If any monster came near the ladder, they didn't climb it. I was hale, healthy, and starving. I drank water to distract my hunger but I couldn't withstand that for too long. I wasn't some sort of super-soldier that could ignore these things. I did some very unorthodox things since I came here but I was forced. I had no choice otherwise I'd have to let them kill me.

I refused to eat goblin.

The plan was to dig straight up. Just that. go up to the next level, build a ladder until the roof, and dig straight up. Dumb, forceful, unladylike. Just like starvation. The rationale was that I'd survived being thrown in that fissure, washed down the underwater lake to some leaching hole elsewhere for some strange reason, defeated a lich, and now owned a very nice mine. So, whatever comes down at me while digging up, I'd take.

Unless I hit some gravel deposit. Everyone knows that placing gravel where one digs straight up was the way of the game to tell you to screw oneself. Before the terrible and totally bullshit buffet world creation, I would zero gravel and dirt placement below Y 40. It was completely senseless to have gravel at such depths. The pressure would compress that gravel and dirt to rock in a few centuries. That was the level of realism I liked in my blocky sandbox mining and crafting games where you could punch the base of a tree and leave the rest floating. Deal with it.

I actually had to quit playing after my freshman year. Too much homework. It was also when Andrews recruited me. Asshole. I hope you didn't burn to death. It would be way nicer to live the rest of your life as a blind burnt creep.

Let me have at least that grudge.

I had a strategy. I would dig a cylindrical shaft, and create the foot and handholds out of silicon. Then I would split the shaft into six pieces of pie, and dig up an arm's length on each sixth before going up. This way, if I hit something that flowed or fell, I would only affect one-sixth of the hole. I could hide in the other five-sixths.

With my luck, I'd dig underneath the river.

Before I started digging, I decided to go sideways ten meters and then go up again at every thirty meters. This way a fall wouldn't be so catastrophic. Up I went. Up I went. A hundred meters. Two hundred meters. The bedrock changed. A good sign. I went up another hundred meters. I was inside some solid chunk of gray rock. Too uniform. But I kept the plan. I went up.

And then I felt a surge of joy. It was not from me, it was from Dime. I could sense the glutton eagle flying straight to me. Funny. It was level. Now that he was closer, I could tell the direction, it was like he was flying level with the ground.

Or I was way above ground level. Did I get out on the plateau? Only one way to know. I stopped and let Dime approach as much as he would. Then he stopped right above me. And then I felt Penny coming too. She was below me and since horses didn't fly, at least last time I checked, it meant I was above ground level. near the town too. I kept going up. Up. Then the rock below crumbled and sunlight filtered down.

I almost fell down the last stretch of twenty meters. Dime pecked the rock, trying to free me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I heard the eagle chirping, desperate to rejoin with me. I Decomposed the rest of the rock and pushed up.

I got out and laid down on my back, watching the blue sky. It was mid-afternoon.

I was at the top of the very rock where Dime and his mate made their nest. How fitting!

Hell yeah!

And I knew just what I needed to make it perfect. Metal music.

My speakers on maximum volume, the iPod filtered by genre, I even carved a small acoustic dome pointing at the town. I selected the perfect song and prepared myself.

Hit Play.

The bass started its tune alone, then it was joined by the percussion and guitar at the same time. The melodic line was one almost anyone on Earth would recognize.

And then David Bickler's voice rang.

Risin' up, back on the streets,

Did my time, took my chances!

...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight

Risin' up to the challenge of our rival

And of course i jumped up, pumped my fists, headbanged, and sang my lungs out doing a lousy air guitar. The song ended. I cupped my hands and shouted.

My voice broke miserably as I shouted to the world. "EYE OF THE TIGER, BITCHES!"

The iPod didn't relent. It played three more songs, then it shuffled again and the British guitars of Adrian and Dave were soon followed Steve, Nicko and Bruce Dickinson's voice. It couldn't be more fitting.

Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you

...

Nothing you can contemplate will ever be the same

...

