Chapter Forty-Two: Meetings of Minds

As it turned out, we made a few stops on our way to Korey’s warehouse. The first was to stop by Elisa’s to grab what few tools she owned. Since most of what she worked with had been owned by her now-former employer, it wasn’t much. After that, we swung by a few stores to get her properly stocked up. Along the way, I made a number of purchases that my instincts told me to get. Namely plenty of extra tents, bedrolls, and supplies that would either provide for a small group for a long time or a large group for the time it would take us to finish our journey to the capital.

After my ill-advised expedition into the caverns, I had to assume that every nasty thing within a hundred miles was out to get me. I’d be wrong more often than not, but those times where I was right would pay off.Only after that did we head to the warehouse. Noelle stuck happily by my side with a spring in her step, though she remained quiet for the journey. Elisa bombarded me with questions about the group and what things were going to be like in the capital. I answered the former while I managed to deflect most of the latter questions back at her, which netted me more than a little interesting information.

I learned she was an only child who had no idea who her father was. Her mother built up more than a few debts before disappearing into the night, leaving Elisa behind to pick up the pieces. She’d shown herself more than capable with her mind, but the one who she owed debts to clearly had no intention of letting her go. He gave her near free reign to invent, though not without deepening her debt with every purchase of materials.

She’d gone by the guild to try and sell her inventions, but her inventions were more mechanical than magical. That led to many being unable to grasp the intent or usefulness of her gadgets. During her attempts, though, she’d met Cynthia. The guild receptionist had been curious about the gadgets and from the way Elisa talked about her I gathered she’d been a bit more interested in the girl talking about them. Not that Elisa had realized, naturally.

By the time we finally made it to our destination, I was even more confident in my decision to recruit her. As long as I provided income, housing, and a safe environment for her and Cynthia, I knew she’d be an incredible asset to me. Not in the least because my enemies would underestimate her inventions just as those adventurers had. It was a nice bonus to helping someone who clearly deserved the break.

I knew we were in for it when we arrived. Our wagon had been moved outside along with one of Korey’s, though they stood apart. An awning had been attached to the side of Korey’s wagon where Tiana, Garm, and Vaze sat in folding chairs watching our wagon with drinks in hand. Tsuki lay on top of Korey’s wagon facing the sky with one knee crooked, her black tail hanging off the side, swishing lazily.

Our wagon was the one that caught my attention. Mainly because it was almost entirely black. I had a feeling I knew why, and my suspicions were confirmed when I heard a startled squeak, followed by an explosion of thick black smoke that I knew carried no heat. It burst outward, then hung into the air.

With a sigh, Tsuki nimbly hopped off the wagon and picked up a black-stained bucket and started lugging it over towards the slowly settling cloud. Ryoko came stumbling out of the smoke, covered in nearly as much black as the wagon, coughing to clear her lungs.

Tsuki trudged over and plopped the bucket down next to her sister, already starting to wipe the thick powder off with a wet rag. She only got about halfway before Ryoko pulled off a pair of stained goggles to dunk them in the bucket. She was halfway before she spotted me and froze.

“Ren!”

Tsuki made an annoyed sound when her sister bounded off towards me. She hit me at a sprint, nearly bowling me over. “I love alchemy so much! Even when I fail, it’s amazing! It’s so much fun! So far, I’ve come up with nearly a dozen ways not to make your darkpowder bombs.”

Tsuki had lugged the bucket about halfway before Noelle took it from her, hefting it as if it weighed nothing and carrying it the rest of the way.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I told her, patting a part of her head that Tsuki had managed to clean off. Noelle and Tsuki both grabbed a rag and continued wiping her down. “And I like the new paint job.”

She beamed at me, and I realized her incisors were nearly as long as Noelle’s. Then she gasped. “Oh! Wait here!”

“No, wait—” Tsuki tried to say, but it was too late. Ryoko was bounding off again. She shook her head, though she was smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy,” she said. She turned her gaze to from her sister to meet mine, and her golden eyes felt like they were burning a hole in me. Her expression became guarded, but not quite as suspicious as normal. “If this is some trick and you hurt her now, then I won’t rest until I’ve killed you.”

Elisa gasped next to me, but I just grinned. “Duly noted.”

Ryoko came bouncing back with Tiana in tow. It seemed they’d been storing the successes out of the blast zone, because she held out two vials to me that weren’t coated in black. “Look!”

I took them. One was mostly clear with a reddish tint, the other was the same solid obsidian black that covered the wagon. “Well done,” I told her.

She smiled wide. “That one is a health potion, but it’s weak unless you’re asleep. It’ll make you drowsy, though, so I figured it could be good to drink at night after a battle or something. And the other—”

“Darkpowder. I’m impressed.” Tiana made her way to my side somewhat hesitantly, and I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. She let out a small surprised breath, then smiled demurely and wrapped her own arm around me.

My eyes drew towards the wagon and I arched a questioning brow.

Ryoko’s smile faltered, then she puffed out her chest. “I’ve got a basic version down, but I have a skill that allows me to impart mana into my brews to make the effects more potent or to add additional ones. I’ve been trying to improve your recipe, but I keep running into the same problem. Either the glass is too thick to shatter uniformly or the pressure makes the vial explode.”

A sharp mind willing to take initiative. Ryoko would fit in well. “Then it’s a good thing I’ve got other ideas on a container.” I held the vial out to Elisa, who clutched her tools with wide eyes. “What do you think? Can you make a spitter out of this?”

She took it hesitantly, then reached for the cork.

