No other day had felt so real. So… visceral. The spikes of anxiety, the surges of adrenaline, were still in her system. Still affecting her.

Just sitting there, in a patchwork tent with a massive hole torn in one side, she was still there. The stench permeated the air, Bugs buzzed around incessantly, the sound all too distinct and nauseating.

The low drone was getting to her. She was struggling to focus, much more than before. The ghostly memories of feelings made themselves known whenever her eyes settled on anything.

A broken stone brought back the sensations of having her body crushed under immense force.

White, decaying corpses of monsters made her remember flying through the air. The strong invasion of safety she felt when they burst into the infirmary. The lack of security.

And then the bodies. Some had been collected. Covered in blankets. Most had not.

They were lying on the ground, bugs collecting on them, as people just walked past. Punctured mail, torn gambesons, bloodied robes. People spared as much interest in them as they did roadkill.

The dehumanising experience they received was revolting and the longer she stayed around them, the more disgusted she would feel.

So, she was in a tent. Alone. Away from the battlefield. No one seemed to mind, just letting her be. Bent over, hands on her knees while she sat on a wooden box, she caught her breath.

In. Out. In. Out.

She restrained her thoughts, focusing on happier, idyllic images.

Even now, her heart still pounded away, lost in the midst of an imaginary battle. Again and again, the feelings and thoughts and images repeated themselves in her head, not letting themselves be forgotten easily.

Whenever Riza felt she was close, the mere sight of a being so powerful it could kill her in one hit set her heart racing, as she gulped lungfuls of air in desperation.

It was all too familiar an experience.

When the techniques she was taught failed to work, she resorted to a system-granted skill, [Meditate].

The abyss was… soothing.

This? This is nice. The worries and nerves faded away as her brain began to think about other things, no longer a broken stereo.

The implications of that, Riza eagerly ignored.

For minutes, maybe even an hour, she lost herself in the mindspace that was [Meditate], never really thinking about anything. She just existed.

By the end of it, she felt more grounded. The world more indistinct and less hyperreal. Coming out of the headspace, the image of the brown, leather tent in front of her caused nostalgic memories to resurface.

Much better.

The sweat, dirt, and grime clung to her skin as her clothes were torn beyond repair.

I need a shower.

Finally feeling secure on this earth, Riza began to go over what had transpired:

A monster stronger than anything she had ever fought before had appeared abruptly. Luckily, it was taken down by someone even stronger than it--that itself sent shivers down her spine.

Consequently, she had joined the party of a woman called ‘Adewyn’, which she was no longer a part of since she joined. The fact Riza didn’t leave it herself meant there was probably options to dissolve a party, if she ever found herself the head of one.

Additionally, her level cap was now 15, 7 higher than before.

The first monster I killed had 800 health, and that raised my cap to 7.

After that, the flying ones had between 550 and 1100 points of health, and they raised the cap to 8.

With 340 points of essence, I dealt 3740 damage to the latest one.

And that didn’t even kill it.

The pattern was clear; the stronger the monster, the higher her level cap would be after she killed it--and she didn’t even have to kill it! Merely being a part of a party that killed it constituted her involvement to the extent she benefited from it.

It should have been joyful thing that her level cap increased but realisation forced her mind to hone in on something else.

Not even double the level cap but over triple the health. The mechanics of power in this world were unfurling before her.

The skills were evidence enough; strength was multiplicative. Skills compounded upon other skills. [Well of Spirit] only multiplied her essence regeneration by 5, and [Meditate] was only 3--15 when you factor in [Maximise Mastery].

Therefore, with one level, you can multiply your essence regen by 5. With two levels, that’s 15. With three levels, that’s 75.

The significance of a single level only becomes more pronounced the higher the levels are.

Now, Riza finally figured out why [Lone Wolf] was so strong. A boon that doubles the effectiveness of every skill? I knew it was too good to be true.

To get stronger, you need to fight things stronger than yourself but the stronger you are, the stronger the things you fight will be, and the disparity between you too would forever keep increasing.

Then, the way to mitigate the difference in strength is through a party.

So, in a way, [Lone Wolf] confers short-term strength by making long-term growth more difficult.

Realising this, Riza wasn’t actually that perturbed or worried about her predicament. If she was comparable in strength to that thing at level 15, she doubted she’d have a need to be any stronger. As it was currently, she was positioned very well, in her humble opinion.

