Talia paused in her narration, throwing a furtive glance at Amanda. Cassius frowned slightly, staring into the fire. " So you can only use part of your abilities? " Amanda shook her head, speaking for the first time since Cassius had woken up. " I can only use the abilities I discovered first. My ability to fly came much later than lightning, so I guess that’s why. " " That’s certainly interesting. " Lucian threw a bone into the fire, stirring it up. " But I’d say your ability is quite handy, for instance, we don’t have to struggle with making a fire whenever we have to cook." A pleased grin appeared on his face. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by n0velfire.net " You’re somewhat of a, and I mean no offense, portable stove. Our very own portable stove. " Amanda shot to her feet with a snarl. " I dare you to say that again." Her hands crackled with small bolts of electricity running down them. Lucian grinned haplessly, raising his hands in a placating gesture. A wolfish smile spread across Cassius’ face. Just then, Samantha choked, then coughed violently until she was wheezing in a futile attempt to stifle her laughter. " There’s no need to get worked up," Lucian shrugged," if anything, it was a compliment. " Lucian leaned back in the ground. " Besides, from what Talia’s saying, you’re strong enough to end me in an instant, that wouldn’t even be a fair fight, right? " Amanda stared at him for a while, noting the easy-going smile on his face. Talia felt a chill run down her spine. Lucian’s gaze turned to Talia. Talia hesitantly nodded. Lucian scrutinized her for a second, then sighed. " Care to finish your story? " Talia silently nodded. " You can’t what?!" Talia looked at the redhead in disbelief. " She can also fly?! That’s just ridiculous. How are we even meant to combat such overpowered...I wish I could fly." Amanda glanced back at the blonde girl. " I’m classified as Class A-3. For the time being, it means I have access to several abilities, but since I’m still young, there’s a high chance I’ll be able to use more in the future. " Amanda snarled in a very unladylike manner. " The key point is I can’t use my ability." Talia raised an eyebrow in amusement. " Are you actually throwing a tantrum right now? Seriously ?" Amanda threw her a heated glare, then closed her eyes. At that point, her stomach grumbled audibly. Her face turned beet red, and she shut her eyes tighter. Talia chuckled in amusement, turning to the corpses of the large serpents. " Sounds like you’re also famished." In one fluid motion, Talia unsheathed her saber. The pale blade glimmered faintly in the light, drawing attention to its razor-sharp edge. She swung it a few times, the grey blade whistling through the air. "What are you doing?" Amanda asked, eyeing her warily. " What do you think? I’m going to eat this. Food delivered itself on a platter, how can I refuse? I’m quite hungry myself after all." Amanda’s face turned considerably paler. " I think I’m going to be sick." Talia laughed in amusement, then violently stabbed her sword into one of the large snakes. She skilfully cut off large chunks of its meat, laying them out nearly on a large leaf Amanda had procured. " Care to help me out?" Amanda stared at her in confusion. " You use electricity..." " Lightning," Amanda corrected. " Electricity, lightning, it’s all the same, just use it to start a fire. Much as I’d love to see you try out some raw meat, I’m not willing to get sick myself, so try and start a fire." Amanda promptly disintegrated the first few pieces of wood they managed to obtain. Talia glared at her in shock and something akin to disbelief. " I swear if you ruin this again, I’ll have to kill you as well," she muttered furiously under her breath. Amanda sighed, then tried to set the wood alight again. " Control, exercise control... Just a few sparks..." A few tiny sparks erupted from her hands and set the wood ablaze. The two girls jumped up in celebration, then paused awkwardly. " I almost screamed! What a fine mess that would have been." Talia thought. Their screams would have undoubtedly become a beacon for all the predators with a keen sense of hearing within the vicinity. Minutes later, with a blazing fire going, Talia slowly roasted the chunks of meat over the fire. She was almost drooling at the sight of the succulent cuts slowly turning over the flames. The mouth-watering aroma of barbecue wafted through the air, sifting tantalizingly through the surrounding trees. Unknown to the girls, their dinner also roused the appetite of uninvited guests. Amanda quickly decommissioned the