“NO!” Tiana, Tsuki, and Ryoko all shouted at once.

She froze, wide-eyed, and I chuckled. “Once bottled, darkpowder will explode upon being released. It covers the area in a cloud that absorbs and blocks all light, and its light enough that it hangs in place for a while. Better than any smokescreen I’ve ever come across.”

She gulped, glanced at the wagon, then nodded. “Oh, I can make one. Don’t know how, but I can’t wait to figure it out.”

The twins both glanced at her as if just now noticing she was there. They leaned forward and sniffed, then exchanged a brief nod. I put my free hand on Elisa’s shoulder. “Elisa, this is Ryoko and Tsuki. Ryoko here is our alchemist, if you haven’t already figured that out.” I turned to the twins. “Ryoko, Tsuki, Elisa here is our new…” I trailed off, realizing I didn’t know exactly how to quantify her role.

“Tinkerer,” Elisa provided. “That’s my class, at least.”

I inclined my head. “Tinkerer, then. A dark-spitter is the first project I’d like the two of you to collaborate on, though I figure you can come up with plenty of things working together.”

“Dark-spitter?” Ryoko asked.

I looked to Elisa. “Don’t suppose you’ve got a non-lethal one on you?”

She frowned, then handed the vial back to Ryoko and started rummaging around in her bag. “Oh! How about this one?” She tossed it towards the wagon and it started spinning, launching a spray that glowed bright green wherever it stuck. It looked rather comical splashing against the night-black stained wagon. “It’ll wash off after it stops glowing.”

Ryoko was immediately enthralled. “You have to tell me how that works!”

She grabbed Elisa’s arm and took a step towards the wagon where the dust was finally starting to clear, then they both paused and looked up at me. I grinned. “Don’t stop on my account, or have you forgotten that I put you up to this? Go on! Have some fun! Blow some stuff up!” I told them.

They grinned at one another, then made a beeline for Ryoko’s temporary lab. Tsuki blew out a breath, then shot me a dirty look. “I’m going to go make sure they don’t take your words too literally.”

Noelle made a humming noise in the back of her throat. “I would like to go to. I want to see if she can make—” she paused, shifting from foot to foot. “Something.”

I ruffled her hair. “Don’t let me stop you. Tell me if she needs money for supplies. And tell her that I’ve already approved whatever it is.”

She bit her lip, her long canine digging into the soft gray flesh. “You don’t want to know?”

“Of course I do, but I also trust you. You’ll tell me when you want, and that’s fine by me.”

She smiled softly, then took a step and paused. She turned back towards me, the question in her eyes, and I gladly leaned down so she could quickly press her lips to mine. Then she turned and walked briskly towards the wagon with a spring in her step.

“She’s absolutely adorable,” Tiana said, still pressing into me.

I turned and gave Tiana her own deep kiss before responding. “She’s come a long way since I first found her. That’s for certain.”

She looked away. “The others told me. I know you told me the basics back in the tunnels, but it sounds like it was much worse than I imagined.”

“It was,” I confirmed. “But she’s come a long way and she’s getting better every day.”

She turned so she could throw her other arm over my shoulder and face me. “Seems like you’ve got a thing for damsels in distress,” she noted.

“Better than having a thing for girls fated to die horribly.”

She flinched. “Yeah, they told me that, too. I’m sorry.”

I slid my other hand to her waist. “The past is the past. Noelle isn’t the only one healing. Besides, when I’m done with you lot, you won’t need anyone to come save you.”

She raised both arms over my shoulders so she could interlink her fingers behind my head. “I can’t imagine what you’ll do then. I meet so many guys who can’t stand it when their girl is stronger than them.”

I snorted. “Fuck that. I could definitely go for a girl who could kick my ass.”

Her smile widened. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

This close, we barely had to move to lock our lips together. She kissed me softly and slowly, enjoying every second of the embrace. After, she rested her head on my shoulder, one hand gently playing with the hair at the nape of my neck. “I still can’t believe I’m here.”

“Alive? Or just…” I lowered my hand to cup her ass, “here.”

She chuckled, nuzzling into me. “Both, I suppose. The fact that I spent the night getting railed by a literal legend is a bit much to wrap my brain around.”

That made me laugh. “I keep forgetting that I’m anything other than just Zaren. It wasn’t like I fought Grimsbane for money or fame. I just did it because it was the only move that made sense at the time.”

“Hmm, keep telling yourself that.”

I pulled back with a raised brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She met my gaze with a smile and her chin held high. “I’ve met a lot of people who went to great lengths to justify doing bad things, but you’re the first to go just as far to justify good ones.” She brought her hands down to trail over my chest. “You are allowed to think of yourself as a good guy, you know.”

After all this time, I wasn’t sure it was that easy. Still, she wasn’t entirely wrong. “I’ll try,” I told her.

She smiled brilliantly and my heart damn near skipped a beat. Then her smile faltered. “Zaren, if I ask you something, promise you won’t get mad?”

Oh boy, those words were rarely followed by anything good. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best.”Her hands lowered until they could wrap around my lower back. “Be honest with me. Please. This…what we have. What we’re building. Do you see it going long term?”

I was very suddenly aware of how dry my mouth was. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been able to plan long term. I’m also not entirely sure what you’re asking.”

She tried to withdraw, but I held her close. Her turquoise eyes flicked up to mine. “I just—I want us to be on the same page, I guess. We’ve known each other for a whopping three days, so to say we’re moving fast is a bit of an understatement.”

