The Intermediate Layer swallowed them whole. The air was heavy, denser than in the previous forest, and every breath felt like an effort. The trees rose to impossible heights, their trunks thick as fortress walls, and from their canopies fell a phosphorescent pollen that shimmered like stardust. The particles didn't just float—they reacted. They followed the rhythm of Indra's breath, forming currents that stirred in sync with his chest.
He tried to ignore it, but couldn't. On his first deep inhale, the pollen sketched a human outline before him—a face. For an instant, he was sure he'd seen an elf. Indra blinked, and the vision dissolved like smoke.
The second time was worse: a voice. "Run." The whisper sounded inside his head, but it didn't come from Alexia, who walked a few steps ahead with her usual haughty posture. The pollen shimmered around him, as if drawn to him, forming phantoms that vanished whenever he tried to focus his gaze.
He stopped without realizing it, his eyes wide. "Did you see that too?" he asked, his voice faltering.
Alexia turned her head slightly without stopping. "See what?" Her tone was that of someone asking only out of obligation.
"The… illusions. The voices."
She measured him coldly, then sighed and lifted her chin. "Of course. Only you would be idiotic enough to react to the pollen. Keep walking."
The answer cut deeper than her usual insults. If she saw nothing, it meant this was happening only to him. The pollen was linked to him somehow, just like the glyphs.
Swallowing hard, Indra quickened his pace to keep up with her.
The terrain changed. The roots that had once intertwined underfoot gave way to a more open space, a natural amphitheater. Here, the pollen was thicker, accumulating like a glowing mist just above the ground. And at its center was something that made them stop.
A perfect circle, etched into the earth. Its edges were formed of living runes, pulsing in a slow rhythm. Inside, a massive creature stood motionless. A two-headed wolf, its fur made of solidified shadows. It didn't breathe, didn't move—it was frozen at the exact moment of a leap, its claws suspended in mid-air.
Indra felt a shiver. "What… what is that?"
Alexia narrowed her eyes. "A Stasis Ring. But this one… is recent."
She took a few steps closer, examining the outlines. The creature seemed alive but trapped in invisible glass. The pollen around the circle stirred, as if trying to enter and being repelled.
"And larger than it should be." she murmured, almost to herself. "This isn't natural."
Indra didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the frozen form, on the glow of the runes pulsing like a heart. There was something wrong with the air. Heavy. About to shift.
And then the ground trembled. The runes at the edges began to expand,the circle growing like a ripple spreading across the surface of a lake.
"Alexia…" His voice came out hoarse.
She had already noticed. Her cold eyes were fixed on the widening circle, slow but inevitable, as if it wanted to swallow everything around it.
The silence was absolute, save for the muffled sound of his own heart.
The Stasis Ring receded as suddenly as it had expanded, as if it had merely been testing the terrain. The two-headed wolf remained suspended in its eternal leap, but Indra's heart still hammered as if he were in the midst of battle.
"You look like you're about to faint," Alexia said coldly, though her eyes didn't leave the circle. "If you lose control just because the ground shakes, you'll be crow food in less than an hour."
Indra opened his mouth to retort, but she raised a hand, cutting off any words.
"Your breathing is still wrong."
He frowned. "What?"
She turned to face him directly. Her white robe gleamed in the diffuse pollen-light, as if woven from moonlight. Her eyes, however, were hard as ice.
"You breathe like a peasant who just ran from the guards. No rhythm. No control." Her voice was low but laden with contempt. "The Intermediate Layer reacts to what enters it. Every particle of pollen knows more about you than you do yourself. Keep this up and you'll suffocate to death without me needing to lift a finger."
Indra felt his stomach sink. "What do you want me to do?"
"Feel."
The word came with authority, like an order that brooked no argument.
Alexia pointed to the pollen-covered ground. "Close your eyes. Breathe. Let the pollen follow you, not the other way around."
Indra hesitated. "Here? With… that?" He gestured toward the circle, toward the wolf frozen in air.
"Do you think the enemy will wait for you to feel comfortable to learn?" Her smile was a cold cut. "Sit. Now."
