“Embla. Embla! Wake up!”

“Huh? What…” she groaned, sitting up. Her eyes looked around. “This isn’t… the fortress. This is my…!?” Her breath hitched. Embla removed the covers and jumped out of bed. She ran towards the door but stopped when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. “Did everything get bigger?”

Embla looked around. She could barely reach the third row of her shelf. But everything was how she remembered it. The wooden walls. The sun-blocking curtains. Even her wolf plushie, Mr. Fenny, sat on one of the dressers. She walked over and grabbed the stuffed animal. “Was it all a dream?” She hugged the wolf tightly.

“Embla!” the door rumbled with incessant knocking.

“That voice… is it?” Embla walked over and shakily touched the doorknob. She opened the door. Fear and anxiety invaded every thought. What if it isn’t her? What if…, she thought. Swallowing her fear, Embla closed her eyes and threw the door open.

“Jeez. You almost hit me in the nose,” a voice said. It was motherly and serene just as she remembered. A feeling of longing welled up inside her as Embla opened her eyes and looked up. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the kind blue eyes of her older sister.

“Val… Val!” she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around her sister’s waist.

Val was caught off guard and stumbled back. She looked down and brushed some of her snow-white hair out of the way to get a better look at her younger sister.

“Are you-!?” Her face became concerned when she felt something soaking through her shirt. Val gently removed Embla from her waist and kneeled before her. “Embla, are you alright?”

“I- I thought you were…” she hugged her sister tightly.

Val smiled, stroking her sister’s hair. “Embla. It’s going to be okay.”

Embla sniffled and hiccuped into her sister’s shoulder. She didn’t want to let go. “No, you’re going to disappear again. You’re going to leave me behind.”

“Embla, I’m not going anywhere so please let me go. I can’t breathe,” she said.

With great reluctance, Embla released her sister from her iron grip. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, looking down at the ground. She could feel her sister’s smile on her.

Val reached forward and wiped the tears from her sister’s reddened eyes. “I’m going to be okay so stop this nonsense okay? You’re a big girl and you’re making the others worried.”

“Like Teacher, Saka, and Big Brother Koji?” the small girl lifted her head and stared into the icy pits of her sister’s eyes.

“Yes and your friends. Your party members. Everyone is waiting for you so I need you to wake up.” Val smiled as her form glitched.

Party members? She wasn’t part of a party. She was just a…

Embla’s eyes grew wide as the world around her began to crack and fragment. She turned in time to see her older sister before the floor underneath gave way.

“Val, what’s going on?” Embla asked.

“Wake up, Em. Wake up.”

“VAL!” she reached her hand out towards the apparition of her sister as a bright light engulfed her entire body.

“VAL!” Embla shot up, panting. She regretted it almost immediately. A sharp pain shot through her torso, causing her to double over. “Ahh! Fucking hell!” What? This isn’t… she looked around. The room was unfamiliar to her. Wincing, she fought the pain and propped herself up. The cold wood floor was a welcome relief from the intense searing pain she felt inside. She looked down and saw that she had no clothes on. Just bandages wrapped around her torso and arms to cover her modesty. The girl looked around the room and saw her clothes sitting on a table. Her sword, or what remained of them, sat next to them. Sighing, she began to make her way to the table.

Embla nearly fell face-first after taking a single step. She gripped her side. The burning had intensified. Embla gritted her teeth and slowly took another step forward. It was a grueling task that she endured. Embla grabbed the rest of her clothing and put it on, wincing as the fabric made contact with her skin.

The way to the door felt like an eternity. Panting, Embla placed her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

She squinted as the bright rays of the sun hit her eyes. “Where…? Oh.” They were still in the village. Taking a step out of the house, Embla began to walk around. The village was different from how she remembered. It’s… It’s gotten more lively than when we first arrived. Did we… win? She tried to remember what happened. Embla frowned. Her memory was foggy. Bits and pieces of her memory were missing.

