As the light faded the Priestess breathed a sigh of relief and flashed me a mischievous smile.

“Now that you have sworn to protect me, I feel much better.”

“I feel like you tricked me somehow.” I said looking at my no longer shining hand.

“I wouldn’t say tricked.” She giggled like a little girl, which basically she was. “Since I already gave an oath to aid you, we are now simply tied together fairly.” She then looked over at Franz with a grim expression. “That might just mean that both of us are about to die instead of just me…” Her words were filled with emotion.

“I don’t think they will attack you out of hand… I don’t know how curses work but if you could simply bind someone to your will, I doubt I’d be here.” I looked at the Priestess who just stood there in the murky knee-high water and glared at Franz while deep in thought. I let some time pass before the filthy water got the better of me. “Priestess?”

“Lizzandra.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Call me Lizzandra, better yet, call me Liz.” She looked over at me with a rather shy smile. “We are now bound together, so just call me Liz.”

“Um… okay? Liz.”

“Good.” She said and sighed and suddenly took my hand in hers. I will admit that I had no clue how to react to this. I mean what are you supposed to do when a girl half your age suddenly grabs your hand. The next moment I froze. My muscles and brain incapacitated by a searing sensation as something passed through Liz’s hand to mine. Had my muscles not looked up, I would have surely ended up in the mud.

Then the pain faded and a soothing sensation filled my body and Liz pulled her hand away with a weary exhalation. I wobbled for a moment and then let out a groan. I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me and was about to ask what Liz had done when I understood.

“Does healing always hurt that much?” I asked in a near whimper.

“Only when rushed.” Liz said as she touched Franz’s throat with her fingers. She then nodded to herself and I could see power flow out of her into Franz. She stumbled as she stood and I somehow managed to catch her. “God she is light.” I thought as she tiredly pushed herself away from me to stand on her own.

“You can give him the potion now.” She said and trudged over to the small and mostly dry trail we had come from. I opened Franz’s visor and fed him the greenish liquid. Then I helped him into what I hope was a more comfortable position. Then joined Liz, she looked miserable. She was covered in the filth of the bog, she was pale from exertion and she looked bone tired.

I probably did not look much better, but at least I was a grown man. Liz couldn’t have been more than 14-15. “What kind of world is this where a Goddess sends a child on such a mission?” I wondered and once more felt how utterly alien this world was to me.

We just stood there for a moment, quietly looking at the bog around us. Then I took a deep breath letting it out slowly.

“Can we leave him here?” I was getting worried about the two women. Liz just shrugged tiredly.

“I doubt anything, would willingly come near this place.” Liz looked down at her robes that were hardening due to the slowly drying filth. She let out a shuddering almost sob-like breath.

“Are you sure?” I did my best to not sound like I was questioning her judgement.

“With this much troll’s blood spilled, nothing in the bog should come near the area for days…” She then sighed and began slowly walking back. “Not that there should’ve been any troll’s in this area to begin with…” I looked over at the armoured dwarf and convinced myself that he would be fine before I followed the Priestess.

When we returned to the purple strained and stinking clearing Liz froze. Considering our height difference it was hardly a challenge to look over her and see Gilana sitting awkwardly by Kiyara’s side. Gilana was gently stroking the elf’s hair. She only noticed us when I almost stumbled into Liz. Gilana looked up in alarm but calmed down as soon as saw the two of us.

“Priestess, Victor... thank you.” Gilana spoke respectfully and still seated with her healed leg straight she bowed awkwardly. “Without the two of you I would not only have lost my own life, but even the person most important to me.” She kept her head down as she spoke and I thought I could see tears trickling down from her downturned face.

It was all so out of character for the normally rather outlandish woman, that I was at a loss for words. I only became more flustered as Gilana kept bowing as she sat. Luckily for me, I was not alone here.

“I only did what was expected of me.” Liz spoke in an almost detached manner that made her seem old beyond her years.

“That’s not true.” Gilana said and looked up with a smile that was a shadow of her usual self. “You came all the way here. Even if it was at the behest of your Goddess, what you did was no small feat and besides…” She looked down at Kiyara and smiled as she rubbed some of the flaking mud from the elf’s face. “You came here for Victor, not us. With the state we were in, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had simply taken him with you and left. Nor would I have blamed you if you did.” She let out a hollow laugh. “The fact that we survived this at all, can only be described as a miracle in the first place.” She wore a self-decrepit expression as she spoke.

“You can say that again.” Franz's voice did not scare me at all. Not at all. The dwarf trudged up behind far more quietly than what should be possible with all that armour.

After calming my heart to more tolerable levels I looked back at the mostly clean dwarf. “How the fuck is he that clean?!” I decided to not think too deeply about why that was the first thing that my mind locked on to.