few creatures that dared to interrupt their meal. The two dug into the meal with gusto, remaining at the spot for several days. Talia smoked some of the mea, then the two moved deeper into the mysterious forest. After a few more days of travelling, an unsettling feeling settled in Talia’s gut. " This forest... there’s something wrong with it. " Dark trees loomed around them, and only the faintest splotches of sunlight managed to fight their way through the dense forest canopy, making it to the ground. By nightfall, a thick, eerie mist covered the forest, making it much more difficult to move. Talia snarled furiously after stumbling over a large tree root for the umpteenth time. Talia violently spun around, her eyes gleaming with fury. Amanda let out a quiet, exasperated sigh. " I think we should stop here for the night. We can’t see where we’re going; the mist is obscuring the moon. We’ll walk into a monster’s mouth at this rate. " Talia paused, then tiredly nodded. " Fine, we’ll do that. I’m just tired of this, all of this." Amanda nodded sympathetically. " Me too, but it’s either this or death. " Just before Talia fully succumbed to sleep, a startling thought surfaced in her subconscious. " What if the forest is alive? And all this time, we’ve been moving around in circles? " Surely no forest could be large enough to encompass the magnitude this one forest had." They’d walked for several kilometers without even catching sight of the forest’s edge. In a way, it made sense. She almost scoffed at the thought. " It’s impossible, that can’t be right. " Talia fell into sleep’s embrace at that point, slowly drifting away into the darkness. Talia dreamt of a forest, an endless forest. No matter how much she ran, the forest continued expanding infinitely in every direction. " No, no, no! It’s all in my head," she whispered. " It’s just a dream. Any moment now, I’m going to wake up." Just then, in the periphery of her vision, a dark figure moved, silently skulking in the shadows. A cold feeling of dread sank in her gut, settling in the pit of her stomach. Her breathing became faster, erratic. "I can’t breathe, I’m scared. It’s just a dream." Her mouth felt dry. She warily licked her lips. The dry leaves crunched underneath the monster’s advance. The telltale clacking of its jagged mandibles echoed through the trees. Talia’s eyes widened in horror She swiftly turned and ran, but it was too late. Her body came to a stop, refusing to obey her commands. " Move, damn it! Move!" The monster stood in front of her, its mandibles clicking together in anticipation. Bruce’s mutilated corpse stood behind the monster, with an eerie grin on its face. It pointed at her in silent accusation. " No! You’re dead, dead!" Bruce’s grin grew impossibly wider, stretching from ear to ear. " Oh, but I’ve never felt so alive, Talia. And it’s because of you, you did this. And now you’re like me," the thing said, pointing at her. In the next moment, Talia felt movement, tiny irritating movement across her skin. The burning itch spread beneath her skin, but she couldn’t move her hand to scratch it. She strained, peering down at her body. Then she screamed until she couldn’t recognize her voice. Tiny small spiders burrowed in and out of viscous bulbs of pus in her skin, crawling up into her mouth, her nose, her eyes... "Kill me, kill me please!" In the next moment, the giant spider obliged. Talia’s eyes flew open. The first sound that greeted her was the ragged sound of her own breathing. " I’m alive, it was all a dream?!" She slowly let out a sigh of relief, then inhaled, savouring the fresh morning air. A short distance away, the dry leaves crunched, triggering a familiar memory. The crunching sound was approaching fast. Adrenaline surged through her, her heart pounding frantically in her chest. In the next moment, Talia sprang to her feet. She violently grabbed the red head, shaking her out of her dreams. "Hm, what time is it?" Amanda asked groggily, rubbing her eyes. "We’ve got to get out of here! Now!" Talia roughly pulled the disoriented Talented to her feet. "The spider, it knows we’re here, it’s coming!" " So wait, why didn’t you use Amanda’s lightning? Why run again?" Cassius asked in puzzlement. Lucian turned to the two girls. " The man makes a good point." " I tried," Amanda said quietly. " But it kept moving, like it didn’t even feel it." A shocked silence filled the underground burrow. " Well, you know what this means?" Cassius asked quietly. A large grin spread across his face. Lucian silently shook his head. " Since I killed it, it met a bigger monster than itself."