Another thing I need to figure out: parties. The three times that I had joined a party, it was automatic and was because I had dealt damage to a monster—or a party of monsters?—that someone else had also dealt damage to.

Is there a way to turn that off? Have it ask for confirmation first before making me join? And just as she thought about it, a blue box appeared.

[Automatic Party Formation]

True/False

Less flourish than what she was expecting. Riza happily disabled that function, feeling much safer for the future, now.

Picking herself up, she walked out of the tent, mentally preparing herself for the sights she would undoubtedly see.

Sleep did not take her peacefully. Riza tossed and turned on the uncomfortable bedding, the sticks of hay pricking into her sides no matter what position she took.

She thought she had conquered her emotions earlier in the day. She was wrong.

The bodies were weighty. Evidence of death, absences in life, they were undeniable.

But, in a way, they weren’t real. Riza didn’t know those people; them being gone would have no tangible impact in her life. She never interacted with them, nor even saw them before. Life would go on like it had done before, irrespective of whether they were still around or not.

No, what really got to her was the makeshift infirmary that she had briefly stepped inside.

Sylan was there, of course, diligently healing and soothing many a patient that needed care. Riza saw torn off limbs, deep gashes, and even the occasionally rotting arm, distinctive of what ailed many an individual that she had treated.

Sylan gave her a brief glance as she entered, an appreciative smile and nod thrown her way, but he didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to do anything but she cleansed who she could anyway.

And then, her heart stopped. A person she was not expecting to see.

Lefie.

Lying on a quickly thrown together cot--not much more than a bunch of fabric, really--was the teenage girl, head bandaged and nearly motionless. Only the steady rise and fall of her chest gave any indication as to her condition.

Riza was scared to approach, her feet stuck to the ground, like getting closer would only cement the situation further in reality.

But she got closer anyway, powering through the fear. A good third of her essence she spent on cleaning the girl up, removing blood from her clothes and any possible poisoning.

She wish she could do more.

Where she was from, death was uncommon. Someone her age had a high probability of never having known someone who was no longer with them.

In a way, it conferred a feeling of invincibility; when you could do anything and still be unlikely to die, it was like you had conquered the concept of death itself.

The bodies she had seen, the warriors who had fought to the death to protect this village, there was a barrier preventing how real those losses were from reaching her. There was little different from hearing on the news how a family had been murdered compared to seeing these people now dead.

There was no connection anchoring them to Riza; no knowledge of them pre-death. In a way, it was like they were always dead.

But Lefie? They hadn’t known each other for very long, and Riza wasn’t quite sure why they were even friends, but seeing the teenager in such a state roused an unfamiliar feeling within her--a feeling she couldn’t articulate nor identify.

Everything just felt… Real.

Too real, in fact--as soon as she located her friend, she was back out of the tent as quick as she could, sitting down and catching her breath.

Reliving those memories wasn’t easy; the suspiciously empty bed only beleaguered her mind with wanton anxieties, stressing her out.

[Knowable Essence] [Level up]

She batted at the box before dismissing it properly. The annoying thing had popped up three times now, in just one day.

But, eventually, the exhaustion grew too much. No matter how she felt, the human needs of her body claimed her once, pulling her under.

Andreya would rapidly become grey if things continued at this rate. Not even a month and two storms already?

On her desk were piles upon piles of paper, parchments, and even the odd slate she had hastily received. More information than she knew what to do with.

And it was her job to sort through all of it, to catalogue, organise, and archive all necessary and important information. Not to mention even beginning to act on it.

Putting down her stylus, she leaned back in her regular, old chair, hearing it creak under her, as she stretched her arms.

As much as she’d like something more comfortable to sit on, the budget wouldn’t allow such luxury—not until they proved themselves, at least.

Stretching her arms, rolling her shoulders, she stood up out of her desk and walked to the open window.

What a sight to behold.

Tension seeped out of her shoulders as she stared at the landscape, appreciating the view. Few buildings were more than one storey here, giving her a towering view from this floor, able to see not only the whole village but the plains beyond them.

And the hole. Staring at her ominously, the burbling fog, a paradoxically chaotic tranquility. She knew what went on down there—what it created—but, from up here, it looked no different from any cloud high up in the sky. Maybe less textured.

She stared for a few minutes, getting lost in thought, before a sharp knock at the door brought her out of her reverie.

“Enter.”

A tall woman with cascading black hair quickly walked into the room, closing the door behind her swiftly.

