dagger in a tree. Not sure if you noticed but that first forest contained only identical trees, except for the one I found the dagger in. Timmy can you confirm" said Kat, and Timmy nodded
"So, if we could find something out of place in the snow, we might be able to find something as suitably useful" said Kat
"Huh" Grace got a thoughtful expression. "I feel like, I might have seen something actually. While I was following your lightshow, I saw a structure off in the distance, maybe? I really wasn't paying attention and it was pretty far away. And I mean, I could be completely, wrong, it was night, and I wasn't really looking and, and"
"Grace" Kat shouted and the panicking elf turned in her direction "Calm, Grace, calm" as Kat said this she carefully applied just a little extra aura on Grace "Deep breaths, it's fine Grace. We aren't in a rush I don't think. Just breath"
"Sorry I just" started Grace but Kat held up a hand "Don't apologise to me, think of yourself. That sort of stress will damage your pretty face in the future"
Grace grimaced at that and muttered "Anything to differentiate me from the others"
Kat just shook her head. "Right enough moping"
Kat reached out for the dagger in the centre and easily pulled it free of the ground. As the dagger lost contact with the earth the vines surrounding them withered. They simply vanished into dust as if eaten from the inside scattering on the wind. The dagger itself looked much worse for wear. The once vibrant floral motifs and luscious green vines were now dulled to the same steel as the rest of the dagger.
This of course was accompanied by a nasty blast of cold wind. Grace shivered unprepared for the sudden onslaught of hail and Kat while still feeling the effects, try to ignore it the best she could knowing it wasn't real, only a cleverly crafted spell to make you feel cold.
Grace looked at Kat with a spark of anger at the sudden scenery change, but this only brought Kat a sense of calm joy. *At least she isn't only scared of me now, she can be angry with me as well.*
"What the heck are you grinning about demon" said Grace "It's freezing, and you could have at least warned me before"
Kat smiled wider "You are actually criticising me for my mistake instead of apologising. I'd say that's a good step forward. As to telling you beforehand, well, I'm sure you would have just complained"
"I would have put up a wind shield thank you very much" said Grace as a sigil on her pants lit up
"Well… don't worry about it" said Kat with a grin "Though, something we might want to worry about is that this dagger looks pretty dull now"
Kat showed the dagger to Green who carefully grabbed and inspected it with keen eyes "This isn't even an issue, we just need to charge it a bit and it'll be good as new" said Grace
"With what?" asked Kat
"Ah? Mana" said Grace as if she was looking at an idiot
"Grace, I have no mana. You" said Kat pointing at Grace "Will have to charge it"
"Wait, but don't you have your fire stuff?" said Grace "And wait you're the teams wizard, what do you mean you have no mana"
"I just don't Grace, we demons use different stuff" said Kat shrugging as she picked up her Timmy… or at least the one that reached out it's hands to be carried
Grace looked back down at the dagger then up at Kat. "I don't think I have the mana to recharge something as powerful as this, and even if I do, I certainly don't while keeping this shield up"
Kat shrugged "It's not so bad, we can just sleep under the stars if this adventure even takes that long."
Grace bit her lip "I dunno Kat, I feel like that could be a bit risky"
Kat shrugged again "In what way? If we can get out of the cold the weather should be manageable with my ice powers. And even if it isn't you were heading to the centre anyway"
"Spose" mumbled Grace who set of towards the strange object.