I took a moment to pick my words carefully. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“No!” she said immediately, her eyes going wide. “Gods, no! It’s just a lot, okay? Last week I thought I was doomed to be known as the camp whore, getting felt up by whatever pervy adventurer is in charge of whatever seedy group is willing to take in a slut like me. Then I thought I was going to die a horrible death alone in the dark. Now I’ve got an amazing guy who says he’s willing to not only make me feel good physically, but he’s willing to make me feel like something other than some cheap toy.”

I pulled her in close with one hand while the other cupped her cheek. “You’re none of those things, and if you ever feel like that then please tell me so I can do something to fix it.”

She blinked away a film of wetness in her eyes. “See? That right there. It feels way too good to be true. I guess I just can’t stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

I ran my thumb across her cheekbone and she closed her eyes. “We can take this slower if you want. Just say the word.”

She pressed into me. “I definitely don’t want that. After what you’ve shown me…what you’ve made me feel…going backwards would kill me. I think that’s the other part that’s frightening. It’s like sometimes I forget we haven’t known each other for a long time. As ridiculously cliche as it sounds, I feel like I’ve known you for much longer.”

I slid my hand to the back of her head and she leaned into me gratefully. With the other I started rubbing her back. “I don’t think its ridiculous at all. I’ve only been in this time for less than a month and already I can’t imagine life without Rhallani or Serena or Noelle.” I hugged her tight. “Or you.”

She buried her chin in my shoulder and wrapped her arms tightly around me. “Promise?”

“Promise,” I said with a chuckle. “Unless you want me gone, I’m not going anywhere.”

Her arms tightened further. “So…hypothetically…I could take you into consideration with future skills?”I felt a twitch down south in spite of myself. “If you’d like,” I said as evenly as I could manage.

“Then…if I were to say, take a skill that requires someone else to make me climax, you wouldn’t leave me high and dry?”

With how tightly she was pressed into my front, I knew she felt my growing erection. I pulled back enough to look her in the eye. “Serena took a class for me. Rhallani definitely has skills she wouldn’t have come across naturally if it hadn’t been for Allura’s intervention. If you want to take classes with me in mind, I won’t stop you. Though I would ask that you take skills because it’s what you want, not because you think I’d want you to.”

Once again, I lowered my hand to cup her rear. “If you do, though, then you’d better be prepared. Like the others, if you make decisions like this that could affect your life because of me, then you’d better believe I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you don’t regret it. Even if we end up hating each other.”

She started grinding against my hardening length. “Somehow, I don’t see that ever happening. But that’s good to know.” Her eyes unfocused, then she smiled. “I took the skill.”

I tutted. “Guess you’re stuck with me, then. Poor you.”

Her smile widened, and she leaned in close. “Poor me indeed.”

We hadn’t been kissing for long before the wagon exploded again. They emerged, blindly feeling their way out with blackened goggles and cloths tied around their mouths. They went to chatting excitedly while the smoke slowly cleared. Noelle and Tsuki had managed to avoid getting coated and were apparently on bucket duty.

Tiana turned to lean into my side and we watched them for a while. Then, my earlier encounter with Sola still on my mind, I asked, “how’s your mana looking?”

She frowned. “Still pretty much empty, and that won’t change for another day or two. Not with my regen gutted.”

“There’s something you should know.” Without going into too much detail, I told her the basics of what had happened between me and Fel. When I was done, she grimaced. “I’ve met men like him. They’re rarely good losers.”

I nodded. “That’s why I want you to have at least a little mana in the tank in case of emergency. Think you could handle a few mana pots?”

She bit her lip. “I probably could, but…” Her gaze slid away, and her cheeks darkened. “There’s a…cheaper option.”

I raised a brow. “Won’t that make you insatiable?”

Her thighs rubbed together, and suddenly her cheeks were flushed. “Maybe. I’ve never tried using it while I’m getting fucked. Might as well experiment while we’ve got the chance, right?”

I massaged the plump flesh of her rear through her pants. “Here? Now?”

She groaned. “Fuck yes here and now. There’s a room in the back full of boxes,” she breathed.“Lead the way, then.”

She shot me a heated look, then grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the warehouse. She stopped long enough to ask Noelle to watch the twins, to which the Malachai agreed with a silent nod and an arched brow, then Tiana nearly ran inside with me in tow.

Garm shot us an amused look and a wave, and I felt some heat rise in my neck. For the first time, I realized it might be tricky to take full advantage of Tiana’s skills while in a crowded caravan. Then she yanked me into a small cluttered room and I lost all train of thought.

“Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have worn pants today!” she hissed.

“They look fucking amazing on you, though,” I said, grabbing two handfuls of her curvaceous rear.

“Oh, fuck it.” She undid her belt with fumbling hands and pulled her pants down almost to her knees, then bent over one of the boxes and looked at me over her shoulder. She grabbed one tan cheek in hand and spread it, giving me a view that ensured I was at full mast. “Fuck me.”

I needed no further invitation. It took me a second to undo my trousers and another second to fish myself out and line up, then I was sliding into her soaked depths. Skills or no, she needed no preparation. She moaned happily and pushed back against me.

Her heat enveloped me, and her silken walls instantly clenched around my member. I shuddered in pleasure. “Have you started using the skill yet?”

I knew the second she did. Suddenly her insides heated until they were scorchingly hot and a shiver rippled through her body. She moaned throatily and started thrusting her hips back to meet mine. “Oh fuck, Zaren, that feels good.”

