The Beasts' Forest:

Adam moved as fast as he could on that short notice, pushing himself past the limits he would usually be comfortable with passing, but it was either that or watching Susan die, there was no other choice really.

He also hadn't moved past the fifth gate yet, no big problems would start appearing, he still had room to push himself more.

Even as he moved, his mana had already reached Susan, manifesting in a wall of Cleansing Fire behind her. Defending her against the evil spirit that appeared there at an astonishing speed; though he guessed that that could be associated with it being an evil spirit inside an environment rich with its race's mana to the point where it manifested as thick fog.

Foosh!

Flames rose up behind Susan, in a white blinding wall. Adam was a bit surprised to see the evil spirit retreat after seeing the flaming wall, he guessed that it still had enough awareness to recognise a particularly harmful spell for it.

But that wasn't important, what was, is that the evil spirit had retreated, giving him the chance to get better defences up for Susan.

With a thought, Adam made the flaming wall expand and encircle Susan in a burning half-sphere. The spell he used was extremely effective against evil spirits and other similar entities, he had no worries about Susan then.

Just as that thought went through his mind, as if mocking him, a few grey spears with heads shining in deep blue bright lights appeared and headed towards the burning barrier that he created, he only sensed them when they were a few meters away from it.

Adam felt unease at those spears and how they seemed, so he hurriedly made the barrier around Susan stronger than it already was.

The white flames became intenser till its brightness turned blinding. Adam would have considered that overkill if not for his complete trust in his battle instincts, they never failed him during a fight before.

As expected, when the blue-headed spears collided with the barrier made of Cleansing Fire, the barrier lost some of its brightness, from the amount of mana that was lost, Adam knew that the barrier wouldn't have held on if he hadn't strengthened it.

Pushing more mana into the barrier, Adam decided that he had seen enough. Using all his body as a conductor, he sent huge amounts of mana through both halls as barely seen thin threads of mana.

The evil spirit didn't have a physical form, but its movement would generate waves through the mana around it, the mana threads he sent were enough for him to feel it.

Suddenly, without turning his face and without any indications at all, a ball of white fire appeared on a random spot followed by a loud shrill scream.

The ball hit the evil spirit that appeared there as if it threw itself at it and set it aflame. Adam noticed from where he was that the evil spirit was again heading towards Susan, he wondered why it was that determined to finish her.

He threw that aside when the evil spirit started retreating while trying to extinguish the white flames burning all over its body, he wasn't going to let something like that happen. As fast as he could, he made a few burning chains appear and wound themselves around the retreating spirit like hungry snakes.

As much as the evil spirit tried to struggle and fight, it couldn't wriggle itself off those chains that chained it, which was to be expected, Cleansing Fire was a strong spell against evil spirits, if quite demanding for its level.

After making sure that it won't be able to get rid of those burning chains, Adam turned to the burning barrier that encircled Susan, and when his eyes fell on it, he got an idea about why the evil spirit was that determined on dealing with her.

The grey fog was circling Susan in a slow vortex before disappearing entirely. Even with the burning barrier, this weird phenomenon wasn't hindered and the grey fog was still condensing around her.

Looking on for a while, Adam finally made the burning barrier open up a bit, he didn't remove it completely, he only made the upper part disappear, making it reach around Susan's knees as it kept on protecting her, ready to close up in a momentary notice.

Susan jumped and looked around her as the barrier disappeared, when her eyes fell on him, she sighed in relief before looking behind him to the chained spirit. At that moment, the spirit had stopped screaming and its struggling wasn't as intense.

"How are you?" He asked

"I... I'm alright..." She answered with her face still pale, and then she asked back after a bit:

"... And you?"

Adam smiled in amusement at the question as he said jokingly:

"Of course I'm alright, I'm not you."

Susan didn't really react to his try at humour, she only looked at the evil spirit behind him as she murmured:

"She doesn't seem alright..."

Adam turned around towards the evil spirit and saw that it seemed to be in a much worst state than it should have been with how much power he used for the burning chains. The Cleansing Fire shaped as chains was supposed to make it just weak, not like it was, seeming as if it was going to disperse at any moment.

After Adam noticed that, he turned his head around hurriedly as he looked around him. The first thing he noticed was that the grey fog was much less than the first time they entered there, seeing that, he looked directly at Susan, who was still shrouded in grey fog.

