“Don’t be so forceful with your weapon! Flow with your daggers!” the old man shouted at Elena, seeing her movements. Stopping beside her, he watched her closely and nodded his head, seeing her getting it right. Her silky black hair flew through the air shined in the sunlight.

Furrowing his brows, the old man said, “Shouldn’t you cut your hair? Somebody who fights close battles shouldn’t have long hair. What if your opponent grabbed it?” His hand shot forward and grabbed her hair, tearing out a handful of it.

“Huh?” he mumbled, feeling surprised how easily it came out. Looking at Elena’s head, he noticed that her hair was perfectly fine and she had no missing hair.

“Haha, I told you that my body is a bit different. You could pull out my hair all day, nothing would change. Only I can change it and I like it long~” she mused with an amused smile on her face. I’m not a human, you stupid old man. My hair is like a shadow, you can pull it out but it will reappear and has no weight, she thought, looking at her hair in his hands turning into nothing.

“What the hell? Is this some kind of Magic?”

“You can call it that.”

“Don’t slack off! Keep swinging and thrusting!”

Why do I have to swing it? Daggers are used to thrust! She complained in her mind, doing as told nonetheless.

Audrey was sitting on a bench not too far away, a mix of fire and light elemental ball between her hands. Throwing it into the air where a gravity zone laid hidden, she split the ball into two halves, causing a silent explosion and a powerful shock, which hit Elena’s back.

“...”

“I’m sorry! But it’s fun when you almost fell over!” Audrey raised her hand to her mouth.

“I told you already to do this elsewhere, but no… you are just making it bigger and bigger, trying to make me fall. Your timing happens to be the same when my balance is the worst too, what do you have to say?” Elena furrowed her brows.

“It’s by chance.”

“Could you stay quiet? I can’t think like this,” Jake complained, trying to advance his knowledge of void. Meanwhile, Dred used Cor as a punching bag to train his resistances and to ignore his perverted thoughts when seeing Elena’s sweaty body…

I’ll definitely get used to this. Damn it, Elena! he cursed in his mind, sometimes sneaking a peek at her.

Evading one of Dred’s punches, Cor leaned to the side and asked Audrey “Since when do you know a spell like that? I didn’t have it in my memories after I drank Dred’s blood.”

“We found it in an ancient cave where we found the Emperor,” she whispered back. “Why? Do you want to learn it?”

“No, I can’t use external magic. I was just curious since it felt familiar.”

“Huh?” Everyone but the old man stopped when they heard his words.

“Are you sure about this?” Dred furrowed his brows.

“Yes,” Cor nodded his head.

“In that case, as per our agreement, I’ll take you there. You might remember something,” Dred said as he transformed into his Wyvern form and after Cor held onto him, he flew into the air.

“Eh? He didn’t even ask if we wanted to come,” Elena looked at him with a dumbfounded face, stopping her training.

“Don’t slack off or I’ll grab your breasts!” the old man shouted into her ear, startling her.

“Fuck you, my heart almost stopped!”

“Then don’t stop! Focus on what you are doing!”

“Tsk- fine. But he could have asked,” she mumbled to herself in a low voice, while Audrey and Jake didn’t utter even a single word. Am I the only one who cares about it? That’s strange, or am I the one who is strange? Well, it’s not like we had a fight, did we? Looking down, she noticed her sweaty body and how much skin she showed. I might be the reason why he left so hurriedly, after all… she rolled her eyes.

---

Dred landed on the ground, not far away from the Emperor’s house, right above the hole they made when they got out of the cave. “Off you go.”

“What? Do you want me to crawl under the ground? Are you telling me that my place is there? Just because I’m a corpse?!”

“No… that hole is the entrance to the cave unless you want to go through the traps.”

“Oh, right. Surely, you wouldn’t want me dead- or alive?” Cor talked to himself and started pondering.

“... I beg you to stop these jokes and just go already,” Dred put his hand on his forehead and shook his head.

“Alriiiiight!” his shout came from the hole as Dred pushed him into it and then jumped after him. His feet reached the ground exactly beside his head.

“AAHH! You scared me there! If my head is crushed I die!” Cor shouted, his face terrified.

“Haha, I haven’t seen you scared before,” Dred grabbed his collar and pulled him to his feet.

“Well, neither of you tried to hit my head before. You can do whatever you want to my lower half, but my head needs to stay intact! I want to stay handsome!”

“No offense meant, but you are anything but handsome…”

“Fuck you. And what do you have to say about yourself and Elena?! Did you think that I didn’t notice? You two seem to be a bit tense since this morning. What happened?”

