Becoming A God In Another World With My Crush-Chapter 53: The Calm After The Storm

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The trees in the Shadowgrove looked like they’d been scorched centuries ago. The soil was brittle beneath their boots, a strange mix of ash and cracked earth.

Xander squinted up at the canopy...or what was left of it and then swept his gaze around the dead landscape for the third time that morning. "You know," he started, his voice echoing slightly in the silence, "we’ve been in here two days, and I haven’t seen so much as a squirrel."

Iris, a few paces ahead, kicked a rock out of the way and glanced over her shoulder. "Squirrels can’t survive in forests like this."

"No monsters either," Xander continued, more to himself. "No ambushes, nothing trying to kill us."

"That does sound like a good thing," Alyhana said from beside him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at a burnt tree trunk that looked suspiciously clawed. "That’s what’s bothering me."

Alyhana slowed her pace, and her brows furrowed gently as she looked around too. Her hand hovered briefly over the satchel at her side before she sighed and shook her head.

"There’s no aura," she said softly. "None. Not even faint traces of dark magic, It’s like... the forest is completely devoid of life."

"Well," Iris said, gesturing at the skeleton of a forest around them, "maybe the fire did."

Xander didn’t answer right away. He stopped walking, one hand resting lazily on the hilt of his sword as he stared out into the blackened expanse. The sun hung low and hazy through the trees, casting warped shadows across the trail ahead.

"Creepy forest. No monsters," he muttered. "That should feel like a win. So why doesn’t it?"

Alyhana glanced up at him, her tone suddenly firm despite the nervous edge in her eyes. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Because it’s wrong," she said. "Something should be here, the beast king’s army destroyed this place just like the others."

By the time the sky faded into a deep, muted indigo, the forest around them had grown even quieter — as if night had pressed down on the world and muffled the edges of sound. The trees stretched like burned bones into the sky, black silhouettes against fading twilight.

Their small camp was nestled at the edge of a clearing where the ground wasn’t completely scorched. Xander dropped an armful of dry branches near the center of it with a huff.

"I think that’s enough," he muttered, brushing bark dust off his hands.

"No way," Iris said from the opposite side, arms full of kindling. "I saw the way you burn through firewood. You’re a literal furnace."

"Maybe don’t insult the guy who’s helping you not freeze to death," he replied dryly.

"I wasn’t insulting," Iris grinned as she dropped her own pile. "It was a compliment. Big strong Kaelhi keeping us warm."

Xander gave her a look and didn’t dignify that with a response.

Meanwhile, Alyhana knelt near the ring of stones they’d arranged and struck two flint pieces together with steady, practiced hands. Sparks jumped into the dried moss and kindling they’d stacked, and within seconds, a small flame caught and began to grow.

Both Xander and Iris paused.

"Wait," Xander said, squinting. "Did you just...?"

"I did," Alyhana replied softly, brushing ash from her fingertips.

"You didn’t use magic," Iris blinked. "You used rocks. Like a cavewoman."

Alyhana flushed. "I—I learned at the temple," she stammered. "Sometimes I wasn’t allowed to use magic. It was part of discipline training."

"Well, color me impressed," Iris said, sitting down beside the newly blooming fire and tossing her cloak back. "I would’ve just electrocuted a tree and hoped for the best."

"I know," Alyhana said, smiling just barely.

They sat down around the flame in a loose triangle, passing around a cloth bundle of dried fruit, smoked meat, and hard bread. It wasn’t exactly a feast, but after two days of rationing and walking in silence, it tasted like luxury.

For a while, they didn’t speak. Just ate. The fire crackled gently, and somewhere far off in the trees, a lonely wind moved through the charred leaves like it didn’t belong here either.

Iris leaned back against her pack and stretched her arms high above her head. "Ugh. My spine is killing me."

"You say that every night," Xander said, not looking up from the strip of meat he was chewing.

"And it’s always true," she replied. "I’m delicate."

"You literally fought a shadow ghost monster last week."

"I can be delicate and deadly, Asshole. thank you very much."

Alyhana let out a small laugh, curling her legs under herself as she rubbed her hands together in front of the fire. The flames reflected in her wide brown eyes like they were trying to find something.

"I used to think camping was fun," she murmured after a moment. "Before this journey. Before... all of it."

"It’s still kind of fun," Iris said, popping a piece of dried peach in her mouth. "In a traumatized adventurer sort of way."

They lapsed into quiet again, not out of awkwardness — just comfort. A shared silence. The kind that didn’t need to be filled.

Xander tilted his head back against a tree, eyes half-lidded, listening to the fire crackle and the wind move. For a split second, it almost felt peaceful.

Alyhana began to hum very softly under her breath — a lullaby maybe, something slow and old. Xander didn’t recognize it, but it wasn’t loud enough to ask about either. It just... settled into the air like it belonged there.

After the last crumbs were eaten and the fire crackled into a steady lull, Iris dug through her satchel with one hand while still gnawing on a strip of jerky. She pulled out the folded map with a flourish like it was a sacred scroll and laid it flat across her lap, smoothing the creases with her knuckles.

"Alright," she announced, mid-chew, "according to this beautifully inaccurate map, we’re officially not lost anymore."

Xander raised a brow, poking at the fire with a stick. "That’s not really comforting."

"No faith in me?" she grinned, then squinted down at the parchment again. "We should hit Jregon by tomorrow. Midday if we don’t stop every ten minutes for someone to admire a tree."

"I’ve never admired a tree in my life," Xander deadpanned.

"I was talking about Alyhana, actually," Iris said without missing a beat.

Alyhana looked up from where she was brushing out her cloak with a small frown. "I do not admire trees. I just... like to know what kind they are and what nymphs once lived there."

"That’s exactly what admiring is," Iris said. "In a nerdy way."

Alyhana huffed but didn’t argue, and Xander’s lip twitched like he was trying not to smile.

"So," he said, brushing soot off his glove, "what do you know about this city? Jregon."

Alyhana blinked, pulling her knees up slightly as she thought. "Not much," she admitted. "I’ve never been that far west before. This is the furthest I’ve traveled from the Temple of Iasora."

She looked at the fire, her expression going soft in the glow. "But... I do know Jregon is one of the only cities still standing. Most places fell under the Beast King’s control, or worse... but Jregon survived. People say it’s because of its cliffs — it’s built high up, tucked between mountains. Hard to reach. Harder to attack."

Xander nodded slowly, considering that. "So it’s safe?"

"As safe as anywhere can be these days," Alyhana murmured. "They say the people there still have real marketplaces. Light wards that still work. Some even believe the temple archives stored there are untouched."

"Well, that sounds like a dream," Iris said, folding the map and tossing it toward her pack. "Food, beds, maybe even a hot bath... I’d sell my soul for that right now."

"You don’t have a soul," Xander reminded her flatly, his tone teasing.

She flipped a pebble at him. "Not funny."

"It was a little funny," Alyhana whispered.

Xander glanced between the two of them and shook his head, pushing himself up to stretch.

"Then it’s settled," he said. "We reach Jregon, resupply, rest... then keep moving. There’s no Veylith Crystal in this forest. We’re wasting time."

Alyhana nodded quickly, almost too quickly. "Yes, of course. That makes sense. We should go there as soon as possible."

He raised an eyebrow at the speed of her agreement. "...You’ve been doing that a lot lately."

Her eyes widened. "Doing what?"

"Agreeing with me," he said. "No questions. No counter arguments, why do you do that?"