I took a few steps back.

Wait, what now? This isn’t Astria! Another god?!

My hands grabbed for my sword, only to find…nothing. It’s a fucking dreamscape!

The small figure walked on the blue sand. Its footsteps on the sand glowed an iridescent blue. Unseen clouds in the sky obscured her face as she approached me.

“Who are you?” I croaked. Cold shivers ran down my spine. Which one of the assholes is it now? A sea god?

“A friend”, it said. The darkness lifted from its face as it smiled at me, head tilted to one side.

My knees buckled. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the face as I fell. My heart hammered in my chest.

“Yuki?” I screamed. No… “Temera”, this time I whispered.

The girl nodded. The phosphorus that clung to her cascading black hair sparkled. She drew her tattered, salt-encrusted robe closer as she waited for me to speak.

“You’re a god”, my hands clutched the black sands. “Why?”

Temera arched her eyebrow. “Why I am a god?” she asked. “Or why did I not tell you I was?”

“Why did you assume this form?” I wailed. “Why! Why!” I felt myself shake as my voice grew hoarse from the yelling. “Why Yuki?!”

Temera’s mouth…no, Yuki’s…quirked up in a strange smile. “I did not. You did. You chose to see this form within me. You, Rigel, You…” she nodded, “You wanted to see your sister”.

It was like a punch to the guts. I keeled over and sprawled face up on the fine sand. As the hot liquid from my eyes stung, I stared up at the impossibly bejewelled sky. “And you obliged”.

No reply came. Instead, the sand rustled as she drew near.

I didn’t scramble to get away this time. What’s the use? What’s the use of anything? These gods play with mortal lives like silly little game. There’s no getting away from it. There never was.

Temera sat down beside me, her hair and dress dripped water on sand. “I wish I could have played a sister to you a little longer”, she said in a wistful tone.

“Stop”, I implored. I knew it. There are no lows these gods won’t sink to…

Temera fell silent giving way for the roar of the ocean to fill my ears. She drew up her knees to sit in a very human position.

Like a little girl. The girl she had pretended to be.

She said nothing. She demanded nothing. Most of all…she reined in her aura of the divine. Something…Astria had never done.

No matter what…even when I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand, Astria never…

“What do you want?” I blurted out, unable to bear the silence. She chose Yuki’s face deliberately. I’m sure.

Temera pursed her lips as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself. “You know what the Daze does”, she spoke. “I want it gone”.

What? “I’m not peddling it. What do you want me to do about it?”

“Kill the one who brought the infernal stuff to my shores. Burn the fields”, her voice was like ice.

A chuckle bubbled u my throat. But I couldn’t dare let it out as I saw her eyes glowing with a cold fire: a fire born of rage and the mysteries of the dark seas. “What will it solve? You know he isn’t doing this alone. The Empire is taking its dues alright, so are the Armatechs, even if he is an apostate”.

“But they can’t do it without my people. All I need is a miracle, one single miracle. The Fisherpeople of Faerad won’t be held slaves again”.

“The people who gave up their trade the first time?”

“My people were tricked!” the fury in her voice was matched only with the fury of the seas that churned and coiled around the half-submerged water temple. “Medicine, they said it was. A crop to support them while the drought in fishing they told them. And before soon…”

“Unused boats, torn fishing nets, and desperate people begging for a shot of Daze”, I interrupted. “I saw. Your fishing village was converted to a drug farm. You want it back. Is that it?” You just want your fucking worshippers back.

She looked at me, her eyes the colour of waves in the night. “Not for worship, Rigel”, she said as if she had read my mind. “My people had stopped worshipping me long ago. Did you think the ruins of my shrine were made yesteryear?”

I sat bolt upright. So that’s what this underwater temple is! The driftwood archways, the river stone doors…the shrine Temera showed me!

“People don’t forget Sea Gods”, I pondered aloud. “What exactly are you a goddess of?”

“River deity; the river that flows here, the estuary and the near seashores. I am…revered as the keeper of the fishermen, the source of the silvery harvest, mistress of fortunes at river and inland sea and childbirth”.

Local deity…minor goddess. Probably worshipped in just a couple of fishing villages.

“Just give them more fishes”, I sighed. Nope. Not fighting a battle that isn’t mine.

“I did at first”, she looked at the horizon. “Then they wanted more. Then more. The silvery harvest isn’t endless. When they didn’t have more, they prayed. Eventually, they stopped coming to the shrine”.

