R. A. T. H

Twenty vol.2

"So how are we splinting things?" Elsa asked as the three walked.

"Hmm. . ." Rose couldn't give a definite answer. At once, she wanted to say 'evenly', which would seem like the correct answer, but there was more to things than that. She raised her right hand and glanced at the sigil at its back.

"I think Rose should continue to store all the mana orbs and use any amount she wishes to at any moment when we enter and are still within the dungeon," Crimson eyes forward, Lilias spoke without missing a beat. It seemed money, though needed, wasn't what she valued the most when she entered the dungeon. "After we exit, then we can divide it evenly, and each person may choose what they wish to do with their share."

Rose turned a glance at the visage of the dragonian whose tail floated above the ground. She remembered that the girl wanted her help in killing the so-called Crimson Dragon that resided somewhere within Alos's Great Dungeon. She couldn't decide, however, whether her generosity was of pure kindness or due solely to the wish for aide.

A whistle caught her ears.

"Wow, you're kinda nice?" Elsa questioned, glancing at Lilias. "But that makes sense. Even when she wins, Rose always comes out of fights battered."

"I can't tell if you're praising me or not. . ." Rose rolled her eyes as her hand lowered. "Besides, it's not always, the previous battle was won quite easily."

Elsa laughed. "That's just an odd one."

On that note, Rose agreed with her friend. Indeed, there would surely be times within the dungeon when she would need to use mana channelling, or heal, and that would quickly drain her supply of mana orbs.

"Thank you," She said towards Lilias.

"It's not a problem," The dragonian replied, expressionless.

'Did her tail just quiver?' Rose raised a brow. She ran through the instance in her mind and, indeed, she was certain the girl's tail shook for a moment.

The three continued walking, fast approaching the source of the sparking lightning and crackling thunder ahead. And as the flashes of hot white littered the sky, and the trio took their steps in strides, Rose's world blurred.

'Oh oh,' She thought.

One moment, she was walking through a ravine. The next, she was trekking within a forest, the sun beating down from the large leaves overhead, and her body weaving between trees that could put the small width of the shacks belonging to the Lanxin Desert to shame. It was a surreal thing to experience for the second she was still in control of her body, then she heard the voice besides her.

"Rite of age. Rite of passage. Rite of ritual. And rite of knowledge," Bianca spoke curtly, enunciating each rite with a detached but uncaring tone. "So many traditions boggling things down. I wish they'd simply give me the test already."

She turned her head upwards.

"It's a bit annoying when I'm practically already ready to become a guardian. How long is it going to take at this rate? Are they waiting for the trees to wither first?"

Rose Igris Blake turned to her sister and smiled. As always, Bianca was someone with unmatched ambitions, and the potential and intellect to make it a reality. Becoming a guardian of the Forgotten Forest was a bar as high as reaching Rose's strength and status. It required the power and will to lead, protect, and guide the two elven races. Though there could only exist three guardians—each for the three rings of fate—aside for time, most were sure she was next in line.

She reached out a hand and patted her sister's head.

"Well," She grinned, "When the time comes, and I retire, I'll cheer you on. Perhaps you will be my counter, an Ice Goddess of the Battlefield, freezing a path for our race."