[Valerianne Yul]

“Go on then.” June poked me with her big, stolen sword. She looked a bit comical holding it, it was far too large for her short, skinny frame.

“I...” I said.

“Less talky, more walky.” She threw Alyssa’s robe and cape at me. “Also, put these on. While you’re quite attractive, your exposed butt is also incredibly distracting because I really, reeeaaaaaly want to bite you.”

“Please don’t bite me.” I shook my head. “You’ll make your vampirism worse if you do.”

“I will totally bite you if you won’t hurry the fuck up. You think I’m kidding or something? This isn’t some game! A lot of powerful people want you. I want you. Gods, I want you so bad. Stop smelling so good! Argh! Where was I? Right. You’re the only Void mage in the world and everyone wants a bite of that. Get it? Good.”

I put the offered robe on, fumbling a bit because the manacles held my arms together and started walking towards the doors as directed by June. She knew her way around the place, somehow. Probably had something to do with her sneaking into the Convent. Surely there’d be no way we could just walk out of here? There was no way that the doors weren’t secured with magic or keys.

June flipped my hood up and tapped a glowing bracelet on her hand against a small gemstone panel beside the door and the door swung open for her.

Well then.

We reached another set of doors. This one didn’t have a magic security panel.

“What now?” I asked.

She swiped sweat from my head and wiped it onto the lock.

“Heal the lock.”

“What?”

“Do the explodey!” She hid behind a column.

I sighed, not wanting to destroy the lock.

“Do the explodey or I will come over there and sword you in the foot!” She menacingly pointed her sword at me. I hesitated. She swung the sword against a sculpture and with a flash it severed it in half.

"Oh hey, it's a fancy magic sword." She said.

I gulped. She was persistent if anything. I pointed my hand at the lock and drew upon the healing gem. “Heal.”

A small flash of light blinded me, sending me tumbling backwards onto my butt. There was now a gaping, smoking hole where the lock once had been.

“Excellent job!” June clapped, twitching.

We exited the convent. June pushed me forward with threats of stabbing.

Two Knights that stood guard at the stone gates looked at us as we passed them by, leaving the Convent behind us. June saluted them with the triskelion spiral hand motion, keeping her hood down. She was a natural. She held me by the wrist and constantly poked me in the back with the dagger she stole from Knight Lazarus. Her hand with the dagger was hidden behind my red cape and the Knights that guarded the gate of the Convent didn’t see it.

“Don’t make any sudden moves or you gets the stabby.” She whispered at me as we walked across a very long, white stone bridge that connected the Convent to the city of Kleinburg.

I looked behind and noted the Convent sat atop a small, nearly vertical white basalt mountain column. It stood separate from the city of Kleinburg, featuring its own, far superior defences such as a shimmering shield that cast an enormous rainbow across the white, gothic spirals. Damn.

I sighed, observing June. She was twitching with every step. She stepped away from me for a second to catch her breath. The wind from the mountains blew off our hoods.

“Why are you walking like that? Are you hurt?” I asked, looking at her face.

“You set me on fire with one fucking drop of blood, you twat!” She snapped back at me.

“Oh... I'm sorry. I didn’t think that my blood would explode,” I stuttered, remembering a scream that sounded suspiciously like June. Damn it, I didn’t know that she was there!

“Yeah well, you singed like half of my fur and busted up my tail! I can barely wag it without going crazy!” She growled.

“Sorry.” I pointed my hand at her. “Heal.”

The burns on her face started to fade, hair and whiskers returning to lushness. The odd, glowing triangle with two circles on top vanished from her eyes. She exhaled in relief. “Ohhhhh… wow. Big difference, thanks. I can actually think clearly now.”

I nodded. We walked for a bit in silence on the bridge.

“We should go back to the Covent… they can help you. Help us.” I said.

“No.”

“Please? I healed you didn’t I? Don’t you feel better? Less angry at the world?”

June shook her head.

“You know, you keep saying that you’re a vampire, yet I don’t see you bursting into flames in the ringlight. Not that I’ve ever met a vampire. I’m like eighty percent sure they can’t exist on Europa. Too many White Towers and Knights of Virtue here.” She said pointing at the distant White Tower that loomed over Kleinburg.