After studying that for a while, it became clear that not all the grey fog was disappearing because of that, on the contrary, the majority of it was moving towards the hole he made in the ceiling before disappearing like scattered smoke.

The grey mana in the room was getting less and less by time.

as that understanding set in, Adam brought his attention back to the evil spirit and noticed that it was getting dimmer and dimmer as time went on and as the amount of the grey mana going through the hole in the ceiling got more.

Adam tried moving fast and hit both hands on the floor below. His palms were shining with milky white bright light and when they touched the ground, that light moved on like waves, making the floor itself shine under the grey mana.

After reaching the sides of both halls, the light started climbing the walls and fast, before moving to the ceiling, closing even the hole he made in the process.

Not long after, it had covered the whole space in a milky white barrier, but even with that, the seal was only partial, the fog was still passing through it in a way Adam wasn't able to determine.

Weirdly enough, the grey mana gave Adam the impression that it was getting more aggressive as time went on as if it was being pulled or drowned by something or someone.

"You won't be able to hold it... It's being called..." Suddenly, while he was still thinking about that, he heard a somehow familiar voice from where the spirit was chained.

"Ahhh!" Susan gave a small shout at the unexpected sound as she jumped in her place inside her barrier

Adam turned his head around and saw that the evil spirit was looking at him calmly. It wasn't giving any of that air of craziness and brutality like before, it was calm and dignified with a serious expression on its face.

Adam didn't know why it suddenly became like this, if it was because of its last moments of clarity or something else, yet, what he did know was that at that moment, he was in front of Atalya the danupira, and not an evil spirit.

But he didn't care much about that, what he cared about was that he had in front of him someone who knew about the coneith, and someone who could answer his questions and put him in the right direction.

"What do you know about the coneith? Where can I find them?" He asked hurriedly, knowing that he didn't have a lot of time left and was afraid that he was going to miss this chance.

Atalya didn't answer straight away, despite how she appeared, it was clear that she wasn't in the best shape, it took her quite a bit of time before saying:

"They rarely remain in one place for long... They keep on moving all around Tellor... And their only fixed location isn't known to anyone else..." Adam found it a bit weird that she choose to answer him at all.

He also was quite disappointed, for his hopes to be lifted that high and then be brought down just like that was extremely unpleasant, he barely could hold himself before taking a deep breath and asking again:

"Do you have any clues that could help me locate them?"

"... You can try the Foggy Mountains... That was one of the locations most suspected to have their fixed base..." Atalya answered after a while and in a rigid manner.

Adam's expression changed at her words as he paled a bit at the name she mentioned, but he soon controlled it again before a hesitant looked covered his face.

Still hesitating, Adam looked behind him at Susan, before taking a few other steps forward, grabbing his collar and exposing the right part of his chest as he asked:

"Do you know if they have a way to deal with this? And if it can be dealt with at all?"

For the first time since she returned to her senses, Atalya seemed truly surprised as she threw another glance at Adam, as if seeing him in a new light.

"... I think they do..." She finally answered, then she added, "Depending on what you have there..."

Adam wanted to speak more but before he could, he saw Atalya lift her hand, interrupting him before adding:

"I don't have much time left... It's getting stronger..."

Just as she finished her words, Adams expression changed, he turned his head towards the grey fog that had gotten a bit calmer since he put the barrier and noticed that it was showing signs of going berserk. He knew that the barrier won't be able to hold on for long.

"The danupira are already extinct, aren't they?" Asked Atalya, uninterested in Adam's reaction.

"Yes..." He answered after a bit of hesitation, "I haven't even heard of them before."

"... It had already happened then... Yet I don't know what to think... How much of what they said was true?..." Atalya had a complicated expression on her face as she looked beyond the barrier, as if her eyes were able to see another time, one only she was able to remember.

Adam tried to ask her about what she meant, yet, before he could say anything, he heard the sound of breaking from behind him.

The barrier broke apart.

Adam tried as much as he could to stop the grey mana that started gushing out like a wild river with no use.

The speed at which the mana moved in this time was astonishing.

Atalya only had a few last seconds, using them, this spirit from an impossibly ancient era turned to Susan and asked in earnest confusion:

"Just what are you?"