Your time will come, your time will come!

"YOUR RECKONING IS COMING, ASSHOLES! YEAH!"

I was jumping, screaming my lungs out. Dime was flying in circles around me, screeching his own war song. I would go to town and no more good girl. The iPod played other metal songs. I did my war dance and exorcised my inner demons with the finest metal that followed.

I sensed Penny at the base of the rock, she was anxious. I paused the music, stored my tools. Better do that before some god accuses me of devil-worshipping. Which by the current rate would amount to nothing, screw them.

I went over the edge and took a look around. A small crowd was there with the carriage and several riders. I saw Arwia, Aristunn, Nanna, Brandon, the children, Belle, the guards, the elders, the whole crowd. That was a loaded carriage if I ever saw one. I laughed as I imagined all those people coming outs of the vehicle like a bunch of clowns.

"Sandra!" Brandon shouted from below.

"I'm alive!" I shouted back.

"Yeah, we can see that!" Nanna grumbled. "And with your weird musical stunt, the whole city also knows!"

"It's the power of metal!" I yelled back. And acoustics. "I'm coming down!"

I had half a mind to jump so he could catch me. Seventy meters. To hell with it. I survived too much crap to not take this dive. I summoned my climbing gear. Better get it done before the adrenalin ran out and I came back to my senses.

Dare to be stupid. Let's go, Weird Al.

I hammered two pitons on the rock, a few meters away from the edge. Then I shaped two bars of titanium thicker than two of my fingers. Then another bar connecting the previous two. I connected the three pieces with solid loops and also around the pitons. This way it could move around I lifted it and tied a highwayman's hitch around the crossbar. I put on my climbing harness, re-adjusted it for me since the last person to use it was Rimush, attached myself to rappel down and then I threw the rope down. Fifty meters minus whatever the knot used up. I would fall for the last twenty. Probably break a bone or two. I checked my helmet. Firmly strapped.

I was going to kiss the ground like no pope ever did.

I couldn't even YOLO anymore.

Then I jumped down and did like Tom Cruise in any of his spy movies. I ran down the rock face. Before the rope ended, I tugged and controlled my descent until I stopped a couple meters from the end.

I swung left and right. I walked along the rock. I looked down, grilling like an idiot and waving at my people. Penny was throwing a fit. The kids were frozen, aghast with my stupid stunt.

"You crazy woman!" Brandon chided. "Haven't you fell down too many rocks already?"

"Apparently not!" I shouted back. "Can you catch me?"

Brandon was coming. How sweet. But Nanna held him back.

"Are you crazy? The girl will break all your bones. Come down on your own, crazy woman! And don't jump or I'll curse you."

"Nanna!" I called her.

"What do you want, woman? Get off that rock, what the heck did you eat to get this crazy?"

"Nanna, I love you, you grumpy witch!"

"Bah!" She scoffed.

Saddleless Penny came and stood exactly underneath me. I couldn't pull a Zorro from this height so jumping was no longer an option. I relented to climbing down and created some nice hand and footholds for me. Then I climbed until the end of the rope and free climbed the remaining eighteen meters or so. I didn't go all the way down because Penny insisted to stay under me. I jumped on her bareback and held to her hair and clenched my legs around her flank.

Penny reared and whinnied. Cue in cigarette brand. I hated cigarettes.

The mare clopped over the rocks like a mountain goat and returned to the road. Arwia and Belle dragged me off the horse and I was crowded by people. I tried to hug everyone. I left the best for last.

I jumped on Brandon's neck and smooched his life out. He was a terrible kisser.

And I didn't care a bit.

I would teach him to tie a cherry stem if I could, but my stomach growled. Right, food.

"Hurry, peel her off of him before she cannibalizes the guard captain!" Nanna urged my eunuch guards. They didn't move.

"I'm starving! and I won't eat him!" For now, I mean. I whined then I let go of my blonde hunky pile of muscles.

They laughed as if I was telling a joke. I was quickly surrounded once again.