“You think that my sweat tastes great, yet you don’t think that I’m a vampire?” I asked.

“Vampires wouldn't eat each other, you moron! Your sweat isn’t just fantastic. It’s Voidtastic. This ain't no vampirism, I’m sure. Also, I don’t feel like eating people... you excluded, obviously. Do you feel like eating people?”

I shook my head. I didn’t feel like eating people.

“There you go. How are you a vampire?”

“I’m a secret vampire. He wakes up whenever I pass out.”

“He?”

“The Void Archmage.”

“Ah! Not a he. A she. Nox, the Goddess of Eternal Night.”

“There’s no such Goddess.”

“Yeah, but you found something ancient in the Void dungeon, have you not? Why not a Goddess? Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been pondering it over, now that my broken tail isn’t driving me up the wall. I overheard most of your tale of interest and dungeon adventure that you’ve told to Legate Feuerstahl.”

“I didn’t talk to the Legate!”

“Oh, it was definitely the Legate. She tricked you. The Virtuous are sneaky bastards! Ain’t that a bummer!” June winked at me. “Legate Feuerstahl used illusion magic to look like Searcher Alyssa. I followed her invisibly, and saw her fold the illusion. I bet she wanted you to relax, drop your guard around someone your age and spill all of your secrets. Seriously, way to go. Way to expose your Void mana to the Archmage of the White church! They’ll never get off your back now!”

“But.” I uttered.

“No butts! Shut the fuck up and listen, Yul. I think I understand everything now. There’s a Void spirit sleeping inside of you as we speak. A renewable resource of Void mana. If you think that the church of the Light can somehow claw an entire Void spirit out of you, you’re wrong. They can’t. They won’t. Their powers are diametrically opposed to what you are. If they cut you up and try to heal you with a basic healing rune - kablamoo, you explode, and set their whole fucking stupid ass Convent on fire!” June wagged her head at the now distant Convent.

I sighed.

“You’re dumb as a brick, honestly. You wasted eight million Void mana on a relatively pointless quest.” June pointed out.

“But, Dryad Lyrra…”

“You should have just killed her and walked away.”

“I don’t hurt nature spirits! Dryads are nice! There is a very wise and kind Dryad named Aloenna at our farm and she's practically my best friend! She raised me since I was a toddler!"

“Oh, really? You’re hurting a nature spirit inside of you right now with your idiocy! A Void spirit!”

“Void mana is evil!” I protested.

"Why is Green mana good and Dark mana evil?" She asked.

"Sins cause darkness in the soul!"

“Who taught you that? The church of Virtue? Those bastards are clearly full of lies and probably eat babies! First rule of dealing with big organizations - always assume that you don’t know anything about anything and that most general knowledge about them is lies."

“They do not eat babies!” I shook my head, refusing to believe that the church wasn’t the power of goodness in the world.

“It’s called propaganda, dummy. Lies dispensed by those in control, used to promote a particular point of view that serves to reinforce their power. The Triumvirate of Virtue are the power on this side of Europa. Deep in the mountains, on the other side of this continent are Rimmer cities. The Rimmers think that they’re the center of the Universe and a beacon of brilliance too and yet I’ve seen them fuck with, modify people’s souls in their Academy! I bet even the Sextants think they’re the good guys and tell their children stories about how they’re saving the world by murdering and enslaving girl beastkin like me!”

I frowned.

“I don’t know how or why this Void spirit decided to make you it’s domain, Yul. One would think that its domain is the voidstar.” June pointed her oversized, shiny sword up at the sky. “You’re a moron is what you are, Yul. Why the fuck did you think it was a vampire, ghost Archmage? You clearly have a Void spirit inside you. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Spirits of nature have a domain. They cannot go outside of their domain. They cannot go inside of a person. If a water elemental got into me I’d just drown. Elementals can’t exist inside of a person.” I muttered.

