At this point, waking up after passing out is my normal routine. I feel like I slept for days… and dreamt for days too...

Around me, Morgus and Mazurka are sitting with their backs on a wall, close to a fire pit.

“So this is the afterlife. Interesting” I say to the two after getting up. Both look at me with a serious face at first, but I can see a small smile forming on Mazurka's face.

“See? She has a sense of humor, you could use some of that” Mazurka says to Morgus. The 2-meter tall guy is still serious.

“your arm, Artificer.” he points at me.

Huh? which one? I move both of my hands in front of me, but only one of them shows up. “shit, The arcane explosion…” I say

It's weird. I can feel as if I am moving my arm but there is nothing there.

“where are we? what actually happened?” I ask the two.

The unmoving face of Morgus makes me wonder if he is a droid, wearing a mask that looks like a human face. Mazurka kept looking at him expecting something too but nothing came out, so she decided to talk instead.

“The plan worked out, there was too much chaos, however. After leaving prison, people just ran in random directions. I think some are dead, some escaped, and some never left in the first place.” she pauses to point at my arm “This happened while we were busy, sorry. I got you right after you yelled for a minute and passed out, then we brought you up here.”

At this point, I should just accept my life as an underground creature, no point in leaving caves if I always find myself back to them.

“The Aesirite already know some of the caves.” I say to them.

“shit, we should leave then.” Mazurka says

“wait, do you know which caves we are in? north? south?” I ask.

“North” Morgus says.

“ah… There are Myhrite gems at the caves down south. But they probably mined all of it at this point...” I say

"That is a shame. How many runes you know?" Mazurka asks me

"One." I say

"Oh. Still, you did an impressive job with the prison break and all that." She says

"Not enough, if I had done it right the Aesirite would be dead and the villagers alive… Also, I don't have any mana. I made those rings with myhrite that would gather and store mana for me to use so I could charge items and cast spells."

"Don't let that get to you. You fought on these pits, only losing once. You are capable." Mazurka say

"What is the next step?" Morgus say with a serious tone as always.

"We should make a team! The three of us. Kali can make artifacts, you charge them and we all throw bombs at our foes. That is what I call good teamwork" Mazurka says, joyfully

"That would be fine for me. I have been fighting alone for a while now, I sure would welcome the company. What do you say Morgus?" I say

"Indeed." he says

It's something else to be part of a team. Sometimes I thought about how different things would be if I had left with Ayla, or how easier some fights would have been in a group. My abilities are more useful in a team too as I can provide magic items. If I can get these two to help me learning more runes…

"So, I have been wondering, could you guys help me learn more runes? I would be able to make stronger items with them. Morgus, you use dark magic, right? Would you teach it to me?" I say

"No." He answers. Dead serious

"Okay, no big deal. Mazurka, how about you, what magic do you use?"

"None, at the moment" she gestures to the bracelets on her arm, impeding her magic to work.

"Well, I will figure out a way to do that later. For now, we need to find food. And soon." Just as I say that Morgus belly rumbles loudly. His face remains serious, but he nods at me, I can tell the big guy is hungry.

So the three of us should go out to search some for food. Those caves here aren't as deep as the ones I used to be, so we can only go forward. Also, we need some materials for better artifacts… maybe some wood?

"So… where are we going after here? Kavros? The west?" I ask

"Kavros should be a good bet, if we avoid the patrols" Mazurka says.

"Yeah… I was captured on the ruins on the road to Kavros. Some mercenaries working for the Aesiri." I say.

"Good, let's say hello to them, will be fun" Mazurka says

I don't know what to think about Mazurka. She is nice to me but… there is something strange about her. Morgus seems too quiet but I think he is fine, I think I can trust those two.

Finishing our preparations, we leave our improvised camp to get right into the woods. We weren't very deep underground, I think those two just wanted a place to hide while I was asleep. The sun burns my eyes with its light, taking me some time to get used to it. The position of the flame star indicates it is afternoon.

The first thing I do as we get outside is to collect some branches to make wands. The pointy format of the wand is really useful if enchanted with arcane bolts, they get less chaotic, more focused and the aim is much better than when enchanted on stones. A staff would be better at self-defense and could use the pure arcane enchantment, the one that makes an aura around the object, damaging foes when hitting.

Morgus helps me cutting branches off the trees with his magic, dark tendrils forms close to him after he draws a rune on the air, striking the wood without much effort. I start sculpting them in the form of wands, which I find way harder than before as I have only half the amounts of hands I used to have, so I use my feet to hold them while I inscribe the runes with my right hand.