I ran my hands over her ass, then gripped her hips and started thrusting back. Her longer legs meant she had to lower a little to give me the best angle, which she did happily. I started thrusting, and then I felt another tremor rip through her. She groaned, gripping the box so hard her knuckles turned white. “Tiana?”

“Crank—nng!—cranked the skill up a n—nnnnnotch! Fuck! Harder! There, right there!”

Her head fell forward and she came. I knew what her skill entailed, so I didn’t even slow down. “How high does it go?”

“W-w-w-what?” She tried to lift up onto her forearms, but I started thrusting even harder. “It go-o-o-oes higher, but I’ve never gone further than thi-i-i-iiiiiis!”

I gave her a smack and she cried out, convulsing on my cock again. Then I slid my hand so I could gently tease her rear hole with my thumb. “Well, if we’re experimenting, we might as well test your limits.”

She pressed her forehead into the wood of the crate and cried out through clenched teeth, already reaching a third climax. “I can’t—can’t—ahhh shit!—can’t even think. I wouldn’t—I couldn’t—”

Her words devolved into wordless moans while she held on for dear life. I kept slamming my hips forward, pulling hers to me with every thrust to make sure I was hitting that spot that drove her crazy. She climaxed again, then on the fifth one her legs gave out underneath her. I caught her, but the sudden lunge plunged me deeper in her than before.

Release slammed into me like a hammer, and I found myself filling her up with shot after shot. She came through the entire load, her fiery walls clamping down on me with enough tightness to nearly be painful. Once I was done, I slid out. A trail of cum dribbled from her lower lips, and she lay there panting.

I turned her over. She had no strength left to resist. I put a hand on either side of her and leaned over to give her a kiss, rubbing my half-hard length against her rear and folding her legs against her stomach in the process. “I don’t mind doing all the work this time. Could come in handy in the future, after all.”

She whimpered, then I slid my length against her core again. It wasn’t fully hard, but it was close enough. Her eyes managed to find me, then she nodded eagerly. She wrapped her arms under her knees and pulled tightly enough to put her holes on full display.

I slid myself back in with a single motion and her eyes practically rolled back into her head. “Be sure to let me know when your mana hits full,” I told her, knowing the odds of that were highly unlikely.

Then round two began.

# # #

Allie’s feet drug against the unrelenting stone. Putting one foot in front of the other had grown more difficult with each passing day. She’d seen everyone. Gone through all the little rooms that were far too small for the number of teens crammed into them. It was official.

Zaren was gone.

He hadn’t made it. Whatever his phase two had involved she would never know. Worst of all, because so many of them had been ordered to keep their trials a secret like her, there was every possibility one of the others knew how he’d died and simply couldn’t tell her. She’d cried a few times over the last several days, but she was out of tears at this point. It was over. Without Zaren, she wasn’t going to make it.

She ran her hand along the bumpy flesh at the side of her head. Hair would never grow there again. Then she thumbed the numerous lines and ridges from her own trial. She was coated in so many scars now that she wondered if he’d even recognize her. So much of her “trial” had been little more than torture, but her promise to him had managed to get her through it. Now he was—

He was here.

The way he walked caught her gaze. His eyes were glassy and unseeing, but he moved with confidence. He didn’t so much as look around, but his movements were unimpeded. He’d shot up like a weed, now several inches taller than her, but he was still as gangly as she remembered. Skinny and long. His dark hair was long, messy, and tangled. His eyes were bluer than she could ever recall them being.

She lost herself completely. Allie rushed towards Zaren and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He was so warm. He didn’t react at first, then he put a hesitant hand on her shoulder. Not quite the tearful reunion she’d imagined, but he was alive. A sob broke through her defenses. Maybe, just maybe she stood a chance of surviving after all.

But he remained stiff and silent. When she pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes she understood why. One look in his eyes was all it took. He’d fallen back into the darkness.

“Oh, Zaren,” she breathed. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to one of the sleeping rooms that now sat empty. Then she put a hand on his cheek. “Come back to me, Zaren. Is it Hannah?”

His eyes took an age to find hers, then he shook his head. A lump formed in her throat. “Someone else?” A nod. “They died?” No answer, which meant yes. He couldn’t tell her. How was she supposed to help him if she didn’t know what had happened? The tears were starting to build again. This was almost worse than if he simply hadn’t made it to phase three. Almost.

Then he seemed to come back to himself, if only slightly. His brow furrowed and his lips turned into a thin line. He reached up and she felt his fingers against the scarred flesh on her head. She turned away in shame. She hadn’t found a mirror, but if her face looked as bad as the rest of her, then surely she was hideous.

But he just used a single finger to turn her chin back to him. The motion made gooseflesh erupt across her scarred skin. “What happened?” he demanded.

A thrill raced through her. His voice was much deeper than she remembered. Where he still touched her face burned with desire. “You know I can’t tell you,” she said miserably.

His lips curved into a frown. She saw something return to his eyes, though what she couldn’t be certain. Then he stepped back and his other hand ran along hers, trailing the bumps and lines where blades had parted flesh over and over until they’d refused to heal. The light in his eyes turned dark. Dark enough to scare her. Rage built in his expression, then it faded just as quick. His eyes returned to hers, and in them she saw the Zaren she’d let go of three years ago.

“You’re alive.” The tremor in his voice broke her heart. “You made it. You—you're—”

Then he yanked her into his chest with a strength that seemed to surprise them both. She wasted no time in burying her face in the ratty shirt that stretched over him poorly and he wrapped his arms around her with a crushing strength that still didn’t seem like enough to her. Another sob forced its way out, and she didn’t fight this one. She held him as tightly as she could, and he made no indication he was ready to let go anytime soon.“I don’t know if I can do this, Eliya,” he said. “I don’t know if I can handle much more.”