“Yeah it’s pretty weird, but whatever. Your soul or body is her domain, for some stupid ass reason. Think! Rationalize! Accept your Voidy self. Use her to change the world. Spirits can give out Quests like candy. Fucking work with her and make her give your some easy Quests. Become the most powerful hero the world has ever seen! Be free! Do whatever you fucking want! Help your little, cute fox pal pay off her debts!”

“He… ugh… she is evil. She’s threatening me with Quests.”

“So? They’re Quests. You don’t have to do them or cancel them, you dolt. Be nice to her, use her, trick her if you must!”

“That’s…”

“Dishonest? It’s foolish, is what it is. You have the key to incredible power and you’re too afraid to use it to open the door to prosperity!”

“I don't want to be a Dark mage.” I shook my head.

“And you think I want to be a fucking Shadowmancer? You think I want to be on the run forever from the Triumvirate of Virtue? I was born with the ability to wield Shadow mana, watched from darkness as Sextants came down from the sky in metal ships, executed half of my tribe and kidnapped the other half! I starved for a decade on the streets and became trapped by my talent into eternal servitude for the Brotherhood of the Rim!” June glared at me, tears sparkling in her eyes.

“Nobody gets to choose their talent! Most people are thrust into life, trapped by their affinity into their roles! But you… you have the key to change everything! You haven’t signed your soul away, haven’t been bound with blood contracts or forced to pick a side! You have a Void spirit in you! You’re not a river, not a fucking forest, not a giant beast, not a mountain. You’re a human girl with the power that pins the stars themselves! The nail around which all magic in the world spirals! The power that holds the continents in the sky!” June turned my face in the direction of the voidstar. “How do you not understand that?!”

I blinked.

“It's simple! Don’t be evil! Choose your own path forward!” She sniffed. She suddenly moved the dagger away from my back. “Just be free!”

I looked at the trembling foxgirl, stepped towards her and gave her a hug. It was a mistake because she bit me in the neck.

“Yaaaaouch!” I yelped, trying to shove her away. She didn’t budge. She had pierced my skin with her beast fangs and was licking my blood. Just freaking great.

“Gods, your blood tastes even better than your sweat!” June purred. “Okay, I’m done.” She slid off me.

I glared at her.

“Status. Eeeeee! Seven Void mana!” She whistled.

I summoned my own status screen. “Hrm. It says on my status that I have one Void mana. Guess the Void in my blood is uhhh… extra or something?”

“That’s because it’s not Mana. Mana is energy. Your entire body is packed with inert Void! You can’t use it unless you cut yourself and then throw a spell at your blood. I guess me drinking it catalyzes it into Void mana! Eeeeeee!” She squealed happily.

I understood. My sweat was infused with Void. My blood was infused with Void, too. That’s why it exploded when I tried to heal it. I was a walking bomb! Gods damn it!

"Listen up, Yul. Nox isn't evil. She's simply an arrogant spirit. Just like Lyrra or Altaira or your farm Dryad. They're all similar! She just wants prayers and respect or whatever. Treat her like a Dryad or a Nymph and she will respond in turn with niceness!" The foxkin girl said.

My mouth dropped open. She was right! If the avatar of the Void in me was just like the spirit of the forest above my parents farm, I could actually deal with it, understand it, befriend it… uh her.

The more I listened to June the more sense she made. I could try to end my life now, fling myself from this tall bridge and hope to smash my head against the river down below, but the divine gem of healing might not let me die. The Triumvirate would find me again. It would just be more pointless suffering. I didn’t want to suffer anymore.

June was right. I had no choice but to accept the Void within me. I didn’t expect to become an adventurer that wielded the Void, yet here I was.

I looked up at voidstar in the sky. I’ve seen it my entire life, but never suspected that something so big and distant could have an avatar like the lakes, mountains, rivers or forests.

“I accept you. Let's work together. Please forgive me for not understanding you. Accept my prayer of belief, spirit of the Void… Nox.” I said to the black sphere circled by the brilliant, colorful corona of light and magic. Rainbows danced on the clouds. I didn’t know if she could talk to me directly, I didn't know if she listened.

“No worries, Yul. I’ll pass your message along, don’t you worry.” June smiled, hugging me. “I’m her personal acolyte, after all.”