28. A familiar scent

The snow continued its relentless descent, intensifying from the day before. Erra exhaled into her hands, watching her breath dissipate in the icy air, while she observed the obscured sun through her window, covered by dense rain clouds.

Rising from her bed in the guild's inn, she scanned the empty space beside her, where Harvey should have been. With a sigh, she stood and made her way out of the room.

The previous day, she had orchestrated plans with the remaining guild members to explore the city under the guise of getting acquainted. In truth, she intended to scour the town's slave districts in search of her family.

"You ready?" Halo's voice interrupted Erra's thoughts as she joined them, flanked by Hiakam and Yosemite, both bundled up in layers against the biting cold.

"Where's Sven?" Yosemite's timid inquiry broke the silence, his voice barely audible over the wind.

"You expected him to actually show up?" Halo chuckled lightly. "He's probably off on one of his mysterious ventures."

"Is that his usual behavior?" Yosemite pressed, still unfamiliar with their group dynamics.

"Yeah, let him be," Hiakam motioned, striding out of the guild, noticing Erra's low growl as he passed. "Let's just get this over with."

"Building trust through interaction is crucial. Understanding each other's styles creates unity," Yosemite emphasized. "Especially during battle where we wouldn't have time to converse."

"It'll all be over once I unleash my manifest anyway," Hiakam shrugged, exiting the guild.

"Come back, you jerk," Halo remarked, trailing after him.

"Shall we?" Yosemite turned to Erra, who nodded as they departed the guild.

Their gathering was simple, exchanging life stories and combat techniques. Unlike Blair or Draco'nel, whose strength was overpowering, Yosemite was a mage who relied on teamwork and utilizing his teammate's abilities. It was his way of fighting.

"And you?" Yosemite inquired, his emerald eyes shimmering, his tousled hair contrasting with his face. Tall and donned in a grey and black coat, he towered over Erra.

"Me?" Erra finished scrutinizing him. "There's nothing noteworthy about me."

"Really?" Yosemite responded, then quickly apologized. "Sorry."

"Why apologize?"

"I'm not great at this social stuff. The boss wants me to understand how my teammates fight, that's why I'm here," Yosemite confessed, fiddling with his fingers.

"I'm guessing you're the quiet type," Erra remarked, observing Halo punch Hiakam as they walked ahead.

"That's what everyone says," He chuckled awkwardly.

With a slight sigh, Erra began, "I'm an attacker. I can pretty much use any weapon, but for now, I stick with daggers." She pulled out her marsh dagger, its tip and body cracked and chipped. "Maybe this one is long overdue."

"Don't you want to get another?"

"It was a gift from my master," Erra glanced away. "I don't know how he is right now."

"Hajun, right?" Yosemite pondered her words. "Are you worried about him, if it's because Hiakam beat him earlier? I think it's okay to assume it was because he was still suffering the effects of his manifest."

"It's not just that," Erra replied. "He's... he's been hurt before, and although everyone, even I, see him as the strongest, he's nowhere near that title. He's more brittle than glass. That's why he consciously shuts everyone out."

"What about the Chaos Bird party? Their bodies were found in the Fledplains where he had slain the Unknown."

"He didn't care for them either," She laughed softly. "That's why he's so weak, even when he tries his best not to care, he ends up doing so."

"That's... I would have never thought the great Hajun had all that baggage, to be honest," Yosemite revealed.

"That's why I want to be with him, to protect him in a sense. Especially since we didn't get time to talk in the guild," She sighed, staring at the sky, snow falling on her face.

"You can go see him if you want."

"No... This is something he needs to do by himself. Training with Blair, self reflecting, he hasn't had time to process his emotions yet after the Fledplains. I wanted to be with him when he did... but maybe that's not the best course of action," Erra said, looking at Yosemite. "I'm weird, right?"

Yosemite blushed softly as he turned away. "No... you aren't. The way you care... it's cute."

"Really?" Erra laughed as Yosemite responded, holding her gut as tears ran down her face. "Maybe it is, who knows."

Yosemite smiled softly as they entered the Frosthaven market square, finding it much busier than he had expected, with human crowds covering the entire area. They walked side by side as they visited stores, and it was evident Erra was looking for something. "Anything on your mind?" He asked, a move so bold he wondered who he had become.

"Not really... Hell, I'm lying. My entire clan was enslaved by the Azure. I've confirmed that my mother's dead but..."

"You're still looking for the others," Yosemite understood. "I doubt they'll be in this crowd."