“Where are they?” she mumbled as she wandered around. A pair of children ran past her, laughing. Embla sighed. Now’s not the time to be sentimental. Wait… she stopped and turned around. “Hey! You two!”

The kids stopped running and turned around. The boy tilted his head. “Yes Miss?” he asked.

“Hey there.” Embla walked towards them with a smile. “Have you seen a group of people? One of them’s a Foxkin with white hair. The other is a dragonkin with a dark tan and red hair and the other two are a pair of blondes that look the same. One’s a girl and a girly boy. Have you seen them?”

“Ummm…” the boy thought long and hard about her question. The girl looked between Embla and her friend. Seeing the older girl’s gaze, the little girl gave her a gap-toothed grin.

She smiled back at her.

“Oh! They went to that house!” the boy said.

“Which house?” Embla asked.

The boy pointed in the direction of the mayor’s manor.

“Thanks, you two. Now, run along. Your parents might be worried,” Embla said.

Embla began her long and painful trek to the mayor’s house. In hindsight, I probably should’ve stayed in bed. She sighed, trying not to scream when she felt her muscles metaphorically catch fire. Pandora, you better be there, she thought.

Embla knocked on the door and waited. She tapped her foot after the door showed no signs of opening. Sighing, she raised her hand to knock once more when the door opened.

“Oh. It’s you.” Cal stood before her with an indifferent expression on his face. However, Embla noticed a glint in his eye.

He was worried? Hue hue~. Embla smiled brightly. “Yup! I’m back in tip-top shape!”

“Sure you are. Come on. We’re in the middle of a meeting so Pandora can’t heal you right now. There’s a couch for you to sit on out here while Red and Yuki finish dealing with the mayor,” Cal said, stepping aside.

She nodded and walked in. The interior of the mayoral manor was simpler than she had expected. Granted, the wood here looks like it’s new and there’s lots of animal fur for carpeting. Embla looked to see Pandora staring at her.

Without warning, the half-elf priestess jumped off the couch and ran towards her.

“Wait! Wai-” Embla released a soundless scream as Pandora hugged her tightly.

“Oh, Embla! You’re awake! You scared us so much! I thought you were going to *hic* die! Waaaah!” Pandora’s hug tightened.

“Y- Yeah! I… help! Someone!” she wheezed.

Cal stood there with an amused expression on his face. Heh, that looks like it hurts. Cal’s smile grew wider when she reached out for him.

“Traitor!” she gasped. After a few seconds, Pandora let go of the poor girl. Embla fell to her knees, gasping for air.

“Are you alright?” Pandora knelt next to her and began to cast a healing skill. “Don’t worry. I know Healing Hands.”

“Y- Yeah.” Embla wiped some spit from her mouth.

“So how do you feel?” Pandora asked. She led Embla over to the couch and began inspecting her.

“Like shit. How long was I out?” she asked.

“Well, guess the date,” Cal said.

“The date? It’s… uhhh. We got here on Caritas right? So… today is Industria?” Embla looked at the blonde. He sighed and shook his head.

“Today is Tempermentia. You’ve been out for nearly a week,” he replied.

“A week? There’s no way. I was not out for a week. The date should still be the 12th of Heimrdral!” Embla said.

“Embla.” Pandora stopped her healing. “Today is the 18th of Heimrdal. You’ve been out for a while after you…” she trailed off.

Embla looked down. Was the backlash really that bad? That’s the first time I’ve ever received any sort of backlash from using Refraction, she thought.

“What kind of skill was that?” Cal asked, plopping down on the armchair next to the couch.

“Huh?” she looked up, snapped out of her thoughts.

“That skill you did to deflect the Gusisnautar. The one that landed you into a six-day coma?” Pandora clarified.

“Oh, that,” Embla said. “It’s a Burst that my teacher taught me when I was younger.”

“Oh. What’s it called?” Pandora asked. “

“It’s called Refraction,” she answered.

“What a fitting name, considering what it does,” Cal said.

