"W-What do you mean?" the person in front of Zane asked. "I'm Lovia."

Zane chuckled as he looked at the person. Her hair wasn't black like Lovia's and wasn't reddened by blood, it was a dark red, no black spots to see on it anywhere. She looked at him with her two different coloured eyes. One was yellowish almost greenish and the other was light blue, just like the sky was right now. A smile crept across Zane's face.

"Found you," he said.

"F-Found me?" she asked.

But then she noticed the colour of her hair as it was blown into her face by a breeze. She seemed a bit shocked when she saw the dark red colour. A soft giggle left her lips.

"So that's what you mean, seems like I forgot to drink the potion," she said.

"So, Mira Vermillion, what led you to be here, to act like someone else?" Zane asked.

"You know how Holvin is when he suddenly came to our manor and demanded I marry his son I was obviously shocked. And as you might be able to guess he isn't someone that accepts no for an answer. So I ran away," Mira explained, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I see, so you used a witch's potion to change your appearance," Zane said. "But now you know how dangerous this world truly is."

He pointed to her left arm, the bandage was completely red from the blood.

"I-I know but-"

"No! I will bring you back to Kalwa, to Holvin," Zane said, interrupting Mira.

Tears slowly began rolling down her face, but she didn't even try to run.

"I-I thought we were friends," she said.

"Even more reason to bring you back," Zane said.

"What do you mean by that?" Mira asked.

But before Zane could answer a voice whispered into his ear. "How about that payment," the voice said.

Erebus!

He sank to the ground, grabbing his head and pressing against it, trying to resist.

"Zane!" Mira said as she ran to him.

"No! Run!" Zane said, his voice half his own, half that of Erebus.

Mira stopped immediately, shock written across her face.

"W-What do you mean?" she asked.

"Kill her! Offer her life . . . to me!" Erebus said, now sounding as if he stood right behind Zane.

"No! I won't! Not again!" Zane said, trying to suppress the god.

"What do you mean, no?" Erebus asked. "This is an order!"

"No! I won't! Vin! Please tell me you're here! Vin!" Zane screamed.

Mira was paralyzed as if something was keeping her from leaving. Zane's body began to shake violently as it was forced to stand up.

"No! Lovia run!" Zane screamed.

Mira just looked at him, more tears running down her face than before, her head was slightly tilted up as if something was choking her.

"Look, I even stopped her from running away. All you need to do is kill her, it's easy, you've done it before. You've killed those you care about before so what's stopping you now?" Erebus asked, now sounding like he was standing right next to Mira.

Zane grit his teeth, his mind working hard to find a solution. He tried to emit enough Aura to expel Erebus from his body but no matter how hard he tried his Aura always got suppressed by the god. Tears ran down his face as he looked at Mira, who his body was slowly approaching against his will.

Stop! Stop! Stop! Vin, please!

Zane began yelling.

"Stop it boy, I told you that you would need to pay!" Erebus said, again whispering in his ear.

All Zane could do was to slow down his body as best he could. But fighting against his own body was exhausting, he didn't know for how long he could keep it up. Zane felt how something was spreading throughout his body, making him feel weaker and weaker until he didn't even feel his own body move anymore until all he felt were his emotions. Sadness and anger filled his head. He tried to force his body to resist but there was nothing he could do.

In the corner of his eye, he saw how his own hand was beginning to flip open his satchel filled with blood containers. It removed the lid from one of them and the blood within it moved out. The blood began to cover his arm, forming into a gauntlet, a gauntlet with a long blade over his fingers.

"See, keep this in mind, it might come in useful in the future," Erebus said, this time not into his ear or from some location around him, but from within Zane's own body.

The shock on Mira's face became intenser as she tried to move her body in response to hearing Zane talk, but as if chained down her body wouldn't move.

Now Zane saw why, her shadow, it had been bound by the shadow's of the trees, which had grown, now covering the ground of the clearing almost entirely. Zane tried to speak, to call out, but his mouth wouldn't open.

"Oh, were you trying to say something? Forgive me. Allow me to at least give you the ability to speak," Erebus said, using Zane's voice.

Zane felt pain around his mouth but could now speak again.

"Please stop! Don't do this! Chose something else! Please! I beg of you!" Zane said to the god that was moving his body.

"Plea-"

"Another payment you say?" said Erebus, interrupting Zane. "What if I don't want to choose something else?"

"P-Please, I b-beg of you . . . s-stop this . . . please," Mira said, her voice shaky.

"Shut it, girl!" Erebus said angrily. "You can't back out now, you need to pay for my power, you knew that eight years ago, so why be like this now?"

How typical, doesn't even try to show mercy.

Zane began laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Erebus asked, trying to suppress Zane's laughter.

"Stop this, or else I might have a reason to find a way to actually kill a god, Erebus! You know what Harbinger did to Argider." a voice coming from Zane's satchel said.

"Wha-"

"Shut it, Erebus!" the voice said.

"Vin," Zane said.

But how?

"Vindictus, how?" Erebus asked.

"Does it matter? I'm telling you to stop," Vindictus said.

"You can threaten me all you want, but both of us know that you wouldn't be able to reach me. Even if that little weapon of yours could kill me," Erebus said in a mocking manner.

"I have a favourite open with Abaddon," Vindictus said confidently.

"Y-You h-have what!?" Erebus said loudly.

Of course, Vin is able to cause something like this . . .

Zane chuckled again.