She actually… I whipped my neck to look at her. So frail…so small. NO! I reminded myself. That is a god. Not my sister or a little girl. But still, she did try to look after her people.

“When I gave them more, their good fortunes made them stop coming. When I gave them less, they blamed it on the heartlessness of a stone idol”, Temera scratched her neck in a very human motion. “They forget that it was human hands that carved the stone, not us”.

“Yet you want to help them?” Why? Why would you?

She flashed a smile that matched the face of the bubbly girl she had pretended to be. “My people. My responsibility”.

I won’t lie. I blinked in utter confusion. A god that cares about her people?

“Help me, Rigel, she pleaded. “Help me return my people their livelihood and their lives”.

“And start the cycle all over again?” I stood up. “They’ll forget you as soon as they have good catches”.

Temera looked up at me and nodded. “They might. But…that’s a worry for a hundred harvests later”.

“I can’t help you”, I turned away. I can’t do this while she wears that face. “I am not going to risk fucking up now”.

“I know”, Temera sighed. “But Olyelnore Urv’an is not a place to be taken lightly. You will die there”.

I shrugged. Maybe, but I still can’t.

“Become my hand of justice. Stay here and be revered as the Justice of the Scales for a couple centuries. I am a small god, but still, you’ll be able to manifest some powers. You don’t need to fight tooth and nail to survive your summoning”.

I can stop? I can rest?

My hands balled into a fist. Arin. Those people in the chamber…Faeve. I took a deep breath. Zain. Talaviel. Astria. No, I can’t. I shook my head at Temera.

Temera exhaled a deep sigh. “At least, carry my blessing with you.

More blessings? The last god that gave me one…I shivered as I remembered Zain’s gift of sacrifice. “Every power has a price. Yours must too. I won’t be doing this.”

Temera turned away from me, her body shaking. “Asper uses a lot of people in his farms. Some of them are slaves bought from the gallows and prisons. There is a girl amongst them”.

I can’t help them.

“From Shrafingshire”, Temera continued. “Someone you helped before”.

Huh?! What?

“I’ll await your answer”, Temera declared before a wave of her hand brought the whole dreamscape crashing down. “Dressir, Torr-Eridan”.

“Wai—” my scream was interrupted as I sat bolt upright on the cot. My outstretched hand grasped only empty air.

Fuck, fuck fuck!

“What happened?!” Faeve sprang up with daggers in her hands. “Where are they?”

I stared at her, unable to form a single word.

She pursed her lips and sheathed her daggers. “Try to get some sleep”, she said before going back to sleep. “Not like I can with the bedbugs”.

Someone from Shrafingshire? Who?!

My mind reeled as I went through the possibilities. The grandma? She…isn’t exactly a girl, but knowing gods…Someone I knew from the village guard team? Tavern? My blood ran cold as an impossible thought ran through my mind. Could it really be? But…but she died! I am sure of it! My knuckles turned white as I grabbed the cot. What if…what if she isn’t really dead. I mean gods can play tricks, don’t they? They do, right? What if that wasn’t her charred body…

I hadn’t realized when I had got up and dressed. But what if Temera had simply…lied? My hand grabbed the hilt of Thirst. Well, I guess I have to find her and ask.

Dawn was just breaking over the perpetually dazed village. In the soft morning light, I could see the covers cling to the contours of Faeve’s body. Nah, better to keep her out of it.

“Where? When?” came the muffled questions from the bed.

“Doesn’t matter”, I rustled. “I’ll be back before sundown”.

“Don’t get yourself killed”, she whispered almost inaudibly.

“No promises”, I closed the door behind me. “But I’ll try”.

The long haul to Temera’s shrine went by in a blink. I ran, I ran as fast as I could. Animals and beasts scrambled to get out my path as I tore through the thicket.

Dawn hadn’t stretched its rays to the shrine yet. Shadows and darkness mingled in its abandoned alcoves and shattered archways. The last of the fireflies still lingered on the broken steps overgrown with grass.

“Temera”, my voice was a barely concealed roar.

Only silence answered. The swirling shadows had already engulfed my voice.

“Temera”, I seethed. “Come out”.

Something’s behind… I jumped forward and slashed the blade behind me.

The blade just stopped a hair's breadth from Temera’s face. She arched her eyebrows.

