Imprisoned in the Orinovan priori labs, Ainreth undergoes torturous treatments daily in an attempt to crack the code to lightweaver creation. Things seem hopeless, until unlikely allies join his side to help him.
Meanwhile back home in Lys-Akkaria...
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Even though Mhalyn was certain no one out here would recognize her, especially not so early in the morning it was still dark, she was still on edge. She was a traitor now, an enemy to Daryan, the sole leader of Lys-Akkaria.
Mhalyn sighed thinking about that. They'd gotten to a place she'd never thought possible. At this point, Lys-Akkaria was just as bad as Orinovo. They had an all-powerful dictator for a leader.
She sighed, her eyes burning. It hurt to think about it, but she refused to let tears fall. She wouldn't wallow in her regrets and hopelessness when there was work to be done.
The current task at hand was checking the roads. She had volunteered because she wanted to be useful, and as long as she didn't get lost, she'd be fine, she hoped.
It was simple enough. She needed to survey which roads and paths were frequented, especially by guards and soldiers. They would likely eventually have to move, so it was necessary to know which way to go without being discovered.
Mhalyn pulled her hood over her head a bit more as she walked down a forest path. She was quite a bit away from the cottage now. That thought terrified her deep down, but she knew there was no reason to be afraid. Not about being out here, at least.
Mhalyn didn't stop until she exited the forest, finding herself at the cusp of a large, sprawling field of wheat. The path followed around it, between the field and the forest.
If there was a field, there must have been a village or town nearby, and she was sure the path led to it, which potentially made it dangerous to them.
Still, these were all assumptions, so she decided to follow the path to confirm or disprove them.
In an effort to try to appear inconspicuous, Mhalyn picked a few mushrooms she saw growing out of an old tree stump by the path as she went.
It was unnecessary because Petre could simply grow them mushrooms for food, and they had been doing that, but this way perhaps Mhalyn would have an excuse as to why she was out here aside from saying she was merely passing through while traveling.
As she kept walking, eventually the forest gave way to another field of what seemed to be potatoes. Mhalyn wasn't too well versed in farming to know for sure.
Curious, she leaned a bit closer, just to figure out what produce this was. It would be valuable to know if they needed to resort to stealing some.
But as Mhalyn touched the leaves, pushing them aside to see what's beneath, she gasped as the vibrant green turned yellow.
Blinking, Mhalyn watched the plant turn into a dry husk right before her eyes, and as she frantically looked around, all of the other potato plants did the same.
This couldn't be natural. This must have been the work of a sproutkeeper. Which meant that she wasn't out here alone.
Mhalyn immediately ran off toward the forest, hiding behind the nearest tree, her heart racing as she frantically looked around.
