Hexagons.

[Randall's POV]

The hellfire embraced the destruction and devastation around us, along with the ruins of the place that housed hundreds of innocent lives mere days ago…

The resting bodies of the people I failed to protect, and the fallen corpses of the neverending bastards that commited the worst of sins: Murder. The burning flames also showered them with not only warmth, but the ashes of their enemies and companions alike.

I turned south-west to confirm Violet's position. She should have been standing not too far behind me, but…

All that remained of her was a small pool of black blood, and a strand of partially soaked white hair. Flawlessly cut by a sharp instrument.

"Vio- Ah!!"

A pair of dark, sharp claws grew immediately on my pale hands. Crimson blood dripped on the hot, earthy surface, even as my vision flashed and faltered. Yet, it remained locked onto the hair strand.

A body fell. 

Two large wings with feathers sprouted from my back against my own will. The pain from their creation did not stop me from turning around… and seeing Ren's dead body.

"R-ren…?"

Her remaining paw, which wasn't sliced off cleanly, pointed towards… me. 

'Wait… No, someone's miss-'

Without even finishing my thought, I turned towards the east… And saw them.

Jean's standing body didn't move at all, almost as if its time had been frozen. Behind her, a certain demoness had fully revealed her gray pen-blade.

Instinctually, I ran towards them… I still wasn't fast enough. The gray blade penetrated Jean's chest, whose crimson eyes widened. 

"R,rand…all…"

Just like Ren, she fell to the murky ground. The same ground that was permeated to its roots by the death of hundreds of lives… if not thousands.

"No…!"

My rapier appeared by my side. The blue and the pitch-black purple merged in a chaotic manner, even as I rushed to stab that bastard.

Yet.

Shs disappeared from her position. 

"You're useless to me," she muttered, as her blade stabbed me.

…

My body rose as fast as a landing thunderbolt. Every single one of my accelerated heartbeats palpated within my head, quite clearly.

Immediately, I checked my stomach. And the extreme beating cooled off greatly.

'Ah… T-that must have been a nightmare.'

Right, right… It wouldn't make sense for her to betray me. She can't afford to. 

'… I wonder how they're doing,' I thought, while rationalizing whatever that dream was meant to be.

I just hope they're safe.

"Looks like you're awake. Come on, we're getting some water from the river before the others wake up," stated a certain someone's familiar voice. 

The brown haired demoness stood on the corner of the room, with shadows concealing most of her slender figure. With strands of brown hair collapsing down to her waist and the two lavender arms crossed across her chest, I found myself having two chestnut eyes staring at me. Two cold, yet uninterested chestnut eyes.

Yep, those were Anne's eyes.

"… Let me get up."

Even in another world, this is always a struggle. Especially without an alarm.

I lifted myself up, glancing at the clothes–more like a cloak– that I've been wearing for… a few days now. Four? Five?

I think five, yes. 

Besides the gray cloak, a somewhat torn, dirty shirt. It resembled tree bark in its colour. The same qualities applied to the pants, which resembled work pants.

Some saliva traveled down my throat. While I wanted to ask Anne if bringing the food sack along was a good idea… 

I couldn't really bring myself to talk. 

"Lle–... I mean, Randall, is something wrong?"

"Ah? No, there's nothing. Nothing at all."

She kept her eyes on me, and didn't move them away. Not even an inch.

As I said before, she can't betray me. I'm sure of it. It's not even worth it at this point.

"Come on, let's… Let's go." 

Following my exit, she emerged out of the hole in a far more dignified manner, yet sharing one of the many spots lit by the moon. The sun hadn't even peeked out, yet we had to go…

"Night? Why are we going?…" I tried to inquire, but a yawn cut me off. 

"Safety and privacy. Those two are the most relevant reasons."

Each step led us further and further away from the house. The same one we didn't own, yet occupied illegally.

'It is what it is.'

For the next two minutes, our steps directed themselves towards the west. The walking led us through some of the many small houses of the town, and eventually led us to the one and only river. Which acted as one of the town's main supply points for water. Drinkable water, of course.

A violet figure kneeled down beside a patch of purple grass, just in front of the flowing water. 

"Jack, we're here."

Loud gulping sounds emanated from Jack's body, along with a raised hand.  

"Haaa… Refreshing."

We approached the self-updating fountain's edge. "Come on you two, have your fill before the place fills up."

A purple magical shape appeared in Jack's extended palm, only for a squirt of clean water to blow out of the river and enter his mouth.

"Huh, a magic circle?" I commented, gazing at the slightly shaky shape. In fact, it was barely noticeable.

'Come to think of it, I should learn a bit about magic…'

"No, a magic hexagon."

Seeing the magic hexagon, Anne sighed quite loudly. "That's not how you do it. First, stop shaking, that ruins your control over the miasma."

The hexagon in Jack's hand vanished, as he stopped doing… whatever he was doing. 

"First, focus on the element you want to draw out. You needn't pay attention to fire or earth essence if you want to use a simple water spell."

'Nevermind, I guess I'll learn now.'

And Anne extended her palm. A similar hexagon appeared, its structure being far more refined than Jack's.

"Second, create a magic hexagon using the miasma within your body. This part is extremely important, as it will allow you to transfer the miasma within your body into the hexagon, which you can then use to fuel your spell."

The hexagon slowly drew in small particles of darkness, which condensed within the magical shape. "Third and last, imagine what you want from the hexagon. And give it shape."

An arrow quickly emerged from the hexagon, flying away into the distance. It didn't get too far before the attack disintegrated.

"And, that's how. Randall, I hope you paid full attention to my explanation, as it'll help us in our journey that you learn to use Miasma properly," stated Anne, before dispelling the hexagon. "Any questions?"

"Why not use-"

"Raise your hand to ask for permission. Not only is it rude not to do so, but it'll let us communicate clearly."

… I raised my hand, holding back any thought that could potentially slip my mind. And only then, did Anne allow me to ask away.

"Why not use magic circles? Is there a difference between this and hexagons?"

The fiend nodded. "The difference between circles and hexagons is quite substantial. Due to the inherently docile nature of mana as a substance, non-demon mages can afford to use magic circles. This grants the spellcaster the ability to use outside mana to fuel their own attacks, without it going through their bodies first…"

'Then why do you use hexagons…?'

She stopped to catch her breath for a moment. "However, those circles can't hold the chaotic yet powerful Miasma. Our predecessors came up with a much more efficient method for it… The magic hexagons. They fully allow us to exploit miasma's power advantage over mana, while enabling us to slightly control our own output."

Nevermind, I guess that's why.

By this point, she had a smug smile on her face. "They were quite smart when creating this," commented the demoness casually, a slight smile proudly hung on her lavender face.

"Now, Jack, repeat that again while I give Randall some tips."

Anne led me a few dozen meters away from the river, where Jack practiced creating some hexagons with his miasma. She laid her back on a large rock.

"So, Randall…" she voiced, while dragging me a tad far away. "You know the main six elements, right?"

I nodded. "Fire, Wind, Water, Light, Void and Earth."

"Correct. Your body had an affinity towards a certain element, but it wasn't any of the ones you mentioned…"

I looked at her, expectantly. 'If it's not one of the main six, it must be a rare one. What will it be? Maybe Space? Illusion? Realit-'

"Rather, it was the plant element."

… Huh. Plant.

I sighed.