“You say that, but I am sure that the three of you could have gotten away from the troll if you had only focused on running.” Liz said with a strained smile as she eyed the dwarf out of the corner of her eye. “But I’m grateful that you did not.” Liz gave a slight nod of her head to the two. “If you had, you three might have easily gotten away but…” Liz suddenly looked at me with surprise and then embarrassment. Then she cleared her throat and looked away quickly. “But the Champion would have surely been unable to escape. So if anything I’d say we are even.”

“Wait…” Franz spoke confusedly. “Are you saying that you didn’t kill that troll?”

“No.” Liz said and pointed at me with what I think was pride. “The Champion did.” Franz gapped and just started at the Priestess, then at me and lastly over to Gilana who nodded with an amused expression.

“You did?” Franz asked incredulously.

“Um… yeah, I guess… Simon helped out a lot.”

“Simon?” Liz said alarmed and looked around to see if she had missed anyone.

“Simon is my familiar.” I said and Liz looked at me wide-eyed.

“Familiar?” She asked astounded. “I thought you were a warrior of some kind.” She eyed me sceptically. “Considering all the gore, I’m surprised, and a little concerned to learn that you are a mage.” I just laughed nervously.

“He is not much of anything at the moment.” Franz said with a half astonished chuckle. “But damn, I’m beyond astounded that you’d be able to kill a troll. Even a young one.” Franz Looked at me appraisingly.

“Then you could imagine my utter shock when Vic suddenly blew a massive hole in the thing's head before my eyes!” Gilana said with a real smile.

“He did what now?!” Franz did a double take.

“He blew a hole in the head of the troll as it was about to smash him to bits. Just as the troll attacked him he attacked back and somehow managed to dive out of the way of the troll’s attack at the same time!” Gilana spoke excitedly. “That’s not quite what happened…” I thought and was about to refute her words when she continued speaking. “Then he straddled the thing and cut out both of its hearts!”

“You didn’t use acid or fire to destroy the hearts?” Franz looked at me with bulging eyes.

“Where would I have gotten that from?!” I half shouted at the dwarf

“I don’t know?! That storage skill of yours I’d imagine!” the dwarf shouted back at me.

“... I-I don't have anything like that in my storage.” I had to consider it for a moment, but the only things I had that remotely like that, were the handful of shampoo bottles of alcohol I had taken with me.

“So you really cut out the hearts?” Franz asked in disbelief.

“Well, yeah…”

“Damn…” Franz shook his head in wonder. “To think that a Soul Weapon would be able to cut through troll bones even when wielded by someone as weak as you… No offence.” I tilted my head at that and thought back. “I don’t remember there being any bones…” I can’t say my memories of the event were particularly clear but I couldn’t recall any bones. “What?” Franz asked suspiciously.

“Umm… well, I don’t think that there were any bones…” I tried really hard to remember the frantic struggle.

“Oh…” Franz sounded like the missing piece of the puzzle had suddenly clicked into place. “So it was a baby. That explains a whole lot.” He nodded to himself.

“Uhh… A baby?” I asked, recalling the four meter high monstrosity.

“Yes, that is the only explanation.”

“How so?” Liz asked tiredly as she sat down unceremoniously on the filthy ground. Although, at this point her robes might have been dirtier than the ground beneath us.

“Priestess.” Franz said respectfully and bowed slightly to Liz before he explained. “You see when trolls are formed they first generate their muscles and skin, and then their second heart. Finally they generate the bones, starting with the skull and the ribs only then moving on to the bones in the limbs.” He paused. “That’s why no two trolls are ever the same as the bones in their body are grown slowly over time to suit the individual troll’s needs. It is quite fascinating really.”

There was quite some time filled with nothing but silence as the three of us took this in. “That thing was a fucking baby?! What the fuck is wrong with this world?!” I screamed internally.

“Well I suppose that means we got REALLY lucky.” Gilana said with a crooked smile.

“Indeed.” Franz added. “Though what I really want to know is how you managed to bring down the troll in the first place.” Franz looked at me quizzically. “Even without bones and being inheritably less protected against piercing attacks, a troll’s skin and muscles are hardly soft… did you have a skill you didn’t tell us about perhaps?” Franz asked curiously.

“No... T-that was my Telekinesis I guess?” I was not sure how I had managed it if I was going to be honest.

“That ‘skill’ that could hardly move a water skin through the air?” Franz sounded rather suspicious.

“Yes?” I answered, trying to figure out how I had managed to inflict such damage with Telekinesis. The other just looked at me doubtfully. Well Liz wasn’t looking at me at all, she looked like she was about to fall asleep where she sat. I pulled out a water skin and some rations for the Priestess.