She clung to him tighter. “You can. If anyone can, it’s you.”

He made a noise in the back of his throat like he wasn’t sure if he agreed, but now she knew. She knew. The rage in his eyes was something she could work with. What had been done to her would haunt her for the rest of her life, however short it might be, but if the sight of her scars kept a fire stoked in him then it would be worth it. In her, Valethar Karn had sown the seeds of his own demise.

She’d make sure of it.

# # #

The first thing Allie felt when she woke were the tears on her face. The second was the set of lips that brushed those tears away. Literally. She opened her eyes to see Nora’s face just above her own, her blue eyes shining with worry. As soon as she saw that Allie was awake, her massive hand slid up to cup Allie’s face.

“Another nightmare?” she asked.

Allie pulled Nora down on top of her, wrapping her arms around the girl like she’d done with Zaren in her dream. “Yes, but this one wasn’t as bad as the others. It was almost happy.”

Nora rolled so that they were side by side, but didn’t release her grip on Allie. “Zaren survived, then?”In spite of everything, Allie smiled. Telling Nora about the contents of her nightmares had been one of the better ones she’d made. Having someone else to help make sense of all this made her feel considerably less insane. “Yes. He survived, but something happened during his phase.”

She told Nora all she could remember about her dream, and at some point Nora had gone to stroking her hair. A low rumble started deep in Nora’s chest. Her thinking noise, Allie had come to understand. She let her think. While distressing, this dream had been leagues better than the others she’d been having of late. Of being cut. Of being forced to cut herself. Of using glass blades filled with her own blood to fight others in her phase. The collar forcing her to kill them. Their collars forcing them to try and kill her. She’d take dreams like this over those any day.

“It’s him, then?” Nora asked finally.

Allie frowned. “Him? What do you mean?”

When Nora didn’t answer right away, she pulled back. Nora was pointedly not meeting her eyes. “I wasn’t sure before. Probably because you were so young in those memories. But the way you talked about Zaren…” She brushed Allie’s hair back. “You cared for him. Your words of him are softer than those of any of the boys you’ve told me about dating.”

For a moment, Allie could only blink. “That’s crazy. I didn’t start having these dreams until that creep cut me with the magic knife, so how could I have been in love with Zaren if I didn’t even know who he was?”

But despite her protests, something about Nora’s words picked at her. Allie’s—no, Eliya’s emotions regarding Zaren had been all mixed up, but strong. At times, it felt like she’d been putting him on a pedestal, but it had been the thing she’d needed to survive her trials. Seeing him again…

Eliya had cared for him, but whether that care had been because she’d loved him, because she’d seen him as her only way out, or something in between, she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure if Eliya knew either. All she could really do was hope more dreams might shed some light on the matter.

More dreams. She was actually hoping for more dreams. Unbelievable.

Nora looked at her with some concern as Allie extracted herself from the bed. She picked up the tattered journal Kat had left the day before and returned to bed with it in hand. She paused when she looked out the window. It was already well into the evening, but that wasn’t uncommon for them these days. With Kat’s funds, she could afford to lay in bed longer in the hopes that it would speed up her recovery.

Since her nightmares had taken a turn for the more violent, Nora had wanted to be there when she woke as often as possible. She’d woken up on more than one occasion with adrenaline pumping in her veins and the line between Allie and Eliya painfully blurred, and Nora had been the one to calm her. It was a good thing Nora’s class made her adept at shrugging off damage, because Allie rarely woke peacefully.

She slid back into Nora’s welcoming arms with her back to the wall of muscle that was now her girlfriend and opened the journal. It was written in two distinct sets of handwriting. One was messy and cramped, the other much neater. More flowing, loopy letters.

“Anything of interest?” Nora asked. She’d sometimes read over Allie’s shoulder, but she struggled with the cramped writing and didn’t want to slow Allie down.

Allie wasn’t sure. “What I’ve read so far seems focused on how souls get damaged. Intense physical pain can cause soul scarring, but emotional pain is apparently much more effective.” She grimaced at the choice of the word. It was the cramped handwriting that had used it.

Nora hummed, pressing her lips to Allie’s shoulder and hugging her tight. “Seems Eliya had plenty of that.”But Allie wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know, the dreams I’ve had seem more about the former than the latter. If anything, Zaren had been the one undergoing the emotional torture. First with Hannah, then with whoever he lost during phase two. You don’t think this is what Karn was trying to accomplish, do you? Damaging souls?”

“Why would he do that?”

Allie flipped a few pages ahead. “It says here that when a soul is damaged, it can heal back stronger. If the owner of the soul has the will for it, at least.”

“Will like the attribute?”

Allie examined the page closer. “It’s not emphasized, so I think it might just be referring to willpower or will to live.”

Nora didn’t answer, so Allie kept reading through. It wasn’t long before she felt Nora dozing off behind her, and she let her girlfriend sleep. If anyone deserved the rest, it was Nora. Allie wouldn’t have made it this far without her. She kept skimming through the journal, clinging to the faint hope that the answers to her affliction were somewhere inside.

The more she read, the more it started to feel like a dialogue. The messy writing—writing she’d decided could only belong to a boy—was mostly about trying to understand souls as a whole. The other writing—script she’d come to associate with a woman—talked about a specific soul. One she was starting to think belonged to the boy. There were numerous passages about extensive damage and impressive healing, as well as chunks being ripped away in a manner she’d never seen before. The woman seemed enamored by the state of his soul. Nearly obsessed by how a soul could become so damaged, yet still whole.