“Adewyn,” Andreya said, by way of greeting.

“Hello, Andreya,” The woman replied, deliberately ignoring custom. She received a frown in return but nothing more.

“You bring news?” A step towards the desk in expectation.

“Maybe I just wanted to see you?” A cheeky smile.

Unfortunately for her, stoic Andreya’s face was impassive, not rising to take the bait.

“Yes,” Adewyn sighed briefly. “Seer Grandal has completed his interviews with members of my party.”

She pulled out a stack of parchment out of her satchel. It was made of a sturdy leather and quite stylish—unlike many of the accessories you could find around the encampment.

“These are the in-depth reports that have been compiled. You can read through them at your leisure. Or...” She paused, a smile drawing upon her lips. “I can give you a short and sweet summary.”

“Give me a summary. Start with the point of incursion.” Finally sitting down, Andreya leaned back in her chair, looking up at the still-standing Adewyn as she started recounting the events.

“Watchers keeping an eye on the crater didn’t report any demon activity until a bit after noon but first contact happened some time before then.

“At the training grounds, there were three parties undergoing combat practise. No one recalls anything unusual happening except for some of them sensing a slight vibration of the ground.

“The sensations grew stronger and then they stopped. Shortly afterwards, the first beast demons were spotted.

“The parties immediately engaged the enemies, sustaining injuries but no losses. After the first wave was apparently killed, however, the greater demon showed itself, slaughtering one whole party in the process.

“Out of the two remaining parties, only one engaged the demon, losing three of its members in the process. The trainer and the water Neophyte fought the monster, driving it towards the centre of the camp.

“On the way, an archer started taking shots at the demon before I arrived,” Andreya sensed annoyance in her tone, “and after I drove the demon into the infirmary, one of our two Healers helped to finish the bastard off.”

Andreya’s eyebrow raised after hearing a Healer was involved. This could be… problematic.

“What are their new level caps?”

“15; only the trainer and the Healer were past their first consolidation.”

“You can use their names, you know; I do plan on learning about everyone under my command.”

“Oh? I thought that was below you?” Adewyn teased.

“Hush, you.” A roll of the eyes. “Now, is there anything special about this people I should know before I consider what to do with them?”

“Yeah,” Adewyn eyes flicked uprights, trying to remember. “The Water Neophyte, Lefie, is only a teenager and has limited knowledge on demons,” She answered, emphasising the name.

“Slow learner?”

“New recruit.” A nod.

“Anything else?”

“The archer, Seluue, disobeyed commands to stick with her party in order to attack the greater demon. I’ll leave it up to you whether that’s a sign of disobedience or altruism.

“The Healer, Riza, has a limited ability to communicate. It seems that she only started learning the language no more than a month ago.”

“That everything?” Andreya asked for confirmation.

“Yep. The trainer is nobody important and you already know all about me,” She gestured to himself exaggeratedly.

Stewing in thought, Andreya began to sift through the additions to her desk while the woman in front of her just smiled pleasantly.

“How strong do you think these greater demons are? Will they be stronger? Are you capable of dealing with them?” She asked in consideration.

Adewyn took some time to think about it, clearly wanting to give the most accurate answer she could.

“For myself, I could probably fight two of them safely—any more than that and it’ll be a lot riskier. The danger lies in if they appear in separate locations; we’d need someone who specialises in either long-range damage or is able to move me about the place.”

Andreya craved more information—how frequently would storms occur? Would there always be a greater demon?—but knew Adewyn was not the right person to ask.

After thinking everything over, taking in all the information, Andreya felt comfortably sure she had extracted everything useful from Adewyn.

“Well, thank you for the reports and your input,” She finally said, keeping her face impassive. “You can go now.”

Not wanting to waste any time, she went right to the reports, aiming to subsume as much information as she could.

So intent on reading through the papers, Andreya was caught off-guard when Adewyn leaned down and planted a quick kiss on her lips, retreating out of the room as she was left with a flushed face and a residual warmth in her chest.

A sticky bed and a morning headache, the day was not starting that well. The humid air in the dorm room was getting to Riza, and even waking up didn’t grant her the lucidity she wanted.

Each morning, there was a loud knocking at the door, on the walls, forcing them to get up whether they wanted to or not. How they made such a raucous with just wood, she didn’t know.

It did mean she got up on time, however, as did the rest of her roommates.

