43 – Letters.

I stood up and turned my back to Elena. I had heard enough.

“Let me know if you need anything. I'm partially responsible for the state you're in right now,” I said, then walked to the door.

I ignored the sob that followed my words, and opened the door. Lorena was leaning her shoulder against the wall of the hallway. She looked at me and I gave her a nod, then she went inside the room.

Alyssa came out after that, with a face that said 'yikes'. We left the Watcher office and found Pokora waiting outside, her weird mount next to Sonya and a Bhin.

“The rest went back to your cabin,” the Elf muttered.

I focused on the Bond and noticed it pointing west of Lakeview in the direction of the resort and nodded in response, then walked to the Ratnak. The town was in total darkness, my glow illuminating the space around us as I had absorbed a lot of sunlight while sunbathing. It wasn't blinding, but a gentle light.

“Natasha...” Pokora called to me as I mounted Sonya. “Aren't you a little too violent?”

I looked her dead in the eye. My glow revealed her face in full and I saw a complicated expression on her face.

“It's cute that you think of what I have done as violence,” I replied, thinking of Hell.

She scowled.

“Don't patronize me,” she said back, glaring at me. “And that's not what I mean. I'm not criticizing or questioning your actions. Just wondering if you're not... I don't know how to put it.”

“I'm not,” I denied it, shaking my head. “If we get to know each other better, you may understand more one day. You, Sussanna, and Elena are still alive, after all.”

I heard Alyssa chuckle, and Pokora sighed.

“Anyway,” the Elf shook her head. “See you tomorrow, I need some serious sleep.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “Take care.”

“Take care,” Alyssa gave her a nod.

I smiled and stopped as I remembered something.

“Ah, wait! Pokora!” I called, dismounting.

The Elf hadn't gone too far, so I caught up quickly.

“Yeah?” she lazily muttered.

“Does 'Khepri' ring any bells?” I asked her, hoping I wasn't imagining things.

She squinted, thinking for a few seconds.

“It does,” she confirmed with a nod. “Let me check something.”

She produced a book and leafed through the contents, stopping at a page near the middle.

“Uh...” she moved her finger over the lines, then tapped it twice. “Yeah... it's a...”

Her eyes shone a little with blue-ish light, then her ears twitched a few times as she looked around.

“What's that?” I asked, gesturing at her head.

“Nothing much,” the Elf muttered. “I have a skill that checks if we're being watched. Part of the Hunter Class. No one is paying attention. Think of it as Detect Life or Locate Creature.”

“I have no clue what those are,” I said back.

“Didn't you work in Ancient Parchments 6?” she asked me.

“I was part of the art department, not a developer,” I argued. “I know a few memes, but didn't play the game. Don't change the subject!”

“Fair enough,” she nodded, looking down back at the book. “Khepri... Egyptian God. Of what? I don't remember.”

“How do you know that, then?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

She blushed a little.

“There was this yaoi anime-”

“Got it,” I interrupted her. “Elena has a staff with that name. It originally belonged to Perculis. It was for a bug-related class.”

“Mhm, Khepri-sama was an onii-san character in the show, he owned the apartment complex the other Gods lived in,” she said with a satisfied nod as she read more. “He had one of those Egyptian beetles as a pet. Deeply loved by fans.”

I shook my head. I never knew how to deal with hardcore fans of those kind of shows.

“Okay,” I sighed. “That helps.”

“So Perculis had a staff named after a God from Earth?” she asked with a spark in her eyes.

I tilted my head. “You do realize multiple worlds may have similar Gods? Out of billions of stars, I would bet there are at least two other worlds with a God named Thor that deals with lightning.”

“Well, there's a chance he was from Earth too,” she insisted.

I gave a noncommittal shrug. “It would be a funny coincidence.”

She stored the book and squinted at me.

“See?” she asked, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You should be going Damn! He was from Earth! I'm sure of it! We should go and check his research!” she even imitated my accent. “And yet you just mention it as a funny coincidence.”