"No, I'm looking for slave centers. Although now we know the Azure are giving their captives to the faction—"

"They were sold before. I understand," Yosemite said as he began looking as well, using his height advantage to quickly spot a building to his left. "I've found one."

They went into it, and after a few minutes, they walked out. The shop owner had apparently never seen a Fenrir in ages, stating the same thing as Meed.

"Sorry."

"No need to apologize, you didn't do anything." Erra smiled softly as she continued walking, this time in the direction of a forest that stood at the boundaries of the market.

Yosemite, not wanting to say anything stupid, followed her silently. He glanced at her multiple times, tears streaming down her cheeks. He had no idea how to handle this, and Halo, who he assumed could was nowhere in sight.

More minutes passed, and now they were in the middle of a thick forest, with trees and grass for miles. Noticing that she had begun wiping her tears, he began. "You wanna head back? The others might be looking for us."

"My master trained me in a forest like this one," Erra muttered as she looked up, "Sorry, it's just. It kinda calms me down."

"No problem, I get it," Yosemite supported as they began walking out of the forest, heading to the market and now beginning their search for Halo and Hiakam. However, they were nowhere to be found.

"I don't have their contacts, tch," Yosemite grumbled as he pulled up his system menu, attempting to call them. "Maybe they headed back to the guild."

"Mom?" Erra mumbled before bolting off, catching Yosemite's attention as she sprinted away.

"Hey!" Yosemite called out, chasing after her, repeatedly shouting her name but to no avail.

Back into the forest now, Yosemite yelled her name once more as he navigated through countless branches, pursuing Erra who was fixated on something. He noticed a dog running alongside Erra and if he wasn't mistaken, it was Halo's.

As Erra halted and Yosemite caught up to her, he slowed down, puzzled by what had happened. But as the dog began barking, he sensed something amiss.

"Mom," Erra whimpered as she approached a figure in the woods, obscured by shade from a tree. "I thought you were dead, I could use your ice spell, but thank goodness... maybe it was just a mistake."

"Erra, maybe you should come back here." Yosemite advised, the figure rubbing off on him negatively. "We don't know who he is."

"Attack!" Halo's voice rang out.

A dog darted toward the figure, bypassing Erra and latching onto its hand. Yet immediately as it reached the figure, its head was split in half, its form collapsing to the ground.

"Mom..." Erra whispered, gazing at the figure, which turned to reveal a disfigured face and a stitched-together body.

"Fucking Idiots."

"Manifest: Moon Veiled Sanctuary."

A barrier formed as Hiakam unleashed his manifest, but before it could be completed, a second dog lunged toward Erra, dragging her out of the barrier's zone. Erra glimpsed at the hooded figure as she was pulled back. It had her mother's aura, yet it wasn't her.

"A manifest," The figure muttered, capturing Hiakam's attention.

Just before the manifest sealed off the barrier, Hiakam felt mana being expelled. It shouldn't be possible—the figure wasn't a player, yet...

"Manifest: Skyline Nebula."

Hiakam watched helplessly as his barrier was overturned by the opponent's manifest. "It destroyed mine?" He muttered in disbelief.

Trapped within the chamber-type manifest, Hiakam helplessly witnessed the opponent achieving the seemingly impossible. As the barrier slowly closed around him, having used his own manifest, Hiakam's mana and stamina were entirely depleted, leaving him vulnerable to certain death if the manifest sealed.

"Oblivion Magic: Condensation." Yosemite, seizing his staff and using his innate technique, crafted a spell that condensed the air around the barrier of the manifest, crushing it.

Unlike other manifests, chamber-types created a barrier that was easier to breach from the outside than from within and since it hadn't fully formed yet, it was more susceptible to disruption.

"Doctor..." The figure glanced to his left, swiftly darting into the forest before Halo could command her dog.

"Let him go," Yosemite urged, sweat trickling down his face. Unsure if it was a false perception or not but he could still sense mana emanating from the figure even after destroying its manifest. Its stamina also persisting. "There's no way, right..."

Halo approached her fallen dog, patting its fur before incorporating its remains into her technique, summoning another dog. "I'll name you Horus," She uttered as she patted the new creation. "Be nice to him, Zeus," She told her second dog.

"What was that thing?" Hiakam pondered as he joined them.

"I don't know, but... something about it was unsettling. It wasn't a player, yet it wielded a manifest," Yosemite said as he stowed away his staff.

"It even overpowered my manifest. That shouldn't be possible, especially with another chamber manifest," Hiakam remarked, trying to mask his fear.

"I think that was my mother," Erra murmured, startling everyone with her revelation.

"You're kidding me, right?" Yosemite muttered, his disbelief evident.