Pearl's eyes were Lily's eyes. And that meant whatever the direwolf saw, Lily could see it too. Same went for Pearl's sense of smell and her instincts. Right now, Lily could see the ghostly shadow of a man moving forward in the desert of ash, leaving his footprints behind. The shadow seemed to be running, as if chased by someone. But the set of footprints only belonged to one person.

  "You know what that means, Pearl?" Lily asked the direwolf.

  The beast gave a wary growl and looked up at the metallic blue sky.

  Lily nodded. "My thoughts are the same. Something that could fly, must be after Rownd."

  The wolf looked ahead again. The shadow appeared in Lily's vision. This was the 'phantom scent'. One of the aspects of Pearl's hyper-senses--an ability that allowed something as vague as a smell to form an image of the person that the smell belonged to. And since Pearl's eyes were Lily's eyes, that meant Lily could see the same image that the wolf was seeing.

  Pearl was like an extra limb to Lily. No, not a limb, Lily thought, Pearl was like a twin. A bigger and more majestic twin with fur and sharp cws. It was common knowledge that twins had their souls connected since birth. What one felt the other could feel it too. This connection existed even among the non-magic users, although in the form of the slightest hint of telepathy between a pair of twins. But it was there. Lily and Pearl were just like that, except the fact that Lily had created Pearl out of flour and witchcraft elixirs.

  Madam had said that familiars weren't real creatures. Or to be more precise, "Familiars are just vessels for abilities that your malice won't let you use directly," is what she had actually said. It was quite a rude thing to say in Lily's eyes. Even if familiars couldn't get offended by verbal rudeness, they still resembled and acted like real animals. And animals were cute--that's all that really mattered if you asked Lily. It always beat her why madam and Miss Elsa didn't really agree.

  Before they came to Orowen, Lily would summon Pearl only to ruffle her fur or to pet her or py fetch with her as if she was a domesticated dog. That same creature that everyone found scary was capable of turning into a big, fluffy goofball if Lily wanted. Something that’s just a vessel shouldn’t have been able to do that. Madam would have said, that was because Lily and the wolf were connected as an owner and familiar. It was a familiar’s fundamental nature to obey the owner's every wish. Another rude thing to say. Pearl and her other familiars weren't mere servants or part of her gear. They were a part of her–it was that simple. Because if they really were her twin as Lily herself believed, then didn't it mean that whatever she felt, the familiars felt it too?

  When she had brought up that point to Madam (back when the old witch was still in her human form), her teacher had just stared at her slightly frustrated and slightly speechless. Lily had been quite impressed at herself for bringing even madam to such a state of bafflement. Currently, she viewed it as the pinnacle of her witchcraft abilities. Miss Elsa had seemed slightly exasperated when Lily boasted about it to her. But in the end, neither madam nor Miss Elsa gave an answer to Lily's question.

  And it was common wisdom that whenever someone couldn't answer your question, what you believed was the ultimate truth. And Lily was happy to believe that Pearl and her other familiars were her twins. No vessels or servants or gear or weapons. Her twins. A part of herself.

  The direwolf came to a halt, pulling Lily out of her thoughts. The ghostly shadow of Rownd Radcliff had disappeared from their visions. Neither were there any more footprints in the ash to follow.

  "You know what this means, Pearl?" Lily asked.

  As the wolf had done before, she looked up at the sky and instead of just growling, she also bared her teeth and gave a fierce gre.

  "Yes." Lily nodded. "The pursuer in the sky swooped down to snatch Rownd."

  Pearl barked.

  "That's my smart girl!" Lily smiled and was about to pet the wolf on the head when she felt a sense of revulsion welling up inside her.

  Then she realized, Pearl's body had gone stiff with vigince and the direwolf was staring straight ahead. Another low growl was erupting at the bottom of her throat. Lily was seeing the same thing that the beast was staring at. They had arrived at the end of the ashen desert. And almost a mile ahead in distance was a range of mountains, rising at sharp and rigid angles and pulsating with a strange mix of colors.

  What she did recognize, however, was the ghostly shadow of the man now filing in the air, getting carried away into the hills. Lily narrowed her eyes. "Pearl," was all she said

  The direwolf understood what her twin wanted. And took off running towards the mountains ahead, in pursuit of the shadow.

  ****

  It didn’t take much effort to track down Rownd Radcliff. But the road they had to take was a long and tedious one. Since they had to hike halfway up the mountain, making their way through a forest of trees with bloody red foliage that made a sound simir to the wet slippers on the ground when rustled.

  Lily was a bit surprised to find that they didn't run into any kinds of animals on the way. Nor were there any birds chattering around.

  There were only a few kinds of people who could hide from the phantom scent. And Rownd certainly wasn't one of them.

  Lily hopped off the wolf and straightened out her skirt. “You made us run around quite a bit, Mr. Radcliff,” she said with a sigh as she approached the man who was bound by a rope to the trunk of a tree. “Your sister has been especially worried, not to mention overwhelmed with the stress under the debt you left her with.”

  Rownd gaped at the girl desperately. “Help me!”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “That's literally the reason why I came all the way here.” She started moving towards him to rip the ropes that were holding him down.

  “No, stop!” Rownd yelled.

  Lily jerked back as if she had touched a steaming hot pot of water (truth be told, the heat wouldn't have bothered her much if she was actually touching a hot pot). “What is wrong with you?” She folded her arms across her chest. “First you asked me to help and then you scream when I actually try to.”

  Rownd didn't say anything. He was just staring at her in horror. Lily narrowed her eyes. “What are you looking at, Mister?”