He obeyed, grinding his teeth. He sat on the thick roots, closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the feeling that he was offering his neck to the predator trapped in the Stasis Ring.
He took a deep breath. The pollen immediately stirred, as if drawn into his lungs. With each inhalation, a strange sensation ran through him—heat and cold mixed, something alive that didn't belong to him.
"Slower." Alexia's voice came firm, close. "You inhale like you're swallowing mud. Control. Make the forest dance with you."
He tried. He adjusted his rhythm. And then it happened. In the darkness behind his closed eyelids, he saw phantoms. Tall, graceful figures walking around him like illuminated shadows. A musical language whispered in his ears, incomprehensible yet comforting.
His heart raced. "I… I see…"
"Focus." Alexia cut in. "Don't describe. Do."
The pollen around his body began to form slow spirals, as if drawn by an invisible center in his chest. Indra felt the pressure decrease. For the first time, the air of the Intermediate Layer entered his lungs without burning.
He opened his eyes, panting. "I did it."
Alexia watched him with crossed arms. Her expression remained impassive, but something in her eyes betrayed that she had noticed more than she let on.
"You managed… not to suffocate." The sentence was punctuated with a bored sigh. "Not exactly a glorious victory."
Indra felt his newborn pride shatter, but before he could protest, she was already walking away, her steps echoing firmly on the roots.
"Get up." she said without turning. "If you learned to breathe, now you'll learn not to die in motion."
---
They hadn't walked far when Alexia raised her hand, breaking the silence with just a gesture. Indra, still trying to maintain his breathing rhythm, stopped immediately.
The forest had changed. The pollen seemed less dispersed,denser, forming veils that hid the ground. Between the colossal trunks, a shadow prowled. It wasn't a common animal: the air trembled around it, as if reality refused to touch it.
"Smoke Panther." Alexia said, her voice impassive. "Dark Dormant."
Indra swallowed hard. The creature emerged from the pollen veil:it looked like an elongated panther, but its body was made of incomplete patches, as if it were always half-erased. Its eyes were gray slits, and its paws left marks that dissolved the instant they were made.
"You will fight." Alexia said simply.
"What?" Indra's voice rose higher than he intended. "I just barely learned how to breathe here!"
She didn't even blink. "Better learn fast. The trick is simple: either hit the core, or die."
Indra raised his Jian, his heart hammering. The nebulous panther had already noticed his presence. It advanced in absolute silence, as if sound were incapable of reaching it.
"More to the left!" Alexia's voice cut sharply behind him. "You're opening your guard like an idiot!"
Indra rolled to the side at the last second, the creature's claw passing centimeters from his face. The pollen burst around him like phosphorescent sparks.
He tried to counterattack, but his blade passed only through smoke. The creature reappeared behind him.
"Now, the 'Roar'!" Alexia ordered. "Or are you waiting for me to hold your hand too?"
Indra's blood boiled. He planted his feet,breathed as he had practiced, and let his body respond. The memory of the glyphs on the wall echoed in his muscles. The Jian traced the perfect diagonal cut.
For an instant, the creature solidified—and he saw it. A pulsating point,pale gray, glowing on its flank. The cores.
Indra lunged with a shout and drove the blade into the spot. The nebulous panther arched its back, letting out a muffled roar that seemed to come from very far away, and then dissolved into smoke, dropping two cores.
Indra knelt, panting, the Jian propped on the ground. He had won.
Alexia walked past him without hurry, collected the cores with the same coldness one might pick up a random stone, tossed them to Indra, and murmured: "You took four moves more than you should have. Pathetic."
Indra raised his head, furious, but she was already turning toward the depths of the forest.
"Get up." she said. "Or you'll be left behind."
He took a deep breath, sweat streaming down his face. Beneath the humiliation,however, a spark burned. He had seen. He had felt. The Dance wasn't just training; it was the key to surviving here.
And, even if Alexia would never admit it, she knew it too.
Indra stored the cores in his Dimensional Ring. Each Inner Core from a Dormant was worth 10 points. +20 points, totaling 56.