“Pokora,” I let out a sigh. “If that's what you'd like to do, I have no issue. I thought you'd be interested in it more than I am, so I told you.”

“Ah,” she uttered. “Thanks, then. Good night.”

“Night,” I replied.

We bid farewell and went our separate ways.

On the way to the resort, me and Alyssa shared a few jokes to lighten the mood of the day. It hadn't been as eventful as the previous night, at least.

We left our mounts on the back yard of the cabin when we arrived, next to a water trough and went inside. Lapia was waiting for us and received us with a kiss each. Yolin was in the living room, playing cards with Bonte as Bromisnar played some music.

Me and Alyssa sat down on a big sofa and let out a long sigh.

“How did it go?” Lapia asked, sitting next to Alyssa.

“Pretty standard,” the Luzo replied. “Captain Lorena used a Truth Device to get some answers. Elena lost her memory... around two thousand years worth.”

“Oof,” Yolin muttered. “That's tough.”

I noticed alcohol on the table and grabbed a bottle of what I assumed to be vodka. When I was about to take a generous and humble sip of half the bottle, I heard a knock on the door.

Letting out a sigh, I stood up and walked to it, then opened it.

A bird stood in front of me in the entryway, holding a few envelopes in its beak. Four of them. The animal was a meter and a half tall. Black feathers, black eyes, and a black beak. An over-sized raven.

Not this again, I groaned in my mind.

[Corvitex, Lvl 1000]

Holy shit! I gaped at it. That's the highest leveled thing I've seen!

It dropped the envelopes at my feet and stared at me, tilting its head as a bird would.

“Thanks?” I tried talking to it. It hadn't worked with the turkey, and I expected a magical raven to be smarter.

“You! Welcome!” it croaked, and I almost jumped back in surprise and shock.

IT FUCKING TALKS!? I screamed in my mind.

It looked down at the envelopes and pecked at them two times, then looked up at me.

“Okay,” I muttered, picking up the things.

Two had a beautiful H stamped on them, identical to Nilenna's letter and Yulianna's plaque of item ownership. The third one had a crest I didn't recognize, and the last one didn't have any symbols on it except a line that read 'To Her Excellency Natasha Novak. From Her Divinity Shorvanna'.

Holy shit, this got too real, too fast.

I opened the first one from a fellow Halve and read it.

'Greetings, Junior Novak.

I write to you with the intention to welcome you to Galeia. Elder Atarka pressured me into sending you a letter. I hope you're doing fine, and wish you a pleasant Aphelion celebration.

(She scares me a little, please dissuade her from forcing me to write more letters.)

She mentioned being busy in the search of Elder Kavun, and Junior Idgaeh is too willing to follow her ridiculous requests.

Hoping we meet in the future to come,

Miraztor X., Your Elder.

PS: Please talk some sense into her if you can.

PS.2: Don't do whatever she asks, as her requests will get more ridiculous with time. Trust me.'

I stared at the letter for a few seconds, trying to keep myself grounded and avoid laughing at the same time.

Elder my ass! I retorted in my mind, storing the letter.

I opened the next one. It was quite long.

'Hey, hey, hey, lil' sis!

'Tis I, your big sis Nilenna, wishing you a merry Aphelion. It's not that impressive when you actually think about it, doesn't it? Just two giant balls of fire in space doing their thing. You should watch the Perihelion, now THAT's a show! I haven't gotten tired even after all this years of seeing it!

Anyway, I've heard you're increasing your companions' levels. That's good. Take good care of them, okay?

Also, I thought of something since last time I wrote you. If you accomplish my request, I'll give you a reward AND you'll get to keep Pytor! He's the cute little Corvitex that should be in front of you as you read this. You see, my animal companion had some cute little children some five hundred years ago and I thought it'd be neat if we could keep in contact more often. I want to hear from you, you know? You're making big sis lonely by not sending letters. I don't want to hear excuses! Yulianna refused and look how it ended!