Still empty. She shook her head and ran a hand through greasy hair. Needs a wash. Wish I had shampoo.

Stretching, Riza let out a large sigh, activating [Meditate] albeit briefly.

These are just little things—luxuries that you don’t need. Look at things from a macro perspective; you have food, shelter, and a job. It could be worse.

She had barely stepped a foot inside the infirmary when she heard her name called.

“Riza.” Saniel was sitting on a stool, previously watching Sylan attend to a patient until Riza arrived.

She wintered under his gaze slightly, worries over yesterday catching up to her.

“You have been something to the Steward’s office. Follow me,” He ordered, voice enviably confident.

After first hearing about the Steward from the Arbitrar, Riza had to admit the person had drifted from her mind somewhat. There was little mention of her among the patients—Sylan never talked about her—and her apparent authority wasn’t palpable in the air.

It very much was now.

Riza felt terrible. Her head was nowhere near in a good space right now, and even after sleeping, she felt exhausted. The stress showed itself in her body, and the anxieties acted like a poison to her.

It didn’t help that the Steward lived in the most impressive building in the village next to where she actually worked; a two story house clearly far more expensive than all the other ones (it looked built by a craftsman rather than just cobbled together) that had guards standing outside.

Upon approach, Saniel said a sentence Riza couldn’t quite catch, trailing behind him as she was, which seemed to pacify the guards; they let them through without argument.

Led through unfurnished corridors and up some stairs, she was made to wait with Saniel as he knocked on the door.

Thankfully, a response came rather promptly, ushering Riza into the room and meeting the person who had absolute authority in this place:

Steward Andreya.

Riza had to admit, she was much less intimidating than she’d have expected. Don’t get her wrong, Riza was frozen to the spot as the woman pored over her; her presence and demeanour exuded power and confidence.

Appearance-wise, however, she seemed rather ordinary. Wearing a robe not that unlike half the people here, she had a slim building and greying hair. In a way, she reminded Riza of her own mother, not that that was something Riza was glad to be reminded about, anyway.

“Take a seat,” Andreya ordered, gesturing to the wooden chair centrally placed in front of her desk, isolated in the middle of the room.

Meekly, Riza sat. Saniel, however, remained standing, hovering near the door. Was it intentionally intimidating?

As soon as she situated herself, Andreya began to talk.

“Normally, whoever would be your something would talk to you about this. However, since that is Sylan and you’ve been something as a Healer, that places the responsibility on my shoulders,” Andreya began to explain, showing little emotion in her words.

“First of all, what level are you?”

Riza didn’t answer straight away. She gulped, wondering what sort of question is that. Don’t they already know? Is this a trick question or are they testing my honesty?

“Level 8,” She answered truthfully.

Andreya nodded but didn’t comment.

“What skill did you take for that level up?”

“K-[Knowable Essence].” The atmosphere was intense. She’s not writing anything down. Probably means she already had the answers—probably from the interview yesterday.

“I am going to make you an offer. You have two choices: Number one, you can continue down the path of a Healer. We will level you up, take a new skill, train that skill to level 10, and then level up again.

“You’ll acquire and train up: [Heal], something, [Last Words], and [Life Sense], in that order. You will consolidate [Heal], something, and [Last Words] once every skill has reached level 10.

“Once you’ve done that, you will obtain the boon ‘[Way of Life]’, unless there’s hidden boons you’ve unlocked that we do not know about.

“This is a serious commitment. The Life branch of skills are to be handled with extreme care; the privilege that you are being allowed to practise such exclusive skills should not be taken for granted.”

Andreya paused, letting her words sink in. Sweat was beading on Riza’s forehead as she sat there.

It was clear she was expected to think about what had been said. Taking the opportunity, she brought up her skills to get an idea of what she could potentially become.

Life

0th Tier

Heal (1/10)

Restore 10 points of health to a living entity

Cost: 1 es/sec

[Leech](10/10) -Learned

Drain 110 points of health from a living entity

40m range

Cost: 10 es/sec

Cleanse (10/10) -Learned

Cleanse an entity from any toxin, disease, or contamination

Casting Time: 10 sec

Cost: 10 es

1st Tier

[Sapping Curse] (1/10)

Prevent a living entity from recovering health for 2 hours

Casting Time: 1 sec

Cost: 5 es

[Animate Critter] (1/10)

Raise a corpse smaller than yourself into a level 0 zombie

Casting Time: 5 sec

Cost: 5 es/sec

[Life Sense] (1/10)

Scan for either a general or specific form of life

2m radius

Casting Time: 1 m/sec

Cost: 1 es

[Last Words] (1/10)

Extract thoughts from an entity that died within 2 hours

Casting Time: 1 min

Cost: 5 es

A dedicated healer. I see that I’m not to touch upon the reanimation skill, though [Last Words] feels awfully close to such forbidden terrain.