Belle asked, worried. "What did you eat while you were down there, Sandra?"

"The food I had with me until it ran out."

She shoved Arwia. "See? I told you. She took the sky-lord I roasted," She bragged, "I bet it helped her survive!"

Eh.

"Eto.... [えと]" Confused, I mumbled in Japanese. "[なに]????"

Did I frigging had a roasted giant eagle with full dressings in my storage the whole time??????

Of course, I did.

Dumbass.

"But she couldn't have survived all this time with just one bird, no matter how big it was," Arwia retorted.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't count the sunrises and sunsets, how long did I stay under the earth again?"

They all stared at me.

Nanna was the one to reply, in her usual rude way, "Four whole months, stupid girl. Four whole months!"

My jaw unhinged. Thankfully the muscle kept it from falling down on the floor. What should I make out of it? Did I spend four months in there? Four whole months?

That was... impossible to comprehend. To me, it was what? Three or four days? Did it take that long to heal my wounds? How long did I stay underwater without drowning? Or better, without dying from...

Well, I already established that my regeneration was fighting back the destructive anaerobic metabolism. But my brain should've melted. Died from hypoxia. I felt perfectly fine, I didn't have any memory lacking. I could even remember what I did while under the mental influence of the senior magistrate Sun-Goro. Yeah. I'll get my drawer labeled '10 craziest things that happened to me ever since I reincarnated' and knock this as number minus one.

There, problem solved, a perfectly logical explanation found. A wizard did it.

Another grumble from my digestive system and I had to try to solve it. I couldn't summon the sky-lady to eat because it would break Belle-Sunu's heart.

"Food. Food. Food. Food." I went into broken record mode.

"Okay, everyone. Let's go," Nanna clapped her hands and threatened to shove the children. "The lady is hungry and I don't want to bake under the sun. And by the way, Sandra, are you going to leave that most colorful rope hanging there?"

I followed her hand and indeed, my most colorful climbing rope was really hanging on the cliffside. I sent a mental picture to Dime and the eagle tugged the upper end of the rope with a perfect swoop, releasing the knot and making the rope fall down in a heap.

"I'll retrieve the rope," Aristunn said. "Don't worry."

I mounted Penny bareback and followed the carriage. Oh, how wonderful the sun felt on my face. To see that I had people that cared about me. I couldn't wait to tell them about my adventures. I would have to stretch the three-sided war between water goblins, undead and me to fit a four-month narrative. And probably find somewhere to eat the roasted and probably still warm sky-lady hidden.

But it was just my luck to get out of the mine on the top of that hill. There was almost nobody that would climb it and with that, the claim to the mine was mine due to secrecy and difficulty of access.

On the carriage, I heard Nanna talking to Arwia.

"I told you she was alive! It was easy to tell. Just look at her animals. Bonded animals, I might add. The eagle kept coming back and perching on the balcony. The horse also behaved erratically. You could tell both were worried about the fate of their mistress!" The witch argued.

"Yes, but how could you tell they stayed there because they were worried and not simply from habit?" Arwia pressed.

"Because the sky-lord would never stay in the city and refrain from attacking people! Those birds are highly territorial and think themselves as masters of everything below them. They would steal children, attack livestock. But instead, the bird only ate vermin. And it waited. Sometimes it would go for a flight for a few days but always came back. They were waiting, I tell you."

"It makes sense. I thought sky-lords snatching little children was just an old wives' tale spun to scare them into obedience." Arwia replied.

"Heh. And it was easy to know when she came back. Just let the animals loose and follow them when both ran toward her like the world was about to end!" The witch cackled with unbridled mirth.

Nanna is mean but also wise and loyal. Even her presence here serves as proof of that. She had four months to go away and I doubt anyone would bother her for that. Instead, she watched my animals and used that as evidence I was still alive. Brandon too. He must have been close at hand because of how fast he responded to my resurfacing. And I can think of some people that might have stood on my side. Masters Samus and Aran, Abil-Kisu. Maybe even Bero-Mabii.