“Not like simple Tavitz Steel can kill you wretches”, I said while sheathing my sword. “Now. Answers”.

“I do not know her name. But I know she knows you. I have seen your face in her dreams. When you fought the Kingdom’s guards”

My stomach sank. No, no, no it can’t be! “How do I know you aren’t lying?” I gave a hoarse cry.

“You…do not”, Temera shook her head. “Black hair, Fair skin. You remember?” She egged me on.

How can I forget? “But if this is just a ruse…”

“I guess you have to see her for yourself”, Temera stated.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck”, I cursed out loud. “Fuck you, this world and fuck all that live in it”.

“Indeed”, Temera nodded. “But do not be so harsh on us. We are doing all we can to save ourselves. Just like in your world”.

“If the girl you say isn’t there”, I warned her as I swung my blade. “I’ll come back here and burn down the rest of your shrine, and tear down your idol”.

“If”.

“Faeve!” I yelled as soon as I climbed the stairs to our room at the inn. “Get out, we have work”. If the lord has her, then…

“Get out!” my voice boomed in the empty corridor. The door fell apart with one kick from my boots.

What the hell is this?

Inside, the meagre things we had were strewn about in careless abandon. The bed and cot were in a mess, their covers slashed and burned black. Faeve was nowhere to be seen.

This smell…acrid smoke of sulphur and spellcasting permeated the room. My fists clenched as I saw a shred of the clothes that Faeve had taken from the pirate girl. A fight broke out? She was taken?

Fuck. My jaws clenched hard enough to make my teeth hurt. Not now, not now, not now!

I turned around to leave. Bigger question is, who took her? Something flashed at the corner of my eye. A mouthpiece?

A strange wooden piece like the end of a recorder lay outside the door. Is that…the piece seemed familiar. The hookah mouthpiece!

I ran down the stairs into the first-floor bar. Like yesterday, only a wretched emptiness greeted my eyes. Except for the soft mutters behind the counter.

The innkeeper stared at me with beady red eyes as I dragged him out by the collar. “This yours?”

“N..no!”, he stammered in between clawing the floor to get away. “Never seen ‘im!”

I grabbed his hookah from behind the counter. The piece fit the long pipe like a glove. In this world devoid of a standard measuring system and industrial production, this piece was made for this specific hookah.

“Where’s the Elf?”, I kneeled in front of him. “I have very little time and even littler patience”.

“Dunno!” he tried to run on his fat legs.

“I’ll ask again”, I grabbed the mouthpiece. With my other hand, I grabbed his bald head. “Where. Is. The. Elf?”

“They’ll kill me if I tell you!” the man screamed.

Crack!

I smashed the man’s face on the floor. He wailed with his face all bloody.

Crack!

I smashed his face again. Teeth clattered on the ground.

“Asber’s Moob Eff!” he sobbed. “leb me go!”

Just as I thought. But only the Moon Elf?

“Think again”, I shook his face. “Otherwise this is going inside you”, I waved the mouthpiece in front of him.

“I’m nob lyin’” his snot and tears now mixed with his blood and dripped on the floor.

Alright. He isn’t probably lying but… I decided to jam the mouthpiece in his palms anyway. With a sickening crunch, the wood splintered and tore through the hand. The innkeeper writhed on the ground, his face contorted in pain as he sobbed.

I am coming. Just hold on a little.

As I stood beside the grassy knoll I had caught fish at just yesterday, I braced myself.

Shit, shit, shit!

I suppressed a scream as I hacked through my own flesh. Fresh blood dripped in the flowing river like and blossomed like flowers. The flesh disappeared into the depths.

I didn’t even have to chant. Both River and Sea Crezets broke the surface of the churning water and stared at me with their feral eyes. Dark, bony backs dotted the river like floating corpses.

It’s time to get back what’s mine.

The Crezets sunk back into the muddy depths of the river. They had their destination. All they now needed was an animal fury to point them. And I was happy to oblige.

The setting sun of did little to obscure the beauty that was the Daze field. Tulip-like flowers as varied as a painters’ palette dotted the meadows around Asper’s mansion. Poppies…but not quite.

Men, women and children toiled in the field. Their emaciated hands plucked at the flowers and collected something that dripped from them. Even the slightest mistake was punished heavily by the whip-carrying guards.

A young boy coughed and tottered as he walked. His knife slipped and his blood tainted the Daze he held in his hands. The guard’s whip flashed in the sun once. Twice. Thrice. The boy wailed as more of his blood scattered in the wind.

