Plans for the weekend

Adimia woke up before everyone else for the first time, or so he thought until he saw Paley downstairs cutting up vegetables and putting them in a bag for their camping trip.

"How're you so good at so much stuff?" Adimia yawned and sat to the left of the counter that Paley worked on.

"I guess I'm just built different." Paley joked and moved on from cutting parsley to dicing carrots, using air magic to switch the ingredients around.

"You know what I think? I think you must've been some great mage before you lost your memory," Adimia theorized, taking a seat on the dining table now.

"Maybe, it'd be cool if I was some great noble, right?" Paley half-joked.

"All nobles are assholes," Adimia sighed.

"I'm sure there must be one or two good ones," Paley finished packing up the vegetables, "I was thinking; would you like to come hunting with me during the camping trip?"

"Like hunting animals? Hell yeah! I've always wanted to do that," Adimia grew excited.

"Spring is coming soon so there'll be a plethora of birds for us to hunt. In case something happens, do you have any spells to save yourself?" Paley went over to the fireplace to light it.

"No, I can't use magic, dude," Adimia replied.

"What?"

"Yeah, I've got zero magic flowing through me," Adimia pushed his lips up awkwardly.

"Is that even possible? Isn't everyone supposed to be born with magic?"

"My magic was kinda... stolen. I don't wanna talk about it, though."

"That's fine, I won't ask." Paley sat down and began reading another book that he stole from the city.

"Did you go to the city by yourself? With that bounty on your head?" Adimia asked.

"I just fly over their radar and get in through the glass roof. It's not that hard. Though they *have* started to tighten security. Mainly around the main doors."

"When did *you* wake up Adimia?" Madella came into the cottage holding two big logs. She placed them down next to the staircase. They were for Teerom to carve replacement parts for the barn, "Have you already cooked breakfast, Paley? Without me?" She tapped Paley's cheek.

"Sorry," Paley replied with a hint of smugness.

The day went by and now Paley sat with Reben in the bedroom. They were both waiting to use the bathroom, but they knew it'd be long before they got to step foot in there since Adimia occupied it.

Bacha came upstairs with her hands held behind her back. She wanted to ask them something.

"What's up?" Paley asked.

"I was wondering if I could come to the camping trip too," She replied awkwardly.

"No, it's an all-boys trip," Reben said.

"I wanna come!" She stomped on the fragile wooden floorboards. Paley was more taken aback by how she managed to crack it and send a splinter flying his way.

"You can't! No girls allowed!" Reben stood on the bed and made an 'x' with his arms.

Bacha was about to scream at him, but Paley quickly butted in, "You want to collect some herbs, right?" He asked and she nodded, calming down a little, "I can get them for you. Just write them down for me. Plus, there are monsters in the forest, wouldn't you rather want to stay safe at home and have your herbs delivered to you?"

Paley could've easily protected her, but he didn't want them to argue. Bacha bought it and nodded agreeably.

"I'll bring any that look interesting too, deal?" He put his hand out for a handshake.

"Deal," She walked over and shook it with a smile.

"Ahh, great dump, great day," Adimia came out of the bathroom, rubbing his stomach.

"Did you wash your hands?" Paley asked, to which Adimia silently went back in, washed his hands, and came back out after drying them. "Yep," He replied.

Paley sat on the grass outside the barn and relaxed, watching the sun slowly make its way below the horizon. He sipped on the remainder of a chicken soup. Teerom was working inside, adjusting the horse stables. Paley was waiting for him to finish so that they could go on their camping trip.

Adimia and Reben sauntered by the river, calling out every time that a fish would pass by. The bag of food and grill equipment rested atop the riverbank. Paley and Teerom finally walked over when it was nearly sundown.

"Sorry, the barn work took longer than I expected," Teerom picked up the bags, but Paley tapped him on the shoulder and signaled to give them to him. He left them, letting Paley use air magic to carry them easily.

They walked deep into the forest, quietly - apart from Adimia's whistling - enjoying the scenery.

"So, where should we set up camp?" Paley asked as they walked through thickening foliage. They were approaching the mana zone.

"Wherever the wind takes us," Teerom said, smoldering.