I lean and caress Penny's neck. I have zero fear of slipping and falling down even if I went asleep. Now that I understand my bonds better, I can tell what kind of feedback is going on between both of us. I know that if I start to slip to a side she will move to correct that. I know instinctively how to make minute adjustments to my body to stay on top of my horse.

I sniffle and blink away a few tears. The emotions are too strong. I'm free. I'm surrounded by loyal people. They held together for four whole months. That's insane! They came running at the first sign that I was coming back. I cry and laugh at the same time.

I'm going to hit that magistrate so hard he'll never sit again. We entered the city and my guards assume a box formation around the carriage and Penny. Dime soared and circled around right above the rooftops, screeching menacingly and watching for anyone hidden on the roofs. I knew that because that's what he was thinking. Penny was also looking around for any armed or threatening people.

I didn't spare a single thought at human ambushers. I survived the drop. I survived the blue water goblins. I survived the undead and their lich master. I freaking dug three hundred meters up and freed myself.

The people make way for our convoy and watch. The carriage is posh and fully restored. I wonder, how did they support themselves? I must owe a fortune in wages. We skirt the central district and take a shortcut home. It is late afternoon and people are coming back from the fields, it is a busy market hour as they try to get their shopping done before sunset.

I saw my gates, my wall, my villa, and my tall bamboo groove. That last one is new. Dipa-Tsu and Sin-Ma-Sihu are manning the gate. They open for us and bow to me.

"Heads up!" I cheerfully tell them. "If anyone should bow is me to you. I'm grateful. Thank you, guys. Now, shut this gate after us and come inside. I doubt someone will be as stupid as to mess with me today. I'll have Dime keep watch over us."

We dismount and I have everyone gather in the rear courtyard. The children unceremoniously sit on the ground and the adults make a half-circle around them. I feel like I was about to give a TED speech.

I took my time to silently look at each one of them, making sure to meet their gaze. I was crying. I don't think I really stopped at any point ever since I saw the sun.

"Thank you," I mumble between sobs and what I could classify as cat noises and sniffling. "You held everything together. You didn't give up on me." My legs give up and I kneel. I caress a tuft of grass. I look up at the sky, I reach out with my arms.

Then Bibi, Hapiya, Gula, Kyia, even Gadudu, and all the little kids run to embrace me. They were also crying. We fell down on a heal like a litter of puppies in winter, bawling. I tried to hug that mass of little tykes and kissed every cheek and brow I could reach.

My children. My clutch. My wards. Up in the sky, Dime screeched in approval. We stayed there until it got uncomfortably hot. They let go on their own.

"Okay, let me talk," I said as I stood up and straightened my dress. "Before I was thrown inside, that stupid magistrate Sun-Goro used mind magic on me---"

Nanna's maniacal cackling interrupted me. She straightened up and smiled, "Serves that pedantic idiot well! Ha! He used so much power to control you he burned out!"

I did a double-take. "What? Nanna, can you explain what you meant?"

She gave me a stink-eye. Or a glance. Or a glare. Hard to say when it is about her. "Girl, you know you have an absurd amount of magical power, didn't I tell you that?" I nodded. She continued. "Affecting a person with magic is already hard, affecting someone with magic is even harder. Affecting YOU with magic," She waved an accusing finger at me, and I could feel bitterness in the sentence, "Is tantamount to suicide! But that old haughty imbecile had to ignore the first thing sorcerers learn, didn't he? He had to push and cast his spell to blanket over you. Ha! I shiver at the thought of the strain it put on him!"

That... If I recall right, he seemed surprised when I talked back after he ensorcelled me. And he was clearly straining. I dismissed it at the time because I was not in full control of my mind and it could be just him being tired, but now that Nanna put it that way...

"So, what happened to him?"