This isn’t why I am here. Not this. I reminded myself as I grit my teeth while I crawled through the fields. I held the small piece of kindling in my hands. Just a bit more, just a bit more. My hands tightened on my blade. With a final blow, the kindling blossomed into flames.

The nearest poppy plant caught on fire. Its green stalks danced in the flames as it burned.

Now then.

It didn’t take too long for the fire to spread. Entire swathes of Daze crops went up in a hellish conflagration. The funny part? Those shits popped like popcorns. Intoxicating fumes spread across the field, whipped wild by the wind.

The shots followed soon after as the guards went berserk trying to control the spreading fire. The Socotran Lizards they rode bucked and bolted at the heat and threw them helter-skelter. One of them ran at me, its rider still attached to the stirrup.

I swung Thirst. The man’s foot detached in a shower of crimson that sizzled in the fire.

I jumped on the Lizard’s back as it ran past.

“Gzep!” I barked the harsh command that urged it further towards the gates of the mansion. Afraid of the approaching flame, the beast ran faster and faster till its full tilt forward carried it towards the iron gates.

Rather than a mansion, it was a tropical summer villa. Huh. Either his fields aren’t doing as well as I thought…or he is too overconfident.

Only a few guards stood in front of the gate, their eyes wide at the conflagration of the daze fields.

They raised their weapons at once.

SCHWING!

Arrows ripped the air on all sides.

With a dull squelch, a couple arrows found their mark on the lizard’s throat. Too late, I sneered as the beast crashed into a guard, trampling him under its clawed feet.

With hardly a break, I brought down my blade. A head flew into the air, its eyes still set in a determined grin.

My next mark found himself impaled on my blade. “By the Stag’s antlers!” he cried as he held on to my blade with his bloody hands.

His compatriots surrounded me on all sides, eager to take advantage of the moment their friend had bought for them.

I felt my mouth split into a grin that reached my ears. AP surged into my blade and rushed inside the man’s body.

I closed my eyes.

His face bulged as he exploded from within. Flesh and blood showered the other guards blinding them.

They didn’t even see my blade as it cut through their throats, guts, heads.

By the time I was finished, renewed screams resounded from the Daze fields. Too slow, I growled internally as I saw Crezet after Crezet burst from the river beside the fields. The very source of water that had made the plantation possible now delivered death upon them.

Only the ones with weapons, I ordered them. And the ones in Blue, I added to encompass the livery of Asper’s guards.

The chaos of the fields had drawn most of the men away. The heavy wooden door was already thrown ajar when I went through the back entrance.

The guards fucking on the pantry floor died together as Thirst ripped through their bodies still in throes of an orgasm. At least these guys died while having fun.

My heart hammered wildly in my chest. Just a moment. I sat down on the chair. My breath came in ragged gasps. Need food…Summoning the Crezets had drained a lot of my energy.

My eyes fell on the still cooking slabs of meat left over the fire. Fat and sauces sizzled on the hot Firestone as they dripped, their aroma mixing with the copper smell of the slain guards’

I wolfed down bits of meat and wine. The food, still sizzling burned my throat as it passed. That…that’s some taste. A small clatter behind me alerted to the presence of someone. I whirled around to find the cook stare at the guards and me with his jaws hung open. His utensil still danced on the ground from its fall.

“Ssssh”, I hissed at the cook with a finger on my lips. “You cook well”, I grated through my burned throat. I mean, I wasn’t about to kill someone who cooks that well!

“Th…thank you”, the man stammered. Sweat ran down his temple. “Was…was the sauce okay?”

“Perfect…” I licked my lips while I used a spare apron lying around to clean the blood off my blade. “Now don’t tell anyone what you saw here”.

“Saw what?” The cook asked. “If the Lord didn’t have tasters, I’d have killed him myself”.

I grinned at him. “Too bad they can’t save him from the taste of steel”.

“Talaviel protect”, he whispered. “Kill that bastard for me”.

Talaviel? I whirled around. Should I kill him? No, that’s not the priority now…they are waiting.

By now, guards streamed in through the corridors of the villa, pikes and spears in hand.

Too many, I grit my teeth. Time to use that. I took out the Daze in cloth bundle that Asper had thrown at me. With the many weird utensils in the kitchen, I made something that I hoped would emulate crude smoke grenade.