After I make 3 of them, we decide it's safe to keep going. Morgus is charging the artifacts as we walk, while I keep scanning every vegetable I see to find something edible.

Most of them require cooking but some berries are safe to eat.

Thing is, berries don't fill up an empty stomach easily, and going back to the caves to cook something could risk us being discovered. We choose the berry route, as we can find more of them as we go.

We walk the forest without any trouble, the forest is strangely quiet actually.

“So, they called you demon too huh?” Mazurka says.

“Yeah, I always wondered why they did.” I say

“That is how they call women outside of their kingdom. They say women are the origin of sin.” she says while laughing a little.

I like the way she lightens the mood, even when talking about something dark.

Morgus interrupts our conversation with a hand signal. Alert and in silence, we figure out what he meant by that as we hear the sound of metal plates rustling against each other. There is a patrol nearby, two armored soldiers with full plate armor and Buckethead helmet are walking with heavy footsteps on the dry leaves.

Even if their numbers are inferior to ours, we are badly equipped. I only won my fight against the paladin because I had that vampire knife, were not for it, I would be dead now.

We lay down and stay unmoving to avoid the possible gaze of the knights. Trying to not make any noise is not so easy with all the pebbles and dry branches on the dirt, but we manage.

The knights continue their way without any suspicion of our presence closeby, but as we go, we find more and more patrols, making us hide every time we see them.

“Hey, do you know your way around those caves in the south you talked about?” Mazurka says

“well, I know some of the pathways there, why?” I say

“I think it would be better if we go there instead of walking the forest… There will be too many patrols around and at this rate, reinforcements will be coming from the roads, they really want this valley. And I think mining myhrite is not a priority right now so maybe there will be only workers at most.” Mazurka says

“Agreed” Morgus says

The caves would give us a chance to arm ourselves with the gems… And there is a river too… Maybe I can take a quick swim, I haven’t bathed in ages.

We go up to the southern mountains. As much as we take care to not be seen, there is always a chance someone could track us. At least it gets hard to track footprints on the rocky terrain of the mountains. If only I had the gloves of alteration...

The cave entrance is there, I can see signs of people walking around here not much time ago, but not too recent either, maybe a day or two?

The caves are dark, if the soldiers are mining here, they decided against placing torches on the way. I am not sure if that is normal, but I hope they aren't there and decided to focus their resources on patrolling the valley. To walk through the caves, we have to hold each other arms while Morgus is seeing the way for us, telling me when he finds a bifurcation as I am the one with the path on my head.

The familiar colors of the fungi around the gems can be seen in the distance, signaling that my old hideout is close so we approach with care.

There aren't any soldiers inside for us to worry about, instead, a bizarre scene meets my eyes and nose.

Dozens of corpses burnt. Armored guards, mages, and archers are dead, fried up. I hold my urge to puke as the foul smell comes to my nose. In the center of it all, a pile of contorted metal shines in amber, a skeleton mask on top of it.

"Wow seems like they had quite the party huh?" Mazurka says in the worst moment she could.

Tears flow like a river from my eyes, meeting the dirt of the cave floor. My legs are having a hard time holding me on foot, I feel weak, sick, destroyed... If I hadn't been so stupid... If I stayed here...

I hold myself and walk to the body of my old boss… old friend. Reluctantly, I place my hands on it. The metal feels cold to the touch, there is a big hole on his chest and the circuitry is fried up. Do droids have a soul? Well, if anyone who died here had a soul, that one was Skelones.

Mazurka approaches me but stops at some distance. I think she doesn't know what to do in that kind of situation.

"I am sorry." Morgus says

"It's okay. I will manage. Not the first time I lost someone." I say, lying to myself about being okay... I am not okay.

I get up. It's bad to keep my emotions caged inside me and crying helps to exteriorize my feelings, it makes it easier to deal with sorrow somehow…

"Morgus… can you collect some gems? And Mazurka, see if there is anything useful to us around here… I just need a moment" I say

In the pile of Skelones metal remains, something shiny caught my attention. There is some sort of metal cube... I don't remember him having it.

The cube is small enough to hold with my hands. Sharp golden edges reflect the lights from the vegetation, contrasting with the black center, full of marks that reminds me of something from a computer… wait, it is glowing!

"Hey kid, sorry about the mess" says a quiet yet familiar robotic voice

"SKELONES IS THAT YOU???" I yelled a little bit too loud.

Morgus and Mazurka looked at me with weird faces but I just looked back with a big smile.