She threw up her arms, "He burned out, did the depths make you deaf? Oh, the uneducated masses. When a sorcerer uses too much magic, the magic takes a toll on their body!" She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You can either cast a spell with the normal amount of energy you can safely use or you can strain the magic to make sure it takes hold. And the idiot did the latter even though he could clearly see you had a hundredfold more magic than him."

Replaying my interaction with him, I could tell at least two moments when he tried to be very convincing and was flustered when I just acted on my own. Then he put a real effort and then my mind was overridden. It was terrifying in hindsight. He could've done almost anything to me. Like trying to murder me by throwing me in a fissure. Or worse.

"I think I understood that, Nanna. How is he now?"

She glared at me. "He's burned out. Even the little brats here know what that meant, yes? Who wants to talk?" She asked the children.

The kids winced every time the witch spoke. It could well be because they were in the line of fire and didn't want to be showered with spittle but I could see they were afraid.

"Nanna won't hurt you," I told them to reassure the children, "because I won't let it. Right, Nanna?"

The witch and I had a little eye-to-eye silent conversation and she relented. "Of course not! I eagerly expect this daycare thing of yours to backfire in your face, girl. Several others too. But those damn gods had to bless you, right. I bet they gave you some kind of luck boon, for crying out loud!"

I think there was something like that, indeed. Some boon that came with the bugged language package that increased luck and curse resistance.

I ignored that for the moment. "See? She won't hurt you," I said softly to the children. "So, who among you knows what burnout is?"

Muranu raised his hand. "It is when the magic eats a portion of the caster's soul to empower itself. The sorcerer diminishes in power greatly and most of them usually die shortly after."

Spoken like an honor student. From one to another, I could recognize that. But Muranu displayed his knowledge in a humble way. He just spoke his piece and withdrew, without the smug sense of superiority I usually displayed. I had to learn from him.

"So, is Sun-Goro dying?" I asked Nanna.

It felt not good. One might try to paint that as poetic justice but it also denied me any kind of vindication or payback. It also freed me from getting to try something against him and even use that as political leverage like spinning lies like 'I forgive you in your deathbed' when you really would be just kicking a dying dog. Don't kill dogs for any reason. But it would also free me from one grudge. I could put him past me and look forward to taking care of those that were really important to me.

No. The bitch inside me demanded smug gratification. I would at least take some kind of compensation. I wasn't a saint, sorry. I wanted at least to make sure he would be written as a villain in this story even though he was just doing his job by following the letter of their laws. I bet he had some sort of permission to use mind magic on whoever he saw fit.

"I doubt. That man is like a cockroach. He is almost two hundred years old, did you know? He could be my grandpa!" She cackled maniacally for the umpteenth time.

That could also put her in the hundred-something figure. I wouldn't ever bring that up.

"But he now wields less magic than a snot-nosed apprentice. He could have a thousand years ahead of him and he would still struggle to get back to his former power," Nanna said in a poise that showed clearly she was not averse to kicking dogs, figurative or literal ones. Then she shifted into a serious, advisory tone, "He fell, Sandra. I know you are upset, but he is gone. He lost not only his magical power. But the captain can explain that better than me."

She pointed at Brandon, giving him room to speak.

"Yes, Mrs. Nanna is right," He addressed her respectfully.

I wondered what went on between the two because they were obviously closer now. And then I surprised myself. Was I getting jealous at that old wrinkled witch? Was I already considering Brandon mine? I leave the answers as an exercise to the reader.

"After you were thrown in, Sun-Goro forced me to spend a week confined to my quarters. He actually had to pull strings with my commander to do so. But once I got out, I went everywhere. I brought Bero-Mabii, master Samus, Abil-Kisu, and others and we presented a joint complaint on how the case was handled to the Enshi. He couldn't just ignore us. We said Sun-Goro was trying to hurt him because the magistrate was his nephew is a Mar-Aji and Sun-Goro made him a temp slave.

"That was his worst mistake, actually," Brandon continued. "I think Sun-Goro was under too much strain from keeping his hold over you to notice how bad it would be. It didn't help his case that he suffered burnout while holding the position of court sorcerer."