The firestone inside the improvised grenade burned furiously, gushing white plumes into the air. Now! I closed the kitchen door and wrapped my nose in a cloth.

“What are you!” the cook screamed. But the scant smoke had crept in under the door already extended its tendrils inside the room. With a mouth protection, the man started to wobble, and then…fell over in a drunken haze.

Just because I didn’t want to kill you, doesn’t mean I’ll let you run around.

I’m coming, you two. I calmed my hammering heart. I won’t be late again. A scream tore through my lips as I kicked the fucking kitchen door down. Never again!

The hallway was an impenetrable tunnel of white smoke and groans that emanated from its depths. The Daze had done its work. The premium quality Daze the Lord had offered me was head and shoulders above the cheap shit sent out to the village.

Fuck. No wonder the Daze trade is booming. It was ridiculous how quickly it had intoxicated the men. Eerie laughs and cries reverberated from all sides inside the world of white smoke, its inhabitants in throes of strange dreams and hallucinations.

“Give it back!” “Marry me” “O mother” “praise be to centaur dicks” “I…I am the king!”

Strange cries ripped through the haze.

Wait, centaur-dicks? What even?

I shook my head of remaining thoughts. I need to concentrate for this. With a deep breath, I called upon the Crezets and urged them to share their power with me.

For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. There I was, skittering along the ground chasing blue-skin food that screamed and tried to run on one leg. There I was, chomping down on a Lizard, I was there too—some men pierced me with their pointy metal nails.

I suppressed a scream as both pleasure and pain washed over me as the Crezets melded their minds to mine. No no…concentrate, I rebuked myself. Slowly, my eyes sharpened.

The smoke…it feels like muddy water! As if I had chased down prey a hundred thousand times before I navigated the haze. There! My sword chopped down, relieving men of their heads before they could utter a scream. Soon, the world of white was dyed with a crimson spray.

Die. Die. Die! I snarled as my metal tooth chopped down. I need to eat…NO! I slapped myself. I need to get to them.

I ran up the stairs without pausing. The white fog ended halfway through and settled at the bottom of the stairs like some infernal swamp.

Take care of them for me, I instructed the Crezets. Kill. Eat. All.

The two guards who stood in front of the door came at me with their weapons raised.

CLANG! Sparks scattered as out weapons connected; the transient flowers of fire illuminated the terror in their eyes.

What are they…I traced their eyes to see my left hand had turned into the black monstrosity. Shadows coiled and fumed around and from the clawed appendage.

A strange laughter echoed from somewhere.

The guards shrank back.

Oh, I’m the one laughing.

I jumped; my shadowy arm grasped the screaming man’s head. With a soft pop, his head crushed in, the blood absorbing into my hand. The tattoos that swirled got bigger, as did the arm.

I stared at the remaining guard. A pungent smell accompanied by liquid dripped from his pants.

“Boo!” I shouted.

The man wailed and curled up on the ground.

You live, fucker.

“Asper!” I screamed as I kicked down the heavily decorated door.

The noble pointed a blade at me, its tip glowing with the heat of magic. “I thought we had an arrangement”, he spat.

An arrangement? A fucking arrangement? “You didn’t tell me you had someone from Shrafingshire”.

His face clouded over. “So?” he asked.

“Where have you kept her? Where is Arin?” I rasped. My heart almost leapt to my chest as I took her name. She…is she really alive?

“It’s true there’s a girl from Shrafingshire here. But not by that name.”

Huh? “What’s her name?” I snarled. “If you trick me—

“Sein”, he rasped. “A little girl by the name Sein”.

My knuckles turned white. God fucking dammit! I slammed Asper’s desk, turning it into kindling. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I realized what had happened. Temera deliberately tricked me.

Sein was the little girl I had rescued in the forest as a noble was raping her. Fair skin, black hair, just like Arin. A chuckle bubbled up my throat. Played by the gods. Yet again.

“You can take her”, Asper rasped. “But how will you compensate my loss?” he waved his hand around, “You! You burned down every fucking thing!—he stopped himself as he stared at my shadowy arm. “You’re the Shrafingshire demon”.

“Yes”, I laughed. “And I’ve come to exact my toll”.

I confirmed what Asper claimed with my own eyes. Well, Crezet eyes. As per my order, they herded every non-combatant in the villa estate in an encirclement. There I saw Sein for the last time since…Since the fight with the noble’s soldiers.