“Hmm? You are quite perceptive but you are mistaken if you think that we had a fight. At least, I don’t consider it a fight… and she doesn’t seem to do it either.”

“What are you blabbering about? I asked something and didn’t get a reply!”

Rolling his eyes, Dred spilled the beans, “I didn’t want to talk about it, but fine. You know how we are born in pairs. I’m supposed to be something like her ‘pet’, but I’m not. Either way, I’m liking her as a person a lot, but she has a habit which caused some changes. You see after I got this demon form, I started feeling attracted to female bodies and-”

“Hmm? Are you sure? I haven’t seen you ogling Audrey or does she not fit your taste?”

Dred raised a brow, his face surprised. “Well, no, she too is nice but… huh?”

“You didn’t even realize, hahaha. I think that it’s not just your body that is being attracted to Elena” Cor stuck out his tongue.

“Is that so? I never thought about it that way, but your words are indeed true!” Placing his hand on his chin, Dred started pondering, “Then why am I attracted so much to her? Is it really because of her night habits or is it something else? I’m not in love, am I?” he mumbled to himself.

“Are you kidding me?” Cor tilted his head to the side.

“Why?”

“Well, you probably have something for her, but you seem to lack experience too much to notice it. This is from your knowledge, but does your heart start beating rapidly when you see her?”

“No, why would it? Though I’m missing her now and I feel happy when I see her.”

“Is that so? Maybe you are like a close friend with some extra feelings…”

“Indeed, that might be the case. But if something changes, I’ll definitely notice it,” he furrowed his brows.

“Strangely enough, you seem to be dense but I think that you aren’t,” Cor shook his head.

“I’m not. I thought about this option too before, but I discarded it since it didn’t seem to fit my feelings. It does make more sense now, though.”

“Hoho?”

“Don’t laugh at me, you stupid corpse. Look around instead!”

“But I wasn’t laughing…” Cor hung his head. Raising it back up, he looked around in the room. He saw the golden throne in the middle and focused his eyes on it with no real result. Walking into the hidden room, he saw the dust covered table and a chair behind it. Raising his hand, he touched his face and felt tears trickling down on it.

Memories of his ring, a scroll he put on the table, and a black ring flashed in his mind. “Wasn’t there a ring on Audrey’s finger with a purple gem?” he asked as he turned around, rubbing his eyes.

“There is. We found it here.”

“Alright...”

“Do you intend to stay silent about it?” Dred raised a brow.

“No, but I’m still missing pieces. I’m sure that I was the one who created this place. I’m also sure that everything you found here was my possession in the past and that I had a fight in the other room.”

“Is that why the formation was filled up with blood?” Dred asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Formation?!” Slapping his forehead, Cor rushed into the other cave and knelt on the ground to look at it closely. “This… I made this.”

“Huh?! Then are you… Hector? The original? The one from the legends?”

“I think I am, but I was betrayed. The problem is that I don’t remember who was it or why and how I died. I don’t know anything about my past life either. I need more information about this Hector, who may be me,” he clenched his fists and punched the ground, breaking the formation.

“Then were you the one who connected these two planets? And where is your strength? Did everything start with you?” Dred couldn’t help but bombard Cor with questions. “Do you want to be called Hector or Cor?” he added.

“Stop, stop. I don’t know the answer to those questions and just call me Cor. Hector died long ago and it will stay that way. But I- I am a living dead, Cor. That won’t change unless I completely die,” he replied, showing a rare honest smile.

Dred furrowed his brows and looked at Cor. After a few seconds, a smile formed on his face as he held out his hand, “Welcome to the group, in that case. I hope to rely on you too in the future.”

Nodding his head, Cor stood up from the ground and took his hand, “Thanks. You know, I’m filled with anger for some reason. Can I hit you?”

“Haha, no. Hit the wall or Jake when we get back.”

“Jake, ah how sweet it will be! Hehe, he will be definitely pissed off!”

“Right, let’s go in that case. At least, we know who you were. We just have to find out what happened to you now,” Dred replied with a smile.

Jumping out of the cave through the hole, he transformed into his Wyvern form and took Cor back. But on the road, he felt stranger and stranger inside. I- I’m worrying for Elena and I’m missing her even though we barely separated. Am I tied to her this much? Is this because of the connection between us or is this something more? he pondered on the way back.

Seeing the capital of the Drung Kingdom far away, he felt excited. This is no good. He felt more and more excited as he got closer and closer. Landing on the training grounds, he saw his friends and Elena, but his eyes stopped on her face.

“Welcome back!” she waved her hand with a smile on her face.

Gulping loudly, Dred nodded his head as he thought, Shit. I love her, after all…