The red liquid crept down her throat like sludge, but aside from the unpleasant taste of copper, it did nothing more than make her frown at how precise she was able to sense it in her body. She could feel the liquid dissipate into her left arm where it was cut off. The life essence within the blood formed archaic runes unknown to modern understanding and began stitching into a pattern that outlined her arm.

Rana crushed the empty vial, dispelling the wards within, and tossed it away. She checked her pouch and counted two remaining vials of concentrated life essence extracted from dead animals. It was not much and she would’ve preferred more, but there was no realistic way to harvest that many unless she was willing to rid multiple settlements of its livestock.

It would take too long.

She sat on a tree, hidden by its green crown, and watched her severed arm slowly return whole. She was relieved that there were no missing fingers. She was never sure how long the wards could maintain the life essences within the vials, hence the effectiveness of such a potion could never be fully determined.

When Rana left Alpheia to prepare for the assault on the garrison, she had to make sure that the final condition of throwing Aodh into a state of war could be achieved. From what she gathered at the trading post, the greatest obstacle would be the garrison commanders, well-respected and experienced leader whom the governing council of Aodh placed great faith in. Aodh had them defending strategic chokepoints, located in a way that they were easy to defend and reinforce.

That was why they needed to take it out fast, and also make sure that the invaders could capitalize on its fall.

When Rana left to prepare for the assault on the garrison, she gave the moon-kin a guarantee. She consumed some of Alpheia’s blood and allowed the two to form a blood connection. This gave the moon-kin the ability to ignite the mana and turn the zombie into giblets of bones and flesh. What the fiend did not know, was that Rana would never allow someone to be the decider of her own fate. She isolated the cursed mana flowing within her, and it was the reason how she created the diversion with the garrison supplies and the trap that killed the garrison commander. Through this, she also managed to confirm that unlike a human, even if her body parts were to be separated, she could still control those parts to a certain extent.

Still, if someone were to ask her how she felt about it, she couldn’t give them an answer. The rational part of her told her that it was efficient to use everything that was at her disposal. However, there was something uncomfortable thinking that her bodywas nothing more than a disposable tool.

Rana shook her head to keep out those thoughts. To think it was during the undead life that she became sentimental. She looked out to the distance where dust was being kicked up beyond the horizon. The fiend was tracking the movement of the invaders while she tracked the Aodh defenders. She could stay in a faraway vantage point as the only thing that mattered was how many soldiers were on the move, not where they were going. That was not difficult to determine. However, when it came to the invaders, she needed to know the general direction of where they were going, to know of how they planned to wage this war. That was why Alpheia was sent.

As soon as the dust settled, a lone shadow could be seen in the sky approaching her. It didn’t take long for the moon-kin to arrive. Alpheia was fast and was simply waiting for the surroundings to be cleared of prying eyes. They didn’t want to expose themselves, not now.

“As predicted?” Rana asked when the moon-kin perched next to her.

The moon-kin nodded without saying another word. Alpheia was no doubt still sulking after learning that she had been tricked. Rana did not believe it was such a huge deal. The problem was solved and she kept her word. The guarantee was simply used to appease an unneeded emotion. She was annoyed at how difficult the moon-kin was being but she also found it amusing. Sometimes, Alpheia seemed more human than her. However, she did not have time to contemplate pointless musings. There was work to be done and she needed the fiend to focus.

“I never lied, you know?” Rana said as her sight remained into the distance. “If you want to blame anyone, then blame your own lack of foresight.”

“I warned you—”

“I did not scheme against you and it is the scheming that brought us closer to our destination,” Rana interrupted, already knowing what the fiend was about to say. Her patience was running thin. “I don’t understand your aversion to maneuvering under the table. Call it what you want, but these schemes are nothing but tactics and strategies aimed to defeat the enemy. What difference does it make if I lure an enemy into a trap, or if I defeat them in a duel? The end result is the same. I live, they die. Even our alliance is part of both of our scheming.”

The fiend was silent, and so was Rana. She was surprised that she was not able to contain her thoughts to her own mind. She wanted to justify it with the need to clarify her standing with the fiend, but why? This was already an uneasy alliance and there was no need to aggravate the already rocky ground they stood upon. Also, the basis of any alliance was trust, the unfounded faith of neither party betraying the other. The reasons could be as understandable as mutual gain, or as irrational as a code of honor. Yet here she was, not willing to even entertain the idea of a compromise. Why?

“Deception brings only ruin,” the moon-kin said after a long silence. Her voice was hallow but there was something that rang true. “It led to our's, and we vowed to never let lies destroy us again.”

“Humans are weak. Their bodies are fragile and their hearts are easily corrupted. Our enemies are powerful and numerous. Careful planning, schemes, are our only way to survive. If it means we would be despised by our enemies, then so be it. I care not for what the dead say.”

“Is survival everything?”

“It is,” Rana said without a hint of hesitation. “I vowed to never return to the darkness ever again.”

“Death eventually claims us all.”

“Then I will outrun it until I can move no more.”

“You cling this much to life, why?”

“Why?” Rana said, echoing the moon-kin. It was a foolish question. The alternative to life was something far more terrible than anything that existed in this world. There was no choice to be made. For someone who did not experience death as she had, of course, they believed they had a choice. “Tell me, moon-kin, why do you live?”

“To fight,” Alpheia said without a hint of hesitation.

“For what do you fight for?”

“I fight for my home, my kin. I fight because I have to,” Alpheia replied, but her last sentence was nothing more than a whisper. “I have to.”

Rana wanted to doubt the moon-kin's honesty. She would’ve believed it was all an act if not for their mana connection from before. Alpheia was not lying. The moon-kin wielded her raw emotions with earnest. She had a fury inside of her, and her mana was a testament to that. The moon-kin truly only fought because she believed she had to.

“I do not believe we will be able to see eye to eye. We are far too different,” Rana finally said after a pause, and Alpheia waited for what she was about to say next. “However, until we both reach our goal, we will need to help each other.”

“How can I trust the words of a schemer?”

“I can only tell you what I will do moving forward. How much you choose to trust me and whether to continue this alliance will be up to you. I will not promise there will be no more schemes, but my compromise will be that I will inform you the entirety of my schemes when it happens.”

She then reached down to her belt.

“Here,” Rana continued as she tossed the moon-kin her pouch that contained her vials of life essence. “This is my gesture of trust. I will also inform you that this is a calculated risk for a gain. I am not putting my life in your hands. I also encourage you to ask questions in regards to my goals and my plans. I rather we disagree than have you accusing me of hidden intentions, Alpheia.”

“Tell me, Rana,” Alpheia asked after considering the words she heard. “What do you wish to gain from this.”

“I want to meet my sister, to know the truth of what happened a century ago. Then, I will decide which side of the war I will stand on.”