Emaciated, bruised, battered she stood. This girl…how much has she endured since then? She shook like a leaf as Crezets snapped at them, her weak knees buckled under the weight of the wicker-basket of Daze fruits on her back.

And…there was no Arin. How could there be? I held her charred remains in my hands after all. A strange relief spread inside me at the realization. What would I have even said? I’m not even the Rigel she knew.

“Now then”, I made AP run through my blade, making it vibrate. “Give me back my Elf”.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about”, Asper splayed his hands. “Why would I take her?...unless of course—” he trailed off. “Lujek”, he rubbed his temples.

“I guess you know what I mean”, I brought the blade within inches of his throat. “Where is she?”

“Lujek must have taken her to the old church”, Asper sighed. “Follow me?”

Ambush?

He stared at me and shook his head. “I have more to lose if he kills the Sun-Elf in my territory”.

“Lead the way”, I told Asper. “Uh huh, you first”.

As we trudged up to an old church, the sun had all but set. Asper stared at the encirclement of the Crezets and shivered. His head hung low as he walked.

Mourning the loss of his empire?

“It won’t stop you know”, Asper said. “If I am gone, another will take my place”.

I didn’t reply. I mean, he was right.

Asper took my silence as disagreement. “The flow of Daze is becoming too important to the Empire. Sometimes even the Navy—” he shook his head. “Just let me go, alright? I have nothing to do with Lujek did”.

“We’ll see about that”. Not likely. So that you can tell everyone who Eridan is?

He sighed. “You’re not going to keep me alive, are you?” He whirled around. “What if I just refused to cooperate?”

I slashed the blade in a quick arc, chopping off some of his braided hair. “Then you lose that even tiny chance of surviving this”.

“Either way”, he paused as he spoke, “I’m finished”.

The old church turned out to be an old wood building, black with age and mould. Light shone through its skeletal remains overgrown with bramble and grass. My nose crinkled at the faint acrid scent of magic.

A sudden hiss made us stop.

I gripped my sword tighter. Asper smacked his lips and nodded at me.

Shadows exploded from the corners, under the rotten wood, from the very dark of the dead trees.

Fuck! What kinda magic is this?

The shadows resolved into misshapen shapes and beasts. Their shadowy maws let out roars, but no sound came out. The army of silent screams lunged at us all at once.

My sword cut through them…and nothing.

Their shadow bodies coalesced together again if the sword strike was but an illusion.

This is bad. Very bad.

Dark claws and canines ripped into us. The shadows drew blood.

Now!

While the shadows coalesced into solidity to inflict pain, I grabbed on to them. My dark arm twisted through them like butter. Shadows battled shadows and ripped them apart.

Light as bright as the sun exploded on my side.

Squinting my eyes, I saw Asper’s hands leak bursts of light that banished the shadows. They monsters squirmed and hid under the little pockets of darkness the light couldn’t reach.

Huh. Well prepared to fight his own shaman.

“Aivern”, a figure spoke from the dark. “Leave now and you can be free”.

“You’re the Lujek that took Faeve?” I asked. Where is he?

Asper took a defensive stance. “What is the meaning of this? Attacking your Lord?”

The disembodied voice’s laughter shook the ruined church. “A weaker Lord I have never seen. You really thought you were my Aivern, Asper?”

What? Moon-Elves had Aiverns too?

“I had my suspicions”, Asper spoke. “Why did you take the Elf?”

“A Sun-Elf sacrificed on the night of the Speared Moon”, Lujek laughed again. “Poetic. And potent for Moon Magick”.

“I’ll need her back”, I rasped. “You see, I have a date tonight. I don’t like being late”.

A momentary silence fell, followed by a groan. “Your humour is even worse than Asper’s”.

Fuck you! “I’ll tear this place apart if I have to. Give. My. Elf. Back”.

“Rage of an Aivern”, Lujek’s voice was ice. “Does it match up to my magic I wonder?”

Something’s coming!

Shadowy chains erupted from the ground.

Tch!

They bound us both within seconds.

Asper screamed as if the chain ate at him.

Huh? The chains surrounding me loosened by themselves and fell off.

I was not the only one surprised. Lujek too wailed. “You have been blessed by the Moon? How!”

Oh. That cave…

A formless shadow jumped and rushed towards the back of the church.

Slow. So slow.