“Does this Burst have any side effects?” Pandora asked. She took her hands off Embla. It’s probably what caused her internal mana burns anyway but I need to hear it from her, she thought, waiting patiently for an answer.

“Normally no. This is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with something that big so I probably absorbed some of its mana into my body,” Embla said. She clenched her fist and hissed.

“Probably. Jeez, when we got to you, you were barely breathing and there was steam coming out of your body. We thought you died,” Cal said, leaning back on the chair. “Lucky for you, Pandora burned through all of her mana and managed to stabilize you before she passed out.”

“What about the rest of the bandits? What happened to the chief?” Embla asked.

“Well, the chief is… no one knows where he is. He probably got vaporized by the Gusisnautar shot you deflected back at him,” Pandora answered.

The girl looked down and nodded.

Pandora placed her hands over Embla and continued healing her.

“So how long unti-” Embla’s sentence was interrupted when the door to the Mayor’s office burst open. Yuki and Red walked out, followed by an old man who thanked them profusely.

“No, no! It’s fine really. You hired us and we performed our duty,” Yuki said.

“But still, you took a great risk coming to rescue us. Are you sure you don’t want a small compensation?” the mayor asked.

“Well…” Red stopped when Yuki gave him a look. He shot her one back and continued. “Do you have any mana potions or anything that can heal mana burns?”

“We have mana potions but nothing for mana burns. I’m sorry. How many mana potions do you need?” the mayor asked.

“Hmm, Pandora. How many do we… need…” Yuki stopped speaking. Red turned around, wondering what she had seen and froze. The two stared as Embla waved at them, smiling.

“We need about 50. I don’t know a lot of advanced healing skills so using the skills I have now will burn through my reserves.” the girl never even bothered to look at them. She merely focused on the task at hand.

“Hey, Yuki. Hey, Red. I’m awake,” Embla said, laughing nervously.

“Hmm. We can have 50 mana potions ready in a few days. Are you willing to wait that long?” the mayor asked.

“Y- Yeah. We can wait a few days. Excuse us, we need to talk to our team members in private,” Yuki said.

The mayor nodded and walked back into his office.

“Embla!” Yuki ran over and hugged her tightly. Pandora was pushed aside and fell to the ground.

The elf glared at her team leader, rubbing her bum. “Oi! That hurts!” she growled.

“Embla. We’re glad that you’re alright. It was really touch-and-go there,” Red said, walking over to her.

Embla offered him a pained smile. Her eyes darted down to Yuki, who was currently wrapped around her. Red chuckled and pulled her off.

“Thanks. I can’t really hug anyone right now. It hurts when I do,” Embla said, offering her an apologetic smile.

“Oh. Oh, dear. I’m sorry. Did I make it worse?” Yuki asked. “Pandora! Heal her!”

“I was doing that until you pushed me out of the way,” Pandora said, grumbling at her leader’s antics. She moved back over to Embla and resumed her healing. The girl let out another sigh of content as she leaned back into the sofa.

“When did you wake up?” Red asked.

“A couple of minutes ago. So that was the mayor?” Embla asked.

“Yeah, we’re collecting payment for the Quest and a confirmation for the guild. Their communication lines are still down so we need to put that in our report,” Yuki said.

“What about the others? The other bandits. Did we manage to get all of them?” she said.

“We did. After we got out, Yuki and I left to get to the nearest town to get in contact with any form of government. The guild asked for a detachment of knights to come down here and help us get the rest of the bandits and villagers,” Red said.

“I see. So… has it really been six days? Cal and Pandora keep telling me that nearly a week’s passed,” Embla said.

“Yeah. Whatever skill you used, it hit you back really bad. We burned through our entire reserve of mana potions just so Pandora can continue healing you,” Red said.

“I see. Sorry for worrying you guys back there but it was-”

“Life or death. I get it. We’ve had our fair share of those,” Cal said.

“So what now? Do we wait for the mana potions or do we head back to Yggdrasil to get me treated?” she asked.