“Here.” As I spoke to Liz she shook herself and gratefully accepted the water skin and the dried nut bar.

“Thanks…” She poured some water on her hands and after getting the worst of the filth off her hands she unwrapped the bar and took a measured bite. Then she blinked and looked at the mostly clean water skin. “Where did you get this from?”

“I have the Storage skill.” I answered and she nodded with a smile. “Are you going to be alright?” I asked after she had managed to eat the bar.

“If I get some rest.” She said with a sigh then looked up at me with an eyebrow raised. “More importantly will you be alright?” I tilted my head in confusion. “You are literally leaking essence even as we speak.”

“Huh?” I was more than a little lost.

“Ohh...” Gilana said and chuckled. “You don’t know how essence work, do you?”

“Eh… what? What do you mean how essence works?” I didn’t like where this was going at all.

“Boy…” Franz said with a half amused half exasperated sigh. “You know that you ‘steal’ a portion of essence from everything you kill?” He asked and I nodded. I remembered them telling me about that. “You have killed a troll.” He looked at me trying to see if understood. He was disappointed. “How the fuck am I supposed to get what he is hinting at with so little information?!” I only just managed not to snap at the dwarf.

“You have ‘stolen’ far more essence than your body can hold right now.” Gilana clarified and I paled as I imagined myself exploding from essence overdose.

“You won’t die or anything.” Franz said with a tired sigh and pulled out his ornate flask from gods know where. “But you will have a rough couple of days where your body will try to absorb as much of the excess essence you have ‘stolen’ as possible.”

“What do you mean by ‘a rough couple of days?” I asked, trying to figure out what he meant.

“Your body will go through countless cycles of self-strengthening using the essence you have ‘stolen’.” Gilana supplied.

“You know…” I was less than amused when I looked at the two. “You could start with explaining what essence is?” I asked impatiently. I was already having a rough day, even with the healing I’d received my body still hurt a lot and I didn’t not want to even imagine it getting worse.

“I thought that was pretty self-explanatory…” Franz said with brows furrowed.

“Wait, your world didn’t even have essence?” Gilana asked.

“No!” I answered in a half growl. The two looked at one another and Franz shrugged.

“So, essence is the natural power that strengthens all living beings to one degree or another. You know about levels, right?” He asked and I gave him a flat look. “Hee… So, levels are a basic measurement of how much essence a person or beast has.”

“So the higher the level the more essence?” I asked and they nodded. “And the higher level the stronger the individual?”

“Not quite, a person or monster can have lots of essence but be all but…” Franz stopped himself as a dark cloud passed in front of the sun and robbed the clearing of most of the light. “We can explain this further later. For now we need to get out of here before it gets dark.” Franz sounded nervous and walked over to two women.

“No.” Liz said tiredly. Franz froze mid stride and looked at the Priestess.

“Priestess?” Franz sounded downright hostile.

“We won’t make it back in time.” Liz stated flatly. “If we move now, both of the women will need to be carried and neither me nor…” She looked at me and finally the penny dropped and I introduced myself.

“Victor, Victor Lynth.” I swear that I only blushed a little at my belated introduction.

“Neither me or Victor will be able to carry them very far.”

“I can walk!” Gilana shouted pale-faced.

“No you can’t.” Liz snapped. Her Priestly mask falling off, it was replaced with annoyance and fatigue. “If you tried, you would end up with a useless leg before you even get out of the bog, and you know it.” Liz's voice was harsh and Gilana glared at her while biting her own lip.

“Are you saying we should camp out?” Franz asked, his voice filled with countless emotions.

“Yes.” Liz said and glared at the dwarf.

“I-I… I don’t think that is a very good idea…” Gilana said and trembled. “there are things in the night that…” She stopped herself and balled her hands into fists.

“I know.” Liz said flatly and the others looked at her surprised then suspicious.

“We are not talking about alphas…” Franz said sternly. At this Liz looked up at the dwarf with obvious surprise.

“You know about abominations?” She asked and two blinked.

“How do YOU know about abominations?” Franz asked, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to be trying to look into the Priestess.

“All ranked clergy are taught of abominations.” Liz answered reluctantly.

“Are you joking?” Gilana asked and Liz shook her head. “Then why would you not share that information with the guild?!” Gilana shouted angrily. Liz just looked at her with a flat expression.

“And what use would that be?” Liz’s words made Gilana gape at her so Liz continued. “We already tell all our believers that nights outside the walls should be avoided at all costs.” Liz snorted and her tone of voice changed. “All that is good in the world shall flourish in the light, for the darkness belongs only to that which brings chaos and death.” Her words sounded rehearsed and as reverent as scripture. “It probably is scripture.” I thought as I looked at the tired and dirty Priestess.