My eyes tracked each movement. I could feel the rising moon strengthen my senses.

The shadow landed beside an altar.

Wait, is that?!

The illusion of shadows shimmered. A fair figure emerged from under a veil of darkness, lying still as if in blissful sleep.

Faeve!

A jet black figure materialized over Faeve. Tattoos swirled around his body in luminescent shades that matched Sangraal’s moons. He hoisted a dagger in his hand and brought it down.

AP exploded under my feet and propelled me like a bullet. My hand grabbed onto Lujek and dug in a shower of dark blood.

He screamed as I held his heart in my hands.

“Die”, my simple command was accompanied by the surge of AP from my shadowy hand. His heart imploded with a nasty squelch; the blood showered Faeve in a black rain.

Faeve didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Her alabaster skin had taken on a pallid hue.

Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die!

Okay, Rigel. You can do this. I kept my hands on her chest. Her cool skin felt even colder. I sent a small surge on AP down her heart.

Breathe!

Again.

Breathe!

I parted her lips. Don’t die on me, you elf. My mouth formed a seal on hers as I breathed air inside her.

Breathe.

She didn’t move. I held her small form tighter. I breathed again; AP and air coalesced and formed into a simple wish.

Breathe! I pleaded.

A soft touch brushed my cheek, its fingers running over the unkempt growth of the past couple weeks.

Faeve! She’s alive!

Another small hand rested on my chest. With a start, I realized my mouth still kissed hers. Relief washed over me, and with it came the tiredness. I crumpled beside the altar, my head on her chest.

“It’s okay”, Faeve whispered. “I’m here”.

A chuckle burst through my lips. CPR. This sleeping princess wakes up with a fucking CPR.

As I supported Faeve outside, Asper was nowhere to be found. I don’t even care anymore.

I put Faeve down under a tree. “Right at sunset, just as promised”.

“You said ‘before sunset’” Faeve snickered. “And the moons are already high up. The Speared Moon is nigh”.

Yeah, but… “I have one last thing to do before that”.

Faeve’s green eyes looked into mine. “I’ll wait at the tree line. Do not take long”.

The labouring farmers fled as soon as I lifted the Crezets’ encirclement. Only Sein remained, half delirious with smoke and hunger. My fists shook as I saw her little body; battered and bruised with whip marks.

She weighed nothing as I picked her up. There’s just one place… I ran fast towards my destination. The movement made Sein wince. I can’t stop, sorry.

She looked up at me with frightful eyes. “You”, her voice was barely audible. “They said you’re a demon”.

Her words were a sharp stab to the guts. Even after all this while… “Maybe I am”, the hollowness in my voice rang sharply in my own ears.

Sein clasped me tighter as she lay in my arms. “I used to think that too”, she coughed. “Not anymore. You…are not the demon”, she sputtered before passing out.

Tears streamed down my eyes without reserve. Don’t trip, I reminded myself as tears clouded my sight. The five simple words kept ringing in my ears. Thank you, I whispered in my mind again and again. Thank you.

Thickets and bramble parted as I approached the ruined shrine of Temera. The little girl with Yuki’s face stood there smiling.

“You already know why I am here”, I stated. “You knew that girl wasn’t Arin”.

“Yes. That girl will be my shrine keeper from now. No harm shall befall her”. Temera added with a pause, “I knew this was not the girl you ached to see”.

I looked around the desolate shrine. Temera noticed my gaze and smiled.

“It won’t be like this anymore. After tonight, the Daze is done on these shores. Like a bad night’s dream, people will awaken from their stupor and go back to their boats and nets”, she declared.

“But people have already forgotten you”.

She stepped closer to me. “You think a god is so easily forgotten?” she spoke with her voice of gushing river. “Each time they leave the house and murmur a forgotten prayer, they remember me. Each time a wizened crone delivers a baby and soothes the mother she evokes my protection. In each half-remembered ritual of lighting lamps at the shore, in each wish of a protection, in each prayer for a close one, I exist. They might have forgotten in whose name they ask of a boon, but they will learn it again tonight”.

I lay Sein’s small body on the ground. “Look after her”, I said.

“Thank you”, Temera nodded. “For bringing forth the miracle I needed. Temera will be established again in these shores, Rigel…The Justice of the Scales”.

“I don’t want anything to do with these fancy titles”, I warned her. “Just stop using Yuki’s face”.