"F-Fine then," Erebus said.

The blood covering Zane's hand fell to the ground. His hand moved back to the satchel filled with the blood containers. It grabbed each one of them and threw them on the ground. Once Erebus finished he spoke again, "You won't be needing this anymore, it will be your payment," he said.

What, the blood? No . . . he meant that.

Zane felt how Erebus left his body. It was painful. But there was another feeling, there was something else that left him. It felt as if something was sucked out of him. After the two things left his body he fell to the ground. Zane again began to laugh. Mira, who could now move again, walked up to him and crouched down beside him.

"Zane, are you okay?" she asked.

"Of course, never been better," he answered. "Vin, thank you."

A quiet chuckle could be heard from Zane's satchel. "See ya," Vindictus said before there was a loud clicking sound.

"W-What was that?" Mira asked.

"Erebus was controlling me, trying to get his payment for saving me in the tower. But what did Vin use to communicate?"

Zane opened his other satchel and rummaged around in it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a small pocket watch. Zane turned it in his hand until he found a small Rune engraved into the back of the device.

"Of course, I should have checked this thing when he gave it to me," Zane said.

"What is it?" Mira asked.

"A Rune never noticed it before," he said.

"And why did you . . . I mean Erebus break the containers?" she asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Simple, he took my ability away," Zane said as he stood up.

He stretched and breathed in the fresh air. He concentrated on the large blood puddle on the ground but nothing happened. He couldn't sense it at all. Zane began laughing as well. But as he stood up he could feel the weight of his satchels far more than before, the wight of what amounted to far more than one thousand gold and silver coins.

Of course . . . I'll somehow have do deal with that now.

"Aren't you sad?" Mira asked.

"Sad? No! Of course not, I feel free. This ability is what took everything away, and now it's gone. Although it is a shame that I spent the past six years training with it, but oh well," Zane said, extending both arms to his sides to feel more of the breeze.

Mira kept her distance from Zane as she walked around him in a circle.

"So, now that . . . that is over. Let's get back on topic, namely what we're going to do now," Zane said.

"A-Are you sure you don't want to recover first? M-Maybe take a bath in a nearby river or lake, I also need to get this wound cleaned," Mira said.

"The potion you drank should have closed and healed the wound by now, and no, I don't need a bath right now," Zane said as he approached Mira. "I see two ways of doing this, either you come with me of your own free will or I will have to force you to come with me!"

"W-Why, why do I need to return to that family? They don't care about me or any of the side families for that matter." Tears began running down her face again. "I also thought we were friends, you even said that we could team up!"

"Yeah, that was before you lost a hand, and before I knew you're a member of one of the most powerful families on Ion, if not even the entire world," Zane said.

"B-But-" Mira began.

"Choose!" Zane said forcefully.

Mira looked to the ground.

"Fine, I'll come with you. But only if you promise to take the position as bodyguard Holvin offered you!" she said.

Zane laughed at her words. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"Of course I am," she answered.

Being the bodyguard of a few nobles . . . that might actually be a good life.

"I'll think about it," Zane said.

Mira smiled at him, although tears were still running down her face.

I should be careful . . . who knows what she might try to get me to not bring her back.

"Well then, let's go and bring you back to your family," Zane said.

Mira didn't answer, she just continued to look to the ground as she followed Zane out of the forest. On the way Zane saw in the corner of his eye how she removed a rope, it was wrapped around her belly, and nine long white tails fell out from under her cloak once it was removed.

They quickly found themselves back at Gerd's house. The totem made with Boulder's head was still on the path. Zane was about to walk away from the house when he noticed that Mira wasn't following him anymore. He turner around and saw Mira standing next to the totem the wendigo placed on the path.

"Sh-Shouldn't we a-at l-least remove t-this," she said, her voice shaky from the tears.

"I guess," Zane said as he returned to Mira.

He grabbed the totem with one hand and pulled it out of the ground, the head nearly falling off. Zane looked around for a good spot to bury the dog. He walked to the edge of the forest and turned to Mira.

"Look for a spade or something," he said.

She slowly nodded and disappeared into the house. After a few minutes, she appeared again, a spade tucked under her arm, bend over and dragging the lifeless and headless body of Boulder with her right hand. Many times she lost her grip and let go of it by accident, she nearly tripped over it at times and the spade was dangerously close to falling on her feet at all times.

"Leave it," Zane said.

"W-What?"

"Just leave the body there," Zane said as he carefully put down the dog's head, still impaled on the broken spear.

Mira put down the body at the top of the stairs and stepped down and to the side, letting Zane pass who grabbed the body without even going up the stairs and easily carried it to where he had left the head. Mira handed him the spade and watched as Zane began digging a hole with it. After a short while, Zane had dug a hole large enough for the dog's head and body. Mira put both of them into the hole and waited for Zane to cover them with dirt. When he was finished he put the bloody, broken spear on top of it, as a sort of mark.

He looked up at the sky. Noon was long gone and the sun was quickly moving towards the horizon.

"We should hurry, the next inn is about four days away if we hurry we may make it in three," he said.

Mira nodded. The two began walking along the path in silence, Mira walking slightly behind Zane and looking to the ground. She hid her lost hand beneath her cloak as she walked. Zane glanced back every few meters to make sure she was still following him. All they could see for a long distance was forest with an unusual tree here and there and to their surprise more of the massive spears like the one stuck in the massive basilisks head.

How much distraction did that fight cause?