The more she read, the more the picture started to form in her mind. The woman was the expert, it seemed. The boy—who’d had some level of issue with his own soul, she guessed—had gone to her for help. This journal was the result of their study.

It was all very interesting, but none of it suggested how she might be seeing someone else’s memories. But it was around the halfway point, in one of the sidenotes the woman had made about one of the boy’s passages, that drew out a startled gasp from her.

Nora was awake in an instant. “Allie?”

“Read this,” she said breathlessly, “and tell me if I’m seeing things.”

Nora’s arm reached around her to hold the book steady as Allie had begun trembling. The passage in question was a rather self-deprecating passage where the boy lamented about his greatest strength being really good at getting kicked while he was down. The note read simply: “You’re being much too hard on yourself, Zaren. Your strength lies not in getting hurt, but in picking yourself up after.”

Nora lowered the book. “That feels…”

“Like an absolutely insane coincidence?” Allie asked, a cold feeling settling in her gut. It was hardly a common name, and this book was old. Older than her. Kat hadn’t mentioned where she got the journal, and suddenly Allie wished she had.

Before she knew what was happening, Allie was on her feet. She paced, wishing she had something to do with her hands. Maybe Nora would be willing to train with her for a while. It had been too long since she’d seriously swung her blade, and she could already feel her skills growing rusty.

“Hey, hey stop,” Nora said. She stood and grabbed Allie’s hands. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“You’ve read the dates,” Allie said miserably. “Those entries are from thirty years ago. That book belonged to Zaren. The Zaren. One of the Seven.”

Nora looked more than a little confused. “I’m sorry, I’m not very familiar with this kingdom’s history.”Allie just shook her head and tried to pull away, but Nora held firm. “What if it’s him? What if the Zaren I’m seeing in my dreams is the Zaren who saved the world thirty years ago? He’d be in his fifties by now. He—”

“He’d be much too old to court, that’s for certain,” Nora said knowingly.

“Nora! That is not the issue at hand here!”

She frowned. “Then why are you panicking?”

“I—” Allie didn’t have a good answer for that. She pulled away and crossed her arms.

Nora looked at her for a bit, then nodded to herself. She sat on the bed and started pulling her boots on. “Get dressed.”

Allie frowned, her thoughts going first to training. “Why?”

“You’re freaking out about what might be, not what is,” Nora said simply. “These Seven, they’re historical figures?” Allie nodded. “Then there’ll be some level of record on them. Perhaps we can find a portrait or any information on where they might live so we could ask them ourselves.”

The knot in Allie’s gut started to lessen, but only slightly. It was a course of action. Something to do other than pace and spiral. She got dressed, strapping her sword belt on out of habit. She paused after she did, but Nora was just smiling. “Come. Let’s see what we can learn.”

We. That, more than anything, calmed Allie down. Whatever the case, she wasn’t alone in this. Nora had her back. She took a breath to stabilize, then nodded. “Right. I think I know where we can start.”

While they walked, Allie tried to recall what she knew about the Seven after Grimsbane had fallen. She knew Rolar and Bennet were important figures in the city, but they’d never spare time for a nobody like her. Sandrel might be an option for no other reason that if she started asking around too much he’d no doubt find her, but whether he’d help her or not was a mystery.

Iliri was another option, as she headed the temple district and spent her time helping the less fortunate, but she knew that Iliri was another Chosen, even if a former one. That alone made her loathe to seek the cleric’s help. She didn’t know where Torren or Yvonne were other than they’d left the city years ago. Finding them wouldn’t be a simple matter, she assumed.

But nothing came up about Zaren. Every story of the Seven seemed to gloss over him, and she couldn’t remember a single thing about what might have happened to him after. Had he fallen in the war? No, that didn’t feel right.

She relayed her thoughts to Nora, who grunted. “You seem to know much about them.”

Allie shrugged. “I was a little obsessed when I was a girl. Before I wanted to be an adventurer, I wanted to be a hero. I was absolutely enamored with the Seven.” Then Nora’s words from earlier made doubt bloom inside her. Why had she been obsessed? Was it because, on some deep subconscious level, she recognized Zaren’s name even then? It was ridiculous, surely.

Yet here she was.

Researching the Seven could take days or weeks, but there was one simple way to tell if her Zaren was the same as the one from the Seven. A monument had been erected to them at the place where Grimsbane had fallen. Statues for each of them on a raised dais that held a strip of metal with hundreds upon hundreds of names engraved in it. All those who had fallen in the war.

Just like history, even the monument seemed determined to make people forget about Zaren. Rolar, Iliri, and Bennet were tall and shining. Considered the main three of the Seven, they had no shortage of fans and hopefuls that hoped simply touching the statue would bring them luck or power. Sandrel, Torren, and Yvonne were a bit smaller, but still well kept. They weren’t quite as shiny, as they didn’t have scores of people touching their boots or their weapons like the first three, but they were nearly as dominant and eye catching.

And then there he was. Still a part of the monument, but separate. His hand was curled like he’d been holding a weapon, but there was nothing in it. As if whatever had been shaped there had been stolen a long time ago. And the layer of grime that coated him filled her with a near-irrational anger. It was clear nobody had taken the time to care for his statue in years.

