Rodric returned from whatever errand he was running, only to find their layover spot empty. Eira was gone. A wave of shock and frustration hit him hard.
"Damn that woman... where the hell did she go?" he muttered, scanning the area.
Suddenly, rustling came from the bushes. Rodric barely had time to react before a man charged out at him with a knife. Instinct kicked in. He dodged the first attack and grabbed the man's wrist as he turned for another strike. Rodric's grip was tight—so tight the attacker dropped his knife.
Without hesitation, Rodric threw a hard punch into the man's stomach, making him stumble backward. Rodric used the space to deliver a powerful kick straight to the man's gut, sending him flying into a nearby tree.
Rodric picked up the knife from the ground and approached the attacker with calm menace in his eyes. The man, terrified and in pain, tried to crawl away. But Rodric grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him up with one hand.
"Where is she?" Rodric growled.
The man choked, panicking. "Okay, okay! You're looking for the woman. I know where she is. I'll take you to her, just don't kill me!"
---
Back at the campsite, Valeria was trying to erase Eira's memories. It was taking longer than she expected. She frowned, troubled.
"Is her magic tolerance that high? Or is something else going on…" she whispered to herself.
Magic tolerance determined how resistant someone was to magic. Low tolerance meant magic could take effect easily. For mages, tolerance was everything—it affected their rank and strength.
Jareth, impatient and frustrated, paced behind her.
"What's taking so long?" he snapped.
Eira was still conscious. Though her mind was blank, she could still see the screen hovering in front of her:
[Do you want to use Absorption?]
'Yes,' she responded silently.
Her usual purple influence shifted to blue, and suddenly, Valeria's eyes turned blue too. Eira had unknowingly activated a new ability—one that erased Valeria's memories instead.
Valeria blinked, now completely confused. She couldn't remember anything from the last three years. She looked around the tent in a daze, then spotted Jareth.
"Jareth? Is that really you?" she said, suddenly throwing her arms around him.
Caught off guard, Jareth pushed her away. "What the hell's wrong with you? Are you insane?"
Valeria stepped back, shocked. "I should be asking you that. Is that how you treat a friend after I've been gone for a year?"
Jareth's face tightened. Something wasn't right. Then, one of his men snapped, realizing what Eira had done.
"You bitch! What did you do to Valeria?" he shouted, grabbing her arm.
The moment their eyes met, his pupils glowed blue. He collapsed instantly. Jareth watched in horror.
He closed his eyes and yelled, "Everyone shut your eyes! Don't look at her!"
Some obeyed quickly and stayed conscious. Others weren't so lucky and dropped to the ground, unconscious and memory-wiped.
Eira saw her chance and bolted.
"Kill her before she gets away!" Jareth shouted.
"We can't even see her, boss!" one of his men yelled back.
Jareth clenched his teeth, mind racing. "She's powerful. Maybe even an A-rank mage or higher… That kind of magic, it's not normal. She's from the capital, isn't she? They've sent someone after me."
Suddenly, the tent flap flew open. Rodric entered, expecting resistance. Instead, he saw grown men standing with their eyes shut like they were playing a children's game.
"What the hell is this? Hide and seek?" he muttered.
He spotted Eira and moved toward her, but she stopped him.
"Don't come closer. I think I'm cursed. Anyone who looks at me faints."
Rodric didn't buy it. He gently lifted her face, looked into her eyes—blue at first, then slowly fading back to green.
"You're not cursed," he said. "Come on. We're getting out of here."
They stepped outside, only to be surrounded by seven men. Jareth entered the circle, glaring at Eira.
"You stripped my men of their memories, and now you run away with him?" He turned to Rodric and burst out laughing. "Don't tell me this is the 'left-handed demon.' Everyone knows he's dead."
Rodric was ready to fight, but Eira raised her hand, wanting to talk first.
"We just want to go to the new world," she said. "If you can tell us how, we'd appreciate it."
Jareth scoffed. "Go to the new world? That's impossible. No one's been able to since the incident years ago. Not that it matters. Once Valeria gets her memories back, you'll forget everything anyway."
But Jareth knew the truth about mental magic. It required a constant flow of mana. Once interrupted, the spell would eventually fade. He raised a hand, signaling his men to attack—but Rodric stepped in and took out all six of them with ease.
Jareth turned to run and tripped, falling face-first into the dirt.
Eira walked up to him, calm but firm. His eyes met hers and he flinched in fear.
"Wait, wait! I can help you get to the new world! I've done it before. Just don't kill me!" Jareth pleaded.
Rodric gave him a cold stare. Eira crossed her arms.
"Start talking. Before he does."
"We need to go back to the tent. My stuff is in there."
Once inside, Jareth dug through a box and pulled out a map.
"You want to get to the new world? You need to find someone—Professor Tonton Silker. She was the top scholar in the capital, spent her life studying ancient ruins. If anyone knows how to enter the new world, it's her."
"So we go to the capital?" Eira asked.
"Not that easy," Jareth replied. "She left the capital years ago. But there's still hope. She studied under Dr. Shmucker Shocker, one of the top researchers still in the capital. He might know where she went."
Eira nodded, piecing it all together. "So we find Shmucker, and he leads us to Tonton. That's our way to the new world."
She paused, thinking. "But how do we even get to the capital?"
Jareth spread the map on the table and pointed. "We're here—Shadowfen. The capital is far, past the Sunstone Citadel. We'll need to travel through Elodria, the capital city of Sunstone."
"Any shortcuts?" Rodric asked.
Jareth gave a nervous laugh. "There's a faster route, but... it's through what people call 'Zombie Land.' The land of the dead. If we go that way, we'll be there in a day or two. If we take the long way, it'll be weeks—maybe months."
Rodric raised an eyebrow. "And you prefer the long way?"
"I'd rather be late than undead," Jareth said with a shrug.
Eira looked at Rodric. They didn't need to say anything. They both knew what they were going to do.
She turned to Jareth with a grin.
"It's settled. We're going to Zombie Land."