“How did you deduce that this was not your childhood compatriot?” Definitely Bad Guy asked painstakingly.

“I just figured it out,” Qube said, not really wanting to get into it. “And so now he’s telling all of you, so everyone is on the same page.”

“So there are Devs, and Royals whom they answer to,” Sewer Bard said thoughtfully. “But you, yourself, are neither. How many beings live in this other realm?”

“Lots,” the Chosen One said. The rest of the party waited for him to elaborate, but instead he started looking around the Wizard Tower. “Hey, Sewer Bard, what were you doing up here anyway? I thought you hated this place. And Definitely Bad Guy.”

Qube hid a wince at the Chosen One’s lack of tact. Clearly, Definitely Bad Guy and Sewer Bard were attempting to overcome their differences and bond! But nothing could be more fatal to a blossoming friendship than reminders of past problems!

“We’re all on the side of Good,” she said, laying a hand on the Chosen One’s forearm. “True hatred cannot exist between Good people.”

While Qube’s understanding of Good and Evil had, admittedly, taken a bit of a beating recently, she knew there was no way two people as wholeheartedly dedicated to the Good as Sewer Bard and Definitely Bad Guy could possibly hate each other.

“While I may find his... prudishness regarding some of my more... organic experiments irritating, he is currently useful for my research,” Definitely Bad Guy said, going back to a book lying on a pedestal and flipping through it. “I have further questions for you, glorious leader but I am occupied; therefore, I must request you answer them when we make our next journey. It will be a better use of my time.”

Qube was surprised. She would have thought that the Mage would jump at the chance to interrogate the Chosen One. Instead, as he immediately immersed himself back in his reading, and motioned Sewer Bard to step in a red circle in the middle of the room, he seemed to dismiss the Chosen One.

In fact, he had done something similar before, Qube remembered. When she’d shown up with her own curse, he’d flat out told the Chosen One to go away, even though he was dealing with the Saviour of All for the first time.

Definitely Bad Guy seemed to get a little overexcited about his research, Qube decided. He needed to keep a clear focus on the task at hand! Like her, she had to constantly be on the lookout for how to guide the Chosen One —

“What’s this?” the Chosen One asked, dipping his finger in some white powder on the floor and sticking it in his mouth.

“Chosen One, no!” Qube cried, as the Chosen One started coughing.

“Ah! What is that? Why is your floor covered in flour?” the Chosen One exclaimed, as Qube hurriedly [Minor Cleanse]d him, just in case.

“Why are you eating floor flour?!” Qube asked, exasperated.

“Because it was there!” the Chosen One replied with totally unjustified indignation. “And that’s what you’re supposed to do with strange white powders you find!”

“That’s the opposite of what you’re supposed to do!” Qube said. “Let me deal with anything you want to put in your mouth!”

Sexy Screamy Spider Lady made a small sound. Qube turned and looked at her. While the giant arachnid did look mildly amused for reasons that eluded the Healer, she was mostly focused on the Chosen One.

“So this Felix, he knew it was his destiny for his body to be used as a vessel?” she asked. The Chosen One started to reply, then paused, looked at Qube, and closed his mouth. He ran his tongue over his teeth as he contemplated the question.

“I’m not sure,” he eventually admitted. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”

The Hunter continued studying him for another moment, then slowly nodded her head. “I would prefer it if you found out, my darling,” she said.

“Yeah, I’ll ask,” the Chosen One replied uncomfortably.

“So what are you catergorised as, in the Dev realm?” Sewer Bard returned to his own line of questioning.

“Oh, I was … uhh, it’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Were you also raised to fulfil the Golden Prophecy?” Sewer Bard continued. The Chosen One gave a slight laugh.

“Not really,” he replied. “More of a general education in the field, you might say.”

Sewer Bard nodded, absentmindedly pulling his lute off his back and idly strumming a few notes of the mermaid’s song. “That makes sense,” he said, as the red circle around him flared into life and Definitely Bad Guy started furiously scribbling in his book. “It would explain some of your more unusual aspects of leadership.”

The Chosen One narrowed his eyes, before smiling. “Well, that’s why I’ve got you lot with me,” he said. “Especially you, sing-song. You’re here to do the diploming for me!”

“Nothing could bring me greater joy,” Sewer Bard said, bowing deeply.

“That’s not true,” Qube said involuntarily. The Bard paused mid bow, his face turning up to look at the Healer.

“Yeah, you want to play music and stuff, don’t you?” the Chosen One added. The Bard looked between the two of them from his awkward half bowed position.

“I just think it’s really important that we all be as honest with each other as possible,” Qube added, realising that she might have come off as accusatory. “I just… think that would be best for right now.”

Sewer Bard’s face softened as he studied Qube. He straightened up, smoothing out the feather in his hat.

“You are, as usual, correct, fair maiden,” he said gently. “It is a habit of diplomacy, I fear.”

Given the complex emotions rolling around, Qube didn’t think this was the time to ask him to call her a woman of worth instead of fair maiden. Instead, she merely smiled, and took his hand.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I just want us all to be happy.” The Bard searched her face, and whatever he saw there satisfied him.

“You do, indeed,” he said, and kissed the back of her hand. The tome Definitely Bad Guy was scribbling in immediately caught fire, and the Chosen One grabbed Qube and started towing her out of the building.