They made a quick stop at a store for some cleaning supplies, then she had Nora help her up onto the monument. The statues were all larger than life, so it took some doing before she could get close enough to clean the mess from Zaren’s statue. It involved sitting on Nora’s shoulders, but any passerby’s simply ignored them. She hadn’t gotten far before she knew, but she kept cleaning anyways. She wanted to be certain.

“It’s him,” she said softly, after she’d cleaned his face off as best she could. Older, thicker in both body and face, but definitely him. She could see it in his face. In his cheekbones. In his sharp jaw. In how, even as a statue, his brow furrowed. Whoever had made this statue had done an excellent job. Nora let her down, but Allie’s legs wouldn’t support her. “It’s him,” she repeated thickly. Tears were starting to build in her eyes. “It’s really him.”

Her shoulders began to shake, and she felt Nora’s arms wrap around her. Nora cradled her head while Allie wept. “He made it. He survived. Just like I knew he would.”

“Like Eliya knew he would,” Nora corrected softly.

But Allie didn’t care. That distinction seemed pointless in that moment. He’d lived. Not only had he escaped Karn, but he’d gone on to save the world. He’d been a hero. Whatever he had left to endure in her memories, it hadn’t broken him. Hadn’t made him into a monster. She cried harder into Nora’s chest. The relief she felt couldn’t have belonged to her, yet it did.

It was a while before she calmed, and Nora held her through the whole episode without any complaint. But that knot remained. She pulled away and wiped her eyes, then stood. While a large plaque wrapped around the entire base of the monument with most of the names, there was one under each of the heroes that held those most personal to each of them, along with some kind of epitaph. She retrieved her supplies and wiped the plaque at Zaren’s feet off.

With each name, she thought she could feel her soul ripping. Hannah. Eve. Maris. Ina. Ria. Esther. Eliya. All the others Zaren never confided in me. Rest knowing your friend made this world a better place.

Allie couldn’t stop it if she tried. She turned and vomited. It was a pitiful amount since she hadn’t eaten anything in far too long, but the plaque only confirmed what she’d begun to suspect for a while. Zaren might have made it out of Karn’s grasp, but Eliya hadn’t. Wherever these memories were taking her, it was nowhere good.

At some point Nora had rushed to her side, but her body refused to stop heaving for some time. When she finally made herself stand, Nora was there for her to lean on. “It’s him,” she repeated weakly.

Nora just nodded. “What next?”

Talking to the other Seven still felt out of the question, but she did have the next best thing. She didn’t answer until she’d cleaned up her vomit. She wasn’t going to leave it for someone else to find. No sooner had she finished than someone approached the monument.

“Been a long time since anyone’s cared for that one,” a flat voice said.

Allie sunk back on her knees to see a girl around her age. Tall, but thin as a rail, with platinum blond hair and pale skin nearly the same color. Her eyes were a blue so light they were nearly white as well, as if someone had left the girl out in the sun for far too long and it had bleached the color from her. Her simple, yet fine, tunic clung to her tightly, and she stood with her hands clasped behind her back. Her eyes were on Zaren’s statue, and there was a wistful look to them. Her features might have been made of porcelain. Everything about the girl gave Allie a distinct impression that if she was pushed too hard she might shatter.

“Why?” Allie asked, pushing herself to her feet.

The girl shrugged. “My mom used to say he’d have preferred it that way..”

Allie turned back towards the statue. All the others held triumphant expressions, but not Zaren. His expression was intense by comparison. But then the girl’s words registered. “Your mom knew him?”

The girl shrugged. “Eh, knew of him, at least. They met once. He saved her life, but he saved a lot of lives in those days.”

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. Here was an actual connection to Zaren, in the flesh. Once again, it felt like far too much of a coincidence. “I’m Allie, this is my girlfriend Nora.” Nora’s hand tightened on her shoulder, and a smile tugged at Allie’s lips. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

The girl turned her pale eyes on her. “Sure. I’m Therese.” She gestured to a bench nearby, then walked to it with practiced, straight motions and sank down in a manner that could only be described as regal. After Allie had sat down next to her, she asked, “You want to talk about Zaren? Why?”

The truth was far too complicated to get into, so Allie simply said, “I knew someone who knew him, but I didn’t learn that until recently.” Nora sat close enough that their legs were touching. She didn’t say a word, though, content to let Allie handle the new person.

Therese’s eyes flicked from the face Allie had cleaned to the plaque, and widened a fraction. “I see. What do you want to know, then?”

“Is he still alive?” Allie blurted before she could stop herself.

The faintest smile touched her porcelain features. “Depends on who you ask.”

“What does that mean?”

Therese crossed one dainty leg over the other. “He disappeared after the war. His followers tracked him north a ways, but then he simply vanished into thin air. There are always rumors, of course, but nobody has seen or heard of him since.”

That made Allie frown. “Zaren had followers?” She didn’t remember hearing about that.

A small, prim laugh escaped Therese. “Oh yes, though I doubt he had any idea. My mother was one of them for a time. The other of the Seven would, at times, bask in the fame they were awarded, but praise only ever served to make Zaren uncomfortable or annoyed. He had a way on the battlefield, I’m told. The strongest of the enemy would flock to him, and he’d come out victorious every time. But he never took rewards or gifts outside of whatever was strictly necessary to win.”

Her head tilted and that smile pulled at her lips. “My mother said that the day he saved her city from Grimsbane’s forces, their mayor tried to offer him gold, magic armor, weapons, and even women. He only took a simple, silver ring and said they were even. He was a force of nature that asked for nothing in return, and there were those that loved him all the more for it.”