Huh? There’s no 'something'. And the interface doesn’t return any results if I try to search for it directly. It’s not a language thing, either; since I’ve learnt the names for the skills in another language, the interface works with either version of them.

Does that mean I need to know the word in English to search it up? That’s a ball ache.

And boons? If they’re planning boons, does that mean I’ll get my next one at level 10? Level 15? Seems too odd a thing to mention if it’s beyond my level cap.

When Riza’s eyes stopped staring into space and settled back on the person in front of her, Andreya took this as a sign.

“Alternatively, you could stay where you are now. If you do not believe you will survive, and that where you are now is best, then there you will remain.”

There was much to think about; while Riza didn’t appreciate having her future level caps so strictly controlled, there didn’t seem to be much of an option if she wanted to level up.

‘Wanted’ being an important word here. Suffice to say, after yesterday, Riza was at her lowest point in actually wanting to fight more of the monsters. Continuing on with the status quo was appealing.

“I know that this is a big decision, so I don’t require an answer immediately. For now, you’ll continue to work in the infirmary. I will be expecting an answer tomorrow, however. You may leave.”

“I could always use the extra pair o’ hands,” Sylan told Riza as he took off his bloodied, leather clothes and wiped his forehead.

He had been sweating away all by himself without Riza there; the body count in the infirmary was higher than ever, not to mention that the vast majority of the injured were still outside in tents, waiting for beds to open up.

“I wring myself dry nearly every day with how reckless these sods are,” He continued. “Just your [Cleanse] alone is helping out a bunch.”

No sooner after she had arrived—and helped out to lighten his significant workload—did Riza ask for Sylan’s thoughts on what direction she should take.

Not only were they getting along decently and worked fine together, she couldn’t imagine someone better suited to give their thoughts than someone in a similar position to her.

Although, he was probably biased; he must’ve chose to be a Healer for a reason, after all.

As they both continue to work, the necessity of her presence here grew more and more obvious; beds were continually refilled and she spent more time out of the infirmary than in, tending to those with wounds that required [Cleanse] rather than staying with the more injured patients.

Conflicting emotions arose within her; on the one hand, she had been handed the opportunity to grow immensely more stronger and more capable of helping others on a platter. If she wanted to foster goodwill, this was a ripe occasion to start doing that.

But, on the other hand, power, competence and responsibility drew more eyes to you. People would be expecting her to [Heal] them. She’d be expected to do more. Needless to say, the lack of weight knowing a life was held in her hands was nice right now, and she was anxious about that being taken away.

Not to mention the actual consequences of doing badly. The mere threat of them was enough to overwhelm them in actuality, most days.

There were few ways she could fuck up currently. Did she want to increase them?

Why don’t they have more Healers? Life skills are apparently forbidden, but that hasn’t stopped Sylan, has it? So, maybe it’s a different reason. A more innate reason, perhaps?

With a sigh, she got back to work. Things were simpler in the forest.

Lefie was back! The moment the spindly arms wrapped around her chest, Riza was part taken about, part filled with a subdued warmth as her worries relieved themselves.

“Hello,” Riza got out wavily, her voice unsteady as she was unsure how to respond to this...interaction.

Patting the teenagers back gently, she eventually relaxed her grip, looking no worse for wear than the last time they were both in this dorm.

“I was so worried about you! I mean, I didn’t see you at all.” The excitement in her voice was beginning to wane as she calmed down.

“I was...worried too,” Riza replied, sitting on her bed as her legs felt wobbly from exhaustion.

“I-I...There’s just so much that has happened!” The girl vibrated. “There was the storm, the big demon which is apparently called a greater demon, and then the interview afterwards...” She sat down next to Riza to catch her breath.

“Interview?” Riza’s ears perked up upon that word. She recalled it was what Grandal had called the interrogation they did the other day. Why did she have an interview?