Temera smiled. Her form rippled like a silk veil was lifted off her. In front of stood a freckled girl as old as Yuki, her black hair tied up in seashells and strange knots.

She’s not that different from Yuki after all.

“Goodbye, Temera”, I said. I don’t even know why… I feel so sad.

“I had a brother once”, Temera ran up and put her tiny hands on mine. “At this distance of years, I do not remember his name or how he looked. But I remember how he smiled. How he was. It was…I liked playing your sister for a day. Please take my blessing if you won’t become my Justice”.

“Every power has a price. I don’t know if I can pay yours”.

“You already did”, she smiled. “My people are free because of you”. She tried to reach my head. She pouted as her small hands only reached to my chest. “Kneel!” she preened.

“You promise upon you Godhood that you won’t exact a further toll?” I asked. Maybe…just maybe this once…

“I promise”, she said while she rested her hands on my head. She kissed my forehead and tousled my hair. “May my blessing always follow you”.

Images rushed inside my mind in a torrent. No…memories. Faerad looked much more different. How old is this? Even the language spoken was ancient. I was a so small, as small as Temera. I am Temera! Realized with a start. The memory grew fuzzy as little Temera didn’t understand why her mother dolled her up in the finest clothes they had. Even elders came and prostrated before her. But I…No, Temera was happy. She hadn’t eaten such good food since the fishing drought started. Old women braided her coral red hair.

A woman with blurry face and warm hands fed me milk. It was so delicious! I want to— Why…why am I so sleepy? Temera felt drowsy. Why was brother so noisy? Why is he crying? Don’t cry brother…don’t cr—

Temera sat in a small boat that sailed away while the whole village watched. Strong men restrained her brother. Why are you stopping him? Where am I going? Mother wiped her tears at the shoreline while Temera’s boat wobbled towards the open seas.

No! No! I cried in Temera’s voice. My little boat took in water. Why are there holes? Why? As my little body sank…I could see no more of my brother. Oh brother…

The huge old turtle at the bottom of the sea stared at me with his ancient, humongous eyes. Bubbles escaped his nose as he spoke. “Little Girl”, he said in a strange tone, “So unfortunate”. The last thing I saw was the turtle opening his mouth. A whirlpool of water propelled Temera’s small body in. “Safe”, the turtle rumbled. “No humans here”.

As the memory ended, I sprawled on the ground, tears down my face. “Why?” I implored. “Why help the people who sacrificed you?”

Temera smiled. “They were scared, Rigel. They were trying to live. My people. My responsibility”.

“Your hair was red”, I asked. I… I am sorry, Temera.

She twirled her black locks in her hand. “The people remember me like this now. So this is what I’ve become”.

Oh, gods. Oh, the gods.

As I was leaving, Temera called me from behind. “The Elf. Probably best not to trust her too much”.

Yeah, I touched my cheek as I remembered her hands…and her soft lips on mine. Yeah, I reminded myself, yeah.

“Oh, Temera!” I turned back once, “what powers do I get? Super sea powers? I can call the waves? Summon sea monsters?”

Temera chuckled. “Fish”, she held her sides with laughter. “Fish will come to you easily”.

Lame! That’s way too lame! But I had a feeling that wasn't everything.

"Now if you'd excuse me", I heard Temera say. "I have a bonfire to watch".

True to her word, Faeve waited for me near the tree line. “Hurry”, she urged while pointing at the moon.

The three moons of Sangraal had aligned in a single line as if a spear had run through them all in one fell swoop. Only one moon glowed, but the light of the other two flared in a halo around it.

With one last look at Faerad village, we went inside. Stay well, Sein. Stay well, Temera.

It was almost dawn when we felt the edge of the Mountain of Trees envelop us. The magic shimmered and swirled all around us and finally parted to reveal impossibly green forests and trees.

Dark figures jumped down all around us. Sun-Elves pointed their bows and swords at us.

“Faeve”, I called. “Is this supposed to happen?”

Faeve didn’t reply.

“You know what needs to be done”, a husky voice spoke from the trees. The owner of the voice, a female elf nodded.

Huh? “What’s—

A sharp pain jabbed at my neck. What the… my fingers touched a sharp needle that protruded my skin.

Faeve stood a little far away, her mouth around the blowgun that had shot the dart.

“Why?” I wailed as my body crumpled to the ground.

“I am sorry”, tears streamed down her face. “I am sorry”.

Then, everything turned black.