...:chapter 9:...

"Caitlyn, you really should go outside and do something!" Benjamin muttered, seeing her stare out of the window. Caitlyn looked up, half-annoyed.
"I've been outside already, right? I trained for a long time today.." she said, then smiled slightly. "But yeah, I should do that. Need me to get anything?"
"Nope, but you could see in town if people need stuff..."
"Okay, that should be possible." she answered him with a smile. Soundlessly she slipped into her jacket and hat and was out of the door within minutes. After she closed the door, the Billposter's gaze lingered on it for a while. Something was definitely different about the young Assist. Ever since the winter festival a month ago. What was different? Well, she seemed bored the whole time, she rarely really looked excited like she used to look.
But what could he do about it? Not much. He sighed, looking at his paper again.

'I wonder what he's doing now...'Caitlyn thought while flying through the cloudless skies. Spring had arrived without a notice, and the snow had made place for the light green and the fresh air of the season. Even though it looked warmer, it barely was, and her breath condensed in the cold air while she flew. Yes, she hadn't heard anything from the Elementor in over a month now. She remembered the words that had reminded her of how busy he actually was like he had said them yesterday.

'I'll be training, most likely'.

Did that mean that it was no use looking for him? She did, she went to his house, looked all around Saint Morning, but found no trace of the Guild Leader. Her thoughts were still miles away from the tasks she was supposed to do. She had leveled up a lot though. She managed to not act strange around Colin, because she didn't want to worry him. He worried quickly, especially when it was about her. She knew him good enough for that. Sighing, she folded up her board. Her footsteps resounded on the metal grounds of Darkon. She was up for a challenge, and maybe she would find some quest items by chance so she didn't have to fight monsters. She wasn't really good at that, anyway, since she was a Full Support with quite low health. Smiling slightly, she walked over to the lady clad in red. She was shouting all kinds of quests.

"Is there anything I can do to ask?" she asked, braiding her blond hair in the meantime. The lady blinked a few times.
" Your level is way too low, right?" she asked sheepishly. Caitlyn felt annoyance rise up. Like she didn't know that!
"I'm aware of that, but I have some tricks.." she said and smirked when she saw the unmistakably curious look on the other's face.
"Then, I'd like you to head over to Antiqueries." she said and smiled.
" I need some leaves of the hugest tree you can see. They're miracle workers for medicine.." she said, but then trailed off. "I get it." Caitlyn said and grinned. She felt a short rush of adrenaline when she thought of going to such high-level monsters. And there was a short, small spark of hope of seeing Nathan over there. She waved at the quest lady and turned around, grabbing her board again. She felt eyes on her as she flew away from town. Her thoughts were far from that though, when she felt the cold cave air enter her lungs for the first time. She had to cast a minor healing spell over herself before she could continue; the air felt horrible in her lungs, too moist and too heavy for her head to stay clear. She became a bit worried; was she really strong enough for this? She swallowed the lump in her throat and then continued.

She already didn't regret going when she saw light at the end of the cave. And when she flew out into it, she could see one of the most beautiful areas she had ever seen. Huge, light green and blue mushrooms rose above her, and mushroom-like monsters dwelt around, grunting boredly while walking around aimlessly. There were less people over here, she noticed. She continued, though, a bit afraid to get off of her board in this area. But once she continued on, under a huge gate, she saw the spongy material of the mushrooms quickly being replaced by thick grass. The air became heavier again, but this time she was more used to it. When she looked around her she saw that she was in an enormous forest. Trees rose around her, their trunks ten, twenty times thicker than the trees at home. Plants hung from them, leeching from the elderly trees for life. Strange monsters with masks ran around, screeching at her. She shivered and flew farther quickly, forcing herself not to get scared. She knew that these monsters could knock her out within a second if they wanted to. And it would hurt, she really could imagine!

The next wonder she saw was a moving tree. And when she was the hugest tree she had ever seen, she knew that she was in the right area. She had planned to go to the leaves immediately, but her attention was distracted quickly by a small fleck in the distance. She felt a surge of adrenaline go through her again at the thought of seeing someone battle these monsters, and she flew a bit higher not to be seen. She heard a rumbling sound when she came closer, and she saw the fleck grow to a human size. It was a man, and he looked super powerful from the distance where she was. He carried a huge axe, and spun around with it to chop all the trees in half. Sparks flew and the strange grunts of the monsters filled her ears. It made her shiver, and she flew on. She saw several more fighters, none of them even paying the slightest of attention to her. Then she noticed a group of fighers, all standing still around the trunk of a tree. She flew a bit closer, even though she had the feeling she wasn't supposed to be here.

" … Wake up, come on!" she heard a man's voice say. He sounded worried.
"He isn't waking up.. We should get help, really..." a woman's voice said, rushed. Caitlyn couldn't get closer and frowned. Someone was in trouble?
A moment later both of them were gone, leaving a third person behind. Whoever it was, he wasn't moving. She could faintly feel the slow pounding of his heart because of her Assist abilities. She was too worried to not do anything. She flew closer hesitatingly, and then climbed down from her board. The floor felt hard on her feet for some reason, and she felt a lot more danger than she had up there. The monsters didn't see her, though, and she hurried to the unconscious fighter.

When she saw who it was, she gasped. Her heartbeat picked up and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.