“We’ll stay here for a few more days and wait on those potions. You just woke up and we don’t want to risk anything,” Yuki said. “Pandora. You’re the team healer. What do you think?”

“Yeah, we should stay. By the end of those few days, I should have the biggest burn taken care of and we can let the Guild healers handle the rest of them,” Pandora said.

“Thanks for healing me, Pandora,” Embla said.

“It’s no problem.” Pandora smiled at her.

“So, are you feeling alright?” Yuki said.

“Huh? Oh.” Embla smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. It still hurts but I think I can walk now without any pain." She gave Yuki and Red a thumbs up. “Come on. Let’s get some food! I’m hungry!” she shot out of the sofa, nearly falling over in pain.

“You shouldn’t get up that fast, Oilhead,” Cal said, catching her before she could actually fall.

“Thanks, Cal. Hey, wait did you just…?” Embla glared at his smirking face. “I bet you waited six days to call me that didn’t you, you piss colored bastard.”

“Piss? Hey!”

Yuki sighed, while Pandora giggled and Red let out a small chuckle. The three followed behind the arguing duo as they left the mayor’s manor.

“What a mess.” A lone figure walked through the fortress. Gravel crunched underneath her boots, sighing in frustration. No wonder they were late for their delivery, she thought, seeing the large hole in the fortress wall. Her large rabbit ears twitched. Someone’s still here?

The woman made her way to the large hole in the wall. Her eyes drank in the sight upon arrival. Scorch marks, chunks of ice, fulgurite where errant lightning struck the gravel and rocks, and blood stained the area. She saw the charred and warped remains of the Gusisnautar laying on the ground a few meters outside the fortress.

“If I knew they were going to destroy it, I should’ve told Hati not to give it to them,” she said.

“H- Help…”

“Huh? Oh, you’re still alive?” She turned to the side and saw a haggard Marius coming out from behind the crates. She could see the writhing veins underneath his skin, struggling to close the wounds present on his body. How long did it take him to recover from that?

“Y- You…” he rasped.

“It looks like our initial experiment was a success if you were able to survive a Gusisnautar blast,” she said.

“E- Experiment?”

“Of course. Even if you were an adventurer, you weren’t anything special. The only reason you had power was because of us but now, you failed. Unfortunately, we can’t have any loose ends,” she said, walking towards him.

“W- Wait! I can get more! Just give me more time!” Marius said, backing away. He tripped on a piece of rubble, falling on his back. Marius looked up and saw black mist wafting off her hand. He backpedaled into a wall.

“We don’t need anymore. The others compensated for your loss so now you’re just dead weight. Don’t worry. This will be painless,” she said.

Not wanting to die, Marius lashed out, grabbing a rock and throwing it at her. The woman caught the rock in her hand. The mist covered the rock, turning it black before it crumbled into dust.

“W-Wai-!” he never finished his sentence as the mist engulfed him. Marius screamed and writhed in pain. His eyes caught a glimpse of what was happening to his body. His remaining hand turned black. His skin eroded away, exposing his muscle, then his bone. His entire body was crumbling into dust. He looked up to the woman for any semblance of mercy but she had none.

The woman’s indifferent violet eyes gazed upon him as his body finally disintegrated. She stood there for a few seconds as the dust was blown away by the wind. After a few seconds of silence, a noise came from the pocket of her coat. She pulled out a small tear-shaped device and held it to her ear.

“This is Sigrun.”

“...”

“Yes, I’ve arrived at the Gamma outpost.” She closed her eyes and took in the wind.

“...”

“I’ve eliminated Marius. The other bandits who we hired to traffic were all arrested. Should I go after them?”

“...”

“No? But I can catch up to-”

“...”

“Fine. I’ll head back to base now. Sigrun out.” Sigrun placed the communicator back in her pocket. “Ew… his dust got on my boot.”

With that, Sigrun turned around and walked out of the fortress, disappearing in a swirl of black mist.