  “Your leg,” he said in a trembling voice.

  Lily frowned and followed his gaze. Her foot was half buried in a pile of hay and something was itching at her shin. She stepped back to find a rge metallic jaw, gripping the limb right under the knee.

  The horror on Rownd's face gained a hint of confusion. “H-How are you not bleeding? Or screaming?”

  Lily wasn't even paying attention to his questions. She was fumbling with the contraption. “What kind of idiot leaves these lying around?! Someone can step on them.”

  Now the horror and confusion on Rownd's face was repced with complete bewilderment. “It's a bear trap, you know?” he said. “It's meant to, uh…trap you.”

  Frustration finally got to Lily at the inability to pull off the trap clinging onto her leg and she yanked the thing with a forceful tug. The screws and hinges in the trap came loose and it fell to pieces on the ground. “Stupid rusty mouth,” Lily muttered as she made her way up to Rownd again.

  “Stop!” he cried out once more.

  “Ugh, what is it now?” Lily grumbled.

  “Look up,” he said.

  Lily frowned and looked up at the gleaming bloody foliage overhead. A bed of spikes hung suspended above, waiting to drop and pierce whoever dared to stand in its shadow. Lily looked back at Rownd, confused. “What about it?” she said.

  Rownd's jaw went sck. “That thing up there is connected to these ropes holding me down. If you try to mess with them, the bed of spikes is going to–”

  “No, I don't care,” Lily said and moved around to the back of the tree.

  Rownd frowned. “W-What are you doing?”

  “You yap too much. Give it a rest for once,” she said.

  “Look, whatever you are doing, just be very careful,” Rownd said. “Whoever did this, they left behind these traps so the other wild animals won't have much luck to hunt me.”

  “Didn't I tell you to give it a rest?”

  “I'm just trying to hel–”

  His words were cut short when he felt a slight tremor under the ground he was sitting on. The crimson foliage began to rustle overhead, making their grisly wet sound. “What the–”

  Then the tree began to shake. It took him a moment to realize that the thing wasn't shaking of its own accord. It was being pulled back with two violently strong hands, its roots were being pulled loose from their grip into the soil.

  The tree was first tilted back at an angle of hundred and twenty degrees. Then a hundred and fifty. Hundred and sixty. Then the tree was perpendicur to the ground. And Rownd could see the sky above without having to move his head even a bit.

  The man was stunned in his restraints, unable to form any words as he stared up at the sky. Then he heard a pair of footsteps, moving closer. Next thing he saw was the woman standing above him, cpping dust off her hands. There wasn't a drop of sweat on her forehead.

  He just watched her as she crouched down to rip off the ropes tying him down. “See?” She grinned. “It wasn't so hard now, was it?”

  Rownd's mind was beyond forming any words. He just stared at her quietly, his mouth still slightly ajar.

  Lily looked at him, concerned. “Damn, I think I know why you are so quiet,” she said and raised her open hand, perparing to smack him in the face. “Sometimes non-users go catatonic when they discover magic. This might hurt a bit–”

  “No, no! I'm okay!” Rownd sprang up to his feet and hopped off the tree, making a safe distance between the two of them.

  Lily squinted at him. “You don't look very okay, pal. You keep screaming whenever I try to help.” She blew a sigh of frustration.

  “I appreciate the help. But I'm sure insanity hurts a lot less than a sp from you,” he said, trying to calm his racing heart.

  Lily gave a disappointed look to him for turning down her offer to knock some sense into him. She pushed aside the feeling of disappointment and hopped off the tree. “Let's just get going. Cynthia is looking for you.”

  Rownd worked up some courage to follow her. “She sent you?” he asked.

  “No, the angels sent us,” Lily said.

  “Angels? But you said my sister–”

  “It's a long story, just hop on so we can get going,” she said and mounted Pearl.

  With some reluctance, Rownd mounted the wolf. “Look, whoever you are, even if you can uproot a tree bare handed, I still advise you to be careful,” he said.

  “Careful of whom? The trees?” Lily asked.

  “The people who captured me,” Rownd said. “I still feel like they are watching us. And they might swoop in to kill us anytime.”

  Lily paused because the gears in her head were turning now. Residents of an immortal realm that could fly? Now wouldn't that be a fight to remember? Last time we came to this realm, Miss Elsa obliterated a couple dozen of these people in a single strike. That must be the reason why she was able to climb up to the Adept echelon while being so young.

  Rownd leaned aside to get a better look at her face. “I don't like the face you are making,” he said.

  Lily casted a deadpan stare at him. “Excuse me?”

  “You don't pn on getting in some kind of trouble, do you? Because that would be a terrible mistake to make here.” Rownd said.

  Lily rolled her eyes. “Ha! This is coming from a man who abandoned his family, dug his way under the middle of nowhere only to get banished to another realm because he accessed a cursed artifact. Your life was about to become a terrible mistake if I hadn't come to rescue you, mister.”

  Now it was Rownd's turn to give a deadpan look. “That's just rude. I said what I said because I want us to get out of here safely.”

  Instead of answering him right away, Lily hopped off Pearl and made her way to the fallen tree that Rownd had been bound to. She picked up a piece of rope he had been tied with and walked back to the direwolf. “What's the one thing we all know about safety, Rownd?” she said as she made Pearl sniff at the rope.

  “What?” Rownd asked.

  Pearl activated phantom scent. And now they both could see the ghostly shadow of the real owners of the rope, flying off above the trees but not too far away. Lily grinned in triumph before she mounted the direwolf again. “Safety is for people who die too easily,” she said.

  Rownd froze in horror. What did I just get myself into?