I'm in the middle of the ocean as I'm writing this. Can you smell the salt from the paper? I'm using Leviathan ink to write this. Cool, isn't it?! You should draw a Leviathan if you have the chance! I kept your drawing of the Sentinel! It was really well done! Big sis is very proud of you, you know?

I'll get Miraztor to write you a letter as well. He likes to play hard to get, but comes around after a bit of convincing. He should be in Patuk around this time of the year. Don't tell his admirers, though!

Desseyr is such a good lil' bro! You should definitely meet him! He's so fun to talk to!

Also! Send my regards to our cousins when you visit! Tell Saravia I have a new riddle for him! That should lift his brooding a little.

If you decide to write back, I would like to hear any suggestions as to where big sis Yulianna could be. I'm thinking of visiting that old crook Pitela. Kind of embarrassing that the best tracker can't find someone, right? Don't answer that, please. I'll be sad if you do!

Also also! You should send a self-portrait to the Dryads! They have this really fun card game where they add us Halves as characters! It's really cool, you know? You should also get a pack and practice for when I absolutely beat the shit out of you in a duel. You should add the following info: Your height, your base class, your weapon of choice (type, I use a ranged-type), which type of armor you use (light, medium, or heavy), and a memorable quote! The game's name is Galeian Armory! Pretty cool, right? It's super popular with Royals and Nobles!

This letter ended up being pretty long. Last time I didn't have as much time as I do now, you know? The oceans are huge and super deep! You should sail them!

Hoping we properly meet in the future,

Nilenna Atarka.

PS.: I'll tell Pytor to intercept any letter your way, letting the sender know, naturally. He flies faster than any bird any country can have to deliver letters.'

I blinked several times after having read the wall of text.

Cousins? Sentinel? Card game? Oceans? Leviathan? This is too much... Too! Many! Exclamations!

The next envelope had a cute crest on it; a mountain with a crown on top. The letter itself was a bit shorter, however.

'Your Excellency Natasha Novak,

At the behest of our merciful sovereign, Her Illustrious Highness Claudia Tidon Coronalta II, I have sent this letter to lay before Your Excellency an invitation. Our Monarchy of Tidon has taken notice of Your Excellency's glorious birth in our lands, thus we would be honored to offer Your Excellency a piece of said land for Your Excellency to do as Your Excellency pleases.

If Your Excellency does not wish to see Our Monarchy of Tidon as Your Excellency's legitimate birthplace, we would be disheartened, but understanding. We humbly beseech Your Excellency to consider granting us such an honor, as it would inspire future generations and uplift the people.

We shall await Your Excellency's response in full hope that Your Excellency will deign to grant us this morsel of consideration.

This offer stands for as long as Our Monarchy of Tidon continues to exist.

Your Humble Servant:

Plavi de Piedrazul, Head of House Piedrazul, Minister of Higher Relations,

Our Monarchy of Tidon.'

I groaned, and the bird in front of me imitated the sound.

Such manipulations! Morsel of consideration? What does morsel mean? I wondered, giving it a second read. These names... Coronalta and Piedrazul... Highcrown and Bluestone? Dwarfs? This letter oozes political agenda. Fuck me dead.

I let out a sigh and stored the letter. The next one was from Shorvanna.

'Natasha,

Go west. There, you will find a small country by the name of Ualrin. In a cave you must search with your own means, behind a statue after my image, you'll find an entrance to a hidden, high-tier dungeon full of undead and cursed ones. You can reach level 2300 there.

This is my gift to guide you as a Warrior. You should go alone, non-Halves will not survive. Do not take these words lightly.

Shorvanna, The Restless Brawler, Goddess of the Path of the Warrior.'

I let out a chuckle. What are these side-quests? I wondered, a little amused. A pet, a plot of land, leveling grounds?

After storing the letter, I stared at the bird for a few seconds. It looked back at me with the expectation of food.

“I don't know what you eat,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair.

“Bones!” it croaked.

“I don't have bones to give you, unfortunately,” I shrugged.

It nodded, turned around, and flew away. I watched it disappear into the darkness of night, then closed the door.

I want some sexy time, I whined in my mind.