“Yes! You see, they wanted—Seer Grandal, I mean—wanted to know what happened when the big demon, greater demon, attacked so after Sylan patched me up, I was taken to a room with ‘im and he asked me a bunch of questions about what happened but also about myself. My level cap increased!”

The excitement was infectious, and her rapid-fire talking was almost leaving Riza out of breath, as well as making it all barely intelligible to her.

Nodding her head, Riza didn’t say anything substantial as she was taking it all in.

Sounds like she went through the same thing as me. Then, does that mean she fought the monster? The ‘greater demon’?

“Did you...Did you fight the demon?” Riza asked, worry seeping into her tone.

It was a strange feeling that she was experiencing currently, one she couldn’t quite explain. At first, she was unaware of it but now that Lefie had returned, it rebounded, stronger than before.

The best she could do was likening it to seeing a cute puppy. Am I treating Lefie like a puppy? Now she was more confused.

But Lefie didn’t seem to notice her perplexion at all.

“Well, yeah,” she responded, voice quieter and more serious. “It was, like, right there. I had to do something.” Her voice cracked slightly at the end.

Riza was silent.

Lefie didn’t say anything more, not wanting to push Riza away. This was different—not strange, but different.

“Well, I’m glad you’re safe,” Riza finally said, awkwardly patting Lefie on the back.

“I’m glad you’re safe as well,” The teenager returned, reaching round for a hug as she was wont to do.

It was a stiff and awkward one, yes, but not entirely unwanted. The warmth, the closeness...It was nice, Riza relented. Human emotions to ground herself amongst the fantastical.

When they pulled away, Riza sat cross legged on the bed and leaned in towards Lefie, giving an anxious glance at the other occupants. They had gotten used to their conversations by this point, and barely paid a look their way.

But just to give her some peace of mind, Riza kept her voice a whisper.

“I also have some news,” She began, quickly recounting her version of events.

By the end of it, Lefie couldn’t help but stare at her friend in either awe or shock.

“You’re amazing! You killed three demons all by yourself and protected people while I didn’t even kill one,” She said in an excited whisper.

“It’s nothing,” Riza quickly dismissed, the praise uncomfortable. “But I was given a choice about levelling up today-”

“You two?” Riza’s eyes widened slightly but she simply nodded, relaying the two options to Lefie, seeking her opinions on them.

“I don’t really know much about life skills, to be honest. Or any other skills apart from water ones, really,” She shied away, casting her eyes down.

“I’d still like your opinion.” Riza asked softly.

Lefie didn’t give an answer. She squirmed slightly as her face contorted, a clear internal debate displayed on her face.

Eventually, she gave her thoughts:

“I don’t want to influence you on your skills,” She replied timidly.

“It’s fine. Just-Would you take any of those skills yourself?”

“Hmm. Probably only [Heal] and something.”

“Something? I don’t know that word,” Riza supplied her phrase that had been ingrained in her. “Also, it didn’t show up in my interface.”

“Oh. Okay! Well, it’s like [Heal], but stronger. I think—I mean, I can’t see it either.”

“You can’t see it?”

“Yeah. It sounds like a life skill and I can only see foundational life skills. That, or it’s a hidden skill.”

“Hidden skill?” Riza’s ears perked up. Is that like hidden classes?

“You know, they only appear when you’ve fulfilled the requirements.” Lefie explained. She was always willing to teach Riza new things, acting uncharacteristically mature as she did so.

“What kind of requirements do they have?”

“Usually level requirements. Of skills.”

There can’t be that many of them if I’ve never found one; I’ve got multiple skills at level 10!

“Anyway. That’s what I think the skill is.” Lefie concluded.

I guess it’s like a restoration? Maybe a rejuvenation? I think I prefer that one. [Rejuvenate].

Quickly checking the life skills, Riza was disappointed that nothing had changed. Maybe it really is a hidden skill?

“Do you think I should level up?” She asked, the prospect of hidden skills making her more open to the idea.

“Yes. Definitely.”

They continued to talk a little more but Riza was feeling sleepy and mentally exhausted after such an intense day today and yesterday; she quickly wanted to sleep.

The final moments before she succumbed was spent thinking about skills. Numbers. Her future.

It was still in flux—still unknown. She had no idea what she wanted to do other. The only inkling of direction was indulging in these feelings. Life alone is safe, secure. Predictable.

But it’s also limited. This...was different. A swath of new emotion, sensations, and experiences.

Was the risk worth it? She never received an answer before falling asleep.