‘It feels so freeing to have actually said it,’ said Yara, leaning her head on Laras’ shoulder. They sat on one of the benches around the fireplace of the inn they’d stopped at.

‘I can’t say I disagree,’ Laras moved his hand and placed it gently on her shoulder. For a second he waited to see if she’d shake it off, relaxing a little when she didn’t. He was happy that she felt comfortable enough with him to just let him touch her.

‘You don’t always have to ask anymore,’ she confirmed as she cozied up against him. Laras began to feel a pit in his stomach as he leaned his head towards hers. It was about something he hadn’t thought about before.

‘I can’t believe this hadn’t crossed my mind before,’ he said, Yara looked at him.

‘That could be a lot of things, what’s wrong?’

‘Are you sure you want me to say?’

‘Why wouldn’t I?’

‘It involves Arran.’

Yara looked away, ‘I have to be able to talk about him at some point, might as well start here.’

‘Well, alright,’ said Laras, ‘I was thinking about how he might feel about this, about us.’

‘Oh, I hadn’t thought about that yet.’

‘It’s a bit awkward to ask isn’t it.’

‘You’re right, but one of us was going to ask it at some point.’

‘So what do you think?’ asked Laras.

‘I think he’d be happy for us,’ said Yara as she looked at the fire, ‘he wouldn’t be against it, stubborn though he was he always wanted us to be happy,’ she felt Laras’ grip tighten around her shoulder and shook it to try and let him know it bothered her. To her surprise he didn’t let go.

‘Could you loosen your hold a bit?’

‘Hm? I thought you were fine with it.’

‘I was, but you-,’ she was cut off as Laras yanked her towards him. She jumped up and turned to him ‘what’s wrong with you?’

‘I could ask you the same thing, sit down.’

‘No thanks,’ Yara looked to the bar, ‘I’m gonna get a room, figure something out for yourself.’

Laras got up and followed her after she booked her room. Immediately she took notice.

‘I told you to find something for yourself.’

‘And I did, just so happens you’re sleeping there too.’

‘I don’t like how you’re acting right now,’ Yara looked at him as he followed her up the stairs, ‘can you leave me alone?’

‘Afraid I’ll do something?’

‘Absolutely,’ she said, a minor look of discomfort on her face.

‘Come on, you know me better than that.’

‘Exactly, which is why this is so weird,’ she got to the top of the stairs, opened the door to her room, and entered before hastily shutting the door.

‘I’m not going to do anything to you,’ said Laras, his voice muffled by the door.

‘Right now I’m finding that hard to believe.’

‘You honestly think I could do anything to hurt you?’

'Well, you're not yourself right now, I don't know if I can believe you wouldn't.'

'I think... hang on,' something changed, his tone of voice perhaps, 'what's happening why am I upstairs?'

'You followed me after I told you not to.'

'Is that why you're in a room and I'm in the hall.'

'Yes.'

'Could you open the door?' asked Laras, 'You could help me understand what's going on.'

'If it's okay, I think I'd rather wait with that.'

'That's alright, I understand, I'll find somewhere to sleep and I'll see you in the morning.'

The next morning Yara woke up at daybreak. It’d been a short night and she wasn’t happy about that. She walked to the door and knocked before calling Laras’ name, ‘are you waiting outside?’ she asked, a tone of insecurity haunting her voice. No response. Carefully she unbolted the door and opened it slightly. He really wasn’t there. Yara continued downstairs, where she saw Laras sleeping on the ground next to the smouldering embers of the fireplace. He woke up as she walked past. It made Yara’s heart jump slightly as he sat up.

‘Yara?’ he asked, looking at her through sleepy eyes.

‘I hope you’re not like you were last night,’ she said cautiously as she prepared herself, ‘for your sake anyhow.’

‘No, saints no of course not,’ he got up, ‘I still don’t really know what happened.’

‘You got very handsy and I immediately wasn't okay with it.'