“Okay, enough of that!” he said loudly as the Mage frantically tried to put out his book. “Time to go before it gets any weirder! Come on, gang; it’s your turn to defeat a Temple!”

---

It felt really good to be back on the road again, heading towards another deathly Temple. Not having to worry about feelings, or who was telling the truth, or who was dead or alive, just her and her companions walking through the woods. They’d only just left Cobbletown, so Definitely Bad Guy hadn’t even started asking the Chosen One any questions. Qube felt herself relax, with only her default level of worry bubbling away in the background.

Even the pack of wolves flinging themselves at the party was refreshing. Everyone got into their battle poses, with Qube hanging back and getting ready to cast. This was a true return to normality!

What was slightly less normal, though, was when the Chosen One instantly applied wings to himself and flew up a tree, leaving the others behind.

“Chosen One, what are you doing?” Qube called, as she reflexively [Lesser Shield]ed him.

“Check it out!” the Chosen One yelled, before running along a branch and hurling himself towards the attacking pack. “[Shield Bash]!” he cried as he slammed into the ground, shield first. The earth rippled at the point of impact, faint digits flashing in the spray. The wolves went flying, landing on their backs with their legs in the air. The party members engaged with the wolves also tumbled to the ground, then lay there for a second, locked in stunned silence.

The Hero stood alone in the circle of sprawling bodies.

“How cool was that?” he asked eagerly, swinging around and looking at Qube for approval.

“That was very dramatic, Chosen One,” Qube said, “but please wait for the others to be clear before you do it again!”

“Oh,” the Chosen One said sheepishly. “Right. Sorry about that.”

Everyone started flailing at the same time, trying to get up. The Chosen One reached out to help Sexy Screamy Spider Lady, the closest party member, to her feet. She shot him a look as she tucked her legs under her abdomen and rose up gracefully, her joints all flexing at the same time.

“I need no help getting it up,” she said to the Hero. Sewer Bard, also rising to his feet, made a choking sound, but pulled out his rapier and advanced towards the wolves, which had now regained their footing and were looking decidedly annoyed.

The Chosen One drew his Sacred Sword, then hesitated.

“This doesn’t feel right,” he said, as a wolf latched onto his knee and started gnawing at it. “Ow,” he added in a mild tone.

“What do you mean, darling?” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady asked as she shot a bolt into a lunging beast.

“Do you think it’s a trap?” Sewer Bard asked, flourishing his rapier so much it was a wonder he hit anything other than himself. But he managed it, slicing at one of the pack. The wolf made a high pitched whine of pain, and the Chosen One flinched.

There was an explosion of fire and the smell of burnt fur as Definitely Bad Guy contributed his thoughts on the matter.

“This just seems wrong,” the Chosen One said, failing to shed any more light onto his thoughts. “Oh no,” the Chosen One groaned, hiding his face behind his shield, “ethics.”

The others continued to fight the wolves, but it was clear that everyone was now extremely confused. Sewer Bard dodged a wolf, then hesitated before stabbing at it. Instead, he looked at the Chosen One, and switched to his lute.

“Okay, new plan,” the Chosen One said, with sudden decision. “We’re running away!”

“You don’t need to be worried, Chosen One; we can easily defeat them,” Qube said as she cast [Lesser Heal] on him. He ignored her, just as he ignored the wolf continuing to attempt to chew through his leg. He sheathed his sword, and pointed over the hill.

“To the Light Temple!” he declared.

“Chosen One,” Qube began, as he started marching.

“Come on,” he said to the others. “Stop fighting. There you go. Squiggles, put that wolf down.”

The others paused in their attacking, but didn’t follow him, instead continuing to dodge. Squiggles put down the wolf she’d been happily waving over her head. It thanked her by trying to eat her face.

“Guys, come on!” he said, but nobody moved. “[Follow]!” he commanded. Everyone snapped to attention, and picked up their pace to match him as he started running. The wolves, possibly just as confused as the rest of them by this point, started following, nipping at their heels.

“Wait, what am I doing?” the Hero said, slapping his forehead. Qube was wondering the same thing. He grabbed at his necklace. “Everyone who can fly, do so! Scaley-Waley, I summon you!”

The wyvern popped into existence, and immediately started trying to attack the wolves.

“No, stop it! Leave them alone!” the Chosen One scolded. “Anyone who can’t fly, get on his back. Scaley-Waley, follow me! [Follow]!”

The Hero sprang up, his wings snapping open and flapping powerfully as he soared into the air. He reached the top of the trees, and spun in place, looking down at the others. Qube grabbed Squiggles, who had resumed fighting her wolf, and scrambled onto the wyvern, who launched himself after his owner. The rest of the party were right next to her, leaving the pack of wolves to circle below.

“Aha, problem solved!” the Chosen One crowed. “Take that, ethics!”

The Chosen One was clearly going through something, Qube decided. But, rather than rushing to ask him about it, she instead just enjoyed the breeze caused by flying through the air, and listening to the increasingly irritated barking beneath them.

“Look at that,” the Chosen One said gleefully, watching the wolves below. “Who needs to worry about morals when you can just rise above them? Literally!”

As he was laughing to himself, there was a flash of light, and several burning hawks dove into them, raking open their arms and legs with their fiery talons.

“Oh, come on!” the Chosen One yelled.