Though, perhaps a god might turn back the clock, time would surely not wait for them to do so. While the goddess of a literal eternal frozen Hel considered what she might do to remind a certain duo that they were traipsing around in her yard without her permission, a goddess of far lesser station but even greater eagerness hatched schemes of her own.

Sonja whirled in place as the sound of a loud crashing noise echoed throughout the empty street. The source of that noise? It was a strange sphere that had impacted the ground not far from her location. “Where did this come from?”

She inspected the strange ball and noted that it had three closely spaced holes in its surface. “What an odd little thing…”

Uncertain what to make of it, she continued on her way. In hand she carried several pieces of paper that she had been informed counted as the coin of the realm. Her mission, to acquire provisions.

Since the day prior many strange mishaps had occurred. She had experienced the sensation of shocking herself with a wall socket when she had tried to plug in the vacuum cleaner, slipped on a surprisingly slippery bathroom floor, and even narrowly avoided being struck by another falling object. That falling bit of debris was at least something she had recognized, an anvil.

“Oh, hello,” said Sonja.

Shara slipped out from behind a nearby tree and waved at her. “Hello… That was a close one, huh?”

“Yes,” agreed Sonja. “There seem to be a lot of loose objects in the neighborhood of late.”

“Be careful, wouldn’t want anything to happen to you,” said Shara with a smile.

“It’s not like any of that could actually hurt me,” said Sonja with a chuckle.

Shara sighed softly. “I know.”

Sonja eyed her carefully for a moment then quirked her eyebrow. “Why do you sound despondent?”

“It’s nothing,” said Shara. “I just found out some potential Scott related news.”

“Did you? What did you discover?” asked Sonja with rising interest.

“I asked around various places and learned that there’s a good chance that he would be in the abyss,” said Shara.

“The abyss…” Sonja frowned slightly. “That is the place where he sends the wicked souls, and the walking dead?”

“Yes. It’s possible that he’s stuck there,” said Shara.

“How do you know this?” asked Sonja. It was not exactly common knowledge, and she was already a little suspicious of Shara’s recent actions.

“I asked around,” said Shara. “Best not to ask who I asked.”

“What do we do then?” Sonja shoved her money into her pocket. “That’s not a place where we can go easily.

“Actually, that’s not true… for you,” said Shara.

Sonja immediately became more alert. What had been a sensation of suspicion had shifted to one of impending danger, and perhaps a need to prepare for battle. “What do you mean?”

“Your bond. If it is strong enough, when you die you could go to his side,” said Shara.

“So, is that why you have tried to kill me several times in the last few days?” asked Sonja.

“Ah? You really think I was trying to kill you?” asked Shara, a hint of confusion in her tone.

Sonja glanced at the weird ball that had left a large crack in the sidewalk. She then glanced back to Shara. “Yes”

“No,” countered Shara. “That was me working up the nerve to have this conversation. I know it is asking a lot…”

“That was you working up your nerve? How is trying to smash my head in with an anvil supposed to give you courage?” Sonja cracked her knuckles lightly then flexed her muscles a bit.

“Do you really think I would have missed if I intended to hit you?” asked Shara, her lips formed into a pout. “I’m much better at assassination than that.”

Sonja stared at the redhaired weirdo for a moment. If anyone else had said it, she might continue to disbelieve them. Shara was simply, strange. She often operated on a weird type of logic that made little sense to anyone but herself.

“I see… did it occur to you that you did not need to assassinate me, nor did I need to be the one who dies?” asked Sonja.

“Hmm?” asked Shara. “What do you mean?”

“While I have not died yet, it has been made public that upon death you are sent to visit the god of death,” said Sonja.

“If you have tokens you can return to this world, but even if you have not died you can spend them to try to retrieve someone who has passed on,” said Sonja. “You do know this, correct?”

“Ah. Yes, but Scott is not dead… He’s just in the abyss,” said Shara.

“Does that matter? You can try to retrieve him if you spend your tokens, right?” asked Sonja.

Shara blinked. Was that a fact? The math certainly seemed to check out, but it had not occurred to her that Scott’s current living status might not negate her ability to track him down in the abyss. Though, there was still a problem. One she could not divulge to Sonja. Scott had no system profile data. She couldn’t go after him using the soul retrieval system. It wouldn’t be able to locate him and set up a series of tests to overcome for the sake of fairness.

“It won’t work,” said Shara sadly. With a laugh she said, “Makes me wish he’d have put a seal on me. I’d love to go find him.”

Shara related what information that she could to Sonja regarding the fact that since Scott was in a special circumstance; normal methods would not work. The only means of reaching him would be through a journey into the abyss and the only way to find him easily would be to follow his trail through her bond.

“I see…” Sonja rubbed her face slowly. She then asked a particularly important seeming question. “Why would that work? Won’t the seal break the moment I die?”

“Ah, that’s not an issue. It seems that when a dream places a seal on someone, they end up going to the same graveyard between worlds as the dreamer when they die,” said Shara.

She took a breath then continued, “I can give you tokens, and you can exchange them for a chance to live again and to enter the abyss in search of Scott. As long as you don’t choose to pass beyond this world, and truly die as a result, the seal will remain.”

“So, you are saying that by dying now I can be sent into the abyss alive and could somehow follow my connect to Scott to find him?” asked Sonja.

“Yes,” said Shara. “I haven’t found any other way that might work.”

Sonja shook her head. “I… I need some time to think about this.”

“I understand,” said Shara. “If Branwen still had her seal, she would be able to find him easily given her devotion to him.”

Sonja frowned. For some reason hearing about Branwen’s devotion to Scott left a sour taste on her tongue. It was as though her own relationship with the weird whatever he actually was had been seen as less than his connection to Branwen, a woman he had known for roughly a day and some change.