‘I’m so sorry,’ said Laras, ‘it's hard to believe I'd do that.'

‘I'm inclined to agree.’

‘I wasn’t myself, you have to believe me.’

‘I’ve known you for longer than today, I know you weren’t,’ she stepped closer to him, ‘I wouldn’t love you if I didn’t.'

Laras avoided looking Yara in the eyes.

'I do have something to ask of you though,’ she said.

‘Ask away.’

‘Next time that happens, fight it, try to let me know.’

‘I’m willing to try.’

‘Good, I’ll hold you to that,’ Yara said, an air of relief to her tone, ‘now I think we should start preparing.’

‘To leave?’

‘No, I think there might be something at play here.’

‘Like what?’

‘I’ll tell you.’

Outside Yara and Laras looked around the town. Laras’ behaviour from the night before was mirrored in the other men they saw. Very abrasive and forward, how the women around town could stand it was a mystery to Yara.

‘You’re seeing this too, right?’ she asked as both of them watched two men loudly leer at a woman that passed them.

‘I don’t remember any dragons that do this,’ said Laras, ‘most of them stick to just killing people directly instead of… well you know.’

‘I might be able to help!’ said a woman’s voice from behind. Yara turned her head and saw Julie had joined them, ‘can’t get rid of me can you?’

They greeted her before Laras asked how she could help.

‘I had a lot of time to read when I was a child, and after I discovered what I am- or rather was, I became invested in learning more about things like me.’

‘If it’s not too much to ask, what were you while you were alive?’

‘A succubus,’ she answered honestly, ‘there’s a lot of creatures like me, sirens and such spring to mind.’

‘You think there could be a seducer of some kind doing this?’ asked Yara, giving her a skeptical look.

‘Could be, a matron I spoke to once could almost never go out into public because of the people nearby, they went mad for her.’

‘We should ask the women in the area,’ suggested Laras, Yara nodded but stopped pretty much right after she started.

‘Well, WE should,’ she pointed at herself and Julie, ‘you shouldn’t.’

‘Because I’m-.’

‘Yes, absolutely because you’re a man, I don’t think they’d answer you.’

Laras looked away, ‘Well you’re not wrong.’

‘Calm down,’ said Yara as she hugged him, ‘You get to do the fun part instead.’

‘Which is..?’

‘You get to track, go look for where the thing might be.’

As Laras began his search around Yara and Julie started to ask various women from around the town. Most of them had very little to offer in the way of clues, most they talked about was how hostile the men had become towards them. A Lot of them remarked that it’d been so very sudden, something Yara could attest to as well.

‘Do you know of any creatures that do this kind of thing?’ Yara asked Julie as they walked away from another witness that had also disappointed them.

‘There’s a few, but there shouldn’t be any of them here.’

‘Tell me about them anyway.’

‘Some Lamia like the Feinskup can alter the behaviour of those around them, but they’re from the northern mainland.’

‘Wouldn’t be the first time a northern creature found itself here,’ said Yara, ‘the dragon Laras and I fought in Miseré was from the mainland as well.’

‘I don’t think we’re gonna find a miracle witness here.’

‘No, neither do I, let’s hope Laras has more luck.’

Skulking around in the morning sunlight hadn’t yielded Laras any strong leads. There were animal tracks to be certain however all of them simply appeared to be from wildlife. The tracks occasionally dispersed, replaced by a strange drag mark through the mud. Laras followed them until he ended up at a pond. A small waterfall rained water down into it from a rock above. By the pond sat a small girl curled up into a ball. Her pale blonde hair was pulled back in a short ponytail. Laras couldn’t see her face, and he approached carefully.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked. Once he’d gotten closer he could hear the girl sobbing. She turned her head slightly. It looked like she wanted to get up and bolt away.

‘I’m a friend,’ said Laras, showing his open hands to let her know she was safe. She calmed down and Laras sat down next to her.