I tilted my head. Arwia was the one to come and explain. "A court sorcerer is a powerful magician tasked with the magical defenses of the city. Not having one makes everyone vulnerable."

"Exactly. Thanks, miss Arwia," Brandon smiled at her.

Damn, I was feeling very possessive. I fought the urge to chew my fingernails.

"So not only Sun-Goro angered us, insulted the Enshi but he also deprived the city of a strategic asset. It made the Enshi's decision easy to take. He disfranchised Sun-Goro entirely. The former senior magistrate is done for," Brandon finished his explanation.

"Enough politics," Belle whined. "Sandra, tell us your story! What happened to you? What did you find in the depths?"

I smiled back at her. "It is a long story. Sit down, I'm going to tell you."

We all sat on the grass. Ananu was kind enough to bring Nanna a chair. I raised a pillar of silicon up from the ground and set the GoPro behind where I was so it would frame all of them and my back. I also propped the iPod to film me.

"I spent a lot of time unconscious in the depths because I suffered several grave injuries while I was falling down. Then I woke up in a dark tunnel next to a briny pool of water.

"I looked at my phone's clock and saw it was close to midnight and I felt something evil lurking in the dark. Then I saw a sight that almost stopped my heart," I told them and showed the photo of the water goblin on my phone. The children screamed. Nanna leaned forward to take a good look at the monster.

"I tried to scream but the terror of these monsters made me freeze as they looked right at me. I was paralyzed!"

They were holding their collective breath. I paused and took my time to take in their faces.

"I was alone, with nobody to save me from the beasts about to strike. I was fighting for my life inside a cramped tunnel. I fought them and killed the first two. But more came and I realized I had nowhere left to run. I wondered at that moment if I'd ever see the sun. I hoped it was all a dream, my imagination playing tricks on me but they were creeping up behind me!"

I raised my hands threateningly, making claws out of my fingers.

"There was no second chance against the things with forty eyes! I fought three more and retreated up the tunnel. crawling and using my power to open up enough room for me to pass through. I came into an old tunnel. The water goblins surrounded me with two of their bosses. I fought them but their cries called the dead.

"A horde of zombies shambled toward us. The cowardly monsters fled! They left me alone against the zombies and ghouls! I thought I wouldn't escape their jaws. I was enclosed on every side.

"But I outsmarted them! Yes, I closed the tunnels behind me and the zombies weren't smart enough to break through the barricade. Then I made a torch and burnt them. I set traps to stop the goblins and after some preparations, I decided to explore the undead tunnels as they might lead me to the surface. I thought that as long as I was going up, it would be better.

"I came upon a hole covered in fine silt. Then another horde of undead rose. These creatures crawled in search of my blood. If I didn't fight them, they would make me rot forever in my own corpse's shell! They smelled. Let me tell you. It was the foulest stench ever. The ghouls came to seal my doom. I ran away but in doing so I found out my powers could affect them.

"So I made myself a weapon, a club made of several metals. I left it behind though. I broke a skull here!" I swung my arms. The children squealed. "I crushed a ribcage there!" I slapped my hand on the grass. "I bashed away clawed arms, caved in teeth. It was all thanks to captain Brandon's lessons!"

I winked and blew him a kiss. Then I glared at Arwia, Belle, and Nanna. The message was clear. MINE! They shook their heads to tell me that they didn't even try.

"But my victory was short-lived. For the master of those tunnels, an undead sorcerer, a lich of unsurmountable power came! We talked for a while because he was confident he could squash at any time. And I also acted with caution. But the time for talking was over. He used his magic on me but it failed to take hold. He cursed, used mind magic but what Sun-Goro did to me made me learn to shield my mind. He blasted me to the wall but I stood up!"

The children cheered! Nanna was pure disbelief. I intentionally left out the part where he attacked when he sensed holy power because I didn't want to involve Tarhun in all this. In fact, I would have to talk to him about what counted or not as aggression.