"Ouch, keep it down, my head hurts" said Mr. Skelones

"But you don't have a head… oh, sorry, I am just saying nonsense… how do I fix you? It this cube your brain? Heart? What is it?" I say nervously

"I am happy to see you alive too, kid. Sorry about leaving you. Well, the circuits of my body are all fried, there is no way to fix that right now. And yes, this here is me, naked without the body. And I see you made some friends?" The cube vibrates a little when he talks, the sound is low, but it is there somehow, from where does it come out?

"Nice to meet you, I am Mazurka and this guy here is Morgus, he is a little shy." She says

"Shop owner, Good to see you are alive." Morgus said to Skelones. I guess the two have met before.

"Thanks. We should go somewhere safer, for now, there is an abandoned temple with some creatures and a way out of the caves" Skelones says.

"I think I know the place. It was full of undead before but it's all good now" I say, smiling in awe.

It is so good to have him back, I feel that the world gets lighter with him around. There is no need for me to be so angry and sad, seeing Skelones alive brought peace to my tormented heart and reminded me of the feeling of joy.

"Great, let's grab all my parts, items, and whatever is useful here and go." Skelones says.

We brought some Artifacts from the corpses, as well as any piece of cloth or leather that was usable.

After arriving at the Ancient Temple, we decided to camp at the hall that leads to the mantises cave so we had an escape route in case more soldiers came here.

Morgus is going to make a fireplace to roast some roots we found, while Mazurka is keeping her eyes on the entrances as I finish telling Skelones of what we went through.

"So we came here planning to use the route to Kavros after the riot and found you at the hideout… how did that happen?" I say

"Well, after I left you, I tried to save some folks but I wasn't expecting the soldiers to move so fast… They mounted that prison before I could do anything. So I got to Kavros to find some people who wished to fight for the freedom of the Free Lands and I found out the whole reason behind the Aesirite invasion… Its nothing as simple as conquering a fertile place with resources, they did that to anticipate for another faction who was going to invade here too, the Ghost Strain." Skelones says

As he says that, everyone stops and come closer to us with a face of someone who saw… a ghost.

"Shit… they crossed the desert… With an army… how they did that?" Mazurka says.

"Uhh who is the Ghost Strain again?" I ask

Mazurka looks at me with one of her brows lifted up.

"How can I explain that... Like the Aesirite, their beliefs are a big part of their lives, but instead of praising the kingdom, hating women, and establishing a feudal system, they are more interested in the technology of the ancient people before the Aesiri, in a fanatical way." Mazurka says.

"Exactly. I also heard they commune with machine gods that guide them in their quest. Back in the days, the Aesiri kingdom waged many wars against them but after the fall of the Aesiri, they got some space and started making settlements in the free lands. Of course no one liked when they abducted people with any kind of ancient tech or when they did their bizarre rituals so we drove them off to the desert, where they stayed quietly for the last 20 years." Skelones says.

"Isn't there any faction who the only goal is making friends and making the world a better place?" I ask.

"In their minds, they all are making the world a better place" Morgus says.

"Well, the Free Lands aren't exactly perfect but they are the closest we have here of a group of people who are not trying to impose their domain over others. Each city works differently but they all formed an alliance to remain free, and they are quite open to all kinds of people if they follow the rules and pay their taxes. Of course things used to be better back in the day, the Free Lands were much more united." Mr. Skelones says

"And how Kavros works? Would we be safe there?" I ask.

"Kavros is ruled by a council of 4 people, each representing a group that lives there. They didn't offer any help to the valley because they wanted to save resources in case the Ghost Strain got there... But I think they just wanted to let the Aesirite deal with them to kill 2 rabbits with one stone. As for being safe there, it's our best bet right now, whether we stay in the city or move to the next." Skelones says.

"Aren't the people from the Free Lands supposed to help each other? To think they just let the people of the valley be imprisoned to save themselves... I understand their reasoning but still, what a dick move." I say.

"The Ghost Strain is something else, kid. They make people afraid, and you need some courage in order to help others. Some of us still remember when they took droids and removed all their parts, or when the humans who came back from being abducted were all... different. Fighting them with the divided Free Lands we have now is going to be hard." Mr. Skelones says.

The hall gets quiet after what Skelones says. Mazurka and Morgus are a little older than me, probably, so they were alive when the Ghost Strain used to roam these lands. I imagine mothers used to tell the stories of those abductions to keep their children from the streets late at night.

"But enough about all that, we have much to do now. How much you learned when I was gone? Show me what you got!" Mr. Skelones says.

We pass some time discussing the improvements of my abilities and our plans for tomorrow. Right now we need some rest.