‘Are you alone out here?’

She nodded.

‘It’s not safe out here, do you have anyone I can bring you to?’

She shook her head. Laras looked away and had to stop himself from swearing, ‘what’d Arran do…’ he thought out loud. He knew exactly what Arran would’ve done, he would’ve taken the girl somewhere safe, away from danger, ‘would you be okay if I brought you to the village?’

The girl shook her head again.

‘I don’t want to leave you alone out here,’ said Laras, he looked at the girl again. Her face was turned towards him now, and on her right cheek he saw something that made his stomach drop. A scar ran from the inner corner of her eye to her jaw, exactly like Yara’s. The girl’s big, brown eyes looked at him.

‘I’ve got some friends,’ he said, ‘I can come back with them and they can help you, would that be okay?’

Now the girl nodded again.

‘Alright, I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere okay?’

Yara and Julie sat waiting by the edge of the village for Laras to come back. Their search ended up being fruitless. Now they had to see whether Laras had been successful. The men of the village occasionally pestered them as well, which often led to Yara losing her temper with them. Finally Yara saw Laras approach, he was running towards them.

‘Laras? Why are y-.’

He interrupted by giving her a tight hug.

‘You’re real, definitely real.’

‘Well I’d hope so.’

‘Sorry,’ he let go, ‘I should’ve asked, I just…’

‘What happened, Laras?’

‘I think I found our monster.’

‘Tell me what you saw,’ said Julie, ‘I might know what the creature is.’

‘Well, uh,’ he looked at Yara, ‘it looked like you.’

Yara frowned and Julie snorted, ‘a charmer, isn’t he?’

‘I mean it looked like you but younger, much younger.’

‘Like me as a child?’

‘Exactly, except it had the scar, the one on your face.’

‘Why would it look like that?’ Julie asked, she’d raised one of her eyebrows.

‘I don’t know, when I saw it my first instinct was to help it, to get it someplace safe,’ Laras explained, ‘I guess it looked like the most innocent thing I could think of.’

Yara blushed, feeling perhaps a little flustered.

‘Well that’s sweet, but I think you might’ve encountered an Onskult.’

‘What do you know about it?’

‘Preys on men and makes them more aggressive towards women,’ said Julie, ‘I don’t remember if they have any effect on women at all.’

‘I think I remember something like this from when Arran and I were on the mainland,’ Yara said, ‘he told me to wait outside of a town while he took care of it and I didn’t understand why before,’ she thought for a second, ‘why did it look like me?’

‘Because it tries to convince men to protect it by looking like the most innocent thing they know.’

‘Do you still know where it is?’ asked Yara. Laras nodded.

‘If we head back now it might still be there.’

‘Oh, one thing before we go, Ras,’ she tried getting Laras’ attention with a pet name, ‘in case it looks like me again, I’m the one with the sword.’

‘I’ll be sure to remember.’

Right after they’d both gotten their equipment they returned to the pond Laras had seen the monster at. It had gone, of course and now it fell to both of them to find where it’d run off to.

‘How’d you find it in the first place?’ asked Yara as she looked around.

‘I found a strange track, kind of like a drag mark.’

‘Like a snake’s?’

‘I think so?’ answered Laras, his eyes trained on the mud. Suddenly he heard a sound from behind the waterfall. He hadn’t noticed that there was a cave hidden behind the flowing curtain of water when he was here last.

‘Do you hear that?’

‘Hear what?’ asked Yara, her head cocked questioningly.

‘It sounds like… crying? It’s coming from the cave.’

Yara’s eyes narrowed, ‘you can hear that through the crashing water?’

‘That means it’s here,’ Laras walked towards the opening behind the waterfall and entered. The crying grew louder from the echo inside the cavern, which turned out to be more akin to a grotto. There was a large hole in the ceiling that let in daylight.