“Does anyone listen to that trite garbage?” Franz asked disdainfully.

“Most in fact do, ‘dwarf’” Liz and Franz glared at one another. This lasted for a time until Gilana spoke.

“Have you ever seen an abomination?” Her words made Franz flinch.

“No, I have never left Elianor until this trip.” Liz answered easily and I could feel Gilana and Franz grow angry.

“We have.” Franz said and spat on the ground. For the first time Liz looked completely taken aback. “We survived an abomination attack by pure chance. Do you still intend to ask us to stay here for the night?” Franz only just managed to keep his grown rage under control.

“… I don’t know if you are extremely lucky or accursedly unlucky.” Liz said slowly then she shook her head. “Either case, yes. I’m asking you to stay, or I guess you could leave either of the two of you behind.” She said as she pointed at Gilana and Kiyara.

Gilana paled but was clearly thinking over the option, Franz however, just got angrier and took a step towards the Priestess. I stepped in-between the two and made a placating gesture at the angry dwarf.

“Um, Liz. If you know about these abominations, do you perhaps know how to avoid them or defend against them?” My words made Franz stiffen and look at the Priestess with surprise and what must have been hopefulness.

“I do.” Liz took a deep breath. “But I have expended most of my strength.” She looked up at the dark sky. “Even if I rest until true night, I am unsure if I can recover enough strength to last us until dawn.” She glared at me for a moment then sighed tiredly rubbing her thin neck. “But it is within the powers granted me by my Mistress.”

“Is there truly a way to stay safe from those ‘things’?” Franz asked, his voice cold and untrusting.

“Of course there is.” Liz snapped and shot me a meaningful look. It was clear that she was not happy about any of this. “Why do you think that abominations never attack cities?”

Franz looked like he was about to say something snarky but had actually survived an encounter with an abomination, he held his tongue.

“Why don’t they?” I asked, as the others were silent.

“It is due to their nature.” Liz spoke as she looked around the clearing with a disappointed expression.

“What do you mean?” Franz still sounded rather suspicious.

“They are beings of concentrated chaos. They are thus unable to come near cities, temples and even dungeons as such places would destroy them.” Liz explained as she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible.

“How does that work? Also, here.” I asked as I handed Liz my bedroll and the warm blanket that I had bought along with the bedroll.

“Oh, um… thanks.” Liz said surprised. “Well unlike natural beings and even monsters, the abominations are made from pure chaos. They don’t have any ‘true’ substance.”

“I have been kicked by one.” Franz said flatly. “Sure as hell felt like it had substance.” Franz glared at Liz and the Priestess for her part looked less than enthused with the idea of explaining herself.

“That is because when the abominations cross over into our world, they are given shape. However these shapes don’t last, they are after all only masses of chaotic energy given from.” Liz sniffed the bedroll and blushed as she pretended that she had not just done so. Then she looked up at Franz who was standing with his arms crossed and looking down at her where she sat. “As all life and Divine Power rejects true chaos, cities and towns basically act as giant barriers to all abominations. Temples work even better and Dungeons are even more destructive for abominations.”

“If that is the case, why would those ‘things’ come to our world in the first place.” Franz asked not believing a word of what Liz had said.

“That I do not know, we are only taught about their nature and how to ward against them.” Liz said and unceremoniously crawled into my bedroll.

Considering our size difference she practically vanished into it. “You are just going to sleep like that?” I wondered and had to fight off my own fatigue.

“I think we should leave.” Gilana said and tried to climb to her feet. She fell back and inhaled sharply as she held her leg.

“Hairless balls…” Franz groaned. He then looked at me sternly. “Do you trust the child?” He asked.

“Not a child.” Came a muffled voice from inside my bedroll. I could not help but laugh and Franz scowled at the bedroll.

“She gave an oath to aid me… so yes I do.” Franz gaped at me.

“T-that… is that true?” He asked, looking at the motionless bedroll. Liz had either fallen asleep or just ignored the dwarf. (Even odds in my opinion.)

“Yes it is true… also do we have a choice? I feel like I have been run over by a steamroller and Gilana can’t stand.” I said tiredly and sat down in the filth. Franz grunted and began pacing. His movement made the remaining mud and grim stuck to his armour flak off, revealing the gleaming dark armour underneath. “His armour cleaning itself?! I also want armour that cleans itself!” I thought wistfully as I looked down on my filthy dark wyvern armour.

I can’t tell how long the oppressive silence that was only displaced by the sound coming from Franz’s armour lasted. But I can tell it was a rather long time as I fell asleep as I sat there.