"But there's no wind," Adimia teased.

"Can we go to the Fulguron's nest?" Amasha asked.

"Into the mana zone?" As much as Teerom loved Aneros and his fights with demons, he was mortified of monsters.

"Don't worry. We got Paley here to keep us safe, right?" Reben said.

"Right," Paley replied, patting Teerom on the back. The group sped up into the transitory area between the normal forest and the mana forest.

"Wait!" Teerom rushed after them.

They had to take high steps to get through the thick grass. Paley offered to fly everyone to the nest, but they insisted that it was part of the experience. It had been a few weeks since they were last in the mana zone. That was when they celebrated Madella's birthday.

Now the trees had begun to adapt to the shifting seasons. They thinned out and grew even taller to compete for sunlight. The canopy of leaves was rich with emerald green. Surprisingly, it struggled to hold back the light coming down in streaks.

As overwhelming and huge as the biodiversity of the forest was, Paley didn't feel one bit small. They arrived at the Fulguron nest at sundown. It was beautiful. The forest was dimly lit by faintly fluorescent fireflies. They emitted a soft green glow, giving the forest a surreal ambience.

The scars from the battle between Paley and the Fulguron had faded, leaving behind a large clearing in the hole where the nest was. The grass was much shorter and the ground was flatter here, making it perfect for them to sleep on.

They hopped into the nest and made their way to the middle. Teerom bent down slightly and swiped up water from the blades of grass. "Why's it wet?" He asked rubbing the wetness between his fingers.

"Did it rain recently?" Adimia asked as Paley put down the bags in the middle of the nest.

"Maybe the weather's different in mana zones," Amasha chimed in.

Paley felt an odd sensation. A familiar sensation. He touched the grass and felt his magic calm down from its usual furious churn. It was attracted to the grass. To this place. He theorized it was because he won against the Fulguron here, but something told him that wasn't it.

Observing his surroundings with caution, he began to notice that all the fireflies were slowly drifting the same way. He couldn't follow them to investigate since they all hovered upwards and above the canopy.

But he could follow something else. An ant caught his eye, appearing to be rushing towards something. It was in such a hurry that it was not afraid of climbing on Paley's shoe to cut time. He crouched down and spotted another ant a few inches away. Then another. And another.

Like the fireflies, they all went the same way. He glanced at the other boys. They were still taking in the beauty of the forest. Then, he decided to follow the ants. As he climbed the nest wall, Teerom called out to him.

"Paley, what're you doing?" He asked.

"I'm following some ants," Paley replied and continued into the trees. The ants had now lined up and formed lanes, which moved in unison forwards. It continued until a door of vines between two trunks. The ants passed under just fine, but Paley had to push the vines aside.

What met him on the other side was nothing short of dazzling. A lake. Most likely caused by the giant ice spike he generated during the Fulguron fight, melting and moving through the ground to form the lake. But he had no idea it was because of that.

The fireflies hovered above it, having their lights and the moonlight reflected by the ice-like sheet of water below. Paley felt the gaze of someone lower on him. He turned to his right to see a wolf, staring at him, hoping that he did not see it. It had seen the destruction that Paley caused when he fought the Fulguron.

"Do you speak too?" Paley asked, but the wolf didn't respond. Instead, its black fur turned a deep shade of green, as if it was trying to camouflage itself. It took Paley's words as threats and began to back away submissively.

"I won't hurt you if you won't hurt me," He tried to speak to the wolf again, but it didn't understand him. He watched it slowly back away into the forest and disappear. With a sigh, he started to return to the other boys, who waited for him around a fireplace.

"What happened?" Teerom asked.

"There's a lake over there. We should check it out tomorrow. For now, let's set up our tent." Paley prepared his magic.

It was mainly Paley that put the tent together, but he would ask the boys to help him now and then so that they could get the ' full experience '.

They finished making it out of rough logs balanced against each other and leaves covering the exterior. The interior was the same except the bottom of the logs were padded with leaves too.

"Let's go in, shall w-" Teerom began but Adimia, Reben, and Amasha rushed in before he could finish.

"Let's go in, shall we?" Paley smirked at him and joined them inside.