‘There, in the centre of the room,’ Laras pointed towards what he perceived as the same little girl from before. Yara entered and could see the creature’s true form however. It was a grotesque, mud-covered grey and black serpent with a humanoid torso. Two stubby short arms extended from misshapen shoulders. Its head was long and flat, placed at the end of a long neck that appeared fat and lumpy. A thin line ran from the back of the creature’s maw all the way to the base of the neck. It had no eyes.

‘Laras, what the hell is that?’

‘The creature,’ he answered, ‘I’m assuming it doesn’t look the same for you.’

‘Well I mean, I was never the prettiest child.’

‘Describe it to me.’

‘It looks like a gross snake monster.’

‘How do you want to go about this? Just charge in?’

‘It doesn’t have any effect on me, I’ll be fine whatever we do,’ said Yara, ‘what do you think we should do?’

‘I could try distracting it?’

‘Sounds good, how are you going to avoid getting eaten whole.’

‘That’s where you come in,’ Laras said, ‘I have full confidence you won’t let it eat me.’

‘I’ll try.’

Laras walked forward and down towards the Onskult. He greeted it again, then sat down next to the creature. He was fully aware that it wasn’t actually a child yet he approached it all the same. Yara watched what was happening from a short distance.

‘Brave idiot,’ she smiled and shook her head. She saw the creature’s mouth open slowly and viewed it as her moment to jump in. Despite its lack of sight it noticed Yara’s hasty approach and its maw closed before turning toward her quickly. Laras jumped back. He could see the creature’s shape change from that of a young Yara to the serpentine monstrosity his partner could see.

‘Saints that’s worse than what I could’ve imagined.’

‘Not pretty, is it?’ asked Yara as she stared down the monster. It hissed at her and opened its maw, revealing that the line running down its throat was simply an extension of the mouth. It then closed its maw again and rushed at Yara, slamming into her with full force. She’d braced herself and attempted to stab the monster as it attacked, but failed and dropped her sword to the ground as she fell. Yara could feel the creature’s long tail wrap around her and raise her up. Its maw opened slowly and she stared down its throat.

‘Now might be a good time to help,’ shouted Yara, distressed by her predicament. Laras rushed to her side, grabbing Skycleave from the floor and slashing the creature across the back. It hissed in pain and dropped Yara to the ground. Laras ran over and helped her up before handing her back her sword.

‘Looks like I’m not the one at risk of being eaten.’

‘Crack wise again and we’ll see how big that risk is.’

The Onskult swung its tail past them and it reminded them of what needed to be done. The monster slithered towards Laras and Yara jumped in to attack it.

‘I have an idea,’ she said as her sword connected with the creature’s flesh.

‘I’m all ears.’

‘Jump on top of it.’

‘What?’ Laras asked as he dodged another attack.

‘Pin it down and I can kill it.’

Laras knew she was serious, and the next time the creature passed by him when it missed a lunge forward he jumped onto its back. Following a long-winded muddy wrestling match between him and the serpent it finally tired out and Laras managed to keep it on the ground. It yelped something that sounded similar to the word “help”

‘Don’t let go,’ said Yara, ‘don’t let go of it.’

‘I’m not going to,’ he answered as he watched Yara bring her blade down on the monster’s head. Its neck and tail began to spasm wildly as the last remnants of energy left its body. Once it stopped moving Laras let go and got to his feet. His chestpiece and helmet were covered in the slick mud that coated the serpent. He removed his helmet. Some of the mud had gotten on his face and Yara wiped it away with her hand. They left the cavern together and returned to the village, where the men had seemingly returned to acting normally. Their abrasiveness had given way and so had their aggression.

‘Now that that’s over,’ said Laras, he looked at Yara, ‘are we okay again?’

‘Of course.’

‘I mean I did-.’

‘You explained yourself already, don’t worry so much,’ said Yara, she put her hand on his cheek, ‘let’s stay a while longer, I think we’ve earned the rest.’