The knot started to ease ever so slightly. “So nobody knows where he is? Truly?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Otherwise Zaren would have burned this damned city to the ground.” Then she looked away. “That’s what my mother used to say, at least.”

That made Allie smile. That sounded like the Zaren she was coming to know. Then an unbidden thought struck her. “Your mother and Zaren, the weren’t—”

This time, Therese laughed in full. It was a soft, melodic sound that seemed almost too perfect for human vocal chords to make. She waved a hand. “No, no, nothing like that. She was still a kid when he saved her. Her own father had sacrificed himself to buy her time, but Grimsbane’s monsters were still after her. Then he appeared out of the darkness and ripped them to shreds.

“She said she’d never been so terrified, but he simply picked her up, promised that everything was going to be alright, and hand delivered her to a family he trusted that had lost their own child. They were wonderful to my mother and gave her a loving home, all thanks to him.”

Nora’s hand found Allie’s knee and squeezed. Allie had a feeling she knew exactly why a helpless little girl who’d lost her family might tug at his heartstrings, but that was something to reflect on later. Right now, Allie was swarmed by questions she wanted to ask. All the things she wanted—no that she needed to know about Zaren. About the strange boy in her dreams that left her heart hammering and hurt.

Therese seemed completely willing to wait while Allie collected her thoughts, but the universe had other ideas. “There you are. Thought I asked all polite like for you to not go running off,” the familiar voice of Kat said.

Nora made an annoyed sound in her throat. She was willing to put her differences aside for Allie’s sake, but she still wasn’t a fan of the paladin. Therese frowned primly in Kat’s direction, but Kat’s eyes and shit-eating grin were locked firmly on Allie.

“How did you find us?” Allie asked.

Kat shrugged. “Leaking divinity, remember? Like a trail of fuckin’ breadcrumbs to my skills.” She looked up at the monument, her eyes lingering on Zaren’s statue just a hair longer than the others.

“Something we can help you with?” Therese asked coolly.

Kat frowned as if she’d only just realized Therese was sitting to Allie’s side. “Not you, her.” She jerked a thumb at Allie. “Any more episodes?”

Therese crossed one leg over the other with a soft exhale, but only shot a curious look at Allie. Allie cleared her throat. “No. Not while I’m awake, at least.”

Kat’s grin widened. “Good. Turns out a couple rolls in the hay was all you needed, I guess.” Allie felt some heat rising in her cheeks. From what she’d learned from the journal, it was likely a bit more complicated than that. “In any case, we’ve got a job.”

“We?” Nora asked, her hand tightening on Allie’s thigh.

Kat crossed her arms, nonplussed by Nora’s tone. “Yes, we, hammer girl. But first, I want to see the two of you in action. Try and figure out more about why that skill of yours works on the Maleks. There are sightings to the west a few days of something Malek sounding, so we’re going hunting.” Allie opened her mouth but Kat silenced her with a wave. “You’ll be well overcompensated, don’t worry. If we can do the big job, then you’ll be helping me pay off a debt to people I’d rather not owe one to.”

Nora shot Allie a questioning glance. It was odd to be able to read her so easily, but Allie knew she was saying I’m okay with it only if you are. Allie swallowed at the thought of facing another of those monsters. “Just the three of us?”

Kat snorted. “Fat chance. Me and Hammer Girl—”

“Nora,” Allie said with more force than she meant to.

Something her tone made Kat pause. “Fine, me and Nora are frontline tanks, and you’re a close combat damage dealer. We’ll need some range and magic if we want to not do this like idiots.”

Therese cleared her throat, crossing one dainty leg over the other. “I’ll come along, if you’ll have me. B rank, class five, damage mage.”

Allie started while Kat’s brow raised. Class five was the lowest of the B ranks, but to break the barrier from C to B meant she had either connections or strength. Kat rolled her shoulders. “Hit me with your best shot, I want to see your magic in action.”

One of Therese’s own brows raised. Then, without her moving a muscle, a crystal seemed to twist itself from out of the air. It had barely formed—a double sided pyramid made of a dark violet material that was sleek and translucent—before it illuminated and shot a beam of bright violet energy that curved and slammed into Kat.

The paladin barley managed to throw up a shield made of golden light before it slammed into her, but she was still knocked back several feet.

“Oof!” she grunted. The shield disappeared and she rubbed the spot where it had connected to her forearm. “Yeah, you’ll do.”

Nora leaned in and whispered in Allie’s ear, “I like her.”

The crystal dissolved, and Therese nodded. “I’ve got a servant that will accompany us. She has ranged support and healing magics. A dryad.” Then she paused and glanced at Allie and Nora. “As long as neither of you have issue with that.”

Allie frowned. “Why would I? A healer sounds amazing.”

That smile pulled at Therese’s lips again. “Good.” Then, quietly, she added, “On the way, we can talk more about Zaren.”

Equal parts panic and anticipation bloomed in Allie’s gut. Her desire to know more about Zaren warring with her fear of where Eliya’s memories were taking her. “That sounds wonderful.” Then she looked at Nora. She already knew the answer, but she asked anyways. “You’re sure?”

Nora gave her an odd look. “You’re certainly not going without me,” she said simply.

Allie couldn’t stop herself from leaning up to give her girlfriend a peck on the cheek. Then she stood and held a hand out to Therese. “Welcome to the party, Therese.”

For the first time, as she took Allie’s hand, Therese smiled in full. “Something tells me it’ll be an interesting one. When do we leave?”