Blonde locks whipped through the air as Sonja spun to the side. Broom handle in hand, she unleashed a powerful sweeping slash then followed it up with an upward arcing strike and then a downward stab. Sweat poured down her face as she continued her patterns and movements for quite some time.

The world of her master’s birth had changed. The so-called ‘Status One’ had occurred. Skills could now be trained. Experience could also be gained for use later, but the people of Earth were mostly locked at level one. Sonja, however, was not a native. She was allowed to train without restraint, and the accompanying boost to skill development in this place was quite welcome. In only the scant few days since the gods had chosen to update this world, she had greatly increased her skill levels. The growth was beginning to level off once more, but it was good for her.

Sonja stopped short then sighed. Her skills were a joke in comparison to what they should have been at her age. Yet, that was not what was on her mind at the moment.

She reached back and lightly stroked the slave seal on her lower back. She was still enslaved. That meant that her master lived. Yet, she had heard nothing from him in quite some time. Such a thing had happened before, but there was always some sort of event that happened before hand to at least prepare her for some coming oddity. In this instance, the last thing that she had heard from him was that he would take them to see his new lair later that day. There was no sign of anything else happening.

Sonja slowly lifted her chin then looked toward the cloudy blue sky above. Slave or not, in this world she was free. There was no husband. There were no chains that bound her to the past. Yet, it was a strange alien place. She did not understand this world, or its people.

Eventually, she stopped focusing on the oddness of her current life and headed inside. Soon hot water streamed down upon her aching body.

Since Scott had disappeared, she rarely slept. Even her vitality could not completely prevent the appearance of dark circles under her eyes. The hot water that cascaded down atop her head then slid liquidly along her exhausted flesh slowly revitalized her.

There was nothing to do but to wait, and to train. There were times where she had not slept at all and trained for days on end. The training boost weekend would end that day. If Scott did not reappear soon, she would go to look for him once more. So far, she had seen no sign of him. Still, she had to search.

Once the water began to flow cold, she sighed then shut it off. The weakness that came with a hot shower was a pleasant thing. She had been far too tense in recent days.

Sonja got dressed, then headed over to Shara’s house. Ashton had been moved there not long after Scott went missing. It was a calculated risk at the time, but it was deemed necessary. By now she had mostly recovered, but at the time there was a chance that she could be left alone entirely should Scott called Sonja back to her home world.

It never happened, but the transition made sense. Oddly enough, she seemed to heal at a much faster rate once she was taken in by the red-haired oddity.

There was no answer at the door. They were no doubt in the dream. “I wonder if they have found Branwen, yet?”

She could not travel back and forth as they could. Her ability to traverse worlds was due to her master alone.

Few places existed in this world that Sonja knew Scott might return to other than his house. There was the place of employment where he worked on occasion, but there was no reason to believe that he would go to work without mentioning his continued existence at the least.

The only other place that she knew of was a place she had avoided visiting due to the nature of it. Today, Sonja made her way to the cemetery where Scott’s sister was interred.

Along the way, she noticed people utilizing their abilities openly in the world. With the addition of their status, they had acquired access to their skills and many of them made use to the bonus period to bolster their abilities greatly.

A few likely gentlemen attempted to get her attention when she strode by their house or training site, but she had no time for their pointless masculine posturing.

She arrived at the cemetery then took a cleansing breath. In many ways it seemed as though entering this place would be a violation of her master’s privacy, but she had no other idea where to go in search of him.

Sonja walked through the small gate and then followed the inner lanes until she reached the quiet unassuming corner where Scott’s family was buried. Immediately, she noticed that something was off. Several tombstones were knocked over or broken. Several gouges had been torn in the turf, and there were beer cans strewn about the area.

Another thing of note, there was a rectangular area roped off with a strange cloth that stretched slightly. She stared at the printed letters for a moment, not because she could not understand the language but because she was uncertain of the meaning. “Police: Do Not Cross…”

She was not a police, so she assumed that she could cross the line. When she moved to do so, no force prevented her entrance into the area, so she decided that her guess was accurate.

Sonja stopped at the grave of Scott’s sister then knelt before her tombstone. “I apologize for disturbing your slumber, sister. I am looking for your brother. Please forgive my trespass.”

The wind blew cold, but there was no disturbing chill across her spine. If the departed spirit of her master’s beloved sister was angered at her presence here, she did not seem interested in showing it.

At this point, Sonja was at a loss. There was obvious sign of a struggle, and someone had warded this place with glaringly bright yellow tape to make certain that even the local guards knew to stay away. She knew Scott to be alive due to the seal on her lower back, but otherwise she was no closer to finding him than before.