"He used a lot of magic. He even almost got me to kneel before him!" I paused. "But then I grabbed his bony wrist and broke his hand off just as he was finishing a spell!"

Nanna's eyes were fixed on me, reading every twitch and movement of my face for any signs of a lie.

"His magic backfired and exposed his weakness! For that sorcerer bought eternal unlife by mummifying his heart! So I grabbed his ribs and used my power to destroy that shriveled heart that still beat because of the sinister magic animating him!

"Then he died and all of his undead minions followed him into damnation!"

Oops. One religious term I didn't want to say slipped out. Oh, well.

"A lich underneath the city?" Nanna asked, skeptical. "Do you have proof, girl?"

I summoned the bag with the lich's robes.

She shielded her eyes. "Put that away!" Nanna used a begging tone.

I complied. "Proof?"

The witch nodded, "Proof. That thing is evil!" She accused and gave her hearty advice: "Destroy it! Girl, you fought a great evil. I... I need to think. Excuse me."

She tried to stand up and for once, the vivacious witch looked her age. A centennial old woman. Her body way past her prime. Feeble. Weak. Tired. Concerned. She turned back to look at me.

"Your power over matter is divine in nature," She stated as if it was obvious. "I hope you killed him for good. What happened after you killed the lich, girl?"

"I fainted. When I used my power on him, I felt a great resistance. I had to use everything I had to destroy his heart. I fainted and I had no idea how long I spent unconscious. It was long enough for a whole water goblin tribe to settle in the tunnels around the briny pool..."

Yes, I had no idea how long I was unconscious. It could be days, weeks even. Less than a month because I didn't have another period.

"But when I woke up, the bones were still there and so was the robe. I expelled the water goblins from the warrens and spent several days searching the tunnels for a way out. Then I decided to dig up and get out. The rest you know."

She sighed in relief. "Then it is dead, really dead. He must've spent a lot of his magic fighting you. You did this world a great deed, Sandra. I'm thankful."

She said my name with profound respect. Then she went away mumbling on how Sun-Goro might've doomed us all by burning himself but the hands of gods sent me down to kill that ancient threat. Before she disappeared inside the villa, I called her out.

"Nanna!" I stood up. "Nanna, I'm the one who is grateful for your help. You took me in, you helped me. I'm honored to have you by my side. Truly honored."

She looked at me and then at the sky. I could swear there was a tear somewhere in those ancient eyes. "Stupid Tarhun!" She blasphemed and disappeared inside the building.

"It's getting dark. I have some food prepared," Belle broke the silence. "Sandra, let's get ready to eat."

I met her eyes and smiled. "Yes, let's eat. Belle. There's one thing I want to confess. I... I forgot I had the roast bird. If you don't mind, I'd love to share it with everyone."

She stared at me with the pain of betrayal in her eyes. Belle looked at me from head to toe and bit her lower lip. "Sandra. Blessed be Tarhun for he made you stronger than what I could believe possible. You are healthy, right?"

"Yes, very!" I nodded.

"Then yes. Let's share the food. And Sandra, we are here for you. Talk to us. Give us tasks. Don't take it all by yourself. I..." She blinked to shed her tears. "I thought you would be lost forever!"

I ran and hugged that freckled young girl. "Ha! It would take more than the monster-filled bowels of the Earth to get rid of me. I missed all of you so much!"

We cried. We hugged. We talked. I showed the children the photo fo the water goblins several times, just to have them run away screaming every single time and come back a few minutes later asking to see the photo again.

I made a dinner table with enough chairs for everyone outside out of glistening silicon. I retrieved my solar charger and battery that I left on the surface. That allowed me to plug in my dead lantern to light up our dinner.

We ate the roasted sky-lady. It was the best meat I've ever eaten. The seasoning Belle used was strange but it was perfect to go with the strangely tender eagle meat.

I retired early. I wanted to recharge my devices, to write my journal. Retake the normalcy of my second life.

Because tomorrow, tomorrow I would start my vacation.